Monthly Archives: February 2021

US cold snap: Why is Texas seeing Arctic temperatures?

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US cold snap: Why is Texas seeing Arctic temperatures?

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56058372

Icy roads
image captionScenes such as this one – in Odessa, Texas – are unusual for the state

Texas is known for its sprawling deserts and excruciating heatwaves – but right now, it’s blanketed in a thick layer of ice.

The state is seeing some of its coldest temperatures in more than 30 years, with some areas breaking records that are more than a century old.

Parts of Texas hit 0F (-18C) on Sunday, and weather warnings are going to stay in place through the week.

So why is this normally boiling state suddenly freezing over?

According to the US National Weather Service (NWS), this is down to an “Arctic outbreak” that originated just above the US-Canada border, bringing a winter snow storm as well as plummeting temperatures.

Cold air outbreaks such as these are normally kept in the Arctic by a series of low-pressure systems, the NWS said. However, this one moved through Canada and spilled out into the US last week.

Temperatures in the city of Dallas for example will reach a high of 14F (-10C) on Monday when it should be more like 59F (15C) at this time of year.

For the first time in the US state, all 254 counties are under a winter storm warning, US media report. The temperature in Dallas is already colder than in Anchorage, Alaska, CBS News reports.

Texas map

In a statement on Sunday night, President Joe Biden declared an emergency in Texas, which authorises US agencies to co-ordinate disaster relief in the state.

Rotating power outages have been initiated by the state’s power grid operator, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (Ercot), early on Monday, to reduce demand on the electricity system.

“Traffic lights and other infrastructure may be temporarily without power,” it added in a tweet.https://emp.bbc.com/emp/SMPj/2.39.18/iframe.htmlmedia captionUS: Extreme cold weather continues

It has also issued a level-three energy emergency alert, urging consumers to reduce electricity use.

Nearly 120 car accidents were reported on Sunday, Houston Fire Chief Samuel Peña tweeted.

Hundreds of flights in and out of the state have also been cancelled.

The weather has already proved deadly. On Thursday, icy roads led to a massive crash involving more than 100 vehicles in Fort Worth, killing six people and leaving dozens more needing hospital treatment.https://emp.bbc.com/emp/SMPj/2.39.18/iframe.htmlmedia captionHow a deadly crash with over 100 cars began on an icy Texas highway

“The expansive dome of sub-freezing temperatures across the northern tier of the country has laid the foundation for winter storms to wreak havoc from coast to coast, not only going into this weekend, but also into next week,” the NWS said in a statement released on Friday.

Weather warnings for severe winter conditions are going to remain in place until at least Tuesday, when the weather system will begin to move north.

Amarillo will see a high temperature of just 2F (-17C), breaking the city’s previous record of 12F (-11C) that was set in 1895, a forecaster from the service’s Weather Prediction Centre, Marc Chenard, told Reuters news agency.

Odessa, Texas
image captionThese are some of the state’s coldest temperatures for more than 30 years

Similarly, Lubbock will only reach a high of 9F (-13C). These temperatures are “40 to 50 degrees [Fahrenheit] below average”, Mr Chenard said.

Parts of Oklahoma and the Texas panhandle are predicted to see as much as a foot of snow this week, while Dallas will have four inches.

Mr Chenard warns of more dangerous road conditions in Houston, caused by sleet and freezing rain.

Disha Ravi: The jailed Indian activist linked to Greta Thunberg

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Exposing the Big Game's avatarThe Extinction Chronicles

By Soutik Biswas
India correspondentPublished8 hours agoShareRelated Topics

Disha Ravi and her dog
image captionMs Ravi shared a document first posted by climate activist Greta Thunberg

In India’s southern city of Bangalore, Disha Ravi was a cheerful, familiar figure among local climate activists.

The sprightly 22-year-old helped clean up lakes, plant trees and campaigned against plastic. She attended workshops, walked the streets demanding climate action, loved animals and spoke out against sexism and capital punishment. A vegan and the sole-earning member in her family, she worked with a local company that makes plant-based food.

Ms Ravi is also one of the founders of the local wing of Fridays For Future, a global movement begun by climate change activist Greta Thunberg. Here, she participated in campaigns to preserve the lion-tailed macaque in an Indian bio-diversity spot, and stall a hydro power plant, among other causes.

Living in a low-lying neighbourhood in…

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Hunter indicted; charged after bullet enters North Lima home, hits resident

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Charged after bullet enters North Lima home, hits resident

NEWS

https://www.vindy.com/news/local-news/2021/02/hunter-indicted-charged-after-bullet-enters-north-lima-home-hits-resident/

FEB 13, 2021

ED RUNYAN

Reporter
erunyan@tribtoday.com

YOUNGSTOWN — A Sebring man was indicted Thursday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court on a felony charge of discharging a firearm on or near prohibited premises, accused of firing the weapon in a restricted area of North Lima in December while hunting.

The shot crossed Market Street, entered a home and hit a man in the foot. The man’s wife and baby were in the room at the time, prosecutors said.

The area where Kasen J. Smith, 25, of Lake Park Boulevard, is accused of firing is off limits to discharging a firearm because of its proximity to Market Street and a nursing home, prosecutors said.

Smith also is indicted on misdemeanor “injured persons or property while hunting,” hunting without permission and violating hunting ordinances.

If convicted of some of the charges, Smith could get more than 10 years in prison.

A Mahoning County grand jury also indicted the following:

• Joshua W. Moxley, 21, Darbyshire Drive, Canfield, four counts of rape, five counts of gross sexual imposition and two counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor;

• John E. Matthews, 48, Cleveland, Ga., three counts of rape, three counts of sexual battery and two counts of gross sexual imposition;

• Sam A. Lay, 31, of Rainier Avenue, Boardman, importuning, attempted unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, compelling prostitution and possessing criminal tools;

• Apostolos N. Sisalouis, 40, Gordon Avenue, Campbell, importuning, atttempted unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, compelling prostitution and three counts of possessing criminal tools;

• Bashar O. Abuzant, 30, Dailey Avenue, Liberty, importuning, attempted unlawful sexual conduct with a minor and possessing criminal tools;

• Kerisha A. Wallace, 30, Murray Avenue, Campbell, receiving stolen property, misuse of a credit card and petty theft;

• Jessica L. Stiner, 36, Logangate Road, Liberty, theft;

• Ramont D Jones, 27, Ridgewood Road, Youngstown, fentanyl-related compound possession with a specification of forfeiture of money in a drug case, improperly handling firearms in a motor vehicle and cocaine possession with a specification of forfeiture of money in a drug case;

• Brittney J. Sakmar, 35, Carter Circle, Boardman, receiving stolen property, misuse of credit cards and theft from a person in a protected class;

• Austin C. Rowe, 27, Portland Avenue, Youngstown, failure to provide notice of change of address.

The grand jury refused to indict Jason Hoschar, 41, of South Carolina, on rape and unlawful sexual contact with a minor.

Plant-based diets crucial to saving global wildlife, says report

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Exposing the Big Game's avatarCommittee to Abolish Sport Hunting Blog

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/feb/03/plant-based-diets-crucial-to-saving-global-wildlife-says-report?fbclid=IwAR3e1Svc9oC7Bu2Ud3ZiR_sjBfWKTRw0UIsbgS2yhq7YWndn-bpHB6y73E4

Vicious circle of cheap but damaging food is biggest destroyer of nature, says UN-backed report

A cow looks out from a tightly packed herd of milking cattle

More than 80% of global farmland is used to raise animals, which provide only 18% of calories eaten.Photograph: AlamyDamian CarringtonEnvironment editor@dpcarringtonWed 3 Feb 2021 09.30 EST

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The global food system is the biggest driver of destruction of the natural world, and a shift to predominantly plant-based diets is crucial in halting the damage, according to a report.

Agriculture is the main threat to 86% of the 28,000 species known to be at risk of extinction, thereport by the Chatham Housethinktank said. Without change, the loss of biodiversity will continue to accelerate and threaten the world’s ability to sustain humanity, it said.

The root cause is a vicious circle of cheap food, the report said, where low costs drive bigger demand for food and more waste, with more…

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Senate Republicans Vote to Acquit Trump in His Second Impeachment Trial

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Exposing the Big Game's avatarThe Extinction Chronicles

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell walks through the Senate subway on his way to the fourth day of the Senates second impeachment trial of former President Trump at the U.S. Capitol on February 12, 2021, in Washington, D.C.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell walks through the Senate subway on his way to the fourth day of the Senates second impeachment trial of former President Trump at the U.S. Capitol on February 12, 2021, in Washington, D.C.

BYSophia Tesfaye, SalonPUBLISHEDFebruary 14, 2021SHAREShare via FacebookShare

Senate Republicans Vote to Acquit Trump in His Second Impeachment Trial

Republicans in the Senate voted to acquit Donald Trump in the former president’s second impeachment trial. Although a bipartisan majority of senators found Trump guilty of inciting an insurrection onJan. 6with his monthslong campaign oflies about election fraud, most Republicans blocked his conviction.

Thus, in 57-43 Senate vote, Trump was found not guilty —again—falling 10 votes short of the 67 votes needed to convict.

Seven Republican senators did join with all 50 Democrats to find Trump guilty, including Richard Burr of North Carolina…

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Timely facts and figures

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Exposing the Big Game's avatarThe Extinction Chronicles

Deep Green Resistance 2/14/2021 edition

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How to Avoid a Climate Disaster by Bill Gates; The New Climate War by Michael E Mann – review

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Exposing the Big Game's avatarThe Extinction Chronicles

‘Poor people, in every country, are the most at risk from droughts, floods and heatwaves’

‘Poor people, in every country, are the most at risk from droughts, floods and heatwaves.’ Photograph: Tom Ridout/Alamy

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/feb/14/how-to-avoid-a-climate-disaster-by-bill-gates-the-new-climate-war-by-michael-e-mann-review

Two eminent voices on the climate crisis present clear strategies for tackling emissions, deniers and doomsayersBob WardSun 14 Feb 2021 02.00 EST

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President Joe Biden has promised a new era of American leadership on global climate action, after four years of unscientific denial and misinformation under Donald Trump. Two important new books by prominent American authors, both written before the result of the presidential election was known, should help to capitalise on the new spirit of cautious optimism by laying out bold but well-argued plans for accelerating action against climate change.

How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We NeedbyBill Gatespresents a compelling explanation of how the world can stop global warming by reducing greenhouse gas emissions effectively to…

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Elusive Coyote Spotted Roaming Central Park

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Exposing the Big Game's avatarCommittee to Abolish Sport Hunting Blog

Duration: 01:193 hrs agoA coyote was spotted rambling through New York City’s Central Park on the evening of February 8 — a rare sighting of the wild canine which had previously been spotted in January. New Yorker Pawel Stefan Benedykcinski, also known as Beny, shot the video and tweeted it the following day, writing that he had spotted the coyote near Conservatory Water, a pond on the east side of the park. Central Park officials said coyotes have been in the city for at least 30 years. However, the New York City Parks Department said just one coyote is known to live in Central Park, the New York Daily News reported. The parks department urges anyone who sees a coyote to remain calm, and to contact parks personnel if the coyote appears “aggressive or fearless.” Credit: Pawel Stefan Benedykcinski via StoryfulMore FromStoryful

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Three more Wisconsin residents charged in sweeping investigation into illegal bartering for sturgeon caviar

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Exposing the Big Game's avatarCommittee to Abolish Sport Hunting Blog

ByASSOCIATED PRESS STAFFASSOCIATED PRESS|FEB 12, 2021AT4:19 PM

MADISON, WIS. — Prosecutors have charged three Fond du Lac County residents in a sweeping investigation into illegal bartering for sturgeon caviar around Lake Winnebago.

Online court records show 51-year-old Shawn Wendt of Oakfield was charged Feb. 5 with two misdemeanor counts of unlawfully selling or bartering eggs. He could face up to a year in jail and $4,000 in fines if convicted. The records didn’t list an attorney for Wendt and he didn’t immediately return a message left at Wendt’s on the Lake, the restaurant in Van Dyne where he tends bar.

https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.439.0_en.html#goog_109400117According to the criminal complaint, a state Department of Natural Resources warden interviewed Wendt at the restaurant in January 2020 as part of an investigation into sturgeon caviar processing. State and federal law prohibits selling, trading or bartering sturgeon caviar.

Wendt told the warden that he has been processing…

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Traffic Sounds Make It Harder for Birds to Think, Scientists Find

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 Olivia RosaneFeb. 05, 2021 02:08PM ESTANIMALS

Traffic Sounds Make It Harder for Birds to Think, Scientists Find

Traffic noises can impair the ability of songbirds to learn skills, a new study finds. savoilic / iStock / Getty Images Plus

If you’ve ever had a hard time thinking when a noisy truck rattles by, you’re not alone.

A study published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B Wednesday found that traffic noises can impair the ability of songbirds to learn. In some cases, birds took twice as long to figure out new skills when listening to road sounds.

“While our expectation was that noise would reduce cognitive performance, I was a bit surprised by the extent of the effect we observed,” study coauthor and Pacific University associate professor Christopher Templeton told i. “The degree to which simply hearing cars drive by impacted cognitive performance was really striking.”https://c05e3a3397854cc4b82ca7d62da0eb95.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-37/html/container.htmlReport Advertisement

A growing body of research shows that noise pollution can have a major impact on non-human animals, BBC News reported. A study published in September 2020 found that the relative quiet of lockdown enabled male white-crowned sparrows in San Francisco to sing a higher quality song that was more attractive to females. Under the sea, shipping noises have been shown to stop humpback whales from singing. However, Wednesday’s study was the first to show how noise pollution harms cognitive ability in animals, its authors told AFP.

To achieve their results, the researchers gave zebra finches a series of tasks that mimic the process of searching for food, BBC News explained. These included finding food beneath flipping lids designed to resemble leaves or figuring out how to access food in a cylinder. The researchers had the birds attempt the tasks without noise and also while a recording of traffic sounds played in the background. (The level of noise resembled road noise in a semi-rural area, AFP explained.)

They found that the background noise had a big impact on the birds’ ability to complete the tasks.

“In some cases, we observed that it took animals more than twice as long to learn new skills when they heard road traffic played at natural sounds levels,” Templeton told i. “For example, learning to remember the location of a hidden food reward took control birds about nine trials, but those exposed to traffic noise took on average 18 trials to learn the same task.”

The birds’ performance was also impaired on tasks that required them to control impulses, distinguish different colors and learn from each other. The only ability that was not impacted was their ability to link a color to a food reward.https://c05e3a3397854cc4b82ca7d62da0eb95.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-37/html/container.htmlReport Advertisement

“This has significant implications for how well they can get along in life,” Templeton told AFP.

The zebra finch study was not the only research published this week that highlighted the dangers of road noise for wildlife. Another study published in Behavioral Ecology found that traffic noise impacted the mating success of the two-spotted cricket. Male crickets in this species sing by rubbing their wings together, and female crickets choose a mate based on the quality of their song. The researchers found that traffic and white noise lowered the crickets’ mating success rate from 90 to 70 percent.

“Mate choice decisions can have strong implications on the success and viability of offspring,” study lead author and University of Cambridge zoologist Adam Bent told AFP. “This could disrupt the evolution of this species.”

Bent said there was not much research on the impact of noise on insects. His study adds more evidence that the sounds we make cause disruption across the animal kingdom.

“It’s quite sad,” Templeton told BBC News. “It’s getting really, really difficult to find totally quiet environments not touched by human noise.”

However, he said there were solutions, especially to the problem of traffic sounds.

“But we can change road surfaces, think about redesigning a vehicle’s tyres. I think there’s great scope for trying to reduce noise – we just have to be clever with our engineering,” he said.https://c05e3a3397854cc4b82ca7d62da0eb95.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-37/html/container.htmlReport Advertisement