United States | News & Politics

By Sharon Otterman
May 21, 2025 Updated 4:08 p.m. ET

"The celebrations at smaller graduation ceremonies on Tuesday were also punctuated by anger directed at Columbia administrators. At the graduation for Columbia College, the university’s main undergraduate school, some students repeatedly interrupted Ms. Shipman’s remarks with loud jeers. At one point, they chanted “Free Mahmoud.”"

https://archive.ph/1P4C6

The aquifer under Fish Lake Valley feeding the groundwater-dependent ecosystem is heavily over-appropriated, meaning more water is taken out of it than goes into it each year. One acre foot of water is the equivalent to 325,850 gallons, or enough to supply two to three homes for a year, and the basin has a perennial yield of just 30,000 acre feet, according to state documents. But more than that is pumped out each year, and even more water is allocated on paper than what is currently taken.

The basin’s over-appropriation is somewhere between 150 to 250 percent. The aquifer’s water level has dropped two feet a year, the overuse drawing it down 75 feet since the 1960s.

Nearly all of that groundwater has gone to agriculture in the region, most of which is used to grow alfalfa, the water-intensive crop that primarily feeds cattle in the beef and dairy industries.

archived (Wayback Machine)

archived (Wayback Machine)

• Improvements slow-walked. ADM leadership has at times been slow to address a critical component of grain explosions: the accumulation of highly flammable dust. After a 2022 blast in Nebraska, ADM blamed the presence of dust on its maintenance contractors. A longtime safety executive admitted the plant’s manager had been trying to improve dust maintenance prior to the incident: “I’m going to say something that our attorney isn’t going to like. (The manager) has been trying to get rid of the maintenance company for quite some time.”
• An outlier. ADM has had at least eight grain explosions between 2018 and 2024, according to Purdue University research. Only one other company in the agriculture industry has had more than one grain explosion during that time period.
• Little accountability. In 2019, federal safety officials found numerous failures led to an explosion at an ADM facility in Illinois, but it issued no fine. Years later, the same issues — poor maintenance — led to an explosion that hospitalized workers with severe burns.

The U.S. accepted Qatar's gift of a Boeing 747 to serve as the new Air Force One, the Pentagon said Wednesday, despite the ethical quandaries and potential constitutional violations it entails.

President Trump has brushed off any concerns about the appearance of accepting the $400 million gift despite objections from Democrats and some Republicans.

Trump argued the gift was not being made to him personally but rather to the Department of Defense. It will later be transferred to Trump's presidential library when he leaves office.

LA Times reports that Palm Springs bomber had an account on Lemmy.world

In that same period, Bartkus’ rhetoric on alternative social media sites was dark.

“I would not acknowledge reproduction as a human right, but instead as a form of rape,” IndictEvolution wrote on Lemmy.World in July 2023. “I am also not bothered by infanticide as long as it is done humanely...”

Finally in the big news guys...just....not for good things :/

Teahouses built for spending extended time in, open until the wee hours of the night, are popping up all over the city. Some are elusive, hidden in plain sight or only accessible via a mysterious membership. Others have gone viral on TikTok and have cover charges and waitlists to attend. Some reference East Asian tea ceremony culture, others lean California cool and bohemian.

Why the surge in places to drink tea? It might be because young people are consuming less alcohol (a 2023 study from Gallup found the number of people under 35 who drink has dropped 10% over the last two decades). Or maybe it’s due to the fact that the city has lost a sizable chunk of restaurants open past 10 p.m. — LAist reports nearly 100 since 2019 — leaving fewer places to sit and chat that aren’t bars or clubs. At the same time, activities centered on wellness and reflection, like gratitude groups, journaling or even reading silently in public, are being embraced by people of all ages looking for third spaces and activities outside of the standard dinner-and-a-movie.

Duffy is the second member of Trump’s cabinet who sold securities shortly before the president’s tariff announcements sent markets plunging. A spokesperson for Duffy said an account manager made the trades and that Duffy had no input on the timing.

Paywall Bypass Link: https://archive.is/2I2LF