Month: April 2022

On Thursday, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey declared a state of emergency in Coconino County due to the 20,000-acre Tunnel wildfire. The blaze started Sunday just north of Flagstaff and is 0% contained, according to the national wildfire clearinghouse website InciWeb. At least two dozen buildings have been destroyed and hundreds of homes near Flagstaff have been ordered to evacuate.  Fire crews are prioritizing residences, buildings and watersheds. The cause of the fire is still under investigation, according to InciWeb.

Governor Ducey said in a news release that the emergency declaration means officials can provide needed resources to impacted communities to “respond to and recover from the fire’s destruction. As strong winds fuel fires across Arizona, we are doing everything we can to keep Arizonans safe.”  He urged residents to “follow the guidance of fire officials, stay safe and respond to any evacuation notices. We will continue to monitor the situation and deploy additional resources as necessary.”

In addition, parts of the Coconino National Forest are also closed. The US Forest Service advised drivers to not take Forest Road 244A to avoid the closure of US 89, tweeting: “Maps are redirecting people around the fire using Forest Service roads, but those roads are UNSAFE and blocked off.”  The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality said gusty winds will continue overnight but the wind pattern will keep smoke away from Flagstaff.  They noted on their website: “As the next weather system approaches, gusty southwest winds of 25-35mph are forecast this afternoon. These winds may increase fire behavior and smoke production. Given the winds, smoke is forecast to stay low to the ground as it moves toward the northeast. The highest smoke impacts are forecast across the Navajo and Hopi reservations.”

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A federal judge on Thursday issued a temporary order blocking Kentucky’s new abortion law, which effectively outlaws the procedure in the state. U.S. District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings approved the temporary restraining order that stems from a lawsuit by Planned Parenthood, which challenged the legality of the law passed by the Kentucky General Assembly. The legislative body overrode Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear’s veto of the bill earlier this month. The bill bans the distribution of abortion pills by mail, tightens requirements for minors seeking abortions, and orders the creation of a system to register and monitor abortions.

Planned Parenthood is one of two abortion providers in Kentucky that said that they’ll have to shutter under the new law. EMW Women’s Surgical Center is the other provider, who filed its own lawsuit. Planned Parenthood said that while the Kentucky law doesn’t outright ban all abortions in the state, the restrictions would make it impossible for the two centers to comply it. Therefore, the law is “an unconstitutional ban on abortion in Kentucky.”

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/kentucky-abortion-law-blocked-win-clinics-84224370

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The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday appealed a federal judge’s ruling which rejected face mask mandates for passengers on public transportation. On Monday, U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle ruled in Tampa, Fla., that the mask mandate enacted more than a year ago is unconstitutional. The DOJ filed the appeal in a Florida district court following a recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”), which states that masking on transportation “remains necessary for the public health.”

Justice Department spokesman Anthony Coley said in a statement on Tuesday: “The Department continues to believe that the order requiring masking in the transportation corridor is a valid exercise of the authority Congress has given CDC to protect the public health. That is an important authority the Department will continue to work to preserve.”

Following the ruling on Monday, the CDC updated the guidance on its website to indicate agency “continues to recommend that people wear masks in indoor public transportation settings at this time.” New cases of COVID-19 have been ticking upward ater the last of the statewide indoor mask mandates was lifted on March 12. Philadelphia reinstated its mask mandate on Monday; and other areas of the U.S. are watching carefully to see if they will follow suit.

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Former President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign has been ordered to pay nearly $1.3 million in legal fees to former White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman by a New York court arbitrator. The award comes after Trump filed a complaint against Manigault Newman over her 2018 book, “Unhinged: An Insider’s Account of the Trump White House,” in which she called Trump a racist and suggested that he was in mental decline. Trump’s arbitration complaint against Manigault Newman alleged that she was in breach of a 2016 confidentiality agreement.

In September, arbitrator T. Andrew Brown ruled that the former president’s nondisclosure agreement with Manigault Newman was “unenforceable.” Brown said in the ruling that the terms of the nondisclosure agreement were “highly problematic” because it did not adhere to typical legal standards — describing it as “vague, indefinite, and therefore void and unenforceable.” In the decision on Tuesday, Brown said that Manigault Newman was “defending herself in a claim which was extensively litigated for more than three years, against an opponent who undoubtedly commanded far greater resources than did Respondent.”

Manigault Newman served as a liaison to the Black community during the 2016 presidential campaign, and her subsequent role as director of communications for the Office of Public Liaison made her the highest-ranking African American woman in the White House. Manigault Newman resigned from the position in December 2017, allegedly due to tension between her and then-Chief of Staff John Kelly.

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The Department of Justice announced that it would consider an appeal of the recent ruling that voided the federal mask mandate on public transit, if the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention deems it necessary.  The Justice Department said in a statement Tuesday: “The Department of Justice and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) disagree with the district court’s decision and will appeal, subject to CDC’s conclusion that the order remains necessary for public health. If CDC concludes that a mandatory order remains necessary for the public’s health after that assessment, the Department of Justice will appeal the district court’s decision.”  Though the federal government was expected to appeal the decision, neither President Joe Biden nor White House press secretary Jen Psaki indicated which way the DOJ was leaning until the announcement on Tuesday evening.

On Monday, a Florida judge struck down a federal mask mandate that applied to public transportation, effectively lifting the requirement on planes, trains and buses, as well as inside airports across the United States. In the ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Kathryn Mizelle said the mandate, established by the CDC, exceeds “statutory authority and violates the procedures required for agency rulemaking under the [Administrative Procedure Act].”  The judge’s decision was effective immediately.

Whether the CDC still thinks the mandate on public transit is an important public health tool remains to be seen.   Just last week, the agency extended the travel mask mandate until May 3 to monitor an uptick in cases from the BA.2 variant, a more transmissible strain of omicron. If the CDC does move to reimpose the mandate, it’s unclear whether action from the Justice Department at this point will lead to change before the mandate was set to expire.

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The Biden administration is launching a $6 billion effort to save nuclear power plants at risk of closing, citing the need to continue nuclear energy as a carbon-free source of power that helps to combat climate change. A certification and bidding process was opened Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Energy for a civil nuclear credit program that is intended to bail out financially distressed owners or operators of nuclear power reactors, making it the largest federal investment in saving financially distressed nuclear reactors.

Owners or operators of nuclear power reactors that are expected to shut down for economic reasons can apply for funding to avoid closing prematurely. The first round of awards will prioritize reactors that have already announced plans to close. The second round will be opened up to more economically at-risk facilities. The program was funded through President Biden’s $1 trillion infrastructure deal, which he signed into law in November.

Most US nuclear plants were built between 1970 and 1990; the only nuclear plant under construction in the United States is in Georgia. Shuttered reactors include Indian Point Energy Center in New York, Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Massachusetts, Fort Calhoun Nuclear Generating Station in Nebraska and Duane Arnold Energy Center in Iowa. New York officials sought the shutdown of Indian Point, saying the plant 24 miles north of Manhattan posed too great a risk to millions of people who live and work nearby.

There are 55 commercial nuclear power plants with 93 nuclear reactors in 28 US states.  If reactors do close before their licenses expire, fossil fuel plants will likely fill the void and emissions will increase, which would be a substantial setback

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