Alabama congressmen unload on Obama's 'ridiculous' transgender school bathroom order - Yellowhammer News

Cliff Sims 3 years ago

Alabama congressmen unload on Obama’s ‘ridiculous’ transgender school bathroom order

Could gender neutral bathroom signs be rolling out soon in Alabama public schools?

WASHINGTON — Four Alabama congressmen have signed on to a letter demanding President Barack Obama walk back his effort to coerce all public schools around the country to offer gender-neutral bathrooms.

The administration claims the new policy “gives administrators, teachers, and parents the tools they need to protect transgender students from peer harassment and to identify and address unjust school policies.”

The decision will affect all of Alabama’s 1,637 public schools that service almost 745,000 children.

“There is no room in our schools for discrimination of any kind, including discrimination against transgender students on the basis of their sex,” said Attorney General Loretta Lynch. In an effort to compel school districts to comply with the order, the Administration has threatened to withhold federal funds from local schools that ignore their demand.

In response, congressmen Bradley Byrne (R-AL1), Robert Aderholt (R-AL4), Mo Brooks (R-AL5) and Gary Palmer (R-AL6) signed on to a letter to President Obama, which reads as follows:

Dear President Obama:

We are extremely concerned with the recent directive from your Administration threatening legal actions against or denial of congressionally appropriated funds to local school districts that do not allow students to use their bathroom of choice regardless of gender. We ask that you rescind your poorly executed threat to school districts across the country and reaffirm their right to govern themselves as they see fit within the bounds of the law.

To date, neither statute nor legal precedent has extended civil rights protections based on gender identity. Furthermore your actions threaten to infringe on the constitutional right of Congress to appropriate funds. We view this as an effort to implement your Administration’s political agenda outside the bounds of the law and against the will of the American people.

We insist that you withdraw this legally unfounded threat immediately.

Congressman Brooks also took to Facebook to express his concerns.

“(T)he Obama Administration has now determined they know best on public education matters and issued a directive threatening legal action against public schools who refuse to allow students to use whichever bathroom they choose, regardless of gender,” he wrote. “This browbeating of local schools by the Administration is a blatant attempt to push a political agenda and is downright absurd…Folks, let’s let common sense prevail.”

Congressman Martha Roby (R-AL2) called the directive “ridiculous and unworkable.”

“They have lost their minds. This is a great example of an issue in which we need a lot less government and a lot more common sense. These are children. Eighth grade boys don’t need government-guaranteed access to the sixth grade girls’ bathroom, or vice versa,” she said in a statement. “Schools can figure out how to accommodate students’ unique needs on an individual basis without federal bureaucrats’ tortuous redefinition of sex. Moreover, threatening to sue schools or withhold funding if they don’t conform to this backward application of law is an abuse of power that won’t stand. I look forward to hearings that will expose how ridiculous and unworkable such a policy is.”

Congressman Gary Palmer (R-AL6) encouraged Alabama schools to reject the policy.

“The guidance purports to create an environment that is ‘supportive’ and ‘safe.’ It will do neither,” Palmer said. “In fact, it will create an environment with much more potential for sexual misconduct and harm. No reasonable person could conclude that forcing school children, particularly adolescents, to share bathrooms and showers with individuals of the opposite sex, no matter how they might self-identify, is a smart idea. The safety implications for sexual predation have been well documented, but this administration apparently has no concern about the sexual predators.”

President Obama defended his plan, telling BuzzFeed News it is society’s duty to protect vulnerable students.

“We’re talking about kids, and anybody who’s been in school, been in high school, who’s been a parent, I think should realize that kids who are sometimes in the minority — kids who have a different sexual orientation or are transgender — are subject to a lot of bullying, potentially they are vulnerable,” Obama said. “I think that it is part of our obligation as a society to make sure that everybody is treated fairly, and our kids are all loved, and that they’re protected and that their dignity is affirmed.”

Jerry Underwood 31 mins ago

Matt Might’s personal quest sparks UAB precision medicine revolution

For Dr. Matt Might, director of the Hugh Kaul Precision Medicine Institute at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, the future of medicine revolves around physicians harnessing information on a scale unimagined by patients today.

“Data is the greatest drug of the 21^st century,” said Might, who discovered a rare genetic disorder affecting his young son. “In terms of impact, I don’t think any drug will outperform data in overall ability to improve and extend human life.”

Of course, doctors already rely on detailed patient information when making diagnoses and creating treatment plans. But tomorrow’s medicine, as envisioned by Might, elevates and expands the power of the information at their command.

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By combining medical knowledge with computational analysis and new techniques such as genomic sequencing, physicians will be able to create customized, data-driven treatments for individual patients rather than follow protocols for attacking a certain disease.

“One of the key things to understand in precision medicine is that it is actually easier to treat a patient than a disease,” Might said. “When you are treating a disease you have to find something that works for every patient with that disease.

“If you’re treating a patient, you just have to find out what works for them. That can be very, very different.”

Powerful new tools

Might, who advised President Barack Obama on precision medicine and turned down Harvard and other suitors before coming to UAB in July 2017, believes these new tools will forever change the way physicians provide care once they are widely adopted.

Genetic testing is already helping unravel medical mysteries, especially when it comes to diagnosing rare diseases. But it will play a greater role in the future, when oncologists can routinely sequence the genome of a tumor to see if its mutations call for a specific medicine, Might said.

Already at UAB, doctors can examine a mental health patient’s DNA for clues about how he or she will respond to particular antidepressants, allowing them to rule out medications that would be less effective or cause side effects.

In addition, physicians will be able to tap into a bottomless well of knowledge. Might has collaborated with other researchers to develop an artificial intelligence agent called MediKanren that can search more than 25 million published papers for insights that can pinpoint new treatment options for puzzling medical conditions.

“Everything in medicine is changing as a consequence of the data available and the computational power to analyze that data. This is definitely a pivotal moment, a sea change moment. Medicine is not going to look the same in 10 years,” he said.

Despite his enthusiasm for precision medicine, Might never set out to become a leader in the field. In fact, at the time his voyage started, he was pursuing a career as a computer scientist, working on projects such as cybersecurity and programming languages for supercomputers.

He was also dad to a newborn son, Bertrand, born in December 2007.

The ‘diagnostic journey’

Bertrand was just 2 months old when Might first noticed a problem. His son’s movements were uncontrolled rather than circular and fluid, as they should have been. Four months later, Bertrand’s pediatrician agreed that something was wrong – he just didn’t know what it was.

At that moment, Might and his wife, Cristina, embarked on what he calls a “four-year diagnostic journey.” Over time, Bertrand’s problems multiplied. Full-blown seizures. Movement disorder. Developmental delay. And, strangely, he couldn’t cry tears.

Might was determined to solve the mystery. Eventually, Duke University scientists performed genetic sequencing on Bertrand and his parents to see if they could detect a mutation driving the youngster’s problems.

The results pointed to a malfunctioning NGLY-1 gene, which produces an enzyme needed to break down certain abnormal proteins as part of a recycling process in the body.

“Almost no one had heard of NGLY-1. It didn’t exist as a disease. It barely existed as a known gene. That gene had never been linked to human health in any way, shape or form,” Might said.

Thus, a rare genetic disorder known as NGLY-1 deficiency was discovered. Bertrand was “patient zero.” That meant doctors told Might there was little that could be done for his son until more patients with the condition were identified.

In 2012, Might published a blog post called “Hunting Down My Son’s Killer” that described Bertrand’s symptoms. It received widespread attention. Within weeks, patients began popping up all over the world, enabling research into the condition to begin.

At home, Might struggled with how to help his son.

Using his background as a computer scientist, he set up a computational analysis to identify compounds that might be useful to treat Bertrand’s condition. He quickly found 70, including 14 already approved by the FDA.

At one point, additional testing showed that Bertrand’s condition had triggered a deficiency of N-acetylglucosamine, a readily available glucose derivative. Might purchased some and, after testing it on himself, began giving it to his son.

Days later, Might noticed tears rolling down Bertrand’s face. For the first time, he had discovered a remedy to help his child. Critically, the tears halted the corneal erosion that threatened Bertrand with eventual blindness.

Other discoveries followed. Using MediKanren, Might learned that research indicated a common supplement, sulforaphane, could counter a certain molecular function triggered by NGLY-1 deficiency.

“Sulforaphane is abundant in broccoli, but not abundant enough. You’d need about 60 pounds of broccoli a day. Most fifth-graders don’t eat their own body weight in broccoli each day, but you can get it in a pill form that is highly concentrated. So he has been on that for about two months now, and for me, I think it is definitely making a difference.”

Might is now investigating whether some of the movement disorder aspects of Bertrand’s condition are similar to Parkinson’s and looking into whether treatments for that disease might benefit his son.

“I think, at last, we are moving on all fronts for Bertrand. We’re addressing seizures, eyes, movement disorders and development with this large cocktail of drugs we’ve assembled for his condition,” he said.

Creating an ‘algorithm’

Might is using the lessons he learned in his quest to help Bertrand to scale up the precision medicine initiative at UAB, using what he’s dubbed the “algorithm of precision medicine.”

At its core, the approach centers on harvesting every bit of data about a patient. Genomic sequencing is an important component because it provides a peek into the patient’s unique molecular makeup. But even information contained on a Fitbit or Apple watch can be part of the mix.

Computational technologies and deep reasoning tools such as MediKanren add a new dimension.

“We’re beginning to bring computation into medicine in a very serious way,” Might said. “Previously, it’s been largely used in a superficial way. Now we’re looking at it from more of a big data optimization perspective.”

At the Hugh Kaul Institute, made possible by a $7 million philanthropic gift in 2015, Might and his team maintain a focus on rare diseases through precision therapeutics, acting as what he calls a “clinic of last resort” for patients interested in engaging in targeted research to advance therapies for their disorders.

The institute, which has a staff of nearly a dozen, can provide physicians searching for treatment options with a research report containing recommendations personalized for an individual patient.

Precision oncology is a specific UAB focus. In one case, a genomic scan of a patient’s prostate tumor revealed mutations more consistent with ovarian cancer. Physicians were able to successfully treat the patient with medicines used to treat that form of cancer, Might said.

“Cancer is one of those things where precision medicine is the answer. Every cancer is unique,” he added. “You always need an individually tailored treatment. If you really want to treat cancer right, you’ve got to treat every cancer like a rare disease. That’s the key.”

Might sees the components of precision medicine flowing across all medical disciplines at UAB, expanding until its tactics become the standard of care for all patients.

“At UAB, we’re in the process of making everything precision medicine so that one day it won’t be precision medicine, it will just be medicine,” he said.

This story originally appeared on the University of Alabama System’s website.

Courtesy of Alabama Newscenter

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Donna Cope 13 hours ago

Plant Gaston APSO members cheer special-needs children with fishing days

Most anglers head to the lake for relaxation and sport: Even on a bad day of fishing, one leaves in a better mood. Catching some fish – big or small – gives a feeling of accomplishment.

Multiply that feeling by 100. That’s the joy felt by special-needs children from six elementary, intermediate and high schools, including Jemison, Vestavia Hills, Thorsby and Wilsonville.

The past two weeks, school systems have bused special-needs classes to Wilsonville, where Plant Gaston members of the Alabama Power Service Organization hosted children and school staff. Across the highway from the plant, a bucolic scene awaits. A 3-acre pond holds bream and bass up to 2 pounds and more, perfect for holding by small hands.

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Gaston APSO hosts Jemison kids in fishing from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.

More than 60 APSO members, including several employees from Local 2077 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), helped during the six fishing events. Gaston folks helped youngsters bait their fishing poles with bits of hot dogs and helped them reel in the catch.

For many, it was their first time to be out on a lake and their first chance to touch a fish. Kids were thrilled and amazed to reel in a fish. Afterward, Gaston volunteers returned the fish to the green waters.

“I love bubbles!” one little boy exclaimed, as he blew bubbles at Justin Bailey, Maintenance team leader, who takes his kids fishing. Gaston APSO provided about 30 large, colorful bottles of bubbles, allowing each child to take a bottle home.

For Jodi Webb, the event is all about being part of the community. The Gaston chemical technician said that fishing with the kids is like “being with family.”

“All of this surrounding area is our family. Gaston is a family,” said Webb, who is in her second term as Gaston APSO president. “We want to be serving our community, and this is how we support it.”

For special-education teacher Angie Glass of Jemison Intermediate School, the day brought fun and learning to their students.

Glass, who has taught for 15 years, said that the day of fishing was a great experience.

“They are just enjoying it,” said Glass, who drove the Chilton County school bus to the plant. “I brought older kids on Wednesday. They loved it. I can’t say enough how nice everyone has been.

“This is the biggest event we’ve done,” she said. “We’ve gone on fishing trips before, but not as nice as this. The facility is so nice,” she said, looking around the shaded pavilion and the wood lodge on the hill, built from timber at the plant’s site.

“It’s just wonderful,” Glass said.

Bailey said that Gaston APSO members decided to hold this year’s fishing extravaganzas after holding a fishing party for Wilsonville schools last year. Plant employees held the events for two schools weekly, on Wednesday and Friday. Many special-needs classes cannot take field trips throughout the year, noted Bailey, event co-chair with Equipment Operator Ramsey Glenn.

“We decided, ‘Let’s fish for the day,’” Bailey said. “For some of the kids, it’s the first time in their lives to catch a fish.

“It’s all about them today,” he said. “If they want to run around the pond, we’ll run around the pond. They overcame fears they had by touching the fish. The teachers were amazed at how much the kids opened up – it was a different world for them.”

Bailey said that many Gaston IBEW employees, most of whom are members of Local 2077, were huge supporters and assisted throughout the fishing days. Some Childersburg High School students also volunteered and were a great help.

Co-chair Glenn, a Gaston APSO member for 15 years, said that the fishing day gave the children the opportunity to do something new and different.

“Some kids have families who are financially stretched because of their health condition,” said Glenn, who fished a lot before his children got older and involved in sports and other activities.

“This is a special time for them. It’s hard to cry when you’re fishing,” he said.

(Courtesy of Alabama Newscenter)

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Lindsay Hughes 14 hours ago

Competition fuels twin medical students at University of South Alabama

While they were still playing high school football in Oneonta, brothers Ethan and Thomas Boyd were already certain of a few things. Chief among them was that they wanted to become physicians, followed closely by the desire to attend the University of South Alabama.

Fast forward a few years and the Boyd brothers – twins born minutes apart – just finished their first year of medical school at the USA College of Medicine. And in a surprise to both, they are attending the university on track and field scholarships, having traded the pigskin for Sun Belt Conference competitions in events like hammer throw and shot put.

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The 23-year-olds are fiercely competitive, but not in the way many of their classmates and teammates assume: They are best friends, study mates and the one person on campus each is sure he can trust 100 percent. The Boyds challenge each other in the film room, as well as in preparing for the classroom. And Thomas, the younger brother by 120 seconds, says that connection helps them be their best selves.

“I think that in whatever we’re doing, it tends to elevate us a little bit, because we’re really competitive in pretty much everything we do,” Thomas said. “With us being so close and doing everything the same, part of that is competing against each other.”

Both agree their mom is the origin of that competitiveness, and they love her all the more for it.

“Growing up, if I made a 95 on a test and Thomas made a 98, it would be, ‘Ethan, why didn’t you make a 98?’” Ethan said. “I’m not sure how everybody else does it, but my mom was the best.”

He credits his pediatrician back home in Oneonta with awakening the desire to pursue medicine, all the way back in elementary school.

“He made it to where it wasn’t such a brutal thing to go to the doctor,” Ethan said. “And I always thought that made a big difference.”

He and Thomas just finished their second semester as medical students, and the experience has provided a few surprises, contrasted against their expectations as younger men. Ethan said the first few days doing lab work with cadavers was a bit of a shock, but “you get accustomed to it pretty quickly and I’ve had a good experience.”

For Thomas, the surprise was the flexibility of his schedule, something both men said set USA apart, especially for student-athletes. Initially he was doubtful he’d be able to continue to compete in track and field when he started medical school.

“I know for me, that has been a huge help,” Thomas said. “As flexible as they’ve made things, it’s allowed that to be a reality.”

But it’s no small feat for the Boyds to be highly competitive as redshirt seniors on the track and field team, and keep up their studies as they move through medical school. Both credit the discipline learned as athletes training year-round, and accountability to the other brother, but it still falls on each man to make sure the work gets done, and done correctly.

“It is a lot to handle, but I think you just have to be where your feet are, give 100 percent where you are and manage your time wisely,” Ethan said. “When you’re doing schoolwork, you have to completely focus on school.

“When I’m out practicing, I can’t be thinking about what I learned in school that day or thinking about what happened on the test.”

Ethan and Thomas have been fortunate during their playing careers to avoid major injury, but both say they are interested in pursuing orthopedics – careers that could cross over into sports medicine. And it’s possible one or both could end up as surgeons, although Thomas might shift to another role in the operating theater: anesthesiologist.

“I liked anesthesiology growing up and thought it was a cool job, just based off of how much you get to see,” Thomas said. “But, being in sports in high school, a lot of the doctors I knew were orthopedic surgeons. So when I started shadowing, the more I watched, the more I thought, ‘I really think I would enjoy this line of work.’”

To listen to the brothers, USA is the exact place they need to be as they discover what their career passions are and how to best achieve them. Coaches and professors at the university have proven a willingness to help them reach their goals, but it’s not something the Boyds take for granted. Neither is the support of their younger brother or parents, who recently relocated to Virginia.

As they move forward through medical school, they continue to rely on each other, and the competitive spirit that has fueled them as far back as T-ball, when they were children.

“It’s great to have a friend in what you’re doing,” Thomas said. “And if you are having a problem, being able to bounce that off of somebody, whether in track or in school, there’s always a different set of ears that a lot of times will understand something that you didn’t quite pick up.”

This story originally appeared on the University of South Alabama’s website.

(Courtesy of Alabama Newscenter)

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Dennis Washington 15 hours ago

Student-powered produce stand opens at Birmingham’s Woodlawn High School

People living in east Birmingham now have a new place to buy fresh fruits and vegetables: their nearby high school.

The Farm Stand opened Thursday afternoon at Woodlawn High School. Operated by students, the Farm Stand gives neighbors a place to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables grown at the school in conjunction with the city’s Jones Valley Teaching Farm program. Amanda Storey, executive director of the Jones Valley Teaching Farm, says the Farm Stand was made possible through a grant from Gov. Kay Ivey as part of the Alabama Healthy Food Financing Act.

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“It gives our students a chance to connect with our neighbors and also be able to provide a service to their neighborhood,” Storey said. “It’s a win-win for everybody.”

The Farm Stand is in a part of Birmingham the U.S. Department of Agriculture calls a “food desert,” which is an area without easy access to fresh, healthy and affordable food. Josh Carpenter, director of Economic Development for the city of Birmingham, says the Farm Stand solves that problem and helps students.

“Woodlawn is a great proof-point of what is possible when we really dedicate resources and time to this type of engagement,” Carpenter said. “Some of these students are thinking not just about how to grow vegetables, but then, ‘What does the irrigation system look like?’ and they’re conceptualizing their own careers as plumbers and electricians. That type of development comes foundationally through these types of experiential work-based learning, so they’ve really laid the groundwork for apprenticeships in the city.”

The Jones Valley Teaching Farm operates seven farms throughout Birmingham, engaging more than 4,500 students from pre-K through high school in a hands-on, food-based education model. Storey says the program helps students grow life skills.

“One of the biggest pieces that you learn when running a farm is that seeds take a long time to grow,” Storey said. “We’re all so used to instant gratification, the process of growing food is something that really instills leadership and patience and all of these life skills that are so important for young people. Being able to be front and center in leading a project, when you’re in high school, I think is so important for student growth and for life growth.”

The Farm Stand is open Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 3:00-5:30 p.m. For more information, visit the Jones Valley Teaching Farm online at jvtf.org.

(Courtesy of Alabama Newscenter)

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Alabama News Center 16 hours ago

APC, Nature Conservancy receive environmental award

Alabama Power and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) have received a Partners for Environmental Progress (PEP) Environmental Stewardship Award for their partnership last year on an oyster reef project in Mobile Bay.

Alabama Power and TNC teamed up to help preserve the reef at Helen Wood Park on Mobile Bay. TNC worked with the Alabama Power Foundation to fund restoring the reef using new, innovative oyster “castles” to replace the bagged oyster shells originally used to build the reef.

The bagged oyster shells did not hold up well to the Mobile Bay waves. Oyster castles are much like large concrete interlocking blocks. They are stronger than bagged shells and better withstand wave action from boats in the bay.

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The reef helps attract and foster oyster settlement and creates a habitat for fish and other marine life. It also helps protect against erosion and provides a stable shore.

Funding for the project was provided by the Alabama Power Foundation andAlabama Power Service Organization partnered with TNC for volunteers to rebuild the reef.

Accepting the award were Plant Barry Manager Mike Burroughs, TNC Coastal Conservation Specialist Jacob Blandford, External Affairs Manager Beth Thomas, Customer Service Manager and 2018 APSO President Erin Delaporte, TNC Marine Program Director Judy Haner and Mobile Division Vice President Nick Sellers.

PEP is a coalition of business and education leaders who share the vision of applying science-based environmental best practices to business and community issues. PEP’s 200 business members along the Gulf Coast value the area’s unique natural resources, as well as the thriving economy.

PEP members understand the future of the Gulf Coast depends on ensuring a balance between business development and job creation, industrial growth and a healthy environment.

Since 2005, the PEP board of directors has presented the Environmental Stewardship Award to recognize members whose work has made a significant, positive contribution to the Gulf Coast region in three crucial areas: economic growth, environmental health and social responsibility.

TNC works across all 50 states to conserve land and water. The organization works with private and public partners to ensure lands and waters are protected for future generations.

TNC members believe that people and nature can thrive together and the organization looks for real-world solutions to environmental issues, including food and water security and city growth.

(Courtesy of Alabama Newscenter)

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