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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.
Over Half of the World’s Lakes Are Drying Out, Study Warns (Maria)
The author writes, “More than half of the world’s largest lakes and reservoirs are losing water — and climate change and human consumption are the main drivers, a new large-scale study warns. About one-quarter of the world’s population, or 2 billion people, lives in the basin of a drying lake, per the study published in the journal Science on Thursday. Water insecurity is already an issue, with hundreds of millions of people around the world lacking reliable access to safe water.”
Child labor laws are being repealed in Republican-led Midwest states (Dana)
The author writes, “Republican-controlled states in the Midwest are slowly starting to roll back child labor regulations as violations are sharply rising throughout the country. These rollbacks on restrictions are coming just as the U.S. Department of Labor is reporting the highest number of child labor violations in years, with a sharp rise of more than 200% since 2015.”
Six-week waits, one counselor for eight rural districts: These are some of the hurdles facing youth mental health (Al)
From Wisconsin Watch: “At a time when studies indicate a desperate need for more mental health care services among Wisconsin’s children and adolescents, the number of providers is simply not where it needs to be. As a result, the burden falls on parents and other family members, or on teachers and other school staff, none of whom likely have the necessary time or tools.”
Examining the Conway, Arkansas, School Board Meeting Arrests (Reader Steve)
From ProPublica: “The arrests in Conway stand out for several reasons. The college students organized in support of the issues that most other people who were arrested around the country opposed. What’s more, no arrests were made following two allegedly violent incidents stemming from the September meeting. But the Conway arrests also reflect the pervasive challenges school districts and police departments across the country face in trying to figure out how to handle hordes of aggrieved citizens — and what to do when the clashes lead to chaos.”
Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky Was the Undisputed Star of the G7. But Summit’s Focus Remained Firmly on China (Roshni)
From Time Magazine: “Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky made a surprise visit to the G7 summit in Japan on Saturday, warning that ‘Russia has tramped on everything that is civilized’ and calling for more help from beyond Europe. However, the bulk of business in Hiroshima was not focused on Vladimir Putin’s war of choice, but some 3,600 miles east of Moscow: Beijing’s growing assertiveness. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak deemed China ‘the greatest challenge of our age’ for global security and prosperity, remarking that President Xi Jinping’s government was ‘increasingly authoritarian at home and abroad.’”
‘In a lot of the world, the clock has hit midnight’: China is calling in loans to dozens of countries from Pakistan to Kenya (Russ)
The author writes, “An Associated Press analysis of a dozen countries most indebted to China — including Pakistan, Kenya, Zambia, Laos and Mongolia — found paying back that debt is consuming an ever-greater amount of the tax revenue needed to keep schools open, provide electricity and pay for food and fuel. And it’s draining foreign currency reserves these countries use to pay interest on those loans, leaving some with just months before that money is gone. Behind the scenes is China’s reluctance to forgive debt and its extreme secrecy about how much money it has loaned and on what terms, which has kept other major lenders from stepping in to help.”
Why the boss of Wagner Group is feuding with Russia’s military leaders (Sean)
From The Economist: “A pile of corpses is quite a backdrop for a monologue. On May 4th Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of Wagner, a Russian mercenary group, stood among the bodies of dozens of his fighters and recorded an extraordinary diatribe against Sergei Shoigu, Russia’s defence minister, and Valery Gerasimov, head of the armed forces. He claimed the pair were withholding ammunition from his mercenaries in Bakhmut, a town in eastern Ukraine that Russia has been trying to capture for months. He later warned that Wagner would retreat if supplies were not forthcoming. His outbursts are part of the latest episode in a long-running spat between Mr Prigozhin and Russia’s top brass. Why are they feuding and what does it say about the state of the country’s military command?”
