Category Archives: News to use

Useful news for all to advance knowledge of the world and how it works

Smell trouble: the fight for the powers of the nose

Researchers are seeking to ensure that people retain their ability to detect scents. By  BÁRBARA PINHO A decade ago, in a field of orange trees in …

Smell trouble: the fight for the powers of the nose

Harris delivers remarks to firefighter union in ‘surprise drop-by’ – UPI.com

Harris received a standing ovation as she discussed the Biden administration’s efforts to work with the IAFF “to do what we need to do in terms of giving now $720 million for SAFER and AFG grants and funds,” which fund fire departments and their resources.

“What we need to do around upgrading your equipment, phone, the kinds of toxic materials that you work with that you shouldn’t have to work with every day,” Harris said, adding that she will also continue to push for additional resources to hire more firefighters.

“Because I know that one of the best ways we’re going to keep our firefighters safe is to have more firefighters to be able to work on the job with you,” Harris said, as she thanked the members again for their many sacrifices.

“You are individuals who will work long shifts away from your family, unpredictable hours, will work around the clock in some of the most dangerous conditions anyone could ever work. And your work is the kind of work that also not only exposes you to danger but the kind of health risks that you are exposed to.”

Source: Harris delivers remarks to firefighter union in ‘surprise drop-by’ – UPI.com

Supreme Court temporarily halts rollout of Texas migrant arrest law – UPI.com

The Department of Justice, however, vehemently opposes the Texas law, which it sees as a usurpation of the federal government’s constitutional right to control and manage the nation’s borders.

“SB 4 is clearly unconstitutional,” Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta said shortly after its adoption in January. “Under the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution and longstanding Supreme Court precedent, states cannot adopt immigration laws that interfere with the framework enacted by Congress.”

The administration says the Supreme Court confirmed in Arizona vs. United States that decisions relating to removal of noncitizens from the United States crosses over into the realm of foreign relations, which, it argues, “must be made with one voice.”

Source: Supreme Court temporarily halts rollout of Texas migrant arrest law – UPI.com

Study points to which Amazon regions could reach tipping point & dry up – Stigmatis News

  • Scientists warn that 10% of the Amazon has a high risk of being converted into a drier and degraded ecosystem by 2050, while 47% has a moderate transitional risk.
  • The article, published in Nature, used evidence collected by field researchers who are already witnessing changes in the rainforest as a response to increasing temperatures, extreme droughts, fires and deforestation.
  • These regional tipping points may lead to a systemic breakdown of the biome unless humanity controls global warming, stops deforestation and starts to recover degraded parts of the rainforest, the authors say.

Source: Study points to which Amazon regions could reach tipping point & dry up – Stigmatis News

Inside how wind and solar energy are being restricted across the US – US counties are blocking the future of renewable energy: These maps, graphics show how (Me: 15% is not a lot… but in creating clickbait, you don’t put that in a headline…do you?) – www.freep.com

At least 15% of counties in the U.S., including several in Iowa, have effectively halted new utility-scale wind, solar, or both, USA TODAY found. These are not the solar panels you might have on your house but installations significant enough to replace power plants, each one powering tens of thousands of homes.

The limits come in the form of outright bans, moratoriums, construction impediments and other conditions that make green energy difficult to build.

Source: Inside how wind and solar energy are being restricted across the US

Lords pass five amendments to Rwanda bill in heavy defeat for Rishi Sunak | Rwanda | The Guardian

Rishi Sunak has suffered his heaviest defeat in the House of Lords after the archbishop of Canterbury and former Conservative ministers joined forces with the opposition to force through five amendments to the Rwandan deportation bill.

The string of government setbacks, most passed by unusually large margins of about 100 votes, means the legislation, which aims to clear the way to send asylum seekers on a one-way flight to Kigali, will have to go back to the Commons.

Source: Lords pass five amendments to Rwanda bill in heavy defeat for Rishi Sunak | Rwanda | The Guardian

I met the Israeli settlers Biden placed sanctions on. They’re bad – but part of a rotten system | Zak Witus | The Guardian

Around the village of Zanuta, I witnessed Levi, Federman and their accomplices repeatedly attack Palestinian shepherds and their flocks with dogs and aerial drones. They would try to scare them into leaving their land, and then graze their own sheep and goats on the Palestinians’ crops. In the village of Susiya, I filmed Levi and others illegally building a road to a settlement outpost on private Palestinian land. Another video shows Levi operating a bulldozer, shoveling huge piles of dirt on to a road in order to block the only entrance and exit to the village.

Fellow activists have also filmed Federman setting his German shepherd on a Palestinian resident of the area, biting his arm and abdomen, while other settlers pointed guns at Palestinian onlookers. (Federman’s dog has been documented repeatedly attacking other Palestinian residents.)

During my time in the West Bank, I repeatedly witnessed the failure of the Israeli army and police to stop settler crimes. In fact, on several occasions, as Palestinian shepherds and activists pleaded for help, the authorities either stood down or guarded the marauding settlers – to keep the settlers safe. And the culture of impunity for settlers goes way back. The Israeli watchdog group Yesh Din has been tracking settler violence since 2005, and they have consistently shown that fewer than 3% of cases of settler violence lead to conviction. More than 90% are closed without an indictment.

Source: I met the Israeli settlers Biden placed sanctions on. They’re bad – but part of a rotten system | Zak Witus | The Guardian