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Polis signs bill aimed at easing regulatory burdens on Colorado businesses
Regulation reform is on the horizon for Colorado businesses after lawmakers approved a bill that will crack down on excessive rules — reportedly freeing up time for more care for patients, more attention for students...
Support for Wisconsin school referenda continues to weaken
In April, voters approved 61% of 75 school referenda.
Cleveland County Recreational and Entertainment Facilities Authority seeking proposals for underwriters, trustee bank for future arena bond issuance
The Cleveland County Recreational and Entertainment Facilities Authority approved issuing a request for proposals for an underwriter and trustee bank service for future bond issuance related to the new arena
May 2026 Science Day video recordings
Below you can watch the video recordings from our Science Day held in May 2026. The presentations explore comparative analyses of pre|CISION® payload delivery with AVA6103 vs approved ADCs, alongside updated in vivo studies of the AVA6207 dual payload delivery system. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
WHO declares Ebola outbreak in Congo and Uganda a global health emergency
More than 300 suspected cases and 88 deaths have been reported. The outbreak is caused by the rare Bundibugyo virus, which has no approved treatments or vaccines.
WIU to add two new emphases to M.S. degree in computer science
University officials noted that prospective students frequently inquire about specialized study options in artificial intelligence and cybersecurity. The newly approved
W.H.O. Declares Ebola Outbreak a Global Health Emergency
Just a day after the outbreak was announced, cases were confirmed in the capitals of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. There is no approved vaccine for the strain.
WHO Declares Congo-Uganda Ebola Outbreak Global Health Emergency
The World Health Organization declared an Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda a public health emergency of international concern, warning that a rare virus strain with no approved vaccine or treatment may already be spreading more widely than detected.
Now What? With Carbon Pricing Eroded and Pipeline Politics Advancing, Here Are the Pathways for Climate Success
At the end of a whirlwind week of news on carbon pricing and electricity strategy, capping a madcap year of pretty much non-stop, dramatic change, the word across much of Canada’s climate and energy transition community is that climate policy in this country has been shredded. Eviscerated. Hit with a sledgehammer by policy rollbacks that have pushed the country’s 2050 net zero target “well out of reach”. That means it’s never been more important to look for the rays of hope and glimmers of possibility. To glimpse the seeds of the next set of strategies to get Canada’s climate pollution under control and the country into the accelerating global dash away from fossil fuels. And then, once we’ve spotted those possibilities, get on with the hard, day-to-day slog of trying to make them a reality. Nothing takes away from the frustration and the deep disappointment so many climate and energy hawks are expressing, the sense of betrayal by the author of Value(s) and the former UN special envoy for climate action and finance. But we knew two things as the week drew to a close. We’re looking at the world as it most definitely is. And we don’t get to give up finding the pathways to confront climate change and deliver faster, deeper carbon cuts that leave no one else behind. So really, the first question we all have to ask ourselves is: What’s next? Subscribe All the Oxygen in the Room The outpouring of anger and grief over the carbon pricing deal between Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has been absolutely understandable. So much of the climate community poured years, more than a decade, into dragging the current federal pricing regime across the finish line, then defending it from a deluge of three-syllable rhymes after the Trudeau government proved utterly incapable of delivering its own message. The policy foisted on us by neo-classical economists took up all the oxygen in the room, burned through years of climate response time that we won’t get back, while cornering climate hawks into the position that the best response to the crisis of our lifetimes is a new tax…in an era of historic anti-tax sentiment. I mean, really—what could possibly have gone wrong? Against that history, let’s appreciate columnist Max Fawcett’s point that even a modest carbon pricing agreement with a government as off-the-wall libertarian/conspiracist as Danielle Smith’s—those adjectives are mine, not Max’s—is a win worth savouring (as long as Smith keeps her promises for a change). But part of living in the world as it is (no, I’m not letting that go) is to be clear-headed about what we can and can’t control. And one thing we get to decide, after seeing this week’s carbon price festivities take up all the oxygen yet again, is whether we want to keep letting that happen. Particularly when success down that road depends on a factor that no one with a climate agenda can control or influence—a provincial carbon pricing mechanism that has been manipulated and eroded beyond its lowest possible denominator. Thankfully, that’s not the way it has to go. Not when we have so many other powerful, practical tools at our disposal, including the ones still available to us through this abominable Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Canada and Alberta. Tools In Our Toolbox When I started roughing out this list, I didn’t expect it to grow to nearly a dozen bullet points. It’s probably still incomplete. Some of the greatest hits in today’s climate solutions toolbox include: • No Carbon Capture, No Pipeline: On Friday, Prime Minister Mark Carney explicitly stated that there’s been no change to the MOU provision that there will be no West Coast pipeline without an industry commitment to build its massive, $16.5-billion carbon capture and storage (CCUS) hub in Northern Alberta, and vice versa. The two megaprojects were joined at the hip when the MOU was signed Nov. 27, and the implementation agreement this week affirmed that they still are. A parade of independent analysts have spent years pointing to the economic and technical flaws in CCUS, while the industry kept postponing its investment decision until it could arm-twist the government for more “clarity” (by which it meant even more lavish taxpayer subsidies) on the project. Now the industry itself is running away from the CCUS hub and insisting the pipeline should proceed without it, but Carney doesn’t seem to be budging from a central tenet of the MOU to which Smith has signed on. • No Subsidies, No Investors: Climate analysts and advocates have quite rightly been hammering away at Carney and his team, insisting that any new capacity the industry wants to build must proceed without new subsidies. The government has responded with a growing collection of funding and financing mechanisms for the very wide menu of industrial development and nation-building projects they say they want to take on, and that menu always includes fossil fuel infrastructure. But it’s hard to see how even the combined fiscal clout of the federal and supportive provincial governments will deliver the financial backing private investors would need when the business case for new fossil fuel development is evaporating before their eyes. Particularly when… • No Market, No Demand, No Investors: As our friend Markham Hislop at Energi Media (our apparently sleepless friend, given the massive volume of great material he’s been churning out) points out this morning, the biggest vulnerability in any pipeline deal is the assumption that Asian buyers will want the oil or liquefied natural ga that our fossil industry is so keen to send them. Hislop writes in part: Ottawa and Alberta are effectively betting that countries like China and India will continue increasing oil imports for decades as their economies grow and energy consumption rises. That assumption underpins the entire economic rationale for expanding oil sands production and building billions of dollars in new export infrastructure. But Asian energy systems are changing rapidly… China, India, South Korea, and other major hydrocarbon importers are now investing hundreds of billions of dollars into electricity systems built around wind, solar, batteries, nuclear, hydro, and expanded transmission infrastructure. Domestic “energy sovereignty” is increasingly replacing the old energy-security model based on stable oil and gas imports. Those investments are expected to sharply slow oil demand growth and eventually reverse it, even as overall energy consumption continues rising. There are also refining constraints. Many Asian refineries and petrochemical complexes are already optimized to process discounted heavy crude from the Middle East and Latin America. That raises serious questions about how much additional Canadian bitumen Asian markets can absorb at profitable prices. Small wonder that there’s still no private sector investor for the project, despite Smith’s government desperately beating the bushes to put together a deal. For now, Alberta is acting as proponent and covering early start-up costs for a pitch to the federal Major Projects Office, which could actually turn into the next tough hurdle for Smith and her pipeline to jump. • Canada Day Looms: How ironic that Canada’s birthday this year could become a major chokepoint for the provincial premier who’s been working so diligently to tear the country apart! The July 1 target date for Alberta’s pipeline proposal is baked into the MOU, was reaffirmed by the implementation plan, but it hadn’t dawned on me that it cuts both ways. As one very smart colleague wrote in an email yesterday, “they’ve thrown the ball into Alberta’s court to get the project proposal on the table really quickly and to have to do a whole pile of work to put together a massive, complicated project that would typically take years to assemble, and they’ve given them weeks to do it.” That makes July 1 a looming deadline that Smith won’t be able to run away from politically, especially with the separatists in her party and her caucus breathing down her neck. (See previous ref to off-the-wall.) But if Alberta comes in with a sloppy, incomplete submission, even after Carney bent over backwards to simplify the application process and the rules that govern it, it may be harder for the province or the industry to blame Ottawa and insist on the faster process they claim their investors are demanding. (Oh, wait—which investors would those be??) • We’ll See You In Court (Then We’ll See You Again): If Carney did cave, that would be just one more reason for Indigenous and other affected communities to take the government and the process to court—Just as Alberta First Nations did, successfully, in response to Smith’s half-baked separation referendum. Veterans of the Harper era have been warning that a shoddy process around fossil fuel infrastructure or other major projects will be a recipe for the very delays that process seeks to avoid. And now more than ever, with renewable energy and energy storage eating fossil fuels’ lunch in import markets around the world, a delayed pipeline or LNG terminal may be as good as a cancelled one. • Charged Up, Ready to Go: With its goal of doubling Canada’s electricity supply to meet a doubling of demand by 2050, the national electricity strategy that Carney unveiled Thursday has a lot to like. With its explicit language about speeding the shift from fuels to more efficient and affordable electricity, global investment and deployment patterns that already favour that shift, an emerging bidirectional power grid, the role of front-line options like rooftop solar and heat pumps, the emergence of electric vehicles as behind-the-meter energy storage, and the domestic jobs and manufacturing to make it all happen, the document doubles down on the essential cornerstone of a faster shift off fossil fuels. The strategy envisions a more prominent role for gas and nuclear power. But some of those provisions were already in the Clean Electricity Regulations that climate hawks are now fighting so hard to defend, inserted as a compromise in a futile attempt to mollify the industry and its political representatives in Alberta and Saskatchewan. But once again, gas will be a tougher sell when it’s more expensive and now so much more unpredictable than the clean alternatives. The new nuclear technologies are still speculative and deeply vulnerable to cost overruns. Increasingly, utilities, developers, and investors know it. Carney declared Thursday that “it doesn’t do us good to be sitting in court all the time with provinces. It doesn’t do us good to be talking past each other. What does do us good is to come together with specific projects.” There are no guarantees, but so much of the language and narrative-building in the electricity strategy suggests the lion’s share of those projects will be renewable. • The Party Has Already Started: The electricity strategy only rarely digs down to specific projects, but provinces representing three-quarters of Canada’s population are already embracing a faster transition. Hydro-Québec is working on a 10-year, $185-billion renewable energy and grid buildout by 2035. Ontario recently brought 10 provinces and territories together in a National Energy Corridor Agreement to boost interprovincial and -territorial transmission infrastructure. And the MOU implementation agreement commits Alberta to facilitate investment in renewable energy projects, a big step back from its continuing, punitive restrictions on renewables development. The electricity strategy envisions much of the financing and infrastructure that will be needed to pull those advances together into an integrated whole. • Delivering on Affordability: The MOU implementation plan has little or nothing to say about affordability (are you surprised?), but the electricity strategy does, with a top-line pledge to reduce home energy costs for seven out of 10 Canadian households by 2050, a total saving of $15 billion across the board. It’s just a start, but it puts affordability on the government’s narrative map. If they’re serious and deliberate about patching together a least-cost energy strategy, it’ll have little if any room for oil, gas, or nuclear—not with powerful evidence, for example, that electricity prices are higher when those prices are set by gas. • Smith Proves that Canada Works: By signing a deal that makes it harder to claim the federal government is blocking a new pipeline, Smith has helped prove Carney’s constant anti-separatist refrain that “Canada works”—incurring the rage, no doubt, of her own political base. Canada also needs to work for anyone who depends on a clean environment, healthy and thriving ecosystems, and safe, stable climate. But with Smith and her separatist constituents setting up as a fifth column for annexation by Donald Trump’s United States, let’s set aside any notion that 51st state status for Canada is a recipe for anything other than climate disaster (and so much else). Resisting and withstanding Trump (just 170 more sleeps until mid-term elections, which is a damn sight better than the 730 we started with) doesn’t mean a free pass for a pipeline, but we can still appreciate it that keeping Canada whole and sovereign is still Carney’s Job One. • The Words Not Spoken: Apart from a commitment to export a million barrels of “low-emission” Alberta bitumen per day (memo to Smith and Carney: You realize that that’s less than the industry is already exporting??), the MOU implementation plan says nothing about the international trade and economic sovereignty deals that Carney has been travelling the world to negotiate. It didn’t have to. Carney doesn’t need permission from Danielle Smith, her American enablers, or her separatist allies to continue building the alliances that will ratchet down our economic dependency on our unstable, unreliable neighbour to the south. But every connection he builds with countries outside North America helps align our economy and our future with a faster shift off fossil fuels. Little if any of this was on our bingo cards a year or two ago. But it’s the pathway that has opened up to us. And if it gives Canada any climate or energy gains at all in an era still dominated by Trump and his increasingly ridiculous tariffs, his loutish trade negotiations and his continuing annexation threats, we have to take the wins. Not least because they’ll be the point of departure for what we can achieve in 2027, 2029, and beyond, as Trump’s grip and this era begin to loosen and then fade. What is Carney Doing? If this line of thought is right—and it’s a possibility, not a prediction—it means that Carney’s actions and decisions are largely about buying time. Time for Trump’s power to wane. Time for Alberta’s separatist/conspiracist virus to spread, mutate, die out, or at least die back, with help from a vaccine of federal steadiness and calm (appropriate enough, for a movement populated largely by vaccine deniers) that no conspiracy theory can dismiss. And time for the government’s trade and investment agenda to deliver results—even knowing that some of those results will bring impacts that front-line communities will not and should not accept. In the immediate moment, none of this changes the way the wider climate community has to respond, from campaigners to investors to front-line practitioners. All of our voices are still essential. But those voices will be stronger and more confident if we have a clearer sense of the brutal game we’ve been pulled into, and a plausible path (or two it three) for playing it to the win we need. This conversation also underscores our biggest task for the remaining years of what was supposed to be the “decisive” decade for climate response: if we can shift the energy narrative in Canada, make it a mainstream view that the country’s preoccupation with oil and gas has us falling farther behind a changing world, we’ll see far better results in the 2030s and beyond. For many veteran climate advocates, taking on that part of the fight will begin with recognizing that most of our friends and family, neighbours and colleagues already understand that climate change is real and right in front of us: they’re looking away and staying silent because they don’t have what climate communicator Katharine Hayhoe calls “efficacy”. As Hayhoe recently pointed out in a feature interview with The Energy Mix, it amounts to science denial to keep hammering away at the dire news about global warming without also helping audiences understand what they can do about it, with multiple studies telling us why that won’t work. Far better to open those conversations with the dominant crises like energy security, food security, emergency preparedness and business continuity, affordability, and financial security that have knocked climate change far lower on the list of public priorities, and will likely keep it there. We Knew This Would Happen Climate hawks have always known this day would come. For decades, we warned that everyone had to pay attention to climate change right now, because it would be much tougher to respond once the crisis itself started affecting our daily lives. We were right, and here we are. But now, thanks to decades of hard work, communities and countries have an alternative to doubling down on fossil fuels. “In 10 years everyone will have ‘always known’ that solar and batteries were going to win,” Morgan Solar Executive Chair Mike Andrade writes on LinkedIn. With the disruption in the Strait of Hormuz roiling energy priorities around the world, Canada and the United States are among the shrinking number of countries that are still very keen on fossil fuel development. Understanding that gap is a first, essential step in spotting the opportunities ahead, and averting the deep economic as well as environmental and social risk we face if we don’t seize them. Thanks for reading The Energy Mix Weekender! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support our work. Subscribe Mitchell Beer traces his background in renewable energy and energy efficiency back to 1977, in climate change to 1997. Now he and the rest of the Energy Mix team scan 1,200 news headlines a week to pull together The Energy Mix and The Energy Mix Weekender. Chart of the Week BYD Eyes 20 Dealership Locations After Canada Greenlights Chinese EV Imports ‘Sledgehammer’ Carbon Price Deal Boosts Emissions by 230Mt, Aims for Fall 2027 Pipeline Approval ‘Worse Than Harper’: Regulatory Rollback Would Stop Canada from Assessing Project Impacts, Critics Warn Electricity Strategy Aims for Doubling by 2050, Allows ‘Flexibility’ for Gas Power Plants Opposition Mounts as O’Leary’s Data Centre Approved in Drought-Stricken Utah Diluted Carbon Price Misses ‘Reality of the World We’re In’, Could Impede Diversified Trade: Climate Institute $200B in Clean Energy Investment Will Need On-Time Delivery, Reliable Policies, Trade Association Says ‘Sovereign Pipeline’: CEO Pitches to Keep Trans Mountain in Government Hands What a Supercharged El Niño Could Mean for Canada Canada’s future is electric, and here’s how a power grid superhighway would get us there (Toronto Star) The Perilous Waters of Hecate Strait (Globe and Mail) Saudi Aramco profits jump despite conflict in Middle East (The Guardian) Farmers confront rising cost of fertilizer and fuel as spring seeding under way (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) Clarkson forecasts 24% decline in offshore oil, gas capital expenditures (Oil & Gas Journal) Pipe Dreams: How Oil and Gas Fail to Deliver Economic Development in Africa (Oil Change International) Developing countries must hold the pen to script the fossil fuel transition (Climate Home News) Iran war threatens the dream of a post-oil economy in the Gulf (Washington Post) U.S. Oil, Gas Work Force Hits Lowest Level Since 2022 (Rigzone) Why Polestar Is Doubling Down on Net Zero as Rivals Pull Back on EVs (Bloomberg) Why this Michigan utility plans to sell its hydro dams for $13 (E&E News/Politico) Levees can no longer save New Orleans (Vox)
Latvia’s president asks opposition leader to form new government
If opposition leader Kulbergs were to form a government, the cabinet lineup would need to be approved by parliament.
Supreme Court deals blow to Virginia Democrats in fight over state court ruling
The Supreme Court on Friday rejected Virginia Democrats’ emergency appeal seeking to revive a voter-approved congressional redistricting overhaul, leaving intact a Virginia Supreme Court ruling that struck down the effort as unconstitutional ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
Supreme Court Upholds Virginia Ruling Rejecting Democrats’ New Voting Map
State officials had asked the justices to step in to allow the state to use a congressional map in the midterms that was drawn by Democrats and recently approved by voters.
Trump Administration Weighs $1.7 Billion Fund for Allies Investigated Under Biden
Critics denounced the highly unusual plan, which has yet to be finalized or approved, as a vast political slush fund financed by taxpayers.
County getting into the Entertainment (Zone) business
Hoping to help local businesses and attract more visitors ready to spend some money, the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors on May 12 conceptually approved the establishment of Entertainment
A chemical found in fish could help reinvent your sunscreen
It’s been over 25 years since the FDA approved a new ingredient for sunscreen in the United States. But a molecule called gadusol found in fish and coral reefs is a promising candidate. It absorbs U.V. rays — acting like a built-in sunscreen for fish. But there’s a big hurdle if scientists want to turn gadusol into human sunscreen: They’d need to make a lot of it. A new study out this week in the journal Trends in Biotechnology takes us a big step closer. Their solution? Using the bacteria best known for making your stomach hurt: e. Coli. Interested in more science? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave.
Colorado lawmakers pass bill negating road-funding ballot measure
Colorado lawmakers on Wednesday approved a last‑minute amendment to a bill crafted to counter a ballot measure requiring that public funds collected for “road transportation” go to “road transportation,” setting up a high‑stakes clash over street funding and public services. House Bill 1430 would only go into effect if Initiative No. 175 passes in November. That […]
Miami-Dade commissioners discuss long-delayed mental health facility, but still not on agenda for a vote
More than two decades after voters approved funding for a mental health facility, Miami-Dade County leaders are still debating when — or how — it will finally open.
Public health officials warn fentanyl may now be mixed with substances not approved for human use
Public health officials warn fentanyl is now being combined with new substances that aren’t approved for human use and are often undetectable to the user.
Albany County Legislature approves tax on short-term rentals
Legislators approved a new “AirBnb Tax” this week.
Las Vegas tourism agency approves spending up to $464M on marketing city
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority board of directors approved extensions and updates to five contracts, emphasizing the need for speed, flexibility and scale in promoting the destinat...
Decades after voter approval, Miami mental health center still not open
It has been more than 20 years since Miami-Dade County voters approved funding for a facility intended to help people living with mental illness. Yet today, the $51 million Miami Center for Mental Health and Recovery remains unopened despite being fully constructed and ready for use.
Colorado Democrats pass stopgap funding for health insurance subsidies
Colorado Democrats have approved a stopgap plan to keep health insurance subsidies afloat, but not without prompting concerns from members of both parties about the sustainability of the funding. Senate Bill 178, which was introduced...
MNG Brands Supports Science-Based Kratom Regulation and Consumer Safety Standards
MNG Brands, parent company of CBD Kratom and Korthals' Collection, including DER- a low-dose kratom beverage line developed in collaboration with actor and artist Nico Tortorella, is encouraged by the support shown for natural leaf kratom by President Donald J Trump. In an Oval Office appearance on May 10, the President stated that he was in favor of his Administration taking steps to approve some forms of kratom. "We're looking very seriously at natural 7-OH and getting that approved" was the m
HHS expands access to Parent-Child Interaction Therapy through telehealth | Health and Human Services North Dakota
North Dakota Health and Human Services (HHS) FamilyFirst Services now offers Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) through telehealth by an approved provider to eligible families.Parent-Child Interaction Therapy is an evidence-based program for children ages 2 to 7 and their parents or caregivers. It is designed to improve child behavior, strengthen parenting skills and build healthier parent-child relationships.
Garland business owners say they may have to paint over previously approved religious mural
North Texas business says says a previously approved religious mural may need to be painted over
GrapheneOS says Google is making life harder for rival operating systems and devices
Graphene argues that Google's device verification systems could lock users into approved hardware and software.
Tom Izzo comments on recent approved NCAA Tournament expansion
"I understand it from both sides. I would rather it stay the same, but as you know, coaches weren't asked at all."
Assessing ManpowerGroup (MAN) Valuation After Q1 2026 Growth Governance Changes And Business Sale
ManpowerGroup (MAN) is back in focus after a busy start to 2026, with Q1 revenue growth of 10.3%, shareholder-approved equity and governance changes, and the completed sale of its Jefferson Wells U.S. business. See our latest analysis for ManpowerGroup. The recent governance changes, dividend declaration and the Jefferson Wells sale come at a time when ManpowerGroup’s share price has shown a 7.6% 30 day share price return but a 23.3% decline in 1 year total shareholder return. This suggests...
In Focus Maine: Mayor Dion discusses future development plans in Portland
The mayor notes that more than 1,000 new housing units have already been approved
How a pill approved 25 years ago transformed cancer treatment
When the Food and Drug Administration approved Gleevec to treat a form of leukemia in 2001, it ushered in a new era in cancer care.
How a sales tax hike to protect healthcare would affect Long Beach
If approved, the city’s sales tax rate would hit 11.25%. Some local leaders say it’s imperative to protect hospitals and clinics gutted by federal cuts.
Review: Morgan Wallen opens Indianapolis run with sprawling set
Wallen’s stop marked the first concert at Lucas Oil since Billy Joel and Sting. Takeaways from his first of two Indianapolis outings:
$20.7M land deal forces businesses near Siesta Key out
Longtime businesses near Siesta Key are being forced out after Sarasota County approved a multi-million-dollar waterfront property purchase.
Colorado House advances 5% gaming fee bill to support youth mental health services
Colorado lawmakers on Thursday approved a bill that would place a 5% fee on certain in‑game purchases in children’s online games, aiming to create a funding stream for youth mental health services. Supporters say the measure would hold gaming platforms accountable for design features that can contribute to anxiety, depression, and compulsive spending in kids, […]
ISU trustees approve $84 million for new science complex facilities
With a combination of state funding and repayment from student fees, the ISU Board of Trustees approved $84 million in funds for three new STEM facilities. These include a new teaching building, an annex and a greenhouse.
Murfreesboro wants to sell land for $2.3M for entertainment venue
The Murfreesboro City Council, at its May 7 meeting, approved a purchase and sales agreement to sell 8.62 acres of land along Medical Center Parkway for $2.3 million to Hackberry 5 Properties, LLC for development of a large event venue and restaurant. The City-owned property, located south of Medical Center Parkway and east of Gateway
Virginia Supreme Court strikes down Democrats’ redistricting plan, dimming party’s midterm hopes
Voters narrowly approved the amendment April 21, but the court's ruling renders the results of that vote meaningless.
Court rejects Virginia redistricting in a blow to Democrats' counter to Trump, GOP
Virginia voters approved redistricting that could help Democrats pick up four House seats. Democrats said it was to counter the gains that Trump and the GOP have picked up in Republican-led states.
Virginia Supreme Court blocks Democratic-drawn congressional map voters approved in April
The court ruled that Democrats did not follow proper procedure when they put the constitutional amendment on the ballot in an effort to flip four House seats.
In Huge Blow to Democrats, Virginia Court Strikes Down House Map
The decision by the state’s top court is a major victory for Republicans, wiping away a measure approved by voters to allow Democrats to gain as many as four House seats in the midterms.
Taiwan Breaks Political Deadlock to Approve $25 Billion U.S. Arms Purchase
With time running out, Taiwanese lawmakers approved funds for buying U.S. weapons, fearing they could lose support if they didn’t act now.
PSMA PET imaging’s proliferation produces uptick in aggressive treatment for prostate cancer
First approved by the FDA in 2021, providers have rapidly adopted this clinical innovation, which offers greater accuracy in detecting prostate cancer.
Maha clears Rs 3 crore for NASA trip for 51 science expo winners
Nagpur: The Maharashtra govt has approved over Rs3crore to send 51 school science exhibition awardees on an eight-day educational trip to NASA in the .
Tennessee lawmakers pass U.S. House map carving up majority-Black district in Memphis
The new voting districts approved Thursday could give Republicans a chance to win all nine of the state’s congressional seats in the November midterm elections.
Small Business AI Measure Approved » CBIA
SB 417 authorizes a study of a Small Business Artificial Intelligence Grant Fund, an important and forward looking step.
Lawmakers Adopt Small Business Concierge Program » CBIA
Lawmakers approved a bill creating a small business concierge within the state’s Department of Economic and Community Development.
Nebraska sports financing board OKs tax incentives for Lincoln and Omaha projects, rejects others
Of the 11 applicants for tax incentives to fund sports facility projects across the state, only two projects were approved.
Pillen-led board approves tax incentive for Omaha, Lincoln sports facilities, rejects nine more
A Gov. Jim Pillen-led board approved use of a state tax incentive for an Omaha and a Lincoln sports facility project, but rejects nine others.
Tennessee Republicans approve map carving up majority-Black US House district
Republican lawmakers in Tennessee approved a new US House map Thursday that carves up a majority-Black district in Memphis, reshaping it to the GOP’s advantage as part of President Donald Trump’s strategy to hold on to a slim majority in the November midterm elections.
Tennessee approves House map to eliminate Democratic-held seat
Republicans in the state could hold a 9-0 advantage in the U.S. House with their new map, the first approved since the Supreme Court weakened the Voting Rights Act.
Science diplomacy lessons from a North Korean volcano
Mount Paektu, a mythic, active volcano on the border between North Korea and China, is almost the epitome of a scientific challenge that crosses political lines. In 946 CE, it erupted in one of the five biggest volcanic events of the past 10,000 years, kicking up huge quantities of ash and sending destructive mud flows down river channels for hundreds of kilometres. Should this happen again, the entire region, including easternmost Russia, South Korea and even Japan could be hit. “It’s definitely got the potential to be big,” said James Hammond, a professor of geophysics at Birkbeck, University of London. An eruption on the scale of 946 would have “huge regional impact.” For the past 15 years, Hammond has helped lead a groundbreaking collaboration with North Korean scientists to study the volcano, navigating scientific sanctions, tough export controls on scientific equipment and a long, pandemic-enforced exodus from the country. Although he seems more at home on far-flung research expeditions – before speaking to Science|Business, Hammond was camping out on a Greenland ice sheet – he has also advised the European Commission on its changing science diplomacy strategy. His long experience with North Korea has made Hammond sceptical of blanket bans on science collaboration, no matter the country.This is a live question in Europe, where in the wake of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, institutional ties with Russian universities were almost entirely severed, although some scientists fear this could undermine our understanding of climate change’s impact on the Arctic. Here, Hammond tells the story of the Mount Paektu mission and the policy lessons he takes from it. Ominous rumblingsThe genesis of Hammond’s collaboration came in 2002, when Mount Paektu began to rumble ominously. Earthquake activity picked up and the volcano began to emit unusual gases. North Korean scientists took notice. “People felt we need to know more about this volcano,” said Hammond. In 2011, North Korean vulcanologists put out a request for international expertise to help them learn more. At the time, Hammond and his collaborator, Clive Oppenheimer, were working on a vulcanology project in another sanctioned country, Eritrea, and so decided to answer the call. Within a month, they had flown into Pyongyang. “It was pretty incredible,” recalls Hammond (left). “We were made to feel like honoured guests, and invited to official celebrations.” The scientific opportunity was huge. Paektu is unusually positioned, a thousand kilometres from where tectonic plates rub against each other in the Pacific. “It was an incredibly interesting volcano, but not much research had been done, at least not in the international community,” he said. “There was so much we felt we could do. And we had these partners that were super keen to engage.”The mission received an unusual visitor in the form of volcano-obsessed filmmaker Werner Herzog, who accompanied Hammond and Oppenheimer while directing his 2016 film Into the Inferno about volcanos across the world. Four days into the trip, the German director delivered a long speech about reunification to his North Korean hosts, recalls Hammond. “He got to the heart of the Koreans and how they felt, and how they thought, in a way that I'm not sure I ever will,” he said. UN sanctionsHowever, Hammond realised he’d been “naïve” about how difficult it would be to collaborate with North Korea, which was sanctioned far more heavily than Eritrea. “We didn’t fully appreciate the all-encompassing nature of restrictions,” he said. In 2016, as tensions escalated over Pyongyang’s nuclear tests, a United Nations resolution banned all joint scientific work with North Korea. However, the UN sanctions did allow countries to request carve outs, and the UK successfully requested an exemption for Hammond’s work. Related articlesEU pushes for joint science diplomacy, but care needed to avoid gridlock, experts sayRussia severs its last ties with German scienceAnchor Greenlanders in Arctic climate research, experts tell EU ahead of policy updateExport controls have also delayed Hammond’s work. In one case, it took 18 months to get approval from the UK government to take seismometers, which measure earthquakes, to North Korea. “It was frustrating,” he said. “But they didn’t just say no.” However, one instrument, called an induction coil, used to measure how the earth conducts electricity, was blocked entirely because it can in theory be used to detect submarines. Karaoke bondingSince the collaboration started in 2011, Hammond has visited the country around 15 times, although the pandemic closed off North Korea for more than five years. A trip last November was Hammond’s first since the outbreak. Despite this lengthy interlude, Hammond has deep bonds in the country. The North Korean scientists Hammond works with are somewhat isolated, as they struggle to access the latest research papers and travel to international conferences. That said, they are “excellent geophysicists” and are “very well trained in the field,” he said. Over karaoke and chats about their families, “we’ve made friendships, for sure,” he said. The authorities have to sign-off things like the placement of seismometers, for example, but Hammond said these requests have been approved. “Everything that we've asked for within a scientific context has been delivered.”Scientific backchannels? These kind of personal links between scientists across political lines are one purported benefit of science diplomacy. During the Cold War, some historians argue, scientific contact between the US and Soviet Union laid a groundwork of trust for other cooperation, such as on arms control. Hammond agrees that backchannel contacts to North Korean geophysicists are hardly likely to defuse a military crisis on the Korean peninsula, but the simple fact of the scientific collaboration makes contacts between diplomats that little bit easier. “It creates opportunities to understand each other a little bit better,” he said. “When maybe you have those more difficult discussions as diplomats, it's coming from a slightly better place.” Cutting tiesDrawing lessons from the Mount Paektu mission for today’s links with Russian science isn’t simple. The analogy is far from exact, Hammond said, “because one is essentially a Cold War, versus a pretty hot war in the case of Russia.” But Hammond’s broader argument is that the challenges we face, such as climate change, pandemics, biodiversity loss, pollution and so on, have globalised in an unprecedented way, making blanket shutdowns in collaboration with any country unwise.He’s somewhat critical of the UN scientific sanctions imposed on North Korea in 2016, even though they did allow for exceptions. “I think a blanket halt to some of these things, when we face big global challenges [. . .] that’s quite a risky thing to do,” he said.Institutional endorsement?European academics are still by and large free to work individually with Russian counterparts. However, official, institutional partnerships have largely ended. Shortly following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russian university rectors wrote a public letter endorsing the war, meaning European universities fear official collaboration could also be seen as a kind of endorsement. Hammond acknowledges there is a risk of legitimising regimes, and state-controlled universities, through scientific cooperation. “That’s the trade off you have to make,” he said. Strategic projectsWith Russia, instead of giving a green light to restart all Arctic science, a middle ground might be firing up a few carefully selected “strategic” projects, said Hammond. After all, European countries are still collaborating with Russia on the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, an experimental nuclear fusion plant in the south of France. However, even if Europe did try to revive Arctic science with Russia, there’s no guarantee Russian scientists would play ball. A series of high-profile arrests of physicists in Russia accused of sharing their findings with the outside world has made collaboration fraught. Even before the invasion of 2022, “the Russian regime made it increasingly difficult, and this sort of discouraged people,” Dag Rune Olsen, rector of the Arctic University of Norway, told Science|Business last year.
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The Virginia Supreme Court is considering whether to block new U.S. House districts narrowly approved by voters | KMBZ
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The Weekend Mauling: 4/25/26
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