Federal Court Dismisses Right-Wing Attempt to Upend Maryland Election
This is apparently the first lawsuit filed by the United Sovereign Americans, and it’s also their first failure. The fact that the ruling was dismissed for lack of standing is bad news for them and great news for us.
🎩 to indefatigable news sleuth T Maysle for mentioning this item in a comment on Friday.
From Democracy Docket:
Maryland’s 2024 elections will continue as planned despite a long-shot right-wing challenge seeking to upend election administration in the state. A new federal court decision marks the first failure for the United Sovereign Americans, an emerging right-wing group that has vowed to pursue an aggressive litigation strategy ahead of the 2024 elections. ✂️
In a profile of United Sovereign Americans, Sarah D. Wire and Mackenzie Mays of the Los Angeles Times described the group as “part of a cottage industry of far-right election deniers that has sown disinformation since Trump lost his reelection bid.” The group is “prepared” to file similar lawsuits in nine states and “preparing evidence” in 13 others, according to its website.
Just in time for the state’s primary election, which is set for May 14, a federal judge dismissed the case. In the opinion dismissing the far-flung challenge, the judge found that the plaintiffs lacked standing to bring their lawsuit and failed to show that the groups would be harmed by the state’s election procedures. “Here, the mere hypothetical possibility of a past, speculative injury,” the judge wrote of the groups’ claims, “does not give rise to a certainly impending injury.”
How Airline Lobbyists Just Got Humiliated
More good news that T Maysle found for us and mentioned on Sunday. Jessiestaf also covered it briefly yesterday, but I thought you all would enjoy a few more details.
From The BIG Newsletter:
...it’s how the airlines lost that matters, because their loss implies that it is in fact possible to govern. The dispute represents, in miniature, the broader rethink of regulating corporations in America going on right now. You won’t hear this kind of good news most places, because we’re so inured to imagining politics can’t work. But it can. And it just did. ✂️
The two new phrases that emerged in politics last year were “junk fee” and “enshittification.” Junk fee means an unfair or hidden charge tacked onto what you thought was the price, while enshittification is the experience of seeing pervasive financial incentives destroy a communications platform. That these are actual new words requiring additions to our language shows that these concepts are commonplace. ✂️
Leading the way on that front has been the airline industry, which has found innovative ways of charging fees and annoying customers since pricing was deregulated in the 1980s. …deregulation was an extremely bad policy choice, and led to a situation where airline CEOs can treat customers poorly, and it doesn’t affect their competitive position or profits.
Prior to 1978, airlines were a regulated public utility where prices and routes were set by the government, with a guaranteed small profit based on the costs they incurred running their system. This pricing model meant that airlines had no incentive to screw customers or workers, because they wanted to spend more on things like safety, since that meant more profit. ...Deregulation flipped this incentive model, allowing airlines to set their own prices and routes. It also prohibited consumers from suing airlines, meaning that airlines are the only corporations that consumers cannot take to court. Instead, consumers have to rely on enforcement of consumer protections from Department of Transportation. ...Americans got used to being brutalized by airlines, with weird fees, mass cancellations, and high profits.
Covid, however, shook us out of our demoralized slumber. ...Congress bailed out the airlines with a $54 billion aid package in the CARES Act because there were simply no passengers. This money was necessary, but also showed that these are public utilities that should have some sort of obligation to the public. ✂️
[The airline industry’s trade association] Airlines for America tried to use their clout in Congress to undercut a popular rule [to give refunds automatically without passengers needing to request them,] put forward by Pete Buttigieg, a rule designed to fix a problem they caused by screwing people during the pandemic after they got bailed out. But their plan backfired, because politicians, journalists, and policymakers were actually paying attention. So now instead of repealing a rule they don’t like, they got that rule written into law.
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Best political quote of the week:
From Data for Progress:
If you ever look around and see that there’s something wrong with the United States, you can probably just blame Ronald Reagan and you’d be right most of the time.
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Good news from my corner of the world
Portland schools could see $50 million boost for climate action
In addition to energy efficiency retrofits like solar panels and electric buses, this initiative is vitally important to protect students and school staff from climate disasters like the heat dome of 2022. Portlanders have lived and worked in buildings without air conditioning from the time the city was founded because our temperatures hardly ever got too hot for comfort. Sadly, because of climate change that’s no longer true.
From Oregon Public Broadcasting:
The Portland Clean Energy Fund is one step closer in investing tens of millions of dollars in seven school districts within Portland city limits to boost renewable energy upgrades and climate action over the next five years.
Portland city commissioners heard from staff of the Portland Clean Energy Fund, or PCEF, on [April 25th] about an initiative that could reduce greenhouse gas emissions from a handful of public schools in Portland. The money would also increase climate action through student-led projects.
The Climate Friendly Public Schools plan would invest $50 million toward seven school districts. The money would fund projects like energy efficient retrofits for older buildings, including air conditioning, heat and improved air ventilation. The money would also go toward installing solar panels and energy efficient appliances, purchasing electric school buses, and increasing tree canopy in schoolyards. ✂️
Schools must meet two qualifications to apply for funds: They must be located within Portland city limits and offer free and reduced lunch. PCEF used a state Department of Education formula that included a number of factors, including enrollment of Black, Indigenous and students of color, in determining allocations to each district eligible for funding.
‘Expect Fentanyl’ campaign launches to make Oregonians more aware of drug’s dangers
I think this campaign is a great idea. Most of the fentanyl overdoses among young people are from other drugs like oxycodone or cocaine laced with fentanyl, not from using fentanyl knowingly. So teaching kids to “expect fentanyl” in street drugs will save lives.
From The Oregonian:
For the third year, May 7 [was] National Fentanyl Awareness Day, a banal way to acknowledge a deadly crisis that has spread across the country like red wine on a white tablecloth. Every effort is needed, officials point out.
In 2023, more than 70,000 people died nationally after overdosing on illegally-made fentanyl, according to information provided by Ellen Rosenblum, Oregon’s attorney general. To put that in perspective, 41,000 people in the U.S. died in car crashes that same year, states the National Highway Safety Traffic Administration. ✂️
In April, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek signed a package of bills that makes minor drug possession a crime again and infuses millions of dollars into behavioral-health programs, officially marking the end of the state’s short-lived and politically tumultuous experience with drug decriminalization. Now that legislators have taken action, on Tuesday Multnomah County officials unveiled their plans for the public-relations side of the battle. ✂️
In May, [Multnomah County Health Officer Dr. Richard Bruno] said, the county plans to roll out a series of public-service announcements – the campaign is called “Expect Fentanyl” – on everything from social-media sites to bus stops.
“This much fentanyl can kill you,” one of the campaign’s posters states over a picture of a tiny amount of the drug on the tip of a pencil. The poster adds: “Just a little – the size of 10 grains of salt – can cause a deadly overdose.”
The goal is to make clear to young people that a fatal dose of fentanyl might lurk in any street drug, and that you can’t smell or taste it when it’s mixed with other substances.
A New Means Of Community Involvement
This is a promising experiment in community governance.
From Source Weekly:
Central Oregon is on the path to implementing a new method of community involvement called citizen assemblies. Speakers at an April 18 City Club forum shared the idea with attendees as a new means of decision making that involves community members.
Citizen assemblies involve a process that supports more representation in local decision making by randomly selecting individuals to discuss local issues and make recommendations to local leaders.
Members are selected by lottery and stratification. In the first stage, invitations are sent out to a group of people chosen at random. A second lottery then takes place with a process that ensures the final group represents the community in terms of gender, age, geography and socio-economic differences.
With Central Oregon's model, called the Central Oregon Civic Action Project, affiliated with the international nonprofit, DemocracyNext, selected residents would meet for seven days over the course of two months. They would make a final recommendation, or more than one recommendation, about a certain topic or issue, based off supermajority consensus, which will go directly to all of the partnering levels of government.
The goal, according to Josh Burgess of the Central Oregon Civic Action Project, is to increase civic engagement, gain better governance outcomes and increase public trust in government institutions and elected officials.
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Good news from around the nation
Vermont poised to become first US state to charge big oil for climate damage
Yes! Let’s push for the same legislation in our own states, and may the courts stand with us!
From The Guardian:
Vermont is poised to pass a groundbreaking measure forcing major polluting companies to help pay for damages caused by the climate crisis, in a move being closely watched by other states including New York and California.
Modeled after the Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund program, which forces companies to pay for toxic waste cleanup, the climate superfund bill would charge major fossil fuel companies doing business within the state billions of dollars for their past emissions. The measure would make Vermont the first US state to hold fossil fuel companies liable for their planet-heating pollution.
“If you contributed to a mess, you should play a role in cleaning it up,” Elena Mihaly, vice-president of the Conservation Law Foundation’s Vermont chapter, which is campaigning for the bill, said in an interview.
If passed, the bill will face a steep uphill battle in the courts. But supporters say the first-of-its-kind legislation could be a model for the rest of the country.
Four other states are weighing similar initiatives. Senators Bernie Sanders from Vermont and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland also attempted to include a federal version in the infrastructure bill passed in 2022, though it was omitted from the final draft. (The measure would have raised $500bn.)
In Arizona, election workers trained with deepfakes to prepare for 2024
It’s reassuring to see that election officials are becoming fully aware of the dangers of deepfakes.
If you would like to read the report that emerged from this training, here’s a live link: How Election Officials Can Identify, Prepare for, and Respond to AI Threats.
From The Washington Post (gift link):
For years, election officials across the country have faced extraordinary pressure from rampant conspiracy theories and violent threats. But 2024 presents something more: widely available and highly convincing AI-generated deepfakes. FBI Director Christopher A. Wray recently told a national security conference that while the United States had faced malign foreign influence campaigns in the past, this election cycle’s adversaries would move faster, enabled by new technologies such as generative AI. And in the United States, elections are administered by the states, which means local officials like the ones who gathered in Arizona are on the front lines.
The Brennan Center, a nonpartisan law and policy group, and the Elections Group, which consults with election officials across the country, helped develop parts of the tabletop exercise for Arizona after studying and writing about the impact of AI on elections and hearing from election officials that they didn’t feel they had enough direction about how to deal with the threats from this new technology, said Larry Norden, senior director for elections and government at the Brennan Center.
The Arizona tabletop exercise...was an effort to give one state’s election workers an insight into the types of attacks they might be up against. Following the event, organizers created a training document they plan to make available to election workers across the country, titled, “How Election Officials Can Identify, Prepare for, and Respond to AI Threats.” ...they plan to host an event in Phoenix for media to witness a similar simulation and are hoping to organize another in Michigan in the coming weeks. “But there is no way we are going to work with all 50 states, or that every election official in the country is going to be able to go through this kind of training before November,” said [Larry] Norden [senior director for elections and government at the Brennan Center]. “That’s why we wrote the report.”
Texas Food Bank Builds Housing for the People Who Need Their Food–Right Next Door
An excellent win-win.
From Good News Network:
A food bank in a fast-growing Texas community is building affordable housing next to its bank, to ensure people who have to juggle food and rent are able to with minimal effort. The 51-unit apartment complex hasn’t gone up yet, but planning has begun for facilities that would temporarily house people struggling to afford the cost of living while undertaking job training or studies.
30 minutes outside San Antonio lies one of the fastest-growing towns in the US: New Braunfels. Here, homelessness is growing due to an exploding population. The New Braunfels branch of the San Antonio food bank wondered if they could do more than just cover the cost of food.
“What we know about a food insecure household is that rent eats first in every household budget,” says Eric Cooper, president and CEO of the San Antonio Food Bank. ✂️
...despite believing they could do more, the board of directors of the food bank was worried about ‘mission creep’—trying to do too much and ending up doing several things poorly. But the opportunity was there to make the leap when a vacant lot next to their location had been sought after by local organizations working on homelessness. A foundation purchased the land, but they needed someone to take on the building. After long deliberations, the board came to the conclusion that their purpose was to help their neighbors, whether that be with food or housing.
Partnering with Open Studio Architecture, the food bank is planning a 51-unit complex that will be rented to families with children for a period of 24-36 months that may have either one or two earners who are currently undergoing training or education for a job that pays enough to support the family outright. Cooper believes it’s the first affordable housing complex ever built by a food bank.
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Good news from around the world
Australian government pledges almost $1bn to help women leave violent relationships
Although some Australians feel that the government didn’t sufficiently fund the services domestic abuse survivors need, this is still a great idea.
From The Guardian:
[Australian Prime Minister] Anthony Albanese has announced $925m to help victims of violence leave abusive relationships and a ban on deepfake pornography as new measures to combat violence against women.
After a national cabinet meeting on Wednesday, the prime minister announced the “leaving violence payment” of $5,000 to help meet the costs of leaving a relationship along with services, risk assessments and safety planning. The commonwealth said it would deliver a range of new measures to tackle factors that exacerbate violence against women – such as violent online pornography and misogynistic content targeting children and young people. ✂️
The leaving violence program will be available from mid 2025, providing eligible victim survivors up to $1,500 in cash and up to $3,500 in goods and services for up to 12 weeks. “This acknowledges financial insecurity is closely linked to violence and can prevent women leaving a violent relationship,” the national cabinet statement said.
The leaving violence payment makes permanent a program trialled by 45,000 participants since 2021, which was due to end in January but will be extended as an interim measure while the government looks for a new service provider to deliver the new program.
The four-day work week is here to stay at UK companies that tried it
Just like Universal Basic Income, the four-day work week has proven to be a winner every time it’s been tried. I predict that both will be widely used around the world within the next 10-20 years.
From CNN:
One year after the conclusion of the world’s biggest trial of a four-day work week, a large majority of companies that took part were still allowing their employees to work a shorter week and more than half had made the change permanent.
For six months between June and December 2022, workers at 61 organizations in the United Kingdom worked 80% of their usual hours — for the same pay — in exchange for promising to deliver 100% of their usual work.
At least 89% of those firms were still operating the policy and at least 51% had made the four-day week permanent at the end of 2023, according to a report published on February 21 by one of the organizers of the trial. Two companies did not respond to the researchers compiling the report. ✂️
The effects of reduced working hours have been overwhelmingly beneficial for staff and their companies, according to the report.
At the end of the trial, employees reported enjoying better physical and mental health, greater work-life balance and general life satisfaction, and less exhaustion from work — and these improvements have been maintained one year on.
Telecom Boxes Becoming EV Charging Stations Across Britain–60,000 Curbside Cabinets Could Be Adapted
Very clever repurposing.
From Good News Network:
British telecom giant BT Group is now converting curbside cable boxes into charging stations for electric cars, helping Great Britain accelerate its transition to a net zero emissions economy.
Many of BT’s existing curbside cabinets are becoming obsolete due to people moving to wireless telephone and cable provision, but the same lines that provide electricity to the boxes should be able to fully charge an electric vehicle in about 6 to 8 hours.
These street cabinets are known in the industry as DSLAM boxes, which stands for digital subscriber line access multiplier. 7.4 kilowatt-hours are delivered to them for the furnishing of various telecom services, which means no additional power lines need to be laid for a charging station, and no digging up of the existing cabinet infrastructure needs be done. ✂️
With over 60,000 such DSLAM boxes across the UK, BT Group say they envision the conversion as an excellent opportunity to “repurpose existing street furniture.”
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Good news in medicine
30-year study will probe cancer disparities in Black women
Thank goodness this shameful disparity in cancer outcomes will finally be studied.
From Axios:
More than 100,000 Black women are expected to be enrolled in the largest-ever study of cancer risk and outcomes in this high-risk group, the American Cancer Society announced Tuesday.
Why it matters: Despite major gains in the past two decades, Black women in the U.S. have the highest death rate and the shortest survival rates of any racial or ethnic group for most cancers.
How it works: Researchers over 30 years will follow Black women between 25 and 55 who haven't been diagnosed with cancer and come from diverse backgrounds.
- Study participants will be surveyed about behavioral, environmental and lived experiences over time to better understand what's driving new cancers, mortality and resilience.
- No medication, clinical testing, treatment or lifestyle changes will be part of the study.
- Enrollment is open in 20 states where the vast majority of Black women live.
Between the lines: Cancer is among several conditions in which Black people — often, in particular, Black women — have higher rates of illness and poorer outcomes, and the reason behind the inequality is often unclear.
- That also includes concerns about breast and cervical cancers, as well as prostate, stomach and endometrial cancer.
Breakthrough in hemostasis and wound healing research
Another amazing leap by medical science.
From ScienceDaily:
A breakthrough study, published in Science Translational Medicine, features a biomedical engineering innovation with the potential to transform trauma care and surgical practices. Chapman University's Fowler School of Engineering Founding Dean and Professor, Andrew Lyon, is a member of this multidisciplinary, multi-university scientific research team developing platelet-like particles that integrate into the body's clotting pathways to stop hemorrhage. ...
Addressing a longstanding gap in surgical and trauma care, this advancement holds potential for patient implementation. Patients experiencing acute trauma often require platelet transfusions to manage bleeding; storage constraints restrict their utility in prehospital scenarios. Synthetic platelet-like particles (PLPs) offer a potential alternative for promptly addressing uncontrolled bleeding.
The team has engineered platelet-like particles capable of traveling through the bloodstream and then homing to the site of tissue damage, where they augment the clotting process and then support subsequent wound healing. The approach addresses an unmet clinical need in trauma care and surgical practice. ✂️
The study's comprehensive approach involved rigorous testing in larger animal models of traumatic injury and illustrated that the intervention is extremely well tolerated across a range of models. ..."In the mouse and pig models, healing rates were comparable in animals that received platelet transfusions and synthetic platelet transfusions and both groups fared better than animals that did not receive either transfusion."
One of the study's most significant findings is that these particles can be excreted renally, presenting a breakthrough in elimination pathways associated with injectable, synthetic biomaterials. The remarkable safety profile demonstrated in the study makes it safe and effective in trauma and surgical interventions. This advancement could potentially lead to improved medical treatments and outcomes for patients undergoing such procedures.
Oral immunotherapy ‘transforming’ lives
This is so much better than a grueling course of allergy shots or carrying adrenalin pens!
From Positive News:
Children with milk and peanut allergies are having their lives “transformed” by a pioneering oral immunotherapy trial, which trains their bodies to tolerate allergens.
The £2.5m UK trial uses daily doses of everyday food products – taken under strict medical supervision – to build up a resistance to allergens. Doctors say they are already seeing children on the trial consume and tolerate foods that once triggered a severe allergic reaction.
“We are very pleased with the results we are seeing so far,” said trial lead Prof Hasan Arshad of the University of Southampton, England. “At present, people with food allergies are asked to avoid the food they react to and carry adrenalin pens in case of accidental exposure. This is not a satisfactory situation, and we would like them to be able to live their lives without having to avoid the popular foods that others enjoy or being fearful of accidental food allergic reactions.”
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Good news in science
An Ancient Collapse of Earth’s Magnetic Field Led to Multicellular Animals Emerging
I certainly never knew that the Earth’s magnetic field had once collapsed for 26 million years or that such an event could have led to multicellular life forms!
From Good News Network:
A fascinating new discovery offers “tantalizing” evidence for the origin of multicellular development in life on Earth. It seems related to something that had perhaps never happened before, and certainly has never happened since: a near-total collapse of the Earth’s magnetic field.
...when multicellular life did begin to emerge and diversify [635 million years ago] in a period known as the Ediacaran, it started within a 26 million-year window of time when the Earth’s magnetic field plummeted to one-thirtieth its current strength.
The authors of this geologic discovery from the University of Rochester point out that this would have driven a rapid decrease in hydrogen content in the Earth’s atmosphere and rapidly increased oxidization of the air and oceans, allowing metabolically demanding activities like movement and propulsion to become more and more possible. ✂️
Generated by the molten iron core of Earth, the magnetic field is essential for life. It does something far more important than make our compasses work or create the Aurora Borealis, it protects the planet from streams of radiation coming off the Sun called solar wind.
“Oxygen has long been identified as a key “environmental gatekeeper,” allowing for evolutionary innovation and for meeting the energy demands of animals,” the authors write. “Although sponges and microscopic animals can survive at low levels of dissolved oxygen, macroscopic, morphologically complex, and mobile animals require a greater amount of oxygen to support their metabolic demands.”
A weakened magnetic field would allow the Sun’s radiation to strip away lighter molecules like hydrogen from the Earth’s atmosphere, and hydrogen can enter space through non-thermal processes as well. This could have resulted in an increase in oxygen sufficient enough to allow early macroscopic life to evolve in the sea.
Scientists astonished to find 700 new species in Cambodia’s mysterious mangroves
The more we learn about mangroves, the more vital it becomes to preserve them.
From Optimist Daily:
A pioneering biodiversity assessment done in the Peam Krasop sanctuary and Koh Kapik Ramsar reserve revealed a breathtaking tapestry of wildlife, providing significant insights into the ecological complexity of these critical areas.
Stefanie Rog led the survey crew, which was financed by Fauna & Flora International, as they ventured deep into Cambodia’s mangroves… . Rog is astounded by the findings, saying, “We found 700 different species in these mangrove forests but we suspect we have not even scratched the surface.” The wide use of video traps, nets, fish and insect estimations, and “transect” surveys allowed for a thorough grasp of the ecosystem’s complexities.
Mangrove forests, known for their tenacious trees that flourish in saline settings, play an important role in coastal ecosystems. Despite their importance, these habitats face challenges from destruction for economic purposes. Rog underscores their importance, emphasizing, “Mangroves are places of roots and mud and they are difficult for humans to get into, which is why they provide precious sanctuaries for these vulnerable animals.” The survey emphasized mangroves’ several benefits, including their role as nurseries for commercially valuable species and their ability to trap carbon efficiently.
Among the surprising finds are elusive creatures like the fishing cat and the hairy-nosed otter.
[Here are photos of the fishing cat and otter:]
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Good news for the environment
Seven countries now generate almost 100% of their electricity from renewable energy in ‘irreversible tipping point’ moment
I love the quote from the Stanford prof who published this data: “We don’t need miracle technologies.” We just need to do what we already know works.
From The Independent:
Seven countries now generate nearly all of their electricity from renewable energy sources, according to newly compiled figures.
Albania, Bhutan, Nepal, Paraguay, Iceland, Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo produced more than 99.7 per cent of the electricity they consumed using geothermal, hydro, solar or wind power.
Data from the International Energy Agency (IEA) and International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) also revealed that a further 40 countries generated at least 50 per cent of the electricity they consumed from renewable energy technologies in 2021 and 2022 – including 11 European countries.
“We don’t need miracle technologies,” said Stanford University Professor Mark Jacobson, who published the data.
Locals Finally Save ‘the Yosemite of South America’ After Decade Long Battle with Industrialist Who Owned it
This is such an inspiring story! As the writer noted, this is exactly the kind of battle that we had to fight to establish most of our national parks in the U.S.
If after you read this article you would like to chip in to help Puelo Patagonia permanently secure this spectacular piece of land, click this link: DONATE.
From Good News Network:
A wonderful story comes to us now from Patagonia where a valley of towering granite cliffs and rare species was saved from development by activists. It’s a story that North America saw many times during the birth of the conservation movement with groups like the Sierra Club in Yosemite, but this story regards Cochamó Valley, also known as the ‘Yosemite of South America.’
Roberto Hagemann owns 325,000 acres, or roughly 508 square miles, of this valley and its surrounding lands, which sit near the southern tip of South America where the Andes meet the Pacific Ocean. This Chilean industrialist, who made a fortune in mining and real estate, managed to do what many very rich people had deemed too difficult—buy up all this area from small ranching families. The feat involved over 200 land deed transactions.
Cochamó Valley had never been developed and remained a haven for pumas, the rare Andean deer, and Darwin’s frog. Aside from the ranchers, a plan in the early 2000s to build a road through the area was met with stiff resistance from environmental activists.
Hagemann announced plans to develop the area with a hydroelectric installation, a network of power lines, and 39 miles of roads. The ink on the announcement had hardly dried when activists rose up against it led, as the New York Times reports, by Pablo Condeza, a self-described ‘hippie’ and long-time wilderness guide. He founded a defense group called Puelo Patagonia dedicated to preserving the land and sued Hagemann for failing to undergo the proper environmental reviews. After years of legal battles, courts scuppered Hagemann’s plans, and the industrialist decided to sell out. ✂️
A deal was concluded for $63 million, and Puelo Patagonia was given 3 years to come up with the cash, $30 million of which has already been raised by the Freyja Foundation and the Wyss Foundation. Several large philanthropic entities had been aware of the valley and its importance but considered the task of buying up all the individual ranch land too complex. Now that one solitary cheque need be signed, one imagines they’ll jump at the chance.
This Scenic River Junction Is California’s Newest State Park
Having a beautiful state park in the heart of California’s Central Valley will be a huge gift to all the hard-working people who live there, especially the agricultural workers.
From AFAR:
California Governor Gavin Newsom last month announced the opening date for California’s 280th state park and first new state park in nearly a decade; Dos Rios, former farmland in the San Joaquin Valley, will open to the public on June 12.
Situated at the confluence of the San Joaquin and Tuolumne rivers eight miles outside of Modesto (which is about 90 minutes east of San Francisco), the 1,600 acres of floodplains have been restored to a flourishing green space dotted by willow trees and oaks, a project that has been spearheaded by the nonprofit conservation group River Partners—part of a larger effort to protect and preserve the area’s wildlife.
According to River Partners, Dos Rios is one of the largest floodplain restoration projects in California and a prime example of “green infrastructure that lowers flood risk and brings life back to the San Joaquin Valley to protect endangered species.”
After more than a decade of investment and work, the site is now a thriving ecosystem for species that include brush rabbits, woodrats, hawks, Central Valley Chinook salmon, steelhead trout, yellow warblers, sandhill cranes, and neotropical migratory songbirds, River Partners reports.
The restoration of Dos Rios was a $40 million effort; funding came from both the the public and private sectors.
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Good news for and about animals
Brought to you by Rascal, and the beautiful spirits of Rosy and Nora.
Rascal isn’t sure those parachutes would have been much fun to ride in! So he’s pretty much in awe of the heroism of those homing pigeons.
Rare WWII Pigeon Parachute Used to Carry Messages to French Resistance Ahead of D-Day Found in Old Shoebox
From Good News Network:
A rare World War II ‘pigeon parachute’ used to carry messages to the French resistance in Normandy ahead of D-Day has been found in a tattered old shoebox. It was discovered—along with other D-Day-related documents—in the loft of a woman named Mrs. Ellington, who recently passed away in England.
Her family was left scratching their heads over the artifact—how it came to be there and what it was exactly. They had no idea what the fabric item was used for. They were astonished to discover that she’d been keeping in her possession a very rare D-day pigeon parachute—and now they’ve donated the surviving piece of history to a museum.
The pigeon parachutes were used over Normandy in the days before the Allied Forces landed in France on June 6th, 1944.
Ahead of the planned attack, the British gathered homing pigeons from the local areas of coastal Normandy and used them to carry messages to the French resistance while the area was occupied and defended by thousands of Nazi troops.
The pigeons carried instructions about blowing up communication lines, armories, and transports. The pigeon would have been dropped by a light plane low over France, and once released the pigeons could struggle free of the parachute and fly off to their home coop.
This method was considered safer than using coded radio messages.
In memory of our darling Rosy, the best dog ever, here’s a story about a very good dog who finally got a chance to prove himself.
The Unwanted Shelter Dog Who Found His Way to Westminster
Do click the free link and read the whole article. It’s wonderful from start to finish.
From The New York Times (gift link):
A strange thing happened a few years ago when Christine Longnecker, who teaches horseback riding in and around Erie County, Pa., brought her new rescue dog, Miles, to a class. Instead of waiting quietly with the other non-horses in the barn, Miles suddenly sprinted into the ring and bounded over the fences himself. “He looked so excited,” Ms. Longnecker said. “And then he turned and barked as if to say, ‘This is how you do it.’”
That was the beginning of Miles’s career as an agility dog… . On Saturday, he is scheduled to compete for the second time in the agility competition at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show… . ✂️
Ms. Longnecker and Miles met six years ago at the Because You Care animal shelter in McKean, Pa. Miles, who was known as Tank at the time, had a skull-and-crossbones collar and a tendency to snarl and growl from his bed in an uninviting manner. … But when Ms. Longnecker arrived, Miles walked quietly to the front of his kennel and sat down. “And then he looked me straight in the eye and said, clear as day, ‘I just want to be a good boy,’” she recalled. “All of a sudden this overwhelming sadness washed over me, the sense of his not being able to prove himself because he’d been told that he was a bad dog,” Ms. Longnecker continued. “My heart broke into a million pieces.” ✂️
[After Longnecker adopted Miles, he] was a mess — shaking, panting, his tail between his legs. Every time he got out of the car, he threw up, thinking he was returning to the shelter. … But gradually Ms. Longnecker, who is known among her friends in the dog and horse worlds for her ability to communicate with animals, convinced Miles that he was safe, even away from the house...
Ms. Longnecker enrolled Miles in a class at Countryside Agility, the center of Erie’s agility community, and the two began competing — first locally, then regionally and nationally. “It started as this incredibly fun thing to do, and then it turned out he was awesome at it...”
In honor of our lovely Nora, I want to share this beautiful tribute to a beloved cat. What I’ve quoted here is just the beginning. Please click the link to read it all. And have a tissue handy.
The Cat Who Saved Me
By Tom Nichols in The Atlantic (gift link):
I have had cats since I was a boy, and all of them were wonderful, but one of them left a mark on my life forever.
Almost 15 years ago, I was in bad shape. I was divorced, broke, drinking too much, and living in a dated walk-up next to a noisy bar. ... The local veterinary hospital was a few doors down; they always kept one or two adoptable animals in the window. One day, a gorgeous black cat, with a little white tuxedo patch and big gold-green eyes, showed up in a small cage. I stared at her for a while. She stared back patiently.
I wasn’t taking very good care of myself at that moment, so I decided I couldn’t take care of a cat. I walked on. For weeks, the cat sat there. For weeks, we stared at each other. One day, as I was deep in my cups, I took a walk with a friend and co-worker who also happened to be my next-door neighbor. “You look at that damn cat every day,” he said. “Just go in and get it.”
So I did.
I picked her up. She looked at me as if to say: Yeah, I recognize you. You’re the doofus who stared at me for weeks. I signed the papers and took her home. She was fluffy and black-haired, so I decided I would name her after Carla Tortelli from the show Cheers... ✂️
Slowly, she added routine to my life, but mostly, we had lots of hours of doing nothing—the quiet time that can feel sort of desolate if you’re alone, but like healing if you have the right company. Soon, I started to see daylight. I met a woman named Lynn. I laid off the booze. I got help of various kinds. ✂️
Eventually, Lynn and I bloomed from friendship into love. Slowly, I put my life back in order, and Carla clearly thought that me getting on my feet was mostly her doing. It wasn’t that simple, but I will say this: A man blessed with a concerned doctor, a dedicated counselor, a wise priest, a few good friends, and a great love in his life can overcome much. But a man with all of those and a marvelous cat can really cover a lot of distance.
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