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Tuesday, May 30, 2023

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Florida faces lawsuits over its new election law, a medical board fines an Indiana doctor for speaking about a 10-year-old's abortion, and Minnesota advocates say threats to cut SNAP funds are off the mark.

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The White House and Speaker McCarthy gain support to pass their debt ceiling agreement, former President Donald Trump retakes the lead in a new GOP primary poll, and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is impeached.

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The growing number of "maternity care deserts" makes having a baby increasingly dangerous for rural Americans, a Colorado project is connecting neighbor to neighbor in an effort to help those suffering with mental health issues, and a school district in Maine is using teletherapy to tackle a similar challenge.

PA Officials Press for Action on Climate Change

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Thursday, November 4, 2021   

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Local leaders from Pennsylvania and across the country are pressing for decisive action in the fight against climate change, worldwide and at home.

The group, Elected Officials to Protect America (EOPA), urged world leaders gathered in Glasgow, Scotland, to see climate change as a national security issue.

Dr. Joel Hicks, member of the Carlisle City Council, professor of Energy and Public Policy at George Mason University and an EOPA member, said world leaders need to recognize drought and floods linked to climate change will cause economic hardship, which will spur migrations and make countries more vulnerable to manipulation by state and non-state-sponsored terrorism.

"Climate is going to be the main source of instability as we move forward," Hicks asserted. "With instability, there's an increased opportunity for nefarious forces to really take advantage of people's desperation."

EOPA has sent a contingent to the climate-change conference in Scotland this week. In addition, more than 320 local officials from across the U.S., including Hicks, have signed a letter asking President Joe Biden to declare a climate emergency.

The Build Back Better reconciliation bill would put $555 billion over ten years into programs to reduce carbon pollution and create jobs by promoting renewable energy, electric vehicles, EV infrastructure and energy efficiency.

Hicks argued it is a big step in the right direction.

"The policy embedded in that, it doesn't rise to the challenge," Hicks emphasized. "But it would still be the most significant thing probably in our history directing a substantial amount of funds to the problem."

Advocates estimate this past summer, one in three Americans suffered the effects of climate change, in the form of drought, wildfire, flooding or extreme storms.


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