skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Monday, March 18, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

Under Attack? Climate Change Raises PA's Pesky Insect Population

play audio
Play

Friday, August 22, 2014   

HARRISBURG, Pa. - Many forms of wildlife in Pennsylvania, from trees and plants to fish, have suffered the dangerous effects of climate change, but insects are thriving in the state's warmer climate, according to a new report from the National Wildlife Federation.

The evidence is clear, said Ed Perry, Pennsylvania outreach coordinator for the federation's Global Warming Campaign. He pointed to the Asian tiger mosquito, which first surfaced in Texas in the mid 1980s and now calls parts of south-central Pennsylvania home - bringing with it an arsenal of harmful diseases.

"Eastern equine encephalitis, West Nile, yellow fever. This thing, unlike other mosquitoes, it's out in the middle of the day," Perry said, "so when you're out mowing your yard, you're liable to be attacked by this mosquito."

Perry said tick populations are higher and more varied as well. He said they have infested the moose population so badly that some animals are scraping off their fur against trees in an attempt to rid themselves of ticks. That behavior leaves the moose susceptible to hypothermia and death in the colder months.

Despite almost unanimous consensus among scientists that climate change exists and is worsening, Perry said the concept still has its naysayers.

"It's beyond question that things are happening. Every species of plant, animal and insect that can move north or up in elevation is trying to do so," Perry said. "So, there's no 'deniers' in the natural world."

The report said solutions to global warming are within reach, although some are controversial. Perry said the Obama administration has taken a promising lead in cleaning up the air with the Environmental Protection Agency's plan to curb carbon emissions from power plants by 30 percent in the next 15 years.

"Reduce carbon pollution from future and existing coal-fired power plants; by increasing the gas mileage requirements for cars and light trucks," he said. "We need our elected representatives to speak out loudly in support of the president's plan."

Opponents of the EPA plan say it will cost jobs, especially in coal-producing states, and pinch the budgets of all Americans through higher utility costs.

The full report is online at nwf.org.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
Corporate partners sign contracts to offer a graduate assistantship and pay the students. In turn, MSU pays the graduate assistant's tuition, fees and salary, so the assistantship is directly tied to the academic experience. (pressmaster/Adobe Stock)

play sound

By Victoria Lim for WorkingNation.Broadcast version by Farah Siddiqi for Missouri News Service reporting for the WorkingNation-Public News Service Col…


Social Issues

play sound

A new report brands Connecticut's tax system as "regressive" for low- to middle-income residents and uses a report from the state to make its point…

Environment

play sound

Backers of a new federal rule said it will increase fairness for livestock and poultry producers, in North Carolina and across the country. The U.S…


A study by the advocacy group Inseparable showed one in five adults said at any given time, they consider their mental health to be either 'fair' or 'poor.' (Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Mental health care advocates are encouraging federal agencies to adopt a proposed update to regulations which would expand access to psychological car…

Social Issues

play sound

With hotter summers bringing hotter working conditions, the Maryland Department of Labor is implementing a heat stress standard to protect workers …

Social Issues

play sound

By Jimmy Cloutier for OpenSecrets.Broadcast version by Roz Brown for Texas News Service reporting for the OpenSecrets-Public News Service Collaboratio…

Environment

play sound

Recreational fishermen in New England say commercial trawlers are threatening the survival of smaller businesses relying on a healthy stock of Atlanti…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021