ANTARCTICA

Satellites capture rapid disintegration of ice in the Larsen B embayment
Scott Sutherland - Thursday
The Weather Network

Nearly two decades after the Larsen B ice shelf collapse, satellites captured another collapse of sorts, as warm winds flowing over the Antarctic Peninsula disintegrated the sea ice inhabiting the waters the ice shelf once covered.

Back in March of 2002, the Larsen B ice shelf — 3,200 square kilometres of floating glacial ice attached near the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula — broke apart and collapsed into the sea. In the weeks leading up to this event, satellites spotted numerous melt ponds collecting on the ice shelf's surface due to warm summer temperatures over the region. Then, in just three days, starting on March 2, satellite imagery captured dramatic views as nearly the entire ice shelf fractured and surged out into the Weddell Sea.


© Provided by The Weather NetworkSatellites capture rapid disintegration of ice in the Larsen B embaymentTwo views from NASA's Terra satellite from 2002. On February 14 (left) Larsen B was still intact, but numerous melt ponds are clearly visible on the surface. Just over a month later, the same view (right) shows nearly the entire ice shelf having collapsed into a flow of icebergs and newly freed sea ice. Credit: NASA Worldview

Now, close to 20 years after that event, we've seen a second collapse of the ice in that part of the world.

Once an ice shelf collapses, it's unheard of to see it regenerate. Unlike sea ice, which melts and refreezes each year, an ice shelf forms when the leading edge of a glacier pushes out over water, becoming a direct extension of the land ice. Icebergs break off the edges of ice shelves from time to time simply due to the stresses of ocean currents and sea ice collisions. The sheet ice is replenished from the glacier on land, though. So it would take decades or longer for an immense ice shelf to regenerate, even without the continued stresses of global warming.

However, starting in 2011, a swath of sea ice set up in the Larsen B embayment. This was not the thick glacial ice that was there a decade before. Instead, it was 'landfast' ice — comparatively thin sea ice that became fastened to the shoreline.

"It was the first time since the early 2002 shelf collapse that the Larsen B embayment was seen to freeze up and stay frozen through multiple austral summers," Christopher Shuman, a glaciologist with NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, said in NASA Earth Observatory's Image of the Day post from February 2.

Year after year, this landfast ice persisted in the embayment. As captured by orbiting satellites, it even took on the shape (if not the thickness) of the original ice shelf. However, throughout December 2021 and the first half of January 2022, satellites recorded a repeat of the same pattern that occurred in 2002. Numerous blue melt ponds were spotted on the surface of the landfast ice. Then, in a matter of days, the ice disintegrated and drifted away.


© Provided by The Weather NetworkSatellites capture rapid disintegration of ice in the Larsen B embaymentTwo views of the same region of the Antarctic Peninsula from January of 2022, before the collapse of the Larsen B landfast ice and after. Credit: NASA

On January 11, days before this multi-year ice broke apart, the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) noted that the extensive meltwater ponds resulted from a series of wind storms that crossed the Peninsula since December. Like the Chinook winds of southern Alberta, when wind storms pass over the Antarctandes — the mountain range that stretches along the northern part of the Peninsula — it results in warm, dry air flowing down the lee side of the range. In Antarctica, these are called Foehn winds.

Each of these wind storms had a strong impact on the melt season across the Peninsula. For example, in late December, the amount of melting detected was roughly three times greater than the average for that same period from 1990 to 2020.


© Provided by The Weather NetworkSatellites capture rapid disintegration of ice in the Larsen B embaymentA series of wind storms passing over the Antarctic Peninsula produced strong melting periods throughout December and January. Credit: L. Lopez, NSIDC, M. MacFerrin, CIRES and T. Mote, University of Georgia

A series of wind storms passing over the Antarctic Peninsula produced strong melting periods throughout December and January. Credit: L. Lopez, NSIDC, M. MacFerrin, CIRES and T. Mote, University of Georgia

Meltwater ponds profoundly affect the stability of the ice they rest upon, whether it is sea ice or a thick ice shelf. The water from these ponds erodes the ice underneath them, weakening the overall structure and making it easier for the ice to fracture and break apart.

CONCERNS FOR SEA LEVEL RISE

The disintegration of this landfast ice will not directly impact sea level rise. This is for the same reason a new iceberg, or even the collapse of an ice shelf, does not contribute much to this particular aspect of climate change. The ice was already floating before it broke away from the land, so its weight was displacing the water underneath it. Therefore, its contribution to ocean levels was already accounted for.

There is an indirect concern stemming from this event, though.

According to NASA Earth Observatory: "This summer's breakup of the sea ice in the embayment is important because — unlike the meltwater from an ice shelf, icebergs, and sea ice (already floating) — the meltwater from a glacier adds to the ocean's volume and contributes directly to sea level rise. With the sea ice now gone, "the likelihood is that backstress will be reduced on all glaciers in the Larsen B Embayment and that additional inland ice losses will be coming soon," said Shuman.
THE LARSEN ICE SHELF

The Larsen ice shelf is an expanse of thick glacial ice along the eastern shoreline of the Antarctic Peninsula. After it was completely mapped out, it was divided into four different sections — Larsen A, B, C, and D.


© Provided by The Weather NetworkSatellites capture rapid disintegration of ice in the Larsen B embaymentThis view of the Larsen A and B embayments includes annotations showing the past extents of the ice shelves, and includes an inset map of the entire Larsen ice shelf. Credit: NASA Earth Observatory

Larsen A was the northernmost of these ice shelves. It collapsed in January of 1995. Larsen B held on until 2002, before it disintegrated.

Larsen C made headlines in 2017 when iceberg A68 broke away from its leading edge in July of that year.

The largest iceberg in the world at the time, A68 ended up floating out to sea and got as far as South Georgia Island by late 2020. There, it crashed into the island shelf and then shattered into numerous pieces.


© Provided by The Weather NetworkSatellites capture rapid disintegration of ice in the Larsen B embaymentThe remainder of A-68a, along with other large pieces that also broke off of A-68, on January 11, 2021 near South Georgia Island. (NASA Earth Observatory image by Lauren Dauphin, using VIIRS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE, GIBS/Worldview, and the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership)

So far, the rest of Larsen C and all of Larsen D currently remain intact.

KAMLOOPS, BC
Protesters call for urgent action on opioid overdose crisis

Kamloops resident Angela Bigg brought the memory of her son with her to a protest calling for decriminalization and safe supply of drugs on Thursday morning (Feb. 10) amidst B.C.'s worsening overdose crisis.

From thin white string around Bigg’s neck hung a poster, pasted with photographs of her son, Casey, during his youth. Alongside those were stickers that spelled out “I Miss You” and a handwritten message Bigg had for her son.

Casey, 37, was one of 60 people who died in Kamloops in 2020 from a fatal drug overdose. In 2021, that number increased to the highest-ever 77 deaths, according to statistics released by the provincial government on Wednesday. They were among a record 2,224 people across B.C. who died from illicit drug overdoses in 2021.

Bigg said her son sought assistance for his addiction, but couldn’t get admitted to Phoenix Centre due to COVID-19 restrictions.

“We did everything we could to get him in to something [treatment program], but we couldn’t,” she told KTW.

When he died 16 months ago, Casey had been clean for two weeks, but was in pain and struggling. Bigg said he slipped up and used behind a local Tim Hortons, where he was found brain-dead. She said doctors told her, while her son was on life support, that he overdosed from a mix of fentanyl and crystal meth.

“He was a good man,” an emotional Bigg said.

On Thursday, two groups of protesters, associated with The Loop drop-in centre and Moms Stop The Harm, rallied outside the offices of Kamloops MLA s Peter Milobar (in the 600-block of Tranquille Road in North Kamloops) and Todd Stone (in the 400-block of Victoria Street downtown) demanding policy changes from government.

The rallies involved a “die-down” display, in which the protesters lay on the ground for 77 seconds — one second for each life lost to illicit drug overdoses in Kamloops last year.

About 10 people took part in the Tranquille Road demonstration, waving signs and using a bullhorn to shout slogans supporting safe supply.

Milobar’s office was closed.

Proponents of a safe illicit drugs supply say it can help prevent overdose deaths by providing access to clean, government-regulated substances as an alternative to the toxic illegal street supply, known to contain fentanyl, which is causing more than 80 per cent of deaths.

Mick Sandy, a local advocate associated with The Loop, led the North Kamloops protest.

“We need action,” Sandy said is his message to his local MLAs. “We need true, legitimate safe supply now so we can stop having these preventable deaths at an exponential rate.”

An average of 6.1 people per day in B.C. died from drug overdose deaths in 2021. Kamloops had a rate of about six to seven people a month who lost their lives.

“The lack of action, at this point, is negligent,” Sandy said. “There are evidence-based and research supported methods to assist these people that we are not acting on.”

Along with a call for a safe drug supply, those demonstrating are also urging the provincial government to increase treatment beds and pressure Ottawa on decriminalizing the simple possession of hard drugs.

Michael Potestio, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Kamloops This Week

Charlie Angus's book Cobalt reveals reality of mining

“There’s something absolutely beguiling about these great mineral rushes,” Angus says.

Author of the article: Postmedia News
Publishing date :Feb 09, 2022 •

Charlie Angus was jolted by a judicial system that condoned the acquittal of a man who had murdered one prostitute and disfigured another.

There were the cockroach races that saw miners betting as much as a $1,000 on the outcome.

There was the day vaudeville performer Daisy Primrose walked down the street in Harem pants, a new form of female apparel so scandalous that it had been condemned by the Pope.

There’s even an appearance by a dog named Bobbie Burns who may well have been the inspiration for Hollywood’s most celebrated canine star.

So if Charlie Angus had wanted, he could easily have confined himself to delivering a robust history of Cobalt, the fabled Northern Ontario mining town in which the New Democrat MP has long lived. But although he is a born storyteller with a passion for popular history that matches the best of Pierre Berton and James H. Gray, Angus had a lot more on his mind when he set out to write his latest book, Cobalt.

He was fascinated by the contrast between legend and reality when it comes to the “wild, ragged and haunted town” that flourished in the early years of the 20thCentury as the world’s fourth largest producer of silver before sinking into an obscurity that lasted for decades until another mineral, cobalt, would rekindle interest in it.

“There’s something absolutely beguiling about these great mineral rushes,” Angus says from his Cobalt home, a rebuilt mine shaft. “They bring people from all over the world, and they’re larger-than-life characters, and every one knows it’s not going to last. It’s a really crazy real-life fantasy story, yet it’s underwritten in tragedy.”

It’s a story that sees Cobalt’s glory days launch Canada on its path to world dominance as a mining superpower, so there were numerous themes Angus wanted to pursue, and he admits ending up with several versions and going down “many rabbit holes” before he was satisfied. “When you read this book, I hope you’re taken on a journey to places you wouldn’t have expected to encounter.”

It’s an entertaining journey even revealing the reality behind the facade. Consider Cobalt’s distinguished Prospect Hotel, “four storeys tall with a large wooden-rail balcony extending out from the first floor.” Impressive for a frontier town like Cobalt — at least outwardly so. “Inside there were a multitude of tiny rooms separated by one-inch plywood. On bitterly cold nights, the wind blew through the cracks in the boards, freezing both the water jug and the chamber pot beneath the bed.” There was also a communal toilet — of sorts — in a lean-to behind the building, with an iron stove top with two holes serving as the seat.

Primitive? Oh yes. But that’s not the whole story. “If you tell somebody in Toronto in Vancouver that Cobalt had a stock exchange before they did, they would laugh out loud,” Angus says. These urbanites would be similarly incredulous to be told that Cobalt once was part of the North American vaudeville circuit and that acting legends like Beerbohm Tree and Mary Pickford played there.

Angus juggles a lot of balls in a book that is nonetheless driven by one extraordinary fact. “It was stocks from Cobalt that turned Toronto from an international backwater to an international global capital for mine financing,” Angus says. And it’s a success story accompanied by notoriety.

“Some pretty extraordinary scams and stock frauds can be traced right back to the deals that were going down in the early days of Cobalt” Furthermore, not much has changed, Angus argues. “Canada is not known as an international Boy Scout when it comes to resource extraction.”

In the early 20thCentury, Ontario’s government acted as enabler in allowing mining interests to establish fiefdoms over Cobalt and other mining towns. Conventional property rights didn’t exist which is why homeowners had no recourse if a company decided to sink a shaft in the middle of their land. Communities were not permitted by mine bosses to meet vital infrastructure needs, and mine workers — often targets of racial and ethnic hatred — were constantly exploited.

“There were decisions made that gave hugely favourable terms to the mining companies, meaning they would be paying some of the lowest taxes in the world,” Angus says. “Yet at the same time communities were left without the ability to have the kind of investments necessary to create sustainable communities when the mines shut down.”

Still, there was sometimes successful pushback; It was the Cobalt Miners Union that forced the passage of Canada’s first workmen’s compensation act.

Ultimately, it’s the people, both the noble and ignoble, who drive Angus’s story. For example, a typhoid outbreak brought out the worst in an industry that continued forcing miners to defecate in the tunnels because of a refusal to provide portable toilets, thereby leading to contamination of a water supply which miners frequently had to drink. But on the heroic side there was the example of the remarkable Annie Saunders whose “hospital” played a vital role in fighting the epidemic.

“Annie Saunders appears in town from England as a single mom,” Angus marvels. “She doesn’t tell anybody that she’s a nurse, but then there’s a disaster and people need her.”

The mining culture has always fascinated Angus, the son of Scottish immigrants who came to Canada to work in the mines. “I moved to Cobalt with my own young family just in time to watch all the mines close down and we saw a lot of heartache. But I’ve always thought there was something magical about this place even during its darkest history.”

One of his favourite characters is the larger-than-life Jack Munroe — vaudeville actor, professional boxer, mining promoter and politician, the first Canadian soldier to step on the shores of France during the First World War, and the enterprising hustler who almost succeeded in setting up a heavyweight fight in Northern Ontario with the legendary Jack Johnson.

When Munroe enlisted and was sent overseas with the Princess Pats, he smuggled his beloved collie, Bobbie Burns, on board the troopship. Overseas he and Bobbie became friends with author Eric Knight who — legend has it — would make this Canadian collie the hero of his novel, Lassie Come Home, a book that launched one of the most lucrative franchises in Hollywood history.

Unlike some historians, Angus resists sanitizing the past. He gives no quarter to the coldly mercenary conduct of the mining industry, and the suffering it caused, or the complicity of other sectors of Canada’s establishment.

“What also shocked me were stories of violence,” Angus says. He was jolted by a judicial system which condoned the acquittal of a man who had murdered one prostitute and disfigured another. “Yet the jury is not going to convict him because he’s an outstanding citizen.”

Angus reserves his greatest sorrow over the most unpalatable truth of his story: “The removal of Indigenous people from their lands was the first step to gaining control of the North,” he writes. Repeatedly in this book, with respect to Indigenous betrayal, the past rises to haunt the present. “Nobody told me until recently that there had been 2,000 years of silver mining in Cobalt with Indigenous people trading across North America. How come we don’t know that story?”

Angus is haunted by the terrible story of Chief Tonene of Temagami First Nation who was credited with launching one of the North’s major gold rushes when he staked a claim in his traditional hunting ground. Rival white prospectors jumped his claim, and Tonene was unable to fight them in the courts because the Indian Act forbade him to hire a lawyer.

“The ground he’s staked becomes one of the richest gold mines in Canadian history,” Angus says. “He’s robbed of it. He cannot go to court and ends up being buried in what became a garbage dump.”

– Jamie Portman

ONTARIO
WSIB takes claims for powder


THUNDER BAY — Miners who became ill after inhaling an aluminum-based powder mistakenly believed to protect them from exposure to silica dust can now make compensation claims to the province’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB).

Up until last week, the board had refused to recognize claims from workers in mines and other industries who had occasion to inhale what was called McIntyre Powder over a 35-year period until 1979.

“The theory, eventually proved false, was that inhaling the powder would protect workers’ lungs” from diseases like silicosis, a United Steelworkers union news release said on Tuesday.

“Instead, it made workers sick, and led to many deaths,” as well as cases of Parkinson’s disease.

The Workplace Safety and Insurance Board was unmoved until last week, after a relentless campaign by Sudbury resident Janice Martell to have McIntyre Powder-related ailments recognized appeared to get through to the provincial government.

According to the Ministry of Labour, in March of 2020 it received a report from a cancer specialist who “found a statistically significant increased risk of Parkinson’s disease in miners exposed to McIntyre Powder.”

A ministry spokeswoman said her department has since “made amendments to a regulation under the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, to now formally recognize Parkinson’s disease as an occupational disease linked to work-related McIntyre Powder exposure.”

In a statement, Labour Minister Monte McNaughton said the change “will guarantee compensation for workers who have suffered unfairly as a result of exposure to McIntyre Powder.”

McNaughton said the decision “is just a start.”

“Our government will continue to make investments to help identify and recognize occupational illnesses and support those who have been injured by exposure on the job,” he added.

Martell’s father, who worked in an Elliot Lake uranium mine in the late 1970s, died in 2017.

“My dad did not live to see this day, but it is a fitting legacy to a man who always enjoyed breaking the trail . . . to make the path easier for those coming behind him,” Martell said in the United Steelworkers news release.

Carl Clutchey, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Chronicle-Journal

Philippines activists ready for long battle to keep Marcos from power


MANILA (Reuters) - Petitioners seeking to bar Ferdinand Marcos Jr from the Philippines presidency said on Friday they were bent on keeping "autocratic figures" from power and would use all legal channels to stop the election frontrunner, including the Supreme Court.

Complainants failed to convince the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) to disqualify Marcos, 64, the son and namesake of the late Philippines dictator, on the grounds of his decades-old conviction for tax violations. Commissioners on Thursday said the petitions lacked merit.

Loretta Ann Rosales, a petitioner and one of thousands of victims of state brutality under the 1970s-1980s martial law of the elder Marcos, said opponents were ready to appeal to the highest court.

"All measures must be used to stop autocratic figures from winning in the polls that would contribute to the destruction of democratic rule," she said.

Opponents of political veteran Marcos see the prospect of his family returning to the presidential palace decades after it was overthrown in a people's revolt as unpalatable.

Vic Rodriguez, spokesperson for Marcos, said the petitioners should respect courts and quasi-judicial bodies "by not elevating lies that they have peddled".

The Supreme Court was required to rule on a high-profile case before the last election in 2016, involving then presidential frontrunner, Grace Poe.

It reversed COMELEC's decision The Philippine Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that a senator who spent much of her life in the United States is eligible to run for president, reversing a decision by the election commission and putting her in line to reclaim her position as frontrunner to disqualify Poe over questions about her citizenship. Poe finished third overall.

Howard Calleja, a lawyer for one of the petitioners, will next week file a motion asking the full bench of COMELEC to overturn the ruling of its first division.

He said the decision "does not put the disqualification to a close, but further cast doubt not only on the case but on the COMELEC as well."

(Reporting by Karen Lema; Editing by Martin Petty)

ELECTION FRAUD FAKERY WORKING

CNN Poll: A growing number of Americans don't think today's elections reflect the will of the people

By Jennifer Agiesta, CNN Polling Director - Friday


An increasing majority of Americans lack confidence that elections in America today reflected the will of the people, and about half think it likely that a future election in the United States will be overturned for partisan reasons, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS.

There's been a shift in the partisan dynamic driving concerns about the possibility of an overturned future election. While the 50% overall who considered such a prospect at least somewhat likely was similar to the 51% who felt that way in September, Democrats were now more apt to see an overturned election in the future than Republicans. In the new poll, 56% of Democrats saw it as likely vs. 48% of Republicans. In September, 57% of Republicans thought that was likely while just 49% of Democrats agreed.

Also in the new poll, 56% of respondents said they have little or no confidence that American elections reflect the will of the people, up from 52% who felt that way in September and 40% in January 2021. Almost three-quarters of Republicans were now skeptical that elections are representative (74%), as were 59% of independents, and only a third of Democrats (32%). The results reflected a significant decline in confidence over the past year among both independents (45% lacked confidence in January 2021) and Democrats (9% felt that way a year ago).

More broadly, fewer now said that American democracy is under attack than did late last summer (52% now vs. 56% in September), and the share who said the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, represented a crisis for democracy stood at 28%, down from 36% shortly after the attack last year.

The poll's findings come as the House select committee investigating the January 6 attack has issued new subpoenas to key members of former President Donald Trump's inner circle as it investigates the origins of the attack.

Most Americans saw the January 6 attack on the Capitol as a problem for democracy (28% said it's a crisis, 37% a major problem, and another 20% called it a minor problem), and 54% said not enough has been done to penalize those who rioted at the Capitol.

Republicans in particular, though, have shifted in their views of the attack over the past year. While 15% of Republicans said in January 2021 the storming of the Capitol was not a problem, 27% felt that way now. Likewise, while 38% of Republicans a year ago said enough had been done to penalize rioters, 71% felt that way now.

A plurality of all Americans saw the select committee's work as a fair attempt to determine what happened on January 6 (44%), while about a third saw it as a one-sided effort to blame Trump (36%) and 20% said they hadn't heard enough about it to say. About three-quarters of Democrats (76%) said it was a fair investigation, while two-thirds of Republicans (67%) dubbed it a one-sided effort to blame Trump.

Still, those who said the January 6 attack was a problem for democracy were not very likely to see the select committee's work as a path to helping protect American democracy. Overall, 47% said that the attack was a problem and that the panel's work was unlikely to result in changes that would help protect democracy, while 37% said protective changes were the likely outcome.

Beyond the overall partisan divide around these issues, the poll found that those who were most concerned about either the January 6 attack or the health of democracy generally were the most ideological partisans, suggesting the issues may not become turning points for the upcoming midterm elections.

Perceptions of the January 6 attack as a crisis for democracy were concentrated among liberal Democrats, 62% of whom felt that way, compared with 37% of moderate or conservative Democrats, 13% of moderate or liberal Republicans and 11% of conservative Republicans. And views that democracy itself was under attack were likewise strongest among conservative Republicans (72%) vs. 53% of moderate or liberal Republicans, 40% of moderate or conservative Democrats and 57% of liberal Democrats.

Looking back at the outcome of the 2020 election, little has changed in how Americans viewed Joe Biden's victory. While there was no evidence of widespread fraud or vote tampering, 37% said they believed Biden did not legitimately win enough votes to be president. More than 1 in 5, or 22%, said there was solid evidence that Biden did not win enough votes, even though such evidence does not exist. Among Republicans, 70% said Biden's victory was not legitimate, and nearly half, 45%, believed falsely that there was solid evidence of that.

Should nuclear power be labelled green?

The European Union is divided over whether atomic power should be part of the energy debate.

Nuclear energy has a notorious reputation for disasters and it can go terribly wrong. Although that has been the debate about reactors in recent decades after three major accidents, it seems to be changing now.

Industry supporters say atomic power has negligible carbon emissions and it can be more reliable than renewables in keeping the lights on. They insist it is for a good reason – because the sun does not always shine and the wind does not always blow.

Elsewhere, the United Nations says North Korea is funding its nuclear programme through stolen cryptocurrencies.

 

Tennessee parents, teachers push back against 'Maus' removal

ATHENS, Tenn. (AP) — Growing up in rural eastern Tennessee, James Cockrum hadn't given much thought to the possibility that one day he might find himself speaking about his Jewish heritage in front of a packed school board meeting.

Kimberlee Kruesi, The Associated Press

a day ago

McMinn County School Board member Mike Cochran, far right, details his meeting with a rabbi recently, Thursday, Feb. 10, 2022, in Athens, Tenn. The board heard from concerned citizens about the removal of the Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel about the Holocaust "Maus," from the district's curriculum at the meeting. Board member, Mike Cochran, recounted a conversation with a Jewish rabbi who had suggested to him that a Holocaust survivor could talk to students as a possible replacement for the removed book. (Robin Rudd/Chattanooga Times Free Press via AP)

ATHENS, Tenn. (AP) — Growing up in rural eastern Tennessee, James Cockrum hadn't given much thought to the possibility that one day he might find himself speaking about his Jewish heritage in front of a packed school board meeting.

But four days after news broke that the McMinn County school board unanimously voted to remove a Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel about the Holocaust from the district's curriculum, Cockrum celebrated the birth of his daughter. That life-changing moment left the 25-year-old wrestling with the realities of the community he grew up in.

“My father was of Jewish descent; I'm of Jewish descent. There is nothing more personal to anybody than our heritage,” Cockrum said. “This is very disturbing.”

Cockrum was one of a handful of people who spoke at the meeting to try to persuade the McMinn County School Board to reconsider its decision that sparked international attention, renewing concerns about book bans and the growing threat of antisemitism. After the board quietly removed “Maus" last month, February's meeting was packed with concerned parents, teachers and students who spilled into an overflow room to see how the board would respond to the criticism.

Instead, the board demurred to a lengthy statement issued weeks earlier justifying its determination that “Maus” — a graphic novel in which Jews are portrayed as mice and Nazis as cats in the retelling of the horrific Holocaust experience of the author's parents — was inappropriate for children because of curse words and a depiction of a nude corpse, which was drawn as a cartoon mouse.

Only one board member, Mike Cochran, broached the subject Thursday. Cochran recounted a conversation with a rabbi who had suggested to him that a Holocaust survivor could talk to students as a possible replacement for the removed book.

“I want people to understand that this had nothing to do with the Holocaust on why we took it out,” he said.

On Jan. 10, McMinn school board members called a special meeting to discuss “Maus," only a day before their district's eighth graders were scheduled to begin reading the book. The time crunch gave the discussion a sense of urgency. No recordings of the meeting have been released, but 20 pages of meeting minutes detail a back and forth between board members and school administrators, who defended the text as a vital lesson that brought home the horror of an important moment in history.

The minutes show that none of the board members had read “Maus” and at least one member noted that the typical process for handling complaints over curriculum had been bypassed. Nevertheless, the board voted unanimously to remove the book and directed teachers to find a suitable replacement.

The decision largely went unnoticed until an advocacy group called the Tennessee Holler broadcast the news. The book has since moved to the center of a growing national debate about the teaching of disturbing history, including slavery as well as the Holocaust, prompted by recent pushes to limit children's exposure to certain materials and discussion. In Tennessee, that effort recently expanded to include school libraries, with the state’s Republican governor and others looking for new ways to ramp up scrutiny on what gets placed on shelves.

Those efforts have ignited fierce pushback from people offended by the board's action. In McMinn County, where many were caught off guard by the move, some groups have sought copies of “Maus” and made it available to students through alternate channels. Sales have soared everywhere, making it among the top sellers on Amazon.com. Booksellers have offered to send free copies to students in McMinn County and across Tennessee. Donations have poured in to help purchase copies worldwide.

Author Art Spiegelman has expressed bafflement at the board's decision and seized the moment to foster conversation about censorship.

“It’s certainly about Jews, but it’s not just about Jews,” Spiegelman said earlier this week during a virtual discussion on book bans hosted by the Jewish Federation of Greater Chattanooga that more than 10,000 people attended.

“This is about othering and what’s going on now is about controlling ... what kids can look at, what kids can read, what kids can see in a way that makes them less able to think, not more. And it takes the form of the criticisms from this board,” he added.

For Alex Sharp, a librarian who lives in McMinn County, the board's fixation on a handful of swear words misses the broader lessons students should learn while studying the Holocaust and other painful moments in history. It also makes no sense, she said, in an age when students have access to more objectionable material online.

“Yes, it has a few bad words in it, but in my opinion our kids are seeing way worse than that on YouTube, TikTok and Snapchat," she said. "You have to remember they're 13 and 14 years old. They're not small children anymore, they're breaching into adulthood, and we have to talk about these controversial topics with them so they grow up into empathetic human beings.”

As he spoke at Thursday's meeting, Cockrum shook his head in disbelief that a book ban had brought him before a school board for the first time ever.

“I'm immensely disappointed in the decision to remove material regarding my own heritage and family's history. I'd like to ask generally: What message does this send to our Jewish neighbors?" he said. “Are these stories not there to learn from?”

Kimberlee Kruesi, The Associated Press

NASA's new space telescope sees 1st starlight, takes selfie

Friday

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA’s new space telescope has captured its first starlight and even taken a selfie of its giant, gold mirror.



All 18 segments of the primary mirror on the James Webb Space Telescope seem to be working properly 1 1/2 months into the mission, officials said Friday.

The telescope's first target was a bright star 258 light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major.

“That was just a real wow moment,” said Marshall Perrin of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore.

Over the next few months, the hexagonal mirror segments — each the size of a coffee table — will be aligned and focused as one, allowing science observations to begin by the end of June.

The $10 billion infrared observatory — considered the successor to the aging Hubble Space Telescope — will seek light from the first stars and galaxies that formed in the universe nearly 14 billion years ago. It will also examine the atmospheres of alien worlds for any possible signs of life.

NASA did not detect the crippling flaw in Hubble's mirror until after its 1990 launch; more than three years passed before spacewalking astronauts were able to correct the telescope's blurry vision.

While everything is looking good so far with Webb, engineers should be able to rule out any major mirror flaws by next month, Feinberg said.

Webb’s 21-foot (6.5-meter), gold-plated mirror is the largest ever launched into space. An infrared camera on the telescope snapped a picture of the mirror as one segment gazed upon the targeted star.

“Pretty much the reaction was 'Holy Cow!',” Feinberg said.

NASA released the selfie, along with a mosaic of starlight from each of the mirror segments. The 18 points of starlight resemble bright fireflies flitting against a black night sky.

After 20 years with the project, “it is just unbelievably satisfying” to see everything working so well so far, said the University of Arizona's Marcia Rieke, principal scientist for the infrared camera.

Webb blasted off from South America in December and reached its designated perch 1 million miles (1.6 million kilometers) away last month.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Marcia Dunn, The Associated Press

Alberta Farmers brace for more drought conditions as unusually warm weather continues
Radana Williams and Sarah Offin - Friday


While Calgarians revel in the warm, dry weather we’re seeing this February, it’s a different story for farmers and producers outside the city.

Last year, 2021, was Calgary's fourth driest year on record, and so far 2022 hasn't brought much relief.

Allen Jones is already seeing the impact on his farm east of Balzac, where calfing season has just begun.

Read more:
Dry January: Alberta farmers appeal for help as feed supply dwindles

Jones said the lack of moisture is already having an impact — reserve pastures are already tapped out, the dugout is getting dangerously low, and one of his wells ran dry last week.

He said with hundreds of calves on the way, he’s already thinking of selling off some cattle, especially with things potentially becoming much worse.

Warmer weather is causing soil moisture to evaporate, which Alberta Agriculture’s Ralph Wright predicts could create another drought for the growing season.

“It really hurt a lot of crops dramatically. But you know, that was last year,” Wright said.

“What this year is going to bring, we just simply don't know at this stage. And right now we're looking at some pretty parched lands. We're looking at hay fields that didn't do too well last year, and are probably a little bit stunted. And everyone's quite worried.”

Read more:
Addressing water management in southern Alberta: ‘We will have more droughts’

Wright said that on the positive side, April, May and June are the wettest months of the year, so there is plenty of time to recover — if we get enough moisture.

“We are still expecting there to be some snowstorms in southern Alberta this year that will hopefully bring a little bit of reprieve because it's been so dry for so long,” said Kyle Fougere, Environment Canada meteorologist.

“It's unlikely that even a few good snowstorms will bring that much-needed precipitation to kind of reduce the drought conditions that have been in place.”