Free Republic

After Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida on Wednesday, Sunshine State residents who own electric vehicles have been urged to be cautious. Ahead of Milton, one county that was in the hurricane’s path, Hillsborough County, said Monday EV owners in flood zones “should move their vehicles away from flood areas and storm surge” and noted storm surge and flooding can “pose a potential risk to lithium-ion batteries and could lead to fires.” It shared a county webpage about electric vehicle hurricane safety. EVs left behind during hurricanes should not be plugged into charging stations or parked in garages because of...

This is an artist’s concept of an early Mars with liquid water (blue areas) on its surface. Ancient regions on Mars bear signs of abundant water – such as features resembling valleys and deltas, and minerals that only form in the presence of liquid water. Scientists think that billions of years ago, the atmosphere of Mars was much denser and warm enough to form rivers, lakes, and perhaps even oceans of water. As the planet cooled and lost its global magnetic field, the solar wind and solar storms eroded away to space a significant amount of the planet’s atmosphere, turning...

Bill Stebbins@Bill_StebbinsJRA comrade in arms of mine and fellow OIF vet in the path of destruction in NC finally came up on the net thanks to STARLINK and @elonmusk he and his family are ALIVE but things are deteriorating fast. He’s a fellow multiple tour Iraq vet and is not prone to exaggeration. You wanna know what’s REALLY going down—at least one person’s perspective in their area?His first update:"This entire area is a war zone, even if not directly “destroyed” by flood waters. There are men, women and children starving, without water and sanitation. No fuel. People can’t get to...

On Monday’s broadcast of NPR’s “All Things Considered,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas responded to delays in getting water into the Asheville, NC area by stating that the impacts of Hurricane Helene were underestimated and “We are still in search-and-rescue mode in certain communities. There are local communities that are better equipped and better managed because of experience.” Co-host Ailsa Chang asked, “Well, was access an issue when it came to supplying water there? Because Buncombe County, where Asheville is, says they put in a request for water before the storm, but they hadn’t received anything until this morning.” She...

More than 80,000 birds have died over the past 2½ months at a network of wildlife refuges on the Oregon-California border. The deaths, linked to a rare combination of botulism and avian flu, increased sharply since the... ..wetland habitat continues to shrink, forcing birds into smaller patches of water, and climate change dries up what’s left of the habitat, the toxin has infected many more birds. Competition for water in the Klamath Basin makes the situation worse.

The Prime Minister will meet former US president Donald Trump later. It will be the first time Sir Keir Starmer has met the Republican candidate for US president. Sir Keir is in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, but will make time to meet Trump at his New York base - Trump Tower. The prime minister said it was “good” he had the opportunity to meet the Republican presidential nominee and that it was “really to establish a relationship between the two of us”. Speaking ahead of their meeting, Mr Trump said of the PM: "I actually think...

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said it took the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) 50,000 gallons of water to extinguish the flames sparked from an electric Tesla Semi crash. The NTSB is investigating the cause of a Tesla Semi truck single-vehicle crash and fire that resulted in the closure of the eastbound lanes of California’s Interstate 80 for 15 hours last month. Extinguishing the fire required 50,000 gallons of water, as well as aircraft overhead that dumped f ire retardant, according to a preliminary report released Friday by the NTSB.

The decades-long push led by tribal communities to remove four dams along the Klamath River reached another victory this week as crews began the project’s final stages, restoring historic water flows to the river for the first time in over a century. The fight to remove dams along the Klamath began over two decades ago, when poor water quality and river flows caused tens of thousands of the river’s fish, mostly Chinook salmon, to die in a massive fish kill in 2002. For thousands of years, Chinook salmon have been a fundamental source of physical, spiritual and economic sustenance to...

The Bundeswehr barracks Cologne-Wahn is sealed off. According to SPIEGEL information, the authorities investigate the suspicion of a crThe Bundeswehr barracks in Cologne-Wahn was completely sealed off on Wednesday morning. According to SPIEGEL information, the police, field hunters and the military shielding service of the Bundeswehr suspected sabotage action against the Bundeswehr. Apparently the barracks were broken into. The tap water of the Bundeswehr site may be contaminated. In internal communications, soldiers and civilian forces were urged not to extract drinking water. In the meantime, no other soldiers are allowed to enter the site.ime. Soldiers are not allowed to draw...

Using data from NASA's InSight lander - which carried out a four-year-long mission that ended in 2022 - researchers say the amount of water underground could cover all of Mars with between one to two kilometres of water.

Hamas attempted to fire two rockets at Tel Aviv and central Israel on Tuesday, but failed with one of them landing in the Mediterranean Sea and one of them failing to even leave the Gaza Strip. Citizens in Tel Aviv and other parts of central Israel heard sounds of explosions, initially creating confusion until the IDF clarified the situation. According to the IDF, the rocket which landed in the Sea was immediately detected, but the IDF did not activate any alarms because it was apparent from the start that its entire trajectory was flying only over the Sea. Likewise, no...

The federal government has backed up California state regulators in ordering the company that bottles Arrowhead water to stop drawing from the San Bernardino Mountains. Though BlueTriton Brands draws from springs in the mountains that have been used for bottled water since 1906, environmental activists have claimed the removal of that water is harming wildlife, particularly Strawberry Creek. About a year ago, California’s Water Resources Control Board ordered BlueTriton to stop using the water, which flows through public lands like the San Bernardino National Forest.

HONOLULU (KHON2) -- Microplastics are tiny pieces of plastic that come from larger plastic items breaking down over time. These small particles can last for hundreds of years and can enter our bodies through the food we eat, the water we drink and the air we breathe. The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa has started a groundbreaking study to explore how these microplastics affect our lung health, thanks to a three-year grant of $352,126 from the National Science Foundation. Professor Yi Zuo is a professor of mechanical engineering in the College of Engineering and adjunct professor of pediatrics in the...

The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty has secured repeal of the unconstitutional law banning possession of firearms near almost all waters in Wisconsin.In 1999, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) created a rule banning the possession of firearms near “waters, banks or shores that might be used for the purpose of fishing.” The regulation was created with virtually no oversight shortly after Wisconsin passed Section 25, Wisconsin’s constitutional protection for the right to keep and bear arms. The regulation was seldom, if ever, enforced.Due to a quirk in Wisconsin statutes, no one had to be arrested to challenge...

A drinking water warning has been issued for an area of Florida that includes former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club. The Town of Palm Beach shared an alert online Thursday warning residents, including Trump and others at Mar-a-Lago, that its water supply was having issues with cloudiness, or "turbidity." While noting that "turbidity does not cause health effects," residents were warned that infants, pregnant people, the elderly and those with "a severely compromised immune system" should avoid the water. "You may be at increased risk and should seek advice from your healthcare providers about drinking this water," the alert states.

Nearly 400 public water systems in California have failed to meet recommended safety standards for drinking water, according to a report last month from the State Water Resources Control Board, but a new climate bond measure recently joined the state’s November ballot may help.Some 913,000 Californians, approximately 2 percent of the state’s population, are potentially affected by 385 failing public water systems according to the report.Fifty-six of those systems “serve disadvantaged communities and 67 percent serve majority communities of color.”The annual report identifies California drinking water challenges, part of an effort to improve access to safe drinking water started by...

California officials have approved a first-of-its-kind regulation that will set long-term limits on the amounts of water the state’s urban utilities can use on an annual basis. The State Water Resources Control Board granted unanimous support Wednesday to sweeping conservation measures that are expected to generate about 500,000 acre-feet in water savings each year by 2040. The quantity conserved is enough to quench the thirst of more than 1.4 million households on an annual basis, according to the Water Board. The regulation requires the state’s largest suppliers to calculate individual water budgets based on residential indoor and outdoor water use,...

After a decade that saw two major droughts, and with more dry times inevitable, California is imposing permanent water restrictions on cities and towns for the first time in state history. The powerful State Water Resources Control Board on Wednesday approved a long-debated policy that will require hundreds of urban water suppliers to reduce the amount of water they provide over the next 15 years. As soon as 2027, some suppliers will have to cut back deliveries upwards of 30%, which means finding ways for their customers to use less water — either by imposing restrictions, incentivizing savings by raising...

… “ This is a precautionary notice to all customers to boil water that may be ingested due to water of unknown quality. Customer should not drink the water without boiling it first. This advisory will remain in place until follow-up testing confirms the water is safe to drink.” … “ We have no information that the water was contaminated by this incident, but we issue this advisory as a precaution while we test the water. We will update you when the water supply has returned to normal production and meets water quality standards. Please share this information with all...

Idaho farmers are indeed facing significant challenges related to water access. The Idaho Department of Water Resources (IDWR) issued a curtailment order for eastern Idaho irrigators who were found to be noncompliant with a state-approved mitigation plan. This order was scheduled to go into effect recently. The curtailment order impacts about 6,400 junior groundwater rights holders who pump water from the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer. This aquifer supplies water to the Twin Falls Canal Co, which has senior water rights. The projected shortfall of water to the Twin Falls Canal Co is approximately 74,100-acre-feet. To put this in perspective, an...