science, nature, marine mammals, humpback whales, NYC collision course
Photo credit: phoca2004 / Flickr ( CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

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.

Listen To This Story
Voiced by Amazon Polly

Hundreds of Young Whales On Collision Course With NYC Marine Traffic (Maria)

The author writes, “What was once a marine highway connecting southern breeding grounds for humpback whales to northern feeding areas has, since 2010, become a regular foraging destination, putting transient juveniles on a collision course with maritime traffic in New York City, researchers report. Cargo vessels, tankers, cruise ships, fishing boats and recreational craft all cross humpback feeding grounds in the New York Bight – an area roughly the size of Switzerland, stretching from southern New Jersey to eastern Long Island.”

How The GOP Treats Innocent Mistakes as Fraud To Promote a Noncitizen Voting Panic (Reader Steve)

From Democracy Docket: “As non-citizen US nationals, American Samoans can do just about anything else US citizens can — they hold US passports, work and travel in the US without a visa — but they aren’t allowed to vote in most places outside American Samoa. Election officials in Whittier didn’t know that when they told Smith to check ‘US citizen’ on her registration, or when they didn’t stop her from voting on election day. And so, for the crime of agreeing to help out more at her kids’ school, Smith now faces five years imprisonment.”

Hundreds of Alligator Alcatraz Detainees Drop off Grid After Leaving Site (Sean)

The author writes, “At of the end of August, the whereabouts of two-thirds of more than 1,800 men detained at Alligator Alcatraz during the month of July could not be determined by the Miami Herald. The Herald had obtained the names from two detainee rosters. Around 800 detainees showed no record on ICE’s online database. More than 450 listed no location and only instructed the user to ‘Call ICE for details’ — a vague notation that attorneys said could mean that a detainee is still being processed, in the middle of a transfer between two sites or about to be deported.”

This Shocking Ruling Put the Racism of Trump’s Supreme Court on Public Display (DonkeyHotey)

From Raw Story: “While shadow docket decisions are technically ‘interim’ in nature — operating to remand cases to the lower courts for additional proceedings and leaving space for a possible return to the Supreme Court — they have enduring practical consequences. Unless and until the Supreme Court takes up the Perdomo case again, ICE will be free to ramp up its roving masked raids in Los Angeles and other cities like Chicago, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C. There are no longer any safe zones.”

Why Beef Is So Expensive Now (Dana)

The author writes, “In July, the US Department of Agriculture continued to record a shrinking number of U.S. cattle and calves, forecasting that beef production would decline 4% over this year and another 2% in 2026. Meanwhile, foreign imports are also down. Brazilian beef faces a 76% tariff. Fears about the screwworm parasite have led the USDA to block livestock from crossing from Mexico to the US to safeguard the nation’s food supply.”

We’re Suing ICE for Its $2 Million Spyware Contract (Laryn)

From 404 Media: “On Monday 404 Media filed a lawsuit against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) demanding the agency publish its $2 million contract with Paragon, a company that makes powerful spyware that can remotely break into mobile phones without the target even clicking a link. The sale of the spyware to ICE has activists and lawmakers deeply concerned about what the agency, which continues to push the Trump administration’s mass deportation effort, may use the technology for. The contract and related documents 404 Media is suing for may provide more information on what ICE intends to do with the spyware.”