Latest news with #RobertPitman
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
In rare sighting, 60 orcas attack the largest creature on the planet
Five families of orcas joined forces to hunt down and feed on a blue whale, the largest creature on the planet, in what was an extremely rare sighting off Australia. More than 60 orcas worked together to attack the blue whale, only the fourth such recorded instance of its kind, according to Yahoo! News Australia. Video of the attack was posted on the Facebook page of Naturaliste Charters Whale Watching, which also posted a series of photos. 'There were five families of the orcas around the blue whale and they all started to hunt it,' witness Machu Yoshida told Yahoo! News Australia. She said watching nature unfold was 'bittersweet.' 'I felt mixed emotions,' she told Yahoo! News Australia. 'I love blue whales so it was sad to watch its life being taken by the orcas, but they were all so intelligent, it was incredible to watch them do it. "The blue whale would feed all the orcas and feed other animals under the water too, like sharks and fish, and also birds get the scraps." 'We witnessed an incredible and rare event yesterday as multiple pods of orcas successfully hunted a blue whale in Bremer Canyon,' the whale-watching charter stated on Facebook. 'The intense ordeal lasted less than 40 minutes from when we first saw the blue at the surface to when the battle was over. 'As the blue whale's fate was sealed, orcas celebrated with breaches and tail slaps. 'This is only the fourth recorded instance of orcas hunting a blue whale here—an extraordinary reminder of their role as apex predators in the ocean.' The first such sightings occurred between 2019 and 2021 off Australia, according to Smithsonian magazine. In each attack, between 50 and 75 orcas took part. 'This is the biggest predation event on the planet,' Robert Pitman, cetacean ecologist at Oregon State University Marine Mammal Institute, told Science News. 'We haven't seen things like this since dinosaurs were here, and probably not even then.' Orcas are known to stalk and feed on gray whale calves off Southern California, and in one instance, a pod of killer whales attacked an adult gray whale, though the gray whale survived 'bloodied and bruised, but not broken.' Photos courtesy of Allan Cronin/Naturaliste Charters Whale Watching. This article originally appeared on For The Win: In rare sighting, 60 orcas attack the largest creature on the planet
USA Today
10-04-2025
- Science
- USA Today
In rare sighting, 60 orcas attack the largest creature on the planet
In rare sighting, 60 orcas attack the largest creature on the planet Five families of orcas joined forces to hunt down and feed on a blue whale, the largest creature on the planet, in what was an extremely rare sighting off Australia. More than 60 orcas worked together to attack the blue whale, only the fourth such recorded instance of its kind, according to Yahoo! News Australia. Video of the attack was posted on the Facebook page of Naturaliste Charters Whale Watching, which also posted a series of photos. 'There were five families of the orcas around the blue whale and they all started to hunt it,' witness Machu Yoshida told Yahoo! News Australia. She said watching nature unfold was 'bittersweet.' 'I felt mixed emotions,' she told Yahoo! News Australia. 'I love blue whales so it was sad to watch its life being taken by the orcas, but they were all so intelligent, it was incredible to watch them do it. "The blue whale would feed all the orcas and feed other animals under the water too, like sharks and fish, and also birds get the scraps." 'We witnessed an incredible and rare event yesterday as multiple pods of orcas successfully hunted a blue whale in Bremer Canyon,' the whale-watching charter stated on Facebook. 'The intense ordeal lasted less than 40 minutes from when we first saw the blue at the surface to when the battle was over. 'As the blue whale's fate was sealed, orcas celebrated with breaches and tail slaps. 'This is only the fourth recorded instance of orcas hunting a blue whale here—an extraordinary reminder of their role as apex predators in the ocean.' The first such sightings occurred between 2019 and 2021 off Australia, according to Smithsonian magazine. In each attack, between 50 and 75 orcas took part. 'This is the biggest predation event on the planet,' Robert Pitman, cetacean ecologist at Oregon State University Marine Mammal Institute, told Science News. 'We haven't seen things like this since dinosaurs were here, and probably not even then.' Orcas are known to stalk and feed on gray whale calves off Southern California, and in one instance, a pod of killer whales attacked an adult gray whale, though the gray whale survived 'bloodied and bruised, but not broken.' Photos courtesy of Allan Cronin/Naturaliste Charters Whale Watching.
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Texas bills requiring air-conditioned prisons languish despite temperatures being ruled unconstitutional
A week after a federal judge declared hot conditions in Texas prisons unconstitutional, a legislative push to require air conditioning in every state prison has not gained significant traction. None of the five bills lawmakers have filed to require prison cooling have been scheduled for a committee hearing yet, and the issue has hardly been mentioned during public hearings about how the state should allocate its estimated $194.6 billion two-year budget. Officials from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, which oversees the state's 101 prison facilities, asked lawmakers for $118 million over the next biennium to install air conditioning in about 11,000 units. Even if lawmakers grant that request, millions more will be needed to get to the at least $1.1 billion the TDCJ says they would need to fully air condition their prisons. 'I don't know how state leaders look at themselves in the mirror with this situation persisting,' said Rep. John Bryant, D-Dallas, who authored a bill that would require full prison air conditioning. 'I'm hopeful this will be treated more seriously this session. It's a moral and now a legal responsibility.' Since a 2018 House Corrections Committee wrote in their interim report to the Legislature that TDCJ's heat mitigation efforts were not enough to ensure the well-being of inmates and the correctional officers who work in prisons, lawmakers have tried to pass bills that would require the agency to install air conditioning. None of those bills made it to the governor's desk. During that time, TDCJ has also been slowly installing air conditioning. They have added 11,788 'cool beds,' and they are in the process of procuring about 12,000 more. The addition is thanks to $85.5 million state lawmakers appropriated during the last legislative session. Although not earmarked for air conditioning, an agency spokesperson said all of that money is being used to cool more prisons. Still, about two thirds of Texas' prison inmates reside in facilities that are not fully air conditioned in housing areas. Indoor temperatures routinely top 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and inmates report oppressive, suffocating conditions in which they douse themselves with toilet water in an attempt to cool off. Hundreds of inmates have been diagnosed with heat-related illnesses, court records state, and at least two dozen others have died from heat-related causes. The pace at which the state is installing air conditioning is insufficient, U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman wrote in a 91-page decision last week. The lack of system-wide air conditioning violates the U.S. Constitution, and the prison agency's plan to slowly chip away at cooling its facilities — over an estimated timeline of at least 25 years — is too slow, he wrote. Sen. Joan Huffman, a Houston Republican who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, said in an emailed statement that the supplemental appropriations bill will include the $118 million TDCJ requested to fund approximately 11,000 new air-conditioned beds. It also will include $301 million to construct additional dorms — which the prison agency requested to accommodate its growing prison population — and those new facilities will all be air-conditioned. That may not be enough to satisfy Pitman's ruling or some state lawmakers. Bryant said he wants to see $500 million allocated to the effort this session. 'The state must fully fund the system now, in this legislative session,' said Erica Grossman, a lawyer for the plaintiffs who sued Bryan Collier, the prison agency's executive director. Pitman declined to require temporary air conditioning, noting that this would only undermine the speed at which TDCJ can install permanent air conditioning. Instead, the case will likely move to a trial. The plaintiffs are expected to win and be entitled to 'expeditious installation of permanent air conditioning,' Pitman wrote. In the meantime, Grossman and the plaintiffs she is representing are urging lawmakers to allocate more funding to prison air conditioning. In 2021, a bill that set a seven-year time limit on air conditioning installation cleared the House on a 123-18 vote. The bill died in the Senate Finance Committee, where it never received a hearing. Two years later, lawmakers tried again to no avail. 'This comes down to political will,' said Amite Dominick, who has worked on prison air conditioning legislation for multiple sessions and founded Texas Prison Community Advocates, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. 'They would rather continue an image of tough-on-crime than be humane.' This session, four prison heat-related bills filed by House members have been referred to the House Corrections Committee: House Bill 1315, House Bill 2997, House Bill 3006 and House Bill 489. None have been scheduled for a hearing. HB 1315, by Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio, and HB 489 by Rep. Jon Rosenthal, D-Houston, are identical and would require each cellblock, dormitory and common area in Texas prisons to be equipped with an air conditioning unit. Temperatures would have to be maintained between 65 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit, a rule that already applies to Texas' county jails. HB 3006, by Terry Canales, D-Edinburg, would require the installation of climate control in phases to be completed by the end of 2032 — if the Legislature allocates funding. HB 2997, authored by Bryant, goes further. It also would require the installation of temperature gauges in each area of the prison. Each year, the agency would submit a report to elected state leaders about the number of incidents in which the required temperature wasn't maintained. 'We added that so we can monitor whether or not TDCJ is complying with the requirements,' Bryant said, explaining that lawmakers previously have been given reports that offer an average of the temperatures across the entire facility, occluding the heat inside some cell blocks. An internal investigation also found that TDCJ has falsified temperatures, and an investigator hired by the prison agency concluded that some of the agency's temperature logs are false. Citing that report, Pitman wrote 'The Court has no confidence in the data TDCJ generates and uses to implement its heat mitigation measures and record the conditions within the facilities.' In the upper chamber, Sen. José Menéndez, D-San Antonio, along with six other Democratic state senators, filed Senate Bill 169, which would require that prison temperatures be maintained between 65 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit. The bill has been referred to the Senate Finance Committee but has not been scheduled for a hearing. Huffman did not answer questions about whether she has plans to schedule a hearing. Tickets are on sale now for the 15th annual Texas Tribune Festival, Texas' breakout ideas and politics event happening Nov. 13–15 in downtown Austin. Get tickets before May 1 and save big! TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Yahoo
Judge says heat in Texas prisons unconstitutional as states face mounting lawsuits
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A federal judge's rebuke of Texas housing prisoners in lockups without air conditioning stopped short of ordering a fix before summer in what has become of the country's biggest lawsuits over keeping prisoners safe during dangerous extreme heat. But U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman's warnings to Texas to act after finding the conditions in the prison system unconstitutional could resonate elsewhere in the U.S. where similar challenges are ongoing, according to attorneys leading the Texas case and other prisoner advocates. Texas is just one of several states, mostly in the South, facing lawsuits over prison conditions when temperatures often rise above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.7 Celsius). In Louisiana, a group of men incarcerated at a state penitentiary this week again asked a federal judge to take steps to protect prisoners doing outdoor agricultural labor in dangerous heat. 'Texas is the largest prison system in the country and the judge found it to be acting in an unconstitutional manner and indifferent to dangerous conditions,' said Jeff Edwards, lead attorney in the Texas case. 'Every warden and leader of a correctional system is going to be aware of it,' Edwards said. 'It sends an incredibly powerful message.' The Texas case will not have authority over prisons in other states. But Corene Kendrick, deputy director of the ACLU National Prison Project, said the judge's findings will be significant for lawsuits with the same issues of extreme heat, limited or no air conditioning, and inmates at risk of dying. "It's influential,' Kendrick said. Texas has more than 130,000 people in prisons. Only about a third of roughly 100 prison units are fully air-conditioned, and the rest have either partial or no electrical cooling. The lawsuit was initially filed in 2023 by Bernie Tiede, the former mortician serving a life sentence whose murder case inspired the movie 'Bernie.' Several prisoners' rights groups then asked to join his legal fight and expand it. Several people who were formerly incarcerated in Texas testified that inmates would fake suicide attempts to be moved to cooler medical areas, while some would set fires so that guards would be forced to hose down cells. Texas officials acknowledged that heat may have been a factor in a handful of deaths in 2023 but dispute claims that the impact has been far greater. On Thursday, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice said it has asked lawmakers for $118 million to install air conditioning for about 16,000 more beds. 'TDCJ is dedicated to continuing to add air-conditioned beds in our facilities,' the agency said. In Louisiana, a federal judge last year ordered prison officials to increase shaded areas, schedule additional breaks, provide sunscreen and medical checks to those especially vulnerable to high temperatures. But the order did not shut down work on a former slave plantation when heat indexes reach 88 degrees Fahrenheit (31.1 degrees Celsius) or higher, which was what the plaintiffs had requested. The judge's order has since expired and a group of inmates filed a new request for help. 'As we enter the summer season in Louisiana, the State continues to force incarcerated people to work in the fields of a former plantation, under dangerous conditions, putting them at extreme risk of heat-related illness,' said Samantha Pourciau, Senior Staff Attorney at the Promise of Justice Initiative. The Louisiana Department of Correction did not immediately respond for comment. A federal lawsuit in New Mexico claims eight inmates were confined for hours in stifling summer heat in a prison transport van without working air conditioning. In Georgia, prison officials face a federal lawsuit from the family of a man who said he died after he was left in an outdoor cell without water, shade or ice in July 2023. The Texas case will proceed toward trial, where the judge warned the state of the likelihood it could be ordered to spend billions to install permanent air conditioning. The Texas Legislature is in session and currently writing the two-year state budget. Lawmakers have filed at least three bills that would provide some relief. Temperatures are rising as the Texas summer approaches. Some areas of the state have already hit above 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 Celsius). 'I'm regretful we can't protect them with relief this summer,' Edwards said. 'But we will move as fast as we can.' ___ Associated Press journalists Sara Cline in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Kate Brumback in Atlanta, Morgan Lee in Santa Fe, New Mexico and Jacques Billeaud in Phoenix contributed.
Associated Press
27-03-2025
- Associated Press
Judge says heat in Texas prisons unconstitutional as states face mounting lawsuits
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A federal judge's rebuke of Texas housing prisoners in lockups without air conditioning stopped short of ordering a fix before summer in what has become of the country's biggest lawsuits over keeping prisoners safe during dangerous extreme heat. But U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman's warnings to Texas to act after finding the conditions in the prison system unconstitutional could resonate elsewhere in the U.S. where similar challenges are ongoing, according to attorneys leading the Texas case and other prisoner advocates. Texas is just one of several states, mostly in the South, facing lawsuits over prison conditions when temperatures often rise above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.7 Celsius). In Louisiana, a group of men incarcerated at a state penitentiary this week again asked a federal judge to take steps to protect prisoners doing outdoor agricultural labor in dangerous heat. 'Texas is the largest prison system in the country and the judge found it to be acting in an unconstitutional manner and indifferent to dangerous conditions,' said Jeff Edwards, lead attorney in the Texas case. 'Every warden and leader of a correctional system is going to be aware of it,' Edwards said. 'It sends an incredibly powerful message.' The Texas case will not have authority over prisons in other states. But Corene Kendrick, deputy director of the ACLU National Prison Project, said the judge's findings will be significant for lawsuits with the same issues of extreme heat, limited or no air conditioning, and inmates at risk of dying. 'It's influential,' Kendrick said. Texas has more than 130,000 people in prisons. Only about a third of roughly 100 prison units are fully air-conditioned, and the rest have either partial or no electrical cooling. The lawsuit was initially filed in 2023 by Bernie Tiede, the former mortician serving a life sentence whose murder case inspired the movie 'Bernie.' Several prisoners' rights groups then asked to join his legal fight and expand it. Several people who were formerly incarcerated in Texas testified that inmates would fake suicide attempts to be moved to cooler medical areas, while some would set fires so that guards would be forced to hose down cells. Texas officials acknowledged that heat may have been a factor in a handful of deaths in 2023 but dispute claims that the impact has been far greater. On Thursday, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice said it has asked lawmakers for $118 million to install air conditioning for about 16,000 more beds. 'TDCJ is dedicated to continuing to add air-conditioned beds in our facilities,' the agency said. In Louisiana, a federal judge last year ordered prison officials to increase shaded areas, schedule additional breaks, provide sunscreen and medical checks to those especially vulnerable to high temperatures. But the order did not shut down work on a former slave plantation when heat indexes reach 88 degrees Fahrenheit (31.1 degrees Celsius) or higher, which was what the plaintiffs had requested. The judge's order has since expired and a group of inmates filed a new request for help. 'As we enter the summer season in Louisiana, the State continues to force incarcerated people to work in the fields of a former plantation, under dangerous conditions, putting them at extreme risk of heat-related illness,' said Samantha Pourciau, Senior Staff Attorney at the Promise of Justice Initiative. The Louisiana Department of Correction did not immediately respond for comment. A federal lawsuit in New Mexico claims eight inmates were confined for hours in stifling summer heat in a prison transport van without working air conditioning. In Georgia, prison officials face a federal lawsuit from the family of a man who said he died after he was left in an outdoor cell without water, shade or ice in July 2023. The Texas case will proceed toward trial, where the judge warned the state of the likelihood it could be ordered to spend billions to install permanent air conditioning. The Texas Legislature is in session and currently writing the two-year state budget. Lawmakers have filed at least three bills that would provide some relief. Temperatures are rising as the Texas summer approaches. Some areas of the state have already hit above 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 Celsius). 'I'm regretful we can't protect them with relief this summer,' Edwards said. 'But we will move as fast as we can.'
