Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania Senators Introduce Bill to Protect Investments in Israel – MyChesCo

Published

4 months ago

June 8, 2024

Pennsylvania Senators Introduce Bill to Protect Investments in Israel – MyChesCo

HARRISBURG, PA — Senators Steve Santarsiero (D-10) and Kristin Phillips-Hill (R-28) announced new legislation on Friday aimed at upholding Pennsylvania’s support for Israel. The proposed bill seeks to prohibit holdings in the Pennsylvania State Treasury or Commonwealth pension funds from boycotting or divesting from Israel and companies doing business with Israel. Additionally, it aims to withhold state funding from any higher education institution that participates in such activities.

The legislation comes in response to recent protests on college campuses across the United States. In several cases, these protests led universities to consider divesting from Israel and companies involved with the Israeli government.

“It is important that Pennsylvania continue to promote trade and commercial activities with Israel given Israel’s strategic importance to the United States as a long-standing ally and the only true democracy in a volatile region of the world,” said Senator Santarsiero. “To that end, we must act to prevent our Commonwealth, including our colleges and universities, from taking the wholly unwarranted action of divesting from Israel.”

Senator Phillips-Hill emphasized the need for unwavering support for Israel. “Policymakers at all levels of government need to do everything possible to support our nation’s number one ally in the Middle East: Israel,” she said. “Like America, Israel will not be bullied by detractors. A strong and prosperous Israel needs a strong partner in the United States. This bipartisan measure will ensure that no one can use antisemitic tactics to weaken our resolve to stand with Israel.”

The proposed legislation would not affect investment decisions made solely to advance the financial position of the funds. Instead, it focuses on preventing politically motivated actions against Israel that could harm the economic relationship between Pennsylvania and Israel.

Senator Santarsiero first sponsored similar legislation in 2015, which sought to prevent state funds from being allocated to Pennsylvania universities that chose to divest from Israel. The new bill builds on these efforts, reflecting ongoing concerns about maintaining strong ties with Israel amid rising calls for divestment.

Pennsylvania’s Bold Stand: Strengthening Ties with Israel and Combating Antisemitism

The importance of this legislation lies in its potential impact on Pennsylvania’s economic and diplomatic relations. Israel has long been considered a key ally of the United States, and maintaining robust trade and commercial activities with Israel is seen as vital to both nations. By prohibiting divestment, Pennsylvania aims to send a clear message of support and solidarity.

Moreover, the bill addresses the broader issue of antisemitism. By targeting divestment efforts often rooted in political opposition to Israel, the legislation seeks to counteract strategies that could isolate or harm the Jewish state. This stance reinforces the commitment to combating antisemitism in all forms.

For institutions of higher learning, the bill signifies the state’s position on international relations and economic policy. Universities considering divestment may face financial repercussions, prompting them to reconsider their stance on Israel. This could influence the broader academic and public discourse surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and related geopolitical issues.

As Senators Santarsiero and Phillips-Hill prepare to introduce the legislation in the coming weeks, its progress will be closely watched. The bill represents a bipartisan effort to strengthen Pennsylvania’s ties with Israel while addressing contemporary political and social challenges.

In summary, the proposed legislation reflects Pennsylvania’s strategic and ethical commitment to supporting Israel. By prohibiting divestment and boycotts, the state aims to foster a stable and productive relationship with a crucial ally while addressing broader concerns about antisemitism and economic policy.

For the latest news on everything happening in Chester County and the surrounding area, be sure to follow MyChesCo on Google News and Microsoft Start.

Source link

Related Topics:Criticism of Israel Featured Human rights in Israel Lawmaking New antisemitism pennsylvania senate

Click to comment

Pennsylvania

How Patient Data Brings Life-Changing Medicine to Central Pennsylvania – UPMC & Pitt Health Sciences News Blog

Published

7 hours ago

September 30, 2024

Press Room

How Patient Data Brings Life-Changing Medicine to Central Pennsylvania – UPMC & Pitt Health Sciences News Blog

Each year, thousands of patients visit UPMC hospitals, outpatient centers and specialty and primary care offices – generating thousands of datasets in the process. Whether it’s demographic information, imaging, lab results, signs and symptoms, family histories or treatment outcomes, there are countless stories for the masses of de-identified data to tell – and physicians like Hemal Gada, M.D., president, UPMC Heart and Vascular Institute in Central Pa., are using artificial intelligence to unravel those narratives.

“Applying machine learning and artificial intelligence to big datasets is a burgeoning field of medical research. In the next five years, we’ll use predictive modeling to precisely define the progression of diseases like cancer and heart disease,” Dr. Gada said.

Certain geographic, demographic, cultural, genetic and generational factors contribute to how diseases develop, progress and affect our bodies. For example, the social and environmental factors that drive the development and progression of heart disease will vary between someone living in rural Appalachia and someone living in an urban or suburban environment.

According to Dr. Gada, machine learning, a type of computer program, allows researchers to identify patterns in vast amounts of patient data. By identifying these trends in a specific subset of de-identified patient data from central Pennsylvania, Dr. Gada hopes to identify the precise factors that drive disease progression in the region – which could someday lead to specialized clinical trials and treatment approaches.

Dr. Gada and his colleagues published a study in The American Journal of Cardiology that utilized this machine learning approach to understand more about the characteristics of the stages of aortic stenosis for people living in central Pennsylvania. Patients with this condition have a heart valve that doesn’t open fully, which reduces blood flow from the heart to the aorta and to the rest of the body. If left untreated, chest pain and shortness of breath can develop, along with a host of other cardiac challenges – including clotting, heart failure, and stroke.

Historically, aortic stenosis patients have typically been assigned to three categories – mild, moderate, and severe. Severe patients typically undergo transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), but milder severity patients do not. Cardiologists have debated whether moderate aortic stenosis might benefit from a TAVR procedure due to their higher risk for poor outcomes.

Using echocardiograms and patient data from more than 61,000 aortic stenosis (AS) patients at UPMC Heart and Vascular Institute in Central Pa, Dr. Gada and his colleagues developed an algorithm to study the medical histories of these patients over time — How long after diagnosis before they were readmitted to the hospital? What other co-occurring diseases did they have? What signs did the body give to signal that a poor outcome or hospital readmission could be imminent?

The research team determined that moderate AS patients living in central Pennsylvania who have end-stage kidney disease or atrial fibrillation were at the highest risk for poor outcomes. According to Dr. Gada, these patients could need an intervention like the TAVR procedure, sooner rather than later.

While these findings are intriguing, Dr. Gada said this research is hypothesis-generating, meaning it will lead to the development of clinical trials – some of which are already underway.

Artificial intelligence-driven research often leads to more questions than it does answers, but the next time you’re at the doctor’s office and answering questions about your symptoms and health history, remember that you could shape the future of medicine simply by showing up and getting the care you need.

“Your data, which is de-identified in the research process, is just one piece of a much larger puzzle,” Dr. Gada said. “This data doesn’t have to be stagnant; it can help us develop personalized approaches to medicine in our community and determine what health challenges the citizens of our region face. We’re just beginning to scratch the surface of how artificial intelligence can transform health care in central Pennsylvania.”

Share this on:

Source link

Pennsylvania

Trump calls for ‘violent’ police crackdown on crime in Pennsylvania while Harris emphasises immigration reform in Nevada

Published

14 hours ago

September 30, 2024

Press Room

Trump calls for ‘violent’ police crackdown on crime in Pennsylvania while Harris emphasises immigration reform in Nevada

Anti-immigrant sentiment has been at the core of Trump’s appeal in economically depressed, majority-white parts of the country ever since his 2016 presidential victory, but the rhetoric is turning ever more extreme as election day nears
read more

Donald Trump on Sunday used a speech in key swing state Pennsylvania to urge a “violent” police crackdown on crime in the United States, while his White House rival Kamala Harris emphasized the need for immigration reform at a rally in Nevada.

Pennsylvania is considered the most important of the seven toss-up states that will likely decide the November 5 presidential election, but Nevada is also one of the key battlegrounds.

The Republican former president and current candidate, who held a similar rally in swing state Wisconsin on Saturday, reprised his dark, racially charged message about an America crumbling under “invasion” by violent migrants and other criminals.

Recounting isolated – but widely publicized – incidents of thieves staging brazen daylight robberies of shops in major cities, Trump got a loud cheer when he said police should become “extraordinarily rough.”

Criminals, he said, “have to be taught” and this could be done “if you had one really violent day.”

“One rough hour – and I mean real rough – the word would get out and it would end immediately,” Trump said.

“The police aren’t allowed to do their job” because “the liberal left won’t let them.”

Harris, the vice president and Democratic candidate, addressed the “serious problems” of border security at a rally in Las Vegas later in the day, where she reeled off her usual stump speech, emphasizing the economy, health care and the need for immigration reform.

“As president, I will double the resources for the Department of Justice to go after the transnational cartels,” Harris said.

“We know Donald Trump won’t solve them. When he was president, he did nothing to fix our immigration system,” she added, calling for comprehensive reform but without offering details.

As on Saturday in Wisconsin, Trump spent much of his speech painting a picture of a failing United States, inundated by what he said was the “massive number of savage criminal aliens that Kamala Harris has allowed to invade.”

He claimed “terrorists are pouring into our country” and cited “a big prison in the Congo, in Africa,” as the source of “a lot of people” last week.

Insults

Following record numbers of illegal border crossings earlier in President Joe Biden’s administration, a tightening of rules – to the consternation of immigrant rights and civil liberties groups – led to a plunge in numbers this year.

Crime, including murder, is also in steep decline nationwide, the FBI says.

Trump has long prided himself on his ability to coin insulting nicknames or slurs for his opponents and on Sunday, he repeated one that he aired on Saturday, calling Harris – a former top California prosecutor and US senator – “mentally impaired.”

“Crooked Joe Biden became mentally impaired. Sad. But lying Kamala Harris, honestly, I believe she was born that way,” Trump said to loud laughter from the crowd.

Harris did not address Trump’s comments during her rally in Vegas, instead focusing on her usual bread-and-butter issues – protecting access to abortion services and putting more money in the pockets of everyday Americans.

“When Congress passes a bill to restore reproductive freedom, as president of the United States, I will proudly sign it into law,” she told supporters.

Source link