Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
In pursuit of greener growth, China is steadily incorporating resources and environmental factors into the market framework as tradable production inputs, ensuring their value is more visible across the economy.
The latest move came in late May, when Chinese authorities unveiled a high-level guideline to accelerate the development of trading markets for carbon emission rights, water utilization rights, and pollution discharge permits.
According to the guideline, by 2027, China will have established a basically complete carbon emission and water trading system, and a more well-functioning trading system for pollution discharge rights. The guideline also envisions more vibrant markets, better price formation, and stronger support for national environmental goals through efficient flows and allocation of resources and environmental factors.
The latest reform builds on the principles laid out in October 2022, when Chinese leadership pledged to improve the system for market-based allocation of resources and environmental factors, and accelerate the R&D, promotion, and application of advanced energy-saving and carbon emission reduction technologies.
Analysts note that China faces rising pressure from limited per capita resources, tightening environmental constraints, and growing demand driven by rapid industrialization and urbanization. As a result, the role of resources and environmental factors as essential economic inputs has become increasingly prominent, making efficient, market-based allocation a pressing national priority.
“Resource scarcity and limited environmental carrying capacity are fundamental conditions in China,” said an official with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) in an interview with Xinhua, highlighting the urgency of using market mechanisms to break resource and environmental bottlenecks.
Over the years, China has laid important groundwork for the trading of resources and environmental factors, including establishing a nationwide carbon trading market, voluntary greenhouse gas emission reduction market, and water exchanges. Pilot programs for pollution permit exchanges have been rolled out in 28 provincial-level regions, demonstrating the viability of market-based mechanisms.
Nevertheless, despite these notable advances, the NDRC official pointed out that challenges persist, as China’s market-based system for allocating resources and environmental factors is still in its early stages. This system has been hindered by incomplete regulatory frameworks, a limited range of trading participants and mechanisms, as well as insufficient policy coordination and data sharing.
The new guideline, the official added, is expected to promote the notion that “resources and environmental factors carry value,” guiding their orderly flow, optimized allocation, and more efficient use, thereby fostering green, low-carbon development and supporting the growth of new quality productive forces.
Under the reform plan, China seeks to promote a unified framework for quota allocation and trading rules, while preserving the flexibility needed to address the specific nature of different environmental rights and major policy transitions.
Beyond regulation, the document also called for greater involvement from financial institutions. Financial entities are encouraged to develop green financial products, such as loans, insurance, and bonds, linked to resources and environmental factors.
Experts have hailed the policy as a landmark step towards systemic ecological reform in China. Wang Yi, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, described it as a “top-level design” to fix overlapping compliance and double counting, adding it marks a shift toward more integrated, system-level ecological governance.
Li Zhong, deputy director at the Energy Research Institute under the Academy of Macroeconomic Research, said the reform reflects China’s regional diversity, noting that the document explicitly calls for a phased approach, adjusting market structures according to local environmental characteristics and the readiness of market conditions.
While many local governments have launched pilot exchanges for carbon, water, and pollution rights, the new guideline emphasizes the need to align regional efforts under a national framework to improve allocation efficiency and market consistency.
In the carbon market, the country plans to expand its carbon market coverage, diversify trading products, and strengthen coordination with voluntary reduction schemes. Water-rights trading will extend across provinces in key river basins, incorporating conserved water from industrial and agricultural use. Pollution rights will see pilot cross-regional trading within shared watersheds.
Looking ahead, experts emphasize that accurate data, standardized trading platforms, transparent information disclosure, and enforceable oversight are all critical to building a well-functioning market for resources and environmental factors.
“Data integrity and legal safeguards are critical,” Wang Yi noted, adding that the development of a market-based system for resources and environmental factors is an evolving process that requires continuous adjustment and careful monitoring.
Source: United States Senator for New Hampshire Maggie Hassan
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Ranking Member of the Joint Economic Committee, helped lead a hearing yesterday examining barriers to supply chain modernization and ways to enhance U.S. manufacturing productivity. During the hearing, Senator Hassan highlighted bipartisan agreement on the need to strengthen America’s ability to outcompete China while raising concerns about current policies from the Trump Administration that threaten recent progress.
“I join Chairman Schweikert in recognizing how important it is that we modernize our supply chains and strengthen manufacturing here in the United States, especially as we work to outcompete China,” said Senator Hassan. “In the last several years, we’ve seen increased investment in critical technology manufacturing across the country, including new funding for projects in my home state of New Hampshire.”
Senator Hassan emphasized the success of recent bipartisan investments in American manufacturing and research, noting that legislation like the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act has driven critical domestic technology manufacturing and that the bipartisan infrastructure law and energy tax cuts in the Inflation Reduction Act are supporting modern supply chains through energy production and infrastructure investments. “To capitalize on these investments, deliver for the American people, and support private sector growth, we also need to streamline regulations. Doing so is essential to advancing American innovation and manufacturing,” she said.
However, Senator Hassan expressed concerns about Trump Administration policies that could undermine recent progress: “President Trump’s actions have threatened the progress that we’ve started to see in recent years. His erratic tariffs are slowing manufacturing investment and his moves to slash funds for cutting-edge research will make it harder for the United States to develop and produce our own technology,” Senator Hassan warned.
Click here for video of the full hearing.
Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
Following is the speech by the Chief Executive, Mr John Lee, at the International Science, Technology and Innovation Forum of the Boao Forum for Asia 2025 Hong Kong Conference today (June 7):
Honourable Vice-Chairman Edmund Ho (Vice-Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and President of the International Science, Technology and Innovation Forum of Boao Forum for Asia), Deputy Director Liu Guangyuan (Deputy Director of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR)), Deputy Commissioner Li Yongsheng (Deputy Commissioner of the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China in the HKSAR), Professor Frederick Ma (Chairman of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council), distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
These days, Beijing resident Xie Xiaoyang frequently shares photo collages of the city’s blue skies on his WeChat Moments — a stark contrast to the smoggy environment he remembers from his student days in the Chinese capital over 10 years ago.
“Social media was still in its infancy in China back then, with everyone eagerly sharing glimpses of their everyday routines,” Xie recalled. “Yet as autumn leaves fell and winter set in, the world outside dissolved into a murky haze. Posting enthusiasm waned, giving way to a citywide yearning for crisp blue skies.”
Beihai Park is decorated with lanterns in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 19, 2025. (Photo by Li Menglan/Xinhua)
Over the past decades, air pollution has persisted as a major environmental challenge for China amid its rapid urbanization and economic development. In a landmark response, the Chinese government declared war against air pollution in 2013, launching its Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan (APPCAP) — a comprehensive national policy framework targeting air quality improvement — and sought to find a better balance between economic growth and environment protection.
Following the introduction of the APPCAP, China became the first developing country in the world to impose large-scale efforts to reduce PM2.5 density, with Beijing taking the lead across Chinese cities by adopting scientific governance, institutional innovation and regional collaboration, contributing a new approach to global air pollution control. The United Nations Environment Programme has hailed the megacity’s achievements in improving air quality as the “Beijing Miracle.”
According to the Beijing Municipal Ecology and Environment Bureau, the capital reported steady progress in air quality in 2024. The average density of PM2.5, a key indicator of air pollution, during the year was 30.5 micrograms per cubic meter of air, down 6.2 percent year on year. The number of days with good air quality reached 290, an increase of 114 days compared with 2013 and the highest number on record. Notably, the number of heavily polluted days dropped from 58 in 2013 to just two in 2024, which was a reduction of 96.6 percent.
ARDUOUS CAMPAIGN
At this year’s “two sessions,” Minister of Ecology and Environment Huang Runqiu presented two filter membranes collected from Beijing’s atmospheric environment monitors. The sample from 2015 exhibited a grayish-black hue, while last year’s counterpart showed a grayish-white coloration.
“That grayish-black sample brings back memories of the days when my air purifier was working overtime,” Xie said, voicing a collective memory shared by Beijing residents who lived through the city’s smog-choked years.
“Beijing was then facing an acute air pollution crisis, making rigorous anti-smog measures an urgent imperative,” said Li Xiang, an official of the local ecological environment protection’s law enforcement authorities.
Building on the APPCAP, Beijing rolled out its clean air action plan from 2013 to 2017, launching a targeted campaign across four key battlefronts, including coal combustion control, vehicle emissions management, industrial pollution abatement and dust suppression.
“All relevant municipal authorities solemnly signed responsibility pledges, vowing to secure victory in this crucial pollution control campaign,” said Xie Jinkai, director of the atmospheric environment department of the Beijing Municipal Ecology and Environment Bureau.
This photo taken on Aug. 12, 2024 shows a view of the Shougang Park, a 3-square-kilometer industrial heritage site and a previous venue of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, in Beijing, capital of China. (Xinhua/Zhang Chenlin)
Beijing used to rely primarily on coal for winter heating. The first PM2.5 source analysis conducted in the capital — spanning 2012 to 2013 — identified coal combustion as one of the dominant contributors to local air pollution, said Wang Zifa, a researcher at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The megacity therefore made a resolute decision to launch a wide-ranging initiative to switch from coal to electricity for winter heating. Wang Yu, a senior engineer at the ecological environment bureau of Beijing’s Xicheng District who participated in the conversion project, recalled that the task was both complicated and arduous.
Environmental protection authorities and power supply companies conducted door-to-door surveys in target neighborhoods, addressing key challenges based on residents’ actual conditions while carrying out various tasks, including upgrading external power supply facilities.
By the end of 2015, the downtown Xicheng District became Beijing’s pioneer in achieving complete coal-free heating, a landmark transition that liberated residents from smoke-filled winters fueled by honeycomb briquettes. “Now our homes are warm and clean throughout winter. What a remarkable change,” said a longtime resident surnamed Bai who lives in the Niujie neighborhood of Xicheng District.
Beijing also established a rigorous regulatory framework to accelerate coal reduction. The municipal government has successively implemented emissions standards for various facilities, including stationary gas turbines and boilers, setting stringent new limits on pollutants. Meanwhile, authorities have intensified their work against violations such as excessive emissions and abnormal operations of facilities. Key coal-consuming enterprises now face enhanced supervision to ensure compliance, with mandatory requirements for continuous green upgrades.
Through coordinated actions from authorities, industries and communities, the capital’s plains achieved the fundamental status of being coal-free by the end of 2018, with coal-fired boilers virtually eliminated citywide.
According to Wang, Beijing’s follow-up PM2.5 source studies revealed that coal combustion’s contribution to PM2.5 dropped from 22.4 percent in 2013 to just 3 percent in 2017, eliminating its status as a major pollution source. And after five years of sustained efforts, Beijing saw its average annual density of PM2.5 decrease from nearly 90 micrograms per cubic meter to 58 micrograms per cubic meter, achieving its phased goal in curbing pollution.
PRECISION GOVERNANCE
In 2018, Beijing launched a “1 microgram initiative” to continuously improve air quality, shifting greater focus to sectors like vehicle emissions and fugitive dust, which demand refined control measures, and striving for even single microgram-per-cubic-meter improvements.
The year of 2021 marked a milestone in Beijing’s decade-long “blue skies” campaign, with its annual average PM2.5 concentration dropping to 33 micrograms per cubic meter — the lowest level since records began in 2013. The capital has since maintained compliant air quality standards for three consecutive years.
“‘Beijing blue’ has gradually become our new normal,” Huang Runqiu said at a press conference.
Thanks to aggressive renewable energy adoption and coal-replacement policies, Beijing’s energy mix has undergone a historic transformation. Its coal consumption plummeted from 21.8 million tonnes in 2012 to under 600,000 tonnes in 2024, now accounting for less than 1 percent of its total energy consumption, Yang Xiuling, director of the Beijing Municipal Development and Reform Commission, said recently.
Furthermore, Beijing has implemented structural optimization processes in its industrial and transport sectors. The city has closed over 3,000 manufacturing or polluting enterprises and rectified more than 12,000 scattered, disorganized or polluting businesses through categorized remediation. A total of over 3 million high-pollution vehicles have been phased out.
With its air quality having improved significantly, Beijing now faces more challenging pollution control targets that require increasingly scientific and refined measures. In 2025, the city elevated its air pollution governance to a new level of precision: its “0.1 microgram initiative.”
This photo taken on Oct. 17, 2024 shows new energy vehicle model SU7 produced by Chinese tech firm Xiaomi displayed during the 2024 World Intelligent Connected Vehicles Conference in Beijing, capital of China. (Xinhua/Chen Zhonghao)
“For instance, we will vigorously expand the adoption of new energy vehicles (NEVs), aiming for NEVs to comprise half of all registered vehicles by 2025,” Xie Jinkai said. “Through meticulous governance, we aim to consolidate and sustain emissions reduction achievements.”
According to the municipal government work report this year, the number of NEVs in the city has exceeded 1 million, and the proportion of green electricity in the city’s energy mix has reached 26 percent.
MULTI-LEVEL COOPERATION
According to Li Xiang, an illegal sand and gravel plant in Dashiwo Town of Beijing’s Fangshan District, which borders Zhuozhou City in Hebei Province, had once caused severe fugitive dust pollution in the local area.
“At that time, with Beijing and Hebei conducting separate law enforcement operations, the plant utilized vehicle-mounted mobile production equipment to shuttle across the provincial boundary, allowing the illegal operations to persist unchecked for an extended period,” Li said.
Since 2015, the ecological and environmental law enforcement agencies of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei have formally established and continuously improved a joint environmental enforcement mechanism, creating coordinated systems that involve regular consultations, joint operations and collaborative inspections to collectively combat cross-regional environmental violations.
After three years, the plant was officially shut down through a joint enforcement operation conducted by Beijing and Hebei authorities. In 2019, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region expanded its joint law enforcement mechanism to cover district and county levels.
Tourists visit the Tiantan (Temple of Heaven) Park in Beijing, capital of China, June 25, 2024. (Xinhua/Ju Huanzong)
Beijing has broadened its air quality governance collaboration from a domestic level to an international level in recent years. Beyond hosting an annual international forum on clean air and climate to facilitate exchanges among environmental experts, policymakers and businesses globally, the city also took a significant step earlier this year, when the Beijing Municipal Ecology and Environment Bureau signed a memorandum of understanding with the Environment Department of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration to boost air quality monitoring and management cooperation.
Over the next three years, Beijing will share its proven expertise in air pollution control — particularly its PM2.5 monitoring and mitigation strategies — with Bangkok to support the Thai capital’s air quality improvement efforts.
However, Xie Jinkai noted that Beijing’s current air quality improvements remain fragile, with regional pollution spikes likely to recur during unfavorable meteorological conditions.
“Air quality improvement remains a long-term, complex and challenging mission. Beijing’s pollution control efforts will continue advancing to deeper, more precise stages,” Xie said.
“Our shared goal is to maintain lasting blue skies and fresh air, continuously meeting the people’s growing expectations for a beautiful environment,” she added.
ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on June 7, 2025.
‘They cannot block us,’ says activist on Madleen flotilla aid ship to Gaza Pacific Media Watch One of the 12 activists on board the Gaza Freedom Flotilla aid vessel Madleen has posted an update on their progress, saying the mission would not be deterred by Israel’s threats to block them. In a video posted to X, Thiago Ávila said the crew, which includes high-profile Swedish climate activist Greta
Jeremy Rose: Mister Netanyahu have you no sense of decency? Report by Dr David Robie – Café Pacific. – COMMENTARY: By Jeremy Rose The word antisemitism has become so debased that depending on who is using it I might well take it as a sign that the accused is worth listening to. When the World Criminal Court (ICC) issued a warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu’s arrest,
Marshall Islands nuclear legacy: report highlights lack of health research By Giff Johnson, editor, Marshall Islands Journal, and RNZ Pacific correspondent A new report on the United States nuclear weapons testing legacy in the Marshall Islands highlights the lack of studies into important health concerns voiced by Marshallese for decades that make it impossible to have a clear understanding of the impacts of the 67
New rules for cosmetic injectables aim to make the industry safer. Will they work? Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Rudge, Law lecturer, University of Sydney BearFoto/Shutterstock New guidelines to regulate Australia’s booming cosmetic procedures industry have been called “tough” and “a crackdown” in media reports this week. On Tuesday, the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) announced the new guidelines – one for procedures, the
Keith Rankin Analysis – Equity Rights: UBI, SUI, BUI, HUI, or GUI? Analysis by Keith Rankin. Capitalism is in crisis, and our species’ imagination to save ourselves is sorely lacking. There are of course understandings out there, and solutions; but they are so heavily gate-kept that conversations about saving ourselves are well-nigh impossible. It remains a puzzle why those political and intellectual leaders who would most benefit
‘Godfather of AI’ now fears it’s unsafe. He has a plan to rein it in Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Armin Chitizadeh, Lecturer, School of Computer Science, University of Sydney fran_kie/Shutterstock This week the US Federal Bureau of Investigation revealed two men suspected of bombing a fertility clinic in California last month allegedly used artificial intelligence (AI) to obtain bomb-making instructions. The FBI did not disclose the
John Pesutto owes Moira Deeming $2.3m, but he doesn’t have it. Can former premiers be forced to pick up the tab? Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Legg, Professor of Law, UNSW Sydney Victorian MP Moira Deeming attracted headlines recently when news broke she’s intending to sue three former Liberal premiers, among other party figures. Why? Deeming is trying to recoup millions of dollars in legal costs after a successful defamation case. Who
The kimono is more than an artefact and more than clothing. It is a concept artists will make their own Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sasha Grishin, Adjunct Professor of Art History, Australian National University The kimono garment, the national dress of Japan, carries within itself all of the magic and traditions of Japanese culture. The basic features of the kimono are fairly simple. It is a wrapped front garment with square
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
KUNMING, June 7 (Xinhua) — Chinese and German astronomers recently announced the discovery of an exoplanet in the habitable zone, meaning its surface temperature allows liquid water to exist, the Yunnan Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) said.
Studies of Earth-like exoplanets are conducted based on several physical factors, including size, mass, surface temperature, etc., that influence the habitability of the planet.
The newly discovered celestial body orbits the central star Kepler-725, which is 2,472 light years from the solar system. Scientists estimate that Kepler-725, which is much younger than the Sun, has only existed for 1.6 billion years. As a result, more violent activity is observed on the surface of the star.
The discovered planet’s rotation period around its host star is about 207.5 days, which is relatively close to the Earth’s rotation period. Its mass is 10 times greater than that of our planet.
There are currently 5,912 confirmed planets outside the Solar System. Very few of these are classified as planets that have physical factors that make them habitable.
Many methods have been developed to search for exoplanets. The most productive of these are considered to be the methods of astrometric measurements and passages /transits/. The first method involves attempts to register the periodic displacement of stars on the celestial sphere under the influence of planets orbiting them, and the second uses the effect of weakening the visible brightness of a star when an exoplanet passes in front of it.
However, the limitations of these two methods are obvious. They make it extremely difficult to detect Earth-sized exoplanets due to their relatively small size and the great distance from the stars they orbit.
Sun Leilei, a researcher at the Yunnan Observatory, said the exoplanet was found using the Transit Timing Variation (TTV) method.
The TTV method is based on determining the start time of a known exoplanet’s transit and deducing whether its transit occurs with strict periodicity or whether there are some deviations. In other words, the researchers managed to “indirectly” prove the existence of a previously unknown celestial body in the Kepler-725 planetary system.
Thus, astronomers have discovered for the first time an exoplanet located in the habitable zone. The results of their research were published in the prestigious international scientific journal Nature Astronomy on June 3.
The question of the existence of life on the discovered exoplanet remains open. -0-
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
People attend a special space science Q&A session with Chinese astronauts aboard the Tiangong space station in Budapest, Hungary, on June 6, 2025. More than 300 students, scientists, and government officials gathered Friday at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences for a special space science Q&A session with Chinese astronauts aboard the Tiangong space station. (Photo by Tamas Szigeti/Xinhua)
More than 300 students, scientists, and government officials gathered Friday at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences for a special space science Q&A session with Chinese astronauts aboard the Tiangong space station.
Dubbed the “Tiangong Classroom,” the event was co-hosted by the China Manned Space Agency, the Chinese Embassy in Hungary, and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. It aimed to deepen growing cooperation between China and Hungary in the fields of aerospace, education, and innovation.
During the session, Shenzhou-20 crew members Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui, and Wang Jie responded to questions submitted in advance by Hungarian students. In a pre-recorded video, the astronauts also demonstrated zero-gravity science experiments, captivating the audience with examples from space.
The event attracted questions from students representing over 100 Hungarian schools, touching on a wide range of space science topics. Many Hungarian students were thrilled to see their questions answered directly by astronauts in space.
Tamas Pinter Keresztes, a 16-year-old from Zrinyi Ilona High School in Nyiregyhaza, is the founder and team leader of Hungary’s first high school rocket development group, Pannon Space Technologies. He shared his excitement with Xinhua: “I asked what strength-training equipment astronauts use aboard the station, and I also submitted an experiment idea, which got selected. This kind of cooperation between Hungary and China for promoting science makes me really happy.”
Sara Lovati, 15, from ELTE Trefort Agoston High School in Budapest, asked about how microgravity affects the spinal column. She was curious about the astronauts’ real feelings after reading an article about how astronauts grow taller in space. “I love astronomy,” she said, adding that she hopes to study astrophysics in the future.
From Szekesfehervar, 15-year-old Bence Kovacs of Szechenyi Istvan Technical School focused on the circadian cycle in space. His question is how the absence of a natural day-night rhythm affects the human body. “I’ve been following China’s space program online,” he said. “I wish them to have success in their scientific experiments, and of course, a safe return.”
The student submissions were reviewed anonymously by a panel of scientists, including Adam Boldog, a researcher at the Svabhegy Observatory and one of the event’s scientific coordinators.
“We evaluated how relevant the questions were to microgravity, how original they were, and whether they reflected a clear scientific mindset,” he explained, adding that it was hard to select dozens from hundreds of high-quality questions.
Ferenc Hudecz, vice president of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, highlighted the significance of the event. “It highlights China’s emergence as a global leader in space research, and its serious commitment to inspiring younger generations and encouraging their curiosity and openness toward the world,” he said.
Chinese Ambassador to Hungary Gong Tao hailed the event as a new chapter in China-Hungary aerospace cooperation. “Only through open cooperation can we climb higher and more dangerous peaks of science and technology,” he said.
The three-member crew aboard the Tiangong space station was launched into orbit on April 24 for a six-month mission.
Source: United States Senator for Texas John Cornyn
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) today released the following statement praising the inclusion of a Cornyn-led space provision, the Mission to Modernize Astronautic Resources (MARS) for SpaceAct, as well as funding for National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Artemis program and resources to support the International Space Station (ISS) in the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation’s legislative text to be included in the Senate version of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act:
“Texas has long been a leader in space exploration and innovation, and I am glad my provision to bolster Johnson Space Center’s infrastructure has been included in the Senate’s One Big Beautiful Bill,” said Sen Cornyn. “My initiative will help ensure NASA has the research, equipment, and modernized facilities needed to send Americans to Mars and beyond, and I urge my Senate colleagues to advance this part of our One Big Beautiful Bill.”
Background:
Yesterday, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation released its legislative text to be included in the Senate’s version of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The legislation includes the Mission to Modernize Astronautic Resources (MARS) for SpaceAct, which was introduced by Sen. Cornyn.
The Mission toMARS Act, introduced by Sen. Cornyn in May, would improve and modernize JSC’s infrastructure to prepare NASA for human missions to the moon and Mars by preparing the Neutral Buoyancy Lab for commercial space station training, lunar-suited operations, and collaborations with the Department of Defense; upgrading and repairing the Astromaterials Curation and Research facility for samples from the moon and Mars; modernizing the Mission Control Center to prepare for crewed missions beyond low-Earth orbit; improving Ellington Field astronaut flight training facilities; constructing the space food systems laboratory; and refurbishing astronaut training aircraft.
Sen. Cornyn continues to support resources for the Artemis program and the ISS to keep the United States and Texas as a world leader in human space exploration.
Source: United States Senator for Washington Maria Cantwell
06.06.25
Cantwell Joins IAM District 751 for Grand Opening of New Machinists Institute & Union Hall in Everett
New institute can train 700 new machinists per year, helping the PNW continue to lead the world in plane manufacturing
EVERETT, WA – Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, joined the members of IAM District 751 in Everett to celebrate the ribbon cutting of a new Machinists Institute to help train and skill the next generation of plane manufacturers.
“By 2030, we may have a shortfall of over 2 million machinists. Can you imagine? America’s competitiveness is at stake,” Sen. Cantwell said. “751 is answering the call, not just with this new facility, but in integrating the Machinists Institute to train, and skill, and attract people […] That is why this building and the Machinists Institute — with a training capacity of over 700 machinists, to be trained right here — is such a great facility.”
Photos of the event are HERE; a transcript of Sen. Cantwell’s full remarks is HERE.
The new building opening today stands in the same location across the street from the Boeing Everett Plant as the former Everett Union Hall, which was demolished in 2021.
The new building includes a larger union meeting room with triple the previous hall’s capacity, administrative offices, and an educational facility run by the Machinists Institute. The Machinists Institute facility will provide continuing education and industry certifications to members, and will offer students Heavy Equipment Apprenticeships or pre-apprenticeship training — helping IAM 751 attract more members and increasing the union’s capacity to serve them.
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) is one of the largest labor unions in North America, with 600,000 active and retired members. IAM District 751 is the Washington contingent with over 33,000 members, most of whom are machinists at the Boeing Company.
In October 2024, IAM District 751 members at Boeing went on strike for 53 days to secure a new contract with 38% general wage increases over the next four years, lower health insurance premiums, a commitment to build the next Boeing plane in Washington, and improved benefits. During the strike, Sen. Cantwell attended a rally on the picket line in Everett to show solidarity with the machinists.
In her historic 2024 bipartisan legislation to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Sen. Cantwell expanded funding and assistance under the FAA Aviation Workforce Development Grant Program, securing $60 million per year through FY 2028 to grow the aviation workforce pipeline. Sen. Cantwell secured a new subprogram dedicated to recruiting and training the next generation of aviation manufacturing workers. Local aviation workforce training programs operated by IAM 751’s Machinist Institute and the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA) are directly eligible for funding awards. As a whole, the grant program makes investments in the education and recruitment of pilots, unmanned aircraft systems operators, maintenance technicians, aerospace engineers, and aircraft manufacturing technical workers.
Source: United States Senator for Washington Maria Cantwell
06.06.25
NEW DATA: Over 300,000 Washingtonians Would Lose Health Coverage If Trump’s Budget Bill Passes
Central and Eastern WA hit the hardest; The U.S. House of Representatives passed the “Big, Beautiful” bill 215-214 in May; legislation now being considered in the Senate
EDMONDS, WA – Data released by the Joint Economic Committee minority staff breaks down, by state and congressional district, how many Americans would lose health care coverage losses due to President Trump and Congressional Republicans’ proposed cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, announced today.
In total, 16 million Americans – including 306,312 Washingtonians – will lose the health care coverage they need to get regular check-ups, behavioral health care, family planning services, long-term care, urgent care, and more if the Republican bill passes the U.S. Senate and is signed into law.
Congressional District
Est. # of People Losing Affordable Care Act Coverage
Est. # of People Losing Medicaid Coverage
Est. Total # of People Losing Health Coverage
WA-01
11,500
11,638
23,138
WA-02
13,500
20,155
33,655
WA-03
10,000
21,654
31,654
WA-04
8,400
31,693
40,093
WA-05
11,500
24,934
36,434
WA-06
10,000
20,288
30,288
WA-07
13,500
10,458
23,958
WA-08
10,000
13,572
23,572
WA-09
11,500
22,069
33,569
WA-10
8,400
21,589
29,989
According to the analysis, Washington’s Fifth Congressional District, covering Eastern Washington, would see the most people lose health insurance under the Republican plan of any district in the state. More than 40,000 Eastern Washingtonians in the Fifth District alone won’t be able to get affordable health care if the Republican plan passes.
Washington’s Fourth Congressional District, covering most of Central Washington, would see the second-most people lose health insurance under the Republican plan of any district in the state. More than 35,000 Eastern Washingtonians in the Fourth District alone won’t be able to get affordable health care if the Republican plan passes.
People without health insurance tend to wait until their health problem is an emergency before seeking care in local hospitals. This leads to more crowded emergency rooms for everyone.
And hospitals must factor the uncompensated cost of additional uninsured patients into already strained finances – finances which are especially strained at rural hospitals like those in the Fourth and Fifth Districts.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) published its updated analysis, available here, after House Republicans passed their budget reconciliation bill with over $700 billion in cuts and significant changes to Medicaid. The Committee fact sheet, available here, provides updated estimates for all 50 states and D.C. of the estimated number of people losing their health insurance. The Committee data broken down by Congressional District is available here. Totals by congressional district and by state are slightly different due to rounding.
Medicaid, known as Apple Health in Washington state, covers over 1.9 million Washingtonians. Sen. Cantwell has held events across the state to hear about the impact of the proposed cuts on Washingtonians and released three reports detailing the cuts’ significant negative impacts. On May 2, Sen. Cantwell released a snapshot report highlighting the impact that Medicaid cuts would have on Washington state’s highly-ranked long-term care system for seniors and people with disabilities. In February, she released a snapshot report that demonstrated how cuts would harm health care access in Washington state, and she followed up with a report in March that dove into impacts on the Puget Sound region.
Highlights of those snapshot reports include:
In Washington state, WA-04 (Central Washington) and WA-05 (Eastern Washington) have the highest proportions of adults and total population on Medicaid (Apple Health). In District 4, 70% of children are on Medicaid.
In the Puget Sound region, children in Seattle’s blue-collar strongholds would feel the deepest pain from Medicaid cuts. More than half of children in Burien, SeaTac, Kent, Federal Way, Auburn, Renton, and Rainier Valley depend on Medicaid.
In an exclusive survey of 68 WA nursing homes, 67 of 68 would cut services if Medicaid were cut by 5% or more, and 65% would consider closing.
Sen. Cantwell also toured the state to hear from folks who would be directly impacted by cuts to Medicare. Doctors, patients, and health care providers in Seattle, Spokane, the Tri-Cities, and Wenatchee warned that such cuts would devastate Washington state’s health care system and limit access to lifesaving care.
On May 21, Sen. Cantwell joined Washington state health care professionals for a virtual press conference to highlight statewide alarm and opposition to proposed Medicaid cuts. That same day, 23 Republican members of the Washington state legislature sent a letter to the entire Washington state federal Congressional delegation, urging the delegation to “protect Medicaid funding for Washington State.”
A full timeline of Sen. Cantwell’s actions to defend Medicaid from cuts is HERE.
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
Press release
One stop shop for tech could save taxpayers £1.2 billion and overhaul how government buys digital tools
A first-of-its-kind digital marketplace is being built to help shake up how the UK public sector buys technology – hoping to unlock £1.2 billion in annual savings, save time and give public servants the power to rate suppliers.
New digital hub set to save taxpayers £1.2 billion.
New platform to allow public sector to rate and review tech products, helping hospitals, schools and government departments avoid costly mistakes and make smarter, faster decisions on which tech to buy
currently in early development, the platform is set to unlock £1.2 billion a year in savings and modernise how the public sector invests £26 billion-a-year on tech
the National Digital Exchange will support the government’s Plan for Change – giving the UK public sector faster access to better deals, while boosting small business involvement by 40% within 3 years
A first-of-its-kind digital marketplace is being built to help shake up how the UK public sector buys technology – hoping to unlock £1.2 billion in annual savings, save time and give public servants the power to rate suppliers.
By making it faster and easier to buy the right technology, the National Digital Exchange (NDX) will aim to drive forward the government’s Plan for Change – helping to deliver simpler, smarter, and more responsive public services for the people who rely on them, while ensuring better value for taxpayers.
In a major shift, the platform hopes to allow teams across the public sector to access pre-approved tech deals at nationally negotiated prices, with an AI-powered engine that matches them with suppliers based on what they actually need – all in a matter of hours, not months.
The platform is designed to open the market to more UK tech firms, with a target to boost small business involvement in government contracts by 40% within 3 years.
It follows the State of Digital Government report which warned that 209 NHS secondary care organisations and 320 local councils go it alone when negotiating tech contracts, despite widely using similar tools – missing out on essential bargaining power. Only 28% of public sector leaders said their organisations were able to track and make sure that their tech suppliers were delivering proper value for their services.
Users will be able to rate and review what they’ve bought, lifting the lid on which tools have delivered, and where promises haven’t matched performance – creating a platform comparable to an app store for the technology that underpins the British state and essential public services.
The announcement comes ahead of London Tech Week, where the role of digital innovation in transforming public services will be in the spotlight.
Minister for AI and Digital Government, Feryal Clark said:
We’ve all heard the stories – months of red tape, tech that doesn’t deliver, and money wasted. That’s not good enough for the people we serve.
The National Digital Exchange aims to change that. It will make it faster, fairer, and focused on what works – with real reviews, upfront pricing and smart AI to match buyers with the right suppliers in hours.
It’s a clear example of our Plan for Change in action: cutting waste, boosting innovation, and backing British tech to deliver better public services.
The platform, which will be created under the revised Procurement Regulations to help shape a smarter, more open future for digital procurement, and is being developed alongside a “digital playbook” to guide officials responsible for buying technology towards best practice – making sure the long-term impacts of their decisions, and the social value of contracts are considered.
Today’s news also follows the government announcing plans to test new ways of funding AI and tech projects, aiming to bring a start-up mindset to testing the application and use of AI experiments on small budgets, and then building on proof of success.
DSIT is also working closely with organisations like TechUK helping to ensure the platform reflects the needs of both buyers and suppliers.
Source: United States Senator Ted Budd (R-North Carolina)
Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Ted Budd (R-N.C.), a member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, and Representative Troy Nehls (R-Texas-22), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Aviation for the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee today celebrated the news that President Trump issued a transformative executive order to repeal the prohibition on overland supersonic flight, establish an interim noise-based certification standard, and repeal other regulations that hinder supersonic flight.
The executive order follows Senator Budd and Representative Nehls’ introduction of the Supersonic Aviation Modernization (SAM) Act, which would require the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator to issue regulations to legalize civil supersonic flight in the United States. President Trump’s executive order directly aligns with the goals of this legislation.
“President Trump’s swift leadership to unleash supersonic flight will boost America’s ability to compete with China in the race for next-generation aircraft and revolutionize commercial air travel. For too long, outdated restrictions on civil supersonic flight have stifled innovation. I am grateful that President Trump has leaned in to legalize this vital technology in the United States and promote international engagement for international operations. I will continue to work with my colleagues in Washington, like my friend Rep. Nehls, to advance policies that unleash cutting-edge technologies like supersonic aviation,”said Senator Budd.
“President Donald J. Trump’s executive order promoting supersonic aviation in the United States is a crucial step in ensuring we remain competitive in the aviation industry against our foreign adversaries. Congress must pass the Supersonic Aviation Modernization Act, which I introduced alongside Senator Ted Budd, to codify President Trump’s actions immediately so we can ensure that out-of-touch FAA policies don’t hinder the Golden Age of American air travel,”said Representative Nehls.
BACKGROUND:
For the past fifty-two years, the United States has had a speed limit in the sky. 14 CFR § 91.817, enacted in 1973, dictates that no person may operate a civil aircraft in the United States at a true flight Mach number greater than 1. This rule prohibits non-military related supersonic flight over the United States, setting an artificial speed limit in the national airspace.
American companies, like Boom Supersonic, have developed quiet supersonic technologies and have already demonstrated that their aircraft can operate above Mach 1 without a sonic boom reaching the ground.
This is due to a well-known phenomenon called Mach cutoff, in which a sonic boom refracts in the atmosphere and never reaches the ground.
Despite these innovations, FAA regulations continue to restrict supersonic operations.
President Trump’s executive order will permit operators to fly aircraft at supersonic speeds within the National Airspace System if no sonic boom reaches the ground, the intended outcome of the SAM Act.
The SAM Act was cosponsored by Senators Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), and Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.). Representative Sharice Davids (D-Kan.-3) joined Representative Nehls in introducing the bill in the House.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Frank J. Mrvan (IN)
Washington, DC– Yesterday, Rep. Frank J. Mrvan discussed the recent Nippon agreement and tariff policy with Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick during a House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, and Science hearing.
As Vice Chairman of the Congressional Steel Caucus, Congressman Mrvan pressed Secretary Lutnick about how the Administration is going to protect United Steelworker jobs in light of the recent agreement with Nippon, and that he wants to “make sure that the Administration hears the voices very loudly and clearly from my district that we want assurances, not based on market conditions, that this investment promised will protect steelworkers jobs and tradesmen, who provide the maintenance on those blast furnaces.”
Congressman Mrvan also questioned Secretary Lutnick regarding the Administration’s tariff policy and how bad actors may attempt to reshore manufacturing in order to evade U.S. trade laws, and stressed that the domestic steel industry and members of organized labor depend on the full enforcement of U.S. trade laws to thrive in our global economy.
Congressman Mrvan’s full questions with Secretary Lutnick are available here and here.
Source: Government of the Russian Federation – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
The fourth season of the University Shifts project has started. This year, more than 100 Russian universities have joined the project.
“University Shifts” is a career guidance project, within the framework of which schoolchildren and college students get a unique opportunity to experience student life, see the structure of universities from the inside and get acquainted with the educational program and opportunities of higher education institutions. Universities create an environment for the children that is as close as possible to a student environment, immerse them in the educational process and introduce them to the scientific potential of the university, including through visits to specialized enterprises – potential employers and university laboratories. During the shifts, the children live on university campuses and country camps. To implement the principle of harmonious personal development, the career guidance program is combined with cultural and leisure activities: visits to museums and theaters, excursions, participation in interactive classes on the history and culture of Russia, as well as meetings with students, university teachers, government officials, athletes, and cultural figures.
“Our President Vladimir Putin spoke about the importance of choosing a job that you love and realizing your calling. The University Shifts project allows the younger generation to choose a profession and a future university at an early age. In the fourth season, children aged 14 to 17 will be able to participate, including those from new regions. This year, the program’s capabilities have been expanded thanks to the decision of Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin,” said Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko.
The Deputy Prime Minister added that during his working trips he visited organizations that are project sites. For example, the Mariupol State University named after A.I. Kuindzhi.
Among the participants of the first shift of this season are 570 children from the Donetsk People’s Republic, Zaporizhzhya and Belgorod regions. In total, nine shifts are planned for the summer season.
“The first groups will go to universities in Rostov-on-Don, Kostroma, Arkhangelsk, Tambov, Nalchik, Ryazan and Moscow. It is important that this year, in addition to career guidance and cultural and leisure events, the shifts will integrate a program dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War, as well as the 80th anniversary of the nuclear industry in Russia. Thus, children will learn more about the great deeds of the heroes and scientists of our country,” said the head of the Ministry of Education and Science, Valery Falkov.
It is planned that over 16 thousand children aged 14 to 17, including those from new regions, will be able to participate in the fourth season.
Over three years, more than 44 thousand children went to the “University Shifts”, in 2024 alone, 107 universities of the country accepted more than 15 thousand schoolchildren and students of secondary vocational education. The children were able to visit the most remote corners of the country, and discovered Kamchatka.
Let us recall that since 2023 the project has been implemented jointly with the “Movement of the First”. The All-Russian Children’s Movement has developed methodological recommendations for conducting educational, cultural, educational and career guidance events of the shifts.
“University shifts are an excellent opportunity for the participants of the “Movement of the First”, schoolchildren and students of professional educational organizations of all regions of Russia to get acquainted with domestic universities, their scientific base and areas of professional training. Career guidance programs will cover more than 100 universities and will be held in eight areas: technical, humanitarian, medical, creative, sports, pedagogical, agricultural and information technology. Immersing yourself in student life for 10 days is the best way to shape your future professional trajectory,” emphasized the chairman of the board of the “Movement of the First” Artur Orlov.
The University Shifts project has been implemented since 2022. It is both a social support measure and a form of encouragement for talented youth. Young people from new regions, border territories and families of SVO participants take part in it within a separate quota. Participants of the Movement of the First from all over Russia get into the program as a result of a competitive selection, within which they complete tasks in the areas of professional training that interest them.
Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
Source: United States Senator for Alaska Dan Sullivan
05.27.25
WASHINGTON — Today, U.S. Senators Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) and Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) announced that the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation advanced their bipartisan legislation to facilitate cybersecurity and telecommunications upgrades for the 17 oceanographic vessels in the U.S. Academic Research Fleet. The Accelerating Networking, Cyberinfrastructure, and Hardware for Oceanic Research (ANCHOR) Act would require the National Science Foundation (NSF) to plan improvements for these critical oceanographic research vessels.
These ships and their submersibles play a central role in exploring our oceans and strengthening our national security. First commissioned decades ago, these ships are in desperate need of new infrastructure and maintenance, especially with foreign cyberattacks targeting naval vessels on the rise.
The ANCHOR Act now heads to the full Senate for consideration.
“The unanimous referral of the ANCHOR Act out of the Commerce Committee sends a strong, bipartisan message: safeguarding America’s maritime research infrastructure is essential to our national security,” said Senator Sullivan. “This bill will better protect our research fleet and institutions—many of which have been targeted by adversarial cyber threats—and ensure that vessels, like the Sikuliaq in Seward, can continue their vital scientific missions without compromise.”
“The U.S. Academic Research Fleet is a global leader in performing groundbreaking oceanographic research,” said Senator Padilla. “But with increasing cyberattacks on these vessels, we urgently need to upgrade crucial cybersecurity and telecommunications infrastructure. We have a responsibility to keep both our nation’s research and its researchers safe. I am glad to the see the Senate advance this cost-effective, bipartisan solution, improving research and conditions for our crew members.”
“Collaborative, interdisciplinary teams are essential to achieving scientific excellence at the University of California, but conducting this work from research vessels at sea presents unique challenges,” said Theresa Maldonado, Vice President for Research and Innovation at the University of California. “Teams aboard these floating laboratories need the infrastructure to share their expertise and data effectively in real-time with their land-based collaborators in order to accelerate science and engineering outcomes. This capability depends on networks of satellites, digital assets, software and cyberinfrastructure. The ANCHOR Act is the vital step toward establishing this critical infrastructure, and the University of California thanks Senator Padilla for his leadership.”
“Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego operates research vessels that are essential in advancing research to understand our oceans and changing climate, and training the next generation of environmental leaders through hands-on experiences at sea. Reliable network and computing capabilities are essential for the professional operation of all modern ships, and critically important for effective scientific activities on research vessels specifically. As globally-ranging laboratories that must operate in the most remote areas of the world, research vessels rely on cyberinfrastructure for our mission-critical activities. The ANCHOR Act will make this possible — along with the cybersecurity that is so important now — and gives us the ability to conduct our nation’s research and education missions efficiently, capably and securely,” said Dr. Margaret Leinen, Vice Chancellor, Marine Sciences and Director, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego.
“U.S. scientists depend on the Academic Research Fleet to conduct research that is vital to our understanding of the oceans, which is linked to societal impacts ranging from tsunamis to fisheries ecosystems to global weather. The ANCHOR Act will result in critically-needed cyberinfrastructure throughout the fleet, which will enable our mariners to operate our ships effectively and empower our scientists by enabling satellite communications, shoreside and shipboard digital infrastructure, and technical support. In addition to enabling cutting-edge science, these systems will strengthen our ability to develop and retain a highly skilled workforce of scientific mariners and marine technicians, who are essential to advance our nation’s leadership in ocean enterprise and technology,” said Dr. Bruce Appelgate, Chair of the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System.
Specifically, the ANCHOR Act would require NSF to issue a report within one year that details a budget and plan for cybersecurity and internet upgrades across the 17 research vessels in the fleet, which are owned by NSF, the Office of Naval Research, and U.S. universities and laboratories. The report would outline costs for equipment, training, personnel, and methods to minimize spending.
Scripps Institution of Oceanography houses California’s three vessels in the fleet, including the R/V Sally Ride, named after the trailblazing scientist who was one of the first six female astronauts in NASA history. Joining the fleet in 2016, the R/V Sally Ride has already made history in honor of its namesake. In 2021, California researchers on board conducted an extensive survey of the historic DDT chemical dumpsite off the coast of Southern California, leading to the World War II munitions discovery.
Source: United States Senator for New Mexico Martin Heinrich
WASHINGTON — Today, U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich, Ranking Member on the Senate Committee of Energy and Natural Resources sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum expressing his grave concern surrounding the Trump Administration’s assault on the Department’s science agency, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The letter highlights President Trump’s proposed budget cuts on the USGS, and the “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) reported planned terminations of hundreds of scientists and potential termination of USGS centers’ leases across the country as threats to our nation’s scientists, public safety responsibilities and operational continuity of the agency.
In addition to Heinrich, U.S. Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Angus King (I-Maine), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) signed the letter.
The senators opened the letter, “We write to express concern over recent and proposed actions by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and broader administrative decisions that together threaten the integrity and continuity of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).” The senators continued, “Specifically, the potential termination of General Services Administration (GSA) leases supporting USGS centers across the country— alongside USGS’s proposed FY2026 budget cut of $564 million and the reported planned terminations of hundreds of scientists—represents a multi-front assault on the nation’s scientific infrastructure.”
Emphasizing the critical role USGS plays in monitoring and analyzing the nation’s resources, the senators highlighted, “USGS’s work underpins the ability of federal, state, and local governments, Tribal nations, industry, and communities tomake informed decisions—particularly in areas such as disaster preparedness, climate adaptation, water resource management, andecosystem protection,” the senators wrote.
Stressing the impacts of cuts to USGS, “These proposed budgetcuts could mean abandoning research and monitoring that helps farmers guard against wildlife diseases like avian flu, delaying when real-time water and hazard data is provided for disaster response, and ending collaborations that monitor invasive species, harmful algal blooms and wildfire risks,” the senators wrote.
“The scientific integrity, public safety responsibilities, andoperational continuity of the USGS must not be compromised by administration actions taken without proper oversight or consultation,” stated the senators.
The senators highlighted the threat that the potential termination of USGS leases pose, many of which house Water Science Centers, Climate Adaptation Science Centers, and Ecosystems Research Centers, “These facilities provide critical support to states, local communities, and Tribal Nations as they confront unprecedented drought, wildfires, habitat loss, and other climate-related disruptions”
“While DOGE’s actions are framed as efficiency measures, the potential impact of terminating these leases – without transparent criteria or coordination – as well as slashing $564 million from the budget and crippling of the scientific workforce raises serious questions about continuity of operations. If implemented, these changes to USGS would directly impair the federal government’s ability to assess and respond to threats in real time,” stressed the senators.
The senators concluded the letter by asking the Department of the Interior to respond to questions outlining the far-reaching implications of these actions by June 19, 2025.
Read the full text of the letter here and below:
Dear Secretary Burgum,
We write to express concern over recent and proposed actions by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and broader administrative decisions that together threaten the integrity andcontinuity of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Specifically, the potential termination of General Services Administration (GSA) leases supporting USGS centers across the country— alongsideUSGS’s proposed FY2026 budget cut of $564 million and the reported planned terminations of hundreds of scientists—represents a multi-front assault on the nation’s scientific infrastructure.
The USGS is a premier science agency with a critical role inmonitoring and analyzing the nation’s resources, including water, ecosystems, natural hazards, minerals, and energy. Its scientific expertise and robust data collection efforts support public safety, environmental stewardship, and national economic resilience. USGS’s work underpins the ability of federal, state, and local governments, Tribal nations, industry, and communities to make informed decisions—particularly in areas such as disaster preparedness, climate adaptation, water resource management, and ecosystem protection.
The proposed budget cuts are not about “efficiency”— they represent a retreat from federal responsibility and a dismantling of the scientific infrastructure that communities, industries, andgovernments depend on every day. USGS supports work that directly protects public health, strengthens our economy, andinforms disaster preparedness and response. These proposed budget cuts could mean abandoning research and monitoring that helps farmers guard against wildlife diseases like avian flu, delaying when real-time water and hazard data is provided for disaster response, and ending collaborations that monitor invasive species, harmful algal blooms and wildfire risks. While these impacts are not yet certain, they represent serious risks for communities, Tribes, state and local governments, and natural resource managers who depend on USGS science to make informed, often life-saving decisions. As demonstrated throughout its nearly 150 years of existence, USGS science is not optional; it is essential.
The potential termination of USGS leases, many of which house Water Science Centers, Climate Adaptation Science Centers, andEcosystems Research Centers, threatens regional scientific capacity at a time when local expertise and place-based science are most needed. These facilities provide critical support to states, local communities, and Tribal Nations as they confront unprecedented drought, wildfires, habitat loss, and other climate-related disruptions. Reliable Page 2 scientific information is essential toboth our national economy and the safety of communities across the country.
While DOGE’s actions are framed as efficiency measures, the potential impact of terminating these leases – without transparent criteria or coordination – as well as slashing $564 million from the budget and crippling of the scientific workforce raises serious questions about continuity of operations. If implemented, these changes to USGS would directly impair the federal government’s ability to assess and respond to threats in real time.
Given this uncertainty and the far-reaching implications of these actions, we request immediate clarity on the following by June 19, 2025:
1. What is the current status of all USGS leases and what facilities are at risk of lease termination?
2. What criteria were used to select these leases for potential termination, and how was USGS consulted in this process?
3. What plans are in place to ensure uninterrupted mission support—particularly for key activities under the Water Resources, Natural Hazards, and Ecosystems Mission Areas— if these facilities are closed?
4. Where will affected employees be relocated, and how will critical field and lab operations be maintained in the interim?
5. How will USGS ensure that existing commitments to state andlocal governments, tribal partners, and other stakeholders are honored, particularly for time-sensitive water data and hazard alerts?
6. What USGS staff positions are on the list for termination (please include title and location)? When will the terminations be implemented?
7. Do any of the USGS employees on the list for termination have salaries funded by reimbursable contracts with external partners? If so, how many such employees are affected, and what is the amount of federal savings that would be generated from their termination?
8. Given the planned reduction in force, how will existing staff fill the gaps in order to fulfill the USGS mission?
9. What programs will be eliminated by the $564 million proposed budget cut?
The scientific integrity, public safety responsibilities, andoperational continuity of the USGS must not be compromised by administrative actions taken without proper oversight or consultation. We appreciate your attention to this matter and look forward to your prompt response.
Sincerely,
The International Journal of Scientific Research and Technology (IJSRT) is a publication that encompasses a broad spectrum of content, including reviews, research articles, and short communications. Its primary objective is to disseminate manuscripts on diverse topics within the realms of science and technology, including but not limited to Medicine, Pharmacy, Engineering, Environmental Science, Data Science, DRug Research, Artificial Intelligence, Biotechnology, Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Social Sciences, Humanities, and more
The 2001 Odyssey spacecraft captured a first-of-its-kind look at Arsia Mons, which dwarfs Earth’s tallest volcanoes. A new panorama from NASA’s 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter shows one of the Red Planet’s biggest volcanoes, Arsia Mons, poking through a canopy of clouds just before dawn. Arsia Mons and two other volcanoes form what is known as the Tharsis Montes, or Tharsis Mountains, which are often surrounded by water ice clouds (as opposed to Mars’ equally common carbon dioxide clouds), especially in the early morning. This panorama marks the first time one of the volcanoes has been imaged on the planet’s horizon, offering the same perspective of Mars that astronauts have of the Earth when they peer down from the International Space Station. Launched in 2001, Odyssey is the longest-running mission orbiting another planet, and this new panorama represents the kind of science the orbiter began pursuing in 2023, when it captured the first of its now four high-altitude images of the Martian horizon. To get them, the spacecraft rotates 90 degrees while in orbit so that its camera, built to study the Martian surface, can snap the image.
The angle allows scientists to see dust and water ice cloud layers, while the series of images enables them to observe changes over the course of seasons. “We’re seeing some really significant seasonal differences in these horizon images,” said planetary scientist Michael D. Smith of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “It’s giving us new clues to how Mars’ atmosphere evolves over time.” Understanding Mars’ clouds is particularly important for understanding the planet’s weather and how phenomena like dust storms occur. That information, in turn, can benefit future missions, including entry, descent and landing operations. Volcanic Giants While these images focus on the upper atmosphere, the Odyssey team has tried to include interesting surface features in them, as well. In Odyssey’s latest horizon image, captured on May 2, Arsia Mons stands 12 miles (20 kilometers) high, roughly twice as tall as Earth’s largest volcano, Mauna Loa, which rises 6 miles (9 kilometers) above the seafloor. The southernmost of the Tharsis volcanoes, Arsia Mons is the cloudiest of the three. The clouds form when air expands as it blows up the sides of the mountain and then rapidly cools. They are especially thick when Mars is farthest from the Sun, a period called aphelion. The band of clouds that forms across the planet’s equator at this time of year is called the aphelion cloud belt, and it’s on proud display in Odyssey’s new panorama. “We picked Arsia Mons hoping we would see the summit poke above the early morning clouds. And it didn’t disappoint,” said Jonathon Hill of Arizona State University in Tempe, operations lead for Odyssey’s camera, called the Thermal Emission Imaging System, or THEMIS. The THEMIS camera can view Mars in both visible and infrared light. The latter allows scientists to identify areas of the subsurface that contain water ice, which could be used by the first astronauts to land on Mars. The camera can also image Mars’ tiny moons, Phobos and Deimos, allowing scientists to analyze their surface composition. More About Odyssey NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Odyssey Project for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington as part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program portfolio. Lockheed Martin Space in Denver built the spacecraft and collaborates with JPL on mission operations. THEMIS was built and is operated by Arizona State University in Tempe. For more about Odyssey:
Mars Odyssey
News Media Contacts Andrew GoodJet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.818-393-2433andrew.c.good@jpl.nasa.gov Karen Fox / Molly WasserNASA Headquarters, Washington202-358-1600karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov 2025-077
When it comes to helping NASA scientists better understand the effects of space travel on the human body, fruit flies are the heavyweights of experiments in weightlessness. Because humans and fruit flies share a lot of similar genetic code, they squeeze a lot of scientific value into a conveniently small, light package. Through a new Space Act Agreement between NASA and Axiom Space, the Vented Fly Box will enable fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) to launch aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. These tiny crew members will join the Axiom Mission 4 crew for scientific investigations on the International Space Station. The goal is to advance research into how spaceflight impacts DNA repair, a key factor in astronaut health on long-term space missions. For decades, NASA has iterated and improved these specialized habitats to safely house generations of fruit flies for their trips to and from space. As the go-to organism for many of its studies, NASA gained unique knowledge and carefully finessed the steps astronauts take to perform the most efficient and rewarding life science experiments in space. The study is supported by NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley and Axiom Space.
THIS PAGE WAS UPDATED ON JUNE 6, 2025(Updated Advanced Air Vehicles Program Fellowship Opportunities.) This Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) solicitations page compiles the opportunities to collaborate with NASA’s aeronautical innovators and/or contribute to their research to enable new and improved air transportation systems. Most opportunities to participate in research are officially announced through the Web-based NASA Solicitation and Proposal Integrated Review and Evaluation System, better known as NSPIRES. You are encouraged to visit the NSPIRES web site, create an account, and sign up for automated email announcements. Other types of collaborative opportunities, such as those involving Requests for Information or academic research contests, also are included on this page. This page has four major sections:
Advanced Air Vehicles Program Fellowship OpportunitiesProposals are due by June 11, 2025. (NOTE important update below.) University Leadership InitiativeStep-A proposals due by June 26, 2025. University Student Research ChallengeProposals for Cycle 3 are due by June 26, 2025.
ROA-2025 NRA Amendment 1 – OPEN Advanced Air Vehicles Program Fellowship Opportunities (View the full ROA-2025 NRA Amendment 1 text here.) This announcement solicits proposals from accredited U.S. institutions for research training grants to begin the academic year. This Notice of Funding Opportunity is designed to support independently conceived research projects by highly qualified graduate students in disciplines needed to help advance NASA’s mission, thus affording these students the opportunity to directly contribute to advancements in STEM-related areas of study. These opportunities are focused on innovation and the generation of measurable research results that contribute to NASA’s current and future science and technology goals. Research proposals are sought to address the key challenges summarized in the Elements section at the end of the Amendment 1 document, and which reference NASA’s Hypersonic Technology project. UPDATE for June 6: Reflecting the Fiscal Year 2026 budget changes, the Transformational Tools & Technologies project opportunities originally described in this announcement were cancelled. Proposals citing this project will not be evaluated. Notices of Intent are not required. A budget breakdown for each proposal is required, detailing the allocation of the award funds by year. The budget document may adhere to any format or template provided by the applicant’s institution. Two pre-proposal teleconferences for potential proposers will be held and meeting links will be posted on NSPIRES. Proposals are due by 5 p.m. EDT on June 11, 2025.
ROA-2024 NRA Amendment 2 – OPEN University Leadership Initiative (View the full ROA-2024 NRA Amendment 2 text here.) NASA’s University Leadership Initiative (ULI) provides the opportunity for university teams to exercise technical and organizational leadership in proposing unique technical challenges in aeronautics, defining multi-disciplinary solutions, establishing peer review mechanisms, and applying innovative teaming strategies to strengthen the research impact. Research proposals are sought in six ULI topic areas in Appendix D.4. Topic 1: Safe, Efficient Growth in Global Operations Topic 2: Innovation in Commercial High-Speed Aircraft Topic 3: Ultra-Efficient Subsonic Transports Topic 4: Safe, Quiet, and Affordable Vertical Lift Air Vehicles Topic 5: In-Time System-Wide Safety Assurance Topic 6: Assured Autonomy for Aviation Transformation This NASA Research Announcement will utilize a two-step proposal submission and evaluation process. The initial step is a short mandatory Step-A proposal, which is due June 26, 2025. Those offerors submitting the most highly rated Step-A proposals will be invited to submit a Step-B proposal. All proposals must be submitted electronically through NSPIRES at https://nspires.nasaprs.com. An Applicant’s Workshop will be held on Thursday April 30, 2025; 1:00-3:00 p.m. ET (https://uli.arc.nasa.gov/applicants-workshops/workshop9) (Page will be live closer to the event.) An interested partners list for this ULI is at https://uli.arc.nasa.gov/partners. To be listed as an interested lead or partner, please send an email to hq-univpartnerships@mail.nasa.gov with “ULI Partnerships” in the subject line and include the information required for the table on that web page.
ROA-2024 NRA Amendment 4 – OPEN University Student Research Challenge (View the full ROA-2024 NRA Amendment 4 text here) NASA’s University Student Research Challenge (USRC) seeks to challenge students to propose new ideas/concepts that are relevant to NASA Aeronautics. The challenge will provide students from accredited U.S. colleges or universities with grants for their projects, as well as the challenge of raising cost share funds through a crowdfunding campaign. The process of creating and implementing a crowdfunding campaign acts as a teaching accelerator — requiring students to act like entrepreneurs and raise awareness about their research among the public. The solicitation goal can be accomplished through project ideas such as advancing the design, developing technology or capabilities in support of aviation, by demonstrating a novel concept, or enabling advancement of aeronautics-related technologies. Notices of Intent are not required for this solicitation. Proposals for Cycle 3 are due June 26, 2025. Proposals can also be submitted later and evaluated in the second and third cycles. The USRC Q&A/Info Session and Proposal Workshop will be held on the days/times below. Please join us on TEAMS using the Meeting Link, or call in via +1 256-715-9946,,317928116#.
USRC Cycle Information Session/Q&A Date Proposal Due Date
Cycle 1 Sept. 20, 2024 at 2 pm ET Nov. 7, 2024
Cycle 2 Jan. 27, 2025 at 2 pm ET March 13, 2025
Cycle 3 May 12, 2025 at 2 pm ET June 26, 2025
Aeronautics Innovation Challenges – OPEN NASA’s nationwide team of aeronautical innovators are committed to giving students of all ages opportunities to solve some of the biggest technical challenges facing the aviation community today. Through NASA-sponsored challenges and competitions, students representing multiple disciplines will put their skills to work by designing and building solutions to real-world problems.
Advanced Capabilities for Emergency Response Operations RFI – CLOSED View the full ACERO RFI announcement here. NASA’s Advanced Capabilities for Emergency Response Operations (ACERO) project used this request for information to identify technologies that addressed current challenges facing the wildland firefighting community. NASA was seeking information on data collection, airborne connectivity and communications solutions, unmanned aircraft systems traffic management, aircraft operations and autonomy, and more. This would support development of a partnership strategy for future collaborative demonstrations. Interested parties were requested to respond to this notice with an information package submitted via https://nari.arc.nasa.gov/acero-rfi no later than 4 pm ET, October 15, 2023. Submissions were accepted only from U.S. companies.
Advanced Air Mobility Mission RFI – CLOSED View the full AAM RFI announcement here. This request for information is being used to gather market research for NASA to make informed decisions regarding potential partnership strategies and future research to enable Advanced Air Mobility (AAM). NASA is seeking information from public, private, and academic organizations to determine technical needs and community interests that may lead to future solicitations regarding AAM research and development. This particular RFI is just one avenue of multiple planned opportunities for formal feedback on or participation in NASA’s AAM Mission-related efforts to develop these requirements and help enable AAM. The respond by date for this RFI closed on Feb. 1, 2025, at 6 p.m. EST.
ROA-2024 NRA Amendment 1 – CLOSED (View the full ROA-2024 NRA Amendment 1 text here.) The announcement solicited proposals from accredited U.S. institutions for research training grants to begin the academic year. This Notice of Funding Opportunity was designed to support independently conceived research projects by highly qualified graduate students, in disciplines needed to help advance NASA’s mission, thus affording these students the opportunity to directly contribute to advancements in STEM-related areas of study. Advanced Air Vehicle Program fellowship opportunities are focused on innovation and the generation of measurable research results that contribute to NASA’s current and future science and technology goals. Research proposals were sought to address key challenges provided in Elements of Appendix A.8. A budget breakdown for each proposal was required, detailing the allocation of the award funds by year. The budget document could adhere to any format or template provided by the applicant’s institution. Proposals were due by April 30, 2024, at 5 PM ET.
ROA-2024 NRA Amendment 3 – CLOSED (View the full ROA-2024 NRA Amendment 3 text here) NASA’s Commercial Supersonic Technology project sought proposals for a fuel injector design concept and fabrication for testing at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. The proposal for the fuel injector design aimed to establish current state-of-the-art in low NOx supersonic cruise while meeting reasonable landing take-off NOx emissions. The technology application timeline is targeted for a supersonic aircraft with entry into service in the 2035+ timeframe. Proposals were due by May 31, 2024 at 5 pm EDT.
Competition for NRA awards is open to both academia and industry. The current open solicitations for ARMD Research Opportunities are ROA-2024 and ROA-2025. Here is some general information to know about the NRA process.
NRA solicitations are released by NASA Headquarters through the Web-based NASA Solicitation and Proposal Integrated Review and Evaluation System (NSPIRES). All NRA technical work is defined and managed by project teams within these four programs: Advanced Air Vehicles Program, Airspace Operations and Safety Program, Integrated Aviation Systems Program, and Transformative Aeronautics Concepts Program. NRA awards originate from NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia, Ames Research Center in California, Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, and Armstrong Flight Research Center in California. Competition for NRA awards is full and open. Participation is open to all categories of organizations, including educational institutions, industry, and nonprofits. Any updates or amendments to an NRA is posted on the appropriate NSPIRES web pages as noted in the Amendments detailed below. ARMD sends notifications of NRA updates through the NSPIRES email system. In order to receive these email notifications, you must be a Registered User of NSPIRES. However, note that NASA is not responsible for inadvertently failing to provide notification of a future NRA. Parties are responsible for regularly checking the NSPIRES website for updated NRAs.
Source: US Whitehouse
LEADING THE WORLD IN SUPERSONIC FLIGHT: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order to promote supersonic aviation in the United States.
America once led the world in supersonic aviation, but decades of stifling regulations grounded progress. This Order removes regulatory barriers so that U.S. companies can dominate supersonic flight once again.
The Order directs the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to repeal the prohibition on overland supersonic flight, establish an interim noise-based certification standard, and repeal other regulations that hinder supersonic flight.
The Order instructs the FAA Administrator to establish a standard for supersonic aircraft noise certification that considers community acceptability, economic reasonableness, and technological feasibility.
The Order advances the coordination of supersonic research, development, test and evaluation efforts through the National Science and Technology Council with leadership from the Office of Science and Technology Policy.
It promotes international engagement through the FAA and other agencies to align global supersonic flight regulations and secure bilateral agreements for international operations.
USHERING IN A NEW CHAPTER IN AEROSPACE INNOVATION: President Trump is launching a historic national effort to reestablish the United States as the undisputed leader in high-speed aviation.
For more than fifty years, outdated and overly restrictive regulations have grounded the promise of supersonic flight, stifling American ingenuity and weakening our global competitiveness in aviation.
Advances in aerospace engineering, materials science, and noise reduction now make supersonic flight not just possible, but safe, sustainable, and commercially viable.
American companies developing supersonic aircraft have already entered into government contracts and agreements with major commercial airlines, such as United Airlines and American Airlines, who have committed to purchase supersonic jets to enhance their fleets with faster travel options.
By removing decades-old regulatory barriers and promoting cutting-edge supersonic technology, President Trump is Making Aviation Great Again.
ADVANCING AMERICA’S TECHNOLOGICAL LEADERSHIP: President Trump is ensuring U.S. dominance in cutting-edge technologies, prioritizing innovation and global competitiveness.
President Trump signed Executive Orders to enhance America’s global artificial intelligence (AI) dominance and advance AI education for America’s youth.
He signed multiple Executive Orders to advance nuclear technologies and ensure a reliable, clean, and affordable domestic energy supply.
The President signed an Executive Order to restore Gold Standard Science as the cornerstone of Federal scientific research and ensure that Federal decision-making is informed by the most credible, reliable, and impartial scientific evidence available.
President Trump has prioritized deregulation to spur innovation and economic growth.
This includes issuing Executive Orders mandating the repeal of 10 regulations for each new one proposed, requiring the automatic rescission of outdated regulations, and eliminating anti-competitive regulations.
Source: United States Senator for Virginia Tim Kaine
WASHINGTON — U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) joined U.S. Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Aviation, Space, and Innovation, Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), and Ed Markey (D-MA) in introducing the Safe Operation of Shared Airspace Act of 2025 to strengthen aviation safety. The legislation follows Warner and Kaine’s years-long advocacy against further crowding in the capital area airspace – which will continue – and comes in direct response to the January 29, 2025 collision between an Army Black Hawk helicopter and a regional commercial jet operating as American Airlines flight 5342 near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) that took the lives of 67 people.
The crash exposed multiple system failures, including the Army Black Hawk not transmitting safety-enhancing ADS-B technology (radio systems that aircraft use to share their positions with each other and with air traffic control), unsafe route design for mixed traffic near DCA, and lack of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Department of Defense (DoD) coordination to prevent future incidents. The Safe Operation of Shared Airspace Act of 2025 addresses these specific failures, as well as broader long-standing FAA air traffic controller shortages, FAA internal safety management systems, and the need for important post-accident safety reviews.
“Ensuring the safety of our nation’s air travel is critical, and as we have seen with tragedies and incidents in Virginia and across the country, an urgent matter,” said Sen. Warner. “The legislation takes important steps to strengthen critical safety measures, boost job training and recruitment efforts, and ensure coordination between the Department of Defense and FAA in order to better protect the millions of Americans who travel by air daily.”
“The crash at DCA was a tragedy, and we have a responsibility to the loved ones of those we lost and the American public to make changes to ensure this never happens again,” said Sen. Kaine. “This bill includes a number of important steps, such as mandating a safety review of flight operations in the National Capital Region, improving air traffic controller hiring and training, and enhancing employee reporting and transparency. I will continue to do more to prevent another crash like this from occurring, including pushing to remove slots at DCA to address the congested airspace in the region.”
“We are grateful to Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, whose teams were the very first we met with on Capitol Hill as we began our advocacy journey. Over the past four months, they have remained consistently engaged, responsive, and supportive. Senator Warner’s and Senator Kaine’s dedication to aviation safety – both for the people of Virginia and across our national airspace – has been clear and unwavering. We thank them for joining with Senator Cantwell and putting forth this comprehensive aviation safety bill,” said the families of Flight 5342.
The Safe Operation of Shared Airspace Act of 2025 includes several of Sens. Warner and Kaine’s priorities and will:
Strengthen Aviation Safety to Protect the Flying Public by:
Closing the ADS-B Out Military Loophole: The bill ends certain Department of Defense (DoD) and other federal agency exemptions from using Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) Out near DCA and other busy airports. The Army Black Hawk involved in the Jan. 29 crash was equipped with ADS-B Out, but it was not transmitting. The Army operated “100% of missions” in the National Capital Region with this critical safety technology deactivated and not transmitting, making military aircraft invisible to air traffic controllers and nearby planes.
Expanding Use of ADS-B In to Boost Safety: Within four years of enactment, the legislation requires all mainline and regional airlines to install ADS-B In and operate with it activated unless otherwise instructed by FAA air traffic control. This technology allows pilots to see nearby aircraft on their displays, and ensures better separation from other aircraft, dramatically improving situational awareness.
Initiating FAA Safety Review of DCA Airspace Management and Other Busy Airports to Prevent Close Calls and Tragic Crashes: The bill requires a comprehensive FAA/DoD safety review of DCA airspace to assess how helicopter, drone and military flights impact commercial operations and to better prevent future incidents. And it ensures a thorough evaluation of all non-commercial flight routes near the airport. The bill requires the same comprehensive FAA/DoD safety review of other busy U.S. airports (other Class B airports), prioritizing safety reviews of such airports with high volumes of mixed flight traffic.
Creating Independent Expert Review Panel for Effective SMS at FAA: The legislation creates an independent expert panel to review FAA’s Safety Management System and ensure it is effective and integrated across all FAA operations within 180 days. The panel will include aviation safety experts, labor representatives, and NASA officials to lend their specific expertise to ensure the review is comprehensive.
Requiring Risk Assessments After Major Aircraft Accidents: The bill requires FAA to do a safety risk assessment – specifically a Transport Airplane Risk Assessment Methodology (TARAM) analysis – following any major, fatal airline crash, regardless of whether the crash is linked to an aircraft design or manufacturing issue.
Grow and Protect FAA Staffing Now and in the Future by:
Expanding High-Quality Controller Training Pipeline and Boosts Hiring: The bill codifies FAA’s existing Enhanced Air Traffic-Collegiate Training (Enhanced AT-CTI) program, which boosts FAA controller training capacity and allows FAA to hire highly qualified college graduates directly into air traffic control facilities to begin as controller trainees. The graduates have to have completed FAA-certified air traffic curriculums and meet other FAA controller qualifications, which would ensure an equivalent level of education and training from qualified evaluators to that of the FAA Academy. By adding nine certified Enhanced AT-CTI schools for a target of 15 total schools, FAA will be able to hire hundreds more controller trainees each year into its controller training pipeline to boost controller staffing. The bill also extends the requirement for FAA to hire as many controllers as possible through 2033.
Protecting FAA Workforce from Cuts and Hiring Freezes: The legislation reverses the Trump Administration’s hiring freeze and prohibits future hiring freezes on FAA’s safety workforce. It also prohibits any Executive Branch action to offer deferred resignation programs or voluntary buyouts to FAA workforce.
Closing Medical Review Backlogs: The bill requires FAA to hire more licensed medical professionals to fully staff its Aviation Medical Examiner team, addressing persistent backlogs in medical reviews for controllers, pilots, and other safety critical aviation professionals.
Creating New Controller Instructor Recruitment Program: The legislation requires a new FAA outreach program recruiting experienced controllers approaching retirement to become instructors at FAA’s Academy or at understaffed air traffic facilities.
Ensure Better FAA Oversight and Demand Information Sharing and Communication Between FAA and DOD
Establishing First-Ever FAA Oversight Office for Military Aviation Coordination: The bill establishes a dedicated FAA oversight office to oversee and coordinate military aircraft and helicopter flights and carry out airspace safety reviews, ensuring stronger communication between the Department of Defense and FAA offices to prevent future incidents.
Establishing a New Joint FAA-DoD Council on ADS-B: The bill establishes a joint FAA-Department of Defense Council to regularly review Federal government operations using ADS-B Out exemptions to ensure they meet the law.
Improving FAA and Military Aviation Safety Information Sharing: The bill would require aviation safety data sharing between the Department of Defense and the FAA via MOUs with each military service. For example, the Army does not typically share safety information from its Aviation Safety Management Information System with FAA except through lengthy Freedom of Information Act requests.
Preventing Conflicts of Interest at FAA: The legislation requires a Department of Transportation (DOT) rulemaking to ensure the DOT and the FAA are abiding by Federal government-wide financial conflicts of interest law and a DOT Inspector General Review of conflicts of interest at the DOT and FAA.
Requiring GAO Investigation of DOD Exemption Abuse: The bill requires the Government Accountability Office to investigate whether the Department of Defense and other Federal agencies have been misusing ADS-B, and determine whether agencies followed the law.
Sens. Warner and Kaine have been closely involved with the in the investigation of the January 29th collision, meeting with first responders and offering condolences to the families and loved ones of the 67 lives lost immediately following the tragedy. The senators also saw through passage of a legislation to remember the victims of the crash. Sens. Warner and Kaine also requested answers from FAA on its plans to protect the flying public in the wake of the January 29 collision. In March of this year, the senators responded to the preliminary National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report on the crash. The senators have also sounded the alarm for years about the need for increased safety for the flying public, including fighting against additional flights out of DCA that contribute to overcrowding.
overnor Kathy Hochul today issued an update on the State’s comprehensive air monitoring efforts to track air quality statewide and keep New Yorkers safe this summer. New York residents and visitors are reminded to include air quality awareness in their daily warm weather routines. In addition, New York State is issuing an Air Quality Health Advisory for today, Friday, June 6, for the Adirondacks, Eastern Lake Ontario, and Western New York regions for fine particulate matter pollution caused by wildland fires in Western Canada.
“Using the latest science and data, New York continues to track air quality conditions across the State to keep New York communities safe,” Governor Hochul said. “As temperatures begin to climb during the summer months and less predictable factors like distant wildfires occur, I strongly encourage New Yorkers to stay informed and prepare for changes in air quality by paying attention to the State’s Air Quality Health Advisories and take necessary precautions to stay safe.”
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) provides daily air quality forecasts to ensure air quality information is available at New Yorkers’ fingertips. While New York State has some of the nation’s most stringent air quality regulations to reduce air pollution and protect public health and the environment, there are certain days that ozone or particulate matter can impact air quality in your community.
Using data collected from more than 50 sites across the state, DEC and Department of Health (DOH) issue Air Quality Health Advisories when DEC meteorologists predict levels of pollution, either ozone or fine particulate matter (PM2.5), are expected to exceed an Air Quality Index (AQI) value of 100. The AQI was created as an easy way to correlate levels of different pollutants to one scale, with a higher AQI value indicating a greater health concern.
An Air Quality Health Advisory for PM2.5 is being issued for Friday, June 6, 2025, for the Adirondacks, Eastern Lake Ontario, and Western New York regions due to the impact of smoke from wildfires in Canada.
New Yorkers are encouraged to check airnow.gov for accurate information on air quality forecasts and conditions. Information about exposure to smoke from fires can be found on DOH’s website.
DEC Commissioner Amanda Lefton said, “It is critical that New Yorkers be Air Quality Aware this summer to stay safe and healthy“ DEC continues to track air quality across the state and works with our partners at the Department of Health to keep the public informed about how to protect themselves and their families and reduce their exposure to air pollution. New Yorkers can visit DEC’s website for the daily forecast or use trusted sources like EPA’s AirNow app, which uses air quality data provided by DEC’s statewide monitoring network.”
New York State Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald said, “Pollutants like particulate matter from wildfires or ground-level ozone can pose serious health risks—especially for those with heart conditions or lung disease such as asthma, as well as the very young, those over 65 years old and pregnant people. Just as you check the weather on your phone each morning, we encourage all New Yorkers to visit to airnow.gov for the latest air quality forecast and be on the lookout for Air Quality Health Advisories from the Department of Environmental Conservation and the Department of Health. When air quality is poor, protect yourself by staying inside, reduce exposure and minimize exertion when outdoors.”
Air pollution can harm public health and natural resources in a variety of ways. Hot summer weather sets the stage for two major pollutants of concern for human health: the formation of ozone and fine particulate matter (PM2.5), tiny solid particles or liquid droplets in the air that are 2.5 microns or less in diameter. Fish and wildlife show harmful effects from acid rain and mercury in air. Greenhouse gases in the air are changing the world’s climate and contributing to harmful impacts including extreme heat, deadly flooding, drought, fires, rising sea levels, and severe storms.
Extreme Heat
Governor Hochul recently highlighted new and enhanced resources available to protect New York communities from extreme heat this summer as recommended by the State’s Extreme Heat Action Plan, including:
New support for cooling at home: With the new Essential Plan Cooling program, NY State of Health will provide eligible Essential Plan members a free air conditioner to help keep their homes cool. This will complement assistance available in 2025 through the HEAP Cooling program which served more than 23,000 households in 2024.
Better access to cooling centers: New resources are available to help connect New Yorkers with safe spaces for cooling. The New York State Department of Health and Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services (DHSES) will continue to coordinate with local health departments and emergency managers to update the Cooling Center Finder throughout summer 2025. DOH offers new resources to provide information about best practices for setting up cooling centers and how these locations could serve as clean air centers. Round 8 of the Climate Smart Communities grant program is now open, making $22 million available to fund GHG mitigation and climate adaptation projects, including establishing cooling centers.
Additional support for cool buildings: Funding available through the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) supports weatherization and clean and efficient heating and cooling that can improve extreme heat resilience at homes, community anchor institutions, schools, and more. The Office of General Services’ new “Decarbonization and Climate Resiliency Design Guide” was released for new and majorly renovated State building projects to assess and reduce climate risk (including extreme heat and Urban Heat Islands) through proactive design.
New investments in cool schools: The Education Law newly requires public school districts and BOCES to develop an extreme heat policy, which establishes certain temperature thresholds. NYSERDA offers additional funding to install clean cooling and heating at schools, for example through funding as part of the Clean Water, Clean Air and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act.
Enhanced tools and funding for cool communities: Extreme heat advice and forecasts for New Yorkers, preliminary extreme heat exposure maps and DOH’s Heat Vulnerability Index help communities understand exposure and vulnerabilities. Programs such as Climate Smart Communities fund communities in planning, designing, and implementation solutions. New and expanded funding supports nature-based solutions such as urban forests, urban farms, and community gardens to cool neighborhoods and mitigate heat islands. Governor Hochul’s New York Statewide Investment in More Swimming (NY SWIMS) initiative expanded outdoor swimming through the Connect Kids to Swimming Instruction Transportation grant program and advanced capital projects for swimming facilities in underserved communities through the NY SWIMS Round One competitive grant program.
DOH recently launched an interactive New York State Heat Risk and Illness Dashboard that allows the public and county health care officials to determine the forecasted level of heat-related health risks in their area and raise awareness about the dangers of heat exposure.
Check out “DEC Does What?!” podcast episode #4 The Air Up There (May 2024) where air pollution meteorologists explain the Air Quality Index and how to use it, how weather conditions and different seasons can affect air quality, whether New Yorkers have to worry about wildfire smoke, and what it’s like to measure air quality in Antarctica.
Although tropical reefs might look like inanimate rock, these colorful seascapes are built by tiny jellyfish-like animals called corals. While adult corals build solid structures that are firmly attached to the sea floor, baby corals are not confined to their reefs. They can drift with ocean currents over great distances to new locations that might give them a better chance of survival.
The underwater cities that corals construct are home to about a quarter of all known marine species. They are incredibly important for humans, too, contributing at least a trillion dollars per year in ecosystem services, such as protecting coastlines from wave damage and supporting fisheries and tourism.
Unfortunately, coral reefs are among the most vulnerable environments on the planet to climate change.
A healthy coral reef in American Samoa, left, experiencing coral bleaching due to a severe marine heatwave, center, and eventually dying, right. The Ocean Agency and Ocean Image Bank., CC BY-NC
I am a marine scientist in Hawaii. My colleagues and I are trying to understand how coral reefs might change in the future, and whether new coral reefs might form at higher latitudes as the tropics become too warm and temperate regions become more hospitable. The results lead us to both good and bad news.
Corals can grow in new areas, but will they thrive?
Baby corals can drift freely with ocean currents, potentially traveling hundreds of miles before settling in new locations. That allows the distribution of corals to shift over time.
Major ocean currents can carry baby corals to temperate seas. If new coral reefs form there as the waters warm, these areas might act as refuges for tropical corals, reducing the corals’ risk of extinction.
Scientists know from the fossil record that coral reef expansions have occurred before. However, a big question remains: Can corals migrate fast enough to keep pace with climate change caused by humans? We developed a cutting-edge simulation to find the answer.
Field and laboratory studies have measured how coral growth depends on temperature, acidity and light intensity. We combined this information with data on ocean currents to create a global simulation that represents how corals respond to a changing environment – including their ability to adapt through evolution and shift their ranges.
Then, we used future climate projections to predict how coral reefs may respond to climate change.
We found that it will take centuries for coral reefs to shift away from the tropics. This is far too slow for temperate seas to save tropical coral species – they are facing severe threats right now and in the coming decades.
How coral reefs form.
Underwater cities in motion?
Under countries’ current greenhouse gas emissions policies, our simulations suggest that coral reefs will decline globally by a further 70% this century as ocean temperatures continue to rise. As bad as that sounds, it’s actually slightly more optimistic than previous studies that predicted losses as high as 99%.
Our simulations suggest that coral populations could expand in a few locations this century, primarily southern Australia, but these expansions may only amount to around 6,000 acres (2,400 hectares). While that might sound a lot, we expect to lose around 10 million acres (4 million hectares) of coral over the same period.
In other words, we are unlikely to see significant new tropical-style coral reefs forming in temperate waters within our lifetimes, so most tropical corals will not find refuge in higher latitude seas.
Even though the suitable water temperatures for corals are forecast to expand poleward by about 25 miles (40 kilometers) per decade, corals would face other challenges in new environments.
Our research suggests that coral range expansion is mainly limited by slower coral growth at higher latitudes, not by dispersal. Away from the equator, light intensity falls and temperature becomes more variable, reducing growth, and therefore the rate of range expansion, for many coral species.
It is likely that new coral reefs will eventually form beyond their current range, as history shows, but our results suggest this may take centuries.
Fish hide out in the safety of Kingman Reef, in the Pacific Ocean between the Hawaiian Islands and American Samoa. Coral reefs provide protection for many species, particularly young fish. USFWS, Pacific Islands
Scientists have used human-assisted migration to try to restore damaged coral reefs by transplanting live corals. However, coral restoration is controversial, as it is expensive and cannot be scaled up globally. Since coral range expansion appears to be limited by challenging environmental conditions at higher latitudes rather than by dispersal, human-assisted migration is also unlikely to help them expand more quickly.
Importantly, these potential higher latitude refuges already have rich, distinct ecosystems. Establishing tropical corals within those ecosystems might disrupt existing species, so rapid expansions might not be a good thing in the first place.
Despite enthusiasm for coral restoration, there is little evidence to suggest that methods like this can mitigate the global decline of coral reefs.
As our study shows, migration would take centuries, while the most severe climate change harm for corals will occur within decades, making it unlikely that subtropical and temperate seas can act as coral refuges.
What can help corals is reducing greenhouse gas emissions that are driving global warming. Our study suggests that reducing emissions at a faster pace, in accordance with the Paris climate agreement, could cut the coral loss by half compared with current policies. That could boost reef health for centuries to come.
This means that there is still hope for these irreplaceable coral ecosystems, but time is running out.
Noam Vogt-Vincent receives funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Did you know that June is National Ocean Month? As America’s leader in coastal and ocean science, technology, and management, we’re celebrating the ocean and its countless resources that inspire us, nourish us, and benefit our local economies.
Half of entry-level white collar jobs might cease to exist in the near future, according to Dario Amodei, the CEO of leading AI company Anthropic. Amodei, whose company is behind the Claude platform, has since called for transparency standards requiring companies making AI models to demonstrate how they are handling risks such as the AI enabling cyberattacks or helping to make bioweapons.
Time and again, such claims suggest the pace of development in artificial intelligence is vastly outstripping our ability to adapt and adopt, creating a series of short-term crises.
Yet the debate between AI doomers, accelerationists, utopians and other factions is largely trapped in arguments about whether current AIs are truly demonstrating creativity, problem solving, planning and other intelligent characteristics. It’s as if we’re collectively in denial.
AI is arguably the most important technology humankind will ever invent. We owe it to ourselves, and future generations, to make conscious decisions about introducing AI into everything we do, ensuring that humanity benefits.
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We know that AI is threatening the creative industries, for example. We can argue about whether AI is truly creative or we can set about preserving human creativity, originality and income security.
For instance, the new CREAATIF report from Queen Mary University of London lays out a series of recommendations, such as treating creatives as co-designers along with AIs, not victims. It calls for clear disclosures about AI-generated creative works, and ensuring creatives can opt out of having their work in AI training datasets.
We know that AI is being used in warfare. We can argue about what it means for a human to still take crucial battlefield decisions – the idea of “human in the loop”. Or we can set down explicit rules of war, as hinted at by the UN meeting in May on possible restrictions in the use of lethal autonomous systems.
We know that AI is being used in medicine, from screening blood tests to virtual hospitals – as created by Tsinghua University in China. We can argue about whether AI can ever replace doctors, or we can actively explore where it is most appropriate and desirable to supplement human healthcare expertise with AI.
Jobs and knowledge
We also strongly suspect that AI will displace human jobs more broadly. Besides Amodei’s warnings, certain companies are already adopting “AI first” strategies. These treat AIs as the core driver of company operations, not just support tools.
The canary in the coalmine may be graduate jobs, since companies will likely initially use AI for jobs requiring the least experience. Graduate hiring in the UK is falling. We can argue about whether there is a link with AI, or we can start putting serious thought into the future of education, skills and the meaning of a career in the 21st century.
Finally, we know that AI is being used to mediate human access to knowledge, whether it’s the recommendation engines in platforms like TikTok and X, or search engines like Google and Bing providing AI summaries in preference to linked websites.
Misinformation, disinformation and fakery is rife, often enabled by AI tools. And a more insidious side-effect of AI-mediated access to knowledge is the potential decline in how we know what’s true or reliable.
We can argue about whether this is happening or we can focus on protecting reliable sources of information, and making sure everyone can access them. For example, the US-based Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA) develops standards to verify where digital media comes from and whether it has been tampered with.
What you can do
AI is not going away, and there will be positives as well as negatives. For instance, AI will undoubtedly help to solve the hard problems of global health, energy generation and climate change.
We need to recognise the power of existing AI technologies, and acknowledge that AI is likely to get even more advanced very quickly and that we need to act personally and collectively. And there are several things we can do now.
First, take a personal interest. AI literacy is fast becoming a life skill. Leading AI platforms like ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini can create, summarise or rewrite text for you, compile research reports, jazz up presentations, create music, do data analysis, come up with new cooking recipes – the options are endless.
I’ve seen schoolteachers create AI mentors for students, pensioners create songs and presentations, children transform their artwork into historical contexts, all with no technical skills. Similarly, anyone can now use AI to code. So-called “vibe-coding” allows anyone to describe, in words, what they want a piece of software to do, and the AI will create a version of it – to an increasingly good level of completeness.
The ability to adapt and adopt is key. Knowing and practising how to use AI will not only position you for future opportunities and changes, but may allow you to steer your workplace to a better outcome too.
Second, become an advocate for how AI should be used. AI developments in the US and China will continue to drive AI innovation, but we have some choices when it comes to adoption and use.
So become an “informed buyer”, actively selecting AI technology from companies which have strong ethical, security and privacy standpoints. For instance, I prefer Anthropic’s Claude to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, largely because of the former’s constitutional approach, which means its AIs are trained on a set of principles rather than on what it thinks the user will prefer.
I like Meta’s track record on publishing detailed papers of how it trained and tested its LLMs (a type of AI model), and the fact that it open-sources them. This makes the best models available to a wider and more diverse range of people or organisations, not just to the wealthiest companies. I’m uncomfortable with the way that OpenAI sought to change its non-profit status recently. These are personal opinions and we should each form our own views.
Third, voice your advocacy, to your boss, your local MP, and other decision makers you may come across. It’s only by making AI an everyday topic that we can influence the world we live in. As Tim Cook, CEO of Apple once said, “Artificial intelligence is the future, but we must ensure it is a future that we want.”
Andrew Rogoyski’s department receives research funding from UKRI. He acts as an advisor to TechUK, one of the UK’s leading tech industry trade associations, as is a member of the NatWest Technology Advisory Board.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Lori Trahan (D-MA-03)
WASHINGTON, DC – Yesterday, during a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing, Congresswoman Lori Trahan (MA-03) railed against the Trump administration’s plan to turn over Americans’ most personal information that was harvested by Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staffers to Palantir so the company can build dossiers on every American. “Under the Trump Administration, DOGE aggressively collected sensitive data across agencies, breaking down firewalls that are supposed to protect us. Then came the Executive Order directing agencies to ‘eliminate information silos’ – basically, to share and pool that data,” Congresswoman Trahan said. “And just last week, we learned that Palantir, a Silicon Valley company known for building surveillance tools, is being hired to build AI-powered profiles on every American using the data DOGE collected. It’s hard to overstate how dangerous this is.” CLICK HERE or the image below to watch Trahan’s remarks. A transcript is embedded below.
Last week, the New York Times reported that the Trump administration has drastically increased federal contracting with Palantir, a Silicon Valley tech firm started by Peter Thiel who has donated heavily to Republican campaigns. Palantir has historically worked closely with the Pentagon and the intelligence community to provide big data analytics and AI products, and in recent years has expanded its customer base to include private companies, civilian agencies, and state and local governments. According to the Times report, the company is now being directed to use its AI systems to merge the personal data of Americans collected by different federal agencies into one database, essentially creating a profile on every person in the country. During the hearing today, Trahan pointed out how this type of system could be weaponized by the government against Americans. “Let me just give you an example – a hypothetical, of course, but not a far-fetched one. Sarah is a regular American. She pays her taxes, owns a gun legally, and is raising her daughter Emma on her own. She and Emma rely on Medicaid to get the care they need,” Congresswoman Trahan continued. “One day, Sarah shares a post on Facebook. She’s concerned about something the President said about firearms, and she posts so. But in Washington, an AI-powered monitoring system flags her post. A political appointee digs into her personal data and sends emails to agency heads urging them to take action against her.” “Within days, Sarah’s life falls apart,” Congresswoman Trahan said. “The IRS audits her and claims she owes thousands. Emma’s doctor says her Medicaid isn’t active anymore, and now Sarah has to pay out of pocket. Now, to be clear, this story is made up. But it’s not science fiction. It’s an alarm. It’s a warning.” In March, Trahan announced an effort to rewrite the Privacy Act of 1974, a 50-year-old law designed to protect Americans’ privacy that has not been meaningfully updated since its passage in the wake of the Watergate scandal. Dozens of organizations and individuals have responded to Trahan’s request for information about how to strengthen privacy protections while preserving the ability to modernize and improve the efficiency of government services. “I’ve spent the past three months talking with civil liberties groups, privacy experts, and people across the country – and the one thing is clear: We need stronger privacy laws,” Congresswoman Trahan concluded. “I believe we can protect people’s data and modernize government to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse. These goals are not at odds – they’re linked.” —————————————– Congresswoman Lori Trahan Remarks As Delivered House Oversight and Government Reform Hearing: The Federal Government in the Age of Artificial Intelligence June 5, 2025
Trahan: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate you allowing me to be a part of this important conversation. Over on the Energy and Commerce Committee, which is where I usually serve, we have a lot of conversations about technology, and one thing is always clear: data is at the heart of AI. That’s why I believe that any serious discussion about AI has to start with a conversation about privacy. And that’s what I’m here to do today – to sound the alarm about a deeply troubling trend: our own government’s growing appetite for Americans’ personal data. Let me just give you an example – a hypothetical, of course, but not a far-fetched one. Sarah is a regular American. She pays her taxes, owns a gun legally, and is raising her daughter Emma on her own. She and Emma rely on Medicaid to get the care they need. One day, Sarah shares a post on Facebook. She’s concerned about something the President said about firearms, and she posts so. But in Washington, an AI-powered monitoring system flags her post. A political appointee digs into her personal data and sends emails to agency heads urging them to take action against her. Within days, Sarah’s life falls apart. The IRS audits her and claims she owes thousands. Emma’s doctor says her Medicaid isn’t active anymore, and now Sarah has to pay out of pocket. Now, to be clear, this story is made up. But it’s not science fiction. It’s an alarm. It’s a warning. Mr. Schneier, you talked in your testimony about coercion as an “adversarial use” of data. What kinds of coercion could bad actors inside the government use if they had detailed profiles on every American?
Mr. Schneier: I would think of it as selective investigation. The government has enormous powers to investigate people, and the question is who they choose to investigate. There’s a famous book from many years ago called “Three Felonies a Day” – that we in our normal lives commit three felonies a day because there are just so many rules and we don’t know them. So given things like that, who you choose to enforce the law on matters. So this data can be used to select people whom to investigate, people whom to charge. And this could be used selectively by any regime – even not the U.S. – any country that wants to do this. Trahan: Unfortunately, this isn’t a hypothetical trend – it’s already happening. Under the Trump Administration, DOGE aggressively collected sensitive data across agencies, breaking down firewalls that are supposed to protect us. Then came the Executive Order directing agencies to “eliminate information silos” – basically, to share and pool that data. And just last week, we learned that Palantir, a Silicon Valley company known for building surveillance tools, is being hired to build AI-powered profiles on every American using the data DOGE collected. It’s hard to overstate how dangerous this is. Mr. Schneier, are you worried that once this data is centralized, future administrations – no matter their party – could weaponize it? I mean, are we on the verge of opening Pandora’s box? Mr. Schneier: I don’t know if Pandora’s Box has been open years ago, but certainly giving this power to a government is something that feels very un-American. There are reasons why this data was siloed. There are reasons why we didn’t have these powers. I mean you can imagine humans doing this well before AI, but we chose not to. So AI can certainly make this more efficient, but yes this is power in the hands of a human who wants to wield it for ill can do that very efficiently. Trahan: We need a national reckoning on privacy. That means strong oversight of this Administration and its tech partners, and real legislation to protect Americans’ rights. You know, I’ve spent the past three months talking with civil liberties groups, privacy experts, and people across the country – and the one thing is clear: We need stronger privacy laws. I believe we can protect people’s data and modernize government to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse. These goals are not at odds – they’re linked. So if you’re listening and you’re concerned about what’s happening – about Big Tech, about government overreach, about your family’s privacy – call my office. Let’s have a national conversation. Let’s protect the freedom our founders fought for and the privacy we all deserve. And one last thing I just wanted to mention because over the course of this hearing, the Chair has suggested that no one on the other side of the aisle called attention to the harms of the Republicans’ ten-year ban on state AI regulations. That’s patently false. We had robust debate on the Energy and Commerce Committee with several Democratic members, myself included, calling attention to this provision during and after our 26-hour markup. In fact, Democrats offered an amendment to strike the language entirely. So Mr. Chair, I ask unanimous consent to enter into the record the results of the recorded vote. Chairman: Without objection. Trahan: Thank you. I yield back. ###
Headline: Dunn High School Sit-ins to be Featured on N.C. Highway Historical Marker
Dunn High School Sit-ins to be Featured on N.C. Highway Historical Marker jejohnson6
Protests and legal action by American Indian citizens in Harnett County that led to school integration in 1961 soon will be recognized with a North Carolina Highway Historical Marker. The N.C. Highway Historical Marker Program is part of the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
The marker commemorating the Dunn High School sit-ins will be unveiled at 10 a.m. Friday, June 13, during a roadside ceremony at the intersection ofWest Cumberland Street and North Orange Street in Dunn.
Although the American Indians of the Harnett and Sampson County region have been recognized by the state as Coharie Indians since 1971, educational opportunities were limited in the preceding decades. Beginning in 1911, the state authorized separate schools for their children. By 1917, the Maple Grove Indian community that had formed near Dunn was large enough to begin petitioning for a school.
Maple Grove School opened in 1924. As many as 60 children attended at times, often taught by one teacher for grades 1 through 7. After grade 7, students had no school to attend until 1942, when the East Carolina Indian School opened in the New Bethel Indian community a few miles north of Clinton. Children in Harnett and Sampson counties traveled by bus, with the 35-mile trip taking about two hours each way.
By the mid-1950s, parents of students in the area became dissatisfied with the arrangement and began holding informal meetings at Maple Grove School. Between 1956 and 1960, parents of Indian children formally requested that their children be reassigned to Dunn High School but were denied.
On Aug. 30, 1960, Indian parents went to Dunn High School to register their children and were turned away. The next day, students and parents returned. The students quietly entered the classrooms and took seats. Two students were charged with trespassing. These sit-ins lasted several days and ended when a judge issued a restraining order prohibiting Indian parents and students from setting foot on Dunn High School property.
In October 1960, the families filed a lawsuit against the Harnett County Board of Education. A temporary order was signed by federal Judge Albert Reeves directing that the Indian children be admitted to Dunn High School until their eligibility could be determined.
By June 1961, the school board had received 40 applications for reassignment. On June 20, 1961, 20 students were approved for reassignment to Dunn High School, but 26 elementary-age Indian children were denied admission to the city’s elementary school.
The addition of Indian students to Dunn High School went reasonably well, it was reported. Later that year the parents returned to federal court to request that their younger children be admitted to Dunn’s segregated elementary schools. The county resisted, but in January 1964 a federal judge ordered the schools to admit 27 Indian elementary students. The county did not appeal, ending Indian school segregation in Harnett County.
This activism also paved the way for the county’s Black residents to file suit in October 1963. By August 1964, they received a favorable ruling in federal court, ending school segregation for all Harnett County residents.
For more information about the historical marker, visithttps://www.dncr.nc.gov/blog/2025/05/14/dunn-high-school-sit-ins-h-128or call (919) 814-6625.
About the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources The N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources (DNCR) manages, promotes, and enhances the things that people love about North Carolina – its diverse arts and culture, rich history, and spectacular natural areas. Through its programs, the department enhances education, stimulates economic development, improves public health, expands accessibility, and strengthens community resiliency.
The department manages over 100 locations across the state, including 27 historic sites, seven history museums, two art museums, five science museums, four aquariums, 35 state parks, four recreation areas, dozens of state trails and natural areas, the North Carolina Zoo, the State Library, the State Archives, the N.C. Arts Council, the African American Heritage Commission, the American Indian Heritage Commission, the State Historic Preservation Office, the Office of State Archaeology, the Highway Historical Markers program, the N.C. Land and Water Fund, and the Natural Heritage Program. For more information, please visit www.dncr.nc.gov.
Since the end of the cold war, the relevance of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) has regularly been questioned, even by its most prominent leaders. Its members, therefore, find it necessary to remind each other and the world of its value from time to time.
The latest example of this is the UK government’s new strategic defence review, which announces a “Nato-first” posture.
Nato has long been a cornerstone of UK foreign, defence and security policies. But this marks a particularly strident prioritisation of the organisation. It comes just a few years after Boris Johnson’s government began moving the country’s foreign and defence policy priorities towards the Indo-Pacific.
It tells us much about how Keir Starmer’s administration sees the UK’s place in the world in an unsettled era: as both an influential ally of the US and a reliable partner to European powers, eager to maintain regional and global influence.
Signed in 1949, the North Atlantic treaty committed its original 12 members to collective security: an attack on one would be an attack on all. In the shadow of the second world war, Nato went further than the nascent United Nations in its defence and security commitments. It brought together a somewhat eclectic mix of states straddling the Atlantic, from the North American behemoths of the US and Canada to tiny Iceland and Luxembourg, the dictatorship of Salazar’s Portugal and the democracies of Norway and Belgium.
The UK’s participation was largely heralded across an enthusiastic parliament. Winston Churchill, then leader of the opposition, praised this new “fraternal association”. The foreign secretary, Ernest Bevin, celebrated the community of interest [and] cooperation with like-minded people”. UK politicians saw Nato as a means to connect with the US and Canada in particular.
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The language at the time also reflected the casting of the Soviet Union as a threat to European security. Although the UK welcomed Nato as a liberal democratic organisation dominated by English-speaking peoples, its primary purpose was always to act as a strategic counterweight to the influence and encroachment of the Soviet Union in Europe. Hence the claimed irrelevance of Nato in the 1990s after the cold war, and its renewed importance today in the face of Russian aggression.
As always with UK foreign and defence policies, the relationship with the US is paramount. The UK’s Nato-first position is no exception. Starmer clearly believes he can forge a working relationship with the US president. Although seemingly far from natural bedfellows (although neither were John F. Kennedy and Harold Macmillan or even, politics aside, Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher), Donald Trump appears unthreatened by the sober, understated Starmer.
The thought within Starmer’s foreign policy circle may well be that a loud and unequivocal statement of the UK’s commitment to Nato could help persuade Trump to stay the course with an organisation that he has often threatened to pull the US out of.
If, on the other hand, Starmer et al are more pessimistic and fear Trump making good on his threats, Nato clearly remains an attractive proposition in terms of the UK’s defence policy. While it does commit the UK to the defence of, say, the Baltic States and Finland, by the same token, Nato puts the UK in lockstep with fellow nuclear power, France, as well as the growing military power of Germany and significant others such as Turkey. In uncertain times, such allies are to be valued.
Global influence
Even before Brexit, a fear of losing global and regional influence has stalked every British government since 1945.
Questioning the wisdom of the departure from the EU remains a Westminster taboo. Yet one might forgive the incoming Labour government for feeling the chill of isolation while Trump occupies the White House and Russia threatens the continent. Nato thus also represents a valuable opportunity to retain regional and global influence. Note the language in Starmer’s introduction to the report when he refers to a desire to “lead in Nato”.
While the other defenestrated European colonial powers found post-1945 influence through the Francophonie or becoming leading civilian forces in what became the EU, the UK had the Commonwealth and Nato. These were the prime proxies for the lost colonial influence, even during the long EU interregnum.
Without the EU and with a more restive Commonwealth, Nato is of even greater importance. Although France’s president Emmanuel Macron is generally enthusiastic about Nato, there is a history of French ambivalence. The UK could well make the claim to be the most steadfastly committed of all the larger European members.
This renewed commitment to Nato from the UK government is consistent with the historic prioritisation of the organisation by successive administrations. The difference here is the urgency of the context: Europe faces an unprecedented military threat, while the US president is unpredictable and dubious in his attitude towards continental defence.
The Nato-first stance is a recognition of grim, strategic realities and also a “Hail Mary”, both pragmatic and hopeful. The UK is not alone in desperately hoping to keep the US commitment to European security alive. The strategic review’s commitment to a Nato-first policy may help – at the very least, it signals a UK administration keen to maximise its influence and retain robust ties with European allies.
Nick Whittaker 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.
Source: State University Higher School of Economics – State University Higher School of Economics –
Three groups, more than 100 students, successfully completed the MBA program. Over a year and a half, they completed 16 educational modules, including two on-site ones: to China and to Lake Baikal. The 2025 graduates include entrepreneurs, founders of successful businesses, and top managers of leading Russian companies: Sber, VTB, Rostelecom, NOVATEK, Rosatom, Yandex.Technologies, Almaz-Antey Concern, SKB Kontur, Belkacar, SONET Group, and others.
First Deputy Director of the Higher School of Business
“The MBA program not only provides knowledge, but also strong networking in the leadership community; for a modern entrepreneur and top manager, it is extremely important to remain in the educational environment and continue learning throughout life.”
The updated MBA program of the HSE Graduate School of Business covers key areas of modern management: from strategic management and corporate finance to marketing, operations management and innovation, including the use of AI in business.
All graduates note an important advantage of the HSE Graduate School of Business: a very strong team of teachers, which unites both practitioners, leaders of successful businesses, and outstanding representatives of academic science from across the HSE University.
Positioning itself as a first-choice business school, HSE has invested a lot of effort into developing its MBA program, including innovative educational formats: business simulations, interactive projects, group assignments to develop practical skills and networking among program students.
The hallmarks of the MBA program at the Higher School of Business at the National Research University Higher School of Economics are effective on-site modules. The leadership intensive is traditionally held on Lake Baikal and is aimed at developing team management skills, crisis management, and the ability to make decisions under stress and in situations of uncertainty.
And the recent overseas module was organized jointly with Fudan University, one of the leading centers of business education in Asia. The university is among the best universities in China and Asia, widely recognized for its high level of teaching, quality of scientific research and international programs in the field of economics and management. The overseas modules are the leaders in the most positive feedback from the program participants.
The final part of the program was the defense of final projects. Participants presented solutions for a wide range of industries: from energy and tourism to industrial production and digital services. Among the initiatives: development of a new data management product, launch and development of a business community, a service for generating income from excess energy capacity, a strategy for bringing self-propelled electric lifts to market.
The graduation ceremony took place at the HSE campus. The graduates were congratulated by the program teachers and the business school management.
Head of the MBA program at the Higher School of Business, National Research University Higher School of Economics
“Our program is an intensive path of personal and professional transformation. We see how students change over the course of a year and a half: their confidence grows, their horizons expand, their ability to make strategic decisions strengthens. It is especially valuable that they leave the program with a clear understanding of their role in business and with a readiness for new challenges.”
During their studies, participants not only expanded their professional horizons, but also built new strong horizontal connections—the alumni community remains one of the program’s key resources.
Ekaterina Artemenkova
Director of the Financial Department, Insurance Company “Guardia”
“I asked my classmates to name three associations with the program and collected them in a word cloud. The most frequent word turned out to be unexpected, but very accurate – “pleasure”. In the program, we learned to enjoy studying, communicating, challenges. And, perhaps, the main thing we learned was the ability to maintain inner calm in the most stressful situations and to see opportunities even in difficulties.”
Andrey Dementyev
Founder of the family project “Elephant Park” in Sochi
“Over these one and a half years, we have not only mastered the tools of strategic management, Agile and financial analysis – we have learned to see value in people, in the team, in the environment. We have learned from each other, admired, supported – and it is in this atmosphere that ideas, projects and a real team are born.”
Olga Komleva
Director of IT Solutions Department, SONET Group of Companies
“This morning, when I was driving to the airport, I was thinking that this is my last trip as part of the MBA program. It is a warm sadness and great pride at the same time. We have gained knowledge, found friends, and most importantly, made the right choice by coming here. I would like to wish everyone not to lose interest, to study and move forward.”
The graduation of the HSE Graduate School of Business MBA program has become a significant contribution to the preparation of innovative responsible leaders who change organizations and the world. Start of a new cohort MBA programs is scheduled for this fall and the admissions campaign has already begun.
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