It sounds like the plot of a science fiction movie: humans are destroying the Earth, gouging huge scars in its crust, and polluting the air and the ground as they mine and refine a key element essential for technological advance. One day, scientists examining an alien meteorite discover a unique metal that negates the need
Mississippi’s Missing Search Warrants Prevent Scrutiny of No-Knock Raids
No-knock warrants authorize police to burst into someone’s home unannounced. Search warrants are supposed to be filed at the courthouse, but they’re missing from many of Mississippi’s justice courts.
Public defender Merrill Nordstrom walked into a Mississippi federal courtroom in May 2021 ready to challenge the no-knock search warrant behind her client’s arrest.
It had
Joe Manchin’s Price for Supporting the Climate Change Bill: A Natural Gas Pipeline in His Home State
To accommodate the West Virginia senator, Democratic leadership agreed to legislation streamlining permits for the often-stalled Mountain Valley Pipeline and removing jurisdiction from a court that keeps ruling against the project.
This article was produced for ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network in partnership with Mountain State Spotlight. Sign up for Dispatches to get stories like
Agricultural and Pesticide Interests Seek to Appeal Recent Ruling that Bees can be Protected by California’s Endangered Species Act
SACRAMENTO, Calif.—On Thursday, July 7, 2022, a consortium of agricultural and pesticide interests filed a petition for review with the California Supreme Court seeking to appeal a recent unanimous ruling by California’s Third District Court of Appeal that determined that four species of imperiled native bumble bees are eligible for protection under the California Endangered … Read the rest
New Records Show the NYPD’s Favored Punishment: Less Vacation Time
After the repeal of a state law shielding New York police officers’ disciplinary histories from disclosure, the New York Police Department in March released several years’ worth of disciplinary records for its officers. However, the agency published the records in a way that made it difficult to see which officers had been disciplined and how.… Read the rest
NY Considers Letting Restaurants Infuse Their Food With Weed
The Empire State may soon allow eateries to spike their food with cannabis. But there’s a drawback to that plan, at least for those who want to keep their liquor license.
This would certainly give “pizza joint” a whole new meaning. New York state appears to be considering the sale of edibles in pizzerias and … Read the rest
Investigated Air Pollution Near Florida’s Sugar Fields
The Glades is an area of Florida just south of Lake Okeechobee, the large body of water in the center of the state you can easily spot on a map. As a Floridian, I probably should have known that this area produces more than half of America’s cane sugar, but I only learned that recently … Read the rest
One-way superconductor could be a step toward eternal electricity
Imagine if your computer could run on electricity that flows forever without overheating. This isn’t magic: It’s the potential future of a real phenomenon called superconductivity, which today underpins everything from cutting-edge magnetic research to MRIs.
Now, scientists have found that they can make a superconductor that’s different from others that have come before. It … Read the rest
‘Vampire Energy’ Is Sucking the Life Out of Our Planet
UNTIL RECENTLY, I thought vampires—creatures of the night that suck the life from their victims—existed only in the fictional realms of literature and TV. That’s until I learned about a real-life scenario draining both our wallets and the planet: vampire energy. [Source: Wired ]
Vampire energy, also called standby power or phantom loads, is
Tire company startup to use NASA technology to end flats and reduce waste
While millions of Americans tuned in to watch NASA perform another successful rover landing on Mars this past February, a new startup was preparing to announce Earthly intentions for a core technology behind the future of space exploration. Starting next year with the METL™ tire, The SMART Tire Company intends to take on the $250B … Read the rest









