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Australia

Renter forced to give up her cat under laws in South Australia, where landlords can refuse pets

A woman sitting on a couch with red cushions and wallpaper

When Jasmin Witham started renting in Adelaide, she was forced to make a heartbreaking decision.

In order to move into her new home in Clovelly Park, the 27-year-old would have to give up her kitten, Nina.

Even though more than 60 per cent of South Australian households own a dog or cat, the decision to allow pets in rental properties lies with the landlord.

Property owners can currently refuse tenants’ requests to own a pet and do not have to provide a reason for doing so.

As a result, Ms Witham, who has struggled with rental affordability over the years as a part-time student who lives with bipolar disorder and is on the Disability Support Pension, said she was faced with a difficult choice.

“We approached the landlord and asked to bring the pet with us and they said no, so I wasn’t able to bring my kitten with me to the new house,” Ms Witham said.

“It is still very upsetting, and I don’t see how having a pet or a smaller animal like a cat is detrimental in any way to a property, like if there is any damage there is a bond.”

A hand holding a smartphone with a photo of a cat shown on screen
Nina the cat went to live with Jasmin’s parents instead.(ABC News: Che Chorley)

The South Australian government is currently looking at modernizing the state’s residential tenancies laws which could see tenants allowed to rent with pets.

In 2020, new laws came into effect in Victoria which made it much easier for renters to own a pet.

Now landlords are only allowed to deny a tenant’s request for a pet if they receive approval from the Victorian Civil and Administration Tribunal.

Queensland followed in 2021 by updating its legislation and stripping landlords of the right to refuse pets in rental properties without a reason deemed valid by the state government.

In the ACT, tenants still require consent of the landlord to keep a pet on the property but tenancy agreements can no longer prohibit pets completely.

If the landlord wants to refuse a pet, they have to take it to the Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

Shelter SA executive director Alice Clark said the current legislation in place in South Australia is outdated.

“The number of pet rentals that is listed is very low in South Australia so yes I think we should catch up,” Dr Clark said.

“What we don’t want is tenants hiding their pets which we know happens frequently so it would be great to have that all done transparently and responsibly by both sides.”

Rental Crisis Jasmin Witham
Jasmin Witham is currently renting in Unley.(ABC News: Che Chorley)

Considering what she could afford, Ms Witham said finding a rental by herself was difficult and even finding a share house was hard.

“It’s difficult to be put onto a lease where a lot of landlords and agencies feel uncomfortable taking people getting social security benefits and will prioritize people in employment,” she said.

As Australia’s housing crisis worsens, Ms Witham hopes South Australia updates its laws to better protect both tenants and landlords.

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US

Alex Jones attorneys accidentally gave up his phone’s contents, Sandy Hook lawyers say

Alex Jones attorneys accidentally gave up his phone's contents, Sandy Hook lawyers say

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The legal team representing Infowars founder Alex Jones inadvertently sent the contents of his cellphone to a lawyer representing the parents of a child killed in the Sandy Hook mass shooting, the parents’ lawyer said in court Wednesday.

The apparent blunder, revealed by attorney Mark Bankston as Jones was on the stand in the damages phase of his defamation trial, unearthed previously undisclosed texts about the massacre and financial information about Infowars. Bankston, who represents Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, parents of 6-year-old Jesse Lewis, told the far-right conspiracy theorist that his attorneys had “messed up and sent me an entire digital copy of your entire cellphone.”

“And that is how I know you lied to me when you said you didn’t have text messages about Sandy Hook,” Bankston said.

“This is your ‘Perry Mason’ moment,” Jones responded, a reference to the fictional lawyer famed for his stunning 11th-hour courtroom reveals. “I gave them my phone.”

Bankston noted Jones had testified under oath that he personally searched his cellphone for Sandy Hook text messages and was unable to find any. Bankston asked, “You know what perjury is, right? I just want to make sure you know before we go any further.”

Jones denied lying, saying, “I’m not a tech guy.”

The dramatic moment came as Bankston cross-examined Jones, shortly before closing arguments in the damages phase of the defamation trial that began last week in an Austin courtroom. Heslin and Lewis sued in 2018 over the far-right media personality’s relentless false claims that the Sandy Hook school shooting was a “giant hoax.”

Sandy Hook parents confront Alex Jones, say hoax claims created ‘living hell’

After Jones’s years-long refusal to comply with court orders and hand over documents and evidence in lawsuits, District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble of Travis County, Tex., in September found Jones responsible for all damages. She issued a default judgment against Jones, blasting him and his website’s parent company, Free Speech Systems, for having “intentionally disobeyed” the court’s requests by refusing to turn over documents related to the various lawsuits against him.

While confronting Jones about the newly discovered text messages in court Wednesday, Bankston displayed one of them, in which an editor who worked for Jones sent him a screenshot of an Infowars article claiming a hospital was using dummies in a coronavirus ward. The editor, Paul Watson, wrote that it “makes us look ridiculous” and added, “Sandy Hook all over again.” Jones texted back, “I get it.”

Bankston also asked about his emails. I have noted that Jones had testified he did not have any about Sandy Hook because he doesn’t use email. Jones said in court, “Yes. I personally do not get on the internet and sit there and use email. I’ve never sent emails myself. Because I don’t like it. I can’t stand it. There’s too many of them.”

The attorney then displayed emails he said Jones had sent to lawyers, staff and others about business operations.

He zeroed-in on messages about Infowars financial information, which he said contradicted Jones’s previous statements about the amount of money he made. Bankston pointed out that Jones had claimed he had lost millions because of deplatforming and made up to $200,000 a day. But, he said, messages on Jones’s phone suggested Infowars brought in as much as $800,000 on some days. If he kept up that pace, he said, it would add up to about $300 million a year.

Jones claimed the numbers were cherry-picked. At one point, as Bankston went over the contents of the phone, he scoffed, “This is ridiculous.”

Gamble told jurors that what the lawyers say is not evidence, adding that without evidence, it is not yet known whether the contents of the phone were given to the Sandy Hook parents’ attorney by accident.

“But what we do know,” the judge said, “is that it wasn’t properly turned over when it should have been.”

Despite conceding in testimony Wednesday that the 2012 shooting was not a hoax but “100 percent real,” Jones throughout the trial has continued to defend himself from critics of his broadcast program while seeking to protect his financial assets from potentially devastating damages that could be awarded to the plaintiffs.

Jones last week made an emergency bankruptcy filing for Free Speech Systems, just months after filing for bankruptcy protection for Infowars and two other business ventures.

Alex Jones’s media company files for bankruptcy during Sandy Hook trial

The families have said admissions and apologies from Jones are not enough; they are seeking at least $150 million in damages.

A pricey damages payout would add to the string of legal losses for Jones and Infowars since parents of Sandy Hook victims began to file defamation suits in 2018, after Jones made repeated claims on his show that the shooting was a hoax and the victims were “crisis actors.” Judges in Connecticut and Texas have issued default judgments against Jones in multiple suits.

Jones has been sued by at least nine Sandy Hook families.

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Business

Orica’s $260m purchase of Axis is at the center of three global megatrends

Orica's $260m purchase of Axis is at the center of three global megatrends

Orica gets a double benefit: rising demand for these digital products and services but also improved profitability because these technology businesses operate with much higher margins than the group’s core explosives business.

breathing space

Increasing technology sales and improving margins partially help explain the 40 per cent rise in Orica’s share price over the past 12 months, but the big swing factor has been surging demand for explosives in a world where supply chain disruptions have been heightened by the war in Ukraine ; Russia was previously one of the world’s biggest exporters of ammonia and ammonium nitrate, the key ingredients in explosives.

Gandhi has done a good job passing through rampant inflationary pressures – including rising energy costs, raw material costs, labor costs and freight costs – by positioning Orica as a reliable supplier with prices to match.

On Wednesday, he reaffirmed guidance for the 2021-22 financial year, with margin improvement to be driven by volume growth in line with gross domestic product growth, cost reductions and higher prices.

But Gandhi’s supersized capital raising is designed to give him a bit of breathing space.

By raising an extra $282 million for working capital and balance sheet capacity, he will have more financial flexibility to navigate the inflation he is battling with higher input costs; the ongoing supply chain constraints that have necessitated finding new sources of ammonia and ammonium nitrate, sometimes under shorter payment terms; and the geopolitical threats to supply, which have required higher inventory holdings to counter supply risks.

“There’s a lot of stuff going on in the industry that we cannot control, so I am being a bit cautious here. It has nothing to do with the underlying business. The underlying business is very healthy,” Gandhi says.

Execution risk should be relatively low on the Axis deal. Gandhi plans to integrate the business into Orica but preserve Axis’ autonomy, with some of Orica’s existing orebody intelligence businesses to be run by the Axis team, which Gandhi says reflects the size and experience of the acquisition.

The deal was struck on a multiple of 11.8 times earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization; Orica trades on 32 times.

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Australia

Gippsland farmer ‘shocked’ by Crown land campsites announced by Victorian government

A section of the Wonnangatta River with scrub growing on the far side. Mountains in the background.

A Gippsland farmer has described his shock at the location of several new campsites being established on what he considers “totally inappropriate” sections of land licensed from the Victorian government.

The government last Friday published details of the first four camps in Gippsland — two are on the Wonnangatta River, and two are on the Dargo and Macalister Rivers — on the Crown land river frontage.

Access to many of the campsites is from narrow country roads with limited parking opportunities and strict conditions.

Trevor Archer manages the farm that hosts the Macalister River campsite and said it was “totally inappropriate” because there was “nowhere to park”.

The site is 4 kilometers from Cheyne’s Bridge Recreation Area, a campsite with toilet facilities popular among trail bike riders.

“It gave me a bit of a shock, actually,” Mr Archer said.

“I knew it was proposed but they hit us pretty quick with it.

“There’s nowhere to park. The closest safe park is 4 kilometers away [at Cheyne’s Bridge] on a dangerous windy narrow road.

“It’s an accident waiting to happen if people are on foot down there.”

A barbed wire farm fence runs alongside the narrow Licola Road.
The Macalister River campsite is currently accessed by jumping a fence on Licola Road.(Rural ABC: Peter Somerville)

Access to the campsite involves scaling a barbed wire fence beside a narrow two-lane road and walking through a paddock often grazed by Mr Archer’s cattle.

“The entry point is 40 meters from where I bring my cattle up a little cutting … and later in the year there are 130–140 cows and calves coming up here and I’ve got to try to get them through [the campers],” Mr Archer said.

“If someone’s here trying to unload their gear when I’ve got cows and calves coming in… it’s just not going to work.”

The Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning was contacted for comment.

The wide Macalister River flows between a rocky hill and green campsite.
The Macalister River Cheyne’s Bridge campground is 4 kilometers upstream from the new campsite.(Rural ABC: Peter Somerville)

Fulfilling an election commitment

The Labor government made a 2018 election commitment to open licensed Crown land river frontages to camping.

The land was previously accessible for day use, with the four campsites opened on areas that are frequently grazed by cattle.

The sites have to be accessed by foot, campers must keep portable toilets at least 50 meters away from waterways, or 100 meters away if burying human waste, and dogs and campfires are not permitted.

A dirt road adjacent to a shallow valley
A new campsite on the Wonnangatta River frontage must be accessed by foot.(Rural ABC: Peter Somerville)

Campers are welcome

Mr Archer said he was not opposed to having campers on the land but expected the 4km walk from Cheyne’s Bridge would deter many.

“I don’t see that anyone’s going to carry their gear 4 kilometers down the road, 4 kilometers back,” he said.

“And they can only get in that one entry and exit.”

Trevor stands on a ridge above a paddock leading down to the river. He wears a broad hat and a dark jumper.
Trevor Archer worries how he will move cattle while campers are unloading equipment.(Rural ABC: Peter Somerville)

It would not be the first time campers have set up on the property.

“Before the 2007 flood when the river blew out and changed course, I had 14 sites where people could choose to camp,” Mr Archer said.

“But we had them where we wanted them. They were in a bend in the river and it didn’t interfere with our stock work or anything.”

A wide grassy farm paddock with rows of trees on either side.
Walk-in campers are allowed to set up on this site alongside the Macalister River.(Rural ABC: Peter Somerville)

Calls for a ‘level playing field’

Further downstream, Paradise Valley camp and caravan park operator Neil Williams was surprised to learn about the free campsite.

“It doesn’t really seem fair that we have to go through all the compliance rigors that we do, and the state government feels like it can open up a parcel of land for anyone at any time,” Mr Williams said.

He said many Paradise Valley guests had visited the park over many years.

But Mr Williams conceded he may lose business to the free campsites upstream.

“I’d just like everyone to be on a level playing field,” he said.

“There are caravan parks all over Victoria that have had to comply with Country Fire Authority regulations.

“There’s a whole host of other council health and safety compliance issues that we deal with on a regular basis and it all adds to our overheads.”

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Categories
US

Suspect in the July 4 parade shooting pleads not guilty : NPR

Suspect in the July 4 parade shooting pleads not guilty : NPR

Robert E. Crimo III, leaves the courtroom after a hearing Wednesday, in Waukegan, Ill. Accused of killing seven people and wounding dozens more in a shooting at an Independence Day parade in suburban Chicago, Crimo pleaded not guilty on Wednesday.

Nam Y. Huh/AP


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Nam Y. Huh/AP

Robert E. Crimo III, leaves the courtroom after a hearing Wednesday, in Waukegan, Ill. Accused of killing seven people and wounding dozens more in a shooting at an Independence Day parade in suburban Chicago, Crimo pleaded not guilty on Wednesday.

Nam Y. Huh/AP

WAUKEGAN, Ill. — The man accused of killing seven people and wounding dozens more in a shooting at an Independence Day parade in suburban Chicago pleaded not guilty on Wednesday, a week after prosecutors announced he faces 117 felony counts in the attack.

Robert E. Crimo III appeared for a brief hearing Wednesday in Lake County’s circuit court to enter a formal plea to the charges — 21 counts of first-degree murder, 48 counts of attempted murder and 48 counts of aggravated battery representing those killed and wounded during the parade in Highland Park.

The Highland Park shooting suspect is indicted on 117 charges

Crimo wore a COVID-19 face mask throughout the 10-minute arraignment and repeatedly told Judge Victoria Rossetti that he understood the charges and potential penalties he faces, including life imprisonment. As Crimo shuffled into court, chains jangling around his ankles, several relatives and friends of at least one victim turned to look at him from across the room, some keeping their eyes fixed on him throughout hearing.

Lake County prosecutors in late July announced that a grand jury had indicted Crimo on the charges. The prosecutors had previously filed seven murder charges against the 21-year-old in the days following the shooting.

The multiple first-degree murder charges allege Crimo intended to kill, caused death or great bodily harm and took action with a strong probability of causing death or great bodily harm on the seven people who died.

Why the Highland Park suspect represents a different kind of violent extremism

A representative for the county public defenders office, which is representing Crimo, has said the office does not comment publicly on any cases. An attorney with the office entered Crimo’s not guilty plea during Wednesday’s court appearance.

Prosecutors have said Crimo admitted to the shooting once police arrested him following an hourslong search for the gunman who opened fire from the rooftop of a building along the parade route.

Authorities have said the wounded range in age from 8 to their 80s, including an 8-year-old boy who was paralyzed from the waist down when the shooting severed his spine.

In comments delivered after the hearing, Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart declined to say whether Crimo could face additional charges and said he would not comment on whether Crimo’s parents could be charged.

A victim of the Highland Park parade attack is remembered for his kindness

Some in the community have questioned why Crimo’s parents apparently supported his interest in guns only months after he reportedly threatened suicide and violence.

George Gomez, an attorney representing Crimo’s parents, said Wednesday that they are not concerned that criminal charges could be filed against them. Both attended Wednesday’s hearing where they sat quietly behind their son.

Speaking with reporters afterward, Gomez described his clients as “devastated” and “heartbroken” for Highland Park and he said they are cooperating with authorities.

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Business

Streets’ Golden Gaytime has teamed up with OAK

Streets' Golden Gaytime has teamed up with OAK

Two iconic Australian brands have joined forces to create a frozen treat that many will be lining up to get their hands on.

Golden Gaytime has teamed up with OAK to create a chocolate twist on the iconic ice cream.

The treat has an OAK-inspired ice cream centre, dipped in a layer of chocolate, and is smothered in Golden Gaytime’s famous delicious biscuit pieces with a choccy twist.

Streets spokeswoman Annie Lucchitti said: “Golden Gaytime has been an Aussie favorite for over 50 years and we’re known for some pretty impressive flavor experiences!

“Golden Gaytime OAK brings the iconic elements of Golden Gaytime together with the unmistakeable OAK Choc Milk flavor hit. It’s creamy, crumbly, choccy – delicious.

“It’s a crowd pleaser that’s for sure. We’re ecstatic to be bringing the next level of Golden goodness to market!”

The release of the new ice cream will be staggered, hitting the shelves exclusively at IGA and Ritchies stores on Thursday, August 4.

In September, Golden Gaytime OAK will be available in Coles, petrol stations and convenience stores.

The ice creams can be purchased in a box of four for $9.50.

It’s the latest collaboration from OAK, after Allen’s beloved Milk Bottles were transformed into OAK-flavoured lollies.

The confectionary company revealed in July the beloved brands were collaborating.

The Milk Bottles come in two OAK-inspired packs and come in two flavours.

One is an Oak-inspired iced coffee – a chocolate and malt blend.

The second is strawberry, with the new Milk Bottles being sold as standalone bags of lollies.

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Categories
Technology

Nintendo Treats Its Loyal Switch Fans to Refreshing New Mario Kart and Animal Crossing Icons

Nintendo Treats Its Loyal Switch Fans to Refreshing New Mario Kart and Animal Crossing Icons

Nintendo had just added a new update, and it is making fans go crazy. With its latest tweet, Nintendo just shared its August update and future plans for the Switch console. Exclusively giving away news on the new icons that players can redeem after completing some simple tasks.

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Nintendo is one of the most sold consoles on the planet. And this is no small feat knowing how much Nintendo has to sometimes suffer because of its simplistic approach toward gaming. In the recent industry trends, games are becoming more and more real to watch Nintendo is trying its best to stay loyal to its core material.

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Nintendo shares a tweet on a new update for Switch players

In the latest tweet, Nintendo shared the news on the new MarioKart 8 Deluxe icons coming to Nintendo Switch Online. Notably, these icons will feature Booster Course Pass Wave 1 & 2 and will be available till September 5, 2022, at 6 PM PT.

Additionally, the icons will be refreshed each week on Sundays, ie, on the 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th of August. These updates will also feature the new Splatoon 3 icons, to be released on September 9 this year.

Notably, Animal Crossing New Horizon will allow customizable icons to players whose birth month is August. Although, these icons will be only available until 9:59 AM in Japan, and fans have to exchange Platinum Points in the store to get these.

Additionally, the Platinum Points are required to exchange for the icons in any country. Thus, fans need to complete some very simple missions to earn these as rewards.

For example, playing online or trying out the library of classic games.

How do fans react to the news?

The fans were pretty excited about the update, as many thought it was great to see ‘Dry Bowser’ as an icon.

Notably, many icons that were teased by Nintendo are fan favorites. Moreover, gamers just loved seeing the fresh change of pace for the company.

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Many fans, albeit, pointed out that exchanging Premium Points for these icons is a great strategy. Mostly because many players don’t use them in any way and thus were seeing a downward trajectory in the feature.

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What do you think about the latest update by Nintendo? Let us know your valuable opinions in the comments below.

WATCH THIS STORY: Ranking The Highest Selling Nintendo Games of All Time

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Australia

Destructive cold front sweeps east bringing rain, damaging winds to NSW, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, ACT and WA

Another destructive cold front is sweeping east, exacerbating the risk of flooding across multiple states in southern Australia.

A large area of ​​South Australia, and some elevated areas in Victoria and New South Wales, and north-western parts of Tasmania, are on high alert today with warnings of heavy rain and damaging winds.

It comes as yet another destructive cold front sweeps east.

“Rainfall totals of 10 to 30 mm are likely over a broad area of ​​southeastern Australia on Thursday,” Weatherzone said.

“The heaviest rain will be in central and southern inland NSW and the ACT, where 24-hour totals could exceed 150 mm on and west of the ranges, with six-hourly rainfall rates possibly reaching 50 to 60 mm.”

Severe weather warnings have been issued and multiple flood watches are in place across parts of NSWnorth eastern Victory and northern Tasmanian.

Thredbo Ski Resort in NSW has been forced to close lifts due to safety reasons, as the wild weather lashes the alpine region.

The wild winter weather has forced the closure of Thredbo's ski and chair lifts.
The wild winter weather has forced the closure of Thredbo’s ski and chair lifts. (9News)

In South Australia, damaging winds up to 90 km/h will be felt across Adelaide and the Hills.

Forecast wind like speed and direction at 1pm AEST on Thursday, according to the ECMWF-HRES model.
Forecast wind like speed and direction at 1pm AEST on Thursday, according to the ECMWF-HRES model. (Weather zone)

“We are in for a very wet afternoon, particularly in our northern region, around 50-60mm expected up in the Hills,” 9News presenter Jesse Burns said.

“A wet weather warning has also been issued, with a month’s worth of rain expected this week alone, particularly in our northern region with around 50 to 60mm expected around The Hills.

“That’s cause for alarm with potentially localized flash flooding in those areas.”

Senior Meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) Dean Narramore explained the next cold front is “tapping into tropical moisture”, which will cause moderate to heavy rainfall across parts of Victoria and NSW.

“That could lead to another possible flood event for inland parts of NSW,” Narramore said.

“Looking at the rainfall totals we will see light to moderate falls right across WA and SA, but the focus of the heaviest rainfall will be north-east Victoria and south-eastern NSW.”

While rain is easing in WA, large swathes of coastline are being pounded by dangerous surf.
Large swathes of WA’s coastline is being pounded by dangerous surf. (9News)

Residents in WA’s central west to south east corner are being told to stay away from the surf as large swell pounds the coast.

Significant wave heights exceeding 7 meters have occurred in exposed locations, and erosion has been observed along the coast.

a travel warning has been issued as thick fog covers Brisbane this morning.

‘River City’ wakes to white-out as fog swallows city

Categories
US

Biden signs executive order paving way for Medicaid to pay for out-of-state abortions

Biden signs executive order paving way for Medicaid to pay for out-of-state abortions

President Joe Biden signed an executive order Wednesday that paves the way for Medicaid to pay for abortion services for people having to travel out of state.

Speaking from the White House virtually, Biden continued to criticize the Supreme Court’s June 25 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

“Today, I’m signing the second executive order that responds to the healthcare crisis that has unfolded since the Supreme Court overturned Roe, and that women are facing all across America,” he said.

The executive order comes just one day after abortion rights activists secured a major win in Kansas, where voters on Tuesday rejected removing the right to abortion from the state constitution.

Biden said the Supreme Court “practically dared women in this country go to the ballot box and restore the right to choose that the Court just ripped away after 50 years.”

“The voters of Kansas sent a powerful signal that this fails the American people will vote to preserve and protect the right and refuse to let it be ripped away from politicians,” Biden said.

The new directive allows the secretary of health and human services to “invite states to apply for Medicaid waivers, so that states where abortion is legal could provide services to people traveling from a state where abortion may be illegal to seek services in their state,” the official said. Technically, these states would apply through what’s known as a “Medicaid 1115 waiver,” according to a senior administration official.

The official noted that when the White House looked into declaring a public health emergency for abortion and what that would allow the federal government to do, this change to Medicaid — an assistance program for low-income patients’ medical expenses — was one of the options. But the White House realized the president could also do it through an executive order instead, which he plans to do Wednesday, the official said.

PHOTO: President Joe Biden speaks virtually during the first meeting of the interagency Task Force on Reproductive Healthcare Access at the White House complex in Washington, DC, Aug. 3, 2022.

President Joe Biden speaks virtually during the first meeting of the interagency Task Force on Reproductive Healthcare Access at the White House complex in Washington, DC, Aug. 3, 2022.

Susan Walsh/AP

But the timeline for these changes remains unclear.

ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Cecilia Vega pressed White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Wednesday for more details on the implementation of the executive order for women who want to seek abortion care soon.

“Are we talking about days, are we talking about weeks, are we talking about six months?” Vega asked.

Jean-Pierre said the administration didn’t “have the details to share today but [Health and Human Services] will soon have more on what a waiver could look like and the timeline.”

Biden’s order also directs the health and human services secretary to make sure “health care providers comply with federal non-discrimination laws so that women receive medically necessary care without delay,” according to the White House. That could include “providing technical assistance for health care providers who may be confused or unsure of their obligations in the aftermath of the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs,” or providing other info and guidance to providers about their obligations and consequences of not complying with non-compliance. -discrimination laws.

The order also directs the health and human services secretary to improve research and data collection on maternal health outcomes, according to the White House.

Categories
Business

A ‘graphite battery’ in Wodonga will be Australia’s first commercial thermal energy storage

Graphite Energy's thermal energy storage unit

When Finland recently unveiled the world’s first “sand battery”, there was speculation that Australian manufacturers would soon be rolling out their own versions, as they looked to burn less gas.

Now, a pet food factory in Wodonga has announced it’s doing just that.

The Mars Petcare facility, one of the largest pet-food makers in the country, will take delivery of a “graphite battery” later this year, as part of a trial to reduce emissions and ultimately save money.

From the outside, the orange container won’t look like much, but experts say the system’s installation is an important moment in the country’s clean energy transition, and such thermal energy storage (TES) facilities will become a common sight over the next decade.

“It will be the first major commercial application of thermal energy storage to displace gas in Australia, so it’s a big deal,” said Dominic Zaal, director of the Australian Solar Thermal Research Institute (ASTRI), which is funded through the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA).

“It will be the first of many. Within 10 years this will be widespread.”

So, how does it work, and what can it be used for?

Water goes in, steam comes out

Like the Finnish sand battery, the Wodonga TES system purchases renewable electricity from the grid when it’s cheapest and converts this to heat through resistive heating (like an electric bar-heater).

This heat is then stored in the graphite blocks at temperatures of up to 900C.

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