National

Lau urged the Knesset to amend the Law of Return to curb non-Jewish immigration.

Coalition deals signed between Netanyahu’s Likud Party and the Religious Zionist and ultra-Orthodox parties call for a change to the “grandparent clause.” (JNS)

A Shaky Aviation System

Tens of thousands of flights were delayed or canceled around the holidays in December when frigid weather and storms made travel treacherous. But the weather was mostly fine last Wednesday morning when flights across the country were halted because the Federal Aviation Administration’s system to alert pilots to safety issues went down.

The FAA said Wednesday night that it had traced the outage to a damaged database file and that there was no evidence that it was caused by a cyberattack. The disruption was the latest example of serious problems in the aviation system and at the FAA, the agency responsible for safely managing all commercial air traffic that critics say has long been overworked and underfunded.

The pause on flights across the country highlighted what aviation experts say are glaring weaknesses at the agency, long considered the world’s

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Problems with the system used to notify pilots of hazards in the air and ground began Tuesday night, forcing officials to reboot the system early Wednesday morning. To fix the problem, the FAA ordered airlines to delay all departing flights just before 7:30 a.m. That pause was lifted at about 9 a.m., but the disruption was far from over as airlines struggled to get back to normal throughout the day. Delays cascaded throughout the system, and, by the afternoon, about 9,000 flights had been delayed and 1,300 had been canceled.

Just two weeks earlier, hundreds of thousands of travelers were stranded by an operational meltdown at Southwest Airlines, the country’s largest carrier by number of passengers. Taken together, the two episodes underscore the fragility of the nation’s aviation system.

A big part of the problem, aviation experts said, is that Congress has not given the FAA enough money to do its many jobs properly, and the agency has sometimes been slow to make change even when it had enough resources. The agency’s budget was about $18.5 billion in 2022 — less than it was in 2004 after adjusting for inflation. (© The New York Times)

New Dress Code for Female Lawmakers in Missouri

Women who work in the House of Representatives in the State of Missouri are now required to cover their shoulders. The new dress code is part of a larger rules package that was passed this week with a vote of 105-51.

The dress code immediately drew criticism from local Missouri politicians, who took to Twitter to express their frustrations. The new dress code even has its own hashtag: #Sweatergate.

“I never thought my first national interview would be about what I can and cannot wear as a female lawmaker,” said Democratic Missouri Representative Ashley Aune.

The Missouri House has 116 men and 43 women. The House majority is held by Republicans, with 111 Republicans to 52 Democrats.

In the Missouri state Senate, there is no rule requiring women to wear blazers or jackets.

Rep. Ann Kelley, the Republican Congresswoman who sponsored the bill, wrote on Facebook, “How is encouraging professionalism wrong? If there is ever a time to honor traditions and be professional, it is on the House Chamber Floor in the Missouri House of Representatives; I will not apologize for standing up for these things.”

Under the prior existing dress code, women were required to wear “dresses or skirts or slacks worn with a blazer or sweater and appropriate dress shoes or boots” without a required second layer, reported the Associated Press.

California Soaked

A fresh wave of storms inundated California again Saturday, swelling rivers, downing power lines, and imperiling travelers during yet another holiday weekend as a procession of atmospheric rivers continued to wallop the state.

At least 19 people have died since late December, with the toll expected to increase, in a series of powerful storms that unleashed destructive downpours.

The state’s northern and central

regions have sustained the most damage: Levees have broken, thousands of trees have toppled, towering waves have shattered piers, and mudslides have blocked highways. Flash flooding has shut down critical roads in the valleys and coastal areas, and heavy snow has blocked passages east over mountain ranges.

As of Saturday evening, millions of residents were under flood advisories. Across the state, emergency officials said, more than 75,000 people were under evacuation orders and warnings. More than 23,000 utility customers were without power statewide. A federal emergency declaration covered much of the state, with the cost of damage expected to reach hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars.

The repeated lashings have left the ground beyond saturated in much of California, and the arrival of still more rain has threatened to compound the risk of flooding and mudslides. None of the current storms would be considered catastrophic individually, meteorologists say, but the cumulative impact of almost relentless precipitation and wind has posed a formidable challenge.

State authorities said the storms, taken together, had claimed more lives than the entirety of the past two wildfire seasons. Nancy Ward, director of the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, described the onslaught as “among the most deadly natural disasters in the modern history of our state.”

Some 1 to 5 more inches of rain was expected to fall by Monday morning, with 2 to 3 more feet of snow in the Sierra Nevada and up to 6 feet in some places. State, federal and local officials implored motorists to stay off roads.

Forecasts promised an incoming respite. “We are nearing the end of this active cycle,” said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at UCLA, noting that at least one more large storm system was expected to hit Sunday before a shift in weather patterns brings drier conditions. (© The New York Times)

Go Green

“Physical activity is thought to be the key mediating factor in the health benefits of green spaces when availability or active use of green space are considered,” study coauthor Anu Turunen, a senior researcher at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare in Helsinki, noted.

The study found that visiting nature three to four times a week – taking a walk in the park, jogging around a lake – was associated with 36% lower odds of using blood pressure pills, 33% lower odds of using mental health medications, and 26% lower odds of using asthma medications.

Still, it’s not a perfect correlation between green space and lowering meds.

“The analysis can reveal key associations, but we can’t say for certain whether it was the greenspace proximity or use that led to reduced use of medications,” said Lincoln Larson, an associate professor in the College of Natural Resources at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, who was not involved in the study.

“Perhaps people who were healthier to begin with (and less likely to take prescription drugs) were more likely to get outdoors in the first place,” Larson said via email.

The study, published on Monday in the journal Occupational & Environmental Medicine, interviewed approximately 6,000 random people in three of the largest cities in Finland about their use of green and blue spaces within a kilometer of their homes. Green spaces included forests, gardens, parks, cemeteries, moors, natural grasslands, wetlands, and zoos. Blue spaces included lakes, rivers, and the sea.

This is not the first time scientists have found that going blue and going green is the way to go.

A 2016 study compared the amount of plant life and vegetation near the homes of almost 100,000 women. After eight years, the researchers found having access to the most green space reduced the women’s death rate by 12% — and improved their mental health.

A 2019 study of green spaces around the globe found people who live near them are less likely to die prematurely.

Grocery Prices Up 11.8%

You’re not overbuying – prices in the grocery have been rising steadily over the past year, leaving consumers staggering upon seeing their grocery receipts.

Prices are now at nearly double the rate of overall inflation, at 11.8% year over year, according to data released last Thursday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

What could be causing these overwhelming increases? Blame Russia, the weather, disease, and a host of other factors.

Eggs are now up 59.9% year over year, a rate not seen since 1973, when high feed costs, shortages, and price freezes caused certain agricultural products to soar in price. Since early last year, a deadly avian flu has devastated poultry flocks, especially turkeys and egg-laying hens. That was compounded by increasing demand and higher input costs, such as feed.

The cost of food is hard to swallow, but the latest Consumer Price Index shows that those price increases — by and large — are at least growing at slower rates.

In December, “food at home” prices increased 0.2% from the month before. That’s the smallest monthly increase since March 2021.

The expectations are for food price increases to continue to moderate.

Dangerous Fish?

When can fish be harmful to your health? When they’re filled with forever chemicals, scientists say.

According to a study of data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, fish caught in the fresh waters of the nation’s streams and rivers and the Great Lakes contain dangerously high levels of PFOS, also known as perfluorooctane sulfonic acid, a known synthetic toxin phased out by the federal government.

The chemical PFOS is part of a family of manufactured additives known as perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, widely used since the 1950s to make consumer products nonstick and resistant to stains, water and grease damage.

Called “forever chemicals” because they fail to break down easily in the environment, PFAS has leached into the nation’s drinking water via public water systems and private wells. The chemicals then accumulate in the bodies of fish, shellfish, livestock, dairy, and game animals that people eat.

“The levels of PFOS found in freshwater fish often exceeded an astounding 8,000 parts per trillion,” noted study coauthor David Andrews, a senior scientist at Environmental Working Group, the nonprofit environmental health organization that analyzed the data. The report was published on Wednesday in the journal Environmental Research.

In comparison, the EPA has allowed only 70 parts per trillion of PFOS in the nation’s drinking water. Due to growing health concerns, in 2022, the EPA recommended the allowable level of PFOS in drinking water be lowered from 70 to 0.02 parts per trillion.

“You’d have to drink an incredible amount of water – we estimate a month of contaminated water – to get the same exposure as you would from a single serving of freshwater fish,” Andrews said.

“Consuming even a single [locally caught freshwater] fish per year can measurably and significantly change the levels of PFOS in your blood,” Andrews said.

Chemicals in the PFAS family are linked to high cholesterol, cancer, and various chronic diseases, as well as a limited antibody response to vaccines in both adults and children, according to a report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

It’s nearly impossible to avoid PFAS. Manufacturers add the chemicals to thousands of products, including nonstick cookware, mobile phones, carpeting, clothing, makeup, furniture, and food packaging.

A 2020 investigation found PFAS in the wrapping of many fast foods and “environmentally friendly” molded fiber bowls and containers.

A 2021 study found PFAS in 52% of tested cosmetics, with the highest levels in waterproof mascara (82%), foundations (63%) and long-lasting lipstick (62%). Polytetrafluoroethylene, the coating on nonstick pans, was the most common additive.

The latest study focused on fish caught in the Great Lakes from 2013 to 2015, which was the latest data available. Based on the findings, scientists say that people who fish for sport may consider releasing their fish back into the waters instead of bringing them home for dinner.

Biden’s Document Investigation

day to investigate how classified documents had ended up in President Joe Biden’s private office and home, opening a new legal threat to the White House and providing ammunition to its Republican opponents.

Garland assigned Robert Hur, a veteran prosecutor who worked in the Trump administration, to examine “the possible unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or other records discovered” at Biden’s think tank in Washington and his residence in Wilmington, Delaware, according to an order signed by the attorney general.

The White House promised to fully cooperate. People close to the situation said several Biden associates had already been interviewed. But the decision to open a full investigation put the president and the attorney general in awkward positions at the same time another special counsel appointed by Garland considers whether to charge former President Donald Trump or his associates with mishandling sensitive documents and obstructing efforts to retrieve them.

The circumstances in the Biden and Trump cases are markedly different. Trump resisted requests to return documents for months, even after being subpoenaed, while as far as is known, Biden’s lawyers found the papers without being asked and turned them over promptly. But as a political matter, the new investigation will muddy the case against Trump, who is already using it to argue that he is being selectively persecuted.

Biden, who excoriated Trump for being “irresponsible” with national secrets, now has to answer for his own team’s misplacement of sensitive papers. Moreover, his White House did not disclose to the public the discovery of the documents from his time as vice president for two months, waiting until after the November midterm elections.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the president had not been informed in advance of Garland’s decision to appoint a special counsel. She declined to clarify what prompted the search or why the White House did not inform the public earlier. Biden, she said, “was kept informed throughout” but does not know what is in the documents.

The appointment of Hur on Thurs-