El Home Energy Assistance Program (Programa de Asistencia Energética a los Hogares o HEAP por sus siglas en inglés) ha ayudado a decenas de miles de neoyorquinos con bajos ingresos a combatir el calor. Sin embargo, expertos y defensores afirman que el programa podría dar y critican su limitado alcance.

NYC Mayor’s Public Engagement Unit

Empleados municipales de la Public Engagement Unit (Unidad de Participación Pública) de la alcaldía repartiendo volantes sobre el beneficio de asistencia para el programa HEAP en el sur del Bronx el 31 de mayo de 2024.

Este artículo se publicó originalmente en inglés el 18 de junio. Traducido por Daniel Parra. Read the English version here.

Nueva York registró el año pasado una de las temperaturas más altas jamás registradas, pero se prevé otro verano al rojo vivo para 2024: la primera ola de calor de la temporada llegó la semana pasada, según advirtieron las autoridades.

Y las ayudas para enfriar los hogares del Home Energy Assistance Program (Programa de Asistencia Energética a los Hogares o HEAP por sus siglas en inglés) ha sido clave para ayudar a decenas de miles de neoyorquinos a combatir el calor. La iniciativa, financiada con fondos federales y gestionada por la Oficina de Asistencia Temporal y Asistencia para Incapacitados (OTDA por sus siglas en inglés) del estado de Nueva York, ayuda a las personas con bajos ingresos a comprar e instalar un ventilador o un aire acondicionado por un coste de hasta $1.000 dólares.

Sin embargo, los expertos y los defensores dicen que el programa podría hacer más. Han criticado el alcance limitado del programa —los fondos se han agotado a mediados o finales de julio en los dos últimos veranos— y no concede ayudas complementarias a las facturas de servicios públicos. Además dicen que puede estar teniendo dificultades para atender las necesidades cada vez más urgentes de algunos de los más vulnerables, como las personas mayores.

Los residentes de la ciudad de Nueva York pueden ver si califican para el beneficio de asistencia de enfriamiento de HEAP aquí. 

Una serie de factores externos están poniendo a los adultos mayores en mayor riesgo de sufrir el inminente clima caliente, incluyendo una mayor tasa de pobreza y el aumento de las facturas de servicios públicos residenciales, según fuentes que hablaron con City Limits. En toda la ciudad de Nueva York, 68 personas murieron por estrés térmico entre 2012 y 2021, y los residentes mayores de 60 años enfrentan la tasa de mortalidad más alta.

“Los adultos mayores son el grupo demográfico más afectado por el cambio climático”, dijo Kevin J. Kiprovski, director de políticas públicas de LiveOnNY. “A nivel internacional, durante una emergencia por calor, el 90 por ciento de las personas que mueren tienen más de 65 años”.

Según OTDA, se calcula que la ayuda para comprar aire acondicionado de HEAP ha llegado a casi 67.000 hogares en los últimos cinco años. El presupuesto de este año es de unos $22 millones de dólares, frente a los $17 millones del verano pasado, cuando se beneficiaron 21.000 hogares antes de que se agotara el fondo el 14 de julio.

El programa HEAP aceptará solicitudes para este año hasta el viernes 30 de agosto, o hasta que se agoten los fondos. Los neoyorquinos deben cumplir ciertos criterios, como límites de ingresos —no ganar más de $3.035 dólares al mes por persona, a menos que reciba otras prestaciones públicas— y tener en su hogar un miembro menor de 6 años, mayor de 60 o con una enfermedad agravada por el calor, entre otros requisitos. 

Kim Lerner, directora del programa de divulgación de prestaciones de LiveOnNY, ha ayudado a cientos de personas mayores a solicitar ayudas para refrescarse.

“Hice una visita a domicilio a una mujer que padecía cáncer de mama y, cuando entré en su apartamento, no podía creer lo mal ventilado y caluroso que estaba”, recuerda Lerner. “No sé cómo lo soportaba. Y la única forma que tenía de conseguir un aire acondicionado era a través de HEAP”.

Lerner elogió el programa por sus mejoras a lo largo de los años, como la supresión del requisito de presentar documentación médica, que resultaba tedioso y a menudo disuadía a los solicitantes. Sin embargo, aunque HEAP ofrece ayudas para la factura de los servicios públicos de calefacción durante los fríos meses de invierno, no lo hace para el verano.

Lerner dijo que muchos de los que recibieron aires acondicionados a través del programa expresaron su temor a que se dispararan las facturas de los servicios públicos, y dijo que subvencionar el coste sería una gran ayuda para ellos.

La preocupación de sus clientes no es infundada: las facturas de los servicios públicos residenciales están aumentando debido al incremento de las temperaturas estivales y a la prevalencia de episodios de calor extremo en los últimos años. Según un informe de la Asociación Nacional de Directores de Asistencia Energética y el Centro para la Energía, la Pobreza y el Clima, mientras que en 2014 mantenerse fresco en verano costaba $476 dólares, en 2024 las previsiones se sitúan en torno a los $719 dólares. 

Y los bolsillos de algunas de las personas mayores no están a la altura de esos costes. Beth Finkel, directora estatal de AARP Nueva York, dijo que la tasa de pobreza entre las personas mayores de 65 años en el estado de Nueva York subió más del 35 por ciento en el último censo.

“Pagar un aire acondicionado o un ventilador y su instalación puede secar el presupuesto familiar de alguien que vive en el umbral de la pobreza o incluso un poco por encima”, explica Finkel a City Limits.

“El gobierno tiene que buscar todas las vías posibles para ayudar a la gente”, añadió Finkel, cuando se le preguntó por las limitaciones del presupuesto del programa de ayuda para comprar aire acondicionado. “Es una medida de salud preventiva asegurarse de que la gente tenga un sistema de enfriamiento”.

Los datos de la OTDA muestran que, en los últimos cinco años, la ayuda para comprar aire acondicionado supuso algo menos del dos por ciento del presupuesto del HEAP. Durante los meses más fríos del año se destina mucho más dinero a la ayuda para calefacción, aproximadamente el 75 por ciento del presupuesto total. 

La disparidad parece un planteamiento contraintuitivo, dado que hay mayores tasas de mortalidad por calor en comparación con cualquier otra causa relacionada con el clima.

“La financiación de HEAP se determina en el presupuesto federal y se distribuye a los estados a través de una fórmula”, dijo un portavoz de la OTDA a City Limits en un comunicado. “Si bien el gobierno federal no obliga a los estados a operar un programa de refrescamiento, el estado de Nueva York es uno de los varios estados que asignan anualmente una parte de sus fondos para este fin, lo que Nueva York ha hecho durante muchos años”.

Este año se ha ampliado el componente de prestaciones de emergencia de HEAP hasta finales de agosto, o hasta que se agoten los fondos, ha señalado el portavoz. Los hogares que se enfrentan a facturas de electricidad más elevadas debido al uso de aire acondicionado y otros equipos de enfriamiento, y que han recibido un aviso de terminación de su compañía de servicios públicos, pueden solicitar la ayuda de emergencia para evitar un corte o para mantener el servicio durante al menos un mes más. 

“A medida que se agrava el cambio climático vemos sin duda que el calor, y ni siquiera el calor extremo, incluso a partir de los 82 grados Fahrenheit, es cuando empezamos a ver un repunte de las muertes relacionadas con el calor entre los neoyorquinos”, dijo Victoria Sanders, directora del programa de clima y salud de NYC Environmental Justice Alliance. “Así que tenemos que ajustar nuestras prioridades a medida que cambien las realidades de nuestro mundo”.

Como resultado de la financiación limitada, HEAP anunció el cierre de las solicitudes de asistencia a mediados del verano de 2023, el 14 de julio. Lo mismo podría ocurrir este año, incluso con los recortes presupuestarios propuestos por la ciudad a los centros para personas mayores en el horizonte, muchos de los cuales se duplican como centros de enfriamiento para aquellos que lo necesitan. 

Sanders figura entre los autores de un nuevo informe de Environmental Justice Alliance en el que se esbozan recomendaciones políticas sobre las disparidades en la calidad del aire y la vulnerabilidad al calor de las comunidades de color con bajos ingresos y está de acuerdo en que la ampliación del programa de ayuda sería una importante solución a corto plazo a los efectos adversos del cambio climático.

“Una gran parte de las personas que mueren de calor lo hacen en sus propias casas, porque no pueden refrescarse”, dijo. “Así que es importante que lo tengamos para poder proteger a los residentes vulnerables de la ciudad. Y mientras tanto, vamos a seguir presionando al gobierno para que haga un mejor trabajo en la lucha contra el cambio climático a nivel sistémico.”

Para ponerse en contacto con la reportera de esta noticia, escriba a Anastasia@citylimits.org. Para ponerse en contacto con la editora, escriba a Jeanmarie@citylimits.org

David G. Savage | Los Angeles Times (TNS)

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday cast aside claims that the Biden administration has been censoring conservatives by pressing social media sites to take down dangerous misinformation.

In a 6-3 decision, the justices threw out a lawsuit from state attorneys in Louisiana and Missouri, and said they had no standing to bring such claims.

Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Neil M. Gorsuch dissented.

The ruling throws out a broad court order issued last year by a federal judge in Louisiana and upheld by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals that threatened hundreds of Biden administration officials with a contempt citation if they “significantly encouraged” a platform to remove some content.

Social media sites did not sue or complain their rights were violated.

Instead, Republican state attorneys in Missouri and Louisiana sued alleging the right to free speech in this country was being violated by the Biden administration’s “sprawling federal censorship enterprise.” They pointed to actions by the White House as well as the FBI, the Office of the Surgeon General and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In October, in response to an appeal from Solicitor Gen. Elizabeth Prelogar, the justices had put the Louisiana judge’s order on hold over dissents by Thomas, Alito and Gorsuch. “Government censorship of private speech is antithetical to our democratic form of government,” Alito wrote at the time.

But the justices agreed to hear arguments and rule on the 1st Amendment issue raised in the case of Murthy vs. Missouri.

This term, the court has heard three major cases on social media and the 1st Amendment, all of them driven by complaints from conservatives that their speech is being censored.

The other two cases arose when Florida and Texas adopted laws that would impose fines or money damages on major social media platforms if they removed postings or content from conservatives.

Related Articles

Sarah McBride poised to become the first transgender member of Congress

Melania Trump won’t move back into the White House if Trump wins: report

‘We are protesting both of them.’ Presidential debate draws activists’ ire

Laugh (or cringe) at these history-making moments from presidential debates

This week’s televised debate is crucial for Biden and Trump — and for CNN as well

The case decided Wednesday began with a complaint that the social media platforms had blocked or downgraded posts on topics such as “the COVID–19 lab leak theory, pandemic lockdowns, vaccine side effects, election fraud, and the Hunter Biden laptop story.”

The state attorneys took their complaint to U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty, a Trump appointee in Monroe, La. He handed down an unusually far-reaching order that prohibited federal officials and agencies from “urging or encouraging” the removal of “protected speech” from social media. He described the administration’s conduct as “arguably … the most massive attack against free speech in United States’ history.”

The administration appealed to the 5th Circuit Court in New Orleans, but lost. A three-judge panel said the administration “officials have engaged in a broad pressure campaign designed to coerce social-media companies into suppressing speakers, viewpoints, and content disfavored by the government. The harms that radiate from such conduct extend far …. It impacts every social-media user.”

©2024 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

KYIV, Ukraine — There have been at least 10 Kremlin attempts to kill one of Ukraine’s most admired heroes, the legendary head of military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov.

Russian agents have blown up his car. They even poisoned his wife.

She survived. He pledged revenge.

When I met the spy chief in his darkened office recently, during a rare interview with a foreign journalist, I asked whether the Russians are still trying to kill him. The poker-faced Budanov shrugged. “It’s normal,” he said.

Then, allowing himself a half-smile, the lieutenant general added: “Let’s put it this way: Since we are talking with you now, it means they are not succeeding.”

There are good reasons why the Kremlin will continue to try.

Budanov’s spy agency, known as HUR, has carried out some of Ukraine’s most stunning military successes, including long-range drone strikes inside Russian territory. Meanwhile, the agency’s Magura sea drones — a game-changing Ukrainian invention — have helped push most of the Russian fleet out of its main Black Sea harbor in occupied Crimea and back to ports on the Russian mainland.

These gains are probably Ukraine’s most important victories in the last year — and could lead to more surprising maritime successes to offset the stalemate on land.

HUR headquarters is located on an isolated peninsula that juts into the Dnieper River. Inside a grim, gray, low-rise block, Budanov’s office is barely lit. He prefers to operate in the shadows — in military operations as well as at his desk.

Behind that book- and paper-laden desk hangs a large painting of an owl sinking its claws into a bat. The HUR adopted the owl as its symbol in 2016, two years after Moscow invaded Crimea, to troll the Russians. The bat is the symbol of the special operations unit of Russia’s military intelligence agency.

On a nearby table, a set of polished metal chess pieces shines through the gloom, as if to warn that Budanov is poised to out-strategize Moscow.

Appointed to his post four years ago, the 38-year-old spymaster has been known to lead his men on daring raids into enemy territory. “He is a pirate who loves operations,” an admirer told me. He is also famous for his tight lips.

But in our interview, Budanov spoke openly about the need to expand drone attacks inside Russia and to make it impossible for Moscow to hold on to Crimea. And he was frank about the challenges Ukraine faces — including the continued need for U.S. weapons and the possibility of an election victory by Donald Trump.

Striking back

Asked whether Ukrainian troops could stop the current Russian offensive in the east, where Moscow has been making small but steady territorial gains, Budanov spoke plainly.

“The good news is that no Armageddon will emerge,” he told me. “The bad news is that the situation is quite difficult. It will remain like this for at least one month, and will not become easier.”

Moscow is expected to pound Ukraine as hard as it can in the lead-up to the 75th anniversary NATO summit in mid-July in Washington, and before the U.S. delivers more of the artillery shells and other critical supplies that were held up by Congress.

The Kremlin has been trying since the war began to take control of the entire eastern Donbas region. “We will do everything possible to prevent them, and to minimize the Russian successes,” Budanov said.

However, when I inquired whether Ukraine could hold one of the most hotly contested eastern towns, Chasiv Yar, which sits on high ground that bars a Russian advance across flatter steppes and toward large industrial cities, his reply was cryptic: “I will refrain from response.”

When I subsequently traveled to the Chasiv Yar area, the situation did not look good, and there was great bitterness among the troops over the many lives lost because Ukraine ran out of artillery shells and other vital supplies while Congress dawdled over whether to provide additional military aid.

Now, more artillery shells are arriving slowly, from the U.S. and Europe. “For sure, weapons delivery is faster than it was several months ago,” Budanov allowed, “but Ukraine’s needs are very high, which is why it has been strategically important for us to have the deliveries renewed. Still, there is a question of volume.”

Manpower is also a critical problem for Ukraine, with Moscow prepared to grind its troops up like meat while much smaller Ukraine is anxious to preserve its soldiers.

Budanov believes the answer to Russia’s superiority in manpower is battlefield technology, in which Ukraine has become a global leader, replacing humans on the battlefield whenever possible with new variants of drones and electronic warfare. “Technologies will have quite a significant meaning in this war,” he predicted, “so that we don’t fight the war until the last citizen’s left.”

Technology is key to one of Budanov’s most intensive projects: taking the war to Russia with long-range drones.

“I am a fan of this,” the intelligence chief said with an intensity that broke through his laconic style. “I have been advocating this since the very first days of the war, saying openly that so long as the war is contained on our territory, it will not affect Russia.

“That is why since spring 2022, we have started to conduct significant operations on Russian territory, and we will go further the more resources we have for this. And Russia has started to feel it.”

In other words, Vladimir Putin can no longer pretend to his people that this war doesn’t affect them.

“It is still not critical for Russia at this stage, but it has led to the situation when the average citizen in the European part of the Russian Federation for sure knows and feels that the war is ongoing and has experienced some of the explosions himself. It influences, even on a small scale now, their morale.”

Budanov later publicly confirmed that the night after my interview last week, Kyiv launched a swarm of at least 70 drones on Russia’s Morozovsk airfield, located about 150 miles from the front lines and home to dozens of Moscow’s vaunted Sukhoi Su-34 fighter bombers. HUR has also been involved in attacks by long-range Ukrainian Liutyi airplane drones that have destroyed dozens of Russian oil refineries.

A White House warning to Kyiv not to hit refineries makes no sense since they are a legitimate war target. These attacks may not turn the war around, the intel chief admitted, but he believes they can affect Russia’s economy “and psychological state,” which in turn “affects the military component.” HUR has announced that it considers any Russian military target within a 500-mile range fair game.

Shifting policy

I asked about the usefulness of President Joe Biden’s shift in policy to allow U.S. weapons to be used to hit sources of Russian fire just across the border from the major city of Kharkiv.

“It will ease our lives,” said Budanov, but he added that if Kyiv were permitted to use U.S. weaponry “to the whole so-called operational depth in Russia that we can reach, of course, it will be easier for us.”

Budanov believes that the Crimean Peninsula — captured by Moscow in 2014 and turned into a huge military base that controls most of Ukraine’s southern coast — can be cut off from resupply and forced into submission.

Gen. Ben Hodges, former commander of U.S. Army Europe, has long argued that this would be the key to putting Putin on the defensive. “I share the opinion of Gen. Hodges, absolutely,” said the Ukrainian spy chief. “So we need to do everything to implement it.”

HUR’s Ukrainian-made Magura drones have already been used to destroy several Russian ships and force them to relocate from Crimea. “They are already trapped near Novorossiysk port,” Budanov said. “We just need to make sure that all the remains of the fleet are pushed back to the territory of the Russian Federation. There have been no combat ships left in the Black Sea for a long time.”

Next step is to cut all resupply for Russian forces in Crimea, including Putin’s pet project, the Kerch Bridge.

Budanov has already been “arrested in absentia” by Moscow for his agency’s role in seriously damaging the bridge in 2022, apparently with a truck bomb. He considers that an honor.

He believes that long-range ATACMS missiles, which Biden finally delivered to Ukraine in recent months, could ultimately take out the bridge. Those who claim ATACMS aren’t powerful enough to do the job are mistaken, he said. “They should read the technical manuals. The only question is their quantities, but principally speaking, these missiles will allow us to fulfill such a mission.”

Budanov scoffs at the idea that Moscow would use tactical nuclear weapons if control of Crimea were threatened, a fear Putin constantly fans. The Ukrainian believes he understands Putin’s mindset and limitations.

“First of all, I know what is really happening out there. Secondly, I know the real characteristics of Russian nuclear weapons. What use would it have? We don’t have big concentrations of troops for which such nuclear weapons would be appropriate.

“And to break holes in our defense lines is possible with conventional means of warfare. Besides, using nuclear weapons would lead to big political risks for Putin.”

I would add that Putin’s redlines on Crimea have been crossed many times when Ukraine fired British missiles at bases there, and nothing has happened. If there is any chance to convince Putin he can’t win, it may lie with making Moscow’s hold on Crimea untenable.

As for Budanov, he sees no point in peace talks, because “we have no option but to get back what was occupied. Otherwise, the state of war will go on forever.”

A bigger problem may be Trump, who keeps repeating he would cut off military aid to Ukraine if reelected. Budanov remains sanguine at the prospect of a Trump win in November.

“I have a calm attitude to the possibility of Trump coming to power,” he said. “Your elections are very unpredictable. If you analyze his public speeches, he has changed his position several times. And the power of your system is that it doesn’t allow one individual to make decisions unilaterally.

“In the end, I believe in the USA and that we will reach victory together. And here I am stressing, together! This is what I would like to finish with.”

Indeed, as Ukrainian officials are starting to hedge their bets about a Trump win, I can’t help thinking that Budanov might be one Ukrainian who could appeal to Trump as a derring-do military figure who “wins” and can show exciting video of the new style of drone warfare.

Before I left, I asked Budanov: If I come back in a year, will things be better?

“I will refrain from replying,” he said. “This is a very philosophical question.”

His reply reminded me of the famous social media video in which he stares at the camera in silence for 32 seconds. Then, three words flash on the screen in Ukrainian: To be continued.

Trudy Rubin is a columnist and editorial-board member for The Philadelphia Inquirer, P.O. Box 8263, Philadelphia, Pa. 19101,. Her email address is trubin@phillynews.com

Related Articles

Noah Feldman: Supreme Court’s right faces a free-speech problem

David French: Clarence Thomas and John Roberts are at a fork in the road

Jamelle Bouie: The lazy authoritarianism of Donald Trump

Commentary: As AI is embraced, what happens to the artists whose work was stolen to build it?

Joe Grogan: Access to new Alzheimer’s treatments bogged down by Medicare policy