Seed diversity is disappearing — and 3 chemical companies own more than half

Ten thousand years after humans became less nomadic and learned how to cultivate crops, veteran investigative journalist Mark Schapiro plunges into the struggle already underway for control of seeds, the ground-zero ingredient for our food. Three-quarters of the seed varieties on Earth in 1900 had become extinct by 2015. In “Seeds of Resistance,” Schapiro takes us to the front lines of a struggle over the seeds that remain — a struggle that will determine the long-term security of our food supply in the face of unprecedented climate volatility.

Seed diversity is disappearing — and 3 chemical companies own more than half Salon

Insulin’s High Cost Leads To Lethal Rationing

The price of insulin in the U.S. has more than doubled since 2012. That has put the life-saving hormone out of reach for some people with diabetes, like Smith-Holt’s son Alec Raeshawn Smith. It has left others scrambling for solutions to afford the one thing they need to live.

Insulin’s High Cost Leads To Lethal Rationing NPR

FEMA to test ‘Presidential Alert’ system next week

President Donald Trump may soon be communicating with you directly on your phone — even if you don’t follow him on Twitter.

Next Thursday, the Federal Emergency Management Agency will do its first test of a system that allows the president to send a message to most U.S. cellphones.

FEMA to test ‘Presidential Alert’ system next week NBC News

Hurricane Maria was a manmade disaster. Hundreds of families told us what really happened

After Hurricane Maria, many Puerto Ricans with treatable ailments like bedsores and kidney problems died agonizing and unnecessary deaths, according to dozens of accounts from family members. This was a slow-motion, months-long disaster that continued even as Donald Trump lauded his administration’s response to the category 4 storm.

The chaos that followed in Maria’s wake changed the face of death in Puerto Rico. Young people’s deaths spiked, surpassing the growth in the death rate among the elderly, despite the widespread belief that the hurricane only affected older people and those with preexisting conditions. Deaths from sepsis, a life-threatening complication from infection, rose nearly 44% to 325, compared to the previous three years; kidney-disease-related deaths rose nearly 43%, to 211.

The spikes in deaths due to sepsis and kidney disease are red flags, but they’re only part of the story, as well as other causes of death which rose from 20% to 45% in the three months after Maria: pneumonitis, primary hypertension and renal hypertension, pneumonia and influenza, respiratory disease, Alzheimer’s, heart disease, and suicide.

Hurricane Maria was a manmade disaster. Hundreds of families told us what really happened Quartz

The Perfect Storm: How Climate Change and Wall Street Almost Killed Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico has not recovered. In fact, it’s arguably as close to collapse as it has ever been. The power is on and the roads are open, but if you look closely, the entire island is held together with duct tape and baling wire. Tens of thousands of people are still living under the blue tarps that were installed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency on houses that had their roofs blown off during the storm. Engineers are still discovering bridges that are in danger of collapsing, and every time it rains, new leaks are found in concrete foundations. Unlike, say, New York after Hurricane Sandy, there is no sense that the rebuilding is guaranteed, or that there is a better future ahead.

The Perfect Storm: How Climate Change and Wall Street Almost Killed Puerto Rico Rolling Stone

In Trump’s trade wars, China’s unexpected win: More friends

Under pressure from President Trump’s tariff war, China has embarked on a charm offensive on the diplomatic circuit, smoothing over old disputes and courting partners who could help Beijing weather the storm with Washington. Germany, which perennially harangued Beijing over market access restrictions, recently let Chinese investors hold bigger shares in joint ventures in a significant concession. South Korea, the target of withering Chinese boycotts last year over its deployment of a U.S. missile defense system, is seeing Chinese tourism revenue and automobile sales return.

This week, China’s relations with its heavyweight neighbor, Japan, reached its highest level in years. After meeting at a summit in Russia, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced that China will welcome Abe on his first state visit to Beijing next month

In Trump’s trade wars, China’s unexpected win: More friends Washington Post

How the Largest Banks Are Leading Us to a New Financial Crisis

While a Second Great Depression was thereby averted, the world nevertheless experienced a devastating Great Recession, the most severe economic downturn since the Great Depression. In a direct answer to this economic calamity, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank”) was enacted on July 21, 2010.

How the Largest Banks Are Leading Us to a New Financial Crisis INET

Video showing how heavy metal fire doors automatically slam shut in building where white Dallas cop shot her black neighbor and apartment numbers are lit up in NEON contradict her story

• Police officer Amber Guyger, who fatally shot her black upstairs neighbor Botham Jean, claimed that his door was already ajar when she entered at 10 pm
• But video obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com shows that the doors in the Dallas apartment building automatically slam shut if let go
• A second video shows Guyger could not have used her key to force open his door 
• Apartment door numbers are also clearly visible and lit up in neon
• DailyMail.com can also reveal that Guyger had made noise complaints about Jean, 26, to the building management in the days before his death.

Video showing how heavy metal fire doors automatically slam shut in building where white Dallas cop shot her black neighbor and apartment numbers are lit up in NEON contradict her story Daily Mail

Coal ash and hog manure could flood vulnerable communities in Hurricane Florence’s path

North Carolina is home to 31 coal ash pits where Duke Energy stores an estimated 111 million tons of toxic waste produced by coal-fired power plants. The state is also home to thousands of manure pits, known euphemistically as “lagoons,” which hold approximately 10 billion pounds of wet waste generated each year by swine, poultry, and cattle operations. …

The media has been amping up its coverage of potential Hurricane Florence damage. But so far they’re missing an important part of the story — that African-Americans and other communities of color could be hit particularly hard by the resulting pollution. They’re also failing to note how the Trump administration has been loosening regulations and oversight in ways that could make coal ash and hog-waste spills more likely.

Coal ash and hog manure could flood vulnerable communities in Hurricane Florence’s path Grist

The U.S. is holding a record 12,800 migrant children in detention

Even though hundreds of children separated from their families after crossing the border have been released under court order, the overall number of migrant children under detention has exploded to the highest ever recorded

The huge increases, which have placed the federal shelter system near capacity, are due not to an influx of children entering the country, but a reduction in the number being released to live with families and other sponsors

Detention of Migrant Children Has Skyrocketed to Highest Levels Ever NY Times