California Is Drought-Free for First Time in 25 Years

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California Is Drought-Free for First Time in 25 Years (Maria)

The author writes, “California is completely drought-free for the first time in a quarter of a century, a significant development in a state that endured grueling years of insufficient rainfall. Over the last 25 years, drought conditions in California have intensified the state’s wildfire crisis and created challenges in its massive agricultural sector. But a few wet years and a spate of winter storms helped. … A map published by the US Drought Monitor Thursday showed no part of the state is experiencing drought.”  

Trump Threatens To Use the Insurrection Act To End Protests in Minneapolis (Reader Steve)

The authors write, “President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act and deploy troops to quell persistent protests against the federal officers sent to Minneapolis to enforce his administration’s massive immigration crackdown. The threat comes a day after a man was shot and wounded by an immigration officer who had been attacked with a shovel and broom handle. That shooting further heightened the fear and anger that has radiated across the city since an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot Renee Good in the head.”

The Federal Reserve’s $420 Billion Wall Street Bailout (Dana)

From The Lever: “The Federal Reserve has quietly delivered nearly half a trillion dollars to Wall Street with few strings attached over the past few months through an obscure government financial program intended for banks struggling to make cash payments. These cash infusions could signal instability in the broader financial sector — and come as the central bank is besieged by potentially market-rattling turmoil following the Trump administration’s launch of a criminal investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.”

Boeing Knew About Flaws in UPS Plane That Crashed in Louisville, NTSB Says (Sean)

The author writes, “In a report Wednesday, the National Transportation Safety Board said fractures that appeared to have led the left engine to separate from the plane’s wing had occurred at least four other times.”

India’s Surveillance State Should Alarm Every Democracy (Russ)

From The Washington Post: “India is becoming one of the world’s most aggressive testing grounds for state digital surveillance systems. Over the past decade, the Indian state has quietly assembled a parallel digital security architecture that allows authorities to intercept, analyze and store communications data at an enormous scale.”

60,000 African Penguins Starved To Death After Sardine Numbers Collapsed (Laura)

The author writes, “More than 60,000 penguins in colonies off the coast of South Africa have starved to death as a result of disappearing sardines, a new paper has found. More than 95% of the African penguins in two of the most important breeding colonies, on Dassen Island and Robben Island, died between 2004 and 2012. The breeding penguins probably starved to death during the molting period, according to the paper, which said the climate crisis and overfishing were driving declines.”

From July: The Localist at the Capitol: A Conversation With Marie Glusenkamp Perez (Al)

From Front Porch Republic: “When a member of Congress recites a Wendell Berry poem on the fly, a man can be forgiven for dropping his guard. He can also be forgiven for wondering what kind of madness made her go to Washington. I didn’t know anything about Marie Glusenkamp Perez, a Democrat who represents Washington State’s 3rd District, until I read Evelyn Quartz’ essay in Compact on her ‘quiet radicalism’ (which I recommend). Often labeled by journalists as a ‘moderate’ or ‘centrist,’ Quartz describes her instead as someone who ‘isn’t splitting the difference between two poles so much as she is working from a different starting point, centered on repair, ownership, and trade work.’ When Glusenkamp Perez mentioned Berry to Quartz as a source for that ‘different starting point,’ I wanted to know more.”