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Friends star Matthew Perry died of ketamine overdose, autopsy finds

Friends star Matthew Perry died of ketamine overdose, autopsy finds

Los Angeles medical examiner says drowning and heart disease were contributing factors in actor’s accidental death. Friends actor Matthew Perry, who was found dead in a jacuzzi at his Los Angeles home in October, died from an accidental ketamine overdose, an autopsy has found. Perry, who played the wise-cracking Chandler Bing in the popular US sitcom, passed away from the “acute effects” of the sedative, with drowning a secondary cause in his October 28 death at age 54, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office said on Friday. Heart disease and “the effects of buprenorphine”, a drug used to treat opioid abuse, were also contributing factors, the autopsy report said. Perry, who spoke openly about his struggles with alcohol and opiate addiction, had reportedly been undergoing ketamine treatment for anxiety and depression but took his last known infusion more than a week before his death, which would have been long enough for the drug to have left his system. “The exact method of intake in Mr Perry’s case is unknown,” the report said. The autopsy did not detect alcohol or other drugs such as cocaine, heroin or fentanyl in Perry’s system. In his 2022 memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, Perry wrote about taking ketamine daily at certain points to help with addiction, pain and depression. “Has my name written all over it – they might as well have called it ‘Matty’,” he wrote of the drug. Perry became one of the world’s most recognised actors during Friends’ 10-year run, from 1994 to 2004. The sitcom, also starring Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer, followed the ups and downs of six young singletons in New York. Perry’s sudden death stunned his castmates, friends, family and fans worldwide, drawing heartfelt tributes for the Canadian-born actor. “Oh boy, this one has cut deep,” Aniston, who played Rachel on Friends, said on Instagram shortly after his death. “He was such a part of our DNA. We were always the [six] of us. This was a chosen family that forever changed the course of who we were and what our path was going to be.” Adblock test (Why?)

US Treasury Department issues guidelines around a new tax credit for sustainable aviation fuel

US Treasury Department issues guidelines around a new tax credit for sustainable aviation fuel

The Biden administration released long-awaited guidance on Friday around tax credits for aviation fuel that reduces emissions of greenhouse gases compared with fuel made from crude oil. Some environmentalists expressed concern that the Treasury Department guidelines could allow credits for fuel made from corn and other crops that they consider poor choices because of the water and other resources needed to grow them. HIGH-FAT FLIGHT IS FIRST JETLINER TO MAKE FOSSIL-FUEL-FREE TRANSATLANTIC CROSSING FROM LONDON TO NY Midwest lawmakers and companies that produce corn-based ethanol praised the guidelines, although their enthusiasm could be short-lived. Congress approved the credits as part of President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which included provisions designed to boost cleaner energy. The credits are designed to increase the supply and bring down the current high price of sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF. Producers will be eligible for tax credits ranging from $1.25 to $1.75 per gallon, depending on how much their fuel reduces emissions compared with conventional products such as kerosene-based jet fuel. On a key issue — and after months of deliberations — the Treasury Department accepted measuring those emission reductions by using a model that was developed by the U.S. Energy Department and which is supported by the ethanol industry. However, Treasury said the Biden administration plans to update the model by March 1, leaving uncertainty around the eventual tax treatment of ethanol used to power airplanes. Treasury said the update will include “new modeling of key feedstocks and processes used in aviation fuel,” and will consider the impact on emissions from growing crops used to make the fuel. The Environmental Defense Fund said it would withhold final judgment on the guidelines until March, but that Friday’s guidelines could put the U.S. out of step with international standards. “Our initial assessment is that this would be a blank check for fuels made from sugar cane, soybean and rapeseed — none of which are sustainable or consistent with Congress’ intent,” said the group’s senior vice president, Mark Brownstein. Ethanol supporters countered that the Energy Department model provides a precise way to measure the benefits of agricultural feedstocks used in sustainable aviation fuel. The standard “is great, and I’m glad that Treasury is finally realizing it,” said Sen. Joni Ernst, a Republican from Iowa, a major corn-producing state. Airlines for America, a trade group for the biggest U.S. carriers, praised the Treasury guidelines, which it said “will help to accelerate the production and availability of SAF and stimulate new investment.” Around 2% to 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions come from aviation, according to estimates, but that share is expected to grow as air travel continues to boom. Widespread use of electric-powered airplanes is generally considered decades away.

Tennessee Gov. Lee grants 22 pardons, 1 commutation

Tennessee Gov. Lee grants 22 pardons, 1 commutation

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee on Friday granted clemency to 23 people, including a woman convicted of first-degree murder for her involvement in the death of a motel worker more than 20 years ago. The announcement marks the Republican’s third round of clemency since taking office in 2019. Lee approved 22 pardons and one commutation. “Clemency is a very powerful tool and it is not something that I take lightly,” Lee told reporters on Friday, stressing that it is “unique to the role of the governor at the state level.” TENNESSEE DEMOCRAT CALLS GOP GOVERNOR’S SCHOOL CHOICE EXPANSION PLAN A ‘REAL SCAM’ A pardon serves as a statement of forgiveness to someone who has completed their prison sentence and are no longer incarcerated, while commutation shortens a sentence but lets the conviction stand. Similar to last year, Lee didn’t issue any exonerations, in which the governor declares that the applicant didn’t commit the crime. Lee said that the actions he signed off on the 23 applications aligned with nonbinding recommendations from the state Board of Parole, with no victims speaking in opposition. Of the thousands of applications before Lee’s desk, only Michelle Lockwood-Tipton of Sevier County received a commutation. According to the governor’s office, Tipton was convicted of first-degree murder after her boyfriend at the time killed Pamela Hale, who was working at motel in eastern Tennessee. Her boyfriend, who she married a day after Hale’s murder using the money they robbed, was also convicted of first-degree murder. Tipton has served 21 years in prison and was not eligible for parole until 2052. However, with Lee’s intervention, Tipton will now be eligible for parole. She will not immediately be released from prison, per the governor’s office. “It was determined that she was shocked by the killing and unaware that that was going to happen,” Lee said. Lee added that Tipton has since been “exceptional” throughout her incarceration, noting that she’s currently working to get her Master’s degree in theology. Meanwhile, the 22 pardons include: Amanda Vaughn of Perry County; Ann Marie Byrd of Davidson County and Williamson County; Brendan Sullivan of Blount County; Cheryl Douglas of Rutherford County; Chris Ann Hobson of Fayette County; Christopher Park of Davidson Sumner and Wilson counties; DeAndre Brown of Shelby County; Demetria Garner of Davidson County; Donnell Spraggins of Shelby County; Catrina Cabe of Hamilton County; Eddie Criswell of Madison County; Edward Guthrie of Bradley County; Jimmy Harris of Overton and Putnam counties; Joseph Claggett of Davidson County; Joshua Owens of Bradley County; Kamiko Michelle Paris of Hamilton County; Kevin Campbell of Hamilton County; Melissa Whitehead-Gregory of Tipton County; Rhonda Shelton of Davidson County; Robert Scales of Davidson County; Tara Woods of Hamilton County; and Tylor Trotter of Knox County.

China’s youth compete for stable gov’t jobs in unstable economic times

China’s youth compete for stable gov’t jobs in unstable economic times

A good result on China’s annual national civil service exam is a requirement for any Chinese candidate who wants to be considered for the tens of thousands of vacant civil service jobs that the government seeks to fill every year. Many of the vacant positions are reserved for recent Chinese graduates. When 22-year-old recent graduate Du Xin sat down for the exam in December last year at a test centre in the city of Shijiazhuang in China’s Hebei province, she had been studying vigorously for six months. Some applicants even hire tutors to prepare them for the exam. Candidates are tested broadly on their general knowledge and analytical skills while in more recent years they have also been tested on their grasp of “Xi thought” – Chinese President Xi Jinping’s ideology and vision for China. Despite her months of preparation, Du knew that the odds that her test result would bring her closer to a government job were slim. As she began the exam, so, too, did millions of other Chinese youths across hundreds of Chinese cities. “The competition is fierce,” Du told Al Jazeera. That year the chance of securing a civil service position was 70 to one. A candidate makes last-minute preparations to sit for the Chinese civil service examinations, which nationwide, millions of candidates sit to qualify for thousands of job vacancies in the government, in Hefei, east China’s Anhui province in 2011 [File: AFP] Therefore, Du was surprised and thrilled when she learned that she did well on the exam and subsequently landed a job as an organiser at the local office of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in Shijiazhuang. This year, the competition looked to be even more fierce as the number of candidates sitting down for the exam at the end of November surpassed three million for the first time. The number of vacant government positions has not kept up, lowering the odds of securing a job like Du’s from 70 to 1 to 77 to 1, according to the state-run Global Times. Du is not surprised by the high number of applicants. “I think a lot of young people in China really want a stable job right now,” she said. Candidates prepare to take China’s national civil service exam in a university in Nanjing, east China’s Jiangsu province, in 2013 [File: AFP] Job security is an ‘iron rice bowl’ The appeal of stable employment was what drew Du to the civil service exam last year at a time of economic turmoil in China. “I felt a bit lost after I finished my graduate studies, I didn’t know what I wanted to do,” she told Al Jazeera. “But I knew I wanted a job where I could feel secure and have free time, and that made me interested in government work.” Although employment in China’s civil service rarely pays as well as comparable employment in the Chinese private sector, there are other benefits. Civil servants usually have access to better medical insurance, a preferential pension plan, consistent bonus pay-outs and secure lifetime employment. The security that comes with a public position has given rise to the nickname, “iron rice bowl”. Iron rice bowls are coveted by some traditional Chinese parents for their children – not just for stability but because some see obtaining such jobs as a recognition of excellence by the state. Candidates queueing to take the national examination for admissions to the civil service in Wuhan in China’s central Hubei province in 2021 [File: AFP] An important aspect of life as a civil servant for Du is the working hours. “I work from 9am to 5pm, and I don’t have to work on weekends,” Du said. Many of Du’s friends in the private sector work the 996 system – 9am to 9pm, 6 days a week. “Compared to them, I have a lot more free time to enjoy my hobbies,” she said. Yang Jiang was also not surprised by the record number of applicants for China’s civil service exam this year. Jiang is a scholar of China’s economic policies and a senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies. The number of applicants has been growing quickly in recent years, and according to Jiang, one reason is the equally high number of Chinese graduates entering the job market. In 2023 alone, almost 11.6 million Chinese finished their studies, the highest number ever. But the overarching reason for the high number of civil service exam applicants is the Chinese economy, Jiang told Al Jazeera. “The economic situation is uncertain in China,” she said. Candidates arrive for China’s national civil service exam in a university in Nanjing, east China’s Jiangsu province, in 2013 [File: AFP] The Chinese economy has been struggling to reach the growth rates of earlier years, the housing market is in the deepest slump in decades and foreign direct investment struck a deficit in the July-September period of 2023 for the first time recorded. For Chinese graduates, circumstances look particularly grim: youth unemployment hit a record high of 21.3 percent in June before the authorities stopped publishing the numbers. “The private sector in particular has seen a lot of layoffs in the economic downturn,” Jiang explained. “That has naturally made more Chinese graduates look towards the public sector for the sort of job security that is currently missing in the private sector,” she said. ‘They can’t make us disappear’ Like Du, 23-year-old Chris Liao from Guangdong province in southern China graduated last year with a master’s degree in public administration. He also signed up for the civil service exam. “I didn’t make it past the written exam,” he told Al Jazeera. Afterwards, Liao was unable to find a job within his field of study, forcing him to work as a cook for a while before he moved back with his parents outside Guangzhou, the largest metropolis in Guangdong. He is now among the millions of unemployed young people in China. “I feel like life got really difficult when COVID

Biden administration commits millions in new funding to Columbia River Basin restoration

Biden administration commits millions in new funding to Columbia River Basin restoration

In the 1960s and 1970s, four dams were built along the Lower Snake River in Washington State. They were advertised as a source of cheap, clean energy. Some conservation groups and tribe members nearby said the dams would have a negative impact on the regional environment. Decades later, the controversy has come to a head as the Biden administration has agreed to work alongside those groups to develop a plan to save the fish. “The importance of salmon to our people has dated back to our beginning,” Nez Perce Chairman Shannon Wheeler said. “I think that’s the relationship today that we’re here to speak for the salmon that have lost their voice.” The Nez Perce tribe is one of four Columbia Basin tribes who have long relied on the salmon in the region. “For them to be able to return to their native waters, where they originate from, there’s a way of life that’s associated to that,” Wheeler said. BIDEN ADMIN CREATES PATHWAY WITH ECO GROUPS TO SHUTTER ENERGY SOURCE SERVING MILLIONS OF AMERICANS The Columbia River Basin covers parts of seven states and Canada. It once produced one of the largest salmon runs on earth. “These native runs that have once numbered in the millions have been reduced to the thousands and sometimes less,” Wheeler said. The Nez Perce Tribe and other groups have been part of an ongoing legal battle over the four dams built along the Snake River. The groups say those are the source of a declining salmon population. The Idaho Wildlife Federation is part of the broader Snake River coalition. Executive Director Brian Brooks said the fish runs in Idaho are nearly depleted. “We have the Salmon River, a river that was named after the abundance of fish that used to come back to Idaho,” Brooks said. “Only Idaho’s fish are on an extinction trajectory and the only thing that our fish experience that none of the other tributaries do are the Snake River dams.” The Snake River begins in Wyoming and flows northwest. Along the way it joins with the Salmon River before flowing into the Columbia River, which feeds into the Pacific Ocean. That’s where salmon spend most of their lives. HOUSE PANEL TO PROBE BIDEN ADMIN’S NEGOTIATIONS WITH ECO GROUPS TRYING TO TEAR DOWN KEY POWER SOURCE “These fish used to get swept down to the ocean in a matter of days. Now that’s 40 days,” Brooks said. “When they come back up, they go through stress induced by the fish ladders. There are seals and sea lions. And there’s a number of issues compounded by the existence of the dams.” After several years in the open ocean, the salmon return to where they were hatched by swimming upstream. For a fish born in Idaho’s Salmon River, it must get past eight dams. “We have a five-star hotel waiting for these fish in the Frank Church Wilderness,” Brooks said. “It’s beautiful, clean habitat. And they cannot get here because of the impacts, the mortality caused by these lower Snake River dams.” About half of the region relies on hydroelectricity for power. “[The dams are] zero carbon and they’re available 24 seven. That’s pretty good. They’re low cost. They’ve been a key element of economic development in the Pacific Northwest for decades,” National Rural Electric Cooperative Association CEO Jim Matheson said. Several efforts have been put in place to help the salmon get past the dams. Engineers have built fish ladders, elevators and other passage facilities to help improve survival. Conservation groups say those have fallen short and removing the four Lower Snake River Dams is necessary to save the fish. “If you look at salmon, steelhead runs on tributaries on the Columbia River that only have to go through 1, 2, 3 or 4 dams they’re doing fine. They fluctuate naturally up and down. That happens all the time,” Brooks said. “The very simple truth is that eight dams are simply too many dams for a fish to go through.” BIDEN ADMIN PLAN TO RELEASE PREDATOR NEAR RURAL COMMUNITIES FACES WIDESPREAD OPPOSITION: ‘A HUGE THREAT Earthjustice has represented a coalition of groups calling for dam removal for decades. Earthjustice first took legal action in 1992, challenging a National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration report that determined the dams did not endanger the fish. They successfully got that determination overturned in 1994. Earthjustice continued the pressure over the years to get the dams removed. In 2021, they agreed to a pause to negotiate with the newly elected Biden Administration. “In this case, out-of-court discussions open up opportunities to take a more comprehensive approach to issues related to protecting salmon than is available through litigation,” Earthjustice said in a statement to Fox. “One example is the development of a plan to replace the energy services now provided by Lower Snake River dams.” In 2022, the Biden administration released a pair of studies concerning the Lower Snake River Dams. A new NOAA report looked into the environmental impact of the dams. It stated, “Sixteen stocks historically spawned above Bonneville Dam. Of those, four are now extinct, and seven are listed under the federal ESA [Endangered Species Act].” The report ultimately recommended breaching the four lower Snake River dams. “NOAA Fisheries recognizes that the important services the Lower Snake River dams provide would need to be replaced or otherwise offset before breaching could occur,” NOAA Fisheries West Coast Regional Administrator Jennifer Quan said at a congressional June field hearing held in Washington State.  A Bonneville Power Administration [BPA] representative also testified at that hearing on the agency’s report that looked at replacement power for the four dams. “Replacing these dams while meeting clean energy goals and maintaining system reliability is possible. But doing so comes at a substantial cost to the region and notes that emerging replacement technologies must first become commercially viable,” BPA’s John Harrison said. TOP BIDEN AIDE’S SPOUSE INVOLVED WITH GROUP PUSHING ELECTRIC VEHICLE TRANSITION BPA operates the four Snake River dams. Those produce