On Tuesday, the Arizona Supreme Court upheld a 1864 abortion ban, making nearly all abortions in the state illegal and potentially criminalizing healthcare providers with up to five years in prison. The justices said that after the fall of Roe a Civil War-era law, that existed before Arizona became a state, took precedence over a 15-week […]
This story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. On March 18, 2022, scientists at the Concordia research station on the east Antarctic plateau documented a remarkable event. They recorded the largest jump in temperature ever measured at a meteorological center on Earth. According to their instruments, the region […]
Forbes’ annual list of the 400 richest Americans debuted in 1982 with shipping magnate Daniel Ludwig in the top slot. Ludwig’s wealth, the magazine reported, was $2 billion (about $6.3 billion in today’s dollars). That only 13 billionaires graced the first Forbes 400 now seems almost quaint. Who could have imagined billionaires would quickly subsume the […]
In a few hours, millions of people across North America will seize the rare opportunity to (hopefully safely) observe a total solar eclipse, when the moon covers the sun and darkens the skies for a few minutes. The Great American Eclipse will stretch from Mexico through parts of Texas all the way to Maine and into Canada, drawing […]
Donald Trump wants to pretend he isn’t to blame for the devastating consequences of overturning of Roe v. Wade—even as he boasts about being responsible for the momentous Supreme Court decision. In a more than four-minute-long video released on Truth Social this morning the presumptive Republican nominee attempted to clarify his nebulous stance on abortion rights. It […]
I am still suffering from Trump-era-induced brain melt. But even against the uncontrolled spigot of dumb that produced my malady, one especially dumb moment stands out: former President Donald Trump’s peek at a solar eclipse. As I wrote at the time, it was a deeply Trumpian incident that, true to character, defied both science and […]
Google “America’s Best Idea” and you’ll find there’s a clear frontrunner: our national parks. The United States has 63 now, including southern swamps and deep mountain canyons and forests of saguaro cacti, a collection of beloved landscapes that stretches, to quote the familiar song, “from sea to shining sea.” But America’s preeminent property rights activist, […]
This story was originally published by Grist and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. In response to growing pressure to address the plastic pollution crisis, Amazon has been cutting down on plastic packaging. Last July, the company said it used 11.6 percent less plastic for all of its shipments globally in 2022, compared to 2021. Much of […]
Georgia could become the next state to end the subminimum wage for disabled people, a widespread and now widely opposed exception to minimum wage laws that extends to some 40,000 workers with disabilities—and the first state where such an initiative would be led by Republicans. 16 states have passed bills to end or reform the […]
It seems like Texas Gov. Greg Abbott could use a dictionary. Why? Because on Sunday, the Republican went on Fox News and accused President Joe Biden of “using illegal immigrants as political pawns.” And given his own record, it is unclear if understands what the word means. Chessboards aside, Oxford Languages says a pawn is “a person […]