January 22, 2010

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Ampyra (dalfampridine) extended release tablets to improve walking in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). In clinical trials, patients treated with Ampyra had faster walking speeds than those treated with an inactive pill (placebo). This is the first drug approved for this use. MS is a chronic, often disabling, disease that affects the central nervous system—the brain, spinal cord, and optic nerves. There are about 400,000 people in the United States and 2.5 million people world-wide with MS. The progress, severity, and specific symptoms of MS are unpredictable and vary from one person to another. Symptoms can be mild, such as numbness in the limbs, or severe, such as paralysis or loss of vision. About half of all people with MS experience cognitive impairments like difficulties in concentration, attention, memory, and judgment, although these symptoms are usually mild and are frequently overlooked. Depression also is common among MS patients. Full release.

The Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) and former New York Congressman Sherwood Boehlert will convene a forum to discuss federal transportation policy reform and its effect on New York City and the surrounding region. The event will be held on Monday, January 25, 2010 from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Helen and Martin Kimmel Center at New York University (NYU). The event, co-hosted by NYU's Rudin Center for Transportation Policy and Management, will highlight the BPC's National Transportation Policy Project's (NTPP) recently released report, "Performance Driven: A New Vision for U.S. Transportation Policy," and will feature leading local, regional, and state transportation policymakers, top academics and other key transportation stakeholders. Keynote speakers and panelists will discuss the local, regional and national impacts of the next transportation authorization bill, analyze the effects NTPP's recommendations would have on New York City and the surrounding area, and highlight the findings of a research paper to be released at this event on "Lessons Learned for Discretionary Federal Transportation Funding Programs" looking specifically at the New Starts program administered by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). The event is hosted in partnership with the Regional Plan Association, with sponsorship provided by the AFL-CIO, AECOM and PB Consult. Full release.

As the Obama Administration and the Washington D.C. forces pushing changes to American health care seek new alternatives in the wake of Scott Brown's game-changing victory in Massachusetts, one pathway to health care reform continues to gain momentum: the Health Care Freedom Act, modeled after the Arizona ballot initiative of the same name. The Act, written in 2006 by Phoenix orthopedic surgeon Dr. Eric Novack, chairman of Arizonans for Health Care Freedom, has already qualified for the 2010 ballot in Novack's home state. And in recent days, Colorado became the 32nd state to see a grassroots effort form behind a constitutional amendment to protect citizens' health care options. Full release.

Twenty-two orphans from Haiti landed in Fort Lauderdale, Florida this morning the Embassy of Haiti announced today. The orphans were already being processed before the tragic 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti on January 12, 2010. "I am pleased to know to these 22 children will soon be in safe homes with new, loving families," said Lola Poisson-Joseph, the wife of Raymond Joseph, Haitian Ambassador to the United States. "But there are many more children that desperately need aid on the ground in Haiti right now. We cannot forget them and we must do all we can to get them the food, shelter, and medical care they need." Full release.

Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York, Chairman of the Board of Catholic Relief Services (CRS), will represent the U.S. Bishops at the Saturday, January 23, funeral of Archbishop Joseph Serge Miot in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), asked Archbishop Dolan to serve as the representative of the U.S. Bishops. Msgr. David Malloy, General Secretary of the USCCB, will accompany Archbishop Dolan on his journey. Their presence in Haiti is a sign of the solidarity and concern the U.S. Bishops have for the people of Haiti following the devastating January 12 earthquake. While in Haiti, Archbishop Dolan will also offer support and assess the relief efforts of CRS to determine how the U.S. Church can best respond. Full release.

The Supreme Court struck down longstanding federal laws that prohibit corporations from directly financing election ads in a decision released on January 21, 2010. The Court's ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission agreed with the position advocated by Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, PLLC in a brief filed on behalf of ten State broadcasters associations. Corporations are now free to purchase ads that expressly support or oppose candidates, and so-called "electioneering communications" – broadcast ads referring to candidates which air in the periods immediately before elections. "The Citizens United decision is a strong affirmation of the First Amendment rights of media corporations," said Womble Carlyle Communications Attorney Gregg Skall. "We are pleased that the Court recognized and protected the broadcast industry's vital role in the dissemination of political information to the public." Womble Carlyle had argued in its brief that the McCain-Feingold law's prohibition on corporate funding of "electioneering communications" was unconstitutional because it unfairly impacted broadcast media in ways not applied to other media. The Supreme Court held that there "simply is no support for the view that the First Amendment ... would permit the suppression of political speech by media corporations." Full release.

To stabilize Afghanistan, President Barack Obama has called for a surge of American and NATO troops. His counternarcotics strategy, a major departure from previous ineffective and counterproductive policies, is also crucial to the war effort. In Shooting Up: Counterinsurgency and the War on Drugs, Brookings fellow Vanda Felbab-Brown, shows that although success in suppressing illicit economies cannot be achieved without first addressing the security situation in a country, neither can counterinsurgency and state-building strategies succeed without effectively dealing with the illicit economy, such as the opium trade in Afghanistan. Warlords, terrorists and insurgents throughout the world use financial resources gained from the illicit drug trade to fuel their operations. U.S. counterinsurgency policy has been based on the premise that suppressing drug production will starve an insurgency of needed funds, and the movement would wither away as a result. Shooting Up rebuts this "conventional wisdom" and shows how U.S. anti-narcotics and counterinsurgency policies have too frequently been at odds. Counternarcotics campaigns, particularly those focused on eradication, typically fail to bankrupt belligerent groups that rely on the drug trade for financing. Worse, they actually strengthen insurgents by increasing their legitimacy and popular support. Full release.

Super lawyers Martin Garbus, coined by the NY Times as "A Defender of the Controversial," and Daniel Horowitz, attorney to former Ukraine Prime Minister Pavel Lazarenko, numerous Hollywood stars, national TV personalities and radio hosts, have added a new book to their list of First Amendment cases. Garbus, who has defended Nelson Mandela, Cesar Chavez, Robert Redford, Spike Lee, Al Pacino, Don Imus, Annie Leibovitz, and the participants in Michael Moore's film, "Sicko," to name a few, has joined Horowitz in a new case that has sparked an FBI search warrant. Recently, FBI agents entered the law offices of Cozen O'Connor in DC with a warrant and obtained 12,000 pages of documents gathered by David and Chris Gaubatz in a six-month undercover investigation of the Council of American Islamic Relations (CAIR). The documents are cited in Muslim Mafia, published by WND Books (2009). Horowitz says he is defending co-author David Gabautz because the case is a "continuation of a struggle being carried throughout the world" to guard freedom of speech. Full release.

One week after the devastating earthquake in Haiti, generous donations amaze experts at World Vision, the Christian relief and development organization. Despite a crippling recession and high unemployment, donations to World Vision's Haiti Relief Fund are ahead of the pace set by donors after the South Asia Tsunami of 2004 which killed more than 200,000 and left millions homeless. Randy Strash, World Vision's Strategy Director for Emergency Response says, "In a disaster of this magnitude, charities typically have three to six weeks before the media and the public's attention shifts." Strash says, "That's how fast this 'Window of Compassion' closes." He adds, "Already, American media is finding other stories to crowd news of the Haiti quake off the headlines. The Massachusetts U.S. Senate race and storms in Southern California are just two examples." And the poor economy hasn't slowed the pace of fundraising. "Even in tough economic times, Americans continue to give. That kind of generosity continues to amaze us", says Strash. "And we're especially grateful to the small donor (donating between $20 and $100) who uses the World Vision internet site." Full release.

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