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Tag: united states

  • New York State Legislature passes bill to protect doctors who prescribe abortion pills for out-of-state patients | CNN Politics

    New York State Legislature passes bill to protect doctors who prescribe abortion pills for out-of-state patients | CNN Politics



    CNN
     — 

    A bill that would legally protect doctors who prescribe and send abortion pills to patients in states where abortion services are outlawed or restricted is now headed to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s desk after the state legislature passed the legislation on Tuesday.

    The bill ensures that doctors, medical providers and facilitators in the state will be able to provide telehealth services to patients out of state, according to a news release from the New York State Assembly.

    The new legislation also protects New York health providers from out-of-state litigation, meaning the state will not cooperate with cases prosecuting doctors in New York who provide telehealth abortion or reproductive services to people in other states.

    “This bill expands protections for telehealth providers by providing them the same protections afforded to doctors in other states with strong reproductive healthcare shield laws,” according to the news release.

    The bill also ensures that New York medical providers, complying with their practice, who offer telehealth services are not subject to professional discipline, “solely for providing reproductive health services to patients residing in states where such services are illegal.”

    CNN has reached out to the governor’s office to see if she will sign the legislation.

    CNN previously reported Hochul has indicated support for a shield law protecting medical providers of out of state abortion and reproductive services.

    Assemblymember Karines Reyes, a registered nurse who sponsored the bill, said she was “proud to sponsor this critical piece of legislation to fully protect abortion providers using telemedicine.”

    According to the state assembly’s news release, the bill recognizes the common use of medication abortion drugs, stating that 54% of abortions across the country are now medication abortions.

    Speaker of the New York State Assembly Carl Heastie said, “It is our moral obligation to help women across the country with their bodily autonomy by protecting New York doctors from litigation efforts from anti-choice extremists. Telehealth is the future of healthcare, and this bill is simply the next step in making sure our doctors are protected.”

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  • Meta cut election teams months before Threads launch, raising concerns for 2024 | CNN Business

    Meta cut election teams months before Threads launch, raising concerns for 2024 | CNN Business



    CNN
     — 

    Meta has made cuts to its teams that tackle disinformation and coordinated troll and harassment campaigns on its platforms, people with direct knowledge of the situation told CNN, raising concerns ahead of the pivotal 2024 elections in the US and around the world.

    Several members of the team that countered mis- and disinformation in the 2022 US midterms were laid off last fall and this spring, a person familiar with the matter said. The staffers are part of a global team that works on Meta’s efforts to counter disinformation campaigns seeking to undermine confidence in or sow confusion around elections.

    The news comes as Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is celebrating the unparalleled success of its new Threads platform, surpassing 100 million users just five days after launch and opening a potential new avenue for bad actors.

    A Meta spokesperson did not specify, when asked, how many staffers had been cut from its teams working on elections. In a statement to CNN on Monday night, the spokesperson said, “Protecting the US 2024 elections is one of our top priorities, and our integrity efforts continue to lead the industry.”

    The spokesperson did not answer CNN questions about what additional resources had been deployed to monitor and moderate its new platform. Instead, Meta said the social media giant had invested $16 billion in technology and teams since 2016 to protect its users.

    But the decision to lay off staffers ahead of 2024, when elections will not only take place in the United States but also in Taiwan, Ukraine, India and elsewhere, has raised concerns among those with direct knowledge of Meta’s election integrity work.

    The disparate nature of Meta’s work on elections makes it difficult for even people inside the company to say specifically how many people are part of the effort. One group of relevant employees hit harder by the layoffs were “content review” specialists who manually review election-related posts that may violate Meta’s terms of service, a person familiar with the cuts told CNN.

    Meta is trying to offset those cuts by more proactively detecting accounts that spread false election-related information, said the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press.

    For years, the social media giant has invested heavily in teams of personnel to root out sophisticated and coordinated networks of fake accounts. That “coordinated inauthentic behavior,” as Meta calls it, began in the lead up to the 2016 election when an infamous Russian government-linked troll operation ran amuck on Facebook.

    The team tasked with combating the influence campaigns – which includes former US government and intelligence officials – has been generally seen as the most robust in the social media industry. The company has published quarterly reports in recent years that expose governments and other entities found to have been operating covert campaigns pushing disinformation on Meta’s platforms.

    Those teams investigating disinformation campaigns now must further prioritize which campaigns and countries to focus on, another person familiar with the situation said, a trade-off that could result in some deceptive efforts going unnoticed.

    The person emphasized that Meta still has a dedicated team of professionals working on these issues, many of whom are widely respected in the cyber and information security communities.

    But while artificial intelligence and other automated systems can help detect some of these efforts, unearthing sophisticated disinformation networks is still a “very manual process” that involves intense scrutiny from expert staff, another person with direct knowledge of Meta’s counter disinformation efforts told CNN.

    The person said they feared Meta was regressing from progress it had made from learning from past mistakes. “Lessons that were learned at great costs,” they said, citing the company’s 2018 admission that its platforms were used to incite violence in Myanmar.

    In addition to its in-house team, Meta and other social media companies rely on tips from academics and other researchers who specialize in monitoring covert disinformation networks.

    Darren Linvill, a professor at Clemson University’s Media Forensics Hub, said he has sent the company valuable tips in recent months, but Meta’s response time has slowed significantly.

    Linvill, who has a long track record of successfully identifying covert online accounts, including helping to unearth a Russian election meddling effort in Africa in 2020, said that Meta recently removed a network of Russian language accounts that were posting both pro and anti-Ukraine content on Facebook and Instagram.

    “They were trying to stoke anger on both sides of the debates,” he said.

    Launched last Thursday, Threads has become an instant success with celebrities, politicians, and journalists flocking to the platform.

    The new Twitter-style app is tied to users’ existing Instagram accounts, rather than being linked directly to Facebook. Currently, Threads shares the same community standards as Instagram, but the platforms differ on issues relating to Meta’s methods to combat disinformation.

    Meta also applies labels to state-controlled accounts on Facebook and Instagram, such as Russia’s Sputnik news agency and China’s CCTV. However, these labels do not appear on state-controlled accounts on Threads.

    The launch of Threads even as Meta trims its disinformation-focused personnel comes at a turbulent and transformative time for those tasked with writing and implementing rules on social media platforms.

    Elon Musk, the billionaire who bought Twitter last year, has all but torn up that platform’s rule book and gutted the team that worked on implementing policies designed to combat disinformation efforts.

    Last month, YouTube, which has also made job cuts, announced it would allow videos that feature the false claim the 2020 US presidential election was stolen, a reversal of its previous policy.

    The rule reversals come as the Republican-controlled House of Representatives investigates interactions between technology companies and the federal government.

    Last week, a federal judge in Louisiana ordered some Biden administration agencies and top officials not to communicate with social media companies about certain content, handing a win to GOP states in a lawsuit accusing the government of going too far in its effort to combat Covid-19 disinformation.

    The restrictions and the scrutiny could give cover to social media companies that may want to pull back on some of their platforms’ rules around election integrity, said Katie Harbath, a former Facebook official who helped lead the company’s global election efforts until 2021.

    “I can [almost] hear [Meta Global Affairs President] Nick Clegg saying that ‘we’re going to be cautious of what we do, because we wouldn’t want to run afoul of the law,’” Harbath said.

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  • China-based hackers breached US government email accounts, Microsoft and White House say | CNN Politics

    China-based hackers breached US government email accounts, Microsoft and White House say | CNN Politics



    CNN
     — 

    China-based hackers have breached email accounts at two-dozen organizations, including some United States government agencies, in an apparent spying campaign aimed at acquiring sensitive information, according to statements from Microsoft and the White House late Tuesday.

    The full scope of the hack is being investigated, but US officials and Microsoft have been quietly scrambling in recent weeks to assess the impact of the hack, which targeted unclassified email systems, and contain the fallout.

    The federal agency where the Chinese hackers were first detected was the State Department, a person familiar with the matter told CNN. The State Department then reported the suspicious activity to Microsoft, the person said.

    The Department of Commerce, which has sanctioned Chinese telecom firms, was also breached. The hackers accessed Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo’s email account, one source familiar with the investigation told CNN. The Washington Post first reported on the access of the secretary’s account.

    The Chinese hackers were detected targeting a small number of federal agencies and just a handful of officials’ email accounts at each agency in a hack aimed at specific officials, multiple sources familiar with the investigation told CNN.

    “Microsoft notified the (Commerce) Department of a compromise to Microsoft’s Office 365 system, and the Department took immediate action to respond,” a department spokesperson said in a statement on Wednesday.

    The spokesperson did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the targeting of Raimondo’s email account.

    The hackers targeted email accounts at the House of Representatives, but it was unclear who was targeted and if the breach attempts were successful, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN.

    The breaches add to what is already one of the steepest cybersecurity challenges facing the Biden administration: limiting the ability of Beijing’s formidable hacking teams to access US government and corporate secrets.

    “Last month, US government safeguards identified an intrusion in Microsoft’s cloud security, which affected unclassified systems,” National Security Council spokesperson Adam Hodge said in a statement to CNN.

    “Officials immediately contacted Microsoft to find the source and vulnerability in their cloud service,” Hodge said. “We continue to hold the procurement providers of the US Government to a high security threshold.”

    The State Department “detected anomalous activity, took immediate steps to secure our systems, and will continue to closely monitor and quickly respond to any further activity,” a department spokesperson said on Wednesday.

    US Capitol Police declined to comment, referring CNN to the FBI.

    Hodge did not identify who was behind the hack, but Microsoft executives said in a blog post that the hackers were based in China and focused on espionage.

    In response to the Microsoft and White House statements, the Chinese foreign ministry on Wednesday accused Washington of conducting its own hacking operations.

    US officials have consistently labeled China as the most advanced of US adversaries in cyberspace, a domain that has repeatedly been a source of bilateral tension in recent years. The FBI has said Beijing has a larger hacking program than all other governments combined.

    China has routinely denied the allegations.

    The hacking began in mid-May, when the China-based hackers used a stolen sign-in key to burrow their way into email accounts, according to Microsoft. The tech giant has since blocked the hackers from accessing customer emails using that technique, Microsoft said late Tuesday.

    Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited China in mid-June, but it was not immediately clear if the cyber-espionage campaign was connected to that high-stakes visit.

    Some US officials credited the State Department with investing in more cyber-defense capabilities, allowing the agency to detect the suspicious activity earlier than in past advanced hacks.

    The number of US organizations, public or private, impacted by the hacking campaign is in the “single digits,” a senior US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency official told reporters on Wednesday.

    “This appears to have been a very targeted, surgical campaign,” the official said.

    This story has been updated with additional information.

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  • Blinken says US is ‘working to put some stability’ into relationship with China | CNN Politics

    Blinken says US is ‘working to put some stability’ into relationship with China | CNN Politics



    CNN
     — 

    US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CNN that the US is attempting to strengthen “lines of communication” with China to avoid conflict between the two superpowers.

    “We are working to put some stability into the relationship, to put a floor under the relationship, to make sure that the competition that we’re in doesn’t veer into conflict,” Blinken told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria in an interview that aired Sunday. A conflict, the secretary added, “would not be in our interest, their interest, or anyone else’s.”

    Blinken, who was speaking on the sidelines of the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado, made a highly anticipated trip to China last month, becoming the first secretary of state to travel to the country in five years and the most senior US official to make such a mission since President Joe Biden took office in 2021. His visit was followed by similar trips by other high-level Biden administration officials, including Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and US climate envoy John Kerry.

    “We weren’t doing a lot of talking before. Now we are. We have different groups that are engaged, or about to engage, on discrete issues … that are problems … in the relationship where I believe we can, I think, get to a resolution,” Blinken said. “Now these are early days. The proof will be in the results.”

    After days of talks with senior Chinese officials in Beijing, Blinken touted that “progress” had been made toward steering relations back on track.

    The two global powers have been increasingly at loggerheads over a host of issues ranging from Beijing’s close ties with Moscow to American efforts to limit the sale of advanced technologies to China.

    Earlier this year, a Chinese surveillance balloon that was detected floating across the US and hovering over sensitive military sites before ultimately being shot down by an American fighter plane sent relations plunging to a new low and resulted in Blinken scrapping an earlier Beijing visit.

    “I was very clear with my Chinese counterparts,” Blinken told Zakaria, referring to his trip last month. “We will continue to do and say things that China will not like just as they’re going to continue to do and say things we won’t like.”

    “The test for us is whether we can manage our way through that, to make sure that we sustain these lines of communication, that we continue to talk, and that we work on, as I said, both dealing with the differences and seeing if we can cooperate,” the secretary said.

    CNN previously reported that one of the key issues that did not get resolved during Blinken’s trip was the restoration of military-to-military communications between US and China. Contacts between the countries’ top military officials remain frozen, and Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu continues to be under US sanction dating back to 2018 over the purchase of Russian weapons by China’s Equipment Development Department, which Li was in charge of at the time.

    Asked by Zakaria whether the US should lift the penalty to alleviate tensions, Blinken said, “Those sanctions don’t prevent the minister from engaging or us engaging with him,” adding that “it is a political decision, in effect, for China to decide whether or not he should be engaging.”

    China rejected a meeting between US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Shangfu during a security forum in Singapore earlier this year, although the two did speak briefly.

    “We’ve made very clear that we think it’s a responsibility to have these military-to-military contacts, to have this dialogue, especially to avoid any miscalculations, any misperceptions of what we’re each doing,” Blinken said. “So, we’ll see where China comes out on this.”

    On the Ukraine front, Blinken told Zakaria that Russia has “already lost” the war “in terms of what Russia sought to achieve and what (Vladimir) Putin sought to achieve.”

    “The objective was to erase Ukraine from the map, to eliminate its independence, its sovereignty, to subsume it into Russia. That failed a long time ago,” the secretary said.

    Blinken acknowledged that Ukraine’s mission to regain territory captured by Moscow would be “a very hard fight.” He predicted that the counteroffensive against Russia would continue for “several months.”

    However, he said, along with the aid, military equipment and training Ukraine is receiving from various countries, Kyiv’s cause represents “the decisive element.”

    “Unlike the Russians, Ukrainians are fighting for their land, for their future, for their country, for their freedom,” Blinken said.

    CORRECTION: This story has been updated to reflect that Blinken’s prediction about a conflict continuing for “several months” was a reference to the Ukrainian counteroffensive.

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  • Top 10 “What’s Up, Y’all?” Videos of 2020

    Top 10 “What’s Up, Y’all?” Videos of 2020

    2020 has been a difficult, heartbreaking, and tumultuous year in so many ways. The toll COVID is taking on our communities, especially the most disenfranchised among us (disproportionately poor and working-class people of color), remains heartbreakingly gut-wrenching. Governments across the globe have violated the rights of their people repeatedly, from the ongoing police murders of Black and brown people in the US to the rise of authoritarianism in Hungary, rising state-sponsored anti-Muslim violence in India, increasing evidence of oppression against Uighur Muslims rounded up and sent to forced labor camps in China, and police brutality and murder of youth protesters in Nigeria.

    At the same time, 2020 has been a year of great (un)learning, resistance, and revolution. Just as we have seen the lethal forces of hate, apathy, lies, and violence used against the most marginalized among us, we have also seen Black, brown, undocumented, disabled, queer, trans, poor, working-class, and many other folks rise up and fight back to advocate for our lives and futures. This year has challenged us in so many ways, and yet, through showing us the cracks and failures of capitalism, white supremacy, a for-profit US health care system, criminal “justice”, and other cruel and outdated systems, 2020 has also shown us the power of the collective and the necessity of our dreams and activism.

    More Radical Reads: 6 Ways White Folks Can Support Black Lives Matter, Even If You Can’t Leave Your House

    As our founder Sonya Renee Taylor teaches us, it’s a powerful practice to live in the both/and — to embrace the at times uncomfortable and even painful liminal spaces we find ourselves in as we rupture old patterns, selves, and lives to co-create our future. Sonya shared back at the beginning of the COVID crisis:

    “We will not go back to normal. Normal never was. Our pre-corona existence was not normal other than we normalized greed, inequity, exhaustion, depletion, extraction, disconnection, confusion, rage, hoarding, hate, and lack. We should not long to return, my friends. We are being given the opportunity to stitch a new garment. One that fits all of humanity and nature.”

    Throughout 2020, Sonya has been reaching out with lessons of radical self-love, not only through her written work and appearances via dozens of podcasts, round tables, panels, keynote speeches, and news programs, but also through her “What’s Up, Y’all?” videos posted to her Instagram and YouTube channels. She has provided us with wisdom for all seasons of this year. In November, as those of us in the US (and many of us around the world) were waiting with baited breath for the outcome of the presidential election, Sonya reminded us:

    “Liberation is not a thing we will be delivered unto. It will be the act of daily creation — and it will be the act of daily creation in the midst of great chaos. Because it has always been the act of creation in the midst of great chaos.”

    More Radical Reads: Try A Little Tenderness: 3 Ways Being Tender Is A Political Act

    As we look back on 2020, gather the wisdom we’ve gained from it, and prepare to meet 2021, here is a countdown of Sonya’s top ten most popular “What’s Up, Y’all?” videos from the year. We share them here as an invitation for continued learning, reflection, inner inventory-taking, and outward action-taking as we dream a liberatory 2021 into existence.

    10. “The Willful Confusion of Whiteness”

    9. “Whiteness Is A Death Cult White Folks NEED To Get Out Of”

    8. “What’s the Conversation for Non-Black POC and Mixed-Race Folks?”

    7. “If Black Trans Lives Don’t Matter Then No One’s Will”

    6. “Get Your Damn Toddler and Other Anti-Racist Work”

    5. “When Capital Is More Valuable Than Black Bodies, Capital Must Be Disrupted”

    4. “Labeling the Pickle Jar: Are You Ready To Be Rid of Whiteness?”

    3. “Don’t Ask What You CAN Do To Help Unless You’re Down To Do This!!!”

    2. “While You Were Sleeping… And Now That You’re Awake”

    1. “Why Talking To Your White Family About Black People Is the Wrong Approach”

    May the lessons contained in each of these videos spark further discussion and carry us into the new year as brain, heart, and soul fuel and inspiration. There is no going back, but tomorrow can be better when we work together to create it.

    [feature image: photo of Sonya Renee Taylor against a white background. She is visible from the torso up and is wearing a vibrant red, blue, and leopard print chiffon dress that flows like the dreamy gown of a goddess. She is wearing a gold statement necklace and earrings. Her eyes are closed in bliss as she smiles. She appears to be in mid-twirl.]

    TBINAA is an independent, queer, Black woman run digital media and education organization promoting radical self love as the foundation for a more just, equitable and compassionate world. If you believe in our mission, please contribute to this necessary work at PRESSPATRON.com/TBINAA 

    We can’t do this work without you!

    As a thank you gift, supporters who contribute $10+ (monthly) will receive a copy of our ebook, Shed Every Lie: Black and Brown Femmes on Healing As Liberation. Supporters contributing $20+ (monthly) will receive a copy of founder Sonya Renee Taylor’s book, The Body is Not An Apology: The Power of Radical Self Love delivered to your home. 

    Need some help growing into your own self love? Sign up for our 10 Tools for Radical Self Love Intensive!

    Shannon Weber

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  • Corporate Stays Announces the Appointment of Mr. John Decoste as Market Manager, USA

    Corporate Stays Announces the Appointment of Mr. John Decoste as Market Manager, USA

    Press Release
    –


    updated: May 7, 2018


    MONTREAL, May 7, 2018 (Newswire.com)
    –
     Corporate Stays is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. John Decoste as market manager, United States. In this role, he will be responsible for collaborating with our American partners to ensure that Corporate Stays clients will have access to the highest calibre of corporate housing from coast to coast.

    John comes with nearly 20 years of experience in the hospitality industry, focusing on corporate housing and high-end hotels. He also comes with over three years of experience with Corporate Stays in a previous role, where he was focused on business development.

    John Decoste has been a true builder for corporate housing in Canada and for Corporate Stays itself. His return further cements our position as a Canadian leader and signals the start of our true U.S. expansion.

    Fred Aouad, Chief Sales Officer

    Members of the Corporate Stays team are enthusiastic about John’s return, including Chief Sales Officer Frederic Aouad. “John Decoste has been a true builder for corporate housing in Canada and for Corporate Stays itself. His return further cements our position as a Canadian leader and signals the start of our true U.S. expansion.”

    For his part, John is eager to take on this new challenge. “Corporate Stays has evolved positively into an industry leader and has a true sense of purpose and direction. I am thrilled to be back.” He was more specific regarding what drew him to the role. “In a market as large as the United States, there is so much opportunity to find exceptional partners with whom we can develop lasting relationships.”

    About Corporate Stays

    Founded in 2008, Corporate Stays offers highly personalized corporate housing experiences for business travellers across the globe, including complimentary concierge and international guest support in their Signature Collection locations. A competent staff of expert corporate housing specialists and property partners work tirelessly to manage and maintain their variety of handpicked furnished apartments found across the globe, with acute attention to detail for each one. Every Corporate Stays location provides the highest tiers of comfort, amenities and proximity, giving their guests a home-like experience.

    Source: Corporate Stays

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  • Dead by Cop Crisis: NGO Issues Urgent Appeal to United Nations Human Rights Officials

    Dead by Cop Crisis: NGO Issues Urgent Appeal to United Nations Human Rights Officials

    The United States Sustainable Development Corp has made an urgent appeal to the United Nations Human Rights Council to investigate the killings of unarmed men, women and children of color in the United States. “This request is to urge the Human Rights Council to conduct a thorough and impartial investigation into law enforcement practices that may undermine the human rights of African and Indigenous descendants of colonialism and enslavement in the United States,” UN NGO President, Ava Gabrielle

    Press Release
    –

    Sep 26, 2016


    Geneva, Switzerland, September 26, 2016 (Newswire.com)
    –
    ​​​​Following the recent deaths of Terence Crutcher of Tulsa, Oklahoma and Keith Scott of Charlotte, North Carolina, a US based NGO submitted an appeal as a matter of extreme urgency to five UN Human Rights Special Rapporteurs and the UN Working Group of Experts on people of African Descent, which conducted an official visit to the US in 2015.  “In January 2016, the ‘Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent’ described the violence against African and Indigenous descendants of colonialism and enslavement in the United States as an ‘epidemic of racial violence by the police’”, the organization reiterated to officials. 

    In the letter addressed to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights for the United Nations at Geneva, which is currently in session with the 33rd Human Rights Council, the group also cited the Congressional Black Caucus’ recent symbolic march to the office of US Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s to deliver a similar appeal to the Department of Justice.

    African and Indigenous descendants of colonialism and enslavement from all walks of life believe that they are under siege (in the United States).

    Ava Gabrielle, President/CEO, USSDC

    “In a September 2016 letter to the United States Attorney General, the United States Congressional Black Caucus formally requested that she ‘aggressively pursue investigations, indictments and prosecutions through the Office of Civil Rights against any and all law enforcement officers who harm or kill innocent, unarmed black men, women and children.’ The Human Rights Council can and should join in that request.”

    Officer Betty Shelby who shot and killed unarmed citizen Terence Crutcher as he stood beside his disabled vehicle on the side of the road was charged with manslaughter and has been released on a $50,000 bond. No one has been charged in the death of Keith Scott and protesters who are now more peaceful on day six than they were on day one are calling for the resignation of the city’s mayor and police chief for botching the investigation which has been taken over by the state of North Carolina.

    “African and Indigenous descendants of colonialism and enslavement from all walks of life believe that they are under siege (in the United States). Although law enforcement killed some 1200 people in 2015, only 7 resulted in a charge with a crime and none were convicted. Police charged in the deaths for Americans like Walter Scott, LaQuan McDonald and Akai Gurley are free on bond, awaiting trial. African and Indigenous descendants of colonialism and enslavement are left feeling disenfranchised and devalued in the United States,” the organization said.

    Since 2014, several law enforcement related deaths have been caught on camera, more recently in real time and aired live via social media by family members and by-standers that have triggered massive waves of traumatic responses from the communities of African and Indigenous descendants of colonialism and enslavement in the United States.

    The letter directly quoted the Human Rights Council’s resolution language that described the purpose of the urgent appeal to the United Nations. “This communication is an urgent appeal about the increasing potential in a contentious climate for “time-sensitive violations that involve loss of life, life-threatening situations or imminent or on-going damage of a grave nature that require urgent intervention to cease” such occurrences.” 

    The letter concluded with a three-point request:
    – “Urge the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to pay close attention to the human rights situation in the United States; Report regularly and publicly on the human rights situation in the country;
    – Establish a long term mechanism, such as a country specific special procedure mechanism to document the situation of human rights in the United States; assess priorities and report back periodically to the Human Rights Council;
    – Demand that all actors in the situation, beginning with the United States Department of Justice, ensure the protection of civilians, oversee the immediate cessation of any violations of international human rights and humanitarian law and put in place measures to prevent further violations;”

    The appeal was addressed directly to Victoria Lucia, Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples; Ms. Rita Izsak, Special Rapporteur on minority issues; Mr. Mutuma Ruteere, Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance; Juan Ernesto Mendez, Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; Pablo De Greiff, Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation & guarantees of non-recurrence; and members of the Working Group of Experts on people of African Descent, Mireille Fanon-Mendez, Sabelo Gumedze, Michal Balcerzak, Ricardo III Sunga and Ahmed Reid.

    Others alerted were the US Department of Justice, the White House, the Congressional Black Caucus, the Ambassador of the United States to the United Nations Human Rights Council and the office of Multi-Lateral and Global Affairs/Democracy Human Rights and Labor.

    Source: United States Sustainable Development Corp

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  • Forget What You Think You Know About the Israel-Palestine Conflict

    Forget What You Think You Know About the Israel-Palestine Conflict

    Jeremy R. Hammond’s new book Obstacle to Peace: The US Role in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict explains not only why peace in the Middle East has remained so elusive, but also why you won’t hear the answer from the US government or mainstream media.

    Press Release
    –

    Jun 20, 2016


    Cross Village, Michigan, June 20, 2016 (Newswire.com)
    –
    ​​​Worldview Publications will release Jeremy R. Hammond’s new book, Obstacle to Peace: The US Role in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict on July 9, 2016.

    In a meticulously documented account, Jeremy R. Hammond deconstructs standard mainstream narratives about the conflict, shattering popular myths and navigating the maze of conflicting information to reveal a clear direction forward.

    “Obstacle to Peace is a call to action. To achieve peace, there needs to be a proper understanding about the true nature of the conflict. The book’s purpose is to empower readers with knowledge to effect the necessary paradigm shift.”

    Jeremy R. Hammond, Author of Obstacle to Peace

    The publication date coincides with the anniversary of the International Court of Justice’s 2004 advisory opinion finding that Israel’s settlements and separation wall in the occupied West Bank are violations of international law.

    The Court’s ruling underscores the legal foundations of the two-state solution to the conflict, which include the requirement of international law that Israel fully withdraw from the Palestinian territories it occupied during the June 1967 “Six Day War”.

    As Obstacle to Peace details, the framework for negotiations under the US-led “peace process” is one that rejects the applicability of international law. Far from being designed to produce a peaceful settlement, the so-called “peace process” is the process by which Israel and the US block implementation of the two-state solution.

    The book sets out to demonstrate that US policy is itself a primary impediment to a peaceful solution and constitutes a rejection of the right of the Palestinians to self-determination. The book also closely examines the role of the mainstream media in manufacturing consent for the US’s rejectionist policy.

    “Obstacle to Peace is a call to action,” says author Jeremy R. Hammond. “To achieve peace, there needs to be a proper understanding about the true nature of the conflict. The book’s purpose is to empower readers with knowledge to effect the necessary paradigm shift.”

    Obstacle to Peace will be available on July 9 from Amazon.com and other fine retailers, in both hardcover and paperback editions, with electronic editions later to be announced.

    Review copies are available, and the author is available for interviews. View the media kit at:

    http://www.obstacletopeace.com/media-kit/

    # # #

    About the Author

    Jeremy R. Hammond is an independent political analyst and publisher and editor of Foreign Policy Journal. In 2009, he received the Project Censored Award for Outstanding Investigative Journalism for his coverage of the US’s support for Israel’s 22-day full-scale military assault on the Gaza Strip, “Operation Cast Lead” (Dec. 27, 2008 – Jan.18, 2009). He is the author of three books: The Rejection of Palestinian Self-Determination (2009), Ron Paul vs. Paul Krugman (2012), and Obstacle to Peace (2016) Find him on the web at JeremyRHammond.com.

    Obstacle to Peace: The US Role in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

    Jeremy R. Hammond

    Worldview Publications

    P.O. Box 181, Cross Village, MI 49723

    Publication Date: July 9, 2016 • ISBNs: 978-0-9961058-0-4 (hardcover); 978-0-9961058-1-1 (paperback) • 538 pages • Trim Size: 6” x 9” • $37.99 (hardcover); $22.99 (paperback) • Political Science/History

    Source: Worldview Publications

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  • From Local to Global Community Woman’s Passion for Justice Spans 25 Years

    From Local to Global Community Woman’s Passion for Justice Spans 25 Years

    President/CEO of United Nations NGO with a passion for justice takes long-standing role of convener, to the global stage to connect politically isolated populations of war, colonialism and enslavement to one another and provide space for them voice to their shared plight.

    Press Release
    –

    Mar 28, 2016


    New York, NY, March 28, 2016 (Newswire.com)
    –
    ​​​In October 1993, the opening sentence of a front page article in the Virginian Pilot said her “mind is as sharp as a broken piece of glass”. At the time, Ava Gabrielle Wise was engaged in a campaign to secure infrastructure for a rural Virginia community in which the residents had no indoor plumbing or running water. A young community organizer with the Northampton Housing Trust, a small local non-profit, she assisted the community in purchasing the land where the neighborhood was located so that by the time the struggle for infrastructure was accomplished many residents could become homeowners. The campaign went national and resulted in her being presented with an award for civic activism by the Hampton Roads Black Media Professionals Association.

    Gabrielle-Wise has always had a passion for justice; a heart for disenfranchised communities and the people who live in them. She went on to spearhead the development of an anti-poverty initiative in 1994 following an encounter in Raleigh, NC with Dr. Muhammad Yunis, founder of the Grameen Bank. The resulting program was a small business lending initiative called the Northampton Economic Empowerment Corporation. The organization was later merged with the Northampton Housing Trust and became the Virginia Eastern Shore Economic Empowerment and Housing Corporation. 

    ” I discovered that one of my proficiencies is bringing together groups who are often focused on the same issues, but from different perspectives”. Over the years she has convened members of academia with practitioners, the private sector with public and community leaders with government leadership.”

    Ava Gabrielle-Wise, President/CEO, USSDC

    By 2002, Gabrielle-Wise was in Birmingham, Alabama working as part of a collaborative team with the University of Georgia and Tuskegee University on an economic development study that was commissioned by former Senator Zell Miller (D-GA) to determine what, if any economic development entity would best facilitate economic growth in the poorest regions of the southeastern United States. The region is known historically as the “Black Belt”, but was referred to as the “Southeast Crescent” in the study which was eventually distributed among the 535 members of Congress.

    One of the members of Congress that received the study was a freshman member of the US House of Representatives (D-AL), Artur Davis. Upon reading it, he contacted Gabrielle-Wise an invited her to assist him in developing the economic development platform for the 7th congressional district of Alabama. She remained with that effort for two and a half years before leaving for a brief stint as Director of Economic Development for Jefferson County, Alabama. 

    “It was during this period that I came to realize that one of roles at which I was most effective was as a convener”, said Gabrielle-Wise. “Whether it was organizing one of the largest social justice conferences in the Southeast United States in 2003, or one of the first regional community economic development conferences in Selma the same year, I discovered that one of my proficiencies is bringing together groups who are often focused on the same issues, but from different perspectives”.

    Over the years she has convened members of academia with practitioners, the private sector with public and community leaders with government leadership. “I’ve learned how to bring the right people together to have the right conversations and hopefully take the right action,” said Gabrielle-Wise.  Likewise, she sees the role of USSDC, which she founded in 2009, as a convener in this latest phase of her professional life with the United Nations. “I became an NGO representative to give voice to those isolated populations that have been affected by war, colonialism and enslavement, to provide space for them to tell their stories. It has always been, and is still about justice.”

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  • Panel Addresses the Creation of Race in America

    Panel Addresses the Creation of Race in America

    Group seeks to unravel the historical complexities of Indigenous and African people using the United States as a case study by dissecting the framework of colonialism, enslavement and the creation of race at a Parallel Event of the 60th Session of United Nation Commission on the Status of Women.

    Press Release
    –


    updated: Mar 28, 2016


    New York, NY, March 28, 2016 (Newswire.com)
    –
    ​​​​​​​In a meeting at the International Social Justice Commission in New York City, founder and president of United Nations NGO, the United States Sustainable Development Corp, Ava Gabrielle-Wise moderated a discussion intended to begin a process of expanding the public discourse on United States history to include the creation of race and the homogenization of people from a diversified mix of cultural origins into the binary culture of white and black as a pre and post-colonial economic and political tactic. 

    The panel for the meeting entitled “Understanding the Role of National Identity in Global Politics”, included historians Jeffrey Ogbar, PhD and William Loren Katz. A handout circulated at the meeting cited, “ethnic homogenization” laws that reclassified people of color from many national and ethnic backgrounds, including Moors, Mulatto, Indian, Negro and others into “negro or black” and consequently “slave”. This effectively created an antithetical people group that became known as “white”, and consequently “master”. The fixing of this binary code permanently into the sociopolitical culture of the United States, continues to permeate every phase of its institutional development. Gabrielle-Wise sees the elevation of authentic history by an accredited United Nations NGO as a restorative act; to convene representative voices in hope to restore dignity to the legacy of hundreds of proud people groups and ultimately integrity to the history of American people who made invaluable contributions to its foundation.

    “…there is some scholarship, there just aren’t many active agents of change to effectively promote that scholarship and redirect the current of the existing public narrative.”

    Ava Gabrielle-Wise, President/CEO, USSDC

    “There is a misconception that there is no scholarship on the history of the resistance alliances between indigenous and African people both before and after the founding of the United States,” said Gabrielle-Wise, “but the reality is there is some scholarship, there just aren’t many active agents of change to effectively promote that scholarship and redirect the current of the existing public narrative.” Some point to the lack of credible scholarship as an intentional effort to control the message. As the first English colony in North America, it is in Virginia that the precedent  for many of the founding principles about cultural legacy was established. The absence of such scholarship for much of the 20th century on the untold history of Indigenous and African alliances in the Commonwealth, was according to blood quantum scholar, Dr. Arica Coleman, “a deliberate effort to construct a White-Indian only historicity and as a means to validate the racial integrity of recognized Virginia Indian tribes”, the outcome of which continues to “promote and protect error, irrationality and unfairness.”

    Both Ogbar and Katz contributed to the furtherance of restoring the authentic history in the panel discussion. Katz cited several historic resistance efforts shared by African and Indigenous people against Europeans as they attempted to colonize the Americas. He went on to recall the continued efforts in the United States to perpetuate the negation of the relationship between Indigenous and African people in film by erroneously casting African-Indigenous people with Europeans. Ogbar detailed the legacy of citizenship and identity through the coded and encoded language that has been both imprinted by the existing historical narrative and that which continues to chart the course for the current condition of people of color in the United States. 

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  • Ohio Lottery’s Director Pat McDonald steps down, Michelle Gillcrist appointed as Interim Director | Yogonet International

    Ohio Lottery’s Director Pat McDonald steps down, Michelle Gillcrist appointed as Interim Director | Yogonet International

    Pat McDonald, the director of Ohio Lottery, resigned on Wednesday, citing undisclosed medical reasons for his retirement. Governor Mike DeWine’s spokesperson, Dan Tierney, confirmed that McDonald’s resignation was effective immediately. Michelle Gillcrist, McDonald’s aerospace and defense liaison and northeast Ohio regional liaison, has been appointed as the interim director.

    McDonald has been a prominent figure in the Ohio Lottery for 16 years, initially serving as a member and long-time chair of the Ohio Lottery Commission before being appointed as director by DeWine in 2019.

    In a brief email to DeWine’s chief of staff, Stephanie McCloud, McDonald announced his retirement. “This is to notify you that I am retiring from my position of Director of the State of Ohio Lottery Commission effective today, April 12, 2023, due to medical reasons. It has been a pleasure to serve the people of Ohio,” the email read as reported by the Associated Press.

    Ohio Governor Mike DeWine

    The sudden resignation comes during a crucial period for the Ohio Lottery. The organization is preparing to rebid its central gaming system contract, valued at over $90 million every two years. It is working to resolve a long-standing impasse over the establishment of internet-based lottery gaming, or iLottery, in the state.

    McDonald’s previous roles include serving as elections director for Cuyahoga County, as well as holding positions with the Ohio secretary of state, Ohio treasurer, and as an assistant director of the Ohio Department of Commerce.

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  • Yogonet | Gambling & Sports Betting News. US, UK and Global

    Yogonet | Gambling & Sports Betting News. US, UK and Global

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  • Arizona bettors wager over $535M on sports in April, state reaches $10B all-time handle | Yogonet International

    Arizona bettors wager over $535M on sports in April, state reaches $10B all-time handle | Yogonet International

    According to the latest report released by the Arizona Department of Gaming (ADG), bettors in Arizona placed over $535 million in sports wagers in April 2023, marking a 4.5% increase compared to the same period in 2022. With this new report, the Grand Canyon State becomes one of 10 in the US to reach $10 billion in all-time handle.

    Online wagering remains the preferred method among Arizonans, with mobile operators accounting for over 99% of the total wagers placed during the month. Retail locations accepted the remaining approximate $4.6 million in bets.

    The report also revealed that the state collected privilege fees amounting to over $3.4 million in April, bringing the total privilege fees collected since the commencement of legal operations to over $46 million.

    Currently, Arizona boasts 17 mobile sports betting operators and 25 retail sports betting locations spread across the state. Additionally, seven fantasy sports operators have been approved for operations.

    With April’s figures added to the mix, Arizona has now become the fastest state to surpass $10 billion in accumulated sports wagering handle. The Grand Canyon State reached this milestone only 20 months after the launch of its legal market, eclipsing Illinois, which reached the $10B mark in 22 months in February 2022.

    Since the launch of betting operations in September 2021, Arizona has quickly positioned itself among the top 10 markets for sports wagering at the national level. April’s solid handle ranked seventh among 29 states and marks the 11th time Arizona surpasses $500M in wagers for a month.

    With this new achievement, Arizona joins a select group of $10B+ sports betting handle states, which also includes Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

    See Arizona’s full April sports betting report here.

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  • Massachusetts regulator appoints Bruce Band to oversee sports wagering division | Yogonet International

    Massachusetts regulator appoints Bruce Band to oversee sports wagering division | Yogonet International

    The Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) has appointed Bruce Band to lead its new sports betting division. The MGC intends to launch retail sports betting at category 1 licensees on January 31, with online and mobile wagering scheduled to follow in March.

    In addition to overseeing the new sports wagering division, Band will coordinate with other divisions within the MGC including research and responsible gaming, IT, legal, and the Investigations and Enforcement Bureau.

    The appointment took place at the regulator’s latest meeting, in which Fanatics was also granted a sports betting license. Commissioners voted unanimously to approve the sports apparel giant for a category 3 sports betting operator license, which will be tethered to Plainridge Park Casino‘s Category 1 sports wagering license.

    Cathy Judd-Stein, MGC chair, said: “Bruce has been an essential member of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission team for nearly a decade, and on behalf of my fellow commissioners, I am thrilled he will be taking on this new role leading our sports wagering division.”

    “Because Bruce has been working closely on the implementation of sports wagering already, he won’t miss a beat as he begins his new responsibilities and prioritizes the integrity of sports wagering and the safety of patrons here in the Commonwealth,” she added.


    Executive Director Karen Wells

    The Massachusetts State Legislature passed, and former Governor Charlie Baker signed legislation legalizing sports wagering in August 2022. As he works to stand up sports wagering in the Commonwealth, Band will report to Executive Director Karen Wells and the Commissioners.

    “Bruce is someone who gets the work done and I think his past track record of opening the three casinos here on time with integrity demonstrates his ability to do this role,” Wells added.

    Band has worked in the gambling industry for over 40 years and has served as assistant director of the MGC investigations and Enforcement Bureau and Gaming Agents Division chief since 2014. Prior to this, he worked in various roles at the New Jersey Casino Control Commission.

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  • BIG Cyber to exhibit cybersecurity solutions at TribalNet Conference and Trade Show 2023 | Yogonet International

    BIG Cyber to exhibit cybersecurity solutions at TribalNet Conference and Trade Show 2023 | Yogonet International

    Gaming industry cybersecurity expert BIG Cyber has announced that it is exhibiting at the annual TribalNet conference and tradeshow hosted by TribalHub. The BMM Innovation Group subsidiary, linked to BMM Testlabs, will be present at this year’s iteration of the event, set to take place at the Town and Country Resort in San Diego, California, from September 18th-21st

    BIG Cyber encourages all visitors to explore the BIG Cyber booth #409 at the TribalNet Annual Conference to discover how their tailored cybersecurity strategies “can bolster tribal operations against evolving cyber threats.”
     
    Amit Sharma, CEO of BIG Cyber, said: “TribalNet is one of the most pivotal events for our team. With the gaming industry confronting an escalating wave of cyber threats, we are eager to demonstrate how our solutions have provided effective defense by mitigating attacks specifically targeting the casino sector.” 


     
    BIG Cyber says its participation in the conference underscores its commitment to elevating cybersecurity standards within the tribal community. 

    “Attendees can look forward to learning about the company’s holistic approach, which includes 24/7 monitoring, digital forensics incident response management, risk assessments, and comprehensive cybersecurity awareness training,” the company noted. 

    The upcoming TribalNet Conference features a variety of session tracks as part of a “robust agenda that is certain to satisfy the interests of all attendees,” organizers note. Its agenda features topics including Tribal Gaming and Hospitality Technology, Tribal Government Technology, Tribal Health Information Management, Cybersecurity, General Technology, and Leadership and Management. 

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  • RG24seven to attend and sponsor Indian Gaming Tradeshow & Convention in San Diego | Yogonet International

    RG24seven to attend and sponsor Indian Gaming Tradeshow & Convention in San Diego | Yogonet International

    RG24seven, a video-based training platform for gaming employees, announced it will be attending and sponsoring the Indian Gaming Tradeshow & Convention (IGA) in San Diego, California, March 27-30, 2023.

    The company will provide free demonstrations in booth #1836 during the event. Wendy Anderson, RG24seven CEO, and Andres Molina, Marketing Manager, will be presenting a short overview of RG24seven’s free training for Tribal gaming employees on Thursday, March 30, at 11:00 am in the Tribal Leader’s Lounge. 

    “We are honored to be able to share the RG24seven story with the attendees at this year’s Indian Gaming Show. RG24seven has spent the last two years working with industry experts to create and develop best-in-class, compliance-grade training for gaming employees,” Anderson commented. “We are now providing RG24seven training for free to the Tribal Gaming industry and that is exciting news to share at IGA!”

    “Our presentation will include a short overview of RG24seven’s training system and insight into the various training modules, including Responsible Gaming, Anti-Money Laundering and Human Trafficking,” Molina added.

    “We will talk about why employee training, particularly in corporate social responsibility, is so important. We will conclude with information on how to sign up for RG24seven’s free employee training and answer any audience questions.”

    On Tuesday, March 28, at 9:00 am, Anderson will join Brianne Doura-Schawohl of Doura Schawohl Consulting LLC and Jaime Costello, Director of Programs, National Council on Problem Gambling, on the panel ‘Sustainable Gaming is Responsible Gaming.’ The panel will be moderated by Rob Burke, Editor of Indian Gaming Magazine. 

    “The RG24seven team is very much looking forward to participating in this year’s Indian Gaming Show and I encourage attendees to stop by booth #1836, or join our Thursday morning presentation, to discuss their training needs. We look forward to sharing our responsible, effective, and free training for Tribal Gaming,” Anderson concluded. 

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  • Nevada lottery bill passes Senate committee, now awaits for floor vote | Yogonet International

    Nevada lottery bill passes Senate committee, now awaits for floor vote | Yogonet International

    A Nevada Senate committee passed on Thursday a bill to amend the constitution to allow a state-run lottery. Now headed to the floor of the Legislature, the legislation would end a ban on non-charity lotteries, in place since Nevada achieved statehood in 1864.

    If passed, the bill, titled the Assembly Joint Resolution (AJR) 5, would enable the legislature to establish a state-sponsored lottery. Under the plan, which faces opposition from sectors of the state casino industry, charitable groups would still be able to run lotteries.

    Because the bill amends the constitution, should it be approved at the floor vote, it would have to be passed again by the 2025 Legislature and would then be put to a vote by state residents. A hearing date on the floor has not been set yet.

    On Thursday, the two Nay votes came from Sen. Heidi Seevers-Gansert and Sen. Lisa Krasner. Fox5Vegas cited Gansert as stating: “I will be a no. We have an industry in this state that is the best in the world and they have invested billions of dollars in bricks and mortar and infrastructure and employ hundreds of thousands of people indirectly and direct. So I’m concerned this will deteriorate their industry.”


    Nevada's casino industry believes a lottery would hurt their operations

    One of the main reasons behind Nevada being a no-lottery state is its casinos, whose owners believe that bringing in such form of gambling would threaten the state’s economy by hurting their resort businesses, resulting in job losses, and reduced tax revenue.

    Senator Krasner also did not vote in favor of AJR 5, noting: “I will also be voting no on AJR 5. As we all know, tourism, gaming, and mining are the largest industries in the state of Nevada and they provide so many jobs to the people of Nevada. We don’t want the brick-and-mortar establishments to have to compete with the lottery and so I will be voting no.”

    Committee Chair Sen. James Ohrenschall voted in favor of the bill, saying: 
    “I’m going to be supporting AJR 5. I think we’ve certainly heard testimony with concerns from our gambling industry but we also heard testimony that a lot of folks who drive to some of our border communities to buy lottery tickets don’t usually go to gamble.”

    The bill is also being backed by The Culinary Union, which noted that public money from a lottery could be directed to youth mental health initiatives. Supporters also argue the bill would keep money in-state that is currently spent on lottery tickets bought in California and Arizona.

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  • Atlantic City casino smoking ban advocates praise Connecticut’s Mohegan Sun, Foxwoods for smoke-free policies | Yogonet International

    Atlantic City casino smoking ban advocates praise Connecticut’s Mohegan Sun, Foxwoods for smoke-free policies | Yogonet International

    Casino Employees Against Smoking’s Effects (CEASE), a group based in Atlantic City, N.J. aiming to permanently ban smoking in casinos, has praised Connecticut casinos Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods Resort Casino for their smoke-free policies, which have remained in place since the COVID-19 pandemic.

    In response to an article and subsequent statements made by the top executives of the southeastern Connecticut casinos, CEASE issued a statement praising their smoke-free policies on Tuesday. The casinos’ management had dismissed an industry analyst’s suggestion that their policies had contributed to a slight decrease in slot-machine revenues during the 2023 fiscal year that concluded on June 30.

    Spectrum Gaming Group had raised the question of whether the casinos’ decisions to remain smoke-free after the pandemic reopenings had influenced casino players who smoke to try digital gaming, which was legalized in Connecticut in October 2021.

    During the 12-month period that ended in June, the combined slot win of the casinos, the wagers retained after prize payouts, amounted to $848 million, a 1.5% reduction from the $861 million retained in the previous 12 months. Meanwhile, gross gaming revenue from online gaming nearly doubled in the same period.

    Jeff Hamilton, President and General Manager of Mohegan Sun, and Jason Guyot, President and CEO of Foxwoods, both expressed skepticism regarding the notion that the continuation of smoking bans had negatively impacted their brick-and-mortar casino businesses.

    Jeff Hamilton, President and General Manager of Mohegan Sun

    Both casinos, like many others across the country, had implemented smoking bans when they reopened after temporary closures due to the pandemic. CEASE’s statement voiced support for Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods’ decision to maintain the polcy, arguing that the traditional understanding of smoking in casinos is undergoing a significant shift.

    “We’ve seen report after report bought and paid for by some in the gaming industry that have no basis in fact ― and this recent claim about casinos in Connecticut is now being shot down by Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods,” CEASE said in its statement.

    “We applaud these two casinos for making the decision many months ago to protect employees and guests from dangerous secondhand smoke. The old conventional wisdom about smoking in casinos no longer applies, and we’re seeing example after example of this new reality playing out across the country.”

    The group further highlighted the proposed change in Atlantic City that aims to close the casino smoking loophole, which CEASE says aligns with a broader trend toward healthier and smoke-free environments in casinos.

    In New Jersey, a state law enacted in 2006 prohibited smoking in all workplaces except casinos. Although temporarily banned during the pandemic-induced shutdowns, smoking was reinstated on July 4, 2021, with restrictions allowing smoking on 25% of each casino’s gaming floor.

    The CEASE group, boasting a membership that includes thousands of casino dealers and frontline gaming workers, also has active chapters in Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Kansas, and Virginia.

    CEASE’s advocacy for extending workplace bans to casinos has gained momentum in recent legislative sessions, and the group is expected to continue its lobbying efforts in the upcoming fall session.

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  • Yogonet | Gambling & Sports Betting News. US, UK and Global

    Yogonet | Gambling & Sports Betting News. US, UK and Global

    After the publication of the Provisional Measure that seeks to regulate sports betting, the Brazilian federal government is moving forward with the creation of the National Secretariat for Prizes and Bets. The new body will report to the Ministry of Finance.
    In order to achieve its goal of monitoring the sports betting system, the secretariat will be staffed by agents from the Federal Police and the…

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  • Jackpocket launches in Arizona, its 15th US state | Yogonet International

    Jackpocket launches in Arizona, its 15th US state | Yogonet International

    Lottery app Jackpocket announced Friday its launch in Arizona in partnership with convenience store brand Circle K. Arizona players can now use Jackpocket to play lottery games including Powerball, Mega Millions, The Pick, Fantasy 5, and Pick 3 “all from the comfort of their own homes.”

    The mobile product “allows all Arizona players to order and view their tickets, check lottery results, receive prizes up to $599, and make payouts directly through the app,” explains the company. Winning tickets can be picked up or delivered so players can claim their prizes from the Arizona Lottery.

    Melissa Lessard, head of North American Marketing at Circle K, commented: “Circle K is proud to partner with Jackpocket to make this fun, user-friendly experience available to every player in Arizona. We strive to make our customers’ lives a little easier every day, and our partnership with Jackpocket aligns closely with this mission by making lottery more accessible, user-oriented and convenient.”

    As a third-party lottery courier service, Jackpocket aims “to broaden access to the Arizona Lottery through a seamless, digital experience for a mobile-first demographic.” Over 67% of Jackpocket players are between the ages of 18-45 years old, the business notes.

    Jackpocket players have won over $225 million in lottery prizes to date and 24 individual players have won prizes worth $1 million or more, according to the firm. Arizona is now the 15th state available for lottery play using the Jackpocket app.

    Jackpocket CEO and Founder Peter Sullivan, said: “Circle K is known around the world for offering quality products and services and is one of the top lottery retailers in Arizona.” 

    “Together, we are excited to offer long-time lottery enthusiasts and new players a more accessible and fun way to play their favorite lottery games. At Jackpocket, we are committed to innovating the digital gaming space in a safe and meaningful manner to ensure player safety,” he added. 

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