Arctic Today
Alaska agency devotes $20 million to bid in controversial Arctic refuge lease sale
The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, a state economic development agency, is poised to spend up to $20 million to bid on tracts in the hotly disputed ANWR lease sale that the Bureau of Land Management has scheduled for Jan. 6.
AIDEA’s seven-member board voted unanimously late Wednesday in favor of the plan, which was floated recently by two former governors concerned about flagging industry interest in ANWR development — Bill Walker, an independent, and Frank Murkowski, a Republican who also served for 22 years in the U.S. Senate.
Murkowski, speaking at AIDEA’s teleconferenced emergency meeting on Wednesday, described state participation in the lease sale as an “extraordinary opportunity” that AIDEA is qualified to grab.
snip
Rick Steiner, a retired University of Alaska marine biology professor who is now an environmental consultant, also said the scheme was “inappropriate and likely ineligible under federal law.”
MSN News: Woolly rhino remains found in melting Siberian permafrost
Russian scientists are poring over the well-preserved remains of a woolly rhinoceros that likely roamed the Siberian hinterland more than 12,000 years ago after it was found in the diamond-producing region of Yakutia.
Similar finds in Russia's vast Siberian region have happened with increasing regularity as climate change, which is warming the Arctic at a faster pace than the rest of the world, has thawed the ground in some areas long locked in permafrost.
The rhino was found at a river in August complete with all its limbs, some of its organs, its tusk - a rarity for such finds - and even its wool, Valery Plotnikov, a scientist, was quoted as saying by Yakutia 24, a local media outlet.
CNN
Census Bureau to miss December 31 deadline
The Census Bureau announced it will miss Thursday's deadline to produce the population count used to divide seats in Congress between the states.
The Wednesday announcement was expected, and the key question remains whether the Census Bureau and Commerce Department will present the tally to President Donald Trump prior to his departure from office on January 20. There are no penalties associated with missing the December 31 deadline.
The Census Bureau said in a statement that it plans "to deliver a complete and accurate state population count for apportionment in early 2021, as close to the statutory deadline as possible."
AP News
Florida seniors begin swarming COVID-19 vaccination sites
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis begged for patience from anxious seniors waiting their turn to get inoculated against COVID-19, as confusion and frustration arose over the availability of the life-saving vaccine among some of the state’s most vulnerable.
At a testing site in southwest Florida, hundreds of seniors formed long lines outside testing sites — camping out overnight with lawn chairs and blankets — to get vaccinated. Before the sun had even risen Wednesday morning, the county’s vaccine supply for the day was already accounted for, prompting officials to turn down anyone else who was arriving.
AP Health News
EXPLAINER: Scientists trying to understand new virus variant
Does it spread more easily? Make people sicker? Mean that treatments and vaccines won’t work? Questions are multiplying as fast as new variants of the coronavirus, especially the one moving through England and now popping up in the U.S. and other countries.
Scientists say there is reason for concern and more to learn but that the new variants should not cause alarm.
Worry has been growing since before Christmas, when Britain’s prime minister said the coronavirus variant seemed to spread more easily than earlier ones and was moving rapidly through England. On Tuesday, Colorado health officials said they had found it there.
AP News:
Bosnia: Uncertainty persists for migrants from burnt camp
Uncertainty persisted Wednesday for hundreds of migrants whose relocation from a fire-damaged tent camp in Bosnia has been canceled amid protests by residents, reflecting confusion in the Balkan country’s handling of the crisis.
The migrants were supposed to move on Tuesday from the much-criticized Lipa camp in northwest Bosnia to a former army barracks in the central part of the country. Instead, they spent some 24 hours in buses before they were instructed Wednesday afternoon to disembark and return to the now-empty camp.
The migrants lit fires to warm up while waiting to see what would happen next.
Some 1,000 migrants were stranded at the camp in snowy, windy weather after it was demolished in a fire last week. The tent camp, located near the border with Croatia, lacked basic facilities such as running water and heating.
Reuters News
In Somone Biles Path, a fearless young gymnast learns new 2020 routine
Ty-La Morris has always been special.
She was "a little older than one" when she crawled to the edge of her bed and did the splits, according to her mother, Likisha McCormick, and was three years old when she mastered the cartwheel, able to flip around the length of a football field.
"I used to tell my coworkers every day and they all kept saying, put her in gymnastics. I'm like, I can't afford gymnastics.
Gymnastics is very expensive," said McCormick, who lives with Ty-La in New Windsor, more than an hour north of New York City.
'We did it, sisters': Argentina Senate votes to legalize abortion
Argentina’s Senate voted on Wednesday to legalize abortion, a first for a big country in Latin America and a triumph for women’s rights campaigners achieved over the visceral objection of the Catholic Church.
Abortion is extremely rare in a region where the Church has held cultural and political sway for centuries. Previously, it was allowed on demand only in Communist Cuba, tiny Uruguay and parts of Mexico.
The fiercely contentious vote was held at 4:00 a.m. after a marathon debate that lasted through the night. In a vote of 38-29 with one abstention, the Senate backed the government proposal to allow terminations through the 14th week of pregnancy. The lower house had already approved it this month.
yahoo news
Shooting stars beckon in the New Year this weekend. Here's how to spot the fireballs of the Quadrantids meteor shower.
After a harrowing 2020, we all deserve a heavenly spectacle to welcome the New Year. The Quadrantids meteor shower has just the right display in store.
The meteor shower peaks on Saturday night (January 2), sending up to 90 shooting stars streaking across the sky each hour.
NASA calls the Quadrantids "one of the best annual meteor showers." They're famous for bright fireballs, which leave colorful trails of light imprinted briefly on the night sky.
Good New Network
Artist Creates Breathtaking ‘Drawings’ in Snow By Walking for Hours At a Time
A British artist has created a series of breathtaking snow “drawings” by walking in circles for more than 50 miles.
open the link to see the pictures.
Watch This UPS Driver Being Moved to Tears by Neighborhood ‘Thank You’
Hundreds of local residents stood outside their homes and clapped for their favorite delivery driver Anthony Gaskin as he drove slowly by the parade.
Over 100 Midlothian locals honked the horns on their cars; they rang their bicycle bells, they held up homemade signs—they applauded in every way they could. Anthony’s supervisors were even there to give a gift to him.
One resident explained why it was important to her to thank the UPS driver in a big way: “Through COVID, Anthony has continued working, delivering packages at our doors, record numbers of them, over 180 times to date,” Patty Friedman, who organized the event, said to WTVR in an email.
uh oh the video cause dust problems !
Retired Couple Make 1,400 Toys for Children in Need This Christmas: ’People need hope’
When Mike, a 72-year-old, 26-year army vet retired, he and Judy signed up for a woodworking club. It started as a hobby, but after witnessing the yuletide happiness their handmade playthings brought local families, it became their new vocation. Seven years on, the pair continues to churn out toys at a pace that would give Santa’s elves a run for their money.
Mike is in charge of toy production while Judy handles decoration and quality control. Their 15 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren serve as testers and focus groups.
Mike Sullivan’s love of woodworking is something of a family tradition. Sullivan grew up in Montana. His dad was a miner. The family didn’t have a lot of money, but both his elder brothers were carpenters, so many of the Christmas presents he received as a child were homemade.
NBC Sports
Ryan Cochran-Siegle’s first Alpine skiing World Cup win ends 14-year U.S. drought
Barbara Ann Cochran, the 1972 Olympic slalom champion, screamed and screamed as she watched — on a screen from her Vermont home at 5:45 a.m. — as her son, Ryan Cochran-Siegle, descended to his first win in his 101st World Cup start.
“As if I’m right there on the hill, like he could hear me,” she said. “Hopefully, I’m not waking the neighbors up.”
Her phone flooded with messages. Later that morning, Cochran, who turns 70 on Monday, did what she’s been doing regularly for the last 40 years. She gave a ski lesson at Cochran’s Ski Area in Richmond, Vt. Afterward, she was able to connect by phone with her son, a skier since age 2.
Cochran-Siegle, a 28-year-old from an extended family of Olympians and World Cup skiers, notched one of the Skiing Cochrans’ greatest achievements in Bormio, Italy, on Tuesday.
Hope Your New Year is a Safe & Happy One