Federal Toxmap Shutters, Raising the Ire of Pollution Researchers

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Federal Toxmap Shutters, Raising the Ire of Pollution Researchers

Fifteen years ago, the U.S. National Library of Medicine launched Toxmap, a free, interactive online application that combines pollution data from at least a dozen U.S. government sources. A Toxmap user could pan and zoom across a map of the United States sprinkled with thousands of blue and red dots, with each blue dot representing a factory, coal-fired power plant, or other facility that has released certain toxic chemicals into the environment, and each red dot marking a Superfund program site — “some of the nation’s most contaminated land,” according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Toxmap allowed users to pull up detailed EPA data for each toxic release site, and to overlay other information, such as mortality statistics, onto those maps. And it’s precisely those capabilities that earned Toxmap a devoted following among researchers, students, activists, and other people keen to identify sources of pollution in their communities.

Those capabilities appear to no longer be available to the public.

WFP asks candidates to stop defending taxpayers

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WFP asks candidates to stop defending taxpayers

Candidates seeking the endorsement of the Working Families Party in 2020 are being asked about their positions on a number of predictable topics, such as single-payer health care and an increase in the minimum wage. But a questionnaire from the party also includes an unexpected entry. In essence, the party asks would-be candidates if they are willing to stop talking about taxpayers and taxes.

“Messages that frame ‘taxpayers’ as an aggrieved or marginalized group promotes an anti-tax, anti-government worldview that is often used to justify disinvestment and austerity policies,” the question reads, according to a copy of the document obtained by POLITICO. “’Taxpayer’ has also become a racially coded term designed to appeal to white individuals and reinforce the misconception that they are paying taxes to support the needs of people (often implied to be non-white) who don’t pay taxes. Will you avoid messaging that centers ‘taxpayers’ or ‘tax burdens’ and instead talk about ‘public funding’ and the public as a whole?”

Why Do Trump’s Voters Care So Much About Immigration?

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Joe Musillo, an equine dentist from New York’s Long Island, works alongside many Latino immigrants at the Belmont Park horse racing track, and he has nothing but respect for them. But Trump’s hard line on immigration still appeals to him. Watch the video to learn why so many of Trump’s supporters care so much about immigration.

Steep Part

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This section of the trail was the steepest part, but still very accessable by snowshoe and ski alike. Nothing on this mountain requires hands and knees climbing for sure.

Taken on Monday December 28, 2009 at Snake Mountain.

What happens during the winter solstice?

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The winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere occurs around December 21st. But why is winter in the Northern Hemisphere colder than the Southern Hemisphere, even though the Earth is closer to the sun.

December 21, 2019 Morning

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Good morning! Happy First Day of Winter ☃️! Winter Solstice Ski 🎿trip today for Save the Pine Bush at 9:30 at the end of Madison Avenue Extension. Already the days are getting longer and next Saturday is 4:30 PM Sunset 🌆. Cloudy and 11 degrees in Delmar, NY. Calm wind. ☁ There are 2.5 inches of snow on the ground. ☃ ️Things will start to thaw out at tomorrow around 10 am. 🌡️

Today will be partly sunny 🌞, with a high of 30 degrees at 1pm. Four degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical Calm wind becoming south around 6 mph in the afternoon. I am hoping we will have more sun for the Pine Bush Hike! A year ago, we had light rain in the morning, which became mostly clear by afternoon. The high last year was 62 degrees. The record high of 62 was set in 2018. 6.6 inches of snow fell back in 2008.❄

The sun will set at 4:24 pm with dusk around 4:56 pm, which is 27 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At sunset, look for partly cloudy skies 🌃 and temperatures around 28 degrees. There will be a south-southeast breeze at 6 mph. Today will have 9 hours and 2 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 5 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 17 degrees at 1am. Two degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around December 27th. Maximum wind chill around 19 at 6pm; South wind 3 to 5 mph. In 2018, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 34 degrees. The record low of -8 occurred back in 1955.

As previously noted, next Saturday is 4:30 PM Sunset 🌆 when the sun will be setting at 4:29 pm with dusk at 5:01 pm. On that day in 2018, we had rain showers, cloudy, mild and temperatures between 50 and 35 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 32 degrees. We hit a record high of 61 back in 1982.

Great Valley