Science & Environment

[spaminator]

RCMP confirms they are looking into Ford's Greenbelt moves
To anyone waiting on charges, don’t hold your breath


Author of the article:Brian Lilley
Published Aug 23, 2023 • Last updated 2 days ago • 3 minute read

It’s not the kind of news that Premier Doug Ford wanted to hear over his Tim Hortons breakfast sandwich.


The Ontario Provincial Police have asked the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to look into complaints of wrongdoing by the Ford government on the Greenbelt file.


“The OPP has received a number of inquiries regarding an investigation into the Greenbelt,” the OPP said in an early Wednesday news release.

“To avoid any potential perceived conflict of interest, the OPP referred this matter to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).”

Beyond that, the OPP said it wouldn’t be fair to comment further.



Except, there is one point of clarification that must be made. Is there a criminal investigation into the Greenbelt or are the police just doing due diligence in sorting through complaints made by the public?

The Ford government is trying to downplay the idea that there is an active investigation even though that word is used in the OPP news release. A request for clarification on exactly what was happening wasn’t immediately answered by the OPP.

The RCMP is using the term “investigation.”

“The RCMP can confirm that we received a referral from the OPP to investigate irregularities in the disposition of the Greenbelt surrounding Toronto,” the RCMP said, adding they are reviewing the files shared by the OPP.

“As the investigation is in its infancy and is ongoing, we decline to offer any further comments.”


To the hyper partisans on either side, this is a distinction without a difference. Ford’s supporters will keep backing him, his opponents will continue to call for him to be locked up on dreamt-up charges of corruption.

The majority of Ontario residents will shrug their shoulders, go about their daily lives and wait for a report from the police. Given that it is the RCMP now on the file, we could be waiting a long time if their federal work is anything to go by.

In the SNC Lavalin case, it took four years for the Mounties to say “the RCMP determined that there was insufficient evidence to substantiate a criminal offence and the file was concluded.” In that case there were emails, text messages, public testimony and a cabinet resignation over the PM pressuring the country’s top lawyer to cut a deal in a bribery and corruption case.


If the Mounties couldn’t find sufficient evidence to lay charges in that case, fat chance they will find evidence in this one.



What continues to drive a lot of anger and criticism of Ford’s Greenbelt decision is the idea that this was public land that he gave away to friends or sold off cheap to developer buddies. When the federal government established the Greenbelt in Ottawa in the 1950s, they expropriated the land and paid for it, making it public land.

When the McGuinty government established the Greenbelt in southern Ontario, they didn’t buy up the land, considering that to be too expensive. Instead, they passed legislation forbidding development, which immediately depressed land values.


The land Ford took out of the Greenbelt was privately owned land that, in most cases, both the developers and the local municipal government had spent decades lobbying the province to allow development to occur on. There was no giveaway, no sell-off of public assets as opposition parties and some media continue to refer to it as.

This was a policy decision to allow development on what had been protected lands, just as the previous Wynne government allowed to happen without fanfare or a police investigation 17 times. For those screaming that the lands instantly became more valuable and this is somehow criminal, somehow the government enriching their friends, then you have to accept the flipside.

The flipside would be that the McGuinty government’s decision to ban development on this land amounted to theft because the value of the land immediately plummeted.

The Greenbelt saga continues to be an issue of optics for the government and now, with the announcement of the RCMP getting involved, the optics just got much worse even if their legal standing remains solid.

My warning to anyone waiting on charges, don’t hold your breath.

blilley@postmedia.com

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1694339149518545112

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1694339413952667718

LILLEY: RCMP confirms they are looking into Ford's Greenbelt moves

Public complaints to the OPP have now been sent to the RCMP to avoid any appearance of conflict of interest.

torontosun.com

 

[spaminator]

With drones and webcams, volunteer hunters join a new search for the mythical Loch Ness Monster
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Jill Lawless
Published Aug 26, 2023 • Last updated 1 day ago • 2 minute read
Mystery-hunters converged on a Scottish lake on Saturday, Aug. 26, 2023 to hunt for signs of the mythical Loch Ness Monster. The Loch Ness Center said researchers would try to seek evidence of Nessie using thermal-imaging drones, infrared cameras and a hydrophone to detect underwater sounds in the lake's murky waters.
LONDON (AP) — Mystery hunters converged on a Scottish lake on Saturday to look for signs of the mythical Loch Ness Monster.


The Loch Ness Center said researchers would try to seek evidence of Nessie using thermal-imaging drones, infrared cameras and a hydrophone to detect underwater sounds in the lake’s murky waters. The two-day event is being billed as the biggest survey of the lake in 50 years, and includes volunteers scanning the water from boats and the lakeshore, with others around the world joining in with webcams.


Alan McKenna of the Loch Ness Center said the aim was “to inspire a new generation of Loch Ness enthusiasts.”

McKenna told BBC radio the searchers were “looking for breaks in the surface and asking volunteers to record all manner of natural behavior on the loch.”

“Not every ripple or wave is a beastie. Some of those can be explained, but there are a handful that cannot,” he said.


The Loch Ness Center is located at the former Drumnadrochit Hotel, where the modern-day Nessie legend began. In 1933, manager Aldie Mackay reported spotting a “water beast” in the mountain-fringed loch, the largest body of freshwater by volume in the United Kingdom and at up to 750 feet (230 meters) one of the deepest.

The story kicked off an enduring worldwide fascination with finding the elusive monster, spawning hoaxes and hundreds of eyewitness accounts. Numerous theories have been put forward over the years, including that the creature may have been a prehistoric marine reptile, giant eels, a sturgeon or even an escaped circus elephant.

Many believe the sightings are pranks or can be explained by floating logs or strong winds, but the legend is a boon for tourism in the picturesque Scottish Highlands region.

Such skepticism did not deter volunteers like Craig Gallifrey.

“I believe there is something in the loch,” he said, though he is open-minded about what it is. “I do think that there’s got to be something that’s fueling the speculation.”

He said that whatever the outcome of the weekend search, “the legend will continue.”

“I think it’s just the imagination of something being in the largest body of water in the U.K. … There’s a lot more stories,” he said. “There’s still other things, although they’ve not been proven. There’s still something quite special about the loch.”

With drones and webcams, volunteer hunters join a new search for the mythical Loch Ness Monster

Alan McKenna of the Loch Ness Center said the aim was "to inspire a new generation of Loch Ness enthusiasts."

torontosun.com

 

[spaminator]

Mississippi hunters catch 800-pound, 14-foot gator
Reportedly largest in state history

Author of the article:Kevin Connor
Published Aug 28, 2023 • Last updated 1 day ago • 1 minute read
Mississippi hunters hold up their catch, an 800-pound gator.
Mississippi hunters hold up their catch, an 800-pound gator. PHOTO BY @REDANTLERPROCESSING/INSTAGRAM /TORONTO SUN
This isn’t a fishing tale.


Four hunters in Mississippi killed a 800-pound, 14-foot alligator, which is the reportedly largest in state history.


They call it “nightmare material.”

The gator was caught Saturday in the Yazoo River on the second day of Mississippi’s alligator hunting season, Red Antler Processing said on Facebook.

Don Woods, one of the hunters, told the Clarion Ledger that he and the other hunters spotted the huge reptile in the river a short time after heading out in their boat around 9 p.m.

The big catch. Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks Photo
The big catch. Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks Photo
“We knew he was wide,” Woods said. “His back was humongous. It was like we were following a jon boat.”

It took the hunters seven hours to bring in the gator and they said it was mentally exhausting.



“We hooked him eight or nine times, and he kept breaking off,” Woods said.

“He would go down, sit and then take off. He kept going under logs. He knew what he was doing. The crazy thing is he stayed in that same spot.”

Woods said the gator broke almost all of their rods and reels before they had it.

“We just knew we had a big alligator,” Woods said. “We were just amazed at how wide his back was and how big the head was. It was surreal, to tell you the truth.”

'It was surreal': Mississippi alligator hunters bag state-record monster. Details will amaze

Mississippi alligator hunters endured grueling seven-hour battle with the 802.5-pound giant. See how they landed a record.

clarionledger.com

Record-shattering 800-pound ‘nightmare material’ alligator caught in Mississippi

It took four hunters seven hours to wrestle the beast onto their boat.

nypost.com

SEEYA LATER: Mississippi hunters catch 800-pound, 14-foot gator

Four hunters in Mississippi killed a 800-pound, 14-foot alligator, which is the reportedly largest in state history.

torontosun.com

 

[spaminator]

Neurosurgeon investigating patient’s mystery symptoms plucks a worm from woman’s brain in Australia
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Rod Mcguirk
Published Aug 29, 2023 • 2 minute read
Australia Brain Parasite
This undated photo supplied by Canberra Health Services, shows a parasite in a specimen jar at a Canberra hospital in Australia. A neurosurgeon investigating a patient's mystery neurological symptoms in an Australian hospital has been surprised to pluck a 3-inch wriggling worm from her brain. Canberra Health Services via AP
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A neurosurgeon investigating a woman’s mystery symptoms in an Australian hospital says she plucked a wriggling worm from the patient’s brain.


Surgeon Hari Priya Bandi was performing a biopsy through a hole in the 64-year-old patient’s skull at Canberra Hospital last year when she used forceps to pull out the parasite, which measured 8 centimeters, or 3 inches.


“I just thought: ‘What is that? It doesn’t make any sense. But it’s alive and moving,”‘ Bandi was quoted Tuesday in The Canberra Times newspaper.

“It continued to move with vigor. We all felt a bit sick,” Bandi added of her operating team.

The creature was the larva of an Australian native roundworm not previously known to be a human parasite, named Ophidascaris robertsi. The worms are commonly found in carpet pythons.

Bandi and Canberra infectious diseases physician Sanjaya Senanayake are authors of an article about the extraordinary medical case published in the latest edition of the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.


Senanayake said he was on duty at the hospital in June last year when the worm was found.

“I got a call saying: ‘We’ve got a patient with an infection problem. We’ve just removed a live worm from this patient’s brain,”‘ Senanayake said.

The woman had been admitted to the hospital after experiencing forgetfulness and worsening depression over three months. Scans showed changes in her brain.

A year earlier, she had been admitted to her local hospital in southeast New South Wales state with symptoms including abdominal pain, diarrhea, a dry cough and night sweats.

Senanayake said the brain biopsy was expected to reveal a cancer or an abscess.

“This patient had been treated … for what was a mystery illness that we thought ultimately was a immunological condition because we hadn’t been able to find a parasite before and then out of nowhere, this big lump appeared in the frontal part of her brain,” Senanayake said.


“Suddenly, with her (Bandi’s) forceps, she’s picking up this thing that’s wriggling. She and everyone in that operating theater were absolutely stunned,” Senanayake added.

Bandi said her patient regained conscious after the worm was extracted without any negative consequences.

“She was so grateful to have an answer for what had been causing her trouble for so very long,” Bandi said.

Six months after the worm was removed, the patient’s neuropsychiatric symptoms had improved but persisted, the journal article said.

The patient had been sent home soon after the surgery with antiparasitic drugs and had not returned to hospital since, Senanayake said. “She’s done OK, but obviously because this is a new infection, we’re keeping a close eye on her,” Senanayake told Ten Network television.

The worms’ eggs are commonly shed in snake droppings which contaminate grass eaten by small mammals. The life cycle continues as other snakes eat the mammals.

The woman lives near a carpet python habitat and forages for native vegetation called warrigal greens to cook.

While she had no direct contact with snakes, scientists hypothesize that she consumed the eggs from the vegetation or her contaminated hands.

Neurosurgeon investigating patient’s mystery symptoms plucks a worm from woman’s brain in Australia

"It continued to move with vigor. We all felt a bit sick," Bandi added of her operating team.

torontosun.com

 

[spaminator]

Neurosurgeon investigating patient’s mystery symptoms plucks a worm from woman’s brain in Australia
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Rod Mcguirk
Published Aug 29, 2023 • 2 minute read
Australia Brain Parasite
This undated photo supplied by Canberra Health Services, shows a parasite in a specimen jar at a Canberra hospital in Australia. A neurosurgeon investigating a patient's mystery neurological symptoms in an Australian hospital has been surprised to pluck a 3-inch wriggling worm from her brain. Canberra Health Services via AP
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A neurosurgeon investigating a woman’s mystery symptoms in an Australian hospital says she plucked a wriggling worm from the patient’s brain.


Surgeon Hari Priya Bandi was performing a biopsy through a hole in the 64-year-old patient’s skull at Canberra Hospital last year when she used forceps to pull out the parasite, which measured 8 centimeters, or 3 inches.


“I just thought: ‘What is that? It doesn’t make any sense. But it’s alive and moving,”‘ Bandi was quoted Tuesday in The Canberra Times newspaper.

“It continued to move with vigor. We all felt a bit sick,” Bandi added of her operating team.

The creature was the larva of an Australian native roundworm not previously known to be a human parasite, named Ophidascaris robertsi. The worms are commonly found in carpet pythons.

Bandi and Canberra infectious diseases physician Sanjaya Senanayake are authors of an article about the extraordinary medical case published in the latest edition of the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.


Senanayake said he was on duty at the hospital in June last year when the worm was found.

“I got a call saying: ‘We’ve got a patient with an infection problem. We’ve just removed a live worm from this patient’s brain,”‘ Senanayake said.

The woman had been admitted to the hospital after experiencing forgetfulness and worsening depression over three months. Scans showed changes in her brain.

A year earlier, she had been admitted to her local hospital in southeast New South Wales state with symptoms including abdominal pain, diarrhea, a dry cough and night sweats.

Senanayake said the brain biopsy was expected to reveal a cancer or an abscess.

“This patient had been treated … for what was a mystery illness that we thought ultimately was a immunological condition because we hadn’t been able to find a parasite before and then out of nowhere, this big lump appeared in the frontal part of her brain,” Senanayake said.


“Suddenly, with her (Bandi’s) forceps, she’s picking up this thing that’s wriggling. She and everyone in that operating theater were absolutely stunned,” Senanayake added.

Bandi said her patient regained conscious after the worm was extracted without any negative consequences.

“She was so grateful to have an answer for what had been causing her trouble for so very long,” Bandi said.

Six months after the worm was removed, the patient’s neuropsychiatric symptoms had improved but persisted, the journal article said.

The patient had been sent home soon after the surgery with antiparasitic drugs and had not returned to hospital since, Senanayake said. “She’s done OK, but obviously because this is a new infection, we’re keeping a close eye on her,” Senanayake told Ten Network television.

The worms’ eggs are commonly shed in snake droppings which contaminate grass eaten by small mammals. The life cycle continues as other snakes eat the mammals.

The woman lives near a carpet python habitat and forages for native vegetation called warrigal greens to cook.

While she had no direct contact with snakes, scientists hypothesize that she consumed the eggs from the vegetation or her contaminated hands.
View attachment 19152

Neurosurgeon investigating patient’s mystery symptoms plucks a worm from woman’s brain in Australia

"It continued to move with vigor. We all felt a bit sick," Bandi added of her operating team.

torontosun.com

 

[spaminator]

Large fish seen hanging from TTC car
Author of the articleostmedia News
Published Aug 29, 2023 • Last updated 1 day ago • 1 minute read
There was something fishy going on on a TTC train recently.
There was something fishy going on on a TTC train recently. PHOTO BY @LIVINGBYYYZ/TWITTER /TORONTO SUN
It might have been better suited for a Sudbury Saturday Night but we’ll call this a Subway Saturday Night after the latest bizarre offering on the city’s transit system.


A large fish. Seemingly dead. Hanging from a subway handrail.


Seriously.



“On the subway. Saturday night. What the f—,” someone can be heard saying in a video, essentially encapsulating the essence of the entire strange production.

In the video, circulating on social media, a man is seen adjusting his rope belt as two fishing rods and the fish — a sizeable catch — complete the unusual scene.



“Take public transit in Toronto it’s the best way to travel,” @livingbyyyz said on social-media site X (formerly known as Twitter.)

“Does the ttc reach muskoka? yikes” added @comedicanadian.

The TTC doesn’t have a specific rule prohibiting anyone from hanging a fish from a subway handrail, but TTC spokesperson Stuart Green said “we would prefer people not do this as a courtesy to others.”

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1695859924457107478

OH MY COD: Large fish seen hanging from TTC car

A large fish was seen hanging from a TTC car handrail.

torontosun.com

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

The TTC doesn’t have a specific rule prohibiting anyone from hanging a fish from a subway handrail, but TTC spokesperson Stuart Green said “we would prefer people not do this as a courtesy to others.”

Hmm. . . sounds like y'all need a Public Open and Thorough Enquiry with a Rapporteur and a High Commissioner.

Surely True Dope has a few more acquaintances that haven't got their slice yet.

Or maybe just a rule "No dead fish allowed on TTC unless properly wrapped as foodstuffs.

Or y'all could say "Thanks" for the gift of free fish.

 

[petros]

Hmm. . . sounds like y'all need a Public Open and Thorough Enquiry with a Rapporteur and a High Commissioner.

Surely True Dope has a few more acquaintances that haven't got their slice yet.

Or maybe just a rule "No dead fish allowed on TTC unless properly wrapped as foodstuffs.

Or y'all could say "Thanks" for the gift of free fish.

That one is up to Yoko Ono or maybe Pudge Ford not True Dope.

 

[spaminator]

Ontario housing minister violated integrity act in Greenbelt land swap: Commish
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Published Aug 30, 2023 • Last updated 1 day ago • 1 minute read

Ontario’s housing minister violated ethics rules when the government removed land from the protected Greenbelt for development, the province’s integrity commissioner found in a report released Wednesday.


Integrity Commissioner J. David Wake found Housing Minister Steve Clark violated two sections of the Members’ Integrity Act that governs politicians’ ethics, conflict of interest rules and insider information rules.


Wake found Clark failed to oversee the land selection process, which led to the private interests of certain developers being furthered improperly.

“I have recommended to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario that Minister Clark be reprimanded for his failure to comply with the Act,” Wake wrote.

Clark did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Last year, the province took 7,400 acres of land out of the Greenbelt to build 50,000 homes and replaced it with about 9,400 acres elsewhere.


That decision led to a public outcry as well as a complaint filed with the integrity commissioner by Official Opposition and New Democrat Leader Marit Stiles.

The commissioner’s findings echo what Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk found in her own Greenbelt report released earlier this month.

Both Clark and Premier Doug Ford have denied any wrongdoing, but have previously admitted the selection process was flawed.

Wake concluded that Clark’s chief of staff, Ryan Amato, was the “driving force” behind the lands that were selected to be developed.

“The evidence paints a picture of a process marked by misinterpretation, unnecessary hastiness and deception,” Wake wrote in his report.

“It shows that Mr. Amato advised Minister Clark to ’leave it with me’ as he embarked on a chaotic and almost reckless process that I find led to an uninformed and opaque decision which resulted in the creation of an opportunity to further the private interests of some developers improperly.”

Amato resigned after the auditor general’s report, but has denied any wrongdoing.

Ontario housing minister violated integrity act in Greenbelt land swap: Commish

Ontario's integrity commissioner has found that the province's housing minister violated the integrity act in the Greenbelt land swap.

torontosun.com

 

[spaminator]

A teen was hunting for fossils. She found a 34 million-year-old whale skull
Author of the article:Washington Post
Washington Post
Timothy Bella, The Washington Post
Published Sep 01, 2023 • 5 minute read
Lindsey Stallworth cleans a whale skull at the lab at Alabama School of Mathematics and Science. MUST CREDIT: Alabama School of Mathematics and Science
Lindsey Stallworth cleans a whale skull at the lab at Alabama School of Mathematics and Science. MUST CREDIT: Alabama School of Mathematics and Science PHOTO BY ALABAMA SCHOOL OF MATHEMATICS AN /Handout
Some paleontologists go their entire careers without a discovery like the one 16-year-old Lindsey Stallworth found on her first day of digging.


Stallworth was hours into excavating on her family’s Alabama property in June when her science teacher, Drew Gentry, asked if she saw tiny fragments of bone on the hillside. She followed him up the hill, where they found larger pieces and dug further.


Their shocking discovery? A whale skull estimated to be 34 million years old.

“I just kind of stood there for a solid two minutes staring at it, thinking, ‘What we have actually found?'” she told The Washington Post on Wednesday.

Stallworth said she could hardly comprehend discovering a potential new species of whale on her family’s timber property in Monroe County, Ala.

“I was very, very excited, but I was also confused since this was my first experience in paleontology,” said Stallworth, a junior at the Alabama School of Mathematics and Science (ASMS) in Mobile. “It’s really hard to comprehend something that’s that many millions of years old, but it started to make more sense once we started getting the dirt away and saw what the skull might have looked like.”


Gentry had visited his student’s property in hopes of finding more fossilized shark teeth like the ones Stallworth had brought into his biology class last year, he said. Instead, the student and teacher found the skull of an ancient whale that swam through the shallow seas that had covered most of southern Alabama millions of years ago.

Using information from the U.S. Geological Survey and the Geological Survey of Alabama, Gentry said he was able to determine that the whale skull they found was about 34 million years old.

Lindsey Stallworth cleans
Lindsey Stallworth cleans the whale skull at the Alabama School of Mathematics and Science. PHOTO BY ALABAMA SCHOOL OF MATHEMATICS AN /Handout
“We found something much larger than what we intended to find,” Gentry, 38, told The Post. “We obviously did not plan on doing a massive whale excavation.”

Alabama paleontologist Jun Ebersole confirmed that the whale skull found by Stallworth and Gentry is around 34 million years old.


“It’s at the 34 million-year mark. That’s a pretty darn good estimate of this,” said Ebersole, the director of collections at the McWane Science Center in Birmingham. “Once the whale is prepared and the bones are out of the rock and reassembled, there’s a very good chance it’s a new species.”

The discovery of the whale skull was first reported by AL.com.

Stallworth has been interested in collecting shells and hunting for shark teeth on her family’s land since she was around 7, she said.

“The biggest thing I previously found was a shark’s tooth about three inches tall and wide that took up the palm of my hands,” she said.

When she took Gentry’s biology class last year, Stallworth knew of her teacher’s interest in paleontology. Gentry, who holds a PhD in paleontology, has studied fossils in Alabama for years and previously discovered two new species of turtles found from fossils in the state. One of them was a turtle species that lived 83 million years ago, AL.com reported.


After class one day, Stallworth brought in a small bag of shark teeth she had collected. He was immediately intrigued when he recognized one of the shark teeth as being from an uncommon species.

“She asked, ‘Are you interested in looking for fossils?'” Gentry recalled. “I said, ‘I need to know more about where you found these teeth.'”

On June 22, Stallworth and Gentry went to her family’s property in Monroe County, about 80 miles northeast of Mobile. Gentry surveyed the land for all of the fossils present, from shells to shark teeth. Stallworth, who has always wanted to be a marine biologist, thought it would be a fun thing to do.

But as they were surface collecting on the land in the first hours of the dig, the student and teacher started to see more fragments of bone. They followed the trail of bone fragments up the hill, which led them to several large bones protruding out of the ground. They were curious about what they could be.


“The truth is we didn’t know what we had found because only part of the skeleton was exposed on the surface,” Gentry said. “We used dental picks to scrape away the dirt from around the bones, and we realized what it was.”

What they had was the skull of a 15- to 20-foot whale that appears to be a smaller relative of the Basilosaurus cetoides, a 50-to-60-foot ancient whale species that also serves as Alabama’s state fossil, Gentry said. The teacher added that the whale skull could be closely related to zygorhiza, a smaller, lesser-known whale species that has been found in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi.

When they realized what the fossil was, Stallworth and Gentry had to figure out how to safely excavate the whale skull from the soil and transfer it back to school in Mobile. It involved 10- to 12-hour days of digging and cleaning in summer temperatures with heat indexes above 110 degrees, Gentry said. The month-long process of transferring the whale skull to slabs of limestone was so demanding, tedious and frustrating that the duo gave their rare fossil a modern nickname.


“The main nickname for it is Karen,” joked Stallworth, referring to the pejorative slang term for a middle-class White woman who is perceived as entitled and privileged.

“The whale was quite difficult to deal with on a couple of occasions,” Gentry added, laughing. “We can’t share the other names we called it.”

On July 21, the whale skull safely arrived at ASMS for research.

“Those 10 to 12 hour days were entirely worth it,” Stallworth said. “The day we got it into the lab, it felt surreal that we were doing this.”

Ebersole, the collections director at the McWane Science Center, had previously taught Gentry and was familiar with Stallworth’s shark teeth discovery when he heard about the whale skull. He said that even if the whale skull is not a new species, “it could be the youngest of a species.”


Lindsey Stallworth
Lindsey Stallworth works to dig the whale skull from the ground at her family’s property. PHOTO BY ALABAMA SCHOOL OF MATHEMATICS AN /Handout
“No matter what, it’s a very important discovery,” Ebersole told The Post. “For that skull to be available now for science, and for Lindsey to be involved in every step of the way, it’s a great story.”

The 34 million-year-old whale skull has found instant popularity in the halls of ASMS at the start of the school year, with Stallworth’s classmates asking her if they can catch a glimpse of the fossil. The duo are planning to return to the hillside next summer to excavate more.

Stallworth is balancing her classwork with the two hours of lab time she gets each day to clean the whale skull. The experience has her considering eventually double-majoring in paleontology and marine biology, she said.

“I had my career path set, but I am getting a curveball,” she said. “And I’m taking that curveball.”

For now, she’s off to French class. She is admittedly working on how to say something in French about the 34 million-year-old whale skull nicknamed Karen.

“Let’s just say I’m a very big science person,” she said through laughter.

A teen was hunting for fossils. She found a 34 million-year-old whale skull

On July 21, the whale skull safely arrived at ASMS for research.

torontosun.com

 

[spaminator]

Ford should have fired his housing minister over Greenbelt failure

Author of the article:Lorrie Goldstein
Published Sep 02, 2023 • Last updated 22 hours ago • 3 minute read

It’s obvious Ontario Housing Minister Steve Clark should have resigned in the wake of two damning reports by the auditor general and integrity commissioner into the Ford government’s Greenbelt controversy.


In failing to do so, Clark — who acknowledges he failed to do his job, that he accepts responsibility for it and that he apologizes to the people of Ontario — has turned the concept of “ministerial responsibility” into a farce.


A real apology would have been for Clark to resign.

But the more politically significant question for Ontario’s Progressive Conservative government to answer is why didn’t Premier Doug Ford fire him?

It’s the Premier — not the auditor general or integrity commissioner — who sets the ethical standards for his cabinet ministers.




In refusing to fire Clark, Ford has set that bar very low.

What makes it more controversial is Ford’s inconsistency on developing the Greenbelt.

He said he would not do it prior to the 2018 Ontario election that brought him to power — after a video surfaced of him saying he would open “a big chunk” of the Greenbelt to develop housing.

That remained Ford’s position until he reversed it following the 2022 election when he won a second majority government, which led to the current controversy.

As for Clark, it’s difficult to imagine a more obvious case where a cabinet minister failed to do his job.

His failure to provide proper oversight of what his chief of staff was doing in carving up 7,400 acres of Greenbelt land for housing, in the finding of integrity commissioner J. David Wake, “led to some developers being alerted to a potential change in the government’s position on the Greenbelt with the result that their private interests were furthered improperly.”


Clark’s chief of staff Ryan Amato — the fall guy — has already resigned.

That makes Ford’s decision to keep Clark, Amato’s former boss, in cabinet, even more inexplicable given the commissioner’s ruling Clark broke two sections of the Members’ Integrity Act, noting “it may seem incredible that Minister Clark would have chosen to stick his head in the sand on such an important initiative being undertaken by his ministry but I believe that was exactly what he did.”

Given that, while in opposition, Clark called on Liberal cabinet ministers to resign when they failed to fulfill their ministerial responsibilities, surely even he knows he should have quit.

In recommending what penalty Clark should receive for breaking the integrity law, Wake actually recommended the least severe punishment short of no penalty — that the Legislature should reprimand him.


Wake could have recommended suspending Clark from sitting in the Legislature for a period of time, or — the harshest penalty — declaring his seat vacant.

But what he could not do was recommend that Clark be removed from Ford’s cabinet, because that decision rests solely with the Premier.

As Wake noted in his report:

“I should be clear that my jurisdiction under the Act does not extend to enforcing ‘ministerial responsibility’, a constitutional principle whereby ministers are responsible to parliament and the public for everything that happens in their ministries.”

In fact it is Ford, and Ford alone, who decides who is selected to cabinet and who should be removed from it.

In failing to remove Clark, it’s Ford’s political integrity that is on the line here.

There was a time when Ontario premiers and cabinet ministers understood the concept of “ministerial responsibility” and acted accordingly — but that was long ago.

lgoldstein@postmedia.com

GOLDSTEIN: Ford should have fired his housing minister over Greenbelt failure

Ontario Housing Minister Steve Clark should have resigned in the wake of two damning reports on the Ford government's Greenbelt controversy.

torontosun.com

 

[spaminator]

Heat wave expected to hit Ontario, wildfire smoke, rainfall and wind elsewhere
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Published Sep 02, 2023 • 1 minute read

Most of Ontario is expected to swelter under a heat wave through the long weekend and into the coming week, with temperatures expected to reach highs of 40 degrees Celsius with humidity.


Environment Canada has issued heat warnings for much of the province, saying the heat event is expected to begin Sunday and last until Tuesday or Wednesday.


A heat warning is also in effect for southeastern Manitoba, including Winnipeg, with temperatures in the mid-thirties expected until late Sunday.

Large swaths of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia are under special air quality statements due to fluctuating wildfire smoke.

The weather agency says wildfire smoke is also impacting air quality in northern parts of Quebec, while the province’s south is under a special weather statement due to hot and humid air lasting until Wednesday.

Rainfall warnings are in place in Coral Harbour and Kinngait, Nvt., where heavy rain is expected to taper off on Saturday night or Sunday evening, while northern Salluit, Quebec, is being warned of high winds up to 90 kilometres per hour.

Heat wave expected to hit Ontario, wildfire smoke, rainfall and wind elsewhere

Ontario is expected to swelter under a heat wave through the long weekend, with temps expected to reach highs of 40 degrees with humidity

torontosun.com

 

[spaminator]

U.S. doctors warned to look out for rare, deadly flesh-eating bacteria
Author of the article:Washington Post
Washington Post
Andrew Jeong, The Washington Post
Published Sep 02, 2023 • 2 minute read
This image shows a 3D illustration of the Vibrio vulnificus bacteria, the causative agent of serious seafood-related infections and infected wound after swimming in warm sea water.
This image shows a 3D illustration of the Vibrio vulnificus bacteria, the causative agent of serious seafood-related infections and infected wound after swimming in warm sea water. PHOTO BY DR. MICROBE / ISTOCK /Getty Images
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday issued a national alert warning health-care professionals to watch out for infections of Vibrio vulnificus, a rare flesh-eating bacteria that has killed at least 13 people on the Eastern Seaboard this year.


Although infections from the bacteria have been mostly reported in the Gulf Coast, infections in the eastern United States rose eightfold from 1988 to 2018, the CDC said. In the same period, the northern geographic range of infections has increased by 30 miles every year. This year’s infections came during a period of above-average coastal sea surface temperatures, the agency said.


Up to 200 people in the United States every year report Vibrio vulnificus infections to the CDC. A fifth of the cases are fatal, sometimes within one or two days of the onset of illness, according to the agency.

“V. vulnificus wound infections have a short incubation period and are characterized by necrotizing skin and soft tissue infection,” it said. The CDC says many people infected with Vibrio vulnificus “require intensive care or limb amputations,” and that some infections lead to what is called necrotizing fasciitis, a severe infection in which the flesh around an open wound dies.


Friday’s warning urges health-care providers to consider the bacteria as a possible cause of infected wounds, particularly if patients were exposed to warm coastal waters during hotter months. “Extreme weather events, such as coastal floods, hurricanes, and storm surges, can force coastal waters into inland areas, putting people that are exposed to these waters” at increased risk of Vibrio wound infections, the CDC said.

This year, health officials have reported at least one death linked to the bacteria in New York; two in Connecticut; three in North Carolina; and seven in Florida.

Vibrio vulnificus is primarily transmitted when an open wound comes into contact with salt water or brackish water, the CDC said, adding that person-to-person transmission has not been reported. Those with underlying health conditions such as liver disease, diabetes and immunocompromising conditions are at higher risk of wound infection.


In around 10% of cases, the bacteria infect those who have eaten raw or undercooked shellfish.

The bacteria thrives in warmer waters, especially between May and October, and “in low-salt marine environments like estuaries,” according to the CDC.

The agency advises people with an uncovered wound or cut to avoid swimming in saltwater or brackish water. “If you get a cut while you are in the water, leave the water immediately,” it said.

The CDC recommends the use of waterproof bandages. Other advice to avoid infection includes cooking shellfish before eating them and washing hands with soap after handling raw shellfish.

U.S. doctors warned to look out for rare, deadly flesh-eating bacteria

U.S. health-care professionals are being warned to watch out for a rare flesh-eating bacteria that has killed at least 13 people this year.

torontosun.com

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

The Rebel Rot strikes again. Yee-haw!

 

[spaminator]

Late summer blast of heat triggers weather warning in GTA
Author of the article:Kevin Connor
Published Sep 03, 2023 • Last updated 1 day ago • 1 minute read

Environment Canada issued a heat alert Sunday for the Toronto area, and the late summer blast of heat is expected to last for days.


The weather agency says the heat wave will last until at least mid-week, with temperatures topping out in 30C-35C range. When the humidex is factored into the mix, it will at times feel like 40C.


“A hot airmass is expected to affect the area beginning (Sunday) and persisting through at least mid-week. Daytime highs today will be near 29C to 32C. As the week progresses, daytime highs are expected to increase to near 31C to 35C,” the agency said.

“The hottest days look to be on Tuesday and Wednesday … Humidex values and daytime highs will be very atypical of early September. The passage of a cold front will bring an end to the heat later this week, but the timing of the front is still uncertain.

For those seeking relief at the waterfront, Toronto officials say lifeguards will be on duty a city beaches from 11:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m.

Environment Canada cautions hot and humid air can result in poor air quality. The risks are greatest for young children, pregnant women, older adults, those suffering chronic illnesses and people working outdoors.

LIFE'S A BEACH: Late summer blast of heat triggers weather warning in GTA

Environment Canada issued a heat alert Sunday for the Toronto area, and the late summer blast of heat is expected to last for days.

torontosun.com

 

[spaminator]

U.S. doctors warned to look out for rare, deadly flesh-eating bacteria
Author of the article:Washington Post
Washington Post
Andrew Jeong, The Washington Post
Published Sep 02, 2023 • 2 minute read
This image shows a 3D illustration of the Vibrio vulnificus bacteria, the causative agent of serious seafood-related infections and infected wound after swimming in warm sea water.
This image shows a 3D illustration of the Vibrio vulnificus bacteria, the causative agent of serious seafood-related infections and infected wound after swimming in warm sea water. PHOTO BY DR. MICROBE / ISTOCK /Getty Images
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday issued a national alert warning health-care professionals to watch out for infections of Vibrio vulnificus, a rare flesh-eating bacteria that has killed at least 13 people on the Eastern Seaboard this year.


Although infections from the bacteria have been mostly reported in the Gulf Coast, infections in the eastern United States rose eightfold from 1988 to 2018, the CDC said. In the same period, the northern geographic range of infections has increased by 30 miles every year. This year’s infections came during a period of above-average coastal sea surface temperatures, the agency said.


Up to 200 people in the United States every year report Vibrio vulnificus infections to the CDC. A fifth of the cases are fatal, sometimes within one or two days of the onset of illness, according to the agency.

“V. vulnificus wound infections have a short incubation period and are characterized by necrotizing skin and soft tissue infection,” it said. The CDC says many people infected with Vibrio vulnificus “require intensive care or limb amputations,” and that some infections lead to what is called necrotizing fasciitis, a severe infection in which the flesh around an open wound dies.


Friday’s warning urges health-care providers to consider the bacteria as a possible cause of infected wounds, particularly if patients were exposed to warm coastal waters during hotter months. “Extreme weather events, such as coastal floods, hurricanes, and storm surges, can force coastal waters into inland areas, putting people that are exposed to these waters” at increased risk of Vibrio wound infections, the CDC said.

This year, health officials have reported at least one death linked to the bacteria in New York; two in Connecticut; three in North Carolina; and seven in Florida.

Vibrio vulnificus is primarily transmitted when an open wound comes into contact with salt water or brackish water, the CDC said, adding that person-to-person transmission has not been reported. Those with underlying health conditions such as liver disease, diabetes and immunocompromising conditions are at higher risk of wound infection.


In around 10% of cases, the bacteria infect those who have eaten raw or undercooked shellfish.

The bacteria thrives in warmer waters, especially between May and October, and “in low-salt marine environments like estuaries,” according to the CDC.

The agency advises people with an uncovered wound or cut to avoid swimming in saltwater or brackish water. “If you get a cut while you are in the water, leave the water immediately,” it said.

The CDC recommends the use of waterproof bandages. Other advice to avoid infection includes cooking shellfish before eating them and washing hands with soap after handling raw shellfish.
View attachment 19197

U.S. doctors warned to look out for rare, deadly flesh-eating bacteria

U.S. health-care professionals are being warned to watch out for a rare flesh-eating bacteria that has killed at least 13 people this year.

torontosun.com

i will never look at pickles the same way again.

 

[spaminator]

Don't touch the hot springs at Yellowstone
Restricted spaces are no match for human curiosity

Author of the article:Washington Post
Washington Post
Heidi Pérez-Moreno
Published Sep 08, 2023 • 6 minute read

The warnings are all over Yellowstone National Park, written in bold, white lettering and on red signs clearly expressing the danger of entering geological thermal areas. According to park guidelines, exploring them is prohibited with no exceptions.


“DANGER,” reads one sign. “Fragile Thermal Area. KEEP OUT.”


But restricted spaces are no match for human curiosity. Incidents captured on camera and online in recent years are indicative of a long history of dangerous behavior, according to historical records and park experts. Photos from nearly a century ago show visitors peeking their heads into geysers. This summer, more examples have been captured on social media or posted to YouTube, fitting into a larger pattern of rule-breaking tourists emerging from the pandemic.

A few months ago, a woman garnered national attention after dipping her foot and fingers into a scalding Yellowstone hot spring as well. In late August, a Michigan man was banned from Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks after a federal court in Wyoming accused him of going off-trail in a thermal area and entering Yellowstone while under the influence of alcohol or a controlled substance. The National Park Service and the Justice Department said he sustained thermal burns.


Yellowstone officials have stressed that the ground beneath hot springs and hot geothermal features can be fragile, and there is a high risk that those who stray from park-approved boundaries end up burned or injured.

—

Tourists ignore warnings
Yellowstone sits atop a volcanic hot spot and has one of the strongest concentration of hydrothermal features in the world, according to the National Park Service. There are over 10,000 features throughout the 2.2 million-acre park, including hot springs, geysers, mudpots and steam vents.

Hot springs, some of the most common features, are also one of its most dangerous.

According to an article the U.S. Geological Survey recently published, 22 people have died at Yellowstone due to heat-related scalding since 1872 – more than double the number of deaths from bear and bison encounters – and hundreds of injuries have been reported. The National Park Service declined to comment on the topic.


Jim Holstein, who has provided tours through Yellowstone Tour Guides since 1991, said incidents where visitors go off-trail or venture off into areas where there may be a hot spring are a daily occurrence.

“It’s pretty obvious and people do follow the rules for the most part,” he said. “It’s really just to be out of curiosity – of people wanting to look up close to the springs, or look down and see what’s coming out of holes, that you might not be able to directly see from the boardwalk.”

Holstein said this has been especially prevalent since the pandemic began, where he’s noticed more entitled tourists ignoring signage and warnings to not touch or enter thermal areas. There’s also the bevy of incidents at Yellowstone where people have attempted to interact with wildlife, which the park has pleaded visitors to stop.


To Holstein, ignoring the many warnings shows arrogance or disregard for the landscape. Over the years, he said he’s witnessed multiple people or situations where people have gotten thermal burns from venturing off into prohibited thermal areas, and visitors can easily burn their fingers if they go in too close.

He usually sees more people venturing off into prohibited areas when fewer people are around or “quieter” hours, such as the early mornings or late afternoons.

But that varies, Holstein added, and he said that over the years, he’s chosen to respond less to incidents where someone ventures off-trail because it’s becoming more common for visitors to react angrily.

“It’s just not worth the confrontation nowadays,” he said.


Jen Sall, the program director for NOLS Rocky Mountain, which hosts expedition trainings at Yellowstone, said there are specific compass, situational awareness and navigation skills that one must possess before they can safely and confidently venture away from trails.

That’s especially true at Yellowstone, because hot springs and other geological thermal features can deceive the human eye.

—

How dangerous are hot springs?
Heading off-trail or into prohibited areas at Yellowstone is already ill-advised, even for those with wilderness or camping experience, because the landscape can be so unpredictable. Thermal features can disguise themselves as ponds, streams or springs.

Although some may exhale steam or show signs of high heat production, others may appear entirely safe, according to Jeff Birkby, a geothermal energy consultant who has written books on hot springs found across several mid-West states, including Montana and Wyoming.


The waters of a hot spring, even runoff, can be extremely hot, even as high as 200 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s roughly the same temperature of boiling hot water or herbal tea at their recommended steeping temperature.

How dangerous hot water is to humans depends on the temperature and the time someone is exposed, according to an article published in the Journal of Burn Care and Research. For example, water can begin to feel slightly warm at around 100 degrees, and exposure to temps hotter than 120 degrees can lead to serious burns in about 10 minutes.

Water reaching 110, 120 or 130 begins to feel scalding to the human touch and can result in severe burns. Exposure to water at 140 degrees can lead to burns within 3 seconds and presents increased risk to children and older adults who have thinner skin.


Even hot springs at commercial resorts have strict protocols, where water temperatures are capped at around 107 degrees, Birkby said. Humans can safely venture in warmer waters within a relatively narrow 10-degree temperature band, where a 95-degree swim might feel too cool, but anything over 105 would start to feel hotter.

Some thermal features might also have corrosive waters with a pH value of 1, which is similar to that of battery acid and can be dangerous to touch, he said.

“[Tourists] see water and don’t realize how hot it is,” Birkby said. “It could easily end up being be a . . . hot pool that could be 200 degrees Fahrenheit, but to them, it looks like it’s simply a swimming pool or something else. You don’t necessarily see that on those boardwalks. It’s not until you get right up close to it, that it can be a problem.”


He said many of the incidents that resulted in fatalities or injuries have involved people who haven’t followed regulations, been under the influence of drugs or alcohol or might have even been trying to rescue their pets as they entered a thermal feature.

Birkby, who has studied hot springs for the last four decades and backpacked throughout Yellowstone, said this shouldn’t detract from the beauty of these features, or that of Yellowstone. It’s simply a matter of staying aware of one’s surroundings and following park rules.

“It just amazes me how that hot water comes out of the ground – it’s magical to see the way it happens,” he said. “And to go to Yellowstone, where we have the largest concentration in the world of these features, it’s not something we want to miss out on because we’re worried about the dangers.”


—

How to safely appreciate geothermal features
You should approach a hot spring or geyser similarly to a painting in a museum – with a healthy distance and respect.

There isn’t a standard or precise distance to keep, but some experts recommend the length of your own shadow or wing span if you are in close contact. Do not dip your toes or attempt to swim in a hot spring; throw items into geothermal features or runoff areas; or allow pets to roam, which is already restricted at Yellowstone.

Holstein said signage and communication for tourists is abundant throughout the park. There are large signs around every thermal area to stay on the boardwalk and not touch any waters, as well as a description of the dangers of doing so. Signs are written in five different languages. People participating on tours are told in advance to stay with the group and follow designated trails.

There are a few recreational reservoirs that Yellowstone features, including Yellowstone Lake and Firehole River.

Birkby also recommends looking into hot springs resorts as a safe alternative for finding warm waters that are regulated. A couple within driving distance of Yellowstone include Chico Hot Springs Resort & Day Spa and Fairmont Hot Springs Resort in B.C.

Reminder to tourists: Don't touch the hot springs at Yellowstone

There is a high risk that those who stray from park-approved boundaries end up burned or injured.

torontosun.com

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

I'm not sure saving the stupid from their stupidity is good genetics.

 

[spaminator]

Little quality evidence on the medical benefits of marijuana: Study
Author of the articleostmedia News
Published Sep 09, 2023 • 2 minute read

As many turn to marijuana to help with problems such as anxiety, sleep issues and pain relief, a new analysis of more than 100 clinical trials and meta-analyses found there’s not a lot of quality evidence showing cannabis use can be beneficial to a majority of people.


In fact, there’s more convincing evidence that suggests using marijuana could be harmful, particularly for pregnant women, those with a mental health disorder, and adolescents and young adults, according to the study published in the online medical journal BMJ.


“After applying very strict quantitative criteria, and accounting for both observational studies and experimental trials, most of the associations between cannabis and health outcomes were supported by very low or low credibility,” study author Dr. Marco Solmi told CNN.

The University of Ottawa associate professor of psychiatry, who is also an investigator at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, told CNN that the study found there were “multidimensional detrimental effects of cannabis on brain function,” which are seen in “associations with poor cognition (and) mental disorders.”




The review found that studies that examined the use of cannabis to ease symptoms of anxiety, depression and mental health disorders had, in fact, raised the risk of an individual’s onset of a psychotic or mental health disorder.

The study also found that using cannabis after the onset of a mental condition worsened clinical outcomes.

For example, people with psychosis, which is when a person’s emotional state causes them to lose contact with reality, could run the risk of relapsing or experience more cognitive decline, Solmi said.

Those with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or severe depression can experience psychosis.


The study also found cannabis to be harmful to pregnant women who have used the drug to ease nausea, linking cannabis to the risk of a woman giving birth to a small, low birth weight baby.

For adolescents and young adults, the study found that cannabis was dangerous for cognition and mental health as their brains were still developing.

While young people and pregnant women may not benefit from cannabis use, the study noted that cannabidiol (CBD) can be effective in people with epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, chronic pain, inflammatory bowel disease, and in palliative medicine.

Though cannabis was effective for treating pain, there is “no evidence cannabis improves sleep in the general population,” Solmi told CNN, while warning people to avoid using the drug to self-medicate.

For more health news and content around diseases, conditions, wellness, healthy living, drugs, treatments and more, head to Healthing.ca – a member of the Postmedia Network.

http://cnn.com/2023/08/30/health/marijuana-pros-and-cons-wellness/index.html

Balancing risks and benefits of cannabis use: umbrella review of meta-analyses of randomised controlled trials and observational studies

Objective To systematically assess credibility and certainty of associations between cannabis, cannabinoids, and cannabis based medicines and human health, from observational studies and randomised controlled trials (RCTs). Design Umbrella review. Data sources PubMed, PsychInfo, Embase, up to...

bmj.com

Little quality evidence on the medical benefits of marijuana: Study

A new analysis of clinical trials and meta-analyses found there's not a lot of evidence showing cannabis can be beneficial to most people.

torontosun.com

 

[spaminator]

Hawaii volcano Kilauea erupts after nearly two months of quiet
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Published Sep 11, 2023 • 1 minute read
In this screen grab from webcam video provided by the U.S. Geological Survey, Kilauea, one of the most active volcanoes in the world, erupts in Hawaii, early Monday, Sept. 11, 2023.
In this screen grab from webcam video provided by the U.S. Geological Survey, Kilauea, one of the most active volcanoes in the world, erupts in Hawaii, early Monday, Sept. 11, 2023. PHOTO BY U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY VIA AP /THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
HONOLULU — Kilauea, one of the most active volcanoes in the world, began erupting after a two-month pause, displaying glowing lava that is a safe distance from people and structures in a national park on the Big Island.


The Hawaii Volcano Observatory said the eruption was observed Sunday afternoon at the summit of Kilauea.


The observatory said gases released by the eruption will cause volcanic smog downwind of Kilauea. People living near the park should try to avoid volcanic particles spewed into the air by the eruption, the observatory said.

The volcano’s alert level was raised to warning status and the aviation color code went to red as scientists evaluate the eruption and associated hazards.

In June, Kilauea erupted for several weeks, displaying fountains of red lava without threatening any communities or structures. Crowds of people flocked to the Big Island’s Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, which offered safe views of the lava.

Kilauea, Hawaii’s second-largest volcano, erupted from September 2021 until last December. A 2018 Kilauea eruption destroyed more than 700 homes.

Hawaii volcano Kilauea erupts after nearly two months of quiet

Kilauea, one of the most active volcanoes in the world, began erupting after a two-month pause.

torontosun.com