What a relief from the tension and anxiety of today it is to watch a brand new episode of Ted Lasso that’s also a love letter to Kansas City and to America.
Michael Wara
@michaelwara.bsky.social
Works at Stanford on equitable climate and energy law/policy with a big helping of wildfire and insurance.
Hopefully people got out. Hopefully today goes well both for FF safety and for the safety of residents.
NPR@npr.org · 3d agoThere are at least three fires in and around the city. Large parts of Spokane are under Level 3 evacuation orders, which read: "Leave NOW! This may be your only notice."
There are at least three fires in and around the city. Large parts of Spokane are under Level 3 evacuation orders, which read: "Leave NOW! This may be your only notice."
Thousands of people under evacuation order from wildfires in Spokane, Wash.
There are at least three fires in and around the city. Large parts of Spokane are under Level 3 evacuation orders, which read: "Leave NOW! This may be your only notice."
n.pr
The 18yo is supposed to ride the Marin Century tomorrow morning with a bunch of their mountain bike team crew…
Denying FMAGs (FEMA fire management grants) is a big deal. Especially for the kind of fire outbreak that OR has gone through the past few weeks. A troubling development and hopefully not a trend as we hit the heart of fire season.
Michael Wara@michaelwara.bsky.social · 6d ago
Our CEPP team, led by Eric Macomber has been working hard on a long form law review article about electric utility liability in California related to inverse condemnation. Today we released a preprint and Eric Macomber wrote an accompanying substack piece on the longer law review article.
Our public health person, Jessica Yu, presenting on her wildfire smoke in schools work just got asked a question about high school boys and Axe body spray as an indoor air contaminant. JY didn’t miss a beat. *Be ready for anything when you give a talk.*
Shot of the fire on Blithedale Ridge from downtown Mill Valley this afternoon. Fire services hammered it. Thank you Marin Fire and CalFire for the air support.
That feeling when your 84yo parents are vacationing downwind and across the one final containment opportunity from a big fire and are seemingly unconcerned while there is a “go” evac called right across the road and the AQI is 250 and mom has asthma and heart issues. Work-life collision.
Look over here, not at the 3 KIA service members coming home or the quagmire the Administration has gotten itself into that threatens to derail the economy. Trump Officials Withhold $1 Billion in Medicaid Funds From 2 States www.nytimes.com/2026/07/21/u...
Trump Officials Withhold $1 Billion in Medicaid Funds From California and Minnesota Over Suspected Fraud
The administration accused California and Minnesota of fraudulent activity in their public health insurance programs.
nytimes.com
Several of the world's largest solar projects are getting built and planned in California's Central Valley as farmers stare down the reality of dwindling water supplies. Good story by @blancabegert.bsky.social and @ianjames.bsky.social: www.latimes.com/environment/...
Central Valley farmers reluctantly turn to solar as water supplies dry up
Solar is exploding in the Central Valley as drought-stressed farmers look to alternatives.
latimes.com
'Our findings indicate that more severe fire effects are expected in Canada because of the warming climate' www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Canadian forests are more conducive to high-severity fires in recent decades
Canada has experienced more-intense and longer fire seasons with more-frequent uncontrollable wildfires over the past decades. However, the effect of these changes remains unknown. This study identifi...
science.org
As wildfire smoke blankets tens of millions of Americans, schools need a rethink of how they plan for and react to wildfire smoke events. Jessica Yu on our team spent two years deploying monitors in school classrooms to measure smoke intrusion into individual rooms.
Air quality impacts from Canadian wildfire smoke (again) should raise a bunch of questions about the approach taken under US and Canadian law to the issue.
In addition to their more direct impacts on PM2.5 (small particulate matter), higher emissions (of NOx and VOCs) from wildfires also have made ozone pollution concentrations worse.
Physics Today@physicstoday.aip.org · 3w agoIncreased emissions from wildfires in the past decade have reversed earlier progress made in decreasing US surface-level ozone pollution, a new analysis finds.
The Guadalupe River at Centerpoint TX, just downstream from Kerrville, crested this AM at 37.94”— just 2 feet below the level reached in last summer’s catastrophic flood. 1. 39.61 ft on 07-04-2025 (P) 2. 24.27 ft on 10-16-2018 3. 14.83 ft on 05-29-2016 water.noaa.gov/gauges/gctt2
Time to charge the power walls. PS PS season arrives tomorrow in my neck of the woods. And to be clear, I am grateful that PG&E is responding to evolving conditions on the ground where I live.
A great illustration of how recent wildfire burn scars create protection from current fires. The absence of fuel in the burn scar from the Bridge Fire (2024) in and around Wrightwood made it feasible for FFs to stop the Summit Fire from approaching or threatening the community. Wrightwood circled.
Carbon capture and storage is helping fossil fuel companies dump risk onto the public thepoint.com.au/opinions/260...
Carbon capture and storage is helping fossil fuel companies dump risk onto the public
The single most amazing thing about carbon capture and storage (CCS) is how much time and money is spent examining something fossil fuel companies don’t actually want to work.
thepoint.com.au
Multiple reports that the Los Gallardos fire’s ignition was a power line. Utility wildfire safety is not an Australian, Californian, or western United States issue. Where high intensity wildfire is possible, all utilities must plan to avoid ignitions during fire weather. www.bbc.com/news/article...
Wildfire in southern Spain leaves at least 12 dead and 23 missing
A local official said four of the victims may be British after a fire broke out near Los Gallardos, Almería.
bbc.com
What is this object called and what is it for? Are we right to think that it is like a hang dry rack for fire hoses?
Good questions! Let me add one more. How would employers react to a school where all testing is in class and closed-note? To me, it would offer some assurance that your graduates might thrive in my world: sometimes-hostile public meetings, grillings by elected officials, high-stakes negotiations...
Patrick Siegman@siegman.biz · 4w agoWhen I graduated from Stanford, my degree signaled to future employers that I had mastered a substantial body of knowledge, could complete complex analyses, and could write accurately about novel topics. When I became an employer, a #Stanford degree signaled that to me too. That's not true anymore.
Sorry, forgot to connect to the Inside Higher Ed piece directly. Underlying article is here. It is shocking. But also totally unsurprising for anybody involved in secondary or college education. www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...
Brown Professor Suspects Most of His Class Used AI to Cheat
Brown University leaders’ response to the alleged cheating incident has been “meek,” the professor said.
insidehighered.com
Michael Wara@michaelwara.bsky.social · 4w agoIt’s fascinating that much of this article is devoted to due process - which is problematic - rather than to the substantive crisis that higher ed actually faces due to AI. The iceberg has hit the ship, the sealed compartments failed, the academy is rearranging deck chairs. x.com/paulg/status...
It’s fascinating that much of this article is devoted to due process - which is problematic - rather than to the substantive crisis that higher ed actually faces due to AI. The iceberg has hit the ship, the sealed compartments failed, the academy is rearranging deck chairs. x.com/paulg/status...
Paul Graham (@paulg) on X
@xorxorg The article explains that it's not merely the pattern of scores that's suspect. The answers the students gave had a specifically AI-ish flavor. https://t.co/IM384Rcyws
x.com
It’s fascinating that much of this article is devoted to due process - which is problematic - rather than to the substantive crisis that higher ed actually faces due to AI. The iceberg has hit the ship, the sealed compartments failed, the academy is rearranging deck chairs. x.com/paulg/status...
Paul Graham (@paulg) on X
@xorxorg The article explains that it's not merely the pattern of scores that's suspect. The answers the students gave had a specifically AI-ish flavor. https://t.co/IM384Rcyws
x.com
‘I’m so frustrated I could cry’: Federal firefighters describe burnout, staff cuts www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...
‘I’m so frustrated I could cry’: Federal firefighters describe burnout, staff cuts
A collision of risky conditions have made things harder as summer begins. But before these elements aligned, the pressure on federal firefighting capacity had been building for years.
washingtonpost.com
“Trump’s promises are the needle in America’s collective vein.” JD Vance, 2016. www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...
Opioid of the Masses (From 2016)
To many, Donald Trump feels good, but he can’t fix America’s growing social and cultural crisis, and the eventual comedown will be harsh.
theatlantic.com
Great piece on anchovy, El Niño, and how aquaculture has fundamentally changed fish production since the last super-el nino in 1997-98. Blas ties is all together. www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
The World Has an Anchovy Problem
One of the world’s current hottest commodities is in the midst of a huge disruption. It may sound like I’m talking about oil and the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, but this is even more severe. The...
bloomberg.com
Fireworks can quickly turn celebration into wildfire. Illegal fireworks are never safe. If you are going to use fireworks, only use Safe and Sane fireworks where they are legally permitted. youtube.com/shorts/09G4z...
Leave fireworks to the pros
YouTube video by CAL FIRE TV
youtube.com