Lois Parshley

Fossil-fuel billionaires bought up millions of shares after meeting with top Trump officials Co-founders’ acquisition of Venture Global shares before key permit granted draws scrutiny as pair deny wrongdoing

By me and @andy-rowell.bsky.social
Two fossil-fuel billionaires with close ties to Donald Trump bought millions of shares in the company they co-founded just days after a meeting with senior White House officials, who then issued them key regulatory permit
www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Understanding growing climate hazards is essential, and in general, most people don't know enough about theirs. But black box models of public risk brings its own perils. Like combatting climate crisis itself, this requires systematic regulation, including on banks and lenders' risk assessments.

This is really good, nuanced reporting about pricing climate risks - and the groups who do it - that gets at why Zillow removing its climate scores is a complicated story.

Mobility: A Novel A Novel

This gift season buy books! For example! Mobility is about oil & human frailty! It has scenic locations & a polarizing protagonist loved ones can argue about! bookshop.org/p/books/mobi....

The Golden State has scenic rural CA & a frazzled mom they can also argue about! bookshop.org/p/books/the-...

How a US home insurance fix is becoming a problem U.S. states have set up insurers to provide protection in disaster-prone areas that private insurance has avoided. They are taking on more risks as calamities become widespread.

Reuters has a new story on state insurer-of-last-resort programs being stretched to their limits, using data from @cplusc.bsky.social's recent report.

What I would add to this coverage is more analysis of WHY these programs are in trouble & whether it's the right...
www.reuters.com/graphics/USA...

After Series of Denials, His Insurer Approved Doctor-Recommended Cancer Care. It Was Too Late. - KFF Health News Eric Tennant’s doctors recommended histotripsy, which would target, and potentially destroy, a cancerous tumor in his liver. But by the time his insurer approved the treatment, Tennant was no longer c...

More than 1 in 4 physicians surveyed by the AMA in December said that prior authorization had led to a serious adverse event for a patient in their care. And 8% responded that prior authorization led to a disability, birth defect, or death. #RSNA25
kffhealthnews.org/news/article...

Iran president says capital move now a necessity as water crisis deepens Iran’s capital must be moved because the country “no longer has a choice,” President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Thursday in remarks carried by state media, warning that severe ecological strain has mad...

'Iran’s capital must be moved because the country “no longer has a choice,” President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Thursday in remarks carried by state media, warning that severe ecological strain has made Tehran impossible to sustain'

#Iran 🇮🇷

Fossil fuel companies have been doing this for years. grist.org/internationa...

Bubble or Nothing Policymakers concerned about the deployment of clean energy and compute-focused infrastructure over the long term need a framework for managing the uncertainty in the AI sector's investment landscape—...

From @advaitarun.bsky.social's phenomenal data center report. Two interdependent factors decide which firms survive a bust:
1. Anticipated revenues are *deemed by investors* as insufficient to collateralize debt
2. Who seizes market share when the worst happens publicenterprise.org/report/bubbl...

Trump Administration Removes Report on Missing and Murdered Native Americans, Calling It DEI Content - Oklahoma Watch The Trump administration removed a congressionally mandated report on missing and murdered Native Americans from the DOJ website, citing compliance with an executive order against DEI. Senators who ch...

Jaw dropped. Trump Administration Removes Report on Missing and Murdered Native Americans, Calling It DEI Content

I'm sorry, I'm still having a hard time getting over that the owner of the NY Times is in the Epstein files thing and they haven't even acknowledged this in any reporting.

Investor angst over Big Tech’s AI spending spills into bond market Debt issued by groups building data centres has been hit in recent weeks

"Investors have been selling off the debt of US tech heavyweights, showing how jitters over Silicon Valley’s boom in spending on artificial intelligence have spilled into the bond market."

Donald Trump's dream of an Alaskan oil boom is feeling more like a bust His team declared the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge "open for business." For now, nobody's buying.

Trump's dream of an Alaskan oil boom is feeling more like a bust

An excellent articulation of media criticism here that applies much more broadly than to New York’s mayoral race lithub.com/maybe-dont-t...

Medicare picks tech vendors to run AI prior authorization pilot in six states Medicare has selected the technology vendors who'll run its prior authorization pilot in New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona, and Washington

And read @brittanytrang.com's great reporting on Medicare's AI plans here: www.statnews.com/2025/11/06/m...

Rage Against The Algorithm As Trump leans into AI, automated systems are already ruining lives. A new organization is out to stop it.

Austin reapplied for two years. He lost his car. He had to beg strangers for diapers.

AI and related technologies are already influencing basic decisions for almost all 92 million low-income Americans.

Read more about the problems that's already causing: www.levernews.com/rage-against...

Robert Austin was living in a car with his baby daughter in El Paso. He applied for food stamps, Medicaid, and temporary aid—and was repeatedly denied.

He eventually learned Texas was using an automated verification system developed by Deloitte that had known errors.

Medicare is about to start using AI to help determine prior authorization, even as companies like UnitedHealthcare face lawsuits about similar AI use.

Last year, I spoke to multiple families who had been wrongfully denied social services they qualified for because of algorithmic decisionmaking.

Why are Alaska’s rivers turning bright orange? Scientists have a theory. The dramatic shift is a warning sign—and scientists say the changes that aren't yet visible to the naked eye are just as troubling.

Read the full story at National Geographic, thanks to editor extraordinaire @bresnick.bsky.social www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/...

It's a warning sign of how climate is affecting global waterways. Across the north “brownification” of water is slowing growth, fueling toxic algae blooms, and disrupting ecosystems. “What we can’t see matters as much as those bright orange rivers,” says geochemist Jean-François Boily.

Photo of a researcher standing in an orange leach site.

Thawing permafrost is exposing bedrock, beginning a destructive process that releases sulfuric acid and oxidizes iron into a toxic cocktail remarkably similar to acid rock drainage. And “there’s simply nothing that can be done, other than fix climate change,” a biogeochemist told me.

An aerial view of the rusting Salmon river.

Ecologist Patrick Sullivan was studying the slow advance of trees into what had been tundra, a sign of the Arctic's rapidly changing climate, when he discovered something far more surprising: Rivers across northern Alaska were turning a bright, toxic orange.

Exxon funded thinktanks to spread climate denial in Latin America, documents reveal Texas-based fossil fuel company financed Atlas Network in attempt to derail UN-led climate treaty process

Exxon funded thinktanks to spread climate denial in Latin America, documents obtained by @geoffdembicki.bsky.social reveal. The Texas-based fossil fuel company financed Atlas Network in attempt to derail UN-led climate treaty process.

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

That means a lot, thank you!

Trump officials say Alaska is 'open for business.' So far, no one's buying. The administration wants to drill in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Oil companies don’t, leaving Alaska to spend millions propping up the idea.

So far, the administration's Alaska agenda is still a lot of bluster and not a lot of action. Great reporting from @loisparshley.bsky.social for @grist.org

Thanks for sharing!

Trump officials say Alaska is 'open for business.' So far, no one's buying. The administration wants to drill in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Oil companies don’t, leaving Alaska to spend millions propping up the idea

The Gwich’in name for the region translates to “the sacred place where life begins.” It’s where the Porcupine caribou herd gather to bear their young — a place central to the Gwich’in way of life, now caught in a costly bid to keep oil flowing. Read more @grist.org:

grist.org/politics/tru...

Officials said these new leases are proof “Alaska is open for business.” But so far, the only one buying is... Alaska.

One analysis found half of the state development corporation's investments have been worthless. The state would have had about $11 billion more if invested elsewhere.

The Trump administration opened the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling last week. After drilling there drew little interest, the state’s own development agency has stepped in to buy leases and fund road projects to support private industry profits — spending $110 million of public funds.

Exclusive | Trump Administration Fires Fannie Mae Ethics Officials The dismissals come after the chief ethics officer was recently pushed out, according to people familiar with the matter.

The financial crisis these guys building towards is going to make 2008 look like a lawn party with the Queen Mum.

www.wsj.com/politics/pol...