Source: US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
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Jun 3, 2025 1730 UTC Day 2 Convective Outlook
Updated: Tue Jun 3 17:13:18 UTC 2025 (Print Version | | )
Probabilistic to Categorical Outlook Conversion Table
Forecast Discussion
SPC AC 031713
Day 2 Convective Outlook NWS Storm Prediction Center Norman OK 1213 PM CDT Tue Jun 03 2025
Valid 041200Z – 051200Z
…THERE IS A MARGINAL RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN THE SOUTHWEST TO THE SOUTHERN HIGH PLAINS AND EASTERN MIDWEST…
…SUMMARY… Isolated severe hail and wind are possible from mid-afternoon Wednesday through early morning Thursday in parts of the Southwest. Isolated damaging winds and marginally severe hail may occur across the eastern Midwest from mid-afternoon to evening.
…Synopsis… A broad, positively tilted trough will dominate much of the weather pattern across the CONUS on Wednesday with a base across the Southwest and a trough axis extending toward the northern Plains. Multiple shortwaves will be embedded within this flow which may result in focused regions of thunderstorms on Wednesday. At the surface, a stalled front will extend from the Great Lakes to Far West Texas. This front will be a focus for storm development Wednesday afternoon/evening.
…Eastern Midwest… Showers and thunderstorms will likely be ongoing along a frontal zone from the Ozarks to the western Great Lakes Wednesday morning. Convergence will be weak through the day as the front/composite outflow slowly shifts east through the period. Weak to potentially moderate instability will develop ahead of the front as temperatures warm into the upper 70s to low 80s with dewpoints in the 60s. Overall forcing will be weak with rising heights aloft and weakening convergence along the frontal zone. Moderate shear will be present through much of the day, but it will be oriented parallel to the frontal zone which is less favorable for sustained severe storms. An environment featuring weak to moderate instability and moderate deep-layer shear will support some isolated large hail and damaging wind gusts. However, a more organized threat does not appear likely.
…Southwest into Southern High Plains… A weak mid-level shortwave trough and associated jet streak will move east across the Southwest on Wednesday. Ahead of this feature, low-level flow will veer and bring low-level moisture northwestward across eastern New Mexico. Weak to potentially moderate instability will develop by mid-day with thunderstorms likely initially over the higher terrain and eventually shifting east. Moderate shear will support the potential for a few supercells capable of large hail and severe wind gusts. These storms may be somewhat on the smaller side given the weaker buoyancy. However, there is a conditional risk for one or two larger/stronger supercells to persist into the evening across the Texas Panhandle if moisture/instability can recover ahead of the storms moving out of New Mexico.
Strong shear will be present across southeast New Mexico into Far West Texas beneath the mid-level jet streak. If sufficient instability can develop far enough west into the higher terrain, a few supercells are possible with a primary threat for large hail.
..Bentley.. 06/03/2025
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Source: US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
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Jun 3, 2025 1630 UTC Day 1 Convective Outlook
Updated: Tue Jun 3 16:27:11 UTC 2025 (Print Version | | )
Probabilistic to Categorical Outlook Conversion Table
Forecast Discussion
SPC AC 031627
Day 1 Convective Outlook NWS Storm Prediction Center Norman OK 1127 AM CDT Tue Jun 03 2025
Valid 031630Z – 041200Z
…THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS FROM PORTIONS OF THE CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN PLAINS INTO THE MIDWEST…
…SUMMARY… Scattered severe thunderstorms are possible from the southern Great Plains to the Midwest. Damaging winds and large hail are the primary concerns.
…Central/Southern Plains into the Midwest… Water-vapor imagery late this morning shows a mid-level shortwave trough over the central Great Plains, embedded within larger upper troughing centered over MT/WY and the Dakotas that extends over much of the north-central U.S. A cold front extends from the western Great Lakes southwestward to a weak low near the OK/KS/TX Panhandle region. An extensive area of showers and thunderstorms exists from KS eastward into the mid MS Valley near the frontal zone.
A low-predictability forecast scenario regarding specific details of storm evolution is expected this afternoon into the evening. A relatively weak capping inversion was sampled by the 12 UTC Norman, OK and Fort Worth/Midland, TX raobs (9 to 10 deg C at 700 mb) over the southern Great Plains. Heating in wake of morning convection and related cloud debris will promote a very unstable boundary layer by early to mid afternoon. Expecting a diurnal increase in low-level moisture coincident with the evapotranspiration cycle and lowest 100-mb mean mixing ratios increasing from 14-15 to 16-17 g/kg (translated to surface dewpoints rising from 68-70 to 72-76 deg F). Forecast soundings show 2500-3500 J/kg MLCAPE from southwest MO into central TX. The 12 UTC model run of the NAM appears to be an unrealistic outlier solution showing enhanced low-level shear across OK during the afternoon. As convective inhibition erodes across the southern Great Plains east of a dryline/cold front and south of reinforced outflow draped across southern KS into northern MO, expecting scattered to numerous thunderstorms to develop during the afternoon into the evening period. Severe gusts and large hail appear to be the primary severe hazards. Strong to occasionally severe thunderstorms should continue along the front as it moves into TX Hill Country tonight. An elongated corridor of low-tornado potential will be maintained this outlook update from the southern Great Plains northeastward through the lower MO Valley and into the western Great Lakes. A belt of 40-kt 2 km southwesterly flow will be maintained across western into northern MO and spatially overlapping outflow in the lower MO Valley. Limited heating will temper the overall buoyancy across the northern half of MO into IA, likely tempering the overall severe risk. Additionally, with the line-parallel orientation of the deep-layer shear across this region, the expectation is for a predominantly linear storm mode, with occasional bowing segments capable of producing damaging gusts.
..Smith/Flournoy.. 06/03/2025
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Source: US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Mesoscale Discussion 1090
Mesoscale Discussion 1090 NWS Storm Prediction Center Norman OK 1259 PM CDT Tue Jun 03 2025
Areas affected…Eastern Kansas northeastward into southeastern Iowa and west-central Illinois
Concerning…Severe potential…Watch likely
Valid 031759Z – 032000Z
Probability of Watch Issuance…80 percent
SUMMARY…Widespread thunderstorms are expected this afternoon from eastern Kansas northeastward into southeastern Iowa and west-central Illinois. Severe wind gusts and large hail will be the primary threats, but a tornado or two is possible particularly across west-central Missouri and points northeastward.
DISCUSSION…A strong-to-severe thunderstorm complex is intensifying in southeastern Kansas ahead of a cold front draped southwestward across the region. The leading edge of the system is more cold-pool-driven, and additional semi-discrete development has occurred to the southwest. Up to 1″ hail has been reported recently with these more discrete updrafts. A continued threat for large hail and severe wind gusts is anticipated as this activity continues to develop and mature as it progresses northeastward throughout the afternoon.
On the broader scale, this convection is located downstream of a mid-level shortwave trough sliding east-northeastward through the region. Ample boundary-layer moisture is present that — combined with temperatures breaching 80 F amidst some low-level cloud cover — is contributing to moderate instability. This will contribute to continued convective maturation this afternoon as bulk shear around 40-50 kts persists ahead of the shortwave trough. Short-term CAM guidance depicts a gradual uptick in system intensity with a mix of QLCS and semi-discrete structures. The primary threats will be severe winds and large hail with the strongest supercellular storms, as well as a slightly broader wind threat if convection along the leading cold pool edge re-intensifies. A tornado or two is possible later this afternoon in northern Missouri where any supercellular structures might be present amidst slightly greater low-level shear during peak heating. Watch issuance is likely this afternoon to address these threats.
Source: US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Note: The expiration time in the watch graphic is amended if the watch is replaced, cancelled or extended.Note: Click for Watch Status Reports. SEL9
URGENT – IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED Tornado Watch Number 359 NWS Storm Prediction Center Norman OK 135 PM CDT Tue Jun 3 2025
The NWS Storm Prediction Center has issued a
* Tornado Watch for portions of Far Eastern Kansas West-Central into Northeastern Missouri
* Effective this Tuesday afternoon and evening from 135 PM until 800 PM CDT.
* Primary threats include… A couple tornadoes possible Scattered damaging wind gusts to 70 mph possible Isolated large hail events to 1.5 inches in diameter possible
SUMMARY…An organizing band of storms will likely move northeast across the Watch along and north of modified outflow. Moist low levels and moderately strong low-level shear across the Watch will support a risk for a couple of tornadoes. A threat for damaging gusts will probably accompany the stronger storms.
The tornado watch area is approximately along and 55 statute miles east and west of a line from 20 miles east northeast of Kirksville MO to 45 miles south southeast of Olathe KS. For a complete depiction of the watch see the associated watch outline update (WOUS64 KWNS WOU9).
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…
REMEMBER…A Tornado Watch means conditions are favorable for tornadoes and severe thunderstorms in and close to the watch area. Persons in these areas should be on the lookout for threatening weather conditions and listen for later statements and possible warnings.
&&
AVIATION…Tornadoes and a few severe thunderstorms with hail surface and aloft to 1.5 inches. Extreme turbulence and surface wind gusts to 60 knots. A few cumulonimbi with maximum tops to 500. Mean storm motion vector 24035.
…Smith
Note: The Aviation Watch (SAW) product is an approximation to the watch area. The actual watch is depicted by the shaded areas. SAW9 WW 359 TORNADO KS MO 031835Z – 040100Z AXIS..55 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST OF LINE.. 20ENE IRK/KIRKSVILLE MO/ – 45SSE OJC/OLATHE KS/ ..AVIATION COORDS.. 50NM E/W /18ENE IRK – 4ESE BUM/ HAIL SURFACE AND ALOFT..1.5 INCHES. WIND GUSTS..60 KNOTS. MAX TOPS TO 500. MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 24035.
LAT…LON 40219116 38249340 38249543 40219324
THIS IS AN APPROXIMATION TO THE WATCH AREA. FOR A COMPLETE DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE WOUS64 KWNS FOR WOU9.
Watch 359 Status Report Message has not been issued yet.
Note: Click for Complete Product Text.Tornadoes
Probability of 2 or more tornadoes
Mod (30%)
Probability of 1 or more strong (EF2-EF5) tornadoes
Low (20%)
Wind
Probability of 10 or more severe wind events
Mod (50%)
Probability of 1 or more wind events > 65 knots
Low (20%)
Hail
Probability of 10 or more severe hail events
Low (20%)
Probability of 1 or more hailstones > 2 inches
Low (20%)
Combined Severe Hail/Wind
Probability of 6 or more combined severe hail/wind events
High (70%)
For each watch, probabilities for particular events inside the watch (listed above in each table) are determined by the issuing forecaster. The “Low” category contains probability values ranging from less than 2% to 20% (EF2-EF5 tornadoes), less than 5% to 20% (all other probabilities), “Moderate” from 30% to 60%, and “High” from 70% to greater than 95%. High values are bolded and lighter in color to provide awareness of an increased threat for a particular event.
Source: Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority
SANDRA MOON [HOST]: It is 10.37, and you’ve no doubt seen all of the work that has been happening with the Inland Rail Project. There’s been bridge works, track duplication – even a makeover for Wangaratta’s train station is part of the Beveridge to Albury part of the project. And today, that new station is going to officially open. The Federal Minister for Transport and Regional Development, Catherine King, will be there for the formalities, and is with you now. Good morning.
CATHERINE KING [MINISTER]: Good morning, Sandra. Lovely to be here in Wangaratta.
SANDRA MOON: Yeah, it’s a big makeover for the Wangaratta train station.
CATHERINE KING: I’m really looking forward to seeing it. I’ve heard lots about it. This, of course, marks the completion of the work of the first tranche of the Albury to Beveridge section of Inland Rail. Inland Rail is delivering that project on behalf of the Australian Government, and the Wangaratta precinct and the station upgrade, pedestrian underpass, disability standards for the station have been a really great part of the benefit coming to the community from Inland Rail. Not only are we delivering Inland Rail to get freight off our roads as much as we possibly can, but we’re also trying to improve the amenity as we go along the way as we build this project.
SANDRA MOON: And so when we look at Inland Rail for residents in the northeast of the state here, what sort of difference will it make for them?
CATHERINE KING: Well, it’s ostensibly a freight project. So, what we’re trying to do is get from Melbourne to Brisbane. First, we’re doing the section from Melbourne to Parkes to where- and then that allows us to get more freight onto rail. So that’s less trucks travelling on our roads and on our interstate routes in particular, where there’s a heavy load from our heavy vehicles, so trying to get more freight on. So really, Inland Rail delivers that, and productivity and freight.
But as we’ve gone along the road, we’ve actually improved road access. We’ve been improving pedestrian access. In the case of Wangaratta, of course, improving the station and also bringing up its disability compliance as well, which some of these older stations have really struggled with.
SANDRA MOON: And when it’s finished, the Government has promised that freight will get from Brisbane to Melbourne in less than 24 hours. How far off that are we?
CATHERINE KING: Well, we did a major review when we came to government three years ago, the Schott review, to really look at what was happening with Inland Rail. It was a project that had, frankly, blown out in costs. There had been some significant problems in terms of the way in which it was being managed, so we had a lot of work to do to clean that up. We accepted all of the recommendations of the Schott review. What we’ve been concentrating on is getting the Inland Rail project built to Parkes – that opens us up to being able to get freight to the west and also into Port of Botany and into Newcastle. And we’re progressing with the work to get planning approval – we haven’t got planning approval yet – through the rest of New South Wales and then into Queensland, and then we’ll start construction once we’ve got those planning approvals in place. But we’ve had to do quite a bit of work in government to really clean this project up, and there’s some big investments that we’ll still need to make.
SANDRA MOON: Well, it certainly is an absolutely huge project, and I’m sure that there’ll be many people in the local area that are happy to see the completion of some of these as they start to roll out.
CATHERINE KING: It’s a really complex project. It’s over 1600 kilometres of track, which is basically the biggest infrastructure project in the country. And it is also- as I said, it’s interacting between freight and passenger route as well. And so that, again, adds to the complexities. You’ve got to keep passenger trains- you’ve got to be able to keep trains going at the same time as you’re building this really significant infrastructure project.
SANDRA MOON: On ABC Goulburn Murray, you’re hearing from the Federal Minister for Transport and Regional Development, Catherine King, who is also the Minister for Local Government. So, while I do have you, we’ve heard a lot from state inquiries around councils really struggling to make ends meet. You referred the issue to a federal inquiry last year, and councils are expected to struggle even more when the Victorian Government’s new emergency services levy comes into force – which, of course, has been extremely controversial in this part of the world. What will the Federal Government be doing this term to help councils be even more sustainably funded?
CATHERINE KING: Well, the first thing is, as you have quite rightly pointed out, local government is a level of government in and of its own right, and it interacts most closely with state governments, and state governments have responsibilities in relation to local government. At the federal level, we’ve had- we obviously provide millions of dollars in financial assistance grants, which recognises that there is some infrastructure and services that are beyond the capacity of councils to raise rates for in and of their own right. And the Federal Government has an interest, particularly in things like child care and aged care, in terms of those sorts of services, but also making sure that they’ve got untied money for roads.
A while back, we also recognised that because of particularly the 2022 weather events that many councils were struggling, and post-COVID struggling with the costs of keeping up with some of those roads. So, we wanted to make a contribution to that. We’re not responsible 100 per cent for that, but what we did is we doubled the amount of Roads to Recovery, and that’ll steadily climb in our term up to $1 billion dollars. So that’s a billion dollars per year that will be distributed to councils. We received an interim report that was tabled at that House of Reps committee. They’ll, I assume, reconvene and continue with their work and provide the Parliament with a final report, and the Government will look at that and look at the recommendations of what we can implement.
In particular, I think where the Federal Government really is looking for assistance from local government is in the delivery of the 1.2 million homes. Local government has a really significant role to play in assisting, particularly in improving the planning process to get those homes up and built as quickly as possible, and to add to the productivity of the construction sector. So, if we’re going to do things in relation to local government, it will be in relation to issues like that.
SANDRA MOON: Well, we thank you for your time this morning, and I’m sure that you will understand if we’re not unhappy if it does rain just a little bit today, that would be great.
CATHERINE KING: [Laughs] Absolutely. Out my way- my electorate’s Ballarat, and we’re as dry- have been as dry as anything. We’re pretty windy today, so I hear, but just the rain is so, so welcome. Despite the fact that it’s got cold, we really desperately need the rain.
SANDRA MOON: We do indeed.
CATHERINE KING: It’s terrible to see, you know? What a country. We’ve got drought through South Australia and Vic and WA, and floods in New South Wales. Just horrendous at the moment.
SANDRA MOON: Yeah. Thank you again for your time.
CATHERINE KING: Good to be with you, Sandra.
SANDRA MOON: Federal Minister for Transport and Regional Development, that’s Catherine King, who is in in town in Wangaratta for the official opening of the Wangaratta train station as part of the Inland Rail Network, with the sort of Beveridge to Albury part of the project.
A new milestone has been reached in efforts to clean up the Tamar Estuary.
Construction of the impressive 10-megalitre storage tank at Ti Tree Bend is progressing with the concrete walls and floors complete and the lid set to be installed.
The tank is part of the Tamar Estuary River Health Action Plan (TERHAP), a collaborative initiative of the Tamar Estuary Management Taskforce (TEMT) and the $609.4 million Launceston City Deal, aimed at improving the health of the Tamar Estuary.
A total of $129.2 million is being invested to implement key urban water infrastructure upgrades, comprising $42.5 million by the Australian and Tasmanian governments, $33.2 million by TasWater and $11 million by the City of Launceston.
Around 80 contractors have been involved in the works, with an average of 30 on site each day.
The transformative project will enhance TasWater’s capacity to manage sewage and stormwater, significantly reducing overflow events and ensuring a cleaner and healthier estuary.
The TERHAP works will result in 387 Megalitres less combined system overflows, of which 34 Megalitres will be sewage. This is nearly 60 per cent less sewage than currently overflows to the estuary.
With the TERHAP project in its final stages, TasWater will turn its attention to the broader picture for greater Launceston’s sewerage network.
Quotes attributable to Federal Minister for Regional Development and Local Government, Kristy McBain MP:
“Upgrading Launceston’s sewage and stormwater system will not only ensure it keeps pace with the city’s growing population, it will significantly boost the health of the Kanamaluka/Tamar Estuary, supporting commercial and recreational opportunities on this waterway into the future.
“We are committed to collaborating with all levels of government and investing in the critical infrastructure regional Australians rely on.”
Quotes attributable to Tasmania Minister for Infrastructure, Kerry Vincent:
“The Tasmanian Government has made this strategic investment in improving the efficiency of TasWater’s combined sewerage and stormwater network to secure the health of the Kanamaluka/Tamar Estuary for generations to come.
“This project is about working together to create a healthier environment for our children and grandchildren.
“By working collaboratively we can protect our waterway and ensure Launceston’s critical infrastructure is keeping pace with the growing needs of the community.”
NADIA CLANCY [STATE MEMBER FOR ELDER]: I’m Nadia Clancy. I am the Member for Elder I’m here today with the Premier Peter Malinauskas as well as Federal Minister for Infrastructure Catherine King. We also have State Minister who you are all well accustomed to, Minister Koutsantonis, and my electorate boundary mate, Jayne Stinson. So we’re right in the electorate of Elder at the moment and I am so excited to see so much activity on site at the moment. It sort of has felt like a slow burn and now we are here. I really want to thank my constituents for their patience and understanding as we’ve dealt with these changes and these sort of minor inconveniences, and really, really excited that now the Norrie Avenue link road has now been completed which is making things a lot easier for locals. Now I will hand over to the Premier.
PETER MALINAUSKAS [SA PREMIER]: Thanks so much Nadia, it’s great to be here with you and Jayne. Your consistent advocacy on behalf of your constituents is making the relative inconvenience of this project far easier to deal with so we can make sure we can get it done. It’s great to be here with Tom as always but I particularly want to thank Catherine King, the Federal Infrastructure Minister, and take this opportunity to in this forum congratulate you, Catherine, on the re-election of the Albanese Government and your retention of one the most important portfolios that we see in any government in the country.
The partnership between my state government and the Albanese federal government really is on show here. I am very pleased that we are getting this project done. The non-stop South Road project has been talked about for decades and the hardest part is now finally underway because we are making it happen. We have not spared any expense to get it done properly the first time. A $15.4 billion infrastructure project that will literally change the way that traffic moves through our city for the next 100 years. The legacy of this project will be not just an infinite amount of convenience for tens of thousands of motorists, but it’ll actually be changing the economic dynamic of the way our city operates, which is exactly why this is worth it in the long run. I cannot possibly overstate the size and the complexity of this $15.4 billion project, but when it is completed, which is actually, in the scheme of things, not that far away, it’ll mean that up to 40 minutes in commute time is saved as a result of the removal of 21 sets of traffic lights for people during peak hour. Any time you remove 21 sets of traffic lights from any journey on our roads in a metropolitan environment, it saves a lot of time, but 40 minutes for a community to peak hour, that’s a big number. And when you add that up for every single working family, every single day of the week, it means hours and hours of people’s lives that are returned to a better standard of living or to a better economic outcome, which is exactly why this project requires urgency. And finally, we’ve got two governments getting together to get it done and get it done properly.
There has been a lot of work, a lot of work that has led to us being able to be here today where major construction is now underway for where the tunnel boring machines on the southern end of the project will be lowered. Just behind where I’m standing right now, two 90 metre- long tunnel boring machines will be lowered 25 metres below the surface to start tunnelling out throughout the second half of 2026 right through to the project’s completion. This is one of the biggest engineering undertakings that’s not just occurred in the history of our state but indeed the nation. This is the biggest infrastructure project in Australia right now. There is none bigger than this, and it’s going to change the way our city operates forever in a way that will be a lot more convenient for everyone from working families to small businesses to big businesses who want to get things moving in and around metropolitan Adelaide.
The non-stop South Road project has been talked about a lot and we’ve seen a lot been achieved over the course of the last 20 years. But this is the big part, this is the hard part and my government is getting it done. But we’re only able to do that because of the partnership, a 50/50 funding partnership between the state and federal government, $7.7 billion from the Commonwealth, $7.7 billion coming from the state government. Every step of the way, the relationship between the government, particularly between Minister Koutsantonis and Minister King has just been outstanding.
I want to take this opportunity to really thank Minister King, not just for her stewardship but also for her advocacy on occasions. She appreciates just how dynamic and important this project is and has done a lot to help make it happen. So I’ll hand over to the Minister to say a few words and then Minister Koutsantonis, Minister King and myself will be able to answer your questions.
CATHERINE KING [MINISTER]: Thanks Premier. Well, it’s great to be back here in the great state of South Australia, and you can see behind us here, this is a state that is delivering important infrastructure for communities here in Adelaide. Can I thank Nadia and Jayne for being here, they’ve been great advocates of this project, but can I particularly acknowledge both the premier and also Minister Koutsantonis. It is such a delight to work with the pair of them on these projects. I know both them coming to government and us coming to government, this project really was in a bit of a state and we had to make hard decisions about investing more money to get this project done. This $15 billion plus project is very much a 50/50 partnership between the Albanese Labor Government and the Malinauskas Labor Government, because Labor Government’s build peace.
Infrastructure is absolutely my passion. I’m so delighted to have been returned as Infrastructure Minister because infrastructure changes lives. And what a great way of doing so. Twenty-one sets of traffic lights removed, 40 minutes off commute time. And that means for people, that’s 40 minutes more you can spend with your families. Actually spending time being able to do the things that matter most to all of us. Being able to spend that time with your kids, being able to spend that time with your families. It also is a great employment generator. Over 5,500 people will be employed on this site over the course of its life, and 600 of those are going to be trainees and apprentices, new workers coming into the construction industry. And I particularly want to give a shout out to the many women in construction that we’re seeing, heaps of them on site here today. It is a great career, and I’m so delighted that we see so many women entering this field. We have to have more women in construction, and this project with 600 new trainees and new apprentices working on site will deliver that.
Delighted to partner with the Malinauskas Government on this project. We’re investing over $9 billion in infrastructure here in South Australia, but this is by far the biggest build of any of them. You can see behind us where the tunnel boring machines will be assembled and then dropped to actually start their work, and there’s going to be lots of opportunities for the media to see this construction project. It is the biggest road project in the state. There are lots of other projects that would claim to rival it, but I would have to say it’s the biggest project in state and the biggest project in the country in terms of the longest and three tunnel boring machines, the largest in the country, when they’re assembled on site.
So, terrific to be here today. I want to thank and wish all the very best to the construction company. You can see this has started because it’s only Labor governments that actually deliver infrastructure, and only Labor governments that deliver the sort of infrastructure that South Australia needs.
I’ll hand over to the Premier for questions and then we’ll work from there.
JOURNALIST: [inaudible]
PETER MALINAUSKAS: Yeah, I can talk about that, and maybe Tom can[indistinct]… as well.Look, you can’t make an omelette without breaking some eggs, and we’re a government that’s very conscious of the fact that during a project of this size and complexity, of course there’s going be a degree of disruption. But we want to get things done, and we’re not going to back away from making tough decisions that are required to set the state up for the long term. There’s a lot of economic opportunity before South Australia at the moment, and if we want people to be able to participate in it, they’ve got to be able to get to their places of work in a way that is efficient and productive, which means this project just has to be delivered. It just has to get done.
Now, there has been a lot of engagement with local communities, and local MPs have certainly been powerful advocates – not just through the compulsory acquisition process, which is largely complete, but also with all the various movements and traffic that we’ll see over the coming years ahead. But at the end of it is the end game, which is a 40 minute saving for people in their commute during peak hour. Twenty-one sets of traffic lights removed. That’ll be worth it, right? It’s not just this project that we’ve got going on that causes a bit of inconvenience too. As a government, we’ve made tough decisions on this project. We’ve made tough decisions on the womens’ and kids’ project. But we do it because what we’re interested in is the long-term outcome. We’re not thinking about short-term politics. We’re thinking about long-term outcomes for the state, and none is more important than the $15.4 billion project that we deliver here.
It’s true to say that if I was only thinking about the next election, we probably wouldn’t necessarily make the same decisions. But because we’re thinking about the long term, and we do want to get to that end point of having a 40 minute saving, we’re powering ahead and making the tough choices so we can get this project done, and done as quickly as we can.
JOURNALIST: How confident are you that this is going to be delivered on time and on budget? [Indistinct] …
PETER MALINAUSKAS: [Talks over]Well, so far, things have gone alright. So far, things are going well. Now, we’re not naive to the fact that there’s going to be challenges along the way, but so far, I mean, I’ve been honest about the womens’ and kids’, and I’ll be honest about this project. So far, things are going well. But we’re still at the front nine, we’re not on the back nine yet, and then it’s going to happen.
JOURNALIST: There’s a lot of money that’s being spent on this, obviously federally and state. Is there a lot of wiggle room in the budget for other projects that are going to be coming up?
PETER MALINAUSKAS: Well, you’ll have to wait and see in the budget. We’re not that far away. Look, we’ve been really pleated as a government in delivering budget surpluses. We haven’t just forecast them, we’ve delivered them. We haven’t delivered a deficit yet. We’re working hard to keep it that way, and that gives us the room to be able to invest in things that set the state up for the long term. But there’s always competing priorities. The biggest one for us remains health and education. That’s core business as far as we’re concerned, and it makes a difference to people’s lives, and we’re always looking for opportunities to invest in those things.
But as far as major transport infrastructure, we focus on the non-stop South Road element, but there’s also a lot of east-west connectivity that we’re investing in as well. That’s already starting to move traffic a lot better to and from other parts of Adelaide. So the $15.4 billion project number is predominantly the non-stop South Road element, but a lot of east-west activity and connectivity has been invested in too, which will also help traffic flow more broadly.
JOURNALIST: There’s a lot of construction going on around Adelaide [indistinct]. Do we have the local [indistinct]…?
PETER MALINAUSKAS: That’s a good question. By and large, yes. I mean, look, If you’re in civil construction or other construction type jobs, South Australia is the place you want to be. There’s no doubt about it. We are grateful though that we are seeing some expertise come from other parts of the country. In fact, I was just chatting to someone calling Adelaide home, and hopefully, it stays that way because we are going to need the workforce in the future. Because understand this, we’ve got this project, we’ve got the womens’ and kids’, but then beyond that, all the work that is required down at Osborne, which is many billions of dollars worth of construction, there’ll be work there in the future as well. Our ambitions for what we hopefully want to see happen at Olympic Dam, what we want to see at Wyalla, it’s not just a pipeline of work over the course of the next four years. What we’re setting ourselves up for is a pipeline of work over the course of the decade ahead, because that’s what prudent planning demands.
So, in terms of workforce, yes, of course, there’s a lot of demand for labour in the state at the moment. We’ve got the lowest unemployment rate levels we’d ever seen. I think we’ve got the seventh lowest unemployment rate in the nation. It’s below 4 per cent. That’s a good problem to have, in some respects. But we’ve also got to be investing into skills in the future, which is what our technical college is all about.
JOURNALIST: [inaudible]
PETER MALINAUSKAS: Yeah, in parts, yes. And if they end up calling Adelaide their home, that’s a good thing. It’s why we’ve got more houses being built in South Australia on an apples-for-apples basis than any other part of the country. The stats out just in the last fortnight show that housing dwelling starts, and also approvals are growing at the fastest rate in South Australia, anywhere in the country. In fact, the national average is going backwards but South Australia is growing.
JOURNALIST: Had another fatal crash, and you’re saying [indistinct] on our roads. What will need to be done to keep the roads safe now?
PETER MALINAUSKUS: Well, I might invite Tom to have a few words about this. I mean, apart from just acknowledging the awful loss of life, it’s heartbreaking for a family. You know, we see the road toll and that’s a number but what sits behind that, of course, are real people and family will be devastated badly by those deaths and my thoughts are with them. But in terms of the truck traffic I might just leave it to Tom to say a few words. Is there any other questions for me before I [indistinct] to Tom?
JOURNALIST: Yeah. I was just wondering, in terms of the upper house, Sarah Game has obviously left One Nation. What does that look like for you guys now in terms of passing legislation? Do you have any concerns or confidence in that change with Tammy as well of course?
PETER MALINAUSKUS: Yeah. I haven’t had chance to speak about Tammy publicly yet, either, so maybe I’ll deal with both of those. Yeah look, in our rich, vibrant liberal democracy change happens, and we’ve got a quite a diverse mix of people in the upper house. And what I try to do is work with them, regardless of their political hue. Of course, there are things that we’ll disagree on ideologically and philosophically, that’s clear. But I also want to work with people from other political parties, because that’s the way you achieve results.
So, whether Tammy Franks is in the Greens or Sarah Nation[sic] is in One Nation, I’m going to sit down and I’m going to work with them, because I think that’s what leadership requires. I will, however, make this point, you know, out of all of the cross section of political hues in the parliament at the moment, of which there are a number, there’s only one political party that hasn’t lost any members or had anyone quit or leave, and what is the party? It’s us. So, despite us having more members than anybody else, we’re the most disciplined and united team. So- but in terms of Tammy and Sarah, they’ve made their own decisions, that’s for them and their political parties to resolve. But as the Premier of the state I want to work with them no matter what.
JOURNALIST: Do you think it’s very fair for the voters who have helped vote in these people in to have party members. For example, Sarah wasn’t particularly known in her own right beforehand to have these people then going to sit as independent? Do you think that’s fair to them?
PETER MALINAUSKUS: This has been a feature of the Westminster system since it’s dawn. And what we do, though, in the Labor Party is- you know, in South Australia, we’ve got a particularly disciplined and united- you know, where we have points of difference we sit down and work with one another, rather than just storm out and quit. And that’s what allows us, as a government, to focus on what’s in the best interest of the state. The business of other political parties, I’ll leave that to them to [indistinct].
JOURNALIST: [Indistinct] around the issues [indistinct] parties or anything which will change that way.
PETER MALINAUSKUS: I understand the argument, but I think it’s difficult. And it’s not a feature of many Westminster parliaments we see around- in the world. So, it’s not something I envisage having here anytime soon.
JOURNALIST: Back to the question?
PETER MALINAUSKUS: Yeah, I’ll know that Tom’s got that.
JOURNALIST: [Indistinct] There have been some talk about our industry, trucking industry and the rules surrounding the drivers and training that’s sort of sparked up that debate, and why we don’t know the circumstances surrounding this one we need to have another look at how we’re training truck drivers.
TOM KOUTSANTONIS [SA MINISTER FOR INFRASTRUCTURE AND TRANSPORT]: Yeah. So, we have here in South Australia. So, we’re the first state in the federation to change the way we’re training drivers, especially ones who are coming from abroad. We are no longer recognising accreditation in other jurisdictions internationally. We wanted them to be trained here in Australia, to understand Australian conditions.
Look, heavy vehicles are getting larger in Australia, they’re not getting smaller. We’re a big country and we are looking at growing our road trains even larger, and training is becoming even more important. What occurred on the weekend is a tragedy. It probably could have been avoided. No one needs to die on our roads with a heavy vehicle if everyone is trained appropriately and equipment is appropriately maintained.
We’ll let this go through the court process to understand exactly what occurred. I understand police have charged a person this morning so I’m not going to go into the details other than to say, if you come to this and you want to drive a heavy vehicle in South Australia, we expect you to be trained here in South Australia. I call on other jurisdictions to do the same thing because it’s important that Australian conditions are top of mind for when we train our drivers.
Now, I don’t know the circumstances here. I don’t know what occurred here, I’m getting a briefing later on today. But it’s important to note that heavy vehicles are dangerous. We have very, very strict heavy vehicle national regulations that govern the way people drive heavy vehicles, the way that they’re trained, and the way that these vehicles are assessed. There’s trainer responsibility here, right back to the owners of the company and directors of that company who could be personally liable for even criminal charges if something is going wrong. So, we want to get to the bottom of this, but it is way too early to form any judgment.
PETER MALINAUSKUS: Thanks so much everyone. Cheers.
JOURNALIST: Sorry. Just one more.
PETER MALINAUSKUS: So, we’ll take this last one [indistinct]…
JOURNALIST: Sorry. In terms of the speed that [indistinct] today, you’re going to increase it to around [indistinct] saying another 25 kilometres per hour on our roads. Do you know much about that? Does council [indistinct]…
TOM KOUTSANTONIS: I do.Yes, there are reforms. Yes, yes. So, what we’ve done is we’ve listened to the RAA, we’ve listened to tow truck drivers. When amber lights turn on because they’re working on a vehicle on the side of the road that’s either broken down or needs to be towed, there have been too many crashes and near misses that make it dangerous to bring aid to people who are stranded on the side of the road. So, when you see these amber lights it’s important that you slow down to 25 kilometres per hour, as safely and as quickly as possible for you to do so. If you do breach it, depending on the speed that you’re going over – the same penalties apply for emergency service vehicles, if you drive past a police car and ambulance with red lights flashing.
It’s very, very important to maintain the safety and security of these people providing assistance on the side of the road, and we make no apologies for that. I heard this morning tow truck drivers who are turning up to cars that have been broken down on the side of the road, while they’re connecting these vehicles seeing either individuals being clipped or vehicles being rammed into. It’s important now people, when they see flashing lights, to slow down.
PETER MALINAUSKUS: All right, thanks very much, everyone.
An Engineer Looks Back on High School Science Fairs, African Drone Flights, and Marine Energy Innovations That Shape the Future
Bri Friedman is looking forward to learning from failure.
This National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) engineer is working with the laboratory’s marine energy team to develop a device called the small underwater research flap wave energy converter—or SURF-WEC, for short.
SURF-WEC takes the form of a submerged flap that swings back and forth to capture energy from ocean waves to power an electric generator. In the coming months, SURF-WEC will undergo a design review, in which a team of experts and stakeholders will evaluate the device to determine whether it is ready for deployment. If the design review goes well, Friedman and her team, in partnership with the University of Hawaii, will send SURF-WEC on an experimental deployment off the Hawaiian coast for up to one year.
“‘Up to’ are the key words—we expect the system to fail within the year,” Friedman quipped, “but we are eager to learn from those failures and share our lessons with our colleagues in marine energy.”
Of course, Friedman and her team also want to understand what works well during the SURF-WEC deployment. However, as Friedman went on to explain, the success of the SURF-WEC deployment is not tied to the amount of energy the device can capture or the length of time the system can operate without issue. Instead, the goal is to collect data and learn which decisions contributed to setbacks and which led to success—and to share those lessons with the marine energy community to help reduce the risks and costs of future deployments. To that end, the team will make the deployment data, along with data collected during SURF-WEC’s laboratory testing and simulation stages, publicly available on the Marine and Hydrokinetic Data Repository.
As any marine energy researcher or technology developer knows, harnessing energy from ocean waves is a big challenge. Many WECs fail in the harsh ocean environment due to the corrosive effects of briny seawater, constant wear and tear from crashing waves, impacts from floating debris, or even the accumulation of barnacles, algae, and other marine life. Designing WECs to withstand these challenges requires strong materials, backup systems for important parts, and regular maintenance. For Friedman, tackling these challenges feels surmountable—thanks to the NREL marine energy research team’s collaborative spirit.
“I feel like we each have a pickax, or maybe a ladle, since we’re talking about the ocean,” Friedman said. “We’re each ladling out a little bit, doing our part to make marine energy a viable, usable resource.”
From Science Fairs to Drone Flights
Friedman can trace her career path back to middle school, when she first decided she wanted to be an engineer when she grew up. The youngest of four children—two of whom went on to become mechanical engineers—Friedman grew up immersed in science, with a strong desire for discovery.
“It wasn’t always a popular sentiment when I was young, but I genuinely enjoyed participating in science fairs,” Friedman said. “They gave me a chance to experiment, make predictions, and learn by doing, which would further spark my curiosity.”
Friedman, center, poses with her sister and two brothers in front of the Boulder Flatirons in Colorado. Photo from Bri Friedman, NREL
That love for hands-on learning led Friedman to get involved in robotics in high school, which became her main after-school activity and solidified her desire to pursue a career in engineering. At the same time, she felt a strong pull toward next-generation technologies and types of work that could protect people’s health and well-being.
“I wanted to find a job that both scratched my scientist itch and aligned with my values,” Friedman said.
Friedman followed her passion for scientific experimentation to Virginia Tech, where she pursued mechanical engineering for both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees. As an undergrad, she interned at NREL through the Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship (SULI) program, working with a research team to create a photoluminescence system for testing silicon solar cell processing methods. This was not only a valuable learning experience; it also supported Friedman’s commitment to making a positive impact on the world.
“It was so exciting to learn how to harness energy from nearly boundless sources like the sun, wind, and water,” Friedman recalled. “Plus, everyone I encountered during my internship seemed happy to be at NREL, which made me even more excited about the work. The SULI program showed me a career path that I was really excited about.”
As an undergrad, Friedman participated in the Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship program at NREL, which gave her the chance to work on a photoluminescence system for testing silicon solar cell processing methods. Photo from Joanne Wu, BAE Systems
During her master’s program, Friedman worked as a graduate research assistant with the African Drone and Data Academy, a program that trains recent college graduates to design, build, and pilot drones for agriculture, medical equipment delivery, and other humanitarian efforts in Africa. Friedman taught the program’s first cohort, delivering lectures, supervising lab work, and providing one-on-one drone flight instruction. Near the end of the academy’s first course, Friedman visited a refugee camp and had an experience that would become the foundation for her master’s thesis.
“My graduate research focused on using drone imagery to develop a flood model for a low-resource area,” Friedman recalled. “In developed countries, flood models are built using years of historical data, but in low-resource areas, that kind of data is rarely available. Our challenge was to generate a useful flood model without waiting for years of data collection.”
To fill this data gap, Friedman’s team used drones to capture high-resolution aerial images of the camp. Friedman then used this imagery to create a flood model, validating its accuracy by comparing the model’s prediction to locations where homes had collapsed due to flooding.
“The refugee camp was overpopulated, and many of the homes were built from clay wherever there was available space, so they collapsed easily due to heavy rains and few drainage paths,” Friedman explained. “The collapsed structures showed where flooding had actually occurred, which helped us confirm that the model had accurately predicted those high-risk areas.”
From Drone Flights to Wave Power
Unfortunately, the coronavirus pandemic cut short Friedman’s time in Malawi. She returned home in March 2020 after the first group of students graduated but continued to support her students through online instruction. In addition, her experience with drones set her up for her next move: After finishing her master’s program in 2021, Friedman landed a position as a postgraduate researcher with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s (PNNL’s) water power engineering team, which was exploring ways to integrate drones into their projects.
Shortly after joining PNNL, Friedman began working on a project to support the development of a triboelectric nanogenerator—a small device that converted the motion of ocean waves into electricity using static charge buildup. Intended for deployment in the Arctic Ocean, the device would provide a low-maintenance power source for ocean monitoring equipment. Friedman also studied ways to use the temperature differences between surface water and deep water to generate energy for an underwater glider, a type of autonomous underwater vehicle that navigates the ocean by changing its buoyancy to move up and down through the water.
After two years in Richland, Washington, where PNNL is located, Bri was ready for a change of scenery. She kept an eye out for opportunities at NREL and, in 2023, moved to Colorado to work as a full-time researcher on NREL’s marine energy team. The move brought Friedman full circle—in more ways than one.
Back in 2017, when Friedman was working on the application for her internship at NREL, she read up on NREL’s work and learned about different types of WECs, including those that flap back and forth, similar to SURF-WEC.
“Reading about these types of WECs, I thought, ‘Wow, it would be amazing to work in that field,’” Friedman recalled. “Eight years later, I do work in that field—on a project very similar to the ones I read about.”
In addition to SURF-WEC, Friedman contributes to several other marine energy projects at NREL. Her work involves testing, characterization, and outreach, helping researchers and industry partners better understand and utilize emerging wave energy technologies. She has worked with the large-amplitude motion platform, or LAMP, a simulation tool that replicates a WEC’s response to different ocean wave conditions in a controlled environment. She also supports the Power at Sea Prize, which encourages innovative marine energy concepts by lowering barriers to entry for new developers.
“We have a mix of participants—some from universities and some independent teams,” Friedman said. “It’s been great to see such a broad range of people engaging with marine energy innovation.”
Time To Root Down
Friedman lives in Boulder, Colorado, a short drive from her work at NREL’s Flatirons Campus. She misses her family, who still live on the East Coast, but relishes the time she gets to spend with her four young nieces.
“I definitely aspire to be the fun aunt,” Friedman said.
With a population of about 105,000, Boulder is the biggest city Friedman has lived in during her adult life, but it feels like the right fit.
“Boulder is a bigger city than what I’m used to, but there’s plenty to do, which I appreciate,” Friedman said. “I especially enjoy the rock climbing and general outdoor adventuring shenanigans.”
When she is not testing wave energy conversion devices, Friedman enjoys climbing rock walls like this granite multipitch in Colorado’s Platte Canyon. Photo from Kathryn Howe, Antech Diagnostics
The move to Colorado has also given Friedman a chance to create a more long-term community for herself.
“Before moving to Colorado, I spent over two months living in my car, climbing and exploring the outdoors,” Friedman recalled. “It was an amazing experience, but the communities I encountered during that time always felt temporary. Since moving here, I’ve been working on putting down stronger roots.”
Friedman’s work at NREL feeds her desire for community as well. She appreciates the collaborative spirit on her team, in which everyone is working toward a common goal, even if they are focused on different projects. In addition, being on campus every day has helped Friedman build connections through casual conversations, strengthening her sense of belonging.
“We share successes and failures, and I really value that sense of teamwork and collective learning,” Friedman said. “It’s a great feeling to know we’re all working together toward a shared purpose.”
Learn more about how NREL’s experts arehelping advance marine energy. And subscribe to theNREL water power newsletter, The Current, for the latest news on NREL’s water power research.
Today, the Government of Canada reinforced its commitment to the donation-matching initiative with the Canadian Red Cross to support wildfire disaster relief and recovery efforts across Saskatchewan.
Through this initiative, the federal government will match every dollar donated to the Canadian Red Cross 2025 Saskatchewan Wildfires Appeal.
The Government of Saskatchewan will be immediately providing $15 million to the Canadian Red Cross to work with the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency to support wildfire evacuees.
For each appeal, every $1 donated will become $2 to support the families and individuals most impacted by wildfires. Donation matching will be open for 30 days, retroactive to when the appeal first opened on May 30th. The funds raised will be used to assist those impacted in Saskatchewan with immediate and ongoing relief.
Thousands of Saskatchewanians have been displaced as wildfires continue to threaten communities across the province. In response, the Canadian Red Cross is working closely with Indigenous leadership and all levels of government to provide emergency accommodations, personal services and critical information to people who have been forced from their homes.
The Government of Canada and the Government of Saskatchewan are committed to continue doing everything they can to support all those affected.
Canadians wishing to make a financial donation to help those impacted by wildfires in Saskatchewan can do so online at www.redcross.ca or by calling 1-800-418-1111.
Quotes
“I would like to express my heartfelt support for the people and the communities that are affected by wildfires across the country,” Federal Minister of Emergency Management and Community Resilience and Minister Responsible for Prairies Economic Development Canada Eleanor Olszewski said. “As wildfires continue to impact communities across the province of Saskatchewan, we are committed to working closely with the provincial government, Indigenous leadership, and the Canadian Red Cross to ensure a coordinated and compassionate response. By matching donations to the Red Cross, we are encouraging the people of Canada to come together in support of those affected and to help communities recover and rebuild with strength and resilience.”
“Saskatchewan people are known for coming together in times of need,” Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said. “This fundraising initiative to support those impacted by the wildfires reflects the generosity shown in our province and throughout the country. We thank the Canadian Red Cross for their fundraising efforts and for providing support for evacuees as we continue to fight these wildfires.”
“These wildfires in Saskatchewan have been devastating; we are seeing people uprooted, homes destroyed,” Secretary of State (Rural Development) Buckley Belanger said. “From the beginning, the Canadian Red Cross has been providing crucial support to affected people on the ground. Now, your federal government is partnering with the Red Cross and the province to match every donation they receive, so that we can make sure we get more help to those that need it most. As always, we stand ready to respond to any further requests for assistance, now and in the days ahead.”
“This has been a devastating beginning to wildfire season in Canada and our thoughts are with those impacted by the fires,” Canadian Red Cross President and CEO Conrad Sauvé said. “The Canadian Red Cross is grateful for the generosity of people living in Canada, and to the Government of Canada for their support of people impacted by wildfires in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. The Red Cross is committed to providing support to people in the immediate days of the response, as well as for recovery.”
Quick Facts
Donations to the 2025Saskatchewan Wildfires Appeal can be made online at www.redcross.ca or by phone at 1-800-418-1111.
The Active Incidents | SaskPublicSafety.ca web page is updated with information for impacted Saskatchewan residents. Saskatchewanians seeking information or supports can call the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency at 1-800-667-9660.
Government of Canada information and resources: Wildfires.
FireSmart Canada.
Stay Connected
Follow Public Safety Canada on X, LinkedIn and YouTube.
Follow Emergency Ready in Canada on Facebook.
Follow Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency on Facebook and YouTube.
McALLEN, Texas – Two men residing in Edinburg have been sentenced for their roles in the straw purchasing of firearms, announced U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei.
Mario Elier Leal, 22, and Rodolfo Benitez-Garza, 24, pleaded guilty in 2024.
Chief U.S. District Judge Randy Crane has now ordered Leal to serve a total of 97 months in federal prison, while Benitez-Garza received 18 months. Benitez-Garza must serve three years of supervised release following the completion of his sentence. Lacking status in the United States, Leal is expected to face removal proceedings after serving his prison term.
At the hearings, the court heard additional evidence that described how Benitez-Garza and Jesus Cristo Lopez purchased the firearms on behalf of Leal. Leal would provide the money and advise which firearms he wanted. The court noted Leal was aware the firearms were to be transported into Mexico, that he played a significant role in recruiting others to purchase firearms on his behalf and could be described as a coordinator.
On July 12, 2024, authorities discovered a suspected straw purchasing attempt involving Benitez-Garza and Lopez who attempted to obtain three AK-47 variant rifles. Leal was circling the parking lot at that time and had previously visited the same location with Lopez.
The investigation revealed Leal provided the money for the purchases and offered Benitez-Garza and Lopez approximately $300 for their assistance. Both falsely claimed the rifles were for personal use when they were actually intended for Leal.
Evidence revealed Leal had recruited Lopez and directed him to find another individual. Surveillance captured Leal at multiple stores with others suspected of purchasing firearms on his behalf.
Authorities have identified 13 other firearms suspected of being purchased for Leal. As a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipient, Leal is prohibited from owning a firearm per federal law.
Benitez-Garza was permitted to remain on bond and voluntarily surrender to a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future while Leal will remain in custody.
Lopez, 21, is set for sentencing in August.
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives conducted the investigation with the assistance of Mission Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jose A. Garcia prosecuted the case.
ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Audrey G. Fleissig on Tuesday sentenced a convicted felon who was caught twice with guns and drugs to 14 years in prison.
Evidence and testimony during the February trial of Antonio Dixson, 37, of St. Louis, showed that Dixson was caught with two guns and drugs on Dec. 1, 2020, in Wentzville, Missouri. Dixson was in the rear seat of a Honda SUV that had fled from St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department officers two weeks earlier. When Dixson stepped out of the vehicle, a Glock pistol fell from his waist to the ground. A Taurus Judge revolver, loaded with two.45 caliber rounds and three .410 shotgun shells, was visibly protruding from his pocket. Police then found ammunition and drugs in his pockets. He had 31 tablets of clonazepam laced with PCP, 100 capsules containing a mixture of para-fluorofentanyl, fentanyl, and morphine, eight tablets containing fentanyl, 0.5 grams of cocaine and 5.5 grams of crystal methamphetamine, a sentencing memorandum says. He also had six cellular phones and over $700 cash. Due to COVID-era restrictions, Dixson was booked and released from custody, the memo says.
Dixson was undeterred by the arrest, and was arrested again on Feb. 25, 2021, by St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department officers who spotted a Mercury Villager driving the wrong way on a one-way street. Officers found a .45 caliber Colt model 1911, a 9mm Smith & Wesson pistol, and drugs in Dixson’s pants pockets. Those drugs included tablets containing meth, 6.76 grams of crystal meth and 0.63 grams of cocaine base.
Both the drugs and weapons Dixson possessed presented a great danger to the public, the memo says. Dixson has also repeatedly been convicted of various crimes and “remains unrepentant even now,” the memo says, adding that in the last 19 years, Dixson has spent more than 16 years either behind bars or under court supervision.
In February, jurors found Dixson guilty of two counts of possession with intent to distribute controlled substances, two counts of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm and one count of possession of a defaced firearm.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Wentzville Police Department and the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jason Dunkel and Hal Goldsmith prosecuted the case.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.
WASHINGTON – Charles Edwards, 49, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced to eight years in prison yesterday for assaulting and pointing a gun at two individuals in a Wawa convenience store in Northwest, announced U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro and Chief Pamela Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department.
Edwards was found guilty by a jury on January 2, 2024, in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, of two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, unlawful possession of a firearm, and other related offenses. The Honorable Errol Arthur sentenced the defendant on June 2, 2025, to the prison term. Following his term of imprisonment, the defendant will serve a period of three years of supervised release.
According to court documents, in the early morning hours on January 22, 2022, Edwards got into an argument with another man near the Wawa. That man ran into the store to escape Edwards, but Edwards followed him and again confronted him. A Special Police Officer (SPO) working at Wawa escorted Edwards out of the store. Minutes later, Edwards went back to the store and again chased the man around the store, and then pulled out a loaded handgun and pointed it at both that man and the Wawa’s cashier who was standing in front of him. Edwards eventually left the store, and threatened the SPO, who was on the phone with 911.
Edwards was arrested on a warrant on August 17, 2022, and has been in custody since.
In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Pirro and Chief Smith commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department. They acknowledged the work of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael Toogun and Benjamin Helfand, who prosecuted the case.
CHARLESTON, S.C. — Claude Michael Barrs, 45, of Charleston, was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Evidence presented in court showed that on September 29, 2023, Berkeley County sheriff’s deputies stopped Barrs after observing him driving erratically. During the stop, Barrs appeared extremely nervous and admitted that his license was suspended. When asked to exit the vehicle, he attempted to discreetly discard a bag on the ground. Deputies recovered the bag and found 6 grams of methamphetamine inside.
A search of the vehicle uncovered an additional 0.85 grams of methamphetamine under the driver’s seat and a 9mm pistol in the trunk. Barrs admitted the drugs and firearm belonged to him. As a convicted felon, he is prohibited under federal law from possessing firearms or ammunition. He was also eligible for a sentencing enhancement based on prior convictions for violent felonies or serious drug offenses.
At the time of this arrest, Barrs was out on bond for state charges of armed robbery, possession of a weapon during a violent crime, and possession of a weapon by a violent offender.
United States District Judge Bruce H. Hendricks sentenced Barrs to 180 imprisonment as part of a negotiated agreement between the parties to be followed by fives years of court ordered supervision. There is no parole in the federal system.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.
This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosive and Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris Lietzow is prosecuting the case.
Follows earlier arrests focused on dealers in International District and “the Jungle”
Seattle – Fourteen people were indicted in late May and eleven were taken into custody in coordinated arrests last week as part of an ongoing investigation of drug traffickers with ties to drug trafficking in Seattle’s International District and homeless encampments, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller. The defendants are charged in two separate indictments with trafficking cocaine, heroin, fentanyl, and methamphetamine from California into the Western District of Washington. In addition to searches of Washington locations, search warrants were executed in Oregon and Southern California. The defendants have detention hearings over the next few days.
“The indictment of five defendants in January 2025 was just the first step,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller. “Now we are prosecuting fourteen additional defendants. Law enforcement partners continued to pursue drug traffickers even after the initial arrests in January to address the importation of substances like fentanyl, methamphetamine, and cocaine into western Washington generally and the International District in particular.”
“For years, this criminal organization preyed on the homeless and drug addicted. They terrorized people living and working in the Chinatown-International District and South Seattle,” said Seattle Police Chief Shon F. Barnes. “I am proud of the work our detectives and federal partners have done to put these criminals behind bars where they belong.”
The seven defendants named in the first indictment for conspiracy to distribute cocaine, methamphetamine, fentanyl, and heroin are:
Octavio Salazar Palma, 33, of Federal Way, Washington, a U.S. citizen
Luis Soto Lara, 47, of Vancouver, Washington
Juan Ramirez Recinos, 41, of Burien, Washington, sought by law enforcement
German Juarez-Otanez, 34, Bothell, Washington, sought by law enforcement
Alexander Emilio Cozza, 42, of Seattle
Marco Antonio Bobadilla, 33, Pacific, Washington
Isai Gamboa Pacheco, 55, of Everett, Washington
The seven defendants in the second indictment for conspiracy to distribute cocaine and methamphetamine are:
Daniel Ibarra Loera, 31, of Kent, Washington
Jose Garcia Corona, 61, of Seattle
Leonardo Rojas Cruz, 53 of Federal Way, Washington
Oscar Omar Serrano Serrano, 31, of Algona, Washington
Juan Lopez Roblero, 43, of Tukwila, Washington
Giovanni Antonio Garduno Garcia, 46, of Issaquah, Washington
Sang Su, 44, Seattle, a U.S. citizen, sought by law enforcement
In this investigation in March 2025 alone, law enforcement seized 100 pounds of methamphetamine, 111 kilos of cocaine, 19 kilos of fentanyl powder, 250,000 fentanyl pills, and four kilos of heroin. The street value of the narcotics is nearly $3 million.
“Thanks to the sustained investigative efforts of the FBI and our partners, we are continuing the work we began in November 2023 by first intercepting the flow of dose quantities of dangerous drugs into the International District and homeless encampments in Seattle,” said W. Mike Herrington, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Seattle field office. “Since January 2025, when we arrested five Washington-based members of this organization, we followed the investigation outside of Washington state as the traffickers made frequent trips into Oregon and California. We are now reaching sources of supply, further stopping these poisons—and the violence that accompanies them—from reaching our communities.”
On May 29, 2025, law enforcement executed 16 search warrants in Federal Way, Vancouver, Everett, Pacific, Tukwila, Kent, Issaquah, Seattle, Woodlake California and Beaverton, Oregon. Investigators seized more than seven kilograms of cocaine, 18 kilograms of methamphetamine, more than 57,000 fentanyl pills, and 17 firearms. They also seized more than $353,000 in cash
Due to the quantities involved some of the defendants face mandatory minimum ten-year prison terms. Federal law enforcement is still determining the citizenship status of many of the defendants in this case.
“This trafficking group was a major supplier of deadly drugs to the International District and other communities throughout the Seattle area,” said David F. Reames. “The fentanyl powder and pills our team seized in this case could have yielded enough lethal doses to kill everyone in Seattle twice. I am proud of our team and would like to thank the Seattle Police, the FBI, the IRS and the Washington National Guard Counterdrug program for their amazing partnership.”
“Illegal drug trafficking devastates lives and affects us all. It is a huge issue that requires a forceful response,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Carrie Nordyke, IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), Seattle Field Office. “This investigation draws from the resilience of our communities, which drives the combined efforts of our law enforcement partners and of our agency. Together, we will push back and continue to make a positive, felt impact for all our friends and neighbors.”
The charges contained in the indictment are only allegations. A person is presumed innocent unless and until he or she is proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
This investigation is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.
The investigation was led by the FBI, Seattle Police Department and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) with significant assistance from the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas program (HIDTA), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and Washington National Guard Counterdrug Program. Investigators also worked with the Oregon State Police and Clark County, Washington Sheriff’s Office.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Casey Conzatti and Brian Wynne.
Los Angeles, CA, June 03, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Leading global compliant digital asset trading platform MSBFUND has announced the completion of its integration with two of the world’s most renowned blockchain risk control solution providers. This marks MSBFUND’s official entry into the fully automated regulatory technology phase of “trading as compliance, on-chain as regulation.” This technological integration also signifies that MSBFUND will possess the most powerful on-chain risk control capabilities globally, creating an ultra-secure asset circulation environment for institutional users and compliance regulation.
According to the cooperation agreement, MSBFUND has completed the integration of underlying system APIs, enabling real-time access to industry-leading KYT (Know Your Transaction) and blockchain analytics modules to achieve four key functions:
1. Real-time monitoring of trading behaviors and risk scoring of addresses.
2. Automatic identification and blocking of blacklisted addresses and suspicious paths.
3. Visualization of transaction flow across the entire platform and cross-chain identification.
4.Activation of on-chain freezing mechanisms for high-risk accounts and automatic generation of compliance reports.
Jacob Hill, Chief Technology Officer of MSBFUND, stated: “We are building not just a trading system, but a global regulatory digital asset infrastructure. The comprehensive integration with these top-tier compliance technology providers is a crucial step in our ‘compliance as the default state’ strategy.”
MSBFUND has deployed these risk control capabilities across all core trading areas, institutional account modules, API systems, and OTC scenarios, with plans to extend them to multi-signature wallets, DeFi gateways, and NFT trading zones. Additionally, the risk control system will update over 7 million address labels daily, covering more than 160 blockchains and Layer 2 networks. Industry experts point out that in the current context of increasing global regulation, MSBFUND’s technological setup not only enhances the platform’s own risk control capabilities but also effectively promotes the realization of the “on-chain as regulation” concept. This technology particularly benefits high-net-worth individuals, institutional funds, and family offices, allowing them to engage in crypto trading in a truly controllable, traceable, and reportable environment.
A representative from one of the integrated risk control solution providers stated: “We are honored to partner deeply with MSBFUND. MSBFUND’s efforts to advance regulatory technology globally are highly recognized as a compliance benchmark.” Another senior executive from a leading blockchain analytics company commented: “This collaboration signifies a shift in the global digital asset space from ‘passive regulatory responses’ to ‘actively built regulatory compliance logic.’ MSBFUND is a leader in this trend.”
Currently, MSBFUND’s automated alert and freezing mechanism response time has been optimized to 0.39 seconds, with compliance report generation time reduced to under 1.5 minutes, well below the industry average. The system will also integrate with the upcoming EU MiCA framework and UAE VARA trading regulatory standards, proactively adapting to the evolution of global compliance rules.
Moreover, to further expand the application of its technology in the industry, MSBFUND plans to officially launch the “Open Compliance Engine” initiative in Q3 of this year, opening certain interfaces to third-party trading platforms, wallet service providers, and security companies to create a decentralized, collaborative defensive global compliance firewall network. This initiative is expected to foster a global regulatory technology ecosystem alliance driven by shared platforms and consensus mechanisms, with on-chain collaborative risk control.
According to MSBFUND, the platform currently supports trading of over 800 digital assets, with a daily trading volume exceeding $1.3 billion. The global registered user base has surpassed 2.2 million, and the activity level of institutional clients and system call frequency has maintained high growth for five consecutive quarters. The compliance department has established a “4-pole regulatory network” covering the U.S., EU, Asia, and the Middle East, collaborating quarterly with over 12 countries and regions on data reporting.
The launch of this system will also enhance MSBFUND’s influence in government and financial collaborations. Several national Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) have already initiated strategic discussions with MSBFUND, hoping to leverage its “compliance as a service” module for regulatory data flow, risk event synchronization, and coordination of suspicious transactions.
Evolving from a “trading matching platform” to a “global compliant technology infrastructure platform,” MSBFUND once again leads the global digital finance sector toward a safer, more transparent, and trustworthy direction with its advanced risk control capabilities and forward-thinking strategic vision.
About MSBFUND: MSBFUND is a globally leading compliant digital asset trading platform headquartered in the U.S., holding an MSB financial services license issued by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s FinCEN. The platform focuses on serving institutional investors, family offices, and global high-net-worth clients, aiming to create the safest, most professional, and trustworthy digital asset trading infrastructure through technology-driven solutions and global regulatory collaboration. It possesses strong capabilities in regulation, fintech, and security risk control.
Disclaimer: The information provided in this press release is not a solicitation for investment, nor is it intended as investment advice, financial advice, or trading advice. It is strongly recommended you practice due diligence, including consultation with a professional financial advisor, before investing in or trading cryptocurrency and securities.
Source: United States Senator for Idaho James E Risch
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jim Risch, senior member and former chairman of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, announced today the selection of seven businesses from across the state as Idaho Small Businesses of the Month for June 2025. The recognition is part of Senator Risch’s sixth annual Support Local Gems initiative.
“Small businesses are the lifeblood of Idaho. I’m proud to recognize Bond & Bevel, Cloverleaf Creamery, Thor’s Chocolate, Bluetick Coffee, Amazing Glaze, Redman & Company Insurance, and Hawktech Arms for their dedication to their communities. These local gems exemplify Idaho’s entrepreneurial spirit, and I look forward to their continued growth and success,” said Risch.
This week, Senator Risch announced the launch of his Support Local Gems initiative to encourage Idahoans to support small businesses on Friday, June 6, 2025.
As part of the effort, Senator Risch selected seven small Idaho businesses to recognize in June that reflect our shared Idaho values of hard work, entrepreneurship, and commitment to the community. Each business will be recognized for its contributions to the Gem State in the Congressional Record of the U.S. Senate.
Amazing Glaze: Dean and Katie Giesbrecht opened Amazing Glaze after purchasing Double Shot Donuts in Pocatello. Their well-loved potato donuts have grown the shop to three locations across the Gem State.
Bluetick Coffee: Julie Kinskie started Bluetick Coffee after moving to Idaho County in 2021. Her successful coffee stands highlight the Riggins community by serving only locally sourced foods like baked goods and beef sticks.
Bond & Bevel: Heath and Krista Albers launched Bond & Bevel in March 2020 and opened their doors to the Caldwell community in 2022. This leather goods store has become a popular spot for local residents to purchase quality handmade products, gather, and enjoy a cup of coffee.
Cloverleaf Creamery: Bill and Donna Stolzfus started Cloverleaf Creamery in 2007 with the help of their children. The creamery and farm market, managed by Olivia and Eric Butterworth, are staples in the Magic Valley, known for their delicious ice cream, yogurt, and milk.
Hawktech Arms: Dan and Jami Hawkins started HawkTech Arms in 1999. Today, they are a leading store for local firearms enthusiasts and competitive shooters.
Redman & Company Insurance: The Redman family has been providing insurance options to North Idaho residents since 1992. This second-generation family-run agency has become an integral part of Coeur d’Alene through its insurance services and community involvement.
Thor’s Chocolate: Christian and Brittney Becker opened Thor’s Chocolate in 2023. The Idaho Falls-based chocolate company has quickly gained attention from the community for their European-style chocolates and treats.
One of the illegal aliens arrested is a foreign fugitive wanted for homicide in Honduras
WASHINGTON – The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) today released the following statement after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested 72 illegal aliens at a nightclub run by a suspected member of the Los Zetas Cartel during an operation in the Charleston, South Carolina area over the weekend. Los Zetas, now formally recognized as Cártel del Noreste (CDN) was formally designated a terrorist organization by the Trump Administration in February 2025.
Prior to the operation, ICE received information from a source that “The Alamo”-–an underground illegal nightclub-–was the location of weapons, narcotics, and human trafficking. ICE also seized cash, narcotics, and firearms during the operation.
During the operation, law enforcement executed a search warrant at the unlicensed establishment, leading to:
72 arrests, including individuals with serious prior offenses.
6 juveniles recovered and turned over to state social services for protection and care.
Arrests are still being processed.
One of the most high-profile arrests was of Sergio Joel Galo-Baca, a Honduran illegal alien and foreign fugitive with an active Interpol Red Notice for homicide in Honduras.
“Day in and day out, the brave men and women of ICE are working with local law enforcement to keep American communities safe. The successful operation that took place in the Charleston area resulted in more than 70 arrests of illegal aliens—including an international murder suspect and the dismantling of a nightclub run by a suspected cartel member where drug, weapon, and human trafficking were taking place,”said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin.“Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, fugitives and law breakers are on notice: Leave now or ICE will find you and deport you.”
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Charlotte led the operation with local law enforcement, which took place on June 1.
Members of the public can report crimes and suspicious activity by dialing 866-DHS-2-ICE (866-347-2423) or completing the online tip form.
Source: United States Senator for New York Charles E Schumer
Trump Released Executive Order For U.S. Forest Service To Develop Plan To Increase Timber Production By 25% Across National Forests, Like Finger Lakes National Forest, Prompting Major Concern From Local Communities & Environmentalists, Which Treasure Open Space And Wilderness, Depend On Outdoors As Driver For Tourism Economy
Schumer Has Long History Of Pushing To Preserve & Protect Finger Lakes National Forest – NY’s Only National Forest; Senator Previously Sponsored Legislation To Protect Forest From Gas Drilling And Pushed To Stop Logging
Schumer, Gillibrand: We Must Protect Finger Lakes National Forest – A Crown Jewel of The Finger Lakes Region – From Unwarranted & Unwanted Logging
After the Trump administration released an executive order for the U.S. Forest Service to achieve a 25% increase in timber production in national forests, like the Finger Lakes National Forest, prompting outcry from local activists, U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer and U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand today called on the U.S. Forest Service to protect Finger Lakes National Forest (FLNF) from increased timber logging and to restore FLNF to its full staffing level to protect this Upstate treasure. The Finger Lakes National Forest is New York’s only national forest, and the senators said protecting trees is vital to protecting the surrounding Finger Lakes, precious open space, biodiversity, and the vibrant recreation and tourism economy.
“We must protect the Finger Lakes from Trump’s attempts to turn our National Forests into timber. The Finger Lakes National Forest is a crown jewel of the region, and a magnet for families and tourists alike to experience the vast nature and beauty of Upstate NY. But Trump’s recent executive order could callously cut down huge chunks of this forest, threatening the Finger Lakes. This unwanted and unwarranted policy would endanger the Finger Lakes National Forest and our thriving outdoor recreation economy,” said Senator Schumer. “Trump’s ill-conceived executive order to cut down large swathes of our nation’s forest could be devastating, even the Once-ler in the Lorax would scoff at it. We cannot let our forest be ripped away from our kids, and the tens of thousands who visit the Finger Lakes every year. That’s why I’m standing up to Trump’s plans and demanding the U.S. Forest Service not increase logging in the Finger Lakes National Forest. I’ve long been a proud supporter of the Finger Lakes National Forest, protecting it from gas drilling and high-volume logging for years. Now, we need to protect Upstate New York’s forest health to preserve the area’s natural beauty so the community and visitors can enjoy this space for generations to come.”
“The Finger Lakes National Forest is an Upstate treasure, and the Trump administration’s plan to increase logging in the area would be catastrophic for the environment and devastating for the thousands of New Yorkers who flock to the area to hike, hunt, and fish,” said Senator Gillibrand. “I am urging the Trump administration to listen to the concerns of the local community and pause any plans for additional commercial logging.”
In a letter to the U.S. Forest Service chief, Schumer and Gillibrand explained that Trump’s executive order could hurt the Finger Lakes National Forest habitat and lead to water-quality issues due to increased runoff into Seneca and Cayuga lakes and increased wildfire risks. The Senators also urged the administration to reverse recent cuts of the dedicated staff and rangers who are vital for the forest’s stewardship, visitor services, and forest health. The reduced number of staff jeopardizes regular maintenance of the forest, including replanting native trees in the section of forest lost to invasive Emerald Ash Borer infestations. Citing a report from the U.S. Forest Service on FLNF and Green Mountain, the senators described how the Finger Lakes National Forest supports over $174 million in annual revenue from recreational activities which would be threatened with increased logging. The senators said preventing logging is vital to protecting the surrounding lakes, biodiversity, and the vibrant recreation economy, from hikers to sportsmen, to fishermen, and more. They also emphasized that is necessary to ensure New Yorkers and all Americans can access the forest today and for generations to come.
Yvonne Taylor, Co-Founder and Vice President, Seneca Lake Guardian said, “Senators Schumer and Gillibrands’ leadership to protect the Finger Lakes National Forest affirms what so many of us in the region know in our hearts: that this forest is not a timber commodity that can be bought. It is a sacred public treasure that fuels our economy, safeguards our environment, and belongs to future generations. We urge the Forest Service to heed their call, retain the dedicated staff that defend the forest, and protect this irreplaceable landscape.”
Schumer has a long history of pushing for the preservation and protection of the Finger Lakes National Forest, dating back to 2001 when he co-sponsored legislation to protect the Finger Lakes National Forest from gas drilling and exploration. In subsequent years, Schumer has pushed for moratoriums on logging within the forest.
Schumer and Gillibrand’s letter to Chief of the Forest Service Tom Schultz can be found HERE or below:
Dear Forest Service Chief Schultz:
We write to strongly oppose increased logging and staff reductions at the Finger Lakes National Forest (FLNF) following recent executive actions and budget decisions. It is imperative to the ecological health of this ecosystem and the Finger Lakes vital tourism industry you ensure that additional FLNF trees will not be unnecessarily cut down, subject to commercial logging, and you immediately reverse recent staff cuts that threaten the ongoing health of the Forest. The Administration must respect the unique ecological, economic, and recreational value of this treasured public resource and the Upstate NY communities it sustains.
The Finger Lakes National Forest is more than a beautiful landscape – it is a living asset for the region, supporting tourism, recreation, and a healthy environment, while also serving as a source of pride for generations of Upstate New Yorkers. According to a report from the U.S. Forest Service, the Finger Lakes National Forest supports over $174 million in annual revenue from recreational activities. The natural beauty and economic benefits this landscape provides far outweighs any potential profits from future timber sales and the Forest Service must take every step to ensure the sustainable management of the Forest. Because the Forest Service already supports logging on up to 800 acres of FLNF land specifically for forest health, it is unclear why additional logging in the FLNF is necessary or productive, and local communities are justifiably concerned this could threaten the economic and environmental health of the region.
We are alarmed by new reports of significant staff reductions at the FLNF, leaving just a handful of rangers to oversee more than 16,000 acres. The cuts of the dedicated staff and rangers who are vital for the forest’s stewardship, visitor services, and forest health are wrong and seriously undermine the FLNF’s ecological integrity and it’s enjoyment by the public. The reduced number of staff will jeopardize regular maintenance of the forest, including replanting native trees in the section of forest lost to invasive Emerald Ash Borer infestations. Without full staffing, the Forest health could be compromised, jeopardizing the countless jobs and economic benefits it supports in the surrounding communities.
Many in the Finger Lakes region – residents, environmental groups, small businesses, and local governments – have raised their voices out of concern for the future of the Forest. The community deserves immediate answers on what the U.S. Forest Service’s future plans are for the Finger Lakes and we urge the U.S. Forest Service and USDA to immediately:
Restore Fiscal Year 2024 staffing levels across Finger Lakes National Forest operations and invest in the jobs needed for forest stewardship, restoration, and public safety.
Remove the Finger Lakes National Forest from any consideration for increased logging.
Engage directly with local communities, conservation organizations, and forestry professionals before taking any action affecting the FLNF.
Ensure that any prior commitments to replanting and habitat restoration, especially following previous clear-cutting for ash borer mitigation, are fully funded and completed.
Publish a justification detailing the increased acreage that would be logged beyond current activities supporting forest health, describing whether the administration intends to clear cut or sustainably thin areas of the Forest, which areas are too sensitive for logging activities, which areas would be avoided due to recreational activities, how threatened and endangered species would be protected or avoided when logging, and the necessary staff increases to complete these actions.
Publish the Forest Service’s plan for public engagement, including input from New York forestry experts regarding any potential plans to log the FLNF.
The Finger Lakes National Forest is a unique ecological and economic asset. Any changes to its management or staffing should strengthen – not weaken – its role as a model for conservation, recreation, and sustainable rural development.
We look forward to your prompt response on this timely concern and stand ready to work with you and the community to protect the Finger Lakes National Forest.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Headline: Apple unveils winners and finalists of the 2025 Apple Design Awards
June 3, 2025
UPDATE
Apple unveils winners and finalists of the 2025 Apple Design Awards
Winners and finalists will be recognized for their innovation, ingenuity, and technical achievement at WWDC25
Today, Apple announced the winners and finalists of this year’s Apple Design Awards, celebrating 12 standout apps and games that set a high bar in design. This year’s winners include development teams spanning the world whose work was selected for excellence in innovation, ingenuity, and technical achievement.
“Developers continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible, creating apps and games that are not only beautifully designed but also deeply impactful,” said Susan Prescott, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations. “We’re excited to celebrate this incredible group of winners and finalists at WWDC and spotlight the innovation and craftsmanship they bring to each experience.”
The awards recognize one app and one game across six categories: Delight and Fun, Innovation, Interaction, Inclusivity, Social Impact, and Visuals and Graphics. The winners were chosen from 36 finalists from around the world who have all demonstrated outstanding design experiences across apps and games.
Delight and Fun
Winners and finalists in this category provide memorable, engaging, and satisfying experiences enhanced by Apple technologies.
CapWords is a dynamic language learning tool that transforms images of everyday objects into interactive stickers — helping learners explore new words in a more intuitive and visual way. Supporting nine languages, the app is a delightful way to learn independently while immersing users in their surroundings.
Balatro is a satisfying fusion of poker, solitaire, and deck-building with roguelike elements. Players combine poker hands with joker cards — each with their own unique abilities — to create varied synergies. Hallmarked by clever details, gripping gameplay challenges players to advance their scores by crafting original decks to beat devious blinds and secure victory.
Winners and finalists in this category provide a state-of-the-art experience through novel use of Apple technologies that set them apart in their genre.
Play is a sophisticated yet accessible tool that lets users build interactive prototypes with SwiftUI frameworks. Its thoughtfully crafted user interface is both powerful and easy to navigate, helping designers create interactive prototypes and collaborate across Mac and iPhone, all synced in real time for seamless creativity.
PBJ — The Musical is snack-based Shakespeare, a charming game that tells the story of Romeo and Juliet with condiments. PBJ creatively mixes rhythm-based gameplay with narrative storytelling and a wonderful soundtrack. And with haptic feedback, clever camera work, and fun dialogue, it’s joyful from the start.
Finalists for this category include Moises by Music.AI; Capybara by Digital Workroom Ltd; Pawz by Bootloader Studio Holdings Private Limited; and Gears & Goo by Resolution Games AB.
Interaction
Winners and finalists in this category deliver intuitive interfaces and effortless controls that are perfectly tailored to their platform.
Taobao offers a convenient and engaging shopping experience on Apple Vision Pro, providing incredible 3D models comparable to their real-life counterparts. The immersive experience enhances shopping for users, taking into consideration placement, position, controls, size, and function, and giving people the ability to compare items side by side from an extensive selection of products.
DREDGE blends slow-burn horror with exploration and adventure. Players take the helm of a fishing boat to navigate eerie islands, uncover strange wildlife, and piece together a haunting mystery. The game offers seamless interactions and a fun world of hidden treasures across iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
With support for hundreds of voices in over 50 languages, Speechify is a powerful tool that transforms written text into audio with ease. Designed with accessibility at its core, and by offering features like Dynamic Type and VoiceOver, the app serves as a vital resource for people with dyslexia, ADHD, and low vision, as well as anyone who learns best by listening.
Beautifully illustrated and mindfully designed, Art of Fauna is a puzzle game that blends vintage-inspired wildlife imagery with a deep commitment to inclusivity and conservation. Players can solve puzzles by rearranging visual elements or reordering descriptive text, making gameplay uniquely interactive. With features like full VoiceOver support and haptic feedback, accessibility is woven throughout the experience.
Developer: Sherwood Forestry Service (United States)
During devastating wildfires in Southern California, Watch Duty once again served as a lifeline, delivering up-to-the-minute updates, evacuation information, and critical resources with clarity and reliability. The app reports information like active fire perimeters and progress, wind speed and direction, and evacuation orders.
Visually stunning and emotionally resonant, Neva is an action-adventure tale that follows a girl and her wolf companion through a beautiful world in decline. As the seasons shift, so does their relationship — offering a quiet meditation on care, connection, and the cost of environmental loss. With themes of friendship and leadership, players guide the pair through breathtaking landscapes, and a story that is as moving as it is timely.
Finalists for this category include Ground News by Snapwise; Opal by Opal OS; Ahoy! From Picardy by Daniel Jones; and Art of Fauna by Klemens Strasser.
Visuals and Graphics
Winners and finalists in this category feature stunning imagery, skillfully drawn interfaces, and high-quality animations with a distinctive and cohesive theme.
This drawing tool allows users to transform 2D designs into 3D masterpieces. Developed with a focus on creativity and user experience, Feather makes it easy for people of all skill levels to build advanced 3D modeling designs on iPad, drawing on touch and Apple Pencil interactions to help users bring their imaginations to life.
With its enchanted realm of color, detail, and rendering, Infinity Nikki is a true visual achievement. This cozy open-world adventure challenges players to collect wonderful things, and is packed with magical outfits, whimsical creatures, and unexpected moments.
News of the spectacular “spiderweb” mass drone attack on Russian air bases on June 1 will have been uppermost in the minds of delegates who assembled the following day for another round of direct talks between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul. The attack appears to have been a triumph of Ukrainian intelligence and planning that destroyed or damaged billions of pounds’ worth of Russian aircraft stationed at bases across the country, including at locations as far away as Siberia.
Ukraine’s drone strikes, much like Russia’s intensifying air campaign, hardly signal either side’s sincere commitment to negotiations. As it turned out, little of any consequence was agreed at the brief meeting between negotiators, beyond a prisoner swap, confirming yet again that neither a ceasefire nor a peace agreement are likely anytime soon.
But the broader context of developments on the battlefield and beyond can offer important clues about the trajectory of the war in the coming months.
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At an earlier meeting in Istanbul in May, Moscow and Kyiv agreed to draft and exchange detailed proposals for a settlement. The Ukrainian proposal restated the longstanding position of Kyiv and its western allies that concessions on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country are unacceptable.
In other words, a Russian-imposed neutrality ruling out Nato membership and limiting the size of Ukraine’s armed forces is a non-starter for Kyiv. So is any international recognition of Moscow’s illegal land-grabs since 2014, including the annexation of Crimea.
The Ukrainian proposal is for an immediate ceasefire along the frontline as “the starting point for negotiations”. Any territorial issues would be discussed “after a full and unconditional ceasefire”.
Russia’s proposals, meanwhile, are also mostly old news. Russia maintains its demands for full recognition of Russian territorial claims since 2014, Ukrainian neutrality.
These stringent Russian demands in return for even a temporary ceasefire are hardly any more serious negotiation positions from Ukraine’s perspective than Kyiv’s proposals are likely to be to Moscow. In fact, what the Kremlin put on the table in Istanbul is more akin to surrender terms.
Ukraine is in no mood to surrender. The spiderweb drone attack against Russia’s strategic bomber fleet is a significant boost for Ukrainian morale. But, like previous drone strikes against Moscow in June 2023, it means little in terms of signalling a sustainable Ukrainian capability that could even out Russia’s advantages in terms of manpower and equipment.
The state of the conflict in Ukraine as at June 3 2025. Institute for the Study of War
Closer to the frontlines inside Ukraine, Kyiv’s forces also struck the power grid inside Russian-occupied parts of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions. This may delay any Russian plans to expand its control over the two regions. But, like the latest drone strikes inside Russia, it is at best an operation that entrenches, rather than breaks the current stalemate.
But while Russia might continue to make incremental gains on the battlefield, a game-changing Russian offensive or a collapse of Ukrainian defences does not appear to be on the cards.
International support
Kyiv’s position will potentially also be strengthened by a new bill in the US senate that threatens the imposition of 500% tariffs on any countries that buy Russian resources. This would primarily affect India and China.
These are the largest consumers of Russian oil and gas, and if New Delhi and Beijing decide that trade with the US is more important to them cheap imports from Russia, the move could cut Russia off from critical revenues and imports.
But, given how indecisive Donald Trump has been to date when it comes to putting any real, rather than just rhetorical, pressure on Vladimir Putin, it is not clear whether the proposed senate bill will have the desired effect. The bill has support of over 80 co-sponsors from both the Republican and Democratic caucuses, meaning the senate could overturn a presidential veto. But any delay in imposing tougher sanctions will ultimately play into Putin’s hands.
By contrast, European support for Ukraine has, if anything, increased in recent months. For example, EU leaders adopted their 17th sanctions package against Russia on May 20. A week later, Germany and Ukraine announced a new military cooperation agreement worth €5 billion (£4.2 billion).
It still falls short of what Kyiv would require for a major shift in the balance of power on the battlefield. But for now it is enough to prevent Russia from becoming militarily so dominant that Moscow’s current settlement proposals would present the only option for at least some part of Ukraine to survive as an independent state.
The war remains in a stalemate. Neither Moscow nor Kyiv appear to have the capacity to escalate their military efforts to the degree necessary that would force the other side to make substantial concessions.
Both sides are playing for time in the hope that their fortunes may change. For Ukraine, this would mean more US military support coupled with more sanctions pressure on Russia, while Europe follows through on building up its own and Ukraine’s defence capabilities.
Russia’s calculations will be different. Putin will need to keep his few remaining allies – China, Iran and North Korea – on side while trying to make a deal with Trump. This may be impossible to achieve.
In this case, the Russian dictator’s best hope might be that Trump does not impose any serious sanctions on Russia or its trade partners, let alone lean into increasing military support for Ukraine.
For both sides, a lot still hinges on Washington. The unpredictability of the Trump White House, much like the self-imposed restraint under Biden, not only makes it unlikely that the war in Ukraine moves beyond the current stalemate, it has become a major, and perhaps the decisive road block that enables both Moscow and Kyiv to dream of victory in a war that has become unwinnable.
Stefan Wolff is a past recipient of grant funding from the Natural Environment Research Council of the UK, the United States Institute of Peace, the Economic and Social Research Council of the UK, the British Academy, the NATO Science for Peace Programme, the EU Framework Programmes 6 and 7 and Horizon 2020, as well as the EU’s Jean Monnet Programme. He is a Trustee and Honorary Treasurer of the Political Studies Association of the UK and a Senior Research Fellow at the Foreign Policy Centre in London.
Tetyana Malyarenko does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
The UK government’s new strategic defence review has laid out a blueprint aimed at making Britain “secure at home, strong abroad”.
The review represents a change in how the government thinks about the UK’s defence amid a rapidly changing geopolitical picture. The Labour government launched the review in July 2024 shortly after taking office, as a first step in reassessing UK armed forces in the face of Russia’s war against Ukraine. Prime Minister Keir Starmer acknowledged at the time: “We live in a more dangerous and volatile world.”
The government has accepted the review’s 62 recommendations. The most eye-catching parts are investment and development of new weapons: expanding the UK’s nuclear capabilities, drone swarms and long-range missile systems, new F-35 and updated Typhoon fighter jets and autonomous weapon systems.
Unlike past reviews, this one was conducted by experts outside of the government: former Nato secretary general Lord Robertson, former US National Security Council member and former White House adviser Fiona Hill, and retired British Army officer General Sir Richard Barrons.
In addition to practical measures of investment and expansion, the review lays out the more difficult changes that are needed to respond to security challenges, namely Russian threats to Europe. Here are three key aspects to understand.
1. War-fighting ready
The review says the UK must be “ready to fight and win” a full-scale war. Importantly, it suggests that the UK is no longer in an era of going to war when it chooses – but instead is facing the possibility of being forced into war.
Academic Mary Kaldor made the distinction between the two types of wars in her book New Wars and Old Wars, stating that old wars are “wars of necessity”, and new wars are “wars of the willing”. Published a few years after the end of the cold war, it’s easy to see why Kaldor made this distinction.
But the strategic review paints a different picture – that wars of necessity are once again the UK’s primary security concern. This means the UK must be on a different war footing than it has been since 1991.
As such, the government and the UK armed forces will have to change and become more innovative to meet this challenge. To do this, the review lays out plans for an “integrated force” model (rather than joint forces). It describes this approach as leading to “a more agile and lethal combat force”.
The review also calls for a “whole society approach”, including expanding the voluntary under-18 cadet forces, protecting national infrastructure and public outreach.
2. Pace of innovation
The review includes a host of recommendations for digital innovation and munitions production, and suggests that the defence industry could be an even bigger contributor to growing the economy. But, it notes, the UK’s defence industry is currently “stuck in cold war-era procurement cycles” and processes.
It points to a need to speed up planning and procurement and improve partnerships with the commercial sector.
Many digital innovations are being driven by industry in the US and China, such as the work on AI, nanotechnologies, robotics and automation. The challenge for the UK will be how to build good relationships with those countries on innovation which does not have a strong presence in UK digital industries.
The reelection of Donald Trump in 2024 shocked many into thinking that the trans-Atlantic relationship was fast dissolving, though the change has been going on for some time . This review acknowledges that in setting out a “Nato first” approach:
There is an unequivocal need for the UK to redouble its efforts within the Alliance and to step up its contribution to Euro-Atlantic security more broadly – particularly as Russian aggression across Europe grows and as the United States of America adapts its regional priorities.
It states that Europe and the transatlantic area will be the UK’s primary reference for security. This marks a shift from the previous “Indo-pacific tilt” defence focus laid out in the 2021 integrated review.
The Nato-first approach seems to be at odds with the direction of Nato’s largest and most powerful member, the US. Since the end of the 1990s, US presidents have repeatedly sought to realign US grand strategy towards China and away from Europe. Had the Russian Federation not invaded Crimea in 2014, the Obama administration may have been able to carry out this pivot.
As it stands, with the second Trump presidency and its repeated calls for increasing defence spending from European states (in addition to what has often been seen as less than resolute intentions towards Russia), one might think Nato should be counting its days, rather than being placed at the centre of a new strategic review.
However, regardless of Trump’s actions, the UK will still matter for Washington for the foreseeable future, because it remains an ally and it does defence well. Nato still remains the way to do coalition-building because it has been around for so long and has built up the institutions to do high-level defence cooperation and coordination.
The review recognises the direction of travel for Washington, and how much it requires the UK and other European governments to invest in their own defence.
David J. Galbreath has received funding from the UKRI.
I am currently writing a biography of Herman Melville’s 1851 novel, Moby-Dick. The most important thing I have learnt is that Moby-Dick is not – as is often presumed – a difficult book. I claim this on the basis of those who read it, how they did so and what they took from it in the first decades of its life.
Moby-Dick has a fearsome reputation: dense, time-consuming, boring and bizarre. This reputation (although not absolutely unfair) was initially fabricated by a subset of “elite” Anglo-American academic readers in the 1920s to separate it from the very people who had previously sustained its existence.
In 1994, literature professor Paul Lauter wrote an article that showed how nationalist scholars, looking to forge an American tradition, elevated Moby-Dick to the status of a classic to exclude non-specialist readers.
But earlier readers knew Moby-Dick for what it was: an extreme and ambitious form of popular genre fiction, like science fiction or fantasy, known as the “sea romance”.
This article is part of Rethinking the Classics. The stories in this series offer insightful new ways to think about and interpret classic books and artworks. This is the canon – with a twist.
A romance meant something different in 1851 to what it does now. According to Noah Webster’s Dictionary, then the go-to reference, a romance was “a fabulous relation or story” that went “beyond the limits and facts of real life, and often of probability”.
Melville was at this time a literary celebrity after his loosely non-fictional debut Typee (1846) became a transatlantic bestseller for its exotic descriptions of South Pacific captivity. In a letter to his publisher, he wrote that Moby-Dick was a “romance of adventure, founded upon certain wild legends in the southern sperm whale fisheries”.
You could assume that Melville was being cynical – to sell the book, he misrepresented it as having more commercial potential than he thought it did. But I think he was in earnest.
The novel’s initial public was, broadly, found among the professional middle classes in America, who had a taste for this genre, dreaming of faraway places while chained to their desks. I know this because I have tracked down around 150 first editions of this book and, with the help of genealogical websites, signatures, dates and locations, worked out who some of the owners were and what they did.
In the 1860s, Moby-Dick almost disappeared from the historical record, a situation not helped by a fire at his publisher’s works. But silence and absence are different things. There were many readers who still enjoyed Moby-Dick, though they only glancingly show up in print.
Moby-Dick’s early readers
My research has found that children read and lived with Moby-Dick in the 19th century. It pops up in memoirs, reminiscences, fictions and juvenile literature.
They played games based on the book; they took it out from libraries and made it dog-eared; they scrawled odd and eerie images on it; they and elder generations read it out loud together; and Moby-Dick (evidently a familiar character) himself featured in a Christmas tale about mermaids called The Merman and the Figure-Head (1871) by Clara Florida Guernsey.
If we take children as its audience, rather than scholarly readers, a quite different Moby-Dick appears. The novel’s plot becomes straightforward and exciting, its tone blithe and consumable, its function to teach and to entertain.
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Other non-specialist readers sustained its reputation on similar terms. It seems very likely working-class sailor readers enjoyed it. That’s because its basic plot appears in a number of dime novels (mass-produced thriller fiction) such as Robert Starbuck’s The Mad Skipper (1866) and Captain Barnacle’s Péhe Nu-é (1877), written by and for such readers.
It also, sporadically, appears on deck, with one sailor, the future sea fiction writer Louis Becke, learning of it in Apia in the Samoan islands via “a small and sweet-natured English lady” who came on board with it and read it aloud with the captain. Becke recounts this episode in an introduction to Moby-Dick in a reissue of 1901.
As time went, on these foundational readers found extra fellow enthusiasts among socialists, queer people, outcasts and travellers, even if things continued much as they always had done. Literature professor Hershel Parker’s “historical note” to the Northwestern-Newberry edition tracks some of these readers down.
In the early decades of the 20th century, Moby-Dick moved up in the world. But, generally, even if it cultivated a bourgeois reading audience, it did so as a perfect example of the historically remote form of the sea romance, rather than as a classic.
The major event in Moby-Dick’s reputation in the 1920s was a popular silent film adaptation, The Sea Beast (1926). Collectively, readers thought of it less in analytical terms, than as something that offered guidance on how to live. I have found hundreds of off-hand, ordinary (and moving for that fact) references to it in travel narratives, letters, diaries, novels, poems and anecdotes from this era.
Making visible these early readers who viewed Moby-Dick as mass cultural genre fiction creates a picture of a substantially different novel. It ceases to rise, Everest-like and admonitory, amid the peaks of the canon. Instead, it descends from the heights to subsist, amiably and openly, in the ardours and passions of the everyday.
Beyond the canon
As part of the Rethinking the Classics series, we’re asking our experts to recommend a book or artwork that tackles similar themes to the canonical work in question, but isn’t (yet) considered a classic itself. Here is Edward Sugden’s suggestion:
I often wonder “what is the Moby-Dick of the 20th century?” I would nominate Gene Wolfe’s science fiction masterpiece, The Fifth Head of Cerberus novellas (1972). The novelist Ursula Le Guin once called Wolfe “our Melville”, so I’m in good company.
The three novellas are set on the fictional planets Sainte Croix and Sainte Anne. They are about the relationship between (possibly) human settlers and a (possibly) shape-shifting indigenous population who may or may not have existed.
In a dense, cryptic, visionary, philosophical and astonishingly crisp style, these novellas explore cloning, evil, dreamworlds, alien life, identity, fate, ritual, ethnology and much more besides in ways that defy summary and which far exceed any plot synopsis. It feels – in spirit and in terms of its reception – something like Moby-Dick.
Edward Sugden does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
The Bureau of Meteorology is continuing to monitor the weather conditions closely over the coming days to provide vital information to the race crews and navigators in the 2024 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, which commences on Boxing Day, Thursday 26 December 2024.
Bureau senior meteorologist Gabrielle Woodhouse has been providing a series of marine safety and weather briefings to navigators and crews in the lead-up to the race.
“At race start, we are expecting north to northeasterly winds, sunny skies and warm temperatures as the yachts exit the Heads,” Ms Woodhouse said.
“Strong winds will develop on Boxing Day as the yachts head south along the NSW coast, and wind warnings are expected.”
A trough is forecast to cross the south-east of the country on Friday morning, bringing a strong west to south-westerly wind change to Tasmanian waters and the Bass Strait.
“This west to southwesterly change will be strong and abrupt as it arrives early Friday morning, and may bring the chance of a shower or even a thunderstorm and possibly gale-force winds for a period.”
During the weekend, northwest to southwesterly winds are likely to persist, but the focus will be on lighter winds forecast along the Tasmanian east coast.
The Bureau will continue to monitor the forecast and conditions, providing further briefings for crews and organisers ahead of the race start on Boxing Day, and during the race until the last yacht arrives in Hobart.
Another front or trough bringing a southwest to southeasterly change to the region is expected near or on New Year’s Eve.
Navigators and crews will be kept across forecast information via regular updates, as well as information that is continuously updated on the Bureau’s website, app and social media channels.
Visit our Marine services for offshore yacht races.
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Joy Cranham, Lecturer in the Department of Education, University of Bath, University of Bath
Like other quirky TV shows that explore coercively controlling groups, Sirens leans into the “wackiness” of cult life. Set on a remote island, an affluent community exists under extravagant rule of Michaela Kell aka Kiki (Julianne Moore). Her devoted followers – many of whom are employed by her – are committed to ensuring her every whim is met.
This carefully curated existence appears bizarre but flawless, until outsider Devon (Meghann Fahy) arrives looking for her sister Simone (Milly Alcock) and begins to illuminate the control and cult-like behaviour being used as tools of oppression.
It is easy to laugh along with Sirens, to get caught up in the eccentric characters and absurd rituals – from assistants being instructed to sext Kiki’s partner to rituals around perfuming her underwear drawer each morning. We shake our heads at the characters’ choices and reassure ourselves: “I would never fall for that, I would just leave.”
But the uncomfortable truth is it’s not that simple.
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What portrayals of cult communities in sitcoms often miss, or gloss over, is the deeply manipulative psychology behind why leaving a cult is incredibly difficult.
Research into cult experiences has shown, cults do not just trap people physically. They entrap them mentally and emotionally too.
I have seen this in my own research into how to help children and their families resist exploitative and coercively controlling individuals and groups. We do see such entrapment in Sirens but it is often obscured by the wackiness of Michaela’s cult-ish community.
Isolation and love-bombing
In the real world, entrapment starts with isolation. New recruits are gradually cut off from their support networks, separated from their friends and family.
We see this in Sirens between Simone, who is Kiki’s assistant, and her outsider sister Devon. In one episode, for instance, Simone makes it clear to Devon that their matching sister tattoos were no longer valuable to her.
What was once a show of love has become viewed as “trashy” by Simone. This is a reflection of how Simone was being manipulated away from her previous values.
Rejecting the importance of familial relationships is a tool often used by cult leaders, enabling them to construct rifts between the person in the cult and their loved one on the outside.
In Sirens, we see a sisterly relationship become ruptured at the instruction of the powerful Kiki, who exploits the vulnerability of Simone to her own advantage.
Then comes the love-bombing – a flood of praise, attention, and affection. It feels amazing, especially to someone who has been overlooked or undervalued.
When the person expresses surprise, the group responds with lines like, “that’s because we truly see you” or they belittle the person’s previous relationships.
The message from the group is clear: only we value you. Only we understand the real you.
Fear and dependence
But the honeymoon phase does not last. Soon, the fear of being cast out takes hold. The group convinces the person that they can only become their best self within the group, that they are fulfilling a higher destiny by being guided by the leader.
Leaders in cults use authoritarian tactics, often portraying themselves as messianic figures with mystical powers. They demand unwavering loyalty and devotion. Questioning their authority is not tolerated. Any concern or question is reframed as a personal failing rather than as legitimate concern.
Punishment for dissent reinforces the leader’s dominance and sends a clear message to the rest of the group: Do not question. The leader and their doctrines are irrefutable.
This sort of control can lead people to do things they never imagined they would.
Take the scene where Simone willingly chews gum that has just been in Kiki’s mouth. We might cringe at this, think it’s gross and abnormal, but it’s symbolic of something much bigger: it depicted total control being exerted over another.
Here we watch as Kiki insults Simone, telling her her breath stinks. Instead of being seen as cruelty it is perceived as care, and Kiki then giving Simone the gum she has just chewed to rectify the problem, is perceived as kindness. Simone is grateful and doesn’t question it at all.
Simone’s mind has been manipulated. Devon asks her: “Does Michaela have her talons so deep in your brain you cannot tell, you are in trouble?” Through using thought reform techniques, cults hack minds. They override critical thinking and replace it with fear and dependency.
The constant sense of danger and fear keeps members in a state of acute stress, impairing their capacity to think clearly or make rational decisions. However, this constant fear is happening in a place they are repeatedly told and are convincing themselves is where they have never been happier.
The cognitive dissonance of this can contribute to the group’s ability to retain members even when exposing them to prolonged psychological and or physical abuse. Even after someone leaves, the effects of this trauma can linger for years – sometimes a lifetime.
Survivors often exit these groups with very few tangible resources. Education and employability may have been restricted and housing and financial independence are often tightly controlled by the group.
Many survivors suffer from mental health issues and other stress induced physical ailments. As a result, survivors require various forms of support and different interventions over the cause of their recovery.
And yet, in pop culture, cults are often played for laughs. The trauma is reduced to punch lines. To be fair, shows like Sirens effectively capture the bizarre nature of cult life and hopefully reading this piece has helped you look beyond the laughs to see the dark nature of how these groups operate. For survivors, cult life is not eccentric or surreal – it is traumatic.
Joy Cranham volunteers for Faith to Faithless, an organisation that supports apostates who are often former members of high-demand religions or cult-like organisations. Faith to Faithless is connected to Humanist UK
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Irit Katz, Associate Professor of Architecture and Urban Studies, University of Cambridge
At least 27 Palestinians were reported to have been killed on the morning of June 3 amid chaotic scenes at an aid distribution centre in the southern Gaza Strip. This follows a similar incident on June 1 when around 30 civilians were reportedly killed as people scrambled to get food supplies at an aid centre near Rafah in southern Gaza.
The Israeli and US governments and Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) – the private contractor backed by Israel and the US to take over aid distribution in Gaza – previously denied reports that Israeli troops had fired on civilians queuing for aid. The US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, criticised what he called “reckless and irresponsible reporting by major US news outlets”.
After the June 3 incident, however, the Israeli military admitted it had fired shots near a food distribution complex after noticing “a number of suspects moving towards them”. A GHF spokesperson said it was believed that the people had been fired upon “after moving beyond the designated safe corridor and into a closed military zone”.
The violence at these privately run aid distribution points should come as no surprise, given the situation. For weeks since the Israeli government imposed its aid blockade in early March, the humanitarian crisis in the Strip has become more acute. By April the IPC (Integrated Food Security Phase Classification), a collaboration between numerous intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations, was already reporting that Gaza’s whole population was experiencing critical levels of hunger.
The aid distribution system put in place by GHF, meanwhile has been widely criticised. On May 25, the day before GHF began operations in Gaza its American director, Jake Wood, resigned. He said he believed the organisation would not be able to fulfil the basic humanitarian principles of “humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence”.
Divide and control
The GHF’s aid distribution plan is similar in character to a plan published in December 2024 by an organisation of many former high-ranking Israeli military officers, Israel’s Defense and Security Forum (IDSF). The group proposed to take control of aid distribution from the UN agency Unrwa, which was the main organisation overseeing aid distribution until it was banned by Israel earlier this year.
The IDSF plan proposes that: “Israel will oversee the aid distributed by international organizations, effectively dismantling the distribution networks of UNRWA and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, guided by the principle: ‘The hand that distributes the aid is the hand that controls it’.”
This would be achieved with the creation of tent cities for internally displaced people (IDP), described as “humanitarian zones”. About 90% of the 2.1 million Palestinians in Gaza are IDPs. The IDSF plan, acknowledging that “extensive built-up areas have been left destroyed, or are no longer inhabitable”, says that “it is currently neither feasible nor recommended that the IDPs return at the conclusion of the war”.
Under the plan, parts of the Gaza Strip still inhabited by Palestinian civilians, will be divided by a “system of longitudinal and transverse axes”. Each “IDP city” created within these divisions will be managed as a “separate temporary administrative territory” following the principle of “divide and rule”.
The plan calls for responsibility for humanitarian aid in Gaza to pass “to a Humanitarian Directorate based on IDP cities and biometric certificates”. This is called the “Day After Plan” by the IDSF, designed as a way to control Gaza’s population, while driving a wedge between civilians and Hamas in order to destroy it. This despite the fact that a senior Israeli military commander has said it is impossible to eliminate Hamas.
The reality on the ground
The way GHF is currently organising aid distribution fulfils some of the principles of the IDSF plan. It replaces UN aid distribution with a private outfit, backed by both Israel and the US, yet it provides aid through only four sites.
These are located unevenly in the Gaza Strip, three in a small area southwest of Rafah, and the fourth south of Gaza City, in an area dominated by the Netzarim corridor, which is controlled by the Israeli military.
People queuing for access to aid reportedly have to walk along a narrow fenced corridor into a larger aid compound. Once inside they are subject to ID checks and eye scans to further control the distribution for aid.
This has reportedly resulted in long hours of waiting in the heat and led to chaotic scenes were people have broken down fences in a bid to get supplies. Among the people reported to have been killed on June 3 were three children and two women.
The GHF scheme had already been criticised before the violent incidents by both Palestinians and international aid organisations. The placement of the distribution sites means that people sometimes have to travel considerable distances to receive aid.
The UN children’s fund spokesperson Jonathan Crick asked: “How is a mother of four children, who has lost her husband, going to carry 20kg back to her makeshift tent, sometimes several kilometres away?”
As someone who researches urban design, conflict, and displacement, it is clear to me that designing the entire aid distribution system around only four “mega-sites” in limited areas in the Strip leads to the sort of overcrowding and chaos that have made violence all but inevitable.
In my opinion, in concentrating these sites while extensively demolishing habitable areas in the Strip, Israel is effectively weaponising essential civilian mechanisms against Palestinians. The aid scheme appears to prioritise political and territorial issues over the humanitarian distribution of aid.
The GHF system enables Israel to further concentrate civilians into makeshift encampments. Here they face inadequate and unhygienic conditions and shelter. These are particularly unsafe for women and children, while also being vulnerable to attacks by the Israeli military.
Now people trying to access aid are dying. The international community must urgently put pressure on both sides to agree a ceasefire and on Israel to open Gaza up for a rapid large-scale humanitarian operation. To maintain the current GHF system is to invite further tragedy.
The acceleration of federal approvals for “nation-building projects” was the major theme of this week’s first ministers meeting in Saskatoon. A rush to streamline approvals for resource development and infrastructure projects has been central to the Canadian response to United States President Donald Trump’s profound disruptions to longstanding trade and security relationships.
At the provincial level, Ontario’s Bill 5 and British Columbia’s Bill 15 also propose to move aggressively to fast-track mining and infrastructure projects.
These fast-tracking efforts are fuelling debate, particularly in terms of the implications for Indigenous rights and the implicit trade-offs pertaining to the environment and climate change.
Project review and approval processes in Canada have already been aggressively streamlined over the past decade. The 2019 Federal Impact Assessment Act, also known as Bill C-69, was largely modelled on Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s 2012 Bill C-38 rewrite of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act.
It’s important to determine why projects are delayed in the first place. Most move through assessment processes with little delay or controversy. Problems emerge when proposals are poorly designed, face serious technical or economic doubts, raise major environmental, climate or safety concerns, and spark significant social, political or legal conflicts over their costs, benefits and impacts.
A recent study on mining approvals in B.C., for example, found that far more mines were approved than ever actually developed. The main cause of delays was changing economic conditions. Regulation was found to be only a minor factor.
While there are always potential ways to improve review processes, the results of previous streamlining efforts suggest the need for caution about the potential for these initiatives to backfire.
Impact assessment and similar processes emerged as more than a way to accurately assess projects and their risks and benefits. They also provided a framework for managing intense social and political conflicts those projects may generate.
If these processes are streamlined too much, the conclusions of these assessments may seem illegitimate. There could be a trade-off between clear, certain outcomes and ensuring the approval process is fair and trustworthy.
Exacerbating conflict
The Harper government’s Bill C-38 reforms were intended to facilitate the construction of more oil pipelines. In the end, they only escalated the spiralling political and legal conflicts around projects like the Northern Gateway and Energy East pipelines.
The accompanying Alberta-to-B.C. Trans Mountain Expansion pipeline was only approved after a tortuous process. That culminated in the federal purchase and completion of the pipeline at a cost to taxpayers of $34 billion.
The political consequences of these efforts at streamlining are noteworthy. The Bill C-38 episode was seen as playing a role in the Harper government’s defeat in 2015. Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty’s loss of his majority government in 2011 was also partly attributed to the rural response to the Green Energy Act.
Checks and balances
Aside from the political aspects, it’s important to recognize the value of thorough reviews for projects that are likely to be high-risk, high-cost and high-impact.
When past reviews have been rushed or cut short, they’ve undermine confidence in the decisions made — especially when even faster processes could increase the risks and costs passed on to taxpayers.
The Muskrat Falls and Site C hydro projects in Labrador and B.C., respectively, stand as testament to those risks. Both projects ran years behind schedule and billions over budget and continue to face major technical, environmental and economic challenges. Review processes can be important checks on poorly conceived, politically motivated projects.
It’s also important to think carefully about the long-term economic rationales being presented for projects. Canada is a relatively high-costfossil fuel producer, making it unlikely to be among the last standing in a decarbonizing world.
That should raise serious questions about major investments in new fossil fuel export infrastructure. The irony of developing such projects as major wildfires, widely attributed to the impacts of climate change, burn in northern Saskatchewan and Manitoba cannot be overlooked.
Global markets for commodities like critical minerals are also uncertain and in deep flux.
Ontario’s Bill 5 represents the most aggressive streamlining proposal seen so far. The legislation would exempt designated “special economic zones” and even trusted proponents — such as mining companies assigned to lead projects — from all applicable provincial and municipal laws and regulations.
The province’s approach has raised fundamental questions about the rule of law, democratic governance and Indigenous rights, and jurisdictional boundaries.
Others have accused Ontario of racing to the bottom in terms of health, safety and environmental standards, respect for the rule of law, Indigenous rights and basic democratic values.
All of this suggests a need for caution in further streamlining review and approval processes for major projects. These are undertakings with risks and costs that could stretch far into the future and must be properly understood before they proceed.
Mark Winfield receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
Source: US International Brotherhood of Boilermakers
Community service isn’t something John Beebe does. It’s much more than that. It’s who he is. The Local 374 (Hobart, Indiana) retiree has spent a lifetime giving back, volunteering, helping others, selflessly going the extra mile and stepping up. It’s not a brag. He doesn’t need a pat on the back.
It’s just who John Beebe is.
Beebe is well known as a go-to volunteer and overall champion for the Lake Area United Way; Lakeshore Area Regional Recovery of Indiana; the town of Highland and Lake County, Indiana, where he lives; the Northern Indiana Area Labor Federation-AFL-CIO, which he served as Boilermaker liaison for 61 years; his Methodist church disaster relief team; and Scouting America. Especially Scouting.
Serving others may have taken root when he joined the Boy Scouts as a kid—and with 73 years of Scouting under his belt, those are some deep roots.
“What intrigued me was the outdoors,” he says of his venture into Cub Scouts in 1952. He also admits, “I didn’t want to stay at home, because my mother would have me washing dishes.”
If avoiding work was part of his motivation, the irony is that Scouts propelled him many years on a path that would hone his dedication to discipline, hard work and service to others. He eventually earned his Eagle Scout, went into the Scout’s Exploring program and was working as a lifeguard when a fellow Scouting enthusiast and Boilermaker recruited him to work a shipbuilding job. He wasn’t sure what he wanted to do for a career, and he thought it could be a start. Turns out he had a knack for welding. After working a bit, then a short layoff and callback, he was told he’d be sworn in as a L-374 Boilermaker.
Then came a war. Beebe was drafted and served in Vietnam. When he returned home, he took just a few weeks off before getting back to work. From then on, one job led to another, with his well-earned reputation as a good, hard worker and Eagle Scout serving him through the ranks.
In one instance, he was called by a contractor to interview for a superintendent job he hadn’t applied to at Bethlehem Steele. They had his resume and wanted to talk to him, so he drove out and met with several gentlemen, one who sat against a wall and didn’t speak. At the end of it all, he was told to go get a cup of coffee. The silent man joined him and said, “Congratulations, you’re going to get hired. Those three guys work for me, and you’re getting hired because you’re an Eagle Scout. Eagle Scouts have leadership skills, and I know, because I’m an Eagle Scout.”
Beebe has kept the cycle of goodwill going, volunteering his time with local Scouting throughout his life. Upon his return from Vietnam, he says the local program told him: “Boy we are glad to see you! You’re the new Scout advisor!”
He’s remained close with the five men who earned their Eagle Scouts with him—they still get together once a month. His wife, who passed away in 1995, was an Explorer Advisor for the Scouts, and his kids were all into Scouting. He’s served the local Scouting Council and on the regional board.
“It’s a good way to keep your kids off the street and out of trouble,” he says. “You never hear of an Eagle Scout getting into trouble.”
With his background, it’s no surprise that organizations like United Way, area labor federation and other organizations have eagerly recruited Beebe over the years to fundraise, lend his leadership skills or literally lend a hand.
When areas of Munster, Indiana, flooded in 2010 and destroyed over 3,000 properties, Beebe was among multi-craft union members working side-by-side to clean up neighborhoods. He was also instrumental in assessing and reporting critical needs and where help was most needed. Lakeshore Area Regional Recovery of Indiana gave him an award for that.
His contributions over decades with the Northern Indiana Area Labor Federation-AFL-CIO earned him the prestigious George Meanie Award. United Way presented him with a Lifetime Achievement Award. He’s met an astronaut, former First Lady Laura Bush and former Vice President Mike Pence. He’s even been recognized as a “Distinguished Hoosier” by the then-Indiana State Governor Mitch Daniels.
But that’s not why he’s done it all.
“I give back as much as I can,” he says. “This is your home. This is where you live. We all need to take care of our community. Everything I do, I seem to have a lot of fun. I don’t want to be parked in front of a TV in a chair, so I stay busy.”
He has a solid reputation for staying busy helping others.
“Brother Beebe is an example of what brotherhood means. He is someone Local 374, the labor movement and his community can count on—not out of obligation, but because he really cares about helping others,” says IVP-Great Lakes Dan Sulivan.
When Beebe addresses families during Eagle Scout presentations, he encourages the Scouts’ parents to read the definition of the Citizenship Merit Badges and what it takes to earn them. Those badges focus on a person’s responsibility to their nation, the community and society.
“Read them tonight or tomorrow, then go back and read them again in a few days to understand what your child went through,” he says is his advice. “They don’t teach that in school anymore.”
Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Andrew Garbarino (R-NY)
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Long Island Congressmen Andrew R. Garbarino (R-NY-02) and Nick LaLota (R-NY-01) today proudly welcomed U.S. Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer to Long Island for a workforce development tour highlighting local training programs and labor partnerships.
The tour began at the Local 290 Training Center in Hauppauge, where the Secretary, along with Rep. Garbarino, Rep. LaLota, and key leaders from the North Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters (NASRCC), observed hands-on training in welding, framing, and acoustical work, and engaged with apprentices in the lecture hall.
Following the visit, the delegation traveled to Suffolk County Community College in Brentwood to explore the National Offshore Wind Training Center (NOWTC) partnership, a cutting-edge program preparing local workers for jobs in the emerging offshore wind industry. The group toured specialized training facilities focused on fire awareness, sea survival, and working-at-heights safety.
“Long Island has long been a leader in workforce innovation, and today’s visit showcased the strong partnerships between labor, education, and government that are building pathways to good-paying jobs for local workers,” said Rep. Garbarino.“From apprentices learning the trades at Local 290 to advanced technical training programs at Suffolk County Community College, these initiatives are not only equipping our workforce with the skills they need — they’re also strengthening Long Island’s economic future. I thank Secretary Chavez-DeRemer for making the trip and recognizing the importance of continued investment in our skilled workforce.”
”Labor Secretary Chavez-DeRemer’s visit to Suffolk County and her engagement with Long Island’s blue-collar labor leaders highlight the new Republican Party’s commitment to supporting both business growth and hardworking Americans through fair wages, safe working conditions, and expanded opportunities,” said Rep. LaLota. “To keep our region competitive, we must continue investing in workforce development and modern infrastructure. In Congress, I’ll keep fighting for commonsense solutions that strengthen job training, connect workers to good-paying careers, and grow Long Island’s economy from the ground up.”
“Long Island’s skilled workforce is thriving under President Trump’s leadership, with thousands of new jobs created since he took office. I saw that firsthand today – from top-notch training programs to the small businesses driving local growth. When we invest in skills and opportunity, we empower our men and women to build better lives. I look forward to continuing to work with Congressmen Garbarino and LaLota to advance President Trump’s America First agenda and deliver for American workers,”said U.S. Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer.
“The Carpenters were honored to host the Secretary and our local members of Congress, and we look forward to continuing our work together on behalf of our members and all blue collar workers across Long Island and throughout New York State. The construction industry is critical to New York’s economy, and our world-class training center ensures that the next generation of carpenters have the skills they need to be successful,”said Anthony Villa, Local 290 Business Manager, North Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters.
The visit brought together leadership from local labor unions, educational institutions, and county agencies, reflecting a collaborative effort to strengthen the pipeline of talent supporting Long Island’s construction, energy, and manufacturing sectors.
SOUTH AFRICA, 3 June 2025 – A new report released today by Greenpeace Africa and the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) reveals a devastating and avoidable public health crisis. In 2023 alone, 42,000 South Africans lost their lives due to exposure to fine particle pollution (PM2.5), including over 1,300 children under the age of five.
Behind these deaths lies a simple truth: polluters are poisoning our air and putting profits above people. Industrial giants, especially in the coal and energy sectors, continue to emit dangerous levels of toxic pollutants into the air we breathe, fully aware of the devastating health consequences.
The report shows that fine particle pollution (PM2.5 — a dangerous pollutant formed by burning coal and fuel and so small that it can enter the bloodstream through the lungs) cost South Africa over R960 billion in 2023, the equivalent of 14% of the GDP. These costs come in the form of premature deaths, respiratory illness, lost workplace productivity, and overburdened health systems.
Communities in the Highveld region and Gauteng and Mpumalanga provinces, which are home to the country’s largest coal-fired power plants and industrial zones, are hardest hit. The data makes it clear: coal is killing us.
‘Science is unequivocal. The air South Africans breathe is toxic, and the corporations driving this crisis must no longer be protected by silence or inaction,’ said Cynthia Moyo, Climate and Energy Campaigner at Greenpeace Africa.
Despite mounting evidence and repeated warnings from health experts, polluting industries continue to operate without accountability. Eskom’s coal fleet, for example, remains one of the world’s largest contributors to deadly air pollution, with some facilities continuing to apply for exemptions from pollution limits meant to protect public health.
The report also shows that aligning South Africa’s air quality standards with World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines could prevent up to 33,000 deaths per year. Even meeting existing national standards could save more than 9,000 lives annually.
“South Africa’s Constitution guarantees the right to a healthy environment but that right is being violated every day by polluters. Communities deserve clean air, not corporate impunity,” added Dr Jamie Kelly, Health Impact Assessment Team Lead at CREA.
Greenpeace Africa calls for:
an immediate end to exemptions from air pollution limits for major emitters;
the full enforcement of national air quality standards;
a bold, just transition away from coal to renewable energy that centers communities;
stronger transparency and access to real-time pollution data for the public.
This report, Unmasking the Toll of Fine Particle Pollution in South Africa, is not just a call to awareness, it’s a call to action. South Africans deserve clean air and a livable future. The time to hold polluters accountable is now.
Greenpeace Africa media assets are available here.
About Greenpeace Africa
Greenpeace Africa is a growing movement of people acting in protection of the environment. Our campaigns use peaceful, creative confrontation to expose environmental injustices around the world and develop solutions for a green and peaceful future.
About CREA
The Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) is an independent research organisation focused on revealing the trends, causes, and health impacts, as well as the solutions, to air pollution. The organisation’s work is funded through philanthropic grants and revenue from commissioned research.
About the methodology
PM2.5 exposure
Human exposure to PM2.5 is estimated using the dataset of van Donkelaar et al. (2021) and Hammer et al. (2023), version V5.GL.05.02. The dataset provides estimates of annual ground-level PM2.5 by combining Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) retrievals, the GEOS-Chem chemical transport model (http://geos-chem.org), and global ground-based observations.
Health impact assessment
Based on the spatial distributions of the PM2.5 simulated exposure map, we then calculated the corresponding public health impacts between 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2023. CREA’s health impact assessment (HIA) framework builds on earlier work (Myllyvirta, 2020) but incorporates important methodological updates. Compared to the original approach, we now use integrated exposure response (IER) functions from the upcoming GBD 2023 study (IHME, 2025) instead of the Global Exposure Mortality Model (GEMM), and we have added dementia as a new health endpoint. The framework continues to include a comprehensive set of health outcomes, selected to avoid overlap and to enable robust economic valuation.
Jefferson City — Today, Governor Mike Kehoe announced that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will participate in joint Preliminary Damage Assessments (PDAs) of public infrastructure and response costs in Dade, Douglas, Ozark, Vernon and Webster counties after severe storms, straight-line winds, excessive rain, large hail and flooding caused heavy damage there from May 23 through May 26.
“The long Memorial Day weekend brought four consecutive days of damaging severe storms and flooding to southwest Missouri and led to the destruction of public infrastructure and emergency response costs that are well-beyond the capacity of Dade, Douglas, Ozark, Vernon, and Webster counties,” Governor Kehoe said. “Missouri State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) personnel have been working with local officials as they have been preparing initial damage estimates and we believe the destruction requires joint reviews by FEMA, SEMA, and our local partners, in anticipation for a request for a federal disaster declaration.”
Additional counties may be added as damage information is received from local officials.
Joint PDA teams are made up of representatives from FEMA, SEMA and local emergency management officials. Beginning Tuesday, June 10, three teams will verify documented damage to determine if Public Assistance can be requested through FEMA. Public Assistance allows local governments and qualifying nonprofit agencies to seek federal assistance for reimbursement of emergency response and recovery costs, including debris removal and repair and replacement of damaged roads, bridges and other public infrastructure.
SEMA continues to coordinate with local officials, other state agencies, and volunteer and faith-based partners to identify needs and assist impacted families and individuals in areas of the state affected by this spring’s destructive severe weather. If you have damage, you should contact your insurance company and file a claim as soon as possible.
Missourians with unmet needs are encouraged to contact United Way by dialing 2-1-1 or the American Red Cross at 1-800-733-2767. For additional resources and information about disaster recovery in Missouri, including general clean-up information, housing assistance, and mental health services, visit recovery.mo.gov.
