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Reposted by Rachel Becker

Yousef Baig @yousefbaig.bsky.social · 8d

What a federal government shutdown could mean for California, with reporting from @ra-becks.bsky.social @gauchoesque.bsky.social @jeannereporter.bsky.social and others (who are not on bluesky) calmatters.org/politics/202...

What a government shutdown will mean for Californians, from Social Security to national parks

Critical benefits from the Social Security Administration and Medicare will keep flowing in a government shutdown. You could notice delays if it drags on.

calmatters.org

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Reposted by Rachel Becker

Nora Kenworthy @kenworthy.bsky.social · 13d

An important story from @grist.org about what happens when the President’s people turn to GoFundMe instead of FEMA after a disaster. grist.org/accountabili...

Trump raised $8 million for Hurricane Helene survivors. Where did it all go?

On a dusty, warm day last October, nearly a month after Hurricane Helene tore across the southeastern United States, Donald Trump stood behind a podium in Swannanoa, North Carolina, to pledge funding ...

grist.org

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Lisa Song @lisalsong.bsky.social · 22d

😱

CNN @cnn.com · 22d

Chagas disease, a potentially deadly condition caused by a parasite carried by insects called kissing bugs, should now be considered endemic in the United States, experts say: https://cnn.it/4ngWLT6

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Greg Pierce @gregspierce.bsky.social · 22d

Wherein @edithdeguzman.bsky.social & I continue to beat the drum for more system financing support which will indirectly help and customer assistance which will directly help affordability outcomes.

Or we could just keep the status quo of measuring and talking about the problem w/o addressing it

Sammy Roth @sammyroth.bsky.social · 23d

Not just electricity that's getting too expensive in Southern California -- water bills are a growing problem too, @ianjames.bsky.social reports: www.latimes.com/environment/...

Water bills in L.A. County are rising faster than inflation, UCLA research shows

UCLA researchers found that in Los Angeles County, average household water bills climbed 60% from 2015 to 2025, rising faster than inflation.

www.latimes.com

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Toastie @btoastie.bsky.social · 21d

RIP GOAT

Be like Robert. Support badass journalism.

1970s black and white photo of Robert Redford leaning against a brick wall wearing sunglasses and reading High Country News magazine.

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Reposted by Rachel Becker

Dustin Mulvaney @dustinmulvaney.bsky.social · 26d

The primary obstacle to solar on farmland in California is arguably the Williamson Act, a law intended to stop suburban sprawl. A new bill proposes to allow ranchers and farmers to pause Williamson Act contracts for solar on fallowed, water-stressed farmland. This article unpacks the tensions.☀️🔌💡

Rachel Becker @ra-becks.bsky.social · 27d

The valley that was once a refuge for people fleeing the Dust Bowl is facing its own reckoning with dust and water scarcity. And it has prompted scientists and policy experts to wonder what to do with land left behind. Why not solar? they ask. Now, @buffywicks.bsky.social weighs in with a new bill.

Crops to Kilowatts: A Solar Future for California's Fallowed Farmland?

Farmers are divided over a bill that would loosen rules protecting farmland in an effort to seed more solar on fallowed fields.

calmatters.org

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Reposted by Rachel Becker

Levi Sumagaysay @levisu.bsky.social · 26d

It’s hard to trace Google’s full influence when it does not publicly share its position on some bills, instead paying groups like the California Chamber of Commerce to influence legislators on its behalf. Good story by @khari.bsky.social and @bystellayu.bsky.social.

CalMatters @calmatters.org · 26d

The behind-the-scenes campaign offers a glimpse into how Google is working to preserve its grip on the online advertising market and how it attempts, without being seen, to shape policies in a state with one of the nation’s strictest privacy protection laws. https://cal.news/4gjjXNS

📸 Jeff Chiu, AP

Mountain View tech giant Google asked small business owners to sign a petition opposing new rules for web browsers. Its Chrome browser leads the market. Photo by Jeff Chiu, AP Photo

Hed: Google wasn’t against this privacy bill, officially. Behind the scenes, it orchestrated opposition

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Reposted by Rachel Becker

Dael Norwood @dael.bsky.social · 26d

This clerk is a good and kind neighbor, and the people running these machines - and these scams - are true villains

Inc.

Last month, Avalon Hardy, a gas station clerk at a Stinker
Store in Boise, Idaho, noticed something strange. Over the course of a week, three elderly women walked cautiously into the store and headed to a lonely Bitcoin ATM by the front door. The women were always
distressed and either talking on the phone or texting with someone who claimed to be owed money that could be paid only with Bitcoin.

Inc.

intervene. At first, she wasn't obtrusive. She adopted a boilerplate script: "Do you know where you're sending the money to?" she'd ask.
"You don't have to be on the phone to send money, as long as you have the other persor's information," she informed them. Finally, when one 79-
year-old victim was adamant about depositing her $15,000, Hardy unplugged the ATM. A week later, Hardy stopped another 75-year-old from losing $19,000.

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Reposted by Rachel Becker

Adam Isacson @adamisacson.com · 26d

From this story: what they saw at ICE's Alexandria Staging Facility in Louisiana. Six months apart.

A little girl, maybe 10, had been brought alone in a van. Later, a woman got out of a bus and immediately started screaming “Julia,” looking for her daughter inside the vans until she spotted the girl.

“They hugged. It was a moment of sadness and we all watched as she hugged her daughter,” Orozco Forero recalled.

Then the mother’s screams cut through the stifling air. “Six months!” the mother spat at the officials. Six months they’d kept them apart.

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Rachel Becker @ra-becks.bsky.social · 27d

Also from me, yesterday -- in a blow to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s ambitions to replumb the Delta, California lawmakers once again punted on his plan to fast-track a deeply controversial $20 billion tunnel project that would funnel more water to the south.

calmatters.org/environment/...

Newsom’s ‘zombie’ plan to fast-track Delta tunnel dies…for now

A controversial $20 billion construction project that would funnel water from Lake Shasta towards thirsty cities and farms keeps moving forward. Slowly.

calmatters.org

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Rachel Becker @ra-becks.bsky.social · 27d

The valley that was once a refuge for people fleeing the Dust Bowl is facing its own reckoning with dust and water scarcity. And it has prompted scientists and policy experts to wonder what to do with land left behind. Why not solar? they ask. Now, @buffywicks.bsky.social weighs in with a new bill.

Crops to Kilowatts: A Solar Future for California's Fallowed Farmland?

Farmers are divided over a bill that would loosen rules protecting farmland in an effort to seed more solar on fallowed fields.

calmatters.org

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Reposted by Rachel Becker

CalMatters @calmatters.org · Sep 4

When lightning strikes are abundant, so are wildfires – some in remote places. Scientists warn there may be more in the future, in California and across the West. https://cal.news/4g51vZo

📸 Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu, via Getty

A view of a lightning strike at Joshua Tree National Park on Aug. 26, 2025. Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu, via Getty Images

Hed: Dozens of lightning strike fires are burning across California. A warming climate could bring more, according to new study

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Rachel Becker @ra-becks.bsky.social · Sep 4

The study, published last week by @ucmerced.bsky.social scientists, builds on previous research by focusing on the risk for lightning-sparked fires across Western states with different geographies, weather patterns and vegetation. agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...

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Rachel Becker @ra-becks.bsky.social · Sep 4

As dozens of wildfires burn across California after a remarkable outbreak of dry lightning, a timely new study warns that a warming planet could bring more lightning-sparked wildfires to the West in the coming decades.

More heat, more lightning, more flames: California’s fires are just a start, scientists say

When lightning strikes are abundant, so are wildfires – some in remote places. Scientists warn there may be more in the future, in California and across the West.

calmatters.org

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CalMatters @calmatters.org · Aug 29

A state report says residences should stay cooler than 82 degrees, but no rule will pass this year. Landlords aren't the only ones to blame. https://cal.news/4lV2bC2

📷 Jules Hotz

Toad's Market owner Memphis Perez stands behind the counter of his store in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles during a hot summer afternoon on Aug. 25, 2025. The store does not have a fan or an AC unit. Photo by Jules Hotz for CalMatters

HED: Why California backed down from forcing landlords to keep residents cool

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Michael Wara @michaelwara.bsky.social · Aug 29

My plan:

Wear a smart suit to my meetings.

Keep my face and jaw relaxed all day.

Stand tall.

And as one of my leg besties always says “never fall in love with a bill!”

Michael Wara @michaelwara.bsky.social · Aug 29

If you care about legislation in California, today is a day of holding your breath.

Everything that can be done has been done. Now you just have to see what makes it off of suspense.

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Reposted by Rachel Becker

Michael Wara @michaelwara.bsky.social · Aug 29

On my run today I ran into two guys doing a fuels project along the fire road. I stopped to ask them whether they worked for PG&E or the local water district because I always wonder who is doing what.

They immediately had fear in their eyes.

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Lee Hedgepeth @leehedgepeth.bsky.social · Aug 29

20 years ago, when I was just 11 years old, my family hunkered down for Hurricane Katrina in a trailer in south Mobile County, just a few miles from the Gulf. Read my latest, a #HurricaneKatrina remembrance, in @insideclimatenews.org. insideclimatenews.org/news/2808202...

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Reposted by Rachel Becker

Ian James @ianjames.bsky.social · Aug 28

People who live near the polluted Tijuana River and have long complained that its foul odors are making them sick. New research validates their concerns, showing they’re often exposed to high levels of the toxic gas hydrogen sulfide, which smells like rotten eggs. www.latimes.com/environment/...

The stench from the polluted Tijuana River is so bad it kept a researcher up at night

Scientists have found high levels of air pollution near the sewage-filled Tijuana River, confirming the complaints of long-suffering residents.

www.latimes.com

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Reposted by Rachel Becker

Michael Wara @michaelwara.bsky.social · Aug 28

ICE is arresting contract firefighters on active wildfires.

This is especially significant for the fire workforce in the PNW because of the heavy reliance on contract workforce. www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...

Federal agents arrest firefighters working on WA wildfire

Federal agents showed up northeast of Lake Cushman to check identification of crew members fighting Washington's largest active wildfire.

www.seattletimes.com

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Reposted by Rachel Becker

Kimery Wiltshire @kimerywiltshire.bsky.social · Aug 27

People will die. “But at least one-fifth of the country’s 433 parks have been significantly strained and understaffed because of steep cuts mandated by the Trump administration, according to internal government data obtained by The New York Times.”
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/u...

Trump Shrank Staffing of National Parks. See How Many Are Struggling.

www.nytimes.com

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Maven's Notebook @mavensnotebook.com · Aug 27

Emergency declared in Napa County over threat to water supply from wildfire #cawater www.sfgate.com/bayarea/arti...

Napa County declares emergency as wildfire threatens water supply

The Pickett wildfire in Napa County has scorched over 6,800 acres.

www.sfgate.com

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Reposted by Rachel Becker

amy brown @amybrown.xyz · Aug 22

this iconic advertising copywriter named Kathy Hepinstall Parks died over the weekend and I wanted to share something from her website I thought Bluesky would like

Why should I write better when a machine can do it for me?
Because actually no one can do it for you, because your voice is unique among all the people on earth. Siri never petted a horse's neck. Alexa has never been ghosted by the captain of the football team. But you have lived, your heart is beating, you have suffered, and you have something important to say. It's a human's job, to use words, and whatever job you give to a machine, that part of your brain goes dark. Maybe it's worth it when it comes to remembering phone numbers and directions, but when that part of your brain that uses words goes dark, that's a vast area that's very close to your soul. Don't let some internet platform convince you that what you have to say and create isn't worthwhile. Words are the echo of your soul. Honing that echo matters.

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Rachel Becker @ra-becks.bsky.social · Aug 15

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation just released 'beyond awful' projections for the Colorado River's massive reservoirs — ratcheting up the stakes for already-tense negotiations over the future of the river.

Alarmingly low Colorado River levels put water talks under pressure

California shoots pointed words at states upriver, as negotiators struggle toward sharing supplies. Without a deal, the Trump Administration will step in.

calmatters.org

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Reposted by Rachel Becker

Greg Pierce @gregspierce.bsky.social · Aug 15

No one better to listen to on this issue than Faith⬇️

Faith Kearns, Ph.D. @fkearns.bsky.social · Aug 15

The Dragon Bravo Fire at the Grand Canyon hit a water system facility, setting off a dangerous chlorine gas leak that halted the firefight at a critical time.

That was just one of many water-related challenges on this fire, and is indicative of a larger pattern across the western US.

New, from me.

Grand Canyon’s Dragon Bravo megafire shows the growing wildfire threat to water systems

Water systems are vulnerable to melting plastic components, toxic contamination and failures that can leave firefighters without flowing water.

theconversation.com

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