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“For too long, Medicare has been forced to contend with Big Pharma with one hand tied behind its back – that ends when this bill is signed into law,” said Wyden. “Ever since I became the top Democrat on the Finance Committee, I have been spotlighting how the drug pricing system is broken top to bottom. At last, the Senate has begun to redefine the relationship between Medicare and Big Pharma. That work began last Congress on a bipartisan basis, and virtually the entirety of the Finance Committee’s work two years ago is included in the Inflation Reduction Act. Democrats have taken the critical next step by lifting the curse that has prevented Medicare from negotiating lower prices."
"She fought for women in poverty to get more benefits, against nuclear testing and war in general. Her thumbprint appeared on virtually all legislation to improve the status of women... She quickly moved from supporting candidates to becoming one. Service in various offices eventually led to her election to the U.S. House in 1964... Above all this book is a story of women’s entry into politics, progressing from tokens to major players. They banged on glass ceilings and pushed open stuck doors. In this effort, Rep. Patsy Mink was often leading the charge."
"Concerns about air travel's role in disease transmission have intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic. Researchers have examined how factors like aircraft boarding methods affect the exposure risk of passengers and crew members. However, stakeholders said more research involving real-world situations and human behavior is needed and could guide actions to protect public health. Stakeholders noted a lack of federal leadership to advance such research. Congress should consider directing FAA to develop and implement a strategy for research on communicable diseases in air travel, in coordination with other federal agencies and external partners."
"In an ancillary study of the Vitamin D and Omega-3 Trial (VITAL), we tested whether supplemental vitamin D3 would result in a lower risk of fractures than placebo." 'CONCLUSIONS: Vitamin D3 supplementation did not result in a significantly lower risk of fractures than placebo among generally healthy midlife and older adults who were not selected for vitamin D deficiency, low bone mass, or osteoporosis."
Sexual harassment in the workplace can cause harmful psychological, physical, occupational, and economic effects for workers. Several federal laws, executive orders, and agency directives are aimed at preventing and addressing sexual harassment at federal agencies. GAO issued a June 2020 report (GAO-20-387) that reviewed VA's efforts to prevent and address sexual harassment at the agency. In this report, GAO made seven recommendations. This testimony discusses VA's efforts to implement GAO's recommendations to 1) ensure VA's EEO structure is properly aligned; 2) improve the agency's policies to prevent and address sexual harassment of VA employees; 3) collect and analyze data to inform VA about sexual harassment of its employees; and 4) improve relevant training.
Among other responsibilities, the Task Force will monitor and evaluate all state and local legislation, regulations, and enforcement actions that threaten to:
Infringe on federal legal protections relating to the provision or pursuit of reproductive care;
Impair women’s ability to seek reproductive care in states where it is legal;
Impair individuals’ ability to inform and counsel each other about the reproductive care that is available in other states;
Ban Mifepristone based on disagreement with the FDA’s expert judgment about its safety and efficacy; or
Impose criminal or civil liability on federal employees who provide reproductive health services in a manner authorized by federal law.
“The Americans with Disabilities Act embodies a national promise to eliminate discriminatory barriers and support full participation, community integration, independent living and economic self-sufficiency for people with disabilities,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “We will continue using this bedrock civil rights law to eliminate barriers and safeguard the rights of people with disabilities across the country.” Since November 2021, the department has reached settlement agreements with CVS Pharmacy Inc., Hy-Vee Inc., The Kroger Co., Meijer Inc. and Rite Aid Corporation to ensure that people with disabilities can book COVID-19 vaccine appointments and obtain vaccine information online.
"As past stories covering the Vintage 2021 estimates have suggested, domestic migration during this time period is likely driving the change. These patterns indicate that although young working-age adults are leaving the central counties of these large metro areas, they are simply relocating to other counties in the country. This may be related to the COVID-19 pandemic that created conditions enabling many workers to work from home and may have given these younger working-age adults the flexibility to relocate from areas with high concentrations of job opportunities to places with a lower cost of living or other quality of life improvements."
Jo Freeman Writes: "This is a book about protests – which is the historical memory of what the 1960s was all about. It is also a book about professors. They are the prime subjects of the author’s chapters, even though students were often the prime actors. World War II made the difference. That conflict brought government money to scientists and the G.I. bill brought tuition payments to veterans. Money moved colleges and universities from being a finishing school for gentlemen to being a 'multiversity' where the 'knowledge industry' was a major source of revenue, progress, prestige and upward mobility."
"The nationwide coordinated law enforcement action includes criminal charges against a telemedicine company executive, owners and executives of clinical laboratories, durable medical equipment companies, marketing organizations, and medical professionals... The charges announced today allege that the telemedicine companies arranged for medical professionals to order these expensive genetic tests and durable medical equipment regardless of whether the patients needed them, and that they were ordered without any patient interaction or with only a brief telephonic conversation. Often, these test results or durable medical equipment were not provided to the patients or were worthless to their primary care doctors... In addition to the FBI, HHS-OIG, and CPI/CMS, VA-OIG, DCIS, IRS, MFCU, DEA, and other federal and state law enforcement agencies participated in the operation.
As states grapple with the future of abortion in the U.S., Michigan, California, and Vermont could become the first states to let voters decide whether the right to abortion should be written into the state constitution. In Michigan, a proposed constitutional amendment would override a 90-year-old state law that makes abortion a felony even in cases of rape or incest. The U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade last month could revive that abortion ban — and has galvanized abortion-rights advocates to secure new protections. Some of the momentum is coming from activists getting involved for the first time. “I wanted to do something, but I had no political experience or really any experience in activism,” said Amanda Mazur, who lives in rural northwestern Michigan. “But I thought, ‘Maybe I can volunteer and just offer something tangible to the movement.’”
“Ada Limón is a poet who connects,” Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden said. “Her accessible, engaging poems ground us in where we are and who we share our world with. They speak of intimate truths, of the beauty and heartbreak that is living, in ways that help us move forward.” Limón said, “This recognition belongs to the teachers, poets, librarians and ancestors from all over the world that have been lifting up poetry for years. I am humbled by this opportunity to work in the service of poetry and to amplify poetry's ability to restore our humanity and our relationship to the world around us."
From CDC: "While many of those affected in the current global outbreaks are gay, bisexual, or other men who have sex with men, anyone who has been in close contact with someone who has monkeypox can get the illness. Avoid close, skin-to-skin contact with people who have a rash that looks like monkeypox. Do not touch the rash or scabs of a person with monkeypox. Do not kiss, hug, cuddle, or have sex with someone with monkeypox. Do not share eating utensils or cups with a person with monkeypox. Do not handle or touch the bedding, towels, or clothing of a person with monkeypox. Anyone with a rash that looks like monkeypox should talk to their healthcare provider, even if they don’t think they had contact with someone who has monkeypox. A person who is sick with monkeypox should isolate at home. If they have an active rash or other symptoms, they should be in a separate room or area from other family members and pets when possible."
This deep field, taken by Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), is a composite made from images at different wavelengths, totaling 12.5 hours – achieving depths at infrared wavelengths beyond the Hubble Space Telescope’s deepest fields, which took weeks. The image shows the galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 as it appeared 4.6 billion years ago. The combined mass of this galaxy cluster acts as a gravitational lens, magnifying much more distant galaxies behind it. Webb’s NIRCam has brought those distant galaxies into sharp focus – they have tiny, faint structures that have never been seen before, including star clusters and diffuse features.
The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the importance of public health measures aimed at controlling the transmission of communicable diseases. Air travel can play a role in quickly spreading communicable diseases across the world and throughout communities. Given this potential, contact tracing for air passengers is an important measure for protecting public health. GAO was asked to examine CDC's process for collecting and managing air passengers' contact information to facilitate contact tracing. This report addresses: (1) the factors that affect CDC's ability to collect this information, (2) recent actions CDC has taken to improve the quality of the information it collects, and (3) how effectively it collects and manages this information.
“I am deeply honored to receive this award, not only because it aligns my work with legendary company, but because it also recognizes the difficulty and rigour of meeting America on the page, of appraising her as a lover would: clear-eyed, open-hearted, keen to empathize and connect,” Ward said. “This is our calling, and I am grateful for it.” One of the Library’s most prestigious awards, the annual Prize for American Fiction honors an American literary writer whose body of work is distinguished not only for its mastery of the art but also for its originality of thought and imagination. Ward is one of only six writers to receive the National Book Award more than once and the only woman and Black American to do so.
"The Administration has enhanced our collection, production, and analysis of data, and expanded electronic case reporting to all 50 states, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, and thousands of health care facilities. The CDC now tracks a range of key COVID-19 response metrics including cases, tests, vaccinations, and hospital admissions in real-time. Additionally, the CDC launched – and is continually enhancing – the National Wastewater Surveillance System (NWSS) to track the presence of SARS-COV-2 in wastewater samples collected across the country. And America has established a world-class sequencing operation, sequencing up to 90,000 isolates a week.
Total nonfarm payroll employment rose solidly in April and May, though the pace of increase was slower than in the first quarter, and the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.6 percent. The unemployment rates for African Americans and for Hispanics were little changed, on net, though both rates remained noticeably higher than the national average. On net, the labor force participation rate edged down between March and May, while the employment-to-population ratio was unchanged. The private-sector job openings rate, as measured by the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, edged lower in April but remained at a high level. Nominal wage growth remained elevated, with average hourly earnings having risen 5.2 percent over the 12 months ending in May, and the increases were widespread across industries. Consumer price inflation remained elevated. Total PCE price inflation was 6.3 percent over the 12 months ending in April, and core PCE price inflation, which excludes changes in consumer energy prices and many consumer food prices, was 4.9 percent over the same period.
Ferida Wolff writes: "May politics be put aside. Let’s see all Americans, regardless of our differences, as one people. And may we all enjoy the brilliance of light and color and connectedness in America."
Julia Sneden wrote: "Being outdoors on a humid North Carolina night amid fireworks and fireflies has become my favorite July Fourth memory. Oh, these days I am happy to watch the various displays on television, in air-conditioned comfort, but it can’t replace seeing my boys’ awed faces, or the sound of their “oohs” and “wows!” or the relaxed, casual feel of the impromptu crowd. It was Carl Schurz, a 19th century German immigrant who grew up to become a US Senator and later on was the Secretary of the Interior, who gave us the famous remark: 'My country, right or wrong: if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right.' "
JUNE 23, 2022: Former White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx testified before the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis about the Trump administration’s pandemic response. She repeated her claim that up to 130,000 deaths were preventable and explained that beginning in April of 2020, there were “parallel streams of data coming into the White House and parallel analyses that I was not privy to.” She named Dr. Scott Atlas, former White House Coronavirus Task Force adviser, as someone who gave former President Trump COVID-19 misinformation, which resulted in unnecessary deaths. Dr. Birx also addressed other issues regarding the Trump administration’s pandemic response, such as White House officials being preoccupied with the 2020 election, misguided data collection amid asymptomatic individuals, and some officials downplaying the pandemic. She also emphasized that too many deaths are still occurring. [*This text was compiled from uncorrected Closed Captioning.]
“The Supreme Court has eliminated an established right that has been an essential component of women’s liberty for half a century – a right that has safeguarded women’s ability to participate fully and equally in society. And in renouncing this fundamental right, which it had repeatedly recognized and reaffirmed, the Court has upended the doctrine of stare decisis, a key pillar of the rule of law." “The Justice Department strongly disagrees with the Court’s decision. This decision deals a devastating blow to reproductive freedom in the United States. It will have an immediate and irreversible impact on the lives of people across the country.
"The Internal Revenue Service announced today that more forms can now be amended electronically. These include people filing corrections to the Form 1040-NR, U.S. Nonresident Alien Income Tax Return and Forms 1040-SS, U.S. Self-Employment Tax Return (Including the Additional Child Tax Credit for Bona Fide Residents of Puerto Rico) and Forms 1040-PR, Self-Employment Tax Return – Puerto Rico." "Taxpayers can also amend their return electronically if there is change to their filing status or to add a dependent who was previously claimed on another return."
DPS Director Steve McCraw on Uvalde shooting and police response: " I don't believe, based on the information that we have right now, that that door was ever secured," Mr. McGraw said. "There's no way to lock the door from the inside. And there's no way for the subject to lock the door from the inside." "I challenge this chief to testify in public."Why didn’t someone try to a least check the door handle to make sure it was locked?"
"Survivors and experts highlighted the offline impact of online abuse, ranging from psychological distress and additional negative health impacts, to self-censorship, disruptions to education and economic loss, as well as experiences of other forms of physical and sexual violence. Participants noted that online harassment and abuse disproportionately impacts women, girls – especially women and girls of color – and LGBTQI+ individuals. Participants also provided concrete recommendations to prevent and respond to online harms."
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