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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Latest Climate Report a 'Code Red for Humanity'

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Monday, August 30, 2021   

DENVER - Less than a decade remains to avoid potentially catastrophic impacts of a warming planet, according to the latest report from the world's top scientists.

Hilda Nucete, organizer with the Sunrise Movement's Denver hub, said proposals making their way through Congress would be a good start. Plans call for cutting climate pollution by 50%, and converting 80% of the energy sector to renewable sources, by 2030.

Nucete said time is running out to address warnings in the report viewed as a code red for Humanity.

"There's not a lot of time, but our movement is not letting up," said Nucete. "We're organizing, we're demanding people in power to step up and pass bold legislation to stop this climate crisis."

This month's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessment projects that if fossil fuels continue to burn, global temperatures could rise to three degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by the turn of the century, a scenario that would render the planet unlivable for large numbers of species and lead to mass migrations and resource wars.

Critics of the proposals say they are too costly, and claim reducing emissions would hurt the economy.

Ashik Siddique, research analyst with the National Priorities Project, said the Pentagon has known for years that climate change poses one of the greatest threats to national security, yet over the past two decades Americans have seen $6.4 trillion of their tax dollars funneled into foreign wars.

Siddique said even greater investments will be needed to stop fossil-fuel emissions in time.

"To shift our entire electricity grid in the United States to renewable energy," said Siddique, "one cost estimate has that at $4.5 trillion, which is expensive. But again, it's less than the $6 trillion that we spent on war."

When enough Americans viewed the rise of fascism as an existential threat during World War II, the U.S. government directed private industries to switch from producing cars, appliances and children's toys to make tanks, planes and ships.

Siddique noted that the Defense Production Act still can be used today to shift industrial capacity to meet vital public needs against threats such as pandemics or the climate crisis.




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Health and Wellness

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Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

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Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

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Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


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Social Issues

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Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

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New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

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Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

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Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

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