As of July 2025, California legislators are considering Senate Bill 466, aimed at giving water utilities legal immunity from lawsuits during the period they work toward compliance with the state’s newly enacted hexavalent chromium‑6 drinking water standard CalMatters. Chromium‑6, the carcinogenic chemical highlighted in the Erin Brockovich–inspired Hinkley water contamination case, has prompted California to […]
On August 4–5, 2025, multiple outlets—including Futurism and NPR—reported that the White House has instructed NASA to prepare plans to terminate at least two climate-focused satellites, specifically the Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2 (OCO‑2) and OCO‑3, which track atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. OCO‑2 launched in 2014 and became a global “gold standard” for high-resolution CO₂ data; OCO‑3, […]
• Yesterday (August 4, 2025), Tesla’s board approved a new $29 billion stock-based compensation award for CEO Elon Musk. The award grants him 96 million restricted shares, valued at approximately $300 per share, contingent on his continued service in executive leadership for at least two years at Tesla. Musk must also hold the shares for five […]
On August 4, 2025, a landmark database—the Police Records Access Project—went live, providing unprecedented public access to formerly secret internal police records in California WIRED. Built over seven years by a coalition involving UC Berkeley, Stanford University, CalMatters, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, and public interest groups, the database contains roughly 1.5 million pages […]
In a sweeping move emblematic of the Trump administration’s approach to governance, the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is using artificial intelligence to eliminate hundreds—and potentially hundreds of thousands—of federal regulations. Launched via executive order in January 2025, DOGE’s mission is simple: reduce federal regulatory burdens by 50% by January 20, 2026, using […]
On January 29, 2025, an American Airlines regional jet (Flight 5342) collided midair with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter over the Potomac River, approximately 0.8 km from runway 33 at Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia. All 67 individuals aboard both aircraft died, marking the worst U.S. aviation disaster since 2001 AP News+13Wikipedia+13Facebook+13. Over several days of […]
Summary:For the first time in its 90-year history, the Culinary Workers Union represents employees at every major casino on the Las Vegas Strip. This follows two major breakthroughs in late 2024: The Culinary Union, with 60,000 members—most in Las Vegas—is the largest labor organization in Nevada. Experts call this achievement a rare success in a […]
On August 1, 2025, a Miami federal jury delivered a historic verdict: Tesla was deemed partly responsible—33% liability—for a fatal 2019 crash involving its Autopilot system. The crash took place in Key Largo, FL, when 22-year-old Naibel Benavides Leon and her boyfriend Dillon Angulo were struck by a Tesla Model S equipped with Autopilot. Benavides died, […]
On August 1, 2025, Ghislaine Maxwell, convicted of aiding Jeffrey Epstein in sex trafficking underage girls, was transferred from FCI Tallahassee—a low-security federal prison in Florida—to Federal Prison Camp Bryan in Texas, a minimum-security facility often considered more lenient in the federal system. The move occurred shortly after Maxwell’s meeting with Deputy Attorney General Todd […]
Quebec doctors have issued urgent warnings about a surge of AI-generated deepfake videos that use their likeness to promote dubious health advice and products. These videos—circulating across social media and messaging apps—falsely portray real medical professionals giving endorsements or treatment suggestions, often linked to unverified supplements or medications. Physicians emphasized that these deepfake scams are […]