War on Ukraine generating greenhouse emissions equal to small country: The war in Ukraine is creating greenhouse emissions “equivalent to the annual emissions of a country like Belgium,” writes Doug Weir, director of theConflict and Environment Observatory, in The Guardian. Overall, Weir writes, military actions are estimated to account for 5.5 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.
2023 confirmed as “hottest year on record:” The year was almost 1.5 Celsius points warmer than 2022, reports the CBC. In addition, July and August 2023 were the warmest two months ever recorded.
Two developments regarding police brutality cases: The City of Memphis city council has voted to oust its police chief one year after Tyre Nichols’ violent death at the hands of a group of Memphis police officers, reports PBS. Cerelyn “CJ” Davis had served in the position since 2021. Meanwhile, the Minneapolis police officer who blocked bystanders who tried to help the late George Floyd as he was suffocated by Derek Chauvin’s knee will not have his case civil case heard by the U.S. Supreme Court (KTLA). Tou Thao had appealed his 2022 civil conviction to the high court, alleging prosecutorial misconduct by his lawyers.
Maryland’s new law guarantees Medicaid coverage for numerous transgender procedures: The new Trans Health Equity Act in Maryland ensures the state’s Medicaid fund will pay for “medically necessary” procedures determined to include, among other things, hormone therapy and lab testing, hair removal and transplants; facial, “top” and “bottom” surgeries; and reversal of gender transition, reports the Washington Blade.
Haley may be surging: With polling showing Nikki Haley pulling within 12 percentage points of former President Donald Trump in New Hampshire for the Republican presidential nomination, some politicos are saying the South Carolinian may perform more strongly in Iowa next week than projected, reports The Hill. Haley, though a distant second to Trump’s 51+ percentage polling in Iowa, is in a virtual tie for second with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at around 18 percent. Meanwhile, Trump has launched a new “birther” conspiracy theory against Haley, reports NBC News.
(photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons)
