Why we have the Second Amendment

 

Do the math

Domestic Cats Age Like Humans, New Study Shows

Learning from our cats

By SCi.News Staff

Cats can live relatively long lives and there is some evidence they may share aging patterns with humans.

According to An Age, the maximum lifespan in humans (i.e. 122.5 years) is nearly twice that of great apes (e.g. 68 years in chimpanzees).

Domestic cats, like humans, also have a longer maximum lifespan (30 years) than closely related species, e.g. the European wildcat (Felis silvestris) (19 years).

Also, there are an estimated 600 million cats worldwide.

“We focus on cross-species age alignments across the lifespan of humans and cats with a particular focus on aging because cats live long lives and they are numerous, suggesting we may study them in large enough samples to assess whether their ages can be mapped onto a human in their 80s and beyond,” said Auburn University researcher Christine Charvet and colleagues.

For the study, the authors examined 3,754 data points collected across humans, cats and other mammalian species.

These data point covered brain imaging, blood chemistry, disease-related patterns and behavioral milestones such as eye opening and the onset of playful behavior.

The MRI work showed cats and humans share similar age-related changes in brain structure, including overall shrinkage, expansion of the ventricles (the hollow spaces inside the brain filled with fluid), and other structural alterations.

These brain changes are found in conditions commonly associated with aging. Both humans and older cats can develop age-related neurodegenerative changes later in life.

Colorectal Cancer Is Rising Fast in Younger Adults, Reversing Decades of Progress

Prevention and screening needed at earlier age

By American Cancer Society

For much of the past century, colorectal cancer was considered a disease of older age. But that picture is changing rapidly. Nearly half of all new colorectal cancer diagnoses in the United States now occur in adults younger than 65, a dramatic increase from just over one-quarter in the mid-1990s, and the disease has become the leading cause of cancer death in adults under 50.

A new American Cancer Society (ACS) report shows that this generational shift is accelerating. While colorectal cancer rates continue to decline among older Americans, they are climbing in adults younger than 65, particularly those under 50, suggesting that the decades-long success against one of the nation’s deadliest cancers is becoming increasingly concentrated in older generations.

The trend is being driven largely by cancers arising in the distal colon, the final section of the colon, and the rectum. As a result, rectal cancer now accounts for nearly one-third of all colorectal cancer diagnoses, up from about one-quarter two decades ago. The findings were published in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.

Why Trump’s move to gut the Endangered Species Act likely won’t hold up in court

Trump seems to hate all animals

Patrick Parenteau, Vermont Law & Graduate School

Piping plovers lay their eggs on the ground. They
became an endangered species as development encroached
on their habitat and made it harder for their chicks
to survive. Under the Same Moon/Flickr, CC BY

The Trump administration has decided that destroying the habitat of endangered species is not harmful.

Think about that.

Habitat loss is the No. 1 reason species become endangered. Red-cockaded woodpeckers need mature long-leaf pine forests to reproduce. Endangered western monarch butterflies depend on pesticide-free milkweed for food. Pacific salmon must have clean, cool rivers for spawning. If coastal water becomes too polluted, manatees will starve.

Yet, on July 14, 2026, the U.S. Department of Interior formally rescinded the so-called harm rule under the Endangered Species Act, removing language that has protected species from losing millions of acres of habitat.

As a law professor who has followed these issues for over five decades and litigated early cases under the Endangered Species Act, I believe this effort to gut the nation’s premier wildlife conservation law is unjustified and unlawful.

I see several reasons the rule change is not likely to survive the legal challenges that have already begun.

Attorney General Neronha: Don't trust Rhode Island Energy

We are wholly the captive of one fossil fuel company

Steve Ahlquist

“Donald Trump is, without question, the greatest threat to clean energy,” said Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha during a press conference in Providence. “I agree with my federal colleagues that an affinity and affiliation with fossil fuel companies drives this. There’s no question about that. There’s only one way to deal with Donald Trump when he breaks the law and harms Rhode Islanders and Americans, and that’s to take him to court. 

"It’s the only forum where we can get immediate results, as we consistently have, including on clean energy, and we’re going to continue to do that. The Attorney General’s office in Rhode Island has never been more important. 

"Donald Trump is a threat to us in so many ways, from our elections to clean energy, that fighting on all these fronts is critically important. But the fight isn’t just with Donald Trump. We can’t forget how important it is to make and keep good energy policy here at home. We can’t blame Donald Trump for everything that goes sideways with our energy policy.”

Here’s the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjflShvYusk

Attorney General Neronha has twice successfully sued the Trump Administration over illegal work stoppages issued against Revolution Wind. On Thursday, his office announced, with five other state Attorneys General, its intention to sue the Administration over its unprecedented use of the Treasury Department’s Judgment Fund to make $2.7 billion in payouts to companies to vacate their offshore wind leases, in exchange for fossil fuel development. 

On Thursday, AG Neronha joined a coalition of 18 attorneys general in moving to intervene in a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for unlawfully freezing routine reviews of land-based wind energy projects across the country.

Helpful comparison

Art of the Deal 2.0

Charlestown, RI Author Publishes Political Thriller

 Local activist Thom Cahir has a new book out

"9-11 Avenged," a new book by Thom Cahir, has been released by Dorrance Publishing Co., Inc.

Sweeping across four continents, this high-stakes narrative plunges readers into a shadowy world where the lines between state-sanctioned justice and domestic extremism are dangerously blurred.

The world is reeling from a new wave of brutal extremist violence. 

In the Arizona high country, retired Army Colonel Martin Jeffers lives with a burning thirst for retribution. 

Having weaponized a radical domestic militia, Jeffers has spent years purging white supremacists from its ranks, reshaping it into a highly disciplined, covert army dedicated to national defense. 

He needs only one thing to launch his private war: actionable intelligence.

That intelligence surfaces when David Abramowitz, a deep-cover Israeli Mossad agent embedded inside al-Qaeda, intercepts an active terror plot. Al-Qaeda's operations chief is assembling a massive meeting in Saudi Arabia. 

Rhode Island needs this!

A New Option for Long-Term Care Costs

By Paula Span

Kelly Haggett figures that a mandatory surcharge added to Washington state’s payroll tax cost her about $500 last year. But she doesn’t really mind.

“On a scale of 1 to 10 of my annoyance with taxes in general, this one is about a 2,” she said. “I see the benefits.”

The small surcharge on wages provides the funding for Washington Cares, the nation’s first state-operated program for long-term care insurance. It was set to begin distributing benefits July 1.

If Haggett, 67, a systems administrator who lives in Auburn, Washington, needs help with daily activities as she ages — bathing, dressing, grocery shopping, managing medications — she’ll be able to use the benefit she has accrued through WA Cares, as the program is known.

About 3.7 million workers participated last year, paying an additional 0.58% in payroll taxes. Those who contribute for 10 years will qualify for a lifetime benefit of $36,500. The amount will rise with inflation: A 36-year-old now earning about $50,000 a year who contributes $291 a year for a decade will have a projected $98,000 benefit if she needs assistance at age 75.

Both the WA Cares mandatory premiums and eventual benefits are modest. But for older adults and people with disabilities, they can help pay for a variety of services: home care, transportation, adult day programs, home modifications like ramps and grab bars, compensation for family members who assist them, or assisted living facilities and nursing homes.

Haggett had looked into private long-term care insurance to cover those needs, but she balked. “It’s crazy expensive,” she said. And since premiums can rise, and frequently have, “you’re basically saying, I’ll pay whatever, whenever.”

Maine ICE agent linked to fatal shooting has history of domestic violence accusations

The checkered past of ICE agent David Brouillette

Mel Leonor Barclay, Politics Reporter

This story was originally reported by Mel Leonor Barclay of The 19th. Meet Mel and read more of their reporting on gender, politics and policy.

The man identified as the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer who fatally shot a Colombian immigrant in Maine on Monday had a documented history of domestic violence against two previous wives and his daughters, according to reporting by the Associated Press.

The AP reported Thursday that the agent, David Brouillette, had a long history of verbal and physical abuse documented in the state’s family court system. Two women who were once married to Brouillette also spoke to the AP, detailing the abuse they say Brouillette subjected them to. 

Multiple reports of domestic violence incidents against Brouillette raise questions about the agency’s hiring practices as it rapidly grew its ranks to carry out President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda. 

The death of 25-year-old Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a Colombian national who was shot and killed Monday while in his car with his wife and daughter, is the latest killing resulting from interactions with immigration officials. 

Ashley Brouillette, who divorced David Brouillette in 2009, said her ex-husband became physically violent with her after she got pregnant with their daughter. Once, she said, Brouillette threw boiling water at her while she was holding their child. 

She said the abuse continued after their divorce. Late last year, Ashley Brouillette said, her ex-husband left her a voicemail, which she shared with the AP, in which he suggested that she and other women in her “bloodline” should die. 

“And all of you should have your f——--g throats cut,” the voicemail said, the AP reported. “Yeah, you should. Am I threatening that I’m gonna do that? Nope. Nope. But do I think that you should have your f——-g throats cuts? Or should have had them cut? Yep.”

Is the Price-Fixing "Crackdown" for Real?

Not until they arrest and try corporate offenders

by Philip Mattera, director of the Corporate Research Project of Good Jobs First for the Dirt Diggers Digest 

Throughout his second term, Donald Trump has struggled to find an effective message on the issue of inflation. For a time, he tried to deny the problem existed, choosing to depict the affordability crisis as an invention of the Democrats.

Then he concocted far-fetched claims such as the idea that “illegal aliens” were to blame. After his attack on Iran caused fuel and other prices to shoot up, Trump insisted the increase would last only a short time.

Now, at long last, Trump seems to be acknowledging that inflation is real and the government needs to do something about it. Yet, of course, he wants to give the impression he can solve the problem with what amounts to a wave of a magic wand. He just tried that by taking credit for some selective grocery price reductions announced by Walmart, only to end up with egg on his face when the retailer disclosed that the cuts were scheduled well before Trump stepped in.

Apart from Trump’s antics, some parts of the administration are taking a more serious approach by focusing on one of the more significant causes of high prices: collusion among producers.

Missing Lindsay

Trump fixes the fountains in Washington, DC

URI gardens, and gardeners, offer sweet scents, too

Gardeners at URI suggest sweet-smelling plants to explore

Kristen Curry 

WELCOME: URI green spaces are open to the public,
including the Youngken Medicinal Garden; shown, students
AJ Chatterton, Ash Lilly and Kate Guinto with
coordinator Elizabeth Leibovitz. (URI Photo / K. Curry)

While the public loved Morticia, the University of Rhode Island’s recently-bloomed corpse flower, its 1,200-acre Kingston Campus offers the public a wide variety of sweet-smelling specimens to experience and enjoy.

Plant sciences major Daniel Meservey, who works in URI’s Horridge Conservatory, says the conservatory has a number of fragrant specimens in its collection. 

In the Conservatory, Meservey recommends olfactory-minded visitors locate the Lady of the Night and Kahili ginger, which will bloom soon. 

Meservey also recommends visitors look for the dendrobium and coconut orchids, passion flower, camellia, and Arabian jasmine for their compelling smells.

His colleague Allegra Halverson, with URI Farms, says the Department of Plant Sciences and Entomology enjoyed making a cool plant like the corpse flower accessible to the public and hopes it piques interest in more of the botanical collections at URI.

“We hope this is a great gateway for people who have never visited the plant collections on campus to come back and enjoy what we have to offer,” she said. Halverson recommends visitors return to URI to smell the orange jessamine in the Horridge Conservatory come winter and notes a few other fragrant faves on campus as well:

The Katsura tree smells like cotton candy in the fall when the leaves drop. These trees can be found in the Botanical Gardens, at the Tootell Aquatic Center’s entrance, at Independence Square and elsewhere.

The Japanese tree lilac features white flowers in summer and blooms in June.

Fragrant snowball viburnum can be found at the entrance to the rose garden in May and elsewhere on the Kingston Campus. This is an example of a white flower that has a strong smell—an adaptation for attracting night foraging pollinators like moths and bats. The white flowers are also more visible at night.

Spicebush lives up to its name. Lindera benzoin smells like lemon fresh if you scratch the twigs and features small yellow flowers in spring; there are many along the Upper College Road edge of the Botanical Gardens. This native species is also great for birds with red fruits in the fall.