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.
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Voters To Weigh in on Whether Tech Billionaires Can Build California City (Maria)
The author writes, “Voters in northern California will get to weigh in on whether a contentious plan backed by Silicon Valley billionaires to build a new city north of San Francisco can go ahead. California Forever, the company behind the initiative to build a green city for up to 400,000 people in California farmland, submitted well over the 13,000 valid signatures required to put it on the November 5 ballot, elections officials said on Tuesday. … But the way the company has gone about it has outraged many locals. For years, California Forever quietly purchased $800m in farmland in the rural county, suing farmers who refused to sell.”
Under Trump, the DOJ Will Become the Legal Wing of the MAGA Movement (Dana)
From The Nation: “Mandate for Leadership, the Project 2025 blueprint for an eventual authoritarian takeover of the federal government, contains a lot of dangerous proposals for how Trump and his ruling conservatives can remake the executive branch. The authors’ ideas for the Department of Justice reflect not only their lust for unchallenged power, but also a deep fear of the DOJ’s independence — and, more particularly, the way that independence might be used against them if the DOJ is not brought to heel. Put simply: The conservatives hope to use the DOJ to make their darkest desires legal, while at the same time taking away the best legal means to stop them.”
How America’s Mental Health Crisis Became This Family’s Worst Nightmare (DonkeyHotey)
From HuffPost: “An overwhelmed, underfunded system is jamming ERs with patients in psychiatric distress. And sometimes the consequences are deadly.”
Psychedelics Could Treat Some of the Worst Chronic Pain in the World (Reader Jim)
The author writes, “An estimated 51 million Americans suffer from chronic pain — excruciating conditions like migraines, phantom limb pains, or fibromyalgia — and often go without effective treatments. But psychedelics like psilocybin mushrooms and LSD seem to offer serious relief.”
Clean Energy Is Driving ‘a New Era in American Manufacturing’ Across the Midwest (Laura)
From Inside Climate News: “Midwestern states have received about $30 billion in capital investments from the private sector since the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022.”
Reported Birth of Rare White Buffalo Calf in Yellowstone Park Fulfills Lakota Prophecy (Reader Steve)
The author writes, “The reported birth of a rare white buffalo in Yellowstone National Park fulfills a Lakota prophecy that portends better times, according to members of the American Indian tribe, who cautioned that it’s also a signal that more must be done to protect the earth and its animals. ‘The birth of this calf is both a blessing and warning. We must do more,’ said Chief Arvol Looking Horse, the spiritual leader of the Lakota, Dakota and the Nakota Oyate in South Dakota, and the 19th keeper of the sacred White Buffalo Calf Woman Pipe and Bundle.”
