(NEW YORK) — As climate change takes center stage with global leaders, it’s a perfect time to take a look around our own homes to see what small changes can help reduce one’s carbon footprint.
ABC News’ technology and consumer correspondent Becky Worley kicked off “This Green House” on Monday to share tips to help the planet and cut costs on energy bills.
Home Swaps by Room
Swap a gas range for an electric option. Gas cooking can waste 34% more energy than cooking with electricity.
Opt for an energy star-certified fridge that cuts the energy use down by nearly 50%.
Change out old incandescent light bulbs in favor of LED bulbs that cost less and use 90% less energy.
Water heaters can make up 30% of a household’s total energy cost, more than all other major appliances like the fridge, dryer and dishwasher combined, so seek out a new energy-efficient model made with new technology.
Worley spoke with a contractor who recommended a budget and planet-friendly project like adding weather stripping around windows to keep the draft out and heat inside the house.
Especially with older windows, weather stripping can help with energy savings as a whole.
“If you don’t weatherstrip, with all the leaks, it can be, like, having a window open all winter long,” Worley explained. “Home heating is one of the highest costs and the biggest energy sucks in a home.”
Other Energy-Efficient Swaps and Hacks
In order to save without swapping out each appliance, Worley shared some additional tips to save on electricity with larger appliances.
First, if replacing any appliance from a dishwasher or refrigerator to a television, Energy Star media manager Brittney Gordon told GMA to look for the blue energy star label “to get those savings that you’re looking for.”
There are also yellow energy guide labels on appliances that Worley said list the FTC’s annual cost of running that particular appliance so you know what you should be spending.
Another important swap is the hot water heater, which Worley said “cost about $600 a year to operate” and according to Lowe’s, the average life span is just 10 years.
When a hot water heater needs replacing, Gordon recommends switching to a heat pump, which she said “is the best-kept secret” and “the number one most efficient way to heat water.” Plus, homeowners with the heat pump will receive a rebate upwards of $1,000 to save even more on their home.
For folks not ready or not looking to immediately upgrade their refrigerator, Worley shared a trick to reduce the energy consumption by 30%.
“Cleaning the coils at the back. All you need is a screwdriver and vacuum cleaner and you are good to go,” Worley said. “That’s a tip for those at home who aren’t planning to upgrade.”
Worley also suggested adding a smart thermostat to the house to help regulate heat use and cut down over 20% on heating costs.
(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 747,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
Just 67.9% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Nov 01, 8:28 pm
Major pharmacy chains to offer Pfizer vaccine to children 5-11
Several major pharmacy chains told ABC News they are gearing up to offer the Pfizer vaccine to 5- to 11-year-olds within days of its approval by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The agency is expected to give the green light as early as Tuesday night. If approved, roughly 28 million children would be eligible for the mRNA vaccine.
“We expect to be able to provide vaccinations for this age group shortly after November 3,” Rite Aid said in a statement.
Walgreens said in a statement that, “appointments will open as we receive supply to stores, beginning this week.”
A spokesperson for CVS said the chain will share more specifics about its vaccine rollout once the authorization is made, and will provide customers with information on its website.
“We have played a prominent role in administering third doses to the immunocompromised and authorized booster shots, and are prepared to expand vaccine eligibility to ages 5-11 as soon as authorized to do so by public health agencies,” CVS said in a statement.
Nov 01, 4:33 pm
Details on vaccine mandates for businesses expected in coming days
A federal rule on vaccine mandates for businesses will be released this week, according to the Labor Department.
The rule will require employers with 100 employers or more to mandate the vaccine or weekly testing. It also will require large businesses to provide paid time off to workers to get the shot and recover from side effects from the vaccine.
The department said in a statement, “On November 1, the Office of Management and Budget completed its regulatory review of the emergency temporary standard. The Federal Register will publish the emergency temporary standard in the coming days.”
It’s not clear when the rule will take effect.
President Joe Biden first announced the rule in September and it’s since been making its way through the regulatory process.
Nov 01, 3:52 pm
Pediatric cases continue to decline
The U.S. reported about 101,000 child COVID-19 cases last week, marking the eighth consecutive week of declines in pediatric infections since the pandemic peak of nearly 252,000 cases in early September, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association.
The rate of pediatric hospital admissions is also declining.
Approximately 45.3% of adolescents ages 12 to 17 have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to federal data.
Severe illness due to COVID-19 remains “uncommon” among children, AAP and CHA said. However, AAP and CHA continue to warn that there is an urgent need to collect more data on the long-term consequences of the pandemic on children, “including ways the virus may harm the long-term physical health of infected children, as well as its emotional and mental health effects.”
Nov 01, 3:15 pm
What to expect at Tuesday’s CDC panel meeting on vaccinating young kids
An independent CDC advisory panel will convene at 11 a.m. Tuesday to debate and hold a nonbinding vote on whether to recommend the Pfizer vaccine for the roughly 28 million kids ages 5 to 11 in the U.S.
The CDC panel is expected to vote around 4:15 p.m.
If the panel decides to move ahead, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky must sign off on those specific recommendations, which would likely happen Tuesday evening.
No pediatric vaccinations will start until Walensky gives the green light. If that happens Tuesday evening, shots could start going into younger children’s arms beginning Wednesday.
The White House has purchased 65 million Pfizer pediatric vaccine doses — more than enough to fully vaccine all American children in this age group.
(WASHINGTON) — Two months to the day after allowing Texas to impose a near-total ban on abortions, the Supreme Court on Monday was openly skeptical of state law SB8 over concerns about its unprecedented enforcement mechanism and what it could mean for other state attempts to limit constitutional rights.
The Texas law, which bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, delegates enforcement to everyday citizens — rather than state officials — who can file civil lawsuits against anyone who “aids or abets” an unlawful procedure. Its state sponsors deliberately intended to circumvent federal court review, knowing that such a ban on its face violates constitutionally-protected abortion rights.
A majority of justices, during the more than three hours of oral arguments on Monday, signaled that Texas abortion providers have a strong case for asking federal courts to put SB8 on hold.
“There’s a loophole that’s been exploited here, or used here,” Justice Brett Kavanaugh said, referring to a 1908 Supreme Court case — Ex parte Young — that established a precedent for people to sue state officials in federal court for alleged constitutional violations.
Kavanaugh and Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who both voted in September with the five-justice majority allowing SB8 to take effect, voiced particular discomfort with the idea that a state could outsource enforcement of a law to citizens in an attempt to circumvent precedent.
“So the question becomes, should we extend the principle of Ex parte Young to, in essence, close that loophole?” Kavanaugh said. He added that the “whole sweep” of the case suggested such an outcome.
“I think there is language in Ex parte Young that favors you,” Barrett told the abortion providers’ attorney Marc Hearron.
It was not clear how quickly the Supreme Court will hand down a decision in the case. Clinics across Texas have said they have discontinued most abortion care services while the legal battle plays out.
If the justices side with the Texas abortion providers, they could return the case to a federal district court for proceedings, or the court itself could issue an order blocking SB8 as litigation continues.
Texas Solicitor General Judd Stone insisted that state officials have nothing to do with SB8 enforcement and that state courts are the proper venues to litigate challenges to SB8 on a case by case, plaintiff by plaintiff, basis. Fourteen state suits are underway. Those individual cases could ultimately end up in federal court, Stone said.
Petitioners want “an injunction against SB8, the law, itself,” said Stone. “They can’t receive that because federal courts don’t issue injunctions against laws but against officials enforcing laws. No Texas executive official enforces SB8 either, and so no Texas executive official may be enjoined.”
Justice Elena Kagan took direct aim at Texas’ argument, warning that allowing the state’s scheme to stand would be an open invitation to other states to circumvent other disfavored constitutional rights.
“Essentially, we would be like, you know, we are open, you are open for business. There’s nothing the Supreme Court can do about it. Guns, same-sex marriage, religious rights, whatever you don’t like, go ahead,” she said.
Chief Justice John Roberts raised concerns about the inability of citizens to preemptively defend their constitutional rights because the Texas law doesn’t have a clear enforcer until an individual claim is made.
“It’s a question of anybody having the capacity or ability to go to the federal court because nobody is going to risk violating the statute because they’ll be subject to suit for [a significant financial sum]. That — that takes a lot of fortitude to undertake the prohibited conduct in that case. And under the system, it is only by undertaking the prohibited conduct that you can get into federal court,” Roberts said.
While many justices did appear open to federal curbs on SB8, there was no clear consensus on who their opinion should target or who a federal court could enjoin.
“What relief are you requesting?” Kagan asked Hearron.
“We are requesting an… injunction against the commencement or the docketing of lawsuits against the [state court] clerks across the State of Texas, as well as injunctive relief against the state executive officials for their residual authority to enforce SB8,” Hearron replied.
Several justices seemed disinclined to enjoin judges or clerks from simply doing their jobs, which are not inherently adversarial.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor suggested that issuing an injunction against the attorney general of Texas could effectively cover all citizens who might bring lawsuits under SB8. They are “acting in concert” with the state, Sotomayor insisted.
“Why wouldn’t these private individuals be considered private attorneys generals?” Justice Clarence Thomas said. “One thing that seems rather implicit on the other side is that they are in effect, if not in designation by law, attorneys generals because they are enforcing a statewide policy.”
U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar said a federal court could target any “potential private plaintiffs” in Texas. “The state incentivizes their conduct,” she said. “No constitutional right is safe” if such a model is allowed to stand.
The implications for other constitutional rights and for Supreme Court precedents and authority were of particular concern to Kavanaugh, who could play a decisive role in disposition of SB8.
He cited free speech rights, freedom of religion, and Second Amendment rights, as potentially under threat, referring to an amicus brief filed by a conservative firearms group worried about a decision upholding SB8.
“The theory of the amicus brief is that it can be easily replicated in other states that disfavor other constitutional rights,” Kavanaugh said.
The justices seemed broadly disengaged with arguments by the Biden administration — in a separate challenge to SB8 argued Monday — that the federal government has sweeping ability to challenge a discriminatory state law in federal court.
“Has the U.S. government ever asserted ‘equity’?” wondered Justice Neil Gorsuch skeptically.
“Is there any instance in which the U.S. can do what it’s doing now?” questioned Thomas.
The court is expected to issue an expedited decision in the coming days or weeks.
(NEW YORK) — Jessica Simpson has been sober for four years.
The singer and entrepreneur penned an emotional Instagram post on Monday, in which she shared a photo of herself from Nov. 1, 2017: the day she decided to stop drinking alcohol.
Explaining that she had become “an unrecognizable version of myself,” she stated that she “knew in this very moment I would allow myself to take back my light, show victory over my internal battle of self respect, and brave this world with piercing clarity.”
“Personally, to do this I needed to stop drinking alcohol because it kept my mind and heart circling in the same direction and quite honestly I was exhausted,” she wrote. “I wanted to feel the pain so I could carry it like a badge of honor. I wanted to live as a leader does and break cycles to advance forward- never looking back with regret and remorse over any choice I have made and would make for the rest of my time here within this beautiful world.”
Simpson, 41, revealed in her 2020 memoir, “Open Book,” that she was sexually abused as a child and added that as an adult, she used alcohol and pills to cope with the pain of that experience. Then, after a Halloween party at her home in 2017, she realized she needed to stop drinking.
“There is so much stigma around the word alcoholism or the label of an alcoholic. The real work that needed to be done in my life was to actually accept failure, pain, brokenness, and self sabotage,” she added in her post Monday. “The drinking wasn’t the issue. I was.”
“I didn’t love myself. I didn’t respect my own power. Today I do,” she continued. “I have made nice with the fears and I have accepted the parts of my life that are just sad. I own my personal power with soulful courage. I am wildly honest and comfortably open. I am free.”
(NEW YORK) — Just before the 2020 presidential election, a bus carrying Biden-Harris campaign staffers and volunteers through Texas was tailed by Trump supporters, some of whom were “driving in a way that appeared to be an attempt to push the bus off the road onto the shoulder,” according to court documents.
A lawsuit was filed Friday by former Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis and two former campaign staffers who were on the bus, along with the bus driver, alleging negligence by the San Marcos Police Department.
“For at least ninety minutes, including during the entirety of the stretch of I-35 inside the San Marcos city lines, the Trump Train pursued and terrorized the Plaintiffs,” the lawsuit alleges. “Plaintiffs tried to get help. They repeatedly called 911. They requested police escorts. San Marcos refused to help.”
The suit alleges that the San Marcos Police Department laughed and refused to provide assistance when a staffer called in to report the situation on Oct. 30 2020. ABC News has reached out to the police department for comment.
“I am so annoyed at New Braunfels for doing this to us,” a dispatcher said to one of the police officers over the radio, according to a 911 transcript included in court documents. New Braunfels is a city next to San Marcos, and the bus was heading over the city line.
“They have their officers escorting this Biden bus, essentially, and the Trump Train is cutting in between vehicles and driving — being aggressive and slowing them down to like 20 or 30 miles per hour,” the dispatcher reportedly said. “And they want you guys to respond to help.”
Matt Daenzer, a corporal with the department who is listed as a defendant in the lawsuit, reportedly replied, “No, we’re not going to do it. We will close patrol that, but we’re not going to escort a bus.”
The dispatcher, according to the transcript, told Daenzer the caller was “really worked up over it, and he’s like breathing hard and stuff, like, ‘they’re being really aggressive.’ OK. Calm down.”
Daenzer agreed and reportedly told the dispatcher, “Yeah, well, drive defensively, and it’ll be great.”
When the dispatcher informed the campaign staffer who called 911 for help that the San Marcos Police Department would not provide a police escort, the unnamed staffer replied, “They’ve cut in on me multiple times. They’ve threatened my life on multiple occasions with vehicular collision. I would like an escort immediately.”
The lawsuit alleges the “Trump Train” went unchecked without any police escorting the bus.
“Despite these multiple calls for help from Plaintiffs and others, for the roughly 30 minutes it took to drive through San Marcos on the main highway that runs through it, there were no officers from San Marcos or any other police cars in sight — not on the I-35 exit or entrance ramps, nor on either side of the highway,” it states.
When then-President Donald Trump learned about the situation after videos of the incident were posted to Twitter, he retweeted a video and wrote, “I LOVE TEXAS!,” the court documents also state.
Also listed as defendants in the lawsuit are San Marcos Director of Public Safety Chase Stapp, San Marcos Police Department Assistant Chief of Police Brandon Winkenwerder and the City of San Marcos.
(GLASGOW, Scotland) — Leaders from nearly every country in the world have converged upon Glasgow, Scotland, for COP26, the United Nations Climate Change Conference that experts are touting as the most important environmental summit in history.
The conference, delayed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was designed as the check-in for the progress countries are making after entering the Paris Agreement, which aims to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, a value that would be disastrous to exceed, according to climate scientists. More ambitious efforts aim to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Not one country is going into COP26 on track to meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement, according to experts. They will need to work together to find collective solutions that will drastically cut down on greenhouse gas emissions.
“We need to move from commitments into action,” Jim Harmon, chairman of the World Resources Institute, told ABC News. “The path to a better future is still possible, but time is running out.”
All eyes will be on the biggest emitters: China, the U.S. and India. While China is responsible for about 26% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, more than all other developed countries combined, the cumulative emissions from the U.S. over the past century are likely twice that of China’s, David Sandalow, a senior research scholar at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, told ABC News.
Here’s how the conference is developing. All times Eastern:
Nov 02, 8:09 am
Putin, Bolsonaro appear virtually at conference
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro made what may be their only appearances at COP26, as neither leader is attending the summit in person.
Russia has pledged to get to net zero by 2060, Putin said, adding that 20% of all forests are located in Russia.
“I am convinced that the conservation of forests and other natural ecosystems is a key component of international efforts to address global warming and reduce emissions of greenhouse gases,” Putin said in a pre-corded video played at an event on protecting forests Tuesday.
Bolsonaro also expressed support for the Glasgow Declaration on Forests, saying he is committed to ending illegal deforestation by 2030.
“Forests are important to me because they cover more than 60% of my country,” Bolsonaro said. “They are a source of health and life and are home to the greatest natural wealth and biodiversity on the planet. We are committed to eliminating illegal deforestation by 2030.”
Pedro Castillo, the president of Peru, spoke about protecting the Peruvian Amazon in pre-recorded remarks.
Nov 02, 8:36 am
Biden, world leaders push to conserve global forests
On his second day at COP26, Biden outlined the United States’ plan to join the world in its mission to reduce deforestation.
“Preserving forests and other ecosystems can and should play an important role in meeting our ambitious climate goals as part of the net-zero emissions strategy we all have,” Biden said.
The plan has four components: to incentivize restoration and conservation, to encourage private sector investment, to increase data collection and accountability and to meet a $9 billion U.S. funding goal through 2030 – subject to approval by Congress.
Biden hopes this plan will restore 200 million hectares of forest and other ecosystems by 2030.
Biden unveiled new rules to reduce emissions of greenhouse gas methane on Tuesday.
The U.S. Methane Emissions Reduction Action Plan expands on policies and standards set by the Obama administration that were repealed by former President Donald Trump.
As a part of the plan, the Environmental Protection Agency now requires states to develop methane reduction plans for oil and gas industries, aiming to reduce emissions by 75%. There will new regulations on large transmission lines and at-home pipes to lower the risk of methane leaks. Additionally, the Department of the Interior will work on shuttering abandoned oil and glass wells.
During his speech at COP26, Biden referred to his $1.75 trillion infrastructure bill that is awaiting passage in Congress.
“My ‘Build Back Better’ framework will make historic investments in clean energy,” Biden said. “[It’s] the most significant investment to deal with the climate crisis that any advanced nation has made ever.”
Nov 01, 4:55 pm
Israeli energy minister misses leaders’ summit due to wheelchair inaccessibility
Karine Elharrar-Hartstein, Israel’s national infrastructures, energy and water resources minister, was not able to attend COP26’s leaders’ summit because the venue was not handicap accessible.
Elharrar, who uses a wheelchair, tweeted she was disappointed with the United Nations, which she said promotes accessibility for people with disabilities, but in 2021, does not provide accessibility to all of its events.
UK Ambassador to Israel Neil Wigan denounced Elharrar-Hartstein’s treatment at COP26.
“I am disturbed to hear the @KElharrar was unable to attend meetings at #COP26,” Wigan tweeted. “I apologise deeply and sincerely to the Minister. We want a COP Summit that is welcoming and inclusive to everyone.”
(NEW YORK) — Longtime Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin, accustomed to spending her life behind the scenes, told ABC’s The View on Monday that she’s taken control of her story with the release of her new memoir, Both/And.
“After 25 years of living most of my life in public service and in public, I felt like somebody else was telling my story. And if you let somebody else tell your story, they’re writing your history. And for me, writing the book, was just such an incredible therapy,” she said in an exclusive daytime interview.
“I thought it’s a good story to share, and maybe it’ll help some women and some brown girls and some Muslims,” added Abedin, who is of Indian and Pakistani descent.
Among reported details in her new memoir, Abedin recalls an incident from her twenties — she’s now 45 — in which she says, following a Washington dinner that she writes was attended by “a few senators and their aides,” one senator invited her up to his apartment for coffee, asked her to get comfortable on the couch, and then kissed her without her consent — describing it not as a “sexual assault” as some headlines have stated, but as an “uncomfortable situation.” Some have said she should identify the person in case others might make similar allegations.
“He plopped down to my right, put his left arm around my shoulder, and kissed me, pushing his tongue into my mouth, pressing me back on the sofa,” she writes in the book, saying the senator apologized when she pushed him away and said he had “misread” her “all this time.”
“Why not name him?” asked The View co-hosts Joy Behar and Sunny Hostin.
“I chose to include my full truth,” Abedin replied. “I did bury that incident. I think back in the 2000s — that is just how you had to act. I mean, to me, one of the surprising things to myself is that I apologized, myself. The way I reacted is, I said, ‘I’m sorry,’ and I left, and I don’t think this is you know exclusive to being in politics,” she said.
She defended her decision not to name the senator, saying this is her story, not his.
“I totally buried the story until I was watching Doctor [Christine Blasey] Ford on TV — literally being questioned for her convenient memory,” she said, apparently sarcastically, referring to Ford’s testimony during Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings, “and as I see her being questioned, that memory comes flooding back to me.”
Abedin first entered “Hillaryland,” as she called it, when she started as a White House intern in 1996 before following the former Democratic nominee for president first back to the Senate and then to the State Department. She served as a top adviser to Clinton on both of her campaigns for president but not without some costs to her own personal life and mental health, she says.
“When you put this book down and read the last page, and maybe half the country will disagree with me, but this woman is an extraordinary human being, aside from the fact that she was the most qualified person, in my opinion, to ever run for president. Full stop. Period,” she said of Clinton.
The View co-hosts asked about a detail in the book in which Abedin describes considering walking off a subway platform in 2019, and Abedin went back to her headspace in the wake of the 2016 election.
“I did not have balance in my life. My work was my life for much of it. And it was only when I stepped off the treadmill and realized I had to deal with all this anger — because I had so much anger and bitterness towards my spouse for so much of my early marriage and after, you know, the first scandal,” she said. “I just wanted my life back.”
“At the end of the campaign, I was kind of on my own. I was alone, a single parent, and so it was I had my hard moment, and that’s when I realized I needed help. And I got it,” she said.
Following the sexting scandals of her then-husband, embattled former Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., Abedin became enveloped in controversy when her emails became a large part of the 2016 presidential campaign after the FBI announced days before the election that investigators would re-examine Clinton’s use of a private email server. It was determined that Abedin had forwarded some emails to personal devices used by both she and her then-husband.
Co-host Sara Haines asked Abedin to respond to those who might question why she stayed with her disgraced ex-husband for so many years.
“I think a lot of people now when they look back at my marriage, they’re looking at it from 2021 perspective, which is hindsight is 20/20,” she replied. “If I’d written this book in 2017 or 2018, when maybe it would have been more newsy, I think it would have been an angry or bitter book because I had to go through that process.”
(NEW YORK) — Members of the United Auto Workers Union are set to vote Tuesday on a tentative agreement that would end the ongoing strike of more than 10,000 John Deere workers.
News of the tentative deal, which would give approximately double the wage increase compared the previously rejected offer that kicked off the strike on Oct. 14, comes as unique labor market conditions have resulted in workers wielding new power as the pandemic wanes.
An apparent shortage of workers accepting low-wage jobs has left many major companies reeling for staff and has been linked to the spate of strikes that have rocked the private sector in recent weeks. The labor crunch — combined with recent record-high rates of people quitting their jobs and record-high job openings, per Bureau of Labor Statistics data — have resulted in workers gaining new leverage as they seek to bargain for better pay or working conditions.
UAW leadership and John Deere announced a tentative agreement had been reached between the union’s elected national bargaining team and officials at the agricultural machinery giant Saturday, but workers remain on strike until the ratification vote Tuesday.
The terms of the new agreement would guarantee a 10% wage increase for all union employees in the first year of the contract, and 5% each in the third and fifth year of the deal, as well as 3% lump sum payments in the second, fourth and fifth years of the deal, according to a contract breakdown document shared with ABC News by the union. Moreover, employees would receive an $8,500 ratification bonus.
There would also be improved retirement benefit options and no changes to the cost of their health insurance.
The UAW on Oct. 14 rejected a contract offer that would have offered a ratification bonus of $3,500 and immediate raises of 5% to 6%.
“Our UAW John Deere national bargaining team went back to our local members after the previous tentative agreement and canvassed the concerns and priorities of membership,” UAW President Ray Curry said in a statement announcing news of the new tentative agreement.
“We want to thank the UAW bargaining team and striking UAW members and their families for the sacrifices they have made to achieve these gains,” Curry added. “Our members have enjoyed the support of our communities and the entire labor movement nationwide as they have stood together in support and solidarity these past few weeks.”
John Deere, meanwhile, confirmed in a statement on its website that a second tentative agreement on a labor contract had been reached with the union and that the “UAW will call for a vote on the new tentative agreement.”
The striking John Deere workers have received well-wishes and support from lawmakers and the public, as new employee activism during so-called “Striketober” has fueled momentum for the post-pandemic labor movement.
A GoFundMe set up to support the striking Deere workers has raised more than $135,000 from over 3,000 donors.
The first strike in more than three decades at John Deere comes after the company reported earning a record-high $4.68 billion during the first nine months of the 2021 fiscal year, more than double the $1.993 billion reported during the same time last year.
John Deere’s chairman and CEO John May, meanwhile, earned compensation of some $15.58 million in fiscal year 2020, according to a company SEC filing. This would make the ratio of the CEO’s total compensation to a median employee’s total compensation in 2020 approximately 220 to 1, the SEC filing states.
The recent bout of employee activism that has manifested in work stoppages and strikes in recent weeks comes after the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic that took an inordinate toll on workers deemed “essential,” but also after decades of soaring income inequality in the U.S., experts have said.
“I think workers have reached a tipping point,” Tim Schlittner, the communications director of the coalition of labor unions AFL-CIO, told ABC News last month shortly after the Deere strike commenced. “For too long they’ve been called essential, but treated as expendable, and workers have decided that enough is enough.”
Schlittner said the pandemic also exposed some deep “imbalances of power in the economy.”
“The pandemic has made clear what’s important and what’s not, and workers are looking at work in a new way, and demanding more of a return on their labor and demanding things like basic respect, dignity and safety on the job,” he said. “The pandemic has put on display for everyone to see how important workers are to this country, and you can’t call workers essential for 18 months and then treat them like crap when they all come back on the job.”
(NEW YORK) — This year, as the COVID-19 pandemic rages on, many Mexican Americans will find solace in celebrating Día de los Muertos.
The holiday, which is celebrated from Oct. 31 through Nov. 2, is meant to honor loved ones that have passed away. People do so by setting up ofrendas, or altars, for those they’ve lost.
When she set up her ofrenda this year, Destiny Navaira included a photo of her grandmother, whose life was cut short by COVID-19.
The glossy photo stood among paper marigolds, teal sugar skulls, candles and even beef jerky for her cousin, who also died.
Navaira’s grandmother Consuela Llamas died from COVID-19 in December 2020. It was her who taught Navaira about the tradition behind the ofrenda, and the belief that it is a way for ancestors to come back from the world of the dead to visit their families for a few days.
Navaira said she is excited to celebrate Día de Los Muertos this year because it is also her grandparents’ anniversary and their spirits finally get to celebrate with family on Earth.
She said she found the process of making an altar for her late loved ones healing.
“I couldn’t invite my grandpa and not invite her, because she wouldn’t have it!” Navaira joked.
The native San Antonian recalled how her abuela spent two weeks on a ventilator before passing away, and her uncle Joe Navaira spent a month fighting for his life in a hospital bed. She’s not alone. Over half of Latinos living in the U.S. this year said that they know someone who has died from COVID-19, according to Pew Research.
“I’m angry that my family and I’ve lost family members, but at the same time, things happen in the world and all we can do is to make them better,” Navaira said.
In the Lincoln Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, Church of the Epiphany will celebrate Día de los Muertos with a community ofrenda. The church has been setting up a community ofrenda since the early 1970s to honor members of the community and Chicano leaders like Cesar Chavez and Sal Castro.
“There’s pain, and there’s celebration, and there’s memory,” said the Rev. Tom Carey of the ceremony.
Members of the community are invited to write the names of their late loved ones on a scroll and share their stories. Churchgoers will speak the names of the dead followed by cries of “Presente!” or “Present!” in English.
Along with a community altar, the church set up one altar made by students at Lincoln High School, one by the neighborhood council and another to honor those who have died in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Due to COVID-19, the church did not have its Día de los Muertos celebration in 2020. This year, it will have COVID-19 precautions in place.
“We want to really honor our culture and our customs and we don’t want them to disappear,” said Rev. Richard Estrada from the Church of the Epiphany. “We continue to celebrate our tradition on our heritage.”
Navaira said she’s spending this holiday surrounded by the music her Tejano legend uncle, Emilio Navaira, taught her.
She also has advice to help her non-Latino friends who’ve lost loved ones find peace.
“Take advantage of the time they have here with the people who they love while they’re here on Earth,” she said. “It’s important to talk about death as part of life. Yes, it’s sad. Yes, it is devastating that somebody literally isn’t in your life anymore because they are not physically here. But if you’re able to keep them alive, to do their favorite things, to tell stories of them, to have memories, even just a picture? I think that that can offer such peace to somebody who’s truly grieving somebody.”
(NEW YORK) — A grand jury indicted Robert Durst on a second-degree murder charge Monday in connection with the 1982 death of his first wife, Kathleen Durst.
Westchester County prosecutors charged the real estate heir with murder last month, shortly after he was sentenced to life in prison for the 2000 murder of his assistant, Susan Berman.
Robert Durst allegedly murdered Berman because he feared she would disclose details of Kathleen Durst’s death, investigators said.
Kathleen Durst’s body has not been located, despite numerous searches, since her disappearance on Jan. 31, 1982 in South Salem, New York. Westchester County District Attorney Miriam E. Rocah said her office’s cold case bureau has been working diligently on the investigation into her death for over 10 months.
“For nearly four decades there has been a great deal of speculation about this case, much of it fueled by Robert Durst’s own highly publicized statements,” Rocah said in a statement. “An indictment is a crucial step in the process of holding wrongdoers accountable for their actions.”
A warrant by the Westchester DA’s office has been issued for Robert Durst’s arrest. His attorneys couldn’t be reached for immediate comment.
The 78-year-old tested positive for COVID-19 and was put on a ventilator, according to his attorney Dick DeGuerin. He was discharged from the hospital last week and transferred to a California prison’s medical facility.
Robert Durst appeared frail during his murder trial in Los Angeles and sat in a wheelchair during his sentencing.
