During the weekly Student Government Association (SGA) Senate meeting on Sunday, October 4, Samantha Molla, President, Adrian Castellanos, Vice President of Operations (VPO), and Anthony Tesori, Vice President of Academic Affairs (VPAA), announced their resignation from their respective positions. With approximately only two months left in their term as officers, the three SGA Cabinet members left vacant spots during a time when many SGA Senators and members are voicing a desire to restructure the SGA, an idea that has been talked about for the past few years. At last nights Senate meeting, Sunday, October 18, E.J. Hannah, Emily Ng, and Gabriella Poska were elected into the Presidency, VPO, and Secretary positions, respectively.

Molla announced her resignation during the meeting on October 4 by stating that she will be resigning effective this week but that her time as President has been absolutely amazing, and its been a wonderful experience unfortunately its also been one of the most challenging years of my life probably; mental health has honestly been kind of at a low but I think that I need to take care of my well being, and I cant do that anymore in this role.

Similar to Mollas statements, Castellanos suggested a similar reason for his resignation. He voiced, I love this position, and I love what Ive been able to do, but in the past few months I have caused a lot of harm, and I dont think its necessarily right for me to still be in this role. Additionally, he made a point of apologizing to the D&I Committee, saying, I am sorry again to Nasir and D&I for those mistakes and those instances this organization needs to be restructured.

While Tesori was not present at the October 4 Senate meeting, Molla spoke on his behalf and announced his decision to resign. Unlike Molla and Castellanos who resigned immediately, Tesori will be resigning as soon as he can transition a replacement for VPAA.

During the SGA Senate meeting on September 27, one week prior to the meeting on October 4, Molla took time to read a statement of apology from the Cabinet that addressed and outlined mistakes, instances of complicit behavior, and abuses of power by the SGA Cabinet. The Cabinet described the statement as a way to take accountability for the hurt caused to members of the Stevens community.

A few specific situations detailed in the statement refer to social media disagreements over The Stevens Tea Instagram account, ignoring suggestions from Senator and D&I founder Nasir Montalvo to implement a Double A grading policy as an alternative to the Optional Pass/Fail policy last semester, and lack of communication between the SGA Cabinet and D&I when a wrongfully submitted Title IX report was made against Montalvo. Many other situations were outlined in the statement, including but not limited to an uncovering of past racist tweets and other specific instances of inappropriate behavior by individual Cabinet members.

The statement outlined that Rather than acknowledging and utilizing this criticism to better ourselves and the organization, members of the Cabinet inappropriately used their platform to try to silence Black students. This behavior perpetuated distrust and further illustrated the extent to which the organization has not been able to uplift Black students. The lack of response as an organization, along with the inappropriate responses by Cabinet members on their personal social media accounts and direct opposal of these actions to promise to better represent minority students, is inexcusable and exemplifies why underrepresented minority students, and especially Black students, feel discontent with the SGA.

During the meeting on October 4, Montalvo argued that while the statement is a good place to start to understand the events that transpired, there is a lot more to the story. He stated, Basically a lot of Black community members were harmed over several months, and it began with COVID-19, and basically not advocating on behalf of students who were suffering because of access, and a lot of the issues that arose after that had to deal with access and identity. I think its important to read that apology and then also speak to people who were in those situations.

While there has been no public statement by Molla, Castellanos, or Tesori that they were all motivated to resign because of issues outlined in the apology, Molla and Castellanos commented to The Stute their reasons for leaving. Molla expressed, This has been an incredible experience, but it has been incredibly chaotic and stressful. In resigning I hope we can show to the student body that the SGA is ready to move on and can hopefully learn from this experience and work towards improving the SGA in the future. Castellanos noted, This situation has been a lot for myself and other people involved, and I just didnt want it to continue bringing harm to me or anyone else.

The two remaining Cabinet members who have not resigned are Christian Bonavita, Vice President of Finance (VPF), and Hailey Tanner, Vice President of Student Interests (VPSI). During the Senate meetings general discussion period, Bonavita and Tanner were asked why they have chosen to remain in their positions. To this, Tanner was the first to respond that Right now, Christian and I are the only ones not stepping down I feel that because I was not directly involved, even though I know I couldve done better during the situation, to help those that were directly involved, I can better hold myself accountable and make up for those mistakes in the role rather than stepping down. Bonavita additionally added that personally, not speaking up when I saw some of these things happening is one of the biggest regrets of my life although I was not directly involved in these situations Ive already started implementing changes within the Budget Committee which is what I can control as the Vice President of Finance.

The announcement of the resignation of the three Cabinet members re-ignited the larger conversation about the structure of the SGA and how it serves students, which has been discussed many times over the past few years. During Mollas announcement of her resignation during the meeting on October 4, she expressed, I think that the SGA has a lot of potential, and we always do a lot of great things, but that it doesnt always have the best process in terms of getting to those great achievements.

However, no concrete plans have been proposed so far, and it is unclear if the ongoing restructuring talks will result in any changes. Many upperclassmen voiced concerns during the October 4 meeting that the proposition of restructuring the SGA is constantly brought up but never acted upon; however, many members argued that this time was the best opportunity to finally make changes. Castellanos noted, I dont think theres better timing working towards creating something new might be more effective. The biggest issue with the SGA structure is that one person should not be the voice for the student body. In agreement with Castellanos, Montalvo expressed that theres never going to be a point where its going to be easy to redo the constitution, and thats fine, because we need to do it weve been talking about restructuring or starting over the SGA since I was a freshman I dont want this to die after the discussion [tonight].

According to the SGA constitution, the next person in line to assume the presidency after the VPO is the Speaker; however, recently appointed Speaker, Kevin Gmelin, announced later that week that he would not be assuming the Presidency.

During last nights Senate meeting on Sunday, October 18, a special election was held to fill the role of President for the rest of the semester, as well as other vacancies in the SGA Cabinet. The candidates for President were Senators Emily Ng and E.J. Hannah, and Hannah won the special election to assume the presidency. Ng was then elected as VPO, and Gabriella Poska, a member of the SGA Budget Committee and Business Manager for Stevens Dramatic Society, was appointed as Secretary.

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SGA President, Vice President of Operations, and Vice President of Academic Affairs resign - The Stute

By James Tucker, Stacey Mitchell and Bryan Williamson October 20, 2020, 4:27 PM EDT

The congressional elections also will significantly affect the country's environmental and energy policy, as the next Congress can shape policy not just through its constitutional powers, but also through the reversal of many of the Trump administration's late-term rules via the Congressional Review Act.

In this three-part article, we outline both candidates' key environmental and energy policies, including how the candidates might or might not achieve their policy goals.

The first installmentidentified the Trump administration's significant late-term rules that a unified Democratic Congress may seek to invalidate to minimize Trump's legacy.

This installment analyzes the policy differences between Trump and Biden on environmental issues including domestic energy, air quality and international climate diplomacy, and considers some likely consequences of those differences.

The third installment will cover the candidates' positions on water quality, biodiversity and federal lands, and environmental justice.

Domestic Energy

Trump

The Trump administration has championed an "American energy independence" policy, which seeks to shift the country's energy dependence away from foreign suppliers and toward U.S. energy sources, including primarily fossil fuels coal, oil and natural gas.[1]

Consistent with this policy, the Trump administration repealed the Obama administration's Clean Power Plan, which sought to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from U.S. power plants, and replaced it with the Affordable Clean Energy Rule, which supplants a federal emissions reduction regime with one that allows states to establish their own, potentially less stringent, standards.[2]

The Trump administration has also:

Given the virtual certainty that these regulatory changes would be subject to litigation, the Trump administration has gone to great lengths to develop these rules to withstand legal challenge, although final resolution in that regard likely will take years to play out. If reelected, Trump can be expected to continue to use these tools to shepherd his support toward the fossil fuel industry and further domesticize U.S. energy production.

Biden

In the process of courting the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, Biden has described the Green New Deal as a crucial framework for meeting climate challenges as part of a broader clean energy revolution, while declining to fully adopt it as his own plan. Biden established a unity task force with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., that has made a number of climate-related recommendations, many aimed at creating a clean energy economy.[4]

These recommendations include achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, reducing the carbon footprint of the U.S. building stock by 50% by 2035 and directing $400 billion of federal funds toward clean energy research and innovation part of an overall $2 trillion federal investment in clean energy and environmental justice initiatives.[5]

The Biden-Sanders unity task force recommendations even go further, advocating for the elimination of carbon pollution from power plants by 2035 and the installation of 500 million solar panels and 60,000 wind turbines.[6] According to the Biden campaign, funding for these energy initiatives would come from a reversal of the 2017 tax legislation that reduced the individual and corporate tax rates.[7]

Contrary to the Trump administration's efforts to boost fossil fuel energy sources, a Biden administration would establish a new initiative, ARPA-C, described as "a new, cross-agency Advanced Research Projects Agency focused on climate."[8] This new initiative would work to decarbonize key U.S. business sectors; decrease the costs of producing grid-scale energy storage technology; produce more hydrogen energy from renewable resources; address the challenges of nuclear waste disposal; double U.S. offshore wind production by 2030; and accelerate the deployment of carbon capture sequestration technology for use at U.S. power plants.[9]

Importantly, the Biden campaign appears to have backed away at least for now from previous positions expressing support for a carbon pricing mechanism, such as a carbon tax or cap-and-trade system.[10] The Biden campaign also has not embraced a full ban on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, despite running mate Kamala Harris's previous statements expressing support for such a ban.[11]

While many components of these domestic energy policy goals could be implemented through rulemaking or executive order, many would require congressional appropriations or legislation e.g., reversal of the 2017 tax cuts, additional funding for clean infrastructure and authorization of a nationwide carbon tax.[12] If elected, Biden would support the transition from a fossil fuel-based energy system toward one more rooted in renewable resources and developing strategies for climate mitigation and adaptation.

Air Quality

Trump

The Trump administration has relied on the rulemaking process to repeal and, in many cases, replace many key Obama-era regulations aimed at curbing air emissions, including most notably the Clean Power Plan, DOI rules governing oil and gas fracking and methane emissions, and fuel economy and carbon dioxide emission standards for passenger cars and light-duty trucks.[13]

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency also issued a final rule in September 2019 that revokes California's Clean Air Act preemption waiver, which had allowed California and other states to adopt more stringent motor vehicle emissions standards than those in place under federal law.[14] With respect to national air quality standards, the Trump administration decided to retain the Obama-era standards for particulate matter, despite signals from the administration's early days indicating that the EPA may have been considering confronting U.S. Supreme Court precedent foreclosing the agency from considering economic costs in formulating these standards.[15]

To that end, however, the EPA issued a proposed rule in early June that aims to revamp the agency's process for considering benefits and costs when promulgating significant rules under the Clean Air Act, by requiring, among other things, that future rulemakings include benefit-cost analyses that do not factor so-called co-benefits from existing regulations in assessing the incremental benefits of new rules.[16]

Most of this administration's major air-related rule rescissions have faced legal challenges, many of which are still pending in the courts.[17] Beyond rulemaking, the Trump administration has sought to downplay the impact of air pollution through discretionary executive action, such as through the EPA's rejection of a petition from Maryland seeking more stringent restrictions on emissions from coal-fired power plants in upwind states, and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's issuance of increasing numbers of leases authorizing oil and gas development on federal land.[18]

If reelected, the Trump administration likely would continue the stepwise replacement of existing air regulations, further efforts to modify how economic impacts are accounted for in agency decisions and use an additional four years to revise any components of the administration's rules that courts vacate.

Biden

As in the case of Biden's proposed energy initiatives, his focus on air would seek to "reinstate federal clean air protections, rolled back by the Trump Administration."[19] According to his campaign, a Biden administration would focus on reducing the impact of emissions from the transportation sector, particularly through motor vehicle and aircraft standards and investments in sustainable aircraft fuel.[20]

With respect to motor vehicle emissions, a Biden administration would be expected to promulgate standards more similar to those in place under the Obama administration, restore tax credits for electric vehicles, increase the number of electric vehicle charging stations throughout the country and attempt to require annual improvements in fuel economy and emissions performance for heavy-duty vehicles.[21]

The Biden campaign also has pledged to require aggressive methane pollution limits on oil and gas operations, require agencies issuing federal permits to consider the impact of greenhouse gas emissions and climate change, and commit to reducing climate pollution through federal infrastructure investments.[22] Lastly, Biden has stated that he would establish a new cabinet position dedicated to addressing climate change, which reportedly would "go beyond [the] EPA."[23]

To complement the regulations the Biden campaign has previewed, we likely would see a Biden administration that more aggressively pursues enforcement actions against fossil fuel-based energy producers and other large emitters of regulated pollutants that are found to violate existing standards. However, most of the Biden campaign's air quality aspirations, such as research-based emissions reductions initiatives and plans to expand zero-emission vehicle infrastructure, would require appropriations.

Finally, any attempt to restore electric vehicle tax credits or establish an official new cabinet position would require congressional authorization. But Biden could ascribe a new, climate-related title to an existing aide or adviser, or elevate the role of the chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality without formally establishing a new cabinet position.[24]

International Climate Diplomacy

Trump

Consistent with one of his significant 2016 campaign tenets, Trump, within the first six months in office, withdrew the U.S. from the United Framework Convention on Climate Change's 2015 Paris Agreement.[25] In accordance with the Paris Agreement, the U.S.' withdrawal will become effective on Nov. 4, one day after the 2020 presidential election.[26]

Also among this administration's signature moves is its replacement of the North American Free Trade Agreement with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which contains environmental provisions that are similar to those in other U.S. trade agreements, as well as provisions intended to support the oil and gas industry by reducing duties, allowing U.S. energy producers to bid on Mexican oil and gas exploration leases and challenge climate policies, and eliminating tariffs on steel used to construct pipelines.[27]

In addition, the Trump administration has issued trade sanctions and executive orders to restrict the use of foreign energy supplies, in an effort to bolster the production and export of U.S. oil and gas.[28]

Given Trump's reliance on constitutional authority to shrink the U.S. role in developing international climate policy and bolster the nation's production of fossil fuels, we expect that, if reelected, he would continue to focus on domestic policy, eschew international climate diplomacy as the U.S. officially withdraws from the Paris Agreement, and continue efforts to engage internationally to promote U.S.-produced energy sources abroad.

Biden

The Biden campaign has announced its intention to recommit the U.S. to the Paris Agreement and "lead an effort to get every major country to ramp up the ambition of their domestic climate targets" with "transparent and enforceable" commitments.[29]

A Biden administration also would seek to join or initiate other international climate agreements, such as a global moratorium on offshore drilling in the Arctic; a commitment among G-20 nations to end export finance subsidies of high-carbon projects; a program to offer financing for lower-carbon energy investments in Belt and Road Initiative countries; and reforms to the International Monetary Fund and regional development bank standards to prioritize projects with low-carbon impacts.[30]

If elected, Biden would be expected to take immediate steps to reverse the Trump administration's international climate efforts, or lack thereof, by relying on the same executive authority used to implement those policies in the first instance.

The opinions expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the firm, its clients or Portfolio Media Inc., or any of its or their respective affiliates. This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal advice.

[1] President Trump's Energy Independence Policy, The White House (Mar. 28, 2017), https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/president-trumps-energy-independence-policy/.

[2] Repeal of the Clean Power Plan; Emission Guidelines for Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Existing Electric Utility Generating Units; Revisions to Emission Guidelines Implementing Regulations, 84 Fed. Reg. 32520 (July 8. 2019) (codified at 40 C.F.R. pt. 60 et seq.).

[3] See Exec. Order No. 13920, 85 Fed. Reg. 26595 (May 1, 2020) (securing the U.S. "bulk-power system"); Oil and Gas and Sulfur Operations in the Outer Continental Shelf Blowout Preventer Systems and Well Control Revisions, 84 Fed. Reg. 21908 (May 15, 2019) (codified at 30 C.F.R. pt. 250 et seq.) (offshore drilling safety rule revisions); Hazardous and Solid Waste Management System: Disposal of Coal Combustion Residuals From Electric Utilities; Amendments to the National Minimum Criteria (Phase One, Part One), 83 Fed. Reg. 36435 (July 30, 2018) (codified at 40 C.F.R. pt. 257 et seq.) (coal combustion residuals rule revisions); Oil and Gas; Hydraulic Fracturing on Federal and Indian Lands; Rescission of a 2015 Rule, 82 Fed. Reg. 61924 (Dec. 29, 2017) (codified at 43 C.F.R. pt. 3160) (oil and gas fracking rule rescission); Hazardous Materials: Liquefied Natural Gas by Rail, __ Fed. Reg. __ (June 19, 2020) (to be codified at 40 C.F.R. pts. 172-74, 179-80) (authorizing transportation of liquefied natural gas by rail); Update to the Regulations Implementing the Procedural Provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act, __ Fed. Reg. __ (July 16, 2020) (to be codified at 40 C.F.R. pts. 1500-05, 07-08) (re-writing NEPA's implementing rules); Waste Prevention, Production Subject to Royalties, and Resource Conservation; Rescission or Revision of Certain Requirements, 83 Fed. Reg. 49184 (Sept. 28, 2018) (codified at 43 C.F.R. pts. 3160, 3170) (methane rule rescission).

[4] Joe's Plan for a Clean Energy Revolution and Environmental Justice, Biden for President, https://joebiden.com/climate/; Biden-Sanders Unity Task Force, Combating the Climate Crisis and Pursuing Environmental Justice (July 2020), https://joebiden.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/UNITY-TASK-FORCE-RECOMMENDATIONS.pdf.

[5] Joe's Plan for a Clean Energy Revolution and Environmental Justice, supra note 10; The Biden Plan to Build a Modern, Sustainable Infrastructure and an Equitable Clean Energy Future, Biden for President, https://joebiden.com/clean-energy/.

[6] Biden-Sanders Unity Task Force, supra note 10 at 47.

[7] Joe's Plan for a Clean Energy Revolution and Environmental Justice, supra note 10.

[8] Id.

[9] Id.

[10] Amy Harder, Joe Biden unlikely to push carbon tax as part of climate change plan, Axios (Aug. 20, 2020), https://www.axios.com/joe-biden-carbon-tax-climate-change-plan-e8d522a8-5015-45fc-8164-3ec5c8a0d8a3.html.

[11] "Harris: 'There is No Question I'm in Favor of Banning Fracking,'" YouTube (Sep. 4, 2019), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHnXl6S0E8w&feature=youtu.be.

[12] The Clean Air Act may allow the EPA to approve state compliance plans that implement a carbon tax, but Congress would need to authorize any attempt to institute a federally mandated carbon tax. See Samuel D. Eisenberg et al., A State Tax Approach to Regulating Greenhouse Gases Under the Clean Air Act, The Brookings Institute (May 22, 2014) (discussing the legal bases for imposing state or federal carbon taxes under Section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act).

[13] The Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient Vehicles Rule for Model Years 20212026 Passenger Cars and Light Trucks, 85 Fed. Reg. 24174 (Apr. 30, 2020) (codified at 40 C.F.R. pts. 86 et seq., 600 et seq.).

[14] The Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient Vehicles Rule Part One: One National Program, 84 Fed. Reg. 51310 (Sept. 27, 2019) (codified at 40 C.F.R. pts. 85 et seq., 86 et seq.).

[15] See Review of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Particulate Matter, 85 Fed. Reg. 24094 (Apr. 30, 2020) (to be codified at 40 C.F.R. pt. 50 et seq.) (retaining Obama-era particular matter standards); William H. Haak, Trump Orders EPA 'Back to Basics' on NAAQS, The Magazine for Environmental Managers (July 2018) (citing Memorandum from E. Scott Pruitt, Administrator, U.S. Envtl. Protection Agency, to Assistant Administrators, U.S. Envtl. Protection Agency, (May 8, 2018), available at https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2018-05/documents/image2018-05-09-173219.pdf) (discussing the Trump Administration's renewed emphasis on assessing the economic impact of national ambient air quality standards revisions).

[16] Increasing Consistency and Transparency in Considering Benefits and Costs in the Clean Air Act Rulemaking Process, 85 Fed. Reg. 35612 (June 11, 2020) (to be codified at 40 C.F.R. pt. 83), available at https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2020-06/documents/consistent_transparent_bca_fr_notice_final_pre-pub_0.pdf.

[17] See Roundup: Trump-Era Agency Policy in the Courts, Institute for Policy Integrity, New York Univ. School of Law, https://policyintegrity.org/trump-court-roundup (last visited May 28, 2020) (tracking outcomes of litigation involving the Trump Administration's agencies).

[18] See Response to Clean Air Act Section 126(b) Petitions From Delaware and Maryland, 83 Fed. Reg. 50444 (Oct. 5, 2018) (EPA's rejection of Maryland's petition); U.S. District Court for the District of Montana, Great Falls Division, Order in Case No. CV-18-73-GF-BMM (May 1, 2020), https://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/files/39_-_order.pdf (litigation related to BLM's issuance of 287 oil and gas leases in December 2017 and March 2018).

[19] Joe's Plan for a Clean Energy Revolution and Environmental Justice, supra note 10.

[20] Id.

[21] Id.

[22] Id.

[23] Sean Sullivan, His campaign limited, Joe Biden sketches out his would-be administration, Wash. Post. (April 17, 2020), https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/his-campaigning-limited-joe-biden-sketches-out-his-would-be-administration/2020/04/17/2ffc8b28-80bd-11ea-8013-1b6da0e4a2b7_story.html.

[24] See U.S. Const. art. II, 2 (requiring the "Advice and Consent of the Senate" for appointments of "Officers of the United States").

[25] Press Release, Michael R. Pompeo, U.S. Sec. of State, On the U.S. Withdrawal from the Paris Agreement (Nov. 4, 2019), https://www.state.gov/on-the-u-s-withdrawal-from-the-paris-agreement/.

[26] Paris Agreement to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Dec. 13, 2015, in Rep. of the Conference of the Parties on the Twenty-First Session, U.N. Doc. FCCC/CP/2015/10/Add.1, annex (2016).

[27] See Scott Vaughan, USMCA Versus NAFTA on the Environment, Int'l Inst. for Sustainable Dev., https://www.iisd.org/library/usmca-nafta-environment (noting similarities between the two agreements); Marianne Lavelle, 5 Reasons Many See Trump's Free Trade Deal as a Triumph for Fossil Fuels, InsideClimate News (Jan. 24, 2020), https://insideclimatenews.org/news/24012020/trump-trade-usmca-nafta-climate-change-oil-gas (describing industry-friendly provisions in the USMCA).

[28] Timothy Gardner, Alissa de Carbonnel, Aggressive U.S. energy policy tests ties with European allies, Reuters (July 10, 2019), https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-energy-europe/aggressive-u-s-energy-policy-tests-ties-with-european-allies-idUSKCN1U512P (noting sanctions on oil exports from Iran and Venezuela).

[29] Joe's Plan for a Clean Energy Revolution and Environmental Justice, supra note 10. Note that an attempt to rejoin the Paris Agreement would require providing notice to the United Nations of the country's intent to reenter the Agreement, followed by a 30-day waiting period.

[30] Id.

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Environmental Policy And The Election: Part 2 - Law360

PETALING JAYA The chief of Umno Youth has called for a political ceasefire amid a resurgence in Covid-19 cases in Malaysia, and for politicians to focus instead on national reconciliation.

The wing's head, Datuk Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki, said the current Covid-19 situation is troubling as cases have continued to spike while the economy is shrinking, and this has affected the livelihood of the people.

"Don't let us be punished by the people who are sick and tired of the attitude of politicians who continue to fight over political issues of power endlessly," Mr Asyraf said.

"It's the right time for politicians, despite their political parties, to hold a political ceasefire in order to think of the best solutions for the welfare of the people," he said in a Facebook post yesterday.

"Maybe this is the best time for all parties to set aside their differences and give focus to a National Reconciliation agenda." He did not say what he meant by the reconciliation agenda.

He made the call amid a jockeying for posts in the seven-month-old ruling Perikatan Nasional (PN) alliance led by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

Umno leaders are pushing for new terms to remain in PN, and have threatened the collapse of the government if Tan Sri Muhyiddin fails to meet these demands.

A senior Umno leader said the party wants the deputy prime minister's post and other key Cabinet positions.

Its call was made following opposition chief Anwar Ibrahim's audience with the King last week, at which he claimed to have a "formidable" majority of MPs behind him to form a new government and become the new prime minister.

Meanwhile, a senior Umno leader and a Cabinet minister in the Muhyiddin administration said Malaysia should hold a general election, and pick a new prime minister, only after overcoming the coronavirus pandemic.

Umno Supreme Council member Annuar Musa said in a tweet yesterday: "No need to think of a replacement for now... We are in consensus, help the government. When Covid-19 eases, immediately dissolve Parliament and leave it to the public... Give chance for PM to save the country and public lives first."

He was responding to news reports that the political party of former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, Pejuang, has nominated the 95-year-old statesman as the candidate to replace Mr Muhyiddin.

Umno, its ally Parti Islam SeMalaysia and Mr Muhyiddin's own Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia were set to meet yesterday evening to discuss their cooperation under the Muafakat Nasional pact.

Umno has, meanwhile, postponed a meeting today of the Supreme Council, its highest decision-making body, where it was to discuss its continued cooperation with PN.

Mr Asyraf said "National Reconciliation" does not mean that each party has to disregard its political identity or its own party struggles.

"Instead, the National Reconciliation will allow political parties to temporarily suspend any dispute in terms of a power struggle," he said.

Malaysia logged 867 Covid-19 infections yesterday, the third day in a row of 800-plus cases in a 24-hour period.

THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK

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Umno Youth chief calls for ceasefire amid tussle in ruling alliance - The Straits Times

Gov. J.B. Pritzker held off filling top vacancies at Illinois unemployment office because he was planning to merge it with another state department.

Then COVID-19 upended the nation.

Starting in March, as authorities shut down businesses and schools and 2 million Illinois workers flooded the state for jobless benefits, the state Department of Employment Security was already at one of its weakest moments in recent history, records and interviews show.

At that moment, agency staffing was at an all-time low, according to its then-acting director. Veteran employees were retiring in droves to be replaced by rookies. And when key jobs were filled it was sometimes with political aides who had little or no agency experience.

Before the national health crisis, Illinois had been ranked among national leaders for speedy delivery of unemployment benefits. Suddenly, IDES plunged to being among the worst in the nation on several key performance measures.

In the months since, as problems have persisted, the administration has offered a range of explanations for its inability to handle the surge of claims.

Pritzker has blamed his Republican predecessor for hollowing out IDES and leaving the agency with inadequate staff and outdated technology. He has also criticized President Trump for unfair and chaotic rollouts of federal unemployment benefits.

But government records and interviews offer a more complex portrait, and reveal the frenzy inside an agency diminished by staff vacancies at every level in the 18 months Pritzker was in charge even before the crisis.

State-by-state data from the U.S. Labor Department, hundreds of agency emails and internal agency documents obtained by the Better Government Association show:

Pritzker administration officials acknowledged to the BGA the agency had problems, but Hynessaid unfilled leadership positions at IDES had little impact.

There was not instability at the top, hesaid. I think what was lacking was everything underneath there.

There was great attrition in the rank-and-file employees who were at the front lines of services. There was outdated technology, a lack of investment in technology that had occurred over the last 10 years. Thats really what was lacking.

Hynes said IDES worked hard under incredible stress to pay out a staggering $14.2 billion in benefits to an unprecedented 2.1 million Illinois claimants from March through August.

The volume and surge of claims that overtook the agency was really unprecedented and unsolvable until we figured out how to allocate the resources in the right way, Hynes said. It was heart-wrenching among all of us to urge patience among peoplewho were desperate to get help, but knowing that we were unable to deal with everybody all at once.

Pritzker this summer named Kristin Richards, a former chief of staff to state senate presidents John Cullerton and Don Harmon, the new acting director at IDES.

More so than anything, I feel a responsibility to try and bring some stability for claimants, find some stability for people that are attempting to reach us, Richards said. Its a really big problem-solving exercise but its the right time to throw every bit of muscle we can to try to do it, and thats what were going to do.

Experts say reforms are welcome and sorely needed.

These problems at IDES came at a cost to people. Some applicants had desperate financial problems, said Jeremy Rosen, Director of Economic Justice at Chicagos Shriver Center on Poverty Law. The governor was right that no state was properly prepared. But given the crisis every state faced, why did Illinois not respond as effectively as other states?

Before the pandemic, Illinois had been paying about 80% of initial unemployment claims within seven days.

That quick payout rate plummeted to around 1% and held there through September, putting Illinois last among states on this timeliness measure, according to newly released data from the federal labor department.

IDES told the BGA these quick payments slowed because Illinois like many states waited one week before starting the clock prior to the pandemic.After the crisis, Illinois and 36 other states cut out the waiting week in an effort to get more money out quickly.

Agency officials offered no explanation why it performed so much worse than all other states, including those that waived the waiting week. Only nine other states fell to less than 10% on this 7-day measure, the federal records show.

Federal rules do not require a 7-day turn around. Instead, the guidelines require states to pay out nearly 90% of all initial unemployment checks within 21 days.

On that 21-day measure Illinois also fell short by distributing only 61%. However, Illinois stillperformed better than most states. By comparison, the national average for meeting the three-week window is nearly 55%.

Still, every day matters to laid-off Illinois workers borrowing from relatives to pay their rent or mortgage bills, selling personal belongings and using food banks to get groceries to their families, according to emails pleading for help that reached the governors cabinet.

There is no standard for seven days, said Richards, the IDES acting director. I agree with you it is important to claimants. Every day is important to claimants.

The difficulties Illinois was facing amid the pandemic were reflected in federal labor department score cards required by the federal government, which rank states for the promptness of payments, the effectiveness of audits and eight other agency functions.

States submit reports every three months to indicate adequate performance or something less by labeling each of the 10 categories with either a green or red mark. IDES veterans call this chart the Christmas tree.

While IDES had been slowly improving since 2015 on the core labor department metrics, by March of this year Illinois was the only state failing all three categories labeled integrity measures, which includes detection of overpayments, improper payments, and the recovery of those mistaken payouts.

Asked for the states scorecard data through June, Pritzker administration officials declined to provide the records.

The Christmas tree is a document put together for internal purposes only and is not available for public consumption, IDES spokeswoman Rebecca Cisco told the BGA in an email.

The BGA, however, obtained a copy of that report, which shows erosion as Illinois failed five of 10 performance measures.

Amid the chaos, IDES was so far behind in processing claims that it triaged cases by prioritizing people referred by local politicians, the BGA found.

In a June 5 report to the bipartisan Senate oversight panel, IDES responded to questions about the lack of uniformity in how unemployment claims are submitted.

Claimants continue to call IDES in addition to their elected officials, the report said. Therefore, often, even though we move an elected officials constituent to the front of the line, the constituent has often already been able to get through to the call center.

We will continue to pull our staff out of the call center to call claimants sent to us by an elected official, that report added, but with hundreds of elected officials submitting issues to IDES, we cannot ensure the claimant will receive a response prior to their being able to get through to the call center.

Later that month, more than 50 House Democrats wrote to the agency that each of them was fielding 60 to 90 complaints from constituents on any given day. The lawmakers asked for additional IDES staff to handle their claims. In a column in the Chicago Sun-Times, Rich Miller reported on the lawmakersletter.

In a recent email to the BGA, Pritzker spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh called the IDES practice of responding to claims referred by elected officials an attempt for the Department and its employees to help as many people as possible at a time when there was no structure in place.

The BGA has filed a pending public records request for details on the number of claims referred by each elected official since March.

Illinois began the pandemic era in a proud position, first among states to begin paying out the initial $600-per-week Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation payments on April 6, records show.

That early success quickly became a footnote as IDES was overwhelmed with 519,269 new claims for regular unemployment benefits that month more than 10 previous Aprils combined and federal authorities poured $500 billion in crisis relief into an alphabet soup of new and existing programs for laid-off workers.

Records show how Illinois struggled to implement those federal programs.

It was the 44th state to apply for the $300-per-week Lost Wage Assistance benefit: While most states deployed that program in August, Illinois did not start making payments until September 4, records show.

It was among 23 states that did not offer workers partial benefits when their employers reduced hours instead of laying them off. IDES told the Senate oversight panel in August it decided against offering the benefit because its staff was stretched thin.

Illinois also trailed all but seven states in processing the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, or PUA benefit, to independent contractors and gig workers. Illinois did not begin processing PUA payments until May 11, and didnt starting paying until a week later.

Emails between Hynes and then-IDES Acting Director Thomas Chan obtained by the BGA through a public records request detail the pressure inside IDES as Illinois PUA program was rolled out.

Folks I am counting on you to launch the independent contractor unemployment system ASAP and no later than May 11, Pritzker wrote to Chan and Hynes at 7:43 a.m. on May 4. Can you confirm that will happen? JB.

IDES hustled to update its policies and computer code, and minutes before midnight on May 10 Chan emailed Hynes that he and aides did a test run by filing a small sample of claims.

Minor hiccups but no show stoppers, Chan wrote.

Within 10 minutes of Illinois PUA system going live the next morning, on May 11, more than 1,500 people applied for benefits through the state portal, records show. Hynes conducted his own test minutes later.

I called the 800 number. Hit the correct prompts for PUA, Hynes wrote in an email to Chan at 8:01 a.m.

An automated voice told Hynes there was a high volume of calls. Then it hung up on him, Hynes emailed.

Its not even 830, Hynes wrote. This is not good.

Illinoisstruggle to roll out the new federal benefits came amid staffing shortfalls at every level of IDES.

Acting Director Chan was a placeholder pending the governors merger plans. Pritzker had named a replacement for Chan in 2019 then withdrew that appointment days later without explanation. And there were months-long vacancies in the deputy director and audit positions.

On March 14, 2020 as Pritzker was closing Illinois schools and dine-in restaurants and limiting gatherings to no more than 50 people Chan sent Hynes an urgent email that revealed the staffing shortfalls within IDES.

I need permission to fill IDES Chief Operating Officer position as soon as possible, Chan wrote. Please know that Im doing everything in my power to get you what is needed. But I need some help.

The Pritzker administration granted that request, and Chan rode out the harrowing next months at the helm of IDES. Chan declined to comment for this report.

Beyond leadership vacancies, rank-and-file numbers also were dropping.

In 2010, the year after Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn took office, the agency headcount stood at almost 2,000. That number declined to around 1,300 when Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner took over in 2015. When Pritzker assumed office in 2019, there were 1,100, records show.

By April, the IDES staff level had slipped to 1,041, according to state records.

Illinois had been struggling to onboard new employees faster than the rate of attrition, Chan told the states Employment Security Advisory Board.

In other words, heading into this downturn, our baseline staffing numbers, the employees hired to operate our programs and meet minimum federal performance standards, were, despite our best efforts, at an all-time low.

Whats more, experience had been drained from the agency.

In 2014, Chan told the panel, about 86% of IDES workforce had more than five years experience with the agency. By June it had dropped to 67%. Managers are serving in multiple roles and performing the work of multiple employees, Chan said, according to the boards meeting minutes.

Amid the pandemic, on April 29, IDES contracted with a private accounting firm to bolsterthe force of 100-plus IDES staffers answering phones. But those new agents often did not have adequate training to answer even the simplest questions, instead transferring claimants to the better-trained IDES employees, records show.

Pritzker wants to add 226 IDES employees next year. Illinois also is planning to issue bonds to borrow more than $5 billion to bail out the IDES Trust Fund, which uses taxes levied from employers to pay out worker benefits claims, records and interviews show.

What were going to do ourselves over the coming months and years is to figure out what weve learned from this experience, Hynes said. And that applies to what technology systems we have and need, what sort of human resources we need to devote to this agency, what type of best practices we should be borrowing from other states.

On hold for now: the governors plan to merge IDES with the state labor department.

It would not be a prudent thing to try to move pieces around and make changes in an agency that is really struggling just to meet its basic operations, Hynes said.

See the article here:
Illinois Poorly Prepared for Flood of Unemployment Claims - Better Government Association (BGA)

Gov. J.B. Pritzker held off filling top vacancies at Illinois unemployment office because he was planning to merge it with another state department.

Then COVID-19 upended the nation.

Starting in March, as authorities shut down businesses and schools and 2 million Illinois workers flooded the state for jobless benefits, the state Department of Employment Security was already at one of its weakest moments in recent history, records and interviews show.

At that moment, agency staffing was at an all-time low, according to its then-acting director. Veteran employees were retiring in droves to be replaced by rookies. And when key jobs were filled it was sometimes with political aides who had little or no agency experience.

Before the national health crisis, Illinois had been ranked among national leaders for speedy delivery of unemployment benefits. Suddenly, IDES plunged to being among the worst in the nation on several key performance measures.

In the months since, as problems have persisted, the administration has offered a range of explanations for its inability to handle the surge of claims.

Pritzker has blamed his Republican predecessor for hollowing out IDES and leaving the agency with inadequate staff and outdated technology. He has also criticized President Trump for unfair and chaotic rollouts of federal unemployment benefits.

But government records and interviews offer a more complex portrait, and reveal the frenzy inside an agency diminished by staff vacancies at every level in the 18 months Pritzker was in charge even before the crisis.

State-by-state data from the U.S. Labor Department, hundreds of agency emails and internal agency documents obtained by the Better Government Association show:

In recent months, IDES has issued around 1 percent of its unemployment checks within seven days of the initial applications, making it the slowest state in the nation by that measure. Before the pandemic, it was among the fastest. On some key federal measurements for processing unemployment claims, IDES performed better during the pandemic than other big states or than the nation as a whole. Still, Illinois failed to meet standards in five of 10 performance measures collected by federal authorities, ranging from timely benefits distribution to the soundness of internal audits that detect fraud and underpayments. The Pritzker administration denied a request for these scorecards, but the BGA obtained them anyway. In June, the overwhelmed and understaffed agency told a senate oversight panel, in writing, that it moved jobless claims that came through elected officials to the front of the line over applications that came directly from taxpayers, the BGA found. In emails and internal presentations, the acting head of the agency sounded the alarm repeatedly and urgently. Please know that Im doing everything in my power to get you what is needed, he wrote in a March 14 email to his boss, Deputy Governor Dan Hynes. But I need some help.

Pritzker administration officials acknowledged to the BGA the agency had problems, but Hynes said unfilled leadership positions at IDES had little impact.

There was not instability at the top, he said. I think what was lacking was everything underneath there.

There was great attrition in the rank-and-file employees who were at the front lines of services. There was outdated technology, a lack of investment in technology that had occurred over the last 10 years. Thats really what was lacking.

Hynes said IDES worked hard under incredible stress to pay out a staggering $14.2 billion in benefits to an unprecedented 2.1 million Illinois claimants from March through August.

The volume and surge of claims that overtook the agency was really unprecedented and unsolvable until we figured out how to allocate the resources in the right way, Hynes said. It was heart-wrenching among all of us to urge patience among people who were desperate to get help, but knowing that we were unable to deal with everybody all at once.

Pritzker this summer named Kristin Richards, a former chief of staff to state Senate Presidents John Cullerton and Don Harmon, the new acting director at IDES.

More so than anything, I feel a responsibility to try and bring some stability for claimants, find some stability for people that are attempting to reach us, Richards said. Its a really big problem-solving exercise but its the right time to throw every bit of muscle we can to try to do it, and thats what were going to do.

Experts say reforms are welcome and sorely needed.

These problems at IDES came at a cost to people. Some applicants had desperate financial problems, said Jeremy Rosen, director of economic justice at Chicagos Shriver Center on Poverty Law. The governor was right that no state was properly prepared. But given the crisis every state faced, why did Illinois not respond as effectively as other states?

From best to worst

Before the pandemic, Illinois had been paying about 80 percent of initial unemployment claims within seven days.

That quick payout rate plummeted to around 1 percent and held there through September, putting Illinois last among states on this timeliness measure, according to newly released data from the federal labor department.

IDES told the BGA these quick payments slowed because Illinois like many states waited one week before starting the clock prior to the pandemic. After the crisis, Illinois and 36 other states cut out the waiting week in an effort to get more money out quickly.

Agency officials offered no explanation why it performed so much worse than all other states, including those that waived the waiting week. Only nine other states fell to less than 10 percent on this seven-day measure, the federal records show.

Federal rules do not require a seven-day turn around. Instead, the guidelines require states to pay out nearly 90 percent of all initial unemployment checks within 21 days.

On that 21-day measure, Illinois also fell short by distributing only 61 percent. However, Illinois still performed better than most states. By comparison, the national average for meeting the three-week window is nearly 55 percent.

Still, every day matters to laid-off Illinois workers borrowing from relatives to pay their rent or mortgage bills, selling personal belongings and using food banks to get groceries to their families, according to emails pleading for help that reached the governors cabinet.

There is no standard for seven days, said Richards, the IDES acting director. I agree with you it is important to claimants. Every day is important to claimants.

A Christmas tree on fire

The difficulties Illinois was facing amid the pandemic were reflected in federal labor department score cards required by the federal government, which rank states for the promptness of payments, the effectiveness of audits and eight other agency functions.

States submit reports every three months to indicate adequate performance or something less by labeling each of the 10 categories with either a green or red mark. IDES veterans call this chart the Christmas tree.

While IDES had been slowly improving since 2015 on the core labor department metrics, by March of this year Illinois was the only state failing all three categories labeled integrity measures, which includes detection of overpayments, improper payments, and the recovery of those mistaken payouts.

Asked for the states scorecard data through June, Pritzker administration officials declined to provide the records.

The Christmas tree is a document put together for internal purposes only and is not available for public consumption, IDES spokeswoman Rebecca Cisco told the BGA in an email.

The BGA, however, obtained a copy of that report, which shows erosion as Illinois failed five of 10 performance measures.

Front of the line

Amid the chaos, IDES was so far behind in processing claims that it triaged cases by prioritizing people referred by local politicians, the BGA found.

In a June 5 report to the bipartisan Senate oversight panel, IDES responded to questions about the lack of uniformity in how unemployment claims are submitted.

Claimants continue to call IDES in addition to their elected officials, the report said. Therefore, often, even though we move an elected officials constituent to the front of the line, the constituent has often already been able to get through to the call center.

We will continue to pull our staff out of the call center to call claimants sent to us by an elected official, that report added, but with hundreds of elected officials submitting issues to IDES, we cannot ensure the claimant will receive a response prior to their being able to get through to the call center.

Later that month, more than 50 House Democrats wrote to the agency that each of them was fielding 60 to 90 complaints from constituents on any given day. The lawmakers asked for additional IDES staff to handle their claims. In a column in the Chicago Sun-Times, Rich Miller reported on the lawmakers letter.

In a recent email to the BGA, Pritzker spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh called the IDES practice of responding to claims referred by elected officials an attempt for the Department and its employees to help as many people as possible at a time when there was no structure in place.

The BGA has filed a pending public records request for details on the number of claims referred by each elected official since March.

This is not good

Illinois began the pandemic era in a proud position, first among states to begin paying out the initial $600-per-week Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation payments on April 6, records show.

That early success quickly became a footnote as IDES was overwhelmed with 519,269 new claims for regular unemployment benefits that month more than 10 previous Aprils combined and federal authorities poured $500 billion in crisis relief into an alphabet soup of new and existing programs for laid-off workers.

Records show how Illinois struggled to implement those federal programs.

It was the 44th state to apply for the $300-per-week Lost Wage Assistance benefit: While most states deployed that program in August, Illinois did not start making payments until September 4, records show.

It was among 23 states that did not offer workers partial benefits when their employers reduced hours instead of laying them off. IDES told the Senate oversight panel in August it decided against offering the benefit because its staff was stretched thin.

Illinois also trailed all but seven states in processing the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, or PUA benefit, to independent contractors and gig workers. Illinois did not begin processing PUA payments until May 11, and didnt starting paying until a week later.

Emails between Hynes and then-IDES Acting Director Thomas Chan obtained by the BGA through a public records request detail the pressure inside IDES as Illinois PUA program was rolled out.

Folks I am counting on you to launch the independent contractor unemployment system ASAP and no later than May 11, Pritzker wrote to Chan and Hynes at 7:43 a.m. on May 4. Can you confirm that will happen? JB.

IDES hustled to update its policies and computer code, and minutes before midnight on May 10 Chan emailed Hynes that he and aides did a test run by filing a small sample of claims.

Minor hiccups but no show stoppers, Chan wrote.

Within 10 minutes of Illinois PUA system going live the next morning, on May 11, more than 1,500 people applied for benefits through the state portal, records show. Hynes conducted his own test minutes later.

I called the 800 number. Hit the correct prompts for PUA, Hynes wrote in an email to Chan at 8:01 a.m.

An automated voice told Hynes there was a high volume of calls. Then it hung up on him, Hynes emailed.

Its not even 830, Hynes wrote. This is not good.

Staffing levels hit all-time low'

Illinois struggle to roll out the new federal benefits came amid staffing shortfalls at every level of IDES.

Acting Director Chan was a placeholder pending the governors merger plans. Pritzker had named a replacement for Chan in 2019 then withdrew that appointment days later without explanation. And there were months-long vacancies in the deputy director and audit positions.

On March 14, 2020 as Pritzker was closing Illinois schools and dine-in restaurants and limiting gatherings to no more than 50 people Chan sent Hynes an urgent email that revealed the staffing shortfalls within IDES.

I need permission to fill IDES Chief Operating Officer position as soon as possible, Chan wrote. Please know that Im doing everything in my power to get you what is needed. But I need some help.

The Pritzker administration granted that request, and Chan rode out the harrowing next months at the helm of IDES. Chan declined to comment for this report.

Beyond leadership vacancies, rank-and-file numbers also were dropping.

In 2010, the year after Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn took office, the agency headcount stood at almost 2,000. That number declined to around 1,300 when Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner took over in 2015. When Pritzker assumed office in 2019, there were 1,100, records show.

By April, the IDES staff level had slipped to 1,041, according to state records.

Illinois had been struggling to onboard new employees faster than the rate of attrition, Chan told the states Employment Security Advisory Board.

In other words, heading into this downturn, our baseline staffing numbers, the employees hired to operate our programs and meet minimum federal performance standards, were, despite our best efforts, at an all-time low.

Whats more, experience had been drained from the agency.

In 2014, Chan told the panel, about 86 percent of IDES workforce had more than five years experience with the agency. By June it had dropped to 67 percent. Managers are serving in multiple roles and performing the work of multiple employees, Chan said, according to the boards meeting minutes.

Amid the pandemic, on April 29, IDES contracted with a private accounting firm to bolster the force of 100-plus IDES staffers answering phones. But those new agents often did not have adequate training to answer even the simplest questions, instead transferring claimants to the better-trained IDES employees, records show.

Best practices to borrow

Pritzker wants to add 226 IDES employees next year. Illinois also is planning to issue bonds to borrow more than $5 billion to bail out the IDES Trust Fund, which uses taxes levied from employers to pay out worker benefits claims, records and interviews show.

What were going to do ourselves over the coming months and years is to figure out what weve learned from this experience, Hynes said. And that applies to what technology systems we have and need, what sort of human resources we need to devote to this agency, what type of best practices we should be borrowing from other states.

On hold for now: the governors plan to merge IDES with the state labor department.

It would not be a prudent thing to try to move pieces around and make changes in an agency that is really struggling just to meet its basic operations, Hynes said.

This story was produced by the Better Government Association, a nonprofit news organization based in Chicago.

Read more here:
Better Government Association: Illinois poorly prepared for flood of unemployment claims - The Herald-News

A 3m funding boost is on the way to improve the condition of some Gwynedd schools as seperate plans for a new 5m primary take a vital step forward.

While a formal consultation will take place on a new 150 pupil school in Cricieth, Gwynedd Council was recently been successful in securing grant funding through the 21st Century Schoolsprogramme, allowing improvements to another seven schools across the county.

The schools to benefit from the 3.3m cash injection will bethe primary schools at Bethel, Llanrug and Ffridd y Llyn near Bala.

Also receiving a slice will be the secondary schools; Eifionydd (Porthmadog), Botwnnog, Glan y Mr (Pwllheli) and Syr Hugh Owen (Caernarfon).

The work on the seven schools includes internal remodelling and enhancement of existing buildings to make suitable as 21stcentury teaching and learning environments.

Construction is expected to start in the schools in the new year.

Cllr Cemlyn Rees Williams, the councils cabinet member for education, said: This is great news for many of our pupils and staff.

This funding enables us to modernise some of our buildings to make them suitable to effectively deliver the curriculum, to benefit our children today and for the future.

These projects offer value for money by improving our existing buildings to be able to adapt to the long term needs of schools.

Councillor Craig ab Iago, who hold the housing and property portfolio, added: Maintaining the condition of schools is financially challenging and therefore attracting this funding to improve the standard of school buildings will be of great assistance.

We will also look forward to opportunities to attract further grants with the aim of delivering improvements to more Gwynedd schools in the future.

Meanwhile, Tuesday saw the council cabinet vote unanimously to proceed with a formal consultation to build a replacement for Ysgol Treferthyr in Cricieth.

The cabinet report highlighted significant issues with the current building, describing it as significantly impairing the staffs ability to deliver the curriculum due to thevery poor and beyond repair 1970s-built facility.

Plans for the new 150 pupil school, with a site earmarked just off the A497 on the western approach into Criccieth, will now go to formal consultation with hopes that the new building will be up and running by the summer of 2023.

Ysgol Treferthyr had 114 pupils on the books in September 2019, just short of the schools capacity of 119, but a formal consultation is needed as the new building would increase its capacity by more than 25%.

Having also successfully secured the bulk of the funding thanks to the Welsh Governments21st Century Schools Programme, the authority looks set to contribute the remaining1.89m of the estimated 5.4m cost.

The cabinet was told that the capacity would be increased following patterns seen elsewhere where new buildings tend to attract more pupils than was previously the case.

The local councillor, Eirwyn Williams, said: Cricieth really needs a new primary school and following being part of the discussions, I agree that the favoured site is a very good choice as a location.

See more here:
3.3m of improvements on the way for Gwynedd schools - North Wales Chronicle

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., speaks during a press conference on the introduction of legislation to establish a Commission on Presidential Capacity on Capitol Hill on Oct. 9 in Washington, D.C. Tribune News Service

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., announced support for legislation Oct. 9 that would allow Congress to establish a permanent commission that can be called upon by the vice president to judge a presidents ability to serve using the 25th Amendment. The amendment provides guidelines for replacement of a president in scenarios of death, removal, resignation or incapacitation. Pelosi supported this bill days after accusing President Donald Trump of being in an altered state because of his COVID-19 treatment.

The legislation has been the subject of much scrutiny from Republicans. Many accused Pelosi of using this as a way to remove Trump from office. Pelosis support for the legislation is simply a political move and not a true consideration of Trumps health.

Originally introduced in 2017 by Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-MD, the legislation seeks to establish a nonpartisan commission separate from the presidents cabinet with regards to the 25th Amendment. The commission would be composed of eight former executive officeholders and eight physicians and psychiatrists, all appointed by congressional leaders in both parties. The chair of the commission is selected by these 16 members.

The 25th Amendment includes language on dealing with a president who is deemed unfit to serve but won't relinquish their position. It allows for the vice president and either a majority of the cabinet or another group designated by Congress to temporarily remove the president from their role.

In relation to Raskins bill, the vice president would still have to initiate this process. This bill would finally create a commission that could have a role in determining the president unfit to serve.

Pelosi began supporting the proposed legislation before it was announced Trump fully recovered from COVID-19 on Sunday. It is unreasonable to continue to focus on the bill with the news of Trumps recovery. But if news broke Trump was struggling with COVID-19 and his chances of recovery appeared slim, then this bill may have some value.

After stating Trumps COVID-19 diagnosis reminded her of the need for this commission, Pelosi began supporting it. Recent reports show Trump has tested negative and is not infectious to others. That should draw attention away from this bill and allow members of Congress to put it toward a stimulus bill and Judge Amy Coney Barretts nomination to the Supreme Court.

Trumps health being a forefront concern in the House right now is a waste of time. A new stimulus bill was released from the White House that both Republicans and Democrats, including Pelosi, were not pleased with.

The House passed a stimulus bill of their own in May and again Oct. 1, but its shown no signs of going anywhere since Republicans countered with two of their own. Both are less than Democrats minimum asking price of $2 trillion. The White Houses $1.8 trillion stimulus proposal was called insufficient and harmed ongoing negotiations, Pelosi said.

Clarifying language is still being waited on from the White House, but there is little faith from members of Congress any new stimulus bill will pass before Election Day. Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY, expressed doubt about any bill getting done soon. It is frustrating to see this pressing issue get nowhere while time is being spent on a bill that lacks immediate value.

The presentation of Raskins bill is blatantly partisan and beyond disappointing. The bill may establish a nonpartisan commission, but Republicans have made it clear they have no interest in supporting this legislation. The last thing America needs is more inaction in Congress.

This proposed bill is clearly a political stunt and not a genuine consideration of Trumps health. As a result, the American people pay the price because Congress fails to act on what they actually need.

Armando Bracco (he/him) is a freshman studying journalism. He is interested in politics and political reporting.

Like what you're reading? Support independent, award-winning college journalism on this site. Donate here.

IU has made no progress in addressing sexual assaults.

The House Judiciary Committee's report provides a framework for it.

Getting your flu shot early is essential to its efficacy.

View post:
OPINION: Democrats' support for bill involving 25th Amendment is a distraction from real issues - Indiana Daily Student

The chief executive of a 1,300-home housing association has been appointed as the long-awaited replacement third member of the Grenfell Inquiry panel.

Sharelines

Ali Akbor will step down as chief executive of Leeds-based Unity Homes and Enterprise to take up the role with the inquiry on 2 November.

The inquiry has been seeking a third member for its panel since January, when previous pick, Benita Mehra, stepped down after it emerged a charity she chaired had received funding from Grenfell-cladding manufacturer Arconic.

Ms Mehra was a short-notice replacement for the original candidate, Professor Nabeel Hamdi, who resigned without explanation in December.

Survivors and bereaved have been pressing for an appointment since, concerned that the current panel of retired judge Sir Martin Moore-Bick and architect Thouria Istephan lacked insight into matters relating to social housing and community relations.

Last week, Grenfell United which represents many of the former residents of the tower wrote to prime minister Boris Johnson branding the delay unacceptable.

Under the rules governing public inquiries, the government must appoint the panel, the recruitment being handled by the Cabinet Office.

Reacting to the appointment of Mr Akbor, Grenfell United said: We can only but hope that this panellist has been thoroughly checked and will live up to the responsibility he has before him.

We have already heard evidence on how we were labelled as troublemakers for speaking out for our safety. Its imperative that the panel learn the lessons and produce meaningful recommendations so that social housing tenants are never treated in this way again.

The inquiry is this week hearing from witnesses at the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO) about their role in the refurbishment. On Monday, it emerged that tenants who asked for details of the plans were branded antagonists.

Mr Akbor said: I have been privileged to work with Unity colleagues and partners for more than two decades to deliver high-quality affordable homes and other essential services to those in greatest need.

We have radically improved the quality of life for thousands of people. This is a source of great pride to me and I know that this wonderful work will go on.

The future of the association and its customers will be in excellent hands.

Unity was first established in 1987 to address the housing needs of the black and minority ethnic population in Leeds. It now owns and manages 1,300 homes for tenants of all ethnicities.

The association also runs a service supporting local entrepreneurs that provides 142 affordable business units for more than 80 diverse businesses across three centres.

Mr Akbor is a qualified accountant and held senior roles in Salford City Council before joining Unity, where he has been chief executive since 1999. He was awarded an OBE last year for services to the community in Leeds.

The panellists will assist chair Sir Martin in reviewing the evidence and writing the inquirys final report.

View original post here:
Housing association chief executive appointed to Grenfell Inquiry panel - Inside Housing

Gov. J.B. Pritzker held off filling top vacancies at Illinois unemployment office because he was planning to merge it with another state department.

Then COVID-19 upended the nation.

Starting in March, as authorities shut down businesses and schools and 2 million Illinois workers flooded the state for jobless benefits, the state Department of Employment Security was already at one of its weakest moments in recent history, records and interviews show.

At that moment, agency staffing was at an all-time low, according to its then-acting director. Veteran employees were retiring in droves to be replaced by rookies. And when key jobs were filled it was sometimes with political aides who had little or no agency experience.

Before the national health crisis, Illinois had been ranked among national leaders for speedy delivery of unemployment benefits. Suddenly, IDES plunged to being among the worst in the nation on several key performance measures.

In the months since, as problems have persisted, the administration has offered a range of explanations for its inability to handle the surge of claims.

Pritzker has blamed his Republican predecessor for hollowing out IDES and leaving the agency with inadequate staff and outdated technology. He has also criticized President Trump for unfair and chaotic rollouts of federal unemployment benefits.

But government records and interviews offer a more complex portrait, and reveal the frenzy inside an agency diminished by staff vacancies at every level in the 18 months Pritzker was in charge even before the crisis.

State-by-state data from the U.S. Labor Department, hundreds of agency emails and internal agency documents obtained by the Better Government Association show:

In recent months, IDES has issued around 1 percent of its unemployment checks within seven days of the initial applications, making it the slowest state in the nation by that measure. Before the pandemic, it was among the fastest. On some key federal measurements for processing unemployment claims, IDES performed better during the pandemic than other big states or than the nation as a whole. Still, Illinois failed to meet standards in five of 10 performance measures collected by federal authorities, ranging from timely benefits distribution to the soundness of internal audits that detect fraud and underpayments. The Pritzker administration denied a request for these scorecards, but the BGA obtained them anyway. In June, the overwhelmed and understaffed agency told a senate oversight panel, in writing, that it moved jobless claims that came through elected officials to the front of the line over applications that came directly from taxpayers, the BGA found. In emails and internal presentations, the acting head of the agency sounded the alarm repeatedly and urgently. Please know that Im doing everything in my power to get you what is needed, he wrote in a March 14 email to his boss, Deputy Governor Dan Hynes. But I need some help.

Pritzker administration officials acknowledged to the BGA the agency had problems, but Hynes said unfilled leadership positions at IDES had little impact.

There was not instability at the top, he said. I think what was lacking was everything underneath there.

There was great attrition in the rank-and-file employees who were at the front lines of services. There was outdated technology, a lack of investment in technology that had occurred over the last 10 years. Thats really what was lacking.

Hynes said IDES worked hard under incredible stress to pay out a staggering $14.2 billion in benefits to an unprecedented 2.1 million Illinois claimants from March through August.

The volume and surge of claims that overtook the agency was really unprecedented and unsolvable until we figured out how to allocate the resources in the right way, Hynes said. It was heart-wrenching among all of us to urge patience among people who were desperate to get help, but knowing that we were unable to deal with everybody all at once.

Pritzker this summer named Kristin Richards, a former chief of staff to state Senate Presidents John Cullerton and Don Harmon, the new acting director at IDES.

More so than anything, I feel a responsibility to try and bring some stability for claimants, find some stability for people that are attempting to reach us, Richards said. Its a really big problem-solving exercise but its the right time to throw every bit of muscle we can to try to do it, and thats what were going to do.

Experts say reforms are welcome and sorely needed.

These problems at IDES came at a cost to people. Some applicants had desperate financial problems, said Jeremy Rosen, director of economic justice at Chicagos Shriver Center on Poverty Law. The governor was right that no state was properly prepared. But given the crisis every state faced, why did Illinois not respond as effectively as other states?

From best to worst

Before the pandemic, Illinois had been paying about 80 percent of initial unemployment claims within seven days.

That quick payout rate plummeted to around 1 percent and held there through September, putting Illinois last among states on this timeliness measure, according to newly released data from the federal labor department.

IDES told the BGA these quick payments slowed because Illinois like many states waited one week before starting the clock prior to the pandemic. After the crisis, Illinois and 36 other states cut out the waiting week in an effort to get more money out quickly.

Agency officials offered no explanation why it performed so much worse than all other states, including those that waived the waiting week. Only nine other states fell to less than 10 percent on this seven-day measure, the federal records show.

Federal rules do not require a seven-day turn around. Instead, the guidelines require states to pay out nearly 90 percent of all initial unemployment checks within 21 days.

On that 21-day measure, Illinois also fell short by distributing only 61 percent. However, Illinois still performed better than most states. By comparison, the national average for meeting the three-week window is nearly 55 percent.

Still, every day matters to laid-off Illinois workers borrowing from relatives to pay their rent or mortgage bills, selling personal belongings and using food banks to get groceries to their families, according to emails pleading for help that reached the governors cabinet.

There is no standard for seven days, said Richards, the IDES acting director. I agree with you it is important to claimants. Every day is important to claimants.

A Christmas tree on fire

The difficulties Illinois was facing amid the pandemic were reflected in federal labor department score cards required by the federal government, which rank states for the promptness of payments, the effectiveness of audits and eight other agency functions.

States submit reports every three months to indicate adequate performance or something less by labeling each of the 10 categories with either a green or red mark. IDES veterans call this chart the Christmas tree.

While IDES had been slowly improving since 2015 on the core labor department metrics, by March of this year Illinois was the only state failing all three categories labeled integrity measures, which includes detection of overpayments, improper payments, and the recovery of those mistaken payouts.

Asked for the states scorecard data through June, Pritzker administration officials declined to provide the records.

The Christmas tree is a document put together for internal purposes only and is not available for public consumption, IDES spokeswoman Rebecca Cisco told the BGA in an email.

The BGA, however, obtained a copy of that report, which shows erosion as Illinois failed five of 10 performance measures.

Front of the line

Amid the chaos, IDES was so far behind in processing claims that it triaged cases by prioritizing people referred by local politicians, the BGA found.

In a June 5 report to the bipartisan Senate oversight panel, IDES responded to questions about the lack of uniformity in how unemployment claims are submitted.

Claimants continue to call IDES in addition to their elected officials, the report said. Therefore, often, even though we move an elected officials constituent to the front of the line, the constituent has often already been able to get through to the call center.

We will continue to pull our staff out of the call center to call claimants sent to us by an elected official, that report added, but with hundreds of elected officials submitting issues to IDES, we cannot ensure the claimant will receive a response prior to their being able to get through to the call center.

Later that month, more than 50 House Democrats wrote to the agency that each of them was fielding 60 to 90 complaints from constituents on any given day. The lawmakers asked for additional IDES staff to handle their claims. In a column in the Chicago Sun-Times, Rich Miller reported on the lawmakers letter.

In a recent email to the BGA, Pritzker spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh called the IDES practice of responding to claims referred by elected officials an attempt for the Department and its employees to help as many people as possible at a time when there was no structure in place.

The BGA has filed a pending public records request for details on the number of claims referred by each elected official since March.

This is not good

Illinois began the pandemic era in a proud position, first among states to begin paying out the initial $600-per-week Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation payments on April 6, records show.

That early success quickly became a footnote as IDES was overwhelmed with 519,269 new claims for regular unemployment benefits that month more than 10 previous Aprils combined and federal authorities poured $500 billion in crisis relief into an alphabet soup of new and existing programs for laid-off workers.

Records show how Illinois struggled to implement those federal programs.

It was the 44th state to apply for the $300-per-week Lost Wage Assistance benefit: While most states deployed that program in August, Illinois did not start making payments until September 4, records show.

It was among 23 states that did not offer workers partial benefits when their employers reduced hours instead of laying them off. IDES told the Senate oversight panel in August it decided against offering the benefit because its staff was stretched thin.

Illinois also trailed all but seven states in processing the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, or PUA benefit, to independent contractors and gig workers. Illinois did not begin processing PUA payments until May 11, and didnt starting paying until a week later.

Emails between Hynes and then-IDES Acting Director Thomas Chan obtained by the BGA through a public records request detail the pressure inside IDES as Illinois PUA program was rolled out.

Folks I am counting on you to launch the independent contractor unemployment system ASAP and no later than May 11, Pritzker wrote to Chan and Hynes at 7:43 a.m. on May 4. Can you confirm that will happen? JB.

IDES hustled to update its policies and computer code, and minutes before midnight on May 10 Chan emailed Hynes that he and aides did a test run by filing a small sample of claims.

Minor hiccups but no show stoppers, Chan wrote.

Within 10 minutes of Illinois PUA system going live the next morning, on May 11, more than 1,500 people applied for benefits through the state portal, records show. Hynes conducted his own test minutes later.

I called the 800 number. Hit the correct prompts for PUA, Hynes wrote in an email to Chan at 8:01 a.m.

An automated voice told Hynes there was a high volume of calls. Then it hung up on him, Hynes emailed.

Its not even 830, Hynes wrote. This is not good.

Staffing levels hit all-time low'

Illinois struggle to roll out the new federal benefits came amid staffing shortfalls at every level of IDES.

Acting Director Chan was a placeholder pending the governors merger plans. Pritzker had named a replacement for Chan in 2019 then withdrew that appointment days later without explanation. And there were months-long vacancies in the deputy director and audit positions.

On March 14, 2020 as Pritzker was closing Illinois schools and dine-in restaurants and limiting gatherings to no more than 50 people Chan sent Hynes an urgent email that revealed the staffing shortfalls within IDES.

I need permission to fill IDES Chief Operating Officer position as soon as possible, Chan wrote. Please know that Im doing everything in my power to get you what is needed. But I need some help.

The Pritzker administration granted that request, and Chan rode out the harrowing next months at the helm of IDES. Chan declined to comment for this report.

Beyond leadership vacancies, rank-and-file numbers also were dropping.

In 2010, the year after Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn took office, the agency headcount stood at almost 2,000. That number declined to around 1,300 when Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner took over in 2015. When Pritzker assumed office in 2019, there were 1,100, records show.

By April, the IDES staff level had slipped to 1,041, according to state records.

Illinois had been struggling to onboard new employees faster than the rate of attrition, Chan told the states Employment Security Advisory Board.

In other words, heading into this downturn, our baseline staffing numbers, the employees hired to operate our programs and meet minimum federal performance standards, were, despite our best efforts, at an all-time low.

Whats more, experience had been drained from the agency.

In 2014, Chan told the panel, about 86 percent of IDES workforce had more than five years experience with the agency. By June it had dropped to 67 percent. Managers are serving in multiple roles and performing the work of multiple employees, Chan said, according to the boards meeting minutes.

Amid the pandemic, on April 29, IDES contracted with a private accounting firm to bolster the force of 100-plus IDES staffers answering phones. But those new agents often did not have adequate training to answer even the simplest questions, instead transferring claimants to the better-trained IDES employees, records show.

Best practices to borrow

Pritzker wants to add 226 IDES employees next year. Illinois also is planning to issue bonds to borrow more than $5 billion to bail out the IDES Trust Fund, which uses taxes levied from employers to pay out worker benefits claims, records and interviews show.

What were going to do ourselves over the coming months and years is to figure out what weve learned from this experience, Hynes said. And that applies to what technology systems we have and need, what sort of human resources we need to devote to this agency, what type of best practices we should be borrowing from other states.

On hold for now: the governors plan to merge IDES with the state labor department.

It would not be a prudent thing to try to move pieces around and make changes in an agency that is really struggling just to meet its basic operations, Hynes said.

This story was produced by the Better Government Association, a nonprofit news organization based in Chicago.

Continued here:
Better Government Association: Illinois poorly prepared for flood of unemployment claims - Northwest Herald

In September, members of Mid Sussex District Councils Conservative cabinet agreed to shutter to the community venue, weeks after it was removed from the contract with Places Leisure.

The decision has been called in by the Liberal Democrats and will be debated by the councils scrutiny committee for community, customer services and service delivery tomorrow (Tuesday).

When the decision was taken, officers noted how the use of Clair Hall had fallen in recent years, with the cost of maintaining and repairing the building over the next 20 years estimated to be in the range of 1million.

The community venue has not reopened since closing earlier this year due to the lockdown.

Alison Bennett, Liberal Democrat group leader, said: Theres lots of public anger about the way this decision has been rushed through. Clair Hall is a much-loved part of Haywards Heath and theres a feeling that it is just been snatched away under the cover of Covid. Voters have got a right to have their voice heard on this and thats what well make sure happens on Tuesday.

We dont expect the council to get everything right but we think this is a bad decision, reached through a flawed process. This meeting could give the cabinet a chance to reset and come back with a plan that ensures the town doesnt have to wait years for a replacement facility.

Ahead of the meeting, the Lib Dems say that these questions need answers:

What is driving the decision to push the closure of Clair Hall through at breakneck speed without proper regard to the councils own decision-making rules?

2. What does the council want to do with this prime town centre site?

What are the alternative uses envisaged for the site? What alternative locations are being considered for Clair Halls replacement?

3. Why were the public not consulted before the cabinet decided to close Clair Hall?

One of the councils principles of decision making is that proper regard should be paid to internal and external consultation according to the decision in question. Why has this not happened?

4. Is this council still committed to facilitating culture and the arts across Mid Sussex?

When MSDC closed Martlets Hall in Burgess Hill in 2018, one justification was that hall users could be relocated to Clair Hall in Haywards Heath. What does the closure of Clair Hall mean for this councils future community and culture strategies?

5. Is Covid-19 being used to push through the closure of Clair Hall something MSDC have been attempting to achieve since the 2007 Haywards Heath masterplan?

With venues as varied as the Royal Albert Hall and Hurstpierpoint Village Centre both reopening despite social distancing restrictions, why does MSDC say that it is not possible for Clair Hall to do the same?

Redevelopment of the Clair Hall site has been on the cards for over decade. Isnt Covid being used as a convenient excuse?

See more here:
'Rushed through' decision to close Clair Hall to be challenged - Mid Sussex Times