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Ukraine: Civilian Casualties Surge Amid Intensifying Explosive Weapon Attacks
SILVER SPRING, Maryland, Nov. 11 [Category: Health Care] -- Humanity and Inclusion issued the following news release:
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Ukraine: Civilian Casualties Surge Amid Intensifying Explosive Weapon Attacks
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Now in the fifth year of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, civilians continue to endure the catastrophic impact of explosive weapons in populated areas (EWIPA), facing destruction, displacement, and long-term humanitarian consequences. Between July and September 2026, Ukraine experienced some of the highest recorded civilian casualty levels since the beginning of the war, with 8,330 ... Show Full Article SILVER SPRING, Maryland, Nov. 11 [Category: Health Care] -- Humanity and Inclusion issued the following news release: * * * Ukraine: Civilian Casualties Surge Amid Intensifying Explosive Weapon Attacks * Now in the fifth year of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, civilians continue to endure the catastrophic impact of explosive weapons in populated areas (EWIPA), facing destruction, displacement, and long-term humanitarian consequences. Between July and September 2026, Ukraine experienced some of the highest recorded civilian casualty levels since the beginning of the war, with 8,330casualties and a 90% rise compared to the same period last year, driven by intensifying missile strikes, long-range drones, glide bombs, artillery shelling, and short-range FPV drone attacks. During the same period, Ukraine also ramped up its deep strike operations against targets inside Russian territory, which were accompanied by reported civilian casualties.
Recent months have been among the deadliest for civilians, bringing immense loss and suffering.
Between July and September 2026, the UN documented unrelenting civilian harm in Ukraine.
In July alone, 437 civilians were killed and 2,610 injured, making it the deadliest month since May 2022. Overall, during the first eight months of 2026, more civilians were killed and injured across Ukraine than in the entire year of 2025, underscoring the severe deterioration in civilian protection and the mounting human cost of the war.
Ukrainian airstrikes on Russian territory have also caused civilian casualties; from January to July 2026, at least 327 civilians were killed in Russia. These figures come solely from official Russian sources and have not been independently verified by international observers or monitoring missions; therefore, they must be treated with caution.
Inna, an HI finance officer, says,
"Life in Kyiv is constant uncertainty: you don't know if you will wake up alive in the morning or reach work safely when there are no shelters nearby, and the power plant next to the metro station is under repeated attack. It is reading Harry Potter with your child in the evening, only to be interrupted by ballistic explosions outside the window and a rush to the corridor. It is watching a high-rise burn just a kilometer away, consoling yourself only with the thought that the playground beneath did not claim children's lives. It is seeing the tears of fear in your child's eyes every day. Life in Kyiv is no longer life; it is survival."
Russian forces' use of explosive weapons continues to generate a consistent pattern of civilian harm. Ukrainian forces have also conducted strikes using drones and missiles, including on Russian territory, raising concerns about the protection of civilians.
Long-Range Drones (Shahed-136/131; Geran-3, Geran-4, Geran-5; Italmas and Gerbera strike drones)
Russia has sharply escalated its use of jet-powered Geran drones against Ukraine, launching heavy-warhead systems deliberately targeting Ukraine's civilian infrastructure and residential areas. Daily attacks in August and September saw hundreds deployed, with some assaults killing civilians in Kyiv and other cities.
Between July and September 2026, Russian forces launched 16,086 long-range drones across Ukraine, marking one of the most intense periods of drone warfare in the conflict. The sheer scale of these attacks had horrific consequences for civilians, with widespread destruction of homes, infrastructure, and disruption of daily life.
On July 2, Russia launched 496 Shahed, Gerbera, and Italmas strike drones in a combined attack on Kyiv, one of the largest episodes of the month; the strikes killed at least 30 civilians, injured more than 97, and caused severe destruction to residential buildings, a hospital, a humanitarian warehouse, and critical city infrastructure.
Short-Range Drones (FPV, Lancet-type, Hornet)
Russian forces continued to use FPV drones that target evacuation buses, humanitarian workers, and frontline towns. July saw the highest monthly civilian casualty toll from short-range drones since the start of the full-scale war: 111 people killed and 710 injured, nearly one in four of the month's civilian casualties. These systems not only strike people, but they can also hunt them: OHCHR has documented drone operators targeting civilians in cars and buses, people evacuating, and clearly marked ambulances, and in July an FPV drone destroyed a Red Cross emergency-response van moments after its crew arrived to treat casualties in Vilniansk, with deaths recorded among humanitarian workers and persons with disabilities, who remain unable to safely relocate in time without proper support.
Russia's use of glide bombs remained at record levels, devastating residential areas in Kharkiv, Sumy and Donetsk. In July 2026, civilian casualties from aerial bombardments rose 143% compared to June, reaching 105 killed and 753 injured.
Cruise and Ballistic Missiles (Iskander-M, S-400/KN-23, Zircon/Onyx anti-ship missiles; Kh-101, Kalibr).
Russia intensified missile attacks in July, with 429 missiles launched. Civilian casualties from missiles and loitering munitions accounted for 38% of all harm (183 killed; 967 injured).
The combined use of cruise and ballistic missiles, glide bombs, Shahed/Geran loitering munitions, and FPV drones by Russian forces has had a devastating impact on civilians. These weapons disproportionately affect the most vulnerable groups - children, persons with disabilities, women, and the elderly- causing extensive destruction of civilian infrastructure, including schools, hospitals, and medical facilities, and severely restricting access to essential services. The use of explosive weapons in populated areas is likely to result in international humanitarian law violations regarding fundamental principles of distinction, proportionality, and precautions.
Long-Range Drones (UAVs and naval drones)
Between July and September 2026, Ukraine intensified its long-range strike drone campaign against Russian energy infrastructure, striking major refineries including Omsk, TANECO, Saratov, Ryazan, and Perm, and warehouse facilities; these operations caused shutdowns, fires, and widespread fuel shortages across Russia, reducing refining output to its lowest level in two decades.
Cruise and Ballistic Missiles (Neptune, Flamingo cruise missile; FP-7 ballistic missile)
Between July-September 2026, Ukrainian forces escalated long-range strikes on Russia using Neptune cruise missiles, Flamingo cruise missiles, and possibly FP-7 ballistic missiles. Targets included oil refineries (Gazpromneft Moscow, Novoshakhtinsk), UAV factories (Atlant-Aero), electronics plants (Karachev Elektrodetal), ports, and Russian Navy vessels. These attacks disrupted Russia's energy infrastructure, forced refinery shutdowns, and weakened its Black Sea Fleet presence, with civilian casualties reported.
The following chronology highlights the most devastating attacks in Ukraine and Russia or territories under Russian control impacting civilians from July to September, underscoring urgent protection needs and accountability gaps.
The vast majority of casualties reported between July and September 2026 occurred in territory controlled by the Government of Ukraine. Civilians were killed or injured across 14 regions of Ukraine and the city of Kyiv.
Humanity & Inclusion (HI) strongly denounces the devastating harm inflicted on civilians by the bombing and shelling of towns and cities in the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. HI calls on all parties to respect IHL and its principles to protect civilians and humanitarian and health workers at all times.
HI calls on all governments to urgently endorse and fully implement the Political Declaration on Strengthening the Protection of Civilians from Humanitarian Consequences Arising from the Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas, and to uphold their commitments to restrict and refrain from such use when civilian harm is foreseeable.
We further urge the international community to condemn and investigate IHL violations, strengthen accountability mechanisms, and ensure survivor-centered assistance, including mental health support and inclusive rehabilitation services. Protecting civilians and safeguarding essential services must remain a global priority, and states that have already signed the Declaration should lead by example, sharing concrete measures taken to implement its commitments and demonstrating genuine action to reduce civilian harm.
Humanity & Inclusion emphasizes that the use of EWIPA not only causes civilian casualties and the destruction of infrastructure but also leads to long-term contamination of land with explosive remnants of war. This contamination prevents safe returns, blocks access to housing, schools, medical facilities, and livelihoods. HI calls on governments and the international community to prioritize land clearance from ERW as an essential component of civilian protection, recovery, and sustainable development, ensuring compliance with International Mine Action Standards and inclusive principles in program planning and implementation.
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Original text here: https://www.hi-us.org/en/ukraine-civilian-toll-rises-from-use-of-explosive-weapons-in-populated-areas
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Ukraine: Civilian Casualties Surge Amid Intensifying Explosive Weapon Attacks
*
Now in the fifth year of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, civilians continue to endure the catastrophic impact of explosive weapons in populated areas (EWIPA), facing destruction, displacement, and long-term humanitarian consequences. Between July and September 2026, Ukraine experienced some of the highest recorded civilian casualty levels since the beginning of the war, with 8,330 ... Show Full Article SILVER SPRING, Maryland, Nov. 11 [Category: Health Care] -- Humanity and Inclusion issued the following news release: * * * Ukraine: Civilian Casualties Surge Amid Intensifying Explosive Weapon Attacks * Now in the fifth year of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, civilians continue to endure the catastrophic impact of explosive weapons in populated areas (EWIPA), facing destruction, displacement, and long-term humanitarian consequences. Between July and September 2026, Ukraine experienced some of the highest recorded civilian casualty levels since the beginning of the war, with 8,330casualties and a 90% rise compared to the same period last year, driven by intensifying missile strikes, long-range drones, glide bombs, artillery shelling, and short-range FPV drone attacks. During the same period, Ukraine also ramped up its deep strike operations against targets inside Russian territory, which were accompanied by reported civilian casualties.
Recent months have been among the deadliest for civilians, bringing immense loss and suffering.
Between July and September 2026, the UN documented unrelenting civilian harm in Ukraine.
In July alone, 437 civilians were killed and 2,610 injured, making it the deadliest month since May 2022. Overall, during the first eight months of 2026, more civilians were killed and injured across Ukraine than in the entire year of 2025, underscoring the severe deterioration in civilian protection and the mounting human cost of the war.
Ukrainian airstrikes on Russian territory have also caused civilian casualties; from January to July 2026, at least 327 civilians were killed in Russia. These figures come solely from official Russian sources and have not been independently verified by international observers or monitoring missions; therefore, they must be treated with caution.
Inna, an HI finance officer, says,
"Life in Kyiv is constant uncertainty: you don't know if you will wake up alive in the morning or reach work safely when there are no shelters nearby, and the power plant next to the metro station is under repeated attack. It is reading Harry Potter with your child in the evening, only to be interrupted by ballistic explosions outside the window and a rush to the corridor. It is watching a high-rise burn just a kilometer away, consoling yourself only with the thought that the playground beneath did not claim children's lives. It is seeing the tears of fear in your child's eyes every day. Life in Kyiv is no longer life; it is survival."
Russian forces' use of explosive weapons continues to generate a consistent pattern of civilian harm. Ukrainian forces have also conducted strikes using drones and missiles, including on Russian territory, raising concerns about the protection of civilians.
Long-Range Drones (Shahed-136/131; Geran-3, Geran-4, Geran-5; Italmas and Gerbera strike drones)
Russia has sharply escalated its use of jet-powered Geran drones against Ukraine, launching heavy-warhead systems deliberately targeting Ukraine's civilian infrastructure and residential areas. Daily attacks in August and September saw hundreds deployed, with some assaults killing civilians in Kyiv and other cities.
Between July and September 2026, Russian forces launched 16,086 long-range drones across Ukraine, marking one of the most intense periods of drone warfare in the conflict. The sheer scale of these attacks had horrific consequences for civilians, with widespread destruction of homes, infrastructure, and disruption of daily life.
On July 2, Russia launched 496 Shahed, Gerbera, and Italmas strike drones in a combined attack on Kyiv, one of the largest episodes of the month; the strikes killed at least 30 civilians, injured more than 97, and caused severe destruction to residential buildings, a hospital, a humanitarian warehouse, and critical city infrastructure.
Short-Range Drones (FPV, Lancet-type, Hornet)
Russian forces continued to use FPV drones that target evacuation buses, humanitarian workers, and frontline towns. July saw the highest monthly civilian casualty toll from short-range drones since the start of the full-scale war: 111 people killed and 710 injured, nearly one in four of the month's civilian casualties. These systems not only strike people, but they can also hunt them: OHCHR has documented drone operators targeting civilians in cars and buses, people evacuating, and clearly marked ambulances, and in July an FPV drone destroyed a Red Cross emergency-response van moments after its crew arrived to treat casualties in Vilniansk, with deaths recorded among humanitarian workers and persons with disabilities, who remain unable to safely relocate in time without proper support.
Russia's use of glide bombs remained at record levels, devastating residential areas in Kharkiv, Sumy and Donetsk. In July 2026, civilian casualties from aerial bombardments rose 143% compared to June, reaching 105 killed and 753 injured.
Cruise and Ballistic Missiles (Iskander-M, S-400/KN-23, Zircon/Onyx anti-ship missiles; Kh-101, Kalibr).
Russia intensified missile attacks in July, with 429 missiles launched. Civilian casualties from missiles and loitering munitions accounted for 38% of all harm (183 killed; 967 injured).
The combined use of cruise and ballistic missiles, glide bombs, Shahed/Geran loitering munitions, and FPV drones by Russian forces has had a devastating impact on civilians. These weapons disproportionately affect the most vulnerable groups - children, persons with disabilities, women, and the elderly- causing extensive destruction of civilian infrastructure, including schools, hospitals, and medical facilities, and severely restricting access to essential services. The use of explosive weapons in populated areas is likely to result in international humanitarian law violations regarding fundamental principles of distinction, proportionality, and precautions.
Long-Range Drones (UAVs and naval drones)
Between July and September 2026, Ukraine intensified its long-range strike drone campaign against Russian energy infrastructure, striking major refineries including Omsk, TANECO, Saratov, Ryazan, and Perm, and warehouse facilities; these operations caused shutdowns, fires, and widespread fuel shortages across Russia, reducing refining output to its lowest level in two decades.
Cruise and Ballistic Missiles (Neptune, Flamingo cruise missile; FP-7 ballistic missile)
Between July-September 2026, Ukrainian forces escalated long-range strikes on Russia using Neptune cruise missiles, Flamingo cruise missiles, and possibly FP-7 ballistic missiles. Targets included oil refineries (Gazpromneft Moscow, Novoshakhtinsk), UAV factories (Atlant-Aero), electronics plants (Karachev Elektrodetal), ports, and Russian Navy vessels. These attacks disrupted Russia's energy infrastructure, forced refinery shutdowns, and weakened its Black Sea Fleet presence, with civilian casualties reported.
The following chronology highlights the most devastating attacks in Ukraine and Russia or territories under Russian control impacting civilians from July to September, underscoring urgent protection needs and accountability gaps.
The vast majority of casualties reported between July and September 2026 occurred in territory controlled by the Government of Ukraine. Civilians were killed or injured across 14 regions of Ukraine and the city of Kyiv.
Humanity & Inclusion (HI) strongly denounces the devastating harm inflicted on civilians by the bombing and shelling of towns and cities in the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. HI calls on all parties to respect IHL and its principles to protect civilians and humanitarian and health workers at all times.
HI calls on all governments to urgently endorse and fully implement the Political Declaration on Strengthening the Protection of Civilians from Humanitarian Consequences Arising from the Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas, and to uphold their commitments to restrict and refrain from such use when civilian harm is foreseeable.
We further urge the international community to condemn and investigate IHL violations, strengthen accountability mechanisms, and ensure survivor-centered assistance, including mental health support and inclusive rehabilitation services. Protecting civilians and safeguarding essential services must remain a global priority, and states that have already signed the Declaration should lead by example, sharing concrete measures taken to implement its commitments and demonstrating genuine action to reduce civilian harm.
Humanity & Inclusion emphasizes that the use of EWIPA not only causes civilian casualties and the destruction of infrastructure but also leads to long-term contamination of land with explosive remnants of war. This contamination prevents safe returns, blocks access to housing, schools, medical facilities, and livelihoods. HI calls on governments and the international community to prioritize land clearance from ERW as an essential component of civilian protection, recovery, and sustainable development, ensuring compliance with International Mine Action Standards and inclusive principles in program planning and implementation.
***
Original text here: https://www.hi-us.org/en/ukraine-civilian-toll-rises-from-use-of-explosive-weapons-in-populated-areas
MEG ONLI AND ZACK WINOKUR TO CURATE 2028 WHITNEY BIENNIAL
NEW YORK, Nov. 7 -- The Whitney Museum of American Art issued the following news release:
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MEG ONLI AND ZACK WINOKUR TO CURATE 2028 WHITNEY BIENNIAL
New York, NY, November 6, 2026 -- The Whitney Museum of American Art announces that Meg Onli, the Museum's Nancy and Fred Poses Curator, and acclaimed director Zack Winokur will co-organize Whitney Biennial 2028. Bringing together two visionary artistic leaders whose practices span contemporary visual art, performance, music, and interdisciplinary collaboration, Onli and Winokur will lead the development of the eighty-third edition of the Museum's ... Show Full Article NEW YORK, Nov. 7 -- The Whitney Museum of American Art issued the following news release: * * * MEG ONLI AND ZACK WINOKUR TO CURATE 2028 WHITNEY BIENNIAL New York, NY, November 6, 2026 -- The Whitney Museum of American Art announces that Meg Onli, the Museum's Nancy and Fred Poses Curator, and acclaimed director Zack Winokur will co-organize Whitney Biennial 2028. Bringing together two visionary artistic leaders whose practices span contemporary visual art, performance, music, and interdisciplinary collaboration, Onli and Winokur will lead the development of the eighty-third edition of the Museum'slandmark exhibition series, set to open in March 2028.
Onli, who co-organized Whitney Biennial 2024: Even Better Than the Real Thing, is currently co-curator of the Whitney's blockbuster exhibition Roy Lichtenstein: Like New, on view through May 10, 2027, the first full-scale retrospective of the artist's work in New York City in more than three decades. Winokur is an internationally recognized director, the Co-Founder of AMOC* (American Modern Opera Company), and the former Artistic Director of Little Island. Together, they bring expansive perspectives on artistic practice today and a shared commitment to championing artists, fostering experimentation, and exploring new possibilities across disciplines.
"Every Whitney Biennial springs from a distinct curatorial alchemy, and I couldn't be more excited to bring Meg and Zack together to lead the 2028 edition," said Scott Rothkopf, Alice Pratt Brown Director of the Whitney Museum of American Art. "Meg is one of the most compelling curatorial voices working today, with an extraordinary ability to champion artists and bring fresh perspectives to the history of American art. Zack is an equally inventive artistic programmer who has become one of the leading voices of his generation through groundbreaking work across opera, theater, dance, and the visual arts. Their partnership promises a radical new vision for the 2028 Biennial."
"I'm thrilled to be returning to the Whitney Biennial after co-curating Even Better Than the Real Thing in 2024," said Onli. "From the Whitney's early Annuals to its many subsequent iterations, the Biennial has a rich history of reinvention that is already giving us much to think about. I couldn't be more excited to explore what the Biennial can be alongside Zack, who is such a dynamic thinker, and to see where our conversations with artists lead."
"I'm honored to be curating the Whitney Biennial with Meg," said Winokur. "Our shared desire to center objects and people and the collision between them already echoes our collaboration. It's that energy that makes the dialogue with her so fun and inspiring. As an artist, what excites me most is being in service to other artists, and I'm delighted to have the opportunity to do so in the context of the Whitney."
A constellation of the most relevant art and ideas of our time, the Whitney Biennial is a showcase of contemporary artists working across media and disciplines, representing evolving notions of American art. Established by the Museum's founder, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, in 1932, the Whitney Biennial is the longest-running survey of American art. More than 3,600 artists have participated to date, including Jean-Michel Basquiat, Lynda Benglis, Louise Bourgeois, Frank Bowling, Mark Bradford, Alexander Calder, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Raven Chacon, Ellen Gallagher, Jeffrey Gibson, Nan Goldin, Renee Green, Wade Guyton, Rachel Harrison, Jenny Holzer, Edward Hopper, Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich, Joan Jonas, Ellsworth Kelly, Mike Kelley, Willem de Kooning, Barbara Kruger, Pope. L, Jacob Lawrence, Carolyn Lazard, Zoe Leonard, Roy Lichtenstein, Glenn Ligon, Agnes Martin, Daniel Joseph Martinez, Julie Mehretu, Sarah Michelson, Joan Mitchell, Tiona Nekkia McClodden, Georgia O'Keeffe, Claes Oldenburg, Mary Lovelace O'Neal, Laura Owens, Jackson Pollock, Yvonne Rainer, Robert Rauschenberg, Cindy Sherman, Lorna Simpson, Rose B. Simpson, Martine Syms, Wu Tsang, Cy Twombly, Kara Walker, Andy Warhol, and David Wojnarowicz.
The early Biennials were organized by medium, with painting alternating with sculpture and works on paper. Starting in 1937, the Museum shifted to yearly exhibitions called Annuals. The current format, a survey show of work in all media occurring every two years, has been in place since 1973.
Whitney Biennial 2026, organized by Marcela Guerrero, the Museum's DeMartini Family Curator, and Drew Sawyer, Sondra Gilman Curator of Photography, brought together 56 artists, duos, and collectives working across disciplines. The exhibition welcomed more than 550,000 visitors, including over 200,000 who attended for free, through the Whitney's Free 25 and Under, Free Friday Nights, and Free Second Sunday programs, and attracted the youngest audience in the Biennial's history, with approximately 75 percent of visitors identifying as Gen Z or Millennials. Building on this momentum, the 2028 edition continues the Whitney's longstanding commitment to supporting the most innovative artists of our time and expanding access to contemporary American art.
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About the 2028 Biennial Curators
Meg Onli is the Nancy and Fred Poses Curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art, where she plays a central role in shaping the Museum's contemporary exhibition program and collection. An innovative curator, writer, and champion of emerging and underrecognized artists, Onli is known for her rigorous and expansive approach to contemporary artistic practice and her commitment to reexamining established narratives in art history.
Onli co-organized Whitney Biennial 2024: Even Better Than the Real Thing with Chrissie Iles, an exhibition that explored notions of reality at a moment of profound technological, political, and cultural transformation. She is currently co-curator of Roy Lichtenstein: Like New, alongside artist Alex Da Corte. Bringing together more than 130 works spanning six decades, the exhibition is the first full-scale retrospective of Lichtenstein's work in New York City in more than thirty years and offers an ambitious reconsideration of one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century.
Onli joined the Whitney in 2023 as Curator-at-Large before being named Nancy and Fred Poses Curator in 2024. Prior to the Whitney, she served as co-director and curator of the Underground Museum in Los Angeles. Previously, she was the Andrea B. Laporte Associate Curator at the Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania (ICA Philadelphia), where she organized exhibitions including Colored People Time: Mundane Features, Quotidian Pasts, Banal Presents and Jessica Vaughn: Our Primary Focus Is To Be Successful, and co-curated Ulysses Jenkins: Without Your Interpretation.
Onli founded the Black Visual Archive in 2010, a project dedicated to reviewing contemporary Black visual culture, for which she received a 2012 Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant from Creative Capital. She is also the recipient of a Graham Foundation Grant, the Leeway Foundation's Transformation Award, and the inaugural Figure Skating Prize, awarded by Virgil Abloh's Art Space.
Zack Winokur is an acclaimed director whose work spans opera, theater, dance, music, and the visual arts. Winokur is known for his genre-defying productions and collaborations with some of today's most innovative artists and performers. His interdisciplinary approach challenges traditional boundaries between art forms and creates new possibilities for artistic expression and audience engagement.
Winokur is the Artistic Director and Co-Founder of AMOC* (American Modern Opera Company), a collective of singers, dancers, and instrumentalists dedicated to creating new work across disciplines. In 2025, AMOC* presented an unprecedented five-week festival across the Lincoln Center campus, featuring twelve new productions. The collective has been celebrated for its inventive approach to performance and its commitment to developing ambitious new work through sustained artistic collaboration.
Winokur's recent projects include directing The Seasons, Complications in Sue, and The Black Clown at Opera Philadelphia; Both Ends, starring Justin Vivian Bond, at the Cherry Lane Theatre in celebration of a new partnership between A24 and Dior; The Wizard of Oz at Sphere in Las Vegas; and Yo-Yo Ma: Words and Music, presented throughout the United States. His work in the visual arts includes an installation created with artist Hugh Hayden and Davone Tines for the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Triennial.
Additional highlights include Only an Octave Apart, presented at St. Ann's Warehouse, the New York Philharmonic, Wilton's Music Hall in London, and the Gate Theatre in Dublin; Wagner's Tristan und Isolde at the Santa Fe Opera; and Messiaen's Harawi, created with Julia Bullock, Conor Hanick, Bobbi Jene Smith, and Or Schraiber, at the Aix-en-Provence Festival and on tour throughout Europe and the United States. Upcoming projects include Gershwin's Let 'Em Eat Cake at Opera Philadelphia and New York City Center Encores! in spring 2027.
From 2024 to 2026, Winokur served as the first Producing Artistic Director of Little Island in New York City, where he oversaw the programming and production of more than twenty world premieres across three sold-out summer seasons. He also served as Artistic Director of NYPopsUp, a statewide initiative that helped reopen the performing arts following the COVID-19 pandemic through more than 300 performances across New York State. He has co-taught a transdisciplinary storytelling course at Harvard University with Davone Tines.
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Winokur is a graduate of The Juilliard School.
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PRESS CONTACT
For press materials and image requests, please visit our press site at whitney.org/press or contact:
Whitney Press Office
whitney.org/press
(212) 570-3633
pressoffice@whitney.org
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EXHIBITION SUPPORT
The 2028 Whitney Biennial is presented by Hyundai.
The exhibition is also sponsored by Fondazione BVLGARI.
Major support is provided by the Adam D. Weinberg Artists First Fund.
Generous support is provided by The Keith Haring Foundation Exhibition Fund.
Biennial funding is also provided by endowments created by Emily Fisher Landau, Leonard A. Lauder, and Fern and Lenard Tessler.
Curatorial research and travel for this exhibition were funded by an endowment established by Rosina Lee Yue and Bert A. Lies, Jr., MD.
The Whitney Biennial and Hyundai Terrace Commission are a multiyear partnership with Hyundai Motor. The Hyundai Terrace Commission is an annual site-specific installation on the Whitney Museum's fifth-floor outdoor gallery.
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ABOUT THE WHITNEY
The Whitney Museum of American Art, founded in 1930 by the artist and philanthropist Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875-1942), houses the foremost collection of American art from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Mrs. Whitney, an early and ardent supporter of modern American art, nurtured groundbreaking artists when audiences were still largely preoccupied with the Old Masters. From her vision arose the Whitney Museum of American Art, which has been championing the most innovative art of the United States for ninety years. The core of the Whitney's mission is to collect, preserve, interpret, and exhibit American art of our time and serve a wide variety of audiences in celebration of the complexity and diversity of art and culture in the United States. Through this mission and a steadfast commitment to artists, the Whitney has long been a powerful force in support of modern and contemporary art and continues to help define what is innovative and influential in American art today.
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Whitney Museum Land Acknowledgment
The Whitney is located in Lenapehoking, the ancestral homeland of the Lenape. The name Manhattan comes from their word Mannahatta, meaning "island of many hills." The Museum's current site is close to land that was a Lenape fishing and planting site called Sapponckanikan ("tobacco field"). The Whitney acknowledges the displacement of this region's original inhabitants and the Lenape diaspora that exists today.
As a museum of American art in a city with vital and diverse communities of Indigenous people, the Whitney recognizes the historical exclusion of Indigenous artists from its collection and program. The Museum is committed to addressing these erasures and honoring the perspectives of Indigenous artists and communities as we work for a more equitable future. To read more about the Museum's Land Acknowledgment, visit the Museum's website.
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VISITOR INFORMATION
The Whitney Museum of American Art is located at 99 Gansevoort Street between Washington and West Streets, New York City. Public hours are Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, 10:30 am-6 pm; Friday, 10:30 am-10 pm; and Saturday and Sunday, 10:30 am-6 pm. Closed Tuesday. Visitors twenty-five years and under and Whitney members: FREE. The Museum offers FREE admission and special programming for visitors of all ages every Friday evening from 5-10 pm and on the second Sunday of every month.
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Original text here: https://whitneymedia.org/assets/generic_file/5580/B28_-_Curator_PR_-_MO_ZW_11.6.26_final.pdf
[Category: Arts/Cultural]
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MEG ONLI AND ZACK WINOKUR TO CURATE 2028 WHITNEY BIENNIAL
New York, NY, November 6, 2026 -- The Whitney Museum of American Art announces that Meg Onli, the Museum's Nancy and Fred Poses Curator, and acclaimed director Zack Winokur will co-organize Whitney Biennial 2028. Bringing together two visionary artistic leaders whose practices span contemporary visual art, performance, music, and interdisciplinary collaboration, Onli and Winokur will lead the development of the eighty-third edition of the Museum's ... Show Full Article NEW YORK, Nov. 7 -- The Whitney Museum of American Art issued the following news release: * * * MEG ONLI AND ZACK WINOKUR TO CURATE 2028 WHITNEY BIENNIAL New York, NY, November 6, 2026 -- The Whitney Museum of American Art announces that Meg Onli, the Museum's Nancy and Fred Poses Curator, and acclaimed director Zack Winokur will co-organize Whitney Biennial 2028. Bringing together two visionary artistic leaders whose practices span contemporary visual art, performance, music, and interdisciplinary collaboration, Onli and Winokur will lead the development of the eighty-third edition of the Museum'slandmark exhibition series, set to open in March 2028.
Onli, who co-organized Whitney Biennial 2024: Even Better Than the Real Thing, is currently co-curator of the Whitney's blockbuster exhibition Roy Lichtenstein: Like New, on view through May 10, 2027, the first full-scale retrospective of the artist's work in New York City in more than three decades. Winokur is an internationally recognized director, the Co-Founder of AMOC* (American Modern Opera Company), and the former Artistic Director of Little Island. Together, they bring expansive perspectives on artistic practice today and a shared commitment to championing artists, fostering experimentation, and exploring new possibilities across disciplines.
"Every Whitney Biennial springs from a distinct curatorial alchemy, and I couldn't be more excited to bring Meg and Zack together to lead the 2028 edition," said Scott Rothkopf, Alice Pratt Brown Director of the Whitney Museum of American Art. "Meg is one of the most compelling curatorial voices working today, with an extraordinary ability to champion artists and bring fresh perspectives to the history of American art. Zack is an equally inventive artistic programmer who has become one of the leading voices of his generation through groundbreaking work across opera, theater, dance, and the visual arts. Their partnership promises a radical new vision for the 2028 Biennial."
"I'm thrilled to be returning to the Whitney Biennial after co-curating Even Better Than the Real Thing in 2024," said Onli. "From the Whitney's early Annuals to its many subsequent iterations, the Biennial has a rich history of reinvention that is already giving us much to think about. I couldn't be more excited to explore what the Biennial can be alongside Zack, who is such a dynamic thinker, and to see where our conversations with artists lead."
"I'm honored to be curating the Whitney Biennial with Meg," said Winokur. "Our shared desire to center objects and people and the collision between them already echoes our collaboration. It's that energy that makes the dialogue with her so fun and inspiring. As an artist, what excites me most is being in service to other artists, and I'm delighted to have the opportunity to do so in the context of the Whitney."
A constellation of the most relevant art and ideas of our time, the Whitney Biennial is a showcase of contemporary artists working across media and disciplines, representing evolving notions of American art. Established by the Museum's founder, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, in 1932, the Whitney Biennial is the longest-running survey of American art. More than 3,600 artists have participated to date, including Jean-Michel Basquiat, Lynda Benglis, Louise Bourgeois, Frank Bowling, Mark Bradford, Alexander Calder, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Raven Chacon, Ellen Gallagher, Jeffrey Gibson, Nan Goldin, Renee Green, Wade Guyton, Rachel Harrison, Jenny Holzer, Edward Hopper, Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich, Joan Jonas, Ellsworth Kelly, Mike Kelley, Willem de Kooning, Barbara Kruger, Pope. L, Jacob Lawrence, Carolyn Lazard, Zoe Leonard, Roy Lichtenstein, Glenn Ligon, Agnes Martin, Daniel Joseph Martinez, Julie Mehretu, Sarah Michelson, Joan Mitchell, Tiona Nekkia McClodden, Georgia O'Keeffe, Claes Oldenburg, Mary Lovelace O'Neal, Laura Owens, Jackson Pollock, Yvonne Rainer, Robert Rauschenberg, Cindy Sherman, Lorna Simpson, Rose B. Simpson, Martine Syms, Wu Tsang, Cy Twombly, Kara Walker, Andy Warhol, and David Wojnarowicz.
The early Biennials were organized by medium, with painting alternating with sculpture and works on paper. Starting in 1937, the Museum shifted to yearly exhibitions called Annuals. The current format, a survey show of work in all media occurring every two years, has been in place since 1973.
Whitney Biennial 2026, organized by Marcela Guerrero, the Museum's DeMartini Family Curator, and Drew Sawyer, Sondra Gilman Curator of Photography, brought together 56 artists, duos, and collectives working across disciplines. The exhibition welcomed more than 550,000 visitors, including over 200,000 who attended for free, through the Whitney's Free 25 and Under, Free Friday Nights, and Free Second Sunday programs, and attracted the youngest audience in the Biennial's history, with approximately 75 percent of visitors identifying as Gen Z or Millennials. Building on this momentum, the 2028 edition continues the Whitney's longstanding commitment to supporting the most innovative artists of our time and expanding access to contemporary American art.
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About the 2028 Biennial Curators
Meg Onli is the Nancy and Fred Poses Curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art, where she plays a central role in shaping the Museum's contemporary exhibition program and collection. An innovative curator, writer, and champion of emerging and underrecognized artists, Onli is known for her rigorous and expansive approach to contemporary artistic practice and her commitment to reexamining established narratives in art history.
Onli co-organized Whitney Biennial 2024: Even Better Than the Real Thing with Chrissie Iles, an exhibition that explored notions of reality at a moment of profound technological, political, and cultural transformation. She is currently co-curator of Roy Lichtenstein: Like New, alongside artist Alex Da Corte. Bringing together more than 130 works spanning six decades, the exhibition is the first full-scale retrospective of Lichtenstein's work in New York City in more than thirty years and offers an ambitious reconsideration of one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century.
Onli joined the Whitney in 2023 as Curator-at-Large before being named Nancy and Fred Poses Curator in 2024. Prior to the Whitney, she served as co-director and curator of the Underground Museum in Los Angeles. Previously, she was the Andrea B. Laporte Associate Curator at the Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania (ICA Philadelphia), where she organized exhibitions including Colored People Time: Mundane Features, Quotidian Pasts, Banal Presents and Jessica Vaughn: Our Primary Focus Is To Be Successful, and co-curated Ulysses Jenkins: Without Your Interpretation.
Onli founded the Black Visual Archive in 2010, a project dedicated to reviewing contemporary Black visual culture, for which she received a 2012 Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant from Creative Capital. She is also the recipient of a Graham Foundation Grant, the Leeway Foundation's Transformation Award, and the inaugural Figure Skating Prize, awarded by Virgil Abloh's Art Space.
Zack Winokur is an acclaimed director whose work spans opera, theater, dance, music, and the visual arts. Winokur is known for his genre-defying productions and collaborations with some of today's most innovative artists and performers. His interdisciplinary approach challenges traditional boundaries between art forms and creates new possibilities for artistic expression and audience engagement.
Winokur is the Artistic Director and Co-Founder of AMOC* (American Modern Opera Company), a collective of singers, dancers, and instrumentalists dedicated to creating new work across disciplines. In 2025, AMOC* presented an unprecedented five-week festival across the Lincoln Center campus, featuring twelve new productions. The collective has been celebrated for its inventive approach to performance and its commitment to developing ambitious new work through sustained artistic collaboration.
Winokur's recent projects include directing The Seasons, Complications in Sue, and The Black Clown at Opera Philadelphia; Both Ends, starring Justin Vivian Bond, at the Cherry Lane Theatre in celebration of a new partnership between A24 and Dior; The Wizard of Oz at Sphere in Las Vegas; and Yo-Yo Ma: Words and Music, presented throughout the United States. His work in the visual arts includes an installation created with artist Hugh Hayden and Davone Tines for the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Triennial.
Additional highlights include Only an Octave Apart, presented at St. Ann's Warehouse, the New York Philharmonic, Wilton's Music Hall in London, and the Gate Theatre in Dublin; Wagner's Tristan und Isolde at the Santa Fe Opera; and Messiaen's Harawi, created with Julia Bullock, Conor Hanick, Bobbi Jene Smith, and Or Schraiber, at the Aix-en-Provence Festival and on tour throughout Europe and the United States. Upcoming projects include Gershwin's Let 'Em Eat Cake at Opera Philadelphia and New York City Center Encores! in spring 2027.
From 2024 to 2026, Winokur served as the first Producing Artistic Director of Little Island in New York City, where he oversaw the programming and production of more than twenty world premieres across three sold-out summer seasons. He also served as Artistic Director of NYPopsUp, a statewide initiative that helped reopen the performing arts following the COVID-19 pandemic through more than 300 performances across New York State. He has co-taught a transdisciplinary storytelling course at Harvard University with Davone Tines.
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Winokur is a graduate of The Juilliard School.
* * *
PRESS CONTACT
For press materials and image requests, please visit our press site at whitney.org/press or contact:
Whitney Press Office
whitney.org/press
(212) 570-3633
pressoffice@whitney.org
* * *
EXHIBITION SUPPORT
The 2028 Whitney Biennial is presented by Hyundai.
The exhibition is also sponsored by Fondazione BVLGARI.
Major support is provided by the Adam D. Weinberg Artists First Fund.
Generous support is provided by The Keith Haring Foundation Exhibition Fund.
Biennial funding is also provided by endowments created by Emily Fisher Landau, Leonard A. Lauder, and Fern and Lenard Tessler.
Curatorial research and travel for this exhibition were funded by an endowment established by Rosina Lee Yue and Bert A. Lies, Jr., MD.
The Whitney Biennial and Hyundai Terrace Commission are a multiyear partnership with Hyundai Motor. The Hyundai Terrace Commission is an annual site-specific installation on the Whitney Museum's fifth-floor outdoor gallery.
* * *
ABOUT THE WHITNEY
The Whitney Museum of American Art, founded in 1930 by the artist and philanthropist Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875-1942), houses the foremost collection of American art from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Mrs. Whitney, an early and ardent supporter of modern American art, nurtured groundbreaking artists when audiences were still largely preoccupied with the Old Masters. From her vision arose the Whitney Museum of American Art, which has been championing the most innovative art of the United States for ninety years. The core of the Whitney's mission is to collect, preserve, interpret, and exhibit American art of our time and serve a wide variety of audiences in celebration of the complexity and diversity of art and culture in the United States. Through this mission and a steadfast commitment to artists, the Whitney has long been a powerful force in support of modern and contemporary art and continues to help define what is innovative and influential in American art today.
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Whitney Museum Land Acknowledgment
The Whitney is located in Lenapehoking, the ancestral homeland of the Lenape. The name Manhattan comes from their word Mannahatta, meaning "island of many hills." The Museum's current site is close to land that was a Lenape fishing and planting site called Sapponckanikan ("tobacco field"). The Whitney acknowledges the displacement of this region's original inhabitants and the Lenape diaspora that exists today.
As a museum of American art in a city with vital and diverse communities of Indigenous people, the Whitney recognizes the historical exclusion of Indigenous artists from its collection and program. The Museum is committed to addressing these erasures and honoring the perspectives of Indigenous artists and communities as we work for a more equitable future. To read more about the Museum's Land Acknowledgment, visit the Museum's website.
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VISITOR INFORMATION
The Whitney Museum of American Art is located at 99 Gansevoort Street between Washington and West Streets, New York City. Public hours are Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, 10:30 am-6 pm; Friday, 10:30 am-10 pm; and Saturday and Sunday, 10:30 am-6 pm. Closed Tuesday. Visitors twenty-five years and under and Whitney members: FREE. The Museum offers FREE admission and special programming for visitors of all ages every Friday evening from 5-10 pm and on the second Sunday of every month.
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Original text here: https://whitneymedia.org/assets/generic_file/5580/B28_-_Curator_PR_-_MO_ZW_11.6.26_final.pdf
[Category: Arts/Cultural]
Hispanic Federation and Federal Home Loan Bank of New York Partner to Build and Strengthen Community Resilience Hubs Across Puerto Rico
NEW YORK, Nov. 7 -- The Hispanic Federation, an organization that supports and strengthens Latino institutions through education, health, immigration, civic engagement, economic empowerment and the environment, issued the following news release:
* * *
Hispanic Federation and Federal Home Loan Bank of New York Partner to Build and Strengthen Community Resilience Hubs Across Puerto Rico
November 6, 2026
The $280,000 partnership will equip 10 community-led resilience hubs with water storage, backup power, and kitchen infrastructure to better prepare and respond to the ongoing water crisis, hurricanes, ... Show Full Article NEW YORK, Nov. 7 -- The Hispanic Federation, an organization that supports and strengthens Latino institutions through education, health, immigration, civic engagement, economic empowerment and the environment, issued the following news release: * * * Hispanic Federation and Federal Home Loan Bank of New York Partner to Build and Strengthen Community Resilience Hubs Across Puerto Rico November 6, 2026 The $280,000 partnership will equip 10 community-led resilience hubs with water storage, backup power, and kitchen infrastructure to better prepare and respond to the ongoing water crisis, hurricanes,and future emergencies
-
SAN JUAN, PR - The recent extreme drought and water infrastructure crisis in Puerto Rico, compounded by the threat of hurricane season, reaffirmed the urgent need to support local community efforts to prepare for natural disasters and other emergencies. Today, Hispanic Federation (HF) and the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York (FHLBNY) announced a new partnership with an initial commitment of $280,000 to strengthen the infrastructure of community-led resilience hubs across Puerto Rico. In the first year, this partnership will impact at least 10 communities.
Since 2017, Hispanic Federation has invested more than $61 million in philanthropic funding for community-led sustainable development and disaster relief and resilience efforts across Puerto Rico. This latest effort builds on those successful strategies developed in partnership with local community leaders and organizations to strengthen disaster preparedness and response capacity. One key strategy has been establishing and supporting community resilience hubs equipped with solar energy and battery systems, cisterns, rainwater catchment systems, kitchen facilities, and other essential equipment to ensure communities have a trusted place to come together to prepare, share resources, and access basic water, energy and food needs during an emergency. This past summer, many of these hubs activated in response to the water crisis. The water challenges uncovered a need to increase resilience and close equipment gaps, which led HF and FHLBNY to partner in response.
"Puerto Rico's families have lived through more disasters than anyone should have to, most recently a water shortage crisis and constant power outages. Through every emergency, we have witnessed neighbors supporting neighbors and communities that refuse to leave anyone behind. These community-led resilience hubs have been an essential part of that response. The lesson is clear. When organized communities have the resources they need to prepare, respond, and recover from disasters quickly, people are safer and lives are saved. Through this partnership, we want to ensure communities have the tools and equipment necessary to stay safe and keep their doors open when the next disaster strikes. We are deeply grateful to the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York for always saying presente to stand with Hispanic Federation and Puerto Rico. Together, with our local partners, we are making sure that when the next storm comes, our communities will be ready," said Frankie Miranda, President and CEO of Hispanic Federation.
HF's support extends beyond infrastructure and equipment. Each year they supply community hubs in their network with a stock of emergency food supplies in advance of hurricane season. This year they supported 33 hubs across Puerto Rico. HF has also led major agriculture, energy, economic, and climate justice initiatives.
Now, with $210,000 from FHLBNY and an additional $70,000 raised by HF, this partnership will ensure 10 community hubs receive increased water storage capacity in case of future outages; some will also receive solar power with battery storage, rainwater catchment systems, backup generators, and kitchen equipment. HF will work with trusted nonprofit community partners to determine the specific needs, capacity, and install the equipment for each hub.
FHLBNY also shares a long-standing commitment to Puerto Rico. They currently have more than $1.5 billion in funds flowing across Puerto Rico through member liquidity support, community lending programs, small business grants, affordable housing programs, homebuyer support, and charitable contributions. This partnership with Hispanic Federation is further evidence of their goal to strengthen community resilience.
"Whether through our reliable liquidity products, dependable community programs or targeted grant activity, the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York takes great pride in our role as a proven partner for Puerto Rico," said Alexies Sornoza, Senior Business Development Officer of the FHLBNY. "It is through our own local partnerships that we make our impact in Puerto Rico, joining with members, community organizations and elected officials to ensure we are always positioned to make a difference. In Hispanic Federation, we have a tremendous partner that is truly committed to empowering the community, and we are honored to be part of their efforts to create a stronger, more resilient Puerto Rico."
New York is home to one of the largest Puerto Rican communities outside the archipelago, and the bond between the two runs deep. While in Puerto Rico for the annual SOMOS Conference, Governor Hochul, Mayor Mamdani, and Assembly Member Reyes joined six local nonprofit organizations for an informative roundtable discussion convened by Hispanic Federation in Rio Piedras to hear directly from leaders on the ground about the ongoing energy and water infrastructure challenges, increased threats of climate change, and ways to collaborate. The six organizations, Taller Salud, Taller Comunidad La Goyco, Ponce Neighborhood Housing Services, G8: Grupo de las Ocho Comunidades Aledanas al Cano Martin Pena, Parceleras Afrocaribenas por la Transformacion Barrial, and El Puente, who also hosted the convening in their space, all operate resilience hubs that will benefit from this partnership. They emphasized the importance of supporting community-led solutions and presented the resilience hubs as a replicable model for Puerto Rico and communities facing climate threats in New York.
"More than ever, conversations about climate change and environmental justice are essential to the well-being and future of our communities. I am pleased to see the important work that organizations and groups are leading to advance climate justice, strengthen community resilience, and support disaster preparedness across Puerto Rico," Governor Hochul said. "As the island continues to face a serious water and infrastructure crisis, my administration is supporting the Hispanic Federation's efforts to install water cisterns, helping families mitigate the impacts of limited access to clean water and ensuring that more communities have access to this essential resource."
"The people of Puerto Rico have been asked to endure a water system and power grid neglected for decades. When those systems fail, it's neighbors who step up to make sure their communities have clean water, food and a safe place to turn. They should not have to do it alone. New York is home to one of the largest Puerto Rican communities in the world, and our responsibility to one another does not end at the water's edge. We are proud to stand with Hispanic Federation and local leaders to build a more resilient future for Puerto Rico," said Mayor Mamdani.
"I applaud Hispanic Federation and the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York for partnering to bring this relief to Puerto Rican families grappling with the effects of the water and climate crisis," said Assembly Member Karines Reyes, R.N., Chair or the NYS Assembly & Senate's Puerto Rican / Hispanic Task Force. "This major investment of infrastructure, equipment and emergency support will make a massive difference in the lives of families that have dealt with one crisis after another. As a New Yorker of Puerto Rican and Dominican descent, I am so pleased that this relief is benefiting this impacted by the worst of the crisis. More work to do on this issue and others."
Two of the local nonprofit partners selected plan to develop new community resilience hubs with support from this initiative. For more than four decades, El Puente, a grassroots climate justice organization founded in New York, has built deep relationships between Puerto Rican communities in New York City and on the archipelago. Now, the organization is transforming its base in Rio Piedras into an urban model for climate and community resilience. El Puente has long-been a member of Hispanic Federation, collaborating on work in both New York and Puerto Rico. With support from this partnership, they can fast track their vision and expand their community response to be ready before the next emergency.
"Our work across these communities has given us a firsthand understanding of how the challenges facing Puerto Rico reverberate throughout the diaspora, and how the knowledge, resilience, and leadership of Puerto Rican communities on the island can inform and strengthen our work in New York. Our new resilience hub in Rio Piedras is rooted in our deep understanding of the realities Puerto Rican communities face--where the impacts of climate change are compounded by decades of crumbling and neglected infrastructure, and where a climate emergency can quickly become a crisis of access to water, power, food, and other basic necessities. This collaboration with Hispanic Federation and the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York recognizes the importance of work that can bridge our communities in NY and Puerto Rico and channel resources where they are needed most." Affirmed Dianne Morales, Executive Director of El Puente.
Ponce Neighborhood Housing Services (Ponce NHS), a nonprofit group with more than 30 years of experience leading community development, housing counseling, and disaster preparedness with communities across southern Puerto Rico, will work with a community in Guayanilla to transform a space into a new hub. Ponce NHS has helped many communities develop community resilience hubs and has collaborated with both Hispanic Federation and the Federal Home Loan Bank on various community initiatives for nearly a decade.
"The Resilience Centers have proven effectiveness in their implementation, demonstrating the capacity to support communities and families in distress, not just in disaster events, but in their daily necessities. Funding these centers is more than just an infrastructure investment, but a commitment to help communities thrive, overcome challenges and move forward. Hispanic Federation and the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York have been important and committed partners to moving our resilience work forward," expressed Elizabeth Colon, Executive Director of Ponce Neighborhood Housing Services who also serves on the FHLBNY's Affordable Housing Advisory Council.
This partnership is not the first time Hispanic Federation and the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York have collaborated to support Puerto Rico. Since 2020, the FHLBNY has provided nearly $1 million in support to Hispanic Federation to support emergency relief after multiple disasters and provide energy resilience to fishing villages across the archipelago.
* * *
About Hispanic Federation
Hispanic Federation (HF) is a nonprofit membership and advocacy organization, founded in 1990, committed to empowering and advancing the Hispanic community, with a focus on low-income, marginalized, and immigrant Latine. With programs in 43 states and territories, HF's focus areas include immigration, economic empowerment, civic engagement, disaster relief, philanthropy, education, health, and the environment. HF also maintains ongoing public education campaigns and meets the organizational development needs of its member agencies through grant-making and capacity-building assistance.
* * *
About the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York
The Federal Home Loan Bank of New York (FHLBNY) is a privately capitalized, member-owned cooperative serving more than 330 financial institutions of all sizes, all committed to the customers and communities they serve across New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. As the local lender's local lender, the FHLBNY supports housing and community development by providing reliable liquidity to its member financial institutions. FHLBNY products and programs help expand homeownership opportunities, strengthen communities throughout our District, and promote broad financial stability. The FHLBNY makes its impact in Puerto Rico alongside its members, housing partners, and local community-focused organizations. For its charitable contributions, the FHLBNY looks to support organizations and efforts that align with its own commitment to supporting housing and economic community development.
* * *
Original text here: https://www.hispanicfederation.org/news/hispanic-federation-and-federal-home-loan-bank-of-new-york-partner-to-build-and-strengthen-community-resilience-hubs-across-puerto-rico/
[Category: Political]
* * *
Hispanic Federation and Federal Home Loan Bank of New York Partner to Build and Strengthen Community Resilience Hubs Across Puerto Rico
November 6, 2026
The $280,000 partnership will equip 10 community-led resilience hubs with water storage, backup power, and kitchen infrastructure to better prepare and respond to the ongoing water crisis, hurricanes, ... Show Full Article NEW YORK, Nov. 7 -- The Hispanic Federation, an organization that supports and strengthens Latino institutions through education, health, immigration, civic engagement, economic empowerment and the environment, issued the following news release: * * * Hispanic Federation and Federal Home Loan Bank of New York Partner to Build and Strengthen Community Resilience Hubs Across Puerto Rico November 6, 2026 The $280,000 partnership will equip 10 community-led resilience hubs with water storage, backup power, and kitchen infrastructure to better prepare and respond to the ongoing water crisis, hurricanes,and future emergencies
-
SAN JUAN, PR - The recent extreme drought and water infrastructure crisis in Puerto Rico, compounded by the threat of hurricane season, reaffirmed the urgent need to support local community efforts to prepare for natural disasters and other emergencies. Today, Hispanic Federation (HF) and the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York (FHLBNY) announced a new partnership with an initial commitment of $280,000 to strengthen the infrastructure of community-led resilience hubs across Puerto Rico. In the first year, this partnership will impact at least 10 communities.
Since 2017, Hispanic Federation has invested more than $61 million in philanthropic funding for community-led sustainable development and disaster relief and resilience efforts across Puerto Rico. This latest effort builds on those successful strategies developed in partnership with local community leaders and organizations to strengthen disaster preparedness and response capacity. One key strategy has been establishing and supporting community resilience hubs equipped with solar energy and battery systems, cisterns, rainwater catchment systems, kitchen facilities, and other essential equipment to ensure communities have a trusted place to come together to prepare, share resources, and access basic water, energy and food needs during an emergency. This past summer, many of these hubs activated in response to the water crisis. The water challenges uncovered a need to increase resilience and close equipment gaps, which led HF and FHLBNY to partner in response.
"Puerto Rico's families have lived through more disasters than anyone should have to, most recently a water shortage crisis and constant power outages. Through every emergency, we have witnessed neighbors supporting neighbors and communities that refuse to leave anyone behind. These community-led resilience hubs have been an essential part of that response. The lesson is clear. When organized communities have the resources they need to prepare, respond, and recover from disasters quickly, people are safer and lives are saved. Through this partnership, we want to ensure communities have the tools and equipment necessary to stay safe and keep their doors open when the next disaster strikes. We are deeply grateful to the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York for always saying presente to stand with Hispanic Federation and Puerto Rico. Together, with our local partners, we are making sure that when the next storm comes, our communities will be ready," said Frankie Miranda, President and CEO of Hispanic Federation.
HF's support extends beyond infrastructure and equipment. Each year they supply community hubs in their network with a stock of emergency food supplies in advance of hurricane season. This year they supported 33 hubs across Puerto Rico. HF has also led major agriculture, energy, economic, and climate justice initiatives.
Now, with $210,000 from FHLBNY and an additional $70,000 raised by HF, this partnership will ensure 10 community hubs receive increased water storage capacity in case of future outages; some will also receive solar power with battery storage, rainwater catchment systems, backup generators, and kitchen equipment. HF will work with trusted nonprofit community partners to determine the specific needs, capacity, and install the equipment for each hub.
FHLBNY also shares a long-standing commitment to Puerto Rico. They currently have more than $1.5 billion in funds flowing across Puerto Rico through member liquidity support, community lending programs, small business grants, affordable housing programs, homebuyer support, and charitable contributions. This partnership with Hispanic Federation is further evidence of their goal to strengthen community resilience.
"Whether through our reliable liquidity products, dependable community programs or targeted grant activity, the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York takes great pride in our role as a proven partner for Puerto Rico," said Alexies Sornoza, Senior Business Development Officer of the FHLBNY. "It is through our own local partnerships that we make our impact in Puerto Rico, joining with members, community organizations and elected officials to ensure we are always positioned to make a difference. In Hispanic Federation, we have a tremendous partner that is truly committed to empowering the community, and we are honored to be part of their efforts to create a stronger, more resilient Puerto Rico."
New York is home to one of the largest Puerto Rican communities outside the archipelago, and the bond between the two runs deep. While in Puerto Rico for the annual SOMOS Conference, Governor Hochul, Mayor Mamdani, and Assembly Member Reyes joined six local nonprofit organizations for an informative roundtable discussion convened by Hispanic Federation in Rio Piedras to hear directly from leaders on the ground about the ongoing energy and water infrastructure challenges, increased threats of climate change, and ways to collaborate. The six organizations, Taller Salud, Taller Comunidad La Goyco, Ponce Neighborhood Housing Services, G8: Grupo de las Ocho Comunidades Aledanas al Cano Martin Pena, Parceleras Afrocaribenas por la Transformacion Barrial, and El Puente, who also hosted the convening in their space, all operate resilience hubs that will benefit from this partnership. They emphasized the importance of supporting community-led solutions and presented the resilience hubs as a replicable model for Puerto Rico and communities facing climate threats in New York.
"More than ever, conversations about climate change and environmental justice are essential to the well-being and future of our communities. I am pleased to see the important work that organizations and groups are leading to advance climate justice, strengthen community resilience, and support disaster preparedness across Puerto Rico," Governor Hochul said. "As the island continues to face a serious water and infrastructure crisis, my administration is supporting the Hispanic Federation's efforts to install water cisterns, helping families mitigate the impacts of limited access to clean water and ensuring that more communities have access to this essential resource."
"The people of Puerto Rico have been asked to endure a water system and power grid neglected for decades. When those systems fail, it's neighbors who step up to make sure their communities have clean water, food and a safe place to turn. They should not have to do it alone. New York is home to one of the largest Puerto Rican communities in the world, and our responsibility to one another does not end at the water's edge. We are proud to stand with Hispanic Federation and local leaders to build a more resilient future for Puerto Rico," said Mayor Mamdani.
"I applaud Hispanic Federation and the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York for partnering to bring this relief to Puerto Rican families grappling with the effects of the water and climate crisis," said Assembly Member Karines Reyes, R.N., Chair or the NYS Assembly & Senate's Puerto Rican / Hispanic Task Force. "This major investment of infrastructure, equipment and emergency support will make a massive difference in the lives of families that have dealt with one crisis after another. As a New Yorker of Puerto Rican and Dominican descent, I am so pleased that this relief is benefiting this impacted by the worst of the crisis. More work to do on this issue and others."
Two of the local nonprofit partners selected plan to develop new community resilience hubs with support from this initiative. For more than four decades, El Puente, a grassroots climate justice organization founded in New York, has built deep relationships between Puerto Rican communities in New York City and on the archipelago. Now, the organization is transforming its base in Rio Piedras into an urban model for climate and community resilience. El Puente has long-been a member of Hispanic Federation, collaborating on work in both New York and Puerto Rico. With support from this partnership, they can fast track their vision and expand their community response to be ready before the next emergency.
"Our work across these communities has given us a firsthand understanding of how the challenges facing Puerto Rico reverberate throughout the diaspora, and how the knowledge, resilience, and leadership of Puerto Rican communities on the island can inform and strengthen our work in New York. Our new resilience hub in Rio Piedras is rooted in our deep understanding of the realities Puerto Rican communities face--where the impacts of climate change are compounded by decades of crumbling and neglected infrastructure, and where a climate emergency can quickly become a crisis of access to water, power, food, and other basic necessities. This collaboration with Hispanic Federation and the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York recognizes the importance of work that can bridge our communities in NY and Puerto Rico and channel resources where they are needed most." Affirmed Dianne Morales, Executive Director of El Puente.
Ponce Neighborhood Housing Services (Ponce NHS), a nonprofit group with more than 30 years of experience leading community development, housing counseling, and disaster preparedness with communities across southern Puerto Rico, will work with a community in Guayanilla to transform a space into a new hub. Ponce NHS has helped many communities develop community resilience hubs and has collaborated with both Hispanic Federation and the Federal Home Loan Bank on various community initiatives for nearly a decade.
"The Resilience Centers have proven effectiveness in their implementation, demonstrating the capacity to support communities and families in distress, not just in disaster events, but in their daily necessities. Funding these centers is more than just an infrastructure investment, but a commitment to help communities thrive, overcome challenges and move forward. Hispanic Federation and the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York have been important and committed partners to moving our resilience work forward," expressed Elizabeth Colon, Executive Director of Ponce Neighborhood Housing Services who also serves on the FHLBNY's Affordable Housing Advisory Council.
This partnership is not the first time Hispanic Federation and the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York have collaborated to support Puerto Rico. Since 2020, the FHLBNY has provided nearly $1 million in support to Hispanic Federation to support emergency relief after multiple disasters and provide energy resilience to fishing villages across the archipelago.
* * *
About Hispanic Federation
Hispanic Federation (HF) is a nonprofit membership and advocacy organization, founded in 1990, committed to empowering and advancing the Hispanic community, with a focus on low-income, marginalized, and immigrant Latine. With programs in 43 states and territories, HF's focus areas include immigration, economic empowerment, civic engagement, disaster relief, philanthropy, education, health, and the environment. HF also maintains ongoing public education campaigns and meets the organizational development needs of its member agencies through grant-making and capacity-building assistance.
* * *
About the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York
The Federal Home Loan Bank of New York (FHLBNY) is a privately capitalized, member-owned cooperative serving more than 330 financial institutions of all sizes, all committed to the customers and communities they serve across New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. As the local lender's local lender, the FHLBNY supports housing and community development by providing reliable liquidity to its member financial institutions. FHLBNY products and programs help expand homeownership opportunities, strengthen communities throughout our District, and promote broad financial stability. The FHLBNY makes its impact in Puerto Rico alongside its members, housing partners, and local community-focused organizations. For its charitable contributions, the FHLBNY looks to support organizations and efforts that align with its own commitment to supporting housing and economic community development.
* * *
Original text here: https://www.hispanicfederation.org/news/hispanic-federation-and-federal-home-loan-bank-of-new-york-partner-to-build-and-strengthen-community-resilience-hubs-across-puerto-rico/
[Category: Political]
Global Crop Diversity Trust: Jorge Leon Arguedas - The Botanist Who Helped Protect Coffee's Future
BONN, Germany, Nov. 7 -- The Global Crop Diversity Trust issued the following news:
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Jorge Leon Arguedas: The Botanist Who Helped Protect Coffee's Future
By David Henry
6 November 2026
This edition of our Seed Heroes series celebrates Jorge Leon Arguedas, the Costa Rican botanist who helped build one of the world's most important coffee collections. Decades later, the diversity he worked to conserve remains a resource for scientists developing the coffee varieties farmers may need next.
-
Jorge Leon Arguedas helped lay the foundations for a coffee collection that scientists still turn ... Show Full Article BONN, Germany, Nov. 7 -- The Global Crop Diversity Trust issued the following news: * * * Jorge Leon Arguedas: The Botanist Who Helped Protect Coffee's Future By David Henry 6 November 2026 This edition of our Seed Heroes series celebrates Jorge Leon Arguedas, the Costa Rican botanist who helped build one of the world's most important coffee collections. Decades later, the diversity he worked to conserve remains a resource for scientists developing the coffee varieties farmers may need next. - Jorge Leon Arguedas helped lay the foundations for a coffee collection that scientists still turnto today.
In Turrialba, Costa Rica, he collected, catalogued and cared for coffee plants, helping build a genebank where their diversity could be conserved and shared. That work lives on at the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center, CATIE. Their International Coffee Collection holds nearly 2,000 samples of coffee diversity - coffee trees that represent the world's cultivated varieties and wild relatives.
Different coffee varieties carry different traits. Some can help the crop cope with rising temperatures, changing rainfall or emerging diseases. Keeping the diversity of coffee alive gives breeders more options to develop coffee that farmers can continue to grow and coffee lovers can continue to enjoy.
"The legacy of Arguedas remains very much alive in CATIE's International Coffee Collection, which continues to conserve and make available a remarkable diversity of coffee genetic resources for research, breeding and education," says William Solano, CATIE's current genebank manager.
From the Classroom to Plant Collecting
Leon Arguedas was born on 9 December 1916 in Barva de Heredia, Costa Rica. His first career was in teaching. After graduating in 1936, he began working at a primary school in Juan Vinas.
A request from the National Museum helped set him on a different path. The museum's director, Juvenal Valerio Rodriguez, asked the school to send a local plant specimen. Leon Arguedas delivered it in person. The two became friends and Valerio became his mentor.
Valerio later offered him a job at the National Herbarium. From 1940 to 1943, Leon Arguedas worked there as a botanist, collecting specimens and exploring Costa Rica's plant life. Those journeys also informed his first book, New Geography of Costa Rica, which he finished writing at just 25, according to Garcia's profile published in the journal Revista de Biologia Tropical.
Building a Home for Coffee Diversity
In 1947, Leon Arguedas joined the Inter-American Institute of Agricultural Sciences in Turrialba, the institution from which CATIE later developed. He introduced and maintained plant collections, organized seed exchanges, and helped establish its genebank and botanical garden. The garden now bears his name.
CATIE's International Coffee Collection began in 1949. After completing a doctorate in botany in 1953, Leon Arguedas returned to Turrialba, where he focused on establishing and maintaining plant collections, especially coffee, until 1955.
Collecting was only part of the task. Plants had to be kept alive and made available to others. By building collections and supporting exchanges, Leon Arguedas helped give researchers access to material they could study and use to improve crops.
Sharing Plants and Knowledge
Coffee was one part of a wider commitment to crop diversity. In the 1960s, Leon Arguedas worked in Peru, promoting research on Andean crops and helping establish plant collections. He then spent eight years at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Rome supporting plant conservation and the global exchange of genetic resources.
He returned to Costa Rica in 1976 to lead CATIE's Genetic Resources Unit. Until his retirement in 1983, he developed collection projects, laboratories and seed rooms while teaching and mentoring graduate students. He continued sharing his knowledge long after retirement.
"For those of us who had the privilege and honor of working under his leadership, Dr Leon Arguedas represented the fatherly figure that we turned to for knowledge," says Dr Jorge Morera, a scientist who worked with him at CATIE for more than a decade. "His name remains alive in every seed stored in genebanks, which he dedicated himself to creating and sharing through all agricultural centers in our hemisphere."
Keeping his Legacy Growing
Leon Arguedas died on 5 June 2013. The coffee collection he helped build continues to serve researchers and breeders, but its survival depends on sustained care and support.
At CATIE, coffee diversity is conserved as living plants. Aging trees, disease and unreliable funding have put the collection at risk. The Crop Trust and its partners are helping CATIE safeguard this collection, so the diversity gathered over decades remains available for future use.
Jorge Leon Arguedas is a Seed Hero whose work continues to benefit coffee research. Caring for the plants that he helped conserve is one way to carry that work forward.
Through Coffee Forever, you can help protect the diversity behind the coffee we love. Every donation supports coffee conservation, keeping more options available to the farmers and scientists shaping coffee's future. Support Coffee Forever.
* * *
Jorge Leon Arguedas helped protect coffee's future by collecting, conserving and sharing its diversity. Decades later, the collection he helped establish at CATIE gives scientists valuable crop diversity to develop coffee varieties for a changing climate. His legacy earns him a rightful place among the Seed Heroes whose vision continues to benefit farmers and protect the crops we depend on.
* * *
Timeline
1916: Born on 9 December in Barva de Heredia, Costa Rica
1936: Graduates as a teacher
1940-43: Works as a botanist at the National Herbarium
1942: Completes his first book, New Geography of Costa Rica
1947-51: Develops plant collections and the botanical garden at IICA in Turrialba
1953: Earns a doctorate in botany
1953-55: Establishes and maintains plant collections, especially coffee, at IICA
1955-62: Leads IICA's Department of Plant Science
1962-68: Directs IICA's Andean regional research program in Lima, Peru
1968: Publishes The Botanical Foundations of Tropical Crops
1968-76: Works on plant genetic resources at FAO in Rome
1976-83: Heads CATIE's Genetic Resources Unit
1979: Chairs the International Coffee Germplasm Committee
1983: Retires and continues teaching and advising
2013: Dies on 5 June
* * *
Original text here: https://www.croptrust.org/news-events/news/article/jorge-leon-arguedas-the-botanist-who-helped-protect-coffees-future/
[Category: Agriculture]
* * *
Jorge Leon Arguedas: The Botanist Who Helped Protect Coffee's Future
By David Henry
6 November 2026
This edition of our Seed Heroes series celebrates Jorge Leon Arguedas, the Costa Rican botanist who helped build one of the world's most important coffee collections. Decades later, the diversity he worked to conserve remains a resource for scientists developing the coffee varieties farmers may need next.
-
Jorge Leon Arguedas helped lay the foundations for a coffee collection that scientists still turn ... Show Full Article BONN, Germany, Nov. 7 -- The Global Crop Diversity Trust issued the following news: * * * Jorge Leon Arguedas: The Botanist Who Helped Protect Coffee's Future By David Henry 6 November 2026 This edition of our Seed Heroes series celebrates Jorge Leon Arguedas, the Costa Rican botanist who helped build one of the world's most important coffee collections. Decades later, the diversity he worked to conserve remains a resource for scientists developing the coffee varieties farmers may need next. - Jorge Leon Arguedas helped lay the foundations for a coffee collection that scientists still turnto today.
In Turrialba, Costa Rica, he collected, catalogued and cared for coffee plants, helping build a genebank where their diversity could be conserved and shared. That work lives on at the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center, CATIE. Their International Coffee Collection holds nearly 2,000 samples of coffee diversity - coffee trees that represent the world's cultivated varieties and wild relatives.
Different coffee varieties carry different traits. Some can help the crop cope with rising temperatures, changing rainfall or emerging diseases. Keeping the diversity of coffee alive gives breeders more options to develop coffee that farmers can continue to grow and coffee lovers can continue to enjoy.
"The legacy of Arguedas remains very much alive in CATIE's International Coffee Collection, which continues to conserve and make available a remarkable diversity of coffee genetic resources for research, breeding and education," says William Solano, CATIE's current genebank manager.
From the Classroom to Plant Collecting
Leon Arguedas was born on 9 December 1916 in Barva de Heredia, Costa Rica. His first career was in teaching. After graduating in 1936, he began working at a primary school in Juan Vinas.
A request from the National Museum helped set him on a different path. The museum's director, Juvenal Valerio Rodriguez, asked the school to send a local plant specimen. Leon Arguedas delivered it in person. The two became friends and Valerio became his mentor.
Valerio later offered him a job at the National Herbarium. From 1940 to 1943, Leon Arguedas worked there as a botanist, collecting specimens and exploring Costa Rica's plant life. Those journeys also informed his first book, New Geography of Costa Rica, which he finished writing at just 25, according to Garcia's profile published in the journal Revista de Biologia Tropical.
Building a Home for Coffee Diversity
In 1947, Leon Arguedas joined the Inter-American Institute of Agricultural Sciences in Turrialba, the institution from which CATIE later developed. He introduced and maintained plant collections, organized seed exchanges, and helped establish its genebank and botanical garden. The garden now bears his name.
CATIE's International Coffee Collection began in 1949. After completing a doctorate in botany in 1953, Leon Arguedas returned to Turrialba, where he focused on establishing and maintaining plant collections, especially coffee, until 1955.
Collecting was only part of the task. Plants had to be kept alive and made available to others. By building collections and supporting exchanges, Leon Arguedas helped give researchers access to material they could study and use to improve crops.
Sharing Plants and Knowledge
Coffee was one part of a wider commitment to crop diversity. In the 1960s, Leon Arguedas worked in Peru, promoting research on Andean crops and helping establish plant collections. He then spent eight years at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Rome supporting plant conservation and the global exchange of genetic resources.
He returned to Costa Rica in 1976 to lead CATIE's Genetic Resources Unit. Until his retirement in 1983, he developed collection projects, laboratories and seed rooms while teaching and mentoring graduate students. He continued sharing his knowledge long after retirement.
"For those of us who had the privilege and honor of working under his leadership, Dr Leon Arguedas represented the fatherly figure that we turned to for knowledge," says Dr Jorge Morera, a scientist who worked with him at CATIE for more than a decade. "His name remains alive in every seed stored in genebanks, which he dedicated himself to creating and sharing through all agricultural centers in our hemisphere."
Keeping his Legacy Growing
Leon Arguedas died on 5 June 2013. The coffee collection he helped build continues to serve researchers and breeders, but its survival depends on sustained care and support.
At CATIE, coffee diversity is conserved as living plants. Aging trees, disease and unreliable funding have put the collection at risk. The Crop Trust and its partners are helping CATIE safeguard this collection, so the diversity gathered over decades remains available for future use.
Jorge Leon Arguedas is a Seed Hero whose work continues to benefit coffee research. Caring for the plants that he helped conserve is one way to carry that work forward.
Through Coffee Forever, you can help protect the diversity behind the coffee we love. Every donation supports coffee conservation, keeping more options available to the farmers and scientists shaping coffee's future. Support Coffee Forever.
* * *
Jorge Leon Arguedas helped protect coffee's future by collecting, conserving and sharing its diversity. Decades later, the collection he helped establish at CATIE gives scientists valuable crop diversity to develop coffee varieties for a changing climate. His legacy earns him a rightful place among the Seed Heroes whose vision continues to benefit farmers and protect the crops we depend on.
* * *
Timeline
1916: Born on 9 December in Barva de Heredia, Costa Rica
1936: Graduates as a teacher
1940-43: Works as a botanist at the National Herbarium
1942: Completes his first book, New Geography of Costa Rica
1947-51: Develops plant collections and the botanical garden at IICA in Turrialba
1953: Earns a doctorate in botany
1953-55: Establishes and maintains plant collections, especially coffee, at IICA
1955-62: Leads IICA's Department of Plant Science
1962-68: Directs IICA's Andean regional research program in Lima, Peru
1968: Publishes The Botanical Foundations of Tropical Crops
1968-76: Works on plant genetic resources at FAO in Rome
1976-83: Heads CATIE's Genetic Resources Unit
1979: Chairs the International Coffee Germplasm Committee
1983: Retires and continues teaching and advising
2013: Dies on 5 June
* * *
Original text here: https://www.croptrust.org/news-events/news/article/jorge-leon-arguedas-the-botanist-who-helped-protect-coffees-future/
[Category: Agriculture]
Club for Growth PAC Congratulates Mark Lamb on AZ-05 Victory
WASHINGTON, Nov. 7 -- Club for Growth PAC issued the following news release:
* * *
Club for Growth PAC Congratulates Mark Lamb on AZ-05 Victory
Will Mitola | November 6, 2026
Washington, D.C. - Club for Growth PAC congratulates Mark Lamb on winning Arizona's 5th Congressional District race. Lamb defeated Democrat Elizabeth Lee.
"Mark Lamb understands that safe communities and personal freedom go hand in hand with a growing economy, a conviction that will serve the people of Arizona's 5th Congressional District and Americans everywhere," said Club for Growth PAC President David McIntosh. "We ... Show Full Article WASHINGTON, Nov. 7 -- Club for Growth PAC issued the following news release: * * * Club for Growth PAC Congratulates Mark Lamb on AZ-05 Victory Will Mitola | November 6, 2026 Washington, D.C. - Club for Growth PAC congratulates Mark Lamb on winning Arizona's 5th Congressional District race. Lamb defeated Democrat Elizabeth Lee. "Mark Lamb understands that safe communities and personal freedom go hand in hand with a growing economy, a conviction that will serve the people of Arizona's 5th Congressional District and Americans everywhere," said Club for Growth PAC President David McIntosh. "Weare confident Congressman-elect Lamb will carry that message to Washington and defend conservative principles on behalf of hardworking taxpayers."
Club for Growth Action's affiliated Win It Back PAC invested over $250,000 in the race to secure Lamb the Republican nomination. Club for Growth PAC members contributed $47,271 directly to Mark Lamb's campaign.
Click here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTsv1xfrQvM) to watch Sheriff, a Win It Back PAC ad promoting President Trump's primary endorsement of Lamb for Congress.
* * *
Original text here: https://www.clubforgrowth.org/club-for-growth-pac-congratulates-mark-lamb-on-az-05-victory/
[Category: Political]
* * *
Club for Growth PAC Congratulates Mark Lamb on AZ-05 Victory
Will Mitola | November 6, 2026
Washington, D.C. - Club for Growth PAC congratulates Mark Lamb on winning Arizona's 5th Congressional District race. Lamb defeated Democrat Elizabeth Lee.
"Mark Lamb understands that safe communities and personal freedom go hand in hand with a growing economy, a conviction that will serve the people of Arizona's 5th Congressional District and Americans everywhere," said Club for Growth PAC President David McIntosh. "We ... Show Full Article WASHINGTON, Nov. 7 -- Club for Growth PAC issued the following news release: * * * Club for Growth PAC Congratulates Mark Lamb on AZ-05 Victory Will Mitola | November 6, 2026 Washington, D.C. - Club for Growth PAC congratulates Mark Lamb on winning Arizona's 5th Congressional District race. Lamb defeated Democrat Elizabeth Lee. "Mark Lamb understands that safe communities and personal freedom go hand in hand with a growing economy, a conviction that will serve the people of Arizona's 5th Congressional District and Americans everywhere," said Club for Growth PAC President David McIntosh. "Weare confident Congressman-elect Lamb will carry that message to Washington and defend conservative principles on behalf of hardworking taxpayers."
Club for Growth Action's affiliated Win It Back PAC invested over $250,000 in the race to secure Lamb the Republican nomination. Club for Growth PAC members contributed $47,271 directly to Mark Lamb's campaign.
Click here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTsv1xfrQvM) to watch Sheriff, a Win It Back PAC ad promoting President Trump's primary endorsement of Lamb for Congress.
* * *
Original text here: https://www.clubforgrowth.org/club-for-growth-pac-congratulates-mark-lamb-on-az-05-victory/
[Category: Political]
Breaking: Large Study Links Pfizer COVID Vaccine to Higher Mortality Rates Than Moderna Shots
FRANKLIN LAKES, New Jersey, Nov. 7 [Category: Health Care] -- Children's Health Defense, an organization that says it restores and protects the health of children by eliminating exposures to environmental toxins, issued the following commentary in The Defender:
* * *
Breaking: Large Study Links Pfizer COVID Vaccine to Higher Mortality Rates Than Moderna Shots
by Michael Nevradakis, Ph.D.
A new peer-reviewed study of nearly 2 million Florida adults found that people who received Pfizer's mRNA COVID-19 vaccine were more likely to die within the following year than people who received Moderna's ... Show Full Article FRANKLIN LAKES, New Jersey, Nov. 7 [Category: Health Care] -- Children's Health Defense, an organization that says it restores and protects the health of children by eliminating exposures to environmental toxins, issued the following commentary in The Defender: * * * Breaking: Large Study Links Pfizer COVID Vaccine to Higher Mortality Rates Than Moderna Shots by Michael Nevradakis, Ph.D. A new peer-reviewed study of nearly 2 million Florida adults found that people who received Pfizer's mRNA COVID-19 vaccine were more likely to die within the following year than people who received Moderna'smRNA COVID-19 shot.
The study, published in Global Epidemiology, found a statistically significant association between Pfizer's original COVID-19 vaccine and higher death rates over the following year when compared with the Moderna shot. This included a higher rate of all-cause mortality, cardiovascular mortality and COVID-19 mortality.
Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo and Retsef Levi, Ph.D., a professor of operations management at the MIT Sloan School of Management and member of the now-suspended Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), were among the study's co-authors.
In a post on X, Ladapo wrote that the study's findings support his decision to stop recommending the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, as they "strongly" imply that "thousands of Floridians died as a result of receiving Pfizer instead of Moderna."
According to Ladapo, the study's findings indicate that the likely death toll related to the Pfizer vaccine, if extrapolated nationally and globally, "is staggering."
"The culture of approving vaccines without adequate safety testing and assuming 'innocent until proven guilty' with these products absolutely, positively needs to end," Ladapo wrote.
Pfizer vaccine linked to higher overall death rates across all age groups
The researchers analyzed vaccination and death records for 1,962,822 Florida adults who received their first Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 shot between December 2020 and August 2021.
The researchers matched nearly 1 million Pfizer recipients with an equal number of Moderna recipients based on criteria including age, sex, and vaccination date.
The study's findings showed that, when compared to those who received the Moderna shot, people who received the Pfizer shot had a:
* 39% higher risk of death from any cause.
* 55% higher risk of cardiovascular death.
* 90% higher risk of death from COVID-19.
* 36% higher risk of death from causes other than COVID-19.
In total, 784 all-cause deaths were reported among the Pfizer cohort, compared to 562 all-cause deaths among Moderna recipients. This equates to 221 additional deaths per 100,000 people among the Pfizer group during the study period.
The study found that differences were greatest among adults ages 60 and over, although Pfizer recipients had higher overall death rates across all age groups.
"These findings suggest that COVID-19- and non-COVID-19-related health outcomes should be considered" when evaluating COVID-19 vaccine safety, the researchers wrote.
"The implied all-cause excess mortality in choosing Pfizer-BioNTech over Moderna is huge," said Karl Jablonowski, Ph.D., senior research scientist for Children's Health Defense. He noted that for adults 60 and over, the hazard ratio is 1.44, which translates to nearly 500 more deaths per 100,000 people.
Findings consistent with prior research on Pfizer vaccine
According to the researchers, several factors could explain the higher mortality among Pfizer vaccine recipients.
One possibility is that Moderna's vaccine provided comparatively stronger protection against COVID-19 infection and its complications. Another is that the two vaccines may affect health differently, beyond preventing COVID-19.
The researchers noted that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines differ in their ingredients, mRNA doses, manufacturing processes and delivery systems. However, they said the biological reasons for the differences in death rates remain unclear.
They also examined deaths from cancer, suicide and homicide, which they considered unlikely to be affected by which vaccine a person received. They found no statistically significant differences in those outcomes among the two groups.
According to the researchers, there was "general congruence" between their findings and those of a nationwide study published in 2022 of 433,672 veterans across the U.S.
That study found that Pfizer recipients had a higher risk of stroke, myocarditis, blood clots and kidney injury when compared to Moderna vaccine recipients.
The researchers' findings were also consistent with those of another 2022 study comparing 902,235 Pfizer and Moderna recipients in the U.S. Veterans Affairs healthcare system. That study found a higher risk of COVID-19 infection and hospitalization among Pfizer recipients -- a gap that grew with age.
Study's limitations raise further questions
Jablonowski said the study included some potential methodological flaws. He noted one possible confounding factor: The Pfizer vaccine was available earlier than Moderna's, when there was a push to vaccinate high-risk groups.
"Pfizer's was available first, the vulnerable were vaccinated first, so there is room for a confounding effect," Jablonowski said. "The problem arises if those who are more likely to die ... are also more likely to be vaccinated with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine due to a difference not detected in the study."
Jablonowski noted that one of the study's supplemental tables "actually shows the inverse relationship of vaccine and mortality, where Moderna's vaccine is associated with a greater all-cause mortality hazard in individuals 18-59 years old."
While the researchers didn't address those potential factors and discrepancies, they did identify some other potential study limitations. As it was an observational study, the researchers lacked detailed medical records that could have shed light on underlying illnesses among the people studied.
The researchers also noted that some of the official causes of death "could be subject to misclassification due to errors on death certificates."
The study also didn't include an unvaccinated cohort to compare mortality and other health risks with the vaccinated group.
Despite these limitations, the researchers wrote that the "large number of adults included in this analysis, rigorousness of the matching process, and consistency of our findings with prior studies support the validity of these findings."
This article was funded by critical thinkers like you.
The Defender is 100% reader-supported. No corporate sponsors. No paywalls. Our writers and editors rely on you to fund stories like this that mainstream media won't write.
Tracy Beth Hoeg, M.D., Ph.D., a vaccine safety expert, contributed to the study. Although she was not one of the study's co-authors, she is credited with "assistance with study method development and writing during the early stage of this research."
Hoeg served as acting director of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Center for Drug Evaluation and Research before her firing in May.
During her time at the FDA, Hoeg participated in an "intense investigation" linking the COVID-19 vaccines to "at least" 10 child deaths, and authored a report recommending that the number of diseases covered by the recommended childhood vaccination schedule be reduced from 17 to 11.
Levi led ACIP's workgroup on the safety and efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines before a federal court ruling in March froze ACIP's operations.
That ruling came in a lawsuit filed by the American Academy of Pediatrics and six other medical groups. They sued U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services last year in a bid to overturn Kennedy's vaccine policies.
ACIP, which advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccine policy, has not held a meeting since December 2025.
***
Original text here: https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/large-study-links-pfizer-covid-vaccine-higher-mortality-rates-moderna-shots/ (TNSmrp)
* * *
Breaking: Large Study Links Pfizer COVID Vaccine to Higher Mortality Rates Than Moderna Shots
by Michael Nevradakis, Ph.D.
A new peer-reviewed study of nearly 2 million Florida adults found that people who received Pfizer's mRNA COVID-19 vaccine were more likely to die within the following year than people who received Moderna's ... Show Full Article FRANKLIN LAKES, New Jersey, Nov. 7 [Category: Health Care] -- Children's Health Defense, an organization that says it restores and protects the health of children by eliminating exposures to environmental toxins, issued the following commentary in The Defender: * * * Breaking: Large Study Links Pfizer COVID Vaccine to Higher Mortality Rates Than Moderna Shots by Michael Nevradakis, Ph.D. A new peer-reviewed study of nearly 2 million Florida adults found that people who received Pfizer's mRNA COVID-19 vaccine were more likely to die within the following year than people who received Moderna'smRNA COVID-19 shot.
The study, published in Global Epidemiology, found a statistically significant association between Pfizer's original COVID-19 vaccine and higher death rates over the following year when compared with the Moderna shot. This included a higher rate of all-cause mortality, cardiovascular mortality and COVID-19 mortality.
Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo and Retsef Levi, Ph.D., a professor of operations management at the MIT Sloan School of Management and member of the now-suspended Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), were among the study's co-authors.
In a post on X, Ladapo wrote that the study's findings support his decision to stop recommending the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, as they "strongly" imply that "thousands of Floridians died as a result of receiving Pfizer instead of Moderna."
According to Ladapo, the study's findings indicate that the likely death toll related to the Pfizer vaccine, if extrapolated nationally and globally, "is staggering."
"The culture of approving vaccines without adequate safety testing and assuming 'innocent until proven guilty' with these products absolutely, positively needs to end," Ladapo wrote.
Pfizer vaccine linked to higher overall death rates across all age groups
The researchers analyzed vaccination and death records for 1,962,822 Florida adults who received their first Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 shot between December 2020 and August 2021.
The researchers matched nearly 1 million Pfizer recipients with an equal number of Moderna recipients based on criteria including age, sex, and vaccination date.
The study's findings showed that, when compared to those who received the Moderna shot, people who received the Pfizer shot had a:
* 39% higher risk of death from any cause.
* 55% higher risk of cardiovascular death.
* 90% higher risk of death from COVID-19.
* 36% higher risk of death from causes other than COVID-19.
In total, 784 all-cause deaths were reported among the Pfizer cohort, compared to 562 all-cause deaths among Moderna recipients. This equates to 221 additional deaths per 100,000 people among the Pfizer group during the study period.
The study found that differences were greatest among adults ages 60 and over, although Pfizer recipients had higher overall death rates across all age groups.
"These findings suggest that COVID-19- and non-COVID-19-related health outcomes should be considered" when evaluating COVID-19 vaccine safety, the researchers wrote.
"The implied all-cause excess mortality in choosing Pfizer-BioNTech over Moderna is huge," said Karl Jablonowski, Ph.D., senior research scientist for Children's Health Defense. He noted that for adults 60 and over, the hazard ratio is 1.44, which translates to nearly 500 more deaths per 100,000 people.
Findings consistent with prior research on Pfizer vaccine
According to the researchers, several factors could explain the higher mortality among Pfizer vaccine recipients.
One possibility is that Moderna's vaccine provided comparatively stronger protection against COVID-19 infection and its complications. Another is that the two vaccines may affect health differently, beyond preventing COVID-19.
The researchers noted that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines differ in their ingredients, mRNA doses, manufacturing processes and delivery systems. However, they said the biological reasons for the differences in death rates remain unclear.
They also examined deaths from cancer, suicide and homicide, which they considered unlikely to be affected by which vaccine a person received. They found no statistically significant differences in those outcomes among the two groups.
According to the researchers, there was "general congruence" between their findings and those of a nationwide study published in 2022 of 433,672 veterans across the U.S.
That study found that Pfizer recipients had a higher risk of stroke, myocarditis, blood clots and kidney injury when compared to Moderna vaccine recipients.
The researchers' findings were also consistent with those of another 2022 study comparing 902,235 Pfizer and Moderna recipients in the U.S. Veterans Affairs healthcare system. That study found a higher risk of COVID-19 infection and hospitalization among Pfizer recipients -- a gap that grew with age.
Study's limitations raise further questions
Jablonowski said the study included some potential methodological flaws. He noted one possible confounding factor: The Pfizer vaccine was available earlier than Moderna's, when there was a push to vaccinate high-risk groups.
"Pfizer's was available first, the vulnerable were vaccinated first, so there is room for a confounding effect," Jablonowski said. "The problem arises if those who are more likely to die ... are also more likely to be vaccinated with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine due to a difference not detected in the study."
Jablonowski noted that one of the study's supplemental tables "actually shows the inverse relationship of vaccine and mortality, where Moderna's vaccine is associated with a greater all-cause mortality hazard in individuals 18-59 years old."
While the researchers didn't address those potential factors and discrepancies, they did identify some other potential study limitations. As it was an observational study, the researchers lacked detailed medical records that could have shed light on underlying illnesses among the people studied.
The researchers also noted that some of the official causes of death "could be subject to misclassification due to errors on death certificates."
The study also didn't include an unvaccinated cohort to compare mortality and other health risks with the vaccinated group.
Despite these limitations, the researchers wrote that the "large number of adults included in this analysis, rigorousness of the matching process, and consistency of our findings with prior studies support the validity of these findings."
This article was funded by critical thinkers like you.
The Defender is 100% reader-supported. No corporate sponsors. No paywalls. Our writers and editors rely on you to fund stories like this that mainstream media won't write.
Tracy Beth Hoeg, M.D., Ph.D., a vaccine safety expert, contributed to the study. Although she was not one of the study's co-authors, she is credited with "assistance with study method development and writing during the early stage of this research."
Hoeg served as acting director of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Center for Drug Evaluation and Research before her firing in May.
During her time at the FDA, Hoeg participated in an "intense investigation" linking the COVID-19 vaccines to "at least" 10 child deaths, and authored a report recommending that the number of diseases covered by the recommended childhood vaccination schedule be reduced from 17 to 11.
Levi led ACIP's workgroup on the safety and efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines before a federal court ruling in March froze ACIP's operations.
That ruling came in a lawsuit filed by the American Academy of Pediatrics and six other medical groups. They sued U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services last year in a bid to overturn Kennedy's vaccine policies.
ACIP, which advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccine policy, has not held a meeting since December 2025.
***
Original text here: https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/large-study-links-pfizer-covid-vaccine-higher-mortality-rates-moderna-shots/ (TNSmrp)
Americans for Limited Government: President Trump Should Tell Democratic Congress: 'Let's Build'
FAIRFAX, Virginia, Nov. 7 -- Americans for Limited Government posted the following news release:
* * *
President Trump Should Tell Democratic Congress: 'Let's Build'
Nov. 6, 2026, Fairfax, Va.--Americans for Limited Government Executive Director Robert Romano today issued the following statement in response to the latest jobs numbers:
"The U.S. economy is doing rather well in spite of sticky inflation and high oil prices that continuing serving as a drag on U.S. household budgets, with 465,000 more Americans reporting they have jobs in the Bureau of Labor Statistics' household survey, near ... Show Full Article FAIRFAX, Virginia, Nov. 7 -- Americans for Limited Government posted the following news release: * * * President Trump Should Tell Democratic Congress: 'Let's Build' Nov. 6, 2026, Fairfax, Va.--Americans for Limited Government Executive Director Robert Romano today issued the following statement in response to the latest jobs numbers: "The U.S. economy is doing rather well in spite of sticky inflation and high oil prices that continuing serving as a drag on U.S. household budgets, with 465,000 more Americans reporting they have jobs in the Bureau of Labor Statistics' household survey, neara record, with 163.6 million Americans working. Unemployment is dipping back towards historic lows, now at 4.1 percent. 100,000 manufacturing jobs have been added in 2026 alone as America reindustrialization is hitting high gear. The Gross Domestic Product grew at an inflation-adjusted 3.4 percent in the third quarter.
"Some factions in the new Democratic Party majority might like to take a wrecking ball to all that progress, but there is another way: Cooperation. Congress could work on targeted tariff bills; let's put some of these things on paper and figure out what has worked and what hasn't as the U.S. keeps needed pressure on China and continue to bring back manufacturing to the U.S. which we absolutely must have in the event of war. Congress can deliver infrastructure investments that President Trump has often spoken about while paying people what they're worth to rebuild America. Reindustrialization means we need more electricity and Congress could help facilitate domestic production of solar-based electricity that Elon Musk has said could double the power grid. If we need super intelligence data centers in space then let's incentivize them and work together on cutting edge and safe development that enhances national security and continues to make cheap, reliable frontier innovation available to small businesses.
"There is so much more that unites Americans than we realize as our interests converge to promoting American prosperity, increasing production and bringing down costs.
"In 2026, the American people voted for mixed government. They want the parties to find a way to work together on the things that serve all Americans' interests. President Trump's message to Congress should be: Let's build."
For media availability, contact Americans for Limited Government at media@limitgov.org.
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Original text here: https://getliberty.org/2026/11/president-trump-should-tell-democratic-congress-lets-build/
[Category: Government/Public Administration]
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President Trump Should Tell Democratic Congress: 'Let's Build'
Nov. 6, 2026, Fairfax, Va.--Americans for Limited Government Executive Director Robert Romano today issued the following statement in response to the latest jobs numbers:
"The U.S. economy is doing rather well in spite of sticky inflation and high oil prices that continuing serving as a drag on U.S. household budgets, with 465,000 more Americans reporting they have jobs in the Bureau of Labor Statistics' household survey, near ... Show Full Article FAIRFAX, Virginia, Nov. 7 -- Americans for Limited Government posted the following news release: * * * President Trump Should Tell Democratic Congress: 'Let's Build' Nov. 6, 2026, Fairfax, Va.--Americans for Limited Government Executive Director Robert Romano today issued the following statement in response to the latest jobs numbers: "The U.S. economy is doing rather well in spite of sticky inflation and high oil prices that continuing serving as a drag on U.S. household budgets, with 465,000 more Americans reporting they have jobs in the Bureau of Labor Statistics' household survey, neara record, with 163.6 million Americans working. Unemployment is dipping back towards historic lows, now at 4.1 percent. 100,000 manufacturing jobs have been added in 2026 alone as America reindustrialization is hitting high gear. The Gross Domestic Product grew at an inflation-adjusted 3.4 percent in the third quarter.
"Some factions in the new Democratic Party majority might like to take a wrecking ball to all that progress, but there is another way: Cooperation. Congress could work on targeted tariff bills; let's put some of these things on paper and figure out what has worked and what hasn't as the U.S. keeps needed pressure on China and continue to bring back manufacturing to the U.S. which we absolutely must have in the event of war. Congress can deliver infrastructure investments that President Trump has often spoken about while paying people what they're worth to rebuild America. Reindustrialization means we need more electricity and Congress could help facilitate domestic production of solar-based electricity that Elon Musk has said could double the power grid. If we need super intelligence data centers in space then let's incentivize them and work together on cutting edge and safe development that enhances national security and continues to make cheap, reliable frontier innovation available to small businesses.
"There is so much more that unites Americans than we realize as our interests converge to promoting American prosperity, increasing production and bringing down costs.
"In 2026, the American people voted for mixed government. They want the parties to find a way to work together on the things that serve all Americans' interests. President Trump's message to Congress should be: Let's build."
For media availability, contact Americans for Limited Government at media@limitgov.org.
* * *
Original text here: https://getliberty.org/2026/11/president-trump-should-tell-democratic-congress-lets-build/
[Category: Government/Public Administration]