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With Climate Change, Smaller Storms Are Growing More Fearsome, More Often (Maria)
The author writes, “At first, it looked as if New York [City] would simply be grazed by light rain on Friday. David Stark, a meteorologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said that earlier this week he was tracking what looked to be typical offshore weather. But on Wednesday night, a storm, which was supposed to stay south of the city and over the ocean, started to edge north, he said. And that changed everything. … It has been raining a lot in New York, which hasn’t seen a September this wet in over a century. Climate change is very likely stoking more ominous and lengthy downpours because as the atmosphere heats up, it can hold more moisture, said Andrew J. Kruczkiewicz, a senior researcher who specializes in flash floods at Columbia Climate School at Columbia University.”
Idaho Hospital Closes Its Maternity Ward, Citing the State’s ‘Political Climate’ (Dana)
From Today: “A hospital in northern Idaho is ending labor and delivery services, citing staffing issues and the state’s ‘legal and political climate.’ … In a news release, the hospital’s board of directors and senior leadership team said they ‘made every effort to avoid eliminating’ labor and delivery services. ‘We hoped to be the exception, but our challenges are impossible to overcome now,’ Ford Elsaesser, Bonner General Health’s Board President, said in the written statement. As a result, Sandpoint residents will have to drive at least 46 miles to find the nearest hospital providing prenatal, birth and postpartum care.”
China Is Flooding Taiwan With Disinformation (Sean)
From The Economist: “[The spread of misinformation] is becoming a major worry for Taiwan’s government and civil society in the run-up to a hugely important presidential election next January. Taiwanese voters will in effect be asked to decide whether Taiwan should remain aligned with America in strengthening deterrence against a possible Chinese invasion, or should move towards building ties with China.”
What Would Jamal Khashoggi Think of Saudi Arabia Today? (Russ)
The author writes, “If my late colleague and friend Jamal Khashoggi could see Saudi Arabia today, five years after his murder by agents of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, what would he find? Khashoggi would surely be disgusted, but not surprised, that the autocratic power of MBS, as the crown prince is known, continues untouched. If anything, the Saudi royal is more firmly in control of the instruments of political repression than he was five years ago.”
‘Monster Fracks’ Are Getting Far Bigger. And Far Thirstier. (Reader Jim)
From The New York Times: “Giant new oil and gas wells that require astonishing volumes of water to fracture bedrock are threatening America’s fragile aquifers.”
Illinois’ Signature Climate Law Has Been Slow to Fulfill Promises for Clean Energy and Jobs (Laura)
The author writes, “Under the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, renewable energy, such as solar and wind, is supposed to account for one-quarter of all power by 2025. Today, renewable sources make up only 10.5 percent of power.”
Farmer Protecting Chickens Captures Creature Considered Locally Extinct for 130 Years (Reader Steve)
The author writes, “A farmer in southern Australia captured an animal considered locally extinct for over a century while trying to protect his chickens. Photos show the spotted creature. Frank Pao-Ling Tsai, a trout farmer in Beachport, South Australia, heard a ‘panic’ from his chickens and rushed outside early in the morning on Tuesday, Sept. 26. … Tsai found a spotted creature and a dead chicken, he said. … Photos show the captured animal. It has a furry brown body, long tail and smattering of white spots. It appears angry and bared its teeth at the camera, photos show.”
