Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, major corporations including Disney, Amazon, Meta, Paramount, Starbucks, Tesla, Yelp, Airbnb, and Netflix have announced they will cover travel expenses related to abortion services for their employees, particularly in states where they operate that have declared bans on such health services.
The Walt Disney Company announced in a letter signed by Paul Richardson, head of Human Resources for the company, and the vice president of Benefits and Wellbeing, Pascale Thomas, that the company is committed to its employees, families and reproductive care.
"Please know that our company remains committed to removing barriers and providing comprehensive access to quality, affordable care for all of our employees, cast members and their families, including family planning and reproductive care, regardless of where they live," the document states.
The company also explains that it has processes in place to ensure that employees who cannot access care in one location have affordable coverage to receive similar levels of care elsewhere.
This travel benefit, he said, covers medical situations related to cancer treatments, transplants, treatment of rare diseases and family planning ‒ including decisions related to pregnancy.
Amazon, the country's second-largest private employer, told its staff on Monday it will pay up to $4,000 in travel expenses annually for non-life-threatening medical treatments, including abortions, according to a message seen by Reuters news agency.
Amazon’s new benefit, effective retroactively on Jan. 1, applies if an operation is unavailable within 100 miles (161 km) of an employee’s home and virtual care is not possible, and is open to U.S. employees or covered dependents enrolled in Premera or Aetna health plans, whether they work in a corporate office or warehouse.
Warner Brothers said it would cover travel expenses for abortions. “In light of the recent Supreme Court decision, we immediately expanded our health care benefit options to cover transportation expenses for employees and their covered family members who need to travel to access abortion and reproductive care,” a company spokesperson told The New York Times.
A Meta spokesperson told the same outlet that they intend to offer travel expense reimbursements, to the extent permitted by law, for employees who will need them to access reproductive and health services out of state. “We are in the process of evaluating the best way to do so given the legal complexities involved.”
Condé Nast, meanwhile, said it would cover travel and lodging for employees seeking abortions. "This is a devastating blow to reproductive rights that have been protected for nearly half a century," said Roger Lynch, the publisher's chief executive.
Zillow said it would reimburse employees up to $7,500 when major travel is required for medical procedures, including abortions.
Patagonia reaffirmed its commitment to covering travel expenses for employees who have abortions: “Caring for employees goes beyond basic health insurance,” the company said on LinkedIn. “It means supporting employees’ decisions about whether or when to have a child.”
Lyft, which had previously said it would cover ride costs for abortions, said the Supreme Court's decision "will harm millions of women by taking away their access to safe, private reproductive health services."
It also said it was expanding its “legal advocacy commitment” to protect drivers who may be sued for taking people to clinics. “No driver should have to ask a passenger where they are going and why,” Lyft said.
Uber emphasized the company’s insurance coverage for “a range of reproductive health benefits, including pregnancy termination” and its commitment to covering travel expenses for employees accessing health care services.
Like Lyft, it said it will continue to support drivers, reimbursing legal fees if any driver is sued under state law for providing transportation on the platform to a clinic.
Today we woke up to the news that the Supreme Court of the United States has repealed the federal constitutional right to abortion, which means that each state will determine whether women can freely decide about their bodies or not.
With the exception of Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, the other twelve members of the Supreme Court of the United States have decided that women must bear a child, even if they do not have the minimum economic and emotional conditions to raise it.
And if the above argument were not enough, why not think of the thousands of women who die every day in the world from having clandestine abortions? Perhaps some people will think that I am exaggerating, that the United States is not the whole world, that even within the country there are states where this fundamental right is still respected, but it is worrying that this will generate a wave of setbacks in other parts of the world.
Women's right to make decisions about their own bodies is a public health issue that should not be legislated based on arguments of "conscience." It is an issue that has a significant impact on the physical, economic and emotional well-being not only of women, but of the entire community.
A month ago I wrote in this space about how literature has dealt with abortion, both in the genre of fiction and in autofiction, as in the case of Annie Ernaux.
Last year, the Monterrey publishing house An-Alfa-Beta, in co-edition with the Autonomous University of Nuevo León, published the book The bodies we inhabit. Fiction and non-fiction about our right to decide, compiled and prologued by Olivia Teroba.
Dahlia de la Cerda, who founded the Morras Help Morras Collective to help women of all ages and social conditions to have an abortion, focuses on the situation in a marginal neighborhood of Aguascalientes where 12-year-old girls have abortions with or without permission, with or without help. In this Mexican state, abortion is punishable by law: “If the pregnant woman causes her abortion or consents to another person performing it, she will be sentenced to 6 months to 1 year in prison and a fine of 40 to 80 days, as long as she does not have a bad reputation, has managed to hide her pregnancy, and that it is the result of an illegal union.”
The exceptions to imposing a prison sentence are: if the abortion was spontaneous, if the pregnancy was the result of rape or when the woman is in serious danger of death.
Prison is another possibility facing women who make this decision. Except in states that defend freedom of choice, this is going to happen in this country, and it is very likely that those most punished will be, as always, the most marginalized: black women, Latinas, the poor.
Text and photos by Manuel Ortiz Escámez, with information from Duván Caro Footer – Peninsula 360 Press
Mayelis Angarita Robles has been the target of three assassination attempts due to her work as a leader defending human rights and the territory in Montes de María, in the Colombian Caribbean.
The Montes de María subregion, which we toured for two days with Angarita (on June 18 and 19), is a mountainous corridor between the departments of Sucre and Bolívar, bordered to the east by the Magdalena River and to the west by the Gulf of Morrosquillo, in the Caribbean Sea.
The area is a majestic habitat defended by community leaders who, despite death threats, attacks and enormous material limitations, work tirelessly to improve the difficult living conditions of the Afro-peasant and indigenous peoples of the area, who are a breeding ground for internationally recognized singers, top-level artisans and extraordinary musicians.
However, rural Colombian Caribbean is also characterized by being a territory of displaced people, forgotten by the State, plundered by agro-industrial corporations and violated by armed groups linked to drug trafficking, extortion, human trafficking and contract killing.
Although Angarita has been targeted by paramilitaries in this region, she and other leaders played an important role in citizen participation and monitoring of the historic elections of June 19, which gave victory to Gustavo Petro and Francia Márquez.
Angarita, who is the founder of Narrar para Vivir, a network of 800 female artisans who are victims of the armed conflict in Montes de María, says that they had to organize themselves very well in these elections, independently training “electoral witnesses because in the area there is almost always the issue of vote buying, precisely because of the issue of poverty. There are also many isolated areas and sometimes, every four years, people come to sell their votes for the opportunity to have something.”
Mayelis Angarita Robles, leader and defender of human rights and the territory in Montes de María.
Maestro Javier Sarabia Pedroza, director of the Son de Negro Dance of San Cayetano, in coordination with Angarita, is another of the leaders who watched over the vote through the “electoral witnesses.”
“We are ensuring that the elections are carried out peacefully and without disruptions,” said Sarabia, who defined this electoral process as “the elections of hope for us as an Afro group. We are seeing policies that for a long time have not taken us into account, they have not thoroughly addressed what Afro groups need and deserve.”
Maestro Javier Sarabia Pedroza, director of the Danza Son de Negro de San Cayetano.
Floods
The lands surrounding the small town of Nervití, located three hours from the municipal capital of El Guamo, are large, humid and muddy plains bathed by the Magdalena River, which allows the formation of sandbanks where the inhabitants grow modest corn crops, which they easily lose due to heavy rains.
The landscape is lush, dreamlike. There are scores of elegant white herons perched like sentinel angels on the beaches. Majestic eagles circle overhead, while the song of countless colorful birds mixes with the warm air, and children splash happily in the water while their father watches over them.
But the road from El Guamo to Nervití, like most in Montes de María, is a dirt road and is in very bad condition, and many stretches have been left under water due to the winter rains. These conditions, explained the leader of the area, Gabriel Carmona, leave many towns, like Nervití, completely isolated and cut off, and this makes it difficult for our residents, farmers, to vote.”
Gabriel Carmona, leader of the Nervití area in Montes de María.
A farmer who travels by mule to vote, and who prefers to keep his name hidden, passes through a flooded road and the water reaches halfway up the animal's body. The man says that it takes two hours to go and two hours to return, but that it is worth it because "we want and need a change in Colombia, we want the new president to commit to us and support us, because as you can see, the roads are very bad, people who have motorcycles do not dare to go through here, that is why many people do not go out."
In Nervití there is a clinic that is no longer in use because there are no doctors. The town is currently experiencing a flood that began four months ago due to the overflow of one of the swamps. Residents have observed a radical change in the behaviour of the river for approximately five years, which could be a result of climate change.
In addition to the severe flooding that damages homes and roads, this radical climate change has led to a shortage of fish, which is extremely serious for a town that bases its livelihood on fishing.
“We live off fishing here, but now fishing is not working because the river is swollen,” said Martín Antonio de la Rosa Chamorro, a fisherman leader from Nervití, who does not rule out that these problems may be related to climate change “because the sun is burning much more now than before.”
Julio César Moreno, a fisherman from Nervití, a fishing community affected by the shortage of fish in the Magdalena River Martin Antonio de la Rosa Chamorro, leader of the fishermen of Nervití
Without fish, explains de la Rosa, the poverty that was already a characteristic of the area has worsened. “About ten families have had to leave this year… sometimes we have nothing to eat.”
What do you expect from the new government in Colombia?
“Let the new president look at these towns, they have abandoned us, the streets are useless, the town is all damaged by the floods.”
In many towns in Montes de María there is no internet or cell phone signal. Nor do the media reach them. That is why the inhabitants of the town of Robles, Bolívar, created Radio Bemba, which consists of a speaker placed on top of a pole at the house of Omar Ramón Villegas de León.
“Attention Robles, pay close attention. Good morning! This is Omar speaking to you from this lovely community radio station in Robles, Radio Bemba, which belongs to you. Please be advised that where Mr. Antonio has fresh pork… and where Mr. Manuel Segura buys his basic basket…”
In addition to providing information on domestic issues ranging from food sales to organizing to deal with the ravages of flooding, Radio Bemba served to “raise awareness in the community about the importance of voting” in the presidential elections, Mr. Villegas said proudly.
“I am not a radio professional, I simply saw the need for communication that we have in the town and decided to install my speakers and microphones, and that is how Radio Bemba was born. But we are very limited, we would like to be able to install more speakers or even an antenna to make other types of transmissions, which also reach other towns,” Villegas hopes out loud.
Omar Ramon Villegas de Leon
Violence and paramilitarism
The craftswomen who are part of Narrating for Living They weave hammocks, backpacks, hats and other typical items that they sell to obtain some income. However, reported Surlay Sequea, legal representative of this organization, armed groups in the area have recently approached them to extort them.
Surlay Sequea, legal representative of Narrating for a Living
In addition to flooding and material poverty, there is what could be the main problem in Montes de María: the historical violence in the region, which has been exacerbated by the recent formation and strengthening of groups outside the law, such as the Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia (AGC) and the presence of the Sinaloa cartel (from Mexico), which maintain political and social control of the area.
“In Montes de María we are experiencing a very difficult situation of violence. We have been experiencing many threats. I have been displaced since last month. I left my house for an event and I could not return because they threatened me and ordered me not to be in my municipality,” said Sequea.
Paramilitary actions against the population intensified with the armed strike declared last May, which forced the residents of 11 departments and 135 municipalities in Montes de María to remain in confinement for four days. Those who did not comply with the strike, especially small merchants, were executed.
In the municipality of María la Baja, human rights leader Elsi Quintana commented, “People are scared because in the afternoon and at night we are seeing strange cars, strange people driving around on motorcycles, we don’t know who they are. It is difficult to live with so much fear.”
Elsi Quintana, leader and defender of human rights in the municipality of María la Baja
“They started calling us on May 17 to extort us and the amount has been increasing every day. They say that we have projects and manage productive initiatives, and that is why we have to give them a vaccine [a quota]. This prevents us from continuing to work as we did, we are afraid,” Sequea admits.
“Montes de María has a history of 157 massacres and more than 4,172 homicides. You can imagine what it means for us to work for democracy today in a context where Monte de María is seen nationally and internationally as a territory of reconciliation and peace. And yes, we are. There are very tough people here. I think we are too tough to continue here in a territory when the price of working for peace is your life,” said Angarita, who, as a result of her attacks, now moves around the territory escorted by two armed men as part of a protection program for threatened leaders in Colombia.
At the entrance to several villages in Montes de María there are graffiti by the AGC with the name of the leader in the area. The presence of these groups, according to several testimonies for this journalistic work, triggered femicides, executions, forced disappearances and is causing a new wave of displacement.
Days before the second round of the presidential elections, fishermen and farmers in some towns were ordered “not to go out to work or vote.” Despite everything, thousands in the region went to the polls, giving the left victory for the first time in the history of Colombia. With this news, broadcast on television, a family that voted for the Coalición Pacto Histórico in the urban area of the municipality of San Juan Nepomuceno closed the day.
A family looks at the results of the presidential elections that gave victory to the Historic Pact Coalition.
This work was carried out with the support of Global Exchange, in collaboration with Peninsula 360 Press.
In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the states of California, Oregon and Washington have stated that they will continue to be a safe haven for all people seeking access to abortion and other reproductive health services.
The governors of those three states issued a Multi-State Commitment on Friday to defend access to reproductive health care, including abortion and contraception, and to protect patients and physicians from efforts by other states to export their abortion bans.
The action is part of the governors' pledge in response to the U.S. Supreme Court's unprecedented decision to strip away a constitutional right that has existed for half a century, leaving abortion regulation to the states.
The sweeping decision means that for patients in more than half the country, home to 33.6 million women, abortion care is illegal or inaccessible.
In a message from video, the governors detail that the West Coast will continue to be a place where reproductive health care will be accessible and protected.
"The Supreme Court has made it clear: They want to strip women of their freedom and allow Republican states to replace it with mandatory birth control because the right to choose an abortion is not 'deeply rooted in history,'" Newsom said.
She added that the group is seeking to turn back the clock to a time when women did not have the right to make decisions about their own bodies, "when women had to seek care in the shadows and at great risk, when women were not treated as equal citizens under the law."
In that regard, he noted that the Supreme Court's decision is another devastating step toward eliminating the rights and freedoms for which Americans have fought on the battlefields, in the courts and in the capitols.
"This is not the America we know, and this is not the California way," Newsom said.
She added that California has joined Oregon and Washington in defending women and protecting access to reproductive health care. “We will not stand by and allow patients seeking reproductive care in our states or the physicians who provide that care to be intimidated with criminal prosecution. We refuse to go back and will fight like hell to protect our rights and our values.”
For her part, Governor Kate Brown noted that “abortion is health care, and no matter who you are or where you come from, Oregon does not turn away anyone seeking care. Let me be clear: you cannot ban abortion, you can only ban safe abortion, and this shameful decision by the Supreme Court will undoubtedly put many people’s lives at risk, in addition to stripping away a constitutional right that disproportionately affects women and has been established by law for most of our lives.”
She clarified that for all Americans who today feel scared, angry and disappointed, “for all those who need an abortion and don’t know where they can access safe reproductive health care, know that you are not alone and the fight is not over.”
Washington Governor Jay Inslee said the law would remain unchanged in the state he leads, "but the threat to patient access and privacy has never been more dangerous."
Even in Washington state, she said, Republicans have introduced about 40 bills in the past six years to roll back abortion rights and access to reproductive care.
“The right to choose should not depend on which party has the majority, but that is where we find ourselves. More than half of the country’s population now lacks safe access to a medical procedure that only a patient and their doctor can and should perform for themselves,” he explained.
Instead, she stressed, law enforcement, vigilantes and judicial systems can force patients to bear the burden of forced pregnancy and childbirth.
"Washington State remains steadfast in our commitment to protecting the ability and right of every patient who comes to our state seeking abortion services, and we will fight like crazy to restore that right to patients across the country," she said.
In recent years, each state has taken steps to expand access to reproductive health care in preparation for such a decision:
Governor Newsom has proposed a $125 million reproductive health package to expand women's access and help prepare for the influx of women seeking reproductive health care from out of state.
Thus, the California Legislature introduced a constitutional amendment to enshrine the right to abortion in the state constitution, while Newsom recently signed legislation eliminating co-pays for abortion care services and signed into law a legislative package to further strengthen access and protect patients and providers, with additional proposals already under consideration with the Legislature.
Oregon led the nation in passing the most comprehensive reproductive health legislation at the time. Governor Brown signed into law the Oregon Reproductive Health Equity Act in 2017, the first bill of its kind that expanded access to reproductive health services for all Oregonians and codified the right to abortion into state law.
Building on that work, Oregon invested $15 million in community-based organizations to expand abortion access statewide and provide immediate support to patients, health care providers, and community advocates, with a focus on rural communities, communities of color, and low-income communities.
In 2018, Governor Inslee signed the Reproductive Parity Act, which requires all health plans that include maternity care services to also cover abortion and contraception. In 2021, he signed the Pregnancy Protection Act, which allows physicians practicing in Catholic-run hospitals to bypass religious-ethical directives and perform a medically necessary abortion when a woman’s life is in danger.
Earlier this year, Inslee signed the Affirm Washington Abortion Access Act, which guarantees the ability of Washington abortion providers to serve anyone who comes seeking an abortion.
Washington law also protects patients and clinic staff from harassment outside their health care facilities.
After the Supreme Court on Friday, June 24, repealed the Roe vs. Wade ruling in favor of abortion rights in the United States, and the decision of the court's conservative judges was upheld by a vote of six to three, the fight for women's rights begins again, alongside thousands of demonstrations across the country.
In response to this, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, said that the Supreme Court's decision is "mortally serious."
"Today, the Republican-controlled Supreme Court has achieved the Republican Party's dark and extreme goal of taking away women's right to make their own reproductive health decisions. Because of Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, the Republican Party and their supermajority on the Supreme Court, American women today have less freedom than their mothers did," the Democrat said.
He explained that with Roe out of the way, radical Republicans will continue their crusade to criminalize health care freedom.
"In Congress, Republicans are plotting a nationwide abortion ban. In the states, Republicans want to arrest doctors for providing reproductive care and women for terminating a pregnancy. Republican Party extremists are even threatening to criminalize contraception, as well as in vitro fertilization and post-miscarriage care," she stressed.
In this regard, she recalled that a woman's fundamental health decisions are her own, in consultation with her doctor and her loved ones, "not to be dictated by far-right politicians."
"While Republicans seek to punish and control women, Democrats will continue to fight fiercely to enshrine Roe v. Wade into law," she said.
"This cruel ruling is outrageous and heartbreaking. But make no mistake: the rights of women and all Americans are on the ballot this November," she said.
It is worth noting that Missouri was the first state to ban abortion just minutes after the ruling.
The case «Roe vs. Wade»
The fight for women's reproductive rights and their right to make decisions about their own bodies began in a historic way in American law with a name that will now gain even more strength: Norma McCorvey, a waitress from Dallas who in the 1970s sued Henry Wade, the district attorney for Texas, in a historic process to claim her right to have an abortion.
In 1973, Texas law stated that abortion was prohibited, but 22-year-old Norma McCorvey, now known as Jane Roe, a pseudonym used in the laws to protect the plaintiff, who did not want to be pregnant due to financial problems, turned upside down the laws that prohibited it not only in that state but also made it a constitutional right throughout the United States.
Hence the lawsuit that served to constitutionally legalize abortion in the United States acquired its name, "Roe vs. Wade."
Although in 1973 abortion was already approved in some states of the United States, such as California and New York, in addition to four other states, it was limited in another 16 states, such as Texas, the place where Jane Roe lived.
It was in 1968 when Ronald Reagan, then Republican governor of California, signed the "Therapeutic Abortion Act" while in 1970 in New York City, the right to abortion was signed without the need for women to give any kind of explanation to the authorities as long as it was carried out within the first two trimesters of pregnancy.
By July 1, 1970, the first abortion clinic was reportedly opened in New York City.
In January 1973 the federal judges in the Northern District of Texas finally ruled seven votes to two in favor of the plaintiff.
The U.S. Supreme Court overturns the landmark Roe v. Wade case, ending nearly 50 years of constitutional abortion protections and leaving millions of women in the country unprotected in their reproductive choices.
The court, by a 6-3 vote, upheld a Mississippi law banning most abortions after 15 weeks, joining dozens of states across the country that had previously pledged to pass similar laws following the ruling.
In response to the Supreme Court decision resulting in the loss of the constitutional right to abortion, San Francisco Mayor, London N. Breed, announced the first steps being taken to prepare for local impacts and to ensure that San Francisco continues to present itself as a place that proudly protects and supports a woman’s right to choose.
With input from leading abortion rights organizations, the San Francisco Department of the Status of Women (DOSW) has identified the next steps San Francisco will take to prepare for any influx of out-of-state travelers and minimize the damage from the ruling.
“This decision is devastating for women and for our country. San Francisco will continue to proudly protect women’s health and the fundamental right to choose. This is a dark day, but we will continue to fight and will not give up,” Mayor Breed tweeted following the announcement.
In a press release, DOSW said it has begun to initiate a Bay Area coordinating table of providers, advocacy organizations and local government agencies to better understand the services available across the region and what may be needed, as well as to prepare for any state-level interventions that may come.
Additionally, she said, she has begun measuring local capacity for abortion care services to understand what services are available to women in San Francisco and what impacts they may have as a result of this decision.
DOSW is distributing $250,000 in emergency grants to local organizations for immediate capacity building and wraparound service support so that women can continue to receive the care and support they need as demand for services potentially increases.
“San Francisco has proudly served for generations as a place that respects fundamental civil rights, including a woman’s right to choose. The ramifications of this Supreme Court ruling on public health, poverty, and so many downstream consequences remain to be seen, but right now, women are scared about what this means for themselves, for their daughters, for all of us,” Breed said.
“San Francisco cannot fix national policy, but we can ensure that the residents of this city are safe from anyone who would criminalize health care, and we are working with the entire Bay Area to prepare for any impact of this decision,” he added.
Kimberly Ellis, director of DOSW, said the measure would lead to failed clandestine abortions and, consequently, the deaths of women.
“There will be botched home and clandestine abortions, and women will die unnecessarily. We have a moral obligation to do everything we can to protect the lives of living, breathing mothers, daughters, sisters, partners and wives. No person should have to choose between giving birth and dying, but that is exactly our new reality,” she said.
According to a poll conducted by NBC News, 63 percent of Americans said in May that they did not believe Roe v. Wade should be overturned, compared with 30 percent of people who wanted the abortion rights ruling overturned.
Additionally, a combined 60 percent of Americans nationwide said abortion should be legal always (37 percent) or legal most of the time (23 percent).
By party, 84 percent of Democrats and 63 percent of independents want abortion to be legal, compared to just 33 percent of Republicans.
MoveOn has partnered with Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Women's March, UltraViolet, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), NARAL Pro-Choice America, SEIU, the Liberate Abortion coalition of reproductive justice organizations and leaders, and partners across the country to organize "We Will Not Go Back" actions across the country to speak out against the Supreme Court's decision.
There will be several marches in the Bay Area. So far, marches are expected to take place in San Francisco and Napa on Friday.
Protest at the Phillip Burton Federal Building at 450 Golden Gate Ave. – 5pm
Pro-Choice Rally at Powell & Market – 5pm
Old Courthouse Brown Third / Napa – Time/Date TBD – Currently being organized.
While a protest is planned for tomorrow, Saturday, at San José City Hall at 10:00 a.m., however, the details are still subject to change.
How many times have we wanted to hear, even if just one more time, the voice of someone we loved who passed away? Alexa, Amazon's virtual assistant, will be able to give its customers that opportunity in the near future through audio messages that will bring back to our ears the person we miss so much.
Using Artificial Intelligence (AI), application engineers will be able to imitate the voices of deceased people whom we wish to hear again in audio messages lasting up to one minute.
“Many of us have lost a loved one, and while AI can’t take away the pain of loss, it can make memories of them last,” said Rohit Prasad, Alexa’s senior vice president and chief AI scientist, during his keynote address at the re:MARS conference in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The development of what will become one of Alexa's many features is based on replicating the speech of a dead relative, based on less than a minute of recorded audio from the original person.
During Amazon's global AI event for machine learning, automation, robotics and space ‒re:MARS‒, the executive gave a demonstration of what the assistant will be able to do through an Echo Dot.
“Alexa, can Grandma finish reading me The Wizard of Oz?” Prasad asked out loud. The assistant, in her typical voice, replied, “Okay!” Then, when the device began narrating a scene from the Cowardly Lion calling for courage, Alexa’s robotic tone was replaced by a more human-sounding narrator.
“Instead of Alexa’s voice reading the book, it’s the voice of the child’s grandmother,” Rohit Prasad enthusiastically explained.
The goal of the Alexa feature, Amazon's still-in-development virtual assistant, is to build greater trust with users by infusing artificial intelligence with the "human attributes of empathy and caring."
The engineer mentioned that Amazon developers learned to “produce a high-quality voice with less than a minute of recording” in addition to focusing on the ability to reproduce the voice of a deceased loved one as a conversion task rather than a speech generation task.
Rohit Prasad stressed that the device's advances in functionality have come from the same needs that users have pointed out over time.
Although he did not indicate when this function would be available, he did emphasize that they are working on it.
“We are certainly living in the golden age of AI, where our dreams and science fiction are becoming reality,” Prasad said.
Not everyone was enthusiastic about the announcement, with experts saying that while the prospect of hearing a dead relative's voice can be heart-warming, it also raises a host of ethical and safety concerns.
"I don't feel like our world is ready for easy-to-use voice cloning technology," Rachel Tobac, chief executive of San Francisco-based SocialProof Security, told The Washington Post.
He further explained that if a cybercriminal can easily and credibly replicate another person's voice with a short voice sample, they can use that sample to impersonate other people, which can lead to identity theft, fraud, data loss, account takeover, and more.
Until recently, people suffering from alopecia areata, a disorder that causes hair loss, had no treatment that would make their hair grow back, however, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration The FDA has just approved a drug for alopecia that promises to end such suffering for adult patients.
Getting into the shower and seeing hundreds of hairs slipping through your fingers as you rub your hair is one of the most painful moments for the more than 300,000 people in the United States who are affected by this condition every year, a disorder that causes deep depression among those who have it.
The FDA has approved Eli Lilly’s Olumiant oral tablets — baricitinib — to treat adult patients with severe alopecia areata. The move marks the agency’s first approval of a systemic treatment — that is, it treats the entire body rather than a specific location — for the condition.
“Access to safe and effective treatment options is crucial for the significant number of Americans affected by severe alopecia,” said Kendall Marcus, director of the Division of Dermatology and Dentistry in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.
Alopecia areata, commonly known simply as alopecia, is an autoimmune disorder in which the body attacks its own hair follicles, causing hair to fall out, often in clumps.
Olumiant is a Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor that blocks the activity of one or more enzymes from a specific family, interfering with the pathway that leads to inflammation.
The efficacy and safety of Olumiant in alopecia areata was studied in two randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials in patients who had at least 50 percent scalp hair loss as measured by the Alopecia Tool severity score for more than six months.
Patients in these trials received either placebo, 2 milligrams of Olumiant, or 4 milligrams of Olumiant every day. The primary efficacy measure for both trials was the proportion of patients who achieved at least 80 percent hair coverage at week 36 (9 months).
While the drug has drawn tears and applause from patients, the most common side effects associated with Olumiant include: upper respiratory tract infections, headache, acne, high cholesterol (hyperlipidemia), increased levels of an enzyme called creatine phosphokinase, urinary tract infection, and increased liver enzymes.
Such as inflammation of the hair follicles (folliculitis), fatigue, lower respiratory tract infections, nausea, genital candidiasis (Candida infections), anemia, low numbers of certain types of white blood cells (neutropenia), abdominal pain, shingles (herpes zoster), and weight gain.
Olumiant is not recommended for use in combination with other JAK inhibitors, biologic immunomodulators, cyclosporine, or other potent immunosuppressants.
Olumiant comes with warnings and precautions that include the recommendation of close monitoring for the development of signs and symptoms of infection during and after treatment; evaluation of patients for active tuberculosis infection and testing for latent tuberculosis prior to treatment with Olumiant; and the potential for viral reactivation.
Additionally, other warnings and precautions include hypersensitivity (allergic reactions), gastrointestinal perforations (tears in the stomach or intestine), and laboratory abnormalities including low white and red blood cell counts, elevated liver enzymes, and elevated lipids.
Olumiant comes with a boxed warning for serious infections, mortality, malignancy, major adverse cardiovascular events and thrombosis.
The drug was originally approved in 2018 and has also been recommended as a treatment for certain adult patients with moderately to severely active rheumatoid arthritis, as well as being approved for the treatment of COVID-19 in certain hospitalized adults.
En preparación para la próxima temporada de incendios forestales, el Departamento Forestal y de Protección contra Incendios de California ‒CAL FIRE‒ completó la transición a la dotación máxima de personal en todo el estado y continúa informando sobre el progreso en proyectos clave de reducción de combustibles y salud forestal.
La dotación máxima de personal garantiza que todas las estaciones de CAL FIRE estén abiertas y con personal las 24 horas del día; se mejoran las capacidades de respuesta; todas las aeronaves están preposicionadas y dotadas de individuos capacitados; y las tripulaciones cuentan con capacitación y trabajo.
Según las estimaciones actuales, CAL FIRE ha logrado tratar 110 mil 925 acres en preparación para la próxima temporada de incendios forestales, lo que supera su objetivo de 100 mil acres para 2025.
«Aunque las condiciones han variado geográficamente en todo el estado, las condiciones climáticas, las cargas de combustible y la cantidad de incidentes de incendios han guiado la respuesta exhaustiva y la preparación general del Departamento para los meses de verano», dijo Joe Tyler, director y jefe de bomberos de CAL FIRE.
Agregó que, incluso mientras se aumentan los preparativos para los incendios forestales que ahora ocurren durante todo el año, se continúan acelerando los proyectos de salud forestal y prevención de incendios en todo el estado, lanzando más de 603 proyectos de resiliencia.
«California está tomando medidas agresivas para proteger a las comunidades y hacer que nuestros bosques sean más resistentes», dijo el gobernador Gavin Newsom, quien agregó que además de los esfuerzos de supresión de incendios, el estado está enfocado en aumentar las inversiones y trabajar para enfrentar el desafío de frente.
El financiamiento de aumento temprano, aprobado en colaboración con la Legislatura el año pasado, ha permitido a CAL FIRE dotar de personal a 136 locomotoras en la región norte ‒un aumento de 64‒ y 126 más en la región sur, un aumento de 16.
Además, cuenta con 12 aviones de uso exclusivo que están disponibles en todo el estado hoy, con cuatro adicionales para el 1 de julio, lo que se suma a la flota aérea existente de CAL FIRE de más de 62 aviones; asimismo, 16 cuadrillas de mano adicionales están operativas como resultado del aumento del presupuesto para prevención de incendios y respuesta de emergencia.
Mientras tanto, los datos que se han validado hasta ahora muestran que CAL FIRE y los beneficiarios de las subvenciones han realizado trabajos de tratamiento de combustibles y prevención de incendios en más de 110 mil 900 acres en el año fiscal 2020-2021, lo que supera su meta de 2025 de 100 mil acres antes de lo previsto.
CAL FIRE no está solo en este esfuerzo, es uno de los 22 departamentos estatales que implementan el programa de resistencia a incendios forestales de 1.5 mil millones de California.
Hasta junio de 2022, en menos de un año, el programa ya ha comprometido mil 100 millones y ha lanzado más de 833 proyectos, que incluyen los proyectos y la financiación de CAL FIRE.
Fue visto un león de montaña en Redwood City este miércoles alrededor del mediodía, por lo que autoridades llaman a extremar precauciones de encontrarlo.
El animal salvaje fue visto en el área de Turnsworth Ave y Edgewood Rd, razón por la cual el Departamento de Policía de Redwood City ha llamado a mantener a sus mascotas adentro, y quedarse en un lugar seguro y resguardado.
Además, pidió a los residentes que logren ver al animal, llamen al 911 y proporcionen información para poder capturar al espécimen y ponerlo a salvo.
Los leones de montaña ‒también llamados pumas‒ son animales solitarios que se encuentran en todo el estado de California.
Aproximadamente la mitad del estado es un hábitat adecuado para ellos y generalmente se pueden encontrar donde se encuentran los ciervos, su presa principal.
Los leones de montaña son gatos delgados y ágiles. Los adultos generalmente miden un poco más de 2 pies de altura en los hombros y pueden medir entre 5 y 9 pies de largo desde la nariz hasta la cola.
Tienen patas grandes y proporcionalmente las patas traseras más grandes de la familia de los gatos, un físico que les permite una gran capacidad de salto, pues pueden llegar a brincar en vertical hasta 18 pies.
La coloración es simple, típicamente rojiza, con parches más claros en la parte inferior del cuerpo, incluidas las mandíbulas, el mentón y la garganta.
Al igual que los gatos domésticos, vocalizan en silbidos, gruñidos y ronroneos. Los leones de montaña son carnívoros obligados, lo que significa que solo se alimentan de carne.
Con la aprobación de la Ley de Protección de la Vida Silvestre de California en 1990, los leones de montaña se convirtieron en un mamífero especialmente protegido, una clasificación formal que prohíbe la matanza de leones de montaña en el estado.
Sin embargo, el Departamento de Pesca y Vida Silvestre de California puede emitir permisos de depredación que permitan matar a un león si ataca al ganado o las mascotas.
Desde 2001, un promedio de 94 leones de montaña en todo el estado muere anualmente bajo permisos de depredación. En las últimas dos décadas, casi mil 800 leones de montaña han sido asesinados a través de este sistema.
Los leones de montaña también pueden ser asesinados si se convierten en una amenaza para la seguridad pública, pero ha habido menos de veinte ataques verificados de leones de montaña contra humanos en todo California desde 1890.
Cabe destacar que los leones de montaña también pueden verse afectados por los cambios causados por el hombre en los regímenes de incendios de los ecosistemas locales.
Por ejemplo, la creciente frecuencia de incendios debido a las igniciones causadas por el hombre está poniendo en riesgo grandes áreas de conversión de matorrales nativos a pastizales no nativos. Estas áreas convertidas proporcionan un tipo de hábitat menos adecuado para los leones de montaña.
