Wildfires Are Making US Smoggy Again, Reversing Progress on Cleaner Air: Study

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Wildfires Are Making US Smoggy Again, Reversing Progress on Cleaner Air: Study (Maria)

The author writes, “For more than a decade, the U.S. dramatically reduced its national smog levels, but since 2015 smoke from increasingly larger wildfires is reversing that cleanup trend and making the air dirtier and deadlier, a new study finds. Scientists say climate change deserves much, but not all, of the blame.”

Deep in Rural Virginia, a MAGA Pro-Gun Push Takes an Unnerving Turn (Dana)

From The New Republic: “Governor Spanberger signed an assault weapons ban. Some county prosecutors in pro-Trump areas say they won’t enforce it. Is a new MAGA nullification movement brewing?” 

A Farmer Donated Land to Turn Into a Park. The City Is Building a Massive Data Center Instead (Sean)

From 404 Media: “Almost 30 years ago a farming family deeded land to the City of Taylor, Texas, on the condition the city use it for a public park. For the nominal fee of $10, the farmers granted the 87 acres to a public trust in 1999. Taylor sold it to Blueprint, a data center developer, for $10 million in 2025. Now the land that was supposed to belong to the community will become a 135,000 square foot data center.” 

Physicians Say Mental Health Group for Doctors Harmed Rather Than Helped (Reader Steve)

The author writes, “Dr. Dorender Gray loves her work so much that during medical school, her heart sank when each day came to an end. ‘I would want to rewind the time so that I could just do it all over again,’ Gray said. … She sailed through medical school at the University of Washington and began her OB-GYN residency at UW Medicine. Then during her second year of residency, everything halted. She was asked to repeat one particularly busy rotation, news that caught Gray off guard. She asked for a couple of weeks off. She needed a break. In response, her residency referred her to a nonprofit she thought was designed to support physicians’ mental health. Instead, Gray said she found herself stuck in a system that misdiagnosed and humiliated her.”

Powerful AI Finds 100+ Hidden Planets in NASA Data Including Rare and Extreme Worlds (Mili)

The author writes, “Astronomers have unleashed a powerful new AI tool called RAVEN to comb through data from NASA’s TESS mission — and it’s paying off in a big way. By analyzing millions of stars, the system has confirmed over 100 exoplanets, including 31 brand-new worlds, and identified thousands more promising candidates. What makes this especially exciting is the discovery of rare and extreme planets, like those that whip around their stars in less than a day and others lurking in the mysterious ‘Neptunian desert,’ where planets are thought to be scarce.” 

Millions of Bees Have Thrived Under a New York Cemetery for More Than a Century (Reader Jim)

The author writes, “A morning walk through East Lawn Cemetery in Ithaca, New York uncovered an immense colony of some 5.5 million subterranean bees. The discovery, which a Cornell University research team published in April in the journal Apidologie, documents one of the largest aggregations of these insects ever recorded in the world. The population, belonging to the species Andrena regularis, occupies an area of about 1.25 acres and is crucial for pollination of the region’s orchards, demonstrating that historic cemeteries can prove unsuspected refuges for urban biodiversity.”