Tag Archives: Northern America

Gender
U.S. healthcare plans’ failure to ensure full coverage of maternity care leaves many women and families bearing full brunt of hospitalization costs
  • While the Affordable Care Act declares maternity and newborn care essential health benefits, employer plans continue to sidestep labor and newborn costs, which accounts for over 80% of pregnancy and childbirth costs.
  • Because the ACA allows for children to remain on their parents’ plans until the age of 26, the government has clarified that dependent children can have their prenatal care covered; labor and delivery, however, remain vulnerable.
  • There is an ongoing suit filed through the Health and Human Services’ Office of Civil Rights alleging sex discrimination in employer healthcare coverage.

“Pregnancy discrimination is per se sex discrimination.”

More on this story at NPR.

(Image Credit: iStockphoto, via NPR)

Gender, Race + Color + Ethnicity
Former Al Jazeera America executive files suit against the media organization and its CEO for maintaining a racist and sexist work environment
  • Shannon High-Bassalik, former VP of Programming and Communications, alleges the company favored Arab and male employees, creating a hostile work environment for non-Arab women and engaging in editorial interference that diminished the objectivity of its reporting.
  • The suit comes in the wake of similar legal action taken by another employee and the resignations of three other female executives, who also cited a discriminatory work environment as the cause of their departure.
  • Al Jazeera has responded, claiming High-Bassalik did not introduce her allegations during her pre-termination external performance review.

More on this story at CNN Money.

Race + Color + Ethnicity, Religion + Belief
Report indicates dramatic spike in anti-Semitic incidents in Canada in 2014
  • The 1,627 reported incidents for the year represent a 28% increase over 2013, with harassment comprising 84% of reports, vandalism 15%, and violence 1% of reported activity.
  • Ontario had the most reports of anti-Semitism (960) followed by Quebec and Atlantic Canada (259).
  • Major spikes coincided with Israel’s campaign in Gaza and the December holiday season, both of which are consistent with previous spikes.

“In 2014, ‘a clear pattern emerged. It has become too easy to deny anti-Semitism, as long as it is reframed under the legitimizing veil of anti-Zionism. … The landscape for spreading anti-Semitic messages has grown exponentially, so it is only reasonable to expect the actual number of incidents to have increased along with it.’”

More on this story at The Times of Israel.

(Image Credit: Gershon Elinson/Flash90, via The Times of Israel)

Race + Color + Ethnicity
Juan Felipe Herrera named U.S. poet laureate, the first Latino in history to receive the honor
  • Herrera’s family immigrated to California from Mexico in the early 20th century, becoming migrant farm laborers.
  • He went on to study at UCLA and Stanford before taking up roles as a writer and educator in a variety of contexts throughout California, and he hopes to continue the work of broadening poetry’s audience as national poet laureate.
  • His work includes poetry, novels in verse, and children’s books, and his success earned him the honor of being appointed California’s first Latino poet laureate prior to his national appointment.

“This is a mega-honor for me … for my family and my parents who came up north before and after the Mexican Revolution of 1910 — the honor is bigger than me.”

More on this story at NPR.

(Image Credit: Blue Flower Arts, via NPR)

Age, Race + Color + Ethnicity
Ethnic minority youth in the U.S. face high levels of disconnection from school and work, according to new report
  • The Measure of America study finds that while youth disconnection rates have fallen in the post-recession period, African-American and Native American youth lead disconnection rates at 21.6% and 20.3%, respectively, with Latinos following at 16.3%; levels are lowest among Asian Americans (7.9%) and whites (11.3%).
  • Disconnection often occurs among youth in struggling families who lack the resources or connection to resources that provide educational and economic opportunity.
  • Residential segregation exacerbates disconnection likelihood as minority-concentrated neighborhoods often see divestment in services and resources, including schools.

“This time of life is hugely important to what kind of life you live as an adult. … Disconnection really stunts your development and leads to a future of limited horizons and unrealized potential, and that has a very high cost on the individual and on society.”

More on this story at NBC News.

Gender
Federal appeals court upholds Texas restrictions on abortion providers, worrying reproductive rights advocates
  • The U.S. 5th Court of Appeals has ruled that the requirement that clinics meet ambulatory surgical center standards (including infrastructural requirements) does not impose undue burden on such clinics.
  • With only a handful of clinics meeting those standards, many clinics face closure unless they are able to make the costly upgrades.
  • In its lawsuit against the state, the Center for Reproductive Rights asked for exemptions for two clinics from the requirement that doctors have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles from the clinic, which was granted to one of the two.

“The 5th Circuit has once again put their political ideology above the law and failed to recognize that HB 2 is an undue burden on Texans’ access to safe, legal and timely abortion. … Your zip code should not determine your health care.”

More on this story at the Texas Tribune.

(Image Credit: Todd Wiseman/Texas Tribune)

Sexual + Gender Minorities
Arkansas judge rules marriage licenses issued to same-sex couples must be recognized by state administration after suit filed by couples denied recognition
  • The Department of Finance and Administration (under Director Larry Walther) had refused to recognize two gay couples’ marriage in tax and medical insurance processing, prompting the suit.
  • The State defense relied on a belief that Judge Chris Piazza did not have the authority to apply the clarifying order he released on May 15, 2014, opening up marriage licenses to same-sex couples retroactively to his original ruling on May 9.
  • The state ended its issuance of licenses to same-sex couples once Pizza’s ruling was appealed on May 16 and is now waiting on the pending Supreme Court decision.

“With shameless disrespect for fundamental fairness and equality, Director Walther insists on treating the marriages of same-sex couples who received marriage licenses … as ‘void from inception as a matter of law.’”

More on this story at Arkansas Online.

(Image Credit: Arkansas Online)

Health + Ability
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, featuring a teen with an autism spectrum condition as the main character, wins Tony for Best Play
  • The show also garnered awards for Best Director (Marianne Elliott) and Best Actor (Alex Sharp)
  • An adaptation of the eponymous book published in 2004, the play debuted in London in 2012 and will begin its North American tour next year.

More on this story at Disability Scoop.

(Image Credit: Joan Marcus/Boneau/Bryan-Brown, via Disability Scoop)

Religion + Belief, Sexual + Gender Minorities
Gay Christian activist prompts some evangelical leaders to reexamine their anti-gay stances
  • As churches struggle to contend with rapidly growing acceptance of LGBT individuals, Matthew Vines approaches religious leaders on a theological level about the durability of their opposition.
  • Vines has spoken with prominent organizations like Focus on the Family and at the high-profile evangelical conference Q Conference about the spiritual damage done by absolutist stances on homosexuality.
  • His strategy is to provide context for biblical assertions and identify potential allies within the church setting.

“God intended marriage to be about more than ‘plumbing,’…Marriage ideally should be about permanent, mutual, self-giving, self-sacrificing love.”

More on this story at The New York Times.

(Image Credit: Monica Almeida/The New York Times)

Age
Trans-ideological coalition works to reform truancy laws in Texas.
  • The alliance of government officials, policy analysts, and organizational leaders is pushing back against the more than 100,000 criminal charges brought against truant minors.
  • Convicted youth–disproportionately black and Latino–face fines and detention.
  • As Governor Greg Abbott prepares to take action on a reform proposal, leaders call for the redirection of resources towards prevention and intervention services.

“If Reggie was not in school, not the judge, not the school resource officer — Coach White got on the phone to find out why he wasn’t in school…If your truancy prevention ever gets to the courts, I look at that more as a system breakdown.”

More on this story at BuzzFeed.

Age, Nationality + Migration
Immigrant children in New York school find cultural bridge and new friends through soccer.
  • Immigrant students at the School for International Studies report their extracurricular soccer program as a key channel for them to develop language, social, and cultural skills.
  • One U.S.-born student shares how he took up Arabic to learn how to better communicate with his teammates on the field.
  • New York City has a population of more than 150,000 English language-learners in its school system.

“Any game, I make friends. When we play basketball, I make friends, like, you play with your friends. You make new friends any ways.”

More on this story at BBC.

Gender, Nationality + Migration
U.S. family detention centers face renewed scrutiny following attempted suicide of 19-year-old immigrant mother.
  • The young Honduran had been held with her four-year-old son in the Karnes detention camp in Texas for eight months.
  • She was detained for attempting to enter the country for a second time without proper immigration papers, the result of a crackdown following last summer’s dramatic increase in border-crossings by families and unaccompanied minors.
  • The policy has subjected families (including young children) to up to a year of detention, leading to extreme stress and suicide attempts.

“I don’t feel I can live going back to my country. But you have treated us like an animal, you look down on us.”

More on this story at The Guardian.

Health + Ability
New York City Department of Education announces $5.55 million initiative to fit schools with door alarms to prevent wandering by students with disabilities.
  • The funds will support the installation of 21,000 devices in more than 1,200 school buildings in the nation’s largest school district.
  • The move comes following the tragedy of 14-year-old Avonte Oquendo, a nonverbal, autistic boy who wandered away from school and was found dead in the East River three months later.

“These notification systems will give school officials important new tools to further our commitment to ensure safe communities.”

More on this story at Disability Scoop.

(Image Credit: Taimy Alvarez/Sun Sentinel/TNS, via Disability Scoop)

Religion + Belief
U.S. Supreme Court rules Muslim woman can pursue discrimination claim against Abercrombie & Fitch for being denied job because of religious headscarf.
  • The ruling was 8-1 in rejection of the notion that companies can shield themselves from discrimination claims through neutrally applied, one-size-fits-all policies.
  • The claim sparking the judgment came from Samantha Elauf, who in 2008 was turned down for a job at an Abercrombie Kids store due to the company’s policy banning headwear.
  • Shifting the responsibility onto employers for discussing accommodations, the judgment clarifies that applicants do not have to disclose their religious affiliation in order for a necessary, reconciliatory conversation about accommodations to begin with applicants.

More on this story from Reuters.

Religion + Belief
Recent Pew report on American religiosity finds Seattle has largest atheist proportion of the major U.S. metro areas.
  • According to the study, 10% of Seattle residents identify as atheist.
  • 52% of Seattleites identify as Christian (23% evangelical, 10% mainline).
  • 22% identified as “nothing in particular.”

More on this story at the Seattle Sun Times.