Author: AP

Berkshire Hathaway board feels sure Greg Abel is the man to eventually replace Warren Buffett

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Everyone knows Warren Buffett ’s successor won’t be able to match the legendary investor, but Berkshire Hathaway ’s board remains confident Greg Abel is the right guy to one day lead the conglomerate into the future.

Longtime Berkshire board member Ron Olson told investors gathered Thursday at a conference two days ahead of the company’s annual shareholders meeting that Abel understands all the fundamental principles that guided Buffett, like letting Berkshire’s companies largely run themselves. And Abel will be committed to running Berkshire in a conservative way that will protect the company that’s known for it financial strength, he said.

“Greg is not somebody who is going to be as likely to create the kind of following in the press that I think Warren has had,” Olson said. “On the other hand. I have every reason to believe that he will run the companies that we have the responsibility for in the same way that Warren ran them.”

Olson said he’s confident business owners will still be willing to sell their companies to Berkshire once the Canadian utility executive takes over after the 93-year-old Buffett is gone.

Olson said he doesn’t think last year’s public legal fight with the billionaire Haslam family over how much Berkshire would ultimately pay for the last 20% of the Pilot truck stop chain the family agreed to sell to Buffett will be a deterrent to future deals either. Both the Haslams and Berkshire accused each other of trying to manipulate Pilot’s earnings to affect the final $2.6 billion price.

Business owners considering selling can see all the positive and respectful relationships Berkshire has with its dozens of other subsidiaries on display in the 200,000-square-foot exhibit hall adjoining the arena where Saturday’s meeting will be held, Olson said.

In fact the legal battle gave Olson, who is a partner at Berkshire’s primary law firm, the chance to work closely with Abel, giving him even more confidence in the board’s chosen successor.

“I could tell you that his preparation and thinking was impressive. He is strategic in his thinking. And he is decisive in his judgement,” Olson said.

Plus, Berkshire is sitting on more than $167 billion cash, so it has ample resources to do deals and, Olson said, “people generally like to be paid in cash.”

Abel, who keeps a low profile and doesn’t typically grant interviews, will be answering questions alongside Buffett for hours Saturday, trying to help fill the role Buffett’s longtime partner Charlie Munger held for decades before he died last fall. Abel has been overseeing all of Berkshire’s varied non-insurance businesses for several years while another vice chairman, Ajit Jain, oversees the insurance businesses, including Geico and General Reinsurance.

Olson said Abel is a numbers guy who can dissect a business’ balance sheet as quickly and well as Buffett, and he’s also a great listener that people like to work with.

But, Olson said, “Greg is not going to be as entertaining as Warren and Charlie have been through the years.”

So Munger’s absence will be felt acutely on Saturday by all the thousands of people attending the meeting. There simply is no way to replace the expertise, advice and friendship Munger offered to Buffett for more than six decades.

Professor Lawrence Cunningham, who has written several books about Berkshire, said he thinks even with the profound loss of Munger the company he helped build will endure.

“The chair is empty. There’s no way to fill it. But I’m also confident that Warren — and especially Greg and Ajit — will carry on the torch,” Cunningham said.

Berkshire has been grappling with succession questions for decades, but Cunningham said he thinks Buffett and Munger built an organization bigger than themselves that will endure.

Olson said Berkshire’s board knows there just isn’t another Warren Buffett or Charlie Munger out there to replace those two men.

After Buffett dies, Berkshire will face pressure as the shareholder base evolves to include more index and activist investors. One of the things investors may demand is that Berkshire change its longstanding policy and start paying a dividend if it can’t find a good use for all that cash.

Olson said the board hasn’t ruled out paying a dividend at some point in the future, but it also hasn’t seriously considering approving one now with Buffett still at the helm.

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Sony Pictures and private equity firm interested in buying Paramount for $26 billion: Sources

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Sony Pictures and the private equity firm Apollo Global Management have expressed interest in buying Paramount Global for $26 billion, according to a person familiar with the details.

Sony would be the majority shareholder and Apollo would have a minority stake, according to the person, who requested anonymity because details of the offer have not been made public.

The Sony-Apollo offer was first reported by The Wall Street Journal. The Journal reported previously that Apollo had made an offer to buy Paramount on its own but Paramount’s board had concerns about the bid, including whether it could arrange financing for a deal.

The Journal and others have reported that Paramount is considering a possible merger with Skydance, David Ellison’s media company that has helped produce such Paramount releases as “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning.”

Earlier this week, New York-based Paramount said that Bob Bakish would step down as CEO of the film, television and multimedia company, to be replaced by a troika of executives who will form a new “Office of the CEO.”

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Maryland officials release timeline, cost estimate, for rebuilding bridge

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Maryland plans to rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge in just over four years at an estimated cost between $1.7 billion and $1.9 billion, a state transportation official said Thursday.

The state plans to build a new span by fall of 2028, said David Broughton, a spokesperson for the Maryland Department of Transportation. He said the cost estimate is preliminary, and detailed engineering specifics have not been confirmed.

As salvage efforts continue, authorities also announced late Wednesday they had recovered the body of a fifth person who was missing after the bridge’s March 26 collapse, which shut down the port of Baltimore, one of the busiest ports in the country.

Six members of a roadwork crew plunged to their deaths when a container ship lost power and crashed into one of the bridge’s supporting columns. The Key Bridge Response Unified Command announced that the victim found Wednesday was identified as Miguel Angel Luna Gonzalez, 49, of Glen Burnie, Maryland. All of the victims were Latino immigrants who came to the United States from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.

“We continue to pray for Miguel Angel Luna Gonzalez, his family and all those who love him, acknowledging the anguish they have experienced since the Key Bridge collapsed,” Gov. Wes Moore said in a statement Thursday. “We pray for comfort, we pray for healing, and we pray for peace in knowing that their loved one has finally come home.”

Salvage teams found one of the missing construction vehicles Wednesday and notified the Maryland State Police, officials said. State police investigators and Maryland Transportation Authority Police officers and the FBI responded to the scene and recovered the body inside a red truck. The state police underwater recovery team and crime scene unit also assisted.

Meanwhile, the broker for the bridge’s insurance policy confirmed Thursday that a $350 million payout will be made to the state of Maryland in what is expected to be the first of many payouts related to the collapse.

Chubb, the company that insured the bridge, is preparing to make the $350 million payment, according to WTW, the broker. Douglas Menelly, a spokesperson for WTW, on Thursday confirmed plans for the payout, which was first reported by The Wall Street Journal. Chubb did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.

The Maryland Transportation Authority said Thursday that the state’s treasurer filed a claim on the day of the bridge’s collapse “against our $350 million property policy and put on notice our $150 million liability policy first tier carrier on behalf of MDTA.”

“We expect the full property policy to be paid very shortly,” the agency said in a news release.

Maryland transportation officials noted that the state’s estimates for the cost to rebuild the bridge are in line with similar projects of this scale and complexity. Federal funding, insurance proceeds and other reimbursements will bring a variety of resources toward the rebuild and recovery effort, the officials said, and the state is pursuing other recovery options to minimize net cost to taxpayers and toll customers.

The Dali container ship has been stationary amid the wreckage since the collapse, but crews plan to refloat and remove the ship, allowing more maritime traffic to resume through Baltimore’s port. Officials expect to have it removed by May 10, according to a Port of Baltimore news release.

Salvage and demolition crews were still working around the clock to clear wreckage from the collapse site. They’re now focused primarily on freeing the Dali from a massive steel span that came crashing down on the ship’s bow.

That will allow the ship to be refloated and guided back into the Port of Baltimore. It will also allow most maritime traffic to resume through the busy East Coast port.

On Thursday morning, crews were preparing for a controlled demolition that will break down the largest remaining span and send it tumbling into the water. Then a massive hydraulic grabber will lift the resulting sections of steel onto barges.

The hydraulic grabber, which officials have called the largest in the country, was also in motion Thursday morning. Moving ever so slowly, the giant claw descended into the depths of the Patapsco River and emerged with a steel beam in its trusses. It was operating in tandem with the Chesapeake 1000, one of the largest cranes on the Eastern Seaboard.

___

Associated Press journalists Denise Lavoie in Richmond, Virginia, and Lea Skene in Baltimore, contributed to this report.

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What is at stake in UK local voting ahead of a looming general election

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Millions of voters in England and Wales cast ballots Thursday in an array of local elections amounting to the last big test before a U.K. general election that all indicators suggest will see the Conservative Party ousted from power after 14 years.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will hope he can point to successes, notably in a couple of key mayoral races, to douse talk that the Conservative Party will change leader again before the United Kingdom’s main election, which could take place as soon as next month.

On the other hand, Labour Party leader Keir Starmer hopes Thursday’s local elections confirm what opinion polls have shown for two years — that Labour is on course for power for the first time since 2010.

“The national context going into these local elections is very good for Labour and very bad for the Conservatives,” said Rob Ford, professor of politics at the University of Manchester.

As is often the case in British local elections, the run-up is about expectation management, so any outperformance can be painted as a success.

That’s certainly the case with the Conservatives, who are widely predicted to lose around half of the 1,000 seats they are contesting. They have pointed out, for example, that the equivalent elections were held in 2021 when the government of then Prime Minister Boris Johnson was riding high following the rollout of the coronavirus vaccines.

Thursday’s elections are important in themselves — voters decide who will run many aspects of their daily lives, such as garbage collection, the state of the roads and local crime prevention measures in the coming years.

But with a general election looming, they will be viewed through a national prism.

Here are five things to know:

Voters in England and Wales went to the polls for local, mayoral and police and crime commissioner elections.

The voting was the final test of public opinion before the general election, which has to take place by January 2025, but which Sunak, who has the power to decide on the date, has indicated will be in the second half of 2024.

As well as a number of mayoral votes, including in London, where Sadiq Khan is expected to win a third term, there were more than 100 elections to local councils and nearly 40 for local police and crime commissioners.

There was also a special parliamentary election in Blackpool South, a long-time Labour seat that went Conservative in the last election in 2019, when Johnson won a big victory. The results will be announced in the coming days. London’s mayoral result isn’t due until Saturday.

No elections took place in Scotland or Northern Ireland, the other parts of the U.K.

Potentially his job. Sunak replaced Liz Truss, who quit after 45 days following a budget of unfunded tax cuts that roiled financial markets and sent borrowing costs for homeowners surging.

Sunak, who warned about the economic implications of Truss’ plan, was supposed to be a steady hand after taking the top job in October 2022. If opinion polls are right, he’s not improved the Conservatives’ ratings, which had even prior to Truss, been battered by the circus surrounding Johnson, who was ousted over a series of ethics scandals.

With the Conservatives seemingly headed for one of their biggest-ever electoral defeats, there’s mounting speculation Sunak may face a leadership battle if Thursday’s election results are really bad.

Key to his survival could be the mayoral elections in the West Midlands and Tees Valley in the northeast of England. Should Conservative mayors Andy Street and Ben Houchen hold on, he may win some respite from restive lawmakers in his party. Should both lose, he may face trouble.

In historical terms, Labour has a mountain to climb, if it’s going to form the next government.

It’s performance in 2019 was its worst since 1935. Starmer has tried to bring the party back to the center of U.K. politics after the five-year leadership of veteran left-winger Jeremy Corbyn.

Starmer’s cautious approach has clearly worked if opinion polls are anything to go by. But it’s fair to say that enthusiasm levels are far lower than those that heralded the arrival of Tony Blair before the 1997 general election.

That may be partly because of the more challenging economic backdrop, but Starmer, formerly a human rights lawyer, lacks the razzmatazz of his predecessor. Even so, Starmer will hope Labour notches up big wins in areas it lost under Corbyn, in the north of England and in the Midlands.

One point of concern is how many traditionally Labour supporters in Muslim communities fail to vote in protest at the party’s stance over the conflict in Gaza.

One of the contributing factors to Blair’s landslide victory in 1997 came from so-called tactical voting, whereby some voters put aside their preferred political party and back whoever they think is most likely to defeat the Conservative candidate.

Tactical voting has reemerged in recent years and could become key in the general election. It usually involves voters sympathetic to Labour in parts of the country, such as southwest England, backing the much smaller Liberal Democrats and Liberal Democrat supporters loaning votes to Labour in the Midlands and the north of England.

Conservative lawmakers across the U.K., even in supposedly safe seats, will be hugely concerned if voters think more tactically.

The Conservatives don’t just face a challenge from the left. Reform UK is trying to outflank it from the right.

Though it is standing in a few seats, Conservatives will worry that support for the party will see Labour and others come through the middle.

Reform UK, which claims to be tougher on issues such as immigration and on Brexit, has said it won’t stand aside to give incumbent Conservative lawmakers an easier chance at the general election, as its former incarnation, The Brexit Party, did in 2019. The Blackpool South special election will be particularly interesting on that front.

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Biden says ‘order must prevail’ during campus protests over Gaza

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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President Joe Biden on Thursday defended the right to protest but insisted that ‘order must prevail’ as college campuses across the country face unrest over the war in Gaza.

“Dissent is essential for democracy,” he said at the White House. “But dissent must never lead to disorder.” The Democratic president also said the protests have not caused him to reconsider his approach to the war. Biden has occasionally criticised Israel’s conduct but continued to supply it with weapons.

Biden said the campus protests haven’t prompted him to rethink his Middle East policies, and he opposes sending in National Guard.

Republicans have tried to turn scenes of unrest into a campaign cudgel against Democrats.

Tension at colleges and universities has been building for days as some demonstrators refuse to remove encampments and administrators turn to law enforcement to clear them by force, leading to clashes that have seized attention from politicians and the media.

But Biden’s previous public comment came more than a week ago, when he condemned “antisemitic protests” and “those who don’t understand what’s going on with the Palestinians.” The White House, which has been peppered with questions by reporters, has gone only slightly further than the president. On Wednesday, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden is “monitoring the situation closely,” and she said some demonstrations had stepped over a line that separated free speech from unlawful behaviour.

“Forcibly taking over a building,” such as what happened at Columbia University in New York, “is not peaceful,” she said. “It’s just not.” Biden has never been much for protesting. His career in elected office began as a county official when he was only 28 years old, and he’s always espoused the political importance of compromise over zealousness.

As college campuses convulsed with anger over the Vietnam War in 1968, Biden was in law school at Syracuse University.

“I’m not big on flak jackets and tie-dyed shirts,” he said years later. “You know, that’s not me.? Despite the White House’s criticism and Biden’s refusal to heed protesters’ demands to cut off US support for Israel, Republicans blame Democrats for the disorder and have used it as a backdrop for press conferences.

“We need the president of the United States to speak to the issue and say this is wrong,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, said on Tuesday. “What’s happening on college campuses right now is wrong.” Johnson visited Columbia with other members of his caucus last week. House Republicans sparred with protesters while speaking to the media at George Washington University in Washington, DC, on Wednesday.

Former President Donald Trump, his party’s presumptive nominee, also criticised Biden in an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News.

“Biden has to do something,” he said. “Biden is supposed to be the voice of our country, and it’s certainly not much of a voice. It’s a voice that nobody’s heard.” He repeated his criticisms on Wednesday during a campaign event in Waukesha, Wisconsin.

“The radical extremists and far-left agitators are terrorizing college campuses, as you possibly noticed,” Trump said. “And Biden’s nowhere to be found. He hasn’t said anything.” Kate Berner, who served as deputy communications director for Biden’s campaign in 2020, said Republicans already tried the same tactic four years ago during protests over George Floyd’s murder by a police officer.

“People rejected that,” she said. “They saw that it was just fearmongering. They saw that it wasn’t based in reality.” Apart from condemning antisemitism, the White House has been reluctant to directly engage on the issue.

Jean-Pierre repeatedly deflected questions during a briefing on Monday.

Asked whether protesters should be disciplined by their schools, she said “universities and colleges make their own decisions” and “we’re not going to weigh in from here.” Pressed on whether police should be called in, she said “that’s up to the colleges and universities.” When quizzed about administrators rescheduling graduation ceremonies, she said “that is a decision that they have to decide” and “that is on them.” Biden will make his own visit to a college campus on May 19 when he’s scheduled to deliver the commencement address at Morehouse University in Atlanta.

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Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters remain on UCLA campus despite police ordering them to leave

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters Thursday remained behind barricades on the UCLA campus despite police orders to leave as officers were poised to move in on their fortified encampment that was ringed by an even larger crowd, including supporters who locked arms and curious onlookers.

Shortly before 2 a.m., police briefly made their way into the perimeter of the encampment only to retreat after being outnumbered by scores of protesters who yelled “shame on you!” Some in the crowd tossed water bottles and other objects as dozens of officers ran back.

Later the crowd chanted “we’re not leaving. You don’t scare us.”

The huge numbers of police began arriving late in the afternoon Wednesday and issued the dispersal order. Empty buses were parked near the University of California, Los Angeles, to take away protesters who don’t comply with the order.

The tense standoff came one night after violence instigated by counter-protesters erupted in the same place.

The law enforcement presence and continued warnings stood in contrast to the scene that unfolded the night before, when counter-demonstrators attacked the pro-Palestinian encampment, throwing traffic cones, releasing pepper spray and tearing down barriers. Fighting continued for several hours before police stepped in, though no arrests were made. At least 15 protesters suffered injuries, and the tepid response by authorities drew criticism from political leaders as well as Muslim students and advocacy groups.

By Wednesday afternoon a small city sprang up inside the reenforced encampment, now full of hundreds of people and tents on the campus quad. Some protesters said Muslim prayers as the sun set over the campus, while others chanted “we’re not leaving” or passed out goggles and surgical masks. They wore helmets and headscarves, and discussed the best ways to handle pepper spray or tear gas as someone sang over a megaphone.

A few constructed homemade shields out of plywood in case they clashed with police forming skirmish lines elsewhere on the campus. “For rubber bullets, who wants a shield?” a protester called out.

Outside the encampment, a crowd of students, alumni and neighbors gathered on campus steps, joining in pro-Palestinian chants. A group of students holding signs and wearing T-shirts in support of Israel and Jewish people demonstrated nearby.

The crowd continued to grow as the night wore on as more and more officers poured onto campus.

Ray Wiliani, who lives nearby, said he came to UCLA on Wednesday evening to support the pro-Palestinian demonstrators.

“We need to take a stand for it,” he said. “Enough is enough.”

Elsewhere, police in New Hampshire said they made 90 arrests and took down tents at Dartmouth College and officers in Oregon came onto the campus at Portland State University as school officials sought to end the occupation of the library that started Monday.

The chaotic scenes at UCLA came just hours after New York police burst into a building occupied by anti-war protesters at Columbia University on Tuesday night, breaking up a demonstration that had paralyzed the school.

An Associated Press tally counted at least 38 times since April 18 where arrests were made at campus protests across the U.S. More than 1,600 people have been arrested at 30 schools.

UCLA Chancellor Gene Block said in a statement that “a group of instigators” perpetrated the previous night’s attack, but he did not provide details about the crowd or why the administration and school police did not act sooner.

“However one feels about the encampment, this attack on our students, faculty and community members was utterly unacceptable,” he said. “It has shaken our campus to its core.”

Block promised a review of the night’s events after California Gov. Gavin Newsom denounced the delays.

The head of the University of California system, Michael Drake, ordered an “independent review of the university’s planning, its actions and the response by law enforcement.”

“The community needs to feel the police are protecting them, not enabling others to harm them,” Rebecca Husaini, chief of staff for the Muslim Public Affairs Council, said in a news conference on the Los Angeles campus Wednesday.

Speakers disputed the university’s account that 15 people were injured and one hospitalized, saying the number of people taken to the hospital was higher. One student described needing to go to the hospital after being hit in the head by an object wielded by counter-protesters.

Several students who spoke during the news conference said they had to rely on each other, not the police, for support as they were attacked, and that many in the pro-Palestinian encampment remained peaceful and did not engage with counter-protesters. UCLA canceled classes Wednesday.

Tent encampments of protesters calling on universities to stop doing business with Israel or companies they say support the war in Gaza have spread across campuses nationwide in a student movement unlike any other this century. The ensuing police crackdowns echoed actions decades ago against a much larger protest movement protesting the Vietnam War.

In Madison, a scrum broke out early Wednesday after police with shields removed all but one tent and shoved protesters. Four officers were injured, including a state trooper who was hit in the head with a skateboard, authorities said. Four were charged with battering law enforcement.

This is all playing out in an election year in the U.S., raising questions about whether young voters — who are critical for Democrats — will back President Joe Biden’s reelection effort, given his staunch support of Israel.

In rare instances, university officials and protest leaders struck agreements to restrict the disruption to campus life and upcoming commencement ceremonies.

At Brown University in Rhode Island, administrators agreed to consider a vote to divest from Israel in October — apparently the first U.S. college to agree to such a demand.

The nationwide campus demonstrations began at Columbia on April 17 to protest Israel’s offensive in Gaza, which followed Hamas launching a deadly attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7. Militants killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took roughly 250 hostages. Vowing to stamp out Hamas, Israel has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, according to the Health Ministry there.

Israel and its supporters have branded the university protests antisemitic, while Israel’s critics say it uses those allegations to silence opposition. Although some protesters have been caught on camera making antisemitic remarks or violent threats, organizers of the protests, some of whom are Jewish, say it is a peaceful movement aimed at defending Palestinian rights and protesting the war.

Meanwhile, protest encampments elsewhere were cleared by the police, resulting in arrests, or closed up voluntarily at schools across the U.S., including The City College of New York, Fordham University in New York, Portland State in Oregon, Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona and Tulane University in New Orleans.

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Fired Google workers ousted over Israeli contract protests file complaint with labour regulators

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Dozens of Google workers who were fired after internal protests surrounding a lucrative contract that the technology company has with the Israeli government have filed a complaint with labor regulators in an attempt to get their jobs back.

The complaint filed late Monday with the National Labor Relations Board alleges about 50 workers were unfairly fired or placed on administrative leave earlier this month in the aftermath of employee sit-ins that occurred at Google offices in New York and Sunnyvale, California.

The protests targeted a $1.2 billion deal known as Project Nimbus that provides artificial intelligence technology to the Israeli government. The fired works contend the system is being lethally deployed in the Gaza war — an allegation Google refutes.

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Google jettisoned the workers’ “participation (or perceived participation) in a peaceful, non-disruptive protest that was directly and explicitly connected to their terms and conditions of work.”

The National Labor Relations Board didn’t immediately set a timetable for reviewing the case.

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Joe Biden’s historic marijuana shift is his latest election-year move for young voters

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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US President Joe Biden may eventually ban TikTok, but he’s moving to give something back to the young people who dominate the popular social media app — a looser federal grip on marijuana.

Facing softening support from a left-leaning voting group that will be crucial to his reelection hopes in November, Biden has made a number of election-year moves intended to appeal in particular to younger voters.

His move toward reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug is just the latest, coming weeks after he cancelled student loans for another 206,000 borrowers. He has also made abortion rights central to his case for reelection.

The push to highlight issues that resonate with younger voters comes as Biden fights to hold together the coalition that sent him to the White House in 2020.

Biden, the oldest president in US history, is battling a perception among voters that he’s lost a step as he’s aged. Discontent with his handling of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza has exploded into unrest on college campuses. While inflation has ebbed from its peak and the job market remains strong, polls show Americans still blame Biden for high prices and high-interest rates, which are squeezing first-time buyers out of the housing market.

A proposal by the US Drug Enforcement Administration would recognise the medical uses of cannabis and acknowledge it has less potential for abuse than some of the nation’s most dangerous drugs. However, it would not legalise marijuana outright for recreational use.

Biden called for a review of federal marijuana law in October 2022 and moved to pardon thousands of Americans convicted federally of simple possession of the drug. He has also called on governors and local leaders to take similar steps to erase marijuana convictions.

“The American people have made clear in state after state that cannabis legalization is inevitable,” Rep. Earl Blumenauer, an Oregon Democrat and an early proponent of easing marijuana laws, said in a statement. ”The Biden-Harris administration is listening.”

Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris both touted their support for marijuana law reform to mark the 4/20 cannabis holiday at exactly 4:20 p.m. Saturday.

The comments are the latest sign the administration plans to continue to focus on the popular issue ahead of the November election.

“Sending people to prison just for possessing marijuana has upended too many lives and incarcerated people for conduct that many states no longer prohibit,” Biden posted on the social media platform X. “It’s time that we right these wrongs.”

The politics of marijuana are favourable for the president.

According to AP VoteCast, 63% of voters nationally in the 2022 midterm elections said they favour legalising recreational use of marijuana nationwide, compared with 36% who said they were opposed. Support for legalization was higher among adults under age 45, 73% of whom were in favour. About 8 in 10 Democrats, roughly two-thirds of independents and about half of Republicans were in favour.

Biden has issued pardons to thousands of people for federal marijuana possession and commuted long sentences handed down for nonviolent drug offences. In 2022, he urged governors to pardon state offences.

While young voters lean left, they are also less likely to vote. Biden can’t afford for a reliable group of supporters to stay home or vote for a third-party candidate like independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is aggressively courting young voters, or the Green Party’s Jill Stein, who is leaning into her opposition to Israel’s war in Gaza.

The last two elections were decided by fewer than 100,000 votes in three states.

Despite growing public acceptance, Biden’s move has prominent detractors, including several former top DEA officials. Opponents say the potency of today’s marijuana could lead to harmful side effects, including psychosis and anxiety.

“This is a political act — it’s not following the science,” said former DEA Administrator Tim Shea. “It’s politics in an election year. It’s like forgiving student loans. It’s aimed at a select group of people and the impact is going to be bad.”

“Law enforcement can’t believe it’s happening,” Shea added.

During the crack epidemic of the 1980s and ’90s, then-Sen. Biden was a prominent voice in the so-called “War on Drugs.”

Ethan Nadelmann, who has been advocating for drug legalization for decades, said Biden probably senses now that a more lenient stance on pot could help rally younger voters and progressive members of his party.

“It will end the hypocrisy,” Nadelmann said.

Former President Donald Trump’s views on marijuana are unclear. But as a resident of Florida, he’ll have the chance to vote on a legalization initiative on the ballot in November. In an interview last year with Newsmax, the GOP presidential nominee said pot causes “significant damage” even as he acknowledged that legalizing cannabis is a “pretty popular thing” among voters.

Federal drug policy has lagged behind much of the country, with 38 states having already legalised medical marijuana in addition to 24 that have approved its recreational use. That’s helped fuel fast growth in the U.S. marijuana industry, with sales estimated to be worth $25 billion a year.

Easing federal regulations could reduce the tax burden that can be 70% or more by allowing businesses to take tax deductions and seek loans, according to industry groups. It could also make it easier for scientists to research marijuana.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Chinese scientist who first published COVID sequence protests after being locked out of his lab

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The first scientist to publish a sequence of the COVID-19 virus in China was staging a sit-in protest after authorities locked him out of his lab.

Virologist Zhang Yongzhen wrote in an online post Monday that he and his team had been suddenly notified they were being evicted from their lab, the latest in a series of setbacks, demotions and ousters since Zhang published the sequence in January 2020 without state approval. The move shows how the Chinese state continues to pressure and control scientists conducting research on the coronavirus.

News of Zhang’s protest spread widely on Chinese social media, attracting public attention. In an online statement, the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center said that Zhang’s lab was being renovated and was closed for “safety reasons.” It added that it had provided Zhang’s team an alternative laboratory space.

In response, Zhang wrote online that his team wasn’t offered an alternative lab until after they were notified of their eviction, and that the lab offered didn’t meet safety standards for conducting their research, leaving his team in limbo.

When Zhang tried to enter his lab over the weekend, guards barred him from entering. In protest, he sat outside on flattened cardboard in drizzling rain, pictures from the scene posted online show.

“I won’t leave, I won’t quit, I am pursuing science and the truth!” he wrote in a post on Chinese social media platform Weibo that was later deleted. “The Public Health Center are refusing to let me and my students go inside the laboratory office to take shelter.”

Zhang said it was “inconvenient” for him to speak when an AP reporter reached him by phone on Tuesday, saying there were other people listening in. But in an email to collaborator Edward Holmes seen by AP, Zhang confirmed he was sleeping outside his lab after guards barred him from entering.

An AP reporter was blocked by a guard at an entrance to the compound where Zhang’s lab is located. A staff member at the National Health Commission, China’s top health authority, said by phone that they were not the main department in charge and referred questions to the Shanghai government. The Shanghai government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Zhang’s ordeal started when he and his team sequenced the virus on Jan. 5, 2020 and wrote an internal notice warning Chinese authorities of its potential to spread. At the time, Zhang had not yet made the sequence public. The next day, Zhang’s lab was ordered temporarily shut by China’s top health official, and Zhang came under pressure by Chinese authorities.

Foreign scientists soon learned that Zhang and other Chinese scientists had sequenced the virus but had not yet been permitted to publish them, prompting public calls for publication. In response, Zhang published his sequence of the coronavirus on Jan. 11, 2020, despite a lack of government permission.

The move allowed health authorities around the world to begin testing for the virus, revealing that it was spreading outside China’s borders and triggering the development of test kits, vaccinations and disease control measures. Zhang was later awarded prizes in recognition.

But Zhang’s publication of the sequence also prompted additional scrutiny of his lab, according to Holmes, Zhang’s collaborator and a virologist at the University of Sydney. Zhang was removed from a post at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and barred from collaborating with some of his former partners, crippling his research.

“Ever since he defied the authorities by releasing the genome sequence of the virus that causes COVID-19 there has been a campaign against him,” Holmes said. “He’s been broken by this process and I’m amazed he has been able to work at all.”

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

US FCC brings back net neutrality

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The United States Federal Communications Commission on Thursday voted to restore “net neutrality” rules that prevent broadband internet providers such as Comcast and Verizon from favouring some sites and apps over others.

The move effectively reinstates a net neutrality order the commission first issued in 2015 during the Obama administration. In 2017, under then-President Donald Trump, the FCC repealed those rules.

The measure passed Thursday on a 3-2 vote split along party lines, with Democratic commissioners in favour and Republicans opposed.

Net neutrality effectively requires providers of internet service to treat all traffic equally, eliminating any incentive they might face to favour business partners or to hobble competitors. The public interest group Public Knowledge describes net neutrality as “the principle that the company that connects you to the internet does not get to control what you do on the internet.”

The rules, for instance, ban practices that throttle or block certain sites or apps, or that reserve higher speeds for the services or customers willing to pay more for them.

“In our post-pandemic world, we know that broadband is a necessity, not a luxury,” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement ahead of the vote.

While it’s been almost seven years since the FCC killed the previous net neutrality rules, their reinstatement isn’t expected to noticeably change users’ online experience. Public Knowledge legal director John Bergmayer credits that to several states having passed their own net neutrality measures prior to 2015, all of which remained in force when the FCC reversed course two years later following Trump’s election.

“Some of the absolute worst excesses from (internet providers) were kept in check by state-level oversight,” Bergmayer said.

States like California went even further than the FCC did — for instance, by banning a practice called “zero rating.” That’s where, for instance, a mobile provider might strike a business deal to steer users toward a particular streaming service by zeroing out any related data charges. Other states with strong net neutrality rules include Colorado, Maine, Oregon, Vermont and Washington, according to Bergmayer.

The telecommunications industry opposed the reintroduction of the federal rules, as it has before, declaring them an example of unnecessary government interference in business decisions.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow