Stivers reaches out in tele-town halls
WASHINGTON — Votes dragged late, so Rep. Steve Stivers wasted no time when he got into his office shortly before 8 Wednesday night.
“Tele-town hall!” the Upper Arlington Republican exclaimed, bursting into his Capitol Hill office. Press secretary Tim Alford started dialing. In all, they would get through to more than 3,000 voters, leaving messages for nearly 9,000 more.
Stivers, like many Republican lawmakers across the country, has faced increased pressure in recent months to hold town halls. Like many, he’s opted for tele-town halls — for convenience, for scheduling purposes and because it presents a less chaotic atmosphere than some of the recent town halls, which have been filled with passionate voters.
But voters didn’t let him off the hook Wednesday night. One, a man named Andrew, told Stivers he has Stage 4 cancer and can no longer work. “I wonder what your health care bill will mean for me,” he said.
Stivers said the bill keeps coverage for people with preexisting conditions and said he would be able to stay on Medicaid if he qualifies now for a few more years. After that, he says, Andrew would qualify for subsidies to buy insurance. It’s possible, he said, that Andrew could qualify for Medicaid.
“I want to make sure the bill we do pass takes care of you,” he said.
Another caller, Ellen in Columbus, asked Stivers to defend his support for the Republican-sponsored bill to replace Obamacare. She cited Congressional Budget Office statistics saying the bill would lead to 24 million more uninsured people by 2026.
Stivers defended the bill, saying it would provide a three-year transition period to “allow us to build the new health care economy.” He said he’s hopeful that during that period the system can create price transparency “to put downward pressure on health care prices” and through changing the tax code to grow millions of jobs.
Later, he criticized the CBO, saying they overestimated the cost of Medicaid Part D.
“I believe they overestimated the loss of coverage here in a massive way,” he said.
When it comes to seasons, nature refers to a checklist.
Biological events follow an ordered pattern each year. What fluctuates is the timing of spring’s earliest activity, Ellsworth said.
“The sequence of events is always the same, but every year expresses itself differently,” she said.
And there’s no specific event pinpointing the beginning of a season.
“When spring comes is really arbitrary,” said Ellsworth, for whom the annual yawn and stretch of daffodils is a springtime kickoff.
A century ago, serviceberry trees indicated the arrival of spring by bursting into a bright white when the soil thawed enough to dig graves.
These days, the National Phenology Network creates spring maps using the arrival of honeysuckle and lilac leaves.
Ohio State’s phenology calendar synchronizes the emergence of insects and tree blossoms with live weather data that give Ohioans a chance to track nature’s spring checklist. Right now in Columbus, the calendar says, star magnolias have begun to bloom and eastern tent caterpillars are on deck to hatch.
During cold snaps such as the one we are in, nature’s calendar pauses.
We officially put winter to bed during the spring equinox on March 20.
But this year’s early spring anomaly prompted the U.S. Geological Survey to advise people across almost the entire Southeast to get out their flip-flops and shorts in February.
In that region, spring started between 12 and 30 days earlier than it had between 1981 and 2010, said Theresa Crimmins, assistant director of the USGSled National Phenology Network.
And Ohio State’s calendar, which tracks the heat units based on a formula when the average daily temperatures rise above 50 degrees, also indicates that 2017 has been an oddity compared with recent years.
“It’s just like your pets or children — they’re all different. Every one expresses itself differently. Every year has its own flavor,” Ellsworth said. “It could be that by the end of the month we’re behind.”
Does an early spring affect flora and fauna?
For the most part, nature is prepared for anything.
Most early blooming species are protected by bud scales and other mechanisms to counter spring fake-outs, Ellsworth said.
“They’ve been here before,” she said. “We can look back and see six years; plants and animals can look back and see 6,000 years.”
Still, cold dips could have a subtle impact on some creatures.
Pollen, for example, sends honeybees foraging on warm days. But if pollen production suddenly halts with low temperatures, a colony can run dangerously low on food.
Another cold snap further along in the season also could threaten fruit trees, whose tender buds are more susceptible to late frosts.
And major disturbances in the schedules of insects, pollinators, birds and flowers can throw food chains out of synchronization, Crimmins said.
“A shift in the timing of early season activity of this magnitude is likely to lead to a mismatch,” she said.
Does it affect humans?
Any major disruptions to spring’s rollout would likely impact daily life.
Growers worry about losing fruit to hard freezes. Hunting and fishing seasons could be affected. Nurseries and landscapers will have to adjust pesticide application to atypical arrivals of certain insects.
This year, the early bloom of azaleas in Georgia will mean a more barren backdrop for the Masters golf tournament.
The timing of spring also can beckon early season disease-carriers such as ticks and mosquitoes, and an earlier, more intense pollen season, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
“Nature can buffer those changes, but we don’t know long term what higher temperature will mean for this dependable calendar,” Ellsworth said.
Further down the road, if animal or plant populations begin to suffer, humans could find themselves debating whether to counter the biological implications of earlier springs, Herms said.
“The concern is the climate is changing faster than plants and animals can adapt to it from an evolutionary standpoint,” he said. “Should we let nature take its course?”