People & Population

"On a recent trip to Mexico City, I marveled at some small, speckled Inca doves, which are almost as common as pigeons in the United States. Nearby, grackles bathed their long, gorgeous blue-black tails in a fountain. Ever since I got the Merlin Bird ID app, my partner has become accustomed to my stopping midwalk, pausing the conversation, and holding up my phone to catch a bit of birdsong or do a step-by-step visual search. Ideally I add a new species to my “life list” in the process."

"Since Trump took office, the park service —- an agency charged with preserving American history —- has changed how its website describes key moments from slavery to Jim Crow."

"The Trump administration has ended funding to U.N. World Food Program emergency programs helping keep millions alive in Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen and 11 other impoverished countries, many of them struggling with conflict, according to the organization and officials who spoke to The Associated Press."

"The Tamaulipan thorn forest once covered 1 million acres on both sides of the border. Restoring even a fraction of it could help the region cope with the ravages of a warming world."

"The chorus of experts issuing warnings include Republican lawmakers, former Trump officials and civil servants who worked under GOP and Democratic presidents."

"Hiking the Pacific Crest Trail is a challenge, especially for adventurers making the entire run from Southern California to Canada, and Eric Kipperman’s job is to greet them at the start and lay bare the difficulties ahead. He has lately begun warning that the journey may be even tougher. Following cuts by the Trump administration, plans to clear downed trees and rebuild storm-battered stretches in 2025 have been scrapped."

"Retired coal miner Stanley “Goose” Stewart questions whether it’s safe for anyone to work in the industry right now. The Department of Government Efficiency, created by President Donald Trump and run by Elon Musk, has been targeting federal agencies for spending cuts. That includes terminating leases for three dozen offices in the Mine Safety and Health Administration, the agency responsible for enforcing mine safety laws."

"When Milwaukee officials discovered in January that lead paint in school buildings had poisoned kids, they called the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention." "“The people who were answering our questions are just gone,” City Health Commissioner Michael Totoraitis said in an interview after the firings Tuesday at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."

"After Trump administration job cuts, nearly half of National Weather Service forecast offices have 20% vacancy rates — twice that of just a decade ago — as severe weather chugs across the nation’s heartland, according to data obtained by The Associated Press."

"Rivers rose and flooding worsened Sunday across the U.S. South and Midwest, threatening communities already waterlogged and badly damaged by days of heavy rain and wind that killed at least 18 people."