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Minister James celebrates resilience and success of tourism stakeholders during Tourism Month
As St Vincent and the Grenadines celebrates Tourism Month, Minister of Tourism Carlos James is taking time to celebrate the resilience of Vincentian people, especially tourism stakeholders.
The Minister says the ministry also celebrates the many successes of the tourism industry.
https://www.nbcsvg.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/TOURISM-MONTH.mp3
A packed schedule of activities is slated for Tourism Month in St Vincent and the Grenadines.
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Political Scientist says U.S. Election results may impact Māori economy
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Congressional Democrats’ report calls Louisiana misoprostol law ‘anti-science’
Democrats on a congressional committee say a new Louisiana law that classifies pregnancy care drugs as controlled dangerous substances will put women’s lives at risk.
The report from the minority party members of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce links Louisiana’s policy to the reproductive health platform of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
“This law is yet another example of a poorly written, anti-science policy that Republican extremists have been trying to pass in states across the country,” the report reads.
Effective Oct. 1, mifepristone and misoprostol are treated as Schedule IV drugs in Louisiana, requiring that they be secured. The medications were targeted because they can be used together for abortions, but both have multiple other uses, particularly misoprostol. It’s been the go-to treatment to stop life-threatening hemorrhaging after delivery.
Hospitals and other health care facilities can no longer have quick and easy access to the drugs. Rather than include misoprostol in “bleed kits” taken into delivery rooms, it must now be kept in a separate passcode-protected dispensary system. Their prescription and use must also be closely monitored.
“Requiring life saving medications to be kept in a lockbox and threatening doctors with jail time and fines will only make Louisiana’s existing maternal health crisis worse,” Energy and Commerce ranking member Frank Pallone Jr., D-N.J., said in a statement. “This report demonstrates that Louisiana’s new law is clearly intended to create a chilling effect on both patients and doctors that will undoubtedly put women’s lives at risk.”
The report outlines concerns that the legislation could become a blueprint for other states. Democratic staff on the committee have said they are not able to set the agenda with committee hearings while in the minority, but if the Nov. 5 election puts them in the majority, things could change. Regardless, committee members assert that access to reproductive health care will continue to be a focus, both from a legislative as well as an oversight perspective.
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Oversight of drug regulation falls under the duties of the Energy and Commerce health subcommittee. The Democratic members’ report includes harsh criticism of the Louisiana Legislature for designating mifepristone and misoprostol as Schedule IV drugs, putting them in the same category as substances such as Ambien and Valium that could potentially be addictive or misused.
State lawmakers did not follow the typical process and have the reproductive drugs medically and scientifically evaluated as drugs with potential for abuse, the report said.
Louisiana health care providers sue state, claiming misoprostol law violates constitution
“The Louisiana legislature politicized its scheduling of drugs – an otherwise legitimate medical tool for preventing drug abuse – and directly placed mifepristone and misoprostol under the state’s controlled substances Schedule IV, ignoring all existing scientific and medical data about these safe and effective FDA-approved drugs,” the report reads.
“The only thing this law accomplishes is creating a pretext for investigating women, their loved ones, providers, and pharmacists,” Democrats on the committee wrote.
Doctors and reproductive rights organizations are challenging the new law in state court, having filed a lawsuit Thursday. They claim the measure, Act 246, violates the state constitution because it discriminates against people with certain medical conditions.
Additionally, the lawsuit points out legislators added the drug restrictions to a bill that originally sought to create the crime of coerced abortion. The lawsuit claims the amendments were not germane to the proposal’s initial intent, which plaintiffs say also goes against a constitutional provision.
State Rep. Thomas Pressly, pictured May 26, 2022. (Greg LaRose/Louisiana Illuminator)
State Sen. Thomas Pressly, R-Shreveport, is the author of the law. He was inspired to write it after his pregnant sister was given abortion drugs in 2022 by her then-husband without her knowledge.
Catherine Herring nearly lost her daughter, who was born 10 weeks premature with significant health issues. Mason Herring pleaded guilty in a Texas court to injuring a child and assault of a pregnant woman. He was sentenced to six months in prison, a penalty Pressly said was insufficient.
“No woman should ever be drugged without her knowledge, and bad actors should not be able to obtain Misoprostol or Mifepristone in an effort to kill unborn babies,” the senator said when asked for comments about the congressional report. “The Louisiana legislation allows for health care providers to continue to prescribe these medications for necessary healthcare purposes while limiting the ability of bad actors to obtain these drugs. I’m proud of the work we are doing in Louisiana to protect women and the unborn by criminalizing the weaponization of these drugs.”
Pressly and Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill insist the law should not result in delays in access to misoprostol and mifepristone, but doctors and patients are reporting issues. Among the medical professionals the committee reached out to was New Orleans health director Dr. Jennifer Avegno, who is leading an impact study on the new law to investigate these delays.
“As this report clearly shows, there is no scientific or medical rationale for mislabeling mifepristone and misoprostol as ‘dangerous’ substances,” Avegno said in a statement to the Illuminator. “In fact, the standard of care and best practices require these medications to be immediately available to treat a variety of common and serious conditions. As hundreds of Louisiana physicians have noted, this law has the potential to harm patients directly and does not improve maternal morbidity and mortality in our state.”
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Keanu Reeves Reflects On Puking ‘A Couple Of Times’ While Filming ‘John Wick’ Action Stunts
LOADINGERROR LOADINGKeanu Reeves might’ve looked bad-ass during his action sequences in the “John Wick” franchise, but according to the actor, his skillful moves came with a stomach turning price. While attending a 10th anniversary screening of the franchise’s first film on Sunday in Los Angeles, Reeves, 60, got candid about how performing the physically demanding stunts as the gun-toting hitman cost him his lunch at times. Advertisement
“I had so many wonderful teachers and guidance, and worked with so many talented actors, actresses and stunt people in the sense of it’s such a dance and collaboration and cooperation,” he said during a panel discussion with co-star Ian McShane, co-director Chad Stahelski and producer Erica Lee, People magazine reported. Reeves added, “So there’s a couple of times where you throw up or puke or whatever, but that’s what makes it good!”“John Wick,” which follows a retired assassin who is thrust back into the criminal underworld after being harassed by a crime lord’s son, first premiered in 2014. The box office hit spawned three sequels, with “John Wick 4” most recently hitting theaters in March 2023.Reeves deemed the film franchise’s fourth installment the “hardest physical role” he’s ever experienced in an interview with Total Film in January 2023. Advertisement
“‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ was the hardest physical role I’ve ever had in my career so far,” he told the publication. “They really trained me up to be able to have what we call the toolbox.”The “Matrix” alum, who made his professional auto racing debut last month at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, gushed over taking his skills behind the wheel to the “next level” for the high-adrenaline film. “We took the car-driving to the next level, which I really enjoy,” he explained. Reeves added, “There’s 180s, forward-into-reverse 180s, reverse-into-forward 270s, drifting … so it was really fun to get a chance to learn those skills, and to play.” Relatedkeanu reevesJohn WickKeanu Reeves Tearfully Remembers Late ‘John Wick’ Co-Star Lance ReddickKeanu Reeves Signs With Canadian Hockey Team And Once Again Proves He Is ‘The One”Bill & Ted’ Stars Keanu Reeves And Alex Winter Headed For Broadway
Addressing addictions and recovery at Kelowna seminar, book launch
Teena Clipston is inviting everyone to a seminar at Kelowna’s Mary Irwin Theatre on Nov. 13 to delve into the realities of substance use disorders.
The seminar will serve as a book launch for ‘Healing Mind, Body & Soul: Recovering from the Trauma of Addiction’, a compilation of pieces written by those who battled addiction and survived and by those who cared for and loved the addicted person.
Clipston, a contributing author, wrote about her son Andrew now that he is clean and living a healthy life. The mom found her son deep in an opioid addiction in Kelowna in 2021 and details the challenging journey the two of them faced in accessing treatment. Clipston also addresses the toll it took on her own health.
“I went through months of hell trying to keep it together and keep him safe,” Clipston said. The mom commented that she walked on eggshells never knowing if she was going to find her son dead from an overdose.
“I felt very alone when I was trying to take care of him. I didn’t have access to the tools I needed.” Clipston hopes the seminar and the launch of the book will be a positive resource to someone caring for a loved one struggling with addiction like her.
Peachland’s Pam Rader offered a similar story for the book while Kelowna’s Luke Wiltshire wrote about his own battle with addiction and life on the streets. The authors will both be speaking during the seminar.
The author of the book’s forward, Guy Felicella, will be the evening’s keynote speaker. Felicella will share his journey from addictions and homelessness to recovery and leadership in harm reduction.
Tickets to the Nov. 13 seminar are available through Kelowna’s Rotary Centre for the Arts. Clipston said anyone who cannot afford a ticket should contact her at [email protected].
Books will be on sale for $20 during the event and the speakers will stick around to answer questions from guests following the seminar.
A portion of proceeds from the seminar will be donated to Lit From Within, a platform that supports the integration of yoga and meditation into mental health and addiction recovery across the Okanagan.
Hotel tax could increase to boost tourism budget
Chicago’s hotel tax — already the highest among convention cities — may soon rise to 18.9% at downtown hotels to generate more than $50 million in annual revenue to help market the city.One year after the Illinois General Assembly authorized the concept, Choose Chicago is laying the groundwork to create a so-called Tourism Improvement District that would more than double the marketing agency’s annual budget by increasing the tax from the current 17.4%.The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority has an annual operating budget of $457 million, according to a comparison prepared by Choose Chicago. That’s followed by Visit Orlando ($116 million), Discover Los Angeles ($62 million), the San Diego Tourism Authority ($57 million) and New York’s NYC & Company ($45 million).Choose Chicago is dead last among major convention cities at $29 million a year. Michael Jacobson, president of the Illinois Hotel & Lodging Association, traced the funding crisis to the marathon budget stand-off that dominated Bruce Rauner’s only term as governor.“Choose Chicago used to have about a dozen or so international representatives in foreign countries that worked to promote tourism in Chicago. We had them all throughout Europe and China and Japan,” Jacobson recalled.“During the Rauner budget stalemate, Choose Chicago’s budget got frozen. They shut down international offices that never reopened. Every other major market has an international marketing program with ads and people who are strictly there to sell their cities. We don’t have that in Chicago,” Jacobson said.A higher tax and budget, he added, “would allow us to have a bigger international presence and create a dedicated funding source so we could continue convincing domestic travelers to come to Chicago.”The proposed tax increase would apply only at hotels with 100 or more rooms, within a designated area of the “Greater Central Business District,” that opt in. The estimated $50 million increase in annual revenue would be used to market the city as a center for conventions and tourism.It also would cover incentives and “bid fees” — there was, for instance, a $1 million fee just to enter the competition for the Democratic National Convention. Chicago’s handling of that event was widely-acclaimed.“Luckily, we have a billionaire governor who was willing to front the money. Not all of it. … We had all of these people fundraising. But we don’t have that for your normal, run-of-the-mill convention,” Jacobson said.“When the governor floated the idea of doing it again in 2023, the first reaction was, ‘How are we gonna find the money to do that?’”When the National Restaurant Association’s contract expired, organizers of that event were being offered cash incentives by a host of other cities. Chicago had no way to compete, Jacobson said.“It’s not unusual for a city to offer $1 million in cash to a show organizer because they know the economic impact. We don’t have any sort of capability or funding to pay for these bid fees or incentives. This would go a long way toward winning new business,” he said.Mayor Brandon Johnson campaigned on a promise to raise the hotel tax to well over 20%. Hotel operators were opposed.
Why, then, are they talking about raising the tax on themselves one-and-a-half percentage points, 18.9%?Rich Gamble, interim CEO of Choose Chicago, told the Sun-Times he doesn’t see it as a tax.“This is an assessment that would go against the room rate and it would be used specifically to drive sales and marketing initiatives that would drive tourism,” Rich Gamble, interim CEO of Choose Chicago, told the Sun-Times.“We worked with hotels on the development of this and they’re in favor of the numbers we’ve set. They are supportive of this initiative that helps drive more tourists to stay in hotels.”Jacobson noted the people most likely to “balk” at the increase are meeting planners.“We’ll quiet down their hesitation or dissatisfaction by being able to give them new incentives that we’ve never been able to give them,” Jacobson said.Over 200 cities already have Tourism Improvement Districts. Chicago needs to get in the game, Gamble said.“Our entire budget is what Los Angeles gets in their tourism improvement district alone. … We’re a little behind and, in some cases, way behind other similar convention and tourism bureaus,” Gamble said.John Rutledge, chairman and CEO of Oxford Hotels & Resorts, calls himself a “strong advocate” for the higher tax. “We need to promote Chicago now more than ever to keep it competitive given some of the challenges we have,” said Rutledge, whose company owns the LondonHouse, Godfrey and Le Meridien Essex hotels in Chicago.“It’s still the most beautiful big city. … It’s still the most livable big city in America,” Rutledge said.“But with taxes, real estate taxes, crime challenges and population leakage, we’ve got some real challenges. So we’ve got to get out aggressively promoting Chicago more than ever — globally, nationally, regionally. This will allow us to do so much more effectively.”