SANTA MARIA, Calif. — A new statewide report is shedding light on the growing need for higher wages for California farmworkers, pointing to serious impacts on health, financial stability, and family well-being.

The report, titled “Beyond the Cycle of Survival: Wages, Health, and Justice for Farmworkers,” was presented Wednesday morning in Santa Maria. Researchers and advocates say it underscores how low pay in the agricultural industry is forcing workers to make difficult and often harmful choices.

“There’s decades of public health research establishing a strong link between a person’s income and their health outcomes,” said Elana Muldavin, the project’s research director.

The study draws on interviews and focus groups with farmworkers across the state. Many participants described having to choose between basic necessities, such as food and medical care.

“People talked about making impossible tradeoffs, like choosing between going to the doctor or having something to eat,” Muldavin said. “This creates stress, anxiety, depression, and also affects children in farmworker families.”

According to the report, farmworkers in Santa Barbara County earn a median wage of just $17.90 per hour—far below what advocates say is needed to support a family.

“The agriculture industry thrives and profits immensely from the labor that farmworkers do,” said Cause 805 Associate Policy Director Erica Diaz. “But farm workers see very little of that reflected in their income.”

Diaz knows those challenges firsthand. She began working in the fields at just 12 years old.

“That’s a reality many farmworker families endure,” she said. “It’s been normalized that wages are so low it takes an entire family working just to survive.”

Now, Diaz is among those pushing for change. Advocates behind the report are calling for wages to increase to $26 per hour—what they describe as a more realistic “living wage.”

Researchers say higher pay would do more than just cover basic needs.

“Farmworkers told us higher wages would mean being able to afford housing, food, and medical care,” Muldavin said. “But it’s not just about survival—it’s about the ability to thrive.”

Community organizers say the report provides critical data to support policy changes at the state level.

“When we talk to decision-makers, they ask where the facts are coming from,” said Fernando Martinez, a community organizer with MICOP. “This report helps solidify the argument that farmworkers need a living wage.”

Advocates hope the findings will bring renewed attention to the challenges farmworkers face and spark meaningful policy changes across California.

The post New Report Highlights Urgent Need for Higher Wages for California Farmworkers appeared first on News Channel 3-12.

Análisis por Stephen Collinson, CNN

La triste realidad es que los altos el fuego en Medio Oriente no siempre detienen los disparos.

La suspensión de las hostilidades con Irán por parte del presidente Donald Trump ya encaja en el patrón. El primer día, era difícil verificar siquiera su existencia.

La confusión era compleja y multifacética.

Estados Unidos, Israel e Irán no lograron ponerse de acuerdo sobre los términos del alto el fuego, después de que un fuerte ataque israelí en Líbano llevara a Teherán a denunciar una violación.

Mientras tanto, Washington y Teherán ofrecieron versiones contradictorias sobre si el estrecho de Ormuz estaba abierto o cerrado. Además, los estados del Golfo informaron de uno de los ataques iraníes más intensos de la guerra, que activó múltiples alertas de drones y misiles.

Las tensiones no solo desestabilizaron la tregua. Pusieron de relieve las enormes brechas de percepción y confianza antes de las conversaciones en Pakistán este fin de semana destinadas a convertir una pausa de dos semanas en los combates en un acuerdo más permanente

La retórica y las exigencias publicadas tanto por Estados Unidos como por Irán indican que ambos adversarios entrarán en el proceso exigiendo una capitulación casi total el uno del otro en cuestiones como el programa nuclear iraní y su supuesto derecho a fabricar misiles.

Estas diferencias implican que sería un gran logro si el principal representante de Estados Unidos, el vicepresidente J.D. Vance, consiguiera algo más que aclarar los términos del alto el fuego.

Existe un riesgo considerable de que ocurra lo contrario y que las conversaciones pongan al descubierto divisiones que podrían hacer fracasar el proceso.

Teniendo esto en cuenta, y en el contexto del inestable comienzo del alto el fuego, las afirmaciones del presidente esta semana de que Estados Unidos e Irán trabajarían juntos para extraer el uranio enriquecido de Teherán —y que podrían montar una empresa conjunta para beneficiarse del paso de petroleros por el estrecho de Ormuz— parecían pura fantasía.

Y la declaración de Irán al final del día de que había cerrado el estrecho —un importante punto estratégico para la exportación mundial de petróleo— fue una señal de que pretende explotar plenamente una nueva forma de influencia de la que carecía antes de que Trump comenzara la guerra.

Las reivindicaciones contrapuestas pueden ser útiles al inicio de un proceso de paz. Pueden brindar a las partes en conflicto margen político para que cada una reivindique su victoria y para maniobrar en las negociaciones y los compromisos futuros.

Tanto Washington como Teherán celebraron la victoria el miércoles. Los partidarios del régimen salieron a las calles de la capital iraní para festejar y quemar banderas estadounidenses e israelíes.

En Washington, la secretaria de prensa de la Casa Blanca, Karoline Leavitt, intentó reforzar la imagen de su jefe afirmando: “Nunca subestimen la capacidad del presidente Trump para promover con éxito los intereses de Estados Unidos y negociar la paz”.

La administración Trump tiene argumentos sólidos para afirmar que 40 días de bombardeos incesantes degradaron gravemente la capacidad mi

By Deidre McPhillips, Alicia Wallace, Tami Luhby, CNN

(CNN) — The fertility rate in the United States has been trending down for decades, and new federal data shows that another drop last year brought the rate down to the lowest on record.

About 3.6 million babies were born in the US in 2025, according to provisional data published Thursday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 53 births for every 1,000 women of reproductive age. That rate is down about 1% from 2024 and nearly 20% lower than it was two decades ago.

A pronatalist movement has gained momentum under the Trump administration, buoyed by policy moves geared toward encouraging people to have more children.

Experts generally agree that a falling fertility rate can have real consequences – particularly related to the economy – but say it’s important to understand the reasons behind the decline before trying to change it.

“Instead of targeting the rate itself, we should frame it as a person-forward approach,” said Dr. Alison Gemmill, an associate professor of epidemiology at the UCLA School of Public Health whose research focuses on US fertility patterns and other reproductive health topics.

“Our world and our lives are complex,” she said. “There are so many factors that people consider when making decisions about how and when to start a family, and they all matter.”

Overall, women in the US are waiting until later in life to have children. Between 2024 and 2025, birth rates ticked up among women 30 and older but not enough to offset sharper declines in birth rates among those younger than 30.

This is part of a “huge social change,” Gemmill said.

“Women now have better control over their reproductive lives, so there’s not as much unintended pregnancy as there used to be,” she said. “Our timelines have shifted.”

Pregnancy is also one of many life milestones that is happening later than it used to. Partnership patterns are important, Gemmill said, and people in the US are getting married later and less often than they used to.

Dr. Sigal Klipstein, a specialist in reproductive endocrinology and infertility at InVia Fertility Specialists in Chicago, says that having the right partner is one of most important considerations for her patients.

“It’s very uncommon that women say, ‘I’m a really busy professional and I just don’t have time to have babies, so I want to freeze my eggs so I can focus on my career,’” said Kipstein, who is also a former chair of the American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists committee on ethics.

“The largest group is women who said they haven’t found the appropriate partner and don’t want to have children alone,” she said. “It’s very much that they want children, but that they want them either in the context of a family or in a context of financial security, and they’re willing to wait in the hopes that they not need to compromise.”

The general state of the world has also made people more deliberate about their decision to have children, Gemmill said. Concerns about climate change, the economy, artificial intelligence, health care quality and more weigh heavily on future parents.

“All of these things are hard to quantify,” Gemmill said. “The highly competitive and inequitable world that we live in has made many future parents feel that they need to give more, that parenting requires a lot more of your time and money than 20 years ago.”

An economic ‘drag’

A further slowdown in the US birth rate eventually could serve as a potential drag on economic growth, said Samuel Tombs, chief US economist at Panthe

The post “Ketamine Queen” Who Sold Ketamine That Killed Actor Matthew Perry Sentenced to 15 Years in Federal Prison appeared first on edhat.

By Rebekah Riess, Taylor Romine, CNN

(CNN) — An 18-year-old was allegedly struck with a projectile fired by a federal agent while attending and documenting a protest last month, leaving the University of Southern California freshman without an eye, according to his attorney.

Thousands of people – including Tucker Collins – spent March 28 at “No Kings” demonstrations across the country, rallying against President Donald Trump’s policies, the rising cost of living and the war with Iran.

Collins was struck in his right eye by a less-lethal projectile fired by a Department of Homeland Security agent as he documented a protest outside the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, “destroying his eyeball and fracturing the bones in his eye socket,” his attorney V. James DeSimone told CNN.

When asked about what transpired and why the projectile was fired, DHS said, “The First Amendment protects speech and peaceful assembly – not rioting.”

The agency said “rioters threw rocks, bottles, and cement blocks at officers” and that seven warnings were issued before crowd control measures were deployed. Three protesters were also arrested, according to DHS.

“DHS is taking appropriate and constitutional measures to uphold the rule of law and protect our officers and the public from dangerous rioters. Our law enforcement has followed their training and used the minimum amount of force necessary to protect themselves, the public, and federal property,” their statement said.

DHS did not answer whether the agency provided treatment or has been in touch with Collins since his injury.

Collins followed the group of protesters to the detention center after taking part in the local Los Angeles “No Kings” rally, with the intention of documenting it, given his interest in photography and short films, DeSimone said. Although the crowd of protesters and the law enforcement agents were separated by a tall black metal barrier, and Collins stayed back from the front lines of the protest, he was still hit in the eye, his attorney said.

A nurse who was present at the protest helped him with his wound, according to DeSimone. Collins was taken to the hospital, but the doctors weren’t able to save his eye and had to surgically remove it, he said.

“Tucker suffered a life-altering injury documenting a protest, not participating in violence. That should alarm anyone who cares about civil rights, press freedom, and accountability,” DeSimone said in a statement. “He was not threatening anyone. He wasn’t attacking anyone.”

The USC college freshman studies astronautical engineering with a minor in cinematic arts, and despite being partially blinded, has kept up with his schoolwork as he recovers, DeSimone said. Collins is getting used to reading with one eye, which impacts his ability to study, but “he’s still determined to try,” his attorney said.

“Taking photographs is not a riot,” DeSimone said. “That’s absolutely bogus, and it’s also just heartless.”

After widespread protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement action throughout Los Angeles last summer, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction in September 2025, limiting federal agents from excessive use of force. The 9th Circuit affirmed the decision to issue the injunction, but vacated and remanded it back to the lower court, saying it was overly broad.

The incident follows a series of cases in which protesters were injured by federal agents while demonstrating against Trump’s mass deportation efforts, including some where p