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It’s Paradise Lost as Climate Change Remakes Europe’s Summers (Maria) 

The author writes, “Not so long ago, families coming to the shore in Montgat, Spain, just outside Barcelona, built sand castles, played paddle games and lounged on sand that was the picture of the European summer vacation. But now in some places, there is hardly room to put down a towel…Climate change is changing Europe into a summer paradise lost. Across Spain, Italy, Greece, France and beyond, sand-devouring storms, rising seas, asphyxiating temperatures, deadly floods, and horrific wildfires year after year have turned some of the continent’s most desired getaways into miserable places.”

Flint Completes Lead Pipe Replacement 11 Years After Beginning of Water Crisis (Dana) 

From Michigan Advance: “On Tuesday, the Natural Resources Defense Council, who secured a settlement with the city and the state in 2017 to replace all of Flint’s lead lines, acknowledged that more than eight years later, the state had replaced nearly 11,000 pipes and restored more than 28,000 properties.  In 2014, the city switched its water supply from water piped in from Detroit to the Flint River, a decision made by emergency managers appointed by then-Gov. Rick Snyder as a cost-saving move. Due to inadequate treatment of the water, corroding pipes leached lead into thousands of homes as residents raised concerns about discolored, foul-smelling and tasting water.”

WA Farmworker Activist Arrested by ICE to Voluntarily Leave US (Reader Steve) 

The author writes, “His decision comes as the Trump administration has encouraged ‘self-deportation’ and ‘voluntary departure’ as part of its widespread immigration crackdown. Juarez Zeferino, a Sedro-Woolley man who is a member of the Indigenous Mexican Mixteco community, has organized on behalf of farmworker rights in Washington state since he was 14 years old and worked as a berry picker. He was arrested by immigration officers in March while he was driving his partner to her job at a tulip bulb company in Mount Vernon.”

Governors Should Be the Face of the Democratic Party (Al) 

From The New York Times: “As the party scrambles to find its path forward and identify the faces and voices who can lead the way, the most prominent leaders, like Mr. Schumer, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez and Mr. Newsom, have not proved to be the answer. Some are seen as too lefty or too establishment, too partisan, too out-of-touch, too old — or simply too enmeshed in the national political circus that has turned off so many voters. Spotlighting governors, their stories of leadership and of delivering for their states, may be the party’s best shot at reconnecting with the American people.”

Pentagon Awards Multiple Companies $200M Contracts for AI Tool (Sean) 

The author writes, “Broadly, the Pentagon’s AI awards exemplify how important the technology is to the Pentagon. In June, the Defense Department awarded a similar contract to OpenAI for Government to develop AI prototypes, months after Microsoft’s OpenAI-enabled Azure offerings were approved for use at the highest security classification level. Meanwhile, other AI firms like Anthropic have forged partnerships with cloud service providers and built out public sector teams to serve national security missions. A key driver behind this momentum could be the larger pool of money the Pentagon is aiming to get for AI. The Defense Department’s latest budget request seeks billions of dollars for AI and autonomous systems for everything from autonomous ‘wingman’ fighter drones to AI research and development, robotics development and other emerging technologies.”

Are a Few People Ruining the Internet for the Rest of Us? (Reader Jim) 

From The Guardian: “Social media is less like a neutral reflection of society and more like a funhouse mirror. It amplifies the loudest and most extreme voices while muting the moderate, the nuanced and the boringly reasonable. And much of that distortion, it turns out, can be traced back to a handful of hyperactive online voices. Just 10% of users produce roughly 97% of political tweets. Let’s take Elon Musk’s own platform, X, as an example. Despite being home to hundreds of millions of users, a tiny fraction of them generate the vast majority of political content.”