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More states requiring paid medical or sick leave
More states are passing or considering laws that require employers to offer paid medical leave. Advocates say these laws can reduce financial stress and make workers more productive. But some measures also stress employers, and the patchwork nature of different state laws can create frustration. Paid family and medical leave allows workers time off to undergo treatment or care for a family member or a new child. Separately, more states and cities are also requiring paid sick time, which helps people deal with shorter-term illnesses like the flu. Many employers also offer paid sick time without a government mandate. Laws requiring longer-term paid family and medical leave are less common. Thirteen states and D.C. require some version of it, according to the National Partnership. There is no federal law requiring paid leave. The Family and Medical Leave Act guarantees only unpaid time off. It also doesn't apply to a large chunk of the workforce, including employees of small businesses that are exempt. Advocates say providing paid sick time can reduce the spread of disease. It also can improve production by cutting down on “presenteeism,” or people showing up for work sick and unable to focus on their jobs, said Jessica Mason, a senior policy analyst with the National Partnership. Paid leave for longer-term illnesses can help people focus on care and recovery. What are the drawbacks? Skye Nevada, catering company owner, said that when someone calls in sick, she would have to pay that person and their replacement, who would likely get overtime. “To expect small businesses to just absorb this cost is crazy,” Nevada said. Small businesses often don’t have a separate human resources department to track compliance with mandated leave policies, noted Beth Milito of the National Federation for Independent Business. “The paperwork is time, and time is money to a small business owner,” she said. Mason says interest in paid leave has been building since the COVID-19 pandemic. “The pandemic really brought to the forefront of everyone’s mind how important paid sick leave is,” she said. This article was provided by The Associated Press.
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A mix of science and tradition helps restore relics in China’s Forbidden City
It's highly technical work in what looks more like a lab than a museum: a fragment of a glazed roof tile from Beijing's Forbidden City is analyzed in a state-of-the-art X-ray diffraction machine that produces images which are then projected onto computer screens. The fragment being examined has a dark area on its surface that restorers want to understand. Their objective is to better preserve the artifacts at the sprawling imperial palace, the former home of China's emperors and its seat of power for hundreds of years. "We want to learn what the black material is," said Kang Baoqiang, one of the restorers at the complex, today a museum that attracts tourists from all over the world. "Whether it's atmospheric sediment or the result of substantial change from within." About 150 workers on the team fuse scientific analysis and traditional techniques to clean, patch up and otherwise revive the more than 1.8 million relics in the museum's collection. They include scroll paintings, calligraphy, bronzes, ceramics—and, somewhat unexpectedly, ornate antique clocks that were gifted to emperors by early European visitors. Down the hall from the X-ray room, two other restorers patch up holes on a panel of patterned green silk with the Chinese character for "longevity" sewn into it, carefully adding color in a process called "inpainting." The piece is believed to have been a birthday gift to Empress Dowager Cixi, the power behind the throne in the late 19th and early 20th century. Much of the work is laborious and monotonous—and takes months to complete. "I don't have the big dreams of protecting traditional cultural heritage that people talk about," said Wang Nan, one of the restorers. "I simply enjoy the sense of achievement when an antique piece is fixed." Restoration techniques have also evolved, said Qu Feng, head of the museum's Conservation Department, though the old ways remain the foundation of the work. When we preserve an antique piece, we "protect the cultural values it carries," Qu said. "And that is our ultimate goal." This article was provided by The Associated Press.
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Mobile dialysis unit in Kenya brings hope to patients in remote villages
A shortage of dialysis centers in Kenya means patients with kidney failure often have to travel long distances to be treated. Now, an organization is starting to ease that burden with an innovative mobile dialysis unit. The 12-wheeled truck hauls a modern clinic around Murang'a County, offering dialysis to patients who live far from traditional treatment centers. Eliud Mwangi is a 63-year-old farmer from Murang'a County who has been undergoing dialysis treatment since 2021. For much of that time, he faced the challenge of traveling long distances to access dialysis services. The journey, which he had to make twice a week, was both exhausting and costly. On top of that, he often felt nauseous after treatment and endured an uncomfortable ride home. "Let me say that the distance that I had been traveling has been reduced to less than three-quarters. Now the dialysis is near me, less than 20 minutes from my home," Mwangi says. The project has been spearheaded by an organization called Benacare. "We identified critical gaps in access to healthcare for these patients, especially patients who are having to travel like an average of 250 kilometers one way to receive dialysis and then they have to do it twice a week for the rest of their lives," explains Naom Monari, the founder and CEO of Benacare. "We came up with a model of having mobile dialysis and that is mobile hemodiafiltration moving from community to community and offering this service to the patients. And this is the first mobile truck we have launched," she adds. The truck can treat three patients at a time. Although it is small compared to other clinics, it still means scores of people receiving essential care over the course of a week. The mobile unit is also fitted with the latest hemodiafiltration machines, which, Naom says, perform better than traditional dialysis machines. Dr. Jonathan Wala, a nephrologist and the president of the Kenya Renal Association, agrees that the mobile units do have some clear advantages, including reducing the strain on overstretched hospitals. He cautions, however, that they also have their limitations. This article was provided by The Associated Press.
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2:34
Simple oven uses the energy of the sun to cook food
A solar-powered oven is giving people in Kenya a cheap, healthy way to cook food. The simple contraption is an alternative to firewood and charcoal which are linked to harmful gases. The box is set up outside, food is placed inside, and the lid is closed. The sun's rays are reflected into the cavity, heating it up and cooking the meal. "I used to use firewood for a longer time. I also realized that firewood gives us some problems, like lung problems. When there is a lot of smoke, it interferes with the lungs, therefore the breathing system becomes in very big problem and cannot be treated," says Benta Achieng who likes this way of cooking because it's healthier than traditional methods. Achieng switched to the solar-powered oven two years ago. And she's not the only one. For street food vendor Ian Duncun Onyango, it's part of his business. He cooks up boiled eggs and smokies (smoked sausages) for passersby in Nairobi. It saves him money and boosts his profits. "The solar cooker is aiding me a lot since previously I was using the 'jiko' and the charcoal to boil my eggs and these days I am using it and it is from the power of the sun. I am boiling my eggs. I am saving the fuel and I'm saving some money to boost my stock and business. And I am also having customers from all over town. They are flocking here, they are saying my eggs are sweeter compared to how they were those days," he says. The local solar-powered oven was developed by entrepreneur Carolyn Olang. She saw an opportunity in the market for such an invention. "The solar oven is an alternative use. We want to get people to stop using fossil fuel and that is why we have decided to use renewable energy, hence the solar-powered oven which is just a box and you use the sun to cook your food," says Olang. This article was provided by The Associated Press.
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2:25
Visa fee hikes and delays hinder international artists from touring the United States
In New York City, spirited badge-holders and independent music fans wove in and out of 150-person capacity clubs filled with groups from around the globe during the New Colossus Festival, held a few weeks ago. Now in its sixth year, 196 artists were scheduled to perform, more than half from outside the United States. But New Colossus may be an exception, not the rule, for international artists hoping to perform in the U.S. In the last few years, the process of obtaining necessary visas has grown much more arduous and expensive. "It's already at the maximum level of difficulty that we can rationalize," said Mischa Dempsey, frontperson for the thrilling Montreal band Knitting, who performed at New Colossus and described the process as "labor intensive." "I can't even think about it getting worse." On April 1, 2024, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) introduced a visa fee increase, raising the cost from $460 to over $1,615 per musician application, the first bump since 2016. According to the USCIS website, the increase allows the organization to "recover our operating costs more fully and support timely processing of new applications." Nearly a year later, "we are seeing the opposite," immigration attorney Gabriel Castro said. "We are seeing cases actually slow down." Changes to the system have caused delays. According to Tamizdat, a nonprofit that advocates for international artist mobility, all visa petitions are now filed through a centralized service center in Texas and are randomly divvied up to preexisting California and Vermont service centers. The result has been slowed processing times. Matthew Covey, an immigration attorney and Tamizdat's executive director, says Vermont has gone from one month to three. In California, it previously took two to four months, but now, it's eight. "Nobody's filing petitions long enough in advance to sustain an eight-month delay," says Covey. "You got a 50/50 chance of it being done in a reasonable amount of time or having to pay an extra $2,800 to expedite it." This article was provided by The Associated Press.
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