The counties of Santa Clara and Marin held their position amongst managers in zero emission vehicles across California in 2024 New state data.

The market share for such vehicles within the district was 40.1%, reported the California Energy Commission. The illustration relies on data collected by the Department of Motor Vehicles, encompasses battery, plug-in hybrid or fuel cell electric vehicles.

“For comparison: The state average was a little more than 25%, so that Marin continues to lead in the introduction of electric vehicles and did not find the decline of 2024 that some other areas were the case,” said Anne Richman, Executive Director of the Transportation Authority of Marin, on the meeting on February twenty seventh. “So we continue to try to support that.”

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The rate places Marin in second place among the many 58 counties of the state. The district's rate has been steadily increased for greater than a decade, as the information show. In 2014 the speed was 7.7%. This rose to 25.9% by 2021 after which 37.7% in 2023.

Santa Clara County had the very best market share of zero emission vehicle with 42.8%. Alameda, who held second place for 2023, took 37.7%under Marin. According to the information, San Francisco was 35.6%.

The Marin drivers bought 4,929 battery, plug-in hybrid or fuel cell electric vehicles in 2024 in comparison with 4.416 within the previous 12 months.

Tesla Model Y made up 1,025 of those purchases. Further purchases included 478 Tesla model 3 vehicles, 81 model x vehicles, 61 cybertrucks and 58 model vehicles.

Other popular vehicles were sold the Rivian R1s with 278; The Audi Q4 E-Ttron, sold at 133; the Audi Q5 sold with 105; and the BMW i4 sold with 131.

The drivers within the state bought 443,374 zero emission vehicles, with the most well-liked Tesla model Y and Model 3 and the Hyundai Ioniq 5.

According to the California Air Resources Board, around 30% of the sales of zero emission vehicles within the United States in California are in California.

Cory bytof, program manager for sustainability at San Rafael, said the state leadership demonstrates the change. According to the California Air Resources Board, latest vehicles with the state's zero emission vehicle regulation within the 2035 model 12 months 2035 in model 12 months 2035 should be achieved 100% zero emission and cleansing agent hybrid electrocot.

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“The manufacturers have reacted and now there are so many types of vehicles with good reach that people are much easier for people to find something that meets their functional and other needs,” said bytof.

“Expand our local programs and guidelines by helping to enable a streamlined charger to enable more charging templates in the workplace and close the knowledge gap,” said bytof. “These are achieved through cooperation with our partners such as MCE, Transportation Authority of Marin and Ride and Drive Clean.”

Ride and Drive Clean is a collaboration between non -profit organizations, agencies, cities, schools and corporations with the aim of reducing carbon emissions by promoting the introduction of electrical vehicles. Carleen Cullen, the manager director, said Marin made great progress within the EV adoption, however the residents in residential buildings and municipalities with lower incomes are left behind.

“Now new cost-effective charging solutions are available for residential buildings, and drivers with low incomes can achieve savings of up to $ 20,000 with a new or used EV,” said Cullen. “The challenge is awareness – many individuals have no idea that there are these programs. Further public relations and education are the important thing to make sure that everyone has the chance to turn into electrical. “

According to Cullen, potential tariffs and the possible cancellation of the federal government's tax credit could be more difficult for some drivers to make the change. In view of this uncertainty, those who consider EV want to buy soon instead of waiting, she said.

Accessible, she said that the EV load will be more accessible, since most drivers can now use Teslas Supercharger network or will be able to be able to be able to do so very soon.

Bill Carney, based in San Rafael,, a board member of the Marin Climate Action Network and sustainable environmental groups in San Rafael, said that gas cars send more than half of the climate pollution. So it is great that Marin belongs nationwide among managers in zero emission vehicles.

“In order to achieve our goal of the district and our state net in the next 20 years, it is important to further close the gap. Otherwise, the climate crisis will probably get out of control, ”said Carney.

Carney encourages the communities of the district and the Marin to organize annual events for vehicles and test vehicles. He said that the state and MCE, formerly Marin Clean Energy, would have to keep the discounts and incentives active in the face of the likelihood of the federal government.

“Now we’ve to proceed to contribute greater than ever on site and push even harder nationwide,” said Carney.

On Wednesday, the Bay area Air Quality Management District started its “fee!” Programming subsidies, accepting applications for at least $ 10 million in funds to compensate for the costs for the purchase and installation of new chargers for light electric vehicles.

Qualifying projects would take place in residential buildings, parking spaces, jobs and other locations. Financing is available to companies, homeowners' associations, non -profit organizations, public bodies and tribes.

“By priorating the EV financial means for disadvantaged and low-income communities, we may help to make Electric driving one of the best option for all residents of the Bay Area,” said Philip Fine, Executive Officer of the District.

The application deadline is open until June 6th. You can find information at bit.ly/3fay2ii.

Originally published: March 7, 2025 at 11:12 a.m. PST

Winter Park, Colorado (AP) – One person was killed in an avalanche in central Colorado on Saturday and only marks the newest deaths that will be attributed to avalanches within the western USA this season.

The authorities in Grand County answered on Saturday what they described as a skier in a steep area as “The Fingers” about Berthoud Pass. It was the second registered avalanche within the county that day. Just a few people were caught in the opposite film, but unharmed.

According to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center, the Avalanche death is the third in Colorado on Saturday this winter and the second death in lower than every week on this state. A crested butte Snowboarders were killed February 20 in a movie west of Silverton.

Elsewhere, three people died in avalanches on February seventeenth – one person near the Taoese and Two backcountry skiers In Oregons Cascade Mountains. On February 8, a well known outdoor leader was caught and killed in an avalanche in Utah.

In California, Mammoth Mountain confirmed on Saturday in a social media post that a member of the ski patrol died of injuries there that had suffered in an avalanche last week. The officials said that Claire Murphy was certainly one of two skiolols who were caught in a slide on the morning of February 14 in the course of the avalanche reduction.

The reduction work followed a significant a storm that had thrown 1.8 meters of snow for about 36 hours within the Sierra Nevada for over 36 hours. The other ski patrol that was caught on this avalanche was extracted and responded while Murphy was taken to a hospital with injuries.

“Our hearts are with your family and our community while we navigate this tragedy together,” said Mammoth Mountain in his post.

Every winter, 25 to 30 people die in avalanches within the USA, in keeping with the National Avalanche Center. The center of the middle Current map Shows moderate and considerable risks in parts of Colorado, Utah and Idaho, while avalanche warnings for areas in Washington and the neighboring Montana are present.

The Grand County Sheriff's Office's office in Colorado published a message on Sunday, by which he asked the leisure enthusiast within the hinterland to at all times perform essential equipment and to examine the day by day avalanche forecasts.

Originally published: February 23, 2025 at 2:49 p.m. PST

A very good sleep is usually the stage for a positive day. But for that Almost quarter From American adults who must cope with mental illnesses Good night peace is usually difficult to know.

In patients with psychiatric diseases of Seeks To Mood disorders Like depression, disturbed sleep can often worsen the symptoms and make it harder to stick with treatment.

Despite the vital role of Zirkadian rhythms and sleeping game in addiction, Neuroscientists like me Only now begin to grasp the molecular mechanisms behind these effects.

Sleep and addictive drugs have one tangled relationship. Most addictive medication can change sleep-wake cycles, and sleep disorders in individuals who use drugs are related to the severity and relapse of the addiction. While this has a classic dilemma “chicken-or-EGG”, it also offers the chance to grasp how the Sleep-Diction connection could unlock recent treatments.

Circadian rhythms and health

At the middle of the connection between sleep and mental health is circadian rhythms: the interior clock of your body.

These rhythms align their body functions with their surroundings and synchronize their body day and night to the molecular level. This is completed by quite a few proteins that interact in a feedback loop and switch genes on and off in regular patterns to support specific functions. Although your sleep-wake cycles are essentially the most visible expression of circadian rhythms, these rhythms are Orchestrating most of your physiology.

If you may have ever traveled in time zones, you may have probably experienced a typical type of a circadian disorder as jet lag. This misalignment affects your sleep and concentration and might feel irritated.

While jetlag is a short lived annoyance, chronic circadian disorders can result in long -term health consequences, including an increased risk of Cardiovascular diseases and diabetes.

Circadian rhythms, sleep and opioid consumption

A essential focus of My laboratory Is on opioid dependency, an illness that nearly claimed 80,000 have been living per yr since 2021 within the USA and only has limited treatment options.

People who’re hooked on opioids Your sleep And theirs Corticotropin levelA key hormone that regulates stress. These disorders are related to many negative health consequences. In the short term, these disorders can affect Cognitive functions corresponding to attention and increase negative emotions. This will be done over time worsen mental and physical health. Studies on opioid dependency in mice show similar Disruptions in sleep And Different hormonal rhythms.

It is very important that poor sleep is common throughout the experience of an individual with opioid usage disorders, from energetic use to retreat from opioids and even during treatment. This complication can have profound consequences. Studies have associated the sleep problem with A 2.5 times increased risk of relapse Among those that treat themselves.

Turn off the clock for opioid dependency

Using the brain tissue of deceased donors and experiments in mice, my team identifies molecular changes related to psychiatric disorders in humans. We model these changes in mice to look at how they influence the severity and behavior of the disease.

Through genetic sequencing and computer modeling, my laboratory can profile all RNA molecules in a brain region and understand how their rhythmicity – the height and lows of their activity changes over the day – as a consequence of opioids. This provides a whole snapshot from which genes change in order that my team can integrate into the molecular mechanics that may advance the opioid dependency.

For example, we checked out two brain regions which are strongly connected to addiction: the Nucleus Accumbens and the Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex. We found that patients with opioid dependency had complete Different gene expression patterns In these brain regions in comparison with those without addiction. Some genes had taken over a very different rhythm of activity, while others had lost their rhythmicity as a complete.

Gene that lost the rhythm included those that were involved in various components of the molecular watch, and people related to the duration of sleep. This also shows how a circadian disorder is a symptom of opioid consumption and at the identical time reveals its underlying mechanisms.

In work that’s pending, my team focused on a big gene that lost the rhythmicity in patients with opioid dependency: NPAS2. This component of the molecular clock is extremely energetic and vital for the Nucleus Accumbens Sleep and circadian regulation. We found that the blocking of the functional NPAS2 Increased fentanylseecing behavior In mice. Interestingly, we observed that female mice were able to press a lever more often than male mice to get fentanyl what was documented Gender differences in opioid dependency Among people. In one other study we also found that the shortage of NPAS2 was lacking Worsened sleep disorders For mice that Fentanyl was administered.

Together, our results increase the role that Zirkadiane rhythms play in addiction. Future work can make clear whether the targeting of NPAS2 could treat opioid dependence symptoms. With prime quality sleep, it's not nearly waking up refreshed, but additionally for a reduced use of opioids and fewer overdoses.

Private individuals and corporations can start in the future Permanently in space and sky bodies. But if we don’t issue government laws within the meantime, space settlers can confront the legal chaos.

Many wars on earth Start over territorial disputes. In order to avoid such disputes in space, nations should consider to issue national laws that determine the extent of the authority of every settler in space and present a process to resolve conflicts.

I used to be Research and letter about space laws For over 40 years. Through my work I studied opportunities to avoid war and solve disputes in space.

Property within the room

Space is a world area, and corporations and individuals can find their space objects-satellites, human and robot spacecraft and human-related facilities in heavenly bodies and perform operations wherever they need. This includes each space and the celestial bodies and the moon.

The 1967 Space contract prohibits territorial demands in space and on heavenly bodies to too Avoid disputes. Without national laws that rule room settlers, a nation could try to guard the interests of its residents and corporations by withdrawing from the contract. They could then claim the territory during which its residents placed their room objects.

Nations force territorial demands from military violence that will probably cost money and life. An alternative to territorial claims that I examined and preferred could be real Property rights That is the case with the space contract.

Territorial claims can only be asserted by national governments, while property rights apply to personal individuals, firms and national governments which have property. An property law law could indicate how much authority settlers protect their investments in space and the celestial body.

The space contract

1967 the space contract went into force. From January 2025, 115 countries are celebrating on this contract, including the United States and most nations which have an area program.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuczt5ocszy

The space contract describes principles for peaceful research and use of space and sky bodies. However, the contract doesn’t indicate the way it applies to the residents and corporations of countries involved within the contract.

For this reason, the space contract is essentially No self -executed contract. This implies that US courts cannot apply the conditions of the contract to individual residents and corporations. In order for this to occur, the United States would need to issue national laws that specify how the contractual conditions apply to non -state firms.

An article within the space contract Says that the participating countries should be sure that all space activities of their residents correspond to the terms of the contract. Another article Afterwards, these nations gives the authority to issue laws that claim their residents and corporations in private space.

This is especially relevant for the USA, where the industrial activity in space is gain.

A charta

It is very important to contemplate Charter of the United Nations.

In the UN charta there are two international legal concepts which might be relevant for property rights. One is the suitable of a rustic defend oneselfAnd the opposite is that Non -in -hearter principle.

The international legal principle of Non -interference gives the nations the suitable to exclude others from their room objects and the areas during which they’ve ongoing activities.

But how will the nations apply this idea to their private individuals and corporations? Do individuals and corporations have the suitable to rule out others to forestall their activities from disturbing? What are you able to do if a foreign person interferes or causes damage?

The non -interference principle within the UN charta regulates relationships between nations and never between individuals. As a result, US courts would probably not implement the non -interference principle in a single case with two private parties.

So US residents and corporations shouldn’t have the suitable to exclude others from their room objects and areas of ongoing activity, unless the United States entered laws that give them this right.

US laws and regulations

The United States have recognized the necessity for more specific laws to rule private space activities. It has sought international support for these efforts through non -binding Artemis Accords.

From January 2025, 50 nations have signed The Artemis Agreement.

The agreements explain how necessary the components of the space contract apply to personal spatial activities. A bit of the agreements allows it Security zoneswhere private and non-private staff, devices and operation are protected against harmful interventions by other people. The right to self-defense and non-interference from the UN charta forms a legal basis for security zones.

Apart from the regulations of the satellite and rocket launch, the United States have issued only just a few laws- Files for industrial space -Tart -T competitivity from 2015 – to rule private activities in space and in heavenly positions.

As a part of this law, every US citizen who collects mineral resources in space or sky organizations has the suitable to own, use and sell these resources. This law is an example of national laws that illustrates how the space contract applies to US residents and corporations.

Property rights

The development of property rights for space clarifies the rights and obligations of ownership and to the extent of their authority about their property.

All nations on earth have a type of property rights of their legal systems. The property rights normally include the rights to own, control, development, exclude, enjoy, sell, rental and mortgage plots. The introduction of real estate rights in space would create a marketplace for purchase, sale, lending and forestall real estate.

Since the space contract prohibits territorial claims, the property rights in space wouldn’t necessarily be “land grabs”. Rights of property would work slightly otherwise than on earth in space.

Property rights in space needs to be Based on the authority that the space contract gives the nations. This authority lets you rule your residents and your assets by enacting laws and enforcing them in court.

The rights of space assets would come with security zones around property to forestall disorders. Therefore, people would need to obtain permission from the owner before entering a security zone.

If a US owner would sell a room ownership to a foreign citizen or an organization, the room objects on the property would need to remain on the property or replaced by the client's room objects. This would be sure that the land of the owner still has authority about property.

If someone transferred their room objects to a foreign citizen or company, the client would need to change their objects' International registrationwhat the nation of the client would give authority about space objects and the encircling property.

Nations could probably avoid some territorial disputes in the event that they issue laws in space that clearly describe how national authority changes property once they are sold. The creation of property rights could reduce the legal risks for industrial space firms and support the everlasting processing of space and sky authorities.

The US ownership law could also contain a Reciprocity determinationWhat would encourage other nations to adopt similar laws and enable the participating countries to acknowledge one another's property rights.

With a reciprocity determination, property rights could support economic development as economic development Trading company All over the world, space looks like the following large area of ​​economic growth.

Has child mortality within the United States increased by 7% Since the choice of the Supreme Court of 2022 Dobbs against Jackson Us The constitutional law for abortion canceledAccording to a study in October 2024.

These results followed one other study by which A reported 12.7% increase in child mortality in Texas After the implementation of Senate Bill 8Which gives abortions after a fetal heartbeat. With the exception of medical emergencies, the law makes abortions within the state effectively illegal after about five to 6 pregnancy week.

Both studies found a greater increase in deaths in infants with birth defects. This indicates that girls provide more babies with severe innate malformations that hope for survival for just a few hours, days or at most for just a few weeks.

But even before this latest research underpinned such a link, doctors warned who focus on the care of pregnancies with high risk The potential consequences of the brand new abortion laws.

We are researchers concentrated on maternal And Children's health that evaluate the safety of medication while pregnant. We discover medication that would increase the chance of birth defects or lack of pregnancy.

We also evaluate the effectiveness of guidelines and initiatives to enhance pregnancy results, including the query of whether stricter abortion laws can result in more deaths in infants.

Birth error: a predominant reason for child mortality

Birth defect affect 3% of pregnancies within the USA

They may be attributable to exposure to certain drugs, infections, moms diseases or genetics. For many, causes are unknown.

While birth defects can develop at any time while pregnant, most occur In the primary three months of pregnancyA critical time for organ development. More than 5% About 200 medication are exposed to pregnancies that cause birth defects.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzxtpairfkm

Many birth errors are treatable; Orofacial crevices and a few Heart defectmay be, for instance corrected with an operation. Some cause lifelong disability and a few are fatal, which implies that babies who’re born dead or die shortly after birth. Birth errors are a predominant reason for child mortality that takes into consideration About 20% of deaths In the primary yr of life.

In anomalies which can be considered fatal, not all result in lack of pregnancy or immediate death in childbirth. For example, greater than half of the infants Trisomy 18A chromosomal anomaly that causes severe heart defects or respiration problems, die throughout the first week of life. Only 13% survive until her first birthday.

AncephalyA birth defect that influences the event of the skull and the brain results in dead birth or death throughout the first weeks of life. However, there’s a case report from a baby who survived until her second birthday.

More than 80% of girls will do it end pregnancy with anecephaly in the invention before the 24 -week pregnancy after data before the choice before the Dobbs. In view of the profound effects on the lifetime of the parents, this alternative may be very personal. In many states, nevertheless, these women may not have a alternative. Due to abortion laws with limited or no exceptions, women who’ve a fetus with a fatal illness don’t have any other legal option than to take their pregnancy.

Legal landscape of the abortion laws

From January 2025, 16 countries have Total abortion bans in force Or restrictions that don’t allow abortions after six weeks. In nine of those states, fatal birth defects are usually not considered an exception.

But even in states with these exceptions, the legal wording with which the laws was produced is commonly confusing for health service providers. The legal language doesn’t all the time use medical terms and may assume a certainty about pregnancy results that don’t exist. For example, even the anecephaly doesn’t correspond to the often used legal definition of “no livelihood outside of the uterus”.

Such uncertainty contributes to hesitation – and fear – by doctors and nurses who could also be exposed to strong punishments, including criminal prosecution and prison periods, in the event that they offer an abortion that’s later considered illegal before a court.

Prenatal care too late

In 2023, prenatal care began after the primary trimester for About 24% of pregnancies within the USA

In our study in February 2024 a couple of national sample of just about 640,000 privately insured pregnant women who The average time until prenatal care was eight weeks. In other words, for greater than half of the ladies who live in a state with a six -week abortion ban, obstetrical assessments would probably start too late to take an abortion into consideration if a birth defect was determined.

More than 6,000 women in our study were exposed to this Medicines that could cause birth defects Within the primary six weeks of pregnancy. This includes medication for the treatment of frequent yeast or urinary tract infections, medication used for migraines or weight reduction, and blood pressure medication, to call just just a few. Almost all of those women – 96% – had no prenatal care before taking the medication, and plenty of will not be aware that they were pregnant. For greater than 80% of this pregnancies, prenatal care began after six weeks, too late to forestall exposure to forestall uncertain medication or to look at potential birth defects and to keep in mind pregnancy termination in countries with strict abortion bans.

It is vital that prenatal identification methods are sufficient for birth errors Examine moms blood For chromosome anomalies which can be carried out in 10 weeks of pregnancy -pregnancy, to A Ultrasound second trimester Search for fetal structural defects, procedure resembling Chorione cile samples or amniocentesis evaluate on genetic conditions. These are all carried out after six weeks of pregnancy.

Even if the screening could still fall into abortion limit values, the likelihood of recognizing opposed leads to the uterus varies.

For example, Valproic acid is a drugs that treats epilepsy, migraines and a few mental illnesses. About 1% to 2% of girls who take valproic acid Get pregnant yearly. Valproic acid causes birth defects that may be recognized within the uterus like oral columns or spina bifida. But it also increases the chance of autism and Unwanted cognitive defectsthe years after delivery may be diagnosed.

There is currently no law that deals with cases if an obstacle is probably going, but can’t be confirmed before delivery. It is due to this fact expected that stricter abortion laws not only increase the inevitable deaths for kids, but in addition the births of infants with severe disabilities.

Red Sox

Kristian Campbell was unstoppable last summer.

Drafted by Boston within the fourth round of the 2023 MLB Draft out of Georgia Tech, Campbell was considered a solid contact hitter whose versatility could make him a invaluable asset on Alex Cora's roster when the time comes.

At least that was the mood before last yr.

In a Red Sox farm system stuffed with young talent, Campbell has quickly established himself as a possible pillar of the franchise alongside Roman Anthony – thanks largely to a meteoric rise within the eyes of talent evaluators.

And if the 2024 campaign was any indication, Campbell's blistering performance on the plate might have been etched into the Red Sox' lineup card as early as Opening Day.

“Absolutely — that’s the goal,” Campbell said of breaking camp with the Red Sox throughout the Red Sox Rookie Development Program on Tuesday. “That was the goal all along, to keep up. I love competing. Baseball is about competing. I think that’s one of my goals.”

Although Anthony is taken into account baseball's No. 1 prospect within the eyes of Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus, Campbell isn't far behind.

Baseball America named Campbell Prospect of the Year for the 2024 season, while Baseball Prospectus listed him because the No. 3 prospect in baseball for the approaching season.

All it takes is a fast glance at Campbell's stat line to see why the infielder's stock has skyrocketed in a brief time period.

In only one season, Campbell rose from High-A Greenville to Triple-A Worcester, slashing .330/.439/.558 with 20 home runs, 32 doubles, 77 RBI and 24 steals across three levels and 115 total games.

2. Kristian Campbell: 22, 2B/SS/OF (A+/AA/AAA)

Kristian Campbell's 2024 was the epitome of a breakthrough yr. He played 115 games, split between A+, AA and AAA, and finished the season with an insane .330/.439/.558 slash line, hitting 20 HR and stealing 24 bases. pic.twitter.com/yrHH0YwnVD

— LouisAnalysis (@LouisAnalysis) January 10, 2025

While his aggressive swing resulted in a high contact rate against college competition, the Red Sox development team placed emphasis on Campbell gaining more power through these powerful hacks.

The 6-foot-1, 180-pound slugger may not have probably the most imposing frame, but his high contact rate and high bat speed ensured he was successful pitching at almost every level.

“I think he was talking about his power. He’s really strong,” Red Sox senior director of player development Brian Abraham said Tuesday. “He hits baseball really hard, but the power came a little later in his career for him.

“Being able to consistently hit the ball in the air, on the pull side, but still being able to manipulate the barrel to be able to hit the ball the other way was something I know he can do really attached great importance to it. And hey, if you hit the ball over the fence, that's something we really like and we can get you a spot somewhere in the lineup.”

Campbell may be throwing pitches into the Green Monster's spots as early as April.

Aside from the fact that Campbell seemingly thrived at every level of competition last season (.362 batting average in Portland, 17 RBI in 19 games with Worcester), his profile and positioning could accelerate his path to the big leagues ahead of Anthony.

With the Red Sox both needing more power on the right side and lacking a proven option at second base, Anthony could make a push for regular MLB relief work this spring if he performs well down in Fort Myers.

Even if Boston were to address some critical deficiencies in its lineup by signing a right-handed infielder like Alex Bregman, Campbell could also be moved to a corner outfield spot if his bat provides enough value.

“Kristian continues to improve, keeps getting better, getting stronger, hitting the baseball hard, playing good defense,” Abraham said. “The versatility he offers defensively has been really great.

“So we’re excited to see what he continues to do and what he continues to improve on. And I know that for him, the challenge of getting better every day is an important part of what he believes in.”

It's been a tumultuous yr for Campbell, who was once traded because the thirtieth overall prospect to Boston (not the MLB) in June. Now he could quickly turn into a crucial cog in Cora's squad in only a couple of months.

For Campbell, the priority just isn’t to vary an excessive amount of, despite the added pressure and hype.

It's hard to argue with the outcomes to this point.

“It's really just a matter of keeping it as simple as possible and not overthinking it,” Campbell said. “Baseball will be baseball. There are a lot of ups and downs, but if you stay right in the middle and stay narrow-minded, everything will be fine.”

In October, the Environmental Protection Agency issued an order requiring the removal of all lead pipes supplying drinking water within the United States. Whether the rule will survive the brand new administration of Donald Trump is an open query — a matter that might have serious, even life-threatening, impacts on the greater than 9 million households that get their water through “mains.”

Given what we all know concerning the dangers posed by lead-contaminated drinking water, it's value asking: Why did it take so long? How is it possible that a lot of the United States still relies on toxic pipes?

The answer lies with a now-defunct organization called the Lead Industries Association (LIA). Similar to industry groups affiliated with the tobacco industry, the LIA tirelessly promoted using lead, despite its proven public health risks. The legacy of his success continues to plague the United States today.

The American medical community began to give attention to the general public health dangers of lead pipes as early because the 1840s. As the century ended, a consensus emerged. A chemist testifying on the 1885 meeting of the American Water Works Association stated flatly, “That lead pipe poisons drink water is beyond question.”

In the Nineties, Massachusetts was one among the primary states to recommend eliminating lead pipes. New Hampshire followed not long after, as did a handful of other states within the early twentieth century. But these initial attempts to curb using lead ultimately failed resulting from the LIA.

Founded in 1928, the organization was dominated by a handful of firms that mined and sold lead to be used in every thing from paint to pipes. Although ostensibly nothing greater than a trade association, the group's primary purpose was actually to beat back against growing public health concerns concerning the use of lead.

A robust campaign

In 1929, the group's secretary, Felix Wormser, noted in an annual report: “Recently the lead industries have received much unwanted publicity regarding lead poisoning.” He really useful that the LIA “spend time and money on an impartial investigation that would… would show once and for all whether lead is harmful to health or not.”

And so, despite the well-known dangers, the LIA continued to emphasize the benefits of using lead in a variety of products and rarely mentioned potential risks. Instead, the public received positive reports of lead's miraculous properties in publications such as 1931's “Useful Information About Lead.”

During the 1930s, the LIA lobbied plumbing associations and local officials in charge of plumbing regulations, hoping to revive the fortunes of the lead pipe industry. It warned of the “dangers” of using cast iron pipe (mainly corrosion) and praised the durability and workability of lead. By 1934, the organization could boast that it had “rekindled the interest of master and journeyman plumbers in the use of lead.” By World War II, lead pipes had been reintroduced into government buildings and other large-scale projects.

At the same time, the LIA conducted a duplicitous public relations campaign to sow doubt about the dangers of lead. In their history of this sad episode, Gerald Markowitz and David Rosner show how the LIA assumed “a central role in funding research into lead-related diseases” in the absence of federal oversight of the subject.

The success of LIA

This helps explain why the United States continued to install lead pipes and produce lead paint while countries across Europe cracked down on sources of lead poisoning. When dissenters raised concerns, the LIA quickly attacked. After raising concerns about lead poisoning, the Metropolitan Life Company quickly backtracked, telling federal officials, “You will readily understand that we would like to avoid any controversy with the leaders.”

In the 1940s, the LIA managed to fend off attempts to regulate both lead pipes and lead paint. The group dismissed the overwhelming medical literature as nothing more than “anti-lead propaganda” that had “led many doctors and hospitals to take incorrect positions on the difficulty of lead poisoning.”

These efforts would proceed well into the postwar period, leaving tens of millions of households within the country susceptible to drinking lead-containing water. In fact, the LIA did its job so well that it wasn't until 1986 that Congress enacted a proper ban on installing recent lead pipes.

While the LIA can have been scientifically improper, it was right about one thing: lead pipes can last for a lot of a long time, which is why we’re still grappling with the results almost a century after their danger first got here to light must stop the LIA's cover-up campaign.

SAN FRANCISCO – Draymond Green didn’t mind Microphones picked him up yells at teammate Buddy Hield to carry on – “Wake up the (expletive) or sit down with the (expletive)!” – within the Warriors' 109-105 victory over Phoenix on Saturday night.

The message was vital in that moment, and saying something along with your chest, as Green often does, weakens your point by backing away.

“Microphones are catching everything today, but I don’t care,” Green said at the rostrum after the sport. “Because everything I say, I say directly into the microphone. I don't care. It was necessary.”

Green's request got here after a 24-second violation that required Green to choose up a grenade at the top of the possession. Hield missed a read on a post pass, botching Golden State's set.

In the sport, Hield went scoreless on 0-for-7 shooting and at times appeared to let his shooting issues leak into his defense.

Hield, a brand new warrior, was mixed. He scores a minimum of 18 points in games and the Warriors are 8-0. They are 3-10 when he finishes in single digits.

Enter Green's admonition.

“We need Buddy Hield to play great, we need Buddy Hield to make shots,” Green said. “And we have all the confidence in the world that Buddy is going to make shots. But we have a post feed, you have a 6 foot tall guy on you? Get the ball here. It's easy. We are 16-15. We don't love that. So we just keep doing the same thing and sit back, “Oh, at some point this will change.” Or can we make a change?

“I know what it looks like when you win. I know what it takes to win. So, as a leader, it's up to you to figure out what it takes to help this team. If that means coming into contact with a guy every now and then, if that’s like screaming, then do that.”

Green and Hield have only been teammates for 31 games. The four-time champion said he’s attempting to determine what makes Hield tick. This requires trying out different leadership styles. On Saturday night, he broke out the “wake the (expletive) method.”

“You have to try different methods,” Green said. “Some people – Jonathan Kuminga, I go to them and say, 'This is what you have to do, look at it like this and do it.' If I yell at him, I don't think he will. He won't listen. He'll get out of here. Steph, sometimes I go to him, sometimes I yell at him. He responds to both.”

Green learned from Michigan State University head coach Tom Izzo that leadership requires a sensitivity to each individual. Personal communication with everyone adds up to a total.

“If you think that you're going to steer a team, you're an idiot – you’ve to steer individuals who make up a team,” Green said. “Leading someone doesn’t look like leading the next guy. You have to find out what makes guys tick, what gets a guy going. I’m still figuring it out.”

Green said he and Hield went back and forth after his profanities, which he welcomed. This type of conversation is normal on a basketball court. Healthy even.

It's important to be someone who can receive a screaming message, Green said. He noted that he doesn't have a problem with Dennis Schroder – who joined the team just two weeks ago – attacking him recently. The same goes for Kyle Anderson.

Green has always been a vocal leader, and it hasn't always worked out for him. His infamous bench fight with Kevin Durant in 2018 earned him a suspension and caused tension within the team. He I called recently Jordan Poole's punch was “one in every of my biggest failures as a vet.”

But Green is widely regarded as an excellent teammate. He is an Xs and O expert, a competitive beast and an organizational pillar. Coach Steve Kerr has raved about Green's influence, especially this year.

In the third quarter against the Suns, he was just trying to get through to Hield.

“To approach Buddy the way I did, we needed that in that moment,” Green said. “We’re flat, we just turned the ball over. Include.”

The overall goal is to create a culture of accountability. At the beginning of this season Kerr said The nice thing about coaching Curry is that “he lets me yell at him.” During a timeout against Boston, Kerr tagged Curry for a careless turnover. Curry later said he just desired to be coached like everyone else.

When players like Green and Curry are okay with getting knocked out, the remaining of the locker room notices.

Including Hield.

“I happened to play a lot of championship basketball, a lot of meaningful basketball,” Green said. “Buddy hasn’t had the opportunity to play much meaningful basketball in this league. Guess what? It's our job to make sure he understands what that means. And if people don't like it, then so be it. That’s why they don’t have four championships and I do.”

Originally published: December 29, 2024 at 6:50 am PST

National News

WASHINGTON – Homelessness has risen to its highest level on record this yr, driven by aspects equivalent to high rents, stagnant wages and a surge in migrant asylum seekers, the federal government reported Friday.

The variety of homeless people topped 770,000, an 18% increase from the previous yr and the biggest annual increase since counting began in 2007.

The report, released by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, showed homelessness rose by a 3rd up to now two years, after declining barely over the past decade.

While the report cited several reasons for the recent surge, including the top of pandemic-era shelter-in-place measures, Biden administration officials in a call with reporters emphasized the role of asylum-seeking migrants who’re undermining the shelter systems where there are Many are overwhelmed by the rise. Officials argued that the refugee crisis had eased for the reason that annual count in January.

“This data is nearly a year old and no longer reflects the situation we are seeing,” Acting Housing Secretary Adrianne Todman said in a prepared statement.

The government doesn’t track the migration status of homeless people, so it’s difficult to separate the 2 crises of domestic poverty and the flight of foreigners from troubled countries – different challenges with different solutions. But the record-breaking increase within the variety of homeless people is more likely to deepen the growing partisan divide on homelessness policy.

Democrats typically blame housing costs, declining wages and scarce rental subsidies, while supporting “Housing First” policies that house the chronically homeless without requiring treatment for mental illness or substance abuse.

Many Republicans are in search of cuts to housing assistance and other social services, blaming what they call liberal permissiveness. They want homeless people to hunt psychiatric or drug addiction help as a condition of their support. President-elect Donald Trump has called for cities to be cleared of encampments and homeless people to be placed in encampments.

“This is just a terrible increase and it shatters any myth that Housing First works,” said Robert Marbut, who served as federal homelessness coordinator during Trump’s first term. He rejected the concept migration was the important reason for the rise in homelessness.

Almost every category of homeless people increased, with particularly large increases amongst children (33%) and folks in families (39%). The number of individuals in shelters increased by a few quarter, while the variety of unsheltered homeless people increased by 7%. The rise in homelessness amongst older adults also continued, with a 6% increase amongst those 65 and older.

According to the report, veterans were the one group to see a decrease in homelessness last yr. This continues a long-term trend driven by bipartisan support for housing and services for the politically popular group, a collaboration that’s at odds with the rancor of the broader homelessness debate. The variety of homeless veterans fell 8% last yr.

More than a 3rd of the homeless – 274,000 – sleep in cars, camps and tents under bridges, places where the danger of violence and disease is especially high.

While California has been the epicenter of the homelessness crisis recently, homelessness there only increased by 3%, much lower than the national average. The state has invested tens of billions in housing and services in recent times.

Dennis Culhane, a professor on the University of Pennsylvania who has long advised the federal government on homelessness data, said about three-quarters of the rise in homelessness occurred within the 4 states hardest hit by asylum seekers – New York, Illinois, Colorado and Massachusetts – together with Hawaii, where wildfires led to mass displacement on Maui. Without migration and natural disasters, he said, homelessness likely would have increased by single digits.

“I worry that people will misinterpret this report and think that there has been a sharp increase in domestic homelessness,” he said. “These numbers should not be used to attack Housing First.”

Evidence that implies migration is a driving force includes timing (the surge began with the surge in asylum seekers in 2022), location and ethnicity, he said. The variety of Latinos experiencing homelessness rose by nearly a 3rd, nearly double the national rate.

Chicago and Denver are among the many cities which have seen sharp declines within the variety of shelters for the reason that January count.

Some analysts, each conservative and progressive, said the concentrate on migration obscures larger issues, including economic inequality and homelessness policies.

“As long as we are still in an affordable housing crisis, we will continue to see increases in homelessness,” said Ann Oliva, CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, an advocacy group that advocates for increased spending on homeless services.

Oliva noted that homelessness has increased in some groups, likely not including many latest asylum seekers. These include chronically homeless people, whose numbers have increased by almost 20% in two years, and families in rural areas.

Other advocates have tacitly warned that emphasizing the presence of migrants in shelters could increase the danger of deportation.

Stephen Eide of the conservative Manhattan Institute argued that migration didn't contribute a lot to homelessness because it exposed the failings within the service system that encourages people to go to shelters to get help.

“To some extent, homelessness policies can create homelessness,” he said.

Conservatives have change into increasingly critical of the “Housing First” policy that governs federal aid and once enjoyed bipartisan support.

Proponents say the approach is supported by evidence showing that Housing First policies get vulnerable people off the streets and save lives. Most veterans programs use this approach, and homelessness amongst this group has fallen by greater than half within the last 15 years.

But conservatives, including many church service providers, say this approach allows people to evade responsibility for his or her problems and results in repeated bouts of homelessness. They say Housing First's dominance of federal funding is stifling innovation.

“We stopped treating mental illness and substance abuse,” Marbut said.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.