WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.160
Good morning, I'm Micah Finch.

2
00:00:02.160 --> 00:00:04.040
It's Monday, September 28th,

3
00:00:04.040 --> 00:00:06.760
and this is your LawlWhat.net morning briefing.

4
00:00:06.760 --> 00:00:08.520
This is a catch-up edition.

5
00:00:08.520 --> 00:00:10.960
First, Hawaii, where a hurricane's track

6
00:00:10.960 --> 00:00:12.880
tells only part of the story.

7
00:00:12.880 --> 00:00:15.000
The Associated Press reported on Sunday

8
00:00:15.000 --> 00:00:17.440
that Nala was moving away from the islands,

9
00:00:17.440 --> 00:00:19.280
while heavy rain, flash flooding,

10
00:00:19.280 --> 00:00:21.500
and strong winds remained a concern.

11
00:00:21.500 --> 00:00:25.020
The forecast kept the center well to the south and southwest.

12
00:00:25.020 --> 00:00:26.800
That did not keep the outer rain bands

13
00:00:26.800 --> 00:00:28.600
from affecting communities.

14
00:00:28.600 --> 00:00:31.740
On Saturday, flooding partly closed a main highway

15
00:00:31.740 --> 00:00:34.900
connecting the western and eastern sides of the Big Island.

16
00:00:34.900 --> 00:00:37.280
More than 120 National Guard numbers

17
00:00:37.280 --> 00:00:38.680
had been activated there,

18
00:00:38.680 --> 00:00:42.020
within a statewide deployment of roughly 400.

19
00:00:42.020 --> 00:00:44.020
The strain is cumulative.

20
00:00:44.020 --> 00:00:46.760
Residents were still recovering from Hurricane Lala,

21
00:00:46.760 --> 00:00:50.200
and utility crews had returned from recovery work on Kauai

22
00:00:50.200 --> 00:00:52.320
to respond to Nalo elsewhere.

23
00:00:52.320 --> 00:00:54.880
Independent local reporting by Big Island Now,

24
00:00:54.880 --> 00:00:57.760
published on Friday, adds a practical detail.

25
00:00:57.760 --> 00:00:59.800
The county had cleared channels and culverts,

26
00:00:59.800 --> 00:01:01.520
and used debris to build barriers

27
00:01:01.520 --> 00:01:04.980
intended to steer overflowing water away from communities.

28
00:01:04.980 --> 00:01:07.920
Water officials were also positioning generators at wells

29
00:01:07.920 --> 00:01:09.480
and filling tanks.

30
00:01:09.480 --> 00:01:12.720
Those preparations show why recovery involves roads,

31
00:01:12.720 --> 00:01:14.940
water, and electricity working together.

32
00:01:14.940 --> 00:01:19.920
There is also a quieter technology story underneath all that water, how scientists measure where

33
00:01:19.920 --> 00:01:22.160
water goes once it leaves the clouds.

34
00:01:22.160 --> 00:01:26.760
NASA's account of the original GRACE mission describes an ingenious method.

35
00:01:26.760 --> 00:01:31.540
Two satellites flew in sequence, about 220 kilometers apart.

36
00:01:31.540 --> 00:01:34.320
They measured tiny changes in the distance between them.

37
00:01:34.320 --> 00:01:38.300
A region with more mass exerts a slightly stronger gravitational pull.

38
00:01:38.300 --> 00:01:40.320
The leading satellite responds first.

39
00:01:40.320 --> 00:01:42.120
The second follows.

40
00:01:42.120 --> 00:01:47.040
Measuring that changing separation helps scientists map differences in Earth's gravity.

41
00:01:47.040 --> 00:01:50.960
Instruments also account for other forces, such as atmospheric drag.

42
00:01:50.960 --> 00:01:55.320
Much of the change over shorter periods comes from water moving among land, oceans, ice

43
00:01:55.320 --> 00:01:57.160
and the atmosphere.

44
00:01:57.160 --> 00:02:00.880
That makes gravity measurements useful for studying changing water stores, including

45
00:02:00.880 --> 00:02:02.800
groundwater and ice.

46
00:02:02.800 --> 00:02:06.200
NASA explained this in its 2004 fact sheet.

47
00:02:06.200 --> 00:02:10.600
The maps described there were monthly averages, giving scientists a way to study changes over

48
00:02:10.600 --> 00:02:12.000
time.

49
00:02:12.000 --> 00:02:15.880
Global flood warnings answer a different immediate question, what is happening around people

50
00:02:15.880 --> 00:02:16.880
now?

51
00:02:16.880 --> 00:02:21.280
It is a wonderfully indirect measurement, follow two spacecraft very closely, and learn

52
00:02:21.280 --> 00:02:22.800
something about water far below.

53
00:02:23.400 --> 00:02:27.960
Across the Pacific, a separate storm was approaching Mexico.

54
00:02:27.960 --> 00:02:33.680
Polo was a Category 3 hurricane in the Sunday afternoon report, with maximum sustained winds

55
00:02:33.680 --> 00:02:37.080
of 125 miles an hour.

56
00:02:37.080 --> 00:02:41.720
Mexico's weather service expected it to make landfall on the Baja California Peninsula

57
00:02:41.720 --> 00:02:43.120
on Monday.

58
00:02:43.120 --> 00:02:47.620
The timing was a forecast, with preparations already underway.

59
00:02:47.620 --> 00:02:53.320
The Mexican Navy said it had assembled personnel and humanitarian supplies at two Pacific ports

60
00:02:53.840 --> 00:03:00.660
and deployed three vessels able to carry aid to coastal communities that might become isolated.

61
00:03:00.660 --> 00:03:06.180
One place preparing was San Juanico, a small fishing community on Baja's Pacific coast.

62
00:03:06.180 --> 00:03:10.860
Associated Press reported that the army had arrived to prepare a shelter, and an electrical

63
00:03:10.860 --> 00:03:12.940
crew was getting ready too.

64
00:03:12.940 --> 00:03:15.580
The practical concern there went beyond the wind.

65
00:03:15.580 --> 00:03:20.940
Damaged roads could interrupt access to a medical facility roughly 80 minutes away.

66
00:03:20.940 --> 00:03:25.360
That is why the preparations include transport, power, and shelter together.

67
00:03:25.360 --> 00:03:29.720
A storm does not have to damage a clinic to make reaching care harder.

68
00:03:29.720 --> 00:03:33.480
Follow our live desk at lulwhat.net for verified updates.

69
00:03:33.600 --> 00:03:38.760
Turning to the everyday economics of a home, Deutsche Welle has compared how European cities

70
00:03:38.760 --> 00:03:41.000
try to make rents more affordable.

71
00:03:41.000 --> 00:03:43.600
The approaches tackle different parts of the bill.

72
00:03:43.600 --> 00:03:46.640
In Vienna, the city itself is a major landlord.

73
00:03:46.640 --> 00:03:54.000
DW cites city figures of about 220,000 municipal apartments, plus 200,000 subsidized homes.

74
00:03:54.000 --> 00:03:57.720
The scale reflects more than a century of public housing development.

75
00:03:57.720 --> 00:04:02.360
Basel takes another route, keep public land in public ownership, and lease it to housing

76
00:04:02.360 --> 00:04:04.760
cooperatives or other developers.

77
00:04:04.760 --> 00:04:08.720
The city can support housing without paying all the construction costs, while builders

78
00:04:08.720 --> 00:04:10.760
do not have to buy the land outright.

79
00:04:10.760 --> 00:04:16.080
Dublin's cost rental program reaches households earning too much for public housing, but struggling

80
00:04:16.080 --> 00:04:17.640
with private rents.

81
00:04:17.640 --> 00:04:21.440
Non-profits and public agencies rent out homes below market rates.

82
00:04:21.440 --> 00:04:26.000
DW cites a study finding an average discount of almost 30%.

83
00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:27.820
There is an instructive limit, though.

84
00:04:27.820 --> 00:04:32.580
At one new development outside Dublin last year, more than 4,200 applicants sought just

85
00:04:32.580 --> 00:04:34.660
104 apartments.

86
00:04:34.660 --> 00:04:37.460
That works out to more than 40 applicants for each home.

87
00:04:37.460 --> 00:04:40.940
A lower rent and an available home are separate achievements.

88
00:04:40.940 --> 00:04:44.980
Ownership, financing and eligibility can change what tenants pay.

89
00:04:44.980 --> 00:04:47.420
The number of homes determines how many people benefit.

90
00:04:47.650 --> 00:04:52.210
In the Middle East, Iran said on Sunday that diplomacy was the route to ending its conflict

91
00:04:52.210 --> 00:04:57.090
with the United States and Israel. That followed President Donald Trump's statement on Saturday

92
00:04:57.090 --> 00:05:02.130
that he had rejected an Iranian proposal covering the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and an end

93
00:05:02.130 --> 00:05:07.330
to fighting. Reuters reported a difference between the public statements and the diplomatic channel.

94
00:05:08.130 --> 00:05:13.170
Iran's foreign minister said mediators had not formally delivered an American rejection,

95
00:05:13.170 --> 00:05:16.610
and that Tehran was waiting for their definitive account of Washington's position.

96
00:05:17.650 --> 00:05:22.770
The proposal had been passed through Qatari mediators. As described by Iran, agreement

97
00:05:22.770 --> 00:05:27.330
would start a seven-day countdown to reopening the strait and a pause in regional fighting.

98
00:05:28.290 --> 00:05:33.250
That could lead to wider talks on mutually agreed subjects. The US envoy to the United

99
00:05:33.250 --> 00:05:38.610
Nations said the proposal demanded that sanctions be lifted and frozen assets released immediately.

100
00:05:39.570 --> 00:05:43.330
He said the president was unconvinced that Iran would then negotiate in good faith

101
00:05:43.330 --> 00:05:47.010
over its nuclear program. Iran's president meanwhile,

102
00:05:47.010 --> 00:05:50.450
said Tehran was prepared to discuss that program and other issues.

103
00:05:51.410 --> 00:05:57.170
The practical question is the sequence, what each side would do first, and what would follow. Reuters

104
00:05:57.170 --> 00:06:01.410
reported sharply reduced shipping through the strait. That makes the order of concessions

105
00:06:01.410 --> 00:06:04.050
consequential for trade, as well as diplomacy.

106
00:06:04.200 --> 00:06:11.560
And, finally, two rather conspicuous new arrivals. Giant pandas Ping Ping and Fu Shuang reached

107
00:06:11.560 --> 00:06:17.920
Atlanta from China on Sunday, aboard a dedicated cargo aircraft. Associated Press reports that

108
00:06:17.920 --> 00:06:23.120
the adults are on a ten-year loan to Zoo Atlanta, under an agreement with the China Wildlife

109
00:06:23.120 --> 00:06:28.840
Conservation Association. Both pandas were born in 2020 and had been living at the Chengdu

110
00:06:28.840 --> 00:06:35.320
Research Base. Atlanta's previous pandas left in 2024, so the arrival ends a gap of roughly

111
00:06:35.320 --> 00:06:40.720
two years. AP says the new agreement makes Atlanta one of three American zoos housing

112
00:06:40.720 --> 00:06:46.080
giant pandas. There is a diplomatic story wrapped around the animal story. The agreement

113
00:06:46.080 --> 00:06:51.300
was announced in April, without an arrival date. China's president, Xi Jinping, then

114
00:06:51.300 --> 00:06:56.640
announced during his Washington visit that the pandas would arrive within days. AP describes

115
00:06:56.640 --> 00:07:00.720
the loan as one of the few concrete outcomes of a summit that produced expressions of

116
00:07:00.720 --> 00:07:06.200
goodwill, without resolving longstanding differences between China and the United States. China

117
00:07:06.200 --> 00:07:11.560
has long used panda loans as gestures of goodwill. AP notes that agreements have also been allowed

118
00:07:11.560 --> 00:07:17.320
to lapse, when relations were strained. That gives this arrival a specific diplomatic meaning.

119
00:07:17.320 --> 00:07:22.720
A particular program is going ahead, even as the wider relationship remains complicated.

120
00:07:22.720 --> 00:07:27.840
For Atlanta though, the immediate outcome is easy to recognize. Pandas are back.

121
00:07:27.840 --> 00:07:29.920
I'm Micah Finch. Thanks for listening.