Six Planets Lining up for Rare Parade in February

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Six Planets Lining up for Rare Parade in February (Maria)

The author writes, “Space enthusiasts are in for a treat at the end of this month as six planets will appear close together in the night sky. The phenomenon, known as a planet parade or planetary alignment, occurs when at least four or five planets can be seen altogether, according to NASA. On Feb. 28, stargazers will have the chance to spot Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune aligned closely across the sky — making this a rare planetary display.”

Idaho Families Sue Over Immigration Raid That Swept Up Hundreds, Including US Citizens (DonkeyHotey)

The author writes, “The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit Tuesday against federal, state and local law enforcement agencies following an October immigration raid at a racetrack in Idaho. About 400 people, including U.S. citizens and children, were detained for four hours while they were denied food and water in the raid, according to the lawsuit.”

When One Mother Was Taken by ICE, Another Stepped in to Donate Breastmilk (Bethany)

From The 19th: “A newborn in Minneapolis hadn’t eaten for a day and a half. Her mother had risked going into work to get just enough money for more diapers when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents stopped her car and took her away. At home waiting for her were her 16-year-old daughter and the baby — just barely 3 months old. With their mother gone, the teenager tried to feed the baby, who was exclusively breastfed, formula to no avail. So they called Bri.” 

California Police Are Far More Likely To Use Force Against Homeless Residents, New Data Shows (Reader Steve)

The author writes, “When police in California stop a driver or pedestrian whom they believe to be homeless, they’re far more likely to search, handcuff, deploy force against and arrest that person than others they pull over, according to a new state report. The ninth annual report by the Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board, based on data from 5.1 million police stops in 2024, reaffirmed previous findings that Black and Hispanic drivers were much more likely than others to be stopped than other motorists. But the disparity in treatment of those who appear to be homeless was new information that officers were first required to provide in January 2024.”

US Decides SpaceX Is Like an Airline, Exempting It From Labor Relations Act (Sean)

The author writes, “The National Labor Relations Board abandoned a Biden-era complaint against SpaceX after a finding that the agency does not have jurisdiction over Elon Musk’s space company. The US labor board said SpaceX should instead be regulated under the Railway Labor Act, which governs labor relations at railroad and airline companies.”

The ‘Biggest Tragedy’ of Trump’s Gutting of the National Park Service (Laura)

From Inside Climate News: “Charles F. Sams III, former director of the park service, says cutting nearly a quarter of the agency’s staff decimated institutional knowledge in a way that can’t easily be righted, and threatens to break the emotional bonds Americans have with public lands.”

Scientists Deciphered Humanity’s Earliest Star Map. It Had Literally Been Erased From History. (Dana)

From Popular Mechanics: “Researchers using a synchrotron at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have been able to recover pieces of the Hipparchus star catalog that had been overwritten. The synchrotron uses X-rays from agitated electrons to literally shed light on erased text from an ancient palimpsest manuscript. As the lines of ancient Greek are decoded and translated, they can help explain how astronomers could map the sky so clearly without a telescope.”