Latest news with #DepartmentofNaturalResources
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Climate
- Yahoo
Poor air quality expected in Wisconsin Friday from Canadian wildfires
Smoke from Canadian wildfires will produce unhealthy air quality in Wisconsin on May 30. The Department of Natural Resources said in a statement May 29 that as the wildfire smoke pushes in ahead of a cold front, much of the state will potentially reach the Red Air Quality Index, which is considered unhealthy for people. The state is expected to remain at level orange, which is unhealthy for sensitive groups, and the southwestern portion of the state, mostly along the Mississippi River valley, will mostly stay at level yellow, or a moderate level of poor air quality. Out-of-control wildfires prompted a state of emergency in Manitoba, Canada, where thousands of residents were forced to evacuate their homes. The DNR is asking Wisconsin residents who are part of sensitive groups, like people with preexisting respiratory conditions like asthma, should make outdoor activities shorter and less intense. The National Weather Service is issuing the air quality alert for the entire state. The May 30 forecast calls for highs in the 70s with storms expected in the afternoon and evening. It's OK to be active outdoors but take more breaks, the DNR said. Watch for symptoms such as coughing or shortness of breath. Residents can check air quality in Wisconsin at This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Poor air quality expected in Wisconsin from Canadian wildfires
Toronto Star
2 days ago
- Toronto Star
Province says not enough evidence for charges in origins of 2023 Halifax wildfire
HALIFAX - The Nova Scotia government has opted against laying charges in relation to the origins of a 2023 wildfire in the western suburbs of Halifax. The Department of Natural Resources says in a release today that it had up to two years to lay charges under the Forests Act, but it had determined there isn't sufficient evidence to secure a conviction.
Winnipeg Free Press
2 days ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Province says not enough evidence for charges in origins of 2023 Halifax wildfire
HALIFAX – The Nova Scotia government has opted against laying charges in relation to the origins of a 2023 wildfire in the western suburbs of Halifax. The Department of Natural Resources says in a release today that it had up to two years to lay charges under the Forests Act, but it had determined there isn't sufficient evidence to secure a conviction. In the release, the department also says there is a 'high bar' for what can be used as evidence in court in these cases. Last December, an RCMP investigation determined no criminality in the cause of the wildfire, and the file was passed to the province. A person can be fined up to $500,000 and face up to six months in jail if found to be in violation of the provincial Forests Act. Last August, Natural Resources Minister Tory Rushton said investigators knew the location of the original fire but needed more evidence to lay charges. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 28, 2025.
Global News
2 days ago
- Global News
N.S. unable to lay charges in 2023 wildfire despite ‘exhausting all possible avenues'
The Nova Scotia government says it is 'unable' to lay charges in the 2023 wildfire that burned 969 hectares despite 'exhausting all possible avenues.' Wednesday marks exactly two years since the wildfire in the Upper Tantallon and Hammonds Plains area broke out. The fire, which was one of the largest recorded in Halifax Regional Municipality, displaced more than 16,000 residents and destroyed about 150 homes. The Department of Natural Resources has two years from the date of an offence to lay charges under the Forests Act. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy 'Charges are only laid if there is sufficient evidence to secure a conviction. There is a high bar for what can be used as evidence in court,' the province noted in a news release Wednesday. The department cannot lay criminal charges under the Forests Act. Story continues below advertisement In the fall of 2023, RCMP closed it investigation into the wildfire, saying there was 'no Criminal Code offense noted.' It said the fire 'started as a result of unextinguished (embers) from small outdoor patio fireplace.'
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Mona Hanna says federal funding cuts reminiscent of precursor to Flint water crisis
Howard Crawford, left, Matt Elliott, center, and Mona Hanna, right, speaks at a panel about the impact of cutting federal funds for higher education research during the Mackinac Policy Conference on Mackinac Island, Mich., on May 27, 2025. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance) MACKINAC ISLAND – Dr. Mona Hanna says federal funding cuts by the administration of President Donald Trump are reminiscent of the circumstances that led to the Flint Water Crisis she helped expose. 'It wasn't just the austerity of changing the water to save money,' Hanna said. 'It was years of austerity in state government and federal government that really had hollowed out our bureaucracies – our Department of Natural Resources at the time, our public health departments that had become skeletons of themselves and they only really could react to crises, and they didn't have the infrastructure to really be proactive and to prevent issues.' She said that when those institutions failed, researchers stepped up. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX 'It was research that was the scientific safety net,' Hanna said. 'It was the source of truth. It was the check and balance to kind of protect a community.' Among the programs that have already seen its funding cut is the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program, Hanna said. Hanna was speaking during a panel at the Mackinac Policy Conference sponsored by Michigan State University. University President Kevin Guskiewicz said other projects at MSU that are either at risk of losing funding or already have include a project to create more resilient crops, research to improve health outcomes for expectant mothers and babies, and a Detroit wastewater surveillance program that was among the first to detect COVID-19. 'Federal investment enables high risk, early stage innovation that commercial entities wouldn't likely fund,' Guskiewicz said. 'It's the starter fuel, as we like to say, for breakthroughs in health, security and technology.' Howard Crawford, senior scientist and scientific director at Henry Ford, researches pancreatic cancer. Pancreatic cancer patients have a median survival of about 10 months, Crawford said. 'The first thing they usually hear from their doctor is to get their affairs in order,' Crawford said. 'And the thing that I always want to tell everyone that ever hears that … is get yourself to a university hospital, because that's where the second opinions are going to come, that's where the clinical trials are being conducted, and that's your best hope.' But he said the research he and others have done is already starting to make an impact, with the five-year survival rate more than doubling since he began 25 years ago, largely due to work done in university hospitals. 'This progress we've made, this is stuff that started 40 years ago, not four years ago, and what we have to have is a continuity of research so that we can make this progress mean something,' Crawford said. While scientists could be on the verge of a breakthrough in treatment, Crawford said that work is jeopardized by the ongoing uncertainty around funding. He said that's in part because the public doesn't understand the impact of the work researchers do. 'We spend all of our time writing papers and writing grants, and that's what we have to do to function, but if the public doesn't understand that's what we're doing, why we're doing it, what is happening in the laboratory, what we're bringing to them in the next few years, that's our goal, and we need to be better,' Crawford said. Hanna added that 'we need to get out of our ivory towers, classrooms and labs and clinics, and get more comfortable in these public spaces.'
