Meanwhile. . .

 Polling shows Americans oppose Republican anti-LGBTQ+ priorities

Sailors say they have discovered new way to defend against killer whale attacks – heavy metal music

Cursive makes a comeback — by law — in public schools

New Swedish Recycling Plant Can Sort More Plastic Than Any Other Facility in the World

A new United Nations Climate Change report says that current climate action plans by nations are not enough to limit the average global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius and meet Paris Agreement targets. The report shows that countries need to take much more action immediately, even though some have been making increased efforts, in order to speed up the transition away from fossil fuels and avoid the worst climate change impacts, a press release from the United Nations said.

The number of annual average daily walking trips dropped a whopping 36% in the contiguous U.S. between 2019 and 2022, per a new StreetLight Data report. "In every metro and state that StreetLight analyzed, walking trips declined over the three-year period by at least 20%," per the report. The rate of decline slowed from -16% between 2019 and 2020 and -19% between 2020 and 2021 to -6% between 2021 and 2022. But that's still a significant overall drop, from about 120 million trips in 2019 to fewer than 80 million in 2022.

After years of record-high prices at the grocery store, experts are predicting that food inflation on some products will finally soon ease. A recent report from Rabobank found that the costs of certain staples, including coffee, sugar, soy, and corn, are poised to fall, and the effects of that should be felt at supermarkets in the coming months. Though not all sectors will experience this relief — wheat, notably, is expected to continue rising in cost — the bank’s analysts said the “main beneficiaries” will be baking, dairy, and animal protein producers. “It won’t be plain sailing but the more positive outlook for a majority of commodities should, in most countries, lead to a fall in the price of food on consumers’ plates,” Carlos Mera, the head of agri commodities at Rabobank, told Reuters.

Some ice skaters in Anchorage, Alaska, captured the internet’s attention this week after a video showed them traversing a stunningly transparent alpine lake. Luc Mehl, an outdoor educator and ice rescue instructor, told Reuters that an “unusually cold but dry transition into winter” created the gorgeous environmental phenomenon. “Usually these lakes are all covered with snow by the time the water freezes,” he explained, adding that in the 12 years he’s been skating in Alaska, he’s “never experienced” anything like this before. Watch the viral video of Mehl and his wife enjoying the rare “ice window.”

United Auto Workers union members have voted to approve a new contract with General Motors. It finalizes a 25% wage increase over the next four years, marking the biggest victory for the union in decades. Ford and Stellantis workers are still casting votes for their new contracts.

9 facts about bullying