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from The Spokesman-Review
Newspaper in Spokane, Washington
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As Black Americans continue to suffer disproportionate health consequences of addiction to menthol cigarettes, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration this month must respond to a court order demanding it take a position on whether to ban the product. The FDA has long targeted menthol cigarettes for a regulatory crackdown amid warnings from doctors and other public health experts that the products are easier to start smoking, harder to quit and cause outsize harm to Black Americans. But the FDA has held back because of opposition from the tobacco industry, which spends tens of millions of dollars a year on lobbying and argues menthol cigarettes have not been shown to be more toxic than regular ones. Opposition has also come from GOP and Democratic officials as well as civil rights groups and leaders, including the American Civil Liberties Union and Al Sharpton, who have said that banning menthol would risk police targeting Black Americans for selling illegal cigarettes. Now, the agency must respond by April 29 to a citizen petition – a regulatory tool that allows the public to request the FDA consider policy changes – demanding menthol cigarettes be banned.
With medical visits picking up again among patients vaccinated against COVID-19, health providers are starting to see the consequences of a year of pandemic-delayed preventive and emergency care as they find more advanced cancer and rotting and damaged teeth, among other ailments.
President Joe Biden is preparing to formally acknowledge that the systematic killing and deportation of hundreds of thousands of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire in modern-day Turkey more than a century ago was genocide, according to U.S. officials. The anticipated move — something Biden had pledged to do as a candidate — could further complicate an already tense relationship with Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Administration officials had not informed Turkey as of Wednesday, and Biden could still change his mind, according to one official. The U.S. officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday sternly warned the West against encroaching further on Russia’s security interests, saying Moscow’s response will be “quick and tough” and make the culprits bitterly sorry for their action. The warning during Putin’s annual state-of-the-nation address came amid a massive Russian military buildup near Ukraine, where cease-fire violations in the seven-year conflict between Russia-backed separatists and Ukrainian forces have escalated in recent weeks. The United States and its allies have urged the Kremlin to pull the troops back.
Climate scientists have warned for years that a warming planet would cause more extreme storms, like the one that walloped Texas in February, knocking out power and leaving millions in a deep freeze. Yet as the snow fell and the wind howled, some looked for other explanations for the storm and its resulting power outages. The conservative website The Gateway Pundit made the false claim that President Joe Biden’s energy policies somehow prevented Texas plants from generating the power the state needed and “led to Texans literally freezing to death.” The next day, the conspiracy theory website Infowars published a similarly untrue story that was shared 70,000 times on Facebook and Twitter. Four days later, U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colorado, tweeted to her 100,000 followers that Biden’s energy policies were “leaving millions of Texans freezing to death.” All those claims were false.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signed a law allowing to call up reservists for military service without announcing a mobilization, his office said Wednesday. The move comes amid a massive Russian troop buildup near Ukrainian borders and a flareup of cease-fire violations in eastern Ukraine, where Ukrainian forces have been fighting Russia-backed separatists since 2014.
Relief, even if fleeting and momentary, is a feeling that Black Americans have rarely known in America: From slavery to Jim Crow segregation to enduring punishments for living while Black, a breath of fresh air untainted by oppression has long been hard to come by. Nonetheless, the conviction of ex-cop Derek Chauvin for murdering George Floyd nearly a year ago allowed many across this city and the nation to exhale pent-up anxiety — and to inhale a sense of hope.
The U.S. Interior Department is canceling oil and gas lease sales from public lands through June amid an ongoing review of how the program contributes to climate change, officials said Wednesday.
The single most important thing to know about the proposal to slash community voices and reformers from the Spokane Regional Law and Justice Council may be this: The prosecutor, sheriff and police chief all support it. When leaders want to tune out the nettlesome voices of the community – when they want to “simplify” the messy, drawn-out, frustrating chorus of contrary opinions – that’s an excellent sign that those voices should continue to be heard, and especially those voices who are calling for the examination of racial inequities.
Washington House passes capital gains tax, the furthest such a proposal has ever gotten in the state
The state House of Representatives passed a capital gains tax bill Wednesday, the closest the Democrats’ proposal has come to final passage since it was first introduced at least six years ago, but it could still face challenges in the Senate. The bill passed 52-46 after a nearly five-hour debate late Tuesday and a two-hour debate Wednesday. Five Democrats joined Republicans in voting against it. It now heads back to the Senate. The current version of the proposal would impose a 7% tax on the sale of long-term assets, such as stocks, bonds, personal property and businesses, if the profits exceed $250,000 annually. Some exceptions include the sale of a home, commercial real estate and livestock. The sale of a family-owned small business, owned for at least five years, that makes less than $10 million a year also would be exempt.
A measure described as the teeth of the Washington state Legislature’s ambitious police accountability agenda is headed to Gov. Jay Inslee’s desk. The state Senate on Wednesday gave final approval to a bill that makes it easier to decertify police for bad acts, a day after an ex-Minneapolis officer was convicted of murdering George Floyd. The Democrat-led Senate voted 27-22 to concur with changes made in the House, including some that increased transparency related to officer discipline. The bill requires departments to conduct broader background checks for officers before hiring them – including checking with previous departments for any discipline history or misconduct investigations. It also expands civilian representation on the Criminal Justice Training Commission and requires the commission to maintain a publicly searchable database of officers, what agency they work for, what conduct has been investigated and the disposition of any investigations.
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