HALIFAX (AP) —Rescuers in a remote area of the Atlantic Ocean raced against time Tuesday to find&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/titanic-shipwreck-titan-submersible-search-deepsea-atlantic-a89dbd2f6d3edd7e4a52566e451a5e6d">a missing submersible</a>&nbsp;before the oxygen supply runs out for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/titanic-shipwreck-titan-submersible-search-deepsea-atlantic-a89dbd2f6d3edd7e4a52566e451a5e6d">five people</a>&nbsp;who were on a mission to document the wreckage of the Titanic.

Authorities&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/titanic-wreckage-missing-submersible-62fadef7a55af0022e3dc75df862a5c1">reported the carbon-fiber vessel overdue Sunday night</a>, setting off an international rescue effort in waters about 435 miles (700 kilometers) south of St. John’s, Newfoundland. Aboard were a pilot, a renowned British adventurer, two members of an iconic Pakistani business family and a Titanic expert.

Named the Titan, the submersible had a 96-hour oxygen supply when it put to sea at roughly 6 a.m. Sunday, according to David Concannon, an adviser to OceanGate Expeditions, which oversaw the mission.

That means the oxygen supply could run out Thursday morning.

CBS News journalist David Pogue, who traveled to Titanic aboard the Titan last year, said the vehicle uses two communication systems: text messages that go back and forth to a surface ship and safety pings that are emitted every 15 minutes to indicate that the sub is still working.

Both of those systems stopped about an hour and 45 minutes after the Titan submerged.

"There are only two things that could mean. Either they lost all power or the ship developed a hull breach and it imploded instantly. Both of those are devastatingly hopeless,” Pogue told CBC on Tuesday.

Experts said the rescuers face steep challenges.

Alistair Greig, a professor of marine engineering at University College London, said submersibles typically have a drop weight, which is “a mass they can release in the case of an emergency to bring them up to the surface using buoyancy.”

“If there was a power failure and/or communication failure, this might have happened, and the submersible would then be bobbing about on the surface waiting to be found,” Greig said.

Another scenario is a leak in the pressure hull, in which case the prognosis is not good, he said.

“If it has gone down to the seabed and can’t get back up under its own power, options are very limited,” Greig said. “While the submersible might still be intact, if it is beyond the continental shelf, there are very few vessels that can get that deep, and certainly not divers.”

Even if they could go that deep, he doubts rescuers could attach to the submersible.

By Tuesday morning, an area totaling 10,000 square miles had been searched, the U.S. Coast Guard tweeted.

The Canadian research icebreaker Polar Prince, which was supporting the Titan, was to continue conducting surface searches with help from a Canadian Boeing P-8 Poseidon reconnaissance aircraft, the Coast Guard said on Twitter. Two U.S. Lockheed C-130 Hercules aircraft also conducted overflights.

The Canadian military dropped sonar buoys to listen for any possible sounds from the Titan.

Concannon, who said he was supposed to be on the dive but could not go, said officials were also working to get a remotely operated vehicle that can dive to a depth of 3.7 miles (6 kilometers) to the site as soon as possible.

OceanGate’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/arts-and-entertainment-environment-and-nature-science-f73cc9d0dbced13398bc04bf388e6eba">expeditions to the Titanic wreck site</a>&nbsp;include archaeologists and marine biologists. The company also brings people who pay to come along, known as “mission specialists.” They take turns operating sonar equipment and performing other tasks in the submersible.

The Coast Guard said Monday that the Titan carried a pilot and four “mission specialists." However, OceanGate's website suggests that the fifth person may be a so-called “content expert” who guides the paying customers.

OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush told The Associated Press in June 2021 that the Titan's technology was “very cutting edge" and was developed with the help of NASA and aerospace manufacturers.

“This is the only submersible – crewed submersible – that’s made of carbon fiber and titanium," Rush said, calling it the “largest carbon fiber structure that we know of,” with 5-inch-thick carbon fiber and 3.25-inch-thick titanium.

Authorities have yet to formally identify those on board, though some names have been confirmed.

British businessman Hamish Harding, who lives in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, was one of the mission specialists, according to Action Aviation, a company where Harding serves as chairman.

Harding is a billionaire adventurer who holds three Guinness world records, including the longest duration at full ocean depth by a crewed vessel. In March 2021, he and ocean explorer Victor Vescovo descended to the lowest depth of the Mariana Trench. In June 2022, he went into space on Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket.

Also on board were Pakistani nationals Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, according to a family statement. The Dawoods belong to one of Pakistan's most prominent families. Their eponymous firm invests across the country in agriculture, industries and the health sector.

Shahzada Dawood also is on the board of trustees for the California-based SETI Institute that searches for extraterrestrial intelligence.

French explorer and Titanic expert Paul-Henry Nargeolet was also aboard, according to David Gallo, a senior adviser for strategic initiatives and special projects at RMS Titanic. Gallo identified Nargeolet, a friend who has led multiple expeditions to the Titanic, on Tuesday during an interview with CNN.

The expedition was OceanGate’s third annual voyage to chronicle the deterioration of Titanic, which struck an iceberg and sank in 1912, killing all but about 700 of the roughly 2,200 passengers and crew. Since the wreckage’s discovery in 1985, it has been slowly succumbing to metal-eating bacteria.

OceanGate’s website described the “mission support fee” for the 2023 expedition as $250,000 a person.

Recalling his own trip aboard the Titan, Pogue said the vessel got turned around looking for the Titanic.

“There’s no GPS underwater, so the surface ship is supposed to guide the sub to the shipwreck by sending text messages,” Pogue said in a segment aired on “CBS Sunday Morning.” “But on this dive, communications somehow broke down. The sub never found the wreck.”

HALIFAX (AP) —Rescuers in a remote area of the Atlantic Ocean raced against time early Tuesday to find&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/titanic-shipwreck-titan-submersible-search-deepsea-atlantic-a89dbd2f6d3edd7e4a52566e451a5e6d">a missing submersible carrying five people</a>&nbsp;on a mission to document the wreckage of the Titanic.

The carbon-fiber submersible named the Titan, part of a mission by OceanGate Expeditions, carried a pilot, a renowned British adventurer, two members of an iconic Pakistani business family and a Titanic expert. Authorities&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/titanic-wreckage-missing-submersible-62fadef7a55af0022e3dc75df862a5c1">reported the vessel overdue Sunday night</a>&nbsp;about 435 miles (700 kilometers) south of St. John’s, Newfoundland, according to Canada's Joint Rescue Coordination Center.

Every passing minute, however, puts the Titan's crew at greater risk. The submersible had a 96-hour oxygen supply when it put to sea at roughly 6 a.m. Sunday, according to David Concannon, an adviser to OceanGate.

“It is a remote area — and it is a challenge to conduct a search in that remote area,” said Rear Adm. John Mauger, a commander for the U.S. Coast Guard, which also is searching for the Titan.

Mauger told NBC’s “Today” show on Tuesday that his crews were working to prioritize underwater search efforts and get equipment there that can be helpful to the search.

“We’re working very, very hard to make sure that we bring all assets ... to bring leading technical experts to understand what capability is available, what capability we can get to the team," he said.

The Canadian research icebreaker Polar Prince, which was supporting the Titan, reportedly lost contact with the vessel about an hour and 45 minutes after it submerged. The Polar Prince was to continue to do surface searches throughout the night and a Canadian Boeing P-8 Poseidon reconnaissance aircraft will resume their surface and subsurface search in the morning, the U.S. Coast Guard said on Twitter. Two U.S. Lockheed C-130 Hercules aircraft also have conducted overflights.

The Canadian military also dropped sonar buoys to listen for any possible sounds from the Titan.

Ship-tracking satellite data from MarineTraffic.com analyzed by The Associated Press showed the Polar Prince some 430 miles (690 kilometers) southeast of St. John's on Tuesday morning. The Bahamas-flagged cable layer Deep Energy was nearby as well, likely assisting in the surface search.

In an earlier email to the AP, Concannon said he was supposed to be on the dive but could not go. He said officials were working to get a remotely operated vehicle that can reach a depth of 3.7 miles (6 kilometers) to the site as soon as possible.

OceanGate’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/arts-and-entertainment-environment-and-nature-science-f73cc9d0dbced13398bc04bf388e6eba">expeditions to the Titanic wreck site</a>&nbsp;include archaeologists and marine biologists. The company also brings people who pay to come along, known as “mission specialists.” They take turns operating sonar equipment and performing other tasks in the five-person submersible.

The Coast Guard said Monday that there was one pilot and four “mission specialists” aboard. However, OceanGate's website suggests that the fifth person aboard may be a so-called “content expert” who guides the paying customers.

OceanGate said its focus was on those aboard and their families.

“We are deeply thankful for the extensive assistance we have received from several government agencies and deep sea companies in our efforts to reestablish contact with the submersible,” it said in a statement.

British businessman Hamish Harding, who lives in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, was one of the mission specialists, according to Action Aviation, a company for which Harding serves as chairman. The company’s managing director, Mark Butler, told the AP that the crew set out on Friday.

“There is still plenty of time to facilitate a rescue mission, there is equipment on board for survival in this event,” Butler said. “We’re all hoping and praying he comes back safe and sound.”

Harding is a billionaire adventurer who holds three Guinness World Records, including the longest duration at full ocean depth by a crewed vessel. In March 2021, he and ocean explorer Victor Vescovo dived to the lowest depth of the Mariana Trench. In June 2022, he went into space on Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket.

Harding was “looking forward to conducting research” at the Titanic site, said Richard Garriott de Cayeux, the president of The Explorers Club, a group to which Harding belonged.

"We all join in the fervent hope that the submersible is located as quickly as possible," he said in a statement.

Also on board were Pakistani nationals Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, according to a family statement sent to the AP. The Dawoods belong to one of Pakistan's most prominent families. Their eponymous firm invests across the country in agriculture, industries and the health sector.

“We are very grateful for the concern being shown by our colleagues and friends and would like to request everyone to pray for their safety while granting the family privacy at this time,” the statement said. “The family is well looked after and are praying to Allah for the safe return of their family members.”

French explorer and Titanic expert Paul-Henry Nargeolet also was on board, according to David Gallo, a senior adviser for strategic initiatives and special projects at RMS Titanic. Gallo identified Nargeolet, a friend who has led multiple expeditions to the Titanic, on Tuesday during an interview with CNN.

The expedition was OceanGate’s third annual voyage to chronicle the deterioration of Titanic, which struck an iceberg and sank in 1912, killing all but about 700 of the roughly 2,200 passengers and crew. Since the wreckage’s discovery in 1985, it has been slowly succumbing to metal-eating bacteria. Some have predicted the ship could vanish in a matter of decades as holes yawn in the hull and sections disintegrate.

The initial group of tourists in 2021 paid $100,000 to $150,000 apiece to go on the trip. OceanGate’s website had described the “mission support fee” for the 2023 expedition as $250,000 a person.

Unlike submarines that leave and return to port under their own power, submersibles require a ship to launch and recover them. OceanGate hired the Polar Prince to ferry dozens of people and the submersible craft to the North Atlantic wreck site. The submersible would make multiple dives in one expedition.

The expedition was scheduled to depart from St. John’s, Newfoundland, in early May and finish up at the end of June, according to documents filed by the company in April with a U.S. District Court in Virginia that oversees Titanic matters.

CBS journalist David Pogue, who went on the trip last year, noted his vessel got turned around looking for the Titanic.

“There’s no GPS underwater, so the surface ship is supposed to guide the sub to the shipwreck by sending text messages,” Pogue said in a segment aired on CBS Sunday Morning. “But on this dive, communications somehow broke down. The sub never found the wreck.”

The submersible, named Titan, is capable of diving 2.4 miles (4 kilometers) “with a comfortable safety margin,” OceanGate said in its court filing.

It weighs 20,000 pounds (9,072 kilograms) in the air, but is ballasted to be neutrally buoyant once it reaches the seafloor, the company said.

In a May 2021 court filing, OceanGate said the Titan had an “unparalleled safety feature” that assesses the integrity of the hull throughout every dive.

During its expedition in 2022, OceanGate reported that the submersible had a battery issue on its first dive, and had to be manually attached to its lifting platform, according to a November court filing. More missions, however, followed. OceanGate has described the submersible as a “state-of-the-art vessel” that “is lighter, more spacious and more comfortable than any other deep-diving submersible exploring the ocean today.”

But the custom-built, titanium-domed Titan represented a risk. Pogue and another passenger, a writer and producer for the cartoon series "The Simpsons" named Mike Reiss, noted how the liability waiver for the trip included stark safety warnings.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/video/a-visit-to-rms-titanic-1/?intcid=CNM-00-10abd1h#x">Pogue in his CBS piece</a>&nbsp;also highlighted how much of the “improvised” submersible, about the size of a minivan, operated with a single button, a video game-style controller, a makeshift toilet and material from an RV retailer.

Experts said Monday that rescuers face steep challenges.

“If it has gone down to the seabed and can’t get back up under its own power, options are very limited," Greig said. “While the submersible might still be intact, if it is beyond the continental shelf, there are very few vessels that can get that deep, and certainly not divers.”

Even if they could go that deep, he doubts they could attach to the hatch of OceanGate's submersible.

HALIFAX (AP) —Rescuers in a remote area of the Atlantic Ocean raced against time early Tuesday to find&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/titanic-shipwreck-titan-submersible-search-deepsea-atlantic-a89dbd2f6d3edd7e4a52566e451a5e6d">a missing submersible carrying five people</a>&nbsp;on a mission to document the wreckage of the Titanic, the iconic ocean liner that sank more than a century ago.

The carbon-fiber submersible named the Titan, part of a mission by OceanGate Expeditions, carried a pilot, a renowned British adventurer, two members of an iconic Pakistani business family and another passenger. Authorities&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/titanic-wreckage-missing-submersible-62fadef7a55af0022e3dc75df862a5c1">reported the vessel overdue Sunday night</a>&nbsp;about 435 miles (700 kilometers) south of St. John’s, Newfoundland, according to Canada's Joint Rescue Coordination Center.

“It is a remote area — and it is a challenge to conduct a search in that remote area,” said Rear Adm. John Mauger, a commander for the U.S. Coast Guard, which also is searching for the Titan. “But we are deploying all available assets to make sure we can locate the craft and rescue the people on board.”

Race against time: Titanic tourist submarine still missing

By PAUL HAMMEL <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2023/04/21/massive-pipeline-spill-caused-by-crack-created-during-installation-third-party-review-concludes/">Nebraska Examiner</a>

LINCOLN — A Creighton University professor says that Pope Francis and his two predecessors at the Vatican have all called for increased consideration of the ecological costs of business decisions to protect the planet.

That, according to Dan DiLeo, a moral theologian, includes considering climate risks — so-called “environment, social and governance” (ESG) issues — when making financial investments.

“ESG has been part of Catholic social teaching for years,” DiLeo said. “It’s kind of ironic that it’s become this live wire issue.”

DiLeo was among 130 professors and academic researchers who&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.freedomtoinvest.org/signatories/?utm_campaign=ESG&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;_hsmi=259704774&amp;_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8Q_8Ts7Lxr1-vbwheUjqTyZtN0hnuOeujCcitsbaiv2Ep-3J3YOeYjpKKZCA4oUy8AfoXK6PZQ2J7jJbDfFvKkIv7AUSI5U9VQkenI__f9pxxtPQc&amp;utm_content=259704774&amp;utm_source=hs_email">recently signed onto a letter</a>&nbsp;urging state and federal policymakers to protect the freedom to invest responsibly.

The letter pushes back on a conservative-fueled effort to ban states from considering ESG in investing state funds.

<a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/briefs/bankers-say-proposal-on-environmental-social-and-governance-too-broad-amendments-needed/">Two bills to do that were introduced</a>&nbsp;in the Nebraska Legislature this year after&nbsp;<a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2022/08/22/__trashed-3/">State Treasurer John Murante</a>&nbsp;and then-Attorney General Doug Peterson warned that ESG was “woke capitalism” and that investment decisions should be made only to maximize expected return.

Efforts to restrict “sustainable” investing were initiated in at least 37 states this year, and some conservative states, including Iowa and Wyoming, have&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonytellez/2023/02/28/what-is-esg-investing-and-why-republicans-are-trying-to-ban-it-from-retirement-funds/?sh=6472ce474e13">restricted consideration of ESG</a>&nbsp;in investing state funds. (The Nebraska proposals failed to advance.)

The Nebraska Investment Council, which manages $40 billion in state pension and trust funds,&nbsp;<a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2023/02/09/state-investment-council-looks-at-shifting-business-from-blackrock-as-investment-adviser/">discussed in February</a>&nbsp;whether to consider shifting some business away from its main investment adviser, BlackRock, because of its stance on ESG.

” … The ESG movement has the potential to do substantial harm to both the financial system and society as a whole,” stated a December report, written by Peterson and a small group of lawyers in the AG’s office.

The academics’ letter, which follows a similar statement in March by 270 business leaders and investors, says it is irresponsible to disregard the impacts of global warming, extreme weather and rising sea levels when making investment decisions.

“ESG for investors is a way to understand how companies are managing the risk or opportunities presented by pollution, water scarcity, and worker welfare, and improve their assessment of a company’s financial performance — exactly what is expected of them as fiduciaries,” said Tensie Whelan, director of New York University Stern Center for Sustainable Business.

The academics point out that extreme weather in 2022 caused more than $165 billion in damages, and those damages are projected to rise in the future. Two major insurance companies, Allstate and State Farm,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/allstate-insurance-state-farm-california/">recently decided to halt sales</a>&nbsp;of property and casualty insurance to new customers in California because of a string of natural disasters there.

Ignoring ESG can hurt taxpayers, the letter says, pointing to Texas, where taxpayers&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4123366&amp;utm_campaign=ESG&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;_hsmi=259704774&amp;_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9_0vOzr2eY7_2EwkzqljYDygsq8ffL_cMRwi7FGBYWQEGo_-Fzci70U-0QPGb_rKcIFid8CE8Myhk1uWIGIYKM1MCcLQCsbwAzq7rKdlXg8kLJViE&amp;utm_content=259704774&amp;utm_source=hs_email">could face up to $532 million</a>&nbsp;in higher interest costs.

“There is a lot of political theater in the anti-ESG campaign being driven by a number of Republican politicians. It is effective for fund-raising, to the economic detriment of their own citizens,” said Bob Eccles, a professor at the University of Oxford, who formerly taught at&nbsp; the Harvard Business School.

DiLeo has been active in climate issues as part of his role at Creighton. He is an&nbsp;associate professor and director of the Justice and Peace Studies Program at the Omaha university and has been a consultant with Catholic Climate Covenant since 2009.

He said that in that role, he wrote an&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://omaha.com/opinion/columnists/midlands-voices-ecological-economics-and-a-response-to-nebraska-treasurer-john-murante/article_74d59f06-35eb-11ed-916c-fbe11375cc47.html">op-ed recently in the Omaha World-Herald</a>&nbsp;pushing back on Murante’s role in a national group condemning ESG. That’s also why he signed the recent letter, distributed by the group, freedomtoinvest.org.

“ESG says investors should consider moral principles and refuse to purchase companies that obviously harm people and planet,” he wrote in the op-ed. “ESG investors are increasingly divesting from fossil fuel corporations in response to the moral dimensions of climate change.”

DiLeo is also helping moderate an online climate change conference this summer entitled&nbsp;<a href="https://default.salsalabs.org/T6124521b-5183-4710-888e-544721837fb7/b46fb3af-2ec1-48ce-8e6e-68f14f637963" target="_blank">Laudato Si’ and the U.S. Catholic Church</a>. The opening session Wednesday featured the official who helped broker the Paris climate agreement.

DiLeo told the Examiner there is&nbsp;“a kind of dissonance” between the partisan position being taken by some politicians and&nbsp;Catholic teaching on social and climate change issues.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/6/1687219143304.png" alt="Dan DiLeo, an associate professor at Creighton University and director of the Justice and Peace Studies Program. (Courtesy of Creighton University)" />
 <figcaption>Dan DiLeo, an associate professor at Creighton University and director of the Justice and Peace Studies Program. (Courtesy of Creighton University)</figcaption>
 </figure>By PAUL HAMMEL <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2023/04/21/massive-pipeline-spill-caused-by-crack-created-during-installation-third-party-review-concludes/">Nebraska Examiner</a>LINCOLN — A Creighton University professor says that Pope Francis and his two predecessors at the Vatican have all called for increased consideration of the ecological costs of business decisions to protect the planet.That, according to Dan DiLeo, a moral theologian, includes considering climate risks — so-called “environment, social and governance” (ESG) issues — when making financial investments.“ESG has been part of Catholic social teaching for years,” DiLeo said. “It’s kind of ironic that it’s become this live wire issue.”DiLeo was among 130 professors and academic researchers who&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.freedomtoinvest.org/signatories/?utm_campaign=ESG&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;_hsmi=259704774&amp;_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8Q_8Ts7Lxr1-vbwheUjqTyZtN0hnuOeujCcitsbaiv2Ep-3J3YOeYjpKKZCA4oUy8AfoXK6PZQ2J7jJbDfFvKkIv7AUSI5U9VQkenI__f9pxxtPQc&amp;utm_content=259704774&amp;utm_source=hs_email">recently signed onto a letter</a>&nbsp;urging state and federal policymakers to protect the freedom to invest responsibly.The letter pushes back on a conservative-fueled effort to ban states from considering ESG in investing state funds.<a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/briefs/bankers-say-proposal-on-environmental-social-and-governance-too-broad-amendments-needed/">Two bills to do that were introduced</a>&nbsp;in the Nebraska Legislature this year after&nbsp;<a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2022/08/22/__trashed-3/">State Treasurer John Murante</a>&nbsp;and then-Attorney General Doug Peterson warned that ESG was “woke capitalism” and that investment decisions should be made only to maximize expected return.Efforts to restrict “sustainable” investing were initiated in at least 37 states this year, and some conservative states, including Iowa and Wyoming, have&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonytellez/2023/02/28/what-is-esg-investing-and-why-republicans-are-trying-to-ban-it-from-retirement-funds/?sh=6472ce474e13">restricted consideration of ESG</a>&nbsp;in investing state funds. (The Nebraska proposals failed to advance.)The Nebraska Investment Council, which manages $40 billion in state pension and trust funds,&nbsp;<a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2023/02/09/state-investment-council-looks-at-shifting-business-from-blackrock-as-investment-adviser/">discussed in February</a>&nbsp;whether to consider shifting some business away from its main investment adviser, BlackRock, because of its stance on ESG.” … The ESG movement has the potential to do substantial harm to both the financial system and society as a whole,” stated a December report, written by Peterson and a small group of lawyers in the AG’s office.The academics’ letter, which follows a similar statement in March by 270 business leaders and investors, says it is irresponsible to disregard the impacts of global warming, extreme weather and rising sea levels when making investment decisions.“ESG for investors is a way to understand how companies are managing the risk or opportunities presented by pollution, water scarcity, and worker welfare, and improve their assessment of a company’s financial performance — exactly what is expected of them as fiduciaries,” said Tensie Whelan, director of New York University Stern Center for Sustainable Business.The academics point out that extreme weather in 2022 caused more than $165 billion in damages, and those damages are projected to rise in the future. Two major insurance companies, Allstate and State Farm,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/allstate-insurance-state-farm-california/">recently decided to halt sales</a>&nbsp;of property and casualty insurance to new customers in California because of a string of natural disasters there.<h2>‘Political theater’</h2>Ignoring ESG can hurt taxpayers, the letter says, pointing to Texas, where taxpayers&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4123366&amp;utm_campaign=ESG&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;_hsmi=259704774&amp;_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9_0vOzr2eY7_2EwkzqljYDygsq8ffL_cMRwi7FGBYWQEGo_-Fzci70U-0QPGb_rKcIFid8CE8Myhk1uWIGIYKM1MCcLQCsbwAzq7rKdlXg8kLJViE&amp;utm_content=259704774&amp;utm_source=hs_email">could face up to $532 million</a>&nbsp;in higher interest costs.“There is a lot of political theater in the anti-ESG campaign being driven by a number of Republican politicians. It is effective for fund-raising, to the economic detriment of their own citizens,” said Bob Eccles, a professor at the University of Oxford, who formerly taught at&nbsp; the Harvard Business School.DiLeo has been active in climate issues as part of his role at Creighton. He is an&nbsp;associate professor and director of the Justice and Peace Studies Program at the Omaha university and has been a consultant with Catholic Climate Covenant since 2009.He said that in that role, he wrote an&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://omaha.com/opinion/columnists/midlands-voices-ecological-economics-and-a-response-to-nebraska-treasurer-john-murante/article_74d59f06-35eb-11ed-916c-fbe11375cc47.html">op-ed recently in the Omaha World-Herald</a>&nbsp;pushing back on Murante’s role in a national group condemning ESG. That’s also why he signed the recent letter, distributed by the group, freedomtoinvest.org.“ESG says investors should consider moral principles and refuse to purchase companies that obviously harm people and planet,” he wrote in the op-ed. “ESG investors are increasingly divesting from fossil fuel corporations in response to the moral dimensions of climate change.”DiLeo is also helping moderate an online climate change conference this summer entitled&nbsp;<a href="https://default.salsalabs.org/T6124521b-5183-4710-888e-544721837fb7/b46fb3af-2ec1-48ce-8e6e-68f14f637963" target="_blank">Laudato Si’ and the U.S. Catholic Church</a>. The opening session Wednesday featured the official who helped broker the Paris climate agreement.DiLeo told the Examiner there is&nbsp;“a kind of dissonance” between the partisan position being taken by some politicians and&nbsp;Catholic teaching on social and climate change issues.

Creighton professor defends consideration of climate change in investing

KANSAS CITY(AP) — Entering court using a walker, a doctor's note clutched in his hand, 70-year-old Dana Williams, who suffers serious heart problems, hypertension and asthma, pleaded to delay eviction from his two-bedroom apartment in Atlanta.

Although sympathetic, the judge said state law required him to evict Williams and his 25-year-old daughter De’mai Williams in April because they owed $8,348 in unpaid rent and fees on their $940-a-month apartment.

They have been living in limbo ever since.

They moved into a dilapidated Atlanta hotel room with water dripping through the bathroom ceiling, broken furniture and no refrigerator or microwave. But at $275-a-week, it was all they could afford on Williams' $900 monthly social security check and the $800 his daughter gets biweekly from a state agency as her father’s caretaker.

“I really don’t want to be here by the time his birthday comes" in August, De'mai Williams said. "For his health, it’s just not right.”

The Williams family is among millions of tenants from New York state to Las Vegas who have been evicted or face imminent eviction.

After a lull during the pandemic, eviction filings by landlords have come roaring back, driven by rising rents and a long-running shortage of affordable housing. Most low-income tenants can no longer count on pandemic resources that had kept them housed, and many are finding it hard to recover because they haven't found steady work or their wages haven't kept pace with the rising cost of rent, food and other necessities.

“Protections have ended, the federal moratorium is obviously over, and emergency rental assistance money has dried up in most places,” said Daniel Grubbs-Donovan, a research specialist at Princeton University's Eviction Lab.

“Across the country, low-income renters are in an even worse situation than before the pandemic due to things like massive increases in rent during the pandemic, inflation and other pandemic-era related financial difficulties.”

Eviction filings are more than 50% higher than the pre-pandemic average in some cities, according to the Eviction Lab, which tracks filings in nearly three dozen cities and 10 states. Landlords file around 3.6 million eviction cases every year.

Among the hardest-hit are Houston, where rates were 56% higher in April and 50% higher in May. In Minneapolis/St. Paul, rates rose 106% in March, 55% in April and 63% in May. Nashville was 35% higher and Phoenix 33% higher in May; Rhode Island was up 32% in May.

The latest data mirrors trends that&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/covid-health-homelessness-a06212c8b671f066ea70fe57737f6e2a">started last year</a>, with the Eviction Lab finding nearly 970,000 evictions filed in locations it tracks — a 78.6% increase compared to 2021, when much of the country was following an eviction moratorium. By December, eviction filings were nearly back to pre-pandemic levels.

At the same time, rent prices nationwide are up about 5% from a year ago and 30.5% above 2019, according to the real estate company Zillow. There are few places for displaced tenants to go, with the National Low Income Housing Coalition estimating a 7.3 million shortfall of affordable units nationwide.

Many vulnerable tenants would have been evicted long ago if not for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/health-coronavirus-pandemic-f0085d9d4547b897a27323bb95cc890c">a safety net created during the pandemic</a>.

The federal government, as well as many states and localities, issued moratoriums during the pandemic that put evictions on hold; most have now ended. There was also&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-260b9c88a08a1ccb78494c8664887cf9">$46.5 billion in federal Emergency Rental Assistance</a>&nbsp;that helped tenants pay rent and funded other tenant protections. Much of that has been spent or allocated, and calls for additional resources have failed to gain traction in Congress.

“The disturbing rise of evictions to pre-pandemic levels is an alarming reminder of the need for us to act — at every level of government — to keep folks safely housed," said Democratic U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, urging Congress to pass a bill cracking down on illegal evictions, fund legal help for tenants and keep evictions off credit reports.

Housing courts are again filling up and ensnaring the likes of 79-year-old Maria Jackson.

Jackson worked for nearly two decades building a loyal clientele as a massage therapist in Las Vegas, which has seen one of the country's biggest jumps in eviction filings. That evaporated during the pandemic-triggered shutdown in March 2020. Her business fell apart; she sold her car and applied for food stamps.

She got behind on the $1,083 monthly rent on her one-bedroom apartment, and owing $12,489 in back rent was evicted in March. She moved in with a former client about an hour northeast of Las Vegas.

“Who could imagine this happening to someone who has worked all their life?” Jackson asked.

Last month she found a room in Las Vegas for $400 a month, paid for with her $1,241 monthly social security check. It's not home, but “I'm one of the lucky ones,” she said.

“I could be in a tent or at a shelter right now."

In upstate New York, evictions are rising after a moratorium lifted last year. Forty of the state's 62 counties had higher eviction filings in 2022 than before the pandemic, including two where eviction filings more than doubled compared to 2019.

“How do we care for the folks who are evicted ... when the capacity is not in place and ready to roll out in places that haven’t experienced a lot of eviction recently?” said Russell Weaver, whose Cornell University lab tracks evictions statewide.

Housing advocates had hoped the Democrat-controlled state Legislature would pass a bill requiring landlords to provide justification for evicting tenants and limit rent increases to 3% or 1.5 times inflation. But it was excluded from the state budget and lawmakers failed to pass it before the legislative session ended this month.

“Our state Legislature should have fought harder,” said Oscar Brewer, a tenant organizer facing eviction from the apartment he shares with his 6-year-old daughter in Rochester.

In Texas, evictions were kept down during the pandemic by federal assistance and the moratoriums. But as protections went away, housing prices skyrocketed in Austin, Dallas and elsewhere, leading to a record 270,000 eviction filings statewide in 2022.

Advocates were hoping the state Legislature might provide relief, directing some of the $32 billion budget surplus into rental assistance. But that hasn't happened.

“It’s a huge mistake to miss our shot here,” said Ben Martin, a research director at nonprofit Texas Housers. “If we don’t address it, now, the crisis is going to get worse.”

Still, some pandemic protections are being made permanent, and having an impact on eviction rates. Nationwide, 200 measures have passed since January 2021, including legal representation for tenants, sealing eviction records and mediation to resolve cases before they reach court, said the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

These measures are credited with keeping eviction filings down in several cities, including New York City and Philadelphia — 41% below pre-pandemic levels in May for the former and 33% for the latter.

A right-to-counsel program and the fact that housing courts aren't prosecuting cases involving rent arears are among the factors keeping New York City filings down.

In Philadelphia, 70% of the more than 5,000 tenants and landlords who took part in the eviction diversion program resolved their cases. The city also set aside $30 million in assistance for those with less than $3,000 in arears, and started a right-to-counsel program, doubling representation rates for tenants.

The future is not so bright for Williams and his daughter, who remain stuck in their dimly-lit hotel room. Without even a microwave or nearby grocery stores, they rely on pizza deliveries and snacks from the hotel vending machine.

Williams used to love having his six grandchildren over for dinner at his old apartment, but those days are over for now.

“I just want to be able to host my grandchildren,” he said, pausing to cough heavily. “I just want to live somewhere where they can come and sit down and hang out with me.”

KANSAS CITY(AP) — Entering court using a walker, a doctor's note clutched in his hand, 70-year-old Dana Williams, who suffers serious heart problems, hypertension and asthma, pleaded to delay eviction from his two-bedroom apartment in Atlanta.Although sympathetic, the judge said state law required him to evict Williams and his 25-year-old daughter De’mai Williams in April because they owed $8,348 in unpaid rent and fees on their $940-a-month apartment.They have been living in limbo ever since.They moved into a dilapidated Atlanta hotel room with water dripping through the bathroom ceiling, broken furniture and no refrigerator or microwave. But at $275-a-week, it was all they could afford on Williams' $900 monthly social security check and the $800 his daughter gets biweekly from a state agency as her father’s caretaker.“I really don’t want to be here by the time his birthday comes" in August, De'mai Williams said. "For his health, it’s just not right.”The Williams family is among millions of tenants from New York state to Las Vegas who have been evicted or face imminent eviction.After a lull during the pandemic, eviction filings by landlords have come roaring back, driven by rising rents and a long-running shortage of affordable housing. Most low-income tenants can no longer count on pandemic resources that had kept them housed, and many are finding it hard to recover because they haven't found steady work or their wages haven't kept pace with the rising cost of rent, food and other necessities.Homelessness, as a result, is rising.“Protections have ended, the federal moratorium is obviously over, and emergency rental assistance money has dried up in most places,” said Daniel Grubbs-Donovan, a research specialist at Princeton University's Eviction Lab.“Across the country, low-income renters are in an even worse situation than before the pandemic due to things like massive increases in rent during the pandemic, inflation and other pandemic-era related financial difficulties.”Eviction filings are more than 50% higher than the pre-pandemic average in some cities, according to the Eviction Lab, which tracks filings in nearly three dozen cities and 10 states. Landlords file around 3.6 million eviction cases every year.Among the hardest-hit are Houston, where rates were 56% higher in April and 50% higher in May. In Minneapolis/St. Paul, rates rose 106% in March, 55% in April and 63% in May. Nashville was 35% higher and Phoenix 33% higher in May; Rhode Island was up 32% in May.The latest data mirrors trends that&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/covid-health-homelessness-a06212c8b671f066ea70fe57737f6e2a">started last year</a>, with the Eviction Lab finding nearly 970,000 evictions filed in locations it tracks — a 78.6% increase compared to 2021, when much of the country was following an eviction moratorium. By December, eviction filings were nearly back to pre-pandemic levels.At the same time, rent prices nationwide are up about 5% from a year ago and 30.5% above 2019, according to the real estate company Zillow. There are few places for displaced tenants to go, with the National Low Income Housing Coalition estimating a 7.3 million shortfall of affordable units nationwide.Many vulnerable tenants would have been evicted long ago if not for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/health-coronavirus-pandemic-f0085d9d4547b897a27323bb95cc890c">a safety net created during the pandemic</a>.The federal government, as well as many states and localities, issued moratoriums during the pandemic that put evictions on hold; most have now ended. There was also&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-260b9c88a08a1ccb78494c8664887cf9">$46.5 billion in federal Emergency Rental Assistance</a>&nbsp;that helped tenants pay rent and funded other tenant protections. Much of that has been spent or allocated, and calls for additional resources have failed to gain traction in Congress.“The disturbing rise of evictions to pre-pandemic levels is an alarming reminder of the need for us to act — at every level of government — to keep folks safely housed," said Democratic U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, urging Congress to pass a bill cracking down on illegal evictions, fund legal help for tenants and keep evictions off credit reports.Housing courts are again filling up and ensnaring the likes of 79-year-old Maria Jackson.Jackson worked for nearly two decades building a loyal clientele as a massage therapist in Las Vegas, which has seen one of the country's biggest jumps in eviction filings. That evaporated during the pandemic-triggered shutdown in March 2020. Her business fell apart; she sold her car and applied for food stamps.She got behind on the $1,083 monthly rent on her one-bedroom apartment, and owing $12,489 in back rent was evicted in March. She moved in with a former client about an hour northeast of Las Vegas.“Who could imagine this happening to someone who has worked all their life?” Jackson asked.Last month she found a room in Las Vegas for $400 a month, paid for with her $1,241 monthly social security check. It's not home, but “I'm one of the lucky ones,” she said.“I could be in a tent or at a shelter right now."In upstate New York, evictions are rising after a moratorium lifted last year. Forty of the state's 62 counties had higher eviction filings in 2022 than before the pandemic, including two where eviction filings more than doubled compared to 2019.“How do we care for the folks who are evicted ... when the capacity is not in place and ready to roll out in places that haven’t experienced a lot of eviction recently?” said Russell Weaver, whose Cornell University lab tracks evictions statewide.Housing advocates had hoped the Democrat-controlled state Legislature would pass a bill requiring landlords to provide justification for evicting tenants and limit rent increases to 3% or 1.5 times inflation. But it was excluded from the state budget and lawmakers failed to pass it before the legislative session ended this month.“Our state Legislature should have fought harder,” said Oscar Brewer, a tenant organizer facing eviction from the apartment he shares with his 6-year-old daughter in Rochester.In Texas, evictions were kept down during the pandemic by federal assistance and the moratoriums. But as protections went away, housing prices skyrocketed in Austin, Dallas and elsewhere, leading to a record 270,000 eviction filings statewide in 2022.Advocates were hoping the state Legislature might provide relief, directing some of the $32 billion budget surplus into rental assistance. But that hasn't happened.“It’s a huge mistake to miss our shot here,” said Ben Martin, a research director at nonprofit Texas Housers. “If we don’t address it, now, the crisis is going to get worse.”Still, some pandemic protections are being made permanent, and having an impact on eviction rates. Nationwide, 200 measures have passed since January 2021, including legal representation for tenants, sealing eviction records and mediation to resolve cases before they reach court, said the National Low Income Housing Coalition.These measures are credited with keeping eviction filings down in several cities, including New York City and Philadelphia — 41% below pre-pandemic levels in May for the former and 33% for the latter.A right-to-counsel program and the fact that housing courts aren't prosecuting cases involving rent arears are among the factors keeping New York City filings down.In Philadelphia, 70% of the more than 5,000 tenants and landlords who took part in the eviction diversion program resolved their cases. The city also set aside $30 million in assistance for those with less than $3,000 in arears, and started a right-to-counsel program, doubling representation rates for tenants.The future is not so bright for Williams and his daughter, who remain stuck in their dimly-lit hotel room. Without even a microwave or nearby grocery stores, they rely on pizza deliveries and snacks from the hotel vending machine.Williams used to love having his six grandchildren over for dinner at his old apartment, but those days are over for now.“I just want to be able to host my grandchildren,” he said, pausing to cough heavily. “I just want to live somewhere where they can come and sit down and hang out with me.”___

Eviction filings are 50% higher than they were pre-pandemic

By LIZA GROSS <a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2022/09/21/missouri-judge-once-again-delays-decision-on-closing-agape-boarding-school/">Missouri Independent</a>

The makers of Roundup, the world’s top weedkiller, will pay $6.9 million for&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/settlements-agreements/bayer-cropscience-and-monsanto-aod.pdf">violating an agreement</a>&nbsp;with the state of New York to stop making false claims about the safety of its best-selling herbicides.

Bayer and Monsanto, a Missouri company acquired by the German agrochemical giant for $63 billion in 2018, violated a 1996 agreement with the state of New York to “immediately cease and desist” from making false and misleading claims about glyphosate-based Roundup products, the New York attorney general’s office announced Thursday.

Studies have linked glyphosate, the active ingredient in many Roundup products, to a wide range of harmful effects in&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048969721004654">pollinators</a>,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://ehjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12940-020-00574-1">lab animals</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1542356519303611">people</a>. In March, a first of its kind&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/10.1289/EHP11721">study</a>&nbsp;linked Roundup to&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/17032023/roundup-glyphosate-health-kids/">liver and metabolic disease</a>&nbsp;in children.

Yet Bayer and Monsanto repeatedly advertised glyphosate-based Roundup products as safe and nontoxic without adequate substantiation, Attorney General Letitia&nbsp;James determined in an investigation that started three years ago.

These claims violated state laws against false and misleading advertising as well as a previous settlement the attorney general’s office&nbsp;reached with Monsanto in 1996. The 1996 settlement cited Monsanto ads claiming its glyphosate-based herbicides are “practically nontoxic” and “less toxic than certain common household products,” claims the attorney general concluded constituted&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/fraud.pdf">false and misleading advertising</a>.

Monsanto in turn committed to stop making unsubstantiated claims about the safety of its glyphosate-based Roundup products, and agreed to pay the state $50,000 in costs.

In 2020, the attorney general’s office launched a new review of Bayer and Monsanto’s advertising materials and asked the companies to provide evidence backing up claims that the products are safe.

The investigation discovered multiple instances of false or misleading safety claims on multiple platforms and by Bayer employees, including assertions that ingredients in Roundup products are less toxic than dish detergent and soap.

“Once again, Monsanto and the company’s current owner, Bayer, made false and misleading claims about the safety of their products, but we will not allow them to get away with endangering our environment,” James said in a statement. “My office will continue to protect the health of New York’s environment by ensuring our laws are respected and followed.”

The agreement cites at least five examples of online videos claiming that Roundup weed and grass killer products “won’t harm anything but weeds.” The ads are no longer publicly available, in keeping with terms of the agreement.

In one case, Bayer’s website claimed that glyphosate-based Roundup products do not result in adverse effects to honey bees or pose a threat to the health of animal wildlife. “In fact, glyphosate is an important tool that can help preserve the environment and biodiversity,” the chemical giant, valued at&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://ycharts.com/companies/BAYRY/market_cap">$55 billion</a>, said. Bayer removed the web page as required, though it was&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220319100202/https://www.bayer.com/en/glyphosate/glyphosate-homeowner-use">captured</a>&nbsp;by the Internet Archive.

The company also removed a page claiming that because glyphosate allows farmers to reduce tillage practices, which releases greenhouse gases from soil, it protects the environment for insects, birds and wildlife, including pollinators. That page, too, is now available only on the<a target="_blank" href="https://www.bayer.com/en/not-found">&nbsp;Internet Archive</a>.

These marketing materials violate state laws on business fraud, false and misleading advertising and Monsanto’s obligations under the 1996 agreement, the attorney general’s office found.

James said in a statement that pesticides can cause serious harm to the environment and pose a deadly threat to wildlife, including pollinators and other species vital to agriculture. “It is essential that pesticide companies, even and especially the most powerful ones, are honest with consumers about the dangers posed by their products so that they can be used responsibly,” she said.

“We are pleased that the New York Attorney General’s Office has completed its investigation,” a Bayer spokesperson said, adding that the company was glad to reach an agreement to resolve the issue. The attorney general “made no findings regarding the safety of Roundup products and no scientific conclusion that they have caused harm to pollinators or aquatic species,” the spokesperson added.

The investigation did, however, note several scientific studies reporting evidence of harm to pollinators, whose numbers are&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/pollinators-climateimpact.htm#:~:text=Humans%20also%20rely%20on%20pollinators,populations%20that%20pollinators%20depend%20on.">declining for multiple</a>&nbsp;potential reasons scientists believe, including widespread use of&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1S3fHEFA41NtUkUM8ajct8Oc0AizU4zlfP_UW612E7Nc/edit?usp=sharing">herbicides like glyphosate</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S004896972100855X">climate change</a>.

Recent studies show that glyphosate&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8320642/">disrupts enzymes</a>&nbsp;in gut microbes essential for health in people and other animals and that the herbicide may harm pollinators and aquatic organisms. One study, by a leading expert on how microbes affect their hosts, found that&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1803880115">glyphosate upsets microflora</a>&nbsp;in bees’ guts, making them more susceptible to infection.

The investigation cited these studies to determine that Bayer and Monsanto failed to substantiate advertising claims that Roundup weed- and grass killer products are safe and nontoxic and “won’t harm anything but weeds.”

The attorney general’s office also noted that Bayer and Monsanto “neither admit nor deny” the findings. In addition, the office noted that Bayer intends to stop selling glyphosate-based products in 2023, as a result of settling lawsuits worth billions of dollars alleging the products cause cancer in humans.The investigation did not, however, focus on glyphosate’s effects on humans. The products are still available in New York stores.

The attorney general’s office accepted the $6.9 million payment, due within 10 days of the agreement, and the companies’ assurance that they would “cease and desist” from publishing or broadcasting ads in New York that claim Roundup products are safe, nontoxic and harmless to pollinators and aquatic organisms.

The money will be used for pollinator research, management and programs designed to restore pollinator habitat and mitigate environmental pollution affecting bees and other pollinators.

If the agrochemical giants violate these terms, they must pay $100,000 in each case.

This article originally appeared on&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/15062023/roundup-weedkiller-settlement-neww-york-ag/">Inside Climate News</a>, a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. It is republished with permission. Sign up for their newsletter&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://insideclimatenews.org/newsletter/">here</a>.&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/6/1593022262288.png" alt="Roundup’s manufacturer, the multinational Bayer, must pay $6.9 million for violating an agreement with the state of New York to stop making false claims.-file photo" />
 <figcaption>Roundup’s manufacturer, the multinational Bayer, must pay $6.9 million for violating an agreement with the state of New York to stop making false claims.-file photo</figcaption>
 </figure>By LIZA GROSS <a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2022/09/21/missouri-judge-once-again-delays-decision-on-closing-agape-boarding-school/">Missouri Independent</a>The makers of Roundup, the world’s top weedkiller, will pay $6.9 million for&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/settlements-agreements/bayer-cropscience-and-monsanto-aod.pdf">violating an agreement</a>&nbsp;with the state of New York to stop making false claims about the safety of its best-selling herbicides.Bayer and Monsanto, a Missouri company acquired by the German agrochemical giant for $63 billion in 2018, violated a 1996 agreement with the state of New York to “immediately cease and desist” from making false and misleading claims about glyphosate-based Roundup products, the New York attorney general’s office announced Thursday.Studies have linked glyphosate, the active ingredient in many Roundup products, to a wide range of harmful effects in&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048969721004654">pollinators</a>,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://ehjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12940-020-00574-1">lab animals</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1542356519303611">people</a>. In March, a first of its kind&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/10.1289/EHP11721">study</a>&nbsp;linked Roundup to&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/17032023/roundup-glyphosate-health-kids/">liver and metabolic disease</a>&nbsp;in children.Yet Bayer and Monsanto repeatedly advertised glyphosate-based Roundup products as safe and nontoxic without adequate substantiation, Attorney General Letitia&nbsp;James determined in an investigation that started three years ago.These claims violated state laws against false and misleading advertising as well as a previous settlement the attorney general’s office&nbsp;reached with Monsanto in 1996. The 1996 settlement cited Monsanto ads claiming its glyphosate-based herbicides are “practically nontoxic” and “less toxic than certain common household products,” claims the attorney general concluded constituted&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/fraud.pdf">false and misleading advertising</a>.Monsanto in turn committed to stop making unsubstantiated claims about the safety of its glyphosate-based Roundup products, and agreed to pay the state $50,000 in costs.In 2020, the attorney general’s office launched a new review of Bayer and Monsanto’s advertising materials and asked the companies to provide evidence backing up claims that the products are safe.The investigation discovered multiple instances of false or misleading safety claims on multiple platforms and by Bayer employees, including assertions that ingredients in Roundup products are less toxic than dish detergent and soap.“Once again, Monsanto and the company’s current owner, Bayer, made false and misleading claims about the safety of their products, but we will not allow them to get away with endangering our environment,” James said in a statement. “My office will continue to protect the health of New York’s environment by ensuring our laws are respected and followed.”The agreement cites at least five examples of online videos claiming that Roundup weed and grass killer products “won’t harm anything but weeds.” The ads are no longer publicly available, in keeping with terms of the agreement.In one case, Bayer’s website claimed that glyphosate-based Roundup products do not result in adverse effects to honey bees or pose a threat to the health of animal wildlife. “In fact, glyphosate is an important tool that can help preserve the environment and biodiversity,” the chemical giant, valued at&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://ycharts.com/companies/BAYRY/market_cap">$55 billion</a>, said. Bayer removed the web page as required, though it was&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220319100202/https://www.bayer.com/en/glyphosate/glyphosate-homeowner-use">captured</a>&nbsp;by the Internet Archive.The company also removed a page claiming that because glyphosate allows farmers to reduce tillage practices, which releases greenhouse gases from soil, it protects the environment for insects, birds and wildlife, including pollinators. That page, too, is now available only on the<a target="_blank" href="https://www.bayer.com/en/not-found">&nbsp;Internet Archive</a>.These marketing materials violate state laws on business fraud, false and misleading advertising and Monsanto’s obligations under the 1996 agreement, the attorney general’s office found.James said in a statement that pesticides can cause serious harm to the environment and pose a deadly threat to wildlife, including pollinators and other species vital to agriculture. “It is essential that pesticide companies, even and especially the most powerful ones, are honest with consumers about the dangers posed by their products so that they can be used responsibly,” she said.“We are pleased that the New York Attorney General’s Office has completed its investigation,” a Bayer spokesperson said, adding that the company was glad to reach an agreement to resolve the issue. The attorney general “made no findings regarding the safety of Roundup products and no scientific conclusion that they have caused harm to pollinators or aquatic species,” the spokesperson added.The investigation did, however, note several scientific studies reporting evidence of harm to pollinators, whose numbers are&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/pollinators-climateimpact.htm#:~:text=Humans%20also%20rely%20on%20pollinators,populations%20that%20pollinators%20depend%20on.">declining for multiple</a>&nbsp;potential reasons scientists believe, including widespread use of&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1S3fHEFA41NtUkUM8ajct8Oc0AizU4zlfP_UW612E7Nc/edit?usp=sharing">herbicides like glyphosate</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S004896972100855X">climate change</a>.Recent studies show that glyphosate&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8320642/">disrupts enzymes</a>&nbsp;in gut microbes essential for health in people and other animals and that the herbicide may harm pollinators and aquatic organisms. One study, by a leading expert on how microbes affect their hosts, found that&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1803880115">glyphosate upsets microflora</a>&nbsp;in bees’ guts, making them more susceptible to infection.The investigation cited these studies to determine that Bayer and Monsanto failed to substantiate advertising claims that Roundup weed- and grass killer products are safe and nontoxic and “won’t harm anything but weeds.”The attorney general’s office also noted that Bayer and Monsanto “neither admit nor deny” the findings. In addition, the office noted that Bayer intends to stop selling glyphosate-based products in 2023, as a result of settling lawsuits worth billions of dollars alleging the products cause cancer in humans.The investigation did not, however, focus on glyphosate’s effects on humans. The products are still available in New York stores.The attorney general’s office accepted the $6.9 million payment, due within 10 days of the agreement, and the companies’ assurance that they would “cease and desist” from publishing or broadcasting ads in New York that claim Roundup products are safe, nontoxic and harmless to pollinators and aquatic organisms.The money will be used for pollinator research, management and programs designed to restore pollinator habitat and mitigate environmental pollution affecting bees and other pollinators.If the agrochemical giants violate these terms, they must pay $100,000 in each case. This article originally appeared on&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/15062023/roundup-weedkiller-settlement-neww-york-ag/">Inside Climate News</a>, a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. It is republished with permission. Sign up for their newsletter&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://insideclimatenews.org/newsletter/">here</a>.&nbsp;

Roundup weedkiller manufacturers to pay $6.9 million in false ad settlement

Lincoln, NE ‐ June 19, 2023 ‐ One lucky player who bought a Nebraska Pick 5 ticket for the Saturday, June 17 drawing is holding a ticket worth $94,000.

The Nebraska Lottery has confirmed that one ticket sold for Saturday's Nebraska Pick 5 draw matched all five winning numbers for the $94,000 jackpot. The ticket was sold at Apple Market, 7 West 25th St., in Kearney. The winning numbers from Saturday's Nebraska Pick 5 draw were 02, 04, 10, 34, 38. Players are encouraged to check their tickets at any Nebraska Lottery retailer, online at&nbsp;<a href="http://nelottery.com/" target="_blank">nelottery.com</a>, or by calling the Lottery office at 402-471-6100.

Winning Nebraska Lottery Lotto tickets expire 180 days after the drawing. Prizes of $20,000 or more must be claimed in person at Lottery headquarters in Lincoln. Nebraska Lottery offices are closed on Monday, June 19 for Juneteenth. Additional information about claiming prizes can be found at the Nebraska Lottery website,&nbsp;<a href="http://nelottery.com/" target="_blank">nelottery.com</a>, or by calling 800-587-5200.

Nebraska Pick 5 is Nebraska's unique Lottery game: all the proceeds from Nebraska Pick 5 stay in Nebraska, and all the winning tickets are sold in Nebraska at Nebraska Lottery Lotto game retailers. The odds of winning the Nebraska Pick 5 jackpot, which starts at $50,000 and grows by $4,000 each drawing that it is not won, are 1 in 501,942. The overall odds of winning any Nebraska Pick 5 prize which has drawings seven nights a week, are 1 in 8.

The mission of the Nebraska Lottery is to generate proceeds for good causes while providing quality entertainment options to Nebraskans. Over $923 million has been raised for the Nebraska Lottery's beneficiary funds since the Lottery began in 1993. All 93 counties in Nebraska have benefited from projects funded with these Nebraska Lottery proceeds.

Lincoln, NE ‐ June 19, 2023 ‐ One lucky player who bought a Nebraska Pick 5 ticket for the Saturday, June 17 drawing is holding a ticket worth $94,000.The Nebraska Lottery has confirmed that one ticket sold for Saturday's Nebraska Pick 5 draw matched all five winning numbers for the $94,000 jackpot. The ticket was sold at Apple Market, 7 West 25th St., in Kearney. The winning numbers from Saturday's Nebraska Pick 5 draw were 02, 04, 10, 34, 38. Players are encouraged to check their tickets at any Nebraska Lottery retailer, online at&nbsp;<a href="http://nelottery.com/" target="_blank">nelottery.com</a>, or by calling the Lottery office at 402-471-6100.Winning Nebraska Lottery Lotto tickets expire 180 days after the drawing. Prizes of $20,000 or more must be claimed in person at Lottery headquarters in Lincoln. Nebraska Lottery offices are closed on Monday, June 19 for Juneteenth. Additional information about claiming prizes can be found at the Nebraska Lottery website,&nbsp;<a href="http://nelottery.com/" target="_blank">nelottery.com</a>, or by calling 800-587-5200.Nebraska Pick 5 is Nebraska's unique Lottery game: all the proceeds from Nebraska Pick 5 stay in Nebraska, and all the winning tickets are sold in Nebraska at Nebraska Lottery Lotto game retailers. The odds of winning the Nebraska Pick 5 jackpot, which starts at $50,000 and grows by $4,000 each drawing that it is not won, are 1 in 501,942. The overall odds of winning any Nebraska Pick 5 prize which has drawings seven nights a week, are 1 in 8.The mission of the Nebraska Lottery is to generate proceeds for good causes while providing quality entertainment options to Nebraskans. Over $923 million has been raised for the Nebraska Lottery's beneficiary funds since the Lottery began in 1993. All 93 counties in Nebraska have benefited from projects funded with these Nebraska Lottery proceeds.

$94,000 Nebraska Pick 5 Winning Ticket Sold in Kearney

OMAHA (AP) — Americans across the country this weekend celebrated Juneteenth, marking the relatively&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/juneteenth-holiday-beginner-celebration-guide-460084b8008206febf23bd8d083170fa">new national holiday</a>&nbsp;with cookouts, parades and other gatherings as they commemorated the end of slavery after the Civil War.

While many have treated the long holiday weekend as a reason for a party, others urged quiet reflection on America's often violent and oppressive treatment of its Black citizens. And still others have remarked at the strangeness of celebrating a federal holiday marking the end of slavery in the nation while many Americans are trying to stop parts of that history from being taught in public schools.

“Is&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Juneteenth?src=hashtag_click">#Juneteenth</a>&nbsp;the only federal holiday that some states have banned the teaching of its history and significance?” Author Michelle Duster asked on Twitter this weekend, referring to measures in Florida, Oklahoma and Alabama prohibiting an Advancement Placement African American studies course or the teaching of certain concepts of race and racism.

Monday’s federal holiday commemorates the day in 1865 when enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, learned they had been freed — two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued during the bloody Civil War.

On Juneteenth weekend, a Roman Catholic church in Detroit devoted its service to urging parishioners to take a deeper look at the lessons from the holiday.

“In order to have justice we must work for peace. And in order to have peace we must work for justice,” John Thorne, executive director of the Detroit Catholic Pastoral Alliance, said to the congregation at Gesu Catholic Church in Detroit.

Standing before paintings of a Black Jesus and Mary, Thorne said Juneteenth is a day of celebration, but it also “has to be much more.”

It was important to speak about Juneteenth during Sunday Mass, the Rev. Lorn Snow told a reporter as the service was ending.

“The struggle’s still not over with. There’s a lot of work to be done,” he said.

Most Black Americans agree, according to a recent poll. A full 70% of Black adults&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/death-of-george-floyd-only-on-ap-race-and-ethnicity-racial-injustice-police-9a73b306d00aa423e330d26d99f973a1">queried in a AP-NORC poll</a>&nbsp;said “a lot” needs to be done to achieve equal treatment for African Americans in policing. And Black Americans suffer from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/black-americans-health-disparities-takeaways-434d87016d1e1e7ebd88752792be9acc">significantly worse health outcomes than their white peers</a>&nbsp;across a variety of measures, including rates of maternal mortality, asthma, high blood pressure and Alzheimer's disease.

Although end-of-slavery celebrations are new in many parts of the country, in Memphis, where the slave trade once thrived, the Juneteenth holiday has been celebrated since long before it became a designated federal holiday in 2021. The Tennessee Legislature passed a bill earlier this year making it a state holiday, as well.

Festivities there include a multi-day festival including food, music, arts and crafts, and cultural exhibitions in a tree-lined park in the city's medical district. The Memphis park once held an equestrian statue and the grave of slave trader and Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest. The statue and the body were moved in recent years.

Memphis is home to the National Civil Rights Museum located at the site of the old Lorraine Motel, the former Black-owned hotel where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was killed in 1968. The museum is offering free admission on Monday to mark the holiday. At the museum, visitors can hear recorded speeches from civil rights leaders including King, Fannie Lou Hamer, Medgar Evers and others.

Ryan Jones, the museum’s associate curator, said Juneteenth should be celebrated in the U.S. with the same emphasis that July 4 receives as Independence Day.

“It is the independence of a people that were forced to endure oppression and discrimination based on the color of their skin,” Jones said.

The Juneteenth holiday, Jones said, should also be viewed as more than a day when people attend parties and cookouts. In fact, he said, it is a time to reflect on the past.

“It acknowledges the sacrifices of those early civil rights veterans between World War I and World War II, and of course in the modern society, the protests, the demonstrations, the non-violence, the marches,” Jones said.

As Americans gathered to mark the holiday, it wasn't without incident. In a Chicago suburb late Saturday night,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/willowbrook-illinois-party-shooting-a730bb6b0dbfbfd31b89f9784d469edc">one person was killed and 22 were injured</a>&nbsp;in a shooting still being investigated Sunday by police. One witness said the party in the parking lot of a Willowbrook, Illinois, strip-mall was a Juneteenth celebration.

The White House released a statement Sunday afternoon, saying: “The President and First Lady are thinking of those killed and injured in the shooting in Illinois last night. We have reached out to offer assistance to state and local leaders in the wake of this tragedy at a community Juneteenth celebration.”

The holiday observance continues Monday with Vice President Kamala Harris appearing on a CNN special with musical guests including Miguel and Charlie Wilson.

Schools and federal buildings will be closed Monday.

OMAHA (AP) — Americans across the country this weekend celebrated Juneteenth, marking the relatively&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/juneteenth-holiday-beginner-celebration-guide-460084b8008206febf23bd8d083170fa">new national holiday</a>&nbsp;with cookouts, parades and other gatherings as they commemorated the end of slavery after the Civil War.<div><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FOmahaPoliceDepartment%2Fposts%2Fpfbid0Rcf2oREpuzFD7vqweo5ZNVAoMRUsRBwM2ZwAxbNnCm3mqCLDfRpwKDQ9KLTPkHrvl&show_text=true&width=500" width="500" height="562" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share"></iframe></div>While many have treated the long holiday weekend as a reason for a party, others urged quiet reflection on America's often violent and oppressive treatment of its Black citizens. And still others have remarked at the strangeness of celebrating a federal holiday marking the end of slavery in the nation while many Americans are trying to stop parts of that history from being taught in public schools.“Is&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Juneteenth?src=hashtag_click">#Juneteenth</a>&nbsp;the only federal holiday that some states have banned the teaching of its history and significance?” Author Michelle Duster asked on Twitter this weekend, referring to measures in Florida, Oklahoma and Alabama prohibiting an Advancement Placement African American studies course or the teaching of certain concepts of race and racism.Monday’s federal holiday commemorates the day in 1865 when enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, learned they had been freed — two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued during the bloody Civil War.On Juneteenth weekend, a Roman Catholic church in Detroit devoted its service to urging parishioners to take a deeper look at the lessons from the holiday.“In order to have justice we must work for peace. And in order to have peace we must work for justice,” John Thorne, executive director of the Detroit Catholic Pastoral Alliance, said to the congregation at Gesu Catholic Church in Detroit.Standing before paintings of a Black Jesus and Mary, Thorne said Juneteenth is a day of celebration, but it also “has to be much more.”It was important to speak about Juneteenth during Sunday Mass, the Rev. Lorn Snow told a reporter as the service was ending.“The struggle’s still not over with. There’s a lot of work to be done,” he said.Most Black Americans agree, according to a recent poll. A full 70% of Black adults&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/death-of-george-floyd-only-on-ap-race-and-ethnicity-racial-injustice-police-9a73b306d00aa423e330d26d99f973a1">queried in a AP-NORC poll</a>&nbsp;said “a lot” needs to be done to achieve equal treatment for African Americans in policing. And Black Americans suffer from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/black-americans-health-disparities-takeaways-434d87016d1e1e7ebd88752792be9acc">significantly worse health outcomes than their white peers</a>&nbsp;across a variety of measures, including rates of maternal mortality, asthma, high blood pressure and Alzheimer's disease.Although end-of-slavery celebrations are new in many parts of the country, in Memphis, where the slave trade once thrived, the Juneteenth holiday has been celebrated since long before it became a designated federal holiday in 2021. The Tennessee Legislature passed a bill earlier this year making it a state holiday, as well.Festivities there include a multi-day festival including food, music, arts and crafts, and cultural exhibitions in a tree-lined park in the city's medical district. The Memphis park once held an equestrian statue and the grave of slave trader and Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest. The statue and the body were moved in recent years.Memphis is home to the National Civil Rights Museum located at the site of the old Lorraine Motel, the former Black-owned hotel where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was killed in 1968. The museum is offering free admission on Monday to mark the holiday. At the museum, visitors can hear recorded speeches from civil rights leaders including King, Fannie Lou Hamer, Medgar Evers and others.Ryan Jones, the museum’s associate curator, said Juneteenth should be celebrated in the U.S. with the same emphasis that July 4 receives as Independence Day.“It is the independence of a people that were forced to endure oppression and discrimination based on the color of their skin,” Jones said.The Juneteenth holiday, Jones said, should also be viewed as more than a day when people attend parties and cookouts. In fact, he said, it is a time to reflect on the past.“It acknowledges the sacrifices of those early civil rights veterans between World War I and World War II, and of course in the modern society, the protests, the demonstrations, the non-violence, the marches,” Jones said.As Americans gathered to mark the holiday, it wasn't without incident. In a Chicago suburb late Saturday night,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/willowbrook-illinois-party-shooting-a730bb6b0dbfbfd31b89f9784d469edc">one person was killed and 22 were injured</a>&nbsp;in a shooting still being investigated Sunday by police. One witness said the party in the parking lot of a Willowbrook, Illinois, strip-mall was a Juneteenth celebration.The White House released a statement Sunday afternoon, saying: “The President and First Lady are thinking of those killed and injured in the shooting in Illinois last night. We have reached out to offer assistance to state and local leaders in the wake of this tragedy at a community Juneteenth celebration.”The holiday observance continues Monday with Vice President Kamala Harris appearing on a CNN special with musical guests including Miguel and Charlie Wilson.Schools and federal buildings will be closed Monday.

Nebraskans mark Juneteenth with parties, events and quiet reflection on the end of slavery

BEIJING (AP) — The United States and China have pledged to stabilize their badly deteriorated ties during a critical visit to Beijing by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who met Monday with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Xi pronounced himself satisfied with progress made during talks in Beijing. But, Blinken told media, China refused to resume military to military communications, a U.S. priority.

It remains to be seen whether the two countries can resolve their most important disagreements, many of which have international financial, security and stability implications.

The two sides expressed a willingness to hold more talks, but there was little indication that either is prepared to bend from its positions on issues including trade, Taiwan, human rights conditions in China and Hong Kong, Chinese military assertiveness in the South China Sea, and Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Blinken said later that the U.S. set limited objectives for the trip, and achieved them. Blinken added that he had raised the issue of military to military communications “repeatedly."

“It is absolutely vital that we have these kinds of communications,” he said. “This is something we’re going to keep working on.”

The U.S. has said that, since 2021, China has declined or failed to respond to over a dozen requests from the Department of Defense for top-level dialogues.

According to a transcript of the meeting with Blinken, Xi pronounced himself pleased with the outcome of Blinken's earlier meetings with two top Chinese diplomats, and said the two countries had agreed to resume a program of understandings that he and President Joe Biden agreed to at a meeting in Bali last year.

“The Chinese side has made our position clear, and the two sides have agreed to follow through the common understandings President Biden and I had reached in Bali,” Xi said.

That agenda had been thrown into jeopardy in recent months, notably after the U.S. shot down a Chinese surveillance balloon over its airspace in February, and amid escalated military activity in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea. Combined with disputes over human rights, trade and opiate production, the list of problem areas is daunting.

But Xi suggested the worst could be over.

“The two sides have also made progress and reached agreement on some specific issues,” Xi said without elaborating, according to a transcript of the remarks released by the State Department. “This is very good.”

“I hope that through this visit, Mr. Secretary, you will make more positive contributions to stabilizing China-U.S. relations,” Xi added.

In his remarks to Xi during the 35-minute session at the Great Hall of the People, which was not announced until an hour before it started, Blinken said “the United States and China have an obligation and responsibility to manage our relationship.”