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We look out over the land and describe it as “prairie.” And that’s enough for a lot of people who enjoy Spring Creek Prairie Audubon Center. The prairie is a mass of green in the spring and...

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After a very dry winter and early spring, the rains have returned and they have coaxed a great variety of wildflowers out of the prairie earth. Over the past weeks we have seen many species, here are...

Editor’s Note: This story was originally produced by Daily Montanan, which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network which includes Source New Mexico, and is supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. It was republished by Source New Mexico, where I found it. It’s hard to say how much this massive reorganization is going to affect Carson National Forest or our local ranger districts, but it’s wise to suspect that any decisions made by this administration are politically motivated, which is expressed by some commenters in this article.

Chief Tom Schultz details, defends largest Forest Service reorganization in a century ByMike Koshmrl–July 6, 2026 8:21 pm

 U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz discusses resource sharing with states at the Western Governors’ Association conference on June 30, 2026 in Park City, Utah. (Mike Koshmrl/WyoFile) 

PARK CITY, UTAH—The U.S. Forest Service received roughly 300 applications for the 15 new state director jobs created during a major agency reorganization that’s dissolving regional offices the agency’s first chief, Gifford Pinchot, created nearly 120 years ago.

That’s 20 applications per job, on average, for well-paying “senior executive service” positions at a federal agency that employs roughly 30,000 staff.

It’s a figure that, to many, suggests stunningly little interest in the jobs and a reminder that it remains a tough time to be a Forest Service employee tasked with managing 193 million acres of the United States.

But U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz on Tuesday sounded upbeat about the 300 applications, a datapoint he offered without prompting. Applicants are a mix of Forest Service veterans and outside candidates, and there are more than he needs to fill the state director jobs and restructure. Schultz’s team has already narrowed the pool of candidates and is starting to arrange for interviews, he told WyoFile from a boardroom at Park City’s Deer Valley Resort.

“I expect [interviews] to begin within the next couple weeks,” Schultz said.

The Trump administration’s pick to lead the Forest Service took a break from the Western Governors’ Association conference and sat down with WyoFile to discuss the status of the agency’s workforce and looming structural changes that were signaled in summer 2025 and formally set in motion this spring. The University of Wyoming graduate spoke just over the Wasatch Range from Salt Lake City, where he’s planning to live and work after relocating the agency’s headquarters from Washington, D.C. Nearly five dozen research and development stations may also be shuttered, and their staff will be clustered at more centralized operations instead.

(U.S. Forest Service)

All these changes are coming quickly.

Schultz says he will wait until after the already deadly, active wildfire season dies down before reassigning regional personnel and opening the doors on state offices.

“Sometimes toward the end of October, early November is when we’d be looking at getting those offices operational,” the Forest Service chief said.

Wyoming’s office is coming to Cheyenne, though the building has not been selected. The state offices in the Equality State and elsewhere will house an estimated “six to eight” staff, and will include positions specializing in communications, legislative affairs, tribal affairs and other “liason-type” roles, Schultz said.

“The intent is not to replicate the regional model,” he said. “It’s to have those positions supervise the forest supervisors, and also to be a liaison with states, with counties, with tribes.”

A former Idaho Department of Lands director, Schultz moved to the private sector and was an executive with an Idaho logging company before U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins hired him away in February 2025. Restructuring the Forest Service will concentrate resources and decisionmaking in the states and communities where national forestland is part of the landscape, he said.

“What we’re trying to do is basically bring the Forest Service closer to the people that we serve,” Schultz said. “The change from regional offices to a state director role is to really empower folks closest to the ground — district rangers and others who make decisions.”

It won’t be immediate, but eventually national forests like Wyoming’s Bridger-Teton, Shoshone, Bighorn, Medicine Bow-Routt and Black Hills should experience an increase in staffing and money as resources are diverted away from regional offices in places like Denver and Ogden, Utah, Schultz said.

“That is the intent,” he said.

Yet, the reorganization is also immensely controversial. Partly that’s a product of the administration spearheading the changes.

President Donald Trump’s second term started by bringing a wrecking ball to the federal government. The face of the aggressive, abrupt job cuts, now-trillionaire Elon Musk even wielded a chainsaw on stage to signify the actions of his now-defunct “Department of Government Efficiency,” which trimmed the Forest Service’s workforce by about 18%.

Skepticism and support

Many Forest Service employees are unsettled by the structural changes afoot. Retired White River National Forest supervisor Scott Fitzwilliams, who took a buyout during the DOGE era, criticized how hastily the reorganization was decided and implemented.

“This is turning over 100 years of organization,” Fitzwilliams said. “This is not thought out. And it’s chaotic.”

The Forest Service rolled out its plans in the absence of public review, Fitzwilliams pointed out. Except for stakeholders like the timber and fossil fuels industries, he said the reorganization wasn’t vetted and caught almost everyone off guard.

“I know for a fact, ranking members of resources committees on the Senate side and the House side, they learned about it when you and I learned about,” Fitzwilliams said.

But Schultz argues the concept of restructuring has been kicked around for nearly two decades. There’s been talk of redesigning the Forest Service to a state-focused system since 2008, and the effort became more formal in August 2024, he said.

Retirees who are formally organized have also voiced concerns.

Bill Avey, who chairs the National Association of Forest Service Retirees, told WyoFile that he feels the reorganization is “not in the best interest of the public or the national forests or the Forest Service itself.” He worried that the new structure will lead to the Forest Service becoming beholden to state politics.

“These are national forests, they aren’t state forests,” said Avey, who supervised the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest. “The forests are going to be much more influenced by the politics of the state, when they should be managed for the people of the nation.”

The Forest Service state directors will be hired into career positions, and are not political appointees, according to Schultz.

But those assurances didn’t allay the concerns of Avey, who pointed to how state offices and directors function at the Bureau of Land Management.

“State directors are very political positions,” Avey said. “We’re worried about increased politicization of the Forest Service.”

Steve Ellis preceded Avey in chairing the National Association of Forest Service Retirees. His career started at the Forest Service but crossed over to the BLM, where he became the Idaho state director and then deputy director for the whole agency.

“So I know both the structures,” Ellis said. “Democratic and Republican governors in the West, my observation is they always liked the BLM model better.”

Two weeks ago, the bipartisan Western Governors Association pledged its support for the Forest Service restructuring in a letter.

“This state-based model will ensure strong communication between the agency and states and territories, and promote coordination on forest and rangeland management, recreational use, and wildfire mitigation and response,” Utah Republican Gov. Spencer Cox and Hawaii Democrat Gov. Josh Green wrote.

SLC HQ

Delivering the keynote address at the Western Governors Association conference this week, Schultz told the crowd that he’s “thinking about” giving the states more national forest management control. And he argued that there will be benefits to the coming headquarters move to Salt Lake City and the broader Forest Service restructuring.

“I currently have 26 direct reports,” Schultz said. “Under this new model, I’m going to have six reports. We’re going to align much like a normal corporate structure.”

U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz delivers the keynote address at the Western Governors’ Association conference on June 30, 2026 in Park City, Utah. (Mike Koshmrl/WyoFile)

Moving Forest Service headquarters to Salt Lake City has been criticized partly because of the first Trump administration’s 2019 reorganization of the BLM, which included moving its headquarters to Grand Junction, Colorado, a mid-sized city about the size of Casper. That effort failed spectacularly. Less than 13% of the 328 employees whose jobs were moved chose to relocate and only three employees ended up moving to Grand Junction, according to High Country News. In fall 2021, the Biden Administration Interior Secretary Deb Haaland moved the office back to Washington.

Schultz is hopeful the Forest Service’s 2026 headquarters relocation will go differently. Salt Lake and Grand Junction are “two fundamentally different communities,” he said.

Asked if the Forest Service has goals for retention during the transitions, Schultz didn’t specify. He pointed out instead that only about 1% of the workforce will be asked to move throughout the entire reorganization.

“There could be fewer than 300 people that have to physically relocate,” the chief said.

Although the headquarters is officially changing locations, most of its employees will actually remain in Washington. Although the Forest Service’s fact sheet about the reorganization indicated that two-thirds of the National Capital Region positions would be relocated, the numbers shared by Schultz looked much different.

Out of the 750 people who are assigned to the Washington office, more than half are already remote, he said. That leaves roughly 350 employees who show up to the brick-and-mortar office on Independence Avenue.

“We’re expecting probably less than 50, at this point, may have to relocate out of the DC area,’ Schultz said. “Some of [the headquarters employees] are going to go to Maryland.”

U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz meets with Wyoming State Forester Kelly Norris and partners from the Black Hills National Forest on March 18, 2026 to discuss timber harvesting, thinning, and prescribed burning on the Bearlodge Ranger District. (Preston Keres/U.S.Forest Service)

Forest Service whistleblowers who wrote a letter to Congress have argued that leadership is underestimating the disruption and that mandatory relocations could impact as many as 1,900 employees.

Some 6,500 Forest Service employees were informed in a letter that their job would be affected by the reorganization in some capacity.

“It basically said in that letter that you may have a different supervisor, you may have a different structure, you may have a different job,” Schultz said.

As of last week, those 6,500 employees haven’t been told what’s specifically changing.

“It’s still being worked on,” Schultz said.

Unions for Forest Service employees have called leadership’s communication style “engineered vagueness.”  In early June, six congressional Democrats from Colorado wrote Agriculture Secretary Rollins a letter urging the Trump administration to disclose more information about the plans.

State of staffing

At the moment, the Forest Service has roughly 30,000 employees, Schultz said. The agency lost nearly 7,000 staff last year, according to Office of Personnel Management data. The great majority, 6,500 of them, accepted one of the “deferred resignation program” offers, he said.

“So it’s been largely voluntary,” Schultz said.

Current staffing at the Forest Service is at about the same level as it was in 2018, according to the chief. The workforce swelled in 2020 and 2021 due to funding from the Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, but the Forest Service’s base appropriation didn’t grow enough to support the larger workforce, and in 2024 under the Biden administration the “ball had already started rolling” of how to right the books.

“Decisions had to be made on how to get the budget straight,” Schultz said. “We can’t overspend what Congress has authorized.”

In 2025, the Forest Service went without non-fire seasonal staff because of the budget crunch. That’s changed, however, and the Forest Service so far in 2026 has added more than 1,600 employees, OPM data shows. Most new staffers are seasonals doing recreation work, Schultz said.

While that fits with Schultz’s goal of bringing more resources to forests and ranger districts, the Trump administration’s proposed Forest Service budget for fiscal year 2027 goes in the opposite direction. Proposed funding levels for the National Forest System would fall by $438 million, or 24%, and research, operations and maintenance line items are cut even deeper. Some $620 million for the “forest and rangeland research” and “state private and tribal forestry” would be zeroed out completely.

In a May 13 budget-focused Senate hearing, Schultz did not put up a fight or ask for more funds.

Fitzwilliams, the retired White River National Forest supervisor, struggled to see how Trump’s Forest Service budget fits Schultz’s vision of beefing up resources at forests and ranger districts.

“More resources on the ground, I think we’d all agree that’s really important,” Fitzwilliams said. “You can’t say that and then stand behind the president’s budget proposal, which he does.”

Turmoil in the federal government over the last 18 months has caused the workforce’s job satisfaction to outright plummet, according to a survey of 10,000 workers. At the Forest Service, the depleted staff and the agency’s reorganization has been cause for plenty of bad vibes.

“They’re stressed,” Fitzwilliams said, “and morale is horrendous.”

Sitting down with WyoFile, Schultz spoke to his workforce’s spirits and anxieties, which he said vary over time and by forest, ranger district and program.

“I’m not going to sit here like some Pollyanna and say, ‘Oh, morale’s great,’” Schultz said. “Do people have mistrust in some cases? You bet they do. Are they concerned for their job security? Some of them, very much are.”

The Forest Service’s chief also sensed that many of his employees are eager for the reorganization and change on the horizon. They’re ready to “rip the Bandaid off,” he said, and move on with their lives.

“People may mistrust me in the organization,” Schultz said. “But what they care about is the public that they serve. They care about the job that they do.”

That commitment, he added, “is what carries them through the uncertainty and the disruptions.”

This story was originally published by WyoFile, which is a partner organization of the Daily Montanan and its parent organization, States Newsroom. WyoFile retains editorial independence.

 

The Save Our Bacon Act is excluded from the recently released draft of the Senate Farm Bill.

Supporters of the legislation argue that it protects livestock producers and consumers. But it has gained overwhelming opposition from animal welfare advocates, farmers, and policymakers. They fear that the Bill would threaten animal welfare laws, states’ rights, and the livelihoods of family farmers.

“The Save Our Bacon Act has no place in the Farm Bill, and we urge Congressional leaders to ensure this harmful language is kept out of the final bill,” says Nancy Perry, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals’ (ASPCA) Senior Vice President of Government Relations, in a statement.

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman stated that the provision will not be included due to its controversial nature. “The Save Our Bacon Act has been hemorrhaging support in the Senate,” states Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy. The Farm Bill requires bipartisan support to secure the 60 votes needed to pass.

“We will remain vigilant throughout the Farm Bill process and final vote to make sure that Congress respects the will of voters, the investments that humane-minded producers have already made, and the fundamental rights of states to establish commonsense standards for products sold within their borders,” says Sara Amundson, president of Humane World Action Fund.

The Bill is expected to be voted on in the coming weeks.

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Photo courtesy of Zoe Richardson, Unsplash

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This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Bob Henson and Jeff Masters

Update (Thursday, July 2, 3 p.m. EDT):

Extreme heat warnings covered much of the Midwest, mid-Atlantic, and Northeast U.S. on Thursday – including the heavily populated Interstate 95 corridor from Virginia to southern Maine – as a well-predicted heat wave intensified with the approach of a holiday weekend, bringing widespread temperatures above 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Millions of people are set to experience the hottest Fourth of July ever recorded in the history of their town or city. Parades, concerts, and other events were being rearranged, rescheduled, or moved indoors to avoid the worst of the dangerous heat.

As the United States prepared to commemorate the nation’s 250th birthday, the U.S. capital had entered one of the worst heat waves in its history.  As of midday Thursday, the official forecast for Washington’s Reagan National Airport was for highs of 102°F, 104°F, and 103°F for Thursday through Saturday, July 2-4. These readings would melt the D.C. daily records of 101°F, 101°F, and 100°F. In observations that go back to 1871, Washington has never recorded two consecutive days of 103°F, and the only three-day streak of highs reaching at least 102°F occurred way back on July 19-21, 1930.

Further north, the nation’s first capital city, Philadelphia, was on track for predicted highs of 103°F, 103°F and 101°F on Thursday through Saturday, which would tie the daily record on Thursday and approach the city’s monthly record of 104°F set on July 3, 1966. For what it’s worth, the temperature recorded in Philadelphia by president-to-be Thomas Jefferson at 1:00 p.m. on the day the Declaration of Independence was signed – July 4, 1776 – was a mere 72.5°F.

In New York, Central Park had already reached 100°F by 2 p.m., the first time it has reached the century mark since July 18, 2012. The forecast was for 101°F on Friday and 97°F on Saturday.  In 157 years of recordkeeping, Central Park has only had 5 pairs of consecutive days that both reached at least 101°F. The only pair of 102°F readings at Central Park occurred during the height of the central U.S. Dust Bowl on July 9-10, 1936.

Original article, posted on Monday, June 29:

As our fossil-fuel-warmed world careens into what’s likely to be months of record global-scale heat goosed by El Niño, early season heat waves are already proving tragic this summer. Most of central and northern Europe was assaulted over the past week by the continent’s worst heat wave ever recorded before the core summer months of July and August, and at least 1,300 people have died as a result.

Meanwhile, extreme heat watches extended along the U.S. East Coast on Monday from New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania to southern Maine, foretelling a miserable and potentially record-setting heat wave that will run from midweek into the Fourth of July holiday across much of the U.S. east of the Appalachians. Heat indexes – reflecting air temperature plus humidity – may exceed 110 degrees across much of the extreme-heat watch area.

As of midday Monday, the official forecast for Washington’s Reagan National Airport was for highs of 99°F, 103°F, 103°F, and 101°F for Wednesday through Saturday, July 1-4. The city has never recorded two consecutive days of 103°F, and only a handful of heat waves have produced four-day strings of 99°F. In New York, Central Park’s forecast highs of 91°, 96°, 95°F, and 91°F for July 1-4 wouldn’t be as historic, but they would still make for a hot, sweaty lead-up to the holiday, especially with lows possibly staying above 80°F for two nights.

The National Weather Service office warned folks in and around Philadelphia: “Very warm low temperatures in the mid 70s to low 80s at night will not offer any relief from the heat. This combined with multiple days of near record-breaking temperatures will exacerbate the impacts from the heat and humidity.”

The climate change connection

In a rapid-response analysis released on Friday, “Fossil fuel emissions have rapidly worsened European heatwaves in just a few decades,” the nonprofit research group World Weather Attribution said: “In 1976, when some of the previous European records were set, the 2026 temperatures would have been virtually impossible to occur in June, while also highly unlikely at any time of the year. In 2003, the first major heatwave of this century, daytime heat like this would still have been very rare, about 10 times less likely than today, while nighttime temperatures such as this June would have been more than a hundred times less likely in 2003.”

“Extreme heat is already reaching the limits of our societies’ ability to cope,” the group added.

The past week’s European heat wave was fierce, widespread, and prolonged – a perfect storm of torrid misery and danger, particularly in France. Early last week, temperatures soared as high as 44.6 degress Celsius (112 degrees Fahrenheit) in Bordeaux.

The brutal heat ignited a long-simmering debate on the role of air conditioning in France, where policy, custom, and legacy building styles have inhibited its use but where dense urban living without AC as heat waves worsen has led to horrific death tolls over the past 25 years.

Europe’s heat wave responsible for over 1,300 deaths

The World Health Organization said on Sunday that more than 1,300 excess deaths – those beyond the usual mortality rate for this time of year – have been recorded because of Europe’s record-breaking heat wave since June 21. Health officials in France independently reported 1,000 more deaths than expected in the country since Wednesday. The heat-related death toll is undoubtedly much higher, and we should expect the final toll from heat in Europe in 2026 will measure in the tens of thousands, as has occurred in each of the last four years.

Figure 1. Heat waves over the period 1900-2025 in which analyses have found that at least 100 heat-related deaths occurred.

The preliminary data for 2026 already makes the current heat wave the 15th-deadliest in world history. Most of these deadly heat waves have occurred in Europe. However, a 2026 paper found that one-day extreme heat waves in India in excess of the 97th percentile for temperature kill about 3,400 people, and five-day extreme heat waves kill about 30,000 people. There have been several heat waves of this magnitude in India in recent years, so India should have many more entries in Fig. 1 than shown.

The high heat death tolls in Europe are from a combination of factors:

• Building design: A lack of air conditioning, combined with architecture designed to retain heat during the long winters.
• Methodology: More rigorous techniques of reporting of heat deaths over time and as compared to other areas.
• Age: A relatively old population.
• Accelerated warming: According to the World Health Organization, Europe is the fastest-warming continent on Earth, heating at roughly twice the global average rate.

With heat, as with other phenomena such as hurricanes, scientists are now better able to comprehensively assess how extreme weather and climate events lead to premature death. National agencies and researchers once focused on heat-related deaths that were direct, such as those caused by heat stroke. Today, indirect heat-related deaths – for example, those caused by cardiovascular and respiratory conditions that are worsened by the heat and pollution trapped during heat waves – are being analyzed more comprehensively. This change is occurring at the same time extreme heat itself is getting measurably worse – and as heat-related adaptations actually improve in some places, in a high-pressure race with time and a warming planet.

More Euro heat to come?

Record and near-record heat may return over western Europe by late this week into the following week as the ridge of high pressure rebuilds. After highs in the 80s Fahrenheit this week, Paris is predicted to again approach 100°F by early next week. Likewise, London may boomerang from the 70s this week back toward or above 95°F next week.

The oceanic link to this summer’s heat in Europe

Because of the influence of the nearby Atlantic and Mediterranean, which take time to warm and cool with the seasons, the oceanic climates of Europe tend to see their most intense heat toward the latter months of summer. However, the waters adjoining Europe are enmeshed in a marine heat wave right now. Just south of France and Italy, the northwest Mediterranean sea surface temperature is running as high as eight degrees Celsius (14°F) above average.

West of Spain and Portugal, unusually high sea surface temperatures of 68°F (20°C) extend hundreds of miles to the west. This warm water is adding heat and moisture to the overlying atmosphere and stoking the humid heat plaguing France and the British Isles. As noted by meteorologist James Peacock (MetSwift) on X: “Usually if 20°C or higher [temperatures at 850 millibars] are to reach the UK, it has to come from the European landmass. Not so this summer, when it could just as easily come from the southwest …& be far more humid as a result. In the decades ahead, this may cease to be an unusual situation.”

Three firefighters die in Colorado

On Saturday afternoon, June 27, wildland firefighters with the Rifle Helitack crew engaged with the Snyder Fire in Mesa County, on the Colorado border with Utah. They experienced extreme fire weather conditions: high heat combined with winds gusting up to 57 mph (91 km/hr). The fast-moving flames overran their position, forcing five crew members to deploy their emergency fire shelters. Three firefighters were killed and two others were severely burned. The survivors were flown to a burn center, where they are being treated. Both U.S. Wildland Fire Service and Forest Service personnel were involved. The fire is estimated at over 28,000 acres.

The previous most recent line-of-duty fatality of a U.S. wildland firefighter occurred on September 26, 2025, when Isabella “Bella” Oscarson, a 26-year-old crew module leader with the Idaho Department of Lands, was killed while assisting with a prescribed burn in the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests in Idaho. She was fatally struck by a falling tree while working on the fire line.

“Burnover” incidents such as the one on Sunday, where firefighters are trapped by a fast-moving blaze, can be especially deadly. A total of 96 firefighters were killed and 78 injured in a total of 41 burnover incidents in the 28 years from 1990 through 2017, according to a USDA Forest Service report. Five incidents alone led to 44 of the fatalities.

Figure 2. A plume of dense smoke partially obscured the sun in Boulder, Colorado, on Sunday evening, June 28, 2026. The plume was generated by the Willow Fire, a few miles northwest of Leadville, Colorado, which exploded from five to about 1,000 acres on Sunday afternoon. As of midday Monday, the Willow Fire was 0% contained. (Image credit: Bob Henson)

An early and significant wildfire season in the Western U.S.

Significant wildland fire activity is occurring across multiple geographic areas in the U.S., with 3.1 million acres having burned so far in 2026. Over the past 10 years, only 2022 (with 3.6 million acres burned) was this active so early in the year. Today, the U.S. National Interagency Fire Center raised its national preparedness level to Preparedness Level 4 on a scale of one to five. The national preparedness level was last raised to the highest level, PL 5, on July 18, 2024. Reaching PL 5 indicates that the nation’s firefighting resources are severely stretched. It is triggered by a combination of high fire weather indices, widespread large fire activity, and an extreme demand for personnel and equipment. It is likely that PL 5 will be declared in July this year.

With an unusually strong trough of low pressure over the Southwest U.S. expected to bring strong winds and very little precipitation this week, firefighting resources will be strained, and there will be a continued high potential for new large fires to emerge across multiple geographic areas. The center wrote:

“The southern Intermountain West will continue to be plagued by dry and unusually windy conditions today. Extremely critical fire weather, with southwesterly winds gusting from 30-60 mph, locally stronger in favored downslope areas, along with relative humidity from 5-15% will be most likely across northern Arizona into eastern Utah, western Colorado and far northwestern New Mexico. These conditions are extraordinarily rare for late June, and impacts will likely be severe.”

Utah has seen the worst wildfire conditions in the U.S. this year, and the governor said that the 2026 wildfires have been the most destructive in Utah history. A State of Emergency has been declared for the state as five fires have run tens of thousands of acres, and a statewide ban on fireworks displays has been ordered for the July 4th weekend. Over 1,000 people statewide have been evacuated because of the fires.

The largest wildfire currently burning in the U.S. is the Cottonwood Fire in Utah, which is at 94,000 acres burned. Nearly 1,000 firefighters are deployed on the fire, which is 0% contained.

Smoke from the wildfires has thus far mostly avoided heavily populated areas, but you can follow the smoke forecasts for the fires by referencing our post from last year, 15 sources of wildfire smoke forecasts for North America.

Extreme heat records broken across Europe

At least 10 European nations or territories recently recorded all-time national highs, meaning the hottest single temperature ever reliably recorded at any town or city nationwide. Below are a few of these preliminary national records, as compiled by weather historian Christopher Burt (author of “Extreme Weather”), primarily from data posted by independent weather-records analyst Maximiliano Herrera. Note that all of the new records broke ones that occurred in late July or August, weeks later in summer than we are now:

Jersey (UK territory)
39.3°C (102.6°F) at Maison St. Louis on June 25
Old: 37.9°C (100.2°F) at Maison St. Louis on Jul. 18, 2022

Guernsey (UK territory)
36.4°C (97.5°F) at Rocquaine Bay on June 25
Old: 35.0°C (95.0°F) at Rocquaine Bay on Aug. 5, 2003

Luxembourg
40.9°C (105.6°F) at Reckange on June 26
Old: 40.8°C (105.4°F) at Steinsel on Jul. 25, 2019

Denmark
37.0°C (98.6°F) at Odum on June 27
Old: 36.4°C (97.5°F) at Holtstebro on Aug. 10, 1975

Germany
41.7°C (107.1°F) at Coschen on June 28
Old: 41.2°C (106.2°F) at two sites on Jul. 25, 2019

Czech Republic
41.9°C (107.4°F) at Doksany on June 28
Old: 40.4°C (104.7°F) at Dobrichovice on Aug. 20, 2012

Poland
40.5°C (104.9°F) at Slubice on June 28
Old: 40.2°C (104.4°F) at Proszkow on Jul. 29, 1921

Belarus
40.4°C (104.7°F) at Pinsk on June 29
Old: 38.9°C (102.0°F) at Gomel on Aug. 8, 2010

Slovakia
41.3°C (106.3°F) at Kamenice nad Hronom, June 30
Old: 41.0°C (105.8°F)at Tur?a nad Bodvou, June 29, 2026
Before that: 40.3°C (104.5°F) at Hurbanovo on Jul. 20, 2007

Hungary: 42.0°C (107.6°F) at Szecseny on June 30
Old: 41.9° (107.4°F) at Kiskunhalas on Jul. 20, 2007

Perhaps more extraordinary was the extreme humidity that accompanied the heat wave, which helped allow new all-time national records for highest minimum temperature to be set in every country in Europe except Italy and Greece, according to Herrera. His nomination for craziest record set in Europe was the 40.4°C (104.7°F) at Pinsk on June 29, which set a new all-time heat record for Belarus. Herrera commented:

Just think this:
All time record at Pinsk was 36.3°C in August 1905
??It took 121 years but it got smashed by 4.1°C
INSANE

On a 200-acre farm and cattle ranch in Bandera, Texas, Mollie Engelhart grows organic produce, sells raw milk, and writes a daily column about the power of regenerative agriculture. She’s a farmer and a Make America Healthy Again mom who doesn’t like being called a MAHA mom. She prefers to think of herself as “MAHA-aligned.”  

In May, Engelhart opened her ranch to a couple hundred pro-MAHA politicians, activists, and leaders for a two-day MAHA farming retreat. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., was there. Engelhart’s brother, Ryland, is one of the more well-known figureheads of the movement. 

Her biggest issue with the MAHA label is what she considers the “blue team or red team” politicization of it. Like many MAHA-aligned supporters, she voted for President Donald Trump in the last election largely because of RFK Jr.’s endorsement and their joint promise to clean up America’s chemical-laden food system. Back then, she had faith Trump would make good on that promise. But in the last year and half, that faith has frayed. 

“I think that one hundred percent the MAHA movement is very disappointed and disenchanted, and I am not the only one,” said Engelhart. “MAHA voters are homeless.” 

MAHA’s disenchantment with the Trump administration has much to do with its open support of Bayer, the manufacturer of the popular pesticide Roundup, which just won a Supreme Court case over the claim that the company failed to adequately warn users about the cancer risk of its weedkiller. First, the administration urged the Supreme Court to take up the case. Then, in February, the president signed an executive order that classified glyphosate-based herbicides like Roundup key to national security and called for increased domestic production of the chemical. In March, it was reported that top officials at the Environmental Protection Agency met with Bayer’s CEO to discuss “litigation” issues. The following month, the administration sent a lawyer to argue on behalf of the chemical company in a Supreme Court hearing. 

Tens of thousands of plaintiffs had sued Bayer, alleging that the active ingredient in Roundup has caused cancer and other health issues and that the company failed to follow state laws when it did not include a warning about cancer risk on its label. But now, the court’s ruling means that states cannot mandate more information on the product’s label than required by federal law, and any such claims against Bayer will have limited pathways of legal recourse. 

Just hours after the decision was released, Trump signed an executive order framed as boosting regenerative agriculture and American farm resilience. (Broadly speaking, the term “regenerative agriculture” refers to farming methodologies that boost soil health and its potential for carbon capture, though there is no federal standard or definition like there is for “organic,” leaving it open to interpretation — and, in some cases, greenwashing.) The contradictions between the two actions have sparked a new barrage of criticisms from MAHA voters. “It does seem a little schizophrenic,” said Engelhart. “None of us can be a one-issue voter anymore…I don’t think that anybody is just going to blindly go and vote for one party or another,” she added. 

That sentiment is already showing up in the data, though the picture is far from clear-cut. Polling results from last October found that roughly 74 percent of MAHA-supporters identified as Republicans, with 59 percent also identifying as Make America Great Again supporters — the president’s most loyal base. Meanwhile, a POLITICO poll conducted this spring revealed that 47 percent of self-identified MAHA respondents who voted for Trump believe the administration has not done enough to “Make America Healthy Again.” And a Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that 28 percent of MAHA voters somewhat or strongly disapprove of the way the administration is handling food and vaccine policy, which may affect turnout in the midterm elections that could decide control of Congress. Limiting pesticide use, however, remains one of the movement’s defining causes, with 94 percent of MAHA adherents in favor of reducing exposure to harmful chemicals. 

“The People vs the Poison” protesters gather at the U.S. Supreme Court in April. Tasos Katopodis / Getty Images

South Dakota farmer Jonathan Lundgren was at the White House on the day that the Supreme Court ruling was announced. Days earlier, he’d been invited to the Rose Garden for a dinner recognizing farmers and was asked to join Trump in the Oval Office for the signing of the regenerative agriculture executive order. Lundgren raises bees, sheep, and poultry, and grows flowers and apples on a 50-acre regenerative farm in Estelline, South Dakota. Like Engelhart, he shirks the political implication of identifying as MAHA, but considers himself aligned with the pro-regenerative agriculture and anti-pesticide faction of the movement.

“They needed some farmer faces to kind of give the whole thing a spin,” he said. Lundgren called the executive order “meaningful,” though it’s not lost on him that it doesn’t introduce new funding or regulations. 

Experts say it doesn’t do much at all. “It may sound great, but fundamentally, there’s nothing really new or substantive or meaningful in the EO that I can see that actually changes the equation for how the administration treats regenerative agriculture,” said Mike Lavender, policy director at the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. 

Inside the Oval Office meeting, Lundgren watched on as Kennedy’s team swiftly mobilized to try to soften the MAHA backlash to the Supreme Court ruling with the president’s executive order, which culminated in an explosive argument between a Department of Health and Human Services official and a top farming lobbyist who was concerned that the order would imply that there are safety issues in the U.S. food supply. Lundgren himself stopped using Roundup about eight years ago when he noticed that agrochemicals were “causing more problems than they were solving” on his farm. But he can’t escape the downwind effects of nearby farms that spray it. Right now, he’s watching scores of bees slow down before outright dying, and his orchard’s leaves cup from herbicide drift. Then there’s the human toll. 

“We’re sick this time of year, and it’s a direct result of all of these pesticides being applied. My family is sick. That ain’t right,” Lundgren told Grist. His daughter is grappling with asthma and allergy flare-ups while his farm staff battles recurring headaches and fatigue. “It’s so intense that we call it in my community ‘The Spray Flu.’”

He says these dual actions by the administration, as well as the EPA’s recent approval of yet another batch of pesticides that contain PFAS, often called “forever chemicals,” have changed how he plans to vote in the midterms. 

“We’re in a weird state right now that has never really happened before, where food safety and the health of our children is weighing very heavily on American politics,” said Lundgren. “This is far broader than the farming community. I think that this is consumers; I think this is parents; I think this is society at-large.” 

Others argue that, despite the administration’s recent pro-regenerative ag messaging, Trump’s track record of anti-climate and pro-chemical policies has not helped the movement to clean up the food system, but hindered it. 

Kelly Ryerson, a leading MAHA mom and co-founder of the farming organization American Regeneration, agrees that, when taken together, the ruling and the order reveal a disconnect. “It’s inconsistent, to say the least,” said Ryerson. “If Trump is going to be doing things like the Supreme Court situation, it’s certainly not what anyone voted for…it’ll be really hard to come back from this now.”

For Ryerson, a registered independent who voted for Trump, the two actions have shifted how she plans to approach the midterms. “I don’t care if they’re a Republican or Democrat, I’m going to support the candidate that wants to decrease toxic exposures,” she said. 

toolTips('.classtoolTips12','An acronym for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, PFAS are a class of chemicals used in everyday items like nonstick cookware, cosmetics, and food packaging that have proven to be dangerous to human health. Also called “forever chemicals” for their inability to break down over time, PFAS can be found lingering nearly everywhere — in water, soil, air, and the blood of people and animals.
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This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Trump tried to appease MAHA’s fury over Roundup. It backfired. on Jul 7, 2026.

Even though Sandhill Cranes stage in the Platte River valley in large numbers during the spring migration, this is not the case in the fall. During the months of September and October, cranes stage...

Here are some guidelines to consider as you plan your visit:All SeasonCrane viewing experiences vary over the course of the season, with unique benefits to early, mid, and late season viewing.We want...

Trees ― living, dead, and transformed ― play roles in the lives of three communities in New Haven, CT. Because trees themselves have life cycles, interact with other living and non-living actors, and have material and symbolic significance, they are central to the lives, livelihoods, wellbeing, and creation of meaning in various communities of people. […]

Struck by boats, choked by plastic and starved by pollution.

Four Ugandan farmers filed a case with London’s High Court on Tuesday, aiming to stop the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) from starting to operate by asking the court to apply Uganda’s laws against the project’s UK-registered company.

The controversial 1,443-kilometre (897-mile) pipeline, majority-owned by French energy company ​TotalEnergies, aims to carry crude from Ugandan fields for export through neighbouring Tanzania. About 80% has been built so far, according to its developers.

The pipeline’s first oil exports are expected as soon as October, according to its developers, and the campaign group Avaaz, which is backing the farmers’ crowdfunded lawsuit, called it “one final chance to stop one of the worst oil pipelines on the planet”.

The claim, filed by London law firm Leigh Day, argues that EACOP Ltd’s role in developing and operating the pipeline breaches Ugandan laws that protect citizens’ right to a clean and healthy environment.

• Mar 26, 2026 Justice Ugandan farmers use British court to try to stop East Africa oil pipeline The farmers and their lawyers will argue that a UK-based entity linked to the East African Crude Oil Pipeline has breached Ugandan law and construction should halt Read more
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• Mar 2, 2026 News Uganda cites contentious IEA fossil fuel scenario backed by Trump administration Critics of the African nation’s oil ambitions say referencing the International Energy Agency’s most pessimistic scenario for climate action is a risky policy Read more

One of the claimants, Racheal Tugume, told a press conference she had been displaced from her land due to the pipeline’s construction, which she said had damaged local rivers, wildlife and ecosystems that communities depend on for their livelihoods just as erratic weather linked to climate change takes an increasing toll. 

“I am very happy that there are people in countries like the UK who are listening to us, who are behind us and who have come to support us,” Tugume said, adding that she hoped the case would bring justice to communities affected by the pipeline.

Ugandan law in UK court

While the pipeline is a joint venture led by TotalEnergies, with smaller stakes owned by Ugandan, Tanzanian and Chinese national oil firms, it is operated by EACOP Ltd, a company registered to an office in London’s Canary Wharf financial district.  

EACOP Ltd did not respond to a request for comment. 

The claim appears to be the first attempt to have Uganda’s climate and environmental protections enforced in a foreign court, partly reflecting concerns over whether cases challenging the multibillion-dollar pipeline would get a fair trial in Uganda.

Ugandans living near new oil pipeline let down by compensation programmes

Concerns about access to a fair hearing are among the issues the court will consider when deciding if it should take on the case, said Matthew Renshaw, partner at Leigh Day.

Renshaw said that precedents including the Nigerian oil pollution case against Shell have shown that claims against British-registered companies for harms overseas can be successfully fought in UK courts. 

“We are proud to represent the four brave principled individuals,” Renshaw said.

Constitutional protections

The pipeline project has already been subject to repeated lawsuits in several countries, none of which have succeeded. A climate lawsuit filed in Uganda more than a decade ago by a group of young people has yet to conclude. Another at the East African Court of Justice, brought by campaign groups against Uganda and Tanzania, was rejected on procedural grounds last November. 

A separate ongoing lawsuit in TotalEnergies’ home country of France – a refiled version of an earlier failed claim – cannot stop EACOP going ahead, but it does seek damages from TotalEnergies for affected communities.

With the newly launched case, Leigh Day’s legal adviser Marc Willers said the claim draws on specific Ugandan laws in a bid to stop EACOP’s operations. 

Uganda may see lower oil revenues than expected as costs rise and demand falls

These include the Ugandan constitution, a 2019 environmental law and the National Climate Change Act 2021, which gives Ugandans the right to bring a case before a court in circumstances where anyone or any entity threatens the country’s ability to mitigate climate change.  

In response to the legal case in Britain, the African Energy Chamber – which represents and promotes the continent’s oil and gas industry – said Ugandans should decide the energy future of their country rather than the UK courts.

“This is colonialism 2.0,” said the chamber’s executive chairman NJ Ayuk. “For generations, Africa was told what resources it could exploit and how it should develop. Today, some of those same pressures are being repackaged through foreign-funded litigation and ideological campaigns that seek to dictate Africa’s energy choices from thousands of kilometres away.”

Stopping a “carbon bomb”

The pipeline, which will link Uganda’s Lake Albert oil fields to Africa’s east coast in Tanzania, has already displaced thousands of people and cuts through the Lake Victoria basin, one of East Africa’s major freshwater systems and a critical water source for around 40 million people. 

According to the BankTrack non-profit, when the pipeline is at peak production, it will carry 216,000 barrels of crude oil per day and release over 33 million tonnes of carbon emissions each year. Over its full lifetime of 25 years, it is estimated to release about 379 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions across its value chain including construction, refining and product use.

A May 2026 report from Earth Insight also warns that the pipeline and related infrastructure could affect 158 wetlands in Uganda, 11 rivers, 44 protected areas and seven key biodiversity areas while disrupting about 2,000 square km of protected wildlife habitats. 

This is why the primary focus of the UK court case is to stop the operation of the pipeline in its tracks, Leigh Day’s Willers said, calling it a “carbon bomb” that would worsen the world’s climate crisis.

Long wait for first hearing 

While the purpose of the case is to stop the pipeline from launching operations, Renshaw said it could take about 12 months before the case gets a first hearing and about 18 months before it goes to trial. 

Billions unlocked as Green Climate Fund agrees to spend more and save less

The farmers are, however, seeking an injunction to stop EACOP Ltd from proceeding with operations. In the event that shipments begin, the lawsuit will still seek to stop the pipeline from then on, Renshaw said.

“We will be doing what we can to expedite matters but it is possible that EACOP will have started operating the pipeline before the claim is heard. If that is the case, the claim would intend to halt operations from that point. For example, the pipeline may operate for just one year rather than 30-plus, resulting in far less harm,” he said.

This story was updated after publication to include comment from the African Energy Chamber, an oil and gas lobby group.

The post Ugandan farmers launch UK court case against East African oil pipeline appeared first on Climate Home News.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is rushing forward on travel management plans for two very different but spectacular areas: Trail Canyon, east of Zion National Park, and Dinosaur North, near Dinosaur National Monument. These travel plans will determine where off-road vehicles (ORVs) are allowed to travel in these areas for decades to come.

These wild landscapes highlight the beauty and diversity of public lands in Utah, from redrock canyons and forested plateaus in Trail Canyon to high plateaus that offer dramatic panoramic views of the Green River in Dinosaur North. Both areas are home to irreplaceable cultural sites and historic resources, spectacular recreation opportunities, and important habitat for elk, mule deer, bighorn sheep, and other species. 

Tell the BLM to Protect
Trail Canyon 
Tell the BLM to Protect
Dinosaur North 

Trail Canyon includes places like Moquith Mountain, Orderville Canyon, and the east and north forks of the Virgin River. Dinosaur North encompasses the John Wesley Powell National Conservation Area, Browns Park, and the B and C sections of the Green River (well known to river runners).

The BLM is currently accepting public comments on the draft travel management plans, each of which analyzes the varying impacts of four different off-road vehicle travel networks. For both travel plans, only Alternative B—modified by additional route closures—would comply with the BLM’s duties to protect natural and cultural resources and balance conflicts between motorized and non-motorized recreationists. In both cases Alternative B would remove redundant and particularly damaging routes while helping preserve wilderness study areas and other wilderness-quality lands.

Unfortunately, with both plans the BLM has signaled that it intends to prioritize ORVs at the expense of natural and cultural resources and to the detriment of hikers, bikers, hunters, paddlers, and other non-motorized recreationists.

The agency is accepting public comments through Wednesday, July 22. As a redrock advocate, it’s critical that you participate and make your voice heard. While the deadline is the same for each plan, they are being analyzed separately. Please click the links below to comment on each plan.

>> Click here to submit comments on Trail Canyon

>> Click here to submit comments on Dinosaur North

Do you know the Trail Canyon or Dinosaur North area especially well? Comments that draw from firsthand knowledge and experiences in these areas are the most effective. If you have a personal affinity for these landscapes and know them well, you may want to submit your comments directly through the BLM comment portal (found using the links above). Have questions? Send an email to our Utah Organizer Mimi Ortega and she’ll be happy to help guide you through the process. 

Thank you!

The post Take Action to Protect Trail Canyon & Dinosaur North appeared first on Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.

Even as the war grinds on, Ukraine continues to expand its civilian nuclear ambitions. Britain has tightened sanctions on Russia’s nuclear sector, while Western dependence on Rosatom remains stubbornly difficult to unwind. Meanwhile, Russia is deepening its strategic nuclear partnership with China as sanctions steadily narrow its options elsewhere. These are among the trends highlighted in Bellona’s May 2026 Nuclear Digest.

Ukraine builds for the future, even under fire

Despite the ongoing war and the continued occupation of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Ukraine is pressing ahead with an ambitious program to strengthen its nuclear sector.

In May, Energoatom launched domestic production of Westinghouse fuel components, another step toward ending its dependence on Russian nuclear fuel. Ukraine also secured an operating license for its centralized spent nuclear fuel storage facility, allowing it to permanently end shipments of spent fuel to Russia for storage. At the same time, discussions continue over construction of additional nuclear generating capacity.

Yet these advances come amid persistent military threats and renewed concerns over governance.

Throughout May, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported increased military activity around Ukrainian nuclear facilities, particularly the occupied Zaporizhzhia plant. Drone strikes, damage to infrastructure, repeated losses of external power, and competing narratives from Moscow and Kyiv continued to underscore the vulnerability of Europe’s largest nuclear station.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s anti-corruption authorities launched new investigations involving Energoatom officials, prompting corporate reforms and another reshuffling of the company’s supervisory board.

Bellona nuclear expert Alexander Nikitin argues that both realities must be considered together.

“Despite the ongoing war and the situation surrounding the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant and Ukraine’s other nuclear facilities, Energoatom—with the support of the country’s leadership—continues implementing projects aimed at supporting and developing nuclear energy,” he writes. Such efforts, he says, deserve international backing. But at the same time, “support should be accompanied by a careful assessment of their strategic necessity, economic justification, timeliness, and transparency in the use of allocated funds.”

Britain sanctions Russian uranium—but Western contradictions remain

Britain took another step toward reducing its reliance on Russia’s nuclear industry in May, introducing sanctions that prohibit imports of Russian uranium as well as related financial and technical services. The move expands London’s effort to eliminate Russian nuclear fuel from Britain’s energy system by 2028. Yet the practical impact is likely to be modest.

“Britain’s dependence on Russian uranium supplies is relatively small,” Bellona nuclear analyst Dmitry Gorchakov writes. Only one British reactor—Sizewell B—currently uses fuel incorporating Russian nuclear material, and Britain already possesses ample enrichment capacity through Urenco to replace those imports.

The sanctions nevertheless represent another symbolic tightening of Western pressure on Rosatom. At almost the same moment, however, Washington illustrated just how complicated disentangling from Russia’s nuclear supply chain remains.

Earlier in May, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved licenses allowing American companies to export natural uranium to Russia for enrichment before the material is returned for use in U.S. nuclear reactors. The approvals fall under exemptions included in last year’s U.S. ban on Russian enriched uranium imports, which allows waivers when alternative supplies are unavailable or national interests require them.

Taken together, the British sanctions and the U.S. licenses illustrate the contradictory position facing Western governments. Political pressure continues to increase, but decades of integration with Russia’s nuclear fuel cycle continue to make for a difficult divorce.

China becomes Rosatom’s indispensable partner

If sanctions are gradually shrinking Rosatom’s opportunities in Europe and North America, they appear to be pushing the Russian nuclear giant closer toward China.

During President Vladimir Putin’s May state visit to Beijing, Rosatom signed three new memoranda covering workforce development, fusion research, and broader scientific cooperation. The two governments also pledged to deepen cooperation on fast reactors, closed fuel cycles, and future nuclear construction projects.

For our experts, perhaps the most notable element was language calling for joint work on future nuclear power plant construction.

“The provision concerning joint work on nuclear power plant construction deserves particular attention,” Gorchakov writes. “We have repeatedly noted, including in our recently published report on Rosatom in 2025, that Rosatom’s relationship with China’s nuclear industry is strengthening.”

The reasons are clear.

“Given Rosatom’s increasingly difficult position on international markets due to Western sanctions, financial restrictions and the refusal of a number of Western suppliers to provide equipment, Rosatom is being forced to cooperate more closely with China,” Gorchakov concludes.

That cooperation is already extending beyond research. Chinese firms are supplying major components for Russia’s planned floating nuclear power plants, while discussions continue over using Chinese equipment in projects both inside Russia and abroad.

Taken together, the developments illustrate a nuclear industry increasingly shaped less by engineering than by geopolitics. Ukraine is trying to build an independent nuclear future while fighting a war. Western governments continue searching for ways to reduce their dependence on Rosatom without disrupting their own fuel supplies. And Russia, finding many traditional markets more difficult to navigate, is steadily deepening a strategic partnership with China that could reshape the global nuclear landscape for years to come.

The post Ukraine Pushes Ahead, the West Sends Mixed Signals, and China Draws Closer: Rosatom’s Uneasy Month appeared first on Bellona.org.

In 2026, the American Civil Liberties Union will make its largest-ever investment in down ballot races, marking a historic escalation in its “Firewall for Freedom” strategy to protect civil liberties across the country. As part of this new campaign, the ACLU will spend $25.5 million across underfunded but critical state-level campaigns with an outsized impact on American’s rights and freedoms, from key ballot initiatives to state Supreme Court races, secretaries of state races, and state legislative races.

“The ACLU and our millions of supporters across the country have been at the forefront of the fight to protect Americans’ civil rights and liberties, but these freedoms remain under attack both at the federal level and in the states. We need to fight back,” said Deirdre Schifeling, ACLU chief political and advocacy officer. “The Firewall for Freedom campaign will allow the ACLU to stop efforts to restrict reproductive and voting rights and protect our democracy at every level of the ballot. We see where the threats are emerging, and we and our supporters are ready to respond. This is our largest-ever down ballot effort with plans to contact hundreds of thousands of voters across our key states to help protect our fundamental rights and freedoms.”

In recent campaign cycles, the ACLU and ACLU Foundation together have emerged as the largest institutional player in the ballot measure space on issues of reproductive freedom and democracy, with notable victories in Arizona, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Michigan, Montana, and Ohio.

The ACLU and ACLU Voter Education Fund together have also become one of the biggest spenders in state Supreme Court races. Meanwhile state and local offices have proven increasingly decisive in determining the future of key rights and liberties, including voting rights, abortion access, and LGBTQ rights.

This new $25.5 million campaign is a response to the new threats to civil liberties emerging at every level of the ballot and will be complemented by the ACLU’s national organizing infrastructure that helps educate voters and mobilize communities. Working with the ACLU’s 54 affiliates, the ACLU and the ACLU Foundation will work to beat back ballot measures aimed at overturning hard-fought victories to protect abortion rights and overturning the will of the people, as well as investing in initiatives to protect state courts from politicized judicial selections. The ACLU and ACLU Voter Education Fund will educate voters about important state Supreme Court races that impact civil rights and freedoms and equip them with information about how supermajorities in state legislatures can impact civil liberties across the country.

The Firewall for Freedom effort will target the following races, ensuring they have the resources to educate voters to make informed decisions when so many resources are flooding into federal campaigns:

• Seven ballot measures addressing civil liberties in Montana, Kansas, Missouri, and Virginia.
• Supreme Court races in Michigan, Montana, and North Carolina.
• State legislative races in Georgia, Michigan, Montana and North Carolina.
• Secretary of state races in Arizona and Nevada.

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border: 2px solid var(--mwac-black) !important; border-radius: 0 !important; padding: 12px !important; font-size: 16px !important; background: #fff !important; color: var(--mwac-black) !important; min-height: 46px; } .mwac-sinhue-page .mwac-sinhue-widget .can_embed textarea { min-height: 190px !important; } .mwac-sinhue-page .mwac-sinhue-widget .can_embed input:focus, .mwac-sinhue-page .mwac-sinhue-widget .can_embed textarea:focus, .mwac-sinhue-page .mwac-sinhue-widget .can_embed select:focus { outline: 3px solid var(--mwac-yellow) !important; outline-offset: 1px !important; } .mwac-sinhue-page .mwac-sinhue-widget .can_embed .can_button, .mwac-sinhue-page .mwac-sinhue-widget .can_embed input[type="submit"], .mwac-sinhue-page .mwac-sinhue-widget .can_embed button[type="submit"], .mwac-sinhue-page .mwac-sinhue-widget .can_embed #form_col1 input[type="submit"], .mwac-sinhue-page .mwac-sinhue-widget .can_embed #action_welcome_message #action_welcome_message_inner a { background: var(--mwac-red) !important; color: var(--mwac-white) !important; border: 3px solid var(--mwac-black) !important; border-radius: 0 !important; box-shadow: 5px 5px 0 var(--mwac-black) !important; padding: 14px 18px !important; font-weight: 950 !important; font-size: 18px !important; text-transform: none !important; width: 100% !important; text-align: center !important; } .mwac-sinhue-page .mwac-sinhue-widget .can_embed .can_button:hover, .mwac-sinhue-page .mwac-sinhue-widget .can_embed input[type="submit"]:hover, .mwac-sinhue-page .mwac-sinhue-widget .can_embed button[type="submit"]:hover { background: var(--mwac-dark-red) !important; transform: translate(1px, 1px); box-shadow: 4px 4px 0 var(--mwac-black) !important; } .mwac-sinhue-page .mwac-sinhue-widget .can_embed .ajax-loading { margin: 12px auto !important; } .mwac-sinhue-page .mwac-sinhue-widget .can_embed .international_link-wrap, .mwac-sinhue-page .mwac-sinhue-widget .can_embed .country_wrap { font-size: 14px !important; } .mwac-sinhue-footer-note { background: var(--mwac-black); color: var(--mwac-white); padding: 18px; margin-top: 36px; font-size: 15px; font-weight: 700; } .mwac-sinhue-footer-note a { color: var(--mwac-yellow) !important; font-weight: 900; } @media (max-width: 880px) { .mwac-sinhue-grid { grid-template-columns: 1fr; } .mwac-sinhue-form-card { position: static; box-shadow: 7px 7px 0 var(--mwac-red); } .mwac-sinhue-cta-mobile { display: block; } .mwac-sinhue-button { width: 100%; } } @media (max-width: 520px) { .mwac-sinhue-wrap { padding-left: 14px; padding-right: 14px; } .mwac-sinhue-title { font-size: 42px; } .mwac-sinhue-callout, .mwac-sinhue-form-card { box-shadow: 5px 5px 0 var(--mwac-black); } .mwac-sinhue-form-card { box-shadow: 5px 5px 0 var(--mwac-red); } } Urgent action: Tell Niagara, Ontario and Canada to act before more migrant workers are hurt or killed. Justice for Sinhue Garcia Safer roads and support for migrant workers now.

Sinhue Garcia, a migrant farmworker from Mexico, was killed while riding his bicycle in rural Niagara-on-the-Lake. He leaves behind a wife, two children, and many loved ones. He is not the first. At least six other migrant farmworkers have been killed or seriously injured on Niagara roads in recent years.

Send the email now

We grieve with Sinhue’s family, friends, co-workers, and the migrant worker community. But his death is not an isolated tragedy.

Migrant farmworkers keep Niagara’s farms, greenhouses, wineries, restaurants, and food system running. Too many have no choice but to travel long rural roads by bike or on foot, often at night, without safe transportation, wide shoulders, bike lanes, proper lighting, or access to public transit.

This is a public safety crisis and a serious gap in planning, infrastructure, and political responsibility.

We are calling for a migrant worker safety and support plan for Niagara.

• Safe transportation for migrant workers.
• Urgent road safety improvements.
• Emergency support for workers and families after injuries or deaths.
• Permanent funding for legal support, health services, and community spaces.
• Permanent resident status so migrant workers can speak up without fear.

Migrant workers are not disposable. They are our neighbours, co-workers, friends, and community members. They deserve to live with dignity.

Send an email now to Niagara-on-the-Lake, Niagara Region, Ontario, Canada, and election candidates.

This petition is co-hosted by Niagara Community Legal Clinic, Migrant Workers Alliance for Change and other local migrant worker organizations.

Send the email

Add your name. You can edit the message before sending.

One message goes to all listed decision-makers. It takes less than two minutes. Every message increases public pressure. Migrant workers feed our communities, care for our families, and keep the economy running. Safety, support and permanent resident status cannot wait.

The post Petition: Justice for Sinhue Garcia. Safer roads and support for migrant workers now. first appeared on Migrant Workers Alliance for Change.

The post Petition: Justice for Sinhue Garcia. Safer roads and support for migrant workers now. appeared first on Migrant Workers Alliance for Change.

Michigan (July 3, 2026) – Michigan’s FY27 Budget includes $2 million for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources to acquire and conserve wetlands throughout the state, a critical...

Registered nurses at two Ascension hospitals in Wichita, Kansas, are outraged today as Ascension management has locked them out for days following nurses’ one-day strike on July 6. The nurses at Ascension Via Christi St. Francis and St. Joseph hospitals say the move is an obvious retaliatory punishment for striking.

National Nurses United has rescinded our endorsement of Graham Platner. As a union of registered nurses that advocates for the dignity of all human beings and represents a predominantly female profession, we cannot support a candidate when there is any question about whether that person has harmed, harassed, or assaulted another individual.

Millions of low- and middle-income Americans are losing health coverage because the Trump administration allowed the subsidies that made it affordable to lapse, according to a new Public Citizen analysis of government data. The analysis contradicts claims by Trump administration health officials that removal of fraudulent enrollees is responsible for declining Obamacare enrollment.

Enrollment in the Affordable Care Act marketplace decreased from 22.3 million people in 2025 to an estimated 17.5 million in 2026. Administration officials, including Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz, have attributed the decline to the removal of fraudulent enrollees. Public Citizen’s analysis, which uses the government’s own enrollment data, has found that explanation to be almost entirely wrong.

“The people losing coverage are concentrated at incomes well above the poverty line – exactly the opposite of what the administration’s fraud theory would predict,” said Peter Whoriskey, Health Research Group research director for Public Citizen and author of the report. “These are low- and middle-income families whose premiums doubled after subsidies were cut. They didn’t cheat their way in. They simply can’t afford to stay.”

The administration’s fraud theory – which originated with the Paragon Health Institute, a think tank aligned with the Trump administration – holds that millions of enrollees misreported income just above the federal poverty level to qualify for subsidies. If the theory were correct, the sharpest enrollment declines would appear at that income level.

Instead, enrollment in that bracket has grown. Nearly half of all enrollment losses are among people earning more than four times the poverty level – families whose subsidies were cut when congressional Republicans allowed the enhanced premium tax credits to expire.