Latest news with #ACF
Time of India
2 hours ago
- Time of India
Tigress Found Dead In Tadoba Buffer
Chandrapur: A six-year-old tigress was found dead under suspicious circumstances in Keslaghat forest of Mul buffer range, falling under Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR), early on Friday. The lifeless body of the big cat was first spotted by tourists inside compartment number 360 of the forest during morning safari. On their way back, the tourists informed forest officials at Keslaghat gate about the tigress, following which a team led by acting range forest officer (RFO) Pendor reached the spot. After completing necessary inquest procedures, the carcass was shifted to Transit Treatment Center (TTC) in Chandrapur for post-mortem. Officials claimed that the feline, identified as T-177, died within the last 24 hours. The postmortem was conducted by a team of three veterinary experts — Dr PD Kadukar, Dr Ravikant Khobragade, and Dr Kundan Podchalwar. Officials including ACF (TATR Buffer) Saitanmay Dube, RFO Pendor, PCCF representative Mukesh Bhandakkar, and National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) representative Bandu Dhotre were present during the examination. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Καταπληκτικό! Αυτός ο υπολογιστής σας δείχνει άμεσα την αξία του σπιτιού σας (δείτε τώρα) Αξία σπιτιού | Διαφημίσεις αναζήτησης Κάντε κλικ εδώ Undo According to the veterinarians, all body parts of the tigress were intact and showed no signs of poaching, effectively ruling out any foul play in the death of the feline. However, the exact cause of death could not be determined immediately. Preliminary findings suggest that the tigress may have died due to cardiorespiratory failure. Viscera samples have been collected and will be sent to a forensic laboratory to ascertain the precise cause of death. The carcass was later incinerated in the presence of forest officials and other witnesses on the TTC premises. India lost 95 tigers this year, Maha 26 In the last five-and-a-half months, 95 tigers have died in the country due to various reasons, and Maharashtra leads the tally. Total 26 tigers have died in Maharashtra this year, followed by 25 in Madhya Pradesh.
The Hill
2 hours ago
- Politics
- The Hill
California given deadline to overhaul sex education program
The Trump administration gave California a 60-day deadline to overhaul its sex education program or risk losing federal funding. California must eliminate 'all gender ideology references' in its program and curriculum, the Administration for Children and Families at the Department of Health and Human Services said in a letter to the state. The administration condemned the federally funded Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP) for teaching gender identity is different from a child's biological sex. 'The Trump Administration will not tolerate the use of federal funds for programs that indoctrinate our children,' said Acting Assistant Secretary Andrew Gradison. 'The disturbing gender ideology content in California's PREP materials is both unacceptable and well outside the program's core purpose. ACF remains committed to radical transparency and providing accountability so that parents know what their children are being taught in schools.' The Hill has reached out to California Gov. Gavin Newsom's (D) office for comment. The department said it is also investigating other grant recipients that administer PREP to ensure similar concepts are not taught in other areas of the country. The announcement comes days after the Supreme Court ruled Tennessee's ban on medical care for transgender kids is legal. It also comes after the Department of Education has opened investigations into numerous school districts who have allowed transgender individuals to play on girls' sports teams.
Fox News
5 hours ago
- Politics
- Fox News
HHS gives California deadline to overhaul federally-funded sex ed program 'indoctrinating' kids
The Trump administration is giving California's federally funded sex education program 60 days to remove all references to gender identity or face potential termination of its funding. California's Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP) grant has been under scrutiny by the Trump administration since at least March, when the HHS's Administration for Children and Families (ACF) requested the federally funded state-operated program send copies of its curriculum and other relevant course materials to them for review. According to ACF, the probe was initiated to ensure the state's sexual education programming is medically accurate and age-appropriate. The agency said in a Friday notice sent to California's PREP program, reviewed by Fox News Digital, that following its examination of the program's curriculum and other teaching materials, it found a litany of subjects and language within the course materials deemed to fall outside the program's "authorizing statute," in particular references to "gender ideology." As a result, ACF said it halted their review for "medical accuracy," since the content it found is not statutorily allowed in the first place. "The Trump administration will not tolerate the use of federal funds for programs that indoctrinate our children," said ACF's acting Assistant Secretary Andrew Gradison. "The disturbing gender ideology content in California's PREP materials is both unacceptable and well outside the program's core purpose. ACF remains committed to radical transparency and providing accountability so that parents know what their children are being taught in schools." Among the materials ACF found, which it now wants to be removed, was a lesson for middle school-aged students that seeks to introduce them to the concepts of transgenderism. "We've been talking during class about messages people get on how they should act as boys and girls—but as many of you know, there are also people who don't identify as boys or girls, but rather as transgender or gender queer," the lesson states to students. "This means that even if they were called a boy or a girl at birth and may have body parts that are typically associated with being a boy or a girl, on the inside, they feel differently." ACF flagged parts of the curriculum for high school-aged students as well, which gets into topics like differentiating between "social transitioning" and "medical transitioning." The high school-aged materials also include instruction on what it means to be "non-binary" and language that tells students "gender-identity" is "essentially a social status." Teacher training materials part of the California PREP program were among other aspects of the California sex-ed curriculum that were flagged by ACF. "All people have a gender identity," the teacher training materials state. They also instruct educators to refer to people who follow the biological marker they are "assigned at birth" as "cisgender" and adds that those who are not "cisgender" may identify as "non-binary, agender, bigender, genderfluid, [or] genderqueer." In ACF's notice, the agency pointed out that under the authorizing statute that established California's PREP program, it is defined as a program designed to educate young people mainly on abstinence, contraception and avoiding sexually transmitted infections, like HIV/AIDS. "The statute neither requires, supports nor authorizes teaching students that gender identity is distinct from biological sex or that boys can identify as girls and vice versa," ACF's notice to California PREP states. "We are aware that this curricula and other program materials were previously approved by ACF," the notice continues. "However, the prior administration erred in allowing PREP grants to be used to teach students gender ideology because that approval exceeded the agency's authority to administer the program consistent with the authorizing legislation as enacted by Congress." California now has 60 days to remove all gender ideology references from its PREP curricula and other program materials, and then it must resend its materials for approval by ACF. If California fails to make the necessary changes requested by the Trump administration, the agency says it has the authority to withhold, disallow, suspend or terminate the federal grant currently funding California's PREP program.
Hindustan Times
2 days ago
- General
- Hindustan Times
Forest officials raze ‘illegal' sheds of tribals in Nagarahole wildlife range
The forest personnel on Wednesday dismantled six alleged unauthorised sheds erected inside the Attur-Kolli forest area of the Nagarahole Wildlife Range. This was in response to repeated resistance by tribal families who had occupied the land in early May and were reportedly obstructing forest department officials from accessing the site. According to Nagarahole assistant conservator of forests (ACF) Ananya Kumar, members of the tribal community entered the forest on May 5 and felled nearly 42 saplings to clear space for new shelters. 'Despite being served a notice on June 17 and given another chance on June 18 to voluntarily dismantle the new sheds, the encroachers blocked entry routes of officials,' Kumar said. 'Forest staff, under heavy police cover, accessed the area through an alternative path and proceeded with the demolition.' He said that claims by the tribal families that asserted ancestral links to the land could not be substantiated. 'The tribals claimed that they were the original inhabitants of the forest and staying since decades. But the documents available with department and surveys conducted by NGOs and even Google Maps found no human inhabitant in the area earlier. According to the Forest Rights Act, the inhabitants should have constructed their huts and cultivated the land in the forest before December 13, 2005. But there were no signs of human living, and the tribals failed to provide any proof of it,' he said, adding that the sub-division level committee (SDLC) had already rejected their land rights petition. He further said that while six new structures were demolished, six earlier sheds built in May were left untouched. Officials clarified that while the SDLC had turned down the land claims on May 22 this year, the applicants still have the right to appeal before the district level committee (DLC) within 60 days. The eviction has sparked a backlash from tribal rights activists. JA Shivu, president of the Nagarhole Adivasi Jammapale Hakku Sthapana Samithi, said the affected families had long-standing ties to the forest and had only temporarily migrated for work. 'We are not demanding any new rights from government, it is our right which is given by the Act under the Constitution but forest officials are suppressing our rights. We will take up agitation till our right is given,' he said. In a statement issued by the Karadikallu Atturu Kolli Haadi Forest Rights Committee, residents claimed they had returned to their ancestral land on May 5. 'On 17-06-2025, we, the people of Karadikallu Atturu Kolli village, been served a we should immediately destroy the they threatened that they will bring down the huts and file criminal charges against our people. This is a serious and absolute travesty of justice,' the statement read.
The Advertiser
2 days ago
- General
- The Advertiser
Cows versus koalas: land clearers dobbed in as 90,000ha of bush bulldozed
Up to 105 cases of land clearing, mainly for farming, could soon be under investigation by authorities after a citizen science project uncovered 90,000 hectares of bush bulldozed over the past five years. The mature native forest, some housing koalas, rock wallabies, glossy black and pink cockatoos, quolls, and gliders, was cleared across 176 properties around Australia. Most of the habitat was ripped up for farming - especially beef - a new report from the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) has found. The environment group said it would refer more than half the cases - 105 - to federal and state investigators because the clearing was potentially illegal. The largest area cleared on a single property was 7000 hectares, but the average was about 500 hectares. "The habitat destruction is as varied as the Australian landscape is," ACF nature campaigner Nathaniel Pelle said. "We have seen everything from mallee - what people would see as desert-looking - scrub or forest from south-west NSW ... [to] incredibly rich, jungle-like rainforests." Mr Pelle said he visited one of the cleared northern NSW sites identified in the report. "If you walk through them, they are towering forests with trees in excess of 40 and 50 metres high," he said. "You would be in the rainforest, you would hear the call of whip birds around you." Just next door was a different story. "You can be standing in that forest and, across the fence, you can see piles of timber on fire and areas of pasture that would once have looked exactly like the rainforest ... before the bulldozers moved in." The environment group enlisted the help of 675 citizen scientists who pored over satellite images from 2023 and 2024 of four million hectares of Australia identified as likely to be cleared. "The vast majority of cases discovered were on agricultural properties (150 out of the 176) and the biggest driver of deforestation is livestock farming (at least 143 of 176 cases)," the report found. More than half the total area cleared was on beef farms. All the vegetation lost included trees older than 15 years, which was more likely to provide homes and habitat for wildlife like koalas, pink cockatoos and greater gliders, the report said. "Some of these examples of bulldozing could even have knocked down habitat for critically endangered species like the swift parrot, regent honeyeater, and bulloak jewel butterfly, as well as several critically endangered ecological communities," it said. Beef farmer Glenn Morris, from the NSW New England region, said farmers were not rewarded for looking after the land. "They've got a million things on every day ... they're incredibly hard working," he said. "Most farmers have got a good conscience and they'll look after forests and they'll look after trees." "Then there's the ones, they're just chasing that little extra bit of pasture." The outspoken climate activist said people working on the land should be at the forefront of conversations about how to better protect forest and water. "The forest is like a lake in the landscape," Mr Morris said. "So when we clear we're actually taking that water supply out of the landscape." Nathaniel Pelle from ACF said most farmers wanted to do the right thing, but national laws governing land clearing under the the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act were letting nature and threatened species down. "Only 2.5 per cent of all of the referrals ever made to the [federal] environment department have come on agricultural land, even though somewhere between 80 and 90 per cent of the clearing occurs on agricultural land," he said. "It's really the regulators that need to do a better job of making it clear to farmers that they need to obtain a federal approval." The report, Bulldozing the bush, was expected to be released on June 19. Up to 105 cases of land clearing, mainly for farming, could soon be under investigation by authorities after a citizen science project uncovered 90,000 hectares of bush bulldozed over the past five years. The mature native forest, some housing koalas, rock wallabies, glossy black and pink cockatoos, quolls, and gliders, was cleared across 176 properties around Australia. Most of the habitat was ripped up for farming - especially beef - a new report from the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) has found. The environment group said it would refer more than half the cases - 105 - to federal and state investigators because the clearing was potentially illegal. The largest area cleared on a single property was 7000 hectares, but the average was about 500 hectares. "The habitat destruction is as varied as the Australian landscape is," ACF nature campaigner Nathaniel Pelle said. "We have seen everything from mallee - what people would see as desert-looking - scrub or forest from south-west NSW ... [to] incredibly rich, jungle-like rainforests." Mr Pelle said he visited one of the cleared northern NSW sites identified in the report. "If you walk through them, they are towering forests with trees in excess of 40 and 50 metres high," he said. "You would be in the rainforest, you would hear the call of whip birds around you." Just next door was a different story. "You can be standing in that forest and, across the fence, you can see piles of timber on fire and areas of pasture that would once have looked exactly like the rainforest ... before the bulldozers moved in." The environment group enlisted the help of 675 citizen scientists who pored over satellite images from 2023 and 2024 of four million hectares of Australia identified as likely to be cleared. "The vast majority of cases discovered were on agricultural properties (150 out of the 176) and the biggest driver of deforestation is livestock farming (at least 143 of 176 cases)," the report found. More than half the total area cleared was on beef farms. All the vegetation lost included trees older than 15 years, which was more likely to provide homes and habitat for wildlife like koalas, pink cockatoos and greater gliders, the report said. "Some of these examples of bulldozing could even have knocked down habitat for critically endangered species like the swift parrot, regent honeyeater, and bulloak jewel butterfly, as well as several critically endangered ecological communities," it said. Beef farmer Glenn Morris, from the NSW New England region, said farmers were not rewarded for looking after the land. "They've got a million things on every day ... they're incredibly hard working," he said. "Most farmers have got a good conscience and they'll look after forests and they'll look after trees." "Then there's the ones, they're just chasing that little extra bit of pasture." The outspoken climate activist said people working on the land should be at the forefront of conversations about how to better protect forest and water. "The forest is like a lake in the landscape," Mr Morris said. "So when we clear we're actually taking that water supply out of the landscape." Nathaniel Pelle from ACF said most farmers wanted to do the right thing, but national laws governing land clearing under the the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act were letting nature and threatened species down. "Only 2.5 per cent of all of the referrals ever made to the [federal] environment department have come on agricultural land, even though somewhere between 80 and 90 per cent of the clearing occurs on agricultural land," he said. "It's really the regulators that need to do a better job of making it clear to farmers that they need to obtain a federal approval." The report, Bulldozing the bush, was expected to be released on June 19. Up to 105 cases of land clearing, mainly for farming, could soon be under investigation by authorities after a citizen science project uncovered 90,000 hectares of bush bulldozed over the past five years. The mature native forest, some housing koalas, rock wallabies, glossy black and pink cockatoos, quolls, and gliders, was cleared across 176 properties around Australia. Most of the habitat was ripped up for farming - especially beef - a new report from the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) has found. The environment group said it would refer more than half the cases - 105 - to federal and state investigators because the clearing was potentially illegal. The largest area cleared on a single property was 7000 hectares, but the average was about 500 hectares. "The habitat destruction is as varied as the Australian landscape is," ACF nature campaigner Nathaniel Pelle said. "We have seen everything from mallee - what people would see as desert-looking - scrub or forest from south-west NSW ... [to] incredibly rich, jungle-like rainforests." Mr Pelle said he visited one of the cleared northern NSW sites identified in the report. "If you walk through them, they are towering forests with trees in excess of 40 and 50 metres high," he said. "You would be in the rainforest, you would hear the call of whip birds around you." Just next door was a different story. "You can be standing in that forest and, across the fence, you can see piles of timber on fire and areas of pasture that would once have looked exactly like the rainforest ... before the bulldozers moved in." The environment group enlisted the help of 675 citizen scientists who pored over satellite images from 2023 and 2024 of four million hectares of Australia identified as likely to be cleared. "The vast majority of cases discovered were on agricultural properties (150 out of the 176) and the biggest driver of deforestation is livestock farming (at least 143 of 176 cases)," the report found. More than half the total area cleared was on beef farms. All the vegetation lost included trees older than 15 years, which was more likely to provide homes and habitat for wildlife like koalas, pink cockatoos and greater gliders, the report said. "Some of these examples of bulldozing could even have knocked down habitat for critically endangered species like the swift parrot, regent honeyeater, and bulloak jewel butterfly, as well as several critically endangered ecological communities," it said. Beef farmer Glenn Morris, from the NSW New England region, said farmers were not rewarded for looking after the land. "They've got a million things on every day ... they're incredibly hard working," he said. "Most farmers have got a good conscience and they'll look after forests and they'll look after trees." "Then there's the ones, they're just chasing that little extra bit of pasture." The outspoken climate activist said people working on the land should be at the forefront of conversations about how to better protect forest and water. "The forest is like a lake in the landscape," Mr Morris said. "So when we clear we're actually taking that water supply out of the landscape." Nathaniel Pelle from ACF said most farmers wanted to do the right thing, but national laws governing land clearing under the the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act were letting nature and threatened species down. "Only 2.5 per cent of all of the referrals ever made to the [federal] environment department have come on agricultural land, even though somewhere between 80 and 90 per cent of the clearing occurs on agricultural land," he said. "It's really the regulators that need to do a better job of making it clear to farmers that they need to obtain a federal approval." The report, Bulldozing the bush, was expected to be released on June 19. Up to 105 cases of land clearing, mainly for farming, could soon be under investigation by authorities after a citizen science project uncovered 90,000 hectares of bush bulldozed over the past five years. The mature native forest, some housing koalas, rock wallabies, glossy black and pink cockatoos, quolls, and gliders, was cleared across 176 properties around Australia. Most of the habitat was ripped up for farming - especially beef - a new report from the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) has found. The environment group said it would refer more than half the cases - 105 - to federal and state investigators because the clearing was potentially illegal. The largest area cleared on a single property was 7000 hectares, but the average was about 500 hectares. "The habitat destruction is as varied as the Australian landscape is," ACF nature campaigner Nathaniel Pelle said. "We have seen everything from mallee - what people would see as desert-looking - scrub or forest from south-west NSW ... [to] incredibly rich, jungle-like rainforests." Mr Pelle said he visited one of the cleared northern NSW sites identified in the report. "If you walk through them, they are towering forests with trees in excess of 40 and 50 metres high," he said. "You would be in the rainforest, you would hear the call of whip birds around you." Just next door was a different story. "You can be standing in that forest and, across the fence, you can see piles of timber on fire and areas of pasture that would once have looked exactly like the rainforest ... before the bulldozers moved in." The environment group enlisted the help of 675 citizen scientists who pored over satellite images from 2023 and 2024 of four million hectares of Australia identified as likely to be cleared. "The vast majority of cases discovered were on agricultural properties (150 out of the 176) and the biggest driver of deforestation is livestock farming (at least 143 of 176 cases)," the report found. More than half the total area cleared was on beef farms. All the vegetation lost included trees older than 15 years, which was more likely to provide homes and habitat for wildlife like koalas, pink cockatoos and greater gliders, the report said. "Some of these examples of bulldozing could even have knocked down habitat for critically endangered species like the swift parrot, regent honeyeater, and bulloak jewel butterfly, as well as several critically endangered ecological communities," it said. Beef farmer Glenn Morris, from the NSW New England region, said farmers were not rewarded for looking after the land. "They've got a million things on every day ... they're incredibly hard working," he said. "Most farmers have got a good conscience and they'll look after forests and they'll look after trees." "Then there's the ones, they're just chasing that little extra bit of pasture." The outspoken climate activist said people working on the land should be at the forefront of conversations about how to better protect forest and water. "The forest is like a lake in the landscape," Mr Morris said. "So when we clear we're actually taking that water supply out of the landscape." Nathaniel Pelle from ACF said most farmers wanted to do the right thing, but national laws governing land clearing under the the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act were letting nature and threatened species down. "Only 2.5 per cent of all of the referrals ever made to the [federal] environment department have come on agricultural land, even though somewhere between 80 and 90 per cent of the clearing occurs on agricultural land," he said. "It's really the regulators that need to do a better job of making it clear to farmers that they need to obtain a federal approval." The report, Bulldozing the bush, was expected to be released on June 19.
