Latest news with #CHS
Yahoo
a day ago
- General
- Yahoo
Children's Home Society of North Carolina Celebrates Family Reunification Month and the Power of Second Chances
Greensboro, North Carolina, June 02, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- This June, Children's Home Society of North Carolina (CHS) proudly joins organizations nationwide in celebrating National Reunification Month, a time to honor the dedication of families who work to overcome challenges and reunite with their children, and the professionals and caregivers who support them on that journey. Reunification is the process of safely returning a child in foster care to their biological family; it is the most common and preferred outcome in child welfare. It supports the belief that, with the right support and services, families can heal, grow, and stay together. In 2022, nearly 46% of children who exited foster care were reunified with a parent or primary caregiver, according to federal data. 'Reunification is a powerful and courageous journey,' said Rebecca Starnes, Chief Program Officer at CHS. 'Families face real hardships such as poverty, mental health struggles, substance use, or lack of community support; however, they also possess incredible resilience. When we provide the tools and relationships needed for stability, children can often return home to parents who are ready and able to care for them.' Youth who have been removed from their homes and placed in foster care need positive relationships and connections with their parents and other family members to maintain the integrity of these bonds. The goal is that they will be able to return home. Foster parents play a critical role in cultivating these relationships by supporting child and parent contact and visitation, which significantly increases the likelihood of successful reunification. At CHS, reunification is more than a goal; it's a core value embedded in every step of our services. Through trauma-informed care, family preservation programs, intensive case management, and wraparound support, CHS works alongside families to help them develop the skills and stability needed to provide a safe, permanent home. An essential part of CHS's reunification support is the Success Coach Program, a voluntary service available to families after reunification has occurred. CHS is the chosen Success Coach provider in 71 of 100 counties in North Carolina. Through regular in-home visits and personalized guidance, Success Coaches help families strengthen communication, build resilience, and develop tools for long-term stability. This ongoing support ensures that reunified families are not only brought back together but are equipped to thrive together. By offering coaching for up to two years, the program helps prevent future crises and reinforces CHS's commitment to lasting, safe permanency. National Reunification Month is a time to acknowledge the hard work of families and the vital role of foster parents, social workers, and community partners in restoring families and futures. CHS especially celebrates its more than 500 licensed CHS foster parents who support reunification every day. 'Keeping families together whenever it's safe to do so is the best possible outcome for children,' said Starnes. 'It allows them to maintain their identity, their connections, and their sense of belonging, and that's what every child deserves.' To learn more about CHS's family preservation and foster care services, visit ### About Children's Home Society of North CarolinaChildren's Home Society offers a network of services and support throughout North Carolina to help establish and sustain healthy, loving relationships in every family. For 120 years, Children's Home Society has provided a broad spectrum of programs and services including adoption, foster care, parenting education, family preservation, and teen responsibility. Children's Home Society believes in the importance of family, not only in the life of a child but also in the foundation of a community. For more information, visit CONTACT: Becky Alley Children's Home Society of North Carolina 3367061886 balley@ in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Texas THC ban: The fight over hemp's future and a multibillion-dollar industry at stake
When patrons step into Planet K on Guadalupe Street, about a mile north of the University of Texas, it's immediately clear what its primary business is. Shelves fixed against the store's vibrant green walls are filled with a diverse array of consumable hemp products, most containing THC: gummies, vapes, infused beverages, smokable flowers, and accessories such as bongs, pipes and rolling papers. Those shelves may soon look dramatically different after the Texas Legislature last week passed a bill that would ban all products containing THC, potentially delivering a costly blow to the state's booming cannabis industry. If Gov. Greg Abbott signs Senate Bill 3 into law, Planet K's shelves come September would be limited to selections of nicotine products, such as pouches, cigarettes and some leaf tobacco, as well as counter-culture wearable buttons, T-shirts and sex toys. SB 3, which would ban all THC products in Texas, makes exceptions only for hemp containing non-psychoactive compounds such as CBD and CBG. The measure was spearheaded by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a three-term Republican who presides over the Texas Senate and has described the legislation a "life and death issue." Sen. Charles Perry, a Lubbock Republican, authored the bill. Some medical professionals, including a pediatrician spokesperson for the Texas Medical Association, share Patrick's concern that many potent THC products are too accessible to minors and those whose brains are still developing, a process the National Institutes of Health says may extend into a person's mid-to-late 20s. 'I've been a pediatrician for over 15 years, and there's a drastic difference with these new high-potency hemp-derived products sold at vape shops,' the TMA spokesperson said. That pediatrician and her colleagues report a rise in Cannabis Use Disorder (CUD) and Cannabinoid Hyperemesis Syndrome (CHS) — both of which are linked to early and chronic high-potency use. According to the Cleveland Clinic, those who use cannabis before age 18 are four to seven times more likely to develop CUD, while CHS can cause recurring vomiting in long-term users. Since 2019, when Texas lawmakers legalized hemp production and retail, the legal age for consuming products with low levels of THC has been 21 in Texas. Patrick, 75, who previously alleged some shops were selling consumable hemp to minors, was seen on security footage being asked for identification at a store in Austin in March. Opponents of SB 3 have advocated for tighter regulation of THC products, but Patrick has remained steadfast in pushing for an outright ban. 'We can't regulate it,' Patrick told NewsNation. 'We don't have enough police to check every store, when there are 8,000-9,000 of them. … To put it into perspective, we only have 1,100 McDonald's in the state of Texas; 1,300 Starbucks in the state of Texas. So, there are eight times more smoke shops selling this poison.' Just minutes into a news conference Patrick held at the Capitol on Wednesday, the lieutenant governor tossed a bag of THC-infused cereal bites to a reporter, after asking if anyone wanted some, before making clear his opposition wasn't limited to underage use. 'We don't want adults to have this either,' Patrick said, holding up a different bag of infused cereal bites. 'What are you? Crazy? You want to go home and eat a bag of this tonight and see if you're here tomorrow? "We don't want anybody buying anything off the shelf that could kill them or ruin their mental state for the rest of their lives.' Patrick also claimed shoppers have no idea what ingredients were in the THC products that he displayed at the news conference. But Hometown Hero ATX, which makes the cereal bites Patrick threw to a reporter, fired back on X, saying the lieutenant governor 'blatantly lied on multiple occasions' about its products. 'If you turn it (the package) over, you'll find a full ingredients list as well as nutritional information and a certificate of analysis on every product,' the brand posted. But it was a legislative loophole, not an influx of bad actors, that drove Texas' booming cannabis market. In 2019, a law sponsored by Perry legalized the production, manufacturing and sale of hemp in Texas while approving consumable products with up to 0.3% THC, the primary psychoactive component in the cannabis plant. However, other intoxicating hemp derivatives such as THCa, Delta-8 THC and Delta-10 THC — compounds that can produce a "high" when heated or processed — inadvertently were legalized for sale and consumption. 'You would think that they (those concerned about the public's safety) would want it to go the other way,' said a Planet K employee. 'If they legalize it, then they can regulate it, and then you can figure out what is in them, and not just say 'proprietary THC blend.'' Since then, more than 8,000 retailers, including Planet K and its 17 locations in Central Texas, now sell THC products in Texas. As a result, the state's hemp business has grown like a weed, employing 53,000 people and having an estimated economic impact of $10 billion, according to Austin Monthly. While some businesses, such as gas stations, convenience stores and some vape shops, will be able to withstand the ban, many others, like dispensaries and apothecaries, will likely be forced to close. Brothers Todd and Mickey Harris, owners of the Happy Cactus Apothecary in South Austin, the same shop in which Patrick was carded, believe the legislation would 'effectively shut down our business' and hurt the local economy. 'It mainly affects small, Texas-based, family-owned businesses,' Todd Harris said. 'It won't affect those huge companies that have a few shops in Texas but have shops all over. They'll just move all their money to other states, which will then take more money away from the commerce here in Texas.' All four states that border Texas have legal cannabis in some form. New Mexico's billion-dollar legal market brought in $32.7 million from its 12% excise tax in fiscal year 2024, while Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana have medicinal markets, with the latter also having decriminalized the drug. Estella Castro, who owns Austinite Cannabis Co. on East Cesar Chavez Street, also owns two locations in Southern Oklahoma and anticipates a boom in business for any smoke shops in the states bordering Texas. Within Texas' borders, the economic impact of the hemp industry extends far beyond the state's progressive cities, as many hemp farmers, some of whom live in Perry's West Texas district, are facing a threat to their livelihoods. 'Charles Perry says he has an open-door policy. That is an absolute lie,' Ann Gauger, co-owner of Caprock Family Farms in Lubbock, told the Texas Tribune. 'We've gone to his office in Austin, but he refuses to see us. 'We wouldn't be in the hemp business in a million years if they hadn't passed that bill. Now we're one of the largest hemp producers in the U.S., and their ban is going to shut that down.' Some farmers don't grow the drought-resistant crop to be used for cannabis products, as the plant has many industrial purposes, such as textile production, but farmers and Katharine Harris, a fellow in drug policy at Rice University, contend that legal hemp production without traces of THC is impossible. 'There are thousands of cannabinoids in the hemp plant, many of them non-impairing,' she said. 'Chemistry experts testified during the State Affairs Committee hearing that this language will make manufacturing and testing of remaining legal products nearly impossible.' Perry disagrees with this argument, maintaining that SB 3 doesn't interfere with industrial hemp production allowed under federal law. 'If you're under compliance with the federal law and you're doing stuff for fiber and stock and production for those other products that we hope to do, you didn't get affected by this,' Perry said at a news conference Wednesday. 'But if you're doing hemp that ultimately ended up as a Delta-8 (product) or Delta-10 (product), you're out of business, and you should be.' The potential ban comes after years of scientific study suggesting medicinal benefits of cannabinoids for many people, from veterans to cancer patients to insomniacs. A year-long peer-reviewed study published by the academic journal Frontiers of Molecular Neuroscience found that veterans exhibiting post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms who used cannabis were 2.57 times more likely to no longer meet the diagnostic criteria for PTSD during the study period compared with non-users. Anecdotally, Castro and the Harris brothers maintain that a large portion of their customer base consists of older individuals seeking relief, rather than a high. 'Our clientele is pretty expansive, but I'd say most of them are looking for help with sleep, chronic pain or PTSD,' said Mickey Harris, a former massage therapist who as a smoke shop owner has become knowledgeable about cannabis compounds. 'We have a pretty large 55 (years old) and up clientele base.' Castro told the American-Statesman in April that she has seen many senior citizens and veterans 'stock buying' consumable hemp products in anticipation of SB 3 becoming law. 'It's terrible to have somebody thinking that (these products) are going to go away and they're on a fixed income, and they have to budget that gummy or that tincture in there,' Castro said, noting the shop has been giving some veterans discounts. For Kaymon Thomas, who has worked at Planet K for a decade, his job is about providing an affordable solution to customers' ailments. 'We always make a joke that we're kind of underpaid therapists,' Thomas said. 'They'll tell us all their problems, and it's like, 'Maybe try this.' Sometimes they come back and say, 'That helped a lot,' which is cool.' In an effort to grease the wheels for one of his biggest legislative priorities, Patrick brokered a deal on Sunday with Rep. Tom Oliverson, a Republican from Cypress and anesthesiologist, to support House Bill 46. That bill, authored by Rep. Ken King, R-Canadian, will expand the Texas Compassionate Use Program, the state's limited medicinal marijuana program, to Texans suffering from chronic pain, illnesses such as Crohn's disease, and those who are terminally ill. 'The Senate and my concern has always been that we don't want to go back to the days of doctors writing prescriptions for anyone who paid them for a prescription for pain pills,' Patrick announced on X. 'The Texas Medical Board has put in strong guidelines to prevent that from happening over the last decade. Dr. Oliverson presented a new thoughtful plan that the Senate and I can support that will help those in true need of relief." Patrick noted that the bill would increase the number of licenses to 12 from three and add satellite locations in each public health region of the state for the first time. HB 46, which was amended and passed by the Senate on Tuesday, also awaits a signature from Abbott, whose office declined to comment on pending legislation when contacted by the American-Statesman. There has been considerable debate about whether Abbott, who has never had a THC ban on his list of top legislative priorities, will sign SB 3 into law. In March, he offered tacit support for marijuana decriminalization, telling the Houston Chronicle that "small possession of marijuana is not the type of violation that we want to stockpile jails with." 'Look, I'm not going to speak for the governor,' Patrick said on Wednesday. 'He will do what he's going to do. I have total confidence in the governor.' In April, polling by UT's Texas Politics Project found that 50% of Texas voters opposed an outright ban, including 35% who expressed strong opposition — more than double the 17% who said they strongly supported a ban. In total, just 34% expressed support. 'The thing that's the most surprising about this is that Lt. Gov. Patrick usually follows his political antenna, and on this, he did not,' Scott Braddock, the editor of the Quorum Report, a Texas political newsletter, told KVUE. 'His own pollster found that only about 30% of Texas Republican voters agree with a full ban.' Abbott has until June 22 to veto any bill that advances to his desk from the current legislative session, which ends Monday. 'This is a jump ball, 50/50 chance on this,' Braddock told KVUE. 'Abbott could sign this into law at the urging of Lt. Gov. Patrick, or he could veto it, and he'd make a lot of the MAGA crowd, the Trump supporters, really happy because they don't agree with a full ban.' Meanwhile, many THC product advocates and business owners like the Harris brothers are still holding onto hope that their $10 billion industry won't go up in smoke. 'We've been dealing with a bunch of bills like this for four years,' Todd Harris said. 'Each time the community comes out and speaks (against it), so we've been able to keep this industry alive and booming.' This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas THC ban threatens burgeoning cannabis industry, local businesses
National Post
6 days ago
- Business
- National Post
Striking Back for Striking Workers: Hundreds of CUPE Ontario Members to Rally Thursday for Fellow Workers
Article content TORONTO — CUPE Ontario members and allies from across the province will march to the Ministry of Labour tomorrow to offer their support and solidarity to fellow members from three separate CUPE locals that are currently on strike. Article content Article content Marit Stiles, leader of the Ontario New Democrats, and Laura Walton, president of the Ontario Federation of Labour, will also attend the rally to demand a fair deal for the workers. Article content The striking workers are all employees of vastly different employers, but all find themselves facing similar battles with hostile, short-sighted, and ill-intentioned employers who have forced workers into strike action by refusing to bargain meaningfully with their union. Article content CUPE 2073: More than 200 members at Canadian Hearing Services (CHS) have been on strike since April 28, fighting back against low wages that impact the quality and depth of services that Deaf, deafblind, and hard of hearing Ontarians receive. Meanwhile, the salary of CHS president and CEO Julia Dumanian topped $340,000 last year. Article content CUPE 1750: In the first-ever strike in their local's history, some 3600 workers at the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) are demanding their employer take steps to reduce the dangerously high workloads that are driving up rates of depression and anxiety among them. WSIB has given rebates of $4 billion to employers this year but won't invest any of the remaining billions of dollars of surplus to improve working conditions for staff. Article content CUPE 5525: A local of 25 personal care assistants at Villa Colombo Homes for the Aged are the most recent to take strike action. This small but dedicated group of twenty-five workers has been fighting for a first collective agreement since 2022. Rather than bargain a fair deal, Villa Colombo has put continuity of care for elderly residents at risk by paying scab labour more than it pays its existing staff. Article content Article content Article content Article content Article content
Business Wire
6 days ago
- Politics
- Business Wire
Striking Back for Striking Workers: Hundreds of CUPE Ontario Members to Rally Thursday for Fellow Workers
TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--CUPE Ontario members and allies from across the province will march to the Ministry of Labour tomorrow to offer their support and solidarity to fellow members from three separate CUPE locals that are currently on strike. Marit Stiles, leader of the Ontario New Democrats, and Laura Walton, president of the Ontario Federation of Labour, will also attend the rally to demand a fair deal for the workers. The striking workers are all employees of vastly different employers, but all find themselves facing similar battles with hostile, short-sighted, and ill-intentioned employers who have forced workers into strike action by refusing to bargain meaningfully with their union. CUPE 2073: More than 200 members at Canadian Hearing Services (CHS) have been on strike since April 28, fighting back against low wages that impact the quality and depth of services that Deaf, deafblind, and hard of hearing Ontarians receive. Meanwhile, the salary of CHS president and CEO Julia Dumanian topped $340,000 last year. CUPE 1750: In the first-ever strike in their local's history, some 3600 workers at the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) are demanding their employer take steps to reduce the dangerously high workloads that are driving up rates of depression and anxiety among them. WSIB has given rebates of $4 billion to employers this year but won't invest any of the remaining billions of dollars of surplus to improve working conditions for staff. CUPE 5525: A local of 25 personal care assistants at Villa Colombo Homes for the Aged are the most recent to take strike action. This small but dedicated group of twenty-five workers has been fighting for a first collective agreement since 2022. Rather than bargain a fair deal, Villa Colombo has put continuity of care for elderly residents at risk by paying scab labour more than it pays its existing staff.
CBC
26-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
Talks stalled as hearing services workers' strike stretches into 5th week
Social Sharing Some Canadian Hearing Services (CHS) workers across Ontario who are entering the fifth week of a strike came to Queen's Park Monday to bring more attention to their contract demands amid stalled talks. They were joined by members of the deaf and hard of hearing communities, and Windsor West NDP MP Lisa Gretzky. Roughly 200 staff at the agency — a registered charity — support people who are deaf, deafblind, or hard of hearing. Those employees include counsellors, audiologists and interpreters. They are seeking a two-year deal with a five per cent total wage increase. Marriot Otchere, a general support service worker with CHS, said with the aid of an interpreter that she chose to workfor CHS for 13 years because of the care they pour into their clients, but now things are changing. "We give them everything, but we don't get enough in return," she said. "Their actions don't match what they say, and they don't show us the respect we deserve. It's not fair, it's not right and it cannot continue. "We are burnt out, overwhelmed and stressed." Otchere said she and other CHS workers worry about affording groceries and paying rent. "We can't continue this way. We have no wage increases or very minimal ones, while their salaries have skyrocketed… It's exhausting to continue this way. We can't continue to do it this way." Otchere said a fair deal would mean no burnout, reduced stress and appropriate supports in place. "I'd rather be back at my job and focusing on the clients that need me." Gretzky took aim at the compensation received by CHS CEO Julia Dumanian, who earned over $340,000 in 2024, according to the Sunshine List. She added that an audit of CHS has been requested three times, but the government "diverts, distracts and ignores" those requests. "Why the secrecy? Why the lack of accountability? Why are front-line workers expected to settle for scraps, and in some cases access food banks, while management salaries continue to soar?" CHS did not make anyone available for an interview Monday. However, in a news release, it said CUPE Local 2073 walked away from bargaining with the approved mediator on May 21, and refused to set additional bargaining dates. Union, employer at odds over who walked away "Canadian Hearing Services did not walk away from bargaining and remains fully available to present our offer to union members when CUPE 2073 agrees to do so. Until then, CUPE is depriving their members of seeing our offer," the release said. Mara Waern, president of CUPE 2073, said the union didn't walk away. "We didn't walk away from the table; they walked away. It's frustrating when the employer is continuing to misrepresent what happened." CHS leadership has 'lost their connection with the deaf community:' deaf entrepreneur Andrea Zackery, who is deaf and a business owner, said she has used CHS services for many years and "felt heard and connected." "However, CHS has changed, and it's been a lot of change and we need new change and we need that to happen now," she said, with the aid of an interpreter. "So many offices have closed. Services have moved online. There are long wait times. There are not enough interpreters. There's fewer deaf staff within the organization, and we feel pushed out and disconnected and left behind." Zackery said the workers deserve respect and fair pay and are right to be on strike because they're doing more with less. "The CHS leadership has lost their connection with the deaf community. We can't say we support the deaf while at the same time you're underpaying deaf staff."
