Latest news with #DaleGentry
Yahoo
12-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Homeless advocates ask public for help
Feb. 12—MOSCOW — Sojourners Alliance, the housing nonprofit in Moscow, is asking for the public's help to assist its efforts in curbing homelessness on the Palouse. Director Casey Bolt is anticipating federal grant funding, including American Rescue Plan Act funding that was started during the COVID-19 pandemic, to run out this year. That means Sojourners Alliances needs to find other ways of financing its transitional and emergency housing services. "It's in the public interest to not have people out on the streets, to have people housed, to have people getting opportunities to be housed and apply for jobs," he said. Last year, Sojourners Alliance helped 165 people find emergency shelter through motel vouchers. It also helped 61 people find transitional housing and 27 people find permanent housing. Sojourners board member Dale Gentry said on any given day, approximately 40 or more people have shelter thanks to Sojourners Alliance. "We kind of fly under the radar because a lot of what we do isn't visible to the public," Gentry said. "All the people that we keep from becoming homeless are not visible to the public. All the people that we keep off the streets here in Moscow are not visible to the public. It's good work, but it's not noticeable work."
Axios
11-02-2025
- Science
- Axios
Minnesota's ducks don't want to be snowbirds anymore
Nick here. On my morning walks along the aqueduct connecting Lake Harriet and Minnehaha Creek, I've been surprised to see hundreds of ducks sticking it out in temperatures as low as minus 20. State of play: It's not just my imagination. More ducks are opting against migration due to evolution and natural selection — and there's an association with warming winters caused by climate change, Dale Gentry, director of conservation for Audubon Upper Mississippi River, told Axios. Why it matters: These hardy Minnesota ducks have puzzled me and my curious first-grade daughter because we can't figure out how they survive. How it works: Ducks have an incredible ability to keep themselves warm, Gentry said. Their feathers are so good at insulation that people use them in jackets and they have a heat exchange system that keeps their legs from freezing. Beyond that, Gentry said, they become more omnivorous in the winter, forgoing food like insects, worms and fish for plants, roots and seeds. While ducks don't need to have open water, they prefer it. And fast-moving Minnesota rivers and streams provide natural open water all winter, plus there are warm-water discharges from power plants and other human-made open water. Yes, but: It still begs the question: These ducks have wings. Why not fly somewhere warmer? "Migration is just incredibly challenging, and a lot of birds die in the process," Gentry said. "So if you don't have to migrate, it's probably advantageous not to." The ducks that stick around and survive breed more ducks that have the same inclination to stay home all winter. Fun fact: This is basically the plot of the 2023 kids movie " Migration." The father duck, voiced by Kumail Nanjiani, is scared of migrating from New England to Jamaica, but his family talks him into it. The big picture: It's not just mallards. The Audubon Society has been conducting an annual bird count around Christmas for 124 years that has also noted Minnesota robins and Canadian geese are migrating less. The bottom line: Minnesota retirees may be snowbirds, but our ducks, not so much.
