Mauna Loa summit webcams have been down for several months due to wind damage at the radio telemetry site. On November 7, 2024, HVO staff visited the site and performed a partial fix that brought the webcams back online.

At the Cascades Volcano Observatory, staff use technical skills and creativity to solve complex problems and innovate for the future. Maciej’s experiments are too large for the observatory, so he travels 3 hours southeast of CVO to the HJ Andrews Experimental Forest in Blue River, Oregon to study debris flows. 

Lawmakers in Washington, D.C., have reached a preliminary, bipartisan agreement on police reform after months of closely watched debate on the topic.

Sens. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., announced the agreement on Thursday evening.

"After months of working in good faith, we have reached an agreement on a framework addressing the major issues for bipartisan police reform," the lawmakers said in a joint statement.

"There is still more work to be done on the final bill, and nothing is agreed to until everything is agreed to. Over the next few weeks we look forward to continuing our work toward getting a finalized proposal across the finish line."

The exact details of the plan were not immediately clear.

The issue of reforming qualified immunity, to make it easier to sue police officers over allegations of brutality, had been a sticking point in negotiations. The police use of chokeholds was another debated provision.

The effort to reform U.S. policing comes after several years of increasing pressure to better understand and regulate the way officers interact with the communities they patrol.

The high-profile deaths of several Black people — many unarmed — at the hands of police — who have in some notable instances been white — have been the catalyst for the police reform movement.

The Democratic-led House had approved the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act — named after one of those Black people killed by police — in early March, and President Biden had hoped Congress would pass the reform effort by the first anniversary of Floyd's death in late May.

But Bass had said then that getting "a substantive piece of legislation" is "far more important than a specific date."

Floyd's murderer, former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, is set to be sentenced to prison on Friday.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement Thursday that Biden "is grateful to Rep. Bass, Sen. Booker, and Sen. Scott for all of their hard work on police reform, and he looks forward to collaborating with them on the path ahead."

The topic of police reform has divided the nation across party lines, with progressives accusing the right of seeking to maintain an antiquated and all-too-powerful law enforcement apparatus. Conservatives say the left has blamed the actions of some officers on the institution itself, turning the topic of police support and "blue lives" into more ammunition for the ongoing culture war.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke for the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division speaks during a news conference Friday announcing a lawsuit against the state of Georgia for its new voting law. Attorney General Merrick Garland is at right.; Credit: Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Friday that the U.S. Justice Department is suing the state of Georgia over its new voting law, saying that the controversial measure is intended to restrict ballot access to Black voters.

"Our complaint alleges that recent changes to Georgia's election laws were enacted with the purpose of denying or abridging the right of Black Georgians to vote on account of their race or color, in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act," Garland said at a news conference.

The lawsuit marks the first major action from the Biden administration to combat a series of new restrictive voting measures passed by Republican-led state legislatures. And it came on the eighth anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision to gut another key provision of the landmark Voting Rights Act, Section 5.

Garland noted that Georgia experienced record voter turnout and participation in the 2020 election cycle.

In March, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, signed Senate Bill 202, a 98-page omnibus measure that makes sweeping changes to the state's absentee voting rules, adds new voter identification mandates and nearly cuts in half the amount of time for voters to request a mail-in ballot. It also expands early voting access for most counties and formally codifies Sunday voting hours as optional.

The legislation outlaws passing out food or drinks to voters within 150 feet of a polling place or too close to voters waiting in line, a provision that Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, who heads the department's Civil Rights Division, highlighted at the press conference.

"Historically, minority voters in Georgia have been disproportionately more likely to wait in long lines to vote in person on Election Day," she said. "Given those long and protracted wait times, civic groups, including churches, have at times provided food and water to voters in line to make their wait more comfortable. As we allege in our complaint, this needless ban was passed with unlawful discriminatory intent."

Clarke also said the Georgia Legislature passed the bill through "a rushed process that departed from normal practice and procedure."

"The version of the bill that passed the state Senate ... was three pages long. Days later, the bill ballooned into over 90 pages in the House. The House held less than two hours of floor debate on the newly inflated SB 202 before Gov. Kemp signed it into law the same day," she said. "These legislative actions occurred at a time when the Black population in Georgia continues to steadily increase, and after a historic election that saw record voter turnout across the state, particularly for absentee voting, which Black voters are now more likely to use than white voters."

Garland said the lawsuit is the first of "many steps" the department is taking to protect the right to vote for all eligible voters. He said the Civil Rights Division will continue to examine voting laws that other states have passed.

"We will not hesitate to act," Garland said.

The Justice Department announced this month it would vigorously defend voting rights. Garland said that the department will double the number of voter enfranchisement lawyers and focus attention on litigation related to voting rights.

In response to the filing, Kemp said the lawsuit is "born out of the lies and misinformation the Biden administration has pushed against Georgia's Election Integrity Act from the start."

"[Biden and his allies] are weaponizing the U.S. Department of Justice to carry out their far-left agenda that undermines election integrity and empowers federal government overreach in our democracy," he said in a statement.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, another Republican who notably defended the state's administration of the 2020 election, said in a statement he "looks forward to ... beating [the administration] in court."

Garland's announcement comes just days after Senate Republicans united to block Democrats' attempts to pass sweeping voting rights legislation.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., tweeted his approval of the lawsuit shortly after the announcement Friday.

"If Republicans think the fight for voting rights ended with their filibuster of the For the People Act, they are sorely mistaken," he wrote. "Glad to see the Biden Administration is joining this effort. We must protect our democracy."

The Republican National Committee also linked the failed Senate vote to the Department of Justice's lawsuit.

"After failing to sell the partisan federal election takeover known as H.R. 1 to the American people, Joe Biden is now weaponizing the Justice Department to attack election integrity," RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel said in a statement.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

The closely-watched New York City mayoral primary election tumbled into chaos this week as the NYC Board of Elections announced it had released incorrect preliminary results on Tuesday.

City officials admitted they failed to remove 135,000 test ballots from the election management system before starting to count the real votes from Election Day and early voting, skewing the results.

"The Board apologizes for the error and has taken immediate measures to ensure the most accurate up to date results are reported," the agency tweeted.

The error is complicated by the fact that New York City is using ranked-choice voting, in which each round of vote counting hinges on the results from the previous round.

Some of the top candidates vying to lead the country's largest city blasted the board's mistake as they — and about 8.5 million other New Yorkers — awaited the results of a revised tally expected to be released on Wednesday.

Ranked-choice voting, explained

Instead of choosing just one candidate to vote for, New York City voters in last week's election were able to rank their top five candidates in order of preference.

It was the first time in decades New York used ranked-choice voting, which city voters overwhelmingly approved in a 2019 ballot measure.

NPR's Domenico Montanaro explained how the process works:

1. "If someone gets 50% plus one after all the first-choice votes are counted, then the election is over and that candidate wins. 
2. "But if no one gets 50% plus one, it's on to Round 2.
3. "The person with the lowest number of first-place votes is eliminated, and that candidate's voters' second choices get redistributed as votes for other candidates.
4. "This reallocation of votes goes on until someone reaches 50% plus one."

If just two candidates remain at the end, the candidate with the most votes wins.

What happened this week

On Tuesday, the city Board of Elections released the first ranked-choice voting reports from the election.

With only first-preference votes counted as of election night, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams boasted a nine-point lead over attorney Maya Wiley. Those first reported ranked-choice results shrank Adam's lead to just two points ahead of former Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia, Gothamist reported.

But just hours later, the board tweeted that it had become aware of a "discrepancy" in the ranked-choice voting results and pulled them from its website.

In a follow-up apology, the board acknowledged that it had erroneously left 135,000 test votes in its election system, producing "additional records" that likely impacted an accurate tally.

"At this point it really seems like an issue of human error," WNYC reporter Brigid Bergin told NPR's Morning Edition.

"The board does conduct a lot of pre-election testing to make sure their systems are working and, obviously, that was even more important this time, because it was the first time they were using this new ranked-choice voting system," she added.

Bergin said the board is expected to release a corrected ranked-choice voting report Wednesday, but it will still be preliminary and it won't include 124,000 absentee ballots.

How the candidates are reacting

All of the mayoral contenders expressed frustration with the board's blunder.

"Today's mistake by the Board of Elections was unfortunate," Adams tweeted Tuesday. "It is critical that New Yorkers are confident in their electoral system, especially as we rank votes in a citywide election for the first time."

Garcia, who was fleetingly thrust into second place by the incorrect ranked-choice voting report, called for a more thorough accounting of what went wrong.

"The Board of Elections' release of incorrect ranked choice votes is deeply troubling and requires a much more transparent and complete explanation. Every ranked choice and absentee vote must be counted accurately so that all New Yorkers have faith in our democracy and our government," she tweeted.

Progressive candidate Maya Wiley said this week's misstep was just the latest in a string of mistakes by the board.

"This error by the Board of Elections is not just failure to count votes properly today, it is the result of generations of failures that have gone unaddressed," Wiley said. "Today, we have once again seen the mismanagement that has resulted in a lack of confidence in results, not because there is a flaw in our election laws, but because those who implement it have failed too many times."

WNYC's Bergin said she thought the misstep would not cause voters to question the election results but that it may diminish the board's reputation in the eyes of the public.

"This agency is really the last bastion of true patronage politics in New York," she said. "There's been a push to overhaul the agency, to give the staff more authority over political appointees. But ultimately that's all up to state lawmakers to do."

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

A voter marks his ballot at a polling place on Nov. 3, 2020, in Richland, Iowa. A new poll finds ensuring access to voting is more important than tamping down voter fraud for most Americans.; Credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images

A majority of Americans believes ensuring access to voting is more important than rooting out fraud, the latest NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist survey finds.

At the same time, there was broad agreement that people should have to show identification when they go to the polls.

Two-thirds of Americans also believe democracy is "under threat," but likely for very different reasons.

"For Democrats, Jan. 6 undoubtedly looms large," said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, referring to the violence and insurrection at the Capitol, "while, for Republicans, it's more likely about Trump and his claims of a rigged election."

Voting access vs. fraud

By a 56%-41% margin, survey respondents said making sure that everyone who wants to vote can do so is a bigger concern than making sure that no one who is ineligible votes.

But there were wide differences by political party and by race.

Among Democrats, almost 9 in 10 said access was more important, but almost three-quarters of Republicans said it was making sure no one votes who isn't eligible.

By race, a slim majority of whites said ensuring everyone who wants to vote can was most important, but almost two-thirds of nonwhites said so.

Photo ID is popular

Nearly 8 in 10 Americans said they believe voters should be required to show government-issued photo identification whenever they vote.

Majorities of Democrats, Republicans, independents, whites and nonwhites all said so. Democrats were far lower, though, with 57% believing photo ID should be required.

Biden holding steady

President Biden gets a 50% job approval rating, largely unchanged from last month. There is a sharp partisan divide with 9 in 10 Democrats approving, and more than 8 in 10 Republicans disapproving.

Biden continues to get his highest ratings when it comes to his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, and his economic approval is holding steady. But Americans have less confidence in his handling of foreign policy, especially immigration. His approval on immigration ticked up slightly from March when it was last measured in the poll.

By a 50%-43% margin, respondents said Biden had strengthened America's role on the world stage.

Americans are split about whether the country is headed in the right direction or not — 49% said it wasn't, 47% said it was. It's an improvement, however, from right after the Jan. 6 insurrection when three-quarters said the country was on the wrong track.

The tone has gotten worse in Washington since Biden was elected, 41% said, but that's better than the two-thirds who said so consistently during the Trump years.

Methodology: The poll of 1,115 U.S. adults was conducted using live telephone interviewers from June 22-29. Survey questions were available in English or Spanish. The full sample has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points with larger margins of error for smaller group subsets.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Actor Dwayne Johnson (L) and Simone Alexandra Johnson attend the People's Choice Awards 2017 at Microsoft Theater on January 18, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. ; Credit: Christopher Polk

When Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson debuted his Hollywood persona in World Wrestling Entertainment in 2003, he was two years removed from his first successful protagonist role in "The Scorpion King" and on the heels of more film success with roles in "The Rundown" and "Walking Tall." 

Little did anyone foresee that "Hollywood" Rock would buoy the overall representation for Asian and Pacific Islanders in popular film for the next 20 years.

Last week, the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative released a report documenting the prevalence of Asian and Pacific Islanders both on-and off-screen across the top-grossing films each year from 2007 to 2019.  Of the 1,300 films examined, only 44 featured API actors playing lead roles, nearly a third of which were played by Johnson. 

The report offers more staggering statistics:

• In 2019, over a quarter of API characters in the top-grossing films died. Most died by drowning, explosions, stabbing or suicides

• Of the over 51,000 speaking characters in the 1,300 films examined, only 6% were Asian, Asian American or Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders

• Only 50 of the 1,447 directors in the 1,300 films examined were of API heritage.

• In 2019, 67% of API characters played stereotyped roles

The release of this report comes at a time of rising anti-Asian hate crimes nationally, and the authors of the report believe the portrayal of Asian and Pacific Islanders in mass media contributes to that. Today on FilmWeek, we delve into the study's findings and discuss the history of API filmmakers and actors in Hollywood.

Guests: 

Nancy Wang Yuen, professor of sociology at Biola University in La Mirada; she is co-author of “The Prevalence and Portrayal of Asian and Pacific Islanders Across 1,300 Popular Films”; she tweets @nancywyeun

Justin Chang, film critic for the Los Angeles Times and NPR’s Fresh Air; he tweets @JustinCChang

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Still of Emily Blunt and Noah Jupe in the film “A Quiet Place Part II.”; Credit: Paramount Pictures

Larry Mantle and KPCC film critics Lael Loewenstein, Christy Lemire and Charles Solomon review this weekend’s new movie releases on streaming and on demand platforms.

• "A Quiet Place Part II," in wide release

• "Cruella," in wide release & Disney+

• "Dog Gone Trouble," on Netflix

• "Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal The Movie," on Netflix June 3

• "Moby Doc," In Select Theaters (check your local listings); VOD (including FandangoNow, iTunes, Vudu); Laemmle’s Virtual Cinema June 4

• "Changing The Game," on Hulu June 1

• "Port Authority," Cinelounge Sunset Hollywood; Laemmle’s Virtual Cinema; Digital/VOD (including Vudu, Google Play, FandangoNow) June 1

• "Plan B," on Hulu

• "Borat Supplemental Reportings," on Amazon Prime Video

• "Dead Pigs," on Laemmle’s Virtual Cinema

Our FilmWeek critics have been curating personal lists of their favorite TV shows and movies to binge-watch during self-quarantine. You can see recommendations from each of the critics and where you can watch them here.

Guests:

Christy Lemire, film critic for KPCC, RogerEbert.com and co-host of the ‘Breakfast All Day’ podcast; she tweets @christylemire

Lael Loewenstein, film critic for KPCC and film columnist for the Santa Monica Daily Press; she tweets @LAELLO

Charles Solomon, film critic for KPCC, Animation Scoop and Animation Magazine

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Circus of Books storefront.; Credit: Netflix/Circus Of Books (2020)

The documentary “Circus of Books”  tells the story of two book stores, one in West Hollywood and the other in Silver Lake, operated by Karen and Barry Mason, who became accidental book sellers. They also became real pillars of the LGBTQ communties. Rachel Mason is the daughter of the masons and she’s also the filmmaker. Larry talked with Rachel about “Circus of Books” when it was first released on Netflix. Today on FilmWeek, we excerpt a portion of that conversation. 

This conversation aired during FilmWeek’s Saturday broadcast. 

Guest: 

Rachel Mason, director of the Netflix documentary ‘Circus of Books’ and daughter of Circus of Books owners Karen and Barry Mason; she tweets @RachelMasonArt

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Full Text:

Machine learning algorithms can sometimes do a great job with a little help from human expertise, at least in the field of materials science. In many specialized areas of science, engineering and medicine, researchers are turning to machine learning algorithms to analyze data sets that have grown too large for humans to understand. In materials science, success with this effort could accelerate the design of next-generation advanced functional materials, where development now usually depends on old-fashioned trial and error. By themselves, however, data analytics techniques borrowed from other research areas often fail to provide the insights needed to help materials scientists and engineers choose which of many variables to adjust -- and the techniques can't account for dramatic changes such as the introduction of a new chemical compound into the process. In a new study, researchers explain a technique known as dimensional stacking, which shows that human experience still has a role to play in the age of machine intelligence. The machines gain an edge at solving a challenge when the data to be analyzed are intelligently organized based on human knowledge of what factors are likely to be important and related. "When your machine accepts strings of data, it really does matter how you are putting those strings together," said Nazanin Bassiri-Gharb, the paper's corresponding author and a scientist at the Georgia Institute of Technology. "We must be mindful that the organization of data before it goes to the algorithm makes a difference. If you don't plug the information in correctly, you will get a result that isn't necessarily correlated with the reality of the physics and chemistry that govern the materials."

Image credit: Rob Felt/Georgia Tech

Source: Streetwise Reports 10/31/2024

Healthcare artificial intelligence (AI) company Treatment.com AI Inc. (TRUE:CSE; TREIF:OTCMKTS; 939:FRA) announced that it has closed a non-brokered private placement for aggregate gross proceeds of CA$1.95 million.

A total of 2,138,766 special warrants of the company were offered at CA$0.75 per special warrant with proceeds of CA$1.6 million. The company also said 466,666 units of the company were offered at CA$0.75 per unit for proceeds of CA$349,999.50.

The company said it intends to use the proceeds for working capital purposes.

"We are very encouraged by the support from our investors with their overwhelming response to the financing and the subsequent over-subscription," Chief Executive Officer Dr. Essam Hamza said. "This money will help expedite our aggressive growth plans over the next year."

Technical Analyst Clive Maund noted on October 9* that the outlook for the company is "outstandingly bright" because it has "positioned itself to revolutionize the healthcare industry using AI and advanced machine learning technologies."

The company "is set to transform the current archaic system so that no longer do patients have to sit for hours in waiting rooms to see a doctor or doctors, and doctors and other healthcare professionals have to suffer a crushing burden of often unnecessary patient visits and tedious repetitive bureaucracy," he wrote. "Treatment AI's platform will take care of most of it."

Healthcare Professionals Worldwide Contribute to AI Engine

Treatment.com AI said it is a company utilizing AI and best clinical practices with a goal to positively improve the healthcare sector and impact current inefficiencies and challenges.

With the input of hundreds of healthcare professionals globally, Treatment.com AI said it has built a comprehensive, personalized healthcare AI engine called the Global Library of Medicine (GLM). With more than 10,000 expert medical reviews, the GLM is designed to provide tested clinical information and support to all healthcare professionals, as well as providing recommended tests (physical and lab), X-rays, and billing codes.

According to the company, the GLM will help healthcare professionals (doctors, nurses, and pharmacists) reduce administrative burdens, creating more time for face-to-face patient appointments.

"AI is set to expedite and streamline the healthcare industry, making it vastly more efficient for the benefit of both healthcare professionals and patients," Maund noted.

The Catalyst: A 'Profound Transformation' in the Industry

AI has an important role to play in the healthcare offerings of the future, a 2019 report from the National Center of Biomechanical Medicine listed in the National Library of Medicine said. "In the form of machine learning, it is the primary capability behind the development of precision medicine, widely agreed to be a sorely needed advance in care."

Healthcare organizations are increasingly turning to the technology to address both clinical and administrative challenges. The combination of generative AI, as noted by Appinventiv in September, and operational tools like those developed by Treatment.com AI are driving this transformation.

Generative AI is "catalyzing a profound transformation within the healthcare industry" by generating synthetic data, predicting patient outcomes, and optimizing treatment plans, all of which revolutionize clinical decision-making processes, Appinventiv reported. This aligns with Treatment.com AI's announced collaboration with SPRYT on September 17 whereby integrating SPRYT’s AI receptionist "Asa" with its GLM has the goal of enhancing patient access to healthcare while reducing administrative burdens.

A CBC report from September 16 said real-world applications of AI in healthcare are already showing promising results. Dr. Muhammad Mamdani, co-author of a study on the topic, expressed optimism about AI's ability to "complement clinicians' own judgment and lead to better outcomes for fragile patients."

According to a report by Markets and Markets, the global AI in healthcare market in total was valued at US$20.9 billion this year and will reach an estimated US$148.4 billion by 2029, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 48.1%.

"The growth of AI in the healthcare market is driven by the generation of large and complex healthcare datasets, the pressing need to reduce healthcare costs, improving computing power and declining hardware costs, and the rising number of partnerships and collaborations among different domains in the healthcare sector, and growing need for improvised healthcare services due to imbalance between healthcare workforce and patients," the report said.

Analyst: A 'Genuine Breakout Soon' for Stock

Maund said its stock charts are also looking "very positive indeed" for the company.

Of particular note is the big upleg late in June and early in July on persistent heavy volume, which broke the price clear above the May high and drove volume indicators steeply higher," the analyst noted. [OWNERSHIP_CHART-10594]

"This is very bullish price/volume action, especially as the volume indicators have not just held up but have actually advanced as the price has reacted back in a normal manner from the early July high to arrive at a support level where it has stabilized above the 200-day moving average in readiness for renewed advance, so the correction looks like a large bull Pennant that, as it is now closing up, promises renewed advance soon," continued Maund, who said holders should stay long and rated the stock a Strong Buy that "is thought worth going overweight on."

"The June-July rally must be classed as a 'preliminary' breakout," he noted. "But that said, the exceptionally bullish price/volume action of recent months does promise a genuine breakout soon that looks set to lead to a sustained and substantial uptrend."

Ownership and Share Structure

According to Sedi.ca, insiders own approximately 8% of Treatment.com AI. Retail investors own the remaining 92%.

The company has 48.84 million outstanding common shares and has 41.3 million free float traded shares.

As of October 31, the market cap is approximately CA$31.75 million. Over the past 52 weeks, the company traded between CA$0.355 and CA$1.11 per share.

Sign up for our FREE newsletter at: www.streetwisereports.com/get-news

Important Disclosures:

1. Treatment.com AI has a consulting relationship with Street Smart an affiliate of Streetwise Reports. Street Smart Clients pay a monthly consulting fee between US$8,000 and US$20,000.
2. As of the date of this article, officers and/or employees of Streetwise Reports LLC (including members of their household) own securities of Treatment.com AI.
3. Steve Sobek wrote this article for Streetwise Reports LLC and provides services to Streetwise Reports as an employee.
4. This article does not constitute investment advice and is not a solicitation for any investment. Streetwise Reports does not render general or specific investment advice and the information on Streetwise Reports should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her personal financial adviser and perform their own comprehensive investment research. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports' terms of use and full legal disclaimer. Streetwise Reports does not endorse or recommend the business, products, services or securities of any company.
5. This article does not constitute medical advice. Officers, employees and contributors to Streetwise Reports are not licensed medical professionals. Readers should always contact their healthcare professionals for medical advice.

For additional disclosures, please click here.

* Disclosure for quotes from the Clive Maund source October 9, 2024

1. For the quote (sourced on October 9, 2024), the Company has paid Street Smart, an affiliate of Streetwise Reports, US$1,500.
2. Author Certification and Compensation: [Clive Maund of clivemaund.com] is being compensated as an independent contractor by Street Smart, an affiliate of Streetwise Reports, for writing the article quoted. Maund received his UK Technical Analysts’ Diploma in 1989. The recommendations and opinions expressed in the article accurately reflect the personal, independent, and objective views of the author regarding any and all of the designated securities discussed. No part of the compensation received by the author was, is, or will be directly or indirectly related to the specific recommendations or views expressed.

Clivemaund.com Disclosures

The quoted article represents the opinion and analysis of Mr. Maund, based on data available to him, at the time of writing. Mr. Maund's opinions are his own, and are not a recommendation or an offer to buy or sell securities. As trading and investing in any financial markets may involve serious risk of loss, Mr. Maund recommends that you consult with a qualified investment advisor, one licensed by appropriate regulatory agencies in your legal jurisdiction and do your own due diligence and research when making any kind of a transaction with financial ramifications. Although a qualified and experienced stock market analyst, Clive Maund is not a Registered Securities Advisor. Therefore Mr. Maund's opinions on the market and stocks cannot be only be construed as a recommendation or solicitation to buy and sell securities.

( Companies Mentioned: TRUE:CSE; TREIF:OTCMKTS;939:FRA, )

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American Salars Lithium Inc. (USLI:CSE; USLIF:OTC; Z3P:FWB; A3E2NY:WKN) says it is strategically reviewing multiple Canadian mineral properties prospective for lithium. Prices for the metal important to the energy transition have fallen, but many analysts say they will recover.

Canter Resources Corp. (CRC:CSE; CNRCF:OTC; 601:FRA) has completed its acquisition of the Railroad Valley lithium-boron claims (RV project). Read why the company CEO says this aligns with Canter's long-term growth strategy.

American Salars Lithium Inc. (USLI:CSE; USLIF:OTC; Z3P:FWB; A3E2NY:WKN) has signed a mineral claims purchase agreement with an arm's length vendor to acquire 100% of the Lac Simard South Project in Quebec. Find out why one analyst says the market for the important battery metal is due to wake up.

James Franco attends a special screening of the final season of "The Deuce" at Metrograph on Sept. 5, 2019 in New York City. =; Credit: Taylor Hill/WireImage/Getty Images

The parties involved in a sexual misconduct case against Oscar-winning actor James Franco have reached a preliminary settlement agreement. The two actors who filed the suit have agreed to drop their claims.

In 2019, Sarah Tither-Kaplan and Toni Gaal alleged that James Franco's Studio 4 acting school sexually exploited female students. The complaint, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, also alleged fraud and sought to represent more than 100 former female students at the now defunct Studio 4. Vince Jolivette, Jay Davis and Franco's RabbitBandini Productions were also named in the suit which accused Studio 4 of setting out to "create a steady stream of young women to objectify and exploit."

According to their joint status report filed on Feb. 11, Tither-Kaplan and Gaal agreed to drop their individual claims. The Sexual Exploitation Class claims will also be dismissed. NPR is reaching out to both parties for comment.

The original complaint was filed shortly after Franco won a Golden Globe for his performance in The Disaster Artist. Franco denied the allegations. In a statement to NPR at the time, his attorney said "James will not only fully defend himself, but will also seek damages from the plaintiffs and their attorneys for filing this scurrilous publicity seeking lawsuit."

In 2016, Franco made a docuseries based on his Sex Scenes class at Studio 4 that he posted on his Facebook page. The videos have since been taken down, but one is still available on Vimeo. Tither-Kaplan, who was a student in the class, told NPR she thought it would teach her how to "maneuver in sex scenes professionally as an actor," but it "did not do that at all."

According to Tither-Kaplan, the class did not explain industry standards such as "nudity riders, the detail required in them, the right to counsel with the director about nude scenes, the custom to choreograph nude scenes ahead of time to negotiate them with the cast and the director — I knew none of that throughout that class."

According to the parties' agreement, the allegations of fraud will be "subject to limited release." It is not clear whether monetary payments are involved. The parties say they expect to file a motion for preliminary approval of the settlement agreement no later than March 15.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

; Credit: /Katherine Du

Over the years, NPR's poetry community has turned both painful and joyful experiences into magnificent work.

As the world still endures the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. also grieves over increased violence against Asian Americans and a mass shooting in Georgia that left six women of Asian descent dead.

"Let's be clear: Anti-Asian violence and discrimination are not new. But, this racism seems to be heightened," says Kwame Alexander, NPR's resident poet. "And the onus is not on Asian Americans to figure this out. Frankly, it's on white people, it's on the rest of us — individually, systemically, to talk about it, to pay attention to, advocate against it."

"Between Autumn Equinox and Winter Solstice, Today," by Emily Jungmin Yoon, is a list poem that reflects the coldness of the world and how it wears on us. Yoon is a South Korean-born poet pursuing her Ph.D. in Korean literature at the University of Chicago.

Alexander and Morning Edition's Rachel Martin ask listeners: How do you cope with recent anti-Asian violence and discrimination? Tell us in a list poem.

Your poem doesn't have to rhyme. It just needs to have an ordered list with details that show your state of mind — and must begin with the word "today."

Share your poem through the form below. Then Alexander will take lines from some of your pieces and create a community crowdsourced poem. Alexander and Martin will read it on air, and NPR will publish it online, where contributors will be credited.

Submissions are due by noon ET on Monday, April 5.

Here are the terms of the callout:

By providing your Submission to us, you agree that you have read, understand and accept the following terms in relation to the content and information (your "Submission") you are providing to National Public Radio ("NPR," "us" or "our"):

You are submitting content pursuant to a callout by Morning Edition related to a segment with Kwame Alexander wherein he creates unique poetry based on listener submissions. You understand that you are submitting content for the purpose of having Kwame use that content to create a new poem or poems ("Poem") with the material you submit. You must be over the age of 18 to submit material.

You will retain copyright in your Submission, but agree that NPR and/or Kwame Alexander may edit, modify, use, excerpt, publish, adapt or otherwise make derivative works from your Submission and use your Submission or derivative works in whole or in part in any media or format and/or use the Submission or Poem for journalistic and/or promotional purposes generally, and may allow others to do so. You understand that the Poem created by Kwame Alexander will be a new creative work and may be distributed through NPR's programs (or other media), and the Poem and programs can be separately subject to copyright protection. Your Submission does not plagiarize or otherwise infringe any third-party copyright, moral rights or any other intellectual property rights or similar rights. You have not copied any part of your Submission from another source. If your Submission is selected for inclusion in the Poem, you will be acknowledged in a list of contributors on NPR's website or otherwise receive appropriate credit, but failure to do so shall not be deemed a breach of your rights.

Your submission will be governed by our general Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. As the Privacy Policy says, we want you to be aware that there may be circumstances in which the exemptions provided under law for journalistic activities or freedom of expression may override privacy rights you might otherwise have.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Actor Charles Grodin, whose comic characters were almost always hapless, and whose serious characters generally gave that trademark haplessness a sinister twist, died Tuesday of cancer at his home in Wilton, Conn. He was 86.

His death, from bone marrow cancer, was confirmed to NPR by his son, actor Nicholas Grodin.

He was the obstetrician who gave Rosemary's Baby to a coven of witches, the dog owner who couldn't control his enormous Saint Bernard in the Beethoven movies, and the man who met the girl of his dreams just a little bit late in The Heartbreak Kid. He was, sad to say, on his honeymoon.

Grodin credited Elaine May's direction of The Heartbreak Kid with jump-starting his film career in 1972, though he'd made his debut as an uncredited child actor almost two decades earlier in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. He became a familiar face in such comedies as Heaven Can Wait and Midnight Run, in which he played an accountant pursued by Robert De Niro after having embezzled from the mob.

When not working in films, Grodin directed plays on Broadway, including Lovers and Other Strangers in 1968 and Thieves in 1974 with Marlo Thomas. And in 1975, he scored a big success opposite Ellen Burstyn as an annual philanderer in the Broadway romantic comedy Same Time, Next Year (the part went to Alan Alda in the film version).

Grodin once described himself as "low-key, but high-strung," which also described a lot of his characters. And he was so sought after as a talk-show guest on late-night TV (Johnny Carson had him on The Tonight Show 36 times), he ended up hosting a talk show host himself in the 1990s.

His knack for deadpan humor extended to books with titles such as How I Got to Be Whoever It Is I Am.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Omineca Mining and Metals Ltd. (OMM:TSX.V; OMMSF:OTCMKTS) announced it is set to restart mining and gravel extraction at its Wingdam placer gold project in British Columbia's historic Cariboo Mining District. Read why one expert thinks its new methods are a key to possible success.

Silicon Metals Corp. (SI:CSE) has expanded its Ptarmigan Silica Project by acquiring 919 hectares of contiguous claims, increasing its land position by 40% in British Columbia's Rocky Mountain Trench. Read more to find out how this expansion supports their vision for high-grade silica production.

Dryden Gold Corp. (DRY:TSXV; DRYGF:OTCQB) has announced its participation in three significant mining investment conferences scheduled for November 2024. Read more about the company's plans to showcase major project updates and connect with global investors at these key events.

A fracking site in Kern County, Calif. Fracking — short for hydraulic fracturing — is the process of extracting oil deep underground using a high-pressure water mixture to break up rock.; Credit: Citizens of the Planet/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty

California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced plans to ban hydraulic fracturing by 2024 as part of a longer-term aim to end all oil extraction in the state.

The governor has ordered the state's top oil regulator to implement regulation to stop issuing new fracking permits by 2024. He has also directed the state's air resources agency to look at ways to phase out oil extraction completely by 2045.

"The climate crisis is real, and we continue to see the signs every day," Newsom said in a Friday press release. "As we move to swiftly decarbonize our transportation sector and create a healthier future for our children, I've made it clear I don't see a role for fracking in that future and, similarly, believe that California needs to move beyond oil."

The plan aligns with the state's broader goal to reach net-zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2045.

Newsom's order follows a more aggressive plan to ban oil and gas production that died in the state Senate last week.

Following the bill's failure, Rock Zierman, CEO of the California Independent Petroleum Association, told The Desert Sun that it would have killed tens of thousands of jobs "in parts of the state that are struggling in this post-pandemic economy."

"We will continue to oppose bills that only increase our reliance on foreign oil which drives up gas prices, contributes to pollution in our crowded ports, and is produced without California's environmental protections or humanitarian values," he said.

Under Newson's plan, the state's Air Resources Board will assess the economic, environmental and health benefits and effects of ending oil extraction.

In September, Newsom said that fracking accounts for less than 2% of the state's oil production, but that the plan to end the practice is a "symbolic" step. However, some industry groups put that figure at closer to 20%.

The governor has previously said that he lacks the executive authority to ban fracking and has looked to legislators to approve limits.

Now, Newsom is leveraging his authority to take on the state's powerful oil and gas giants during a year in which he will likely face a recall election.

California would be the largest oil-producing state to ban fracking. Environmentalist groups — who argue that fracking drains water levels, harms public health and contributes to global warming — say the 2024 and 2045 deadlines are too late.

"While precedent setting, both timelines are not aggressive enough," California's Sierra Club said in a statement. "They fail to meet the urgency of the climate crisis we face and protect frontline communities facing the brunt of fossil fuel pollution that still need immediate health and safety protections."

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Cars make their way toward downtown Los Angeles on April 22. California could regain the right to set its own vehicle emissions standards after the Environmental Protection Agency announced it was moving to curb a Trump-era policy that sought to erode the state's previously-held power.; Credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said on Monday it is preparing to restore California's right to set its own vehicle emissions standards, in a widely anticipated reversal of Trump-era policies.

The decision, which will take several months to be finalized, reaffirms the Golden State's powerful position as an environmental regulator after the Trump administration had in 2019 sought to remove California's powers to set its own emissions standards.

It also sets the stage for negotiations over how strict federal vehicle standards will be under President Biden.

"I am a firm believer in California's long-standing statutory authority to lead," EPA administration Michael Regan said in a statement.

"The 2019 decision to revoke the state's waiver to enforce its greenhouse gas pollution standards for cars and trucks was legally dubious and an attack on the public's health and wellbeing," he added.

The EPA will be accepting public comment until July 6 as part of the process of reversing the Trump-era rule.

The populous, car-loving state has been waging a battle against smog for decades.

And in recognition of that history, the EPA has long granted a waiver giving the state the authority to set its own standards for vehicle emissions, as long as they're more stringent than the national regulations.

That's an unusual exemption — other states can't set their own policies, although they can choose to adopt California's standards as their own.

Between California and the states that follow suit, about a third of the U.S. new car market is covered by the Golden State's policies, giving California regulators a remarkable amount of sway over the auto industry.

However, when the Trump administration weakened federal clean car standards, it also sought to revoke the waiver allowing California to set a higher bar.

That triggered a legal battle and divided the auto industry, with some carmakers choosing to side with California and voluntarily accept somewhat stricter vehicle emissions standards while the rest backed the Trump administration.

After Biden won the White House, every major automaker eventually dropped their support for the now-doomed Trump position.

The EPA has now started the process of reversing Trump's decision. The Department of Transportation last week also proposed to "wipe clean the regulatory slate," indicating that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration would no longer seek to block state emissions standards, as it had under Trump.

It's still not clear what federal regulations on vehicle emissions and fuel economy will be under the Biden administration. Some environmental groups and progressive lawmakers are pushing for the reinstatement of the Obama-era standards, with more ambitious targets to follow.

The auto industry, meanwhile, is calling for standards midway between the Obama-era and Trump-era policies.

The EPA says it will propose new fuel economy rules in July.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks to the media about the cruise industry during a press conference at PortMiami in April. DeSantis faces criticism for failing to do all he could on Florida's biggest environmental threat: climate change.; Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Brick by brick, the stucco shell of a new flood-resilient public works building is taking shape blocks from the beach, the most visible sign yet of a small community's enormous task staving off the rising sea.

"This is actually the highest point in the city," Satellite Beach City Manager Courtney Barker said, adding that right next door to the new public works building will be a new fire station.

It's a close-knit community established by rocket scientists south of Kennedy Space Center, on a low-slung barrier island between the Atlantic Ocean and Indian River Lagoon.

By 2040, community leaders expect significant impacts associated with climate change. Already flooding is a problem, and beach-front homes perch precariously atop a sand dune left exposed after a series of storms and hurricanes washed away a sea wall.

The needs are great, and in Gov. Ron DeSantis, Barker sees a potential ally.

"At least he talks about climate change as actually being real, so that's good," she said. "And he's putting money toward it so that's encouraging."

But Barker also feels DeSantis is doing only part of the job.

"We desperately need to grow up as a state and realize that we need to get our emissions down," Barker said.

Since his election in November 2018, DeSantis is making good on some of his environmental promises, including what he likes to call "resilience," a new buzzword for climate adaptation. But as the governor prepares for a reelection bid in 2022, and is seen as a potential Republican frontrunner for the presidency in 2024, DeSantis faces criticism for failing to do all he could on Florida's biggest environmental threat: climate change.

Some of his critics acknowledge that the $1 billion Resilient Florida plan he announced in January could be a first step toward helping some communities pay for adaptation. But critics also point out that DeSantis has done almost nothing to put Florida on a path to scaling back the state's heavy reliance on fossil fuels.

"I would give him probably a C-minus," said former Republican Gov. Charlie Crist, who served from 2007 to 2011, and now represents St. Petersburg in the U.S. House of Representatives as a Democrat.

Crist still gets plaudits from environmentalists for his administration's climate initiatives, including a cap-and-trade system to curb carbon emissions and an executive order that was intended to put the state on a path to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions 80% by 2050. But those were basically abandoned by Gov. Rick Scott, the Republican now serving in the U.S. Senate.

Crist, who switched parties and this week announced he is running for governor in 2022, said DeSantis should be "encouraging renewables such as wind energy, solar energy, and particularly solar. I mean, my goodness, we're the Sunshine State."

DeSantis' press office declined to make the governor available for an interview and did not respond to written questions.

In comments at two press conferences earlier this year, the governor cited his support for spending hundreds of millions of dollars on water projects and Everglades restoration as evidence of his environmental credentials, while promising to double down on funding for coastal resilience.

Florida needs "to tackle the challenges posed by flooding, intensified storm events [and] sea level rise," he said. "When you look at how an insurance market would view property insurance, and to see that Florida is leading and trying to get ahead of some of these impacts, we think it'll be a very smart thing to do."

Lawmakers have had their own ideas on how to handle climate threats, and have passed two bills that, when taken together, are similar to DeSantis' Resilient Florida proposal.

"It's not exactly as he said he wanted it, but it's close," said Jonathan Webber, deputy director of Florida Conservation Voters. "These are policies that need to happen. It would have been better if they happened 20 years ago."

"I am not a global warming person"

In his 2018 campaign, DeSantis appealed directly to supporters of former President Donald Trump, such as in this ad where he tells one of his children to "build the wall" with toy blocks. The environment was a major issue in that election.

Residents were grappling with a toxic red tide and blue-green algae crisis that made beaches and waterways unsafe, and left marine-life belly-up.

In recent years Floridians have also experienced deadly, devastating consequences of back-to-back major hurricanes.

All the while, advocates were highlighting likely links between the state's environmental woes and global warming.

Florida's climate challenges are among the biggest in the country. Beyond those related to hurricanes intensified by climate change, they include sea level rise, extreme heat, drought and increasing health threats from mosquito-borne diseases.

By its own numbers, the DeSantis administration predicts that with sea level rise, $26 billion in residential property statewide will be at risk of chronic flooding by 2045.

But in 2018, DeSantis let voters know that he had clear limits when it came to climate change.

"I am not in the pews of the church of the global warming leftists," DeSantis told reporters at one 2018 campaign stop. "I am not a global warming person. I don't want that label on me."

Early plaudits from environmentalists

Once in office, DeSantis won early plaudits for directives aimed at cleaning up water and helping Florida adapt to climate change. He appointed the first state resilience officer and the first chief scientist, and ordered Florida's Department of Environmental Protection to make sure its decisions were based on the best available science.

In 2019, they approved of DeSantis' order to his environmental regulators to oppose fracking, but he since has failed to get his Republican colleagues in the legislature to pass a statewide fracking ban, something he advocated for during his campaign. The state's oil and gas industry does not currently use fracking as a drilling method, but environmentalists are worried it might start doing so, resulting in water pollution.

Environmental groups also praised DeSantis in 2020 when the governor announced the state was backing a plan to buy 20,000 acres of the Everglades to prevent oil development there.

And they did the same when DeSantis backed spending $166 million in settlement money Florida received from Volkswagen on electric vehicle charging stations and cleaner electric buses. The money, part of a larger $14.7 billion settlement, came after the German automaker was caught lying about its cars' diesel emissions.

"Everyone was optimistic," said Susan Glickman, the Florida director for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. "I kept hearing an opening on climate."

Two years later, though, Glickman and other advocates are assessing DeSantis' climate record much like this: He's done more than previous Governor Scott, but that's not saying much.

DeSantis quietly replaced his chief science officer in March with Mark Rains, a professor, and chair and director of the School of Geosciences at the University of South Florida. But he never has replaced his chief resilience officer after she left for the Trump administration after only a few months in the position.

"Missing in action" on renewables

In many ways, it's what DeSantis hasn't done that defines his climate record. He has chosen not to use his bully pulpit to advocate for a clean-energy future, like his Democratic Party counterparts in the Southeast states of North Carolina and Virginia, or like the mayors of Orlando and Tampa.

DeSantis has also been "missing in action" in debate over bills this year in the Florida legislature that would undermine local government efforts to transition to clean energy, said Webber, with the Florida Conservation Voters group.

One such bill, that has passed the House and Senate and awaits DeSantis' consideration, would ban local governments from restricting fuel sources. The oil and gas industry has supported such measures around the country. They aim to block the push by climate activists to ban natural gas hook-ups in new buildings, and electrify them instead to reduce carbon emissions.

Of course, electrification only reduces emissions if it's powered by renewable energy. But Florida has no requirement that utilities provide a certain amount of that. Solar power accounts for only about 2.5% of the electricity produced by utilities, while they rely on fossil fuels for about 84%.

When DeSantis had a chance to appoint someone to the state's powerful Florida Public Service Commission, a regulatory body with a big say in state energy policy, he chose the Florida chairman of the American Legislative Exchange Council, a group known for its support of fossil fuels.

"We are very frustrated by the messaging, and the lack of acknowledgement of the root of the problem of all these issues," said Yoca Arditi-Rocha, executive director of The CLEO Institute, a nonprofit that focuses on climate science education.

"We need to acknowledge the warming temperatures and the rising seas are a result of our warming climate," she said. "We cannot adapt our way out of it. We need to aggressively tackle mitigation."

"What places can we not save?"

In Satellite Beach, Courtney Barker, the city manager who welcomes the governor's help with adapting to climate change, also wants to see him tackle the emissions side of the equation.

Besides moving the public works building and fire station to higher ground, the community is fortifying its system of flood control. Barker said the community needs more funding opportunities from the state.

"We're looking for assistance in helping us engineer our way out of it," she said.

Marine and climate scientist Jeff Chanton, of Florida State University, thinks there's too much emphasis on sea walls, which can cause beach erosion and destroy tidal zones vital to marine life, including crabs and turtles.

"An ideal governor would try to lessen the impacts of growth in this state, especially along our coastlines," he said.

Before her departure, Julia Nesheiwat, DeSantis' chief resilience officer, characterized the state's infrastructure as "outdated" in a report, and called its resilience strategy "disjointed."

For Thomas Ruppert, an attorney and coastal planning specialist with Florida Sea Grant, DeSantis' emphasis on hardening infrastructure ignores that — for some communities — the investments will be futile in staving off the inevitable.

"Ultimately, what we really need is to start talking seriously [about] what places can we not save? And what is an exit strategy? Because we have no idea," Ruppert said.

Barker hopes it doesn't come to that in Satellite Beach, where she grew up.

"It's personal to all of us, because I think everyone can look at their own hometown, and you can't imagine being anywhere else."

This story is a collaboration between Inside Climate News and WMFE Orlando, a member of ICN's National Reporting Network-Southeast.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

A rollercoaster that once sat on the Funtown Pier in Seaside Heights, N.J., rests in the ocean on Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2012 after the pier was washed away by superstorm Sandy.; Credit: Julio Cortez/AP

When Hurricane Sandy swept up the eastern seaboard in 2012, it left a trail of damage from Florida to Maine. Subways were inundated in New York City. Hurricane-force winds tore across New Jersey. Blizzard conditions walloped Appalachia.

The hurricane — also known as Superstorm Sandy — caused an estimated $70 billion in damages in the U.S., mostly from flooding. And while scientists have long believed that some of the carnage was attributable to a warming climate, it's been unclear just how much of a role human-caused warming played in the storm's impacts. New research, published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications, puts a dollar amount on some of those damages and it's a startling figure.

Using flood maps and sea-level rise measurements, researchers found that human-induced sea-level rise caused an estimated $8 billion in excess flooding damage during Hurricane Sandy and affected an additional 70,000 people.

"I often hear people say when we're trying to help them adapt to increasing coastal flooding, 'Well, it's not going to happen in my lifetime, the sea-level rise won't happen in my lifetime,'" said Philip Orton, a co-author of the study from the Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey. "But it's already happening to people. It's already here."

Sea levels at the tip of Manhattan have risen about 8 inches since 1950, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Estimates range for how much additional sea-level rise is likely to occur, but on average, the expectation is that by mid-century water levels could rise by more than a foot in New York City, compared to the year 2000.

In worst case scenarios, in which humanity does not significantly cut its climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions and the world's ice sheets rapidly melt, sea levels could rise by more than 6 feet by the end of the century, putting hundreds of millions of people at risk worldwide.

Higher water levels mean more areas are susceptible to flooding, storm surge and other problems associated with hurricanes, as well as more chronic flooding from high tides.

The Biden administration has made addressing climate change one of its top priorities. It's proposed a major reconfiguration of the nation's energy and transportation sectors to cut the country's outsized contribution to global warming, with the goal of making the U.S. carbon neutral by the year 2050. Accomplishing that feat will require major federal investments and likely bipartisan support. It's unclear if the administration will be able to procure the latter.

The new study, which joins a growing body of broader attribution science, aims to quantify the cost of inaction and business as usual. Similar studies found that climate change fueled the strength of Hurricane Harvey, increased the risk of Australia's recent unprecedented fire season and contributed to a record-breaking heatwave in Europe.

Scientists have debated whether Hurricane Sandy was made more intense by a warming climate, but it's difficult to know. Generally, there's agreement in the scientific community that hotter global temperatures and warmer ocean waters will lead to more rapid intensification of hurricanes.

Quantifying exactly how much those climatic differences affected a storm like Sandy is difficult. That's why Orton and the team of researchers focused their efforts on sea-level rise, where there's a bevvy of good data. They used that data to model the impacts of Hurricane Sandy in a world without climate change and found the estimated $8 billion difference.

"Increasingly we have the tools to simulate these events and study and quantify the impact of climate change on people's lives," Orton said. "People's lives were dramatically changed by Hurricane Sandy and a lot of them don't realize it had to do with climate change at all."

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

; Credit: /Courtesy of TED

Part 3 of TED Radio Hour episode: An SOS From The Ocean

In 1998, Alasdair Harris went to Madagascar to research coral reefs. He's worked there ever since. He explains the true meaning of conservation he learned from the island's Indigenous communities.

About Alasdair Harris

Alasdair Harris is a marine biologist and the founder of the organization Blue Ventures. His organization seeks to catalyze and sustain locally-led marine conservation in coastal communities around the world.

His work focuses on rebuilding tropical fisheries and working with coastal people to increase their sources of income.

Harris holds a PhD in tropical marine ecology, and an honorary doctorate of science from the University of Edinburgh.

This segment of TED Radio Hour was produced by Matthew Cloutier and edited by Sanaz Meshkinpour. You can follow us on Twitter @TEDRadioHour and email us at TEDRadio@npr.org.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

An American flag flies from a crane on July 4th next to the Champlain Towers South condo building, where scores of victims remain missing more than a week after it partially collapsed.; Credit: Lynne Sladky/AP

Preparations continue in Surfside, Fla. for the demolition of a portion of the Champlain Towers South still standing after much of the building collapsed in the early morning hours on June 24.

Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told reporters on Sunday that bringing down the remainder of the collapsed condominium in a controlled fashion is crucial to the safety of search and rescue teams.

Those teams have paused their work so demolition can take place. Levine Cava said officials are still unsure of a specific time that the demolition will occur.

"Our top priority is that the building can come down as soon as possible — no matter what time that occurs — and safely as possible," Levine Cava said at a morning news conference.

The number of confirmed dead from the collapse remains at 24. The number of people unaccounted for remains at 121.

Preparations for the demolition come as Tropical Storm Elsa is tracking towards southern Florida. The storm is expected to hit the area Monday and Tuesday.

The instability of the building could be made worse by the storm, which is expected to bring strong winds and rain at the beginning of the week. Mayor Levine Cava said that as soon as the demolition has occurred, search and rescue efforts are expected to resume.

Ahead of Elsa's arrival in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis issued a state of emergency Saturday for 15 counties, including Miami-Dade.

On Sunday, he expressed optimism that the Surfside area may be spared from the worst of the storm.

"We could see some gusts, but it has tracked west over the last day and a half — more so than the initial forecast," he said. "So, we'll just keep watching that."

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Rescue workers move a stretcher containing recovered remains at the site of the collapsed Champlain Towers South condo building in Surfside, Fla., on Monday. Rescuers have recovered three more bodies and officials say the demolition of the building will accelerate search efforts.; Credit: Lynne Sladky/AP

Miami-Dade County mayor Daniella Levine Cava said on Monday morning that three more victims have been recovered from the ruins of the collapsed condo tower in Surfside, Fl., bringing the total death toll so far to 27.

Cava added that the demolition of the rest of Champlain Towers South "was executed exactly as planned" the previous evening, and that it would now allow rescue teams to work on a section of the collapsed building that was previously inaccessible. She noted that 118 individuals remain unaccounted for.

"Truly, we could not continue without bringing this building down," Cava said. "The area closest to the building was not accessible, due to the enormous risk to the team of first responders, because of the instability of the building."

According to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, the newly accessible section of rubble is also from a part of the building where many bedrooms were located, and may contain the remains of many victims. The building collapsed in the middle of the night.

Authorities had been concerned that an approaching tropical storm might topple the standing part of the building onto the section that had already collapsed. That would have been a massive setback in the search for victims and for clues to the cause of the disaster.

Tropical Storm Elsa now appears to be tracking further to the west, and is more likely to hit the west coast of Florida, rather than the site of the disaster. But officials at the National Weather Service say the storm's course still could change.

Cava acknowledged that demolishing people's homes "is a devastating decision" and said that "our teams are doing everything possible to help those who lost their home begin to rebuild."

She said that authorities are working with insurance companies and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to streamline claims and help those who've lost homes and property.

One animal rescue volunteer had gone to court to stop the demolition of the rest of the tower, asking the court to allow more time to rescue pets that might still be trapped inside. The judge denied the motion.

Cava said in her Monday briefing that Miami-Dade rescue teams had already gone through parts of the building that were still accessible, "searching in closets and under beds" to find missing pets.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Author Ta-Nehisi Coates, seen here in 2019, will join the faculty of Howard University.; Credit: Mary Altaffer/AP

Less than a week after trustees at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill belatedly voted to grant tenure to New York Times reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones, Howard University announced Hannah-Jones will instead be joining its faculty.

Howard, the prestigious historically Black university in Washington, D.C., also announced it is hiring writer and Howard alumnus Ta-Nehisi Coates, author of Between the World and Me.

Their positions were funded by nearly $20 million in donations from the Knight Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Ford Foundation, as well as an anonymous donor.

The funding establishes the Knight Chair in Race and Journalism, a tenured position to be held by Hannah-Jones.

Hannah-Jones, who won a Pulitzer Prize for her 1619 Project, will also establish the Center for Journalism and Democracy, which the university says will train aspiring journalists in "the investigative skills and historical and analytical expertise needed to cover the crisis our democracy is facing."

The news is a blow to UNC, which has had its reputation damaged by its handling of Hannah-Jones' appointment to an endowed professorship at its journalism school. For months, trustees declined to consider granting her tenure, a highly unusual move considering her tenure was backed by the relevant academic leaders.

Some of the opposition came from Walter Hussman, an Arkansas newspaper publisher and alumnus whose $25 million donation to the UNC's journalism school led to its being named for him.

As NPR's David Folkenflik reported, Hussman said "he was given pause by some prominent scholars' criticism that Hannah-Jones distorted the historical record in arguing that the protection of slavery was one of the Founding Fathers' primary motivations in seeking independence from the British."

Amid the turmoil, other Black faculty members at UNC said they were considering leaving the university, and students protested on behalf of Hannah-Jones.

The university's student body president Lamar Richard penned an open letter last month to the UNC community, saying the university is unprepared for the reckoning that's required, and "[u]ntil this rebirth occurs, Carolina is not deserving of your talents, aspirations, or successes."

Hannah-Jones had said she would not accept UNC's offer without tenure, which UNC's Trustees finally approved in a 9-4 vote.

But the messy and contentious process spoiled it for her.

"Look what it took to get tenure," Hannah-Jones said, noting that every other chair of the position dating to the 1980s had been granted tenure, and that all were white. Hannah-Jones received unanimous approval from the faculty during the tenure process.

"And so to be denied it, and to only have that vote occur on the last possible day, at the last possible moment, after threat of legal action, after weeks of protest, after it became a national scandal – it's just not something that I want anymore," she told CBS This Morning.

Hannah-Jones said she never wanted her hiring to become a public scandal — she was simply hoping to give back to her beloved alma mater. And instead, she said, it became "embarrassing" to be passed over for tenure. She said she was never told by UNC-Chapel Hill's chancellor, provost or trustees why her tenure was not taken up in November or January.

The veteran journalist reportedly had offers from a number of universities after the botched process at UNC. So how did she pick Howard?

She said one of her few regrets was not going to Howard as an undergraduate. And she traced her choice to join its faculty to her own story, beginning as a second-grader bused to a white school.

"I've spent my entire life proving that I belong in elite white spaces that were not built for Black people," she told CBS. "I decided I didn't want to do that anymore. That Black professionals should feel free, and actually perhaps an obligation, to go to our own institutions and bring our talents and resources to our own institutions and help to build them up as well."

She said she won her battle for fair treatment at UNC, "but it's not my job to heal the University of North Carolina. That's the job of the people in power who created this situation in the first place."

Hannah-Jones said she's trying to raise even more money for Howard, and that she's eager to join the faculty this summer.

"To be able to bring that type of resources to a university that always punches above its weight, I'm so excited," she said. "Something great came out of this."

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Chip shortages are rippling through industry after industry, preventing companies from shipping products from cars to game consoles and refrigerators.

"The Commission made binding commitments offered by T-Mobile CZ, CETIN and O2 CZ that will keep the benefits of network sharing whilst removing technical and financial disincentives to unilateral deployments and limiting information exchange, all to the benefit of Czech mobile user," Commission Vice-President Margrethe Vestager said in a statement.

Through a series of ambitious initiatives and strategic investments, India is actively working to overcome barriers and create a level playing field for technology adoption. From expanding connectivity infrastructure to investing in digital literacy programs, the nation is leaving no stone unturned in its pursuit of equitable access to technology.

Many business users have approached generative AI technology more cautiously because it can make up untrue facts and be tricked into saying unsettling things. Oracle's human resources software is used by big businesses for hiring new employees and providing performance evaluations, among other things. Oracle will put a button on many of the fields in the software that will automatically generate draft text for things like job listings or performance goals.

Proper dental care and routine trips to the dentist help to guarantee that children and adults not only have a healthy smile, but a healthy body as well. To help ensure that every child in Catawba County has access to dental care, Catawba County Public Health Dental Practice serves as a resource for children ages 4 to 17.

Family Builders, the adoption service of Catawba County Social Services, can now help adult adoptees, birth parents and their close relatives find each other. Not all counties in North Carolina offer this service, which is called Confidential Intermediary Services. Until recently all adoption records were sealed under North Carolina state law. In 2008, a new law took effect that allowed the release of certain records to adult adoptees and birth parents, if both parties agreed.

RealtyAnalytix Advisors, LLC announces the introduction of Catawba Industrial Commons, a multi-tenant industrial campus offering the most attractive, affordable and functional manufacturing, distribution and warehousing space in the Greater Catawba County region.

The company will locate a manufacturing operation in the Catawba Industrial Commons, creating 110 new jobs with an average wage of over $50,000 and investing $15 million over the next five years. It will provide specialized services for parts used in gas turbine engines produced by Siemens, GE, Alstom and Rolls-Royce.

A team of students at Maiden High School has been selected as the Grand Prize winner in Catawba County�s Distracted Driving Video Contest. Members of the winning team are Matt Ellis, Rebecca Gates, John Kirby and Taylor Abshire.

You may now access the Catawba County Library System website from your smartphone, thanks to a recent upgrade to the library�s home page. LS2Mobile is accessible with an iPod Touch or iPhone.

The facility is now testing biodiesel fuel being produced by several companies in the region and from the harvest of crops growing around the landfill to test which ones grow best in the local climate while producing the best oils for biodiesel.

Vaccines will be administered on a first-come, first-serve basis, from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., or until the supply is depleted on September 21, World Rabies Day, thanks to 250 vaccines provided by the World Rabies Organization and Pfizer Animal Health.

The award was presented for the agency's Children and Aging Strategic Planning Projects in the category �Profiles in Community Collaboration�. The entry described the Children�s Agenda Planning Committee and the Aging Leadership Planning Project. In both cases, Social Services took the lead in collaborating with area agencies to develop reports about the needs of children and older adults.

A team of students from Hickory High School's Student Council won the Grand Prize. The team included Will McCarrick, Anne Orgain, Taylor Panzer and Lexie Reeves. Their video, "Do You Drive Distracted?", was judged the best by a panel of judges.

A Catawba County Social Services program that serves as an ongoing, immediate source of food for students who often go hungry, during weekends and extended breaks from school, and a Green Vendor Exhibition designed to shine a spotlight on existing and potential vendors that specialize in providing recycled and environmentally-friendly products and services, have been named winners of 2012 National Association of Counties (NACo) Achievement Awards.

The Catawba County Public Health Dental Practice celebrated a �grand re-opening� on May 31 by welcoming visitors to an open house at its new space inside the Public Health building. Located just down the hall from its former location, the practice has doubled in size and capacity in order to provide a comprehensive dental home for children ages 1-21 in Catawba County.

Public Health offering free Pertussis (whooping cough) vaccines.

911 should be used only in emergencies. But if you should ever dial 911 accidently, Sheriff Coy Reid says you should not just hang up.