jeff

Virtually every fish in one of Arizona’s largest lakes has died after the reservoir fell to less than 1% of its capacity. This spring, the mountain snow that feeds the reservoir reached just 2% of its normal level. With almost no inflow, the lake shrank dramatically, the water overheated, oxygen levels collapsed, and nearly 100% of the fish suffocated. But drought wasn’t the only reason. Even as the reservoir was collapsing, water continued flowing downstream to supply farms under agreements written decades ago, when a snowpack collapse this severe was considered unthinkable. The ecosystem kept losing water while the climate that sustained it had already changed. The rules were built for a world that no longer exists. Climate change isn’t only testing ecosystems. It’s testing the systems we built to manage them. Before and after: San Carlos Reservoir, Arizona (2023 vs. 2026). [Source: NASA Earth Observatory, June 2026.]

Connie Chan, CA-11 candidate, has received $475,000 from AIPAC shell corporations to her Super PAC

California is returning 136 acres of Blues Beach and the Mendocino County bluffs to three Native American tribes. This transfer fulfills legislation signed in 2021 and returns ancestral lands to the rightful stewardship of local tribes while preserving public access.

Did you know SF's conflicting housing laws can make us choose between a bathroom and housing? Our Building code requires a restroom on a rooftop common space. But our Planning code inadvertently requires that restroom count against the building's height limit. So builders have to decide: reduce a floor of housing to keep a building under the height limit, or redesign the whole rooftop to fit just one restroom. Today I'm announcing legislation which reconciles this bizarre conflict - rooftop restrooms will no longer count toward a building height. This helps projects in our city like Freedom West and 3333 California - buildings actively in development with thousands of units of housing that also will need rooftop open space. It's ultimately a simple common sense change, so we no longer have to choose between homes and bathrooms.

In San Francisco, "less than two years" apparently counts as a quick approval for a new apartment building. Meanwhile, in Champaign, Illinois, high-rises are approved within weeks.