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Boston Globe
an hour ago
- General
- Boston Globe
Food for starving children worldwide is still sitting in a Rhode Island warehouse. It's a case study in DOGE aftermath.
Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up But the backlog remains. The nearly 200,000 US government-branded boxes are stuck in North Kingston, and Edesia's founder, Navyn Salem, says she has no idea when—or if—they'll be shipped. Each box can bring one child back from starvation. Advertisement 'What are children supposed to do when we tell them that they need to keep their hearts beating for another six months?' Salem said in an interview. 'Can you imagine if your child dies because you didn't have the equivalent of $1 a day to give them this life-saving food?' Edesia has spent months trying to get answers on a system broken by the Department of Government Efficiency, which Musk formerly ran. And even if the government reversed course tomorrow, it will still take weeks, if not months, to get any of the medicinal food to the children worldwide who need it. Advertisement Edesia's plight has become a case study not only in how quickly DOGE disrupted the federal government, but how long it is taking to undo its mistakes. Despite repeated public statements from top officials that they've resumed the program, deep spending cuts and an overhaul of the foreign aid apparatus have left Edesia in limbo. In the meantime, Edesia and supportive Democratic lawmakers have been trying every avenue — including recruiting Republican colleagues — to correct the issue. Edesia and a similar organization based in Georgia, MANA Nutrition, have for years made a fortified peanut-based paste called to digest regular food. Edesia, named for the Roman goddess of food, says it has fed 25 million children since its opening in 2010. Most of the nonprofit's funding came from USAID. In January, after DOGE decimated USAID, Edesia Eventually, the money came, but now Salem says the product, which is technically owned by the US government, is sitting in her warehouse because the shipping and distribution system that sent the food around the world was run by USAID experts. With the agency's staff essentially terminated and its work set to transition to the State Department as of July 1, Salem has spent weeks contacting anyone in government she can reach through a 'a patchwork of emails and phone calls' to try to get food around the world. Advertisement 'The only thing the government has to do is sign a piece of paper that says, 'It's going to ship here,'' Salem said. 'It's sitting here. It's been paid for by taxpayer dollars. If we're trying to gain efficiencies, we're not being successful, currently.' The State Department denies that it is the hold up, but it did not explain where the breakdown occurred. They referred the Globe to a 'We are proud to continue working with our local partners to deliver life-saving ready-to-use therapeutic food,' a State Department spokesperson said in an unsigned statement. 'As for the warehouse, this is simply stock waiting for pickup, but they aren't waiting on the State Department.' Edesia's cause has been taken up in Washington by Rhode Island lawmakers including Representatives Seth Magaziner and Gabe Amo. Magaziner has given a speech on the House floor every day it is in session since late April to try to bring attention to the issue. He's at 26 and counting. He has been working closely with Republican Georgia Representative Austin Scott, who represents MANA Nutrition, to try to get the administration's attention through a more ideologically friendly messenger. Advertisement 'Every time he talks to the administration they say the right thing and then a few weeks go by and nothing has changed,' Magaziner told the Globe. 'The damage that was done by Elon Musk in just a couple months is going to take a long time to undo. … Irrespective of whether he found any actual waste or not, a lot of good programs were hurt in the meantime and no doubt many innocent lives were lost.' Amo, who sits on the committee that oversees the State Department, had a fiery exchange with Rubio last month at a hearing in which Rubio insisted the problem was fixed and denied his agency was the source of any further issues. 'No children are dying on my watch,' Rubio told Amo as he asked about the boxes in Edesia's warehouse. 'That food is being distributed now.' Calculating the human toll of the delayed food has been difficult, but Amo has been in regular contact with the State Department about Edesia's ordeal. He believes the administration staff are trying to resolve the problems but failed to understand the complexity of the network. USAID's systems were for not just paying for the RUTF, but they also were also identifying where it was needed and distributing it in dangerous and impoverished parts of the world. Advertisement 'It's a little bit of Whac-A-Mole,' Amo said. 'You have an interlocking set of contracts and agreements that can be upset when you make arbitrary decisions that don't see the whole enterprise of how this moves from farm to human being.' Scott, the Georgia Republican working with Magaziner, defended the administration's mission of identifying waste and said he's confident the issues with MANA Nutrition and Edesia will be resolved. 'If you read the book on Elon Musk, I mean, the way he built his companies is to tear it down to the minimum and then build it back up,' Scott said. 'I would have preferred that we measure twice and cut once, if you will, but ... a lot of things they exposed about where US tax dollars were going, that they shouldn't have been going, needed to be done.' Senator Shelly Moore Capito, a West Virginia Republican who worked to get DOGE cuts in her state and others reversed, said she's helping some Democrats now, but under Democratic administrations, they've also had to help her. 'I don't think that's so highly unusual,' she said. Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock, a Democrat who has been working to restore shipments and payments to MANA Nutrition, said he has personally spoken with Rubio, a former Senate colleague, and some progress was made as a result. But he feels the administration still doesn't understand the urgency and importance of the situation. 'What we saw was an administration that came in literally with a chainsaw and cutting without knowing or caring what they were cutting,' Warnock said. 'And so now, not only are millions of lives at stake, not only are children literally dying as a result of this, the tragic insult and irony is that they're dying while these products, literally, sit on shelves. Make it make sense.' Advertisement Tal Kopan can be reached at
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Live updates: 2025 legislative session draws to a close
The Oregon House of Representatives chamber is located in the west wing of the Oregon State Capitol in Salem. (Mia Maldonado / Oregon Capital Chronicle) After nearly six months in Salem, the Oregon Legislature must end its work by 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, June 29. Before that can happen, lawmakers are set to take up a slimmed-down version of a transportation tax and spending bill and pass several dozen more bills. Capital Chronicle reporters will be at the Capitol and watching the action every step of the way. Check back here for live updates. 2 mins ago 33 mins ago 4 hours ago 2 mins ago Earlier this week Gov. Tina Kotek vetoed a bill aimed at strengthening protections for youth in foster care. The Senate quickly overrode her veto on Wednesday. On Thursday, the Oregon House voted 49-4 to table Senate Bill 875, preventing the Legislature from moving forward with a veto overturn this session. The bill would have required a court order for blocking or limiting contact among foster children and their siblings. The measure also lists out several rights for foster kids, including being assigned an attorney, maintaining access to personal belongings like toys and being given appropriate luggage to carry their belongings 33 mins ago House Speaker Julie Fahey, D-Eugene, on Thursday morning removed Rep. Paul Evans, D-Monmouth, from the Joint Transportation Reinvestment Committee, the first hurdle the revamped transportation bill faces. Evans earlier this week said he wanted off the committee because it was 'no use' to serve on it when all he could do was vote on a bill he was frustrated that he didn't have a role in negotiating. He remained frustrated on Wednesday, texting 'Not thrilled. Very, very frustrated with our current leadership.' Rep. John Lively, D-Eugene, will take Evans' place ahead of a meeting scheduled for 3:30 p.m. 4 hours ago Both the House and Senate are set to head to the floor at 10 a.m. Thursday. The House has a long list of bills to vote on, while the Senate has just seven scheduled so far. At 3:30 p.m., the pared-down transportation package expected to raise $11.7 billion over the next 10 years will have its only public hearing in the Joint Transportation Reinvestment Committee. Lawmakers on the committee plan to vote on the bill at 4:30, teeing up a potential House vote Thursday evening. Read more about the transportation proposal.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Oregon House introduces scaled-down transportation bill with days left in session
Rep. Shelly Boshart Davis, R-Albany, speaks with Rep. Kevin Mannix, R-Keizer, on the House floor at the Oregon State Capitol in Salem on Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023. Boshart Davis, vice chair of the Joint Committee on Transportation Investment said she would not be voting to pass a transportation package during the 2025 Legislative Session. (Amanda Loman/Oregon Capital Chronicle) With days left in the legislative session, Oregon lawmakers will consider scaling back tax increases proposed in a transportation funding bill that lacked the support to pass the House. A 155-page amendment in House Speaker Julie Fahey's name, posted Wednesday afternoon with a hearing scheduled for Thursday afternoon, is a slimmed-down version of House Bill 2025, which advanced to the House floor on a party-line vote last Friday. The new version is estimated to raise about $11.7 billion over the next 10 years, down from the $14.6 billion of the earlier version. The new version cuts many of the tax increases that one swing-district Democrat called 'insane.' Still, it remains unpopular among Republicans and some rank-and-file Democrats, many of whom have barely had time to examine it. Rep. Shelly Boshart Davis, R-Albany and vice chair of the Joint Committee on Transportation Investment, said the process itself has soured her on voting for a transportation package and nothing could be done to make it palatable at this point. Negotiating the bill and posting amendments within just a few days of the session's end is 'abhorrent,' Boshart Davis said. 'We do not have to pass this tax,' she said. 'There is nothing that says we have to pass a tax on Oregonians today. We can do a continuing resolution,' to keep transportation money flowing temporarily. 'We can do a Band-Aid so that we can get a better process that actually holds ODOT accountable.' Given united opposition from legislative Republicans and skepticism from some Democrats, the House opted to send the bill back to its committee for revisions on Monday. If it advances in its current form, it could pass the House as early as Thursday evening. From there, it would move to the Senate. It takes a minimum of three days between a bill's first appearance in a chamber and its final vote unless lawmakers vote to waive their rules. That means senators would face the choice to waive their rules to pass the measure Friday or Saturday, wait until Sunday, the last possible day of the legislative session, or go home without passing a transportation tax and spending bill. Rep. Susan McLain, D-Forest Grove and the House co-chair of the committee, told the Capital Chronicle she had 'no thoughts' on the amendment and would save her comments for Thursday's meeting. Lawmakers and the public will see a detailed funding breakdown at that meeting. Fahey's amendment would get rid of a proposed transfer tax of 1% for used cars and 2% for new cars, which critics have compared to a sales tax. It also would change the gas tax, which was scheduled to increase from 40 cents to 55 cents by 2028 in the original bill, instead raising it to 52 cents. It maintains the proposed tripling of the payroll tax to fund public transit, going from 0.1% today to 0.18% starting in 2026, and 0.3% in 2030. Any bills that increase taxes need support from at least 36 representatives and 18 senators — the exact number of Democrats in the Legislature. But Democrats aren't assured of support from their own caucus: Last Friday, Senate President Rob Wagner, D-Lake Oswego, yanked Sen. Mark Meek, D-Gladstone, from the Joint Transportation Reinvestment Committee because of Meek's opposition to the earlier version of the bill. Meek told the Capital Chronicle via text Wednesday afternoon that he had just been informed of the amendment's posting and planned to read up on it after the Senate's floor session ended. Another skeptic, Rep. Paul Evans, D-Monmouth, said in a text that he was still reviewing the amendment. Evans, a member of the Joint Committee on Transportation Investment, asked earlier this week to be removed from the committee over his frustration that he wasn't included in weekend negotiations and his belief that there was 'no use' in continuing to serve on the committee. He remained frustrated Wednesday and said he wasn't brought in on the new version. 'Not thrilled,' Evans texted. 'Very, very frustrated with our current leadership.' Capital Chronicle reporters Mia Maldonado and Alex Baumhardt contributed to this story. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Winnipeg Free Press
4 days ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Hours away from returning home to Flin Flon
THE PAS — Residents of Flin Flon, who are itching to go home Wednesday after nearly a month-long evacuation owing to a ferocious wildfire, waited it out in this community 200 kilometres to the south Tuesday. Sitting in his idling Ford 150 at the Wescana Inn on Fischer Avenue, Bob Hughes is priming his truck's battery for what is sure to be a long trip home. The drive to Flin Flon usually takes Hughes about an hour and a half, but he estimates with the caravan of people vying to get home once the evacuation order is lifted at 9 a.m., he might be stuck in traffic for three hours. Hughes said he has been having dreams at night about returning to his home, which he was forced out of on May 27. 'I dream I'm driving up the hill to my place and its nighttime. I get excited and there's no one else around. Then I pull into my driveway and I see snow everywhere. Snow is what killed the fire and I get excited all over again,' he says. Hughes plans to leave as early as he can wake up, brush his hair, eat a quick breakfast and lock the door to his motel room. The motel's food is good and staff are accommodating to evacuees, but Hughes is in desperate need of a shower in his own quarters. Due to mobility issues Hughes, 67, can't climb into his room's tub and hasn't been able to properly bathe himself. 'That's gonna be real nice,' he said. The retiree resigned himself to knowing there would be dead house plants and a yard full of dandelions awaiting his return in Flin Flon, but his home is still standing so he considers himself luckier than residents of nearby Creighton and Denare Beach, Sask. The communities suffered heavy losses from the same fire which threatened Flin Flon. 'The garbage will be ripe, but that I can handle,' he said with a laugh. A few blocks away, at the Esso gas station on Gordon Avenue, Islam Salem is prepping the store for an onslaught of commuters eager to get home Wednesday morning. The shelves are filled with phone chargers, a valuable commodity many evacuees forgot to pack, as well as water bottles. This time around, Salem hopes there's enough fuel to get everyone home. Wednesdays A weekly dispatch from the head of the Free Press newsroom. 'Everyone will be in a panic, so yeah, it will be busy for sure,' he said Tuesday afternoon. Salem, 35, moved to The Pas from Egypt only seven months ago and has already learned a valuable lesson in preparing for future emergencies. When the wildfire crept closer to town, Salem packed a bag and now has it at the ready in case of an emergency. 'I learned how to manage myself, my things, in case any wildfire happened,' he said. 'I just learned from the situation.' — Nicole Buffie Nicole BuffieMultimedia producer Nicole Buffie is a multimedia producer who reports for the Free Press city desk. Born and bred in Winnipeg, Nicole graduated from Red River College's Creative Communications program in 2020 and worked as a reporter throughout Manitoba before joining the Free Press newsroom in 2023. Read more about Nicole. Every piece of reporting Nicole produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
CairoScene
4 days ago
- Business
- CairoScene
Dubai-Based Investment Platform Stryde Acquires Angel Network Qora71
Dubai-based investment platform Stryde has acquired Qora71, an angel syndicate supported by Hub71 in Abu Dhabi. Rebranded as Stryde71, the new arm gives investors expanded access to VC opportunities. Jun 24, 2025 Stryde, a digital investment platform regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), has acquired Qora71, a Hub71-backed angel investor network based in Abu Dhabi. The network has now been relaunched as Stryde71, allowing broader participation in venture capital deals for both retail and qualified investors. Originally founded with support from Hub71's Angel Investor Support Programme, Qora71 built a community of over 130 active angels and deployed more than $2 million across 50 early-stage startup investments in under six months. Through its acquisition, Stryde is integrating Qora71's syndication model into its broader private market offerings, enabling end-to-end access to global startup deal flow. The new Stryde71 platform offers co-investment opportunities to individuals previously locked out of VC markets, supporting deal discovery, due diligence, and execution. Qora71 founder Youssef Salem has joined Stryde as Partner, with plans to scale the angel investing model across multiple markets. 'Qora71 was born out of a desire to give exceptional founders access to meaningful capital, connectivity, and market access, all powered by a community of strategic angels. In five short months, we proved that vision. Now with Stryde, we can scale that impact exponentially,' Salem said. Stryde71 joins other verticals under the Stryde umbrella, including Stryde Sports, with additional sectors currently under development. ith this integration, Stryde71 aims to transform startup investing into a more accessible, transparent, and scalable experience—reinforcing the UAE's position as a rising global hub for innovation and private capital.
