“You can’t make a difference unless you’re at the table. And I’m glad we finally got to the table.”

Joel Reynolds, western director and senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council, regarding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) veto of a proposed copper and gold mine in a remote region in southwest Alaska that supports the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery. This is only the 14th time in the roughly 50-year history of the federal Clean Water Act that the EPA has flexed its power to block or restrict activities over impacts to waters, including fisheries. (Associated Press — Jan. 31, 2023)

Stephen Murray, an overdose survivor and former paramedic who now researches overdoses at Boston Medical Center, regarding his belief that naloxone, commonly known by its brand name Narcan, should be more widely available to help prevent overdose deaths. The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found in 2021 that 40 percent of overdose deaths happen when someone else is present and possibly able to administer the life-saving drug. (Associated Press — Jan. 29)

GLAAD’s Tony Morrison, regarding the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s proposed guidance to ease restrictions around blood donations by men who have sex with men. The restrictions were set in place in the early days of the AIDS epidemic to protect the blood supply from HIV; the new policy would eliminate time-based restrictions on men who have sex with men (and their female partners) and instead assess potential donors’ eligibility based on a risk assessment. (NPR — Jan. 27, 2023)

U.S. Rep Jake Auchincloss, regarding the speech he gave about a bill that would establish a joint U.S.-Israel artificial intelligence center that was entirely written by the online AI chatbot ChatGPT. His staff believes it is the first time that an AI-written speech was read in Congress. To create the speech, Auchincloss prompted the system to “write 100 words to deliver on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives” about the bill; he had to refine the prompt several times before it rendered the speech he ultimately read. (Associated Press — Jan. 25, 2023)