Biden administration looks to triple amount of protected land in the US
Faced with the possible extinction of tens of thousands of species and the growing threat of climate change, the Biden administration on Thursday announced plans to protect 30% of the nation’s land and ocean territory by the end of the decade.
The administration’s proposal comes as California and several other states are already moving ahead with their own plans to protect 30% of their land and coastal waters. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order last year directing state agencies to develop a proposal for achieving this goal.
The federal plan lays out an ambitious target. Just over a tenth of the nation’s land and a quarter of the waters within our offshore territory are under some form of protection. And while the initiative is likely to please environmentalists and progressive Democrats, it could encounter push back from Republicans and moderate Democrats in Congress, as well as oil and gas companies,logging interests and mine owners that depend on access to federal land.
The proposal leans into the president’s message that fighting climate change will create jobs, making the pitch that nature is crucial to ensuring Americans’ health and financial well-being. It describes an expansive vision of conservation, making clear that the administration views cattle ranching, logging, fishing and farming as compatible with its goals.
The proposal, a collaborative effort by four agencies, calls for the federal government to consult with local communities and lays out a vision of environmental stewardship that includes working with Native American tribes, building more parks in urban areas, and supporting voluntary conservation efforts by farmers, ranchers and fishery managers.
Yet many details remain vague.
—Los Angeles Times
COVID-19 US death toll as high as 905,000, worldwide is double official estimates, study claims
The worldwide COVID-19 death toll is more than double the official count of 3.24 million, a controversial new study estimates,and the U.S. is no exception.
More than 905,000 people have died of COVID-19 in the U.S., 57% more than the official tally, researchers at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington said Thursday in a new analysis. That’s more than any other country.
The official U.S. toll is about 580,000, according to Johns Hopkins University statistics.
Worldwide the total is close to 7 million, which is more than double the official toll of 3.24 million, as recorded by Johns Hopkins University.
Looking at excess mortality between March 2020 through May 3, 2021, the researchers compared that to what would normally happen in a year without a pandemic, then made allowances for ancillary pandemic-related factors. They were left with, they said,numbers reflecting solely deaths from SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
“As terrible as the COVID-19 pandemic appears, this analysis shows that the actual toll is significantly worse,” Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation director Dr. Chris Murray said in a statement announcing the findings.
—New York Daily News
Black moms are more likely to die in childbirth. Will Congress do anything about it?
WASHINGTON — Lawmakers pushing to address the nation’s rising maternal death rate — particularly among Black women — heard testimony Thursday on what Congress can do to address the problem.
The rate of pregnancy-related deaths in the U.S. is the worst of any industrialized country, and the number of such deaths has steadily risen over the last 30 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In 2019, the most recent year for which data is available, the maternal mortality rate in the U.S. was 20.1 per 100,000 live births, according to the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics.
But wide racial and ethnic disparities exist. The rate for Black women was 44 deaths per 100,000 live births, for non-Hispanic white women it was 17.9 deaths per 100,000 live births, and for Hispanic women it was 12.6 deaths per 100,000 live births.
The CDC estimates that three in five of those deaths are preventable.
Democrats are hoping to include a package of bills focused on maternal health in President Joe Biden’s massive infrastructure and tax bill, one of the major pieces of legislation expected to pass this year.
—Los Angeles Times
At least 25 killed in Rio de Janeiro police raid
RIO DE JANEIRO — At least 25 people have died Thursday in a shootout during a police operation against an organized crimegang in Rio de Janeiro, according to local media.
The victims of the raid include 24 suspects and one police officer, the news portal G1 reported, citing law enforcement officials.
The violence took place in a favela in the Brazilian mega city's Jacarezinho neighborhood, an area known as one of the basesof the "Comando Vermelho" (Red Command) criminal group.
Powerful crime syndicates like the Comando Vermelho and a number of smaller gangs vie for control of drug trafficking andprotection rackets in the poor neighborhoods.
Two passengers riding the metro, which passes near the favela, got caught up in the mayhem Thursday and were shot while insidea train car. They survived, according to the report.
Several other people were reported to have received slight injuries.
—dpa
