Education
Woman dies from lightning as more than 50,000 strikes hit California
LATEST June 22, 9 p.m. Chris Vagasky, a meteorologist with the company Vaisala that maps lightning strikes around in the world, said on Twitter on Wednesday evening that total of 54,329 lightning events were detected across California between 00 UTC June 22 to 00 UTC June 23. “The most in a single day since September 8, 2017, when 56,059 were detected,” Vagasky said. “This is the 6th highest daily total since...
I’m the COO of a mortgage company that’s funded more than $100 billion in loans. Here are the 3 things you need to know about the housing market now
Mortgage rates climbed above 6% last week, according to Bankrate data, with some pros saying they may go higher. (You can see the lowest mortgage rates you may qualify for here.) On top of that, home prices have risen more than 20% year-over-year, causing affordability challenges for many aspiring homebuyers. And it’s likely making them wonder: What should I know if I want to buy a house now? So — as part of our series where we ask...
3 Simple Rules To Raise Kind Kids
Parents spend a lot of time telling their kids to be nice to others — especially when siblings are involved. But raising kids who are kind takes more than scolding meanness. Kind kids must be attuned to the emotions of others and have a genuine concern for their wellbeing. Where niceness meets empathy, kindness is a seriously challenging lesson for parents to pass on to their kids. Luckily, it is possible to train kindness into kids....
Cinco De Mayo: How did the holiday become more popular in the United States than Mexico?
Christian Gonzalez, 9, and Jayliah Villa, 7 perform Mexican folk dance with Baile Folklorico Raices Mexicanas in Passaic, New Jersey, on Cinco de Mayo May 5, 2019. Look out for the sombreros, margaritas and everyone saying “gracias” at your local Mexican restaurant on May 5, Cinco de Mayo, when many celebrate the “biggest Mexican holiday of the year.” Leer en Español Except it isn’t. That’s Sept....
Shadow of Jupiter’s largest moon looms in magnificent new Juno photo
NASA’s Juno spacecraft imaged Jupiter and Ganymede during the mission’s 40th close pass by the giant planet on Feb. 25, 2022. (Image credit: Image data: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS Image processing by Thomas Thomopoulos © CC BY) Giant Jupiter and the shadow of its biggest moon, Ganymede, dominate the view in this latest image from the system based on a NASA spacecraft’s data. NASA’s Juno mission whizzed close...
La Plata Electric Round Up Foundation Board approves $45,500 in grants to local non-profits in Q1 2022
DURANGO, Colo. – The La Plata Electric Round Up Foundation Board approved 13 grants totaling $45,500 to local non-profit organizations at its meetings in January, February, and March of 2022. The Animas Alano Club, Durango Education Foundation, Durango Nordic Ski Club, Housing Solutions of the Southwest, In the Weeds, Pine River Shares, Southwest Organization for Sustainability, and Upper San Juan Search and Rescue were awarded...
LPEA awards $102,000 in scholarships to nine local high school seniors
DURANGO, Colo. – La Plata Electric Association (LPEA) awarded $102,000 in scholarships to nine local high-school seniors to support their continued education. The cooperative received 56 applications for this year’s scholarship programs. Recipients were selected based on merit by a local committee comprised of 13 individuals from across LPEA’s four districts. “It’s so important to the future of our communities that employers support a...
8 Things You Need to Know Right Now
Are you ready to step out of your comfort zone? By Adonis Lenzy Entering a new season in life can be very exciting and frightening at the same time. A new season can bring with it a plethora of different emotions and thoughts that tend to bombard your mind and spirit constantly. There is also that underlying sense of simply not knowing what’s ahead of you and for you. Not knowing what’s ahead will either cause you to stay in your...
Our Thinking Can Let Us Down
Leaders – anyone – have the potential for moments of extraordinary brilliance, and moments of astonishing stupidity. We like to be seen as smart, quick-learners, self-reflective, and humble. Must of us cringe when we make mistakes (at least internally) – so much so, that our brains often cover them up. Yes, humans are quite capable of errors, poor reasoning, jumping to conclusions, and so on. Even people brilliant in one area can...
Omicron Variant: What You Need to Know
Omicron in the United States CDC is working with state and local public health officials to monitor the spread of Omicron. As of December 20, 2021, Omicron had been detected in most states and territories and continues to be the dominant variant in the United States. What We Know about Omicron CDC has been collaborating with global public health and industry partners to learn about Omicron, as we continue to monitor its course....
Full Wolf Moon, the first full moon of 2022, rises tonight
The first full moon of 2022 rises tonight (Jan. 17) alongside the Martin Luther King holiday in the United States and you can expect a dazzling (if chilly) view of Earth’s neighbor, weather permitting. The January full moon, also known as the full Wolf Moon, reaches its peak tonight at 6:48 p.m. EST (1148 GMT). However, skywatchers will begin to see the moon rise about 24 minutes before sunset. For New York City observers, the...
Living with Wolves – Photographic Exhibit
December 18, 2021-March 27, 2022 Location: Historic Boiler Room The Living with Wolves exhibit offers you a rare glimpse inside the lives of wolves. Jim and Jamie Dutcher documented the lives of the wolves of the Sawtooth Pack on the edge of Idaho’s Sawtooth Wilderness. This photographic exhibit explores the science of wolves, vividly depicting wolf family interactions and providing important insights about wolf behavior, ecological...
Massachusetts schools are using dogs to detect Covid-19
(CNN)A Massachusetts school district has invited two new police officers to patrol its buildings, only these cops have four paws and aren’t detecting crime. They’re detecting Covid. A pair of specially-trained dogs, 14-month-old labs named Huntah and Duke, began their training in May 2021, and now roam the halls of schools in the Freetown-Lakeville Regional School District. The Bristol County Sheriff’s Office worked...
What existed before the Big Bang?
How our Universe was born from nothing or if there was something that existed before it remains a mystery, but that is not stopping some physicists from trying to figure it out. My understanding is that nothing comes from nothing. For something to exist, there must be material or a component available, and for them to be available, there must be something else available. Where did the material come from that created the Big...
7 amazing foods that cleanse your liver naturally
Most of us have an overworked liver that needs a little detox love here and there… Here are some of the best natural foods that will cleanse your liver naturally… 7 powerful foods that cleanse your liver naturally (new article from our friends at PaleoHacks) The Death of Black Coffee: Latest studies have found that 1 tiny tweak to your morning coffee puts your body into fat-burning mode for the rest of the...
Durango School District 9-R and LPEA launch Colorado’s first vehicle-to-grid enabled electric school bus
DURANGO, Colo. – Durango School District 9-R and La Plata Electric Association (LPEA) will today launch the area’s first electric – and Colorado’s first vehicle-to-grid (V2G) enabled – school bus. In February 2021, District 9-R was awarded a grant of $328,803 through the Regional Air Quality Council’s (RAQC) ALT Fuels Colorado program. Augmented with $120,000 from LPEA to cover electric charging infrastructure, the...
Do You Have A Winter Health Issue Or COVID-19? Here’s How To Tell.
There are telltale signs that differentiate winter allergies from COVID-19. (Photo: Antonio_Diaz via Getty Images) Ah, winter ― a time where we find ourselves constantly asking if we’re sick or if it’s just a reaction to the weather and all that comes with it. And during the coronavirus pandemic, those average winter symptoms feel even more alarming. “As we go into these winter months, symptoms may be due to different...
7 Ways to Make Your Morning Coffee Rock
Millions of people around the world don’t consider their day to be started before their morning cup of joe. Great news for coffee lovers, this energizing and delicious drink is super healthy and can deliver a major helping of antioxidants. One caution, however, taking a daily trip to Starbucks for your extra caramel frappuccino doesn’t count and is incredibly detrimental to your health due to the high sugar content and...
How many stars are in the universe?
Look up at the sky on a clear night, and you’ll see thousands of stars – about 6,000 or so. But that’s only a tiny fraction of all the stars out there. The rest are too far away for us to see them. The universe, galaxies, stars Yet astronomers like me have figured out how to estimate the total number of stars in the universe, which is everything that exists. Scattered throughout the universe are galaxies – clusters of...
U.S. says ivory-billed woodpecker, 22 other species extinct
An ivory-billed woodpecker specimen is on a display at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco on Sept. 24, 2021. | Haven Daley/AP Photo BILLINGS, Mont. — Death’s come knocking a last time for the splendid ivory-billed woodpecker and 22 more birds, fish and other species: The U.S. government is declaring them extinct. It’s a rare move for wildlife officials to give up hope on a plant or animal, but government...