skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Tuesday, March 19, 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.

Report: Climate Change Makes Urban Neighborhoods Hotter

play audio
Play

Friday, January 24, 2020   

BALTIMORE - This time of year, it's hard to think about summer heat waves, but a new report says Baltimore and other big cities should prepare for them.

The study of more than 100 U.S. cities found a correlation between rising temperatures and poor neighborhoods. It pinpoints areas with a history of racial "red-lining" - where banks and mortgage lenders make it harder to invest.

In Baltimore, red-lined neighborhoods experience temperatures nearly 6 degrees hotter than the citywide average, says Jeremy Hoffman - report coauthor and chief scientist at the Science Museum of Virginia.

"With the changing climate, that means that these red-lined communities probably are at the front lines of a changing climate and the need to be more resilient in the future," says Hoffman.

Hoffman points out that wealthier areas have more trees and shade, while in poor areas, urban blacktop bakes in the sun and retains heat through the night.

The report found the most extreme temperature differences in red-lined neighborhoods of Chattanooga, Tennessee - followed closely by Baltimore.

The researchers found on a summer day in 2016, that while the temperatures in Baltimore's lower-income neighborhoods soared, the more affluent areas were nearly 4 degrees cooler than the citywide average.

Hoffman says one simple solution is for lower-income areas to change the colors of streets and sidewalks to better reflect the sun's radiation.

"If we make good decisions today and include these communities in figuring out what to do next, we can be, you know, reasonably sure that 100 years from now, people will be looking back in a positive way," says Hoffman.

Climate change is already expected to increase the number of serious heat waves in the United States in the coming years, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
Iowa families can apply for up to $7,600 a year for private school costs. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

An ethics committee in the Republican-led Iowa House has dismissed a complaint filed by a group of community activists against a state lawmaker for hi…


play sound

Each spring, hundreds of thousands of California high school seniors have to figure out if they can afford to go to college in the fall - and two new …

Health and Wellness

play sound

A health care workforce shortage in New Hampshire is leaving Alzheimer's patients and their families with few options for treatment. Patients facing …


South Dakota ranks 49th in the country for its contribution to indigent legal defense costs, according to a 2023 report from the Indigent Legal Services Task Force. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

South Dakota is creating an Office of Indigent Legal Services after House Bill 1057 passed the Legislature with nearly unanimous support this month…

Environment

play sound

A Knoxville-based environmental group is voicing concerns over what it sees as an increasing financial strain imposed on taxpayers by nuclear weapons …

Environment

play sound

A bipartisan law set to take effect this summer prohibits foreign adversaries from buying Hoosier farmland. The signature of Gov. Eric Holcomb was …

Social Issues

play sound

Today, people across Arizona are voting in the Presidential Preference Election, a chance for registered Democrats and Republicans to choose their …

 

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