News roundup, 4 July 2025

- The Trump regime is trying to shut down the Mauna Loa laboratory in Hawaii, which has been measuring atmospheric CO₂ concentration since the 1950s. Of course this is no doubt because he doesn't like the implications of what the laboratory is documenting. In a better world someone else (like, say, the UN) would step in and take over the lab's operations, but I suspect Trump would actively seek to dismantle it before that becomes a possibility.

- The US dollar has lost over 10% of its value when compared to those of its closest trading partners - the most dramatic loss of value since 1973. Trump's tariffs are one plausible reason. There are concerns about inflation, and even more so, concerns that foreign investors are avoiding the US. 

- California governor Gavin Newsom has signed into law two bills that make significant changes to the California Environmental Quality Act. While the existing law has drawn praise from some environmentalists, some provisions in it have been weaponized by NIMBYs, not only against affordable housing but even against clearly pro-environment measures like bike lanes. The amendments are intended to fix these issues; among other things they exempt infill housing from the Act's requirements for environmental review (since such housing is by its very nature not constructed on pristine land anyway).

- Russia bombarded Kyiv overnight with hundreds of drones and several larger missiles, injuring at least 23 people and causing widespread damage. This would seem to be a lot less indiscriminate than Ukraine's recent strikes on military factories; one could be forgiven for thinking that the real goal is to destroy Ukraine's viability as a country.

- Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was wrongfully deported to El Salvador in March, says that he was brutally beaten and subjected to various psychological torments while incarcerated at the CECOT facility there.

- Flights in Canada were heavily disrupted on Thursday as bomb threats were called into airports in six major cities. 

- Winnipeg mayor Scott Gillingham plans to seek a second term in next year's municipal elections. 

News roundup, 23 May 2024

- Norway, Ireland, and Spain have announced that they will be recognizing a Palestinian state. Not surprisingly the Israelis are up in arms; they're withdrawing their ambassadors from those countries as well as summoning those countries' ambassadors and making them watch video of female Israeli captives seized in the October attack. They're thus implying, not so subtly, that support for a Palestinian state necessarily means support for such atrocities. Some would say that tarring the entire Palestinian people with one brush that way is, well, racist, but I guess we're not allowed to say that.

- The University of Manitoba is getting pushback for their decision to remove the video of Dr. Gem Newman's valedictory address; many are understandably a bit uncomfortable that a single hissy fit from a billionaire donor is enough to get something like this done. Meanwhile both Newman and others have weighed in on the donor's comments.

- Julian Assange will get the opportunity to appeal his deportation to the US. Apparently the court was asking for written assurances from the American authorities that Assange would be accorded the same rights as a US citizen under the First Amendment, and the Americans were unwilling to provide that.

- A family medical practice in Ottawa is discharging all of its out-of-province patients, citing administrative difficulties with referrals and the like. The thing is, Ottawa lies on the provincial boundary, and forms a single metro area with its neighbouring city of Gatineau, Quebec. Many people live in one city and access services in the other, so some flexibility on this matter would have been nice.

- The team at OpenAI who were focused on long-term AI risks has been disbanded. The team had been plagued with resignations for months, however due to a "non-disparagement agreement" in the documents that you have to sign when leaving there have been few details of why. There are suspicions, though, mostly associated with CEO Sam Altman.

- Some residents in Newmarket, Ontario are going bananas over a proposed condo building - because they're worried about its impact on the local Tim Hortons. You can't make this stuff up, can you.

- An 18 year old student at the University of Victoria has died of a fentanyl overdose. Her parents believe that the 911 operator and campus security did not act fast enough; the province has ordered a coroner's inquest.

- A bear that climbed a tree in Winnipeg's Wildwood neighbourhood was successfully tranquilized and transported out of the city.

- The apartment complex in west Winnipeg that was evacuated last week due to structural concerns is fenced in and is supposed to have 24 hour security. One evacuee found out the hard way how reliable that security is - someone cut through the fence and stole her motorcycle, damaging another bike in the process. Meanwhile, people who live in houses behind the building have been warned to be ready to evacuate as well in case the worst happens.

- A woman in Dauphin, Manitoba has been arrested after stealing a septic truck from nearby Ebb and Flow First Nation and leading police on a chase, at times veering into the oncoming lane. Happily nobody was hurt in this little impromptu bit of real-life GTA.