The Greene County Democrat

Category: Newswire

  • Newswire : Black leaders call out big insurance over surprise medical billing

    By Hazel Trice Edney

    Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, CEO -NNPA

    (TriceEdneyWire.com) – Prominent figures in the African-American community are calling on Congress to rein in large insurance companies as lawmakers look to address an increasingly urgent problem in the health care market that falls especially hard on working families, including African-Americans.
    The problem is known as surprise medical billing, a situation that occurs when a patient is hospitalized and then receives a hefty bill from a doctor who turns out to be outside of his or her insurer’s network.
    The practice is costing American patients tens of millions of dollars in unforeseen medical fees, at a time when many are already burdened by higher premiums and rising co-payments. Nearly half of Americans say they have avoided going to the doctor despite being sick or injured for financial reasons.
    Eliminating surprise billing has long been a priority for leaders of both parties. But it is now emerging as a key issue in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, as candidates and other leading Democrats make the case around the country for broader health care reform. Former Vice President Joe Biden invoked the need to end surprise billing in his victory speech on Super Tuesday.
    As the issue comes into greater focus, prominent African-American leaders are urging candidates and lawmakers to find a solution that holds health insurers accountable for limited coverage networks and inadequate access to health insurance for minority communities – two forces, they say, that have helped create the surprise billing problem.
    Addressing a group of Black ministers in South Carolina recently, Reverend Al Sharpton said solving health care issues disproportionately impacting communities of color must be atop the progressive agenda. Fixing the problem of surprise billing, Sharpton said, needs to go hand in hand with better protection of uninsured and underinsured populations.
    Sharpton, who heads the National Action Network, an influential civil rights organization with roots in Harlem and chapters throughout the country, warned about a proposed bill in Congress that would potentially deepen the problem of costs being passed onto patients by giving insurers even more control over the prices they pay out-of-network doctors working in emergency hospital settings.
    He said the proposed bill must be defeated because it fails to protect the underinsured and the uninsured. Dealing these specific policies that affect the disadvantaged is what is necessary in the 2020 election, Sharpton said in a recent speech at the Missionary Baptist Church in North Charleston, S.C., according to the Post and Courier.
    Sharpton referred to a current bill before Congress aimed at addressing a practice known as “surprise billing,” which leaves patients on the hook for medical expenses even if they have insurance. The legislation needs to be defeated and replaced with something that would protect the underinsured and those with no insurance at all, he said,
    describing it as one of those “issues that’s for the good of the people.”
    Dr. Benjamin Chavis, President and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association and former Executive Director of the NAACP, directed even sharper criticism at insurance companies. In a piece published by Black Press USA, Chavis  derided insurance executives for putting profits above patients.
    “This outrageous situation benefits one group and one group alone: powerful insurance executives, who have managed to get off the financial hook for such bills, even as insurers shrink insurance coverage networks to wring more and more profits out of the system,” Chavis wrote.
    Chavis expressed strong opposition to any legislation that would give insurers more control over health care prices.
    Experts say surprise medical billing is most common after emergency treatment on nonsurgical hospital visits, when doctors and specialists often work together in teams to provide the care patients need. For example, in the case of an emergency procedure, a patient’s primary surgeon might be in her insurance network, but other clinicians who assist the surgeon, such as the anesthesiologist, might be out of network. In certain instances, the patients are left to foot the bill for out-of-network services.
    Doctors have said that years of harmful cost-cutting measures taken by insurers are to blame. Many patients have been unwittingly pushed into highly restricted and increasingly narrow coverage networks, they say, leaving them with unanticipated costs insurers refuse to cover in full or at all. Doctors say insurance companies should be required to pay fair out-of-network rates, as determined by an independent arbitrator, for emergency care.
    Insurers vehemently oppose that approach, instead calling for new rules that would enable them
    to limit how much they pay for emergency care provided by physicians who do not contract with them. They favor a system in which they would automatically pay median in-network rates for out-of-network services.
    The dispute between doctors and insurers reached a boiling point last year, when it appeared that insurers were going to get their way. A bill modeled on legislation passed in California in 2016 would have put in place the type of benchmarking system insurance companies want.
    Doctors and hospitals, for their part, raised concerns about ceding too much power to insurers to control rates. If only required to pay median in-network rates for out-of-network emergency services, the doctors and hospitals said, insurers could artificially drive down those rates by further restricting coverage networks.
    Apparently, those concerns were shared by at least some members of Congress. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is reported to have expressed serious concerns in private, saying “we are not going to give a handout to big insurance companies.” The bill was ultimately defeated.
    Now, as Congress returns to the issue early into the 2020 legislative session, it appears as though the debate could be layered into a larger conversation among progressives about the future of the nation’s health care system.
    The insistence of influential Black leaders that surprise bills are a symptom of a coverage accessibility problem for communities of color seems to open up a new front for Democrats looking to curtail the power of major insurance companies.

  • Newswire: Pickens County Medical Center in Carrollton closes March 6, 2020

    A rural community hospital in west Alabama is being forced to close this week, less than a year after administrators warned they were struggling to make ends meet.
    Pickens County Medical Center in Carrollton closed this past Friday, according to a press release that cited reduced federal funding, lower reimbursement from private payers, a high percentage of uninsured patients as well as too few patients and physicians.
    “Health Care Authority officials have worked diligently to explore every option for keeping the hospital open, but the hospital’s financial condition has become unsustainable. As a result, closure can no longer be avoided,” the release said.
    Existing patients were discharged or relocated by Friday.
    Administrators warned in May that declining numbers of patients and doctors had made the 56-bed facility vulnerable to closure. The hospital employed 156 workers when it opened in 1979, which was down to 118 last year.
    At one time, there were nine primary physicians who worked out of the hospital, which had dropped to just four in May.
    The shutdown is only the latest in a wave of hospital closings nationwide. The Alabama Hospital Association said 17 privately run hospitals have closed in the state over the last decade, and only one of those reopened.
    A new report by the Chartis Center for Rural Health said 2019 was the worst year for rural hospital closures this decade, with 19 closures nationwide marking a record high for a 12-month period.
    “Our analysis shows that hospitals located in states that have not adopted Medicaid expansion have lower median operating margin and have a higher percentage of rural hospitals operating with a negative operating margin,” the report by University of North Carolina researchers said.
    “The closure of Pickens County Medical Center is symptomatic of a tragic national trend,” the press release said. “Over the last 10 years, over 120 rural hospitals have closed across our nation.”
    “We appreciate the opportunity to have been of service for so many years to the citizens of our community. We are working with state and federal regulators on our closure plan and will coordinate with other medical providers to assist our patients with a smooth transition.
    “We wish to commend our dedicated staff members for their service to the hospital and the community. For our staff members, we will be working with other employers to facilitate access to potential employment opportunities.

  • Newswire: Black voters bring landslide for Biden on Super Tuesday

    By Hamil R. Harris

    Joe Biden


    (TriceEdneyWire.com) – African-Americans across the South went to the polls on Super Tuesday and gave former Vice-President Joe Biden front runner status in what is now a two man race between him and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
    “Just a few days ago, the press and the pundits had declared the campaign dead, and then came South Carolina and they had something to say about it. We were told “Well, when you got to Super Tuesday, it would be over.” Well, it may be over for the other guy. Tell that to the folks in Virginia, North Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Minnesota, and maybe even Massachusetts.”
    By daybreak Biden would win in Texas and loose California, but by Wednesday afternoon Elizabeth Warren, who was once a front runner, and Michael Bloomberg would be out of the race joining South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, billionaire Tom Steyer and Senator Amy Klobuchar. Though Warren and Steyer have not endorsed yet, Bloomberg, Buttigieg, and Klobuchar all endorsed Biden as well as former candidate Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), joining the powerful voice of U. S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, whose endorsement prompted a landslide for Biden in South Carolina. 
    But the war for delegates continues. On Sunday, two days before the all important Michigan primary, Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. endorsed Bernie Sanders for President and in a tweet Jackson wrote, “We look to our youth for energy, expansion and inclusion which leads to growth. The youth that come to these rallies represent hope, healing and promise for our nation. It’s a joy to ‘feel the Bern’ with Bernie. Keep hope alive!”
    Prominent voices in the Black community are encouraging African-Americans to go to the polls in record numbers as the contests continue across the nation as Biden and Sanders make their cases.
    “This was a tremendously important event. Presidential campaigns spoke directly to African-Americans about how they would improve our quality of life, create racial equity and provide opportunities for our communities to succeed,” said Dr. Charles Steele, Jr. the President and CEO of the SCLC which hosted a forum in South Carolina. 
    Trey Baker, director of African-American Engagement for Vice President Biden, told the audience that, as president, Biden would aggressively use executive orders to counter policies and practices enacted by President Trump.
    Noting that Biden would “protect the absolute right to vote,’’ Baker said Biden would “turn back some of the damage that Donald Trump has done to our government, to our bureaucracy and to the Constitution. He will do this through executive orders.”
    Moreover, Baker said that Biden’s history demonstrates that he gets things done. “People are confused,” he said. “Being progressive isn’t so much about being liberal; being progressive is getting things done.’’
    Baker took direct aim at the 2010 Citizens United Supreme Court decision determining that during elections, government cannot restrict independent expenditures by corporations, associations, nonprofits and labor unions. “What Citizens United did was bring all this flow of money into campaigns,” said Baker, adding that Biden would seek a Constitutional Amendment to overturn the ruling.
    The African-American vote will be critical in the 2020 race.
    On March 10th voters in six states were set to go to the polls to elect 406 delegates. Those states included Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Idaho and Washington state. Michigan is the biggest prize with 125 delegates.
    Biden currently has 664 delegates, Sanders has 573 delegates. In order to secure the Democratic nomination the candidate must have 1,979 delegates.
    For context, there are 3,979 pledged delegates in the Democratic contest, and 1,499 will have been allotted after Super Tuesday, with 2,480 remaining.
    Both Biden and Sanders still have a ways to go.
    Of the 4,765 total Democratic delegates, 714 (approximately 15 percent) are superdelegates, which are mostly Democratic members of Congress, governors, former presidents, and other party leaders and elected officials. In 2018, Democratic party officials changed the rules that prevent superdelegates from voting on the first ballot unless neither candidate had enough votes.
    Though Sanders won Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and California, he said, “Of course I am disappointed” after Biden swept Super Tuesday. But he and his dedicated followers are fighting on and anything is possible.
     

  • Newswire : Rev. Jesse Jackson endorses Bernie Sanders for President

    By Annie Grayer and Devan Cole, CNN

    Rev. Jesse Jackson with Bernie Sanders at rally; Bernie Sanders consults Rev. Jackson
    Civil rights leader and former presidential candidate Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. on Sunday endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders for the Democratic presidential nomination.
    “With the exception of Native Americans, African Americans are the people who are most behind socially and economically in the United States and our needs are not moderate. A people far behind cannot catch up choosing the most moderate path. The most progressive social and economic path gives us the best chance to catch up and Senator Bernie Sanders represents the most progressive path. That’s why I choose to endorse him today,” Jackson said in a statement.
    “The Biden campaign has not reached out to me or asked for my support,” he added. “The Sanders campaign has, and they responded to the issues I raised.”
    The Sanders campaign said Jackson plans to speak alongside the senator at an event in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Sunday. The state will hold its Democratic primary on Tuesday — a key state for both former Vice President Joe Biden and the Vermont senator.
    Jackson, a longtime civil rights leader and clergyman, launched campaigns for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1983 and 1987. He won Michigan during his presidential bid in 1988 when it was still a caucus.
    In an interview Sunday with CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union,” Sanders said he’s “proud” of the endorsement, and lauded Jackson as “one of the great civil rights leaders in our country.”
    “What Rev. Jackson understands is that we have to move aggressively to wipe out all forms of racism in this country and we need an economic agenda that speaks to the needs of working people, not just the billionaire class,” he said. “I think with Rev. Jackson — I think we got a real boost in our campaign.”
    Jackson said the Sanders campaign made a series of commitments to him, including the senator pushing for a right to vote constitutional amendment in Congress, supporting a wealth tax and allocating $50 billion to historically black colleges and universities. He also said Sanders committed to nominating an African American woman to the Supreme Court and endorsing a two-state solution in the Middle East.
    Additionally, Jackson also cited Sanders’ support for a single-payer health care plan as a key factor for his endorsement.
    The relationship between Sanders and Jackson dates back to 1988 when then-Burlington Mayor Bernie Sanders endorsed Jesse Jackson for president at the Burlington Democratic presidential caucus.
    Sanders, in a five minute speech at the time, praised Jackson as “a candidate for president who has done more than any other candidate in living memory to bring together the disenfranchised,” “a candidate who is creating a historic coalition, of working people, of poor people, of women, of minorities, of students, of farmers, of peace advocates, of environmentalists” and “a man who has waged the most courageous and exciting political campaign in the modern history of our nation.”
    Sanders still talks about his support for Jackson’s 1988 presidential bid on the campaign trail.
    “I am proud to tell you that in 1988, a long time ago, I was one of the few white elected officials I was mayor of the city of Burlington who endorsed Jessie Jackson, who brought him to Vermont and we won Vermont for Jessie Jackson,” Sanders told the crowd late last month at the National Action Network ministers breakfast in North Charleston.
    “I think Jesse Jackson has never gotten his full due,” Sanders said on The Nation podcast “Next Left” in November, calling Jackson “absolutely” an inspiration.

  • Newswire: African students trapped in China as home countries deny re-entry

    African students in China

    Mar. 2, 2020 (GIN) – The coronavirus is spreading fast beyond its China borders, with cases now rising in parts of Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
    Some 90,000 people have been infected in over 65 countries and 3,000 worldwide have died of Covid-19.
    As soon as the virus emerged, the World Health Organization named thirteen countries in Africa (Algeria, Angola, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia) at greatest risk of acquiring the virus, due to established direct links or frequent travel to and from China.
    Yet few active cases have been reported in sub-Saharan Africa so far. “This is the question that everyone is asking,” said Amadou Alpha Sall, head of the Pasteur Institute in Dakar, Senegal. “Whether it’s a matter of faulty detection, climatic factors or simple fluke, the remarkably low rate of coronavirus infection in African countries, with their fragile health systems, continues to puzzle — and worry.”
    Thumbi Ndung’u, director of a Durban-based research centre, SANTHE, said: “I don’t think anybody knows why Africa appears to be unscathed, possibly because there isn’t much travel to that particular part of China from Africa – back and forth.
    Yet according to Quartz Africa, some 4,600 African students may be unwilling exiles, unable to return home from China for fear of contagion. Countries keeping nationals abroad include Ghana, Uganda, and Kenya. Ghana has no plans yet to repatriate its nationals. The National Union of Ghana Students called for the immediate evacuation of Ghanaians in Wuhan.
    Uganda has reportedly denied repatriation to an estimated 67 Ugandan students in Wuhan.
    Last week, dozens of African students staged a silent protest at Wuhan University of Science and Technology holding signs saying please, please, please bring us home. In Nigeria, local TV ran a video plea from an unnamed Nigerian student.
    Hundreds of Kenyans are stuck in China. Foreign affairs secretary Macharia Kamau says that students are “safe where they are.” Kenya has only 1 doctor per 5,000 citizens and spends only 4.7 of its GDP on healthcare – well below the global average.
    South Africa will be the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to evacuate its citizens from China and affected areas.
    Kopo Oromeng, a Botswana student at the University of Delaware started a Change.org petition to “Evacuate African Students from Wuhan, Hubei” “What does the AU stand for, if it cannot stand for the lives of black young students at a time of need?
    “Our African students in Wuhan do not deserve to be stranded for so long. We are their voice in this tragedy,” commented a signee.

  • Newswire : Surgeon general urges Americans not to buy surgical masks; status of coronavirus in Alabama

    by BlackmansStreet.Today

    Surgeon General Jerome Adams

    U.S. Surgeon General Jerome M. Adams is urging Americans to stop buying disposable surgical masks because they are not effective in preventing the spread of the coronavirus.
    And because of the growing demand for the masks, prices are rising and there is concern about a possible shortage of the masks for healthcare workers which would put them at risk.
    “Not having a mask does not necessarily put you at the risk of contracting the disease,” Adams wrote on Twitter. He explained that preventive measures like staying home when you are sick and washing your hands with soap and water can prevent the spread of disease.
    The demand for masks has caused a surge in prices at Amazon and eBay. He wrote in his twitter post “Seriously people—STOP BUYING MASKS!”
    As of February 28, more than 83,000 cases of coronavirus have been in confirmed in over 50 countries, of which 8,000 were classified as serious. The Louvre, one of the world’s premiere art museums, closed Sunday and Monday after employees expressed concern about the coronavirus. One hundred and thirty people have been affected by coronavirus and two have died.
    At least 2,800 deaths have been attributed to the disease, surpassing that of the 2003 SARS outbreak. More than 36,000 people have since recovered, according to the World Health Organization.
    Status of Coronavirus in Alabama
    Since mid-January, the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) has worked with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to learn, prepare and provide the most up-to-date information about the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Travelers, including college students, business travelers, tourists and airline employees, are returning to Alabama from countries where the disease is widespread. ADPH has monitored more than 100 people returning from China and there are no positive cases of COVID-19.
    As a clearer picture is emerging, ADPH advises the general public that the best way to avoid infection is to wash your hands frequently, avoid touching your face, cover coughs and sneezes, stay home when you are ill, and practice social distancing strategies such as staying 6 feet apart from other individuals. Flu shots are recommended for those who have not had one this season to allow for earlier identification and limit confusion as to whether COVID-19 or the flu. This will also hopefully free up resources for use if a COVID-19 outbreak occurs.
    In addition, ADPH is asking that all universities and colleges implement their plans to mitigate and control the spread of disease on their campuses. The CDC has recommended that institutions of higher education consider postponing or cancelling upcoming student foreign exchange programs and is asking current program participants to return to their home country.

  • Newswire: Congress passes historic Anti-Lynching legislation

    By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior Correspondent
    @StacyBrownMedia

    Lynching in a small Southern town


    Sixty-five years after the horrific lynching of teenager Emmett Till, the U.S. House of Representatives have finally passed H.R. 35, the Emmett Till Anti-lynching Act. The legislation would make lynching a crime under federal law.
    “Today, under the leadership of Representative Bobby Rush (IL-01), and three other Members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), the House of Representatives finally passed legislation to address the heinous act of lynching by making it a federal crime. The first bill to outlaw lynching was introduced in 1900,” members of the Congressional Black Caucus wrote in a statement.
    “Lynching was a brutal, violent, and often savage public spectacle. They were advertised in newspapers, memorialized in postcards, and souvenirs were made from the victims’ remains,” the CBC, which is chaired by Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif), added.
    A 1930 editorial in Raleigh News and Observer noted the delight of the audience witnessing a lynching as “Men joked loudly at the sight of the bleeding body; girls giggled as the flies fed on the blood that dripped from the Negro’s nose.”
    “Make no mistake: lynching is domestic terrorism. It is a tool that was used during the 256 years of slavery to terrorize enslaved African Americans and discourage them from rebelling,” Bass said.
    “It was used for almost 100 years after the end of slavery to terrorize free African Americans and discourage them from exercising their rights as citizens. Even today, we hear reports of nooses being left on college campuses and workplaces to threaten and harass Black people,” she stated.
    Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ), Kamala Harris (D-CA), and Tim Scott (R-SC) applauded the passage of the bill, which is identical to anti-lynching legislation the three introduced in the Senate last year.
    That legislation unanimously passed the Senate. “Today brings us one step closer to finally reconciling a dark chapter in our nation’s history,” Booker stated in a release. “Lynchings were used to terrorize, marginalize, and oppress black communities – to kill human beings to sow fear and keep black communities in a perpetual state of racial subjugation.”
    He continued:
    “If we do not reckon with this dark past, we cannot move forward. But today we are moving forward. Thanks to the leadership of Rep. Rush, the House has sent a clear, indisputable message that lynching will not be tolerated. It has brought us closer to reckoning with our nation’s history of racialized violence. Now the Senate must again pass this bill to ensure that it finally becomes law.”
    Harris called lynchings racially-motivated acts of violence and terror that represent a dark and despicable chapter of our nation’s history. “They were acts against people who should have received justice but did not. With this bill, we can change that by explicitly criminalizing lynching under federal law,” noted Harris, who suspended her presidential campaign late last year.
    “I applaud Congressman Rush and the House of Representatives for speaking the truth about our past and making it clear that these acts must never happen again without serious and swift consequence and accountability. I urge my colleagues in the Senate to support this bill’s passage,” she said.
    Scott added that it’s essential to show that hate will not win while Rush compared lynching to the French use of the guillotine, the Roman Empire’s use of crucifixion, and the British use of drawing and quartering as a tool of terrorism.
    “And, for too long now, a federal law against lynching has remained conspicuously silent,” Rush noted. “Today, we will send a strong message that violence – and race-based violence, in particular – has no place in American society. I am immensely grateful to Senators Harris, Booker, and Scott for working with my office on this landmark piece of legislation, and I look forward to it being quickly passed in the Senate and immediately sent to the President to be signed into law.”
    Bass said the last known lynching was as recent as 25 years ago and only then, for the first time in the nation’s history, was the perpetrator convicted and executed. “This is an awful part of our history, but it is our history – our American history – and it is important for us to all know and remember it, especially now that we are facing a resurgence of hate crimes in America under the presidency of Donald J. Trump,” Bass stated.
    “Now there is the National Memorial for Peace and Justice to document the known history of lynching and the many reasons why Black people were lynched, such as for making eye contact with a white person, not moving to the other side of the street, or spitting in public,” she said.
    Further, Bass added that the bill makes “a long-overdue change to our laws by finally addressing the issue of lynching for the thousands of African Americans who suffered this heinous fate and the countless more we’ll never know.”

  • Newswire : Kenya makes risky bet on pesticides to exterminate locust swarm

    Locust swarm in Africa

    Feb. 24, 2020 (GIN) – Desperate East African governments are weighing their options as farmers beg for the most deadly agro-chemicals in a last ditch effort against swarms of desert locusts which have already begun to eat into thousands of acres of pasture and farmland.
    “This is the best time to kill them,” said Mehari Tesfayohannes Ghebre, Information and Forecasting Officer for the Desert Locust Control Organization in East Africa. After Somalia, Ethiopia, and Kenya, swarms are now reaching Uganda, Tanzania, and southern Sudan, while billions of eggs are maturing, promising the arrival of a devastating second wave.
    The pro-pesticide voices have already taken hold in three counties in Kenya – Wajir, Samburu and Marsabit – where the government has launched a large-scale spraying operation.
    The Kenyan government set aside 200 million Kenyan shillings to combat the invasion, but its response was delayed for several weeks due to a lack of adequate pesticides and an insufficient number of spraying planes. This enabled the swarms to spread throughout the country. The pesticides used are numerous: fenitrothion, chlorpyrifos, fipronil, deltamethrin, diflubenzuron, teflubenzuron, triflumuron.
    “With locusts, because they come in swarms of millions, we are supposed to use a ‘blanket’ of chemicals to stop them,” said Timothy Munywoki, senior agronomist with Amiran Kenya Ltd, a major horticultural agribusiness in Kenya, who advocates the use of microencapsulated pesticides to limit the spread of these toxic products.
    There is, however, debate in Kenya about this solution. “These products don’t only affect locusts, they kill ‘useful’ insects, such as bees and beetles,” says Munywoki. And without bees, there is no pollination, so no fruit.
    The massive use of pesticides may unbalance the ecosystem and create a vicious cycle.
    “If you kill the ‘beneficial’ insects that feed on other ‘harmful’ insects, it means that you will have to continue spraying chemicals to chase them away,” warned Munywoki.
    The Department of Agriculture says all the tests have been done and the products are safe for humans and animals.
    Meanwhile, Somalia is planning to control the locusts with biopesticides – a fungus which produces a toxin that kills only locusts and related grasshoppers. Since the last major locust outbreak in Africa in 2003–05, researchers have been able to make the biopesticide cheaper, more effective, longer lasting in the desert, and easier to store.
    “Large-scale use to control an invasion of desert locusts would be a first,” says Michel Lecoq, a retired entomologist who worked on locust control. “If successful, it will be a big step forward.”
    The moment is crucial, because the next generation of locusts is now maturing and could devastate crops planted at the end of March. “We have a short window of opportunity to act,” Dominique Burgeon, director of emergencies at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the U.N. said at a briefing Monday in New York City.

  • Newswire : Katherine Johnson, a pioneering NASA mathematician featured in “Hidden Figures,” dies at 101

    By Lauren Victoria Burke, NNPA Newswire Contributor

    Katherine Johnson receiving Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama in 2015


    Katherine Johnson, the legendary NASA physicist and mathematician whose work played a key role in the early successes of the U.S. space program, passed away at 101 years old on the morning of February 24 in Newport News, Va. Johnson played a pivotal role in helping the U.S. land men on the moon during the space race in the 1960s and was portrayed by actress Taraji P. Henson in the 2017 film “Hidden Figures.” The book based on the film by the same name was written by Margot Lee Shetterly.
    With little more than a pencil and a slide rule Johnson calculated the exact trajectories for Apollo 11 to land on the moon in 1969. The lives of three brilliant African American women were featured in the book and subsequent film. They were Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, who passed in 2008, and Mary Jackson who passed in 2005. Vaughan and Jackson were from Hampton, Va. and Johnson was from West Virginia. Johnson graduated from West Virginia State University and West Virginia University.
    Johnson was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal on November 8, 2019, after House Science Committee Chairwoman Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson’s passed legislation to honor her.
    “We’re saddened by the passing of celebrated #HiddenFigures mathematician Katherine Johnson. Today, we celebrate her 101 years of life and honor her legacy of excellence that broke down racial and social barriers,” tweeted NASA after news of Johnson’s passing.
    In September 1960 mathematician Katherine Johnson published NASA’s first scientific paper to name a woman as author. Johnson’s trajectory calculations were vital to the US space missions.
    “There were no textbooks, so we had to write them,” Johnson said.
    “It is with deep sadness that I learned of the passing of Katherine Johnson, a truly brilliant mathematician and pioneer. She broke down barriers as one of the few African-American women mathematicians working at the Flight Dynamics and Control Division at NASA Langley,” wrote Congressman Bobby Scott who represents Newport News, Va.
    “Her work helped put the first Americans in space and send the Apollo 11 astronauts to the moon, thereby helping the United States win the Space Race. While I knew Katherine Johnson and her family personally for many years, like so many Americans I never fully appreciated the work that she, Dorothy Vaughn, Mary Jackson, Christine Darden and the many other African American women at NASA trailblazed for so many until their untold story was revealed in Hidden Figures. Mrs. Johnson was a true American hero, and we were so proud to have her call Hampton Roads home. I want to send my deepest condolences to her family and friends, and to everyone who was inspired by her remarkable life and work,” Rep. Scott added.
    “Today we mourn the loss of an American hero and a pioneer for women and African Americans in STEM fields. Katherine Johnson played a pivotal role in the outcome of the space race during her 35-year career at NASA and its predecessor, NACA. Without her accomplishments and those of her fellow Hidden Figures, which went largely unrecognized until the last decade, the outcome of the Space Race may have been quite different. Her achievements and impacts on our country are great, and her loss will be felt by many. I send my heartfelt condolences to her loved ones and colleagues,” NASA said in a statement.
    “We’ve lost an icon and brilliant mathematician with the passing of Katherine Johnson. A barrier breaker and inspiration for women of color everywhere, Katherine’s legendary work with NASA will forever leave a mark on our history. My heart goes out to her family and loved ones,” said Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA)

  • Newswire: White House budget proposal cuts $8.6 Billion from HUD

    Programs serving low-and-moderate income consumers to end or suffer severe cuts

    By Charlene Crowell

    (TriceEdneyWire.com) – Once again, the White House Budget Proposal slashes funding and programs that many low-and-moderate income consumers rely upon.
    From higher education to a repeated attack to deny the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau its full funding and financial independence from the annual congressional appropriations process, efforts to increase support to businesses continue while retreats from programs that citizens have come to rely upon is the crux of the proposal’s fiscal priorities.
    And among federal agencies, one of the most severe budget cuts would occur at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). A proposed 15% reduction from current funding levels will mean $8.6 billion would either eliminate or severely cut programs serving many of the nation’s most vulnerable citizens and communities.
    “This Budget advances our key priorities, including empowering HUD-assisted families to achieve self-sufficiency,” HUD Secretary Ben Carson said. “For generations, the idea of the federal government providing housing assistance meant only one thing—helping to pay the rent so families can have a roof over their heads.”
    Housing experts have a different perspective.
    “With this proposal, President Trump and Secretary Carson make clear their willingness to increase evictions and homelessness – through rent hikes for some of the lowest income people in subsidized housing, and slashing or eliminating funding for programs that keep the poorest people in our country affordably and safely housed,” said Diane Yentel, President and CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
    For example, Public Housing’s Capital Improvement Fund that provides revenues for major repairs, would end, while the Public Housing Operating Fund would be slashed 21%. Together, these two cuts would worsen housing conditions for the estimated 1.2 million households living in public housing units, managed by some 3,300 local Housing Authorities across the country.
    The biggest portion of the HUD cuts would end the $3.3 billion Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program that uses a formula to support over 1,200 metropolitan city, county and state governments. An additional 214 counties receive direct CDBG grants.
    Begun in 1974, CDBG has earned longstanding bipartisan praise for its ability to lure much-needed private investment. According to the National Association of Counties, every CDBG dollar leverages $4.09 in non-CDBG revenues. Further, it is one of the few federal programs that enable local communities to design community development services that respond to local priorities and needs.
    Other HUD programs proposed to end include: Choice Neighborhoods Initiatives, Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing Vouchers, Self-Help Homeownership Opportunity, and Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA).
    Although HUD would not shutter its Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity efforts, its capacity to pursue equal housing would be cut 7% in FY2020. Tenant-based Rental Assistance would also have 21% fewer renewed contracts.
    Even before the February 10 budget proposal’s release, Lisa Rice, President and CEO of the National Fair Housing Alliance sounded an alarm on the heels of HUD’s announcement to abandon its rule promulgated during the Obama Administration, Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH).
    “Access to fair housing determines where we live, which in turn determines the quality of education and health services our children have access to, among other resources. That’s why HUD’s proposed AFFH rule is so troubling,” said Rice. “By seeking to dismantle the 2015 requirements put in place specifically to address discrimination and segregation, HUD’s plan could negatively impact the lives of millions of children.”
    Nikitra Bailey, an EVP with the Center for Responsible Lending also spoke out about HUD’s troubling actions against fair housing.
    “The 2015 AFFH rule was designed to address the impact of residential segregation and the harmful inequities that result from the discrimination behind it. Discrimination in housing is not a thing of the past, it is ongoing and real,” noted Bailey. “[L]ow-income communities and communities of color now more than ever need the government to provide them with critical tools to combat discrimination in housing and the insidious harms that result. Instead we’ve seen HUD, under the current Administration, do the opposite.”
    Hannah Matthews, Deputy Executive Director for Policy with the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP), a national, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization advancing policy solutions for low-income people pointedly summarized the budget proposal.
    “The roadmap laid out in the administration’s budget proposal is not a viable path forward, said Matthews. “Instead, we need a federal budget that invests in America’s future. We need investments that reduce poverty, promote economic opportunity, and reduce racial and ethnic disparities.”
    Charlene Crowell is the deputy communications director with the Center for Responsible Lending. She can be reached at charlene.crowell@responsiblelending.org.