Tag: sign

Categories
World News

Child Born on Afghan Flight Is Named Attain, After Jet’s Name Signal

Baby Born on Afghan Flight Is Named Reach, After Jet's Call Sign

The Afghan parents of a baby born on a C-17 plane that was evacuating passengers to Germany named their daughter after the plane’s call sign, a senior US general said this week.

“They named the little girl Reach, and they did so because the callsign of the C-17 plane that flew them from Qatar to Ramstein was Reach,” said General Tod Wolters, commander of US European Command, in a Pentagon -Message conference on Wednesday.

The Afghan mother, who is not named, had contractions and complications on Saturday on a flight from a base in Qatar to the Ramstein air base in southwest Germany, the US Air Force said on Twitter.

In response, the C-17 – identified on the radio as Reach 828 – sank in altitude to increase air pressure on the plane, “which helped stabilize and save the mother’s life,” the Air Force said.

After the plane landed, paramedics got on board and helped drop the baby into the hold. A group of women protected their mother’s privacy with their scarves, said Capt. Erin Brymer, a nurse who helped deliver the child, told CNN.

By the time they got there, the woman was “past the point of no return,” she said. “This baby was supposed to be born before we could possibly move it to another facility.”

Pictures released by the US Air Force showed the woman being transported from the plane to a nearby medical facility shortly after the birth of her daughter.

General Wolters said the baby was one of three – all in good condition – born to women who boarded evacuation flights from Afghanistan. Two more were delivered at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, a military hospital in southern Germany.

“It is my dream to see this little kid named Reach grow up and become a US citizen and fly United States Air Force fighter jets in our air force,” General Wolters told reporters.

Categories
Politics

Biden says rising wages are an indication his financial agenda is working

Biden says rising wages are a sign his economic agenda is working

WASHINGTON — After weeks of defending his economic policies against critics who blame them for overheating the economy, President Joe Biden went on the offensive Thursday, arguing that rising wages are a sign his agenda is boosting the fortunes of working Americans.

“The bottom line is this: The Biden economic plan is working,” said the president in a speech at Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland, Ohio. “We’ve had record job creation, we’re seeing record economic growth, we’re creating a new paradigm. One that rewards work — the working people in this nation, not just those at the top.”

Republicans and business groups claim that the enhanced federal unemployment benefits in Biden’s American Rescue Plan, his signature domestic accomplishment, are to blame for a “labor shortage” that has forced corporations like McDonald’s and Bank of America to raise their minimum hourly wage.

Biden rejected this view of the economy: “When it comes to the economy we’re building, rising wages aren’t a bug, they’re a feature,” he said.

The president on Thursday renewed his call for Congress to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour.

Biden credited the American Rescue Plan and his ambitious vaccination program with jump-starting a U.S. economy battered by the Covid pandemic.

The bill passed with no Republican votes, but several Republicans later sought to take credit for it with their constituents despite having voted against it.

“I’m not going to embarrass anyone, but I have here a list of who, back in their districts, they’re bragging about the rescue plan,” said Biden, holding up a list of Republicans who touted the relief funding.

“I mean, some people have no shame,” he added. “I’m happy they know that it benefited their constituents, that’s okay with me. But if you are going to try to take credit for what we’ve done, don’t get in the way of what we still need to do.”

As Biden seeks to build support for more than $3 trillion in additional economic stimulus programs, Republican opposition is solidifying.

As the economy improves, conservatives are arguing that Biden’s proposed stimulus is no longer necessary.

Private sector wages rose 3% in the first quarter of this year, the fastest pace in at least 25 years, according to economist Mark Zandi. This has made it harder for employers to attract workers willing to work for minimum hourly wages.

“We want to get something economists call full employment, where instead of workers competing with each other for jobs that are scarce, we want employers to compete to attract workers,” Biden said.

Biden rejected the growing alarm among some businesses and economists that higher wages and full employment will lead to runaway inflation. Instead, he said, corporations can afford to pay workers more without passing on higher prices to consumers.

“A lot of companies have done extremely well in this crisis, and good for them,” he said. “The simple fact is, though, corporate profits are the highest they’ve been in decades. Workers’ pay is at the lowest it’s been in 70 years. We have more than ample room to raise worker pay without raising customer prices.”

In addition to supporting higher wages, Biden pressed for a corporate tax increase to 28%, revenue he will need to fund his ambitious infrastructure proposal. The American Jobs Plan proposes to spend around $2 trillion over the next decade revitalizing the country’s infrastructure and manufacturing sector.

The president also made it clear that he sees these tax hikes as more than just a necessary evil to fund his big plans: They’re a key part of reestablishing a sense of shared responsibility and shared burden across the American economy.

“We have a chance to seize the economic momentum of the first months of my administration, not just to build back, but to build back better,” he said. “And this time we’re going to deal everyone in.”

Categories
Entertainment

Making Music Seen: Singing in Signal

Making Music Visible: Singing in Sign

One afternoon in a brightly-lit Brooklyn studio, Mervin Primeaux-O’Bryant and Brandon Kazen-Maddox were making a music video. They recorded a cover of “Midnight Train to Georgia,” but the voices that filled the room were those of Gladys Knight and the Pips who made the song a hit in the 1970s. And yet the two men also sang in the studio – with their hands.

Primeaux-O’Bryant is a deaf actor and dancer. Kazen-Maddox is a hearing dancer and choreographer who is a native speaker of American Sign Language thanks to seven deaf family members. Her version of “Midnight Train to Georgia” is part of a 10-song series of American Sign Language covers featuring groundbreaking works by black artists that Kazen-Maddox is producing for Broadstream, an art streaming platform.

Music connects communities around the world by telling basic stories, teaching emotional intelligence, and cementing a sense of belonging. Many Americans are familiar with signed singing from moments like the Super Bowl when a sign language interpreter – if hardly – performs the national anthem next to a pop star.

As sign language music videos proliferate on YouTube, triggering comments from deaf and hearing viewers, the richness of American Sign Language (ASL) has reached a broader stage.

“Music is a multitude of different things to different people,” Alexandria Wailes, a deaf actress and dancer, told me in a video interview with an interpreter. Wailes played “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the 2018 Super Bowl and drew thousands of visitors on YouTube last year with her contribution in sign language to “Sing Gently,” a choral work by Eric Whitacre.

“I understand,” she added, “that when you hear, not hearing seems to separate us. But what is your relationship to music, dance, beauty? What do you see that I can learn from? These are conversations that people have to get used to. “

Good ASL performance prioritizes dynamics, phrasing, and flow. The parameters of sign language – hand shape, movement, position, palm orientation, and facial expression – can be combined with elements of visual slang, a body of codified gestures that allow an experienced ASL speaker to immerse themselves in the type of sound painting that composers use Enrich text.

During the most recent video shoot, Gladys Knight’s voice boomed from a large loudspeaker, while a much smaller one was tucked into Primeaux-O’Bryant’s clothes so that he could “feel the music,” he said in an interview with Kazen-Maddox Interpreting. Out of sight of the camera, an interpreter was on hand to translate all of the crew’s instructions, all of which were heard while a laptop displayed the lyrics.

In the song, the backup singers – played here by Kazen-Maddox – encourage Knight to join their lover, who has returned to Georgia. In the original recording, the pips repeat the sentence “Everyone on board”. But when Kazen-Maddox signed it, those words became signs reminiscent of the movement of the train and its corridors. A playful pull on an invisible whistle corresponded to the woo-woo of the band’s horns. Primeaux-O’Bryant signed the lead vocals with movements that gently expanded the words, just like in the song: on the drawn out “Oh” from “Not so long ago – oh-oh” his hands fluttered into his lap. The two men also put in signs from Black ASL

“The hands have their own feelings,” said Primeaux-O’Bryant. “They have their own minds.”

Deaf singers prepare for their interpretations by experiencing a song with all means at their disposal. Many people speak of their increased sensitivity to sound vibrations that they experience through their body. As a ballet trained dancer, Primeaux-O’Bryant said he was particularly attuned to the vibrations of a piano transmitted through a wooden floor.

Primeaux-O’Bryant was a student at Model Secondary School for the Deaf in Washington in the early 1990s when a teacher asked him to sign a Michael Jackson song during Black History Month. His first reaction was to refuse.

But the teacher “pulled it out of him,” he said, and he was brought into the spotlight in front of a large audience. Then Primeaux-O’Bryant said, “The lights came on and my cue happened and I exploded and signed the work and it felt good.” Then the audience burst into applause: “I fell in love with the performance on stage.”

Signing choirs have long been common around the world. But the pandemic has created new visibility for signing and music, aided in part by the video-focused technology that all musicians have relied on to make art together. As part of the celebration of the “Global Ode to Joy” for Beethoven’s 250th birthday last year, the artist Dalia Ihab Younis wrote a new text for the final choir of the Ninth Symphony, which was taught in elementary terms by an Egyptian a cappella choir Arabic sign language.

Last spring, the pandemic forced a sudden halt to live singing as choirs were viewed as potential spreaders of the coronavirus. In response, the Dutch Radio Choir and the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra turned to the Dutch Signing Choir to work together on the signed elegy “My heart sings on”, in which the sharp voice of a music saw mingled with the lyrical gestures of Ewa Harmsen . Who is deaf She was joined by members of the radio choir who had learned a few signs on the occasion.

“It matters more when I sing with my hands,” said Harmsen in a video interview, speaking and signing in Dutch with an interpreter present. “I also love singing with my voice, but it’s not that pretty. My children say to me: don’t sing, mother! Not with your voice. ‘”

The challenges of signing music are multiplied in polyphonic works such as Bach’s Passion Oratorios with their complex tapestries of orchestral and vocal counterpoints and declamatory recitatives. At the beginning of April Sing and Sign, an ensemble founded by the soprano Susanne Haupt in Leipzig, launched a new production of part of the “St. John Passion “is the first fruit of an ongoing business.

Haupt worked with deaf people and a choreographer to develop a performance that not only reflects the sung words of the oratorio, but also the character of the music. For example, the gurgling sixteenth notes that run through the strings are expressed with the sign for “flowing”.

“We didn’t just want to translate text,” said Haupt. “We wanted to make music visible.”

Only those who should be entrusted with this process of making music visible can be a controversial question. Speaking between takes on filming in Brooklyn, Primeaux-O’Bryant said that some music videos made by listening to ASL speakers are not expressive and do little more than the words and basic rhythm.

“Sometimes interpreters don’t show the emotions that are associated with the music,” he said. “And deaf people say, ‘What is this?'”

Both men spoke about the impact of ballet training on the quality of their signature. Kazen-Maddox said when he took ballet lessons daily in his 20s, his signature became more graceful.

“There’s a port de bras that you only learn from ballet that I’ve really engraved on my body,” he said. “And I’ve seen my sign language, which has been with me all my life, become more compatible with music.”

Wailes also attributes her musicality to her dance training. “I’m a bit more attuned to the general sensitivity to spatial awareness in my body,” she said. And she added, “Not everyone is a good singer, are they? I think you should make this analogy for signatories too. “

Categories
Business

Netflix and Sony Signal 4-12 months Streaming Deal

Netflix and Sony Sign Four-Year Streaming Deal

As a further sign of Netflix’s growing dominance, Sony Pictures Entertainment has signed a four-year deal that grants the streaming giant exclusive US rights to Sony’s films as soon as it leaves theaters and premium video-on-demand services.

The deal, which begins with the studio’s releases in 2022, builds on Netflix’s existing partnership with Sony Pictures Animation and replaces the agreement that Sony, one of the few major studios without its own streaming service, has had with Starz Entertainment since 2005 has closed.

That means upcoming films like “Morbius”, in which Jared Leto plays the Marvel vampire, and “Uncharted” with Tom Holland in an adaptation of a Playstation game, will be available on Netflix after their theatrical and on-demand films -Complete runs. Under the deal, Sony will shoot two to three films a year for Netflix, expand Sony’s plan and offer Netflix exclusive films for its service.

“In this way, we can not only bring Sony’s impressive list of popular film franchises and new intellectual property to Netflix in the US, but also create a new source of first-time films for Netflix movie lovers worldwide,” said Scott, director of global films at Netflix Stuber said in a statement Thursday.

Sony emphasized that the arrangement would not change its theater strategy. Before the pandemic, the studio released 15 to 20 films a year in theaters, a plan it plans to resume after theaters reopen. Films made for Netflix will appear in addition to theatrical releases, it said.

With the pandemic closed theaters for much of last year, Sony Pictures, like most studios, pushed many of its films into 2021. It also sold a handful of streaming services, including Greyhound starring Tom Hanks to Apple and the upcoming animation comedy “The Mitchells vs The Machines” from the makers of Sony’s Oscar-winning film “Spiderman: Into the Spider-verse” to Netflix.

Categories
Health

White Home advisor Andy Slavitt thinks 89% of seniors will enroll

White House advisor Andy Slavitt thinks 89% of seniors will sign up

Andy Slavitt, White House Senior Advisor on Covid Response, predicted a growing number of Americans will continue to take the Covid vaccine based on news and evidence from trusted sources.

“In Israel, where they are a little ahead of us, 89% of seniors have chosen the vaccine,” Slavitt said. “We believe we can achieve these numbers if we continue to reliably answer people’s questions because these are very good, safe and effective vaccines.”

Around 37% of people in the US over the age of 65 have been fully vaccinated, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In the last week alone, the states fired around 17 million shots.

To further facilitate the distribution of vaccines, the Biden government announced that it will launch a nationwide vaccine availability website that will act as a link between the numerous vaccine registration websites from states, pharmacies, and other companies.

Slavitt told CNBC’s The News with Shepard Smith that “the idea would be if you put in your zip code it would show you on a map all the places near you that claim to have vaccines.” He added that streamlining the process would not only reduce widespread frustration, but also reduce vaccine hesitation.

Host Shepard Smith pressed Slavitt on his comments on vaccination records. Speaking at a press conference at the White House Monday, Slavitt said vaccination records should be free, private and secure. However, it is “not the job of the government to save this data and do so”.

Slavitt said Tuesday night that a government-run vaccination record campaign could lead some Americans to believe that the government is too involved in collecting data required for a vaccination record. This resistance is counterproductive for the entire vaccination effort.

“We believe that the public is more reluctant to get vaccinated if they feel like the government. The federal government is too big a role in this,” Slavitt said.

Categories
Politics

Biden to signal $1.9 trillion reduction invoice

Biden to sign $1.9 trillion relief bill

President Joe Biden wears a protective mask during an event at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, DC, the United States, on Wednesday, March 10, 2021.

Al Drago | Bloomberg | Getty Images

President Joe Biden will sign the $ 1.9 trillion coronavirus aid package Thursday afternoon, while Washington plans to send new aid this month.

He had planned to sign the bill, his first priority as president, on Friday. Biden will also deliver a primetime address on Thursday describing how the country will tackle the virus a year after the World Health Organization announced the pandemic.

The plan provides direct payments of up to $ 1,400 to most Americans, extends the weekly unemployment insurance increase by $ 300 through September 6, and extends the child tax credit by one year. It also spends nearly $ 20 billion on Covid-19 vaccinations, $ 25 billion on rentals and utilities, and $ 350 billion on state, local and tribal aid.

Biden has said he anticipates stimulus checks to begin this month.

Democrats passed the bill in Congress without a Republican vote on budget reconciliation. The House approved the measure on Wednesday.

“This bill represents a historic-historical victory for the American people,” Biden said after it was passed on Wednesday, saying the spending “addresses a real need.”

Republicans called the proposal inappropriate for the moment as Covid-19 vaccinations spike and more states move towards reopening their economies. The GOP criticized what it called funding that was not needed to fight the pandemic.

“The American people have already built a parade headed for victory,” Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Said Thursday. “Democrats just want to sprint to the front of this parade and claim credit.”

Democrats have named the bill needed to sustain economic recovery and ease the pain caused by a year of economic restraints. More than 20 million people are still receiving some form of unemployment benefit, and millions of households are struggling to afford food and housing.

The party has also highlighted the potential of the Child Poverty Reduction Act.

The legislation will also increase the maximum benefit of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program by 15% through September and direct nearly $ 30 billion to restaurants. It will send more than $ 120 billion to K-12 schools.

The legislation will also improve regulations to make health care more affordable and expand tax credits to help companies keep their employees on payroll.

This is the latest news. Please try again.

Categories
Politics

Cuomo to signal regulation stripping emergency his Covid powers

Cuomo to sign law stripping emergency his Covid powers

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo rejected calls to resign Sunday after new allegations of inappropriate workplace behavior were raised. However, he will sign a bill that removes his emergency powers to fight the Covid-19 pandemic as he faces growing political pressure from his own party.

The Democratic governor, who grappled with waves of criticism and called for his resignation over dueling crises in his government, also vowed that he would “not be distracted” in the fight against Covid.

“I am signing the State Emergency Powers Act today and I will implement it today,” Cuomo said on a conference call with reporters.

Cuomo said he would take this step with the “major change” that will allow Empire State restaurants outside of New York City to increase indoor dining capacity from 50% to 75%.

“The numbers have gone down. If the numbers have gone down, we’ll adjust the economic reopening valve,” said Cuomo.

The change will be implemented on March 19, according to the governor. But he warned: “If the numbers change, if something happens, if there is a downturn, then obviously we will adjust.”

Cuomo is under fire amid a growing number of allegations of sexual harassment or inappropriate workplace behavior, as well as an ongoing scandal over his government’s handling of care home deaths in Covid.

New York Senate majority leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins ​​on Sunday called for Cuomo’s resignation after two more women were added to the file to accuse the governor of inappropriate behavior.

“Every day there is a different report that stands out from the government business,” said Stewart-Cousins.

“We have allegations of sexual harassment, a toxic work environment, the loss of credibility related to the Covid-19 nursing home data and questions about the construction of a major infrastructure project.”

“New York is still in the midst of this pandemic and still facing the social, health and economic repercussions,” she said. “We have to govern without daily distraction. For the good of the state, Governor Cuomo must resign.”

Carl Heastie, the Democratic spokesman for the New York State Assembly, said in a statement Sunday that he “agrees with Stewart cousins” on the governor’s ability to continue running this state.

“The allegations about the governor that have been reported over the past few weeks have been deeply troubling and have no place in government, at work or anywhere else,” said Heastie.

“We face many challenges and I think it is time for the governor to give serious thought to whether he can effectively meet the needs of the people of New York.”

But Cuomo was defiant earlier on Sunday when he was riddled with questions about several women’s allegations, including two more who came up on Saturday.

“There are some lawmakers suggesting that I step down on allegations,” Cuomo said. Some members of Cuomo’s own party, including Senator Alessandra Biaggi, have asked him to resign.

“I was elected by the people of this state, I was not elected by politicians. I will not resign on charges,” he said.

“The premise of resigning on allegations is indeed anti-democratic,” added Cuomo. He urged people to let New York Attorney General Letitia James conduct her independent investigation into harassment claims before drawing any conclusions.

“Let the attorney general do her job. She’s very good, she’s very competent. And that’s going to be a due process and then we’ll have the facts,” he said.

“There is no way I can step down,” added Cuomo. “But I won’t let that distract me either … We have a lot to do.”

When asked about Biaggi in particular, Cuomo replied: “I have a flash of news for you: There is politics in politics.”

“I have political differences with people,” said Cuomo, also with some Democrats and Biaggi. “But they don’t override the will of the people. They don’t override elections. They cannot hear an allegation and decide on the allegation,” he said.

– CNBC’s Dan Mangan contributed to this report.

Categories
Business

Retailers signal extra short-term leases in a dangerous wager for mall homeowners

Retailers sign more short-term leases in a risky bet for mall owners

Shoppers walk through the King of Prussia shopping mall in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.

Jennah Moon | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Retailers and their landlords are currently embroiled in a high stakes risk game. And it will be a few years before we find out which party is on the winning side.

As thousands of retail leases need to be renewed, their term continues to shrink as companies grapple with an unpredictable future and seek ways to cut costs, remain flexible, and maintain leverage with their landlords even after the health crisis subsides.

However, the risk is a one-way street. For one thing, malls and shopping malls owners could have the opportunity to turn the tables in two or three years by increasing rents or outfitting retailers for another tenant. However, shorter-term deals could also result in landlords having even more vacancies across the board.

Best Buy chief executive Corie Barry said Thursday that the big box retailer’s average rental length is definitely decreasing.

She said the company has about 450 leases due to be renewed over the next three years, or an average of 150 a year. The electronics retailer has closed around 20 of its large-format stores in each of the past two years, but expects to close even more in 2021, she said.

“In the short term, there will be higher lease renewal thresholds as we assess the role of each store in its market, the investments required to meet our customer needs, and the expected return on investment based on a new retail landscape,” Barry said during a conference call with analysts .

The trend is spreading far across the retail landscape and in shopping malls. Apparel companies are increasingly rethinking whether it makes sense to be in an enclosed mall anchored by department stores struggling to attract shoppers and increase sales.

According to VF Corp., owner of Vans and Timberland, the leases for its stores have been shorter for years. They will get out of the pandemic even shorter thanks to recent and ongoing negotiations, according to the company’s CFO. VF Corp. makes the switch to allow the freedom to close deals faster.

“The way we structure our rental agreements allows us to be quite nimble and agile and … we can turn around as consumer behavior changes,” CFO Scott Roe said in a recent telephone interview.

The retailer’s average rental period is around four years, according to Roe and will soon be even shorter as new contracts are signed.

“The landlords have been cooperative and have worked with us,” added Steven Rendle, CEO of VF Corp.. “We both have the same goal, which is to be viable and productive.”

There is plenty of freedom

While it has traditionally been in a landlord’s best interest to get a long term tenancy or 20 year lease in order to limit risk and fill a room for as long as possible, many succumb to the pressures that have been placed in the past 12 months.

With lots of vacant space in many markets across the country, tenants such as retailers and restaurateurs are in a greater position of power. It’s a trend that many real estate experts expect will only multiply from here and become the norm.

According to a follow-up from real estate services company CoStar Group, leases for approximately 1.5 billion square feet of retail space in the US expire this year. That’s around 14% of the retail market. Either these leases will not be renewed and additional retail stores will be closed, or these contracts will be renegotiated.

“We agree with that.”

While short-term leases can pose a higher risk for landlords who then grapple with unpredictable waves of renters moving in and out, they go both ways. Retailers could get a short-term lease, and rents could be higher in the future as the market strengthens.

David Simon, CEO of mall owner Simon Property Group, told analysts during a conference call in early February that tenants were interested in a “slightly shorter term”. Simon is currently signing another three-year leases, he said.

“We are okay with this because in two or three years I would rather negotiate,” than not filling a shop at all, he said. “I think that might be in our best interests too, because … we’re not entirely able to refer to sales to increase the rent,” he said.

“It’s actually a one-way street and it works fine for the vast majority of our retailers,” said Simon.

Beth Azor, CEO of retail property management and development firm Azor Advisory Services, said she worked on a number of short-term super deals during the pandemic. Azor, often referred to as the “canvassing queen” by her social media peers, is helping leasing agents fill vacancies across the country by working with a number of publicly traded real estate mutual funds (REITs).

She recently took up service on the emerging social network Clubhouse, where she has set up spaces for entrepreneurs to set up their business in, and landlords with free space can overhear. The rental contracts have a term of three months to one year. and sometimes that’s rent-free. She calls it “Space Tank”, a piece from ABC’s “Shark Tank”.

Occupancy pays off

Azor says landlords shouldn’t view short-term leases as negatively, especially given the retail location. A tenant – period – increases occupancy, she said, which can come in handy when other businesses are knocking on the door asking for rent relief.

During the health crisis, companies at the national and local levels came to malls and malls owners to try to renegotiate their rents, Azor said. And when a property is full, albeit with some short term leases, it’s harder for a company to argue that their rent should go down. So the occupancy can literally pay off.

Outlet owner Tanger Factory Outlets has also done more short term deals. Currently, about 7% of tenants’ leases are categorized as fixed-term when they are typically between 4.5% and 5.5%, CEO Stephen Yalof told analysts during a conference call earlier this month.

“A number of deals that actually started out as pop-up or short-term leases … we extended the duration of those leases,” he said. “So that seems to be a trend.”

He went on to explain that the REIT preferred to maintain a high occupancy with shorter-term deals over charging rents in 2020.

“We’ll see a lot more local and [temporary] Leasing probably in the first half of the year, “he said.” But we are very proactive with our long-term leasing to replace this tenancy and expand our permanent leasing base. “

However, not all properties seem suitable for pop-ups.

For example, according to Jerome Barth, president of the Fifth Avenue Association, New York’s glitzy Fifth Avenue neighborhood is still largely populated by tenants with long-term leases.

“These will be premium leasing contracts, no matter what … because this is still the world’s leading market,” said Barth. “I think leases will keep moving, and that will be a constant. But people know the avenue will be an exciting place for years to come.”

Disclosure: CNBC owns the exclusive off-network cable rights to “Shark Tank”.

– CNBC’s Melissa Repko contributed to this report.

Categories
Politics

Biden to signal orders reversing Trump insurance policies on Obamacare and abortion

Biden to sign orders reversing Trump policies on Obamacare and abortion

President Joe Biden speaks prior to the signing of executive orders to improve access to affordable health care at the White House in Washington, USA, on Jan. 28, 2021.

Kevin Lemarque | Reuters

President Joe Biden signed executive measures Thursday to expand access to Obamacare during the coronavirus pandemic and to reverse the anti-abortion policy expanded by former President Donald Trump.

“I’m not initiating a new law, any new aspect of the law,” Biden said before signing the orders. “This goes back to the situation before the President’s instructions.”

The latest moves complement the president’s more than three dozen other orders, and memoranda Biden signed in his first week in office are at a record pace.

From mid-February to mid-May, Biden first signed an ordinance restoring a special enrollment deadline for Healthcare.gov, the health insurance enrollment page set up under former President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act.

The ordinance also instructs federal agencies to review, and possibly reverse, policies restricting access to health care, including those that have made it difficult for the less fortunate to enroll in Obamacare and Medicaid, the federal health insurance program.

Trump had tried unsuccessfully to repeal the law, Obama’s legislative achievement, but had taken steps to undercut the law.

“Of all the times we need to restore access to Medicaid, the affordability and scale of access to Medicaid is now in the midst of this Covid crisis,” said Biden.

Biden also signed an executive memorandum to immediately repeal so-called Mexico City policies, also known as the “global gag rule”. This decade-old policy prohibits international nonprofits from receiving US funding for providing abortion counseling or referrals.

This policy was expanded under the Trump administration to refuse to support foreign non-governmental organizations that fund other groups that support abortion services.

In his first seven days in office, Biden has taken extensive steps to erase Trump’s achievements. Biden signed orders for the US to rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement, to end the construction and financing of the border wall between the US and Mexico, to end the travel ban on people from several Muslim-majority countries, to include undocumented immigrants in the ten-year census and Lift the ban on transgender people who openly serve in the military.

Biden is also trying to work with bipartisan lawmakers to pass extensive coronavirus relief law.

“We have a lot to do and the first thing I have to do is get this Covid package passed,” Biden said after signing the executive actions.

Categories
Business

Biden to signal govt orders on local weather change

Biden to sign executive orders on climate change

United States President Joe Biden holds up a face mask as he speaks about fighting the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic at the White House in Washington on January 26, 2021.

Kevin Lamarque | Reuters

President Joe Biden will sign several executive orders on Wednesday to combat climate change and move the country to a clean energy economy, the White House said.

Executive measures include setting climate change as a national security priority, preserving at least 30% of the state and oceans by 2030, and terminating new oil and gas leases for public land and bodies of water based on a review of administrative orders.

Biden’s executive agenda will also focus on creating green jobs and union opportunities, as well as environmental justice for communities disproportionately affected by climate change.

The government said the climate action would build modern and sustainable infrastructure while restoring scientific integrity in the federal government. The arrangement supports the president’s agenda to reduce CO2 emissions from the electricity sector by 2035 and achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

More of CNBC environment::
Biden joins the Paris climate accord to fight global warming
2020 was one of the hottest years in existence, combined with 2016

Biden, who has staffed the White House with a historic number of climate experts, signed an order last week to reintroduce the US to the Paris Agreement, a landmark deal between nations to curb their emissions. He also canceled construction of the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to the United States

The president plans to leave remarks and sign the orders at 1:30 p.m. ET. Biden’s special climate officer John Kerry and national climate adviser Gina McCarthy will brief reporters on the government’s plans.

The Biden government will also convene the Climate Leaders’ Summit on April 22nd, which will bring together world leaders to discuss climate change issues. The summit will likely be remote during the coronavirus pandemic.