Trump's Gutting of US Climate Report Prompts Science Groups to Step Up
Described in a May 2 statement by the groups as a 'first-of-its-kind special collection' of research on climate change in the US, the effort won't be able to replace the sweeping, congressionally mandated assessment, which was a year into its sixth iteration when its authors and staff were let go, said the American Geophysical Union and the American Meteorological Society. But they hope that it will help keep the work going.
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Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Trump administration ordered to partially restore UCLA funding
A district judge ordered the partial restoration of federal funding to the University of California, Los Angeles on Tuesday after the Trump administration paused more than $550 million to the institution.U.S. District Judge Rita Lin ruled that the pausing of some of the grants violates a previous preliminary injunction in which she said the administration had to restore funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) that was stripped back in June. The Los Angeles Times reported UCLA will see one-third of the funding restored from this decision. 'While we have not had an opportunity to review the court's order and were not party to the suit, restoration of National Science Foundation funds is critical to research the University of California performs on behalf of California and the nation,' a spokesperson for the institution said in a statement. The judge gave the Trump administration until Aug. 19 to prove it has unfrozen funds or to provide an explanation on why the steps have not been taken. 'Pursuant to the ruling by the United States District Court for the Northern District of California on August 12th, the U.S. National Science Foundation has reinstated the suspended awards to the University of California – Los Angeles,' an NSF spokesperson said. The decision comes as the White House is eyeing a $1 billion settlement with UCLA for the federal funding to be restored, along with other concessions such as changes to admissions practices and a ban on transgender women competing in women's sports. The pulled grants came after the Department of Justice determined UCLA was violating civil rights law due to antisemitism on campus. The University of California is engaged in conversation with the Trump administration to restore the funding and the institution's ability to apply for new grants. 'Currently, a total of approximately $584 million in extramural award funding is suspended and at risk,' Julio Frenk, chancellor of the university, wrote in a letter that went out to the community. 'If these funds remain suspended, it will be devastating for UCLA and for Americans across the nation.' Updated at 3:08 p.m. EDT. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Solve the daily Crossword
Axios
4 hours ago
- Axios
New "State of the Climate" report delivers sobering and stunning data
An array of climate metrics hit fresh records in 2024, a major new report with contributions from hundreds of scientists worldwide shows. Why it matters: The annual "State of the Climate" is among the most comprehensive looks at global warming's many effects, both worldwide and by region. Threat level: One takeaway from the peer-reviewed study — published by the American Meteorological Society — is that it's not (just) the heat, but the humidity, with multiple humidity indicators setting new marks. Stunning stat:"The global average number of high humid heat days ... over land reached a record of 35.6 days more than normal in 2024, surpassing the previous record set in 2023 by 9.5 days," says a summary from the U.K. Met Office meteorological service. That metric refers to days when the "wet-bulb temperature" exceeded 90% of normal levels. "Wet bulb" refers to combinations of heat, humidity and other factors that hinder the body's ability to cool itself through sweat. "Such a dramatic increase in the occurrence of these humid-heat events is bringing more societies into challenging, potentially life-threatening situations," said Kate Willett, a Met Office scientist and co-author of the humidity sections. The big picture: A few more high-level takeaways... Atmospheric concentrations of the major planet-warming gases — CO2, methane, and nitrous oxide — hit new highs. CO2 is now 52% above preindustrial levels. 2024 was the hottest year in records dating back to the mid-1800s, beating out 2023, and "[t]he last 10 years (2015–24) are now the warmest 10 in the instrumental record." Canada, the U.S. and Mexico all saw their warmest years. State of play:"The annual sea surface temperature was the highest in the 171-year record, marking the second year in a row that the global ocean set such a record." Air temps in the Arctic were the second-highest in 125 years of records, while the maximum reach of Arctic sea ice was the second-smallest in 46 years of satellite observations. What we're watching:"Unfortunately, it looks like we are seeing yet another year of extreme weather," said Laura Stevens, the climate scientist who edited report sections on North America.
Los Angeles Times
6 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
Inside the border command center tracking migrants with drones
FT. HUACHUCA, Ariz. — Inside a windowless and dark shipping container turned into a high-tech surveillance command center, two analysts peered at their own set of six screens that showed data coming in from an MQ-9 Predator B drone. Both were looking for two adults and a child who had crossed the U.S.-Mexico border and had fled when a Border Patrol agent approached in a truck. Inside the drone hangar on the other side of the Ft. Huachuca base sat another former shipping container, this one occupied by a drone pilot and a camera operator, who pivoted the drone's camera to scan 9 square miles of shrubs and saguaros for the migrants. Like the command center, the onetime shipping container was lit mostly by the glow of the computer screens. The hunt for the three migrants embodied how advanced technology has become a vital part of the Trump administration's efforts to secure the border. The Department of Homeland Security allocated 12,000 hours of MQ-9 drone flight time this year at the Ft. Huachuca base, and says the flights cost $3,800 per hour, though an inspector general report in 2015 said the amount is closer to $13,000 when factoring in personnel salaries and operational costs. Maintenance issues and bad weather often mean the drones fly around half the allotted hours, officials said. With the precipitous drop in migrant crossings at the southern U.S. border, the drones are now tasked with fewer missions. That means they have the time to track small groups or even individual border jumpers trekking north through the desert. This type of drone, first used in warfare, was operated by the National Air Security Operations division of Customs and Border Protection at the Army base about 70 miles south of Tucson. A reporter was allowed to observe the operation in April on the condition that personnel not be named and that no photographs be taken. The drone flying this day was mounted with a radar, called Vehicle and Dismount Exploitation Radar, or VaDER, that could identify any moving object in the drone's sight, and pinpoint them with color-coded dots for the two analysts in the first container. The program had already located three Border Patrol agents, one on foot and two on motorcycles, searching for the migrants. The analysts had also identified three cows and two horses, headed toward Mexico. Then, one of the analysts spotted something. 'We got them,' he said to his colleague, who had been scanning the terrain. 'Good work.' The analyst dropped a pin on the migrants and the VaDER program began tracking their movement in a blue trail. Now, he had to guide agents on the ground to them. 'We've got an adult male and a child, I think, tucked in this bush,' the analyst radioed to his team, as he toggled between the live video to an infrared camera view that showed the heat signature of every living thing in range. The analyst saw his Border Patrol colleagues approaching on motorcycles. The roar of the oncoming machines scared up a bird, the tracking program showed. The migrants began running. 'OK, it looks like they're starting,' the camera operator said into the radio to the Border Patrol agents. 'They're hearing the bikes. They hear you guys.' The camera operator and the other personnel spoke in the professional, matter-of-fact tone of 911 operators. One adult and the child began scrambling up a hill. 'They're moving north and west, mainly,' the camera operator said. 'Starting to pick up the pace going uphill.' The agents rushed in on the pair and detained them. It was a mother and her child. The drone team turned its attention to the third person, who was stumbling through the brush and making a beeline for the Mexican border. 'If you cut due south from your current location,' the drone pilot said to the camera operator. 'You should pick up some sign.' The camera operator, as directed, panned across the desert, scanning farther and farther south. 'I've got them,' he said when he spotted someone running. He radioed the coordinates to the Border Patrol team. By now, the man, carrying a backpack, had scaled a hill. 'He's on the ridgeline right now, working his way up due south, slowly,' the camera operator radioed. Then the man dropped something. 'Hey, mark that spot,' the camera operator said. 'He just threw a pack, right here where my crosshairs are at. ' Agents would go back later and see if the backpack contained drugs, an analyst said. 'Usually, if it's food or water, they're not going to do that,' he said. On this spring morning, the drone wasn't the only airborne asset deployed. A helicopter had joined the chase to catch the southbound man, who stumbled, got up and kept running. 'He took a pretty good spill there,' an analyst said into the radio. 'We have a helo inbound, three point five minutes out,' the camera operator said. A helicopter came into the drone's view. It swooped in, circling the location of the man, who was by now hiding under a bush. 'You just passed over him,' the camera operator radioed the helicopter pilot. 'He's between you and that saguaro.' With a keystroke, he switched to infrared vision to find the man's heat profile through the brush to make sure he still had him. Guided by the camera operator, the pilot landed the helicopter in a cloud of dust near the cowering target. The video feed showed agents jump out of the aircraft, detain the man and load him into the helicopter. The chopper lifted off and tilted back north toward a nearby Border Patrol post. 'Thanks, sir, appreciate all the help,' the analyst said to the helicopter pilot. Mission accomplished, the drone pilot turned the MQ-9 back along the U.S.-Mexico border, scanning the vast desert in search of more migrants. The military is planning to deliver a third MQ-9 drone to the base this fall after spending a year retrofitting it for civilian authority use. Fisher is a special correspondent. This article was co-published with Puente News Collaborative, a bilingual nonprofit newsroom, convener and funder dedicated to high-quality, fact-based news and information from the U.S.-Mexico border.
