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Tennessee Building Commission approves Neyland Entertainment District projects
During Thursday’s meeting, the commission approved several of the arrangements the university had made to get the project built.
Tennessee Building Commission approves Neyland Entertainment District projects
Tennessee’s State Building Commission approved Thursday the University of Tennessee’s upcoming major project aimed at building an entertainment district right outside Neyland Stadium.
Douglas County and Children’s Hospital Colorado partner for new youth mental health crisis services
Today’s youth face a fresh set of expectations and societal pressures that can be difficult to manage. That’s why the Douglas County Board of County Commissioners approved an agreement with…
CMS approves budget for GO-NORTH, the state’s federally funded rural health program
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approved New Hampshire’s spending plan for a large tranche of federal money that will go toward rural health initiatives, state officials announced Thursday.
UK health regulator approves Novo Nordisk's weight-loss pill
Britain's medicines regulator approved Novo Nordisk's weight-loss pill on Thursday, giving patients a new needle-free treatment option and bolstering the Danish drugmaker's first-to-market lead against U.S. rival Eli Lilly .
City of Houston passes Whitmire’s $7.5-billion budget for Fiscal Year 2027
Houston City Council approved Mayor John Whitmire’s budget with a vote of 15 to 1. Council Member Edward Pollard, the sole “no” vote, argued the plan was “fiscally irresponsible.”
New OMB rule could break science in the United States
The drug that saved your mother. The treatment your doctor recommended. The clinical trial that bought someone you love more time. None of it was inevitable. It required a system built to operate outside politics and sustained over decades, because science doesn’t operate on the timeline of a politician. That system is now under direct threat. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has proposed a new rule to regulate all federal grants, not just science, but housing, education, defense, NASA and everything in between, that would fundamentally change how research is conducted in the United States. There have been a lot of fires in the past 16 months, and if everything is an emergency, nothing is an emergency. But this is a very big deal. These rules would strip away the independence that has kept science from becoming a political tool. The good news is there’s still something we can all do. How the grant system was designed to work When I was a new faculty member, I was full of millions of ideas, so I sat down and wrote an NIH proposal. I worked on it for months and thought it was so good. Then I sent it to my mentor. It came back covered in comments. Places where my reasoning wasn’t as airtight as I’d thought, methods that could be stronger, gaps in my thinking that I had been too close to the work to see. It stung, as honest feedback always does, but peer review almost always makes the work better. In fact, it’s the backbone of how American science has functioned for generations. At NIH, submitted proposals go to a panel of scientists who have experience in the field. These are the people who can read research methods and spot their weaknesses, who understand when an experiment is designed well and when it isn’t. Applications are scored rigorously, and often only the top 3-20% of proposals receive funding. The people making funding decisions are required to justify them based on these reviews. To be clear: this is not a perfect system, and good science still goes unfunded more often than any of us would like due to limited resources. There is also criticism that peer review may undervalue bold ideas that are risky but could have high payoffs. But the peer review system is nonetheless a meaningful part of the grant selection process. While thoughtful and careful changes could improve the system, the changes being proposed by OMB will not make things better. The rule that could change everything Through this OMB proposal, the system that helps decide what gets funded is being dismantled. There are many troubling elements buried in this proposal, but three provisions stand out in particular. Each would be damaging alone. Together, they would change what kind of science gets done in America, and who it serves. 1. Political appointees would decide which science gets funded, and peer review would be explicitly sidelined or ignored. The guidelines your doctor follows, the standards that determine what’s in your air and water, the drugs that get approved for your family: all of it starts with a funding decision. Right now, that decision is made by scientists who can evaluate whether the work is actually sound and whether it could move the needle forward. Under this proposal, funding decisions could be made by political appointees. The careful, expertise-driven review process that shapes grant funding would be effectively sidelined. That means that a poorly designed study could get funded simply because someone in a political office liked the sound of it, while rigorous, important work doesn’t get funded because it no longer aligns with the administration’s priorities. In other words, critical work that benefits all of us could now be missed just because it has become politically inconvenient. 2. Grants could be canceled at any point, without warning, in the middle of ongoing work. Say your tax dollars have been paying for a cancer study for two years. The grant was awarded for five years, so the team is mid-experiment. There are three additional years’ worth of answers that could change how the disease is treated for hundreds of thousands of people. With this new rule, the federal government could cancel the remaining funding tomorrow, walk away from the commitment it made with your money, and have no legal obligation to finish what it started. This is a huge waste of money. There are rarely other sources of funding for this work, which means the team, the graduate students, postdocs, and research staff who have dedicated years of their careers to this project could lose their jobs. Patients who have contributed their time to studies may not see it turn into useful learnings for others. Every hour of work already completed could result in nothing useful. Science can take decades to get to tangible outcomes. It needs a stable funding system to flourish. 3. Researchers would have a harder time communicating their findings without pre-approval from the federal government. There is a saying from Sir Mark Walport: “Science isn’t finished until it’s communicated.” Science is no use to anyone if it is kept locked away in the labs that produced the data. The proposed rule could make communicating research findings harder in a number of ways: Make it harder for scientists to widely share their findings in scientific journals. Publication costs, including journal fees that allow for broad public access, could not be paid for by federal funds which is often how scientists pay these costs. Restrict researchers from engaging publicly about how their findings should inform policy or public health guidelines. This would restrict scientists from doing the work that transforms years of lab work into decisions that actually affect people’s lives. Make it harder for scientists to attend conferences. Conferences would now need to be approved by the federal agency at the time of grant award. This disadvantages conferences or publications that are not politically aligned. Conferences are a key way in which scientists learn about work happening in their field so they can collaborate and build on each other’s findings. What good is science with a muzzle? The long-term impact These changes could (and hopefully would) be reversed under the next administration. But by then, damage has been done. Once projects are halted or denied funding by political appointees, people leave their science careers for other paths or even leave the country to do their amazing science elsewhere. You cannot pause a scientific study the way you pause a subscription you decided isn’t useful anymore. You cannot freeze a research team that depends on salaries to feed their families, causing a scramble for replacement funding that, in most cases, simply does not exist. When the money stops, everything stops, and all the work in progress and its potential are lost. Despite all of the language about reducing waste, fraud, and abuse, this new proposed rule increases the administrative burden tremendously. Every researcher watching this unfold will make a rational decision: don’t start anything that will take a decade to finish. This includes not building a team around funding that could vanish, or asking the big questions that need patience and stability to answer. The most consequential science, the kind that produces the treatments and the breakthroughs that reach your doctor’s office twenty years from now, is exactly the science that would be abandoned first. This is still a proposal, so we can all do something Some worry this rule is already a done deal. But by law, OMB is required to open a public comment period. Those comments matter because they inform members of Congress, they can be used in litigation, and they create a public record. So here’s what you can do: Submit a public comment. The public comment period on this proposed change is open until July 13. Anyone can submit a comment, and OMB is required to respond to substantial ones. Each comment must be different to count as distinct; identical comments will be counted only once. Comment as an individual, not on behalf of your organization. Here’s a full resource to help you, with useful examples, but in general: Share a story about how science or federal funding has benefitted you or is involved in your work. Are you or someone you loved a cancer survivor? Do you know someone with Alzheimer’s? Have you received NIH/NSF or other federal funding? All of these can be stories you use to highlight why you care. Explain why you’re worried about these proposed changes. You can use the wording found here or in other resources to help you. Ask them to withdraw this proposed rule. Contact your elected representatives. Congress allocates money to federal agencies to spend, and it has oversight of how that process works. You can let your representatives know this proposed change concerns you and ask them to intervene. There are levers they can push that can help at this moment. Let others know why federal funding matters. This isn’t just about science, but ALL federal grants, including for education systems, defense projects, and more. The process, including the importance of federal funding, is invisible to many. We can all make it more visible by sharing how science benefits us and why we value it. You can also share this article, or any of the resources linked here, to help spread awareness! Bottom line We are quickly losing ground in scientific research in the U.S. More changes, like the proposed rule by OMB, would decimate our ability to conduct research here, leaving us all worse off: fewer treatments for pancreatic cancer, less research on pollution impacts, fewer answers for patients with rare disease, and more unaddressed health needs. The impact will be very real for all of us, regardless of where we stand politically. Using our voices for science is more important than ever. Love, LM Big thanks to Dr. Megan Ranney for reading this over and providing brilliant insights, as always. Dr. Liz Marnik, PhD, is Executive Director of The Evidence Collective at YLE and a science communicator and immunologist working at the intersection of public trust, science, and public health. You can find her on Substack, LinkedIn, Instagram and Threads. Your Local Epidemiologist (YLE) comprises a team of experts, ranging from physicians to immunologists to epidemiologists to nutritionists, working together with one goal: to “Translate” ever-evolving public health science so that people are well-equipped to make evidence-based decisions. The YLE suite of newsletters reaches over 475,000 people across more than 132 countries. This newsletter is free to everyone, thanks to the generous support of fellow YLE community members. To support the effort, subscribe or upgrade below: Subscribe
County Supervisors Approve Three‑Year Integrated Plan, Funding Behavioral Health Care, Housing and Crisis Services
County Supervisors today approved the region’s first Behavioral Health Services Act (BHSA) Integrated Plan, a three-year roadmap for how the County will use funding to support mental health care, substance use treatment and housing for people with serious behavioral health needs.
Following primary election, new Proposition 50 congressional races take shape
Seven months after California voters overwhelmingly approved new congressional district lines mid-decade, the races for November are taking shape
UToledo Health Now Offering FDA-Approved Infusion Therapy to Help Slow Early Alzheimer’s Progression
Kisunla targets amyloid plaques associated with Alzheimer's disease and is available to eligible patients with early symptomatic diagnoses.
CPS unanimously approves budget, discusses Health Science High School
The Columbia School Board met Monday and approved the 2026-27 budget and also talked about a new Health Science High School.
CPS unanimously approves budget, discusses Health Science High School
The Columbia School Board met Monday and approved the 2026-27 budget and also talked about a new Health Science High School.
Plano advances Dallas Stars arena proposal with unanimous council vote
Plano approved key measures tied to a proposed Dallas Stars arena, entertainment district and future venue tax election.
Dallas Stars' non-binding Letter of Intent approved by Plano City Council
The approval marks the beginning of a deliberate and transparent process to consider a potential sports and entertainment district at The Shops at Willow Bend
Dallas Stars' non-binding Letter of Intent approved by Plano City Council
The approval marks the beginning of a deliberate and transparent process to consider a potential sports and entertainment district at The Shops at Willow Bend
Swampscott Center for Performing Arts Wins Liquor License, Entertainment Permit Delayed Again
Among some concerns from neighbors and the Select Board, the Swampscott Center for Performing Arts’ liquor license was approved but the discussions around the entertainment licenses were again postponed to...
Novant Health unveils plans for $300M Rock Hill project at former Panthers HQ site
The city approved its end of a property sale at its Monday night meeting.
SGV communities react to Monterey Park AI data center vote
Monterey Park voters approved Measure NDC
Alzheimer's Awareness Month: The Science Is Moving Fast
Explore the latest Alzheimer's research on the APOE e4 gene variant, new FDA-approved antiamyloid drugs, and how routine vaccines help reduce risk.
Can a vibrating belt fend off bone density loss?
More than 40 million adults in the U.S. aged 50 and older have osteopenia, or low bone density. An FDA-approved wearable vibration device is giving some women a tool that could slow that loss.
Silverthorne hands out $40,000 in business improvement grants
The Silverthorne Town Council approved $40,000 in grants awarded to five local businesses intended for site enhancement and economic development projects. In the 15th year of the Business Improvement Grant Program, the following five businesses...
Trump's deportation agenda is about to get a $70B infusion from Congress
For those aligned with Trump’s campaign promise for the largest mass deportation operation in U.S. history, it all but guarantees an uninterrupted flow of money to carry out the administration's immigration enforcement operations — and comes on top of some $170 billion Congress already approved for the department last summer, as part of Trump's big tax breaks bill.
FIA and Liberty push to find F1 2027 engine solution to be approved over Spanish GP
New fuel flow increase limits could salvage proposed tweaks to the 2027 engine formula following objections from Ferrari and Audi
Apple approves Poke as the first AI agent on its Messages for Business platform
Poke, the startup that lets people use AI agents through simple text messages, has become the first AI agent approved for Apple’s Messages for Business platform.
Apple approves Poke as the first AI agent on its Messages for Business platform
Poke, the startup that lets people use AI agents through simple text messages, has become the first AI agent approved for Apple’s Messages for Business platform.
Jefferson County Approves $300,000 for Small Business Development Programs
The Jefferson County Commission has approved economic development funding for two organizations aimed at supporting small business growth across the county.Comm
UT Receives Historic $130 Million Investment from Dee and Jimmy Haslam, Largest in University History
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, announces historic $130 million investment by alumni Dee and Jimmy Haslam.
House passes resolution for first time to halt military action against Iran in rebuke of Trump
The House approved a war powers resolution that would halt the U.S. military action against Iran, defying the president as a handful of Republicans joined with Democrats to end the three-month-long war that has reordered politics at home and abroad.
SpaceX’s Next Big Business Could Be Building Stuff in Space
The FAA recently approved test flights of the company's reentry vehicles.
Whitworth University Launches New Bachelor of Science Nursing Program to Strengthen Care and Address Critical Shortages Across the Region
Whitworth University is pleased to announce that its new bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) program has been approved by the Northwest Com...
Riverhead Town approves eminent domain to seize Long Island Science Center
In a 3-1 vote, the Riverhead Town Board approved a resolution to go forward with eminent domain proceedings to acquire the Long Island Science Center.
Supervisors approve Valley Commerce rezoning application
Plans to build a nearly 1 million square foot flex industrial park outside Purcellville can move forward after the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors approved a rezoning application June 2.
Breaking down New York's proposed redistricting amendment
A constitutional amendment poised for first passage in the New York state Legislature this week could help Democrats gain up to four congressional seats in 2028 if ultimately approved by voters, experts say.
Science: HHS Asking for Changes in NIH-Funded Research
The Department of Health and Human Services is now reviewing all grants approved by its National Institutes of Health, and HHS staff “sometimes ask for substantive changes in the research,”
Madison’s ‘The Gallery’ entertainment district set to break ground this summer
Bellamare Development, the Mississippi-based company behind The Gallery, said all city permits have been approved and the 70-acre site off I-55 has been cleared and is ready for vertical construction.
Live Results: California midterm primaries
Two candidates for California governor will emerge from a massive field of 61 hopefuls in a state primary on Tuesday, when voters will also select U.S. House nominees using a new map they approved in a 2025 ballot measure.
Ebola outbreak: How health workers are treating patients and staying safe in DR Congo
There are currently no approved drugs that target Bundibugyo - the species of Ebola responsible for this outbreak.
Confirmed Ebola cases in Congo reach 282 as survivors describe their recoveries
The outbreak remains focused in Congo's eastern Ituri province. Congo has reported over 1,000 suspected cases with the Bundibugyo virus, which has no approved treatment or vaccine.
Fleeing for their futures, a California exodus unleashes a Florida 'gold rush'
California faces an unprecedented exodus as high taxes, a $31 billion deficit and a ballot-approved wealth tax push more billionaires and businesses to Florida.
Utah tightens rules for Kevin O'Leary's AI data center after backlash
Tensions have been high in Utah after a local commission, despite opposition, approved a hyperscale data center campus spanning 40,000 acres.
State Airfields Receive Funding
U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), Chair of the Senate Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Subcommittee, has reported that 24 municipal airfields in Mississippi have been awarded just over $20 million for facility improvements. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approved the third round of FY2026 Airport Improvement Program grants, which meet Airport Safety and Resilient […]
Approved budget includes $29M for Florida Poly growth and student success
'This investment is a powerful vote of confidence in the role Florida Poly plays in advancing Science, Technology, Engineering, Math, and Medical education.'
Board approves seven new faculty appointments
The Princeton University Board of Trustees has approved the appointment of seven faculty members, including one full professor and six assistant professors.
Uganda closes its border with Congo, where suspected cases of rare Ebola type are surging
The measure, which goes against the guidance by the World Health Organization, underscores growing fears of contagion in East Africa from Bundibugyo, a rare type of the Ebola virus that is behind this outbreak and that has no approved medicines or vaccines.
Colorado Gov. Polis signs RTD overhaul bill aimed at rebuilding transit ridership
Gov. Jared Polis on Tuesday approved a sweeping overhaul of the Regional Transportation District, signing a bill that reshapes the agency’s leadership and seeks to reverse years of stagnant ridership and eroding public trust in metro Denver’s transit system. Senate Bill 150 — sponsored by Sens. Iman Jodeh of Aurora and Matt Ball of Denver, […]
Palm Coast Welcomes the Big Buoys to Indian Trails Sports Complex
At the May 20, 2026, City Council Business Meeting, the Palm Coast City Council approved a Facility Use Agreement with Palm Coast Baseball LLC, allowing Baseball Field #2 at the Indian Trails Sports Complex to host collegiate baseball games as part of the newly established Orange State League.
Ebola, chemical plants and health, hantavirus, common colds, heat and more
As they say, bugs have ears. Public health has had a relentless May. Chemical plant (near) explosions, Ebola, hantavirus, and that's before you even get to the usual suspects: common colds, heat, and ticks. Here’s an attempt to keep you up to speed and, more importantly, what it means for you and your community. But first, an announcement: World Cup The World Cup starts in 15 days (not like anyone is counting down), and we are hanging TVs in the Health Security Operations Center. It’s going to be a gorgeous, chaotic celebration of basically every culture on earth. And it’s going to take a team effort—from communities to individuals, from public health to health care—to keep people healthy. That’s where you come in. If you’re going to the games or live within 30 miles of a stadium, we would love to hear from you. Sign up for a weekly survey here. Thanks to the more than 1,280 people who have already signed up…you will be hearing from us soon!! Global disease “weather report” Hantavirus: Two more cases The global count of cruise ship passengers with hantavirus has now increased to 13 cases (11 confirmed), with three deaths. The two new cases are overseas and among people who were already quarantining: A crew member in the Netherlands. A Spanish national passenger who was quarantining at home tested positive through daily monitoring. They are now in a biocontainment unit. In the U.S., everyone remains negative. There may be more cases, given that the incubation period of hantavirus (the time from exposure to infection) is 45 days. But this week, we will reach a major milestone: the median incubation window is 18 days, and that will pass on May 29. What this means for you: Your risk from this cruise ship outbreak remains essentially nil at this point. Ebola rages on in Central Africa Big thanks to Dr. Craig Spencer, a humanitarian physician who has treated and survived Ebola, for jumping in to provide the YLE community with an update. Craig, take it from here… The combined confirmed and suspected Ebola cases in DRC are now more than 1,000. All signs are pointing to a very long and catastrophic outbreak in Central Africa: This is a vast undercount. We know this because the test positivity rate is hovering around 50%, only 20% of contacts are being traced (and in some areas, no contacts at all), and more cases keep popping up with no known connection. This all points to widespread and undetected community transmission. This is in only a week of detection. Compared to previous outbreaks, the growth is very fast, as the huge West Africa outbreak in 2016 was first detected at 49 cases and rose to 208 cases a month later. It took four months for that outbreak to reach the size of the current one in the DR Congo. The cases are spread out across 16 health zones. There are now multiple epicenters, making containment very difficult. Next door in Uganda, the case count is seven. While this number is low compared to DRC, a concerning development is that two health care workers recently tested positive with uncertain exposure histories. If they weren’t treating known Ebola cases, this means it’s spreading undetected in Uganda as well. On the ground, backlash, including the burning of health centers, has emerged, a pattern seen in nearly every outbreak and rooted in deep community distrust. It often stems from outside actors working in communities without fully understanding or addressing local priorities. Affected populations may recognize the severity of Ebola while still holding other concerns as more pressing, such as where their loved ones are buried. Community trust is essential to an effective response, but difficult to build during an active emergency. It is best established long before a crisis begins. U.S. priorities are made clear, and may backfire. The U.S. Administration has shown that its first priority is keeping Ebola out, with helping end the outbreak in the DRC a secondary concern. That's meant travel restrictions broader than anything we've imposed before — covering travelers from across the region, and reportedly some green card holders and permanent residents as well. For example, just these past two days, news broke that high-risk American travelers will be subject to a mandatory quarantine in Kenya before they are allowed to return. If an American is infected, the U.S. government plans to send them to a hospital it is standing up from scratch in Kenya. (Currently, Americans who were in the area are allowed to return but are diverted to three airports—Houston, Atlanta, and DC—for further screening.) Past administrations have used travel notices and stepped-up screening; this goes much further. At first blush, these strict precautions may sound prudent. But this approach could backfire in three ways: Restrictions this blunt give people every reason to hide where they’ve been and whom they’ve been near — making the people we most need to find harder to track, not easier. They also breed a false sense that this is someone else’s problem. But diseases are humbling. They find the small cracks in even the most impenetrable-seeming defenses. Lives lost. There is no treatment for this Ebola strain, which means survival depends heavily on the quality of the health system. We have that system in the States, but we are choosing not to use it for infected Americans. This is unbelievable and infuriating. (See a deeper dive from me here.) The only real way to lower the risk to Americans — and everyone else — is to end the outbreak in the DRC and across the region. What this means for you: If you have travel plans to this region, it’s time to cancel them. This is a high-risk situation in Central Africa, and CDC released a Level 4 Travel Advisory. There is also great uncertainty if and when the Administration will let you back in. To the general public in the U.S., your risk remains very, very low right now. U.S. disease “weather report” Ticks: past peak season? Good news, especially for people in the Northeast and Midwest: tick numbers continue to decline. Though we are at the peak of the season, this unusually early year is trending favorably. Heat-related illnesses in the North Heat risk is certainly not blanketing the entire country yet, but this week it will be moderate in the Midwest and the Southeast. What this means for you: Be sure to check the CDC HeatRisk tool. A red day isn’t the best day for that soccer game for a kid with asthma, and a stretch of orange days is a great time to check on your elderly neighbor. Common colds surging As far as respiratory viruses go, the only thing really going around right now is the common cold. It is higher this year than last year, but should peak very soon before returning this fall. Spotlight: Chemical plants Over the weekend, YLE California covered the serious situation that unfolded around a chemical plant in Orange County, California. Thankfully, the worst-case scenario (a chemical explosion) was mitigated, but only through luck. The health implications in a densely populated area could have been catastrophic. As the situation was winding down, another chemical explosion struck Washington State. This one was fatal. Health officials say the risk to surrounding residents from chemicals in the air and ground remains low, though the community deserves far greater clarity. Clean air and clean water consistently rank as Americans’ top public health concerns — yet when chemical disasters strike, communities are too often met with reassurances rather than transparency and accountability. Residents near the 2023 East Palestine, Ohio train derailment, for example, are still waiting to understand the long-term impact on their health, with few clear answers. What this means for you: Many are wondering if facilities processing potentially dangerous materials are in their neighborhoods. This interactive map allows you to enter your ZIP code and see all facilities monitored by the EPA, including any violations. Good news Ebola vaccines and treatment for the Bundibugyo species are in development. Two vaccine platforms are being explored, at least one of which may be deployable in as little as 2 months. One vaccine is being developed by Oxford, and the other uses the same biotechnology as the FDA-approved Zaire species of Ebola. (It may provide cross-protection, but it’s unclear at this point.) On the treatment side, two promising monoclonal antibody cocktails are likely to be deployed, though doses are limited and logistical hurdles remain significant challenges. Anni over at The Biotech Tea had a great explainer about the Ebola vaccine gap, if you want to read more. [ The Biotech Tea The Ebola vaccine gap, reading vessel damage, & the Makary exit 🗝️ Paid subscribers get the Biotech Term of the Week at $30/year (~$2.50/month). I try to keep it intentionally accessible, but if cost is ever a barrier, send me a message. A few people asked about expensing your subscription, so I put together a short email template… Read more 6 days ago · 10 likes · Annicka Evans, PhD ](https://www.thebiotechtea.com/p/the-ebola-vaccine-gap-reading-vessel?utm_source=substack&utm_campaign=post_embed&utm_medium=web) Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) has been officially renamed polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS), following more than a decade of debate and input from roughly 22,000 clinicians, researchers, and patients worldwide. This is good because the old name was medically misleading, leading to patients without visible cysts being dismissed or overlooked entirely. The WHO estimates that 70% of people with the condition remain undiagnosed. A more accurate name should improve recognition, reduce stigma, and ultimately help the millions of people living with this condition get diagnosed and treated sooner. Poll Loading... Bottom line Public health situations are everywhere right now. Staying healthy takes public health professionals and systems working tirelessly behind the scenes and each of us showing up for our neighbors and communities. Love, YLE Big thanks to Ed Nirenberg for staying on top of the Ebola vaccines, Hannah Totte for all the figures, Dr. Craig Spencer for the Ebola insight, and Dr. Matt Willis for covering the chemical situation in CA. Your Local Epidemiologist (YLE) comprises a team of experts, ranging from physicians to immunologists to epidemiologists to nutritionists, working together with one goal: to “Translate” ever-evolving public health science so that people are well-equipped to make evidence-based decisions. YLE suite of newsletters reaches over 475,000 people across more than 132 countries. This newsletter is free to everyone, thanks to the generous support of fellow YLE community members. To support the effort, subscribe or upgrade below: Subscribe
Morristown approves $48 million deal with Atlantic Health, clears path for $1 billion hospital expansion
The town council approved the agreement without public comment or discussion, setting up a three-step process for evaluating Atlantic's proposed expansion of Morristown Medical Center.
LA TIMES: In deal with business leaders, $30 minimum wage for L.A. hotel and airport workers will be delayed - UNITE HERE Local 11
In May 2025, the council approved a proposal that would have increased the minimum wage to $30 in July 2028 and also raised an hourly payment for healthcare coverage. In response, a coalition of airline and hotel businesses gathered enough signatures to place a measure on the Nov. 3 ballot that took aim at the city’s gross […]
Final Design Approved For JSU Freestanding ER And Health Center
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. — A long-planned freestanding emergency room and university health center is one step closer to becoming reality in Jacksonville.Trustees at
Proposed city budget approved by Buffalo Common Council
One amendment includes a tax rate hike of 19%.
I'm an immigration lawyer. Here's my advice for tech workers on visas.
An immigration lawyer says the new memo stating I-485 forms will only be approved in "extraordinary circumstances" will have a ripple effect.
Your Samsung phone is officially a TSA-approved digital passport
Samsung and CLEAR want to replace your physical travel documents.
Banner Health report shows Arizona research driving national medical innovation
Milestones in Research details 1,300 clinical and translational research studies, FDA-approved heart device, landmark Alzheimer's prevention work Dr Wilber Su Wilber Su, MD, cardiologist for Banner Health, in the operating room. Phoenix, May 26, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Banner Health's $80.5 million research enterprise delivered breakthrough treatments to Arizona patients in 2025 while advancing wide-ranging therapies toward FDA approval, according to the organization's annual Milestones in Rese
From smart agriculture to mental health: These are the New U.S.-Israel projects set to receive $7.5 million from the BIRD Foundation
On May 5, 2026, the Board of Governors of the Israel-U.S. Binational Industrial Research and Development (BIRD) Foundation approved grants totaling $7.5 million for seven new projects between U.S. and Israeli companies. In addition to BIRD funding, the projects will leverage private-sector investment, resulting in a combined investment of $20 million across all projects.
Final plans approved for Oklahoma City mental health crisis center
The Oklahoma County Council approved final plans for the new Robert Ravitz Crisis Center last week.
Budget conference: Goodbye preeminent funding for Florida's top universities
Last year the Legislature approved $40 million. This year: $0.
Birmingham Fire and Rescue expands mental health support with paid leave, new wellness app
The Birmingham City Council recently approved paid mental health leave for members of the department.
Vaya Health and Partners Health Management to merge on Oct. 1
The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services' has approved the consolidation of Vaya Health and Partners Health Management.
Feds greenlight Wyoming’s plan to spend $205M on healthcare initiatives
CMS approved Wyoming’s Year 1 plan to spend $205 million from the Rural Health Transformation Program to support rural hospitals, build workforce and bolster preventive health.
Final plans approved for Oklahoma City mental health crisis center
The Oklahoma County Council approved final plans for the new Robert Ravitz Crisis Center this week.
Fresno City Council advances downtown entertainment zone ordinance
The Fresno City Council unanimously approved the first passage of a proposed ordinance to create three entertainment zones in downtown, allowing attendees at permitted events to consume alcohol outside.
Street drinking approved for some downtown Fresno events. Here’s how ordinance works
A new permit allows patrons to take alcoholic drinks outside of bars and into the street during some events.
Design plan for Trump's proposed Washington arch is approved by key agency
The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts gave final approval on Thursday to a slightly revised design
Design plan for Trump's proposed Washington arch is approved by key agency
The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts gave final approval on Thursday to a slightly revised design
Trump Approved an Nvidia Chip for Sale in China. Beijing Doesn’t Want It.
The U.S. tech giant’s powerful H200 chip seemed poised to boost Beijing’s A.I. ambitions, but not a single one has been purchased in China.
Opinion | Get the Federal Science Money Flowing
The NIH has been holding back grants from funds Congress has already approved.
Chicago delays tipped wage phaseout after restaurant pushback
Chicago aldermen approved a compromise delaying the phaseout of the tipped minimum wage for restaurants, handing Mayor Brandon Johnson a setback.
Councilwoman Jurado Calls for Exploration of Entertainment Zone for DTLA
In a bid to support night life and economic development in downtown Los Angeles, Councilwoman Ysabel Jurado introduced a motion Wednesday calling for a report on the feasibility of establishing a so-called “entertainment zone.” If approved by the full City Council, the motion would direct city departments to analyze state law and evaluate potential implementation […]
Jurado Calls for Exploration of Entertainment Zones for DTLA
In a bid to support night life and economic development in downtown Los Angeles, Councilwoman Ysabel Jurado introduced a motion Wednesday calling for a report on the feasibility of establishing so-called “entertainment zones.” If approved by the full City Council, the motion would direct city departments to analyze state law and evaluate potential implementation requirements […]
Harvard faculty votes to make it more difficult for undergrads to earn A's
Faculty also approved a new system using average percentile rank rather than GPA to compare students for honors and awards
Harvard faculty votes to make it more difficult for undergrads to earn A's
Faculty also approved a new system using average percentile rank rather than GPA to compare students for honors and awards
Inside NFL owners meetings: International Super Bowl talk, Rashee Rice fallout, Seahawks sale buzz and more
Plus, the Vikings narrowed their GM search, NFL owners approved another private equity investment and the league's Olympic flag football plans are taking shape
MAPS 4 Mental Health Crisis Center final plans approved
MAPS 4 includes $12.27 million to build the new crisis center and expand access to critical mental health and substance use intervention resources for Oklahoma City residents. The Arnall Family Foundation also contributed $3 million to the project.
Wyoming’s plan for $205M in Rural Health Transformation funds approved
The plan doesn’t include a perpetuity fund. It was meant to stretch out more than a billion federal dollars for decades to come. Instead, Wyoming will spend the funds this year on sustaining basic care.
Seminole County approved indoor sports complex expected to generate $2.4B
Seminole County commissioners have approved plans for a new indoor sports complex that officials say could generate an estimated $2.4 billion in economic impact over the next 30 years.
CVS Health collaborates with America250 to support the nation’s 250th anniversary celebration
Omnicare has approved the sale of the Company’s business to GenieRx Holdings LLC ("GenieRx"), a joint partnership between private investment firm Milrose Capital LLC and health-care investment and management firm Integro Asset Management LLC, which does business as Integro Healthcare Services.
Macomb takes first step in the creation of a sports complex
The Macomb City Council approved sending a letter of intent to use STAR Bonds for a sports complex project.
Cleveland City Council helping out small entertainment venues
Cleveland City Council approved eliminating the entertainment tax on small capacity live entertainment venues that hold up to 750 people.
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...
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.