Action Alert Digest - June 1, 2022

June 1, 2022

Action Alert Digest

TAKE ACTION: Urge Senators to Advance Lifesaving Gun Safety Legislation

Tragedies like the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, are not inevitable. There are bipartisan, commonsense gun safety reforms that we know would protect children from gun violence – including bipartisan background check legislation and extreme risk protection orders. Sandy Hook Promise urges us to tell our Senators to advance commonsense gun safety reforms. TAKE ACTION

How Russians Are Protesting the War in Ukraine from a Totalitarian State

Since Russia started its’ invasion of Ukraine, the regime has quickly morphed from a “hybrid” authoritarianism into a totalitarian one. It is now illegal in Russia to call the war a “war” or protest it in any way. However, a lot of people in Russia continue to defy the authorities. Apart from individual protests when people oppose knowing in advance they would be detained, other forms of public dissent have emerged. MORE

A Study Gave Cash and Therapy to Men at Risk of Criminal Behavior. 10 Years Later, the Results Are In.

What if someone told you that you could dramatically reduce the crime rate without resorting to coercive policing or incarceration? What if they said you could avert a serious crime — a robbery, say, or maybe even a murder — just by shelling out $1.50? A new study provides experimental evidence that offering at-risk men a few weeks of behavioral therapy plus a bit of cash reduces the future risk of crime and violence, even 10 years after the intervention. MORE

US To Seek New UN Sanctions If North Korea Holds Nuke Test

The United States has said it will push for additional sanctions on North Korea if it conducts a new nuclear test explosion. U.S., South Korean, and Japanese officials have said North Korea could soon conduct its first nuclear test in nearly five years. China and Russia vetoed a U.N. resolution sponsored by the United States that would have imposed tough new sanctions on North Korea for recent nuclear weapons activity. MORE

Biden Envoy Makes the Case for Iran Nuclear Deal as Prospects Fade

Saying he was “not particularly optimistic, to put it mildly,” of success in the year-long negotiations over reviving the nuclear deal with Iran, the Biden administration’s envoy to the talks insisted that ongoing diplomacy remains the best option for U.S. national security. “The military option cannot resolve this issue” and prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, Robert Malley told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. MORE

U.S. Defense Officials Balk at Biden’s Nuclear Budget

Top U.S. defense officials disagreed publicly with some Biden administration decisions to strip funding for nuclear capabilities from its $813 billion fiscal year 2023 request for national defense, while Republicans in Congress attacked the budget proposal as dangerously insufficient to keep pace with China, Russia, and inflation. MORE

Will an Emergency Law Used to Keep Out Migrants Become Permanent?

When the Trump administration announced the implementation of Title 42 in March 2020, a public health provision, it effectively banned most migration into the U.S., although the stated aim was to stop the spread of COVID-19. Now, immigration advocates fear Title 42 will become permanent under the Biden administration. MORE

Border Officials Begin Screening Asylum-Seeking Families for Fear of Persecution Prior To Expulsion

Border officials have begun referring some asylum-seeking families for special screenings to see if they are likely to be harmed in the countries they would be expelled to. The screening is the result of judicial orders in multiple legal cases. MORE

Inside The Local Mutual Aid Effort Supporting the Migrants Texas Bused to D.C.

Hundreds of migrants have been bused to D.C. by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott over the last six weeks. The Republican governor has framed the chartered buses as a pointed criticism of President Joe Biden’s border policy, saying “Texas should not have to bear the burden of the Biden Administration’s failure to secure our border.” When Abbot announced his plans in April, a core group of about 20 D.C. activists set to work creating an emergency aid operation. MORE

TAKE ACTION: Stop Plastic Pollution

Every year, the United States alone burns or buries 32 million tons of plastic in landfills. 14 million tons of plastic pollution escapes into the world's oceans. Friends of the Earth urges us to tell the EPA to act now to take action on the plastics crisis and protect the health of our oceans, people, and wildlife. TAKE ACTION

Can We Grow and Burn Our Way Out of Climate Change?

Saying that the world has to stop using fossil fuels is simple, but implementing a new energy system built largely on renewable energy is more difficult. One possible solution that has gained traction in the last decade involves replacing the burning of coal in electrical generating plants with the burning of wood—or any other kind of vegetation, including corn, sunflower stalks, grapevines, soybeans, and other forms of what is technically known as “biomass.” MORE

New Study: Climate Change Will Spread Toxic Mold to Midwest Corn

Climate change is expanding the reach of aflatoxin, a chemical produced by a gray-green mold that infects corn crops and could threaten widespread damage to the country’s lucrative Corn Belt. According to new research, aflatoxin has been primarily confined to the South. But as hot and dry weather moves northward, fungal infections will move with it, hitting the Midwest more frequently and on a wider scale than previously seen. MORE

A Human-Trafficking Case Exposed Farmworker Abuses. The Government Is Promising Change

Federal reforms for farmworkers are in the works following a blockbuster human trafficking case out of Georgia late last year. That case highlighted loopholes for abuse in the federal visa program that provides workers to farms and meat processing plants. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said the department is preparing to take the first step toward creating a rule reforming the H-2A and H-2B nonimmigrant worker visas. MORE

70 Missing Children, Human Trafficking Victims Recovered In 3-Week Texas Operation

A multi-agency operation in western Texas has found 70 missing children in recent weeks. Led by Homeland Security Investigations in El Paso and the Texas Department of Public Safety, Operation Lost Souls was conducted over three weeks, from the end of April through mid-May. The recovered children were ages 10 to 17, and a majority were runaways. Authorities said some of the children were victims of sex trafficking, as well as physical and sexual abuse. MORE

Statute of Limitations on Sexual Assault Eliminated for One Year In New York

With Governor Hochul’s recent signing of the Adult Survivors Act (the “ASA”), New York has taken a monumental step toward providing an avenue for victims of sexual abuse to seek legal recourse against their perpetrators and employers that were previously time-barred due to statute of limitations and/or notice of claim requirements. MORE

Congress Moves to Address Critical Shortage of Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners

According to the International Association of Forensic Nurses, only 17-20% of American hospitals have Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANEs) on staff. In 2020, NBC News analyzed all 50 states and the District of Columbia and found a lack of funding and support for these essential first responders. This analysis also concluded that exams were less likely to be available in rural areas, but even urban hospitals had difficulty keeping a SANE on call 24/7. MORE

TAKE ACTION: Call on Congress to Pass Sentencing Reform

The U.S. has the largest incarcerated population in the world, holding nearly 25% of the world’s prisoners while accounting for only 5% of the global population. Restrictions on release disproportionately impact the poor, communities of color, and youth being tried and convicted as adults. The United Church of Christ urges us to tell Congress to pass sentencing reform legislation to address this inequity. TAKE ACTION

Inflation May Be Easing — But Low-Income People Are Still Paying the Steepest Prices

The rising costs of housing, food, and other necessities are big drivers of inflation, and they fall especially hard on lower-income Americans. A report from the Labor Department shows consumer prices in April were 8.3% higher than a year earlier. That's a modest decrease from the March inflation rate of 8.5%, thanks in part to a short-lived drop in gasoline prices last month. Gas prices have since rebounded to a record high, though unadjusted for inflation. MORE

Frank Atwood is scheduled to be executed on June 9 by the state of Arizona for the murder of Vicky Hoskinson. Please hold Frank, Vicky, their families, and the people of Arizona in prayer. TAKE ACTION

Ramiro Gonzales is scheduled to be executed on July 13 by the state of Texas for the murder of Bridget Townsend. Please hold Ramiro, Bridget, their families, and the people of Texas in prayer. TAKE ACTION