SAN FRANCISCO — Pat Spencer practiced Thursday morning in Santa Cruz and arrived in Chase Center about an hour before Golden State’s game against the Lakers. It’s a commute he’ll have the pleasure of getting used to now.
Spencer, regarded as one of the greatest college lacrosse players of all time, officially signed a two-way contract with the Warriors on Thursday. Speaking from his new locker, plastered with jersey No. 61 in Warriors branding, he said this development in his unique career arc is just the beginning.
“I think for me, it’s just another step in the journey,” Spencer, 27, told this news organization. “I think the goal is obviously to make the final roster at some point, get a real contract. But this is an opportunity to get my foot in the door with a great organization.”
Spencer took a two-way roster spot previously occupied by Lester Quinones, who was promoted to a standard deal. As a two-way player, Spencer will make a prorated portion of half a rookie minimum salary and spend time with both the Warriors and their G League affiliate in Santa Cruz. Although he hasn’t yet accomplished his ultimate goals, even getting to this point is historic.
Just five years ago, Spencer won the 2019 Tewaaraton Award — the Heisman Trophy of lacrosse — for Loyola Maryland. He led the nation in points that senior year and still claims the record for most career assists in Division I history. Even back then, he could envision himself playing in the NBA, he said Thursday.
“Competitively, as an individual I don’t put any limits on myself,” Spencer said. “I knew it was going to be a long journey, lot of hard work. It’s still a journey. But competitively, I never doubt myself.”
After that season, he used his graduate transfer eligibility to play basketball at Northwestern, pursuing his long-held dream. He has said that he considers basketball and lacrosse as similar sports and some skills, like vision and anticipation, are transferrable. Steve Kerr praised his motor, outside shooting stroke and basketball IQ. Rookie Trayce Jackson-Davis complimented his work ethic and leadership skills.
Spencer played a bit of pro ball in Germany after Northwestern and then broke into the G League with the Wizards’ affiliate in 2021. He’s been in the Warriors organization for the past two years, though injuries cut into his experience. A fractured wrist ended his 2023 season prematurely, and he also underwent hip surgery in March.
But now Spencer is fully healthy and eager. Even if it doesn’t pan out, his untaken path to the NBA can provide a lesson.
“Just don’t put limits on yourself,” Spencer said. “Obviously, you’ve got to be passionate about what you’re doing. I just have such a desire and passion for the game, it just made sense for me to get after it and pursue what I love to do.”
For all the work that can go into it — the cleaning, the sorting, the (depending on where you live) hauling to the dump — recycling plastic can feel futile. Even if you manage to dispose of used plastic properly, skimming the news or walking on a beach quickly makes it seem like practically no one else is.
It’s true that only a very small amount of plastic is ever recycled, just 5 to 6% in 2021, while the vast majority ends up in landfills, with the rest getting incinerated or ending up in the ocean.
And according to a report released last week, the plastic industry (which is an arm of the oil and gas industry) has known that recycling would never be a large-scale, widespread option for its products — but the industry went ahead and promoted it as an environmentally friendly solution nonetheless.
The report is full of maddening quotes, like the Exxon employee who, in 1994, told a plastic-industry trade group, “We are committed to the activities [of plastics recycling], but not committed to the results.”
Thirty years later, that mindset has led not only to the proliferation of plastics in every aspect of modern life, but it’s expected that by 2050, fully half of oil and gas production will be devoted to producing plastic that will not (and largely cannot) be recycled. And on both the front and back end of the plastic lifecycle, both production and disposal, it’s Black and brown Americans who bear most of the toxic pollution that is part and parcel with plastics.
A byproduct of refining fossil fuels, plastic production shares a geographic footprint with the oil and gas industry, with major concentrations along the Gulf Coast, as well as California and Ohio. Houston, a famously diverse city that is nearly a quarter Black, is home to more than 40% of U.S. petrochemical manufacturing (which included plastic production), while there is also infamously a concentration of plastics plants along the stretch of the Mississippi River in southeastern Louisiana known as Cancer Alley, where many of the towns are predominantly Black.
So-called fenceline communities that sit practically on top of industrial facilities in these areas are exposed to very high levels of the chemicals produced by the plastic manufacturing process, including carcinogens like benzene and vinyl chloride. Some communities in Cancer Alley have cancer rates that are 44% higher than the national average.
While the public health effects of plastic manufacturing are relatively well known, particularly since Black communities in Cancer Alley have had major victories in organizing against new plants in the area, the disposal end of the plastic lifecycle is talked about less. While the various ways of getting rid of plastic produce smaller amounts of pollution (relatively speaking), they do still affect nearby communities — and whether it’s a landfill or an incinerator, those communities are still disproportionately Black and brown.
When plastic items end up in landfills, the material breaks down without ever fully decomposing, generating more and more microplastics as time goes by. Those tiny plastic particles can then escape from the landfill in the leachate (as the contaminated water that seeps out from landfills is called) that runs off from it and into the surrounding vicinity.
When plastics are burned in incinerators as a means of disposal, they not only emit large quantities of greenhouse gas emissions but also a host of other chemical pollutants too (because facilities burn waste on the whole, not plastics specific, it’s harder to say what, specifically, the plastics are responsible for). And nearly 80% of the remaining waste incinerators in the country are located in communities that are poor and/or Black and brown, and are oftentimes the single largest source of pollution in the area.
With plastic production only expected to increase, and the notion of large-scale recycling of plastic now exposed to be a convenient myth, it seems clear that single-use is all the industry is really capable of — which is worse for Black people — and the planet.
Alex Jones breaks down Big Tech’s latest attack against white people, with AI systems actively attempting to erase them from history.
Chase Geiser joins Alex Jones live to discuss how Google’s AI program, Gemini, refuses to depict white people in a positive light, changing history itself to remove them from its results.
RELATED: Google’s Woke AI Image Generator Refuses to Create White People
President Bola Tinubu has approved the appointment of new executive commissioners, directors and chief executive officers to serve in key agencies under the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy.
The appointments, announced by Chief Ajuri Ngelale, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, aim to elevate the impact of the digital economy sector on the nation’s socio-economic development.
For the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Abraham Oshadami has been appointed as Executive Commissioner, Technical Services while Rimini Makama will serve as Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management.
President Tinubu named Opeyemi Dele-Ajayi as the new President/CEO of Digital Bridge Institute.
At the Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited (NIGCOMSAT), Abiodun Attah was appointed the new Executive Director, Technical Services.
Aisha Abdullahi will take over as Executive Director, Finance and Administration and Jaiyeola Awokoya was appointed Executive Director, Marketing and Business Development.
For Galaxy Backbone Limited (GBB), Ibrahim Adepoju Adeyanju is the new Managing Director/CEO.
Others are Mohammed Sani Ibrahim, Executive Director, Finance and Corporate Services; Olusegun Olulade, Executive Director, Customer Centricity and Marketing and Olumbe Akinkugbe, Executive Director, Digital Exploration and Technical Services.
Ngelale said President Tinubu expects “excellent service” delivery from the appointees in their respective places of assignment.
Tinubu Appoints New Executives For NCC, NIGCOMSAT, Galaxy Backbone, Digital Bridge Institute is first published on The Whistler Newspaper
Boos and jeers are a standard feature in the pageantry of wrestling. But was the jeering of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson at a World Wrestling Entertainment event linked to his support for President Joe Biden?
A Feb. 11 Instagram video that shared a clip of the actor and wrestler being booed said he is “a Joe Biden lover” and included a hammer-and-sickle graphic, a communist symbol. The video’s text said, “The Rock gets angry — gets MASSIVE BOOS from fans in Las Vegas. Rock is a Joe Biden lover. Rock supports Joe Biden.”
The post’s comments say the “Black Adam” and “Scorpion King” star’s “endorsement of sleepy Joe has cost him fans,” and that he is “another American who is anti America.”
The Instagram post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)
Johnson was booed during a Feb. 8 Las Vegas press conference to promote WrestleMania 40, which will take place in April. WWE performances are scripted and dramatized; the boos were because of Johnson’s role as a villain in Philadelphia at WrestleMania 40, Johnson said in an X post.
Johnson was replying to a Feb. 9 X post with different claims about the crowd’s boos by conservative podcast host Nick Sortor, who wrote in all caps, “Crowd in Vegas boos ‘The Rock’ demanding he follow through with aid for Maui.” Johnson had established a fund with Oprah Winfrey to support Maui wildfire victims in his home state of Hawaii. Sortor’s X post also said “many victims still have not seen a dime” and that the crowd chanted “MAUI! MAUI! MAUI!”
Johnson reposted Sortor’s post on Feb. 11, describing it as “toxic, false clickbait garbage.” Johnson said the boos were because “I turned ‘heel’ — wrestling parlance for bad guy. I’m playing it up with our crowd as they boo. It’s what we do in our WWE universe, and we all love every second of it.”
PolitiFact reviewed an event livestream, and it did not show the crowd chanting “Maui.”
Johnson endorsed Biden in the 2020 elections but has not endorsed anyone in the 2024 presidential election.
We rate the claim that Johnson was booed in Las Vegas because he’s a Biden supporter False.
It used to be that you could visit Machu Picchu more than once on the same ticket —entering the Incan ruins at daybreak and then circling back around to see the afternoon sun cast its light on different facets of the jagged landscape and its 500-year-old relics. You could also come without a guide, following your curiosity or a stray alpaca around the expansive grounds. But no matter how you went, lots of planning was required—typically through third parties who controlled the ticketing systems and imposed on it a web of opaque rules and regulations.
The ability to visit without a guide and enter multiple times are both long gone — ditched years ago in an effort to curb excessive foot traffic and bad behavior.
But now there’s good news. As Peru’s tourism industry attempts to recover after an extended post-pandemic lull, the country is trying to make the process of visiting the site easier and more transparent. A state-run ticketing website is in the works for all Machu Picchu visits, and the Peruvian government is also increasing the number of daily visitors allowed entry into the Inca citadel. Officials say the plan is slated to roll out by April. In addition, new circuits introduced in 2021 split the site into four separate walking paths to help prevent overcrowding.
The changes come at a delicate time. While neighboring countries such as Colombia and Brazil are setting new tourism records, Peru remains stuck at 60% of its pre-pandemic international visitation levels. And while Machu Picchu is a main tourism driver to the country, it may not be in the heritage site’s best interest to substantially increase the number of visitors. Before the global shutdown, it saw some 1.5 million annual tourists; about 950,000 visited in 2023.
Complicating the recovery have been several protests throughout the Cusco region over the last year. A one-week strike in January shut down public transportation to Machu Picchu for more than a week, leaving tourists stranded.
The strike — which concerned the new Machu Picchu ticketing system — was quickly resolved and transit has since been restored. But coming after a series of more widespread, politically motivated protests last year, it fueled perceptions of continued disruption, forcing operators in the area to reassure their guests that the current situation would be stable during their trips. “The issues last year were far more serious and widespread than the current situation in Machu Picchu, which is very local and contained,” says Fernando Rodriguez, general manager for Peru at Intrepid Travel.
Despite the shaky publicity, Machu Picchu is poised to have a big year. Bookings for the upcoming tourist season, which stretches from April to October, are far outpacing last year’s figures. Intrepid Travel noted a 55% increase in bookings made in February from the same period in 2023, while luxury operator Jacada Travel’s bookings from December through early February were up 100% year-on-year. And if the protests gave potential visitors pause last year, that seems to blowing over: Cusco-based Alpaca Expeditions has noted that only 5% of its prospective guests are voiced concern over protests when gauging whether to book a trip.
The majestic Huayna Picchu towers over the ancient ruins of Machu Picchu in the high jungle of Peru. (Colleen Thomas/TNS)
More likely to impact visitors will be the increased numbers of daily visitors allowed at Machu Picchu. The system rolling out in April will raise the maximum number of tickets to 5,600 on certain dates during high season, up from 4,044. That increase, confirmed by Peru’s tourism board in an emailed statement without further comment, runs contrary to Unesco recommendations, which call for a limit of 2,244 visitors per day in order to best preserve the site.
Given all the rule changes — and the potential for larger crowds — planning a trip to Machu Picchu this year will look substantially different than it has before. Here’s what you need to know to ensure a smooth trip.
Map out your journey
The first thing to figure out for any trip is timing — and with Machu Picchu it can be an especially important consideration. Here, the dry season runs from May to October, with June through August being the most popular. (Think: American summer vacations.) While it’s hard to skip crowds entirely, shoulder months such as April or November could be your best bets if you’re trying to avoid a big rush. You may get a bit of rain, but with that can come uncrowded footpaths and the possibility of rainbows.
If you can outsource all the planning, do. Relying on your luxury hotel or a tour operator is the best way to take the stress out of handling the many pieces of the puzzle —including tickets and guides. Should disruptions occur along the way, licensed providers are best positioned to find alternative, safe routes to and from Machu Picchu.
As for where to stay: It used to be that the best hotels for a visit to Machu Picchu were in Aguas Calientes, the town at the foot of the site. Now there are many decadent options throughout the Sacred Valley — the mountainous area between Cusco and Machu Picchu — which offer access to a wide array of glacial hiking trails, cultural experiences and Incan ruins. (We loved Explora Sacred Valley.)
Figure out how you prefer to get around. After flying into Cusco, it’s easy enough to have your hotel arrange a car transfer. But some hotels, like the riverside Tambo del Inka, part of The Luxury Collection, have an on-site train station, making it possible to nix the winding drive for a scenic ride on PeruRail’s Sacred Valley train route.
Regardless, leave time to acclimate to the altitude — which varies across the region but is typically around 9,000 feet. That extra time will double as a buffer for any travel hiccups — a practice that will bring added peace of mind when your entire trip is built around an activity you can’t reschedule.
Note that if you’re opting to DIY your trip, you should buy Machu Picchu tickets before booking anything else. (It’s like planning a trip to Copenhagen only after you get a table reservation at Noma.) And seats on PeruRail or Inca Rail should be booked at least a month out, especially if you’re intent on a luxurious ride on Belmond’s Hiram Bingham train, which includes gourmet meal service and live Peruvian music.
Know the Machu Picchu circuits
Buying tickets to Machu Picchu now requires opting in to a particular circuit —something you may miss if you’re not reading the fine print. (Until the new ticketing website launches in April, this is done via the Tuboleto.cultura.pe website; to avoid glitches, navigate in Spanish by choosing “tarifa general” from the first drop down list. The rest is intuitive.)
Confusingly, Circuits 1 and 2 are sold as one single option. (Also confusing: both are called “Llaqta de Machupicchu.”) They’re the most popular choice — these trails climb along Machu Picchu’s upper platforms and lead to the most iconic panoramic views. Circuit 3 takes visitors to the lower ruins of Machu Picchu, ideal for those with mobility issues. Other circuits are reserved for those doing more ambitious hiking tours, like trekking the Inka Trail.
If someone tries to steer you toward skipping the online portal and getting a next-day ticket purchase instead, run the other way. While 1,000 of these last-minute tickets are sold daily at the cultural center in Aguas Calientes, it’s a risky proposition that has led to long lines and disappointment for many travelers.
And be aware: All these updates may be short-lived. The impact of tourism growth on Machu Picchu has been a pressing issue dating as far back as 1999, when Unesco first expressed concern that excess visitation could increase the risk of landslides and endanger the entire destination. Master plans to sustainably manage the site have come and gone, with a new one currently in the works. Unesco declined to comment on the new ticket caps, but a spokesperson said that it expects Peru to comply with the aforementioned recommendation to reduce visitation by December — setting up a potential showdown later this year.
In a demonstration of engagement and support in education, thousands of fathers and male figures across more than 100 cities in 31 states accompanied their children to school last September. They showed up and showed out to signify the importance of fathers and their presence in all aspects of their children’s lives.
The event, called The Million Fathers March, brought out an estimated 64,8000 participants, according to Fathers Incorporated, an Atlanta-based non-profit supporting fathers through services and programming.
What demographic had the largest turnout that late summer day? Black men, Kenneth Braswell, CEO of Fathers Incorporated, says.
“If you stand outside of any low-income school in this country, including D.C., and you watch the cars that come around to drop off children, I guarantee you the vast majority of people that you will see dropping off children will be Black men,” Braswell tells Word In Black.
Parenthood looks different from years past. Importantly, who stays home and who does not has also changed.
Nearly a quarter of children under 15 with married parents have a stay-at-home mother, while 1% have a stay-at-home father, according to November 2023 data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Regardless of marital status, dads now represent 18% of all stay-at-home parents, a Pew Research Center analysis found, up from 11% in 1989.
Some are retired or in school, others are unable to find work. A majority of men today said they took on this role in their families because they are ill or disabled. They also increasingly said they wanted to take care of their homes and families.
White men make up a larger share of stay-at-home dads at 50% of the group, followed by 21% of Hispanic fathers. Black fathers “are a larger share of stay-at-home dads than they are of working dads.”
Why Black Men Are Staying Home
An increase in stay-at-home dads, especially among Black men, does not surprise Braswell. A decade ago, research from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found Black fathers were most likely, at 70%, to “have bathed, dressed, diapered, or helped their children use the toilet every day,” compared with white and Hispanic fathers.
He says flexible schedules, thanks to entrepreneurial endeavors, the availability of part-time work, the gig economy, and remote work, allow dads to show up and be more engaged. But this is only one aspect.
The rising cost of childcare is likely pushing more parents, across genders, to stay home. In 2021, 17% of Black children under 5 lived with a family member who had to quit, change, or refuse a job because of issues with child care, according to a report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
William M. Rodgers III, vice president and director of the Institute for Economic Equity at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, says wages and non-labor income are two main factors behind the decision to work. Like Black women, Black men also face a wage gap, earning 80% of the median earnings of white men.
“Maybe they decide to stay home because the wage offer they’re getting is not high enough to induce them to want to work,” Rodgers says. “It could be that they have other sources of income. If they’re married, it may be that their wife is garnering a higher wage.”
Empowerment and smashing glass ceilings by women could be another contributor, Braswell says, as well as embracing the idea of nurturing from men, which is positive for families and the economy.
“You’re not only growing productivity by investing in creating good young people who are going to be more productive,” Rodgers says. “These early childhood investments, particularly Head Start, if sustained, have longer lasting positive impacts.”
Find out what the hard-working men and women of America have to say!
The Real Trucker Jake joins Alex Jones, and they take calls from other truckers protesting NYC over its leftist policies and treatment of Donald Trump.
Amidst the challenges and hardship faced by Nigerians, President Bola Tinubu has said his administration remains uncompromising in executing necessary economic reforms to promote business growth and generate investment prospects that support Nigeria’s escalating population.
According to Tinubu, he believes the reforms are necessary to pave way for long-term growth and prosperity of the nation.
He made the statement while receiving a delegation from the Corporate Council on Africa (CCA) led by its President and CEO, Florizelle Liser, at the State House in Abuja on Thursday.
While acknowledging the current economic difficulties, President Tinubu expressed confidence in his administration’s ability to navigate the headwinds.
He identified the recent landing of a submarine fibre optic cable in Akwa Ibom State as a testament to the progress being made, emphasizing the importance of strategic partnerships and determination in overcoming developmental challenges.
”I am happy that the Council is interested in various segments of Nigeria’s economy. We are right in the middle of a challenging stage of our reforms. We have headwinds, no doubt, but we are not going back.
”We are challenged, and we believe we will overcome the challenges. I have a can-do attitude that must be translated into a must-do attitude. We have a good team, and we must remain focused to get the goal accomplished,” Tinubu was quoted by spokesman, Chief Ajuri Ngelale, to have told his quests.
According Ngelale, Tinubu reaffirmed his commitment to creating an enabling environment for business to thrive, emphasizing that his administration’s focus on investing in key sectors, such as agriculture, solid minerals, energy, health, physical infrastructure, trade promotion, financial services, digital enterprise, and the creative economy is underpinned by the need to ensure the welfare and prosperity of citizens.
”We are going to do more on security and investing in education, as we believe that education is the greatest weapon against poverty. We welcome partners like CCA, and we will strengthen our partnership to achieve our goals,” he said.
Liser, on behalf of the CCA, expressed commitment to supporting Nigeria’s economic growth through the eight priority areas outlined by President Tinubu.
She extended an invitation to Tinubu to participate in the upcoming US-Africa Business Summit in Dallas, Texas, and reiterated the CCA’s desire to be a partner in enhancing US-Nigeria trade, business, and investment.
Despite Economic Hardship, Tinubu Says No Going Back On Reforms is first published on The Whistler Newspaper
Heavy rain pounded much of California beginning Feb. 18, leaving about 37 million people across the state under flood alerts at one point, according to news reports.
Some social media users baselessly tied the wet weather to a pilot cloud seeding program — a type of weather modification — that’s intended to increase precipitation and thus, the state’s water supply.
A Feb. 19 Instagram post shared a video with sticker text that read, “The rain in California.”
“California, check this out. This may be the reason your weather is off lately,” a man in the video said.
The video shows a woman speaking at a public meeting about a Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority cloud seeding program. She said there could be unintended consequences of cloud seeding, such as an increase in urban flooding and said the silver iodide used in the process is toxic.
The original video received more than 2 million views on TikTok. We found other social media posts making similar connections between the storms and the cloud seeding program.
This Instagram post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)
The Watershed Project Authority launched a four-year cloud seeding pilot program in November that will target four mountain areas in Southern California chosen for their contribution to seasonal runoff. Its goal is to increase the water supply in the Santa Ana River watershed, the region’s largest river basin. Cloud seeding works by releasing silver iodide particles into the clouds during storms to increase precipitation.
But the Instagram post misleads both about the cloud seeding program’s connection to recent storms and silver iodide’s safety.
A storm fueled by an atmospheric river — narrow corridors packed with water vapor that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration calls “rivers in the sky” — dumped buckets of rain, heavy winds and snow across California for three days beginning Feb. 18. In early February, similar back-to-back storms pummeled California, the second of which triggered hundreds of landslides in Los Angeles and killed at least nine people.
However, no cloud seeding took place during the two most recent severe storms, said Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority spokesperson Melissa Bustamonte.
“Cloud seeding was not performed during the Feb 3-8 storm events. These storm events were determined to be either too large or too close in succession to cloud seed,” Bustamonte said. “Also, the storm event of Feb 18-19 was not seeded either.”
The authority’s website lists the dates and areas where cloud seeding took place. The last cloud seeding happened Feb. 1, the website shows. Southern California that day was drenched by a storm dubbed a “Pineapple Express” — meaning an atmospheric river originating from Hawaii.
“During the February 1 storm event, cloud seeding operations occurred in target areas within the San Gabriel Mountains, San Bernardino Mountains, and San Jacinto Mountains to increase snowpack,” Bustamonte said in an email.
The pilot program targets four mountainous areas surrounding the watershed in Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties to enhance snowpack at those high elevations during storms, Bustamonte said.
The program does not seed areas in Los Angeles, Ventura or San Diego counties, she said.
The pilot program has “suspension criteria,” safeguards that prevent cloud seeding when there are potentially hazardous weather conditions, according to a report produced for the Watershed Authority in 2020.
“The objective of suspension is to eliminate the real and/or perceived impact of weather modification when any increase in precipitation has the potential of creating or contributing to a significant flood hazard,” the report said.
Experts told PolitiFact the recent storms have no connection to the cloud seeding program, and that the silver iodide used in the process is considered safe.
“You only have to look at a satellite image to see where the rain is coming from,” said Gudrun Magnusdottir, a University of California, Irvine earth system science professor. She pointed to massive weather systems that have associated atmospheric rivers.
“No attempts at cloud seeding in some mountain region would cause such widespread precipitation as we are witnessing all over California,” Magnusdottir said.
Adele Igel, an associate professor in the University of California, Davis’ Department of Land, Air and Water Resources, said cloud seeding does not change general weather patterns.
She said estimates from the Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority feasibility study show that ground-based seeding could increase precipitation by up to 4.5%.
“This means that if an area would have received one inch of precipitation without seeding, it would instead receive 1.045 inches with cloud seeding,” Igel said. “The cloud seeding then is not the determining factor for heavy rain.”
Igel also said the silver iodide used in the cloud seeding “is harmless to the environment.”
A pilot program fact sheet said more than 50 years of research has shown no “measurable human or environmental effects resulting from the use of silver iodide.” The concentration of silver iodide in water or snow from a seeded cloud “is nearly 1,000 times less than the Environmental Protection Agency standards,” the fact sheet said.
Our ruling
An Instagram post connected recent California storms and flooding to a pilot cloud seeding program underway in the state.
But the cloud seeding didn’t take place during the two most recent storms, and experts said it couldn’t cause the storms and heavy rainfall seen across the state. The claim is False.
