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Worldwide Passivated Emitter Rear Cell Industry to 2027 – Key Drivers and Challenges – ResearchAndMarkets.com

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DUBLIN–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The “Global Passivated Emitter Rear Cell Market By Component (Anti-Reflective Coating, Silicon wafers, Passivation layer, Capping Layer, Others), By Type (Monocrystalline, Polycrystalline, Thin Film), By Application, By Region, Competition, Forecast and Opportunities , 2017-2027” report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com’s offering.

The global passivated emitter rear cell market is projected to register a significant CAGR during the forecast years, 2023-2027. Increasing demand for better and more efficient energy storage solutions to meet the growing energy requirement worldwide is the primary driver for the global passivated emitter rear cell market.

Solar panels with passivated emitter rear cells (PERCs) contain an extra layer covering the typical solar cells’ backs, increasing the efficiency and output of electrical energy from solar radiation. The safety of the solar panels can be enhanced by using PERC (passivated emitter rear cell) modules.

These modules are able to reduce back recombination and prevent longer-wavelength solar light from turning into heat energy, both of which are detrimental to the device and its performance. Market players are continuously making high-end investments in research and development activities to find new innovative solutions and upgrade the existing infrastructure.

Further improvements to the device are being made to lower installation and maintenance costs in addition to improving its efficiency. Modern PERC panels make better use of available space and operate more efficiently even when fewer panels are put in, which reduces installation time and expense.

The global passivated emitter rear cell market segmentation is based on component, type, application, regional distribution, and competitive landscape. Based on type, the market is divided into monocrystalline, polycrystalline, and thin film. The monocrystalline segment is expected to hold the largest market share during the forecast period, 2023-2027.

Monocrystalline passivated emitter rear cell is a combination of single-crystal cell, passivated emitter cell, and back cell. The solar panel provides high flexibility and has various placements viability & tilt options without compromising efficiency. Monocrystalline passivated emitter rear cells are also efficient in case of low lighting; thus, regions such as Europe can effectively use these for power generation.

Years considered for this report:

  • Historical Years: 2017-2020
  • Base Year: 2021
  • Estimated Year: 2022
  • Forecast Period: 2023-2027

Objective of the Study:

  • To analyze the historical growth in the market size of the global passivated emitter rear cell market from 2017 to 2021.
  • To estimate and forecast the market size of global passivated emitter rear cell market from 2022 to 2027 and growth rate until 2027.
  • To classify and forecast the global passivated emitter rear cell market based on component, type, application, region, and company.
  • To identify the dominant region or segment in the global passivated emitter rear cell market.
  • To identify drivers and challenges for the global passivated emitter rear cell market.
  • To examine competitive developments such as expansions, new product launches, mergers & acquisitions, etc., in the global passivated emitter rear cell market.
  • To identify and analyze the profiles of leading players operating in the global passivated emitter rear cell market.
  • To identify key sustainable strategies adopted by market players in global passivated emitter rear cell market.

Companies Mentioned

  • Targray
  • Aleo Solar
  • SunPower Corporation
  • JinkoSolar
  • JA Solar
  • Trina Solar

Report Scope:

In this report, global passivated emitter rear cell market has been segmented into the following categories, in addition to the industry trends which have also been detailed below:

Passivated Emitter Rear Cell Market, By Component:

  • Anti-Reflective Coating
  • Silicon wafers
  • Passivation layer
  • Capping Layer
  • Others

Passivated Emitter Rear Cell Market, By Type:

  • Monocrystalline
  • Polycrystalline
  • Thin Film

Passivated Emitter Rear Cell Market, By Application:

  • Residential
  • Commercial & Industrial
  • Utilities

Passivated Emitter Rear Cell Market, By Region:

  • North America
  • United States
  • Mexico
  • Canada
  • Europe
  • France
  • Germany
  • United Kingdom
  • Italy
  • Spain
  • Poland
  • Denmark
  • Asia-Pacific
  • China
  • India
  • Japan
  • South Korea
  • Australia
  • Malaysia
  • Singapore
  • Middle East & Africa
  • South Africa
  • Saudi Arabia
  • UAE
  • Iraq
  • Turkey
  • South America
  • Brazil
  • Argentina
  • Colombia
  • Peru
  • Chile

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/n6onw8

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Filed Under: REAL ESTATE Tagged With: Africa, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Business, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Denmark, Energy, Europe, Film, France, Germany, India, Industry, Information, Infrastructure, Investments, Iraq, Italy, Japan, Light, Malaysia, Mexico, Middle East, North America, Peru, Poland, Radiation, Research, safety, Saudi Arabia, Silicon, Singapore, South Africa, South America, South Korea, Space, Spain, Turkey, United States, Utilities

Expert Talks About Effects Of Trauma On Detainees Like Griner, Whelan

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After more than 200 days in a Russian prison, new details are coming out on efforts to free WNBA star Brittney Griner.

More than 200 days and counting. It’s how long Phoenix Mercury basketball star and Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner has been held in Russia.  

At a WNBA finals press conference Sunday, league commissioner Cathy Engelbert called it a complex situation and revealed she recently received a handwritten letter from Griner.

“As we prepare to start this great series, it’s important to reiterate that we are always thinking of Brittney Griner and our commitment to bring her home safely and as quickly as possible,” Engelbert said. “I am so inspired by her courage in the face of enormous adversity.”

After a stretch of silence, new details are coming out on efforts to free her. 

Friday marks President Joe Biden’s first in-person meeting with the family of Griner and fellow imprisoned American Paul Whelan.

“One of the reasons he is meeting with the families is that he wanted to let them know that they remain front of mind and that his team is working on this every day — on making sure that Brittney and Paul return home safely,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. 

Earlier this week, published reports revealed that former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Bill Richardson and Russian leaders met in Moscow. 

Richardson’s experience includes negotiating on behalf of other Americans detained in Cuba, Iraq and North Korea. 

Related StoryLawyers Appeal Brittney Griner's Russian Prison SentenceLawyers Appeal Brittney Griner’s Russian Prison Sentence

U.S. Department of State Spokesperson Ned Price says the department has been communicating with the Russian government through “appropriate channels.”  

“We have been in contact with the Richardson Center,” he said. “We made a significant offer to the Russians. We have followed up on that proposal repeatedly. Those discussions are ongoing.”

Last month, Griner was sentenced to nine years in prison for drug-related charges. She has since appealed the punishment.  

Whelan, a Michigan-born corporate executive, is serving a 16-year prison sentence on espionage-related charges.  

A person familiar with the case previously confirmed the U.S. offered convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout in exchange for the release of Griner and Whelan, but no word on a deal.  

Family members and fans say with every passing day, they worry about the conditions Griner may be exposed to in prison.

Related StoryPaul Whelan's Family 'Cautiously Hopeful' For Potential Prisoner SwapPaul Whelan’s Family ‘Cautiously Hopeful’ For Potential Prisoner Swap

Amy Manson is a board member for Hostage U.S., a nonprofit that helps families and people taken hostage cope with the trauma.  

“They face the reality of poor nutrition, sometimes no access to fresh air or actual daylight,” she said.

Trauma stemming from everyday, taxing challenges in a Russian prison ranging from isolation to a drop in physical activity and bad food, which is especially tough for an elite athlete like Griner. 

“Some of our returnees face as much as 50 to 60 to 70 pounds lost,” Manson continued. “And then we’re talking about muscle wastage, as well as the impact on their bodies of constant poor nutrition and constant stress.”

NEWSY’S ADI GUAJARDO: When prisoners like Brittney Griner and Paul Whalen see their names back in the news, that they’re being talked about, what does this do for them? 

AMY MANSON: It’s incredibly uplifting … Someone said to me that it was like the best medicine he could have had during his captivity, when he heard that there was something going on relative to his captivity. 

Related StoryWhy Is It So Difficult To Bring Detained Americans Home?Why Is It So Difficult To Bring Detained Americans Home?

: newsy.com

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Filed Under: POLITICS, TRENDING, US Tagged With: Basketball, Brittney Griner, Cuba, Detainees, Family, Food, Gold, Government, Iraq, Joe Biden, Medicine, North Korea, Nutrition, Phoenix, Russia, State, United Nations, WNBA

In Parts Of The Mideast, Power Generators Spew Toxic Fumes 24/7

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The pollutants caused by massive generators add to the many environmental woes of the Middle East.

They literally run the country. In parking lots, on flatbed trucks, hospital courtyards and rooftops, private generators are ubiquitous in parts of the Middle East, spewing hazardous fumes into homes and businesses 24 hours a day.

As the world looks for renewable energy to tackle climate change, millions of people around the region depend almost completely on diesel-powered private generators to keep the lights on because war or mismanagement have gutted electricity infrastructure.

Experts call it national suicide from an environmental and health perspective.

Related StoryScientists Give Earth 50-50 Chance Of Hitting Key Warming Mark By 2026Scientists Give Earth 50-50 Chance Of Hitting Key Warming Mark By 2026

“Air pollution from diesel generators contains more than 40 toxic air contaminants, including many known or suspected cancer-causing substances,” said Samy Kayed, managing director and co-founder of the Environment Academy at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon.

Greater exposure to these pollutants likely increases respiratory illnesses and cardiovascular disease, he said. It also causes acid rain that harms plant growth and increases eutrophication — the excess build-up of nutrients in water that ultimately kills aquatic plants.

Since they usually use diesel, generators also produce far more climate change-inducing emissions than, for example, a natural gas power plant does, he said.

The pollutants caused by massive generators add to the many environmental woes of the Middle East, which is one of the most vulnerable regions in the world to the impact of climate change. The region already has high temperatures and limited water resources even without the growing impact of global warming.

The reliance on generators results from state failure. In Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen and elsewhere, governments can’t maintain a functioning central power network, whether because of war, conflict or mismanagement and corruption.

Lebanon, for example, has not built a new power plant in decades. Multiple plans for new ones have run aground on politicians’ factionalism and conflicting patronage interests. The country’s few aging, heavy-fuel oil plants long ago became unable to meet demand.

Iraq, meanwhile, sits on some of the world’s biggest oil reserves. Yet scorching summer-time heat is always accompanied by the roar of neighborhood generators, as residents blast ACs around the clock to keep cool.

Repeated wars over the decades have wrecked Iraq’s electricity networks. Corruption has siphoned away billions of dollars meant to repair and upgrade it. Some 17 billion cubic meters of gas from Iraq’s wells are burned every year as waste, because it hasn’t built the infrastructure to capture it and convert it to electricity to power Iraqi homes.

In Libya, a country prized for its light and sweet crude oil, electricity networks have buckled under years of civil war and the lack of a central government.

“The power cuts last the greater part of the day, when electricity is mostly needed,” said Muataz Shobaik, the owner of a butcher shop in the city of Benghazi, in Libya’s east, who uses a noisy generator to keep his coolers running.

“Every business has to have a backup off-grid solution now,” he said. Diesel fumes from his and neighboring shops’ machines hung thick in the air amid the oppressive heat.

The Gaza Strip’s 2.3 million people rely on around 700 neighborhood generators across the territory for their homes. Thousands of private generators keep businesses, government institutions, universities and health centers running. Running on diesel, they churn black smoke in the air, tarring walls around them.

Since Israel bombed the only power plant in the Hamas-ruled territory in 2014, the station has never reached full capacity. Gaza only gets about half the power it needs from the plant and directly from Israel. Cutoffs can last up to 16 hours a day.

Related StoryU.N. Health Agency Releases Air Quality GuidelinesU.N. Health Agency Releases Air Quality Guidelines

WAY OF LIFE

Perhaps nowhere do generators rule people’s lives as much as in Lebanon, where the system is so entrenched and institutionalized that private generator owners have their own business association.

They are crammed into tight streets, parking lots, on roofs and balconies and in garages. Some are as large as storage containers, others small and blaring noise.

Lebanon’s 5 million people have long depended on them. The word “moteur,” French for generator, is one of the most often spoken words among Lebanese.

Reliance has only increased since Lebanon’s economy unraveled in late 2019 and central power cutoffs began lasting longer. At the same time, generator owners have had to ration use because of soaring diesel prices and high temperatures, turning them off several times a day for breaks.

So residents plan their lives around the gaps in electricity.

Those who can’t start the day without coffee set an alarm to make a cup before the generator turns off. The frail or elderly in apartment towers wait for the generator to switch on before leaving home so they don’t have to climb stairs. Hospitals must keep generators humming so life-saving machines can operate without disruption.

“We understand people’s frustration, but if it wasn’t for us, people would be living in darkness,” said Ihab, the Egyptian operator of a generator station north of Beirut.

“They say we are more powerful than the state, but it is the absence of the state that led us to exist,” he said, giving only his first name to avoid trouble with the authorities.

Siham Hanna, a 58-year-old translator in Beirut, said generator fumes exacerbate her elderly father’s lung condition. She wipes soot off her balcony and other surfaces several times a day.

“It’s the 21st century, but we live like in the stone ages. Who lives like this?” said Hanna, who does not recall her country ever having stable electricity in her life.

Some in Lebanon and elsewhere have begun to install solar power systems in their homes. But most use it only to fill in when the generator is off. Cost and space issues in urban areas have also limited solar use.

In Iraq, the typical middle-income household uses generator power for 10 hours a day on average and pays $240 per Megawatt/hour, among the highest rates in the region, according to a report by the International Energy Agency.

The need for generators has become ingrained in people’s minds. At a recent concert in the capital, famed singer Umm Ali al-Malla made sure to thank not only the audience but also the venue’s technical director “for keeping the generator going” while her admirers danced.

Related StoryScientists Are Trying To Solve The 'Forever Chemicals' ProblemScientists Are Trying To Solve The ‘Forever Chemicals’ Problem

TOXIC CONTAMINANTS

As opposed to power plants outside urban areas, generators are in the heart of neighborhoods, pumping toxins directly to residents.

This is catastrophic, said Najat Saliba, a chemist at the American University of Beirut who recently won a seat in Parliament.

“This is extremely taxing on the environment, especially the amount of black carbon and particles that they emit,” she said. There are almost no regulations and no filtering of particles, she added.

Researchers at AUB found that the level of toxic emissions may have quadrupled since Lebanon’s financial crisis began because of increased reliance on generators.

In Iraq’s northern city of Mosul, miles of wires crisscross streets connecting thousands of private generators. Each produces 600 kilograms of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases per 8 hours working time, according to Mohammed al Hazem, an environmental activist.

Similarly, a 2020 study on the environmental impact of using large generators in the University of Technology in Baghdad found very high concentrations of pollutants exceeding limits set by the United States’ Environmental Protection Agency and the World Health Organization.

That was particularly because Iraqi diesel fuel has a high sulphur content — “one of the worst in the world,” the study said. The emissions include “sulphate, nitrate materials, atoms of soot carbon, ash” and pollutants that are considered carcinogens, it warned.

“The pollutants emitted from these generators exert a remarkable impact on the overall health of students and university staff, it said.

Additional reporting by The Associated Press.

: newsy.com

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Filed Under: TRENDING Tagged With: 24, Air Pollution, American University, Associated Press, Business, Carbon Dioxide, Chemicals, Climate change, Coffee, Country, Earth, Economy, Elderly, Energy, Environment, Environmental Protection Agency, Financial crisis, Gas, Gaza, Gaza Strip, Global Warming, Government, Health, Homes, Hospitals, Infrastructure, International Energy Agency, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Libya, Light, Middle East, National, Natural Gas, Noise, Oil, Parking, Plants, Pollution, Rain, Renewable energy, Roofs, Running, Solar power, Space, State, Students, technology, United States, Universities, Urban Areas, Waste, Water, Wells, World Health Organization, Yemen

Bernard Shaw, CNN’s 1st Chief Anchor, Dies At 82

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By Associated Press

and Newsy Staff
September 8, 2022

Shaw was a former U.S. Marine who worked as a reporter at CBS and ABC News before taking on the chief anchor role at CNN in 1980.

Bernard Shaw, CNN’s chief anchor for two decades and a pioneering Black broadcast journalist best remembered for calmly reporting the beginning of the Gulf War in 1991 as missiles flew around him in Baghdad, has died. He was 82.

He died of pneumonia on Wednesday at a hospital in Washington, according to Tom Johnson, CNN’s former chief executive.

Shaw was at CNN for 20 years and was known for remaining cool under pressure. That was a hallmark of his Baghdad coverage when the U.S. led its invasion of Iraq in 1991 to liberate Kuwait, with CNN airing stunning footage of airstrikes and anti-aircraft fire in the capital city.

“In all of the years of preparing to being anchor, one of the things I strove for was to be able to control my emotions in the midst of hell breaking out,” Shaw said in a 2014 interview with NPR. “And I personally feel that I passed my stringent test for that in Baghdad.”

Shaw was a former U.S. Marine who worked as a reporter at CBS and ABC News before taking on the chief anchor role at CNN when the network began in 1980.

He moderated a presidential debate in 1988 between George W. Bush and Michael Dukakis. His first question to the Democrat Dukakis, an opponent of the death penalty, was whether he would want that sentence applied to someone who raped and murdered the candidate’s wife.

His striking on-the-scene work in Baghdad, with correspondents Peter Arnett and John Holliman, was crucial in establishing CNN when it was the only cable news network and broadcast outlets at ABC, CBS and NBC dominated television news.

“He put CNN on the map,” said Frank Sesno, a former CNN Washington bureau chief and now a professor at George Washington University.

On Twitter, CNN’s John King paid tribute to Shaw’s “soft-spoken yet booming voice” and said he was a mentor and role model to many.

“Bernard Shaw exemplified excellence in his life,” Johnson said. “He will be remembered as a fierce advocate of responsible journalism.”

Johnson said Shaw always forcefully resisted any compromise of news coverage or lowering of ethical standards.

CNN’s current chief executive, Chris Licht, paid tribute to Shaw as a CNN original who made appearances on the network as recently as last year to provide commentary.

Shaw left the business at age 61. He told NPR that despite everything he did in journalism, because of all of the things he missed with his family while working, “I don’t think it was worth it.”

Additional reporting by The Associated Press.

: newsy.com

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Filed Under: TRENDING Tagged With: ABC News, Associated Press, Breaking, Business, CBS, CNN, death penalty, Emotions, Family, Iraq, NBC, PAID, Television, Twitter, Washington

Pandemic Fatigue Could Cause Problems For Public Health

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As most people get tired of dealing with the pandemic, experts worry Congress will too, which could affect vaccines, tests and other policies.

It’s been a long pandemic, and COVID still isn’t fully gone. Now, monkeypox and polio have entered the conversation.

Many are still trying to figure out what a degree of normalcy looks like, but as tired as people are, how much worse is it for the actual public health system?

It’s led to a whole array of challenges for public health, and that could have major consequences for an already weary U.S. health system.

While public health got a boost in funding during the heights of the pandemic, the Biden administration is already pulling back on funding for tests and vaccines because of a lack of funding from Congress.

It worries experts like Thoai Ngo, an epidemiologist working at the health justice research nonprofit the Population Council.

“My main worry right now is that because of how we operate, we will erode trust from people in public health institutions,” Ngo said. “We will make it harder for us to control and manage the current epidemics: COVID-19, monkeypox, polio and future epidemics.”

So, what does the U.S. public health picture look like with COVID now?

Related StoryThe CDC Is Restructuring Its Agency Amid Public CriticismThe CDC Is Restructuring Its Agency Amid Public Criticism

Federal officials in places like the White House and CDC celebrate the role vaccines have played in preventing severe disease and death. The numbers show they definitely have, with COVID deaths in the last few months largely staying at a low point that we only saw briefly last spring and summer.

The CDC has used this as the basis for its new guidance from mid-August, which do away with the recommendations to practice social distancing and to quarantine if exposed to COVID.

It’s that reduction in severe disease and death that has underpinned the rollback of universal mask mandates nationwide and vaccine mandates in many places. 

Dr. Shira Doron, a hospital epidemiologist at Tufts Medical Center, has helped advise officials in Massachusetts on COVID policies, including in schools. She welcomes some of the new policies that roll back restrictions now that ways to prevent severe outcomes are readily available.

“The fact that we have all of those layers now, vaccines, tests and treatments just puts us in a completely different place in terms of that risk of severe disease, which is what we care about, which is the only thing we can hear about because we just can’t prevent infection,” Dr. Doron said. “That infection is too contagious.”

But even with low death rates, the U.S. is still losing more than 500 people every day. That means the U.S. is still losing as many Americans from COVID-19 in two weeks as it lost from two decades of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

For those who center their work on immunocompromised people, policies rooted in fatigue with the virus look like an admission that the virus has won.

“I just think that, particularly with the recent CDC guideline, it’s confirming to me that the Biden administration and our federal health officials have given up on controlling infections of COVID-19, and they left the vulnerable, the elderly, the immunocompromised, people with disability in the cold,” Ngo said.

Then there’s long COVID, which is more than just a few extra weeks of the sniffles.

It’s personal for Elizabeth Jacobs. She’s an epidemiologist at the University of Arizona who has two illnesses that suppress her immune system. 

“We’re seeing things like fatigue,” Jacobs said. “That is really hard to describe. I think that a lot of people use fatigue in the colloquial sense of, ‘I’m just tired.’ But for somebody like me who has genuine fatigue caused by autoimmune diseases, it’s not like that. It’s more like you have cement blocks tied to your legs and arms, and you just can’t really even move around a lot. You have trouble getting out of bed and even sitting up in front of a computer is really difficult.”

Beyond her concern about her own risk if she contracts COVID, Jacobs worries that a shift away from preventing infection could make it harder to solve other problems tied to it. 

“Is it that people are tired of mitigation with masking, or is it that we are tired of things like flight cancellations and supply chain issues and having our children out sick from school and needing to care for our loved ones and seeing our neighbors die?” Jacobs asked. “Because if it’s the latter that is causing fatigue in us, then that is not being caused by mitigation. It’s being caused by the lack of mitigations.”

Then, there’s monkeypox.

In short, public health officials at federal and local levels have said they believe the response started slower than it should have. Tests and vaccines have also been hard to come by, although there’s hope that new shipments in the coming months should make it easier to vaccinate people at risk.

It sounds similar to some of the early missteps in addressing COVID-19, and that might not be a coincidence.

“The response to monkeypox, from what I can tell, is very much influenced by the law over the last two years of COVID, right?” said Jared Auclair, director of the biopharmaceutical analysis and training lab at Northeastern University. “People just don’t want to think about it and just don’t want to deal with it. Taking that mindset of slow rolling into a response because you are exhausted from COVID and don’t want to, you don’t want to have any repercussions like you’re being alarmist.”

Related StoryChildren, College Students Diagnosed With Monkeypox Raise AlarmChildren, College Students Diagnosed With Monkeypox Raise Alarm

The good news about vaccine demand outstripping supply is that there’s a high degree of interest from at-risk groups. Monkeypox is primarily affecting gay and bisexual men who have sex with men. 

“In general, that community has been very direct and forthcoming about wanting to take steps to to to protect itself and others,” said Jen Kates, director of the global health and HIV policy Program at the Kaiser Family Foundation.

While those affected by monkeypox aren’t putting aside getting their shots, pandemic fatigue is having a knock-on effect for other outbreaks.

“What has happened though is because of this pushback on the public health authorities putting in place requirements or guidance, there’s been an increasing move, as we’ve seen across the country, to attack, to sort of apply this to other public health interventions,” Kates said. “Well, we don’t want our children to be forced to have immunizations for schools, things like that, which is frankly very dangerous.”

So polio, diphtheria and all those other diseases many get vaccinated against without thinking about as a kid — if pandemic fatigue continues to translate to underfunding public health, all of those could also come back.

“The worst case scenario of that is that we get used to having those old diseases come back, that we have children dying of diphtheria, we have communities impacted by polio and… with limited resources,” said Amanda McClelland, senior vice president of the Prevent Epidemics Team at Resolve to Save Lives.

Even going back to COVID, the message from public health experts about how to keep things from getting much worse is to invest in the tools we need to keep risk low.

“I am not terribly concerned about pandemic fatigue when experienced by somebody with a fair amount of immunity, but I am concerned about Congress having pandemic fatigue,” Dr. Doron said. “I think that it is still really important that the government be focused on COVID-19, even though I don’t think every individual needs to be so focused on COVID-19 anymore because we can be pretty safe if the government continues to fund the things that are keeping us safe.”

: newsy.com

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Filed Under: POLITICS, TRENDING, US Tagged With: Afghanistan, Arizona, Autoimmune Diseases, Biden administration, Children, Communities, Country, COVID-19, Disability, Elderly, Epidemics, Family, Global health, Government, Health, Immune System, Infections, Iraq, Kaiser Family Foundation, Law, Long Covid, Massachusetts, Men, Monkeypox, neighbors, Policy, Polio, Population, Research, Schools, Sex, Students, Summer, Supply Chain

Government Takes Steps To Improve Food Security For Military Families

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In recent months, the U.S. government has taken some steps to improve food security for its service members — but there’s more to do.

Years after joining the Navy, Lisa Javenar still worries about having enough food for her family of five every month. 

We first introduced you to Lisa in May. She’s the wife of Teddy Javenar, an electronics technician with the rank of petty officer third class. Some months, she doesn’t know how she’s going to feed her kids.  

“We know what we signed up for,” Javenar said. “It doesn’t make it any easier. It’s still difficult. And so to have to deal with all of that and have to worry about how we’re going to feed our families. I mean, it’s just — it would be awesome to not have that extra stress.”

In tight months, Lisa, like thousands of other military families, helps feed her family by joining a line at the military equivalent of a food bank. 

As Newsy reported, a bureaucratic oversight is costing thousands of military families critical benefits to keep them from going hungry, especially in high-rent cities like San Diego where the value of housing can easily put them over budget. 

They get what’s called a basic allowance for housing to live off base. It covers the high rent, but also counts as income. It means they missed qualifying for SNAP benefits because on paper, they brought in too much money — by about $5 a month. 

Related StoryMilitary Families Facing Hunger Look To Federal Programs For HelpMilitary Families Facing Hunger Look To Federal Programs For Help

The U.S. Department of Defense issued a roadmap this summer for strengthening food security in the force.

It references a survey done in 2020 that showed 24% of active-duty service members were food insecure. That’s around 300,000 people, plus their families. 

“People are shocked when they hear that military families struggle with hunger in the first place at all,” said Josh Protas, an executive at aid group MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger. “And they should be shocked because there’s no reason that those who serve in our armed forces should have to struggle to put food on the table.”

The Department of Defense plan aims to increase access to healthy food, help military spouses with employment, look at pay, and more.  

“It’s the first time that i know that a Secretary of Defense has spoken openly about this problem, and not tried to deflect blame onto the service members who are impacted, but to look at the systemic issues that are causing the problem,” Protas said.

There are other fixes in the works. Families may soon get what is called a basic needs allowance, a sort of pay bonus for low-income military families. It was part of last year’s bill that appropriates money for the Department of Defense.  

The Congressional Budget Office estimates it will mean about $400 extra each month on average.  

But like SNAP eligibility, this too counts the basic allowance for housing as income, disqualifying many families.  

It does give the Secretary of Defense power to exclude the basic allowance for housing in high-cost areas.  

A few members of Congress are working hard to fix this in the next defense spending bill. One effort cleared the House of Representatives but now must make it through the Senate this fall.  

The Senate’s version made it out of committee. It doesn’t tackle the housing allowance issue but it does raise the financial limit for who qualifies for the basic needs allowance.  

There are also other standalone bills to stop the housing allowance from being counted as income for SNAP eligibility, including one introduced by Sen. Tammy Duckworth, who we spoke to earlier this year.  

“We have a real issue here,” Duckworth said. “The same people who protect and defend us should not be worried about whether or not their children are getting food.”

There’s a similar bill in the House.  

Now, after Newsy’s report, some familiar faces on the veterans advocacy front are joining the fight.  

John Feal fought alongside comedian and TV host Jon Stewart to get funding and benefits to 9/11 first responders, and most recently advocated for passing the PACT Act, which expanded care for veterans exposed to toxic burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan.  

The day after President Biden signed the PACT Act, Feal shifted his focus. He sent a tweet saying “24% of our military and their families are food insecure… D.C., I am coming back with a vengeance!”

“We’re going to get in their face,” Feal said. “We’re going to make them do what’s morally right. We’re going to make them put aside their politics and their ideologies and think like human beings and show some humanity. If we have to shame them and scorch the earth to do so, then we’ll do so. We come in peace until we can’t come in peace anymore.” 

It’s still unclear whether other agencies, like the USDA, the Department of Defense, or even the White House, could legally fix this quickly. But Protas says there’s one group of people in D.C. that could.  

“Congress shouldn’t wait for administrative action, whether or not that is forthcoming, but should do right by military families and not leave them stranded,” he said.

: newsy.com

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Filed Under: POLITICS, TRENDING, US Tagged With: Afghanistan, Aid, Benefits, budget, Children, Cities, Congressional Budget Office, Earth, Electronics, Family, Focus, Food, Food security, Government, House of Representatives, Housing, Hunger, Income, Iraq, Military, Money, Next, Pay, Politics, San Diego, Senate, Summer, Veterans

2 Top House Democrats Battle In New York Primary

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By Associated Press

and Newsy Staff
August 23, 2022

Voters will choose Tuesday between U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler and U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney in a rare face-off between incumbents due to redistricting.

He helped lead the fight to impeach Donald Trump. She battled for people sickened by clouds of toxic soot after the Sept. 11 attacks.

At least one of New York City’s most veteran members of Congress will be voted out of office Tuesday in a Democratic primary pitting U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler against U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney in a race both hoped to avoid.

At least one of New York City’s most veteran members of Congress will be voted out of office Tuesday in an unusual Democratic primary between incumbents.

Neither was willing to run in another part of the city.

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Nadler and Maloney are joined in the race by 38-year-old Suraj Patel, a lawyer and lecturer at New York University who also challenged Maloney in Democratic primaries in 2018 and 2020. A fourth candidate, Ashmi Sheth, a former Federal Reserve Bank of New York employee, is on the ballot but did not meet fundraising benchmarks to qualify for debates.

Nadler, 75, was first elected to Congress in 1992. As chair of the House Judiciary Committee, he led both impeachments of Republican former President Donald Trump. He was buoyed in the last weeks of the campaign by endorsements from The New York Times and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

Maloney, 76, was also first elected in 1992. She is the first woman to chair the House Oversight and Reform Committee. She is known for her longtime advocacy for Sept. 11 first responders seeking compensation for diseases they attribute to contamination from the destruction of the World Trade Center. She wore a firefighter’s jacket on Capitol Hill and at the 2019 Met Gala.

Few policy differences between Nadler, Maloney and Patel emerged during the primary campaign.

All support abortion rights, the Green New Deal and tighter restrictions on gun ownership. Patel argued that Nadler’s and Maloney’s generation failed to achieve Democratic goals like codifying Roe v. Wade and should cede to new blood.

Nadler and Maloney countered that their seniority in Congress brings clout that benefits New Yorkers.

Friends for many years, the two Democrats lamented having to run against each other — something that only happened after a court redrew the boundaries of the state’s congressional districts after concluding the legislature botched the process.

“I didn’t want to run against my good friend, Jerry Nadler,” Maloney said at a recent debate. “We have been friends and allies for years. Unfortunately, we were drawn into the same district.”

Still, on the campaign trail Maloney said that as a woman, she would fight harder to protect abortion rights than Nadler.

Asked at a debate how his record differed from that of Maloney, Nadler cited his votes against the Iraq War and the Patriot Act, and in favor of the Iran nuclear deal. Maloney, also elected to Congress in 1992, voted the other way on all three.

Maloney also came under fire from her opponents for her past positions on vaccines, including in 2006 when she introduced legislation directing the federal government to study the debunked theory that vaccines can cause autism. Maloney insisted that she supports vaccines and regretted ever questioning vaccine safety.

The primary winner in the overwhelmingly Democratic district will face Republican Michael Zumbluskas in the November general election.

Additional reporting by The Associated Press.

: newsy.com

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Filed Under: TRENDING Tagged With: Abortion, Associated Press, Autism, Benefits, Blood, Chuck Schumer, Democrats, Donald Trump, Elections, Federal Reserve, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Friends, Government, Iran, Iran nuclear deal, Iraq, Judiciary, New York, New York City, New York Times, New York University, Policy, Race, safety, Senate, State, trade, York

Veterans ‘Burn Pits’ Bill Marks A Personal Victory For Biden

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Burn pits were used in Iraq and Afghanistan to dispose of chemicals, cans, plastics, medical equipment and human waste.

President Joe Biden, whose elder son died of cancer after serving in Iraq, signed legislation on Wednesday expanding federal health care services for veterans who served at military bases where toxic smoke billowed from huge “burn pits.”

“So many of you here today remind us that we have fought for this for so many years,” President Biden said during an emotional White House ceremony that reflected the struggles of military families — and the president’s personal experience.

President Biden was introduced by Danielle Robinson, the widow of Sgt. 1st Class Heath Robinson, who died of cancer two years ago. The legislation is named for him.

She described her late husband as “a soldier as strong as an ox” but also “the ultimate cuddler” for his daughter Brielle, who stood to her mother’s side clutching a stuffed figurine wearing military camouflage.

“Ours is just one story,” Danielle Robinson said. “So many military families have had to fight this terrible emotional battle. So many veterans are still battling burn pit illnesses today.”

After the Robinsons took their seats for the president’s remarks, President Biden addressed Brielle directly.

“I know you miss your daddy. But he’s with you all the time,” he said. “He’s inside you. He’s going to whisper in your ear when you have hard decisions to make.”

Then he pointed out that Brielle was sitting next to his grandson, the son of Beau Biden.

“His daddy lost to the same burn pits,” President Biden said. “He knows what you’re going through.”

It was the most direct link the president has publicly drawn between Beau’s fatal brain cancer and burn pits, which were used to dispose of chemicals, tires, plastics, medical equipment and human waste on military bases.

Related StoryVeterans Outraged By Republicans Blocking PACT Act BillVeterans Outraged By Republicans Blocking PACT Act Bill

President Biden made addressing the problem one of his priorities during his State of the Union address in March.

“I was going to get this done, come hell or high water,” he said Wednesday.

Sen. Jon Tester, who chairs the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, said President Biden was a driving force behind the legislation, which passed last week.

“He was continually pushing because whether Beau died of this or not, I think Joe thinks that it had some impact, and so he wanted this fixed,” Tester said. “And because he thinks it was the right thing to do. So different president, different set of priorities, this would have probably never happened.”

Burn pits were used in Iraq and Afghanistan to dispose of chemicals, cans, tires, plastics, medical equipment and human waste. However, 70% of disability claims involving exposure to the pits were denied by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

“For too long, too many veterans who got sick while fighting for our country had to fight for their care here at home,” VA Secretary Denis McDonough said at Wednesday’s ceremony.

The legislation will direct officials to assume that certain respiratory illnesses and cancers were related to burn pit exposure, helping veterans get disability payments without having to prove the illness was the result of their service.

“Veterans who have been sickened to the point of being unable to work, unable to take care of their families, won’t have to spend that time fighting the government to get the healthcare they earned,” said Jeremy Butler, head of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. “This is monumental.”

Butler attended the ceremony, along with Le Roy and Rosie Torres, husband and wife advocates for veterans health care who started the organization Burn Pits 360. Le Roy developed constrictive bronchitis after serving in Iraq, making breathing difficult.

Although the provision involving burn pits has garnered the most attention, other health care services will be expanded as well.

Veterans who have served since the Sept. 11 attacks will have a decade to sign up for VA health care, double the current five years.

And there’s more help for veterans from the Vietnam War. The legislation adds hypertension to list of ailments that are presumed to be caused by exposure to Agent Orange, a herbicide used by the U.S. military to clear vegetation.

In addition, veterans who served during the war in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Guam, American Samoa and Johnston Atoll will also be considered to have been exposed to the chemical.

The legislation is considered to be the largest expansion of veterans health care in more than three decades, but it became an unlikely political football shortly before it passed.

On the day that the Senate was expected to grant it final approval, Republicans unexpectedly blocked it. Veterans who had traveled to Washington for a moment of triumph were devastated.

“All the veterans were down there because they were expecting to celebrate,” Butler said. “And then they were absolutely stabbed in the back.”

Republicans said they were concerned about technical changes to how the legislation was funded. Democrats accused them of throwing a fit because they were unhappy about a separate deal to advance President Biden’s domestic agenda on climate change, taxes and prescription drugs.

Instead of going home, some veterans began holding what they called a “fire watch” outside the Capitol, an impromptu vigil to keep public pressure on the Senate.

They stayed around the clock, despite the stifling summer heat and torrential thunderstorms. Jon Stewart, the comedian who has advocated for veterans, joined them as well. President Biden wanted to go but couldn’t because he was isolating with a coronavirus infection, so he spoke to the demonstrators in a video call when VA Secretary McDonough dropped off pizza.

Days after the demonstration began, the Senate held another vote, and the measure passed with overwhelming bipartisan support.

Veterans were in the gallery watching the vote take place.

“Every single person I was with was bawling. Just bawling,” said Matt Zeller, a former Army captain who was among the demonstrators. “I cried for a solid five minutes.”

Additional reporting by The Associated Press.

: newsy.com

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Filed Under: POLITICS, TRENDING, US Tagged With: Afghanistan, Associated Press, Brain, Cambodia, Cancer, Chairs, Chemicals, Climate change, Coronavirus, Country, Democrats, Disability, Drugs, Football, Government, Health, Health Care, Healthcare, Iraq, Joe Biden, Military, Next, Plastics, Republicans, Samoa, Senate, State, State of the Union address, Summer, taxes, Thailand, Veterans, Vietnam, Vietnam war, Washington, Waste, Water

Missouri AG Eric Schmitt Beats Eric Greitens In GOP Senate Primary

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Schmitt had more votes than U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler and Greitens combined, turning what was expected to be a tight race into a blowout.

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt won the Republican primary for U.S. Senate on Tuesday with surprising ease, ending months of worry among GOP leaders that scandal-scarred former Gov. Eric Greitens might win the primary and jeopardize what should be a reliably red seat in November.

In November, Schmitt will be opposed by Anheuser-Busch beer heiress Trudy Busch Valentine, who defeated Marine veteran Lucas Kunce and nine others in the Democratic primary. Both also face a challenge from a well-funded independent, John Wood, who has the financial backing of former Sen. John Danforth.

With nearly 90% of results in, Schmitt had more votes than his nearest two competitors — U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler and Greitens — combined, turning what was expected to be a tight race into a blowout.

“I’m proud of my working-class roots, and I’m going to Washington to fight for working families, defeating socialism, and leading the fight to save America,” Schmitt said in his victory speech in suburban St. Louis.

Greitens told a downcast crowd in another St. Louis suburb to “go home with strength and pride.”

“God has a plan,” Greitens said. “It doesn’t always work on our timeline, but it does work on his. Sometimes we have to practice patience.”

Greitens resigned four years ago following a sex scandal, two criminal charges that were eventually dropped and a legislative investigation that could have led to impeachment hearings. This year, his ex-wife accused him of abuse.

Republican Sen. Roy Blunt’s announcement last year that he would not seek a third term set off a frenzy for his job, with nearly three dozen people in the two major parties filing to run.

Schmitt defeated a field that also included Hartzler, U.S. Rep. Billy Long and Mark McCloskey, who gained notoriety in 2020 when he and his wife pointed guns at racial injustice protesters outside their home.

Voter Darrel Durham, a 63-year-old heavy equipment operator from Columbia, said he thinks Schmitt can bring a new voice to Washington.

“I like all of his positions on draining the swamp,” Durham said.

On Monday, former President Donald Trump expressed support for “ERIC,” presumably meaning either Schmitt or Greitens, without picking between them. Comedian and Navy veteran Eric McElroy was also on the ballot in the GOP primary.

“I trust the Great People of Missouri, on this one, to make up their own minds, much as they did when they gave me landslide victories in the 2016 and 2020 Elections, and I am therefore proud to announce that ERIC has my Complete and Total Endorsement!” Trump wrote.

Voter Richard Greenup, a 66-year-old computer programmer from Columbia, said he wants “somebody that’s going to support Trump” and that he chose Schmitt over Greitens because, “good or bad, Schmitt, I don’t think, has that baggage.”

Greitens, a former Navy SEAL officer and Rhodes scholar, had been governor for a year when in January 2018 he confirmed a TV report about a 2015 extramarital affair. He was subsequently charged with felony invasion of privacy for allegedly taking a nude photo of the woman and using it to keep her quiet. That charge was dropped months later amid allegations that the chief investigator and local prosecutor mishandled the investigation.

Greitens, 48, says he was the victim of a political hit.

He faced a second charge accusing him of illegally using a donor list from a charity he founded to raise money for his campaign. That was dropped when he resigned in June 2018 after the Missouri House began an impeachment investigation.

Greitens has denied the abuse allegations from his ex-wife that she made in an affidavit in a child custody case. She cited one instance where he allegedly slapped their then-3-year-old son’s face and yanked him by the hair. In another, she accused him of pushing her to the ground.

Greitens also drew criticism for a June campaign video showing him brandishing a shotgun and declaring he’s hunting RINOs, or “Republicans in name only.”

Schmitt, 47, has gained attention for lawsuits that critics contend are politically motivated. He sued China over the coronavirus; school districts over mask mandates; and the city of St. Louis over its plan to provide $1 million for women to travel out of state for abortions.

“I’ve always been a fighter and as your attorney general I have fought in court to protect those liberties,” Schmitt said in his victory speech, citing mask and vaccine mandates, among other things.

Valentine, 65, is the daughter of August “Gussie” Busch Jr., the longtime chair and CEO of Anheuser-Busch who built the St. Louis-based company into the world’s largest beermaker. The brewery was sold to InBev in 2008. Valentine said she entered the race after witnessing the “division in our country and the vitriol in our politics.”

“After hundreds of career politicians, it’s time for a nurse in the Senate,” Valentine said in a victory speech.

Bob Westlake, 67, and his wife, Mary Jo, 69, both voted for Valentine. The Chesterfield couple liked her push for better health care coverage.

“Health care is a big deal to us,” Bob Westlake said, adding that they have a daughter with a chronic illness and that he and his wife are on Medicare.

Kunce, 39, lost despite the endorsement of Sen. Bernie Sanders. Kunce served tours of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq. Like Senate candidate John Fetterman in Pennsylvania, Kunce fashioned himself as a populist.

Wood’s entry into the race created new drama. Wood, 52, is a lifelong Republican, former U.S. attorney and most recently a top investigator for the U.S. House committee examining the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. Danforth’s PAC has pledged to spend up to $20 million in support of Wood’s campaign.

Additional reporting by The Associated Press.

: newsy.com

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Filed Under: TRENDING Tagged With: Afghanistan, Associated Press, Beer, Bernie Sanders, China, Coronavirus, Donald Trump, Drama, Elections, Hair, Health, Health Care, Impeachment, Iraq, Medicare, Missouri, Money, Pennsylvania, Politics, Pride, Privacy, Race, Republicans, Senate, Sex, Socialism, State, travel, Washington, Women

Veterans Outraged By Republicans Blocking PACT Act Bill

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Republicans are being pressured by veterans to rethink passing the PACT act bill, which will extend healthcare benefits.

Congress is desperately trying to put out a political fire that has many questioning their commitment to American veterans. 

Mindy Beyer is a former Marine Corps officer.

“I was — I was appalled,” Beyer said. 

It’s a sentiment shared by many who’ve served after 25 Republican senators blocked a bill to extend healthcare benefits for the millions of veterans exposed to toxic burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

Democrats are already blaming Republicans for any delays in veteran care. Still, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer assured veterans a re-vote on the PACT Act will happen this week. 

But Republicans like Senator Pat Toomey say Democrats are using the PACT act as a “vehicle for massive unrelated spending binge” something he says adds up to the tune of $400 billion in mandatory spending. 

“This is the oldest trick in Washington. People take a sympathetic group of Americans and it could be children with an illness. It could be victims of crime. It could be veterans who’ve been exposed to toxic chemicals, craft a bill to address their problems and then sneak in something completely unrelated that they know could never pass on its own and dare Republicans to do anything about it,” Toomey said. 

Republicans want an amendment to the PACT act that would cap what can be spent each cycle. 

But the head of the VA says that would have drastic results for future care. 

Denis McDonough is the U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs.

“If his estimations are wrong about what we’ll spend in any given year, that means that we may have to ration care for veterans. And by the way, that’s not something I’ll sign up to,” McDonough said.  

It’s a claim Senator Toomey denies; saying in part, “nothing in my amendment results in one dime reduction in spending for health care or other benefits for veterans.”  

Some Senate Republicans are working fast to wrap up the back-and-forth and change that narrative. On Sunday, Senator Jerry Moran tweeted in part, “the most important business before the United States Senate is passing the PACT act for our nation’s veterans,” and hoped to get the bill passed “as quickly as possible.” 

Still, advocacy groups, like the Veterans of Foreign Wars, warn lawmakers it “will hold them accountable if they fail to honor their promise.” 

In the meantime, veterans advocates are staying on the steps of Congress. And they encourage lawmakers to stay inside and pass the PACT act. 

“Keep the lights on, keep the doors open and don’t leave here tonight until you do the right thing by these folks. Simple as that, don’t make this harder than it is,” said comedian Jon Stewart. 

: newsy.com

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Filed Under: TRENDING Tagged With: Afghanistan, Benefits, Business, Chemicals, Children, Chuck Schumer, Crime, Democrats, Health, Health Care, Healthcare, Iraq, Republicans, Senate, United States, Veterans, Washington

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