Activist Shareholders for Smith & Wesson Embrace the Long View in Struggle to Curb Gun Violence

Some of Smith and Wesson gun manufacture’s stockholders are concerned that their products are used to commit murder. They are calling on the company to adopt a human rights policy consistent with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Human Rights. It’s fair to say these human rights stockholders are not your typical investors. Their Smith & Wesson resolution was filed by 15 groups of religious investors, mostly orders of Catholic nuns plus a couple of Catholic health care providers and the Episcopal Church. MORE

A New National Survey Finds Broad Public Support for Police Reform Proposals in U.S. 

A new public opinion study led by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health finds broad public support for policing reforms and investments in gun violence prevention. According to the survey, more than 76 percent of U.S. adults support strategies where police and mental health professionals respond together to certain mental health or substance use situations. Seventy-two percent of respondents supported stronger police accountability and diversion from incarceration for individuals with behavioral health needs. MORE

TAKE ACTION: Support Biden’s Call for Negotiations on a New Arms Reduction Agreement

Without a new nuclear arms control framework before 2026, there will be no limits on the size or composition of the world's two largest nuclear arsenals for the first time since 1972. The nuclear danger would grow. In August, President Biden said his administration is ready to negotiate expeditiously a New START follow-on agreement. The Arms Control Association urges us to tell President Biden to prevent an unconstrained nuclear arms race. TAKE ACTION

NATO Chief Calls Putin's Nuclear Threat a 'Dangerous' Escalation

Russian President Putin's thinly veiled threat to use nuclear weapons after Russian setbacks in Ukraine was "dangerous and reckless rhetoric," NATO's secretary general said this week, adding that the only way to end the war was to prove Moscow will not win on the battlefield. Jens Stoltenberg also told Reuters in an interview that Putin's announcement of Russia's first military mobilization since World War Two would escalate the conflict and cost more lives. MORE

Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott Pull from Segregationists’ Playbook with Their Anti-Immigration Actions

Governors Greg Abbott in Texas and Ron DeSantis in Florida are following the playbook of segregationists who provided one-way bus tickets to Northern cities for Black Southerners in the 1960s. At that time, the fight for racial equality was attracting national attention and support from many white Americans, inspiring some to join interracial Freedom Rides organized by civil rights groups to challenge segregation on interstate bus lines. MORE

U.S. To Retain 125,000 Cap on Refugee Admissions for Fiscal Year 2023

The Biden administration announced that it will again set a refugee cap of 125,000 for Fiscal Year 2023, after falling far short of that goal in FY 2022. As of August 31, the United States has resettled about 20,000 refugees through the US refugee program, although close to 180,000 Afghans and Ukrainians have entered through humanitarian parole, a temporary legal status, or other legal avenues. MORE

Arrests at Southwestern Border Exceed 2 Million in a Year for the First Time

For the first time, the number of arrests of undocumented immigrants along the southwestern border exceeded two million in one year, according to newly released government data, continuing a historic pace of undocumented immigrants coming to the country. The number of arrests at the border increased slightly from July to August, with a total of more than 2.1 million for the first 11 months of the 2022 fiscal year, which ends on Sept. 30. MORE

TAKE ACTION: Tell President Biden to Take Bold and Just Climate Action at COP27 In Egypt

This November, the United Nations will be holding its annual international climate conference, COP27, in Egypt. As we continue to see the effects of climate change globally, it is crucial that President Biden and the U.S. take bold pro-climate actions and make serious and ambitious investments to reduce our carbon emissions. Interfaith Power and Light invites us to tell President Biden to lead by example by committing to bold and just climate action. TAKE ACTION

Carbon Capture: The Fossil Fuel Industry’s False Climate Solution

The Inflation Reduction Act is the biggest climate investment in history, and it’s a game changer for our transition to clean energy. But it also includes tax credits for carbon capture technologies that threaten to extend the life of fossil fuels and perpetuate the harms of pollution in overburdened communities. Here’s why carbon capture is largely a false solution – and what we can do to stop it. MORE

Sharon Lavigne, Rise St. James Win in Court Against Formosa Plastics

A Louisiana judge has nixed air permits for Formosa Plastics, a Taiwanese corporation that has faced opposition for years from climate activists in the state’s majority-Black “Cancer Alley,” chiefly including Goldman Prize winner Sharon Lavigne and her Rise St. James nonprofit. The project could have tripled cancer-causing pollutants in the region. MORE

Football Fans Urge FIFA To Pay Up for Migrant Worker Abuses

Results from a recent survey show that the majority of football (known as “soccer” in the US) fans are in favor of the international football league, FIFA, paying $440 million in compensation to migrant workers who suffered abuses in bringing us the World Cup set to take place in Qatar. Continuous reports of migrant worker exploitation, forced labor, and wage theft have plagued the tournament set to take place in Qatar in just a couple of months. MORE

Massachusetts Seeks Human Trafficking Probe Targeting Florida Gov. Over Migrants

Authorities in Massachusetts said they have requested a federal human trafficking probe after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis boasted of sending about 50 Venezuelan migrants to Martha's Vineyard to shine a national spotlight on immigration issues. Massachusetts state Rep. Dylan Fernandes called the act “inhumane” saying, "Not only is it morally criminal, there are legal implications around fraud, kidnapping, deprivation of liberty, and human trafficking." MORE

Spotlight on Forced Labor Fashion

The fashion industry relies on the exploited labor of workers around the world who make billions of garments every year, the majority of which end up in landfill, for little or no pay with fashion brands failing to take responsibility for forced labor and other rights abuses in their supply chains. This is compounded by the absence of comprehensive laws requiring companies to act to protect workers from exploitation. MORE

Middle TN Domestic Violence Survivors Receive 1,000 Ring Doorbells

Some women in Middle Tennessee are getting free Ring video doorbells to keep those women, who are survivors of domestic violence, safe from their abusers. Women who have escaped abusive households said they often face stalking or harassment by their abuser for months or even years after they have left. Now an abuser would be seen and caught on camera thanks to a donation of 1,000 video doorbells that will go to survivors across middle Tennessee where more than half of all crimes are domestic violence related. MORE

New Bill Aims to Curtail Surprise Medical Bills for Sexual Assault Survivors

A bill introduced this week in the House of Representatives would require private health insurance to cover forensic exams for sexual assault survivors in full. The legislation came after research published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that nearly 18,000 out of 113,000 emergency visits related to sexual violence in 2019 resulted in out-of-pocket costs for the survivors. The average cost was $3,551 per person. MORE

TAKE ACTION: Encourage Every State to Provide Online Voter Registration

Online voter registration has been around for 20 years. But 7 states -- from New England to the Deep South -- still don’t provide voters with this practical option, instead requiring paper registration forms. The Coalition on Human Needs asks us to tell the Secretaries of State of Arkansas, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming to immediately adopt online voter registration and make our democracy accessible to millions more eligible voters. TAKE ACTION

More Veterans Have Died by Suicide Than the VA Previously Reported

More military veterans died by suicide than the Department of Veterans Affairs had previously reported, a new study found. The number of suicides among former service members is 1.37 times greater in eight states than the VA had reported from 2014 to 2018, according to a study released Saturday by America’s Warrior Partnership (AWP), a national nonprofit organization that works to end veteran suicide.  MORE

UN Warns Up To 345 Million People are Marching Toward Starvation

The U.N. food chief has warned that the world is facing “a global emergency of unprecedented magnitude,” with up to 345 million people marching toward starvation — and 70 million pushed closer to starvation by the war in Ukraine. David Beasley, executive director of the U.N. World Food Program said it is incredibly troubling that 50 million of those people in 45 countries are suffering from very acute malnutrition and are “knocking on famine’s door.” MORE

Alan Miller is scheduled to be executed on September 22 by the state of Alabama for the murders of Lee Holdbrooks, Christopher Scott Yancy, and Terry Jarvis. Please hold Alan, Lee, Christopher, Terry, their families, and the people of Alabama in prayer. TAKE ACTION

John Ramirez is scheduled to be executed on October 5 by the state of Texas for the murder of Pablo Castro. Please hold John, Pablo, their families, and the people of Texas in prayer. TAKE ACTION

Benjamin Cole is scheduled to be executed on October 20 by the state of Oklahoma for the murder of Brianna Cole. Please hold Benjamin, Brianna, their families, and the people of Oklahoma in prayer. TAKE ACTION