Today's labor story

Court says labor board's structure unconstitutional

What happened
The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday ruled that the National Labor Relations Board's structure is likely unconstitutional and barred the federal agency from pursuing cases against SpaceX and two other plaintiffs. The ruling has broad "regional implications" for labor rights enforcement in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi, the three states in the 5th Circuit, Bloomberg said.

Who said what
The ruling, from a three-judge panel that includes two appointees of President Donald Trump, was the "first by an appeals court" to find that the law shielding NLRB members and judges from "being removed at will by the president is likely illegal," Reuters said. Companies "should not have to choose between compliance and constitutionality," Judge Don Willett wrote for the court. "When an agency's structure violates the separation of powers, the harm is immediate — and the remedy must be, too."

Congress designed the NLRB "to be independent from the White House," Reuters said, and "no board member had ever been removed by the president" until Trump fired Democratic member Gwynne Wilcox in January, leaving the board "paralyzed and unable to issue decisions." The Trump administration is also challenging the board's structure in Wilcox's lawsuit to get her job back.

What next?
The NLRB is "undoubtedly likely to challenge" yesterday's ruling, said TechCrunch. But the "win" for Trump's "uniquely expansive view of presidential power" gives the Supreme Court "yet another opportunity to bend to that vision of the presidency," said Above the Law.

Today's CULTURE Story

Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's ills

What happened
President Donald Trump yesterday ramped up his criticism of the Smithsonian Institution, alleging on social media that its museums were too focused on "how horrible our country is" and "how bad slavery was." He said he wanted the federally funded, independent museum organization to focus on things like "success," "brightness" and "the future," and suggested he would pressure the Smithsonian to comply using the "exact same process that has been done with colleges and universities."

Who said what
Trump has been trying to exert ideological and curatorial control over the Smithsonian for months, and the White House last week gave the organization 120 days to scrub its museums of "divisive or ideologically driven" content. Yesterday's post was the "latest example" of Trump trying to de-emphasize "racism and discrimination" in the U.S. and "instead spotlight a sanitized, rosy depiction of America," The New York Times said.

"It's the epitome of dumbness to criticize the Smithsonian for dealing with the reality of slavery in America," presidential historian Douglas Brinkley told the Times. "It's what led to our Civil War and is a defining aspect of our national history."

What next?
Asked about potential funding cuts, the White House said Trump "will explore all options and avenues to get the Woke out of the Smithsonian and hold them accountable." The Smithsonian "receives most of its budget from the U.S. Congress but is independent of the government in decision-making," Reuters said. But under Trump, the White House has claimed "sweeping authority" to unilaterally "freeze dollars approved by Congress, usurping authority that the legislative branch has under the Constitution," The Washington Post said.

It's not all bad

Researchers in Georgia have created a wearable biopatch to protect farmworkers during hot weather. Nurse scientist Roxana Chicas of Emory University partnered with the Georgia Institute of Technology to make the biopatch, which is worn on the chest and collects data on heart rate and skin temperature. The team is training AI to use this information to "recognize someone who's heading into the danger zone" of overheating and send them a notification to rest and hydrate, Chicas told ABC 7.

Under the radar

A new diabetes subtype may need different care

There have long been two commonly recognized types of diabetes, but a third form may have been discovered, according to a study published in the journal The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology. And patients with this potential third type of diabetes may not be receiving the most effective treatment for their condition.

With Type 1 diabetes, your body's immune system "attacks the islet cells in the pancreas that make insulin," said UVA Health. This form is an autoimmune condition that tends to be hereditary. But when researchers looked at close to 900 people across Cameroon, Uganda and South Africa who had been diagnosed with Type 1 before the age of 30, they found that 65% of the people "did not have antibodies typically present in autoimmune diabetes nor did they have evidence of genetic predisposition to Type 1 diabetes," Britain's University of Exeter said in a press release.

Those participants also "did not have features consistent with other known types of diabetes" like Type 2, the university said. With Type 2, the "pancreas makes less insulin than it used to, and your body becomes resistant to insulin," meaning "your body has insulin but stops being able to use it," said UVA Health. This form can develop because of risk factors like obesity, diet, age or genetic predisposition.

Along with the many cases of the new subtype found in sub-Saharan Africa, researchers also uncovered a prevalence in Black Americans but not white Americans. "The fact that Black Africans and Black Americans had this novel non-autoimmune subtype of diabetes suggests both genetic and environmental factors may contribute to it," said New Scientist.

On this day

August 20, 2023

Spain's national soccer team defeated England 1-0 to win its first FIFA Women's World Cup title. The victory made Spain only the second country to capture both the men's — in 2010 — and women's World Cup titles. (Germany accomplished the feat in 2003.) This was also the third Women's World Cup final to feature an all-European matchup.

TODAY'S newspaperS

Peace talks 'outlook fogs up'

"Trump rejects sending U.S. troops to Ukraine as part of peace deal," The New York Times says on Wednesday's front page. "Peace talks' outlook fogs up," but Ukraine's "Donbas hangs on despite uncertain fate," The Washington Post says. "Peace in Trump era has a new playbook," with "whirlwind diplomacy" in and "protocols" out, says USA Today. Texas Democrat "camps out in House chamber to protest police escort order," taking another "stand against redistricting," the Austin American-Statesman says. "Texas Dems reinforce colleague's lock-in fight, The Dallas Morning News says, but state "House set to vote on redrawn maps." In California "GOP takes redistricting fight to California Supreme Court," says The Sacramento Bee.

► See the newspaper front pages

Tall tale

Seen, herd

A life-size robotic Tibetan antelope has been let loose in the wild to collect valuable information that could help its endangered namesake species. Chinese scientists created the AI-enabled automaton to infiltrate herds and learn more about their migration, feeding and mating habits. It's part of a "growing arsenal" of robots being used to observe wildlife in "up-close and personal ways human researchers often can't," said Popular Science.

Morning Report was written and edited by Nadia Croes, Catherine Garcia, Scott Hocker, Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, Justin Klawans, Rafi Schwartz, Peter Weber and Kari Wilkin, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly and Julia Wytrazek.