Latest news with #MarkLawrence
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Study exposes hidden danger that could wipe out household savings: 'The economic impacts ... could be even worse'
A study by researchers from the University of New South Wales, published in Environmental Research Letters, found that if global temperatures rise by 4 degrees Celsius (7.2 degrees Fahrenheit), the average person's wealth could shrink by 40%. Earlier models had predicted smaller effects, but the Guardian reported that the financial toll on ordinary people could be much worse. Even if warming is limited to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), the study estimates global gross domestic product per person could drop by 16% — a steep jump from a previous 1.4% forecast. Led by Dr. Timothy Neal, the UNSW team updated traditional economic models to factor in threats like extreme weather disasters and supply chain failures. Older forecasts assumed that damage in one region could easily be balanced out by gains elsewhere. But extreme weather doesn't stay local. A flood in one area can lead to food shortages, shut down factories, and disrupt trade across the globe. By weaving these real-world risks into their model, the researchers offer a clearer and more urgent view of how climate change could reshape economies. Understanding these risks changes how people think about the cost of action. For years, many models painted a softer picture of climate damage, making it seem like the price of inaction was manageable. Mark Lawrence, a professor of practice at the University of Adelaide, supported the new findings, saying in the Guardian, "If anything, I believe the economic impacts [of climate change] could be even worse." His warning lines up with concerns from Swiss Re, one of the world's largest reinsurers, which projects that unchecked global heating could slash global GDP by $23 trillion by 2050. Across the world, weather disasters are already hurting crops, pushing food prices higher, and hitting communities hard. Climate-linked trade disruptions are putting strain on economies today, a reminder that faster action can't wait. Families are already feeling the early costs of rising global temperatures. Grocery bills are climbing, energy costs are rising, and insurance premiums are getting steeper. If supply chains continue to break down, the price of everyday goods could keep going up. However, there are ways to slow the damage and protect both the environment and every family's future. Investing in solutions that address various issues linked to a changing climate and supporting the development of better food systems can help create a cleaner and more secure future. Do you think America is in a housing crisis? Definitely Not sure No way Only in some cities Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Roadrunner and Coyote: Navy Set to Deploy Land-Based Anti-Drone Systems at Sea
The Navy says it is working to reduce the growing costs of fighting Houthi drones launched from Yemen by placing two new experimental systems on destroyers that are slated to deploy later this summer. "We're going to be deploying the Ford strike group with two additional missile systems on our destroyers -- the Roadrunner system and the Coyote system -- both specifically designed to go after UAVs," or unmanned aerial vehicles, Adm. Daryl Caudle, the commander of U.S. Fleet Forces, told reporters last week. Ever since the Navy repelled its first wave of drone attacks from the Houthi rebels in October 2023, there has been a steady criticism over the fact that commanders were turning to multimillion-dollar missiles to down drones that cost fractions of that amount. The phenomenon became known as the "cost-curve problem." Read Next: Army US Allies Battling Swampy Terrain to Find 4 Soldiers Missing Since Tuesday in Lithuania "Those two systems ... are part of that attempt to get after the cost curve, give our commanding officers more options to engage the threat and ultimately be more effective in defending the high-value unit," Capt. Mark Lawrence, the commander of the destroyer squadron whose ships will employ the new systems, told reporters March 21. The USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier, along with a group of destroyers, is set to deploy in the coming months, Navy officials have said. In January, the Navy revealed that, in 15 months of fighting the Houthis, commanders fired 220 missiles, including 120 SM-2 missiles -- the service's workhorse anti-air missile that has a range of about 90 miles. Officials didn't offer a breakdown of what the missiles were fired at. The SM-2 missiles alone run about $2 million a piece, while some of the newer missiles that were used against Houthi missiles can run as high as nearly $28 million a piece. While a precise cost total for munitions expended from October 2023 to January 2025 is hard to Tough calculate exactly, it's clear that the Navy has expended well over $500 million just in the cost of missiles. The Roadrunner and Coyote systems could reduce those expenditures, but they are not new. According to Capt. Ronald Flanders, a spokesman for the Navy's research and acquisition department, Roadrunner is itself a drone-type loitering weapon capable of targeting other drones and was first fielded by U.S. Special Operations Command. The head of the company that makes the Roadrunner described it to reporters in 2023 as "somewhere between a reusable missile and ... a full-scale autonomous aircraft." Meanwhile, Coyote is a similar system of launchable interceptor drones that was predominantly used by the U.S. Army to protect its bases. "Both these systems were originally designed for use over land; however, the U.S. Navy has tested and demonstrated these systems in the maritime environment," Flanders said. He was not able to provide a cost per interceptor or the range of either system in time for publication. The Navy has also been experimenting with laser-based weapons that could be used to take out drones, but those efforts have been going on for years without much success in scaling experimental efforts to more than one or two ships. In January, Caudle called the Navy's inability to scale up the weapon "embarrassing." In the meantime, Caudle also revealed that, thanks to a slew of analysis done on the now hundreds of engagements, the Navy is starting to revise its approach to just how many missiles it will fire to take down a drone. "We may have had a 'shoot two, look, shoot two more'" approach, Caudle said, before noting that the Navy has "been able to reduce that because that wasn't improving our probability of kill." However, Navy officials like Lawrence and Flanders are clear that the effort to find alternatives to missiles for anti-drone warfare isn't just about money -- it's about saving the missiles for more high-end threats. "We're trying to find ways to make sure that we're going to have the deep missile inventories we might need for other contingencies," Lawrence said. Rear Adm. Paul Lanzilotta, the commander of the USS Ford's strike group, also noted that Navy destroyers have also been employing their deck guns more regularly as well. "That is a very effective weapon -- it is not just for show," he said. Navy officials revealed in January that, in 15 months of fighting, Navy ships used 160 5-inch shells over the course of 380 separate engagements, though, like with the missiles, they didn't say what they were shot at. At the end of the day, however, Navy leaders stress that they are not trying to discourage commanders and crews from employing the "tried and true" SM-2 missile. In January, the commander of the service's surface forces, Vice Adm. Brendan McLane, said that warship commanders are not worried about munitions cost, "nor should they be." "They have other things to worry about, like what's for breakfast," he quipped. "While we work on fleet initiatives to really get more efficient, I'd say we remain laser-focused on staying effective," Lawrence said. Related: Navy's Fight in Red Sea Used 220 Missiles, But Officials Say That's Changing
CBS News
26-03-2025
- CBS News
U.S. Postal Service hosts scam awareness event
The U.S. Postal Service says consumers should be on the lookout for fraudsters, so it hosted an event on Wednesday to tell customers what to look for. According to the Postal Service, they're making great progress in ensuring letter carrier safety. However, the customers of those letter carriers could be the victims of scams, and they want people to know about them. The unofficial motto of the United States Postal Service is, "Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds," but the post office says one thing has prevented that. "Lately, mail theft and crimes have threatened this connection," said Strategic Communications Specialist Mark Lawrence. In 2023, the Postal Service started Project Safe Delivery, and while there's still a lot of work to do, officials say the situation is improving. "Under Project Safe Delivery, there's been a 27% decrease in letter carrier robberies," said David Gealey, U.S. Postal Inspector and Public Information Officer. That includes more than 2,400 arrests since the project started. Meanwhile, the Postal Service doesn't want customers to be hurt by scams. They have different names, but the aim is the same. A recurring issue is texts saying you got mail, and there's a problem with the package or delivery. "The United States Postal Service doesn't send unsolicited text messages," Gealey said. What about if you get merchandise sent to you from a company you never ordered from? "The goal is to inflate product reviews or sales rankings," Gealey added. You can keep the mail if you want, but post office officials say if there's a QR code in the box, don't use it. It could be used as a gateway to confirm your personal information or address. Finally, be wary of romance scams. If you are in the lonely hearts club, don't get taken and don't let anybody take your heart, money, or identity. "Customers should never send money, checks, gift cards, or personal information to someone you've not met in person," Gealey said.
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
‘March majority madness': Legislative Democrats pass two-year budget over Republican objections
Sen. Mark Lawrence (D-York) rises to express his intent to work across the aisle on the change package to come on the budget plan. (Emma Davis/ Maine Morning Star) The Democratic majority of the Maine Legislature voted through a roughly $11.3 billion two-year budget Thursday night without Republican support, leaving funding for the urgent needs rolled into this plan tied up until late June. Exactly a week prior, a smaller supplemental budget bill — seeking to fill the current year's funding gap for MaineCare, the state's Medicaid program — finally died in non-concurrence with all but two Senate Republicans opposed after bouncing back and forth between chambers for more than a month. Democrats decided to pursue that funding in this two-year budget bill, which they've otherwise described as a continuing services budget to maintain funding for government services at the same level and will later consider policy changes in a separate budget. This is the approach the majority party in Augusta has taken the past few sessions, which Republicans have in the past and again on Thursday criticized as silencing them. The Senate voted 18-17 to enact the budget around 10:40 p.m., after the House voted 76-66 to enact around 10 p.m. Those votes largely mirrored the initial votes on the bill in both chambers earlier Thursday. While largely party-line, Democratic Sens. Stacey Brenner of Cumberland and Craig Hickman of Kennebec joined Republicans in opposition in the upper chamber. Without Republican support, the budget only secured a simple majority in both chambers, falling markedly short of the two-thirds support needed to make the funding available immediately. Therefore, the Legislature took the procedurally necessary step to technically adjourn for the year shortly after midnight on Friday in order to start the clock to allow the budget to take effect in 90 days, which will be just before the start of the next fiscal year on July 1. All other bills will be carried over into the next regular or special session, which is expected to be called imminently. The budget bill now heads to Gov. Janet Mills who can sign it, allow it to become law without her signature or veto the plan. 'The future of our national economy is uncertain,' Rep. Drew Gattine (D-Westbrook), co-chair of the Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee, which set the budget plan late Friday, said on the House floor. 'The impact of things like tariffs will have on our state economy are uncertain,' Gattine continued. 'The impact of actions by the executive in D.C. or the United States Congress create uncertainty, especially in programs like Medicaid. These are unstable and uncertain times, but this bill provides some stability.' Appropriations Senate co-chair Peggy Rotundo echoed this sentiment in the upper chamber Thursday night. 'This baseline budget reassures Mainers their state government will not shut down over political disagreements,' Rotundo said. The budget does not include any of the new taxes or program cuts Mills proposed in her plan for the next biennium, which had totaled $11.6 billion. Those policy changes will be considered in another two-year budget bill that the majority party says it plans to introduce next. 'I don't know how anyone can say an $11.4 billion budget is a 'Part 1,' 'Part 2' budget,' said Rep. Ken Fredette (R-Newport), a budget committee member. 'That leaves a lot of unanswered questions.' Among those questions is how much additional spending will be proposed. Republicans argued in floor speeches that the budget already surpasses the $11.2 billion in revenue the state is projected to see over the next biennium and should have included cuts. Sen. Rick Bennett (R-Oxford) was a rare voice among Republicans in not objecting to the budget being a majority plan. 'We think about these things in partisan terms far too much,' he said. 'I object to this budget because it represents a dramatic failing of the Legislature to do its job.' As he has before, Bennett critiqued the budget process for only offering public hearings on new policies and not allowing for the opportunity to re-evaluate baseline spending, which the budget plan passed Thursday continues. Rep. Michael Soboleski (R-Phillips) said Maine needs a 'department of government efficiency,' referring to the federal agency headed by billionaire Elon Musk. Others critiqued the plan as short-sighted. Assistant House Minority Leader Amy Bradstreet Arata (R-New Gloucester) argued the budget is largely funded using one-time sources of revenue, including the education stabilization fund. In addition to $118 million to address the current MaineCare shortfall, the budget includes $1.3 billion for MaineCare in each year of the next biennium, in addition to what the state gets through federal match. However, Republicans questioned why the budget doesn't account for a likely funding gap the program will see again in 2027. Democrats defended the move as prudent in light of possible changes to Medicaid coming from the federal government and said their intention is to consider additional dollars when the state revenue forecast is updated in May. Medicaid funding fix fails final votes in Senate with Republicans maintaining opposition Gattine pointed to other proposed state-level changes that may be considered in the next biennium, including the governor's suggestion to change MaineCare's baseline funding and Republican proposals to limit who is eligible. Republicans had wanted the supplemental budget to include a temporary freeze on enrollment for able-bodied, childless adults and to eventually create a permanent program cap, as well as adding work requirements for that group. 'When it came to this particular item, it just made sense to me that we would make sure there was funding for the MaineCare program on July 1,' Gattine said Friday night, referring to the next fiscal year, 'and then defer the other conversations about what we're going to do with the rest of the spending in the next bill that will all do together.' Republican budget lead Rep. Jack Ducharme of Madison said on the floor Thursday that he is not opposed to much of what the budget includes — meeting the state's voter-mandated 55% share of public K-12 education costs and 5% of revenue sharing, as well as filling the $118 million MaineCare funding gap and providing $2 million to treat a growing outbreak of spruce budworm, a destructive insect that threatens Maine's northern forests. 'However, it appears that they don't believe that we have a chance of coming together for a two-thirds budget,' Ducharme said, pointing to Mills' request for a consensus budget during her State of the Budget address in January. 'The problem is we haven't tried.' Later in the Senate, Minority Leader Trey Stewart (R-Aroostook) said, 'The only commitment that's being made tonight by the majority party is to completely ignore the minority.' Sen. Jeff Timberlake (R-Androscoggin) put it another way. 'This is March majority madness,' he said, calling back to past years when majority budgets have similarly been pursued. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX While Sen. Joe Baldacci (D-Penobscot) said he understands the need for deliberations, at some point a decision has to be made. 'Priorities have to be set. People have to be paid. Services have to be provided,' Baldacci said. 'This can't be an interminable discussion.' Sen. Rachel Talbot Ross (D-Cumberland), former Speaker of the House, said it felt like the Senate was playing a game. 'If we do not pass this budget, and that's the collective we, Maine people lose,' Talbot Ross said. 'That's all of Maine people.' Sen. Anne Carney (D-Cumberland) urged her colleagues to focus not on 'perceived slights from each other' but to instead think about what a vote on the budget means. The simple majority outcome leaves the allocations tied up until late June, which presents clear complications for the urgent needs rolled into this biennial budget bill. The state already started withholding some payments to health care providers that rely on MaineCare, while representatives of the forest industry have cautioned that there is a narrow treatment window this spring. The budget also includes cost-of-living adjustments for certain essential support workers that the Mills administration started withholding in January, a move lawmakers and the public have argued is illegal. Procedural tussles ran a throughline in both chambers before the decisive votes came down late Thursday. In the House, consideration of amendments was interrupted by a failed attempt to suspend the chamber rules to allow Rep. Laurel Libby (R-Auburn) to speak about her proposals. Libby has been unable to vote or speak on the floor since Feb. 25, when the House voted to censure her for posting personal information about a transgender minor on her legislative Facebook page. Under the House rules, an apology to the body is required for a censured lawmaker to regain those abilities and Libby has declined to do so. Faulkingham again brought up Libby's censure before floor votes on the full budget bill and called into question the validity of the vote. 'This is a power trip that's happening,' Faulkingham said. House rejects effort to end censure of Auburn lawmaker who posted about trans minor Objections continued Thursday evening when House Speaker Ryan Fecteau (D-Biddeford) suspended the House rule that business cannot be conducted after 9 p.m. and a majority of the House later voted to sustain the suspension, but Republicans pointed back to the rules, which state a two-thirds majority of members present is needed to dispense a rule. In the Senate, Stewart requested a series of roll calls on routine readings of the bill, to which Sen. Rick Bennett (R-Oxford) raised a point of order objection. House Republicans attempted to add initiatives to the budget bill on Thursday by introducing 17 floor amendments, many of which had also been proposed for the supplemental budget bill. All amendments failed. One of those amendments, proposed by Rep. Quentin Chapman (R-Auburn), would have limited General Assistance to no more than three months over two years, unless the person is employed, attending school or engaged in volunteer work. Mills initially proposed limiting housing assistance under the program and the supplemental budget had been amended to include some limits, but those were not included in the two-year budget. Republican amendments underscored the issues the minority party will be pushing through other legislation, such as repealing Net Energy Billing, a utility program designed to encourage customers to participate in small-scale renewable energy projects like solar panels by offering credits to offset their electricity bills. There are several individual bills aimed at amending or doing away with this program. One of Libby's amendments sought to prohibit institutions that allow transgender girls to participate in women's sports or use female locker rooms or restrooms from receiving state funding, restrictions also being considered in separate bills. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
