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Landmark verdict against Chiquita marks first time major US company held liable for funding human rights abuses abroad
A Florida court has ordered Chiquita Brands International to pay $38m to the families of eight Colombian men murdered by a paramilitary death squad, after the American banana giant was shown to have financed the terrorist organisation from 1997-2004.
The landmark ruling late on Monday came after 17 years of legal efforts and is the first time that the fruit multinational has paid out compensation to Colombian victims, opening the way for thousands of others to seek restitution.
Continue reading…This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.
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Florida has become the first state to allow doctors to perform cesarean sections outside of hospitals, siding with a private equity-owned physicians group that says the change will lower costs and give pregnant women the homier birthing atmosphere that many desire. But the hospital industry and the nation’s leading obstetricians’ association say that even though some Florida hospitals have closed…
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Wait times have increased at 30% of the abortion clinics in the states closest to Florida its draconian six-week abortion ban went into effect on May 1. The data comes from a survey carried out by Middlebury University economics professor Caitlin Myers and her undergraduate students, which was reported by The Washington Post on Friday. “Distance and wait times are up… but telehealth is helping…
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As state courts continue to hear cases related to abortion bans and protections across the country, following the overturn of Roe v. Wade, these institutions have come even more into the crosshairs of a few ultra-wealthy extremists who want to codify and impose their personal religious beliefs on all of us via binding law. In April and May of this year, Arizonans and Floridians saw their…
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Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation on Wednesday that will weaken climate regulations and expand fossil fuel use in the state, even as Floridians experience the increasingly devastating effects of global warming. Although Florida Republicans passed several regulations in 2008 to mitigate the effects of the climate crisis, they have since dismantled those regulations piece by…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
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A six-week abortion ban is set to be fully implemented in the state of Florida later this week. The ban, which was deemed enforceable by the state Supreme Court earlier this month, contains limited exceptions, allowing a pregnant person to obtain the procedure in cases of rape, incest and human trafficking but only for up to 15 weeks of pregnancy. The ban also supposedly allows abortion in cases…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
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Last week, five residents of the Tampa Bay area of Florida filed a federal lawsuit alleging that racial gerrymandering had diluted the voting power of Black voters in two state Senate districts. The two Senate districts in question, which were drawn by the state legislature in 2022, rest along the banks of Tampa Bay. District 16 is represented by Democratic State Sen. Darryl Rouson, who is Black…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
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With Florida set to enforce a six-week abortion ban as early as May 1 and a near-total prohibition taking effect soon after in Arizona, staffers at abortion funds say they won’t be able to meet the increased demand for help funding out-of-state travel — a development that could lead to more people continuing unintended pregnancies. “I don’t think people quite understand the ramifications…
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Supporters of a Florida ballot measure that would outlaw pre-viability abortion bans kicked off the “Yes on 4” campaign in Orlando on Saturday, after the state Supreme Court ruled earlier this month that the proposed amendment can be considered in November. Abortion care patients, their partners, healthcare providers, and pro-choice politicians were among those who gathered in Lake Eola Park to…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
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In Tallahassee, Florida, a federal judge has ruled that a transgender woman teacher no longer has to be referred to as “Mr.” or “teacher” in the classroom, citing first amendment protections. Instead, she can use “Ms.” and female pronouns. This decision follows the passage of HB1069 in Florida, which mandated that teachers could not use pronouns that “do not correspond to his or her sex.
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Kasey Meehan, director of the Freedom to Read program at PEN America, likens the ongoing fight against legislation intended to restrict what teachers can teach to a game of whack-a-mole. “There’s a lot of smoke and mirrors to ramp up harmful bills against educators and librarians,” she told Truthout. While she says that a wide array of so-called “parent’s rights” groups — in addition to well-known…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
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Despite some tough odds pitted against them, the campaign team for President Joe Biden believes they can “flip” Florida to his win column in the 2024 presidential election, due to a number of issues they think will resonate with voters in that state, particularly abortion rights. In the two presidential campaigns he’s run, former President Donald Trump has won Florida twice…
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The Florida Supreme Court released two opinions on Monday that will affect abortion access in the state, including one in which a ballot initiative on reproductive rights will move forward for voters to decide on this fall. Between then and now, however, abortion access will be severely limited within the state. In a 6-1 decision, the state’s highest court overturned decades of previously…
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The Daytona Beach News-Journal was purposefully not invited to a news conference held by Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood on Feb. 29, 2024, according to the Florida news outlet.
The Sheriff’s Office had announced via social media on Feb. 28, 2024 that Chitwood would be holding a news conference the following day about a break in a 20-year-old missing persons investigation. But the newspaper said Chitwood’s media staff did not send it an announcement with details about the briefing, nor did they reply to emails and texts from reporters.
Two other Florida TV stations, WESH and WOFL, had news crews present at the briefing, but the paper said it was unclear how Chitwood communicated to them the time and place of the event.
It was the second time the News-Journal has been left off the invitation list for a news conference held by Chitwood, according to the news outlet. The first time was for a news conference on Oct. 2, 2023, where the paper said it was not invited although there was a “contingent of media” present.
The paper says the missing invitations are the result of a long-standing conflict between the daily paper and Chitwood that has also resulted in the Sheriff’s Office refusing to comment on any News-Journal stories.
After the October news conference, for instance, News-Journal reporter Frank Fernandez wrote that when the paper contacted Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Andrew Gant to ask about the oversight, Gant replied, “No oversight, sorry. The Sheriff is no longer inviting the NJ to his news conference or commenting for stories.”
Chitwood, in a series of Facebook posts going back to September, has been highly critical of News-Journal coverage of several high-profile criminal investigations.
In a Sept. 21 post, Chitwood wrote, “I don’t take Frank Fernandez’s calls or give him quotes for his BS stories anymore,” then added on Sept. 26, “This is nothing personal, strictly business, but the only real recourse I have is to unsubscribe from the News-Journal and quit commenting in it.”
News-Journal Executive Editor John Dunbar, in an opinion piece after the Sept. 21 Chitwood post, wrote, “The sheriff’s reaction is disturbing for a number of reasons. First, he’s falsely accusing an enormously dedicated and hard-working reporter of being one-sided and unprofessional. Nothing could be further from the truth. Second, his bullying behavior can lead to a chilling effect on anyone who dares to write something he doesn’t like. And third, he’s creating a scapegoat and invoking his followers to tell him ‘what they think.’ What happens if they respond with more than words?”
Chitwood’s derogatory comments continued, however. In a March 5 post regarding the Feb. 29 news conference, the sheriff wrote, “The Irrelevant Daytona Beach News-Journal smears my deputies, insults the law enforcement community, misleads the 5 readers it has left, and then cries foul when I quit responding. The News-Journal knew exactly when and where this press conference was, and they chose not to show up. If they did, I’d exercise my right to ignore their BS questions.”
The same day, Fernandez reported that Chitwood opted not to include The News-Journal in the news conference even though Gant told the Orlando Sentinel that if a News-Journal reporter shows up to a news event, they won’t be turned away. “The News-Journal has the same access to that as anybody else,” Gant said. “They just don’t have exclusive access.”
The sheriff’s office did not respond to an emailed request for comment.
Grace Nezkwesi, legal fellow at the First Amendment Foundation, was reported as saying she did not believe that Chitwood could exclude one media outlet while allowing others to attend the briefings. “It does sound like a chilling effect and a restraint on your organization’s First Amendment Rights,” she told the News-Journal.
This content originally appeared on U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database and was authored by U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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Gerod Ford inherited his love of swampland from his grandmother, who grew up visiting Florida’s wetlands. She would later tell her grandchildren that “the symbiosis of the swamp is what we strive for as a community.” After moving to Georgia, Ford said his grandmother was ecstatic to learn about the Okefenokee Swamp, the nation’s largest blackwater swamp and the home to several endangered species.
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
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This story was originally published at Prism. Florida legislators dealt a blow to outdoor workers this month by passing a law that bans local governments from implementing heat standards. Starting July 1, it will be illegal for local governments to pass health and safety measures for outdoor workers in extreme heat. The decision comes after Florida experienced its hottest summer on record.
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
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School districts across Florida will soon receive written notice from the state that discussions of LGBTQ+ identities are not banned in classrooms. This acknowledgement comes two years after the Parental Rights in Education Act, nicknamed the “Don’t Say Gay” law, banned the instruction of sexual orientation and gender identity from kindergarten to third grade — and almost a year after the law was…
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At 2:27 p.m. on Friday, March 8, the Florida Legislature adjourned sine die. With this adjournment, 21 of 22 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were effectively killed, leaving an anti-diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in education bill as the lone piece of legislation to pass this session. This session featured some of the most severe bills ever proposed against transgender individuals, all of these bills…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
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As blue states try to shore up access to abortion and reproductive care, some are facing a threat they didn’t see coming: Catholic health care mergers.
In the first segment, Reveal’s Nina Martin takes us to New Mexico, a blue state that’s been working hard since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade to strengthen its already sweeping protections for many forms of reproductive care. But those guarantees have been threatened by a local merger between Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center, the only hospital in rural Otero County, and a Catholic health care system out of Texas, CHRISTUS Health. Like all Catholic hospitals, the newly merged hospital will be subject to the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services, written by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Known as ERDs, they limit or ban a number of reproductive services, including birth control, sterilization, abortion and gender-affirming care. Where will people go if they can’t get the care they need? The next closest hospital is an hour away.
In the next segment, Martin travels to Alamogordo, where Gerald Champion is located, to try to find out how things are changing. Then she widens her lens, talking to a leading researcher on Catholic health care to see how ERDs play out in other hospitals around the country. She closes by talking to two Catholic experts about what ERDs require and how to improve transparency for patients.
In the final segment, Reveal’s Laura C. Morel follows the story of Kelly Flynn, an abortion provider who has clinics in Florida and North Carolina, two states that had been abortion havens for women around the South before Roe fell. But now, lawmakers in North Carolina have imposed a 12-week ban on abortions, and the Florida Supreme Court is weighing a six-week ban. So Flynn has spent the last few months preparing for access to keep shrinking by quietly opening a new clinic in a state that still has relatively strong abortion protections – Virginia.
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Florida is budgeting nearly $558,000 to surveil patients who are still navigating the immigration system when they visit the doctor. Republican lawmakers and Gov. Ron DeSantis are allocating the funding to enforce a harsh new anti-immigrant law that is spreading fear and confusion and pushing people to forgo medical treatment — including an alarming number of pregnant women.
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
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A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals — including two Donald Trump appointees — voted Monday to block a key portion of Florida’s controversial 2022 “Stop WOKE Act” from going into effect. In doing so, the panel upheld a previous lower court ruling that prevented the law from going into effect in 2022. “By limiting its restrictions to a list of ideas designated as offensive…
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Florida Republicans are unlikely to pass a so-called “fetal personhood” bill during the current legislative session following a Senate committee’s decision on Monday to postpone further consideration of the proposal, which had been approved by several committees before an Alabama Supreme Court ruling last week sparked a national uproar over the right-wing push to secure rights for “the unborn.”…
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Photojournalist Bryan Murphy of Florida television station WPLG was struck in the ribs with a rock thrown by rapper Kodak Black in Fort Lauderdale on Feb. 21, 2024, the broadcast outlet reported.
WPLG reporter Rosh Lowe was also threatened by the rapper, who was being questioned by the news crew following his release from a Broward County jail.
WPLG said that a police report was filed but that Murphy decided not to press charges. Murphy and Lowe did not respond to a request for comment from the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.
In video captured by Murphy, the rapper begins throwing rocks at the crew, as Murphy tells Lowe to “call the cops.” The rapper’s threat to punch Lowe was not shown on camera, but he acknowledged it later in the video. “You threatened to punch me,” Lowe said on camera. “I did,” replied the rapper.
Lowe reported later that some of the rapper’s fans have since come to his defense and issued threats, including one posted on Instagram that read “next rock to ya Head big Z.”
But in Lowe’s earlier account, the reporter noted: “It is very usual in our profession to interview people coming out of jail, especially noteworthy people. What is unusual is what happened here today.”
The legal representative for Kodak Black did not respond to the Tracker’s request for comment.
This content originally appeared on U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database and was authored by U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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With a brief memo, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo has subverted a public health standard that’s long kept measles outbreaks under control. On Feb. 20, as measles spread through Manatee Bay Elementary in South Florida, Ladapo sent parents a letter granting them permission to send unvaccinated children to school amid the outbreak. The Department of Health “is deferring to parents or guardians…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
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A Florida bill that would ban houseless people from sleeping in public places and force them into encampments is progressing through the House and Senate after receiving vocal support from Gov. Ron DeSantis. Senate Bill 1530 and House Bill 1365 would prohibit city and county governments from allowing houseless people to sleep or camp on public property and rights of way. The bills call for the…
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Florida-based independent journalist Tim Burke was charged by the Justice Department with 14 felony counts alleging conspiracy, wiretapping and violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, in an indictment unsealed on Feb. 21, 2024.
FBI agents raided Burke’s home and office in May 2023 in connection to a criminal probe into “alleged computer intrusions and intercepted communications at the Fox News Network,” according to reports at the time.
In total, federal agents seized nine computers, seven hard drives, four cellphones and four notebooks from Burke’s home and the guesthouse that serves as his office. More than nine months after the raid, only a small portion of the electronic devices and files seized by law enforcement has been returned.
The indictment, which was filed on Feb. 15 but unsealed just under a week later, alleges that Burke and an unnamed co-conspirator used “compromised credentials” to gain access to websites with the live feeds of two New York City-based media companies, and to download files and disseminate them.
Burke is charged with:
- One count of conspiracy;
- Six counts of accessing a protected computer without authorization;
- Five counts of wiretapping; and
- Two counts of disclosing communications obtained through illegal wiretapping.
Attorney Mark Rasch, who is representing Burke and who created the Justice Department’s Computer Crime Unit, denied any criminal behavior by Burke and warned that the charges could set a precedent that could make routine investigative journalism techniques a felony.
“Timothy Burke committed the crime of journalism, and that’s it. He didn’t hack anything, he didn’t steal anything, he simply reported,” Rasch told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. “The analogies that the government uses about breaking in fundamentally misunderstand how the internet works and what the norms of behavior are on the internet.”
Rasch said that Burke appeared at a courthouse in Tampa on Feb. 22 for an initial hearing on the charges, and that first the raid and now the indictment have had a serious impact on the journalist.
“He’s financially ruined and professionally devastated, and it has taken an emotional toll as well,” Rasch said.
Burke did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This content originally appeared on U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database and was authored by U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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Hundreds of transgender activists and allies orchestrated die-ins at DMVs throughout Florida in protest of the recently announced policy change by the state’s Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles that disallows transgender people from changing the gender marker on their state driver’s license to reflect their gender identity. In a January letter detailing the policy shift, Robert Kynoch…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
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A Florida bill seeking to tighten regulations on educator certification and school leader preparation programs has advanced in the state Senate, edging closer to a potential vote. The bill, SB 1372, marks the latest effort by right-wing lawmakers to strip teachings on systemic racism, sexism, oppression, and privilege from educational programs. “Today, the Senate Appropriations Committee on…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.