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Evening Shade-- Resistance Rising-- Saturday, May 24 [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-05-24
WELCOME TO THE EVENING SHADE A SANCTUARY OF SANITY AFTER A LONG HARD DAY OF FIGHTING FASCISM YOU WILL FIND in the DIARIES a LOT of POLITICS (Or NOT As the CASE MAY BE) AND EVEN MORE CRITTERS THE PERSON who MAKES the FIRST COMMENT WILL GET TWO CRITTERS EVERY PERSON WHO COMMENTS WILL GET A CRITTER RULES IN THE DIARY WHEN YOU FIND SOMETHING in the DIARY that you LIKE YOU CAN REPOST IT AS COMMENT in the DIARY
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Admin note:
A subtle reminder that it would be nice to get some more critter wranglers for the Evening Shade. They are part of the character of the Shade and we don’t have enough of them. It’s a great opportunity to support the community and impart of a little bit of your own character into the mix.
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I’m not terribly happy with this Shade. I think it might be just a light news weekend. Focusing on regional news made it more difficult. I probably should have started earlier.
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One of the nice things about the focus on regional news in the Saturday Shade is that articles often have a longer shelf-life. I think this is still relevant.
From the Lexington Herald Leader (Kentucky)
Did staffing cuts at weather service affect Kentucky’s tornado response?
National Weather Service officials said an Eastern Kentucky weather service office was fully staffed Friday when severe weather and at least one tornado hit the state, killing at least 19 people. The National Weather Service is dealing with staffing shortages across the country after more than 600 staffers were either terminated or took early retirement since January amid federal spending cuts by President Donald Trump’s administration, according to a union that represents weather service staffers. As a result, some offices, including the Jackson office, no longer have an overnight staff from roughly midnight to 7 a.m. The Jackson office is short seven staff members, and the other two offices in Kentucky — Paducah and Louisville — are short-staffed too. There is no meteorologist in charge at any of the three offices. Acting meteorologists in charge, who often have other job duties, are now running those offices. ✂️
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Red pen politics: 7 vetoes Gov. Bob Ferguson made in the Washington state budget
Before Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson signed the next state budget on Tuesday, he vetoed a few dozen spending provisions scattered throughout its 1,366 pages. The plan he approved lays out $78 billion in spending over two years. The roughly 55 items he removed add up to around $22.3 million in savings. He zeroed out funding of contracts to nonprofits serving foster youth, college students, immigrants, and seniors. He canceled spending for studies and work groups. Ferguson’s veto message, containing an itemized list, spans 15 pages. Here are some of the targets of Ferguson’s veto pen.✂️
I’m disappointed (at first glance). I thought he was one of the good ones, but an initial read says he vetoed a fair number of worthy items. Someone closer to Washington politics may be able to correct me. All of the items listed in the article cite budget constraints. Pity.
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Weather Service offices covering parts of rural Nebraska no longer monitor weather 24/7
LINCOLN — Two National Weather Service offices that cover some rural parts of Nebraska will no longer monitor local weather around-the-clock. The Weather Service offices in neighboring states that forecast parts of western and southwest Nebraska cut back from 24/7 coverage after staffing reductions were made under the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency. One office in Wyoming covers eight counties in the Nebraska Panhandle, and the other, in Kansas, forecasts for three counties in the southwestern corner of Nebraska. Those two offices in neighboring states are among only four nationally so short of staff that they lack enough meteorologists to staff an overnight shift. Other nearby forecasting offices — dealing with their own staffing problems — will have to handle the load during those shifts. They will be tasked with monitoring conditions and temporarily issuing forecasts and warnings each night for the two regions in addition to their normal coverage duties. ✂️
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Tornado Alley has become almost everything east of the Rockies — and it’s been a violent year
Violent tornado outbreaks, like the storms that tore through parts of St. Louis and London, Kentucky, on May 16, have made 2025 seem like an especially active, deadly and destructive year for tornadoes. The U.S. has had more reported tornadoes than normal — over 960 as of May 22, according to the National Weather Service’s preliminary count. That’s well above the national average of around 660 tornadoes reported by that point over the past 15 years, and it’s similar to 2024 — the second-most active year over that same period. I’m an atmospheric scientist who studies natural hazards. What stands out about 2025 so far isn’t just the number of tornadoes, but how Tornado Alley has encompassed just about everything east of the Rockies, and how tornado season is becoming all year. Why has 2025 been so active? The high tornado count in 2025 has a lot to do with the weather in March, which broke records with 299 reported tornadoes — far exceeding the average of 80 for that month over the past three decades.✂️
I’m cutting here for fair use concerns. The whole thing is interesting.
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By the #s: New Mexico’s highest high school graduation rate in at least 15 years
As high schoolers across the state don caps and gowns for graduation, state education officials are noting the state’s highest graduation rate in at least the last 15 years. While still below the national average, last year the highest percentage of New Mexico high-schoolers graduated on time since 2008, when the state began its current methods of graduation rate calculations, according to new data from the Public Education Department. State data shows a little over three quarters of all students have graduated high school in New Mexico each year since the COVID-19 pandemic, but in 2024, 78.05% of them made it across the finish line, a slight increase over recent years and the highest rate in more than a decade. PED calculated that of 26,108 9th graders who started the 2020 school year in New Mexico, 20,378 graduated from a New Mexico school four years later. The calculations account for students who move into or out of the state during that period, according to PED. Despite the progress, New Mexico’s rate is about 10 percentage points less than the national average, which is 87%, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. ✂️
A bit of good news.
New Mexico is such a beautiful state. I truly want them to achieve what their people deserve.
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Amid federal cuts, U.S. Forest Service cuts office hours at Sawtooth field offices in Idaho
Following a series of cuts pushed by President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk, the U.S. Forest Service announced Friday that it is cutting back hours at several Sawtooth National Forest field offices. As part of the announcement, U.S. Forest Service officials said they are temporarily closing the Sawtooth National Recreation Area, or SNRA, offices in Ketchum and Stanley – effective immediately – until June 16. “The SNRA is one of the crown jewels of the national forest system and one of the crown jewels of Idaho,” Josh Johnson, central Idaho director for the Idaho Conservation League, said in a phone interview Friday. “To not have Forest Service staff available to support visitors, help them find out where they need to go, answer questions and respond to other issues is a problem and unfortunate.” “You can’t expect to eliminate as much forest service staff as you have and still provide essential services people are used to seeing in places like the SNRA,” Johnson added.✂️
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"See how we do things": Austin cannabis shop invites Texas lawmakers wanting to ban THC
Nicole Cosper often sees two types of people walk into the cannabis shop half a mile south of the Texas Capitol where she works. Some are grateful customers who say products with tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, have improved their sleep and eased aches from old injuries. Others aren’t clients, but critics. Many of them have incorrectly accused the store’s employees of selling something illegal — hemp, a type of cannabis plant with lower THC content than marijuana, was legalized federally in 2018 and in Texas in 2019. “Shh, don’t tell people five blocks away about what we’re doing here,” Cosper, an employee at Sweet Sensi, would sometimes jokingly reply. Texas lawmakers, it turns out, were well aware — and the wares the store sells might soon actually be against the law.✂️
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Are Iowa lakes safe for Memorial Day weekend?
Memorial Day weekend is typically considered the opening weekend for summer water recreation, but for some Iowans the thought of diving headfirst into a lake sounds more concerning than refreshing. Driftless Water Defenders, an environmental group based in northeastern Iowa, is launching an initiative to bring awareness to the “deteriorating quality” of Iowa’s water and its impact on summer recreation. The first beach monitoring report of the season, issued by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, shows the department does not recommend swimming from beaches at four of the 41 monitored state lakes. ✂️
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Former Arkansas district judge sentenced to 2 years in federal prison
Thomas David Carruth, a former Monroe County district judge and deputy prosecutor, was sentenced Monday to two years in federal prison for making false statements to the FBI. Carruth, 65, of Clarendon, was accused in 2022 of soliciting sex from the girlfriend of a defendant in his court. He had previously been admonished by the Arkansas Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission for unethical behavior over contact outside the courtroom with defendants appearing before him. The contact included allegations of soliciting sex from defendants, according to court documents. A federal grand jury indicted Carruth in January 2023 on three counts each of honest services wire fraud and interstate bribery and one count each of lying to the FBI and federal program bribery. A ninth count was dismissed ahead of his trial last year. After a two-day trial in a federal court in Helena, a jury of six men and six women convicted Carruth on Aug. 30, 2024, only of making false statements to the FBI. In a sentencing memorandum filed in April, federal prosecutors asked U.S. District Judge D. Price Marshall Jr. to upgrade the sentencing guidelines applicable to the crime from a maximum of six months to a maximum of 18 months in prison with a year of supervised release. The memo cited Carruth’s “decades of abuse of authority, his ardent refusal to accept an ounce of responsibility for his misconduct, and his abhorrent behavior during trial” as reasons for a harsher sentence.✂️
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NC governor blasts FEMA’s refusal to reimburse the state for Helene debris removal
North Carolina Gov. John Stein criticized FEMA’s denial Thursday of the state’s request to extend 100% federal reimbursement of Hurricane Helene debris removal costs. North Carolina taxpayers will be on the hook for “potentially hundreds of millions of dollars” to clean up Western N.C., Stein said in a statement Friday. “So far, we have removed more than 12 million cubic yards of debris from roads and water ways, but given the immense scale of the wreckage, we have only scratched the surface,” Stein said. Helene caused $59.6 billion in damage and needs in the state, former Gov. Roy Cooper said in a revised estimate report in December.✂️
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The Jukebox can be found here. FU RWNJ is hosting. The theme is wine.
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Today is…
National Scavenger Hunt Day
There's treasure in them thar hills - or at least what's on our scavenger hunt list. What better way to surprise your friends and family with some pre-summer fun than to plan a scavenger hunt for the ones you love. You could even come up with a prize to motivate them to participate. Maybe something other than your love, though. They already have that.
(4:34)
Yes, but has anyone seen my keys? I’m missing a sock, too.
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NATIONAL WYOMING DAY
On May 24th, National Wyoming Day recognizes The Equality State as the 44th state to join the Union. Not to be mistaken for Wyoming Day celebrated on July 25 in the state of Wyoming, National Wyoming Day presents an additional opportunity to celebrate the lifestyle and wonder of this vast state.
Bracing for impact, looking for a Wyoming video. It seems to be a state that gets even less love than North Dakota.
(1:44)
I don’t like to dump on states. I’ve been to Wyoming. I wouldn’t want to live there, but there are a lot of neat places to visit (and hours of windshield time in between). In that spirit, I didn’t post the “Why no one lives in...” videos for Nevada and North Dakota. I’ll let Wyoming’s go, too.
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National Brother's Day – May 24, 2025
May 24 is National Brother’s Day, so call your brother and tell him you love him, even though he’ll say you‘re weird afterwards. When you were younger, you argued over LEGOs or whose turn it was to sit in the front seat. Yet in some strange way, those childhood squabbles served to make you closer over the years.
The single is half the length, but this is the one I wanted to watch.
(8:00)
It reminds me that although I’ve texted and called his son very recently, I haven’t talked to my brother in a bit over a month.
*There, I called him. Are you happy now?
** It was a fun conversation.
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The Shade is open, folks! Have at it.
[END]
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