The Full Belmonte, 5/4/2023
1 dead, 4 hurt in shooting inside Atlanta medical facility
By JEFF AMY
Law enforcement officers arrive near the scene of an active shooter on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 in Atlanta. Atlanta police said there had been no additional shots fired since the initial shooting unfolded inside a building in a commercial area with many office towers and high-rise apartments. (AP Photo/Alex Slitz)
“ATLANTA (AP) — Police said a man opened fire inside the waiting room of an Atlanta medical facility, killing one woman and injuring four others Wednesday as authorities swarmed the city’s bustling midtown neighborhood in search of the 24-year-old suspect.
Shortly after noon, police were called to the Northside Medical building on West Peachtree Street in a commercial area filled with office towers and high-rise apartments.
Atlanta police said the suspected shooter is believed to be Deion Patterson and that he was considered armed and dangerous. Authorities released a photo of Patterson and asked anyone with information about his whereabouts to call 911 and not approach him.
Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum told reporters that a 39-year-old woman was pronounced dead at the scene. The four injured victims were also women, aged 25, 39, 56 and 71.
Those four ‘are fighting for their lives at Grady Hospital,’ Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said during a news conference.
Four hours after the shooting, police said they believed Patterson had left the area. They lifted a shelter-in-place advisory, but asked people to stay away from the area due to the active investigation.
’This is a very active search,’ Schierbaum said. ‘We’re following up on credible leads that are currently active in Cobb County, as well as some here in the city.’
Atlanta police said they are aware of a carjacking that happened not long after the shooting a few blocks away. They said the vehicle has been recovered in suburban Cobb County, and they were working to determine whether the vehicle was connected to the shooting.
Schierbaum added that Patterson’s family is “being cooperative” with investigators.
In a statement, the U.S. Coast Guard said Patterson had joined the service in 2018 and was discharged from active duty in January. He was an electrician’s mate second class at the time.
Crime Stoppers was offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to the arrest and indictment of the suspect.
The shooting comes as cities around the U.S. have been wracked by gun violence and mass shootings in 2023.” Read more at AP News
Inflation
“The Federal Reserve announced its 10th-straight interest rate hike on Wednesday as it aggressively attempts to lower inflation. The Fed raised its benchmark rate by another quarter of a point and hinted a pause could come as soon as next month. Fed Chair Jerome Powell emphasized that US banking conditions have improved since early March when the country saw some of the biggest bank failures since 2008. But the Fed expects that as a result of the banking system turmoil, credit will continue to tighten for households and businesses, which would slow the economy.” [CNN]
Sheriff: Wife of suspected Texas gunman has been arrested
By JUAN A. LOZANO and NOMAAN MERCHANT
“CLEVELAND, Texas (AP) — The partner of a Texas man suspected of killing five of his neighbors was arrested Wednesday for helping him elude capture, and at least one other person is likely to face similar charges, authorities said.
Divimara Lamar Nava had previously denied knowing where Francisco Oropeza was, but authorities believe she hid him in the home where he was arrested late Tuesday, just 20 miles (32 kilometers) from the town of Cleveland, where Friday’s shooting took place, said Montgomery County Sheriff Rand Henderson….” Read more at AP News
Donald Trump won't put up defense witnesses in E. Jean Carroll rape and defamation case
“An attorney for Donald Trump said Wednesday he will not call any witnesses in his defense of E. Jean Carroll's defamation lawsuit, which includes a rape allegation, meaning the jury should get to decide the case early next week.
Trump attorney Joseph Tacopina told the court that health issues would prevent an expert witness in psychiatry from testifying; Tacopina said earlier in the trial that Trump himself would not testify….” Read more at USA Today
New York became the first state to ban gas stoves in new buildings.
“What the law does: Requires all-electric heating and cooking in buildings shorter than seven stories by 2026 and in taller buildings by 2029, although there are exceptions.
Why this matters: It’s a win for the climate. Gas stoves are a big source of air pollution and increase the likelihood of childhood asthma and other respiratory problems.” [Washington Post]
Piles of smelly seaweed are arriving on Florida beaches
“Waves filled with sargassum continue to wash up on beaches in the Caribbean Sea and southern Florida, and the stacks of seaweed are expected to get worse in the weeks ahead. This forecast comes as a record abundance of the seaweed was seen on satellite images in the Caribbean in April, according to the University of South Florida's Optical Oceanography Lab. Although sargassum can be beneficial in the open ocean, providing habitat for fish, turtles and many other creatures, it can be too much of a good thing. Piles of the seagrass on the beach smell bad and can be labor-intensive and costly to remove.” Read more at USA Today
Sargassum lines Fort Lauderdale Beach in this April 7 image by Seth Platt.
@sethplatt.eth
Florida may limit land sales to Chinese
Protesters in Miami last weekend. Photo: Courtesy of Hongwei Shang
“Real estate professionals and Asian American groups are alarmed about a Florida bill that's designed to prevent operatives from hostile nations from acquiring sensitive American land — but could impact a much wider immigrant population, reports Deirdra Funcheon of Axios Miami.
Why it matters: The bill, backed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, could chill Miami's real estate market and exclude some foreign nationals from buying in Doral (home to many Venezuelan people), Coconut Grove, Key Biscayne and Sweetwater, the Miami Herald reports.
What's happening: The bill passed the state Senate and is poised to be voted on by the House this week. It restricts citizens of China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela and Syria from acquiring property within 20 miles of a military installation, or infrastructure such as a seaport or airport.
Chinese people who aren't U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents would be barred from owning Florida property altogether.
DeSantis has said China is "gobbling up land."
The Florida Asian American Justice Alliance says the legislation is overly broad and would discriminate against Chinese buyers.
An amendment allows visa holders to own one home. But such landowners must register with a state agency.
Miami attorney Hongwei Shang tells Axios that most Chinese people in Florida aren't members of the Chinese Communist Party: ‘They're just regular people. Actually, they're being oppressed by the CCP.’
What's next: Orlando attorney Meisheng King tells Axios that Asian American groups in Florida are prepared to sue.” [Axios]
Kremlin claims drone strike
A still image taken from video shows a flying object exploding near the dome of the Kremlin Senate building during the alleged Ukrainian drone attack in Moscow. Photo: Ostorozhno Novosti/Reuters
“Russia claimed it foiled an attack by Ukrainian drones on the Kremlin early yesterday, calling it an unsuccessful assassination attempt against President Vladimir Putin and promising retaliation for a ‘terrorist’ act.
Ukraine denied it.
Putin was at his Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, AP reports.
There was no independent verification of the purported attack. It's unclear why it took the Kremlin hours to report the incident and why images — including the one above, which AP couldn't verify — surfaced later in the day.” [Axios]
Ukraine
“Russia overnight unleashed its most intense attacks on Ukraine in more than a year, Kyiv's military chief said. Over the past several days, missiles and drones have hit the region, killing 23 people on Wednesday alone in the southern city of Kherson and its surrounding villages, according to the Ukrainian military. The barrage came after Moscow accused Ukraine of attempting to assassinate Russian President Vladimir Putin in a drone strike at the Kremlin overnight on Wednesday, allegations Kyiv has vehemently denied. Amid the intensifying conflict, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said during a speech today at the International Criminal Court that Russian President Vladimir Putin ‘deserves to be sentenced’ for Moscow's invasion.” [CNN]
“President Xi Jinping is supercharging efforts to rival the most powerful currency in the world.
China is pushing through deals linked to the yuan as it seeks to circumvent US attempts to weaponize the dollar. Agreements to transact some payments in the Chinese currency from Saudi Arabia, Brazil and even France have been signed in recent months.
Sanctions on Russia — an acute reminder of the greenback’s unique dominance in the global economy — have been a potent catalyst in expanding the use of an alternative.
For Beijing, the aim is to carve out a much bigger chunk of the international economy that doesn’t need the dollar at all. In the long run, that makes China less vulnerable to efforts to alienate it through investment restrictions or sanctions.
It’s a welcome development for smaller nations — including at least a dozen in Asia — that are also experimenting with de-dollarization. Countries like Bangladesh and Laos have stepped up negotiations with China to boost their use of the yuan too.
For now, King Dollar is far from being dethroned. Payments in the yuan still make up a tiny portion of global transactions and the currency is tightly controlled by Chinese authorities.
That limited role has made it relatively low stakes for other countries opting to use the yuan.
While there’s caution around becoming entangled in deteriorating China-US ties, so far there’s been little of that same sentiment when it comes to diving into this facet of their rivalry.
But momentum to increase the yuan’s reach underscores Beijing’s broader push to create an alternate global order that challenges the US.
And with Washington and the European Union increasingly viewing China as a strategic rival, it may no longer be so straightforward for other nations to separate the finance from the geopolitics.” — Rebecca Choong Wilkins [Bloomberg]
Photographer: Steph Davidson/Bloomberg
“Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy today visited the International Criminal Court in The Hague, which issued an arrest warrant for Russian leader Vladimir Putin in March for alleged war crimes. Zelenskiy in Finland earlier denied Russian claims that Ukraine was responsible for an assault on the Kremlin with two drones late Tuesday. Ukraine said its air defenses downed 18 of 24 Iranian-made Shahed drones launched by Russia overnight.” [Bloomberg]
“Russia is desperate to find new markets for the natural gas it once sent to Europe by pipeline, and is on a mission to dramatically increase exports by sea. The catch is it needs to develop its own technology to replace Western equipment, and fast, in order to meet an ambitious goal to triple liquefied natural gas deliveries by the end of the decade.
The EU is discussing a new sanctions mechanism to target third countries it believes aren’t doing enough to prevent Russia from evading sanctions.” [Bloomberg]
“An artificial intelligence hiring frenzy is ricocheting around the world, with tech giants like Google and China’s Baidu as well as companies in almost every other field, from health care and finance to entertainment, staffing up to avoid getting blindsided by developments in their industries. As Saritha Rai reports, that’s leading to a bonanza for AI specialists in India, rare even in a country of 1.4 billion that has long been the back office for the tech industry.
Major AI companies including Microsoft and Google have committed to participate in the first independent public evaluation of their systems before a meeting today with US Vice President Kamala Harris and top Biden administration officials.” [Bloomberg]
Employees at the Tata Consultancy Services campus in Chennai, India. Photographer: Dhiraj Singh
“The Amazon rainforest is moving closer to a point at which parts of its ecosystem won’t receive enough rain to support themselves, a development that could cost Brazil’s economy $184 billion by 2050, a World Bank report says. Climate change, illegal deforestation and the expansion of cattle pastures could jeopardize the country’s agriculture production, water supply and its ability to generate hydroelectric energy, the report said.
Brazil is in talks with the UK, France, Japan and the EU over funding to help it protect the Amazon after Biden’s pledge of $500 million last month.” [Bloomberg]
“Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban urged Trump to return to the White House as president and renewed a call for populist forces to wrest control of democracy in the US and Europe.” [Bloomberg]
“German Chancellor Olaf Scholz heads to Kenya and Ethiopia today as part of a European effort to make inroads with countries of the Global South and push back against the influence of Russia and China.” [Bloomberg]
“Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro denied wrongdoing after federal police searched his Brasilia home in a case about alleged alteration of Covid-19 vaccination records.” [Bloomberg]
“The US and the Philippines vowed to deepen their defense alliance through expanded military drills and joint patrols during President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s visit to the Pentagon amid escalating China tensions.” [Bloomberg]
“When King Charles III leaves Buckingham Palace for his coronation at Westminster Abbey on Saturday, he’ll trace a route through central London that showcases some of the finest properties that are part of the fortune belonging to the British crown. Through the Crown Estate and the Duchy of Lancaster, the sovereign controls a multibillion pound empire that also includes castles, riverbeds and quarries. Unlike other wealthy families, however, the king doesn’t personally own the assets and instead draws an income from them.” [Bloomberg]
May 4, 2023
By German Lopez
Good morning. Bipartisan support now exists for a once-radical approach to drugs.
A Fentanyl test strip.Travis Dove for The New York Times
Reducing harm
“For decades, the U.S. focused on trying to scare people away from drugs, instituting tough criminal penalties and emphasizing law enforcement over addiction treatment.
But a major change is underway.
The old approach failed to prevent an overdose crisis that now kills more than 100,000 Americans a year. Policymakers have awakened to the urgency of the problem and shifted resources, namely funding, toward treatment. While criminal penalties for drugs remain, many states, led both by Democrats and Republicans, have lessened them. Lawmakers now often discuss drugs as a problem of public health, not just criminal justice.
Some lawmakers have even embraced a once-radical strategy called harm reduction. The approach focuses on mitigating the potential dangers of drugs, not necessarily encouraging users to abstain.
Republicans, whose party historically opposed harm reduction, are among those backing some tenets of it. The Republican-controlled Texas House of Representatives voted last month for a bill that would decriminalize test strips to check drugs for fentanyl, the potent opioid that is often mixed into heroin, pills and other drugs. Republican strongholds, including Kentucky, Utah and Mississippi, recently decriminalized the test strips.
Representative Tom OliversonRicardo B. Brazziell/American-Statesman, via Usa Today Network
‘My hope is that every person struggling with addiction has access to a quality recovery program and has the opportunity to gain and maintain long-term sobriety,’ Representative Tom Oliverson, the Texas Republican who sponsored his state’s bill, told me. ‘But if they die instantly from a drug they didn’t even know they were taking, I can’t fix that. Nobody can.’
The country has undergone a ‘decided shift’ in favor of harm reduction, said Regina LaBelle, who led the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy under President Biden. In 2015, Congress lifted a funding ban for needle exchanges, where clean syringes are distributed to keep people from reusing or sharing potentially infected devices. And in March, the F.D.A. for the first time made naloxone, a medication that reverses opioid overdoses, available over the counter.
Mitigating risk
The modern version of harm reduction originated in the 1980s, when a widespread drug problem and the AIDS crisis motivated activists to pursue something other than criminalization.
They helped create needle exchanges in hopes of stopping the spread of H.I.V. through dirty syringes. Critics argued that needle exchanges would encourage drug use and could lead to more overdose deaths by removing a deterrent to using drugs.
Real-world evidence disproves those claims. Needle exchanges have been shown to reduce infections, according to the C.D.C. In fact, needle exchange programs can reduce overdoses and drug use over time, by acting as hubs that educate people on safe practices and connect them to addiction treatment.
Much of this evidence has existed for decades. But it was not until recently that many more policymakers embraced harm reduction approaches.
A softer touch
What changed? Three things, experts say.
First, lawmakers grew desperate to reduce overdose deaths, which have climbed for decades and surpassed 100,000 annually for the first time in 2021. Old ideas, like harsh criminal penalties, were clearly insufficient. So lawmakers turned to alternatives they once dismissed, seeking any kind of solution.
Second, the overdose crisis is now so widespread that many more people, including members of Congress, know someone hurt by it. ‘Every single member of the House and Senate has grieving constituents coming in, having buried kids or brothers or sisters or moms or dads,’ Keith Humphreys, a Stanford University drug policy expert, said. ‘That creates incentives, both emotional and political, to try things that otherwise would be unacceptable.’
And third is the role of race and class. Previous drug crises disproportionately hurt marginalized populations — such as Black people during the 1980s crack epidemic and poor white people during the 1990s-2000s meth epidemic. White, wealthy people had little exposure to these problems. Stereotypes about drug use flourished. A punitive approach, aimed at keeping drugs away from as-yet-unaffected communities, took hold.
The current overdose crisis has more directly hit white people of all classes, including lawmakers. As uncomfortable as it may be that policymakers can be more apt to act — and do so compassionately — when a problem personally affects them, it’s often true.
Limits in support
Harm reduction is still far from gaining universal acceptance. Last year, Senate Republicans criticized the potential inclusion of crack pipes in safe smoking kits from federally funded programs. Some conservative states, like West Virginia, have restricted or blocked needle exchange programs. Many lawmakers of both parties reject more controversial ideas, like supervised injection sites. In Texas, the House’s fentanyl test strip bill is mired in a Senate committee, despite Gov. Greg Abbott voicing support for the idea.
Still, there is notable movement, however uneven. Three years ago, fentanyl test strips were outlawed in 33 states. Today, they are legal or soon will be in at least 37.” [New York Times]
Elon Musk threatens to reassign NPR’s Twitter account
By WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS
FILE - The headquarters for National Public Radio (NPR) stands on North Capitol Street on April 15, 2013, in Washington. Elon Musk threatened to reassign NPR’s Twitter account to “another company,” according to the non-profit news organization, in an ongoing spat between Musk and media groups since his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter last year. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)
“WASHINGTON (AP) — Elon Musk threatened to reassign NPR’s Twitter account to ‘another company,’ according to the non-profit news organization, in an ongoing spat between Musk and media groups since his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter last year.
‘So is NPR going to start posting on Twitter again, or should we reassign @NPR to another company?’ Musk wrote in one email late Tuesday to NPR reporter Bobby Allyn.
NPR stopped tweeting from its main account after Twitter abruptly labeled NPR’s main account as ‘state-affiliated media’ last month, a term that’s also been used to identify outlets controlled or heavily influenced by authoritarian governments. Twitter then changed the label to ‘government-funded media.’
NPR said that both labels were inaccurate and undermined its credibility — noting the nonprofit news company operates independently of the U.S. government. Federal funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting accounts for less than 1% of NPR’s annual operating budget, the company said….” Read more at AP News
“An artificial intelligence hiring frenzy is ricocheting around the world, with tech giants like Google and China’s Baidu as well as companies in almost every other field, from health care and finance to entertainment, staffing up to avoid getting blindsided by developments in their industries. As Saritha Rai reports, that’s leading to a bonanza for AI specialists in India, rare even in a country of 1.4 billion that has long been the back office for the tech industry.
Major AI companies including Microsoft and Google have committed to participate in the first independent public evaluation of their systems before a meeting today with US Vice President Kamala Harris and top Biden administration officials.” [Bloomberg]
Employees at the Tata Consultancy Services campus in Chennai, India. Photographer: Dhiraj Singh
Culture war hurts history scores
Illustration: Natalie Peeples/Axios
“U.S. history scores among eighth-graders plummeted in 2022, Axios' Erin Doherty writes from federal data out yesterday.
History scores on the Nation's Report Card — formally the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) — are the lowest since the test began in 1994.
Civics scores saw their first-ever decline.
Why it matters: Experts point to a devastating combination of pandemic disruptions and polarization over school curriculum.
By the numbers: About 40% of eighth-graders scored below the basic level in U.S. history in 2022, compared to 34% in 2018.
Just 13% of students performed at or above ‘proficient’ in history.
Civics scores among eighth-graders fell for the first time since 1998, when the current test began. The average score fell 2 points from 2018.
What's happening: Experts point to three big factors.
Social studies classes often have been crowded out of the curriculum.
COVID's prolonged effects on students: History scores have been trending down since 2014. But the pandemic has had a ‘profound impact’ on learning, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said.
The drops may also be tied to backlash over hot-button topics, Kerry Sautner, chief learning officer at the National Constitution Center in Pennsylvania told Axios: ‘How can we really engage in these conversations, when the tension is there before you even pick up the book and open the topic?’
The big picture: Reading test scores released last fall fell to 1992 levels. Math scores suffered their biggest drop ever.” [Axios]
Electric vehicles
“The powerful United Auto Workers is holding off on endorsing President Joe Biden's reelection bid, citing concerns over his policies that would encourage a transition to electric vehicles, according to a memo from the union. The UAW has more than 400,000 members, and Biden has touted its support in the past. Last year he called American autoworkers ‘the most skilled autoworkers in the world.’ The group's membership is mostly concentrated in Michigan, a presidential battleground state. Biden has endorsed policies meant to significantly transition the nation's vehicles from gasoline to electric, including rules from the EPA that would ensure two-thirds of new cars sold in the US are electric by 2032. But autoworkers are expressing concern the transition could hurt them because electric vehicles are easier to assemble.” [CNN]
McDonald's
“Three McDonald's franchisees in Kentucky are facing hefty fines for violating child labor laws. The penalties, exceeding more than $200,000 combined, come after two 10-year-old children were found working at a Louisville McDonald's restaurant — sometimes until 2 a.m. — an investigation by the US Department of Labor revealed. The agency said the three franchisees that own more than 60 McDonald's locations in Kentucky, Indiana, Maryland and Ohio ‘employed 305 children to work more than the legally permitted hours and perform tasks prohibited by law for young workers.’ A spokesperson for Mcdonald's condemned the alleged underage employment, saying the reports are ‘unacceptable, deeply troubling and run afoul of the high expectations’ upheld by the company.” [CNN]
“Lives Lived: Tori Bowie, a sprinter, won three Olympic medals in 2016 and the next year won the world championship in the 100-meter dash. She died at 32.” [New York Times]