After All Things

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Lawmakers from our region react to the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump. Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman signs a bill that bans trans-women from playing in women’s sports. The cost of food in Connecticut has risen 25% in the last four years. Two Long Island schools change their mascots to comply with a new state rule. And Connecticut needs more licensed healthcare workers.

Duration:: 14m
Broadcast on:: 15 Jul 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut says the Secret Service needs to answer questions about the security lapse that allowed an assassin attempt on former President Donald Trump at a rally of his on Saturday. Two people have died, including the shooter. Trump was rushed off stage by Secret Service after he was shot in the ear. "I think there needs to be a thorough penetrating review of the security failure that occurred permitting this shooter to advance within 164 yards of Donald Trump while he was speaking at the rally on a rooftop within plain view." Republican Long Island Congressman Anthony Diaz-Bazito, a former NYPD detective, said he was "grateful for his law enforcement brothers and sisters who ran towards the danger." "You're listening to After All Things, WSHU's Daily News and Culture Update from the Long Island Sound region. Bruce Blakeman signs a bill that bans trans women from playing in women's sports. The cost of food in Connecticut has risen 25 percent in the last four years. Two Long Island schools change their mascots to comply with a new state rule, and Connecticut needs more licensed health care workers. Those stories and more are ahead. I'm Sabrina Garone." Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman signed into law a bill that bans transgender women from playing on all women's sports teams, but it's not clear whether it'll actually take effect due to a lawsuit by the state attorney general. WSHU's Desiree Diorio has more. Blakeman's effort to ban transgender women and girls from playing on female-only sports teams has drawn backlash since his first try by executive order. That got reversed by a state judge. Blakeman acknowledged the controversy at the bill signing ceremony Monday morning. "We've heard from a lot of people who have a different point of view, and that's fair. We can agree to disagree. For us, it's a matter of common sense, it's a matter of fairness, and it's a matter of integrity." In court documents filed just hours later, state AG Leticia James accused Blakeman of violating New York's human and civil rights laws. The ban applies to more than 100 parks and properties throughout the county. Desiree Diorio, WSHU News. Connecticut Congressman Rosa Delaro says she'll push federal and state initiatives to address rising grocery prices. WSHU's Janice Roman has more. Delaro says these initiatives are aimed at lowering food prices to make everyday necessities more affordable. According to the Consumer Price Index, food prices have risen more than 25 percent over the last four years. Connecticut Attorney General William Tong will investigate price gouging at supermarkets in the state. Tong says residents have reached out to his office to look into issues like high prices and "shrinkflation." "They want us to take a hard look at these prices. They want to understand what's happening to the price of eggs that has really shut up. And so it's our responsibility, it's our obligation to take a hard look at it." Tong says a federal trade report from March indicated some grocery retailers use rising costs from the pandemic as an opportunity to raise prices and increase profits. Janice Roman, WSHU News. A heat advisory is in effect for our region through tomorrow night. The National Weather Service says high temperatures and humidity this week is expected to reach over 100 degrees. Officials recommend people and pets stay indoors and drink lots of water to maintain a healthy body temperature. Connecticut residents can find their closest cooling center by calling 211. Suffolk County's non-emergency line is 311. It will look for ways to incentivize immigration as a way to recruit more healthcare workers. That story is ahead. First, a message from our supporter. Local support comes from Hartford HealthCare, the only health system in the northeast, with all its hospitals receiving A grades for safety from the LeapFrog group, the nation's leading independent safety watchdog group. HarvardHealthCare.org. Two more Long Island schools will change their team names to comply with New York's ban on Native American mascots and imagery. The Half Hollow Hills East team will be changed to the Red Hawks and the Comaswog team will be renamed the Spartans. The changes will take place, not this school year but the next one. Five Long Island districts have decided to file legal challenges to the state mandate. The New London School District will implement a new transitional kindergarten program for the 2024-25 school year. The district says students up to four and a half years old will play in a way that develops their reading, math, and social skills. A new state law requires kids who turn five before September to be eligible for kindergarten admission. Former New York gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin will be among the featured speakers at this week's Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. Zeldin, a former Long Island congressman, grew his stature in GOP politics with his closer than usual loss to Governor Kathy Hochl two weeks ago. Back in 2020, he served on the legal team to defend then President Donald Trump from impeachment. Experienced doctors looking to immigrate to the U.S. often have trouble transferring their experience to an American hospital because of visas and licensing. Could easing restrictions help solve a workforce shortage in the healthcare field? WSHU's Yvonne Udama spoke with the Connecticut Mirrors Katie Govella. To find out, she's done some in-depth reporting on this topic. The conversation is part of the podcast, Long Story Short. Most people aren't aware of the complicated federal and state requirements for immigrant medical practitioners to be allowed to practice in the U.S. Could you explain this? Maybe you could talk about Mark Costa, he's a native Brazilian psychiatrist who emigrated with his family and two children to Connecticut about 13 years ago. Traditionally, if you go to medical school in the U.S., you have to complete a three-year residency and then you can become a practicing physician. Now for people who, let's say, were practicing in their home countries, maybe they live in Brazil, like Mark Costa, for example. He was a psychiatrist for nearly two decades in Brazil, and then in 2011, he and his family immigrated to the U.S. So what he would have to do, like any primary care physician, cardiologist, whatever. When they come to the U.S., they need to pass all the U.S. medical exams, and then they need to be due. But even before they get to that, they have to deal with immigration. Yeah, that's right. The license in his state, but the first after you have to have the federal in order before you can even get to the license. For people who want to come to the U.S., traditionally, the two avenues for physicians are a J-1 visa. So that is for people who completed medical school in another country and are coming here to complete their residency. So the J-1 allows them to stay for three years to complete their residency training. But then it requires them to go back to their home country for at least two years before they can apply for permission to come back to the U.S. So there are a lot of international medical graduates coming to the U.S. to do their residency training. And then we're basically just losing them because of this home country residency requirement, which requires them to go back for two years. The other option is an H-1B visa, and that is not unique to physicians. This is a visa for an employee or sponsor visa for people to come to the U.S. So this is, for example, a big company like a Google or a Microsoft might sponsor someone to come to the U.S. So that does not have a requirement where you have to return to your home country for any number of years, but it is tied to a single employer. So immigration, I think, Potom Guman, one of the physicians I spoke to came from Pakistan to the U.S., described it as a complicated web, and I think that's putting it pretty nicely. But the process to actually get to this country is very difficult. And then for immigrant physicians who do end up making it to this country, so you brought up Mark Costa who came in 2011. His mother was American, so he actually got American citizenship through her. So you think, okay, easy. He comes to the U.S., he does his requirements again, and then he will be able to practice psychiatry in the U.S. We have such a need for mental health professionals here, sounds like a win-win. Instead, he came up against the challenges that many immigrants who are healthcare workers face when they come to the U.S. and think that they will just be able to continue their career. And those are the state requirements here. And these are now the state requirements, exactly. So can you just explain what those state requirements are? Yeah, so now this differs by the type of healthcare worker you are, so it's going to be different for nurses versus physicians. But since we're talking about physicians, let's stick with that. States have the power to give you the license to practice medicine. And so in order to get that license, you need to pass all medical exams, and then you need to complete a three-year residency training, which people like Mark Costa have already completed in another country. But the U.S. says we want you to study our medical system. But the thing about the residency is that they need three years' residency. But people feel that they can do that in a shorter period of time to get used to the American system. Tennessee has just passed a law which shortens that period. Could you just talk about the Tennessee law? Yeah, so now there are states that are saying we have a need for physicians, and they're looking to tap into immigrants from other countries who have practiced medicine elsewhere in order to address that shortage. So Tennessee became the first state to do this. Last year they passed a law saying, you know what, actually, you don't have to redo residency training to practice medicine in our state. You have to pass all your medical exams, you have to prove English fluency. In some of these cases, you know, Tennessee, Illinois, Florida, and Virginia, I believe are the four states that have passed laws getting rid of the residency requirements. So in some cases, you have to commit to practicing in an underserved area. In some cases, you have to use requirement that you work under supervision. But these four states have gone ahead and said, we want to get rid of this residency requirement to enable more people to practice in the U.S. And then two other states, Alabama and Colorado, have shortened the amount of time that a working physician from another country would have to do residencies. I thought something interesting was what Saud Anwar, who's the co-chair of the health committee in the state legislature, had to say about reaching out for immigrants to come in where when there are some locally trained physicians who are having a hard time getting residency placements. And that first effort should be to try and get those people who have been trained locally and who haven't had the residency, get them on board. And that will help start to solve the problem and not have most of the complications that you have from bringing in immigrants who've been trained outside the country. Yep. So every year, about 7% of U.S. medical school graduates do not get placed in a residency. So Senator Anwar, I believe, proposed a bill to get those people to work. And to be clear, they would not be working as physicians. The goal of that would be to be able to use their talents because they have all this training for medical school to be able to use their talents within the healthcare workforce in some capacity. Well, thank you so much, Katie. Thank you. Katie Galvala is an investigative reporter with a Connecticut mirror. I'm Avon Udama. Thank you for listening to After All Things, supported by Hartford HealthCare, for more stories from the Long Island Sound region. Listen on the radio, stream online at WSHU.org, or download the WSHU app. That's also where you can check out more great podcasts from WSHU, like Long Story Short, or listen wherever you get your podcasts. And as always, reach out with any thoughts or story ideas. Our email is news@wshu.org. I'm Sabrina Giron. Have a great rest of your day. I'll talk to you tomorrow. [MUSIC] [BLANK_AUDIO]