November 29, 2022

Students, parents seek class-action lawsuit status against Oxford schools following mass shooting

(Detroit Metro Times) A law firm representing 19 students from Oxford High School is seeking class-action status to include every student in the district in a federal lawsuit claiming their constitutional rights to safety and education were violated.

The suit, originally filed in June, seeks to force policy changes at all schools in the Oxford Community School District that students and parents say are essential for a safe and effective learning environment. The lawsuit does not seek monetary damages.

Sophomore Ethan Crumbley, 16, pleaded guilty on Oct. 24 to murder and terrorism charges in connection with the shooting that killed four students and wounded seven others at Oxford High School. ...............(more)

https://www.metrotimes.com/news/students-parents-seek-class-action-lawsuit-status-against-oxford-schools-following-mass-shooting-31725203

November 29, 2022

Gov. Whitmer: 'Clear' Michigan lawmakers can improve seclusion and restraint laws

(Detroit Free Press) Gov. Gretchen Whitmer says Michigan should improve how it regulates the usage of a controversial tactic educators deployed nearly 94,000 times since lawmakers tried to tamp down on the maneuvers, frequently used on children with disabilities in a manner experts believe can cause lasting trauma.

Leading Democrats in the state House and Senate echoed the call, with one saying the findings of a recent Free Press investigation that showed educators rampantly secluding and restraining children in educational settings despite laws meant to reduce both practices indicates "the need to revisit the issue."

In a statement last week, Whitmer spokesman Bobby Leddy said the state can do more to curtail how adults use seclusion and restraint in educational settings.

“Former Lt. Governor (Brian) Calley made great strides to limit these practices, but it’s clear that there could be improvements to the law, which already prohibits seclusion and restraint except in emergency situations, to keep students, teachers, support staff, and education professionals safe. We are eager partners with anyone who wants to take proven steps to protect students," Leddy said in an emailed statement. ..............(more)

https://www.freep.com/story/news/politics/2022/11/29/whitmer-clear-michigan-can-improve-seclusion-and-restraint-laws/69682096007/

November 29, 2022

FL: Brightline closer to Broward, Miami-Dade commuter rail deals

The new year is shaping up as a pivotal period for daily commuters anxious to see the eventual buildout of local rail services in South Florida.

Last week, Tri-Rail announced that within a number of months, it is likely to start direct nonstop service from its north-south corridor west of Interstate 95 into downtown Miami.

And now, Brightline, which controls the rights for passenger service along the Florida East Coast Railway corridor, says it expects to reach written agreements with Broward and Miami-Dade counties within months.

Both counties, which are pursuing their own individual projects, envision the linkage of both so that commuters would have coordinated local service running between a point south of the New River in Fort Lauderdale into the MiamiCentral station in downtown Miami.

“We continue to advance projects with Miami-Dade and Broward counties to provide commuter service on our corridor, improving mobility access for local neighborhoods and acting as a feeder system to our higher speed intercity service,” Brightline said in a recent monthly financial report. .............(more)

https://www.masstransitmag.com/rail/news/21288237/fl-brightline-closer-to-broward-miamidade-commuter-rail-deals

November 29, 2022

Belfast doctor Michael Watt misdiagnosed 45% of cases, review into deaths finds

(Guardian UK) A review of the clinical records of 44 patients who died under the care of the disgraced former neurologist Michael Watt has found a misdiagnosis rate of 45%.

In 2018, more than 2,500 of Watt’s neurology patients in Northern Ireland, including children, were recalled for a case review.

An independent inquiry launched in 2018 found there were numerous failures, that opportunities were missed by the Belfast Health Trust to identify problems with the neurologist’s practice and that earlier intervention by the trust would have “made a difference”.

In October last year, Watt was removed from the medical register after he made a voluntary application – meaning allegations about his work could not be heard in a tribunal by the General Medical Council (GMC). ..........(more)

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/nov/29/belfast-doctor-michael-watt-misdiagnosed-cases-review

November 29, 2022

Without Abortion, Doctors in Texas Are Forced to Witness Horrible Outcomes

Without Abortion, Doctors in Texas Are Forced to Witness Horrible Outcomes
We’re supposed to be able to give patients choices on how to handle high-risk pregnancy complications. A new paper shows what happens when we can’t.

BY CHAVI EVE KARKOWSKY
NOV 28, 202211:45 AM


(Slate) Usually, articles in medical journals are about science; they bring data to their readers, who can use them to provide evidence-based care to their patients.

But sometimes, evidence is an expression of grief or even rage. A recent journal article, “Maternal Morbidity and Fetal Outcomes Among Pregnant Women at 22 Weeks’ Gestation or Less with Complications in 2 Texas Hospitals After Legislation on Abortion,” contains such evidence.

To understand this article, you need to know that any number of complications can threaten a pregnancy, such as rupture of the bag of water around the baby, preterm labor, or heavy bleeding. When those complications arise before 22 weeks of gestation— before the age of viability when a fetus can live outside of a uterus—the standard of medical care is to offer a patient termination of pregnancy as an option. Women who continue pregnancy in these situations take on significant risks to their own health, and because of the early gestation, the chance for a healthy baby is very, very low.

However, in September 2021, Texas adopted two measures, S.B. 4 and S.B. 8, which instituted punitive actions against anyone providing abortion. These laws took effect before the Supreme Court decision ended Roe v. Wade. And all of a sudden, termination of pregnancy became impossible in Texas unless and until there was an “immediate threat to maternal life.”

The journal article, published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, describes the experience of two large Texas hospitals over a period of eight months following that legislation. The authors, who care for patients at those hospitals, describe how their hospitals managed 28 women who presented at less than 22 weeks’ gestation with serious complications following the ban on abortion. ............(more)

https://slate.com/technology/2022/11/abortion-texas-roe-v-wade-data-maternal-morbidity.html

November 29, 2022

Republicans don't care that Trump's a white supremacist -- just that he's indiscreet about it

Republicans don't care that Trump's a white supremacist — just that he's indiscreet about it
Trump's dinner with Nick Fuentes won't morally outrage the GOP, but they are worried it will hurt them at the polls

By AMANDA MARCOTTE
Senior Writer
PUBLISHED NOVEMBER 29, 2022 6:00AM (EST)


(Salon) After seven years of Donald Trump being America's main character, we've developed a tedious routine to react to fresh reminders of Trump's sympathies for neo-Nazis and other fascists. First, Trump gaslights in response, pretending any racism is being projected onto him by the "fake news." Other Republicans run from reporters or play dumb about what's going on. GOP base voters, who either fully agree with Trump's racist views or don't care enough to hold it against him, dig in their heels and refuse to reconsider their cult-like worship of the former president. Eventually, the media realizes, once again, that having an overt white nationalist leading the GOP doesn't actually move the needle much for their horse race coverage, and so they too give up on the story — at least until the next dust-up, when we start the cycle all over again.

The latest reminder of Trump's racial views: He had dinner with Ye, formerly Kanye West (whom Vox dubs "a poster child for antisemitism and white nationalism&quot and Ye's new Holocaust-denying buddy Nick Fuentes. As I write this, we're in the middle of the process where Trump pretends it's an accident he keeps buddying up with people who espouse neo-Nazi ideologies. We're also going through the motions of the media expressing outrage at GOP silence, while Republicans lay low, knowing this too will pass.

But not all Republicans are keeping mum. Indeed, a surprising number of them are going on the record criticizing Trump about his dinner with a man who declared, during the racist riot in Charlottesville in 2017, "The rootless transnational elite knows that a tidal wave of white identity is coming." But these complaints about Trump are hardly evidence that the GOP leadership has developed a conscience and now rejects the racism that fuels Trump and his movement. On the contrary, this comes across loud and clear: GOP leaders don't care about Trump's moral depravity. They only care that his indiscretion huts their party's electoral chances.

"This is just another example of an awful lack of judgment from Donald Trump, which, combined with his past poor judgments, make him an untenable general election candidate for the Republican Party in 2024," former New Jersey governor Chris Christie told the New York Times. Christie suggested that Trump had Fuentes over because it "feeds the hunger he feels for the attention he's missing since he left the presidency."

....(snip)....

Still, it speaks volumes that the few GOP leaders willing to criticize Trump at all only do so by framing him as a threat to the GOP's future while ignoring the larger threat he poses to the nation. Republican voters may drape themselves in the flag and other symbols of patriotism, but this rhetoric shows their leaders believe they will put party before people every time. For Republicans, the issue is never that Trump stands against American values like equality or democracy. It's that his authoritarian, white supremacist views offend some number of Americans who might otherwise be inclined to vote for their party. In the end, GOP leaders send the message that the problem with Trump's overt racism is not that it's wrong or damaging, but that it's inconvenient to white conservatives. .............(more)

https://www.salon.com/2022/11/29/dont-care-that-a--just-that-hes-indiscreet-about-it/

November 29, 2022

Florida woman sues Kraft Heinz over microwave time for single-serving mac and cheese

A Florida woman has sued Kraft Heinz, which owns Velveeta, alleging that the company misled customers regarding the amount of time it takes to prepare a single-serving cup of macaroni and cheese.

According to a class-action lawsuit filed earlier this month, plaintiff Amanda Ramirez claims that she wouldn't have purchased Velveeta Shells & Cheese from the supermarket had she "known the truth" about the product. In the filing, Ramirez alleges that "the statement of 'ready in 3 1/2 minutes' [which is found on the product packaging] is false and misleading because the Product takes longer than 3-and-a-half minutes to prepare for consumption."

Ramirez claims the extra steps for which the packaging calls increase the total preparation time (though she didn't indicate by how much) to the point that she wouldn't have purchased the product had she known otherwise. These include removing the pouch of cheese powder, stirring in water and allowing the cheese sauce to thicken. ............(more)

https://www.salon.com/2022/11/28/florida-woman-sues-kraft-heinz-over-microwave-time-for-serving-mac-and-cheese/

November 28, 2022

Sheriff: Florida man breaks into home, uses bathtub, sleeps in bed, makes himself coffee

PENSACOLA, Fla. (CBS12) — A man settled into a rental home in Pensacola and proceeded to have a normal day — the catch — he broke in.

The Escambia County Sheriff's Office said 28-year-old Zachary Seth Murdock smashed a glass porch door and entered an unoccupied rental home in Avenida. Murdock used the bathtub, slept in the bedroom, made himself a nice cup of coffee in a mug.

Deputies said that wasn't all, Murdock left the coffee on the back porch while he filled the kitchen trash can with trash, including his bus ticket stub. ............(more)

https://cbs12.com/news/local/sheriff-florida-man-breaks-into-home-uses-bathtub-sleeps-in-bed-makes-himself-coffee-burglary-escambia-police-department-november-17-2022

November 28, 2022

Whole Foods decision to pull Maine lobster divides activists and politicians

(Guardian UK) Environmental groups are once again at loggerheads with leading politicians and fishing businesses in New England in the wake of a decision by the high-end US retail giant Whole Foods to stop selling Maine lobster.

Whole Foods recently said that it will stop selling lobster from the Gulf of Maine at hundreds of its stores around the country. The company cited decisions by a pair of sustainability organizations to take away their endorsements of the US lobster fishing industry.

The organizations, Marine Stewardship Council and Seafood Watch, both cited concerns about risks to rare North Atlantic right whales from fishing gear. Entanglement in gear is one of the biggest threats to the whales.

The decision by Whole Foods was an “important action to protect the highly endangered” whale, Virginia Carter, an associate with the Save America’s Wildlife Campaign at Environment America Research & Policy Center, told the Associated Press.

“With fewer than 340 North Atlantic right whales in existence, the species is swimming toward extinction unless things turn around,” Carter said. ...........(more)

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/nov/28/whole-foods-stops-selling-maine-lobster

November 28, 2022

FBI and DHS failing to address threat of domestic terrorism, according to new Senate report

(Salon) Anew investigation by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee into the rise of domestic terrorism has found that the federal government is failing to adequately address domestic terror attacks, which are predominantly perpetrated by white supremacists and anti-government extremists.

Although the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI have identified domestic terrorism, specifically white supremacist violence, as "the most persistent and lethal terrorist threat," the federal government has continued to allocate resources to focus on international terrorist threats instead, according to the report.

The 128-page report is the culmination of a three-year investigation, which relies on public testimony and interviews with federal law enforcement officials and executives from Meta (formerly Facebook), Twitter, YouTube and TikTok, as well as more than 2,000 "key documents" that offer insight into the most significant terror threats facing the U.S. ...........(more)

https://www.salon.com/2022/11/28/fbi-and-dhs-failing-to-address-of-domestic-terrorism-according-to-new-senate-report/