National Roundup

New York
State fast-tracks fertility coverage for same-sex couples
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Same-sex couples in New York can get coverage for fertility services without first paying out of pocket for months of fertility treatments under a state directive in effect Thursday.

Current insurance law already requires insurers to cover fertility services. But Gov. Andrew Cuomo directed the state Department of Financial Services to ensure that insurers begin covering fertility services immediately without couples having to first go through six to 12 months of out-of-pocket expenses for treatments including testing and donor insemination. The state said it’s received complaints of some same-sex couples facing such barriers, unlike opposite-sex couples.

Under Cuomo’s direction, the Department of Financial Services will direct insurers to provide immediate coverage for fertility services for same-sex couples.

Top Cuomo aide Melissa DeRosa said the move will expand “access to safe and affordable fertility treatments.”

“Family planning is a profoundly personal and emotional journey and it should not be made harder by bureaucracy,” DeRosa said.

Montana
US agency cancels Trump policy on conservation purchases
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — U.S. Interior Department officials on Thursday moved to roll back a Trump administration directive that gave local and state officials power to block purchases of land and water for conservation purposes.

Acting Interior Secretary Scott de la Vega rescinded a November order from former Secretary David Bernhardt that had been  criticized by both Republicans and Democrats i n Congress.

“Interior’s actions today affirm our support for one of America’s most successful and popular conservation programs,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Interior Secretary Shannon Estenoz in a statement. “We look forward to further strengthening this successful program to ensure that all communities – from hikers and sportsmen to urban and underserved communities – have access to nature and the great outdoors.”

In November, officials announced that $125 million in congressionally authorized spending under the conservation program would buy up private property inside the boundaries of places including Alaska’s Glacier Bay National Park, Kentucky’s Green River National Wildlife Refuge and Florida’s Everglades region.

Besides giving local officials veto power, Bernhardt’s order also limited land acquisitions to property inside the existing boundaries of parks and refuges, rather than expanding their footprint. Trump administration officials had said the order would have allowed the government to fulfill goals that were set when conservation areas were created, by filling in missing pieces of them.

Notable among the critics of the order was Sen. Steve Daines of Montana, a Trump ally, who helped barter a bipartisan agreement  that authorized the conservation fund purchases under the Great American Outdoors Act that was signed into law by then-President Donald Trump in August.

Democratic Sens. Tom Udall of New Mexico, Jon Tester of Montana and Joe Manchin of West Virginia also raised objections. They accused the administration of using Bernhardt’s order to circumvent the intent of Congress and squandering the bipartisan goodwill created by passing the law.


Oregon
Portland cops not meeting federal use of force requirements
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — U.S. Department of Justice lawyers say police in Portland, Oregon no longer meet several key reforms required under a settlement agreement adopted after federal investigators found officers used excessive force against people with mental illness.

They cited inappropriate use and management of force last year during protests, inadequate training, subpar police oversight and a failure to adequately share an annual Police Bureau report with the public as required, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported.

Police used force during 2020 mass protests that violated bureau policy, with officers conflating active versus passive resistance as the basis for firing rubber bullets and other impact munitions considered to be less lethal, according to a Justice Department review filed Wednesday in federal court.

Supervisors frequently failed to probe or analyze officers’ use of force, gave blanket approval of force and often “cut-and-paste” identical or similar language into their reviews, the report said.

The Portland Police Bureau “repeatedly has asserted that certain impactful events — COVID 19, national political turmoil, and a wildfire season — were beyond its control. True though that may be, those events do not eliminate the City’s obligations under this Agreement and the Constitution,” the 78-page report said.

The next court hearing on the settlement status is set for Aug. 26 before U.S. District Judge Michael H. Simon.

Simon in 2014 approved the settlement after a Justice Department investigation found police engaged in excessive force against people with mental illness and fired unnecessary cycles of Taser gun shocks.

“The City must now engage in the difficult task of acknowledging deficiencies, identifying successes, and rebuilding both community and organizational trust in systems based on constitutional policies carried into execution,” Justice Department lawyers Jared Hager, Laura Cowall and R. Jonas Gessler wrote.

The federal findings are similar those identified by a city-hired compliance team and reflect some of the findings by a separate federal judge who found Portland police in contempt of his court order restricting less-lethal munitions during last year’s protests.

Police Chief Chuck Lovell said of the report’s findings, “We will use the valuable feedback to continue to improve and grow as an agency.”