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
 |
Phoenix Passes Landmark Rule Requiring Heat Protection for Outdoor Workers (Maria)
The author writes, “Phoenix, Arizona, passed a landmark rule this week that will provide protections from extreme heat for thousands of outdoor workers in the hottest US city. In a unanimous 7-0 vote, Phoenix city council passed an ordinance on Tuesday requiring employers to provide access to rest, shade, water and air conditioning, as well as training on recognizing signs of heat stress. The rule applies to city contractors and their subcontractors. … Last summer, Phoenix endured record-breaking heat, seeing 31 days straight with temperatures over 110 F. In 2023, heat killed 340 people in Phoenix and 645 people in Maricopa county.”
Russia Is Preparing for an All-Out War With NATO to Happen Sooner Than Originally Believed: ISW (Sean)
From Business Insider: “Russian President Vladmir Putin’s focus on reviving the Russian economy isn’t just about funding the country’s war on Ukraine, the Institute for the Study of War says. ‘Several Russian financial, economic, and military indicators suggest that Russia is preparing for a large-scale conventional conflict with NATO, not imminently but likely on a shorter timeline than what some Western analysts have initially posited,’ the ISW wrote in a report on Wednesday. The think tank cited a meeting Putin held with the Russian Duma on Tuesday, just days after the Russian leader claimed a landslide victory in his fifth presidential election on Sunday.”
Anti-Abortion Doctors Struggle to Explain Mifepristone Harms Before Supreme Court (Laryn)
From The Intercept: “The claim is so tenuous that during oral arguments in the case on Tuesday, not even the anti-abortion majority of the U.S. Supreme Court seemed to buy it as a theory that would give the group standing to sue the FDA. The justices appeared disinclined to rule in a way that would narrow access to medication abortion, at least for now.”
Rat Fur, Arsenic and Copper: The Dangerous Ingredients Lacing US Prison Water (Laura)
The author writes, “In theory, the federal Safe Drinking Water Act protects the right to clean water for everyone, including incarcerated people. Yet this and ‘other basic necessities are routinely denied’ to people serving time in prisons and jails, wrote research analyst Leah Wang in a 2022 briefing for the non-profit Prison Policy Initiative (PPI). As she told the Guardian: ‘No one really was thinking about incarcerated people when they envisioned safe water for the people of the United States.’”
States Moving to Require Schools to Show Inaccurate Fetus Video (DonkeyHotey)
The author writes, “At least four states are considering legislation to follow North Dakota in mandating the showing of an animated fetal development video in elementary school classrooms. The particular video suggested, Meet Baby Olivia, developed by the anti-abortion organization Live Action, is factually incorrect and rife with misleading information.”
MyPillow, Owned by Election Denier Mike Lindell, Formally Evicted From Minnesota Warehouse (Reader Steve)
From The Associated Press: “Lindell denied in an interview with The Associated Press that the eviction was another sign of his money woes. He said his financial picture is actually improving after a credit crunch last year disrupted cash flow at MyPillow after the company lost one of its major advertising platforms and was dropped by several national retailers.”
Why Is AI So Bad at Spelling? Because Image Generators Aren’t Actually Reading Text (Sean)
The author writes, “Though these DALL-E images of bad restaurant menus are funny, the AI’s shortcomings are useful when it comes to identifying misinformation. When we’re trying to see if a dubious image is real or AI-generated, we can learn a lot by looking at street signs, t-shirts with text, book pages or anything where a string of random letters might betray an image’s synthetic origins. And before these models got better at making hands, a sixth (or seventh, or eighth) finger could also be a giveaway.”
