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US Wind and Solar Energy Will Generate More Power Than Coal in 2024: Report (Maria)
The author writes, “The Energy Information Agency has now released data on the performance of the US’s electric grid over the first 11 months of 2024 and will be adding the final month soon. … The biggest story in the data is the dramatic growth of solar energy, with a 30% increase in generation in a single year, which will allow solar and wind combined to overtake coal in 2024.”
Trump Tells DOJ to Prosecute Teachers Who ‘Unlawfully’ Support Trans or Nonbinary Students (Dana)
From Mother Jones: “During his campaign, President Donald Trump frequently repeated the inflammatory and outrageous lie that, without parents’ knowledge, schools are sending children for gender-affirming surgeries. … Obviously, this is untrue, but now, he’s trying to solve the problem he invented as part of his anti-trans campaign strategy — by going much, much further than the earlier lies, and threatening to prosecute teachers who take steps to acknowledge or support the identities of trans or nonbinary students.”
How the Roots of the ‘PayPal Mafia’ Extend to Apartheid South Africa (Sean)
From The Guardian: “When Elon Musk’s arm shot out in a stiff arm salute at Donald Trump’s inaugural celebrations, startled viewers mostly drew the obvious comparison. But in the fired-up debate about Musk’s intent that followed, as the world’s richest man insisted he wasn’t trying to be a Nazi, speculation inevitably focused on whether his roots in apartheid-era South Africa offered an insight.”
Trump Stocks EPA With Oil, Gas and Chemical Lobbyists (Laura)
The author writes, “Top political appointees are already at the EPA preparing to erase the agency’s climate rules and pollution controls. Many of them have tried it before.”
Idaho Effort Against Same-Sex Marriage Heads To State Senate After Republican Divide Emerges (Reader Steve)
The author writes, “A controversial Idaho resolution that asks the US Supreme Court to overturn its decade-old decision to allow same-sex marriages nationwide passed the state House over the objections of Democrats and some Republicans. The resolution, House Joint Memorial 1, passed by a 46-24 vote on Monday, with 15 Republicans joining the chamber’s nine Democrats in opposition. It will next be sent to a Senate committee for consideration. Though memorials are effectively formal letters from the Legislature and do not carry the force of law, the resolution has stirred strong feelings among lawmakers — and members of the public.”
Could the Carrington Event Happen Again? (Laura)
From Popular Science: “On a hot and humid Florida night in late August 1859, the sky suddenly lit up. But it was not from fireflies or a fireswamp. Instead, it was the Northern Lights — or aurora borealis. The aurora is usually seen in far more northern latitudes, but it had somehow reached the subtropics and danced across the night sky. Reports of the aurora came in from as far south as Central America and some in the Rocky Mountains even believed it was morning because the sky was so bright. Across the Atlantic Ocean in England, a wealthy amateur astronomer named Richard Carrington was also watching the cosmos. However, Carrington had his eyes on the Sun and its various sunspots and solar flares.”
