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Today: January 19, 2025
Today: January 19, 2025
The Los Angeles Post

The Los Angeles Post

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Health

Wildfire smoke and dirty air are also climate change problems: Solutions for a world on fire

People wore face masks as wildfire smoke from Canada turned New York City’s sky orange on June 7, 2023. Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images As the eastern U.S. and Canada reeled from days of thick wildfire smoke in early June 2023, millions of people faced the reality of climate change for the first time. Shocking images of New York under apocalyptic orange skies left many people glued to air quality indices and wondering whether it was safe to go outside. What they might not realize is that the air many of them breathe isn’t healthy even when wildfire smoke isn’t

Wildfire smoke and dirty air are also climate change problems: Solutions for a world on fire
Arts

How Black Americans combated racism from beyond the grave

The addition of a simple ‘Mr.’ or ‘Mrs.’ could be a quiet act of resistance. Rae Tucker/Find a Grave The Atlanta Journal-Constitution recently published a story about a Black cemetery in Buckhead, a prosperous Atlanta community. The cemetery broke ground almost two centuries ago, in 1826, as the graveyard of Piney Grove Baptist Church. The church has been gone for decades; the cemetery now sits on the property of a townhouse development. It is overgrown, with most of its 300-plus graves unmarked. The article describes how some of the buried’s descendants and family members are trying to get the property

How Black Americans combated racism from beyond the grave
World

Inflationary pressures continue to ease, producer prices drop 0.3%

Wholesale prices in the United States dropped 0.3% from April to May, another sign that inflationary pressures continue to ease in the face of repeated interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. The Labor Department’s producer price index — which measures inflation before it reaches consumers — rose 1.1% last month from May 2022, it said Wednesday, the smallest year-over-year gain since Dec. 2020. Excluding volatile food and energy prices, so-called core wholesale inflation was up 0.2% last from April and 2.8% from a year earlier. Unleashed by an unexpectedly strong economic recovery from 2020’s COVID-19 recession,

Inflationary pressures continue to ease, producer prices drop 0.3%
Political

Ex-NSA employee gets 14 days in jail for storming Capitol with members of white nationalist movement

A former National Security Agency employee has been sentenced to two weeks of imprisonment for storming the U.S. Capitol along with associates described by authorities as fellow followers of a white nationalist movement. Federal prosecutors had recommended 30 days of imprisonment for Paul Lovley, who lived in Halethorpe, Maryland. Lovley, 24, worked as an information technology specialist for the NSA before riot on the Jan. 6, 2021, according to prosecutors. NSA spokesperson Cameron Potts referred questions about Lovley and his employment to the Justice Department, which did not elaborate in court filings on the nature of his work for the

Ex-NSA employee gets 14 days in jail for storming Capitol with members of white nationalist movement
World

German opposition party launches legal challenge to reform meant to shrink parliament

A German opposition party on Wednesday launched a legal challenge against an electoral reform designed to reduce the size of the country’s increasingly bloated parliament. The Barvarian center-right Christian Social Union is one of two opposition parties that have been vehemently critical of the legislation, which lawmakers approved in March, and see their future place in parliament at risk. They accuse Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-party coalition of cobbling together constitutionally dubious rules to favor itself. The party’s general secretary, Martin Huber, said it has filed a complaint to Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court against the “undemocratic, anti-federalist, manipulative

German opposition party launches legal challenge to reform meant to shrink parliament
World

Reds prospect Elly De La Cruz still soaring after incredible big league debut

There may have been 30 people inside Kauffman Stadium on Tuesday with a view of the field, including a couple of workers who were busy hosing off seats hours before the game, yet all would occasionally turn to see where the ball landed when they heard the crack of the bat. Inside the cage, hat flipped backward a la Ken Griffey Jr. and with a left-handed swing nearly as sweet, was the hottest thing to hit baseball in quite some time. Elly De La Cruz pounded ropes into the stadium’s massive alleys and soared shots

Reds prospect Elly De La Cruz still soaring after incredible big league debut
World

AI chip race heats up as AMD introduces rival to Nvidia technology

Advanced Micro Devices has revealed a new artificial intelligence chip in its race to compete with rival chipmaker Nvidia in supplying the foundation for a boom in AI-fueled business tools. The semiconductor company, based in Santa Clara, California, described its new MI300X chip as “the world’s most advanced accelerator for generative AI.” It’s expected to attract interest from big cloud providers such as Amazon or Microsoft, but AMD hasn’t specified which cloud provider might use it. CFRA senior equity analyst Angelo Zino predicted this month that that AMD’s MI300 processor “will see significant interest from cloud

AI chip race heats up as AMD introduces rival to Nvidia technology
World

Southern Baptists refuse to let Saddleback Church back into the denomination for women pastors

The Southern Baptist Convention has refused to welcome Saddleback Church back into its fold, rejecting an appeal by the California megachurch over its February ouster for having women pastors. Southern Baptist church representatives at their annual meeting here also rejected a similar appeal by a smaller church, Fern Creek Baptist of Louisville, Kentucky, which is led by a woman pastor. The results of the Tuesday votes were announced Wednesday morning on the concluding day of the the two-day annual meeting here of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, whose statement of faith asserts that only qualified men

Southern Baptists refuse to let Saddleback Church back into the denomination for women pastors
Science

Roger Payne, who found out that whales could sing, dies at 88

Roger Payne, the scientist who spurred a worldwide environmental conservation movement with his discovery that whales could sing, has died. He was 88. Payne made the discovery in 1967 during a research trip to Bermuda in which a Navy engineer provided him with a recording of curious underwater sounds documented while listening for Russian submarines. Payne identified the haunting tones as songs whales sing to one another. He saw the discovery of whale song as a chance to spur interest in saving the giant animals, who were disappearing from the planet. Payne would produce the album “Songs of the Humpback

Roger Payne, who found out that whales could sing, dies at 88
World

Pennsylvania using tons of recycled glass nuggets to rebuild collapsed Interstate 95

Pennsylvania will truck in 2,000 tons of lightweight glass nuggets to help quickly rebuild a collapsed section of Interstate 95 in Philadelphia and crews will work 24 hours a day until they can reopen the critical commercial artery, officials said Wednesday. By using the recycled glass to fill in the collapsed area, they’ll be able to avoid supply-chain delays for other materials, Gov. Josh Shapiro said. But Shapiro repeatedly declined to estimate how long it will take to get traffic flowing again on the busy East Coast highway. “We’re going to get this job done as quickly as possible,” Shapiro

Pennsylvania using tons of recycled glass nuggets to rebuild collapsed Interstate 95
World

Wisconsin governor vows to veto state budget if GOP cuts diversity dollars from university system

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers said Wednesday in a newspaper report that he won’t sign the state budget if Republican lawmakers follow through on their plan to cut funding for the state university system’s diversity officers, escalating a bitter fight over dollars for the state campuses. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he wants to cut $32 million from the UW System in the state’s 2023-25 budget, an amount he said is equal to what the system spends on diversity officers. He said during a news conference Wednesday that diversity efforts have

Wisconsin governor vows to veto state budget if GOP cuts diversity dollars from university system
World

Kosovo says 3 border police officers 'kidnapped' by Serbia; Belgrade says they crossed illegally

Serbian authorities said Wednesday they have captured three “fully armed” Kosovo police officers inside Serbia near their mutual border, while Kosovo police said they have likely been “kidnapped” on Kosovo territory as they patrolled the area. The latest incident further raises tensions between Serbia and its former province. Serbia had put its troops on the border on the highest state of alert amid a series of recent clashes between Kosovo Serbs on one side, and Kosovo police and NATO-led peacekeepers on the other. Kosovo police said in a statement Wednesday that the three police officers called

Kosovo says 3 border police officers 'kidnapped' by Serbia; Belgrade says they crossed illegally
World

Kosovo says 3 border police officers 'kidnapped' by Serbia; Belgrade says they crossed illegally

Serbian authorities said Wednesday they have captured three “fully armed” Kosovo police officers inside Serbia near their mutual border, while Kosovo police said they have likely been “kidnapped” on Kosovo territory as they patrolled the area. The latest incident further raises tensions between Serbia and its former province. Serbia had put its troops on the border on the highest state of alert amid a series of recent clashes between Kosovo Serbs on one side, and Kosovo police and NATO-led peacekeepers on the other. Kosovo police said in a statement Wednesday that the three police officers called

Kosovo says 3 border police officers 'kidnapped' by Serbia; Belgrade says they crossed illegally
World

Agribusiness giant Cargill not doing enough to fight deforestation, protect human rights, group says

An activist group and researchers tried to increase pressure on agribusiness giant Cargill on Wednesday to do more to fight deforestation and human rights abuse, releasing a report that accuses the company of not following through on commitments to help end such practices. The report argues that the family-owned company has been misled by its managers and now should take the lead in ensuring it carries out its promises to fight forced child labor in the cocoa industry and protect forests and other natural resources. As one of the world’s largest privately held companies and by far the largest grain

Agribusiness giant Cargill not doing enough to fight deforestation, protect human rights, group says
World

Canadian quits Chinese-founded development bank, complains 'Communist Party hacks' dominate it

A Canadian public relations manager for a Chinese-founded development bank announced his resignation Wednesday in a statement that accused it of being dominated by “Communist Party hacks” and said Canada’s interests weren’t served by being a member. The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank confirmed in an email that Bob Pickard resigned as its director general of global communications and rejected his criticism as unfounded. The AIIB, seen by some as a Chinese rival to the World Bank and Asian Development Bank, was founded in 2016 to finance railways and other infrastructure. It has 106 member governments including most

Canadian quits Chinese-founded development bank, complains 'Communist Party hacks' dominate it
Political

Everyone's got something to say about Trump -- except world leaders who might have to deal with him

In the final days of the 2016 U.S. election campaign, European Union leader Donald Tusk could no longer contain himself: “One Donald is more than enough!” he wrote on Twitter. When Trump was elected less than a week later, it made for an awkward start to what proved to be four difficult years of trans-Atlantic relations. As Trump becomes the first former president to face federal charges that could put him in jail, many Europeans are watching the case closely. But hardly a single world leader has said a thing recently about the man leading the race

Everyone's got something to say about Trump -- except world leaders who might have to deal with him
World

In blow to Russian LGBTQ+ community, lawmakers weigh a bill banning gender transitioning procedures

Russian lawmakers gave initial approval Wednesday to a bill that would outlaw gender transitioning procedures in yet another blow to the country’s beleaguered LGBTQ+ community. Senior lawmaker Pyotr Tolstoy, who is among the bill’s sponsors, has said it is intended to “protect Russia with its cultural and family values and traditions and to stop the infiltration of the Western anti-family ideology.” Russia’s LGBTQ+ community has been under growing pressure for a decade as President Vladimir Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church embarked on a campaign to preserve what they deem the country’s “traditional values.” The bill

In blow to Russian LGBTQ+ community, lawmakers weigh a bill banning gender transitioning procedures
World

Detroit-area city bans LGBTQ+ Pride flags on public property

A Detroit-area community has banned LGBTQ+ flags from publicly owned poles after a tense hourslong meeting that raised questions about discrimination, religion and the city’s reputation for welcoming newcomers. In protest, a woman speaking during the public comment portion of the Hamtramck City Council meeting kissed a woman standing next to her Tuesday night. “You guys are welcome,” council member Nayeem Choudhury said. “(But) why do you have to have the flag shown on government property to be represented? You’re already represented. We already know who you are.” Some members of the all-Muslim council said the

Detroit-area city bans LGBTQ+ Pride flags on public property
Science

Germany says climate measures will narrow but not fully close the country's emissions gap by 2030

An array of climate measures being introduced by Germany’s government will bring the country closer but not all the way toward meeting its national goals for cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, officials said Wednesday. Germany’s Climate Ministry said that measures already in place or soon to become law will reduce emissions by about 900 million metric tons of carbon dioxide for the period from 2022 to 2030 — about 80% of the 1,100 million tons of the planet-warming gas the government is aiming to cut. An “emissions gap” of about 200 million tons of CO2 will

Germany says climate measures will narrow but not fully close the country's emissions gap by 2030
World

Report: 2020 US census helped guide distribution of $2.8 trillion in annual government spending

The head count of every U.S. resident in 2020 helped guide the distribution of $2.8 trillion in annual federal spending, underscoring the importance of participating in the once-a-decade census, according to a new report released Wednesday by the U.S. Census Bureau. There were 353 federal assistance programs that used the Census Bureau data in 2021 to steer the allocation of the federal funding, up from 316 programs accounting for $1.5 trillion in 2017 when a similar study was conducted, according to the report. The federal funding is distributed to state and local governments, nonprofits, businesses and households. In 2021, it

Report: 2020 US census helped guide distribution of $2.8 trillion in annual government spending
Political

Fox onscreen message calls Biden a 'wannabe dictator' following Trump arraignment

Fox News said Wednesday that an onscreen message that called President Biden a “wannabe dictator” was taken off TV immediately after it aired and “addressed.” The headline appeared Tuesday night under onscreen video of former President Donald Trump speaking to supporters live following his arrest, next to Biden speaking at an earlier White House event. The message, called a chyron, read in full: “Wannabe dictator speaks at the White House after having his political rival arrested.” Fox said in a statement Wednesday that “the chyron was taken down immediately and was addressed.” There was no explanation

Fox onscreen message calls Biden a 'wannabe dictator' following Trump arraignment
Arts

Book Review: Christine Pride and Jo Piazza continue as dynamic duo with 'You Were Always Mine'

“You Were Always Mine” by Christine Pride and Jo Piazza (Simon & Schuster) I don’t know who introduced writers Christine Pride and Jo Piazza but I’d like to thank their literary matchmaker. Each talented on their own, a special magic happens when they co-author a book together. Their first novel, the 2021 release, “We Are Not Like Them” tackled Black Lives Matter, race relations, police brutality, journalism ethics, forgiveness and friendship between two women, one Black and one white. Written in alternate voices, the book was at times tough to read but it felt important and necessary. Their new book

Book Review: Christine Pride and Jo Piazza continue as dynamic duo with 'You Were Always Mine'
World

Theranos founder objects to $250 monthly restitution sought by US due to limited financial resources

Federal prosecutors want Elizabeth Holmes to pay $250 each month to victims of her failed blood testing startup after she leaves prison, but her attorneys are pushing back citing “limited financial resources” available to the disgraced founder of Theranos. The U.S. filed a motion last week asking the court to correct “clerical errors” which included, prosecutors said, the lack of a timeline for restitution from the one-time billionaire once she exits prison. Holmes’ legal team objected to those changes this week. Holmes, 39, began an 11-year sentence at a minimum-security facility in Bryan, Texas, late last month

Theranos founder objects to $250 monthly restitution sought by US due to limited financial resources
World

Jewell Loyd steps into more prominent role with rebuilding Seattle Storm

Amid her lengthy jersey retirement speech last weekend, Sue Bird took a moment to talk about the future of the only franchise she played for in her WNBA career. And how that franchise — the Seattle Storm — is now in the hands of Jewell Loyd. “To see your game grow, to see you grow as a person, as a human, as a basketball player, I’m still so excited that I have a courtside seat and I get to watch it continue,” Bird said, words directed to her former teammate. “I’m so proud of you. You are

Jewell Loyd steps into more prominent role with rebuilding Seattle Storm
World

Israeli military closes investigation into killing of Palestinian toddler without charges

The Israeli military said Wednesday it closed an investigation into its shooting and killing of a Palestinian toddler in the occupied West Bank earlier this month. In a rare admission of wrongdoing, the military said the 2-year-old boy was killed unintentionally when a soldier mistook him and his father for militants on the run. The military said it would reprimand one of the officers involved in the incident, but there would be no criminal charges filed and no further discipline. Rights groups contend the Israeli military does too little to investigate and punish its soldiers for the

Israeli military closes investigation into killing of Palestinian toddler without charges

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