As bird flu spreads on dairy farms, an ‘abysmal’ few workers are tested

posted in: News | 0

Nada Hassanein | Stateline.org (TNS)

Public health officials are concerned about bird flu, which so far has been detected in three dairy farmworkers — two in Michigan and one in Texas — as well as in cattle in a dozen states.

The farmworkers’ symptoms were mild, and researchers have not found that the H5N1 virus, also known as bird flu, can spread from person to person. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there is little risk to the general public. However, flu viruses evolve, and H5N1 could mutate and gain the ability to infect people more easily.

“The reason public health authorities are and should be on high alert is because this is a potential high-consequence pathogen,” said Meghan Davis, an epidemiologist and microbiologist at Johns Hopkins University.

That’s why state officials are so focused on testing and surveillance of dairy workers. But they are encountering significant challenges.

H5N1 is deadly to domestic poultry and can wipe out entire flocks in a matter of days, the U.S. Department of Agriculture says. As a result, the poultry industry has responded vigorously to the threat, culling entire flocks when they detect even one infected bird. But H5N1 is milder in cows, and the response on dairy farms has been less aggressive.

The CDC and USDA have advised dairy farms to monitor for the virus in cattle and humans, but testing remains voluntary, except for herds moving across state lines.

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In addition, dairy farms are often in remote rural areas, and workers have little access to transportation and no sick leave. As a result, it’s difficult for them to travel to health care providers for testing and treatment. Many dairy workers, who are mostly immigrants, speak Indigenous languages like Nahuatl or K’iche, according to the National Center for Farmworker Health, a nonprofit that offers support and training for centers that focus on the health of farmworkers.

Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease physician and scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, emphasized that the current bird flu strain isn’t a pandemic threat to humans. That’s why, he said, this is the perfect time to get the right testing and surveillance measures in place.

“If you can’t get it right with something that’s as forgiving as this virus has been, in terms of its inefficiency in infecting humans, it really doesn’t bode well for when the stakes are higher,” Adalja said.

So far, cases of the virus have been documented among domestic livestock in Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming, according to the USDA. Last month, federal officials announced grants to farms to offset the cost of milk loss from sick cows. Four states — Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico and Texas — are launching voluntary pilot programs to test for the virus in dairy farms’ bulk milk tanks.

In Michigan, where the virus has been detected in 25 herds, Tim Boring, director of the state Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said efforts are focused on trying to help farmers recoup losses and agree to testing. Last month, the agency announced it would use a combination of federal and state money to give as much as $28,000 to up to 20 affected farms.

The state also launched a study to find out if there are antibodies in people exposed to sick cows, aiming to determine if there have been any asymptomatic infections.

Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, Michigan’s chief medical executive, said the state is working with community health clinics and local health departments to reach farmworkers.

“They not only know the farms in their counties, but they also know many of the farmworker organizations,” she said.

Dairy farmworkers, who are often immigrants, can’t afford to miss a day of work, and can be reluctant to reach out to request testing or say they feel sick, advocates say.

“This is a population of people that is just vastly underserviced when it comes to both outreach and trust established with state and federal agencies,” said Elizabeth Strater, strategic campaigns director at United Farm Workers, a labor union. “This is a group of workers that are some of the poorest workers in the United States.”

Immigrants make up 51% of daily labor at dairy farms, and farms that employ immigrants produce 79% of the nation’s milk supply, according to the National Milk Producers Federation.

Amy Liebman of the Migrant Clinicians Network, an education and outreach group of experts in migrant health, said testing should be administered on the farms rather than in clinics.

“Dairies are in rural areas, very isolated geographically. You’re not going to get all these workers in one place to be able to do any kind of surveying or testing. It is a matter of really trying to go to where the workers are,” she said.

But it hasn’t been easy getting farm owners to agree to that. The Texas state health department told Stateline it has offered on-site testing to farmers, but as of mid-June, it had tested only about 20 symptomatic dairy workers who volunteered for testing. It also has given personal protective equipment to “interested dairies” and posted a notice online offering to deliver the equipment.

Coordination among state or local agricultural and health departments is key to tracking viral spread. A lack of coordination and monitoring can be contributing to underreporting cases.

“I think it is definitely more widespread than is currently reported,” said Dr. Shira Doron, chief infection control officer at Tufts Medicine. “The barriers between the agencies are really hampering our efforts right now.”

The CDC has offered a $75 payment to any farmworker who agrees to be tested and provide blood and nasal swab samples to the agency. But Doris Garcia-Ruiz, who directs farmworker outreach at Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid, said that won’t make up for days of lost income.

“If they take the time off to go to their doctor’s office, they don’t have sick leave, so they’re not going to get paid,” she said.

The CDC’s latest figures show that at least 53 people have been tested in the cattle outbreak, with a majority of those in Michigan. Strater says that’s not enough.

“That’s abysmal,” she said. “Our method of testing is so passive. They’re relying on workers reporting to medical clinics; these are workers that are not going to be taking themselves for medical treatment unless they’re experiencing something life-threatening.”

Getting workers to use personal protective equipment also is a challenge. The CDC recommends that workers wear respirators, waterproof aprons and coveralls, unvented safety goggles or a face shield, and rubber boots with sealed seams that can be sanitized. It also advises that workers follow a specific sequence of steps to remove the PPE at the end of a shift to avoid contamination.

“Dairy work is very wet, very hands-on,” said Christine Sauvé, who leads community engagement at the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center. “While some industries are very familiar with PPE … the full recommendation from CDC is new and different. And so that really needs the full promotion from the employer, and then also from the state agencies.”

Sauvé worries that Michigan is prioritizing farmers’ losses, rather than farmworkers’ health, in its response. While the risk to the public is low, she and other experts say the population of farmworkers shouldn’t be forgotten.

Bethany Alcauter of the National Center for Farmworker Health described bird flu threat as “kind of a ticking time bomb.”

“Maybe it hasn’t fully gone off yet. But if we don’t manage it well, it could,” Alcauter said.

Stateline is part of States Newsroom, a national nonprofit news organization focused on state policy.

©2024 States Newsroom. Visit at stateline.org. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

St. Paul’s Highland Park Water Tower opens a panoramic view of summer in July

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St. Paul’s Highland Park Water Tower will be open to the public from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on July 20 and July 21. Admission is free.

Since the tower stands at 127 feet tall, guests must climb a 151-step staircase to reach the observation deck. A view of the Highland Park golf course to the Mississippi River can be seen from the tower.

The open houses are designed to inform residents about municipal water and the efforts of the utility to preserve and protect water resources, according to the tower presentation.

The water tower was designed by Clarence Wigington and completed in 1982, making it a historic place icon for the city. Wigington also designed structures like the St. Paul Public Safety Building and the Como Park Pavilion.

The St. Paul Regional Water Services will host another open house on Oct. 12 to Oct. 13 for a fall colors viewing.

Guests can ask and learn about the tower’s history at the open house or online at stpaul.gov.

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Newer crop of tax writers prepares to take on legacy 2017 law

posted in: Politics | 0

Caitlin Reilly | (TNS) CQ-Roll Call

WASHINGTON — Member turnover on the tax-writing committees and in Congress broadly has given rise to a feeling on and off Capitol Hill that nothing is off the table in next year’s tax deadline negotiations, including provisions made permanent by the 2017 tax law.

The effects of this turnover are likely to be felt more deeply in a Republican sweep or divided government next year, as churn has been more dramatic on the GOP side of the dais. The lineup changes pose two primary challenges for those who would like to see the 2017 law extended: the need to educate new members on the policies and trade-offs included in the law, and adapt to shifting political winds less friendly to wealthy individuals and big corporations.

“The political dynamic today is different than it was in 2017,” said Senate Finance Committee ranking member Michael D. Crapo, R-Idaho. “There are different approaches and philosophies about tax policy that may be stronger or weaker today than they were then. And I think that that just makes it more incumbent that we understand exactly what we did and why and how it worked.”

Lower tax rates on individuals, relief from the alternative minimum tax, treatment of money U.S. companies make abroad, small-business deductions and other provisions established by 2017 law are set to expire or become less generous at the end of next year.

Eighty percent of the Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee and a little over half on Finance joined the committee after enactment of the 2017 law. There are only five Ways and Means and six Senate Finance Republicans remaining on those panels from that time.

Republicans on both committees have started member education efforts with topic-specific working groups.

There has been less turnover among Democrats on the House and Senate panels since 2017 and substantially less since 2021 when they worked on legislation that eventually became the 2022 health care and clean energy budget law, a closer corollary for Democrats when it comes to next year than the Republican-passed tax law.

Peter Roskam, a partner at BakerHostetler and former Ways and Means member who helped write the 2017 law, said given those dynamics stakeholders should start engaging lawmakers now, rather than waiting until after the November elections.

“Everything’s on the table. And I think it’s a real strategic mistake to make an assumption that says, ‘Hey, we’re good. We’re fine. Nobody’s going to touch this,’” the Illinois Republican said. “I just don’t think that’s true in this environment, and that some of the choices that members are going to be forced to make will end up being very uncomfortable.”

Shifting politics

The turnover has brought with it a shift in politics, including a growing populist vein within each party. The change has K Street preparing to play defense on behalf of business-friendly tax breaks, particularly the 21 percent corporate tax rate that the law made permanent, unlike other breaks aimed at households.

President Joe Biden has said he’d like to increase the rate to 28 percent. Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., said members of his party have asked why the rate, which sat at 35 percent before the 2017 law took effect, is so low. In the wake of those comments, some Republicans have floated lowering the rate further, including former President Donald Trump.

“That’s an earthquake,” Roskam said, referring to Smith’s remarks. “That is shifting grounds underneath long-held assumptions, which means that clients really need to be articulating what they’re doing through the lens of quote, ‘the forgotten man.’ How does this have an impact on folks that are far away from Washington and whose economic interests are not articulated necessarily on the editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal?”

Some Republicans are also growing more hostile toward corporations, which they see as pushing socially progressive political messages, Roskam added.

“I think some members are looking at this saying, ‘This is an opportunity for me to extract a price from corporations who are promoting a value system that I don’t agree with, sort of ‘woke Wall Street,’” he said.

Aharon Friedman, director and senior tax counsel at the Federal Policy Group, dismissed the idea of a major shift among Republicans on the corporate rate, but said the politics around trade policy have changed significantly since 2017.

“Most Republicans believe that cutting the corporate rate was something that spurred enormous economic growth,” said Friedman, who was senior tax counsel for Ways and Means Republicans in the lead-up to the 2017 law. “There are definitely different ways of looking at trade policy now in the mainstream Republican Party than there was 10 years ago.”

Trump has proposed a 10 percent tariff on all imported goods if he wins in November, which could be viewed as an offset for tax cuts though some analysts say such broad tariffs would sap economic growth enough to wipe out the revenue gain.

Some tax provisions due to become less generous at the end of next year deal with money U.S. companies earn abroad, including from intangible assets like patents and trademarks.

Aruna Kalyanam, a principal at EY’s sustainability tax practice, said the estate tax could also be a target amid shifting politics. The 2017 law nearly doubled the amount of inheritance exempt from taxation.

“It’s a provision that’s incredibly important for people with constituents that have a whole lot of land wealth, and things like that they may not consider liquid,” Kalyanam said. “It’s far less important for districts where huge swathes of their constituents live under the poverty line.”

Understanding trade-offs

Kalyanam, who spent two decades working for Ways and Means Committee Democrats, said part of member education will have to include understanding the trade-offs baked into the 2017 law.

“Here’s a way to think about it: if you touch this, this is another thing you have to touch,” she said, citing the 2017 law’s changes to personal exemptions, the standard deduction and the child tax credit as an example.

The 2017 law suspended the use of personal exemptions, which could be used to lower a taxpayer’s liability based on how large the household is, including a spouse or dependent children. The nearly doubled standard deduction and child tax credit boost were intended to offset the pause on personal exemptions, Kalyanam said. The three provisions are due to expire next year.

“You can’t really think about those policies in an isolated way, if you’re talking about maintaining distribution, social equity and things like that,” she said.

George Callas, executive vice president of public finance at Arnold Ventures, said member turnover risks overlooking those trade-offs, especially if lawmakers examine each provision individually. Callas spent 15 years working on the Hill, including as senior tax counsel in the House for the Ways and Means Committee and former Speaker Paul D. Ryan, R-Wis.

“The turnover really risks Congress not understanding how the pieces fit together, and just viewing them as a bunch of one-offs that were cobbled together in a bill,” he said at a Tax Foundation event last month.

“These members and their staffs look at all these provisions, I think, kind of in isolation,” Callas said. “‘Oh, they made the child credit bigger. Do we think that’s good or bad? Oh, they repealed personal exemptions. Do we think that’s good or bad?’ And they don’t know that there is a trade-off there.”

Another trade-off involved imposing a $10,000 cap on state and local tax deductions and rolling back the alternative minimum tax, which now impacts just 0.1 percent of households, concentrated among those earning over $500,000, the Tax Policy Center estimates. Both changes will expire at the end of next year.

The so-called SALT cap is deeply unpopular among members from high-tax states, but the alternative minimum tax, which removed some exemptions for wealthier taxpayers including SALT deductions, was also complex and unpopular, Callas said.

“So do we want to get rid of the SALT cap, but keep the AMT almost-repeal?” Callas said, referring to the alternative minimum tax. “Because that would provide a SALT deduction even more generous than anybody’s ever had.”

___

State trooper charged with criminal vehicular homicide in Rochester fatal crash

posted in: News | 0

ROCHESTER — Olmsted County Attorney Mark Ostrem announced Tuesday that criminal charges were filed against Shane Roper, a Minnesota state trooper involved in a fatal crash that resulted in five people being injured and the death of 18-year-old Olivia Flores.

According to an Olmsted County Attorney press release, Roper is charged with second-degree manslaughter and criminal vehicular homicide in addition to other charges of criminal vehicular operation.

In total, Roper faces five felony charges and four that are either gross misdemeanor or misdemeanor charges.

The release said Rochester Police Department found that Roper activated emergency lights and exited the Sixth Street Southwest ramp onto Highway 52 at 98 miles per hour in an attempt to catch a traffic violator before exiting onto 12th Street Southwest. He then turned off his emergency lights and sirens and accelerated to full throttle, reaching 83 miles per hour, approaching the north Apache Mall entrance.

The speed limit on 12th Street Southwest is 40 miles per hour.

The release said the Minnesota State Patrol has specific guidelines and policy related to high-speed driving.

“Over the course of his 8-year career, Trooper Roper has attended approximately 13 driving training courses for a total of 107 hours. Investigation revealed that at least four times earlier in the day on May 18, Trooper Roper engaged in high-speed driving without emergency lights, in one instance reaching a speed of 135 mph, other times over 99 mph. Each of these instances Roper either did not initiate emergency lights or turned them off while maintaining extreme speeds,” the release said.

Olmsted County Attorney Mark Ostrem said in the release Roper’s “conduct cannot be tolerated.”

“Trooper Roper, violating his duty in such a gross fashion, caused the death of a young lady celebrating her impending graduation from high school. Several other persons suffered serious injury. Roper’s conduct violated the State Patrol’s Core Values,” Ostrem said in the release.

This is breaking news and will be updated when more information is available.

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