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Large parts of the West are broiling through another heat wave this week. It’s been in the 90s in Spokane, Washington, where a deadly heat wave in 2021 killed 19 people and sent hundreds to the hospital.
After that 2021 heat spike shocked the city, local officials and professors at Gonzaga University came up with plans to protect their residents from future heat disasters. They were awarded a $20 million federal grant for the work – one of about 350 grants promised to vulnerable communities across the U.S. to help them adapt to the changing climate.
Then the Trump administration terminated the funding.
Brian Henning, who was involved with the grant in Spokane, explains what was lost and why so many of those communities need federal help to protect their residents.
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The Pacific Northwest heat wave of 2021 left cities across Washington state sweltering in dangerous temperatures.
AP Photo/Ted S. Warren
Brian G. Henning, Gonzaga University
The administration said the grants were ‘no longer consistent with EPA funding priorities.’ Spokane, which has faced deadly heat waves in eastern Washington, shows who is at risk.
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Science + Technology
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Matthew Wright, Rochester Institute of Technology; Christopher Schwartz, Rochester Institute of Technology
Powerful AI tools available to anyone with an internet connection make it easy to impersonate someone’s voice, increasing the threat of phone scams.
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Education
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Francesco Fedele, Georgia Institute of Technology
An engineering professor teaches students to harness AI’s flaws for creative expression.
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Environment + Energy
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Daniel Cohan, Rice University
The new federal law favors energy technologies that are already profitable and increase global warming over cleaner approaches that could use the investment support.
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Politics + Society
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Brian O'Neill, Georgia Institute of Technology
Historically, the aggressive use of polygraphs in government is associated with weakening morale and diminished information flow.
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Francis Ryan, Rutgers University
An expert on Philadelphia’s municipal workers union talks about how social media has helped the workers on strike to get their message out.
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Ethics + Religion
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Ronald S. Green, Coastal Carolina University
Anime characters often face challenges that connect to long-standing Buddhist and Shintō teachings. In this course, students look closely at what anime is saying about life.
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Austin Sarat, Amherst College
Catholic opposition to the death penalty is relatively new in the church’s history, but has helped shape public debate.
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International
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Adebusola Okedele, Babcock University; Alice J. Kang, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Jill S. Greenlee, Brandeis University
Children absorb the power dynamics and gender roles they observe and this shapes their understanding of who a political leader should be.
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