Latest news with #non-White
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
SMU researcher says proposed Tarrant County redistricting 'diminishes' voting power
The Brief Tarrant County commissioners are set to vote on new district maps within days, a process led by Republican County Judge Tim O'Hare. Critics say the proposed maps violate racial protections in the Voting Rights Act by concentrating non-White voters into one district, diluting their voting power. An SMU researcher's analysis appears to suggest the new maps may be biased against non-White voters. TARRANT COUNTY, Texas - The Republican-led Tarrant County Commissioners Court is days away from voting to redraw district lines. Critics say the proposed maps violate racial protections in the Voting Rights Act. Now, an SMU researcher is applying her own mathematical review to the maps. The Latest SMU mathematics professor and researcher Dr. Andrea Barreiro has dissected and analyzed the newly proposed maps for Tarrant County districts, the work of a county-hired consulting firm and the public legal interest foundation. The researcher uses mathematics and technology to analyze the redistricting models. She says she was drawn to Tarrant County's current process as attention surrounding the topic began to grow. Barreiro looks for signatures of partisan and racial gerrymandering, she says. The current process to redraw the county's lines is led by Republican County Judge Tim O'Hare. At the center of the controversy are District 1, held by Commissioner Roderick Miles, and District 2, a seat now held by Commissioner Alisa Simmons, both Democrats. What they're saying "It looks like they made small modifications on this basic template where they swap the purple and the blue to get their desired outcome," Barreiro said. Barreiro says a randomly unbiased generated map based on the latest census data would have 60 to 65 percent non-White voters in each of those districts. "The proposed maps do something very different," Barreiro said. "They take a lot of those non-White voters in District 2, and they pack them into District 1, leaving District 2 to be majority White." Barreiro uses advanced software, applying a method known as Markov Chain Analysis. Her experience using the same technology includes similar analysis her team prepared during the state legislative redistricting cycle. "We have continued to reach out to Judge O'Hare for his response to allegations of racial gerrymandering by Simmons, Miles, as well as U.S. Congressman Marc Veasey and ten Tarrant County mayors," Barreiro said. Barreiro stops short of making a legal opinion on whether the proposed maps violate state and federal law. She does say it is clear what the consultant map-maker's mission is. "If black voters could be a large presence in two districts, but instead you pack all those people by picking your map cleverly, you get all those people into one district, then you diminish the voting power of that population," Barreiro said. "There are interesting methodological and mathematical questions about this whole process that I'm eager to explore, and I'm also just interested in basic fairness." What's next Late Thursday afternoon, O'Hare agreed to an interview with FOX 4. The meeting is set for Friday morning. A vote on Tarrant County's redistricting process is set for Tuesday. The backstory The mayors of 10 Tarrant County cities, including Fort Worth, Arlington, Mansfield, and Grand Prairie, have signed a letter expressing their opposition to the proposed map. The group called the effort ill-timed because it's the middle of the decade and, in their opinion, the census data from 2020 is outdated. In early April, the commission voted three to two, with commissioners Alisa Simmons and Roderick Miles opposing, to approve a contract with the Public Interest Legal Foundation to provide consultation with re-drawing district lines. The Source Information in this article came from SMU researcher Dr. Andrea Barreiro and previous FOX 4 reporting.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Cincinnati police officers sue city, chief alleging bias against White lieutenants
Several high-ranking Cincinnati police officers are suing the city and Police Chief Teresa Theetge on claims the department's leadership is discriminating against White lieutenants in making assignment decisions. The lawsuit, filed on May 19 in federal court in Cincinnati, alleges the city and Theetge discriminated against Capt. Robert Wilson and lieutenants Patrick Caton, Gerald Hodges and Andrew Mitchell by favoring women and persons of color for preferred assignments. The officers say they were skipped over for such assignments, which are generally regarded within the department as career-enhancing and include benefits like take-home cars and additional overtime opportunities. More: Cincinnati expands youth events in effort to engage teens and reduce violence 'The city and Chief Theetge have actively and systemically undertaken efforts to promote, advance, and make promotion and assignment decisions that are preferable to women and minorities, and to the exclusion of White men,' the lawsuit states. Cincinnati spokeswoman Mollie Lair said the city doesn't comment on pending litigation. A spokesperson for the Cincinnati Police Department also declined to comment. The lawsuit is seeking a jury trial and damages, including lost wages and benefits, as well as a court order halting the department's alleged discriminatory assignment practices. According to the lawsuit, while most of the department's lieutenants are White men, women and officers of color were given preferred assignments at higher rates. The civil complaint also cites several instances in which White male lieutenants, whom the lawsuit labels as better qualified, were passed over due to race and gender considerations. In one instance, a district commander requested that Hodges be assigned as the district's investigative lieutenant; however, Theetge chose a Black female officer for the role, the lawsuit states. The officers filed discrimination charges with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2023. They were notified in February of their right to sue. Since Theetge was elevated to the role of chief, 'there has been significant discrimination directed against White males regarding these assignments,' the officers wrote in their EEOC complaints. The lawsuit also claims that a race-based quota system was used to promote women and non-White officers to the rank of lieutenant, with the department's leadership continuing to make assignment decisions based solely on race and gender. A federal judge ruled in 2021 that the department could no longer use race- or sex-based goals in hiring or when awarding promotions. Those goals were related to a consent decree from 1981 that was intended to address discrimination against Black people and women in both hiring as well as promotions. This isn't the first time White officers have filed suit against the department over alleged discriminatory behavior. Earlier this year, the city paid a $95,000 settlement to a White police officer who sued over comments about White people made by her supervisor and colleagues. In 2021, a federal judge threw out a lawsuit filed by two White Cincinnati police officers who alleged a Black lieutenant was 'vindictive and openly racist.' The officers said the lieutenant discriminated against them and created a hostile work environment based on race and sex. Enquirer staff writer Kevin Grasha contributed. This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: White Cincinnati police officers sue city, chief alleging racial bias
Medscape
15-05-2025
- Health
- Medscape
High A1c Fluctuations Linked to Mortality Risk in Diabetes
Higher A1c variability, assessed over a 4-year period, was associated with a substantially increased risk for subsequent mortality outcomes in patients with type 1 diabetes (T1D) and those with type 2 diabetes (T2D), regardless of average A1c levels. METHODOLOGY: The importance of glycaemic control, as reflected by average A1c levels, is well-established in diabetes management guidelines; however, growing evidence suggests that A1c variability may also be important for various microvascular and macrovascular outcomes. Researchers in England carried out a population-based cohort study to examine predictors of high A1c variability and evaluate the relationship between high A1c variability and all-cause mortality in patients with diabetes. They included 20,347 patients with T1D (mean age, 52.9 years; 57.4% men) and 409,821 patients with T2D (mean age, 67.5 years; 55.8% men), all aged 31 years or older, from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink database. All participants had at least four A1c measurements taken at least 30 days apart during 2011-2014 and were followed from 2015 to 2017 for subsequent mortality outcomes. The A1c variability score was calculated by measuring the frequency of A1c fluctuations of at least 0.5% (or 5.5 mmol/mol) between successive measurements over time, expressed as a percentage; A1c variability score estimates were categorised into four levels: 0 to < 20, 20 to < 50, 50 to < 80, and 80-100. TAKEAWAY: Variability measures were generally higher in T2D, with 38% of patients with T2D vs 33% of those with T1D having an A1c variability score ≥ 50. Predictors of high A1c variability were younger age, obesity, comorbidities, and residence in deprived areas for both T1D and T2D, whereas non-White ethnicity was a predictor of high variability only in T1D. A higher vs lower A1c variability score (≥ 80 vs < 20) was associated with nearly a threefold increase in mortality risk for patients with T1D and a twofold increased risk for those with T2D (hazard ratio [HR] for T1D, 2.78; 95% CI, 2.15-3.60; HR for T2D, 1.91; 95% CI, 1.83-1.99). The impact of average A1c levels on mortality was less pronounced than that of A1c variability, as evidenced by higher population attributable fractions for variability (A1c variability score ≥ 20) than for average A1c levels in both T1D and T2D. IN PRACTICE: "Regardless of whether variability can be reduced, given its strong effects on mortality risk, it could be incorporated into A1c targets or trigger enhanced monitoring and support," the authors wrote. SOURCE: The study was led by Liza Bowen and Iain Carey, School of Health & Medical Sciences, City St George's, University of London, London, England. It was published online on May 6, 2025, in Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice . LIMITATIONS: The study included only patients with diabetes who had at least four A1c measurements in primary care between 2011 and 2014. Patients with T1D likely had additional A1c measurements recorded in hospital records that were not included in the primary care dataset. DISCLOSURES: The study was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) - Research for Patient Benefit Programme and supported by the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration South London at King's College Hospital National Health Service Foundation Trust. One author was supported by an NIHR Clinical Lectureship in General Practice. Another author reported consulting for and/or receiving speaker honoraria and grant support from various healthcare and pharmaceutical companies.
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
White Men in the Minority as US Boardrooms Enter New Era
(Bloomberg) -- White men no longer make up the majority of board seats at the largest US companies, a historic shift reflecting decades of pressure to diversify the upper ranks of corporate leadership. The Battle Over the Fate of Detroit's Renaissance Center Vail to Borrow Muni Debt to Ease Ski Resort Town Housing Crunch Is Trump's Plan to Reopen the Notorious Alcatraz Prison Realistic? Iceland Plans for a More Volcanic Future For the first time, women and non-White men hold just over half, or 50.2%, of the more than 5,500 board seats at S&P 500 companies, according to data compiled for Bloomberg by ISS-Corporate. That compares with five years ago when White men accounted for almost 60% of the directorships. The question now is whether the shift is a short-term blip or becomes an embedded adjustment in the makeup of the people who oversee companies. The milestone also comes as political and legal attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts are intensifying. President Donald Trump has purged DEI from the federal government and his agency chiefs are threatening to take action against companies, including Comcast Corp. and Walt Disney Co. At the same time, legal strategists such as Edward Blum are suing companies to get them to drop DEI programs, while anti-DEI activist Robby Starbuck has pressured more than a dozen large companies to roll back their diversity programs, arguing that they may discriminate against White men. 'It's amazing that the shift in boards is occurring at the same time DEI is being dismantled in lots of organizations,' said David Larcker, a professor who studies corporate governance at Stanford Graduate School of Business. 'This sets up an interesting experiment: As the White male majority on the board is disappearing, will you see similar changes in the rest of the organization?' Larcker is referring to the fact that upper management remains disproportionately White and male. Still, the holy grail for diversity advocates has been the tipping point at which women and people of color are able to match the voting power of White men in the boardroom. Based on the data, that moment happened last year, said Jun Frank, global head of compensation and governance advisory at ISS-Corporate. White men are now a minority at about 57% of company boards. The ISS-Corporate research also shows that White men are in the minority among chairs of key board committees that help pick new directors and chief executive officers, as well as set compensation. In another sign of board changes, more than a dozen S&P 500 companies currently have boards that are majority-led by women, including Coca-Cola Co., Cooper Cos. and Williams-Sonoma Inc., according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Demographic changes inside boardrooms got a push in 2019 when California passed a law calling for a minimum number of women on boards. The following year, in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, brought international attention to the Black Lives Matter movement and corresponding adoption of DEI initiatives by many US companies. What followed was a string of initiatives. Goldman Sachs Group Inc., a leading investment bank, said it would no longer underwrite initial public offerings for companies unless they had diverse boards. Nasdaq Inc. said it would require listed companies to show they had diverse boards or explain why they didn't. The largest US asset managers, including BlackRock Inc. and State Street Corp., withheld votes for directors on boards that lacked diversity, and influential proxy advisers such as Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. pressed investors to consider diversity-related issues when casting ballots. ISS-Corporate is a subsidiary of Institutional Shareholder Services. Then the backlash began. The California board quota law was overturned in 2022 as unconstitutional. Late last year, Nasdaq said it was eliminating the diversity-reporting requirement after an adverse legal decision. This year, Goldman ended the IPO restriction and BlackRock, State Street and Institutional Shareholder Services removed language encouraging board diversity after Trump issued orders to root out what he calls 'illegal DEI.' Despite the recent animosity, women account for 34% of the board seats at S&P 500 companies, Bloomberg data shows. Black directors have about 12% of the seats, becoming the first underrepresented group to reach a level similar to their share of the broader US population, ISS-Corporate reported. By contrast, Hispanic directors, at about 6% of seats, remain far below their estimated 18% share of the population. White men occupy about 49% of the S&P 500 board seats. That compares with US Census data showing that White men currently make up about 30% of the US population and about 39% of the workforce, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The US Census projects that the non-White population will become the majority of the country by about 2040. White people will still be the largest single group, followed by the Hispanic population. The Black population is projected to hold steady, according to US Census estimates. It's difficult to predict how the shift in director demographics will play out in the boardroom, said Michelle Duguid, an associate professor at the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business, who studies organizational behavior and group dynamics, particularly how social status and power influence decision-making in groups. The most likely outcome is that because women and men of color currently have majority control over S&P 500 boards, they will have more influence than in the past over who gets considered for future board seats, Duguid said. It's less clear what it will mean for day-to-day operations at the companies, she said. A diverse board means that a variety of viewpoints will get consideration, but the goal always centers on achieving the best fiscal outcome for the company, said Deborah Wahl, a former top marketer at General Motors Co. and McDonald's Inc. and a current director at First American Financial Corp. 'Having a diverse group of people doesn't guarantee one set of outcomes,' Wahl said. 'The priority of board members is to make sure that they're protecting the company and looking out for shareholder interest.' --With assistance from Alexandre Tanzi. (Adds information about committee chairs in the seventh paragraph. An earlier version was corrected to say legal strategists instead of lawyers.) US Border Towns Are Being Ravaged by Canada's Furious Boycott Pre-Tariff Car Buying Frenzy Leaves Americans With a Big Debt Problem Made-in-USA Wheelbarrows Promoted by Trump Are Now Made in China Inside the Dizzying Chaos of Running a Freight Business Under Trump Why Juggling IVF With Work Can Be a Career Killer ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Error 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
Bloomberg
08-05-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
White Men in the Minority as US Boardrooms Enter New Era
White men no longer make up the majority of board seats at the largest US companies, a historic shift reflecting decades of pressure to diversify the upper ranks of corporate leadership. For the first time, women and non-White men hold just over half, or 50.2%, of the more than 5,500 board seats at S&P 500 companies, according to data compiled for Bloomberg by ISS-Corporate. That compares with five years ago when White men accounted for almost 60% of the directorships.
