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Cities Scramble for Trees That Can Adapt to a Changing Climate
This story was originally published by Grist and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Last fall, I invited a stranger into my yard. Manzanita, with its peeling red bark and delicate pitcher-shaped blossoms, thrives on the dry, rocky ridges of Northern California. The small, evergreen tree or shrub is famously drought-tolerant, with some varieties capable of enduring more than 200 days between waterings. And yet here I was, gently lowering an 18-inch variety named for botanist Howard McMinn into the damp soil of Tacoma, a city in Washington known for its towering Douglas firs, bigleaf maples, and an average of 152 rainy days per year.
United Methodist Church Repeals Ban On LGBTQ Clergy
Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters. On Wednesday, the United Methodist Church repealed its 1984 ban on LGBTQ clergy with an overwhelming 692–51 vote by church leaders at its general conference. The conference, which ends on May 3, has also resulted in the church rolling back several other anti-LGBTQ policies, including bans on performing gay marriage and funding queer-friendly ministries.
Catching Up With Columbia’s Student Radio Station After a Historic Broadcast
Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters. The student-run radio station at Columbia, WKCR, has been praised widely for its coverage of campus protests. The station’s popularity even led the website to, briefly, crash. And some have said the students should win a Pulitzer Prize. (This point helped poke at an irony embedded in such a situation: The prizes are given at Columbia University.)
Donald Trump Will Speak at the Libertarian Convention. It’s Not as Weird as It Sounds.
Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters. On Wednesday, the Libertarian Party revealed a special guest speaker at its convention in late May. Surprise! It’s former President Donald Trump. “This momentous occasion will mark the first time a former...
Many Universities Calling in Police Today Also Celebrate Campus Protests of the Past
Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters. When Columbia students began occupying Hamilton Hall early Tuesday morning, they said their “escalation” builds on past campus protests that “Columbia once repressed yet celebrates today.”. There is an irony...
This Majority-Black City Has a Water Crisis That Privatization Won’t Fix
This story was originally published by Grist and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. In the summer of 2022, heavy rainfall damaged a water treatment plant in the city of Jackson, Mississippi, precipitating a high-profile public health crisis. The Republican Governor Tate Reeves declared a state of emergency, as thousands of residents were told to boil their water before drinking it. For some, the pressure in their taps was so low that they couldn’t flush their toilets and were forced to rely on bottled water for weeks.
January 6 Rioter Derrick Evans Could Return to the Capitol—as a Congressman
Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters. Derrick Evans had served only 37 days as a freshman West Virginia state legislator when he livestreamed himself storming the US Capitol on January 6. “Derrick Evans is in the Capitol!” he yelled, after pushing his way into the building with the mob. He was soon arrested, and in February 2022, he pleaded guilty to a felony count of obstructing law enforcement during a civil disorder. He was sentenced to three months in prison. During his sentencing hearing, Evans appeared contrite. “I will forever bear the reminder that I made a crucial mistake,” Evans told the judge. “I’ve let down myself, I’ve let down my community and, most importantly, I’ve let down my family.”
Columbia Triggered a Massive Campus Crackdown. Now the NYPD Will Stay for Weeks.
Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters. Police cleared and arrested protesters occupying Hamilton Hall at Columbia University on Tuesday night at the request of university administrators, marking a dramatic climax to the antiwar protesters’ standoff. As the drama unfolded, campus officials asked police to remain on campus until at least May 17.
A Family Member Finally Shows Up to Donald Trump’s Hush-Money Trial
Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters. The first criminal trial of a former US president is underway, with Donald Trump facing 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to hush-money payments allegedly made in 2016 to cover up an affair he had with adult film star Stormy Daniels. Here’s the latest—the key updates and absurd moments—from the historic trial.
Report: The DEA Is Finally Reclassifying Pot As Less Dangerous
Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters. On Tuesday, the Associated Press reported that the Drug Enforcement Administration is proposing that cannabis be reclassified from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, a classification that comes with steep penalties, to the less severe Schedule III, for drugs with significant medical use. If the White House Office of Management and Budget approves the decision, the DEA would be able to offer its proposal for public comment.
How a Few Secret Donors Are Fueling the New Right-Wing Infrastructure
Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters. In early 2021, Stephen Miller—former White House senior adviser to Donald Trump and architect of the 45th president’s hopeful second-term mass deportation agenda—announced his next venture: America First Legal (AFL).
Trump Says States Could Prosecute Women for Abortions Under His Watch
Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters. Eight years ago, in his 2016 run for president, Donald Trump said that women who have abortions should be criminally charged. “There has to be some form of punishment,” Trump said at the time. The comment caused a firestorm and his campaign walked it back within hours. It marked one of the few times that Trump recanted.
Students at Columbia Occupy Building—Echoing Protests of the Past
Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters. Early Tuesday morning, Columbia student protesters took over a building on campus, pledging not to leave until their demands—for the university to divest from Israel, financial transparency from Columbia’s endowment, and amnesty for pro-Palestinian protesters—are met.
Judge Fines Trump $9,000 and Threatens to Throw Him in Jail
Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters. The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s New York criminal trial fined the former president $9,000 on Tuesday for violating a gag order—and he warned Trump that any further violations might result in jail time.
Report: Taxing Fossil Fuel Extraction Could Raise Nearly $1 Trillion for Climate Aid
This story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. A new tax on fossil fuel companies based in the world’s richest countries could raise hundreds of billions of dollars to help the most vulnerable nations cope with the escalating climate crisis, according to a report.
Five Titles This Black Video Game Guru Can’t Live Without
Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters. Below are five video game recommendations from the journalist, comic-book writer, and video game narrative designer Evan Narcisse, with commentary in his own words. Read more about Narcisse and his worldview in Jamal Michel’s Mother Jones profile, “One Man’s Mission to Make Video Games a Little Less White.”
One Man’s Mission to Make Video Games a Little Less White
Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters. They might not know his name, but millions of video gamers have encountered narrative designer Evan Narcisse’s handiwork in Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, which showcases more Black and Brown characters in its first few minutes than most popular games do in their entirety. The action-packed 2020 release opens on a Harlem street scene where our biracial Gen-Z hero (Miles is half Black, half Puerto Rican) makes the rounds before donning his Spidey suit and heading out with Peter Parker to protect locals against the evil Roxxon Corporation and its minions. “I definitely brought my own lived experience and philosophical energy to that game, where they’re fighting corporate encroachment,” Narcisse told me.
Just Six Companies Create About a Quarter of Global Plastic Waste, Survey Finds
This story was originally published by Grist and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. The more plastic a company makes, the more pollution it creates. That seemingly obvious, yet previously unproven, point, is the main takeaway from a first-of-its-kind study published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances. Researchers from a dozen universities around the world found that, for every 1 percent increase in the amount of plastic a company uses, there is an associated 1 percent increase in its contribution to global plastic litter.
Ruby Bridges Blasts Book Bans As “Ridiculous” Attempts to “Cover Up History”
Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters. Civil Rights icon Ruby Bridges is an integral part of U.S. history lessons in classrooms nationwide, given her status as the first Black child to integrate an elementary school in the South. But to the right-wing culture warriors behind efforts to ban books about American history—including systemic racism and discrimination against LGBTQ people—Bridges has become something else: a threat.
“Shame On You!”: Anti-War Protesters Picket White House Correspondents’ Dinner
Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters. Before guests could get inside last night’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner, they had to wade through a crowd of pro-Palestinian protesters who reminded them of the journalists who have been killed covering Israel’s war on Gaza.
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