stone fish When Supreme Court justices debated Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care yesterday, they kept calling the science “evolving” and “uncertain. ” Last year, Tennessee made it illegal for doctors to provide gender-affirming care to trans teens. Their reason? The state claims it needs to make sure young people don’t become “disdainful of their sex” — that’s the actual language in the law. That’s not how medicine works, doctors say. “When we ban care or slow down care, we’re affecting an entire age cohort and putting them at risk for worse mental health,” says Dr. Carl Streed Jr., who leads the World Professional Association for Transgender Health’s U.S. chapter and runs research at Boston Medical Center’s GenderCare Center, told USA Today . The state’s case leans heavily on claims about medical uncertainty. But Dr. Joshua Safer, who heads Mount Sinai’s transgender medicine center in New York, also told USA Today the approach for treating trans youth is already “conservative” and carefully individualized. “We try to be thoughtful and conservative when we support parents and kids,” he said. What Tennessee’s law actually does is block doctors from using the same medications for trans kids that they can freely prescribe to other youth for different conditions. It’s this bizarre contradiction that’s now before the Supreme Court. Major medical organizations filed receipts with the Court in the form of amicus briefs. The American Academy of Pediatrics brought the data : Studies show that access to puberty blockers and hormone therapy, when prescribed according to established guidelines, significantly reduces mental health crises for trans youth who need them. But Tennessee’s case relies heavily on six doctors—and that’s where things get sketchy. A recent investigation by Accountable.US found that courts have repeatedly called out four of these experts for: Lack of relevant experience treating trans patients Relying on questionable methodology Making claims unsupported by peer-reviewed research These are the basic facts that got buried in court: Puberty blockers are reversible. Full stop. The Mayo Clinic confirms that when you stop taking them, puberty resumes. Gender-affirming surgeries for minors are extremely rare . The feds pointed this out, noting the Tennessee case isn’t even about surgery access. Mental health impacts are documented: The September 2024 Nature Human Behavior study found that anti-trans laws correlate with increased suicide attempts among trans teens. While Justice Roberts called this an “evolving situation,” medical groups say the basic science is solid. What’s actually evolving is the political fight—25 states have passed similar bans despite major medical associations opposing them. RECOMMENDED • pennlive .com 2024-25 Mid-Penn Commonwealth boys swimming preview: predictions and preseason MVPs Dec. 3, 2024, 5:00 a.m. Chart-topping ‘90s band cancels upcoming shows after singer ends up in hospital: ’We’re heartbroken' Dec. 4, 2024, 7:37 a.m. The American Medical Association’s position is clear: “Trans and non-binary gender identities are normal variations of human identity and expression.” They warn that blocking care access can have “tragic health consequences.” The Court will rule by June. At stake isn’t just Tennessee’s law— similar bans in 25 other states could be affected. For trans teens and their doctors caught in the middle, the wait continues.Marvell Technology, Inc. Declares Quarterly Dividend Payment

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The controversy around a religious Christmas sign that was taken down in downtown Kelowna continues. Two days after a sign stating 'Keep Christ in Christmas' was removed from the nativity scene display at Stuart Park, Kelowna-Centre MLA Kristina Loewen went to social media to express her opinion on the matter. "We believe that it's an important detail that Christmas is a Christian holiday," said Loewen in her video, referring to 'we' as all of the MLAs for the Central Okanagan. "We will be standing united and defending all British Columbians rights to religion and freedom of expression, speech, thought, belief," she added. "Canada is an incredible country full of diverse cultures and religions, and a wide variety of views, and I think that's one of the things that makes us so incredible." Kelowna-Lake Country-Coldstream MLA Tara Armstrong agreed with her fellow Conservative, quote-tweeting the video and saying "a great message from a colleague and friend. I'm proud to be part of a team that stands for what's right." Macklin McCall, MLA for West Kelowna, also quote-tweeted Loewen's post. However, Kelowna-Mission MLA Gavin Dew appears to not have commented on social media. The nativity scene is put up by the Knights of Columbus every year and a permit is given from the City of Kelowna to do so. When the 'Keep Christ in Christmas' sign was displayed beside the scene on Monday, Dec. 9, some people in the community, including the Kelowna Atheists, Skeptics, and Humanists Association (KASHA) took issue. A letter by KASHA to Black Press Media on Dec. 9, stated the nativity scene is part of Christmas, just as "lights, festive trees, and other decorative displays" are also. "This message is not merely festive—it is political, advocating for a specific religious interpretation of the holiday," said KASHA about the sign. The next day, the sign was taken down and the City of Kelowna confirmed that the sign was not part of the Knights of Columbus' permit for the nativity scene. The Knights of Columbus had no comment regarding the matter. Capital News reached out to Loewen for further comment but was met with an automatic e-mail reply. Additionally, the City of Kelowna stated it had no comment on Loewen's video. However, Ian Bushfield the executive director of the B.C. Humanist Association did have a comment. "Freedom of religion in Canada includes freedom from religion," said Bushfield in an e-mailed statement. "Ms. Loewen and all Christians are obviously free to celebrate Christmas as a Christian holiday but our governments have a clear duty of religious neutrality. That means neither endorsing nor prohibiting any religion over any other. That sign, and arguably even the nativity scene, being on public property breaches that duty. She can put the sign up at her church or at her own house but we do not live in a theocracy." Bushfield has previously stated that BCHA is an organization committed to secular values. “Part of that is the separation of religion and government," said Bushfield. The City of Kelowna also said it received five letters on the matter when the sign was up but none since it's been taken down.European buyout firm Permira is debuting its first deal in the $1 trillion US collateralized loan obligation market, as deals near an issuance record. The investment firm priced the $430.6 million deal on Friday, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. CLOs, the largest buyers of leveraged loans, repackage this debt into securities of varying risk and size. The offering, arranged by JPMorgan Chase & Co., is part of Permira’s effort to grow its footprint in the US through such vehicles, said the person, who asked not to be identified discussing private information. A representative for Permira declined to comment. Funds are issuing CLOs at near record levels, with almost $183 billion worth of deals in the US so far this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s partly because risk premiums on CLO debt started tightening last year, kicking off a surge in transactions known as resets, which give managers of the debt more time to freely buy and sell loans. These funds are also catching up from late 2022 and 2023, when a drop in bond sales led to a slowdown in new vehicles. Permira also priced a roughly €400 million European CLO on Friday, the person said, marking its fifth such deal so far this year. It also has a warehouse open for European leveraged loans, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Founded in 2008, Permira’s credit platform manages about €17 billion of assets. Its CLO strategy is run by its co-head of Permira Credit, Ariadna Stefanuscu. The firm is one of a few trying to push into the US market for CLOs and other structured deals. Hedge fund Arini and Sona Asset Management, both mostly based out of Europe, have hired staff either focused on US leveraged loans or CLO bonds this past year. In the US, hedge fund Chatham Asset Management also recently launched a CLO platform to dive into the market. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.

Environmentalists are worried about the Trump win. But there is no time to sulk. Every year sees biodiversity plummeting and ecosystems irreversibly trashed. The stakes couldn’t be higher and it is our responsibility to try to figure out what a Trump administration could do for the environment. The answer is: a lot. Trump is a climate sceptic, and that is unlikely to change. But that is not the same as being an environment sceptic. The Republican Party is full of people who are allergic to climate politics but who do care about the actual natural environment. Right now, even in these increasingly turbulent times, there is objectively nothing more important. And given the very public and passionate calls made by the UK’s new Foreign Secretary for the world to come together to repair our relationship with nature, this also presents an opportunity for the UK to build bridges to the new US administration. As a lifelong environmentalist I would far, far prefer a climate sceptic who recognises the importance of nature than a technocratic climate activist for whom a forest is nothing more than a cluster of carbon sticks. Tragically, that is what so much environment politics has been reduced to: carbon counting. Of all the public money channelled into tackling climate change , just a few per cent goes on nature, and then only usually where it is a nature-based solution to climate change. Public funding for purely protecting and restoring nature remains practically non-existent. Only last week I was with pioneering elephant conservationists who were looking for funding. Their pitch was based on the ability of elephants to store carbon, through the manner in which they relate to forests. The conservationists knew that without a carbon angle, they’d be unlikely to get the funding. It’s not just the politics. I am often asked to speak to broadcasters or write articles about “the environment.” But when I press for clarity about the likely discussion, it emerges — every single time — that the discussion is about carbon politics and never about the environment. It is madness. We cannot survive without the world’s forests. But by the time you have finished reading this article, the world will have lost the equivalent of around 450 football pitches worth of tropical forest; forests that are home to 80 per cent of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity, that regulate our water and climate systems and underpin the livelihoods of more than a billion people. When we convert complex ecosystems, we not only lose irreplaceable biodiversity, we lose the free services these systems provide and on which we rely for life. We know this, yet we continue to do damage to the natural world at a rate it cannot possibly sustain. And yet in terms of political priorities, this barely features. In a sane world this would be reversed. Climate change is just one of many symptoms of our abusive relationship with nature. It is the fever. And while we should of course be accelerating the transition to clean and renewable energy, it will be for nothing if we fail nature. There is no solution to climate change, no pathway to “net zero,” without nature. There’s another reason our focus should shift from carbon to nature: the “market” has already decided on a massive energy transition. Each year vastly more money is invested in new clean technology than in fossil fuels. There is a question of speed, but politicians aren’t going to be able to change the fundamentals. In President Trump ’s first term, coal use fell faster than it had in Obama’s term, despite their very different priorities. None of this is true for nature. The market continues to drive environmental destruction because it is blind to the value of nature. It sees value in nature only once it is “cashed-in.” The financial incentive to destroy a forest is roughly 40 times greater than the incentive to protect it. This despite the fact that in the real world we cannot survive without them. We need leadership at the highest levels. And if Trump were to put his bullish, hyperactive energy and impatience into tackling this crisis, there is no limit to the good a Trump administration could do. Imagine if, for example, he took on perhaps the greatest market distortion of all, something conservatives instinctively oppose, and set about reversing the billions in environmentally harmful subsidies dished out annually around the world? We are told the cost of turning the tide on nature destruction globally is around £550 billion a year. That is also roughly how much is spent each year by the top 50 food-producing countries subsidising often highly destructive land use. At this point, there is little to suggest Trump will step up. But the Republicans have a proud history of environmentalism that he could be persuaded to tap into. The environment was Teddy Roosevelt’s overriding passion. He created a network of national parks and monuments to nature that remains unrivalled to this day. Even Richard Nixon is enjoying something of a revival as environmentalists begin to acknowledge that his administration introduced more environmental protection legislation than any of his predecessors. There is nothing more conservative than stewardship, conservation, looking out for future generations, living within our means, making the polluter pay; fundamentally these are conservative values. Or should be. Back to Trump. One of his closest allies today and a person likely to hold considerable sway in the next four years is Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — a man heralded by Time magazine as a “Hero for the Planet.” Trump the environmentalist? For all our sakes let us hope he surprises us.Kyverna Therapeutics Strengthens Leadership Team to Accelerate Next Phase of Growth