LUBBOCK, Texas — Congressman Jodey Arrington met with leaders from Covenant Health Tuesday to discuss vaccine distribution and health care legislation.
The legislation would help rural hospitals continue fighting the pandemic while addressing the specific needs of their communities, without having to adhere to costly government mandates.
“Rural health care is, was experiencing a crisis before COVID–40 percent of rural providers were operating at a net loss,” said Arrington during a news conference.
Now, thanks to legislation passed in the last session, we’re already on the path to improvement.
LUBBOCK, Texas — After five months of the Trump Administration suspending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, a federal judge has reinstated it — protecting over 600,000 young immigrants from deportation. On Tuesday, DACA recipients from Texas Tech spoke on how they’re feeling about this decision.
“We always, we know, it’s gonna be a long fight,” said former DACA recipient Saba Nafees. “And it has been, it shouldn’t be a fight, it should just be common sense. But unfortunately, it’s not.”
DACA, short for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, is an Obama-era program that protects its recipients, or Dreamers, from deportation. DACA provides a two-year work permit that recipients have to apply for and pay hundreds of dollars to renew.
“None of this is over yet. We still have a lot more to go. We have to legislate and get a solution out,” said Nafees. “As everybody on both sides of the aisle likes to say is we really did get a legislative solution to this problem. So, we hope that we can do that sometime very soon.”
LUBBOCK, Texas — On Wednesday, the Department of Justice announced they had reached a settlement with Purdue Pharma for $8.3 billion in penalties.
The company, known for creating the highly addictive drug Oxycontin, among others, is known for perpetuating the current opioid epidemic, which has led to over 400,000 deaths in America over the past two decades.
However, considering Purdue Pharma filed for bankruptcy last month, this amount is largely symbolic. It is unlikely company executives will pay the full amount. In a news conference with several national leaders this week, many said the penalty is not enough.
“Justice was not served for the families who have lost loved ones and who’ve experienced such devastation,” said Maura Healey, Massachusetts Attorney General. “No one’s going to jail. No one’s going to prison. And worse yet, they’ve set up a situation where Purdue is going to be able to continue on.”
Melissa Silva is the program director at Stages of Recovery and a recovering addict herself. She’s just one of the thousands that have been impacted by the opioid epidemic. Silva said the settlement would never be enough to make up for the lives lost.
“I don’t ever think it’s going to be an adequate amount,” said Silva. “I mean, there are people who lost their lives. Some people are still feeling the effects of oxycontin, I don’t think there will ever be a sufficient amount of money that will ever give people their lives back.”
Amy Koczera: Strategic Writer & Storyteller 