Producer host Julia Dudley Najieb reviews the Voter's Choice Act locations and the executive elected seats in California
By ONME Newswire
News Too Real April 11, 2022: In episode 11 of season 4, producer host Julia Dudley Najieb reviews the executive branch of the California government; she discusses who serves in those positions now, what their roles are, and the candidates running against them in the June 7, 2022 Primary Election.
News Too Real Podcast 4-11-22 Headlines:
World
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) produces 70% of the world’s Cobalt. While there is no shortage of environmental issues with its Cobalt mining, the overriding problem here is human rights: dangerous working conditions and the use of child labor. Cobalt is a toxic metal. Prolonged exposure and inhalation of Cobalt dust can lead to health issues of the eyes, skin, and lungs. Because Cobalt can be easily extracted from the ground by hand, small scale, bare-bones “artisanal” mines are common. The simplicity of the operation discourages/negates the need for occupational safety measures and encourages the use of child labor.
According to the Wilson Center, “small-scale mining in the DRC involves people of all ages, including children, obligated to work under harsh conditions. Of the 255,000 Congolese mining for cobalt, 40,000 are children, some as young as six years.”
Amnesty International has also made similar comments. “Thousands of children mine cobalt in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Despite the potentially fatal health effects of prolonged exposure to cobalt, adult and child miners work without even the most basic protective equipment.”
The “suspect” (bad) Cobalt is mixed in with the “legitimate” (good) Cobalt that comes from the large-scale mines that have the required safety standards and employ only adults. This co-mingling of “good” and “bad” Cobalt serves to mask the human rights abuses in the country’s mining operations.
National
Electric cars still cost much more than their gasoline-fueled counterparts, but that may change as automakers around the globe pour resources into developing new vehicles and producing them at scale.
General Motors and Honda are working to develop a series of "affordable" electric vehicles, the companies announced on Tuesday. The carmakers expect to begin selling millions of the cheaper models including compact SUVs starting in 2027.
GM executives said the partnership would yield a new electric model for North America priced lower than the company's upcoming $30,000 Chevrolet Equinox EV.
Tesla, by far the largest producer of electric cars on the planet, promised to start selling a $25,000 vehicle by 2023. But the company said in January that it is not working on the project.
California
The second school year under COVID restrictions saw another big drop in the number of students in California public schools, dipping below 6 million for the first time in more than 20 years, new figures released Monday show.
The state Department of Education’s new 2021-2022 school year data shows student enrollment dropped by 110,000 students, a 1.8% dip from last year, but less than the 161,000 decrease the year before.
Enrollment had been steadily declining in the state’s public school system before the COVID-19 pandemic due to skyrocketing living costs, declining birth rates and migration patterns, a Bay Area News Group analysis found. But the drop accelerated in the last two years when parents grew frustrated with distance learning. Many of them stuck with the new options they turned to while classes were online.
And in a dramatic turn, charter school enrollment fell 1.8% statewide last year. Enrollment in the independently operated public schools had been on the rise for years, and now account for nearly 12% of all public school students.
Large urban districts across the state account for close to one-third of the drop in the current year, according to the California Department of Education. In contrast, private school enrollment rose 1.7% in the last year.
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