Iowa book ban halted, Ohio trans care ban vetoed, accountability for the NRA, and emergency room HIV testing
Iowa’s book ban halted: Labelling an Iowa book ban law “incredibly broad” and “unlikely to satisfy the First Amendment under any standard of scrutiny,” a federal judge halted the ban Friday, reports the Daily Beast. Judge Stephen Lochner ruled that the law signed into effect in May violates the Fourteenth Amendment that guarantees due process and leaves the state of Iowa with “unfettered discretion” to remove books from schools.
Ohio’s Republican governor vetoes his state’s GOP-led transgender youth care ban: Mike DeWine annoucced Friday that while he agrees with legislative concerns including restricting pop-up clinics and the need for more rules to protect children, he agreed with parents who had told him losing access to this care could be “deadly” to their children. Read WLTW‘s coverage here.
NRA will have to answer for accusation of malfeasance in New York: A historic case against the NRA, undertaken by New York Attorney General Letitia James in 2020, received the green light to proceed this week from a five-judge panel, reports Truthout. James’ charges, which contend abuse of donor funds by the group’s leaders, are backed by “ample evidence of malfeasance,” the panel determined.
HIV testing in emergency rooms is almost non-existent: Only 1 percent of people who visited America’s emergency rooms in 2019 and 2020 were tested for HIV, according to a new study. Poz Magazine reports the the percentage is low even though federal health recommendations call for “opt-out screening” (testing unless you refuse) in health care settings.
(photo credit: Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine courtesy of Jason H. Salley through WikiMedia Commons, and a display of books banned in 2007, courtesy Flickr)
Illinois curtails book bans, fentanyl drives historic overdose rate, “Lost Cause” movement’s connection to Nikki Haley’s slavery erasure, and more
New Illinois law to curtail book bans takes effect Jan. 1: While Iowa braces for a law that restricts books in public schools, Illinois is getting read for a law that tries to curtail book bans, writes Block Club Chicago. The new law requires Illinois public libraries to adopt the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights that says, in part, “materials should not be excluded because of the origin, background, or views of those contributing to their creation.”
Fentanyl drives all-time overdose high in 2023: This sentence in Alaska Public Media‘s article says it all: “the magnitude of this calamity now eclipses every previous drug epidemic, from the 1980s to the prescription opioid crisis of the 2000s.” Read about how harm reduction is getting more focus now as fentanyl and xylazine drive a three-year explosion in drug overdoses that hit 112,000 in a 12-month period for the first time ever this year.
Concerns re-emerge about mpox after outbreak in Congo among gay, bisexual men: Officials warn that the epidemic involves a more severe form of mpox, reports EuroNews, and that stigma against LGBTQ+ people in the Congo could further the epidemic, leading it to spread to other countries, in the same way 2022’s mpox outbreak spread globally.
Alice Walker praises new “Color Purple” adaptation and open lesbian reference: Author Alice Walker, who wrote “The Color Purple” in 1982, says she’s glad the new adaptation of her Pulitzer Prize-winning book is upfront about the queer relationship between Celie and Shug, reports Screen Rant. “”We really needed to see that love is love,” she told the Hollywood Reporter. The lesbian relationship was not fully portrayed in Stephen Spielberg’s xxxx movie, or a 2005 stage rendition, Boluwatife Adeyemi writes.
Alabama case challenging transgender health care will proceed: An earlier court ruling that keeps Alabama’s transgender health care ban in place will not be put on hold, reports Metro Weekly. Rather, a three-judge panel’s August decision to preserve the ban will be heard in April. Metro Weekly reports that the federal government had sought a delay in the case while other appellate courts nationwide ruled on whether states can ban gender transition care for youths. Alabama is among 22 states that have enacted some form of restriction on gender transition care.
How the “Lost Cause” movement is connected to Nikki Haley’s slavery stumble: Politico writer Joshua Zeitz explains how the “Lost Cause” movement that began within a decade after the Civil War’s end in 1865 has contributed to a historic and long-standing misrepresentation and whitewashing of slavery’s central role in the war between the Union and the Confederacy.
(photo credit: Alice Walker signing autographis in 1990, courtesy of the State Library and Archives of Florida, and a Stop Banning Books sign at the Georgia Capitol in 2022, courtesy of John Ramspott through Wikimedia Commons)
A first for Iowa’s Black farmers, a halt to Idaho’s transgender health care ban, and drinking “healthier”
First-ever conference for Black Iowa farmers: Iowa only has about 72 Black farmers, reports Iowa Farmer Today. The new Iowa Black Farmers Conference hopes to increase those numbers, and held its first-ever conference two weeks ago. Read about the unique challenges faced by the states’s Black farmers, and what’s ahead for the new conference.
Idaho ban on gender-affirming care blocked by judge: In the ruling earlier this week, the federal judge determined that gender transition care for youth is part of a parent’s “fundamental right” to choose health care for their children, reports the Los Angeles Blade. Read here about the ruling and its extensive ramifications.
How to drink “healthier:” With one of the most alcohol-heavy holidays just days away, Time Magazine offers eight tips for how to make healthier chioces when drinking — starting with being honest with yourself about whether you have “alcohol use disorder,” and following experts’ recommendations not to exceed two drinks a day if you identify as male, and one drink a day if you identify as female. Read all eight tips here.
Countering book bans, migration update, ranked choice voting in Evanston, and plant-based dieting to ease insomnia
Des Moines resident ensures “banned” books are accessible: Sara Hayden Parris has handed out 5,000 copies of books that Iowa public school districts have removed from their shelves, to satisfy newly restrictive state laws reports the Des Moines Register, which named her among 15 to watch. Read about how her foundation, named after a former Ankeny School Board member.
Evanston to become first Illinois city using ranked choice voting in local elections: As Evanston gears up for its next local election to feature Ranked Choice Voting (RCV), Crain’s Chicago Business offers up a series of articles explaining the history of RCV, and why some experts believe the system lessens negativity in campaigning and escalates being informed.
Migrant caravan of 6,000 heading to U.S.: The group is departing from the overwhelmed Mexican town of Tapachula near the Guatemalan border, reports The Hill. Overall, 100,000 migrants are awaiting the processing of paperwork as they try to leave Cuba, Haiti and Honduras because of “extreme poverty,” the site reports.
Plant-based diet may help ease insomnia: A new study suggests that men, in particular, who stop eating meat may have an easier time falling and staying asleep, reports Veg News. Read the article to learn about how a plant-based diet may provide greater levels of melatonin and serotonin, and also reduce inflammation.
(photo credit: shows status of rankeed-choice voting in the United States as of June 2022, courtesy Wikimedia Commons)
