MMP

• Molina Healthcare of Illinois (“Molina”) announced Rush University System for Health (“Rush”) is now offered as a provider for its Medicaid, Marketplace, and MMP members in the Chicagoland area.
• “Molina is pleased to offer members greater access to top providers like Rush,” said Matt Wolf, plan president for Molina Healthcare of Illinois.
• “Molina will be working closely with Rush as our members begin visiting its hospitals and physicians to access the latest technology, resources, and health care.”
  Molina members have access to all four Rush hospitals including Rush University Medical Center, Rush Copley Medical Center, Rush Oak Park Hospital, and Riverside Medical Center.
• “This new partnership will create greater access to the very best health care for more patients across the Chicago area and Northwest Indiana,” said Lisa Wagamon, president of Rush Health.

• Alcoa Corporation (NYSE: AA) today welcomed decisions from the Western Australian (WA) Government that will allow the Company to continue bauxite mining and downstream alumina refining in the State, while also pledging to enhance the way it operates to meet evolving requirements and expectations.
• US$66 million) guarantee, demonstrating Alcoa’s confidence that its operations will not impair drinking water supplies.
• Alcoa started this process in 2020, when it referred its next two proposed mine regions (Myara North and Holyoake) for EPA assessment.
• Matt Reed, Alcoa Vice President Operations for Australia, said the decisions provided a balance between protecting local jobs and businesses while enhancing environmental protections.

• Net loss attributable to Alcoa Corporation was $168 million, or $0.94 per share.
• Additionally, the third quarter results include the benefit of a $58 million valuation allowance reversal on the deferred tax assets of the Company’s subsidiaries in Iceland.
• Alcoa disclosed before an August 2023 deadline its progress for applicable facilities, in accordance with the ICMM Conformance Protocol.
• Alcoa will hold its quarterly conference call at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) on Wednesday, October 18, 2023, to present third quarter 2023 financial results and discuss the business, developments, and market conditions.

• For the first time in more than a century, farmers are not all in the same political paddock.
• Farming has long defied gravity as an electoral force in New Zealand.
• Despite comprising less than 5% of the population, farmers have achieved an extraordinary level of political power.

The end of farmer power

• Under the old “first past the post” voting system, rural electorates held significant power due to left-leaning votes being concentrated in urban electorates.
• This meant the farming vote in key marginal rural seats could swing elections in favour of the National Party.
• No other country has seen such access to power granted to farmers.




Read more:
After the election, Christopher Luxon’s real test could come from his right – not the left

The old alliance crumbles

• The rising environmental challenge in farming has three times been met by classic old alliance strategies.
• In 2003, the alliance mounted the so-called “fart tax” protests to denounce investment in research identifying methane from livestock as a major greenhouse gas problem.
• This time, the alliance had new elements – being required to sit alongside leading Māori land users who were emerging from the Treaty of Waitangi settlement process.

Groundswell and political realignment

• For people focused specifically on the urgent need to develop new policy frameworks, Groundswell can seem confusing.
• Read more:
  The Groundswell protest claimed regulation and taxes are unfair to farmers – the economic numbers tell a different story

  But the key difference is Groundswell’s style of political engagement.

• It wants to radically break with the old political and institutional relationships it believes have betrayed the interests of grassroots farmers.
• Other key actors in He Waka Eke Noa began to withdraw, either under pressure from Groundswell or (like Andrew Hoggard) to pursue a more radical political path.

Change and consequences

• But there are still important consequences of a more radical style of politics taking root among some farmers.
• Any diminishing of those old alliance relationships will reduce the political reach of farmers.
• It was still the best mechanism for meaningful change in the sector.
• Those chafing at change might imagine they are trying to preserve an older world in which farmers were revered and privileged.