‘On a Whole Other Level’: Rapid Snow Melt In West Stuns US Scientists

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‘On a Whole Other Level’: Rapid Snow Melt In West Stuns US Scientists (Maria)

The author writes, “Snow surveys taking place across the West this week are offering a grim prognosis after a historically warm winter and searing March temperatures left the critical snowpack at record-low levels across the region. Experts warned that even as the heat begins to subside, the stunning pace of melt-off over the past month has left key basins in uncharted territory for the dry seasons ahead.”

A Messy California Governor’s Race Raises Democratic Fears of Potential Loss (Reader Steve)

From the AP: “Democrats have run California for years, but in a nationally critical election the party is being confronted by the limits of its own power: the race for governor is out of control. Barely a month before the start of mail-in voting, Democratic leaders are openly dreading the possible loss of a statewide election for the first time in two decades. As candidates jockey in a crowded field, the contest has degenerated into finger-pointing over debate eligibility, identity politics and 2025 ballot counting, issues distant from voters struggling with the soaring cost of gas and groceries.”

How Thomson Reuters Powers ICE and Palantir (Sean)

From 404 Media: “Thomson Reuters, the media company which is also a data broker, has long provided underlying personal data for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) tools, according to documents obtained by 404 Media and sources. There are also indications its data is now part of the Palantir system ICE uses to find which neighborhoods to target. The findings draw a clearer line between Thomson Reuters’ data business — which can involve selling names, addresses, car registration information, Social Security numbers, and details on someone’s ethnicity under the brand name CLEAR — and the specific tools ICE is ingesting the data into. The news also comes after Thomson Reuters employees sent leadership a signed letter expressing their unease with the company’s ICE and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) contracts.”

Washington State’s ‘Historic’ Millionaire Tax Takes Aim at Super-Rich — Will It Succeed? (DonkeyHotey)

The author writes, “Noel Frame knows exactly how difficult it is to raise taxes on the ultra-wealthy, because she has been trying to do just that — first as an activist, then as a state legislator — for the past 15 years. And until recently almost all of her efforts ended in failure. She lives in Washington, a solid blue state that should, in theory, be hospitable to the idea of more progressive taxation and has plenty of multimillionaires to target, since it is the home of Microsoft, Amazon, and an array of other tech-driven corporations. While the wealth of these tech giants has grown exponentially in recent decades, the state — which levies no income taxes — has struggled to bring in enough revenue to pay for basic services like public schooling and long-term healthcare.

Is Your State Becoming Uninsurable? We Have the Latest Data (Laura)

From Grist: “In recent years, as the United States has suffered a series of damaging climate disasters, experts have warned that the nation is headed toward a homeowner’s insurance crisis. Insurance companies dropped hundreds of thousands of customers who live in areas vulnerable to hurricanes and wildfires, and numerous small insurers have gone belly-up after big disasters. This has led some to forecast that a broader market failure in disaster-prone states is looming, or even a housing market collapse. That has not happened yet. But in the meantime, insurance has gotten a lot more expensive — and the price hikes are not going anywhere. A new nationwide report from the insurance price comparison firm Insurify found that the average American homeowner’s insurance bill rose 12 percent last year, reaching $2,948 per year, and will rise another 4 percent this year. This is much faster than overall inflation for the same period.”

An Eyesore Runs Through It (Dana)

From Mother Jones: “An experiment unfolding at the southernmost tip of this state could irrevocably change the iconic Rio Grande and the communities it sustains. Contractors are installing a 17-mile stretch of cylindrical buoys in the river to prevent illegal crossings from Mexico. These are the first of 536 miles of buoys that the federal government plans to stretch from the Gulf of Mexico deep into South Texas. The Department of Homeland Security has waived environmental laws and issued more than $1 billion in contracts to private companies to install them in continuous chains. Each industrial-style buoy is more than 12 feet long and four to five feet in diameter. Federal agencies have not made any environmental assessment or flood modeling for the border buoys available to the public. Experts have criticized the secrecy surrounding the project and warn that the buoys could intensify flooding and change the river channel.”

Potential Neanderthal Wound Treatment Gets a Fresh Look (Reader Jim)

The author writes, “Neanderthals may have done more than just glue tools together with birch tar — they might have dabbed it on their wounds, too, showing impressive medical expertise. A new study in PLOS One finds that tar made using methods available in the Late Pleistocene can hinder the growth of Staphylococcus aureus, a common cause of skin and wound infections in humans. Indigenous groups, including the Mi’kmaq of Eastern Canada and the Saami of Lapland, use birch tar, also known as pitch, to prevent infection from gram-positive bacteria, among the most common to infect wounds.”