ROCKVILLE, Maryland, June 19 -- The Association of Official Analytical Chemists International issued the following news release: AOAC INTERNATIONAL announced the launch of a project to evaluate and certify the performance of test kits that detect the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, the causative agent of COVID-19 illness, on environmental surfaces. The project will employ the Emergency Response Validation option of the AOAC Research Institute's Performance Tested Methods Program. This option allows fo  more

DALLAS, Texas, June 19 -- The U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics - Southwest Regional Information Office issued the following report on the employer costs for employee compensation in the regions for March 2020: Private industry employer costs for employee compensation among the four regions of the country ranged from $31.00 per hour in the South to $40.20 in the West during March 2020, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. In the other two regions, hourly employer co  more

WASHINGTON, June 19 -- The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities issued the following news: By Jesse Cross-Call, Senior Policy Analyst With Oklahoma and Missouri voters deciding this summer whether their states will extend Medicaid to a combined 600,000 people by adopting the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) Medicaid expansion, opponents are again falsely claiming that states can't afford the expansion, warning that the COVID-19 pandemic and recession will drive enrollment higher. While the recess  more

LONDON, England, June 19 -- The British Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs issued the following news release: Plans to accelerate tree planting and improve the management of our existing trees and woodlands are underway as the government launched a consultation to inform a new England Tree Strategy. Everyone - from farmers, foresters and land managers, experts and environmental organisations, to members of the public - is being invited to give their views on the future creation  more

WASHINGTON, June 19 -- The U.S. Department of Energy's Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued the following statement on June 18 by Commissioner Richard Glick on a decision (Docket No. ER19-1428-003) involving ISO New England: I dissent from today's order because ISO New England Inc. has failed to demonstrate that the Inventoried Energy program will actually improve the region's fuel security or that any improvement, if it occurs, is likely to be worth the up to $300 million it will cost c  more

WASHINGTON, June 19 -- The House Ways and Means subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures issued the following testimony by Allison Bovell-Ammon, director of policy strategy for Children's HealthWatch at Boston Medical Center, for a remote hearing entitled "Tax Relief to Support Workers and Families during the COVID-19 Recession" on June 18: My name is Allison Bovell-Ammon and I am the Director of Policy Strategy for Children's HealthWatch, headquartered at Boston Medical Center (BMC). Children'  more

BOSTON, Massachusetts, June 19 -- GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders issued the text of the following joint letter with 334 organizations on June 18: Black people have been killed, Black people are dying at the hands of police, our country is in crisis, and we all need to take action. We cannot sit on the sidelines, we cannot acquiesce, and we cannot assign responsibility to others. We, as leaders in the LGBTQ movement, must rise up and call for structural change, for divestment of police reso  more

HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania, June 19 -- Gov. Tom Wolf, D-Pennsylvania, issued the following news release: Governor Tom Wolf reminded Pennsylvanians that mask-wearing is required when entering any business in all counties in the state in both yellow and green phases of reopening. Masks are considered critical in stopping the spread of COVID, now and in preparation for a possible resurgence of the virus in the fall. The mask requirement is part of Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel's Levine's order, "D  more

PLYMOUTH, New Hampshire, June 18 -- Plymouth State University issued the following news release: Plymouth State University (PSU) graduate student Hannah Vollmer, of Thornton, NH, has been awarded a prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship, the first PSU student to achieve this honor. Vollmer was recognized both for her promise as an early-career scientist and her research on two rare alpine plants in the White Mountains of New Hampshire: dwarf mountain cinquefo  more

BOSTON, Massachusetts, June 19 -- Sen. Edward J. Markey, D-Massachusetts, issued the following news release on June 18: With states continuing to experience alarming upticks in the number of new coronavirus infections, Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) introduced legislation to halt the Trump administration's harmful immigration enforcement activities, including deportations, during the coronavirus pandemic to protect public health. Continued arrests and apprehensions discourage immigrant comm  more

DARTMOUTH, Massachusetts, June 19 -- The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth campus issued the following news release: Research expenditures at the University of Massachusetts increased by $33 million in one fiscal year to a record high of $684 million in Fiscal Year 2019. This continued increase reflects the long-term growth of the university's research enterprise, which has grown by 14 percent since FY14 and 40 percent since FY09. Federal funding remained the largest source of research fun  more

MONTREAL, Quebec, June 19 -- The University of Montreal issued the following news: With a new study on re-using cardiac medical devices, the eldest son of two UdeM health professionals becomes the youngest author ever published in one of the world's top medical journals. For the Khairy family of Montreal, Father's Day came early this year. So did Mother's Day. And so, for that matter, did the Fete des patriotes, Fete nationale, Canada Day and World Humanitarian Day. That's because in early Ma  more