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PICKS are stories from many sources, selected by our editors or recommended by our readers because they are important, surprising, troubling, enlightening, inspiring, or amusing. They appear on our site and in our daily newsletter. Please send suggested articles, videos, podcasts, etc. to picks@whowhatwhy.org.
Michigan Lawmakers Want to Pass an 11-Bill Gun Safety Package. Here’s What Would Change (Maria)
The author writes, “Michigan lawmakers are aiming to pass an 11-bill gun safety package across the state this week, considering provisions that would require background checks on gun purchases, create safe storage laws, and establish extreme risk protection orders — also known as red flag laws. Democrats, who have control of the state government for the first time in some 40 years, hope to deliver on the promise of advancing gun safety following a Michigan State University mass shooting last month that left three dead and five wounded. The package, which includes Senate Bills 76-86, was introduced days after last month’s tragedy at Michigan State University.”
Catholic Group Spent Millions on App Data That Tracked Gay Priests (Russ)
From The Washington Post: “A group of conservative Colorado Catholics has spent millions of dollars to buy mobile app tracking data that identified priests who used gay dating and hookup apps and then shared it with bishops around the country. The secretive effort was the work of a Denver nonprofit called Catholic Laity and Clergy for Renewal, whose trustees are philanthropists Mark Bauman, John Martin and Tim Reichert, according to public records, an audio recording of the nonprofit’s president discussing its mission and other documents.”
Are Californians Fleeing ‘Woke’ Policies and Moving to Florida, as DeSantis Claims? (Reader Steve)
From The Seattle Times: “Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis delivered a well-rehearsed blast at California [last] week, calling it too left, too woke, too expensive. And as proof, he declared, Californians and residents of other liberal states were leaving in droves for Florida. ‘If you look over the last four years, we’ve witnessed a great American exodus from states governed by leftist politicians imposing leftist ideology and delivering poor results,’ he said. … Is what DeSantis said true? As the saying goes, ‘It’s complicated.’ Here are the best answers available to some of the most important questions about how many people are leaving California, who they are, where they’re going, and why.”
Saudi Arabia Thought Golf Could Save Its Image. It Whiffed. (Sean)
From Politico: “To hear critics tell it, the Saudi-owned LIV Golf startup is a devious scheme. Instead of being about athletics, they say, the new league is really about shamelessly deploying the likes of Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson in order to make Americans see Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as a cheerful golf caddy rather than as the despot behind Jamal Khashoggi’s brutal murder. ‘An exercise in public relations,’ as U.S. Rep. Chip Roy put it last year. “… But as LIV begins its sophomore season — and as the battle royale of political, legal and public relations scrums involving the upstart league also enter their second year — an unlikely counterargument is emerging: It’s hard to call something sportswashing if nearly every LIV news cycle seems to dirty up the kingdom’s reputation.”
Fetus Removed From Brain of 1-Year-Old Girl (Mili)
The author writes, “A very rare intraventricular fetus-in-fetu was surgically removed from a 1-year-old girl with motor delay and an enlarged head circumference, a report from China showed. The fetiform mass was a malformed monochorionic diamniotic twin, reported Chunde Li, MD, of Beijing Tiantan Hospital, and co-authors in Neurology.”
Girl With AI Earrings Sparks Dutch Art Controversy (DonkeyHotey)
The author writes, “At first glance it seems to be just a modern take on Johannes Vermeer’s masterpiece ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring.’ But look more closely and things get a little strange. Firstly, there are two glowing earrings in the image hanging in the Mauritshuis museum in the Dutch city of The Hague. And aren’t those freckles on her face actually… a slightly inhuman shade of red? That’s because the work — one of several fan recreations replacing the 1665 original while it’s on loan for a huge Vermeer show at Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum — was made using artificial intelligence.”
Earth’s Water Came From Super Deep Space, and It’s Older Than You Can Imagine (Dana)
The author writes, “The water you drink may be older than the sun. Astronomers announced the first evidence that links the water in our solar system to water in the vast reaches of space between the stars, known as the ‘interstellar medium.’ To do this, scientists were able to closely observe a young, forming star (a protostar) some 1,305 light-years away, along with the disk of gaseous material forming around it. They found this nascent solar system isn’t simply flush with water; crucially, this distant water has the same distinct chemical markers as water in our solar system. It’s billions of years old.”
