Latest news with #grants
Irish Times
18 hours ago
- Automotive
- Irish Times
The Irish Times view on EV sales: acceleration needed
Prices drive car sales. It's a self-evident truth, proven by numerous scrappage schemes, and the 2008 move to an emissions-based motor tax regime. So, a grant of up to €10,000 applied to electric cars would push the volumes towards the critical 16 per cent of vehicle stock, where research shows mass-market adoption is achieved. By the end of last year, Irish EV market adoption stood at 3 per cent. The proposed grant is one of the most eye-catching proposals in the Climate Change Advisory Council's latest annual review on transport. It cogently identifies the key hurdles to EV adoption: cost and charging infrastructure. On the cost side, it suggests a targeted grant scheme of up to €10,000, aimed specifically at lower income households in areas poorly served by public transport. However, the devil would be in the detail. Execution may prove complex, and administratively burdensome. Also, the range of new EVs within the proposed €35,000 price cap remains limited. Still, it reflects the need for innovative thinking. France, for example, offered 50,000 European-built EVs leased at €100 per month to low-income households. The scheme closed in January last year after just six weeks due to the high demand. Initially capped at 25,000 vehicles, subsidised to a maximum of €13,000 each, it had more than 90,000 applications. READ MORE For any consumer who finds an affordable EV option, the next big question is about charging. The report rightly highlights our poor performance compared to EU peers on public charging infrastructure. It identifies key sticking points, such as deploying neighbourhood charging for those without access to off-street parking. The council's review correctly identifies the key obstacles to EV adoption, and a €10,000 grant scheme, targeted at lower-income drivers, would supercharge sales. But without detail, infrastructure and swift Government action, the ambition may stall. Kudos to the council: now it's time for Government to move from recommendations to action.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Federal judge orders Trump admin to reinstate hundreds of NIH grants
A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to restore hundreds of grants from the National Institutes of Health that were cut over 'disfavored topics and populations,' including diversity, equity and inclusion, according to published reports. Judge William Young said at a Monday court hearing in Boston that he has 'never seen a record where racial discrimination was so palpable,' according to Axios. 'I've sat on this bench now for 40 years. I've never seen government racial discrimination like this,' he said. Only 367 grants will be restored with this new court order, Axios reported, though 2,282 NIH grants have been terminated, amounting to nearly $3.8 billion of lost funding since June 4, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. An associate professor at Harvard Medical School, Brittany Charlton, is one of those suing. Her funding to study the mental health of young LGBTQ people was cut, affecting a team of 18 researchers and causing students to fear for their safety. 'Judge Young's words from the bench were unforgettable: 'Have we fallen so low? Have we no shame?' His outrage captured what so many of us have felt as we watched crucial research cut based not on science but on politics and discrimination,' Charlton told MassLive. The National Institutes of Health told Charlton that her work was no longer an 'agency priority.' 'Research programs based on gender identity are often unscientific, have little identifiable return on investment, and do nothing to enhance the health of many Americans. Many such studies ignore, rather than seriously examine, biological realities. It is the policy of NIH not to prioritize these research programs,' her court filing said, quoting NIH. The grant terminations are a 'quiet dismantling of a generation of future leaders in medicine and public health, and with them, the hope for a more equitable future,' Charlton wrote in a previous court filing. Read more: Federal judge delays decision over Trump admin barring Harvard foreign students The lawsuit was filed in April by individual researchers; the American Public Health Association; International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America; and Ibis Reproductive Health. They are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Massachusetts, Protect Democracy and the Center for Science in the Public Interest. Federal judge delays decision over Trump admin barring Harvard foreign students Harvard's Monday court date will be important for international students. Here's why As Trump cuts funding, these Harvard scholars consider leaving US — and academia Harvard researcher released from custody after months in detention Ex-Harvard professor fired after refusing COVID shot named to CDC vaccine panel Read the original article on MassLive.
BBC News
a day ago
- Business
- BBC News
Energy Debt with Iona Bain
Here are some handy links with more information on managing your energy debt:Here, external is a link to Citizens Advice where you can find a list of grants that are available from different energy providers. Here, external is a link to a USwitch guide on how to read you energy bill, including where to find the amount of energy you've used.
Washington Post
2 days ago
- Politics
- Washington Post
NIH resumes, then again pauses funding to Columbia amid negotiations
A plan to allow the National Institutes of Health to award new grants to researchers at Columbia University appeared to fall apart Wednesday, hours after the agency lifted a pause that began in April, according to internal emails obtained by The Washington Post. The vacillating actions from the Trump administration created confusion among researchers who believed the university was beginning a turnaround in its fight with the government.
Al Jazeera
4 days ago
- Health
- Al Jazeera
US judge declares Trump's cuts to NIH grants ‘illegal'
A Massachusetts federal judge has declared that cuts to National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants made by the administration of US President Donald Trump are 'illegal' and 'void,' and ordered that many of the grants be restored. In a ruling issued on Monday, Judge William Young vacated the terminations that began in late February and said the NIH violated federal law by arbitrarily cancelling more than $1bn in research grants because of their perceived connection to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Young told the court there could be little doubt the cuts represent 'racial discrimination and discrimination against America's LGBTQ community', according to quotes published on X by Politico reporter Kyle Cheney. In April, a group of researchers sued the NIH, saying hundreds of critical research projects were halted due to an 'ideological purge'. The plaintiffs argued that the reasons given for the terminations – connections with 'diversity, equity, and inclusion' and 'gender identity' – were vague and lacking in concrete explanation. Terminated grants included programmes focusing on women, racial minorities and the health of health of gay, lesbian and transgender people, but also included studies on cancer, youth suicide and bone health. The government has argued that the court lacks jurisdiction and that the NIH has discretion to set its own priorities. Young said he was reinstating grants that had been awarded to organisations and Democratic-led states that sued over the terminations. And the judge strongly suggested that as the case proceeds, he could issue a more sweeping decision. Young, who was appointed by US President Ronald Reagan, offered a harsh rebuke to the government, saying that in his 40 years on the bench, he had 'never seen evidence of racial discrimination like this'. The ruling comes almost a week after Jay Bhattacharya, director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), admitted that the Trump administration had gone too far in slashing biomedical research grants and said efforts were under way to restore some of the funding Bhattacharya made the remarks Tuesday during a Senate committee hearing examining both recent cuts to his agency and deeper reductions proposed by the White House in next year's budget. 'I didn't take this job to terminate grants,' said the physician and health economist, who left a professorship at Stanford University to join the Trump administration. 'I took this job to make sure that we do the research that advances the health needs of the American people,' he said, adding that he had created an appeals process for scientists and laboratories whose research was impacted, and that the NIH had already 'reversed many' of the cuts.
