"Now, 12 of California’s 17 major reservoirs are filled above their historical averages for the start of spring. That includes Folsom Lake, which controls water flows along the American River, as well as Lake Oroville, the state’s second largest reservoir and home to the nation’s tallest dam." Just a reminder, while surface water is abundant, it takes decades to replenish aquifers. Also, the conditions that brought this year's water can reverse quickly.
"Human attempts to kill cockroaches with sugary poison have had an unintended consequence: It has cramped the bugs' sex lives… But now, some roaches appear to have tweaked the recipe for the sweet substance that males use to woo females — allowing the bugs to be fruitful and multiply once more." Evolution for the win.
"A new exhibit hosted by Museum of Templo Mayor in Mexico City marks the 45th anniversary of the discovery of a monolith depicting Coyolxauhqui, the Mexica lunar goddess. The finding was a milestone for Mexican archaeology, as it shed light on Mexica civilization before the Spanish conquest."
"Nearly five decades after being captured and held in the Miami Seaquarium, Lolita the orca will finally be able to return to the Pacific to live out the rest of her days… During a news conference (last month), the Miami Seaquarium announced its plans to move the nearly 5,000-pound killer whale — who was initially called Tokitae, or Toki — to her original home in the waters of the Pacific Northwest."
"Just before Christmas, federal health officials confirmed life expectancy in America had dropped for a nearly unprecedented second year in a row – down to 76 years. While countries all over the world saw life expectancy rebound during the second year of the pandemic after the arrival of vaccines, the U.S. did not."
"A second country in Africa has recently reported cases of Marburg, an infectious disease that has high fatality rates and, according to the World Health Organization, epidemic potential. The news has lent urgency to ongoing efforts to develop a vaccine for Marburg — and concern among public health officials that earth's changing climate could be fueling the outbreaks."
"Amazon is cutting another 9,000 workers, adding to the massive downsizing happening across an embattled tech sector that is uncertain about the economic future… The layoffs will happen 'in the next few weeks,' according to CEO Andy Jassy, who announced the cuts in a memo shared with staff and uploaded in a blog post on Monday."
"A lawsuit that Louisiana and other Republican-leaning states filed challenging figures the Biden administration uses to calculate damages from greenhouse gasses was dismissed Wednesday by a federal appeals court."
"Are tech companies moving too fast in rolling out powerful artificial intelligence technology that could one day outsmart humans?… That's the conclusion of a group of prominent computer scientists and other tech industry notables such as Elon Musk and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak who are calling for a 6-month pause to consider the risks." Yeah, that ain't gonna happen. A lot of free time in the last two weeks has been spent diving into AI. While it is amazing, it's also crap. But people are so used to such pablum that the AI's look positively genius because their pablum is slightly more specific.
"Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights, who is being sought for war crimes for deporting children from Ukraine, told a U.N. meeting Wednesday that the children were taken for their safety and Moscow is coordinating with international organizations to return them to their families."
"Israel is in a pivotal moment of crisis, triggered by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan to weaken the independence of the country's judicial system and make its judges more subject to political control… Netanyahu postponed the final vote of the legislation that had been slated for Monday. In a national address lasting around seven minutes, he said he would hold discussions and bring the legislation up for a vote sometime after lawmakers return from a recess at the end of April."
"An atheist and secular humanist is suing multiple officials in charge of the agency that runs West Virginia’s jails and prisons, accusing the state of violating his constitutional rights by requiring Christian-affiliated programming as a condition of release."
"More than 150 Catholic priests and others associated with the Archdiocese of Baltimore sexually abused over 600 children and often escaped accountability, according to a long-awaited state report released Wednesday that revealed the scope of abuse spanning 80 years and accused church leaders of decades of coverups." And nary a transgender person or drag queen to be found among the lot.
"The video, shared with Texas Public Radio by a human rights worker who asked to remain anonymous due to their work with the Mexican government, appeared to show guards at the detention facility walking away as the fire raged… It's not clear what happened before or after the video was taken."
"Twitter has labeled National Public Radio as 'state-affiliated media' on the social media site, a move some worried Wednesday could undermine public confidence in the news organization."
"After clearing both legislative chambers, Idaho could become the first state in the country, according to Planned Parenthood, to criminally charge those who help pregnant minors get an abortion across state lines without parental consent."
"Transgender youth in Idaho are one step away from being unable to obtain cross-sex hormones, puberty blockers or gender-confirmation surgery… State senators passed a bill Monday afternoon 22-12 making it a felony for doctors to prescribe these medications, facing up to 10 years in prison if convicted. Gender-confirmation surgeries aren’t performed on minors in Idaho – something the legislation’s sponsors have admitted."
"A former senior producer for Fox News hosts Tucker Carlson and Maria Bartiromo is offering herself as a star witness for Dominion Voting System's $1.6 billion defamation suit against the network."
"Every year, sixth-grade students at Tallahassee Classical School have been taught and shown a picture of Michelangelo's 'David' statue, but this month, things went awry — sparking an apology letter to parents, an emergency school board meeting and a principal's resignation… On Monday even the museum that houses the sculpture in Italy took notice"
"It's been a busy news week, and it's only Wednesday. Michel Martin and I are here in Studio 31 in Washington, D.C., and we've called former federal prosecutor Shan Wu, who's going to help us to analyze the Trump indictment."
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