Also on today’s menu:
Legislature Sustains Governor’s Vetoes
Railroad Strike Averted
An Appearance Of Insider Trading
Launch ceremonies for the Northern NH Mobile Health Clinic took place September 15 at four participating hospitals: Littleton Regional Healthcare, Weeks Medical Center in Lancaster, Upper Connecticut Valley Hospital in Colebrook, and Androscoggin Valley Hospital in Berlin. The new van will bring clinics to rural communities in Coos and Grafton counties, making it easier for clients to obtain medical services.
Lauren Pearson, executive director of the North Country Health Consortium, which will have ownership of the van, said they will be seeking suggestions “from those who deeply understand the health disparities that exist in our region” as they develop a schedule for the mobile health clinic.
James Potter, the executive vice-president and chief executive officer of the NH Medical Society, said he originally proposed having a traveling health van during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic. “The pandemic was exposing a lot of weaknesses in getting people to clinical facilities in various areas, particularly the North Country,” Potter said.
Legislature Sustains Governor’s Vetoes
The New Hampshire Legislature sustained all eight of Governor Chris Sununu’s vetoes of bills the two bodies had passed, including one aimed at protecting rivers, lakes, and coastal waters from pollution by solid waste landfills with a requirement that any new landfill must be sited on soils that would prevent leachate from reaching the waterways for at least five years, giving the state and landfill operators time to remediate the damage before pollution occurs.
The House voted overwhelmingly to override Sununu’s veto of the solid waste bill, 256-65, but the Senate voted 12-11, failing to reach the two-thirds majority necessary for an override.
Jon Swan of Dalton, founder of Save Forest Lake, which has been fighting a proposed landfill that would be situated near the state park, said it was shameful that the governor vetoed the bill. He noted more than 80 percent of House members supported an override, showing that they understand and support more protections for landfills.
Railroad Strike Averted
A tentative agreement between railroad employees and the companies that employ them means that the United States has avoided a walkout that would have upended passenger train travel, crippled supply chains, and likely added fuel to inflation. Railroad employees were demanding more flexible work schedules, wage increases, and better health care benefits.
In the 1980s and the 1990s, the U.S. railroad industry consolidated into seven main carriers, which are now making record profits. In 2021, profits for the two largest railroad corporations — the Union Pacific and BNSF — increased by 12 percent, to $21.8 billion and 11.6 percent to $22.5 billion, respectively. The profits were related to a reduction in the number of jobs and the railroads’ adoption of a new system called Precision Schedule Railroading which kept workers on very tight schedules that leave little time for anything but work. Any disruption, such as a family emergency, resulted disciplinary action and possible job loss, and smaller crews meant more dangerous working conditions.
With little progress in negotiations, President Joe Biden Jr. established a Presidential Emergency Board to try to resolve the differences before the September 16 deadline by which the railway workers could legally strike. The board’s August report called for significant wage increases but did not address the problems associated with Precision Schedule Railroading. The National Carriers Conference Committee, which represents the railroads, called the report “fair and appropriate” but not all of the 13 unions agreed. The new agreement, if it goes through, would increase wages by as much as 24 percent over the next five years, including retroactive payments, and it loosens the attendance requirements with more expansive sick leave and medical exemption policies.
An Appearance Of Insider Trading
Members of Congress have access to information that ordinary Americans don’t, which can give them an advantage if they or their families want to invest in the stock market. Nearly one in five members of Congress, from both parties, have bought stocks that intersected with their congressional committee work in recent years, a Times investigation found. That probably is an underestimate because lawmakers’ work extends beyond their committee duties.
Examples include the wife of Representative Alan Lowenthal, a California Democrat, who sold Boeing shares a day before a House committee that he sits on released a report exposing the company’s mishandling of its 737 Max jet, which had been involved in two deadly crashes. Representative John Rose, a Republican of Tennessee, sold $100,000 to $250,000 in Wells Fargo stock a few months before a committee he is on released a report that was critical of the bank. Senator Tommy Tuberville, an Alabama Republican on the Armed Services Committee, and his wife sold options tied to Microsoft less than two weeks before the company lost a $10 billion contract with the Defense Department.
While little or no evidence usually directly links congressional work to a purchase or a sale, it is clear that lawmakers can profit from their inside knowledge, giving the appearance of a conflict of interest. There are several bills proposed to address the problem, but will lawmakers vote for something that is not in their personal interest?
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