PICKS are stories from many sources, selected by our editors or recommended by our readers because they are important, surprising, troubling, enlightening, inspiring, or amusing. They appear on our site and in our daily newsletter. Please send suggested articles, videos, podcasts, etc. to picks@whowhatwhy.org.
EPA Finalizes Its First National Recycling Strategy (Maria)
The author writes, “On Monday, the Environmental Protection Agency finalized America’s first ‘national recycling strategy,’ which aims to support the agency’s goal of achieving a 50 percent recycling rate by the end of the decade. ‘Our nation’s recycling system is in need of critical improvements to better serve the American people,’ EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a statement. ‘Together with the historic investments in recycling from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal, the strategy will help transform recycling and solid waste management across the country while creating jobs and bolstering our economy.’”
NYC Nurses Sound the Alarm Over ‘Massive’ Staffing Shortages at Hospitals Amid COVID Pandemic, Plan Protests (Russ)
From the New York Daily News: “With the traumas of COVID still freshly seared into their minds, New York City nurses are once again sounding the alarm that staffing shortages at local hospitals are jeopardizing the well-being of themselves and their patients. Nurses in the Big Apple and throughout New York State are planning a series of protests starting this week to highlight what they say is a failure on the part of hospitals to staff jobs that started to become vacant after the first pandemic wave roared through the region.”
Ohio AG Sues Facebook for Misleading the Public (DonkeyHotey)
The author writes, “Ohio attorney general Dave Yost filed suit against Facebook parent company Meta, alleging it misled the public about the potential harm its products can cause. … Yost filed the lawsuit on behalf of the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS) and Facebook investors, citing the Wall Street Journal’s reporting and internal documents leaked by former employee Frances Haugen, according to a release from Yost’s office on Monday.”
CVS’s Abrupt Dismissal of SCOTUS Case Was Surprise to Opposing Counsel (Reader Steve)
The author writes, “Public interest lawyer Gerald Flanagan of Consumer Watchdog was deep in preparations for his first-ever U.S. Supreme Court argument when he saw what he called a ‘strangely worded’ press release issued [last week] by CVS Pharmacy Inc, Flanagan’s opponent in a case scheduled to be argued on Dec. 7. The press release touted CVS’s partnership with disability rights groups to assure equal access to healthcare. That’s the issue in Flanagan’s case, in which several John Doe plaintiffs with HIV challenged a CVS policy that required them to receive their medication only by mail, not in person at store pharmacies. CVS’s argument at the Supreme Court has been that the ACA and a 1973 predecessor bar only intentionally discriminatory policies, not those that have a disparate impact on disabled people.”
The US Is Worried That Hackers Are Stealing Data Today So Quantum Computers Can Crack It in a Decade (Sean)
From MIT Technology Review: “While they wrestle with the immediate danger posed by hackers today, US government officials are preparing for another, longer-term threat: attackers who are collecting sensitive, encrypted data now in the hope that they’ll be able to unlock it at some point in the future. The threat comes from quantum computers, which work very differently from the classical computers we use today. Instead of the traditional bits made of 1s and 0s, they use quantum bits that can represent different values at the same time. The complexity of quantum computers could make them much faster at certain tasks, allowing them to solve problems that remain practically impossible for modern machines — including breaking many of the encryption algorithms currently used to protect sensitive data such as personal, trade, and state secrets.”
Florida Mulls the Once Unthinkable: Feeding Starving Manatees in the Wild (Laura)
From Florida Today: “As Florida’s record manatee die-off nears 1,000 victims so far this year, the state’s top wildlife official asked lawmakers for $7 million more in 2022 to save starving sea cows and suggested that his agency temporarily do what would today get you a $500 fine and/or up to 60 days in prison: tossing them a few scraps of leafy blades.”
Heinz Debuts ‘Marz Edition’ Ketchup Made With Tomatoes Grown in Mars-Like Conditions (Dana)
The author writes, “Heinz revealed its first bottle of ‘Marz Edition’ ketchup, a special recipe made with tomatoes grown in extreme temperature and soil conditions similar to the Red Planet. The team of scientists behind the celestial sauce, which is the product of two years of research and development, says the delicious achievement also advances the possibility of long-term food production on Mars.”
