Latest news with #ChrisODell
CBS News
7 days ago
- Science
- CBS News
Carbon monitoring data from Colorado State University shaky as federal budget looks to cut NASA funding
A research scientist at the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere at Colorado State University studies carbon monitoring data from two NASA satellites to make more precise climate change predictions for decades to come. Those satellites are now at risk of losing funding in the upcoming proposed budget for the 2026 fiscal year. Senior scientist Chris O'Dell calls these satellites his babies. For more than 20 years, he's developed and worked on the Orbiting Carbon Observatories. "I'm always trying to look for new ways to use the data and to make the data itself more accurate," O'Dell said. When OCO-2 was launched in 2014, its mission was to beam back data to researchers by measuring how much of the sunlight reflected off the Earth is absorbed by carbon dioxide molecules in the air. OCO-3 was launched in 2019 as an attachment to the International Space Station. O'Dell says these instruments gather data that is difficult to attain from the ground. And with carbon measurements constantly changing, these precise data are groundbreaking. A happy accident came about when scientists working on the OCOs found that with "our instruments, we can actually tell on a specific day if they're doing photosynthesis or not, and that's really important. You can use it to predict crop yields if you fly overhead enough." Although it's very new, the United States Department of Agriculture has started to integrate the data. "It's just starting to be integrated now." But the Orbiting Carbon Observatories' future is now murky. President Trump's fiscal year 2026 NASA budget request states that both will close out and end next year. "It's a little bit painful, especially because they are functioning satellites, and they're really bringing down a lot of useful data, about emissions over cities that we can see for the first time directly," O'Dell says. O'Dell says his team got a directive to plan for a mission close-out in case they lose funding. OCO-3 would likely be turned off and remain on the ISS. But the free-flying OCO-2 would likely be destroyed by the same atmosphere it's meant to monitor. "You actually have to bring it down out of the atmosphere or out of the orbit. (It) will then burn up in the atmosphere," O'Dell said, meaning his life's work could literally go up in flames. Taking away federal funding would cripple research at CIRA. Diana Furchtgott-Roth, the director of the Center on Energy, Climate and Environment at the think tank Heritage Foundation, says the private sector would take over. "We need to take a very serious look at what the government has to do and what it doesn't have to do," she says. "Technology is making constant progress, and private companies can take over. And we should let them, because our government expenditures are going up. (Funds) need to be spent in other ways." According to the Treasury Department, the U.S. has accumulated $37 trillion in debt throughout the nation's history, and the federal government has spent $1.34 trillion more than it planned for in fiscal year 2025. "It's like putting things on our credit card and expecting other people to pay for it," Furchtgott-Roth tells CBS News Colorado. She points to companies like Disney. "As technology catches up, private companies are going to be able to do jobs that the federal government didn't use to do," she says. "We need to be figuring out how we are going to get healthier balances for our children and grandchildren, so we do not tax them in the future with bills that we should have been paying ourselves." Disney partnered with Weatherbug and Weatherstem to forecast day-to-day weather at its parks. Weatherbug uses Severe Weather Alerts notifications that are issued by the National Weather Service, which uses data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Both of those agencies are also at risk of losing funding. The budget approval has a deadline of Oct. 1, or there will be a government shutdown. CBS Colorado reached out to the White House and NASA, neither of which would comment on the proposed cuts since the budget has not been finalized by Congress. However, Dan Powers, a science advocate and the executive director of the nonprofit CO-LABS, says privatization isn't practical. "Who's going to step in and do this instead, with some rationale of it being faster, cheaper, better, etc.? The government agencies that provide daily assessments, research, and information sharing--it would be like going back to before any (current) technology existed as a resource to the country," Powers says. But Furchtgott-Roth is confident that companies can take charge. "We have the most advanced universities in the world," she says. "People from all over the country want to come and do research here in the United States, and I'm not concerned about losing our competitive advantage" (to other countries). Were that the case, though, O'Dell would have to think about plan B: "I would certainly look at all my opportunities. Going overseas or working in the private sector would probably be two pretty high items on the list. I mean, I hope that doesn't happen. I have every faith that I think we're not going to lose this funding. But if the worst were to happen, yeah, I would (leave the country)." O'Dell estimates both satellites could continue functioning into the 2030s, and he says the lion's share of their costs has already been spent. "It cost about $750 million (in) taxpayer dollars to design, build, and launch the OCO instruments." It costs must less per year to run them. The budget for the two satellites was $16.4 million for fiscal year 2025. O'Dell wants to be able to continue with the work of the OCOs. "It's been the greatest pleasure of my life, actually, getting to work on these missions, getting the public's trust," he says. "It makes you feel really good, maybe how you might feel as, you know, your child was really successful in high school or college or something."
Yahoo
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Eva Amurri Builds the 'Smart Home' of Her 'Dreams' in Home Renovation Web Series 'The Westport Project' (Exclusive)
Eva Amurri is launching her new webseries The Westport Project, and PEOPLE can exclusively reveal the latest teaser ahead of the premiere on June 26 The show follows Amurri and design-build expert Chris O'Dell as they construct a state-of-the-art smart home in Westport, Conn. The space will center around wellness, tech and a net-zero focus "I knew that I wanted our audiences to have a front row seat to the joy, humor, style and quality that this project would exemplify," the Happily Eva After content creator tells PEOPLEEva Amurri is taking her fans along for the journey as she embarks on a home-building project in an idyllic coastal Connecticut town. PEOPLE can exclusively reveal the latest teaser for Amurri's new web series The Westport Project, which premieres on Thursday, June 26 at 12 p.m. ET. In the show, the lifestyle influencer — whose mother is Susan Sarandon — partners with Chris O'Dell of The O'Dell Group to construct a smart home living space with a net zero focus. "We knew homes today should be doing more for us, especially in a luxury price point," Amurri, 40, explained in the trailer. "This project is a labor of love, a true example of top-tier design, and all taking place in a town that has a pretty big personality of its own." Speaking to PEOPLE, the Happily Eva After creator shares her excitement about the "complex, fun and challenging undertaking" she'll be documenting online. "When partnering with Chris and his team ... on this design-build, I knew that I wanted our audiences to have a front row seat to the joy, humor, style and quality that this project would exemplify," she says. "Westport, Conn. is such a special town, and an incredible place to raise a family. I'm taking the job of making the perfect home for its next residents very seriously!" She adds that the first episode, as glimpsed in the sneak peek, captures the essence of the project, which sees them knocking down a house, excavating the site and building "the Smart Home of our dreams." "As the Creative Director of this project, I've already enjoyed lots of laughs and so many special moments with our crew so far, but what stands out the most is how much enthusiasm every single member of the team brings to the project," says Amurri. In addition to their sophisticated build and tech aspirations, the home will center around wellness, a natural fit for the location by the beach in the desirable local. The show will pull back the curtain on the construction process and the behind-the-scenes decisions that accompany such an ambitious project. "Chris says it best in our first episode: 'This will be a house of the 21st Century,'" she tells PEOPLE. "We look forward to releasing new episodes every two weeks until this house is finished!" Read the original article on People
The Guardian
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Drug runs for the Stones, a love triangle with Joni Mitchell: has Chris O'Dell had the music industry's wildest career?
'W hen you start with the Beatles, your résumé looks pretty good,' Chris O'Dell says. A new documentary charts the extent of that CV, as a music manager with bands including Fleetwood Mac, Genesis and Santana, but it all began with a chance encounter in Los Angeles in 1968. Derek Taylor was heading publicity at the Beatles' company, Apple Corps, and O'Dell was a low-level assistant in radio promotion. When Taylor suggested she come work at the Apple office in London, she dropped everything and moved halfway across the world. 'Paul [McCartney] was there every day organising everything,' she says, on the phone from her home in Arizona. 'One day he came into my office and said, 'Chris, should we use paper towels or cloth towels in the bathroom?' That's how detailed he was.' O'Dell didn't just stay at her desk: she joined the Beatles in the studio to sing on the epic climax to Hey Jude, was on the roof of Apple headquarters for their last ever live show, and even moved in with George Harrison and his wife – she was at their house when McCartney announced he wouldn't be playing in the Beatles any more. 'I came down for breakfast and every newspaper was on the table, saying: 'Paul quits.' It felt so abrupt and so unexpected. George went out in the garden, because that's where he went for his peace. That afternoon, John [Lennon] came over and he and George spent quite a long time walking together.' Even after the band split, O'Dell remained in their orbit. 'I got to know John better when he was with May Pang,' she says, referring to Lennon's 'lost weekend' in the mid-1970s. 'We all lived in this beach house in Santa Monica. That was the closest I ever got to John. The time before, when he was with Yoko [Ono], they were really focused on what they were doing. So I didn't know him as intimately – if I can use that word.' O'Dell might hesitate over that term because her relationship with another Beatle became a lot more intimate: in her memoir, published in 2009, she wrote candidly about her turbulent affair with Ringo Starr in the 1970s. But now she prefers to focus on how they've remained on good terms: 'I could honestly say he's a friend.' Like all her remarkable anecdotes, this is told with an easy-going charm. 'We've stayed in touch up until probably the last couple of years. He's the godfather to my son.' Harrison, though, is the Beatle she is most closely associated with among music fans, thanks to the song he wrote about her: Miss O'Dell, which gives the new documentary its name. The song came about in 1971, when they were both in Los Angeles. 'George kept calling me,' O'Dell says. 'But I didn't want to go over. I thought there were going to be all these hangers-on.' Inspired by her absence, Harrison wrote the song, with its pleading refrain, 'Why don't you call me, Miss O'Dell?' It was the B-side to Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth), which hit No 1 in the US. 'I was really happy every time I heard the A-side because I thought, 'I'm spinning around as the B-side right now,'' she says. 'He was like a brother' … with Mick Jagger. Photograph: Liverpool West Productions O'Dell expands on this story (and many more) in the new documentary, which sees her return to key sites such as the Apple offices on London's Wigmore Street and Saville Row. The film also reunites her with Harrison's then-wife, Pattie Boyd, and Apple's head of A&R, Peter Asher. But the documentary goes beyond her time with the Beatles, showing how she built on that remarkable first experience to develop an even more extraordinary CV. Soon after, she was working as an assistant to the Rolling Stones during the Exile on Main St sessions – she even appears on the artwork for the album. O'Dell once joked that her job description should have included: 'Sleep with Mick [Jagger] whenever he asks.' But her memories of him now are more innocent. 'He was like a brother,' she says. That fraternal loyalty might have been on display when Jagger got O'Dell her first job on the road, working on the Rolling Stones' tour in 1972. But some of her duties were a bit unconventional. 'Keith [Richards] sent me on a drug run,' she recalls. 'Back then, it was just called being an assistant.' She joined in with the debauchery, and one comment from Richards sticks in her mind all these years later. 'He said, 'You know, Chris, you can keep up with the guys.' I thought that was a compliment then. Today I don't see it quite that way.' Gradually, O'Dell built a career as one of rock's first female tour managers. With Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, she gained her first experience managing travel logistics. 'That was a nightmare,' she remembers wryly. But working for Linda Ronstadt in 1975 was a breakthrough, allowing her to be 'in charge of everything' for the first time. She also brought some much-needed sensitivity to the often boorish and brutal world of tour management. 'One time before Mother's Day I went to Linda and asked, 'Do you want me to send flowers to your mom?' She said, 'I've never had a tour manager who asked me that question.'' Another highlight was working on Bob Dylan's mid-1970s Rolling Thunder Revue. 'I found Bob extremely fun to work with,' she says. 'I remember, he and I were sitting at a table in a restaurant one time. We just talked about all kinds of different things. But never did his eyes leave mine. Ever. He is highly focused.' During the Revue, O'Dell became the subject of another song. 'Joni Mitchell came on the tour and we got caught up in a bit of a love triangle with Sam Shepard. I'd already been sort of seeing him, and then she had a thing with him. This dude was married and had a wife back in California! So what was wrong with us?' she says, disbelievingly. 'From that came the song Coyote about 'a woman at home' and 'another woman down the hall'. I am that woman down the hall.' As O'Dell remembers, the drama unfolded over just a few days, with Mitchell debuting the song at Gordon Lightfoot's home during a stop on the tour (an incident captured in Martin Scorsese's 2019 film Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story). 'I had heard she'd written this song and I thought, 'I don't know if I want to hear this!'' O'Dell recalls. But in her typical easy-going way, O'Dell seems to have been able to patch things up: 'She and I became really good friends after that.' She spent the latter part of her career as a tour manager in Germany in the 90s, adding more bands to her résumé including Led Zeppelin and Queen, but Echo and the Bunnymen proved to be her last job. 'I was just like: I'm done. I don't know who these people are and they want me to get them a towel and I probably am not gonna do that any more.' 'I was just like: 'I'm done'' … Chris O'Dell today. Photograph: Liverpool West Productions Drugs and alcohol had also taken their toll. 'I had consumed quite a lot', O'Dell says. She quit touring to get a master's degree and became a therapist working with people with addictions: 'I had been in recovery myself, so it was a natural transition.' She gradually lost contact with many of the male rock stars she worked with, but is still 'very much in touch with the women'. She recently launched a YouTube series chronicling her conversations with the likes of Suzi Ronson (David Bowie's hair stylist) and her old friend May Pang. She plans to release some older interviews too, which she did in the 1980s with Linda McCartney and several other women, possibly as a documentary or book: 'It was so amazing because they talked about how they really felt,' O'Dell says. No matter what she does next, the Beatles will probably continue to dominate Chris O'Dell's story. But, she says, 'I worked with over 21 bands. That is something to be quite proud of – being the first woman to really operate in the music world on the road. I can look back and say, 'That was a good legacy.'' Miss O'Dell is streaming from 13 May on Peacock, Prime Video, Tubi and other platforms. It will also be available on DVD and Blu-ray.
