The monarch butterfly may not be endangered, but its migration is, researchers find

Breeding population of monarchs is stable, but they're dying off on their way to Mexico

University of Georgia

With vigorous debate surrounding the health of the monarch butterfly, new research from the University of Georgia may have answered the biggest question plaguing butterfly researchers. Why are the wintering populations declining while breeding populations are stable?

Published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study suggests that monarchs are dying off during their fall migration south to Mexico.

Migrating monarchs don't fly at night, so they spend their evenings in bunches on trees or shrubs, known as roosts. The study relied on 17 years of data from more than 2,600 citizen scientist observations of monarch roosts along the butterfly's migration route.

The researchers found that roost sizes have declined by as much as 80%, with these losses increasing from north to south along the migration route.

"The monarchs are increasingly failing to reach their winter destinations," said Andy Davis, lead author of the study and an assistant research scientist in UGA's Odum School of Ecology. "Either they're losing their ability to migrate or they're losing their will to migrate."

And it's likely not because they've lost habitat or food supplies along the way. The study largely ruled out this possibility.

Are Charlestown wells compromised by PFAS pollution?

USGS Warns Millions of Americans May Be Drinking Contaminated Water

By U.S. Geological Survey

This map shows extensive PFAS presence in the groundwater where most Charlestown residents draw their drinking water

An estimated 71 to 95 million people in the contiguous United States—over 20% of the nation’s population—may depend on groundwater containing detectable levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) for their drinking water. This data comes from a U.S. Geological Survey study published on October 24.

The predictive model results can help members of the public, water suppliers, and regulators understand the potential for PFAS contamination, guide future studies, and inform strategic planning for water resources.

USGS scientists are the first to report national estimates of PFAS occurrence in untreated groundwater that supplies water to public and private wells. This research also provides the first estimate of the number of people across the country who are potentially affected by PFAS-contaminated groundwater.

Along with a scientific report, the USGS published an interactive, online map so users can see probability estimates of PFAS occurrence. Note that predictive results are intended to be evaluated at state, regional, and national scales rather than at individual household levels. Probability estimates are for the presence of PFAS in groundwater and do not account for any subsequent actions taken by states, municipalities, or individuals to treat drinking water. The model does not include estimates of PFAS concentrations; testing is the only way to confirm the presence of contaminants.

Dealing with the winter time blues

Shorter, colder days can present mental health challenges.

 By Lauren Drapeau 

Tough on wildlife, too (Photo by Will Collette)

With Seasonal Affective Disorder, SAD, ‘the symptoms tend to be more severe, more present in younger people.’

As every geographic location experiences seasons differently, New England’s transition into the colder months poses a particular threat to the mental health of residents in the area. 

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, DSM-5, defines Seasonal Affective Disorder, more commonly referred to as seasonal depression, as a major depressive disorder with a seasonal pattern.

While the symptoms are similar to depression, they will occur most commonly in the fall and winter months, and begin to subside with the arrival of spring. Less sunlight, in other words, can allow individuals to struggle with daily functioning or become overwhelmed and distressed. 

SAD can occur during warmer months as well, but this is much less common. In these cases, individuals would experience the onset of symptoms during springtime. 

The disorder can affect individuals of any age range, but the symptoms typically begin to present themselves between the ages of 18-30, according to the DSM-5. 

"What is to be done?"

Repairs to Damaged Section of Charlestown Breachway Seawall Complete

Thanks to Rep. Tina Spears, we got a fix instead of a patch

By Bonnie Phillips / ecoRI News staff

The repaired section of the Charlestown Breachway. (Bonnie Phillips/ecoRI News)

When a 150-foot section of the Charlestown Breachway gave way last winter after being battered by storms in late 2023 and early 2024, the results were immediate: sand from the beach washed into the channel, making it shallower and dangerous for boaters to navigate, and affecting the health of Ninigret Pond.

The breachway channel connects the Atlantic Ocean and Ninigret Pond, a vital ecosystem that acts as a nursery for a variety of fish and shellfish and is home to commercial aquaculture farms. It’s surrounded by the Ninigret National Wildlife Refuge, the Ninigret Conservation Area, homes, and marinas. A variety of groups, including recreational boaters, recreational anglers, shellfishers, and birders use the pond and fish from the breachway’s jetties, considered one of the best saltwater fishing areas in the state.

The town had been worried about the state of the breachway since Superstorm Sandy came through in 2012. Recognizing what could happen if the most recent damage wasn’t repaired, the town began working with the Coastal Resources Management Council to discuss ways to fix the seawall.

From Bad to Worse

Bayer’s new Roundup products appear more toxic than prior formulations, new report asserts

Carey Gillam 

New types of Roundup weed killing products marketed to US consumers contain chemicals that pose greater health risks to people than prior formulations suspected of causing cancer, according to an analysis by an environmental health advocacy group. The report was disputed by Bayer, which called the analysis “deeply flawed.”

Friends of the Earth (FOE) reported Tuesday it found four chemicals have recently been added to Roundup products that have been scientifically shown to cause a variety of health problems, including reproductive defects, kidney and liver damage, cancer, and neurotoxicity.

The analysis comes after the agrochemical company Bayer pledged that it would remove glyphosate from its popular Roundup herbicide products sold for residential lawn and garden use starting in 2023.

Bayer, which bought Monsanto in 2018, made the change to try to curtail the filing of future litigation as it battles thousands of lawsuits filed against Monsanto by cancer patients who claim they developed non-Hodgkin lymphoma from using Monsanto’s Roundup and other glyphosate-based herbicides.

But FOE said it found the chemicals used in the new Roundup formulations are, on average, 45 times more toxic to humans experiencing chronic exposure than  glyphosate-based Roundup. The chemicals were roughly four times more acutely toxic, the group said.

Notably, all four of the added chemicals pose greater risk of long-term and/or reproductive health problems than does glyphosate, based on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) evaluation of safety studies, FOE said.

Of the four chemicals found in the products – diquat dibromide, fluazifop-P-butyl, triclopyr, and imazapic – the “worst offender”, according to FOE, is diquat dibromide. It is 200 times more toxic than glyphosate when exposure occurs over a long period of time, the group said, and is banned in the European Union. It is 27 times more toxic in acute exposures, the group said.

Couldn't resist giving you this last election comic...

 

Inside the Company Helping America’s Biggest Health Insurers Deny Coverage for Care

“Not Medically Necessary”: screwing people for profit

By T. Christian Miller, ProPublica; Patrick Rucker, The Capitol Forum; and David Armstrong, ProPublica

Reporting Highlights

• Dialing for Dollars: America’s largest insurers hire EviCore to make decisions on whether to pay for care for more than 100 million people.
• “The Dial”: EviCore uses an algorithm that allows it to adjust the chances that company doctors will screen prior authorization requests, increasing the possibility of denials.
• Lucrative Deals: Some EviCore contracts are based on how deeply the company can reduce spending on medical procedures. It tells insurers that it can provide a 3-to-1 return on investment.

These highlights were written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story.

Every day, patients across America crack open envelopes with bad news. Yet another health insurer has decided not to pay for a treatment that their doctor has recommended. Sometimes it’s a no for an MRI for a high school wrestler with a strained back. Sometimes for a cancer procedure that will help a grandmother with a throat tumor. Sometimes for a heart scan for a truck driver feeling short of breath.

But the insurance companies don’t always make these decisions. Instead, they often outsource medical reviews to a largely hidden industry that makes money by turning down doctors’ requests for payments, known as prior authorizations. Call it the denials for dollars business.

The biggest player is a company called EviCore by Evernorth, which is hired by major American insurance companies and provides coverage to 100 million consumers — about 1 in 3 insured people. It is owned by the insurance giant Cigna.

Some closing thoughts on Election Day Eve

Lives on the line from the top to the bottom of the ticket

By Will Collette

Norman Rockwell's 1944 depiction of the
undecided voter

So much is on the line tomorrow and the days following. 

If democracy still works and sanity still prevails, Donald Trump will be defeated, and Democrats will control both the House and the Senate. 

If that’s the outcome, we have many years of healing to do, perhaps the biggest challenge since the end of the Civil War. 

If Trump and his fascist hordes win, well that’s another matter altogether. Then, it will be about survival strategies.

I don’t know whether there are many more “undecided” voters out there or people who haven’t yet voted, but if you’re one of those still trying to decide, let’s cover the bases.

I have already proudly cast my ballot for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. I think she’ll be a great president and hopefully, she will have a successful term in office. Trump should be in prison, not the White House.

I am also proud of our Congressional delegation and have cast my votes for Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and District 2 US Rep. Seth Magaziner who work hard for us in the bruising arena of a bitterly divided Congress.

Statewide, we have several excellent state ballot questions that would fund important job-creating infrastructure to benefit education, environment and the arts.

We have a clunker in Question 1, whether to convene a state Constitutional Convention. 

Do we need it? No. Is it worth the money? No. Is it simply an opportunity for far-right wingnuts to cause chaos and mischief with our rights? Yes, and if you want proof of that, just look at the cast of characters supporting it.

Local General Assembly races offer some clear-cut choices except in House District 36 where Rep. Tina Spears (D) is unopposed as our state Representative making her the automatic winner. If she had had an opponent, I would have backed her unreservedly.

Sen. Victoria Gu (D-District 38), who represents the southern half of Charlestown faces a rematch in her reelection bid against MAGA dude Westin Place. 

Victoria has done an outstanding job in every aspect of the job while Place has littered Route One with big signs paid for by the Republican Party.

In Senate District 34 which includes the northern half of Charlestown, Sen. Elaine Morgan (R-MAGA) seeks re-election. Morgan is a gun nut, anti-immigrant racist and adjudicated thief who was caught stealing money from her campaign fund to pay for personal items.

Morgan has held herself out as a champion of morality and children’s welfare, but somehow couldn’t instill those beliefs at home. On September 25, her 22-year-old son Ian took a plea deal to plead no contest to third-degree sexual assault of a child. According to WJAR, “Prosecutors said he had a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl he had met online. Morgan was 18 at the time.”

Elaine Morgan has been an embarrassment since first elected in 2014. It’s time for her to go and for voters to send Hopkinton Democrat Steve Moffitt to the State House.

In neighboring House District 39, there’s a rematch between hard-working incumbent Rep. Megan Cotter (D) and January 6 insurrectionist Justin Price (R-MAGA). Price doesn’t belong on the ballot under the anti-insurrection clause in the 14^th Amendment of the Constitution, but Sec. of State Greg Amore has chosen not to pursue that sanction.

Megan narrowly beat Price in 2022 and has since done an exemplary job on behalf of her district. In two years, she’s far more to help her district and the state than Price did in the 8 years he held the office.

She promises more of the same, while it’s still an open question whether Price will face charges for breeching security lines at the US Capitol on January 6. Pretty clear choice.

Our town election is a complex matter that confronts the Election Day voter with some complicated choices.

In Charlestown, Democratic or Republican party labels don’t really tell you much about what kind of town government you will get. As a devoted life-long Democrat it pains me to suggest you ignore party labels when marking your ballots.

Actual power in Charlestown comes down to a contest between two political action committees (PACs) who present you with an almost equal number of candidates more or less split roughly the same between labelled Democrats and Republicans, mixed together on the ballot.

Half of them are endorsed by Charlestown Residents United (CRU) that won the majority in the 2022 election on a platform of honest, sound financial management and reform.

The other half represents the discredited Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA) that seized control of Charlestown politics in 2008 and held power until beaten in 2022.

I have already voted for the CRU slate and have posted a series of articles here on Progressive Charlestown to make the case that the CRU has done a great job compared to the dark decade of total CCA dominion.

Even when the CCA promotes good things like conservation, dark skies and tourism, they do so in such twisted, radical ways that they usually turn consensus into controversy.

If you need to see the arguments and supporting evidence for the reasons to support the CRU and reject the CCA, please read:

CCA tries to distract Charlestown voters with shiny things

The politics of Charlestown open space

Should Charlestown voters amend the town’s “constitution?”

Early voting, mail-in ballots start this week amid confusing ballots for Charlestown voters

Fear and loathing in Charlestown politics

RI Auditor General finds new CRU leadership in Charlestown improved town finances

The last article on the RI Auditor General’s report establishes how the CRU majority has largely cleaned up the financial mess the CCA left behind when they slunk off in defeat in 2022.

CCA President Leo Mainelli wrote the CCA closer in a piece he entitled "Indisputable Truths. No spin." Unfortunately, Leo then proceeds to offer no facts and lotsa spin about how this race has been about Dark Skies and Open Space but should really be about whether the town government listens to the CCA. 

He glosses over the issues that have been raised about the CCA's decade of financial mismanagement:

Today, we live in a world where any position can be validated as “the truth” by simply turning to the source of information that agrees with an individual’s relative “truth”. Polar opposite opinions can each be substantiated, depending on which source of information is deemed a trustworthy authority.

I agree: when it comes to the management of Charlestown's finances, there is the state Auditor General whose data show the marked improvement in Charlestown's finances under the CRU, while the CCA has Bonnie Van Slyke who claims the CCA handled Charlestown finances flawlessly.

Even before the Auditor General's report, we knew Charlestown was being mismanaged by the CCA when the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council found that Charlestown had the worst record in the state for excessive administrative costs, at $566 per capita, the highest in the state. By contrast, the CCA has Bonnie Van Slyke who says there are no problems.

Bonnie, who is trying to return to the Town Council after two years off, claims a BA in economics from Wellesley College, but there's no sign in her employment history she actually used that degree. Hey, if Leo wants to believe Bonnie over the RI Auditor General or the RI Public Expenditures Council, then so be it. As Harry S Truman famously said:

“Give me a one-handed economist. All my economists say 'on ONE hand...', then 'but on the other...”

Elections are a regular reminder that despite how divided we can get, we all have to live with each other. Hopefully, we’ll make it through this one with our fundamental principles and institutions intact.

Madame President, I hope with all my heart

The Good Things Hitler did

Let's really end it tomorrow

 

Know your voting rights

The fascinating lives of Rhode Island’s native turtles and snakes

What's crawling in your bushes?

By Cynthia Drummond, Rhode Island Current

The milk snake is primarily nocturnal and dines mostly on small rodents and sometimes birds, eggs and other snakes. (Photo by Christopher Raithel from ‘Reptiles of Rhode Island’)

For a short-snouted dog, Mags proved to be a competent sidekick when it comes to stalking Rhode Island’s native turtles.

So says the pit bull’s owner, retired state biologist Christopher Raithel, who observed Mags sniff out the tiniest baby turtles during his field research trips to ponds andswamps around the Ocean State.

“I didn’t even train him,” said Raithel, who was the staff zoologist for the Rhode Island Heritage Program, and later, the nongame and endangered species biologist at the Department of Environmental Management before retiring in 2018. 

“He just used to go with me, and he found a couple, and all you have to do is praise him and that’s pretty much it. He would find the ones that I could never see, because they were under the cover, so having him there was worth more than several other observers.”

Thanks to Mags’ dependable scent work, Raithel was successful in documenting every one of Rhode Island’s seven native turtles in his field guide “Reptiles of Rhode Island,” published last spring. But tracking all 13 of the state’s native snakes took more effort.

“Snakes, in particular, are very difficult to study,” Raithel said. “Turtles are a little bit easier to deal with, because you can put radios on them and glue stuff to them. But snakes are difficult to find and extremely difficult, impossible, to count.”

Election anxiety doesn’t need to win − here are 3 science-backed strategies from a clinical psychologist to rein in the stress

Not for MAGAs since it involves mindfulness

Shannon Sauer-Zavala, University of Kentucky

Uncertainty about the election getting to you? Is anxiety the dominant feature of your emotional landscape, maybe with a small sprinkling of impending doom?

You are not alone. A recent survey found 69% of American adults are seriously stressed about the 2024 presidential election.

It’s difficult not to be worked up about politics in today’s polarized climate. Regardless of which side of the political aisle you sit on, you may find yourself glued to your browser or TV, gobbling up every tiny tidbit of news and feeling your stress levels skyrocket.

I’m a psychologist who develops and tests strategies for combating anxiety. As I constantly tell my stressed-out clients, when it comes to election news, there’s a fine line between being well informed and being oversaturated with information.

If you’re ready to short-circuit your stress spiral, here are three science-backed strategies for coping with anxiety in times of uncertainty.

Approach your emotions with mindfulness

Being mindful refers to the quality of awareness you bring to your experiences – specifically, nonjudgmental attention focused on what’s happening right now.

Mindfulness practices originated in Eastern spiritual traditions, including Buddhism. Over the past several decades, mindfulness has gained popularity as a powerful tool for managing anxiety. For instance, meditation apps such as Headspace and Calm incorporate it. Even if meditation isn’t your thing, though, you can still apply nonjudgmental awareness, focused on the present, to election-related anxiety.

Be present. Anxiety can draw you into an uncomfortable spiral of “what-ifs” about the future. When you make a point to be present, you remind yourself what is actually happening right now, rather than letting hypothetical fears take over.

Although you may have serious concerns about the fate of the nation, those outcomes have not yet come to bear. As I tell my patients, “We’ll cross that bridge if we come to it. For now, focus on the step right in front of you.”

If you notice yourself getting carried away by thoughts of the future, you can pull yourself back to the present by bringing awareness to simple sensations – the feel of your feet on the floor, the rhythm of your breath, or the sounds around you – and remind yourself that you are safe in the current moment.

Pay nonjudgmental attention. Many people are hard on themselves for feeling strong emotions. This critical mindset might look like telling yourself that you’re overreacting, or that it’s weak to let others see that you’re upset. You might even view that uncomfortable feeling in the pit of your stomach as evidence that negative outcomes are right around the corner.

Making judgments about your emotions only serves to make you feel worse. In fact, researchers find that pushing away emotions or beating yourself up for having them leads to more frequent and stronger anxiety.

Instead, try giving yourself a break. Tell yourself, “This election is high stakes, so it makes sense I’m anxious.” Then, notice if your anxiety is driven by a fear about the future, and bring yourself back to the present.

What to expect on Election Day, according to Brown's faculty experts

Their opinions, FWIW, on what will happen

Brown University

Who will become the next president of the United States?

With Election Day approaching in early November, the race is shaping up to be incredibly close as voters consider a range of major issues, from reproductive health care and America’s role in quelling global conflict to the economy and other topics at the forefront of election-related discourse. 

As voters ready to head to the polls — or engage in early voting in many states — a selection of Brown University experts in political science, environmental sciences, economics, artificial intelligence, and health and medicine shared a variety of opinions on what Americans might expect on this Election Day and beyond.

The panel of faculty experts

Mark Blyth, Director, Rhodes Center for International Economics and Finance, Professor of International Economics and International and Public Affairs

Kim Cobb, Director, Institute at Brown for Environment and Society, Professor of Environment and Society and Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences
 
Christopher Rea, Assistant Professor of Sociology and International and Public Affairs  

Wendy Schiller, Interim Director, Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs
Professor of Political Science
 
Katherine Tate, Professor of Political Science   

Liz Tobin-Tyler, Associate Professor of Health Services, Policy and Practice, and of Family Medicine 

Suresh Venkatasubramanian, Interim Director, Data Science Institute, Professor of Data Science and Computer Science, and of Humanities

Marques Zarate, Assistant Professor of Political Science  

On who will win the presidential election

Schiller: The election is a toss-up, but an uncertain election usually tends towards the “out” party. Even though Donald Trump has been elected president before, Kamala Harris is part of the incumbent administration, and so for that reason, I give a slight edge to Trump.  

Tate: The election is too close to call. The country is really divided. Some feel that they still don’t know Vice President Harris that well. Trump is well known to voters, in contrast. 

Blyth: I think it’s too close to say. By some estimates, it’s going to be settled by the preferences of 150,000 very different people in five states, or about 0.1% of the voting population, and no one really knows what they want. Add to that the other unknown variable of turnout, and we simply cannot know until it’s over. And once it’s over it will not be over, as it will be contested until the last possible moment either way.