(NEW YORK) — Chris Smalls was fired from his Amazon warehouse job in 2020, after leading a protest over fears working conditions could lead to a coronavirus outbreak at the Staten Island, New York, facility.
Now, Smalls has a new job: president of the Amazon Labor Union (ALU).
Smalls’ Amazon story begins in 2018, when he says he helped open the New York warehouse while employed as a supervisor for the online retailer. That’s when he founded the ALU, bringing together a scrappy group of former and current warehouse workers.
It was that Staten Island group that made history on April 1, after going head-to-head with Amazon in a union vote, and winning. This marked the first successful U.S. organizing effort in the retail giant’s history.
“After I was terminated, they had a meeting about me – [Amazon founder] Jeff Bezos, and the general counsel — calling me not smart or articulate,” Smalls said in an interview on ABC News Live April 6. “And, ironically, they also said to make me the face of the whole unionization efforts.”
Following his termination, Smalls traveled across the country, protesting and advocating for workers’ rights. He said his mission was to educate Amazon workers on the benefits of unionizing, in hopes of encouraging them to fight for a change at their warehouses, too.
After months on the road, Smalls returned to New York, to finish the job of unionizing the Staten Island warehouse.
“We live the reality of the warehouse lifestyle. And we felt that this was the best way to go to try to unionize Amazon and it absolutely worked for us,” said Smalls, remembering the countless protests and walk-outs he’s participated in over the last two years.
Warehouse workers cast 2,654 votes in favor of a union, giving the fledging Amazon Labor Union enough support to pull off a victory. According to the National Labor Relations Board, which is overseeing the process, 2,131 workers rejected the union bid.
“We’re fortunate enough to have enough to win, but I think it would be a lot higher had Amazon not been able to spend millions of dollars trying to stop this campaign,” Smalls told ABC News Live.
Sixty-seven ballots were challenged by Amazon or the ALU, which wasn’t enough to affect the outcome of the vote. About 57% of the more than 8,300 workers on the voter list cast their ballot.
Despite victory in the union vote, Smalls blames Amazon for the overall results, saying the winning percentage would have been higher if the corporation hadn’t discouraged the unionization among employees.
“Amazon spends millions of dollars on union busting; they put these workers into captive audiences 24/7. Workers go to these trainings where there’s drilled anti-union propaganda all day and all night,” Smalls claimed.
Amazon did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment on Smalls’ claims.
After the historic union vote, Amazon posted the following statement on its website: “We’re disappointed with the outcome of the election in Staten Island because we believe having a direct relationship with the company is best for our employees. We’re evaluating our options, including filing objections based on the inappropriate and undue influence by the NLRB that we and others (including the National Retail Federation and U.S. Chamber of Commerce) witnessed in this election.”
Smalls responded to the statement during his interview with ABC News Live, saying “the workers spoke for themselves.”
“To be disappointed that their own workers voted yes is utterly ridiculous if you asked me. And the workers said that they want a union and they voted in that favor, and that they should just acknowledge that, and accept that, and recognize the union in Staten Island,” Smalls added.
Since the vote on April 1, Smalls said he’s heard from Amazon workers across the U.S., asking for help with organizing a union at their warehouses. But right now, the ALU has its hands full with the New York warehouse and a neighboring facility slated to have a separate union election later this month.
The ALU is also preparing for a challenging negotiation process for a labor contract. The group has demanded Amazon officials come to the table in early May, but experts say the retail giant, which has signaled plans to challenge the election, could stall the process.
(WASHINGTON) — Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court in its 233-year history, is poised for Senate confirmation on Thursday afternoon.
She is expected to secure at least three Republican votes, marking a bipartisan victory for President Joe Biden’s high court nominee.
Here is how the news is developing Thursday. Check back for updates:
As the confirmation vote nears, Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who presided over Jackson’s confirmation hearings, called her ascension to the high court “a glass shattering achievement for America.”
“Today, the members of this Senate have the opportunity to take a monumental step forward. We will vote to confirm a once in a generation legal talent, a jurist with outstanding credentials and a lifetime of experience and the first-ever African American woman to serve as Justice of the Supreme Court,” Durbin said.
Durbin briefly walked the Senate through some of the struggles African Americans and women have faced in this country, asking senators to consider that when the Supreme Court first met in the Capitol building in February of 1801, there were one million slaves in a nation of five million people.
“Women had no place in that first Supreme Court chamber, and Black women would only enter to clean it in the dark of night,” he said. “We know what followed. Americans battled in slavery, saw a bloody civil war, decades of efforts to break down racial barriers — and the efforts continue to this day.”
But with Jackson’s nomination, Durbin said millions of Americans will see themselves represented in her.
“This confirmation of the first Black woman to the Supreme Court honors the history that has come before it It honors the struggles of the past of the men and women who waged them. And this confirmation draws America one step closer one step to healing our nation,” he said.
Apr 07, 1:20 pm
Warnock highlights Georgia’s role in Jackson’s confirmation
Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., who was elected to the Senate last January in a special election, highlighted the impact of Georgia voters on Jackson’s expected confirmation and thanked them from the Senate floor Thursday.
“The people of Georgia made this appointment possible by making history last year,” said Warnock.
Because Supreme Court nominations require only a simple majority of 51 votes, Democrats taking control of Georgia’s two Senate seats last year — allowing them 50 seats and Vice President Kamala Harris as a tie-breaking vote — was essential to Biden’s ability to get a nominee confirmed.
Warnock said his office has received thousands of emails and phone calls from Georgians in every corner of the state voicing their support for Jackson’s confirmation and echoing Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., said of Jackson’s nomination: “Nobody’s going to steal my joy.”
“Yes, I’m a senator, I’m a pastor, but beyond all of that, I’m the father of a young Black girl. I know how much it means for Judge Jackson to have navigated the double jeopardy of racism and sexism to now stand in the glory of this moment in all of her excellence,” he said. “For my five-year-old daughter and for so many young women in this country — but, really, if we’re thinking about it right, for all of us — seeing Judge Jackson ascend to the Supreme Court reflects the promise of progress on which our democracy rests.”
Apr 07, 1:11 pm
‘History will remember the votes cast here today’: Leahy
With limited debate ahead, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., took to the Senate floor to praise Jackson as one of the most qualified nominees he’s ever considered in his 48 years in the Senate and scolded lawmakers for a process he said has been corroded with partisan politics.
“It’s distressing, it’s disheartening and as a dean of the Senate, it is saddening,” Leahy said.
Leahy has participated in 21 Supreme Court confirmation processes, more than any other sitting senator.
“I’ve long lamented the increase in political gamesmanship packed in our current confirmation process. And many times on this floor I’ve warned about the dire consequences for our courts and for our democracy at converting our confirmation process into a zero-sum game where one party wins and one party loses,” he said, noting that he’s more than once voted for Republican judicial nominees.
“To change that game simply requires we have some adults in the room,” he said. “We all come here for the United States not to score, headlines or trending tweets, but simply to do our jobs.”
Turning back to Biden’s nominee, Leahy said Jackson is “the justice we need now — for the generations to come for our children or grandchildren. For all of us.”
“History will remember the votes cast here today,” he added.
Apr 07, 12:35 pm
Jackson clears key test vote
The Senate has voted 53-47 to limit debate on Judge Jackson’s nomination to the Supreme Court, paving the way for a final confirmation vote later in the afternoon.
A beaming Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., who praised Jackson as “worthy” in an emotional soliloquy during her confirmation hearings, presided over the Senate chamber for the cloture vote.
Because the Senate filibuster rule for Supreme Court nominations was modified by Senate Republicans in 2017, Judge Jackson’s nomination requires only a simple majority, or 51 senators, in both votes Thursday.
Since her formal nomination 42 days ago, Jackson held one-on-one meetings with 97 senators on Capitol Hill, according to the White House.
-ABC News’ Devin Dwyer
Apr 07, 12:34 pm
Harris to preside over confirmation vote
Vice President Kamala Harris will head to the Capitol later Thursday to preside over the Senate for Judge Jackson’s historic confirmation vote.
“This afternoon, with the United States Senate poised to make history by voting for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation to the United States Supreme Court, the Vice President will travel to the U.S. Capitol. The Vice President believes Judge Jackson will be an exceptional Supreme Court Justice, and she looks forward to presiding over the Senate to mark this important moment,” the White House said in a statement.
Harris, the nation’s first Black and first female vice president, will announce the final vote for Jackson, the first Black woman to be considered to the Supreme Court and, if confirmed, to sit on the high bench in its 233-year history.
Jackson is expected to watch final speeches and the roll call vote with her family in Washington.
-ABC News’ Devin Dwyer
Apr 07, 11:39 am
McConnell casts ‘judicial activism’ as threat to court
Just hours ahead of Judge Jackson’s expected Senate confirmation, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell blasted what he called “judicial activism” as a threat to the court as an institution in remarks on the Senate floor.
“We’ve seen over and over that when judicial activism triumphs over fidelity to the rule of law, our courts mutate into clumsy proxy battlefields for arguments that belong in this chamber,” McConnell said, as Republicans have attempted to characterize Jackson as sympathetic to progressive causes.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell meets with reporters at the Capitol in Washington, April 5, 2022. Earlier, three Republican senators broke from their party to support Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s historic nomination to the Supreme Court.
The GOP leader, again, slammed Jackson for failing to commit to opposing the Supreme Court’s expansion when she was asked about her views of court-packing in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“The solution is for all the justices to stay in their lane. There is one right number of justices who seek to follow the law. The number is nine. Ginsburg said it. Breyer said it. There is one right number of judges who seek to make policy,” McConnell said.
Notably, Jackson, in her confirmation hearings, repeated variations of the message that she intends to “stay in my lane,” if confirmed to the high court.
McConnell conceded Thursday that Jackson is barreling towards confirmation and pledged that Republicans will recognize her legitimacy as a justice — seemingly needling Democrats for their handling of Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination.
“Nevertheless, our Democratic colleagues are on track to confirm our next supreme Court justice,” McConnell said. “And you know what won’t happen: Top Republicans will not imply she is illegitimate we will not call for court-packing I won’t be joining any mobs outside her new workplace and threatening her by name.”
-ABC News’ Allison Pecorin
Apr 07, 11:04 am
Schumer praises Jackson’s place in history ahead of key vote
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the vote to end debate on Judge Jackson’s nomination is on track for the 11 a.m. hour ahead of the historic confirmation vote around 1:45 p.m.
“The Senate gavels in this morning for a joyous, momentous, groundbreaking day,” Schumer said from the Senate chamber. “This morning, we will vote to end debate on the nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to be a justice on the United States Supreme Court. And later this afternoon, the Senate will fulfill its constitutional duty to finally confirm this remarkable and groundbreaking jurist.”
Schumer praised Jackson as encapsulating the “three Bs” — brilliant, beloved and belonging on the Supreme Court — and said the nation is long overdue to have a Black woman sit on the high bench.
“In the 233-year history of the Supreme Court never, never has a Black woman held the title of justice. Ketanji Brown Jackson will be the first, and I believe the first of more to come,” Schumer said.
“This milestone should have happened generations ago,” he added, “but we are always trotting on a path towards a more perfect union.”
“Nevertheless, America today is taking a giant step towards making our union more perfect. People sometimes talk about standing on the shoulder of giants. Well, Judge Jackson will go down in history as an American giant upon whose shoulders others will stand tall — and our democracy will be better off for it.”
(NEW YORK) — The United Nations General Assembly on Thursday voted to pass a resolution to suspend Russia from the U.N. Human Rights Council Thursday, in response to Russian forces’ alleged killings of civilians in Ukraine.
The vote passed with 93 countries voting in favor, 24 voting against and 58 abstaining from voting. Belarus, China, Iran, Russia and Syria were among the countries who voted against the resolution.
The vote came amid global outrage over the alleged killings of civilians in Bucha, Ukraine, after Russian forces withdrew from Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv.
The UNGA needed a two-thirds majority to suspend Russia, now the second country ever suspended after the UNGA voted to remove Libya from the Human Rights Council in 2011 in response to Moammar Gadhafi’s violent crackdown on anti-government protesters.
In a speech prior to the vote, a Ukrainian representative urged the assembly to remove Russia from the council.
“Suspension of Russia from the human rights council is not an option, but a duty,” Sergiy Kyslytsya, Ukraine’s permanent representative to the United Nations, said.
U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, told CNN on Wednesday that they “absolutely” have the votes to suspend Russia.
“We have been working very, very hard since this war started to build a coalition of countries who are prepared to condemn Russia. We got 141 votes, the first time we went into the General Assembly. The second time we got 140. And I have no doubt that we can defeat Russia here on the Human Rights Council,” Thomas-Greenfield said.
She added: “They don’t deserve to be on the Human Rights Council.”
(WASHINGTON) — Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court in its 233-year history, is poised for Senate confirmation on Thursday afternoon.
She is expected to secure at least three Republican votes, marking a bipartisan victory for President Joe Biden’s high court nominee.
Here is how the news is developing Thursday. Check back for updates:
Apr 07, 12:35 pm
Jackson clears key test vote
The Senate has voted 53-47 to limit debate on Judge Jackson’s nomination to the Supreme Court, paving the way for a final confirmation vote later in the afternoon.
A beaming Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., who praised Jackson as “worthy” in an emotional soliloquy during her confirmation hearings, presided over the Senate chamber for the cloture vote.
Because the Senate filibuster rule for Supreme Court nominations was modified by Senate Republicans in 2017, Judge Jackson’s nomination requires only a simple majority, or 51 senators, in both votes Thursday.
Since her formal nomination 42 days ago, Jackson held one-on-one meetings with 97 senators on Capitol Hill, according to the White House.
-ABC News’ Devin Dwyer
Apr 07, 12:34 pm
Harris to preside over confirmation vote
Vice President Kamala Harris will head to the Capitol later Thursday to preside over the Senate for Judge Jackson’s historic confirmation vote.
“This afternoon, with the United States Senate poised to make history by voting for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation to the United States Supreme Court, the Vice President will travel to the U.S. Capitol. The Vice President believes Judge Jackson will be an exceptional Supreme Court Justice, and she looks forward to presiding over the Senate to mark this important moment,” the White House said in a statement.
Harris, the nation’s first Black and first female vice president, will announce the final vote for Jackson, the first Black woman to be considered to the Supreme Court and, if confirmed, to sit on the high bench in its 233-year history.
Jackson is expected to watch final speeches and the roll call vote with her family in Washington.
-ABC News’ Devin Dwyer
Apr 07, 11:39 am
McConnell casts ‘judicial activism’ as threat to court
Just hours ahead of Judge Jackson’s expected Senate confirmation, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell blasted what he called “judicial activism” as a threat to the court as an institution in remarks on the Senate floor.
“We’ve seen over and over that when judicial activism triumphs over fidelity to the rule of law, our courts mutate into clumsy proxy battlefields for arguments that belong in this chamber,” McConnell said, as Republicans have attempted to characterize Jackson as sympathetic to progressive causes.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell meets with reporters at the Capitol in Washington, April 5, 2022. Earlier, three Republican senators broke from their party to support Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s historic nomination to the Supreme Court.
The GOP leader, again, slammed Jackson for failing to commit to opposing the Supreme Court’s expansion when she was asked about her views of court-packing in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“The solution is for all the justices to stay in their lane. There is one right number of justices who seek to follow the law. The number is nine. Ginsburg said it. Breyer said it. There is one right number of judges who seek to make policy,” McConnell said.
Notably, Jackson, in her confirmation hearings, repeated variations of the message that she intends to “stay in my lane,” if confirmed to the high court.
McConnell conceded Thursday that Jackson is barreling towards confirmation and pledged that Republicans will recognize her legitimacy as a justice — seemingly needling Democrats for their handling of Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination.
“Nevertheless, our Democratic colleagues are on track to confirm our next supreme Court justice,” McConnell said. “And you know what won’t happen: Top Republicans will not imply she is illegitimate we will not call for court-packing I won’t be joining any mobs outside her new workplace and threatening her by name.”
-ABC News’ Allison Pecorin
Apr 07, 11:04 am
Schumer praises Jackson’s place in history ahead of key vote
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the vote to end debate on Judge Jackson’s nomination is on track for the 11 a.m. hour ahead of the historic confirmation vote around 1:45 p.m.
“The Senate gavels in this morning for a joyous, momentous, groundbreaking day,” Schumer said from the Senate chamber. “This morning, we will vote to end debate on the nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to be a justice on the United States Supreme Court. And later this afternoon, the Senate will fulfill its constitutional duty to finally confirm this remarkable and groundbreaking jurist.”
Schumer praised Jackson as encapsulating the “three Bs” — brilliant, beloved and belonging on the Supreme Court — and said the nation is long overdue to have a Black woman sit on the high bench.
“In the 233-year history of the Supreme Court never, never has a Black woman held the title of justice. Ketanji Brown Jackson will be the first, and I believe the first of more to come,” Schumer said.
“This milestone should have happened generations ago,” he added, “but we are always trotting on a path towards a more perfect union.”
“Nevertheless, America today is taking a giant step towards making our union more perfect. People sometimes talk about standing on the shoulder of giants. Well, Judge Jackson will go down in history as an American giant upon whose shoulders others will stand tall — and our democracy will be better off for it.”
(WASHINGTON) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has tested positive for COVID-19, her deputy chief of staff Drew Hammill tweeted Thursday.
This positive test comes after testing negative earlier in the week, Hammill said.
Pelosi on Wednesday tweeted a photo of her next to President Joe Biden.
Pelosi, 82, is vaccinated and boosted and does not have any symptoms, he said.
Pelosi is second in line to the presidency after the vice president.
Other Washington officials to test positive this week include Attorney General Merrick Garland, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas.
Hammill added on Twitter that a planned congressional delegation to Asia, led by Pelosi, will be postponed.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has tested positive for COVID-19, her deputy chief of staff Drew Hammill tweeted Thursday.
Pelosi, 82, is vaccinated and boosted and does not have any symptoms, he said. This positive test comes after testing negative earlier in the week, Hammill said.
Pelosi on Wednesday tweeted a photo of her next to President Joe Biden.
Biden, who tested negative on Wednesday night, isn’t considered a close contact “as defined by the CDC,” according to a White House statement.
“The president saw Speaker Pelosi at White House events and had brief interactions over the course of the last two days,” the White House statement said.
“He will continue to be tested regularly. The president wishes Speaker Pelosi a speedy recovery,” the statement said.
Pelosi is second in line to the presidency after the vice president.
Other Washington officials to test positive this week include Attorney General Merrick Garland, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas.
Hammill added on Twitter that a planned congressional delegation to Asia, led by Pelosi, will be postponed.
(NEW YORK) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” into Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with troops crossing the border from Belarus and Russia. Moscow’s forces have since been met with “stiff resistance” from Ukrainians, according to U.S. officials.
Russian forces retreated last week from the Kyiv suburbs, leaving behind a trail of destruction. After graphic images emerged of civilians lying dead in the streets of Bucha, U.S. and European officials accused Russian troops of committing war crimes.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Apr 07, 10:29 am
Video shows trenches, tank tracks in radioactive Red Forest
Video has emerged purportedly showing trenches and tank tracks in Ukraine’s radioactive Red Forest.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense released the footage on Wednesday, claiming it as evidence that Russia ordered its soldiers to dig fortifications in the Red Forest near the shuttered Chernobyl nuclear power plant while occupying the area.
“Complete neglect of human life, even of one’s own subordinates, is what a killer-state looks like,” the ministry said in a post on Twitter alongside the video.
The Red Forest is the most radioactively contaminated part of the exclusion zone surrounding Chernobyl, the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster in 1986.
Apr 07, 10:28 am
Russia claims attacks on more fuel depots in Ukraine
Russia claimed Thursday that its forces destroyed more fuel depots in Ukraine overnight.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said in a statement that “high-precision air- and sea-based missiles” struck four fuel storage facilities “during the night” near the Ukrainian cities of Mykolaiv, Zaporizhia, Kharkiv and Chuhuiv, from which the ministry claimed “Ukrainian forces were supplied with fuel” near Kharkiv, Mykolaiv and Donbas.
Apr 07, 10:27 am
Russian forces ‘facing morale issues and shortages,’ UK says
Russia’s military remains focused on progressing its offensive operations in eastern Ukraine, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said Thursday in an intelligence update.
According to the ministry, Russian forces continue to conduct artillery and air strikes along the line of control in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region. Russian strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure targets are likely intended to degrade the ability of Ukraine’s military to resupply as well as to increase pressure on the Ukrainian government, the ministry said.
“Despite refocusing forces and logistics capabilities to support operations in the Donbas,” the ministry added, “Russian forces are likely to continue facing morale issues and shortages of supplies and personnel.”
Apr 07, 9:08 am
US Senate votes to resurrect WWII-era program to help Ukraine fight Russia
The United States Senate unanimously approved major legislation late Wednesday to resurrect a World War II-era policy that gives President Joe Biden the authority to expedite the delivery of weapons and other supplies to Ukraine amid Russia’s invasion.
The so-called Lend-Lease program was created during the Second World War and allowed the U.S. to swiftly resupply allies without bureaucratic barriers in the fight against Nazi Germany. The bill that passed in the Senate on Wednesday night would enable the U.S. to stay physically out of the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine while providing allies with weapons and military equipment.
In a brief, late-night speech on the Senate floor in Washington, D.C., Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) accused Russian President Vladimir Putin and his military forces of carrying out “genocide” in Ukraine, calling the alleged atrocities “pure evil.”
“When we murder wantonly innocent civilians because of who they are, whether it be their religion, their race, or their nationality, that is genocide,” Schumer said, “and Mr. Putin is guilty of it.”
The Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022, as it’s called, would be specific to Ukraine and Eastern European nations to help remove obstacles to lending arms. The legislation would not create a new program, but would streamline the president’s current authority to lend the defense articles needed by Ukraine and Eastern European countries and expedite the delivery of defense articles to Ukraine. It would remain in effect through fiscal year 2023, according to a press release from the office of U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation and a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Shaheen introduced the bill with Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas), Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) in January. It will now be considered by the U.S. House of Representatives.
Apr 07, 5:21 am
Ukraine’s NATO agenda: ‘Weapons, weapons and weapons’
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dymtro Kuleba said his country had a “simple” agenda for Thursday’s NATO meeting.
“It has only three items on it. It’s weapons, weapons and weapons,” Kuleba told reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Thursday.
NATO foreign ministers are meeting this week to discuss the situation in Ukraine, including whether to implement new sanctions and supply additional weapons, said NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, who spoke alongside Kuleba.
“So we are providing support, but, at the same time, working hard to prevent the escalation of the conflict,” Stoltenberg said.
Kuleba called on “all allies to put aside their hesitations” in aiding Ukraine.
“We are confident that the best way to help Ukraine now is to provide it with all necessary to contain [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, and to defeat Russian army in Ukraine, in the territory of Ukraine, so that the war does not spill over further,” Kuleba said.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is scheduled to meet with Kuleba on Thursday, according to his office.
“The G7 is committed to holding President Putin to account for his unprovoked war of choice and ensuring he endures a strategic defeat in Ukraine,” Blinken said on Twitter on Thursday.
(LANSING, Mich.) — Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is filing a lawsuit Thursday in an effort to protect abortion rights in the state.
“No matter what happens to Roe, I am going to fight like hell and use all the tools I have as governor to ensure reproductive freedom is a right for all women in Michigan,” she said in a statement. “If the U.S. Supreme Court refuses to protect the constitutional right to an abortion, the Michigan Supreme Court should step in. We must trust women — our family, neighbors, and friends — to make decisions that are best for them about their bodies and lives.”
Michigan is one of about 20 states where abortion could be immediately banned if Roe v. Wade were overturned because of either laws that predate Roe but were never removed from the books, so-called “trigger” laws that would go into effect in the event of the precedent being overturned, state constitutional amendments, or six- or eight-week bans that are not currently in effect but would ban nearly all abortions, according to a 2021 report by the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that supports abortion rights.
In Michigan’s case, abortion would be banned because of a 1931 state statute that criminalizes abortion, including in cases of rape or incest. The only exception would be in case of threat to the pregnant person’s life.
That statute has not been enforced since Roe made abortion a national right, but it could go back into effect if Roe were overturned. Whitmer filed the lawsuit, which names the elected prosecutors of 13 counties that have abortion clinics as defendants, to undo the statute.
As governor, she is utilizing the rarely used executive message power, which includes the governor’s right under the state constitution to “initiate court proceedings in the name of the state to enforce compliance with any constitutional or legislative mandate,” to push the case forward. Effectively, Whitmer is asking the Michigan Supreme Court to pick up the case directly, bypassing the time it would take in trial and appeals courts.
“This is no longer theoretical: it is reality,” Whitmer said in her statement about the possibility of Roe being overturned. “That’s why I am filing a lawsuit and using my executive authority to urge the Michigan Supreme Court to immediately resolve whether Michigan’s state constitution protects the right to abortion.”
She had previously supported an effort from the state Legislature to repeal the statute, however that effort has not moved the needle.
Whitmer’s move to protect abortion rights in this sped-up manner comes as Roe v. Wade faces its biggest challenge in its 49 years with the U.S. Supreme Court expected to hand down a decision in a case out of Mississippi early this summer.
That case revolves around a ban on abortion after 15 weeks of a pregnancy. Previous Supreme Court precedent had stipulated abortion was legal up to the point of viability, which typically happens around 24 to 28 weeks.
During oral arguments in December, the conservative justices openly raised the prospect of overturning decades of legal precedent, sending up flares around the nation that the landscape for legal abortion could be radically changed.
If abortion were made illegal in Michigan, the average Michigander’s driving distance to the nearest abortion clinic would expand from 11 miles to 261 miles, according to the Guttmacher Institute, as patients would have to travel out of state to seek an abortion.
With this, Michigan joins several states that have in recent months bulked up protections for abortion rights, apparently in response to the possibility of Roe being overturned.
“However we personally feel about abortion, a woman’s health, not politics, should drive important medical decisions,” Whitmer said in her statement. “A woman must be able to make her own medical decisions with the advice of a healthcare professional she trusts – politicians shouldn’t make that decision for her.”
This move also comes as the jury deliberates in a trial over an alleged 2020 plot to kidnap and kill Whitmer. The four men accused could face life in prison if found guilty.
(FRANKFORT, Ky.) — Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear vetoed a bill Wednesday that would ban transgender women and girls from playing on school sports teams that correspond with their gender identity from grades six and up into college.
Under the proposed bill, students would play on teams based on their sex assigned at birth.
Beshear, who is a Democrat, joins two Republican governors who vetoed similar bills in Utah and Indiana. In his veto letter, he said he shares their concerns that the bills could provoke lawsuits against the state and cause harm against transgender people.
“Transgender children deserve public officials’ efforts to demonstrate that they are valued members of our communities through compassion, kindness and empathy, even if not understanding,” the governor stated.
Beshear also pointed to the Kentucky High School Athletic Association’s transgender participation policy, which requires that trans student-athletes undergo hormone therapy after puberty to minimize potential gender-related advantages.
The KHSAA policy states that the organization “recognizes and promotes the ability of transgender student-athletes to participate in the privilege of interscholastic sports and sport-activities free from unlawful discrimination based on sexual orientation.”
However, Senate Bill 83 — the Fairness in Womens’ Sports Act — passed Kentucky’s legislature on March 24 with a GOP majority that could override Beshear’s decision.
Those in support of these policies, like bill sponsor Sen. Robby Mills, have said that they believe transgender women have a biological advantage against cisgender women.
“It would be crushing for a young lady to train her whole career to have it end up competing against a biological male in the state tournament or state finals,” Mills said during Senate debate on the bill.
There has been “no direct or consistent research” that shows that trans people have an advantage over cisgender peers in athletics, according to a Sports Medicine journal review of several research studies on potential advantages.
LGBTQ advocates applauded Beshear’s decision, saying that legislators behind the bill are bullying transgender youth.
“From the start, this bill has been more about fear than fairness,” said Chris Hartman, the executive director of Kentucky LGBTQ+ advocacy group the Fairness Campaign.
He continued: “In Kentucky’s entire school system, there is only one openly transgender girl we know playing on a school sports team. That student started her school’s field hockey team, recruited all of the other team members, and just wants the opportunity to play with her friends her eighth-grade year.”
(NEW YORK) — From sayings like “mommy juice” and “rosé all day” to happy hours, drinking is part of American culture, particularly for women.
One thing that is less discussed though is alcohol’s link to cancer, and how that impacts women.
“We’re finding that probably anywhere between 5% and 10% of all cancers worldwide are due to alcohol use,” Dr. Suneel Kamath, a gastrointestinal oncologist at the Cleveland Clinic Cancer Center in Ohio, told ABC News’ Good Morning America. “It’s something that we need to talk a lot more about.”
In addition to potentially facing depression, liver disease and obesity, women who consume about one alcoholic drink per day have a 5% to 9% higher chance of developing breast cancer than women who do not drink at all, and that risk increases for every additional drink a woman has per day, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
One study published in 2019 found that women who were not at high risk for breast cancer based on family history increased their risk of breast cancer from moderate drinking.
For women, a moderate alcohol intake per week is defined as seven servings of alcohol or less, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which advise women to have no more than one drink per day.
Heavy drinking is typically defined as consuming eight drinks or more per week, according to the CDC.
One serving of alcohol is just five ounces for wine and just one-and-a-half ounces for hard alcohol, far less than what is typically served in bars, restaurants and at home.
The data shows that even casual drinkers face a greater risk of cancer, most commonly liver and throat cancers but also colon and head and neck cancers, in addition to breast cancer.
“Over 100,000 cases of cancer a year were attributed to that type of drinking,” said Kamath. “I think that’s most surprising, that many of us really are comfortable with doing that and consider that to be very safe.”
Drinking alcohol is listed by the Department of Health and Human Services as a known human carcinogen.
Research shows that just as women metabolize alcohol differently than men, they also face more serious health consequences.
Women are more susceptible to alcohol-related heart disease than men; alcohol misuse produces brain damage more quickly in women than in men; women may be more susceptible than men to alcohol-related blackouts, or gaps in memory; and women who regularly misuse alcohol are more likely than men who drink the same amount to develop alcoholic hepatitis, a potentially deadly condition, according to the NIAAA.
“This is a perfect example of gender-specific medical differences,” said Dr. Jennifer Ashton, a board-certified OBGYN and ABC News chief medical correspondent, explaining the difference lies primarily in enzymes that women lack to metabolize alcohol. “This is significant and we can’t look at this, like so many other things in medicine, like it’s one size fits all.”
During the coronavirus pandemic, data showed that heavy drinking among women especially soared, while alcohol-related liver disease also rose among young women amid increased pandemic drinking.
Liz Piscatello, 37, describes herself as a moderate, social drinker and said she is willing to put the reward of alcohol over the risk.
“I’m a firm believer that everything causes something, and you cannot live your life being scared,” she said. “Live your life because you only live once. Tomorrow’s not promised, so have fun while you can.”
Kamath is among the medical experts warning though that the less alcohol intake the better for your health.
“What I recommend to people really is to limit alcohol intake as much as you can,” he said. “The less you can do, the better.”
According to Ashton, it is important that women be aware of the risks of alcohol and make a “deliberate choice” if they choose to consume.
“It’s not the only thing that we do that can have negative effects,” she said of alcohol. “It has to be a deliberate choice and we have to go into it with the awareness that we know, unfortunately, it’s just not good for us.”
