Technology

Pesticide Spraying Near Calif. School Concerns Parents. Why It’s Legal.

"Although California laws prevent schools and nearby farmers from applying pesticides when students are present, cities are largely an exception. On May 1, Patterson city staff sprayed pesticides at Floragold Park next to Apricot Valley Elementary school while kids were outside."

Source: Modesto Bee, 05/22/2026

"$6 Gas And Refinery Fears Collide With California’s Climate Ambitions"

"California is considering giving oil refineries and other major polluters billions in free pollution permits under a major overhaul of its carbon market. The fight is exposing a deeper question inside Gov. Gavin Newsom's climate agenda: Can California lower emissions without driving up gas prices?"

Source: CalMatters, 05/22/2026

RFK Jr. Fires Leaders Of Group That Guides Preventive Health Screenings

"The Trump administration has fired the two leaders of an influential health group that determines when insurance must provide free preventive care, like mammograms and colonoscopies, for millions of Americans. In letters dated May 11, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. notified the two doctors who chaired the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force that he was terminating their appointments immediately, before the end of their multiyear terms."

Source: AP, 05/22/2026

Trump Eases HFC rule, Claiming It Will Lower Surging Grocery Costs

"The Trump administration on Thursday loosened federal rules that require grocery stores and air-conditioning companies to reduce greenhouse gases used in cooling equipment, a step that President Donald Trump said would help lower grocery costs."

Source: AP, 05/22/2026

"Solar To Overtake Coal On Texas Grid For The First Time Ever This Year"

"For the first time ever, solar is set to generate more electricity than coal in the power market managed by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. Nobody is building new coal power plants in the state, but developers are adding more solar there than anywhere else in the country."

Source: Canary Media, 05/21/2026

"Europe’s Green-Energy Future Has a Problem: Reindeer"

"In northern Norway, Sami people fear a copper mine will disrupt their traditional lifestyles."

"Each summer, Nils Mikkelsen Utsi guides his reindeer to highland pastures overlooking a fjord, known to locals as Repparfjord, in northern Norway. There, under the Arctic midnight sun, female reindeer give birth and Mr. Utsi marks the ears of the calves. His ancestors have done this for generations.

“This is my reindeer district,” he said. “This is my life.”

Source: New York Times, 05/21/2026

"In Coal Country, Black Lung Surges as Federal Protections Stall"

"While the Trump administration is directing hundreds of millions of dollars to coal projects, miners in Appalachia are suffering from a resurgence of black lung disease. But industry pushback is delaying federal rules that would reduce miners’ exposure to deadly silica dust."

Source: YaleE360, 05/21/2026

Wet Weather in Argentina Helped Fuel the Cruise Ship Hantavirus Outbreak

"The hantavirus outbreak aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship has created a global public health crisis. But the driver of it is a rodent that weighs about an ounce, and climate shifts this year that have helped increase the odds of transmission."

Source: WIRED, 05/21/2026

"‘Perfect Storm’: How Trump’s Aid Cuts Are Fueling the Ebola Outbreak"

"As an Ebola outbreak rages in central and East Africa, public health workers say that the response has been stymied by the Trump administration’s cuts to foreign aid and global health organizations." "One health provider who works on the ground says that basic medical equipment like masks and hand sanitizers are in short supply due to funding cuts."

Source: WIRED, 05/21/2026

The Worst Climate Future Is Less Likely, But The Best One Is Slipping Away

"Scientists are jettisoning their worst and best case scenarios for a warming world as no longer plausible. That shows how modest gains in the fight to curb climate change have dialed back the most catastrophic of future heating but also confirmed that there’s no chance to limit warming to the international goal set in 2015."

Source: AP, 05/20/2026

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