Reading archive 2024-09-07

US beach town bans balloons to save the ocean: Experts say more cities should join the growing legislative trend to reduce trash, save birds and protect against wildfires - "While manufacturers claim that some latex balloons are biodegradable, there are no safe balloons to release, O’Brien says, as they have added plasticizers that hinder the biodegradation process, and can take decades, or longer, to break down.

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"Mylar balloons – made from nylon with a metallic coating – are also a scourge: they never break down, persisting in the oceans for years, and their shiny exterior is even more confusing to sea animals. They also can get tangled in power lines and cause power outages or fires."

Trump turns to outlandish promises to offset $7 trillion in tax cuts: The former president says a spending commission would help reduce the national debt, but analysts are skeptical of his claims.

The shelter and the storm: What happened when the nation’s immigration crisis came to a small town in Massachusetts

Reading archive 2021-08-05

Northwest D.C. ‘NIMBYs’ fight proposal over new schools

A critical ocean system may be heading for collapse due to climate change, study finds: ‘The consequences of a collapse would likely be far-reaching’ - "Studies suggest that toward the end of the last ice age, a massive glacial lake burst through a declining North American ice sheet. The flood of freshwater spilled into the Atlantic, halting the AMOC and plunging much of the Northern Hemisphere — especially Europe — into deep cold. Gas bubbles trapped in polar ice indicate the cold spell lasted 1,000 years. Analyses of plant fossils and ancient artifacts suggest that the climate shift transformed ecosystems and threw human societies into upheaval."

How Provincetown, Mass., stress-tested the coronavirus vaccine with summer partying and delta

Nearly 200 doctors clash with school district that refuses to mandate masks

Buoyed by rising nationalism, China’s keyboard warriors take aim at Olympic athletes

Peter Doocy and Jen Psaki’s daily clashes have become a White House briefing room ritual

A Texas GOP leader railed against vaccines and masks. Then he died of covid.

GamerGaters inundated her with death threats. Now some are apologizing — and she forgives them.

Reading archive 2021-07-30

Opinion: In vaccine-resistant Alabama, hospitals face a two-front war

These self-described trolls tackle climate disinformation on social media with wit and memes: Environmental activists, researchers, lawmakers and others are haunting corporate social media feeds to push back against greenwashing - "Oil and gas companies spent decades privately researching the effects of global warming and adapting their businesses, extensive research has shown. Publicly, giants like Shell, BP, ExxonMobil have sown climate change denial and portrayed themselves as allies of the environment while knowingly acting against its interests, said Genevieve Guenther, founder of the advocacy group End Climate Silence."

CDC study shows three-fourths of people infected in Massachusetts covid-19 outbreak were vaccinated but few required hospitalization

Opinion: Is D.C. wasting money on violence reduction programs? - "If recent events were not enough justification for such spending, the numbers should be: D.C. has seen about a 10 percent increase in the year-over-year homicide rate for the past three years. There’s only one problem. That same data shows that the city’s violence interrupter programs, one run by the Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement, and Cure the Streets, run out of the Office of the D.C. Attorney General, aren’t doing what they claim: preventing violence. Rather, they may be merely dispersing it, spreading the killings to nearby areas that previously did not have any."

China built the world’s largest facial recognition system. Now, it’s getting camera-shy.

Opinion: The Chesapeake Bay’s menhaden are in trouble

Trump to acting AG, according to aide’s notes: ‘Just say the election was corrupt + leave the rest to me’

Disney blasts Scarlett Johansson over Black Widow streaming lawsuit