Latest news with #SteveSilverman
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Alabama Senate bill requiring display of Ten Commandments draws support, opposition
Rabbi Steve Silverman speaks to members of the Senate Education Policy Committee in opposition of a bill mandating the display of the Ten Commandments in public schools at the Alabama State House on March 5, 2025. Silverman said he opposed the legislation because it does not accurately represent the Hebrew-derived text. (Anna Barrett/Alabama Reflector) A bill that would require Alabama's public schools — including colleges and universities — to display the Ten Commandments drew supporters and opponents to the Senate Education Policy Committee on Wednesday. SB 166, sponsored by Sen. Keith Kelley, R-Anniston, would require a text of the Ten Commandments to be displayed in a common area of the school. The legislation does not list any sanctions for schools that do not comply. The senator said the bill was 'not promoting any religion.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX 'I understand those that are opposed are trying to make it a religious issue,' Kelley said in an interview. 'It's not. It's a historical issue. It's affected our civilization.' Critics said the version of the Ten Commandments in the bill combines multiple versions of the text and is not historical. Rev. Julie Conrady, a minister with the Unitarian Universalist Church of Birmingham, said there are three distinct versions of the Ten Commandments and combining them degrades the value and misrepresents the history of the Hebrew words. 'This bill is a violation of the First Amendment and imposes a certain religious understanding of a certain text that has been hodged-podged together and linguistically abused and has no place in our public schools,' Conrady said. Kelley also said he did not know who would not want their children to learn 'thou shall not murder.' 'It's just some of the comments that were made were basically saying these principles are not really applicable in the school,' Kelley said. 'But especially in the day and time we have school shootings and everything that we have, it's applicable.' Supporters of Kelley's bill said the text is the foundation of Western civilization and the framework of the United States' laws. 'The commandments are the cornerstone of Western civilization and American law,' said Becky Gerritson, executive director of Eagle Forum, a conservative organization. 'These fundamental principles benefit society by reminding us of basic moral values such as respecting life property and truthfulness, which are essential for a well functioning community and regardless of your religious affiliation.' Jim Lowe, a Baptist minister from Birmingham, said the Ten Commandments would serve as a 'timeless' moral compass in classrooms. 'Let's be clear, display and Ten Commandments in public schools is not about promoting a specific religion, but about reinforcing the fundamental universal values that were a part of our nation's greatness,' Lowe said. Steve Silverman, a rabbi from Mobile, said teachers are not equipped to answer questions students may have about the Hebrew-derived text. 'Displaying the 10 Jewish words unfairly sidelines Alabamians who may have diverse views of religious traditions,' he said. 'Members of county boards of education, local principals and teachers across our state are not necessarily well trained to explain this program. Louisiana passed similar legislation in 2024, but a Louisiana federal district court ruled it unconstitutional in November, citing the separation of church and state. Louisiana's law, unlike Kelley's proposal, required the Ten Commandments to be displayed in every classroom. The committee did not vote on the legislation on Wednesday. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Oops! Trump Accidentally Fired FDA Medical Device Reviewers
Turns out people want to know their pacemaker won't accidentally kill them. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is scrambling to rehire some of the roughly 700 employees who were laid off en masse by the Trump administration earlier this month, with a particular emphasis on the more than 220 people in the FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health. Staffers at the unit are responsible for reviewing and approving medical devices like X-ray machines, surgical implants, pacemakers, heart pumps, ventilators and numerous other types of critical medical equipment. They also maintain a database of devices that could inadvertently harm patients and need to be recalled. The agency didn't immediately respond to a request from HuffPost regarding how many employees were laid off and how many they're hoping to rehire. Sources familiar with the mass firings told the industry publication BioPharma Dive that 'most, if not all' of the employees are being asked to return to their jobs. 'The disarray caused by the wholesale termination of a wide swath of device center staff was counterproductive and appears to have caused a variety of unintended and negative results,' Steve Silverman, a former FDA device official, told The Associated Press. 'It's encouraging to see a shift in the opposite direction that recognizes the critical expertise of these staffers.' Medical device manufacturers benefit when scientists on staff at the CDRH can approve their products quickly. More than half of the program's $791 million annual budget is paid for by private companies in the industry. As a result, the mass layoffs ordered by the 'Department of Government Efficiency' didn't actually contribute much to the agency's bottom line. Last week, Jim Jones, the head of the foods division at the FDA, resigned, saying the Trump administration had 'indiscriminately' fired 89 staffers there who oversaw food safety in the country. DOGE, at the behest of billionaire Elon Musk, fired and then was forced to rehire people who manage the nuclear stockpile, scientists working on containing avian flu, military veterans who run a national crisis line, the people who oversee America's hugely popular national parks, the people who run the health program for first responders injured during the 9/11 attacks, and people who run a federal power plant that provides power in the Pacific Northwest. And in a separate but related DOGE development Tuesday, 21 civil service employees who'd been reassigned to work for Musk resigned after being asked to dismantle what they described as 'critical public services.' All The Times DOGE S**t Had To Be Cleaned Up Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Says Entire Departments Of The FDA 'Have To Go' DOGE Staffers Resign After Being Asked To Dismantle 'Critical Public Services'
