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  • In a rural California region, a plan takes shape to provide shade from dangerous heat

    In a rural California region, a plan takes shape to provide shade from dangerous heat

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    MECCA, Calif. — When Limba Contreras moved to the desert community of Oasis, California, about 50 years ago, her family relied on a water cooler to keep temperatures inside their home comfortable. Other times, they sprayed each other with a hose outside.

    But when the heat topped 100 degrees Fahrenheit (about 38 Celsius), the cooler was futile, and the hose was a temporary reprieve.

    “We suffered because of the heat and because we didn’t have any other resource,” said Contreras, a retired elementary school librarian.

    Contreras and her family now have air conditioning, but she worries about the lack of shade in playgrounds and fields in the few parks they have.

    “In the midst of extreme heat, the children can’t play because there’s no shade,” said Contreras on Saturday in the Eastern Coachella Valley, where elected officials, community leaders and others gathered at a park for the inauguration of a shade equity master plan.

    The Eastern Coachella Valley, an important agricultural area in Southern California, is a hot and arid place, with summer temperatures frequently rising above 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Residents in this rural desert in Riverside County are mostly Latinos, Spanish speakers and low-income, and many live in mobile homes without air conditioning and work in fields under the sizzling sun.

    But trees, green spaces and buildings that could offer refuge from the sun are sparse, and that can increase dangerous heat stress on the body.

    From 2013 to 2023, heat was a contributing or underlying cause of 143 deaths in the Coachella Valley, according to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office. They had no statistics for Eastern Coachella Valley, the area where this shade equity plan is in play. Across the United States, heat was a factor in nearly 1,960 deaths in 2023.

    Every year, heat kills more people than floods, hurricanes and tornadoes combined, and experts warn that extreme heat will become more intense, frequent and lethal with climate change.

    Studies have shown that shade can reduce heat stress on the human body between 25% and 35% throughout the day. Shaded areas can be 20 to 45 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than surfaces without it, according to an estimate by the EPA.

    Many cities across the U.S. — including New York, Miami and Austin — have adopted climate action and resilience plans that use trees as a defense against the broiling stone and asphalt that raise temperatures in urban areas. But fewer have taken the idea to less developed regions.

    “Heat is often talked about through the lens of cities, and that’s an important issue. But what was sort of being left off the table was how heat is affecting rural communities,” said V. Kelly Turner, assistant professor of urban planning and geography at the University of California, Los Angeles.

    The Eastern Coachella Valley plan aims to address this issue by recommending ways and places to create more shade via policy changes, smart building choices and input from community members. The plan would cover the unincorporated communities of Mecca, Thermal, Oasis and North Shore, near the Salton Sea, California’s largest lake, and not far from the desert resort city of Palm Springs.

    “This area has been neglected for a long time, and it’s unfortunate,” said Victor Manuel Perez, the Riverside County district supervisor who represents the communities. “You have hard-working people here that deserve better.”

    Bringing more trees and shade structures to parks, schools and other areas will “ultimately ensure that youth and their families have somewhere where they can get out of the heat because we are talking about 115 degrees” in July and August, he said. “It’s pretty bad.”

    The shade master plan is the latest effort in the U.S. to increase climate resilience in Latino and other marginalized communities, which are disproportionately exposed to extreme heat in part because they have fewer resources like air conditioning and access to green spaces.

    Mariela Loera, regional policy manager for the nonprofit Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability, said that low-income and communities of color are “easy to ignore,” and are often excluded from decision-making. That means they often lack basic amenities.

    In the Eastern Coachella Valley, where Loera works, dilapidated homes are common, and other poor infrastructure adds to the heat burden for residents.

    “It’s not just that it’s hot. It’s like it’s hot, and then there’s nowhere to go,” she said. “So having any kind of shade structure anywhere is helpful.”

    The project is being financed by a $644,411 grant from the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research in California, and is a collaboration between the Kounkuey Design Initiative, the Oasis Leadership Committee, the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation and the Riverside University Health System.

    But the grand vision for the initiative won’t come without hurdles. It’s not always clear who has the authority to implement projects in unincorporated communities, and when the plan is finished, it will take more money to execute it.

    It will be one of several shade plans in the world. Phoenix has one. So do Tel Aviv in Israel and Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.

    Turner, whose work focuses on cities adapting to hotter conditions, said she wanted to get involved in the project because she had never seen a shade master plan for a rural area.

    People who work outdoors, such as farmworkers — who are overwhelmingly Latino — and those working in construction are vulnerable to heat. About 40 workers die annually because of it, but the government says the number is likely higher because of the lack of reporting.

    Elidio Hernández Gómez, 59, was one of them. In 2023, the farmworker and father of two collapsed and died on an August day when temperatures in Fresno, California, peaked at around 100 degrees.

    As part of the project, members of the Oasis Leadership Committee, composed of community residents, are paid to take a virtual class about heat with Turner and master’s degree students in urban and regional planning at UCLA. On a recent Wednesday night, the class broke up into subgroups focused on spaces where residents experience heat: agriculture; transit; mobile homes and emergency shelters; and schools and parks.

    Some committee members said they need robust shade in parks and public areas. They described trees that had collapsed after heavy rain and wind.

    Silvestre Caixba Villaseca, through a translator, talked about inadequate and poor shade structures in fields.

    When temperatures exceed the 100s, the low, plastic rolling structures absorb heat and don’t cool, he said, and workers often seek shade in their cars or under trees.

    At the end of the day, many fieldworkers return to a hot home with no air conditioning.

    “None of us go to a place to cool off after work,” he said.

    But Villaseca also worries about his children, particularly his 6-year-old son.

    On Saturday, under a cloud-dotted blue sky and before a dust storm rolled in, he spoke of the lack of shade at Silvestre Jr.’s elementary school. Every day after class, he lines up with his classmates outside waiting to be picked up.

    “They are out in the direct sun,” he said. “They don’t have any shade in the form of trees or structures … it can be dangerous.”

    Despite the heat, Contreras, the Oasis resident and retired librarian, finds the desert beautiful. The mountains. The sunsets. The endless palms and orchards.

    “It looks really pretty here. But the people here need help and need to protect themselves from the sun, the heat,” she said. “We can’t change the weather. But we can change how we live. We can protect ourselves.”

    ———

    The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP’s environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment

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  • India’s clean energy boom slows as new solar projects get delayed. Experts say it can pick back up

    India’s clean energy boom slows as new solar projects get delayed. Experts say it can pick back up

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    BENGALURU, India — For years, renewable projects in India have been growing steadily, from small-town rooftop solar installations to large-scale projects across the desert and long stretches of wind turbines and solar panels on farmland all contributing to the country’s climate goal of transitioning to clean energy.

    But a mix of policy decisions, politics and supply chain issues meant solar projects in 2023 have been marred in delays and uncertainty, making the country fall short of its annual clean energy installation target in a year that saw heat records topple and devastating floods batter the country. Experts say this is a significant dent in the country’s ambitions, but some are confident that the shortfall can be made up this year.

    A report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis found that the country only installed 13.7 gigawatts of clean energy last year, like wind, solar and nuclear, compared to 16.3 gigawatts in 2022. India needs to install 40 gigawatts a year to meet its goal of installing 500 gigawatts of clean energy — enough to power 51 million homes in the country — by the end of the decade.

    The shortfall “means that meeting the 2030 target for clean energy is highly challenging,” said Charith Konda, part of the team that put together the IEEFA’s analysis.

    Solar module prices have dropped substantially worldwide in recent years, but in India, they have been subject to conflicting import tax policies, with the government first ordering high import taxes and then backtracking within the space of a year. This created a “wait and watch” attitude among solar project developers, said Vinay Pabba, chief operating officer of Hyderabad-based renewables company Vibrant Energy.

    It takes up to two years for solar projects to come online after all agreements and paperwork are finalized, he said, so “changing policies in timeframes lesser than that creates a lot of uncertainty.”

    Numerous projects, both big and small and across different states, have been hit with monthslong delays because of solar project developers holding off making new orders, said Gurpreet Singh Walia, a consultant for renewable energy projects in India.

    Konda said that incentives to encourage domestic manufacturing of solar modules, rather than importing them from abroad, conflicted with the country’s goal of installing renewable energy at speed.

    And since what was being domestically produced in India was preferred by countries like the United States for their own energy transition over Chinese manufacturers, a huge increase in exports of solar power parts from India meant there was less supply available for local projects, analysts say.

    Experts also say fossil fuel lobbying in the country meant policies to encourage renewable growth have fallen short.

    Between 2008 and 2022, India added the third-most solar power capacity of any country — behind only China and the United States — and the sixth-most wind power, according to the Global Energy Monitor. But in those 15 years, the amount of coal capacity added in the country was well over double that of wind and solar, the Global Energy Monitor’s data shows.

    “People in positions of power and decision-makers do not believe that renewable energy can provide firm power” because they are not convinced that batteries can store enough renewable energy to make reliable and consistent electricity when the sun doesn’t shine or the wind doesn’t blow, said Alexander Hogeveen Rutter, an independent energy analyst based in New Delhi. “When it comes to getting real power, coal is still considered the best option in India.”

    That view means the country, the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases, is still installing new coal every year as electricity demand surges because of development and population growth. More than 75% of India’s electricity is made from coal-burning, but it plans to have 50% of its growing electricity needs from renewable sources by the end of the decade.

    But some analysts believe that most of these issues have now been ironed out and that India can make up for the shortfall of new projects this year.

    There was a sharp rise in solar modular imports toward the end of last year, suggesting that a lot of the delayed projects will soon be completed, said Vinay Rustagi who tracks and analyzes the clean power sector for the financial research firm Crisil.

    “We can expect a record 2024 in that sense,” he said. But he warned that even if India makes up for lost ground, “this kind of volatility is not good for the market on the whole. It detracts from the ambitious targets the government has set.”

    Hogeveen Rutter added that a slew of new tenders for renewable energy projects issued in 2023 is a positive signal that India will install a lot more clean power in the coming years.

    But even if the country does make up for the slow growth last year, he warned that India’s renewable energy targets are just “arbitrary figures, rather than linked to the resource planning process.” India’s demand growth alone is enough to justify 50 to 55 gigawatts of clean power additions annually, and that demand is expected to continue to rise rampantly in the coming decades.

    Without more ambitious clean energy targets, the country’s renewable growth — however significant — won’t reach its full potential, Hogeveen Rutter said.

    “There are incredible entrepreneurs and innovators in both renewables and storage who are truly world-class just waiting to be unleashed,” he said. “As soon as the targets are moved in line with India’s demand, there is no doubt India can become a clean energy powerhouse.”

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    Associated Press data journalist Mary Katherine Wildeman contributed to this report from Hartford, Conn.

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    Follow Sibi Arasu on X at @sibi123

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    The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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  • Oklahoma’s oldest Native American school, Bacone College, is threatened by debts and disrepair

    Oklahoma’s oldest Native American school, Bacone College, is threatened by debts and disrepair

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    MUSKOGEE, Okla. — The hallways of Bacone College are cold and dark. In the main hall, there are no lectures to be heard, only the steady hum of the space heater keeping the administrative offices warm.

    Students aren’t attending classes here this semester, but work still needs to be done. In the college’s historic buildings, there are leaks to plug, mold to purge and priceless works of Native American art to save from ruin. Not to mention devising a plan to keep the college from shuttering for good. It’s a daunting task for the nine remaining employees.

    But on this rainy December morning, the college’s president is running a DoorDash order. “If we have the money, we can pay,” Interim President Nicky Michael said regarding salaries. Even she has to find a way to make ends meet.

    Founded in 1880 as a Baptist missionary college focused on assimilation, Bacone College transformed into an Indigenous-led institution that provided an intertribal community, as well as a degree. With the permission of the Muscogee Nation Tribal Council, Bacone’s founders used a treaty right to establish the college at the confluence of three rivers, where tribal nations had been meeting for generations.

    Throughout the 20th century, the center of this was Bacone’s Native American art program, which produced some of the most important Indigenous artists of their time, including Woody Crumbo, Fred Beaver, Joan Hill and Ruthe Blalock Jones.

    They and their contemporaries pushed the boundaries of what was considered “Native American art.” During a period of intense hostility against tribal sovereignty by the U.S., Bacone became defined by the exchange of ideas its Native faculty and students created and represented a new opportunity for Indigenous education and academic thought.

    “Bacone was the only place in the world where that could happen for Native people,” said Robin Mayes, a Cherokee and Muscogee man who attended Bacone in the ’70s and taught silversmithing there in the ’90s. “It’s a tragedy to think that it’s going to be discontinued.”

    For decades, the college has been plagued by poor financial choices and inconsistent leadership, triggering flashpoints between administration, students and staff over the mission and cultural direction of the college.

    Some have accused recent administrations of embezzlement, fraud and intimidation, resulting in multiple lawsuits. Students expressed frustration with a lack of resources and cultural competency among some school leaders. The college also has had trouble maintaining its accreditation.

    Last year, a lawsuit crippled Bacone’s finances. Ultimately, Michael made the decision to suspend classes for the spring semester. She hopes the deferment is temporary, but if the college can’t muster up millions of dollars, Oklahoma’s oldest continually operating college likely will close its doors.

    “It has endured for over 140 years through terrible decisions,” said Gerald Cournoyer, an instructor who was hired in 2019 to restart the college’s art program.

    “Providing oversight for Bacone has been a struggle because of the leadership or lack thereof,” said Cournoyer, who also is a renowned Lakota artist. Some presidents focused time and money on athletic programs, others on Bacone’s Baptist missionary roots. “When you put absolutely no money, nothing, not $20, not $10, into your fundraising efforts, this is what you get.”

    During the time Patti Jo King was the director of the Center for American Indians at Bacone from 2012 to 2018, leadership wanted to build a state-of-the-art museum to replace the 80-year-old building housing many priceless pieces of Native art.

    “We didn’t even have the money to keep it open seven days a week,” said King, now a retired Cherokee professor, writer and academic.

    Even when she first arrived on campus, King said Bacone’s financial debts already had caught up to it. The student dorms didn’t have hot water, staff were severely underpaid and graduation rates among the college’s remaining students were low.

    Still, she and other faculty endeavored to make it a place where Native students could find community, but Bacone’s old problems never went away. Like Cournoyer, after years of working toward rebuilding, she left in frustration.

    Today, the old museum is empty. Its artifacts were moved to another location so they wouldn’t be exposed to extreme temperatures.

    The remaining staff act as caretakers of the historic stone buildings that predate Oklahoma, themselves important pieces of the past. In the museum, Ataloa Lodge, the fireplace is made of stones sent to the college from Indigenous communities across the country: one from the birthplace of Sequoyah, one from the grave of Sitting Bull, another from the field where Custer died. Five hundred in all, each stone a memory.

    Michael, the interim president, and others have been cleaning up buildings in hopes they might soon host graduation banquets and student gatherings. Other staff chase off looters. Rare paintings still hang across campus, including pieces by members of the Kiowa Six, who became internationally famous a century ago, and Johnnie Diacon, a Muscogee painter and alumnus whose work can be seen in the background of several episodes of the television show Reservation Dogs.

    A few years ago, experts from a museum in Tulsa warned that many of the paintings are contaminated with mold, which will spread to other nearby works of art. Leslie Hannah, a Cherokee educator who sits on the college’s board of trustees, said he’s concerned, but the cost of restoring them falls far down the list, behind broken gas lines, flooded basements and a mountain of debt.

    Bacone’s current financial crisis stems partially from a lawsuit brought by Midgley-Huber Energy Concepts, a Utah-based heating and air company that sued the college over more than $1 million in unpaid construction and service fees. Twice last year, the Muskogee County Sheriff’s Office put Bacone’s property up for sale to settle the debt. Both times the auction was called off, most recently in December.

    MHEC owner Chris Oberle told KOSU last month that he intended to purchase the historic property. Attorneys for MHEC have not returned repeated requests for comment from the Associated Press.

    Alumni have called the validity of any sale of the property into question, pointing to the treaty right that established the campus and its listing on the National Register of Historic Places. Attorneys for the college declined to comment, citing the ongoing litigation.

    Michael said she doesn’t know what stalled the auction, but she is grateful for more time to try to save Bacone.

    Across the country, there are only a few dozen tribal colleges, according to the American Indian College Fund, a nonprofit that supports Native American access to higher education. Tribal colleges must be sponsored by a federally recognized tribe and have a majority Native student enrollment. But unlike most of those colleges, Bacone was built on its identity as an intertribal school, a quality that former staff and alumni say made it special.

    Now a private institution, Bacone no longer receives state or federal assistance. Its finances have long relied heavily on student tuition, and now it has no students. Michael said judging from the finances, it’s a miracle the college managed to keep its doors open this long.

    “Now I’m looking back on this thinking this was set up for failure,” she said.

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    Graham Lee Brewer is a member of AP’s Race and Ethnicity team. Follow him on social media.

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  • Georgia sues Biden administration to extend Medicaid program with work requirement

    Georgia sues Biden administration to extend Medicaid program with work requirement

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    ATLANTA — Georgia sued the Biden administration Friday to try to keep the state’s new health plan for low-income residents, which is the only Medicaid program in the country with a work requirement, running until 2028.

    Georgia Pathways launched in July and is set to expire at the end of September 2025.

    The suit filed in U.S. District Court in Brunswick, Georgia, says the Biden administration’s decision to revoke the work requirement and another aspect of Pathways delayed implementation of the program. That reduced the originally approved five-year term of the program to just over two years.

    A judge later ruled the revocation was illegal.

    “This case is about whether the federal government can benefit from its own unlawful conduct,” the suit says.

    It seeks a court order forcing the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to extend the Pathways program until September 30, 2028. A spokesperson for CMS said in an email the agency does not comment on pending litigation.

    CMS rejected the extension request in October and again in December. The agency was unable to consider it because the state had failed to meet requirements to seek an extension, including a public notice and comment period, CMS Deputy Administrator and Director Daniel Tsai said in a Dec. 22 letter.

    Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said in a news release announcing the lawsuit that the Biden administration was again trying to “interfere with Georgia’s innovative plan.” He accused the administration of playing politics “by refusing to give us back the time they stole from delaying the Pathways rollout and implementation.”

    In his December letter to the state, Tsai said the agency did not stop Georgia officials from implementing other aspects of Pathways when it revoked the work requirement and a plan to charge some Medicaid recipients monthly premiums. And he said an implementation period that was shorter than the originally approved timeline was not unique to Georgia.

    “Many states experience delayed implementation of their demonstration projects (or initiatives within a demonstration project) for various reasons,” he said.

    Georgia’s plan offers health care coverage to able-bodied adults earning up to the poverty line — $14,580 for an individual or $24,860 for a family of three. But people must document 80 monthly hours of work, study, rehabilitation or volunteering to be eligible.

    Republicans have presented the plan as a financially responsible alternative to a full expansion of Medicaid services under the Affordable Care Act, though opposition to full expansion appears to have softened. Georgia is one of 10 states without broader Medicaid coverage.

    The Kemp administration has estimated Pathways could add 100,000 poor and uninsured Georgia residents to the Medicaid rolls, but enrollment so far has been slow, with just under 2,350 people enrolled as of mid-December.

    The work requirement was approved by then-President Donald Trump’s administration, but the Biden administration announced in December 2021 that it was revoking that approval and the premium requirement. That prompted Georgia officials to sue.

    A federal judge reinstated both parts of the program in 2022, saying the revocation was arbitrary and capricious.

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  • House passes bill to enhance child tax credit, revive key tax breaks for businesses

    House passes bill to enhance child tax credit, revive key tax breaks for businesses

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    WASHINGTON — The House accomplished something unusual Wednesday in passing with broad, bipartisan support a roughly $79 billion tax cut package that would enhance the child tax credit for millions of lower-income families and boost three tax breaks for businesses, a combination that gives lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle coveted policy wins.

    Prospects for the measure becoming law are uncertain with the Senate still having to take it up, but for a House that has struggled to get bills of consequence over the finish line, the tax legislation could represent a rare breakthrough. The bill passed by a vote of 357-70.

    Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., threw his support behind the bill on Wednesday morning. He spent part of the previous day meeting with GOP lawmakers who were concerned about particular features of the bill, namely the expanded child tax credit. Some were also unhappy that it failed to address the $10,000 cap on the total amount of property taxes or state or local taxes that consumers can deduct on their federal returns. Raising the cap is a top priority of lawmakers from the Republican members of the New York congressional delegation, whose victories in 2022 helped the GOP take the majority.

    Johnson committed to moving a bill that addresses the cap, but there is no bill text yet and legislation would have to move through the House Rules Committee, which leaves the timing very much in flux. Athina Lawson, a spokeswoman for Johnson, said the speaker and the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo., agreed to work with lawmakers to “find a path forward.”

    Johnson called the tax cut bill on the House floor important, bipartisan legislation that would revive “conservative pro-growth tax reform.” He also said it would bring an early end to a “wasteful COVID-era program” that has been plagued with fraud. Moving up the deadline for claiming the employee retention tax credit is expected to largely offset the cost of the tax cuts in the legislation.

    Johnson also emphasized the importance of the bill moving through the House Ways and Means Committee before coming to the full House for a vote, saying it was a good example of how Congress is supposed to work.

    House Republicans were anxious to restore full, immediate deductions that businesses can take for the purchase of new equipment and machinery, and for domestic research and development expenses. They argue such investments grow the economy and incentivize American companies to keep their manufacturing facilities and operations in the United States. The bill also provides businesses more flexibility in determining how much borrowing can be deducted.

    “Each of these policies will help American businesses grow, create jobs and sharpen their competitive advantage against China,” Smith said as debate began on the House floor.

    Democrats focused on boosting the child tax credit. The tax credit is $2,000 per child, but not all of that is refundable. The bill would incrementally raise the amount of the credit available as a refund, increasing it to $1,800 for 2023 tax returns, $1,900 for the following year and $2,000 for 2025 tax returns. The bill also adjusts the topline credit amount to temporarily grow at the rate of inflation.

    Households benefitting as a result of the changes in the child tax credit would see an average tax cut of $680 in the first year, according to estimates from the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center.

    Democrats pushed to restore the more generous tax credit they passed in 2021 in President Joe Biden’s first year in office with payments occurring on a monthly basis. The credit was $3,600 annually for children under age 6 and $3,000 for children ages 6 to 17. But most lawmakers were willing to take what gains they could get through the compromise bill.

    “You know I’ve been told that a half a loaf is better than none,” said Rep. Danny Davis, D-Ill. “This isn’t even half a loaf, but I’m going to vote for it because our families and businesses need help.”

    “What’s in front of us tonight is pretty simple,” said Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass. “Sixteen million children will benefit from the improvement to the child tax credit. That’s a fact.”

    But for some Democrats, it wasn’t enough.

    “This bill provides billions of dollars in tax relief for the wealthy, pennies for the poor,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn. “Big corporations are richer than ever. There is no even split.”

    And for some Republicans, it was too much. The chief critics of the expanded child tax credit likened it to “welfare.”

    “What is a refundable tax credit? It’s welfare by a different name. We’re going to give cash payments, checks, to people who don’t even pay taxes,” said Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky.

    Rep. Drew Ferguson, R-Ga., chafed at that characterization, saying “we all believe on this side of the aisle that you should work in order to receive federal benefits. That is something that this bill does.”

    While there were complaints about the tax bill from some of the most conservative and liberal members of the House, a significant majority from each party voted for it. Proponents are hoping the strong show of support will stir action in the Senate.

    The bill keeps a threshold of a household having $2,500 in income to be eligible for refundable child tax credit payments.

    The bill also would enhance a tax credit for the construction or rehabilitation of rental housing targeted to lower-income households, adding an estimated 200,000 housing units around the country. That was a key priority of lawmakers from states with acute housing shortages and soaring prices. And it would ensure victims of certain natural disasters and the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment don’t get hit with a big tax bill for payments they received as compensation for their losses.

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  • California Gov. Gavin Newsom backs dam removal projects aimed at sustaining salmon populations

    California Gov. Gavin Newsom backs dam removal projects aimed at sustaining salmon populations

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    EUREKA, Calif. — California Gov. Gavin Newsom is pledging to fast-track more than half a dozen projects by the end of his term to remove or bypass dams that have blocked salmon from returning to the state’s chilly mountain streams and acting as the keystone of a complex ecosystem that sustains both economies and spiritual beliefs for tribes.

    Newsom — now in his second term and seen as a potential Democratic presidential candidate beyond 2024 — has worked hard to stake a claim as the nation’s most environmentally-conscious governor. But his record has been dogged by criticism from environmental groups who say his water policies benefit big agriculture at the expense of salmon and other species of fish in danger of becoming extinct.

    Millions of salmon once filled California’s rivers and streams each year, bringing with them key nutrients from the ocean that gave the state an abundance of natural resources that were so important to indigenous peoples that they formed the foundation of creation stories central to tribes’ way of life.

    But last year, there were so few salmon in the state’s rivers that the officials closed the commercial fishing season.

    Frustrated by the criticism leveled against him and his administration, Newsom on Tuesday released a plan outlining his strategy to protect salmon — a plan that includes a heavy helping of projects that would remove or bypass aging dams that prevent from returning to the streams of their birth to lay eggs.

    “These are tangible. And so much of the work we do is, you know, you can’t see it, you can’t feel it,” Newsom told The Associated Press in an interview near the banks of the Elk River in Eureka near a recently completed project that returned some agricultural land to a flood plain habitat for salmon. “But when you see a dam being removed and you come back a few months later — a year or two, five years later — and you see real progress.”

    Newsom’s salmon strategy includes a promise to complete an agreement by the end of the year to remove the Scott Dam and replace the Cape Horn Dam along the Eel River that have blocked salmon access to 288 miles (463 kilometers) of habitat. Once completed, the Eel would be the longest free-flowing river in the state, flowing north through the Coast Ranges before emptying into the Pacific Ocean near the town of Fortuna.

    By next summer, Newsom said he would complete plans for the removal of the nearly 100-year-old Rindge Dam along Malibu Creek in western Los Angeles County that would give steelhead another 15 miles (24 kilometers) of spawning and rearing habitat. And by 2026 — the last year of Newsom’s term — he promised to complete the infrastructure necessary to remove the Matilija Dam in Ventura County along a tributary of the Ventura River.

    These projects have already been announced and are in the early stages of development. Newsom’s plan, however, puts on record his goal to either complete them or have them approved by state regulatory bodies before he leaves office.

    “I got three more years. And I want to put it all out there,” Newsom said.

    Newsom’s embrace of some dam demolitions comes as the largest dam removal project in U.S. history got underway in earnest last week when crews blew a hole in the bottom of the Copco No. 1 dam along the Klamath River near the California-Oregon border. It’s one of four dams set to be removed along the Klamath.

    In addition to demolishing dams, Newsom is trying to bring attention to some of the $800 million he has signed off on in recent years for projects that return some creeks and streams to their natural state so that salmon can live there.

    Monday, Newsom trudged through thick mud to visit a project along Prairie Creek in Redwoods National Park. The creek had been converted to a ditch, with steep rock walls preventing the water from spilling into a flood plain where baby salmon can eat and grow before heading out to the ocean. The goal is to get the baby fish to stay longer in this creek so they can grow larger before heading out to the ocean — making it more likely they will return.

    Newsom watched as Kate Stonecypher, a graduate student at Cal Poly Humboldt, pulled juvenile coho salmon and steelhead trout from the river that had been tagged with a tracking device. Researchers are still studying the results. But early indications have been positive. Fish from the creek were later found to travel 50 miles (80 kilometers) to Humboldt Bay.

    But the biggest criticism of Newsom’s environmental policies have not been a lack of restoration projects, but a lack of water in the rivers. Newsom’s salmon strategy includes a controversial proposal to seek voluntary agreements with major farmers over how much water they can take out of the rivers and streams. Some environmental groups, including the San Francisco Baykeeper, have called this plan “astonishingly weak.”

    San Francisco Baykeeper Science Director Jon Rosenfield said California has already done lots of habitat restoration projects, but they have failed to result in significant boosts salmon populations.

    “Without the essential ingredient of a river, which is the flow of water, fish … are not going to survive,” he said. “The governor is out there promising actions that are not adequate to restore the population.”

    He also pledged to continue to work with native tribes, who often refer to the rivers where salmon live as their church. Newsom formally apologized to Native American tribes four years ago for how the state had treated them historically. And he has committed to partnering with them to conduct much of the work around salmon habitat.

    Monday, Frankie Myers, vice chair of the Yurok Tribe, told Newsom the tribe’s work on Prairie Creek had changed the community by restoring the tribe’s purpose.

    “This goes beyond that apology. This is about restoration,” he said.

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  • US job openings rose in December, pointing to a still-durable labor market

    US job openings rose in December, pointing to a still-durable labor market

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    WASHINGTON — America’s employers posted 9 million job openings in December, an increase from November and another sign that the U.S. job market remains resilient despite the headwind of higher interest rates.

    The number of openings was up from November’s 8.9 million, which itself was revised up in Tuesday’s report from the government. Job openings have gradually but steadily declined since peaking at a record 12 million in March 2022. But they remain at historically high levels: Before 2021, monthly openings had never topped 8 million.

    Still, in a cautionary sign, layoffs rose in December. And the number of Americans quitting their jobs — a sign of relative confidence in their ability to find a better position — dipped to the lowest level since January 2021.

    The U.S. economy and job market have remained surprisingly durable despite sharply higher interest rates, which have led to higher borrowing rates for consumers and businesses. The Federal Reserve’s policymakers raised their benchmark interest rate 11 times between March 2022 and July 2023, bringing it to a 23-year high of around 5.4%.

    The Fed wants to see the job market cool from the red-hot levels of 2021 and 2022, thereby reducing pressure on businesses to raise pay to attract and keep staff — and to pass on those costs to customers through higher prices.

    Higher rates have contributed to a slowdown in hiring, though the pace of job growth remains relatively healthy: U.S. employers added 2.7 million jobs last year, down from 4.8 million in 2022 and a record 7.3 million in 2021. When the government issues the January employment report on Friday, it is expected to show that employers added a solid 177,000 jobs, according to a survey of forecasters by the data firm FactSet.

    The job market is cooling in a mostly painless way — through fewer openings. Despite a wave of high-profile layoffs, the number of job cuts across the economy remains relatively low.

    The unemployment rate has come in below 4% for 23 straight months, the longest such streak since the 1960s. And the number of people applying for unemployment benefits — a proxy for layoffs — has remained unusually low.

    At the same time, while inflation has sharply slowed after peaking in mid-2022, it remains above the central bank’s 2% target.

    The Fed has signaled that it expects to reverse course and cut rates three times this year, though it’s set to leave rates unchanged after its latest policy meeting ends Wednesday. Financial markets have been anticipating the first rate cut as early as March, though continued strength in the job market might make the Fed’s policymakers wary of acting before mid-year.

    “These data — which show demand for workers remains robust — do not support imminent rate cuts,” said Rubeela Farooqi, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics. “They support a cautious approach going forward, so that policymakers can be sure that inflation” will reach their 2% target.

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  • Iran launches satellite that is part of a Western-criticized program as regional tensions spike

    Iran launches satellite that is part of a Western-criticized program as regional tensions spike

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    JERUSALEM — Iran said Saturday it had conducted a successful satellite launch into its highest orbit yet, the latest for a program the West fears improves Tehran’s ballistic missiles.

    The announcement comes as heightened tensions grip the wider Middle East over Israel’s continued war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and just days after Iran and Pakistan engaged in tit-for-tat airstrikes in each others’ countries.

    Meanwhile Saturday, the U.S. conducted new strikes on Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who have been targeting shipping in the Red Sea over the war, and Iranian-backed militias in Iraq struck a base housing U.S. troops, wounding several personnel.

    The Iranian Soraya satellite was placed in an orbit at some 750 kilometers (460 miles) above the Earth’s surface with its three-stage Qaem 100 rocket, the state-run IRNA news agency said. It did not immediately acknowledge what the satellite did, though telecommunications minister Isa Zarepour described the launch as having a 50-kilogram (110-pound) payload.

    The launch was part of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards’ space program alongside Iran’s civilian space program, the report said.

    Footage released by Iranian media showed the rocket blast off from a mobile launcher, a religious verse referring to Shiite Islam’s 12th hidden imam written on its side.

    An Associated Press analysis of the footage suggested the launch happened at the Guard’s launch pad on the outskirts of the city of Shahroud, some 350 kilometers (215 miles) east of the capital, Tehran. Iran’s three latest successful satellite launches have all happened at the site.

    There was no independent confirmation Iran had successfully put the satellite in orbit. The U.S. military and the State Department did not respond to a request for comment.

    The United States has previously said Iran’s satellite launches defy a U.N. Security Council resolution and called on Tehran to undertake no activity involving ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons. U.N. sanctions related to Iran’s ballistic missile program expired last October.

    Under Iran’s relatively moderate former President Hassan Rouhani, the Islamic Republic slowed its space program for fear of raising tensions with the West. Hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi, a protégé of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who came to power in 2021, has pushed the program forward.

    The U.S. intelligence community’s 2023 worldwide threat assessment said the development of satellite launch vehicles “shortens the timeline” for Iran to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile because it uses similar technology.

    Intercontinental ballistic missiles can be used to deliver nuclear weapons. Iran is now producing uranium close to weapons-grade levels after the collapse of its nuclear deal with world powers. Tehran has enough enriched uranium for “several” nuclear weapons, if it chooses to produce them, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency repeatedly has warned.

    Iran has always denied seeking nuclear weapons and says its space program, like its nuclear activities, is for purely civilian purposes. However, U.S. intelligence agencies and the IAEA say Iran had an organized military nuclear program up until 2003.

    The involvement of the Guard in the launches, as well as it being able to launch the rocket from a mobile launcher, raise concerns for the West. The Guard, which answers only to Khamenei, revealed its space program back in 2020.

    Over the past decade, Iran has sent several short-lived satellites into orbit and in 2013 launched a monkey into space. The program has seen recent troubles, however. There have been five failed launches in a row for the Simorgh program, another satellite-carrying rocket.

    A fire at the Imam Khomeini Spaceport in February 2019 killed three researchers, authorities said at the time. A launchpad rocket explosion later that year drew the attention of then-President Donald Trump, who taunted Iran with a tweet showing what appeared to be a U.S. surveillance photo of the site.

    In December, Iran sent a capsule into orbit capable of carrying animals as it prepares for human missions in the coming years.

    Meanwhile Saturday, the U.S. military’s Central Command said it “conducted airstrikes against a Houthi anti-ship missile that was aimed into the Gulf of Aden and was prepared to launch.”

    “U.S. forces determined the missile presented a threat to merchant vessels and U.S. Navy ships in the region, and subsequently struck and destroyed the missile in self-defense,” a Central Command statement said. “This action will make international waters safer and more secure for U.S. Navy and merchant vessels.”

    The Iranian-backed Houthis did not immediately acknowledge this seventh round of strikes. The rebels have been targeting shipping since November in what they describe as an effort to stop the Israel-Hamas war. However, their targets have increasingly tenuous — or no — ties to Israel or the conflict.

    In Iraq, a coalition of militias calling itself the Islamic Resistance in Iraq announced it had launched a missile salvo Saturday at al-Asad airbase in the west of the country that is used by the U.S. military, the latest in a series of attacks by the group on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria.

    The Central Command confirmed the attack, saying “Iranian-backed militants fired several shells and ballistic missiles” at the base. It said the base’s defense systems “intercepted most of the missiles, while others fell on the base.”

    The command’s statement said an unspecified number of U.S. personnel had head injuries and at least one Iraqi military service member was also injured.

    An Iraqi military official said 12 missiles were fired at the base, of which four were shot down and eight fell within the base. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to share the details with journalists.

    ___

    Associated Press writers Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran, Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad, and Tara Copp in Washington contributed to this report.

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  • Stock market today: Asian stocks track Wall Street gains and Japan’s inflation slows

    Stock market today: Asian stocks track Wall Street gains and Japan’s inflation slows

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    HONG KONG — Asia markets mostly advanced Friday after Wall Street recouped most of the week’s earlier losses and Japan reported slowing inflation, which may keep its ultra-low interest rates steady.

    U.S. futures and oil prices were mixed. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index climbed 1.3% to 35,940.50.

    Japan’s inflation slowed for a second straight month, increasing the chance that the Bank of Japan will keep its ultra-low interest rates unchanged at its meeting next week. The country’s annual headline inflation rate has remained above the BOJ’s 2% target since April 2022, with a gradual decline observed from its peak of 4.3% last year to the rate of 2.6% in December that was reported Friday.

    Hong Kong stocks were on track for their third consecutive week of losses as investors remain worried about the gloomy economic prospects. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong lost 0.8% to 15,275.00 and the Shanghai Composite index was down 0.3% at 2,838.89.

    In South Korea, the Kospi added 1.3% to 2,472.74. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 advanced 1% to 7,421.20. In Bangkok, the SET was up 0.3%. Taiwan’s Taiex gained 2.6%, with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. adding 6.5%.

    On Thursday, the S&P 500 rose 0.9% to 4,780.94 following back-to-back drops that started the holiday-shortened week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.5% to 37,468.61, and the Nasdaq composite jumped 1.3% to 15,055.65.

    Big Tech stocks led the way, including Apple, which rose 3.3% to flip its loss for the week so far into a gain.

    Chip companies were also strong after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. gave a forecast for revenue in 2024 that analysts said was higher than they were expecting. Broadcom gained 3.6%, while TSMC’s stock that trades in the United States jumped 9.8%.

    The market was broadly steadier as Treasury yields in the bond market slowed their jump from earlier in the week. Yields had been climbing as traders pushed back their forecasts for how soon the Federal Reserve will begin cutting interest rates. Higher yields in turn undercut prices for stocks and raise the pressure on the economy.

    The Fed has indicated it will likely cut rates several times in 2024 because inflation has been cooling since its peak two summers ago, meaning it may not need as tight a leash on the economy and financial system.

    The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose again Friday, to 4.16% from 4.11% late Wednesday.

    Treasury yields swung up and down in the minutes after a report on Thursday morning showed the number of U.S. workers applying for unemployment benefits fell last week to its lowest level since two Septembers ago. That’s good news for workers and for the economy overall, which has so far powered through predictions for a recession.

    Other reports on the economy were mixed Thursday. One showed manufacturing in the mid-Atlantic region is contracting by more than economists expected. Another said homebuilders broke ground on more projects last month than economists expected, even if it was weaker than November’s level.

    On the losing end of Wall Street were several financial companies that reported weaker results for the end of 2023 than analysts expected. Discover Financial Services fell 10.8%, and KeyCorp lost 4.6% after both reported profits that fell well short of Wall Street’s forecasts, though their revenues topped expectations.

    Helping to offset them was Fastenal, which jumped 7.2% for the biggest gain in the S&P 500. The distributor of safety supplies, fasteners and other products reported a bigger quarterly profit than analysts expected.

    In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude added 3 cents to $73.98 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, gave up 16 cents to $78.94 a barrel.

    The U.S. dollar inched up to 148.69 Japanese yen from 148.15 yen. The euro cost $1.0880, up from $1.0874.

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  • States expand low-interest loan programs for farms, businesses and new housing

    States expand low-interest loan programs for farms, businesses and new housing

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    JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — On the first business day of the new year, Missouri Treasurer Vivek Malek began accepting applications for about $120 million of state-subsidized, low-interest loans to small businesses, farmers and affordable housing developers.

    Within six hours, Malek had so many requests for the money that he had to cut off applications.

    “The demand is huge, and it is real,” Malek said.

    Missouri’s situation, though extreme, is not entirely unique. From New York to Illinois to Montana, states have seen surging public interest in little-known programs that use state funds to spur private investment with bargain-priced loans. The programs have taken off after a series of key interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve made virtually all loans more expansive, whether for farmers purchasing seed or businesses wanting to expand.

    To combat inflation in consumer prices, the Fed raised its benchmark interest rate 11 times from March 2022 to last July, setting it at a two-decade high.

    Under so-called linked-deposit programs, states deposit money in banks at below-market interest rates. Banks then leverage those funds to provide short-term, low-interest loans to particular borrowers, often in agriculture or small business. The programs can save thousands of dollars for borrowers by reducing their interest rates by an average 2-3 percentage points.

    States typically cap the amount of money available for such discounted rates at either a flat dollar amount or a percentage of their total fund balances, because the programs result in less earnings for the state. Many states have built large surpluses from pandemic-era revenues, meaning they have more money available to deposit in banks.

    Though most states don’t currently offer such programs, some that shelved them when interest rates were low are now considering whether to revive them to aid financially-strapped businesses and residents.

    “I can say in talks with other state treasurers that there is a definite increased interest in treasury money, whether that is through a linked-deposit program or a different vehicle,” said Illinois Treasurer Michael Frerichs, who is president of the National Association of State Treasurers.

    Illinois has nearly $950 million of deposits linked to low-interest loans for farmers, businesses and individuals. That’s up substantially from past years. In 2015, Frerichs said, the state’s agricultural investment program had just two low-interest loans. By 2022, that had grown to $51 million of loans. Last year, Illinois made $667 million of low-rate deposits for agricultural loans.

    With rising demand, Frerichs recently raised the program’s overall cap from $1 billion to $1.5 billion.

    Though smaller in scope, New York’s program also has seen an explosion of applicants.

    In 2022, New York had 42 applications for state deposits in financial institutions linked to $20 million in low-interest loans. Last year, that rose to 317 applications linked to more than $220 million of loans, said Rafael Salaberrios, a senior vice president who manages capital access programs at Empire State Development, New York’s economic development agency.

    “As the banks see the benefit, they are inundating us with applications — and that’s a good thing,” Salaberrios said. He added: “The linked deposit has allowed for the growth of small businesses to continue even during these high (interest) rate environments.”

    Because of rising demand, Missouri’s linked-deposit loan program neared its statutory cap of $800 million last May. After some existing loans expired, the treasurer’s office was able to reopen applications at 10 a.m. on Jan. 2. By 4 p.m. that day, it had approached the cap again — receiving 142 applications totaling over $119 million — and closed the application window.

    About half the applications came on behalf of customers of just two financial institutions — OakStar Bank and FCS Financial, a leading agricultural lender. FCS Financial had over 100 additional applications in line to submit when applications were cut off, said Brian Zimmerschied, vice president for its commercial crop lending team.

    BTC Bank in rural Bethany, Missouri, had planned to turn in about dozen applications on behalf of its customers. But it missed out entirely because of the quick cutoff, bank CEO Doug Fish said.

    Among those left disappointed was Jason Bernard, a farmer near Bethany who had hoped for a low-interest loan to help purchase this year’s supply of seed, fertilizer and chemical spray.

    With higher interest rates, “it’s a lot harder to make it, just because your payments,” Bernard said.

    The Missouri treasurer’s office is backing legislation to raise the program’s cap from $800 million to $1.2 billion, which would mark a 50% increase in capacity. The expansion could cost the state $12 million of potential earnings, though that could be partly offset by the economic activity generated from those loans, according to a legislative fiscal analysis.

    In Montana, lawmakers last year authorized a new program to address a shortage of affordable housing. The Montana Board of Investments launched a linked-deposit loan initiative in October that received $77 million of applications within two months, reaching a self-imposed cap and forcing it to close applications sooner than expected.

    Republican state Rep. Mike Hopkins, who sponsored the housing incentive legislation, was thrilled with the response.

    “We’re in a bit of a jam in the state of Montana” for affordable housing, Hopkins said, and “we were able to get money out the door as quickly as possible.”

    Officials in Iowa, Kansas and Ohio also told the AP they had increased demand for programs that deposit state money in banks to provide low-interest loans. The number of such loan recipients in Kansas tripled from 2022 to 2023. In Ohio, the amount of money provided for those loans rose by two-thirds during that time, to more than $600 million.

    Oklahoma’s linked-deposit program has been dormant since 2010 amid low interest rates, but at least two banks recently contacted the treasurer’s office about the possibility of restarting it, said Deputy Treasurer Jordan Harvey.

    Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller said he hadn’t approved any linked deposits for low-interest loans since taking office in 2015 — until last year, when he approved his first two.

    “There wasn’t much need because interest rates were cheap,” Miller said.

    “But now that the rates are up,” Miller added, “it could be a viable program, and we could help some people.”

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  • Sanders forces senators into test vote on military aid as Israel-Hamas war grinds on

    Sanders forces senators into test vote on military aid as Israel-Hamas war grinds on

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    WASHINGTON — In a notable test Tuesday, Sen. Bernie Sanders is forcing colleagues to vote on record whether to investigate human rights abuses in the Israel-Hamas war, a step toward potentially limiting U.S. military aid to Israel as its devastating attacks on Gaza grind past 100 days.

    The Senate vote, a first of its kind tapping into a decades-old law, would require the U.S. State Department to, within 30 days, produce a report on whether the Israeli war effort in Gaza is violating human rights and international accords. If so, U.S. military aid to Israel, long assured without question, could be quickly halted.

    While the Senate is unlikely to approve the measure, the vote by senators will begin to reveal the depth of unease among U.S. lawmakers over Israel’s prosecution of the war against Hamas. With no apparent end to the bombardment, Israel’s attacks against Palestinians, an attempt to root out Hamas leaders, are viewed by some as disproportional to the initial terrorist attack on Israel.

    The Biden administration, with repeated overtures to Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, including shuttle diplomacy last week by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, is pushing Israel to shift the intensity of the battle. Some 24,000 people in Gaza, the majority of them women and children, have been killed and the bombings have destroyed most of the housing units, displacing most of its 2.3 million people in a humanitarian catastrophe.

    “To my mind, Israel has the absolute right to defend itself from Hamas’ barbaric terrorist attack on October 7, no question about that,” Sanders told AP during an interview Monday ahead of the vote.

    “But what Israel does not have a right to do — using military assistance from the United States — does not have the right to go to war against the entire Palestinian people,” said Sanders, the independent from Vermont. “And in my view, that’s what has been happening.”

    Heading toward the vote, Sanders said senators are nervous because what he’s trying to do is unprecedented in procedure and essentially practice.

    “The Congress has always been supportive of Israel in general, and this begins to question the nature of the military campaign,” Sanders said. “And I think that makes some other people quite nervous.”

    The White House has rejected approach from Sanders as “unworkable” as it seeks a transition from Israel and works to ensure support at home and abroad against a stirring backlash to the scenes of destruction from Gaza.

    “We do not believe that this resolution is the right vehicle to address these issues. And we don’t think now is the right time. It’s unworkable, quite frankly,” said a statement from the White House National Security Council’s John Kirby.

    “The Israelis have indicated they are preparing to transition their operations to a much lower intensity. And we believe that transition will be helpful both in terms of reducing civilian casualties, as well as increasing humanitarian assistance,” Kirby said.

    The action comes as Biden’s request for $106 billion supplemental national security aid for Israel as well as Ukraine and other military needs is at a standstill. Republicans in Congress are insisting on attaching vast policy changes to stop the flow of immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border.

    Of that supplemental aid package, more than $14 billion would go to Israel, including $10 billion in U.S. military assistance, as it retaliates against Hamas for the Oct. 7 surprise attack, among the most deadly assaults ever. Some 1,200 people were killed and 250 taken hostage, many still being held.

    Several key Democratic senators have announced their unease with Israel’s war in Gaza, insisting the Biden administration must do more to push the Netanyahu government to reduce civilian casualties and improve living conditions for Palestinians in Gaza.

    Going further, Sanders had already announced his refusal to support more military aid to Israel in the package because of the war.

    “If I had my druthers, that’s what I would do. That is not what this resolution is about,” Sanders said.

    But he did say that the resolution should be seen as “a first step, not a last step.”

    The resolution is drawn from the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, which was amended after the Nixon era, enabling Congress to provide oversight of U.S. military assistance abroad. It requires that any arms or military aid must be used in accordance with international human rights accords.

    While senators have voted to try to halt foreign arms sales to other countries in the past, this is an untested mechanism.

    The question before the Senate will be whether to ask the State Department for a report on whether human rights violations using U.S. equipment may have occurred during Israel’s current campaign against Gaza, according to Sanders’ office.

    If the resolution were to be approved, it would force the State Department to produce a report of its findings within 30 days or risk the aid being cut off.

    While it’s not at all certain that U.S. aid to Israel would actually be halted, since Congress could take steps to ensure no interruption, it is enough of a threat that many senators, even the Democrats who have raised concerns about the bombardment of Gaza and the humanitarian crisis, will be unwilling to support the measure.

    Republican senators are likely to fully reject Sanders’ proposal. Senate Republicans have been almost unanimous in their support for Israel, even as they are blocking Biden’s broader national security package because of divisions within the GOP over helping Ukraine as it battles Russia’s invasion.

    Talks on attaching the U.S-Mexico border security provisions to the national security aid package are lumbering along, but no quick breakthrough is expected as Republicans push for tougher restrictions on migrants than Democrats are willing to give, particularly for immigrations seeking asylum in the U.S.

    Associated Press writer Ellen Knickmeyer contributed to this report.

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  • Advocacy groups are petitioning for the end of SNAP interview requirements

    Advocacy groups are petitioning for the end of SNAP interview requirements

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    NEW YORK — Student and legal advocacy groups are petitioning the U.S. Department of Agriculture to lift the interview requirement for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) applicants to receive food aid.

    The groups argue the interview requirement is burdensome and prevents those who qualify for food aid from receiving it. The National Student Legal Defense Network, the Center for Law and Social Policy, and the California Student Aid Commission are among the organizations calling for its removal. A spokesperson for the Department of Agriculture said the agency is reviewing the proposal.

    SNAP helps low-income families supplement their budgets so they can buy groceries, snacks, and non-alcoholic beverages. An estimated 42 million Americans currently receive the monthly benefits at an average of $212 per person or $401 per household.

    Currently, within 30 days of an application for SNAP, a state agency must complete an applicant’s initial certification interview, either by phone or in person.

    Expedited interviews may take place within a seven-day window for people in particular need who meet certain income criteria. Seasonal farm workers, migrants, and certain other households may also receive expedited interviews.

    Eligible households next receive a notice indicating their certification period, or how long they’ll receive SNAP benefits. Before that period ends, a participant’s local SNAP office contacts them with information on how to re-certify.

    Aviana Kimani, 24, a student at West Los Angeles College, received SNAP benefits for a year and a half before leaving the program, she said, in part because of the difficulty of scheduling the mandated re-certification interview.

    Initially, Kimani had signed up for food assistance through her local food bank, but she found the process of going to the social services office in person to renew her eligibility during its open hours challenging because of work and school obligations. She was moving at the time, she said, and everything within the SNAP assistance program was paper-based in her case, meaning there was an additional challenge in keeping up with the process, changing her address, post-move.

    “You don’t get to pick the time — it’s just given to you — and, usually since it’s during the day, it can inconvenience you if you work or go to school,” Kimani said. “You also don’t know how long the call will be. If I didn’t have to go through the screening process, I definitely would have been on benefits longer. But if you don’t keep up, you’re knocked off.”

    When SNAP was established in 1978, the Agriculture Department kept the interview requirement inherited from the previous food stamp program, stating that the interview both helps the agency understand a household’s circumstances and helps the household understand the program.

    “On the basis of past experience, the department believes that the interview is critically important to the certification process and must be carefully monitored and regulated,” the agency said at the time.

    But interviews are not mandated by the federal statute governing the SNAP program, the organizations petitioning the government note. They argue that the current regulatory requirement is an outdated bureaucratic hurdle.

    A 2021 review of enrollment data in California found that 31% of SNAP applicants in Los Angeles County were denied SNAP due to missing their interview, compared to just 6% who were denied for failing to meet eligibility requirements. Missed-interview denials were even higher among working families and college applicants, affecting as many as 40% of otherwise eligible applicants.

    Allan Rodriguez, press secretary for the USDA, said 78% of people eligible for SNAP participated in the program and received benefits from October 2019 to February 2020, the last pre-pandemic period from which data is available.

    During the pandemic, when interview and other requirements were eased, the USDA encouraged states to use existing program flexibility to improve access to SNAP, such as by using online or phone SNAP applications or allowing participants to stay on SNAP without reapplying for the maximum amount of time allowed.

    According to Ty Jones Cox, vice president for food assistance at the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, the changes contributed to hunger staying level in 2020, rather than increasing during the early stage of the pandemic. That’s in contrast to during the 2008 recession, when it increased from 11.1 percent to 14.7 percent.

    “Hunger was poised to soar early in the COVID-19 pandemic, but SNAP’s structure and policy changes made it easier for families to access SNAP during this period,” she said.

    Kimani also says the pandemic proved the policy change can be done.

    “During COVID-19 they allowed people to be automatically re-certified to continue their benefits, instead of using an appointment in person to determine eligibility,” she said. “I wonder why we can’t continue that way to ensure people don’t lose benefits.”

    In a recent report, the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities found that the interview requirement “can be an important way for states to gather accurate information and for applicants to have their questions answered, but it can be a labor-intensive task and delay approval.”

    Student Defense President Aaron Ament said the organization hears too often about obstacles students face to scheduling the required government SNAP interviews when juggling schoolwork, a job, and childcare or eldercare.

    ___

    The Associated Press receives support from Charles Schwab Foundation for educational and explanatory reporting to improve financial literacy. The independent foundation is separate from Charles Schwab and Co. Inc. The AP is solely responsible for its journalism.

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  • Republicans push back on Biden plan to axe federal funds for anti-abortion counseling centers

    Republicans push back on Biden plan to axe federal funds for anti-abortion counseling centers

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    WASHINGTON — In a new twist to the fight over abortion access, congressional Republicans are trying to block a Biden administration spending rule that they say will cut off millions of dollars to anti-abortion counseling centers.

    The rule would prohibit states from sending federal funds earmarked for needy Americans to so-called “crisis pregnancy centers,” which counsel against abortions. At stake are millions of dollars in federal funds that currently flow to the organizations through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, a block grant program created in 1996 to give cash assistance to poor children and prevent out-of-wedlock pregnancies.

    “Programs that only or primarily provide pregnancy counseling to women only after they become pregnant likely do not meet the … standard,” the Health and Human Services agency said in its rule proposal released late last year.

    More than 7,000 comments have been submitted on the proposed rule, which includes a series of restrictions on how states would be able to spend TANF monies.

    The proposal limiting funds for anti-abortion counseling centers is the Biden administration’s latest attempt to introduce federal policies that expand abortion access. Conservative states, meanwhile, have severely restricted the care since the U.S. Supreme Court stripped women of their federal right to an abortion in 2022.

    Congressional Republicans this week introduced legislation that would block the Health and Human Services Agency from restricting the funds from the centers. The bill has no chance of becoming law this year.

    “Pregnancy centers are an important and vital alternative for expectant mothers,” Republican Rep. Darin LaHood of Illinois said Thursday during a House Ways and Means Committee hearing to mark up the legislation.

    The anti-abortion counseling centers have become an increasingly popular way for conservatives to sermonize against abortions, with an Associated Press investigation last year finding that states have been sending more and more money to the programs over the last decade. More than a dozen states have given the centers roughly $500 million in taxpayer dollars since 2010. Last year, Pennsylvania’s Democratic governor cut funding for all centers from the state budget.

    The centers’ mission is controversial not only because workers often advise pregnant patients against seeking an abortion, but, critics say, the organizations can provide some misleading information about abortion and contraception, like suggesting that abortion can cause breast cancer. Most centers are religiously affiliated and not licensed healthcare facilities. They typically offer pregnancy tests and some offer limited medical services such as ultrasounds.

    The Human Coalition, an anti-abortion organization that has locations in Georgia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Texas, estimates it would lose millions of dollars in funds, said Chelsey Youman, the group’s national director of public policy. Plans to expand to Louisiana and Indiana could be put on hold if the rule goes through, she added.

    Youman argues that her organization helps connect women to social services, like Medicaid, while persuading them to continue with their pregnancy.

    “The work we do is truly compassionate and loving care for women who are facing sometimes the most difficult moment of their life,” Youman said.

    HHS is suggesting several tweaks that would change how states can use the $16.5 billion in block grants intended for the nation’s neediest families. The proposal comes on the heels of a high-profile corruption scandal in Mississippi, where $77 million in TANF funds were squandered over several years.

    The restrictions would limit how much of the money ends up benefitting middle- and high-income earners, with the agency saying that the percentage of impoverished families who get cash assistance has dropped from nearly 70% in 1996 to just over 21% in 2020. The plan would restrict how states use the money for college scholarships and child care, for example.

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  • A push to expand Medicaid has Kansas governor embracing politics and cutting against her brand

    A push to expand Medicaid has Kansas governor embracing politics and cutting against her brand

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    TOPEKA, Kan. — Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly is more aggressive and openly political in pushing to expand Medicaid in Kansas as the Republican-controlled Legislature prepares to open its annual session Monday following five years of failed efforts to provide state health coverage to another 150,000 people.

    Kelly faces leaders of GOP supermajorities whose priorities are to cut income taxes and rein in local property taxes, not to expand Medicaid.

    But Kelly’s new plan includes hitting expansion-opposing Republicans hard later this year during races for legislative seats, an approach that cuts against years of self-branding as a bipartisan problem-solver who doesn’t care about politics.

    “My previous approach, which has always been to try to bring people together and work collaboratively and come up with consensus and then get good policy on the books — that hasn’t worked,” Kelly said during a recent interview.

    “Taking a more aggressive approach and — to be direct, a more political approach to it — might be the answer,” she added.

    For months, Kelly has toured the state for news conferences and roundtables to build support for Medicaid expansion. She said she modeled her campaign on one by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper in North Carolina, where a GOP-dominated legislature expanded coverage as of Dec. 1.

    Kansas is among only 10 states that have not expanded Medicaid in line with the 2010 federal Affordable Care Act, which promises federal funds to cover 90% of the new costs. In two other states, Georgia and Mississippi, top Republicans have signaled willingness to discuss expansion this year so the issue isn’t a dead letter.

    In Kansas, conservative opposition is rooted in small-government beliefs and decades of skepticism about social services. In the fall, House Speaker Dan Hawkins and Senate President Ty Masterson, both Wichita-area Republicans, derided Kelly’s events with business leaders, hospital administrators and health advocates as a “Welfare Express Tour” for “more government dependency.”

    “It’s about not using taxpayer dollars to fund free healthcare for a new population of able-bodied childless adults who don’t want to work,” Hawkins said in an email.

    For some Kansas residents, the issue is getting by.

    In Newton, 46-year-old Robyn Adams works 15 to 20 hours a week while she cares for her 15-year-old daughter and uses a manufacturer’s program to avoid paying $1,500 every two weeks for shots to manage her rheumatoid arthritis.

    She lost Medicaid coverage by working more hours, but not enough to qualify for federal subsidies for private insurance. Even covering a $40 copay before a doctor’s visit can be a financial challenge, so paying a larger monthly insurance premium is out of the question, she said.

    “We need insurance, too,” she said of low-income families. “Without the expansion, I don’t know — a lot of families are going to be in trouble.”

    To attract GOP votes, Kelly has mandated that those who would newly qualify for Medicaid verify annually they are working. But Masterson told reporters, “It really doesn’t change the underlying facts.”

    In Kansas, childless adults without disabilities don’t qualify for Medicaid. Parents like Adams aren’t covered when their household incomes hit 38% of the federal poverty level. For a single parent of one child, it’s less than $7,500; for a family of four, it’s $11,400.

    An expansion would make both groups eligible if they earn up to 138% of the federal poverty level. A single, childless adult could earn $20,100; a single parent and one child, about $27,200; and a family of four, $41,400.

    Of the people who would qualify, 73% are in families with at least one full- or part-time worker, according to KFF, the research organization formerly known as the Kaiser Family Foundation. Many work in services and others are independent contractors, said Sean Gatewood, a former Kansas House member and spokesperson for the KanCare Advocates Network, a pro-expansion coalition.

    Kelly’s plan would increase the cost of the Kansas Medicaid program by 31%, about $1.35 billion a year. However, federal funds would cover all but $135 million, with the state imposing fees on hospitals and large private health insurance companies for most of the rest.

    The federal government also is offering remaining non-expansion states another financial bonus. A promise of an additional $1.8 billion over two years was crucial for GOP lawmakers in North Carolina. Kelly’s office expects Kansas to receive a total bonus of between $370 million and $450 million.

    But even if there is enough support to pass a bill expanding eligibility, Hawkins, Masterson and their allies can keep a plan from even clearing committees. Democrats’ attempts to offer expansion plans during debates on other measures have been ruled out of order, and even Republicans backing expansion have stood with their leaders on that point.

    Yet Kelly and other advocates see plenty of reasons to keep pushing, including North Carolina Gov. Cooper’s success.

    Cooper argued GOP lawmakers in his state felt pressure from an unusual coalition that included rural chambers of commerce and “tough-on-crime Republican sheriffs” who felt they were dealing with too many people who simply needed access to health care, “not handcuffs.”

    As for non-expansion states, Cooper said in a news conference: “I hope that they can take some of the lessons of the coalitions of people that we’ve been able to put together to try to succeed.”

    ___

    Associated Press writer Gary Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina, also contributed.

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  • New Mexico legislators back slower, sustained growth in government programs with budget plan

    New Mexico legislators back slower, sustained growth in government programs with budget plan

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    SANTA FE, N.M. — Leading New Mexico lawmakers on Friday recommended a 5.9% increase in general fund spending for the coming fiscal year amid a windfall in oil-related income, while also sounding a cautionary note on the future of the state’s petroleum bonanza and setting aside more money in savings and investment accounts.

    The proposal from a lead budget writing committee to the Democratic-led Legislature would increase general fund spending by $566 million to $10.1 billion for the fiscal year running from July 2024 to June 2025. The increased general spending represents a fraction of an anticipated $3.5 billion surplus of state income in excess of current tax obligations.

    The budget blueprint would bolster efforts to improve student achievement in public education, buttresses health care for people in poverty or on the cusp as federal support for Medicaid recedes in the aftermath of the pandemic, and provide pay raises averaging 4% to state employees along with compensation boosts at public school and colleges.

    Support for childhood wellbeing also figures prominently, including a recommendation to increased spending from an early childhood education trust to expand prekindergarten and home visits from nurses for parents of infants and toddlers. The early childhood education trust was established in 2020 amid an extraordinary surge in oil-related income and already contains roughly $6 billion.

    State Sen. George Muñoz of Gallup warned that the state budget is more reliant than ever on income from oil and natural gas — a commodity subject to volatile swings in pricing and production.

    “That’s a very dangerous situation in the end,” said Muñoz, chairman of two lead budget-writing committees. “I think this is a very sound budget. … It keeps the state of New Mexico able to grow over the next couple years without having massive cuts” later on.

    The legislature convenes Jan. 16 for a rapid-fire, 30-day legislative session centered on budget negotiations. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham can veto any and all budget provisions approved by legislators.

    Republican state Sen. Pat Woods of Grady said he’s urging colleagues in the Democratic majority to be reasonable and slow the pace of recent budget increases.

    “Do we even know what we’re funding is working?” said Woods, one of 14 GOP senators who are outnumbered nearly 2-1 by Democrats in the chamber. “Do we need to maybe hold off from any more big expenditures to get a general idea of where the funding is working.”

    Spending on public schools would increase increase by $243 million, or 5.8%, to $4.42 billion under the proposal from legislators.

    The plan also would significantly increase spending on the state courts system, local prosecutors and public defenders amid heightened concerns about crime and gun violence in Albuquerque.

    State Rep. Derrick Lente of Sandia Pueblo said the budget plan leaves room for $200 million in tax reductions and incentives.

    Lujan Grisham last year used her veto powers to scale back a tax relief package based on concerns it could undermine future spending on public education, heath care and law enforcement. Vetoed items included reduced tax rates on personal income, sales and business transactions. Credits toward the purchase of electric vehicles and related charging equipment also were vetoed — but are back on the negotiating table this year.

    “We’re taking a much more conservative approach for our tax proposal this year,” said Lente, chairman of lead House committee on taxation.

    A rival budget proposal from Lujan Grisham would increase general fund spending more dramatically by about $950 million, or nearly 10%, to $10.5 billion, with major initiatives to shore up homeownership and affordable housing opportunities.

    Both budget proposals signal a likely end to three straight years of bulk state money transfers to New Mexico households. The most recent rebates in 2023 exceeded $600 million in individual payments of $500.

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  • Applications for jobless benefits fall again as job market continues to show strength

    Applications for jobless benefits fall again as job market continues to show strength

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    The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell last week as the labor market continues to show resilience despite elevated interest rates.

    Jobless claims fell to 202,000 for the week ending Dec. 30, down by 18,000 from the previous week, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The four-week average of claims, which evens out some of the week-to-week volatility, fell by 4,750 to 207,750.

    Overall, 1.86 million Americans were collecting jobless benefits during the week that ended Dec. 23, a decrease of 31,000 from the previous week and the fewest in two months.

    Weekly unemployment claims are a proxy for layoffs. They have remained at extraordinarily low levels in the face of high interest rates.

    In an effort to extinguish the four-decade high inflation that took hold after an unusually strong economic rebound from the COVID-19 recession of 2020, the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark rate 11 times since March of 2022.

    Inflation has eased considerably during the past year, but remains slightly above the Fed’s 2% target. The Fed has left rates alone at its last three meetings and is now signaling that it could cut rates three times next year.

    When the Fed started raising rates, it was widely predicted that the U.S. economy would slide into recession. But the economy and the job market remained surprisingly resilient. The unemployment rate has been below 4% for 22 straight months, the longest such streak since the 1960s.

    The number of job openings has fallen, but remain at historically healthy levels. On Wednesday, the government reported that America’s employers posted 8.8 million job openings in November, down slightly from October and the fewest since March 2021. However, demand for workers remains strong by historical standards.

    The combination of decelerating inflation and low unemployment has raised hopes that the Fed is managing a so-called soft landing: raising rates just enough to bring down prices without causing a recession.

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  • Two large offshore wind sites are sending power to the US grid for the first time

    Two large offshore wind sites are sending power to the US grid for the first time

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    For the first time in the United States, turbines are sending electricity to the grid from the sites of two large offshore wind farms.

    The joint owners of the Vineyard Wind project, Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, announced Wednesday the first electricity from one turbine at what will be a 62-turbine wind farm 15 miles (24 kilometers) off the coast of Massachusetts.

    Five turbines are installed there. One turbine delivered about 5 megawatts of power to the Massachusetts grid just before midnight Wednesday. The other four are undergoing testing and should be operating early this year.

    Danish wind energy developer Ørsted and the utility Eversource announced last month that their first turbine was sending electricity from what will be a 12-turbine wind farm, South Fork Wind, 35 miles (56 kilometers) east of Montauk Point, New York. Now, a total of five turbines have been installed there too.

    Avangrid CEO Pedro Azagra said 2023 was a historic year for offshore wind with “steel in the water and people at work, and today, we begin a new chapter and welcome 2024 by delivering the first clean offshore wind power to the grid in Massachusetts.” Avangrid is an energy company headquartered in Orange, Connecticut. Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners is a large fund manager and global leader in renewable energy investments.

    “We’ve arrived at a watershed moment for climate action in the U.S., and a dawn for the American offshore wind industry,” Azagra said in a statement Wednesday.

    Nearly 200 countries agreed last month at COP28 to move away from planet-warming fossil fuels — the first time they’ve made that crucial pledge in decades of U.N. climate talks. The deal calls for tripling the use of renewable energy, and offshore wind will be crucial to meeting that target.

    Large offshore wind farms have been making electricity for three decades in Europe, and more recently in Asia. The United States has struggled to launch the industry here. Vineyard Wind was conceived as a way to do just that, and prove the industry wasn’t dead in the United States at at time when many people thought it was.

    The first U.S. offshore wind farm was supposed to be a project off the coast of Massachusetts known as Cape Wind. The application was submitted to the federal government in 2001. It failed after years of local opposition and litigation. Turbines began spinning off Rhode Island’s Block Island in 2016. But with just five of them, it’s not a commercial-scale wind farm.

    Vineyard Wind submitted state and federal project plans to build an offshore wind farm in 2017. Massachusetts had committed to offshore wind by requiring its utilities to solicit proposals for up to 1,600 megawatts of offshore wind power by 2027.

    Vineyard Wind would be significantly farther offshore than Cape Wind and the first utility-scale wind power development in federal waters.

    In what might have been a fatal blow, federal regulators delayed Vineyard Wind by holding off on issuing a key environmental impact statement in 2019. Massachusetts Democratic Rep. William Keating said at the time the Trump administration was trying to stymie the renewable energy project just as it was coming to fruition.

    The Biden administration signed off on it in 2021. Construction began onshore in Barnstable, Massachusetts. This spring, massive tower sections from Portugal arrived at the Port of New Bedford to be assembled out on the water.

    New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell said Wednesday’s announcement is a “great way to kick off 2024.”

    The 800-megawatt wind farm will power more than 400,000 homes and businesses in Massachusetts. Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey said this is clean, affordable energy made possible by the many advocates, public servants, union workers and business leaders who worked for decades to accomplish this achievement.

    ___

    Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • US national debt hits record $34 trillion as Congress gears up for funding fight

    US national debt hits record $34 trillion as Congress gears up for funding fight

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    WASHINGTON — The federal government’s gross national debt has surpassed $34 trillion, a record high that foreshadows the coming political and economic challenges to improve America’s balance sheet in the coming years.

    The U.S. Treasury Department issued a report Tuesday logging U.S. finances, which have become a source of tension in a politically divided Washington that could possibly see parts of the government shutdown without an annual budget in place.

    Republican lawmakers and the White House agreed last June to temporarily lift the nation’s debt limit, staving off the risk of what would be a historic default. That agreement lasts until January 2025. Here are some answers to questions about the new record national debt.

    The national debt eclipsed $34 trillion several years sooner than pre-pandemic projections. The Congressional Budget Office’s January 2020 projections had gross federal debt eclipsing $34 trillion in fiscal year 2029.

    But the debt grew faster than expected because of a multi-year pandemic starting in 2020 that shut down much of the U.S. economy. The government borrowed heavily under then President Donald Trump and current President Joe Biden to stabilize the economy and support a recovery. But the rebound came with a surge of inflation that pushed up interest rates and made it more expensive for the government to service its debts.

    “So far, Washington has been spending money as if we had unlimited resources,” said Sung Won Sohn, an economics professor at Loyola Marymount University. “But the bottom line is there is no free lunch,” he said, “and I think the outlook is pretty grim.”

    The gross debt includes money that the government owes itself, so most policymakers rely on the total debt held by the public in assessing the government’s finances. This lower figure — $26.9 trillion — is roughly equal in size to the U.S. gross domestic product.

    Last June, the Congressional Budget Office estimated in its 30-year outlook that publicly held debt will be equal to a record 181% of American economic activity by 2053.

    The national debt does not appear to be a weight on the U.S. economy right now, as investors are willing to lend the federal government money. This lending allows the government to keep spending on programs without having to raise taxes.

    But the debt’s path in the decades to come might put at risk national security and major programs, including Social Security and Medicare, which have become the most prominent drivers of forecasted government spending over the next few decades. Government dysfunction, such as another debt limit showdown, could also be a financial risk if investors worry about lawmakers’ willingness to repay the U.S. debt.

    Foreign buyers of U.S. debt — like China, Japan, South Korea and European nations — have already cut down on their holdings of Treasury notes.

    A Peterson Foundation analysis states that foreign holdings of U.S. debt peaked at 49 percent in 2011, but dropped to 30 percent by the end of 2022.

    “Looking ahead, debt will continue to skyrocket as the Treasury expects to borrow nearly $1 trillion more by the end of March,” said Peterson Foundation CEO Michael Peterson. “Adding trillion after trillion in debt, year after year, should be a flashing red warning sign to any policymaker who cares about the future of our country.

    The debt equates to about $100,000 per person in the U.S. That sounds like a lot, but the sum so far has not appeared to threaten U.S. economic growth.

    Instead, the risk is long term if the debt keeps rising to uncharted levels. Sohn said a higher debt load could put upward pressure on inflation and cause interest rates to remain elevated, which could also increase the cost of repaying the national debt.

    And as the debt challenge evolves over time, choices may become more severe as the costs of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid increasingly outstrip tax revenues.

    When it could turn into a more dire situation, is anyone’s guess, says Shai Akabas, director of economic policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center, “but if and when that happens, it could mean very significant consequences that occur very quickly.”

    “It could mean spikes in interest rates, it could mean a recession that leads to lots more unemployment. It could lead to another bout of inflation or weird going on with consumer prices —several of which are things that we’ve experienced just in the past few years,” he said.

    Both Democrats and Republicans have called for debt reduction, but they disagree on the appropriate means of doing so.

    The Biden administration has been pushing for tax hikes on the wealthy and corporations to reduce budget deficits, in addition to funding its domestic agenda. Biden also increased the budget for the IRS, so that it can collect unpaid taxes and possibly reduce the debt by hundreds of billions of dollars over 10 years.

    Republican lawmakers have called for large cuts to non-defense government programs and the repeal of clean energy tax credits and spending passed in the Inflation Reduction Act. But Republicans also want to trim Biden’s IRS funding and cut taxes further, both of which could cause the debt to worsen.

    Both claims are previews of cases that will likely be put to voters in this year’s presidential election.

    White House spokesman Michael Kikukawa put the blame on the GOP, saying in a statement that the steady accrual over years was “trickle-down debt — driven overwhelmingly by repeated Republican giveaways skewed to big corporations and the wealthy.”

    By contrast, Republican lawmakers have said that borrowing during the Biden administration contributed to the 2022 spike in inflation rates that dragged down the Democratic president’s approval ratings.

    Akabas said, “There is growing concern among investors and rating agencies that the trajectory we’re on is unsustainable — when that turns into a more dire situation is anyone’s guess.”

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  • North Korea's Kim says military should 'thoroughly annihilate' US, South Korea if provoked

    North Korea's Kim says military should 'thoroughly annihilate' US, South Korea if provoked

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    SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his military should “thoroughly annihilate” the United States and South Korea if provoked, state media reported Monday, after he vowed to boost national defense to cope with what he called an unprecedented U.S.-led confrontation.

    Kim is expected to ramp up weapons tests in 2024 ahead of the U.S. presidential election in November. Many experts say he likely believes his expanded nuclear arsenal would allow him to wrest U.S. concessions if former President Donald Trump is reelected.

    In a five-day major ruling party meeting last week, Kim said he will launch three more military spy satellites, produce more nuclear materials and develop attack drones this year in what observers say is an attempt to increase his leverage in future diplomacy with the U.S.

    In a meeting on Sunday with commanding army officers, Kim said it is urgent to sharpen “the treasured sword” to safeguard national security, an apparent reference to his country’s nuclear weapons program. He cited “the U.S. and other hostile forces’ military confrontation moves,” according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

    Kim stressed that “our army should deal a deadly blow to thoroughly annihilate them by mobilizing all the toughest means and potentialities without moment’s hesitation” if they opt for military confrontation and provocations against North Korea, KCNA said.

    In his New Year’s Day address Monday, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said he will strengthen his military’s preemptive strike, missile defense and retaliatory capabilities in response to the North Korean nuclear threat.

    “The Republic of Korea is building genuine, lasting peace through strength, not a submissive peace that is dependent on the goodwill of the adversary,” Yoon said, using South Korea’s official name.

    At the party meeting, Kim called South Korea “a hemiplegic malformation and colonial subordinate state” whose society is “tainted by Yankee culture.” He said his military must use all available means including nuclear weapons to “suppress the whole territory of South Korea” in the event of a conflict.

    South Korea’s Defense Ministry warned in response that if North Korea attempts to use nuclear weapons, South Korean and U.S. forces will punish it overwhelmingly, resulting in the end of the Kim government.

    Experts say small-scale military clashes between North and South Korea could happen this year along their heavily armed border. They say North Korea is also expected to test-launch intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the mainland U.S. and other major new weapons.

    In 2018-19, Kim met Trump in three rounds of talks on North Korea’s expanding nuclear arsenal. The diplomacy fell apart after the U.S. rejected Kim’s offer to dismantle his main nuclear complex, a limited step, in exchange for extensive reductions in U.S.-led sanctions.

    Since 2022, North Korea has conducted more than 100 missile tests, prompting the U.S. and South Korea to expand their joint military drills. North Korea has also tried to strengthen its relationships with China and Russia, which blocked efforts by the U.S. and its partners in the U.N. Security Council to toughen U.N. sanctions on North Korea over its weapons tests.

    KCNA said Kim and Chinese President Xi Jinping exchanged New Year’s Day messages on Monday on bolstering bilateral ties. North Korea faces suspicions that it has supplied conventional arms for Russia’s war in Ukraine in return for sophisticated Russian technologies to enhance the North’s military programs.

    Estimates of the size of North Korea’s nuclear arsenal vary, ranging from about 20-30 bombs to more than 100. Many foreign experts say North Korea still has some technological hurdles to overcome to produce functioning nuclear-armed ICBMs, though its shorter-range nuclear-capable missiles can reach South Korea and Japan.

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  • California is expanding health care coverage for low-income immigrants in the new year

    California is expanding health care coverage for low-income immigrants in the new year

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    SACRAMENTO, Calif. — More than 700,000 immigrants living illegally in California will gain access to free health care starting Monday under one of the state’s most ambitious coverage expansions in a decade.

    It’s an effort that will eventually cost the state about $3.1 billion per year and inches California closer to Democrats’ goal of providing universal health care to its roughly 39 million residents.

    Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and lawmakers agreed in 2022 to provide health care access to all low-income adults regardless of their immigration status through the state’s Medicaid program, known as Medi-Cal.

    California is the most populous state to guarantee such coverage, though Oregon began doing so in July.

    Newsom called the expansion “a transformative step towards strengthening the health care system for all Californians” when he proposed the changes two years ago.

    Newsom made the commitment when the state had the largest budget surplus in its history. But as the program kicks off next week, California faces a record $68 billion budget deficit, raising questions and concerns about the economic ramifications of the expansion.

    “Regardless of what your position is on this, it doesn’t make sense for us to be adding to our deficit,” said Republican Sen. Roger Niello, the vice-chair of the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee.

    Immigration and health care advocates, who spent more than a decade fighting for the changes, have said the expanded coverage will close a gap in health care access and save the state money in the long run. Those who live in the state illegally often delay or avoid care because they aren’t eligible for most coverage, making it more expensive to treat them when they end up in emergency rooms.

    “It’s a win-win, because it allows us to provide comprehensive care and we believe this will help keep our communities healthier,” said Dr. Efrain Talamantes, chief operating officer at AltaMed in Los Angeles, the largest federally qualified health center in California.

    The update will be California’s largest health care expansion since the 2014 implementation of former President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, which allowed states to include adults who fall below 138% of the federal poverty level in their Medicaid programs. California’s uninsured rate dropped from about 17% to 7%.

    But a large chunk of the population was left out: adults living in the United States without legal permission. They are not eligible for most public benefit programs, even though many have jobs and pay taxes.

    Some states have used their tax dollars to cover a portion of health care expenses for some low-income immigrants. California first extended health care benefits to low-income children without legal status in 2015 and later added the benefits for young adults and people over the age of 50.

    Now the last remaining group, adults ages 26 to 49, will be eligible for the state’s Medicaid program.

    The state doesn’t know exactly how many people will enroll through the expansion, but state officials said more than 700,000 people will gain full health coverage allowing them to access preventative care and other treatment. That’s larger than the entire Medicaid population of several states.

    “We’ve had this asterisk based on immigration status,” said Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access California, a consumer advocacy group. “Just from the numbers point of view, this is a big deal.”

    Republicans and other conservative groups worry the new expansion will further strain the overloaded health care system and blasted the cost of the expansion.

    State officials estimated the expansion will cost $1.2 billion the first six months and $3.1 billion annually thereafter from the budget. Spending for the Medi-Cal program, which is now about $37 billion annually, is the second-largest expense in the California budget, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office.

    Earlier this month, the state Department of Finance sent a letter urging state agencies to cut costs in light of the deficit. It has not given specific directions about the Medicaid expansion, state officials told The Associated Press in December.

    California’s expansion of Medicaid will face other challenges. The state is chugging through a review of Medicaid enrollees’ eligibility for the first time in more than three years that was prompted by the end of some federal pandemic policies. Many immigrants who had their coverage protected during the COVID-19 pandemic now find themselves ineligible because they no longer financially qualify.

    John Baackes, CEO of L.A. Care Health Plan, the state’s largest Medi-Cal plan with nearly 2.6 million members, said roughly 20,000 members have lost their Medicaid coverage during the review process this past year and are looking to secure new insurance plans. His organization is juggling to help people navigate through both processes.

    “People are being bombarded with information,” Baackes said. “I can’t imagine if somebody were having to maneuver through all this, why they wouldn’t be terribly confused.”

    “The phones are ringing off the walls,” he said.

    Fear and distrust are also barriers for the expansion, said Sarah Dar, policy director for the California Immigrant Policy Center.

    Many immigrants avoid accepting any public programs or benefits out of fear it will eventually prevent them from gaining legal status under the “public charge” rule. The federal law requires those seeking to become permanent residents or gain legal status to prove they will not be a burden to the U.S., or a “public charge.” The rule no longer considers Medicaid as a factor under President Joe Biden’s administration, but the fear remains, she said.

    More resources and effort are required to reach this population “because of the history of just being completely excluded and not interfacing with the health care system or with government programs at all for so long,” Dar said.

    California has more work to do to see the state’s uninsured rate hit zero, known as “universal coverage,” Dar said.

    For one thing, immigrants living in the U.S. without legal permission are still not eligible to purchase insurance from Covered California, the state-run exchange offering steep discounts for people who meet certain income requirements. A bill pending in the state Legislature, supported by the California Immigrant Policy Center, would change that.

    “It’s going to be another really big undertaking,” Dar said. “And we know that revenues are down … but it’s our job to make the case that, in times of economic downturn and whatnot, these are the communities that need the support the most.”

    ___

    Associated Press Reporter Adam Beam contributed to this report.

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