science, nature, wildlife conservation, predators, Maasai farmers, Nairobi National Park
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Nairobi’s Lions Are Almost Encircled by the City. A Maasai Community Offers a Corridor Out (Maria)

The author writes, “Nairobi national park in Kenya is the only large wildlife conservation area within a capital city. It is hemmed in on three sides by human development, and unfenced only on its southern boundary — this gap providing a crucial wildlife passageway, linking the park’s animals to other wildlife and wider gene pools. The gap is also home to a small Maasai community, where farmers face an agonizing choice between protecting livestock and making space for predators that prey on their cattle. … The pastoralists are choosing to leave tracts of land open, allowing the flow of wild animals to avoid what scientists call an ‘ecological extinction’ via a shrinking gene pool.”

Mitch McConnell Says People Worried About Medicaid Cuts Will ‘Get Over It’ (Sean)

From Newsweek: “Republican Senator Mitch McConnell said during a closed-door meeting with Republicans on Tuesday that people worried about cuts to Medicaid in the Senate’s reconciliation bill will ‘get over it,’ Punchbowl News reported. The Republican Party has drawn sharp criticism over the reconciliation package, which is currently making its way through the Senate after passing the GOP-controlled House of Representatives last month. The bill has been endorsed by President Donald Trump and aims to deliver on his biggest priorities, including sweeping tax cuts and increased funding for immigration enforcement and border security. But the proposal, which Trump calls the ‘big, beautiful bill,’ has drawn intense scrutiny over its proposed spending cuts, which could adversely affect millions of low-income, elderly, and disabled Americans.”

Purple Heart Army Veteran Self-Deports After Nearly 50 Years in the US (Al)

The author writes, “For 55-year-old US Army veteran Sae Joon Park, this was the hardest moment of his life. Not getting shot in combat. Not the years battling post-traumatic stress disorder or addiction. Not prison. It was leaving the US, a country he called home for nearly five decades. On Monday, Park, a green-card holder, self-deported to South Korea. His removal order was the result of charges related to drug possession and failure to appear in court from over 15 years ago — offenses that, he said, stemmed from years of untreated PTSD.”

The Costs of Restricting Abortion? More Than $130 Billion Per Year (Dana)

From Mother Jones: “When the US Supreme Court decided to overrule Roe v. Wade three years ago, the ruling had sweeping consequences for public health, making pregnancy much riskier, leading to the preventable deaths of pregnant women, and causing a spike in infant mortality. Now, research suggests the country has also suffered hundreds of billions of dollars in economic losses, with the ripple effects being felt in abortion-friendly and -hostile states alike.”

Newtok, Alaska, Was Supposed to Be a Model for Climate Relocation. Here’s How It Went Wrong (Laura)

From ProPublica: “A jumble of shipping containers hold all that remains of the demolished public school in Newtok, Alaska, where on a recent visit, a few stray dogs and a lone ermine prowled among the ruins. Late last year, the final residents of this sinking village near the Bering Sea left behind the waterlogged tundra of their former home, part of a fraught, federally funded effort to resettle communities threatened by climate change. Nearly 300 people from Newtok have moved 9 miles across the Ninglick River to a new village known as Mertarvik. But much of the infrastructure there is already failing. Residents lack running water, use 5-gallon buckets as toilets, and must contend with intermittent electricity and deteriorating homes that expose them to the region’s fierce weather.”

Someone Just Sent Me a Toilet in the Mail. It Wasn’t as Funny as It Sounds (Reader Steve)

From the San Francisco Chronicle: “Intimidation is a powerful weapon. … One of the most widely used scare tactics against federal judges who have overturned executive orders involves anonymously sending a pizza to their homes. This isn’t just a prank. It’s psychological warfare, a black humor way to convey an ominous message — we know where you live and where your family lives. ‘Be afraid’ is the message. ‘Be very afraid.’ I get it. I have my own psychological warfare story. While it’s unnerving, I’m still standing. In my case, it was a commode, not a pizza, that I received.”

Maybe Hold Off Before Clicking That ‘Unsubscribe’ Button (Reader Jim)

The author writes, “As you sift through all of those unwanted spam emails in your inbox, you may be tempted to click on the ‘Unsubscribe’ button that appears on many of them. It turns out that may be the worst thing you can do, with cybersecurity experts now warning that responding to such a message or link may actually invite more correspondence and lead to future threats, reports the Wall Street Journal. According to DNSFilter, 1 in 644 clicks on ‘unsubscribe’ links ends up directing the email recipient to possibly malicious websites. Selecting ‘unsubscribe’ also lets whoever’s on the other end know ‘you’re a real person who interacts with spam, [which] can make you a bigger target in the future.’”