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US Government Says It Will Stop Paying for SNAP Food Aid Next Week (Maria)

The author writes, “Food assistance used by more than 40 million Americans will not be distributed from November due to the ongoing U.S. government shutdown, according to the US Department of Agriculture. ‘Bottom line, the well has run dry,’ the department said in a notice on its website, which also blamed Democrats in the Senate for the impasse. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is used by one in every eight Americans. … Earlier this month, the Trump administration declined to draw on a contingency fund that would have continued benefits, saying the money was needed for emergencies such as natural disasters.”

Some New Ice Recruits Have Shown Up To Training Without Full Vetting (Sean)

From NBC News: “Immigration and Customs Enforcement has placed new recruits into its training program before they have completed the agency’s vetting process, an unusual sequence of events as it rushes to hire federal immigration officers to carry out President Donald Trump’s mass deportation policy, a current and two former Homeland Security Department officials told NBC News. ICE officials only later discovered that some of the recruits failed drug testing, have disqualifying criminal backgrounds or don’t meet the physical or academic requirements to serve, the sources said.”

Undocumented Workers Built Florida’s Roads — And Died in the Process (Reader Steve)

From the Tampa Bay Times: “For years, Archer Western [construction] workers died on the job at a rate experts said should have raised alarm in Tallahassee. State officials knew about at least two of the deaths, records show — and alleged in court that the company’s negligence was to blame for one of them. Even still, under Gov. Ron DeSantis, the state transportation agency has awarded Atlanta-based Archer Western and its partners nearly $1.6 billion in contracts, one of just a handful of firms to make that much.”

‘Dismal’ Health of World’s Forests Is Threat to Humanity, Report Warns (Laura)

The author writes, “Global forest health has plunged to ‘dismal’ levels and threatens the wellbeing of humanity, warns a damning report that highlights how financial systems are pouring money into land clearance and undermining efforts to reduce destruction. Since 2021 when world leaders and corporate executives promised to halt deforestation, the new study found that forest loss has increased, driven by subsidies for livestock, monocrops, logging and other extractive industries.”

These Are the Traits Most Likely To Make You a Killer, According To Police AI (Gerry)

From the BBC: “While there are still no algorithms that can predict that a murder will definitely take place, computer programs are already used across the world to identify people or places at high risk of criminal activity. And according to several recent reports, the UK government is currently developing a murder prediction artificial intelligence (AI) tool to identify those at greatest risk of committing homicide.” 

Cosmic ‘Brain’ Ponders the Cosmos in Colorful New Photo of the Medulla Nebula (Dana)

The author writes, “Kentucky-based astrophotographer David Joyce has shared a glorious deep space vista revealing the fossil light of a vast supernova remnant created in the death throes of an enormous star some 10,000 years ago. Joyce’s nebula scene captures the expanding shell of the supernova remnant CTB 1, also known as both the Garlic Nebula and the Medulla Nebula for its resemblance to both the bulbous plant and the human brain.”