Day: April 27, 2020💾

NPR

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Stockholm Expected To Reach Herd Immunity In May, Swedish Ambassador Says : NPR

Sweden's ambassador to the U.S. believes the country's controversial strategy of imposing only limited restrictions — and not locking down the country — is bearing success, with the capital Stockholm on course to reach herd immunity in the next few weeks.

"About 30% of people in Stockholm have reached a level of immunity," Karin Ulrika Olofsdotter told NPR. "We could reach herd immunity in the capital as early as next month."

Herd immunity means the majority of a given population has become immune to an infectious disease by either recovering from it or through vaccination. Some researchers have put the threshold for coronavirus herd immunity at 60% in some areas.

NPR

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Federal Trial Set To Begin Over Florida Felon Voting Rights Law : NPR

A contentious federal civil rights trial is slated to begin Monday that will determine whether hundreds of thousands of people with felony convictions will be able to vote this fall in the swing state of Florida.

On one side of the case is Florida, along with a slew of other states supporting it from the sidelines.

On the other, hundreds of thousands of people who have completed their sentences but currently can't vote because of one thing they lack: money.

Wood energy as a climate change solution | TheHill

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Wood energy as a climate change solution | TheHill

Depending on who you ask, biomass is either worse than fossil fuels and helps to destroy our forests, or it is a climate friendly substitute for fossil energy. Both views, of course, cannot be true. We need to get off fossil fuels and move to protect and grow our forests. Is it possible to have a forest biomass policy approach that is good for forests and helps combat climate change? We think so.

Sweden Shutters Last Coal-Fired Generating Plant 2 Years Early | CleanTechnica

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Sweden Shutters Last Coal-Fired Generating Plant 2 Years Early | CleanTechnica

It’s good news when a nation makes plans to rid itself of electricity generated from burning coal. It’s even better news when it does so ahead of schedule. Swedish utility Stockholm Exergi announced some time ago it would shut down its KVV6 coal generating station in Hjorthagen in 2022. It actually took one of the facilities two boilers offline last fall. But a milder than expected winter led to lower demand for electricity and so the decision was made to close the entire facility now instead of waiting another two years, according to PV Magazine.