News Digest

  Today, the Biden-Harris Administration is announcing new actions to strengthen American solar manufacturing and protect businesses and workers from China’s unfair trade actions: Removal of the bifacial module exclusion under Section 201.  Bifacial solar panels generally used in utility-scale solar projects are not currently subject to safeguard tariffs under Section 201 of the Trade Act of 1974. Since this exclusion was implemented by the previous Administration, imports of bifacial panels have surged, now making up nearly all U.S. solar panel imports and undercutting the effectiveness of the Section 201 safeguard. Today, the Biden-Harris Administration is announcing that it plans to imminently remove this exclusion, which will offer U.S. solar manufacturers increased Section 201 tariff protection from unfair imports. Importers with pre-existing contracts for bifacial solar modules to be delivered within 90 days of the removal of the exclusion will be able to certify those c...

  Since taking office, President Biden, Vice President Harris, and the entire Biden-Harris Administration have moved with urgency to harness the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to spur innovation and advance opportunity, while also taking action to ensure workers share in these gains. As part of these efforts, President Biden’s landmark   Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence   directed the Department of Labor to establish a set of key principles that protect workers and ensure they have a seat at the table in determining how these technologies are developed and used. The Biden-Harris Administration is today unveiling these principles and announcing that technology companies Microsoft and Indeed have committed to adopt these principles as appropriate to their workplace. Pursuant to President Biden’s landmark Executive Order, the following principles apply to the development and deployment of AI system...

  Research   shows that racial achievement gaps are strongly associated with school segregation, in turn because schools with high concentrations of Black and Latino students receive fewer resources. The desegregation of schools that followed   Brown  led to a 30 percent increase in graduation rates for Black students and a 22 percent increase for Latino students. As school districts were released from court-ordered desegregation, research shows that in the 1960s and 1970s, school integration increased rapidly, but that trend has reversed in the past two decades when both racial and economic segregation   increased . For example, segregation between white and Black students is up 64 percent since 1988, while segregation by economic status has grown by 50 percent since 1991. According to the   U.S. Department of Education’s State of School Diversity Report , racially and socioeconomically isolated schools often lack critical resources and learning experience...

USCIS Announces New FY 2024 Funding Opportunity Under the Citizenship and Integration Grant Program “The CITA grant provides increased capacity-building and additional citizenship instruction resources for organizations that otherwise may not qualify for a grant,” said USCIS Director Ur M. Jaddou. “Through this program, we can help build organizations’ capacity to help immigrants improve their English language skills, increase their knowledge of U.S. history and government, and gain the tools to become successful and responsible U. S. citizens.”

  The Biden administration has been racing this spring to finalize a slew of major environmental regulations, including rules to combat climate change, a first-ever ban on asbestos and new limits on toxic chemicals in tap water. ... Here are 10 major environmental rules that the Biden administration rushed out the door to meet its self-imposed spring deadline. 10 Big Biden Environmental Rules, and What They Mean - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

  Even as it has become increasingly clear that the bird flu outbreak on the nation’s dairy farms began months earlier — and is probably much more widespread — than previously thought, federal authorities have emphasized that the virus poses little risk to humans. Yet there is a group of people who are at high risk for infection: the estimated 100,000 men and women who work on those farms. There has been no widespread testing to see how many may be infected. None have been vaccinated against bird flu. That leaves the workers and their families vulnerable to a poorly tracked pathogen. And it poses broader public health risks. If the virus were to find its way into the wider population, experts say, dairy workers would be a likely route. A majority of dairy farmworkers are  Spanish-speaking  immigrants, often undocumented, who may not have paid sick leave or be  protected by occupational safety laws . They may lack access to medical providers, and their employers can b...

  Although the number of children in the U.S. exposed to lead has dropped significantly in the past decade, thousands of children are still exposed. Lead exposure is not equal among all children–national data suggest minority children, children living in families below the poverty level, and children living in older housing have significantly higher risk for elevated blood lead levels. No safe blood lead level in children has been identified. The President’s Task Force on Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks to Children has published  its Progress Report on the Federal Lead Action Plan to Reduce Childhood Lead Exposures and Associated Health Impacts . The report provides a comprehensive update on efforts taken by the federal government and advancements made between December 2018 and April 2024 in reducing childhood lead exposures and associated health effects. Biden-Harris Administration Reports Significant Progress Toward Protecting Children from Lead Poisoning | HHS.g...

  Thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law alone, the Administration has already: Launched improvements on over 165,000 miles of roads and launched over 9,400 bridge repair projects – making our roadways safer and reconnecting communities across the country; Provided funding to deploy nearly 3,000 low-and zero-emission American-made transit buses and funded over 5,000 clean school buses in 600 communities across the country, prioritizing disadvantaged areas; Delivered funding for over 450 port and waterway projects to strengthen supply chains, speed up the movement of goods, lower costs, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions; Deployed investments in over 300 airport terminal projects to modernize and expand terminals—over 100 of which are under construction or complete; Launched over 4,100 projects to help communities build resilience to threats such as the impacts of climate change and cyber-attacks; Financed over 1,400 drinking water and wastewater projects across the country; D...

  U.S. deaths of moms around the time of childbirth have fallen back to pre-pandemic levels, new government data suggests. About 680 women died last year during pregnancy or shortly after childbirth, according to provisional CDC data. That’s down from 817 deaths in 2022 and 1,205 in 2021, when it was the highest level in more than 50 years. COVID-19 seems to be the main explanation for the improvement, said Donna Hoyert, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention maternal mortality researcher. The coronavirus can be particularly dangerous to pregnant women. And, in the worst days of the pandemic, burned out physicians may have added to the risk by ignoring pregnant women’s worries, experts say. Fewer death certificates are mentioning COVID-19 as a contributor to maternal deaths. The count was over 400 in 2021 but fewer than 10 last year, Hoyert said. The agency on Thursday released a report detailing the final maternal mortality data for 2022. It also recently released provisiona...

  Pedestrians who are not white ended up in the emergency room for   traffic-related injuries   at higher rates than white people, according to a new federal report published Thursday. There were more than 137,000 emergency room visits involving a pedestrian injury between January 2021 and December 2023. Asian pedestrians went to the ER 2.23 times more than white people, while Black people went 1.93 times more and Hispanic people 1.7 times more. Multiracial people or people of another race had the highest rate compared to white people: 2.47. The findings  were released Thursday  by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The report also pointed to higher rates of ER visits for vehicle-related injuries in the 15-24 and 25-34 age groups, and men were nearly twice as likely than women to get treatment. CDC researchers said unsafe walking environments can be attributed to development that prioritizes cars over pedestrians and disinvestment in certain neighbo...