NATION IN BRIEF

72% of Americans back legal access to abortion pill, poll finds

Nearly three-quarters of all Americans back legal access to medication abortion, according to a new poll released Friday, reaffirming that the pro-choice side is winning the debate over reproductive rights.

Roughly 72% of those surveyed back allowing women to use the abortion pill to end a pregnancy if prescribed in person by a doctor, including more than 90% of Democrats and a majority of Republicans, according to the Axios/ipsos survey.

Political independents strongly support unfettered access to abortion medication, underlying the increasing political peril Republicans face over their wide-ranging pro-life stance.

A narrow majority support allowing women to obtain the abortion pill through the mail, without needing to physically see a doctor. But 77% of Republicans oppose that.

The poll was conducted this week as the Supreme Court considered overturning a ruling by a right-wing federal judge in Texas that would ban mifepristone, a drug used in about 60% of all abortions in the U.S.

Harvard law student government calls on university to divest from ‘Israeli occupation and genocide’

BOSTON — After several months of turmoil on Harvard’s campus amid the Israel-hamas war, the law school student government is calling on Harvard to divest from “Israeli occupation and genocide.”

The Harvard Law School Student Government on Friday voted to pass a resolution that urges the Harvard Management Corp. to “divest completely from weapons manufacturers, firms, academic programs, corporations and all other institutions that aid the ongoing illegal occupation of Palestine and the genocide of Palestinians.”

The resolution also calls on all organizations at Harvard to “divest from institutions, weapons manufacturers, firms, academic programs, corporations, and all other institutions that aid the ongoing illegal occupation of Palestine and the genocide of Palestinians.”

The divestment resolution reportedly passed 12-3, with four abstention votes.

Georgia lawmakers kill effort to cap film tax credits as production hub continues to rival California

Georgia lawmakers have rejected a bill that would have limited how much the state can spend on tax incentives for film and TV production, reaffirming the increasingly popular production hub’s position as one of California’s biggest rivals. The legislation died this week in the Senate after easily passing through the House in February, according to the Associated Press.

By the time the bill failed however, efforts to restrict Georgia’s spending on production tax credits were already dead in the water.

The original version of the bill would have capped Georgia’s annual spending on production incentives at 2.5% of the state budget — or about $900 million. For context, Georgia is expected to dole out $1.35 billion in filming credits this year alone, according to Joe Chianese, senior vice president of Entertainment Partners, a company that tracks production incentives worldwide.

However, the Senate Finance Committee effectively eliminated the proposed credit ceiling last week by amending the bill to curb annual spending to 2.3% — or about $830 million — while exempting major studio productions from the cap. In practice, such a law would have probably changed nothing — as $830 million would have been more than sufficient to cover smaller, independent productions, while big studio players such as Netflix and Marvel would have been exempt.

Film and TV production in Georgia has skyrocketed in recent years, including countless blockbuster projects ranging from Tyler Perry’s “Madea” franchise and Marvel’s

“Avengers: Endgame” to Netflix’s “Stranger Things.”

There are at least 39 film and TV projects currently shooting in the Peach State, including the sixth season of Netflix’s “Cobra Kai,” the second season of ABC’S “Will Trent” and Sony’s upcoming historical pic “SNL 1975.”

Study finds ‘invisible threat’ to kids from secondhand vape exposure

ATLANTA — Disrupting dopamine levels and causing inflammation, oxidative stress and cellular damage, secondhand vape exposure can significantly damage a child, potentially even contributing to diabetes, heart disease and cancer. That’s according to a recent study by Atlanta-based Emory University.

Vaping is less harmful than smoking, but it’s still not safe. In 2020, the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed 2,807 cases of lung injury related to electronic cigarette or vaping use. Those injuries contributed to 68 deaths.

Michael Blaha, M.D., M.P.H., director of clinical research at the Johns Hopkins Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Heart Disease, reported that most of those cases affected people who modified their vapes or used black market e-liquids, especially with THC.

According to Emory’s Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing and the Rollins School of Public Health, vaping is also causing damage another way. Children living in households where e-cigarettes are used are inhaling substances harmful to their developing bodies.

“Many people who smoke have switched to using e-cigarettes, thinking it’s safer for them and others nearby,” Jeannie Rodriguez, PHD, RN, associate professor at Emory’s School of Nursing and lead author of the study, said in a news release. “However, there are chemicals in the liquids used in a vape that are hazardous for you and those that you care about who are exposed to the vapors you exhale.”

Hypersonic plane startup Hermeus preps for flight tests

Doraville, Georgia-based hypersonic plane developer Hermeus unveiled a demonstration aircraft and said it plans to conduct flight testing at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

Hermeus showed off its sleek silver aircraft dubbed Quarterhorse Mk 1 during a private event at its facilities in Doraville on Thursday afternoon.

The move follows the debut of a prototype aircraft in 2021, followed by ground testing of Hermeus’ first Quarterhorse aircraft, Mk 0, completed last November.

Quarterhorse Mk 1 is an uncrewed, remotely piloted plane and is intended to be used for Hermeus’ first flight to test remote takeoff and landing at Edwards Air Force Base.

Hermeus was originally planning for Quarterhorse test flights in 2023, but now expects flight testing to start later this year, following a series of tests of the aircraft’s systems and other factors.

“Moving into the integrated test program is the culmination of a huge team effort and a significant emotional event for the entire company,” said Don Kaderbek, vice president of test at Hermeus, in a written statement.

The company opened a 110,000-square-foot factory in Doraville in 2021 with the aim of developing a hypersonic plane called Halcyon that would be able to fly at Mach 5 — more than twice the speed of the supersonic Concorde. Such speed would allow passengers to fly across the Atlantic Ocean in 90 minutes.

But there are many challenges to achieving such a technological breakthrough, and if the project is successful, it’s expected to take years to develop and get certified.

Hermeus raised seed funding in 2019, then in 2020 announced it had raised $16 million in Series A funding. In 2021, the company won a $60 million contract with the Air Force for flight testing, and in 2022 raised $100 million in Series B funding.

Source: Tribune News Service