[aggregation-styles] The New York Times Subscription Microbes may be the friends of future colonists living off the land on the moon, Mars or elsewhere in the solar system and aiming to establish self-sufficient homes. Space colonists, like people on Earth, will need what are known as rare earth elements, which...
Visalia Schools Leader Falsely Cites Tuberculosis Deaths for Anti-Mask Stance
[aggregation-styles] Visalia Times Delta Visalia Unified School Board President John Crabtree questioned the benefit of face masks to combat COVID-19 on Tuesday, claiming they don't prevent "hundreds of thousands" of annual deaths from tuberculosis. “There are hundreds of thousands of people who die from tuberculosis every year, and yet we...
Does Fresno’s New High School Favor Rich Families on the North Side? Here’s the Map
[aggregation-styles] The Fresno Bee Subscription Central Unified School District trustees were nearly at an impasse Tuesday evening, as they sought to create boundaries for the new Justin Garza High School that would balance income levels on all campuses. Although the board was presented with five options to chose from, they...
Biden COVID Advisor Says U.S. Lockdown of 4 to 6 Weeks Could Control Pandemic and Revive Economy
[aggregation-styles] CNBC Shutting down businesses and paying people for lost wages for four to six weeks could help keep the coronavirus pandemic in check and get the economy on track until a vaccine is approved and distributed, said Dr. Michael Osterholm, a coronavirus advisor to President-elect Joe Biden. Osterholm, who...
Bodies Discovered Near Yosemite May Be Double Homicide
[aggregation-styles] San Francisco Chronicle Subscription A snowplow driver working near Yosemite turned up the bodies of two people whose deaths are being investigated as a double homicide, according to officials in Mono County. The Caltrans snowplow driver found two bodies along the side of the road on Highway 395 north...
Newest Defense System for Air Force Fighter Jets? Death Rays
[aggregation-styles] National Defense Subscription Has somebody been watching too many Iron Man movies? Lasers on Air Force fighter jets? A defense program called SHiELD? Really? Really. Lockheed Martin is working toward outfitting a directed energy system on fighter jets by the middle of the decade, according to a company official....
As Fresno Considers Historic Name Changes, So Does SF
[aggregation-styles] The San Francisco Chronicle Subscription An effort to rename dozens of schools in San Francisco inched forward Tuesday with an update to the school board on the process, which could lead to a vote early next year. Members of an appointed task force told school board members that they...
A Small Pacific Island Nation Recorded Its First COVID-19 Case in a Man Who Visited the US
[aggregation-styles] CNN The Pacific island nation of Vanuatu, formerly one of the few places in the world untouched by coronavirus, has recorded its first Covid-19 case. This week, a 23-year-old man who'd returned from traveling to the US tested positive while he was quarantining. The man, who'd flown back to...
First Reopened California Amusement Park Closes Back Down After Only One Weekend
[aggregation-styles] Orange County Register Subscription The first California amusement park to reopen under the state’s COVID-19 health and safety guidelines has been forced to reclose after only one weekend of operation following a rise in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations in the surrounding area. Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk will reclose after...
How Years of Tree Thinning Saved Shaver Lake Area from Creek Fire Devastation
[aggregation-styles] Bloomberg City Lab Subscription Within days of sparking on Sept. 4, California’s Creek Fire was powerful enough to produce its own pyrocumulonimbus — a thunderhead of wind, rain, smoke and fire. The mushroom-cloud-like plume was the largest ever seen in the U.S., a monumental illustration of a catastrophic fire...