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  • A New Dinosaur Study: Can We Really Tell Male and Female Dinosaurs Apart?

    dinosaurs

    Creative Commons illustration, not representative of gharials, an endangered and giant crocodilian species

    Scientists worldwide have long debated our ability to identify male and female dinosaurs. Now, research led by Queen Mary University of London has shown that despite previous claims of success, it’s very difficult to spot differences between the sexes.

    Skulls of a male (top) and female (bottom) gharial (Gavialis gangeticus). Credit: Larry Witmer, Ohio University
    Skulls of a male (top) and female (bottom) gharial (Gavialis gangeticus); credit: Larry Witmer, Ohio University

    In the new study, researchers analysed skulls from modern-day gharials, an endangered and giant crocodilian species, to see how easy it is to distinguish between males and females using only fossil records.  

    Male gharials are larger in size than females and possess a fleshy growth on the end of their snout, known as a ghara. Whilst the ghara is made from soft tissue, it is supported by a bony hollow near the nostrils, known as the narial fossa, which can be identified in their skulls.

    The research team, which included Jordan Mallon from the Canadian Museum of Nature, Patrick Hennessey from Georgia Southern University and Lawrence Witmer from Ohio University, studied 106 gharial specimens in museums across the world. They found that aside from the presence of the narial fossa in males, it was still very hard to tell the sexes apart.  

    Dr David Hone, Senior Lecturer in Zoology at Queen Mary University of London and author of the study, said: “Like dinosaurs, gharials are large, slow growing reptiles that lay eggs, which makes them a good model for studying extinct dinosaur species. Our research shows that even with prior knowledge of the sex of the specimen, it can still be difficult to tell male and female gharials apart. With most dinosaurs we don’t have anywhere near that size of the dataset used for this study, and we don’t know the sex of the animals, so we’d expect this task to be much harder.”

    In many species, males and females can look very different from each other. For example, antlers are largely only found in male deer and in peacocks, males are normally brightly-coloured with large, iridescent tail feathers whereas females are much more subdued in their colouration. This is known as sexual dimorphism and is very common within the animal kingdom. It is expected that dinosaurs also exhibit these differences, however, this research suggests that in most cases this is far too difficult to tell from the skeleton alone.

    Dr Hone said: “Some animals show extraordinarily high levels of sexual dimorphism, for example huge size differences between males and females. Gharials sit somewhere in the middle as they do possess these large narial fossa that can help with identification. Our study suggests that unless the differences between the dinosaurs are really striking, or there is a clear feature like the fossa, we will struggle to tell a male and female dinosaur apart using our existing dinosaur skeletons.”

    The new research also challenges previous studies that have hinted at differences between the sexes in popular dinosaur species such as the Tyrannosaurus rex (T.rex), and led to common misconceptions amongst the general public.

    “Many years ago, a scientific paper suggested that female T. rex are bigger than males. However, this was based on records from 25 broken specimens and our results show this level of data just isn’t good enough to be able to make this conclusion,” Dr Hone added.  

    • Research paper: ‘Ontogeny of a sexually selected structure in an extant archosaur Gavialis gangeticus (Pseudosuchia: Crocodylia) with implications for sexual dimorphism in dinosaurs’ D Hone, J Mallon, P Hennessey, L Witmer. PeerJ

  • Jo Freeman Reviews Overturning Brown: The Segregationist Legacy of the Modern School Choice Movement

     

    Overturning Brown: The Segregationist Legacy of the Modern School Choice Movement

    By Steve Suitts

    Published 2020 by NewSouth Books, Montgomery, AL: 127 pages

    By Jo Freeman

    This is a very short book about a very long topic. Its essential theme is that “school choice” — the idea that every parent can decide what school is best for her or his child — began in the South as a way to maintain as much racial segregation as possible in the schools. Furthermore, Suitt argues, while the rationale has changed over time, the results have not.

    The South looked for ways around the Supreme Court’s 1954 proclamation in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas that racial segregating violated the 14th Amendment. For the next decade private schools for whites only, known as “seg academies” were opened all over the South. Schools are expensive. Instead of paying (much) for public schools, Southern legislatures provided for tuition vouchers for parents to send their children to the school of their choice. White parents sent their children to white private schools. Negro parents were “persuaded” to keep their children in underfunded public schools.

    In the meantime, two other arguments for school choice emerged. Prof. Milton Friedman of the University of Chicago, apostle of “free market economics,” argued that competition between private and “government” schools would increase quality. He saw education as another consumer good and vouchers as a way to increase choice. Publicly he deplored racial segregation but he didn’t change his theory to encompass that reality.

    His argument became popular when Ronald Reagan adopted it in the 1980s. The 1984 Republican Platform touted a variety of public supports for private schools under the rubric that diversity created opportunity.

    The second argument was religious freedom. Many of the white private schools called themselves Christian academies and quoted the Bible to justify limiting attendance to whites. Over time, private schools “merged racial segregation, quality education, and religion into one rationale.”

    The Court eventually ruled that it was not permissible to create racially specific schools, even though they were technically private, not public. The schools switched to virtual segregation, which is another name for token integration. A few non-whites (not always black) were allowed in. Private schools remained overwhelmingly white, and not just in the South. 

    Suitts concludes that shifting more resources from public to private schools, by whatever rationale, won’t result in a better education for those who need it most.

    To find out more about what happened and why, read this book. 

    © Copyright 2020 by Jo Freeman for SeniorWomen.com 

    Editor’s Note: Jo has all but finished her new book on working for SCLC in 1965-66 and is tweaking it. Stay tuned.

  • Rose Madeline Mula Writes About Silver Linings to the COVID19 Cloud

    By Rose Madeline Mulasilver lining

    It’s true.  Every cloud does have a silver lining*, and the COVID19 cloud is no exception. As devastating as it is, it does have its positive aspects. First and foremost is the beneficial effect on the planet due to the COVID restrictions. Plane and train travel have been sharply curtailed, as have many pollution-producing manufacturing facilities. And since we have mostly been confined to our homes, our cars are no longer spewing massive amounts of noxious gases into the atmosphere daily. 

    Under a cloud (with a silver lining) (1920).  Captions: “Thanks to my faithful brolski not a drop has touched me.” 

    Consequently, in just a few short weeks, smog no longer completely obscures our city skylines, stars shine brighter, rivers and streams are beginning to run crystal clear, and in the oceans dying coral reefs are regenerating.

    Hopefully, when the corona pandemic passes and we resume “normal” operations, we will remember the lesson learned and take steps to mitigate our destructive pollution-producing practices. Surely among us are scientists smart enough to find a compromise allowing us to live productively without destroying the planet.

    I’m sure none of us would burn our houses in order to provide heat to warm us, knowing that we would be leaving our children only ashes instead of a home. .But that is what we have been doing to the earth — polluting it to boost our economy today, with complete disregard for tomorrow.    

    In addition to making us more environmentally aware, COVID is making us appreciate even more our doctors, nurses, and other medical personnel, as well as all those we used to take for granted — mail and package delivery people, grocery store cashiers and shelf stockers, cleaners who sanitize store shelves and shopping carts… and so many others.  In short, all who literally risk their lives daily to help save ours — and at minimum wage. 

    Meanwhile, imposed isolation has made those who are important to us even more precious. First, of course, our families and other loved ones now that we are not able to hug them — especially when they are sick and dying, isolated in hospitals where they are comforted only by strangers.  Even casual conversations are now more meaningful.  As I write this, I have been isolated alone in my condo for almost two months. Because I am considered vulnerable, I have not admitted anyone inside or even stepped into the corridor for fear someone may have walked by and sneezed moments before, possibly trailing corona droplets.

    When friends bring me groceries, they leave them behind my door, and we converse only through that closed door.  The only humans I’ve seen are in my parking lot, three stories down from my balcony.  Fortunately, thanks to technology, though I am isolated I am not alone or lonely.  I visit regularly with friends on the phone, Zoom, Skype and Facetime.  In fact, I am now in closer touch with some I hadn’t talked to in years.  And in between those interactions, I am not bored.  I have hundreds of movies available, thanks to Netflix and Prime, as well as thousands of books on Kindle and Nook. 

  • The Evasive Virus: Uncovering the Potency and Evasiveness of the COVID-19 Virus

    May 07, 2020
    SARS-CoV-2 virus
    Credit: Megan Murrell

    SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is highly infectious. Curiously, in many patients, it triggers poor immune responses, which prolongs illness. This helps the virus spread widely, exacerbating the global pandemic. In a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers at the University of Minnesota identified the biochemical mechanism that may explain how the virus infects people efficiently while evading their immune responses.

    This study, led by Fang Li, a professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine, examined the mechanism by which SARS-CoV-2 enters cells. Specifically, the team of scientists investigated how the virus “unlocks” human cells using a surface spike protein as the “key.” They made three important findings:

    • the tip of the viral key binds strongly to human cells;
    • the tip of the viral key is often hidden; and
    • when new virus particles are made, the viral key is already pre-activated by a human enzyme.

    “Typically when a virus develops mechanisms to evade immune responses, it loses its potency to infect people,” said Li. “However, SARS-CoV-2 maintains its infectivity using two mechanisms. First, during its limited exposure time, the tip of the viral key grabs a receptor protein on human cells quickly and firmly. Second, the pre-activation of the viral key allows the virus to more effectively infect human cells.”

    Li says that recognizing the evasiveness of SARS-CoV-2 is important for designing antibody drugs and vaccines. Antibody drugs would need to overpower the tip of the hidden viral key by latching onto it very quickly and tightly during its limited exposure time. Alternatively, drugs can target other parts of the viral key that are more exposed.

    Li recommends that successful antiviral strategies will need to consider both the potency of the virus and its evasiveness.

    The study is coauthored by postdoctoral researchers Jian Shang, Yushun Wan, and Chuming Luo, graduate students Gang Ye and Qibin Geng, and junior scientist Ashley Auerbach. The National Institutes of Health funded the study.

  • “I am Dr. Rick Bright, a career public servant and a scientist who has spent 25 years of my career focused on addressing pandemic outbreaks”

    Good morning Chairwoman, Eshoo, Ranking Member Burgess and distinguished Members of the Subcommittee. Thank you for inviting me to testify today. (Editor’s Note: House Energy and Commerce)Dr. Rick Bright

    I am Dr. Rick Bright, a career public servant and a scientist who has spent 25 years of my career focused on addressing pandemic outbreaks. I received my bachelor’s degree with honors in both biology and physical sciences from Auburn University at Montgomery in Alabama. I earned my PhD in Immunology and Molecular Pathogenesis from Emory University in Georgia.  My dissertation was focused on pandemic avian influenza. I have spent my entire career leading teams of scientists in drugs, diagnostics and vaccine development — in the government with CDC and BARDA, for a global non-profit organization and also in the biotechnology industry. Regardless of my position, my job and my entire professional focus has been on saving lives. My professional background has prepared me for a moment like this – to confront and defeat a deadly virus like COVID-19 that threatens Americans and people around the globe.

    I joined the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) in 2010 and from November of 2016 until April 21 of this year, I had the privilege of serving our country as its Director. During the time I was Director of BARDA we successfully partnered with private industry to achieve an unprecedented number of FDA approvals for medical countermeasures against a wide variety of national health security threats. This was a major and unprecedented accomplishment and one that I and the conscientious employees of BARDA take great pride in.

    As I reflect on the past few months of this outbreak, it is painfully clear that we were not as prepared as we should have been. We missed early warning signals and we forgot important pages from our pandemic playbook. There will be plenty of time to identify gaps for improvement. For now, we need to focus on getting things right going forward. We need to ensure that we have a plan to recovery and that everyone knows the plan and everyone participates in the plan. Congress has taken important steps to support the response; and we have more to do. We need your help to get us through the crisis.

    We Americans, working cooperatively with our global friends, can and will succeed in finding a cure for COVID19, but that success depends on what we do today. We must unite and use all available tools and measures we have to stem the damage this virus has wrought.

    We will either be remembered for what we did or for what we failed to do to address this crisis. I call on all of us to act — to ensure the health, safety, and prosperity of all Americans. You can count on me to continue to do my part.

  • Kaiser Family Foundation: Eligibility for ACA Health Coverage Following Job Loss; What Is ESI?

    Employee Sponsored Insurance

    Rachel Garfield , Gary Claxton, Anthony Damico, and Larry Levitt 
    Published: May 13, 2020

    The economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic have led to historic level of job loss in the United States. Social distancing policies required to address the crisis have led many businesses to cut hours, cease operations, or close altogether. Between March 1st and May 2nd, 2020, more than 31 million people had filed for unemployment insurance. Actual loss of jobs and income are likely even higher, as some people may be only marginally employed or may not have filed for benefits. Some of these unemployed workers may go back to work as social distancing curbs are relaxed, though further job loss is also possible if the economic downturn continues or deepens.

    In addition to loss of income, job loss carries the risk of loss of health insurance for people who were receiving health coverage as a benefit through their employer. People who lose employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) often can elect to continue it for a period by paying the full premium (called COBRA continuation) or may become eligible for Medicaid or subsidized coverage through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplaces. Over time, as unemployment benefits end, some may fall into the “coverage gap” that exists in states that have not expanded Medicaid under the ACA (Editor’s Note: also known as ObamaCare).

    In this analysis, we examine the potential loss of ESI among people in families where someone lost employment between March 1st, 2020 and May 2nd, 2020 and estimate their eligibility for ACA coverage, including Medicaid and marketplace subsidies, as well as private coverage as a dependent (see detailed Methods at the end of this brief). To illustrate eligibility as their state and federal unemployment insurance (UI) benefits cease, we show eligibility for this population as of May 2020 and January 2021, when most will have exhausted their UI benefits.

  • Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell Addresses Current Economic Issues: For Some, a Reversal of Economic Fortune

    Current Economic Issues, May 13, 2020Jerome Powell

    Chair Jerome H. Powell

    At the Peterson Institute for International Economics, Washington, D.C. (via webcast)

    Watch the Live broadcast

    The coronavirus has left a devastating human and economic toll in its wake as it has spread around the globe. This is a worldwide public health crisis, and health-care workers have been the first responders, showing courage and determination and earning our lasting gratitude. So have the legions of other essential workers who put themselves at risk every day on our behalf.

    As a nation, we have temporarily withdrawn from many kinds of economic and social activity to help slow the spread of the virus. Some sectors of the economy have been effectively closed since mid-March. People have put their lives and livelihoods on hold, making enormous sacrifices to protect not just their own health and that of their loved ones, but also their neighbors and the broader community. While we are all affected, the burden has fallen most heavily on those least able to bear it.

    The scope and speed of this downturn are without modern precedent, significantly worse than any recession since World War II. We are seeing a severe decline in economic activity and in employment, and already the job gains of the past decade have been erased. Since the pandemic arrived in force just two months ago, more than 20 million people have lost their jobs. A Fed survey being released tomorrow reflects findings similar to many others: Among people who were working in February, almost 40 percent of those in households making less than $40,000 a year had lost a job in March.1 This reversal of economic fortune has caused a level of pain that is hard to capture in words, as lives are upended amid great uncertainty about the future.

    This downturn is different from those that came before it. Earlier in the post– World War II period, recessions were sometimes linked to a cycle of high inflation followed by Fed tightening.2 The lower inflation levels of recent decades have brought a series of long expansions, often accompanied by the buildup of imbalances over time — asset prices that reached unsupportable levels, for instance, or important sectors of the economy, such as housing, that boomed unsustainably. The current downturn is unique in that it is attributable to the virus and the steps taken to limit its fallout. This time, high inflation was not a problem. There was no economy-threatening bubble to pop and no unsustainable boom to bust. The virus is the cause, not the usual suspects — something worth keeping in mind as we respond.

    Today I will briefly discuss the measures taken so far to offset the economic effects of the virus, and the path ahead. Governments around the world have responded quickly with measures to support workers who have lost income and businesses that have either closed or seen a sharp drop in activity. The response here in the United States has been particularly swift and forceful.

    To date, Congress has provided roughly $2.9 trillion in fiscal support for households, businesses, health-care providers, and state and local governments — about 14 percent of gross domestic product. While the coronavirus economic shock appears to be the largest on record, the fiscal response has also been the fastest and largest response for any postwar downturn.

    At the Fed, we have also acted with unprecedented speed and force. After rapidly cutting the federal funds rate to close to zero, we took a wide array of additional measures to facilitate the flow of credit in the economy, which can be grouped into four areas. First, outright purchases of Treasuries and agency mortgage-backed securities to restore functionality in these critical markets. Second, liquidity and funding measures, including discount window measures, expanded swap lines with foreign central banks, and several facilities with Treasury backing to support smooth functioning in money markets. Third, with additional backing from the Treasury, facilities to more directly support the flow of credit to households, businesses, and state and local governments. And fourth, temporary regulatory adjustments to encourage and allow banks to expand their balance sheets to support their household and business customers.

  • Legislative Update May 4-8, 2020: Office to Enforce & Protect Against Child Sexual Exploitation; Paid Sick Leave and Required Paid Family and Medical Leave, Eating Disorder Prevention, Indigenous Women

     

    Bills Introduced

    Senator Ron Whyden

    Abortion

    H.R. 6742 — Rep. Michael Conaway (R-TX)/Energy and Commerce; Ways and Means; Education and Labor (5/8/20) — A bill to prohibit the expenditure for an abortion of federal funds authorized or appropriated for preventing, preparing for, or responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, and for other purposes.

     
    Senator Ron Wyden, D-Oregon
     
    Child Protection
    S. 3629 — Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR)/Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (5/6/20) — A bill to establish the Office to Enforce and Protect Against Child Sexual Exploitation.
     
    S. 3660 — Sen. Robert Casey, Jr. (D-PA)/Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (5/7/20) — A bill to provide emergency funding for caseworkers and child protective services.
     
    H.R. 6752 —Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA)/Judiciary; Education and Labor; Ways and Means (5/8/20) — A bill to establish the Office to Enforce and Protect Against Child Sexual Exploitation.
     

    Health

    H.R. 6703 — Rep. Alma Adams (D-NC)/Education and Labor (5/5/20)— A bill to include eating disorder prevention within local school wellness policy, and for other purposes.
     
    S. Res. 565 — Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)/Agreed to in Senate (5/7/20) — A resolution recognizing the heritage, culture, and contributions of American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian women in the United States.
     

    Tax Policy

    S. 3652 — Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN)/Finance (5/7/20) — A bill to allow 2020 recovery rebates with respect to qualifying children over the age of 16 and other dependents.
     
    S. 3653 — Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN)/Finance (5/7/20) — A bill to allow tax credits to state and local governments for required paid sick leave and required paid family and medical leave.
     
    H.R. 6762 — Rep. Brian Higgins (D-NY)/Ways and Means (5/8/20) — A bill to provide COVID-19 related assistance through a special earned income rule for purposes of the refundable child and earned income credits for taxable year 2020.
     
    Violence Against Women
    S. Res. 555 — Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA)/Judiciary (5/4/20) — A resolution recognizing and supporting the advocates, counselors, volunteers, and first responders who served survivors on an emergency basis during “National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month.”
     
    H. Res. 950 — Rep. Deb Haaland (D-MN)/Natural Resources (5/5/20) — A resolution expressing support for the designation of May 5, 2020, as the “National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.”
     
    S. Res. 560 — Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)/Judiciary (5/6/20) — A resolution recognizing and supporting the goals and ideals of “National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month.”

    Text with permission from the Women’s Congressional Policy Institute
     

  • Will COVID-19 Shape the 2020 Election? UC Berkeley Scholars Conclude That It Will Be An Election Without Precedent

    Will there be an election in November? Almost certainly, agreed a panel of UC Berkeley experts in politics, public policy, cybersecurity and law.LWV poster

    League of Women Voters statement in Wisconsin on the April 7th spring election issues

    Can we predict anything else about how a bad economy, strident polarization and continuing coronavirus pandemic will shape the November election? No, not yet, the group said.

    Examining an array of issues, from presidential approval ratings, the Constitution, election law, unemployment rates to the security of digital voting, the scholars concluded it was still too uncertain to draw any sweeping conclusions. Except that November 2020 will be an election without precedent.

    “The Trump administration has decided to make an enormous policy and political bet, and the bet is that they can re-open the economy, and the economy will come back in time for the election, and that COVID-19 won’t re-erupt in a way that will either stifle those efforts or kill lots of people,” said Henry Brady, dean of the Goldman School of Public Policy when asked to sum up the next six months.

    Others, like Bertrall Ross, a professor at Berkeley Law, wondered how the threat of contracting COVID-19 would affect voter turnout, especially among black and Latinx voters who are at higher risk of serious complications if they contract the virus.

    Philip Stark, a professor of statistics and an expert in election security, wondered if there would be “convincing evidence that the reported winners actually won. Or, are we going to have to take it on faith?”

    Sarah Anzia, a professor of politics and public policy, noted that there is some hope amid the uncertainty: An messy election could open the door for election law reform, including increased use of vote-by-mail ballots.

    But on balance, the group said, there is still much to figure out.

    “Will we be able to hold an election in November that will maximize the ability of people to vote consistent with public health?” asked Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of Berkeley Law. “I don’t think we know right now.”

    Berkeley Conversations: COVID-19 is a live, online series featuring faculty experts from across the Berkeley campus who are sharing what they know, and what they are learning, about the pandemic. All conversations are recorded and available for viewing at any time on the Berkeley Conversations website.

  • One State’s Approach: Nourish New York Initiative and Rent Relief; Funding Will Be Distributed Regionally to Food Banks and Emergency Food Providers Based on Need

    Nourish New York Initiative
    Editor’s Note: Rent Relief statement from Gov. Cuomo:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UGKrb4hEEo; Cuomo extends rent relief moratorium; no evictions through August  20th, 2020. Security deposits can be used to pay rent.

    Funding Will Be Distributed Regionally to Food Banks and Emergency Food Providers Based on Need; Food Banks Will Use Funding for Drive-Through Food Distribution Events, Voucher Programs at Grocery Stores, and the Direct Purchase of Products From New York Producers and Processors

    The New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets and Department of Health provided additional details on the distribution of the $25 million Nourish New York initiative, as announced by Governor Cuomo.  Funding will be allocated regionally and based on need, from the State’s special public health emergency fund, for food banks and emergency food providers across the state. The Nourish New York initiative, launched by the Governor on Monday, is working to quickly reroute New York’s surplus agricultural products to the populations who need them most through New York’s network of food banks. 

    State Agriculture Commissioner Richard A. Ball said, “Nourish New York will be a lifeline for our families and our farmers who have been struggling with changes brought on by COVID-19. The agricultural industry has continued to give back to New York communities during this time; however, they have seen devastating losses financially as a result of lost markets, such as schools and restaurants. I am grateful to the Governor and to the entire Nourish New York team for launching this critical program that will help people who are food insecure to access the nourishment that they need while providing much-needed relief for our farmers.”

    State Department of Health Commissioner Howard Zucker said, “During this pandemic response, we continue to come together as a statewide community, first to mobilize and expand our healthcare sector and now to help meet struggling New Yorkers’ nutritional needs. Thanks to Governor Cuomo’s $25 million Nourish initiative, we will leverage the state’s robust agricultural sector to ensure that food is distributed throughout the state to those in need.”

    Through Nourish New York, the State is providing funding to New York food banks so they can purchase excess products, such as fruits and vegetables, from New York farmers and surplus dairy products from New York dairy manufacturers, to distribute directly to communities. Food banks are expected to receive funding and begin purchasing this week. Emergency food providers can spend the money allocated to them by doing any of the following:

    • Setting up food-drive through events/giveaways (guidance available here); 
    • Distributing dairy vouchers that can be redeemed in grocery stores for products like cheese, yogurt, milk, sour cream, and butter, throughout the state, and/or;
    • Purchasing products directly from New York dairy/food manufacturers for their feeding programs.

    The majority of the funding will be used to purchase dairy products. Food banks and other emergency food providers will work with New York’s dairy processing partners—Cabot Cheese, Chobani, Dairy Farmers of America, HP Hood, Upstate Niagara Cooperative Inc., and others—to purchase pre-packaged, consumer-ready products, such as milk, cheese, yogurt, sour cream, and cream cheese. The dairy cooperatives will use excess New York State milk to produce these products and are prepared to increase production to meet the rising demand. A dedicated portion of this award will be focused on the purchase of kosher items.

    Funding distribution is as follows:

    • New York City Region: $10,997,554
    • Westchester Region: $985,605
    • Long Island Region: $1,587,313
    • Capital/Hudson Valley Region (includes portion of North Country and Mohawk Valley): $4,357,115
    • Central NY Region (includes portion of North Country and Mohawk Valley): $2,202,404
    • Southern Tier Region: $1,054,327
    • Western New York Region: $2,129,463
    • Finger Lakes Region (includes portion of Southern Tier): $1,686,218

    A map of the food bank coverage areas is here. The complete list of food banks and emergency food providers receiving funding is here. In addition, New York State will launch a web page dedicated to the Nourish New York initiative that help connect food banks to the surplus agricultural products across the State.

    The State is also asking any philanthropies that would like to help the State’s food banks to contact Fran Barrett, Director of Non-Profits at COVIDPhilanthropies@exec.ny.gov.

    Secretary of State Rossana Rosado said, “During this unprecedented crisis, New Yorkers continue to come together to help those most in need and Nourish New York is the latest example of this. Under the leadership of Governor Cuomo, Nourish New York will help alleviate hunger for countless families and also bolster farmers throughout the state who stand ready to deliver in the ongoing response to COVID-19.”

    State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance Commissioner Mike Hein said, “Food banks and emergency food providers have long played an important role in our efforts to ensure New Yorkers are able to feed themselves and their families and their importance has only been magnified during this unprecedented crisis. The Nourish New York Initiative will provide much-needed resources that will enable excess products from New York farmers to easily make their way to families and individuals in need. I want to thank Governor Cuomo for acting quickly to launch this effort that benefits our farmers and those struggling to afford food.”