# data[].attributes.body
http://enigma.athensclarkecounty.com/photo/jailcurrent.asp

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Athens-Clarke County, GA - Official Website - Sheriff

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
While energy companies have struggled to restore output since Hurricane Ida tore through the Gulf of Mexico, satellite surveillance of oil spills left in the storm's wake has continued around the clock, documenting the potential environmental impact.

The Coast Guard, which is responsible for investigating oil spills and other pollution in the aftermath of the storm, has been busy following up on leads. As of Tuesday, it had responded to more than 2,200 reports of pollution in the region since the Category 4 hurricane struck in late August. That number was up from about 1,500 last week.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
After Hurricane Ida, Satellites Track Gulf of Mexico Oil Spills

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
While energy companies have struggled to restore output since Hurricane Ida tore through the Gulf of Mexico, satellite surveillance of oil spills left in the storm's wake has continued around the clock, documenting the potential environmental impact. The Coast Guard, which is responsible for investigating oil spills and other pollution in the aftermath of the storm, has been busy following up on leads.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
GENEVA (AP) - The head of the United Nations called Thursday for "immediate, rapid and large-scale" cuts in greenhouse gas emissions to curb global warming and avert climate disaster.

Ahead of the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting next week, Antonio Guterres warned governments that climate change is proceeding faster than predicted and fossil fuel emissions have already bounced back from a pandemic dip.

Speaking at the launch of a U.N.-backed report summarizing current efforts to tackle climate change, Guterres said recent extreme weather - from Hurricane Ida in the United States to floods in western Europe and the deadly heatwave in the Pacific Northwest - showed no country is safe from climate-related disasters.

"These changes are just the beginning of worse to come," he said, appealing to governments to meet the goals of the 2015 Paris climate accord.

"Unless there are immediate, rapid and large-scale reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, we will be unable to limit global heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit)," said Guterres. "The consequences will be catastrophic."

In their report, titled United in Science 21, six U.N. bodies and scientific organizations drew on existing research to argue that there is a direct link between human-caused emissions, record high temperatures and disasters that have a tangible impact on individuals and societies, including "billions of work hours (...) lost through heat alone."

Because of the long-lasting effects of many emissions already released into the atmosphere, further impacts are inevitable, they noted.

"Even with ambitious action to slow greenhouse gas emissions, sea levels will continue to rise and threaten low-lying islands and coastal populations throughout the world," the authors wrote.

University of Michigan environment dean Jonathan Overpeck, who wasn't part of the report, said scientists have said this before but it's important: "The situation is getting bad, we know why and we know how to solve it in ways that leave us, and future generations, with a better, healthier, more sustainable world."

Guterres urged governments to put forward more ambitious plans for cutting emissions by the upcoming U.N. climate summit in Glasgow, including a commitment to stop adding more greenhouse gas to the atmosphere by mid-century than can be removed.

Michael Mann, a prominent climate scientist at Pennsylvania State University, said he agreed with the report's message of urgency but questioned some of the starker warnings it contained.

In particular, the 1.5C threshold agreed in Paris didn't apply to individual years, some of which can be unusually hot due to other factors, he said.

"This misleading framing unnecessarily feeds the fears that the public has that we've somehow already crossed that threshold and that it is too late now to prevent," said Mann. "We have not. And it is not."

He also noted that the drop in emissions seen during the pandemic could be viewed as a positive sign that significant cuts are possible if entire economies are weaned off fossil fuels.

The United States, Britain and the European Union have already made pledges that - if implemented - would help avert dangerous planetary warming, said Mann.

Kim Cobb, a professor of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Georgia Tech, was equally reassured that the 1.5C target isn't out of reach.

"However, this new report is a stark reminder of the difference between the emissions pathways required to achieve that target, and the reality on the ground," she said. "Simply put, we are way off course."

___

Jordans reported from Berlin. AP Science Writer Seth Borenstein contributed from Washington.

___

Read more of AP's climate coverage at http://www.apnews.com/Climate

___

On Twitter, follow Seth Borenstein at @borenbears, Frank Jordans at @wirereporter and Jamey Keaten at @jameykeaten

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
UN chief urges 'rapid' emission cuts to curb climate change

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
GENEVA (AP) - The head of the United Nations called Thursday for "immediate, rapid and large-scale" cuts in greenhouse gas emissions to curb global warming and avert climate disaster. Ahead of the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting next week, Antonio Guterres warned governments that climate change is proceeding faster than predicted and fossil fuel emissions have already bounced back from a pandemic dip.

# data[].attributes.headline
Some in Missouri GOP float state gun law as template to fight Biden vaccine rule

# data[].attributes.subject
Some in Missouri GOP float state gun law as template to fight Biden vaccine rule

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article254265583.html

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Sen. Rick Brattin, R-Harrisonville, speaks at a rally against the federal COVID-19 vaccine rule for employers at the Missouri State Capitol in Jefferson City on Wednesday.

Missouri Republicans are clamoring to thwart President Joe Biden's COVID-19 vaccination plan, with legislators weighing proposals that echo the new state law prohibiting local enforcement of federal gun laws.

The president's announcement last week that the federal government will require most workplaces with more than 100 employees to ensure their workers are vaccinated or submit to regular testing has come under widespread condemnation from GOP legislators, who have vowed to take action against the plan.

But Gov. Mike Parson has so far not called a special session - limiting what lawmakers could do as they gathered in Jefferson City on Wednesday for the General Assembly's annual veto session, during which they ultimately failed to override any of Parson's vetoes.

Instead, top Republican leaders suggested action on vaccine rules may come this fall and other conservatives floated the idea of somehow banning enforcement of the Biden plan. A state law blocking federal officials from enforcing vaccination rules would set the stage for an extraordinary confrontation between Missouri and the federal government.

The rule was announced by Biden as the latest effort nationally to boost flagging vaccination rates as the more dangerous delta variant has swept through low-vaccination states. Missouri's vaccination rate sits at 46.5%. Biden has already made clear he expects lawsuits against the rule, telling opponents last week to "have at it."

At a House hearing on Wednesday, Rep. Mary Elizabeth Coleman suggested the General Assembly could "enact a ban, say we're not going to comply with this federal mandate." Coleman, an Arnold Republican, is running for state Senate.

Others have conceded that they may need to wait for the order to be issued by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration before drafting a bill in response.

"It's unlikely (a special session would be called) until there is a rule from the feds then we will know exactly what we are up against," Senate President Dave Schatz, a Sullivan Republican, said in a message to The Star.

Still, conservatives used the veto session to drum up support for lawmakers to act.

Members of the state Senate's Conservative Caucus held a packed rally with vaccine mandate opponents in the Capitol. Some who spoke, such as Sens. Mike Moon of Ash Grove and Eric Burlison of Battlefield, are running for Congress.

Sen. Rick Brattin, a Harrisonville Republican who decried the mandate as "tyranny," said he's still pushing for Parson to call a special session and doesn't want to wait for the rule to be issued.

He was one of 16 Senators who wrote Parson asking for a session. Parson's spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment.

Brattin said he wants lawmakers to push back on the order "in the same approach with the Second Amendment Preservation Act"

That law blocks Missouri and local police from assisting federal agents in enforcement of a variety of federal gun laws. Republicans and gun rights activists pushed it this year hoping to pre-empt expected Biden administration executive orders to more strictly regulate firearms.

Brattin said Missouri could pass a similar law preventing the state's Department of Labor from helping to enforce the OSHA rule.

At the House Judiciary Committee hearing where Coleman spoke, three lawmakers and four groups representing Missouri employers testified against the expected federal action.

Jorgen Schlemeier, lobbyist for the Missouri Assisted Living Association, told Coleman a state law against the federal rule would "certainly" help member nursing homes retain staff.

The hearing was held at the request of House Speaker Rob Vescovo and other Republican leaders, who on Tuesday sent the Biden administration a letter asking for "legal justification" for the vaccine plan. Committee chair David Evans, a West Plains Republican, said afterward that he didn't "have legislation developed at this time."

"Legally, you can't argue against something that doesn't yet exist," he said.

The hearing mirrored the session of a House budget subcommittee Tuesday over the potential effects of a federal vaccine requirement for nursing home staff.

Representatives of nursing home associations and business groups such as the Missouri Chamber of Commerce told the committee Wednesday that a vaccine rule would hamstring businesses already struggling to fill jobs in a tight labor market. They warned that employees would flock to businesses with fewer than 100 employees that would not be subject to the OSHA rule.

Schlemeier acknowledged nursing homes would be safer if more employees were vaccinated. But he said a vaccine rule would exacerbate the challenges of competing for staff who might be drawn to easier jobs such as retail and fast food as the state minimum wage rises. Less than half of Missouri nursing home staff are vaccinated, according to federal data, lagging behind the national rate of more than 60%.

"It will leave seniors without enough staff to care for them," he said of the vaccine rule. "I'm sure somebody is thinking, 'Oh, even an unvaccinated employee is better than no employee.' It's not a great choice. It's not a choice that any of our facilities want to be in."

House Speaker Pro Tem John Wiemann, an O'Fallon Republican who said he has been vaccinated, said he wants to form an interim committee to continue hearing testimony from employers about the effects of the rule.

Rep. Nick Schroer, an O'Fallon Republican who is running for state Senate, said he has not taken the shot and has antibodies from being previously infected with COVID. He reiterated a call for a special session, saying "if we do not take action tomorrow, the federal government could force companies to penalize gun ownership by labeling firearms a danger to public health."

He sparred with Rep. Ian Mackey, a St. Louis Democrat, over Mackey's inquiries into his vaccination status, leading Evans to cut off debate over what he termed a "personal attack."

"You're not vaccinated, you haven't given much thought to masks," Mackey said. "I'm just curious what you've done throughout the pandemic, either as an individual or a politician... what you've done to just do your part."

This story was originally published September 15, 2021 3:00 PM.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Some in Missouri GOP float state gun law as template to fight Biden vaccine rule

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Missouri Republicans are clamoring to thwart President Joe Biden's COVID-19 vaccination plan, with legislators weighing proposals that echo the new state law prohibiting local enforcement of federal gun laws.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Pope Francis weighed in on Wednesday on a debate roiling the Roman Catholic Church in the United States, where bishops are considering denying Communion to politicians, like President Biden, who support abortion rights.

"I have never refused the Eucharist to anyone," Francis said, adding that bishops should be pastors, not politicians.

In his usual fashion, the pope did not give a simple, direct answer. But he left little doubt about his view, invoking a phrase he has used before: "Communion is not a prize for the perfect." The Vatican in June warned conservative bishops in the country against refusing Communion to Mr. Biden, who is only the second Roman Catholic to be U.S. president.

"If we look at the history of the church, we will see that every time the bishops have not managed a problem as pastors, they have taken sides on a political front," Francis told reporters on his plane as he returned from a four-day trip to Slovakia and Hungary. He cited a history of atrocities committed in the name of the faith.

"What must the pastor do?" he asked. "Be a pastor, don't go condemning. Be a pastor, because he is a pastor also for the excommunicated."

The pope emphatically restated the Catholic position that abortion is homicide.

"It's more than a problem - it's murder," he said, speaking in Italian. "Whoever has an abortion kills, no half words."

"It is a human life," he added. "This human life must be respected - this principle is so clear."

Francis was not asked about, and did not address, last week's ruling by Mexico's Supreme Court that decriminalized abortion in the country.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Pope Weighs In on Calls to Deny Communion to Biden Over Abortion

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Pope Francis weighed in on Wednesday on a debate roiling the Roman Catholic Church in the United States, where bishops are considering denying Communion to politicians, like President Biden, who support abortion rights. "I have never refused the Eucharist to anyone," Francis said, adding that bishops should be pastors, not politicians.

# data[].attributes.body
Rhiannon Walker

Chastity Pratt