News briefs

Nutrition advocates want investors to improve food sector practices

WASHINGTON — Shareholder coalitions say the power of investor money can be harnessed to press the food industry to provide more nutritional foods and still improve the companies’ bottom lines.

But it could take years for nutrition to climb the priority list for many investors despite the spotlight a September White House conference on hunger, nutrition and health placed on the role nutritious foods can play in preventing or moderating diet-related conditions such as obesity, hypertension and Type 2 diabetes.

The conference didn’t result in the administration calling for more food regulation. But nutrition advocates say they still hope to get corporations to change because of investor pressure — a project that is analogous to one taking place over corporate behavior on environmental, social and governance issues.

“The government is not going to be able to regulate fast enough,” said Greg S. Garrett, the executive director of the Access to Nutrition Initiative, or ATNI, a group that monitors the nutritional content of food and beverage products. “There are lots of issues there. What we can do with our data is give it to investors, and investors can put the pressure back on these companies.”

—CQ-Roll Call

In California, spending on adults with disabilities differs by 'race and place'

The system charged with ensuring that California adults with developmental disabilities get crucial services is plagued with stark differences in spending by race, ethnicity and where people live, according to a report released Wednesday by a disability advocacy group.

The report from Disability Voices United, titled "A Matter of Race and Place," builds on long-standing concerns about racial disparities at regional centers — a system of nonprofits that are responsible for coordinating services for developmentally disabled children and adults. It also underscores dramatic differences in spending between centers serving different parts of California.

"We shouldn't have 21 different ways that people are receiving services," said Judy Mark, president of Disability Voices United, who is also the parent of an adult served by a regional center. "It shouldn't be based on where you live or what your race or ethnicity is."

Regional centers provide assistance under contracts with the California Department of Developmental Services, which has invested tens of millions of dollars in recent years to try to close racial and ethnic gaps in spending. Earlier this year, the legal advocacy group Public Counsel found racial disparities had nonetheless persisted in spending on services for children and teens.

—Los Angeles Times

NYC Council passes bills to fight rats: ‘They have begun to define us’

NEW YORK — Rat’s all, folks. The New York City Council on Thursday passed four anti-rat bills, taking aim from multiple directions at the worsening vermin scourge menacing the five boroughs.

The package, dubbed the Rat Action Plan, would set new pest management standards for all major private construction projects, require the city to establish new rat mitigation zones and mandate annual Health Department reports on the rodent plague.

At a news conference before the vote on the legislation, Councilman Chi Osse deemed the rats the city’s “Public Enemy No. 1.” “The rats have plagued New York for so long they have begun to define us,” said Osse, a rat-hating Brooklyn Democrat and a sponsor on three of the bills.

In the first nine months of 2022, the city fielded almost 21,600 rat complaints, a tally 71% higher than the count reported at the same point in 2020, according to government data.

—New York Daily News

Russian lawmakers vote to tighten ban on ‘gay propaganda’

Russian lawmakers approved a sweeping expansion of a ban on “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations,” broadening the restrictions to include adults and outlawing the portrayal of gay relationships in books, films, the media and the internet.

“We must do everything to protect our children and those who want to live a normal life,” Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of the State Duma, said of the bill that passed unanimously its first reading Thursday. “Everything else is sin, sodomy, darkness, and our country is fighting against this.”

The legislation expands Russia’s 2013 law that banned the promotion of homosexuality to children to cover adults as well. It proposes fines of as much as 800,000 rubles ($13,000) for individuals who break the ban and 5 million rubles for organizations, which would also face suspension of their activities for as long as 90 days. Foreigners breaching the law would be deported.

Portrayal of gay relationships in literature, media, online and in films and advertising will be covered by the ban, according to the Duma’s website. Information deemed to encourage children to change their gender would also be outlawed and subject to fines.

—Bloomberg News