Corbin Hiar

Opinion | Reject the Commanders stadium deal Even after tweaks, the deal still amounts to corporate welfare that the NFL team and its billionaire owner do not need.

WashPost editorial board says the council should reject the Commanders stadium deal because it's essentially "corporate welfare" for the team's billionaire.

"Council members should remember that the Commanders need D.C. more than D.C. needs the Commanders."

www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

This jobs report, holy moly:

Revisions for May and June were larger than normal. The change in total nonfarm payroll employment
for May was revised down by 125,000, from +144,000 to +19,000, and the change for June was revised
down by 133,000, from +147,000 to +14,000.

Fossil Fool How Europe took Trump for a ride

"Whatever Trump may think, Europe is not going to provide a big boost to U.S. fossil fuel production. He won’t like that, if anyone tells him. But the rest of us should be glad." paulkrugman.substack.com/p/fossil-fool

Helsinki goes a full year without a traffic death A city traffic engineer credits the success to lower speed limits and smarter design.

It's been a year since Helsinki suffered its last traffic fatality.

"A lot of factors contributed to this, but speed limits are one of the most important," said a traffic engineer with the city of 650,000 people.

Half its streets now have a speed limit below 20 mph. yle.fi/a/74-20174831

Cheyenne to host massive AI data center using more electricity than all Wyoming homes combined A massive AI data center proposed near Cheyenne, Wyoming, would use more electricity than all homes in the state combined.

"An artificial intelligence data center that would use more electricity than every home in Wyoming combined before expanding to as much as five times that size will be built soon near Cheyenne, according to the city’s mayor." apnews.com/article/ai-a...

"The EU’s ‘fantasy’ $750B energy promise to Trump" www.politico.eu/article/eu-t...
“The numbers are just beyond wild.”

Researchers quietly planned a test to dim sunlight. They wanted to ‘avoid scaring’ the public. Hundreds of documents show how researchers failed to notify officials in California about a test of technology to block the sun’s rays — while they planned a much huger sequel.

EXCLUSIVE: A team of researchers in California drew notoriety last year with an aborted test of a cloud-making machine.  

But behind the scenes, they were planning a larger and potentially riskier study of tech that could dim the sun's rays, internal documents show. www.politico.com/news/2025/07...

Chart showing average Atlantic hurricane and tropical storm activity from May to December based on data from 1944 to 2020. Activity increases sharply in August, peaking in mid-September. A marker indicates the current date as July 28, just before activity begins to rise.

On average, 86% of all named tropical systems in the Atlantic occur after August 2, and the first hurricane doesn't form until August 11.
We have a long season to go. Prepare now – Learn how at weather.gov/safety/hurricane

Seems like she didn't read the story very closely. www.politico.com/news/2025/07...

The program does not “recommend, support or develop plans for the use of marine cloud brightening to alter weather or climate,” UW's Sarah Doherty told E&E News.

She said the program remains focused on researching the tech, not deploying it.

Get the whole story: www.politico.com/news/2025/07...

The University of Washington-led team didn't respond to questions about the status of the Puerto Rico-sized experiment.

Its donors include cryptocurrency billionaire Chris Larsen, philanthropist Rachel Pritzker and Chris Sacca, a venture capitalist who has appeared on Shark Tank and other TV shows.

The team's next step was to conduct a test that would have produced clouds over a stretch of ocean larger than Puerto Rico.

The program had already begun fundraising, meeting with U.S. officials and hired consultants for the ocean testing, which it said "would be readily detectable from space."

The initial study took place last April atop a former aircraft carrier in Alameda, Calif., and was kept secret from local leaders until it was underway.

"There will be no mention of the study," a comms staffer told the Marine Cloud Brightening Program researchers before they meet with a reporter.

Researchers quietly planned a test to dim sunlight. They wanted to ‘avoid scaring’ the public. Hundreds of documents show how researchers failed to notify officials in California about a test of technology to block the sun’s rays — while they planned a much huger sequel.

EXCLUSIVE: A team of researchers in California drew notoriety last year with an aborted test of a cloud-making machine.  

But behind the scenes, they were planning a larger and potentially riskier study of tech that could dim the sun's rays, internal documents show. www.politico.com/news/2025/07...

Spotted on Capitol Hill: A new Trump business.

(Fun detail: The phone number is for the Heritage Foundation.)

Even the Obit Writers Are Jumping Ship at The Washington Post RIP for DC’s chroniclers of the dead.

"In dropping obits — or just limiting them to only the best-known people — an organization abandons something that used to be a basic element of being the paper of record," Michael Schaffer writes. www.politico.com/news/magazin...

Since AFP was founded in 1944, workers at the French news agency said they "have lost journalists in conflicts, some have been injured, others taken prisoner. But none of us can ever remember seeing colleagues die of hunger."

The US govt no longer tracks climate disasters, but reinsurer Aon does, on the theory that ignoring problems doesn't make them go away

Economic losses in the first half of 2025 reached at least $162B. More than 90% of global insured losses occurred in the US.

www.aon.com/getmedia/01e...

The chef

Two months after Walmart warned it would raise prices due to tariffs, “some household items on Walmart’s shelves have higher prices, according to a CNBC analysis.”

@cnbc.com $WMT
www.cnbc.com/2025/07/17/t...

Megalaw gives $1B to fossil fuels. Some Republicans aren’t happy about it. The provision will be used to juice energy production, the White House says. It may also bolster critical mineral supply chains. But the details remain

"There was stuff in there that I didn’t even know about," Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) said of the GOP megalaw that she voted for.

"So I can’t pick out little things and give you an answer, which is terrifying. But that's the truth."

www.eenews.net/articles/meg...

Opinion | I’m a Genocide Scholar. I Know It When I See It.

A former IDF soldier & genocide scholar writes in an opinion piece that major governments’ and institutions’ continued refusal to identify Israel’s actions in Gaza as a genocide “is a threat to the very foundations of the moral order on which we all depend.” www.nytimes.com/2025/07/15/o...

DOGE told regulator to ‘rubber stamp’ nuclear The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's historic role of assuring safety is changing as the White House shifts some responsibility to the Department of Energy.

☢️ A DOGE staffer told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's leader that the agency will be expected to give “rubber stamp” approval to new reactors tested by the departments of Energy or Defense, according to three people informed of the directive. ☢️

www.politico.com/news/2025/07...

TODAY: PEN Guild heads to arbitration over POLITICO’s contract-breaking use of AI. This fight could set the standard for how AI is used in newsrooms across the country.

✍️ Sign our petition and help us go into arbitration with full support: bit.ly/PENGuild

FEMA leader is a no-show after deadly Texas flooding David Richardson hasn't made public appearances, statements or social media postings since last week's flood. Former FEMA officials say that's concerning.

"As the Federal Emergency Management Agency responds to the deadly flooding in Texas, one key resource is missing: the FEMA leader."

Instead DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, who oversees 22 agencies, has been directing the Trump administration's recovery efforts. www.eenews.net/articles/fem...

At least three people died after a flash flood struck a mountain village in New Mexico on Tuesday, according to officials. The emergency comes days after deadly floods in neighboring Texas left more than 100 people dead.

Watch the full video: 🎥 https://on.wsj.com/44LlTtw

Trump Hires Scientists Who Doubt the Consensus on Climate Change

Last month was the third warmest June in history, banks are funding new coal projects, we've blown past the 1.5C target, climate change is supercharging lethal storms -- and the Trump administration is hiring scientists who dispute the reality of climate change

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/08/c...

A month after getting permission, NWS still hasn’t posted help wanted ads Amid the Texas floods and a month into hurricane season, significant vacancies exist across the National Weather Service.

"More than a month ago, the Trump administration told the National Weather Service to hire meteorologists and other specialists for 126 vacant positions in depleted forecast offices around the country. But those jobs have yet to even be posted."

www.politico.com/news/2025/07...

The Texas Floods Were Made Worse by Climate Denialism Elected officials must be held accountable, now and in the future, for the lives lost in disasters brought on by increasingly extreme weather.

Michael Bloomberg: "As the flooding in Texas painfully demonstrates, Washington cannot escape its duty to confront climate change. Trying to do so will only lead to higher body counts and heavier financial burdens on communities." www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

An Elderly Lawmaker’s Staff Keeps Walking Back Things She Tells Reporters. Should They Keep Quoting Her? A media conundrum for the age of gerontocracy.

"An increasingly common issue in our era of gerontocracy: Just how are you supposed to interact with an elected official who might not be all there?" www.politico.com/news/magazin...