How does our DNA store the massive amount of information needed to build a human being? And what happens when it's stored incorrectly? Jesse Dixon, MD, Ph.D., has spent years studying the way this genome is folded in 3D space—knowing that dysfunctional folding can cause cancers and developmental disorders, including autism-related disorders.

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According to the ISAF 2025 shark attack report, global unprovoked shark bites returned to near-average levels in 2025, following a sharp reduction the year prior. A total of 65 unprovoked shark bites occurred worldwide in 2025, slightly less than the most recent 10-year average of 72. Nine of last year's bites resulted in fatalities, compared to the ten-year average of six.

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The drought-tolerant shrub affectionately known as Old Man Saltbush is mostly used as stock fodder, but can also be added to salads or cooking and has been used as bush tucker by Indigenous Australians for thousands of years. Now, early research suggests it could be a healthy and sustainable alternative many more of us should be eating.

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Fire is a natural and essential part of the Australian ecological landscape, with many native plant species regenerating after fire that occurs under the right conditions. However, a new study, "Ecological Resilience of Restored Mediterranean Climate Woodlands to Experimental Fire," led by Dr. Ebony Cowan as part of her Ph.D. and published in Ecology and Evolution, shows that not all plant groups in restored Banksia woodlands recover equally after fire.

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Kevin AbourezkICT

Even the doors of a maximum security prison could no longer hold Leonard Peltier.

On Feb. 18, 2025, nearly a month after former President Joe Biden pardoned Peltier, Nick Tilsen, founder and CEO of NDN Collective, and Holly Cook Macarro, the collective’s former federal lobbyist, stood outside the Coleman Federal Corrections Complex in Florida.

They had hoped to meet Peltier inside the prison’s maximum security wing but were told they had to wait outside for the Turtle Mountain Chippewa activist. As they stood in the parking lot, two prison staff members walked out and then turned and began examining the prison’s main doors.

“It’s like it’s broken open or something,” Tilsen heard one of the guards say.

Intrigued, Tilsen walked up to the men to ask them what was wrong. They told him the prison’s main doors appeared to have been broken – the first time either of them could remember that happening.

Tilsen said to them: “What do you think the chances are that, you know, on the day that Leonard Peltier is getting out the door of Coleman, the maximum security prison is broken open?”

To which one of the guards replied in a deep southern accent: “It’s creator, God.’”

That was Day 1. Today is Day 366 of Peltier’s release from prison.

‘Tears of joy’: Indian Country reacts to Leonard Peltier clemency

So what has the past year been like for the 81-year-old who spent 49 years and two months behind bars?

In an interview with ICT this week, Peltier said life has been pretty good since being released following former President Joe Biden’s decision to grant him clemency as he was leaving office on Jan. 20, 2025.

Peltier, who suffered from diabetes, vision loss, heart problems, an aortic aneurysm and the lingering effects of COVID-19 while in prison, said he has seen his health improve steadily as he has received quality medical care and enjoyed nutritious food. But he still struggles with poor vision following years of medical neglect, a particularly tragic deficiency for a man who spent decades painting in prison.

The past year has seen Peltier traveling to events in Minneapolis and South Dakota and entertaining celebrities and Native dignitaries, as well as Indigenous people and others who advocated for his release.

This past September, several musicians, including Native rocker Keith Secola, John Densmore, drummer for The Doors, and Native guitarist and flutist Aaron White, performed a private acoustic concert on Peltier’s front lawn.

View this post on Instagram

“It was a great honor to have them come down and visit me and play some music,” Peltier said.

Tom Morello, guitarist for Rage Against the Machine, also has spoken to Peltier several times and even donated a signed Fender guitar to sell in order to raise funds for Peltier’s living expenses. Peltier even corresponded with Robert Redford prior to the actor’s death on Sept. 16, 2025, Cook Macarro said.

And he said other musicians have asked to visit him.

“Neil Young wants to come down,” he said. “A few other big name musicians want to come down and say hello. I want to be able to thank them too for all their years. Some of these people have been supporting me for over 40-some years.”

Journalists from Harper’s Bazarre, the New York Times, the Associated Press and the Minneapolis Star-Tribune have made the long trek to Turtle Mountain on the Canadian border to talk to Peltier and tell his story.

In January, Cook Macarro and former Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland visited Peltier.

“She played such a key role in making sure that he was granted clemency,” Cook Macarro said of Haaland.

Going home

After leaving Coleman prison, Tilsen and Cook Macarro drove Peltier to a safe house. On the way there, Peltier sat in the back seat of the rented SUV pumping his fist and swaying to Redbone’s “Come and Get Your Love.”

At the safe house, Tilsen and others prayed with Peltier and smudged him off before loading him onto an airplane bound for his home in North Dakota.

When they left Florida, it had been nearly 80 degrees, but it was nearly 20 degrees below zero when the plane landed in Spirit Lake, North Dakota, that day. Nevertheless, hundreds of people lined the road leading onto the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation and the next night gathered at a casino in Belcourt for a welcome home ceremony.

Leonard Peltier raises his fist upon entering the event center at Sky Dancer Casino and Resort in Belcourt, North Dakota, on Feb. 19, 2025. (Kevin Abourezk/ICT)

That next evening in the casino event center before hundreds of supporters, journalists and tribal leaders, Peltier walked into the room and held his fist high in the air, as women trilled and men war-whooped.

“I don’t think he realized how big of an icon he was,” Tilsen said.

According to the terms of his clemency, Peltier is unable to travel beyond 100 miles of his home in Belcourt without approval from the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

“I’m not totally out of prison yet,” he said. “Basically, I’m still under confinement.”

While he’s been able to leave a few times for medical treatments, he’s only been granted three furloughs to travel beyond 100 miles of his home over the past year, he said.

He was able to attend and participate in a sundance ceremony in June 2025 on the Pine Ridge Reservation – the first time he returned there since he was imprisoned. During the ceremony, dancers took Peltier to the tree in the center of the sacred circle and prayed with him.

‘The memories are in our blood’: Annual walk remembers boarding school survivors, victims

Then in October 2025, he was allowed to travel to Rapid City, South Dakota, on Indigenous Peoples’ Day to take part in a march honoring survivors and children who died at federal boarding schools. Peltier – a boarding school survivor himself – joined more than 270 people in the march, though he was unable to walk the entire way.

Addressing the crowd, Peltier promised to remain a voice for Indigenous people.

“I love my people. I think we’re the greatest nation in the world,” he said. “I’m going to stay a fighter for you until I die.”

Then in November 2025, he traveled to Minneapolis, the birthplace of the American Indian Movement. While there, he attended a screening at the Minneapolis American Indian Center of the documentary, “Free Leonard Peltier,” which charts his long fight for freedom and eventual release. He also visited the Red Lake Nation’s Minneapolis office.

Many who got to see and meet him were overcome with emotions, Cook Macarro said.

“Leonard has been such a symbol of Indigenous resistance for so many decades and for generations of Native people, just seeing him free brought so many to tears,” she said.

Since then, however, federal prison officials have chosen to deny most other furlough requests by Peltier. Recently, they approved his request to visit his oldest daughter Lisa Peltier just before her death on Feb. 11 in Grand Forks, North Dakota, but by the time his request was approved, his daughter had died.

“I went to say goodbye to her body. That’s the best I got,” he said.

Peltier said he believes the Bureau of Prisons’s decision to deny any further furlough requests is likely the result of seeing the number of people who gather to see him when he travels beyond his reservation.

“I don’t think they expected to see that many people supporting me and surrounding me,” he said.

Tilsen said he believes former and current FBI officials have demanded that Peltier no longer be allowed to travel.

Peltier said he has been invited and would like to visit the Vatican in Italy. He had hoped to travel there in June but hasn’t heard yet whether his furlough request will be approved. He said he wants to pay his respects to the late Pope Francis, who advocated for his release prior to his death in April 2025, as well as other popes who supported his release.

“They put a lot of pressure over the years to try to get me out of prison,” Peltier said.

While there, he also plans to ask Pope Leo XIV to visit him and attend a service at St. Ann’s Catholic Church in Belcourt. But he also plans to demand an apology from the pope for the Catholic Church’s efforts to eradicate Indigenous people, culture and languages.

“I’m to ask him to make an apology to all the Native nations that the church executed, murdered and committed genocide on,” he said.

Bottom line: Peltier isn’t finished yet.

“I haven’t given up. I have not retired. I have not sold out,” he said. “To me it’s treason to do something like that because we are sovereign nations.”

‘This is real’

Leonard Peltier, 80 at the time, sits on his bed next to one of his paintings at his home on the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Reservation in N.D., on June 18, 2025. The walls around him are adorned with additional works he created during his decades in prison. Kerem Yücel | MPR News

As long as he remains close to home, Peltier can travel where he wants, though he still has to submit a weekly schedule of his plans to prison officials, Tilsen said.

He’s visited and spoken at Turtle Mountain Community College in Belcourt and attended a high school wrestling match. He’s attended several traditional ceremonies. He’s often visited by local tribal and spiritual leaders.

“I can’t seem to go nowhere without somebody wanting to take a picture with me,” Peltier said. “I’m very grateful to them for showing that type of welcome.”

NDN Collective, which helped secure Peltier’s release and purchased his home for him, has continued to advocate for him, ensuring he continues to get proper medical care and his other needs are met.

“NDN wants nothing in return from Leonard other than for him just to be free,” Tilsen said.

Holly Cook Macarro also has continued helping Peltier since his release, coordinating his social calendar and organizing his personal collection of documents related to his legal efforts, as well as FBI files such as the agency’s interview with Marlon Brando. The late actor was a longtime supporter of Peltier’s and even provided him with a recreational vehicle to use while he was fleeing authorities after the 1975 shootout.

“That too has been something that has been really great to watch is all of these things that are coming back to him, from his paintings to correspondence,” Cook Macarro said.

Until Biden’s last-minute action, Peltier had seen eight presidents leave office without pardoning him or commuting his sentence. His release came after decades of grassroots organizing and legal action.

Tilsen said after he walked out of prison on Feb. 18, 2025, Peltier walked up to him, hugged him and asked him, “Is this real?”

“This is real,” he told him.

The post ‘Is this real?’ — 366 days of fresh air for Leonard Peltier appeared first on ICT.

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While killer whales (Orcinus orca) can trigger the immediate departure of white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias), extended absences from their aggregation sites are also part of the sharks' natural behavior, new research reveals.

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India's ambitious and high-profile bid to reintroduce cheetahs received a major boost Wednesday with the announcement of the birth of three cubs, the environment minister said.

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From Biology News - Evolution, Cell theory, Gene theory, Microbiology, Biotechnology via This RSS Feed.

Kevin AbourezkICT

Even the doors of a maximum security prison could no longer hold Leonard Peltier.

On Feb. 18, 2025, nearly a month after former President Joe Biden pardoned Peltier, Nick Tilsen, founder and CEO of NDN Collective, and Holly Cook Macarro, the collective’s former federal lobbyist, stood outside the Coleman Federal Corrections Complex in Florida.

They had hoped to meet Peltier inside the prison’s maximum security wing but were told they had to wait outside for the Turtle Mountain Chippewa activist. As they stood in the parking lot, two prison staff members walked out and then turned and began examining the prison’s main doors.

“It’s like it’s broken open or something,” Tilsen heard one of the guards say.

Intrigued, Tilsen walked up to the men to ask them what was wrong. They told him the prison’s main doors appeared to have been broken – the first time either of them could remember that happening.

Tilsen said to them: “What do you think the chances are that, you know, on the day that Leonard Peltier is getting out the door of Coleman, the maximum security prison is broken open?”

To which one of the guards replied in a deep southern accent: “It’s creator, God.’”

That was Day 1. Today is Day 366 of Peltier’s release from prison.

‘Tears of joy’: Indian Country reacts to Leonard Peltier clemency

So what has the past year been like for the 81-year-old who spent 49 years and two months behind bars?

In an interview with ICT this week, Peltier said life has been pretty good since being released following former President Joe Biden’s decision to grant him clemency as he was leaving office on Jan. 20, 2025.

Peltier, who suffered from diabetes, vision loss, heart problems, an aortic aneurysm and the lingering effects of COVID-19 while in prison, said he has seen his health improve steadily as he has received quality medical care and enjoyed nutritious food. But he still struggles with poor vision following years of medical neglect, a particularly tragic deficiency for a man who spent decades painting in prison.

The past year has seen Peltier traveling to events in Minneapolis and South Dakota and entertaining celebrities and Native dignitaries, as well as Indigenous people and others who advocated for his release.

View this post on Instagram

This past September, several musicians, including Native rocker Keith Secola, John Densmore, drummer for The Doors, and Native guitarist and flutist Aaron White, performed a private acoustic concert on Peltier’s front lawn.

“It was a great honor to have them come down and visit me and play some music,” Peltier said.

Tom Morello, guitarist for Rage Against the Machine, also has spoken to Peltier several times and even donated a signed Fender guitar to sell in order to raise funds for Peltier’s living expenses. Peltier even corresponded with Robert Redford prior to the actor’s death on Sept. 16, 2025, Cook Macarro said.

And he said other musicians have asked to visit him.

“Neil Young wants to come down,” he said. “A few other big name musicians want to come down and say hello. I want to be able to thank them too for all their years. Some of these people have been supporting me for over 40-some years.”

Journalists from Harper’s Bazarre, the New York Times, the Associated Press and the Minneapolis Star-Tribune have made the long trek to Turtle Mountain on the Canadian border to talk to Peltier and tell his story.

In January, Cook Macarro and former Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland visited Peltier.

“She played such a key role in making sure that he was granted clemency,” Cook Macarro said of Haaland.

Going home

After leaving Coleman prison, Tilsen and Cook Macarro drove Peltier to a safe house. On the way there, Peltier sat in the back seat of the rented SUV pumping his fist and swaying to Redbone’s “Come and Get Your Love.”

At the safe house, Tilsen and others prayed with Peltier and smudged him off before loading him onto an airplane bound for his home in North Dakota.

When they left Florida, it had been nearly 80 degrees, but it was nearly 20 degrees below zero when the plane landed in Spirit Lake, North Dakota, that day. Nevertheless, hundreds of people lined the road leading onto the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation and later gathered at a casino in Belcourt for a welcome home ceremony.

Leonard Peltier raises his fist upon entering the event center at Sky Dancer Casino and Resort in Belcourt, North Dakota, on Feb. 19, 2025. (Kevin Abourezk/ICT)

That evening in the casino event center before hundreds of supporters, journalists and tribal leaders, Peltier walked into the room and held his fist high in the air, as women trilled and men war-whooped.

“I don’t think he realized how big of an icon he was,” Tilsen said.

According to the terms of his clemency, Peltier is unable to travel beyond 100 miles of his home in Belcourt without approval from the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

“I’m not totally out of prison yet,” he said. “Basically, I’m still under confinement.”

While he’s been able to leave a few times for medical treatments, he’s only been granted three furloughs to travel beyond 100 miles of his home over the past year, he said.

He was able to attend and participate in a sundance ceremony in June 2025 on the Pine Ridge Reservation – the first time he returned there since he was imprisoned. During the ceremony, dancers took Peltier to the tree in the center of the sacred circle and prayed with him.

‘The memories are in our blood’: Annual walk remembers boarding school survivors, victims

Then in October 2025, he was allowed to travel to Rapid City, South Dakota, on Indigenous Peoples’ Day to take part in a march honoring survivors and children who died at federal boarding schools. Peltier – a boarding school survivor himself – joined more than 270 people in the march, though he was unable to walk the entire way.

Addressing the crowd, Peltier promised to remain a voice for Indigenous people.

“I love my people. I think we’re the greatest nation in the world,” he said. “I’m going to stay a fighter for you until I die.”

Then in November 2025, he traveled to Minneapolis, the birthplace of the American Indian Movement. While there, he attended a screening at the Minneapolis American Indian Center of the documentary, “Free Leonard Peltier,” which charts his long fight for freedom and eventual release. He also visited the Red Lake Nation’s Minneapolis office.

Many who got to see and meet him were overcome with emotions, Cook Macarro said.

“Leonard has been such a symbol of Indigenous resistance for so many decades and for generations of Native people, just seeing him free brought so many to tears,” she said.

Since then, however, federal prison officials have chosen to deny most other furlough requests by Peltier. Recently, they approved his request to visit his oldest daughter Lisa Peltier just before her death on Feb. 11 in Grand Forks, North Dakota, but by the time his request was approved, his daughter had died.

“I went to say goodbye to her body. That’s the best I got,” he said.

Peltier said he believes the Bureau of Prisons’s decision to deny any further furlough requests is likely the result of seeing the number of people who gather to see him when he travels beyond his reservation.

“I don’t think they expected to see that many people supporting me and surrounding me,” he said.

Tilsen said he believes former and current FBI officials have demanded that Peltier no longer be allowed to travel.

Peltier said he has been invited and would like to visit the Vatican in Italy. He had hoped to travel there in June but hasn’t heard yet whether his furlough request will be approved. He said he wants to pay his respects to the late Pope Francis, who advocated for his release prior to his death in April 2025, as well as other popes who supported his release.

“They put a lot of pressure over the years to try to get me out of prison,” Peltier said.

While there, he also plans to ask Pope Leo XIV to visit him and attend a service at St. Ann’s Catholic Church in Belcourt. But he also plans to demand an apology from the pope for the Catholic Church’s efforts to eradicate Indigenous people, culture and languages.

“I’m to ask him to make an apology to all the Native nations that the church executed, murdered and committed genocide on,” he said.

Bottom line: Peltier isn’t finished yet.

“I haven’t given up. I have not retired. I have not sold out,” he said. “To me it’s treason to do something like that because we are sovereign nations.”

‘This is real’

Leonard Peltier, 80 at the time, sits on his bed next to one of his paintings at his home on the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Reservation in N.D., on June 18, 2025. The walls around him are adorned with additional works he created during his decades in prison. Kerem Yücel | MPR News

As long as he remains close to home, Peltier can travel where he wants, though he still has to submit a weekly schedule of his plans to prison officials, Tilsen said.

He’s visited and spoken at Turtle Mountain Community College in Belcourt and attended a high school wrestling match. He’s attended several traditional ceremonies. He’s often visited by local tribal and spiritual leaders.

“I can’t seem to go nowhere without somebody wanting to take a picture with me,” Peltier said. “I’m very grateful to them for showing that type of welcome.”

NDN Collective, which helped secure Peltier’s release and purchased his home for him, has continued to advocate for him, ensuring he continues to get proper medical care and his other needs are met.

“NDN wants nothing in return from Leonard other than for him just to be free,” Tilsen said.

Holly Cook Macarro also has continued helping Peltier since his release, coordinating his social calendar and organizing his personal collection of documents related to his legal efforts, as well as FBI files such as the agency’s interview with Marlon Brando. The late actor was a longtime supporter of Peltier’s and even provided him with a recreational vehicle to use while he was fleeing authorities after the 1975 shootout.

“That too has been something that has been really great to watch is all of these things that are coming back to him, from his paintings to correspondence,” Cook Macarro said.

Until Biden’s last-minute action, Peltier had seen eight presidents leave office without pardoning him or commuting his sentence. His release came after decades of grassroots organizing and legal action.

Tilsen said after he walked out of prison on Feb. 18, 2025, Peltier walked up to him, hugged him and asked him, “Is this real?”

“This is real,” he told him.

The post ‘Is this real?’ — 366 days of freedom for Leonard Peltier appeared first on ICT.

---

From ICT via This RSS Feed.

Studying foraging behavior in marine mammals is especially difficult. Unlike terrestrial animals, which can often be directly observed, marine mammals feed underwater and across vast, remote areas, making it challenging to determine where and what they eat. Most diet studies rely on stomach contents of stranded animals, making it impossible to know where or when feeding occurred.

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From Biology News - Evolution, Cell theory, Gene theory, Microbiology, Biotechnology via This RSS Feed.

It’s no secret that U.S. electricity prices have been rising over the last few years: The average residential energy bill in 2025 was roughly 30 percent higher than in 2021. This jump is largely in line with the overall inflation Americans have experienced during this period. As the cost of groceries, gas, and housing has increased, so too has the cost of electricity.

But there are big differences from state to state and region to region. Some places — like California and the Northeast — have seen mammoth price increases that outpaced inflation, while costs have held steady in other parts of the country, or even fallen in relative terms. Nearly everywhere, though, rising electricity costs have strained the budgets of low-income households in particular, since they spend a much larger share of their earnings on energy compared to wealthier Americans.

Higher energy bills have also become a political flashpoint. Over the past year, rising electricity prices have helped push voters to the polls, and politicians have taken note. In Virginia and New Jersey, newly elected governors campaigned heavily on reining in utility bills. In Georgia, incumbent utility regulators were booted out by voters, who elected two Democrats to the positions for the first time in two decades.

U.S. residential electricity prices

Real vs. nominal residential electricity prices, January 2010 – November 2025

Real price (inflation-adjusted)

Sticker price

Note: Month-to-month variation reflects seasonality in electricity demand.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration

Clayton Aldern / Grist

A wide range of culprits have been blamed for the surge in electricity prices, with energy-hungry data centers shouldering much of the criticism. Tariffs, aging power plants, and renewable energy mandates have also come under fire. But the reality is far more nuanced, according to recent research from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the latest price data from the federal government’s Energy Information Administration. Electricity prices are shaped by a complex mix of factors, including how utilities are structured, how regulators oversee them, regional divergences in fuel prices, and how often the grid is stressed by heat waves or cold snaps. In many states, the biggest driver is the rising cost of maintaining and upgrading grids to survive more extreme weather — the unglamorous work of replacing old poles and wires.

Select your state from the dropdown menu below. (U.S. territories, including Guam and Puerto Rico, do not appear in the menu, since data availability is more limited.)

Compare your state’s electricity prices to the U.S. average

Real and nominal prices, cents per kWh

Compare with:

— Select a state —

Sector:

All customer classes Residential Commercial Industrial

? EIA data covers only about 70 to 80 percent of Alaska’s electricity providers. Many rural communities rely on microgrids that don’t report to EIA. More comprehensive state data suggests the true statewide average is roughly five percent lower than shown here, but rates in remote communities can exceed $1/kWh.

Click to show or hide lines

U.S. (inflation-adjusted)

U.S. (sticker price)

Monthly bill (2024 U.S. avg.)

—

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration Grist / Clayton Aldern

But the forces driving high bills in California aren’t the same as those affecting households in Connecticut or Arizona. In this piece, we highlight one key driver of recent price trends in each region of the country. (The regions below are organized alphabetically, with individual entries for Alaska, California, Hawaiʻi, the Midwest, the Northeast, the Pacific Northwest, the Southeast/Mid-Atlantic, the Southwest/Mountain West, and Texas.) While the dynamics of every utility bill are different — including those within the same state — recent data demonstrates the many challenges ahead as public officials promise a laser focus on energy affordability.

Alaska

Key factor: Geographic isolation

Alaska’s electricity prices are among the highest in the country, largely because the state’s power grid operates in isolation. Unlike utilities in the lower 48 states, Alaska’s providers can’t import electricity from neighboring states or Canada when demand spikes or supply runs short. That isolation limits flexibility and drives up costs. Utilities also have to spread the expense of generating and transmitting power across a relatively small customer base. The state’s primary grid, known as the Railbelt, serves about 75 percent of Alaska’s population. Beyond it, more than 200 microgrids power rural communities, many of which rely heavily on diesel generators. These structural challenges contribute to electricity rates that are roughly 40 percent higher than the national average.

Electricity prices have been rising in the state over the past decade, even after adjusting for overall inflation. A study by researchers at the Alaska Center for Energy and Power found that residential rates for Railbelt customers increased by about 23 percent between 2011 and 2019. Rural customers saw a roughly 9 percent increase during the same period.

While more recent data charting electricity prices adjusted for inflation isn’t readily available, energy costs are likely to grow in the state. That’s because Alaska depends on natural gas for electricity generation and heating, and it relies on the Cook Inlet basin for natural gas. With supplies dwindling in that reserve, the state is expected to face a shortage soon. If it chooses to import natural gas, it will be much more easily affected by price swings in the natural gas market. State regulators have also approved a 7.4 percent interim rate increase for the Golden Valley Electric Association, the primary utility that serves the Fairbanks area. A full rate case review is underway, and a final decision on the rate will be made in early 2027.

California

Key factor: Wildfires

Californians have long paid above-average electricity prices. Since the 1980s, rates in the Golden State have typically been at least 10 percent higher than the national average. For decades, however, those higher per-kilowatt-hour prices were largely offset by lower electricity use as a result of the state’s relatively temperate climate. In other words, electricity in California cost more per unit, but residents consumed far less than households in many other states, keeping average monthly bills relatively low. That began to shift in the mid-2010s when the state began experiencing more frequent and larger wildfires. Since then, electricity prices have outpaced consumption, leading to exorbitantly high energy bills.

California vs. U.S. average residential electricity prices

Cents per kilowatt-hour, 2010–2024

California

U.S. average

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration

Clayton Aldern / Grist

Between 2019 and 2024, California had the largest increase in retail electricity prices of all U.S. states. Monthly energy bills in 2024 averaged $160, roughly 13 percent higher than the national average. Much of that increase has been driven by the soaring cost of infrastructure upgrades aimed at reducing wildfire risk, along with rising wildfire-related insurance and liability costs. After the 2018 Camp Fire, PG&E declared bankruptcy, citing $30 billion in estimated liabilities. Utilities have also poured billions of dollars into replacing aging transmission and distribution lines and expanding the grid to meet growing demand.

California’s high rate of rooftop solar adoption has also played a complicated role in rising prices. As more customers install rooftop solar, they purchase less electricity from the grid. That leaves utilities with the same fixed infrastructure costs — but fewer kilowatt-hours over which to spread them. The result: higher per-unit rates for customers who remain more dependent on grid power. Since renters and low-income Californians are less likely to benefit from residential solar, rising electricity rates hit them harder.

Hawaiʻi

Key factor: Oil dependence

Hawaiʻi has the highest electricity bills in the country. Average residential rates rose about 8 percent between 2019 and 2024, even after adjusting for overall inflation, and the typical household now pays more than $200 per month for electricity.

Those high costs are rooted in the state’s unique energy system. Hawaiʻi remains heavily dependent on oil to generate power, and many of its oil-fired plants are aging and relatively inefficient. That reliance ties electricity prices directly to global oil markets. Hawaiian Electric, the state’s primary utility, purchases crude oil on the open market and pays to have it refined before it is burned to produce electricity — meaning fluctuations in both crude prices and refining costs show up on customers’ bills.

Hawaiʻi electricity prices track oil, not inflation

Index (2010 = 100), 2010–2023

Electricity

Oil

Inflation

Source: EIA, FRED

Clayton Aldern / Grist

While oil prices have eased in the past couple of years, they spiked sharply in 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, driving up fuel costs and, in turn, electricity rates. Refining costs on the islands have also risen in recent years, adding further pressure to household bills. Fuel and equipment must also be shipped thousands of miles from the mainland — and often transported between islands — adding significant logistical costs. Hawaiʻi’s power grids are also small and isolated. Electricity generated on one island cannot easily be transmitted to another, limiting flexibility and preventing the kind of resource sharing common on the continental grid. Together, those structural constraints help keep electricity prices in Hawaiʻi persistently high.

Midwest

(Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.)

Key factor: Wind energy

The Midwest and Great Plains states saw only modest changes — and sometimes even declines — in inflation-adjusted retail electricity prices per kilowatt-hour between 2019 and 2024. Average monthly electricity bills typically fall between $110 and $130.

This stability is largely a renewable energy success story: Many Midwestern states are now deeply reliant on wind power. Wind supplies more than 40 percent of electricity in Iowa and South Dakota, and more than 35 percent in Kansas. Investments in utility-scale wind and solar have helped shield consumers from price shocks tied to natural gas volatility, since renewables have no fuel costs and can reduce exposure to sudden spikes in gas prices. Research also shows that these investments can lower wholesale electricity prices by displacing higher-cost generation during periods of high wind and solar output.

Wind share of electricity generation

Midwest states, September 2025

Source: EIA via Choose Energy

Clayton Aldern / Grist / Karsten Würth / Unsplash

Northeast

(Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont)

Key factor: Natural gas prices

Aside from California and Hawaiʻi, northeastern states experienced some of the steepest increases in retail prices between 2019 and 2024. Prices in New York and Maine rose more than 10 percent over the last few years. Connecticut residents pay nearly $200 per month for electricity.

The region’s heavy reliance on natural gas as both a home heating fuel and a source of utility-scale electricity is a major driver of high energy bills, especially in winter. When temperatures drop, demand for natural gas surges as homes and businesses burn more fuel for heating. Power plants are then forced to compete with those heating needs for the same constrained supply. (Gas has to be transported to the region via pipelines that stretch as far as Texas.) With no easy way to bring in additional gas, prices spike, and those increases ripple through to power bills.

A combination of forces has worsened natural gas constraints in recent years, pushing electricity prices even higher, particularly during cold snaps. More households in the region are switching to heat pumps and buying EVs, driving up demand for power. International energy policies, like increasing U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas and the global gas crunch caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, are driving up fuel costs stateside. Utilities in the Northeast, like those elsewhere in the country, are also pouring money into infrastructure upgrades, and those investments are being passed on to customers through higher bills.

Pacific Northwest

(Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington)

Key factor:** Hydropower

Retail electricity prices in the Pacific Northwest rose only modestly over the last few years, at least compared to the country’s general rise in the cost of living. Inflation-adjusted prices in Washington and Oregon increased by about 5 percent between 2019 and 2024, while Idaho and Montana saw slight declines. In 2024, average monthly energy bills across the four states ranged from about $105 to $130, roughly in line with the national average. (This is not to say that customers haven’t noticed growing totals on their energy bills; the Energy Information Administration estimated that Oregon’s average retail price increased by 30 percent between 2020 and 2024, which is roughly in line with overall inflation over the last several years.)

So why has the region been largely insulated from the inflation-adjusted cost spikes that have struck neighboring areas like California? Hydropower. Abundant, low-cost hydroelectric generation has long kept energy bills in the Pacific Northwest — and the climate impact of the region’s power generation — among the lowest in the country. And while utilities in these states are facing rising costs tied to wildfire mitigation and infrastructure upgrades, cheap and plentiful hydropower has so far helped offset those increases.

Southeast and Mid-Atlantic

(Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia)

Key factor:** Extreme Weather

Southeastern states frequently face hurricanes, flooding, and extreme heat. In recent years, the number of billion-dollar disasters in the region has increased, an ominous sign of the havoc that climate change will wreak. Utilities are fronting the costs of both weathering these events and rebuilding in their aftermath — and then they pass them on to their customers.

The cost of distributing electricity — think the power lines that deliver energy to your home — rose significantly in the Southeast over the past few years, driven mostly by capital expenditures to upgrade and build new infrastructure. In Florida, for instance, damage from Hurricanes Debby, Helene, and Milton in 2024 resulted in residential price increases from 9 to 25 percent the following year. Similarly, Entergy Louisiana’s plan to harden its grid costs a whopping $1.9 billion, much of which will be borne by customers through rate increases.

Billion-dollar disasters in the U.S. Southeast

Number of events per year affecting the Southeast climate region, 1980–2025

Source: NOAA NCEI; Climate Central (2025 estimate)

Clayton Aldern / Grist / Lukas Hron / Unsplash

Some states in the region, such as Virginia, have also seen a major influx of data centers, which consume enormous amounts of electricity. In some areas, utilities are upgrading infrastructure to meet that demand, raising concerns that those costs could push electricity prices higher. However, a national study by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found that an increase in demand in states between 2019 and 2024 actually led to lower electricity prices on average. That’s because when there’s more demand for power, the fixed costs of running a utility — such as maintaining the poles and wires that deliver electricity to your home — are spread out over a greater number of customers, leading to lower individual bills.

In Virginia, the world’s largest data center hub, electricity prices rose only modestly between May 2024 and May 2025, despite a rapid buildout of new facilities. But that dynamic could shift as hyperscalers construct ever-larger campuses. Ultimately, prices will hinge on how utilities and regulators choose to plan and pay for that demand.

For now, however, extreme weather remains one of the region’s main drivers of rising costs.

Southwest and Mountain West

(Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming )

Key factor:** Hotter summers

Arizona and New Mexico saw a nominal decrease in retail electricity prices between 2019 and 2024, after adjusting for overall inflation. However, there is a big difference between the states in how much residents pay for energy every month. Energy bills in New Mexico averaged just $90, while in Arizona they were nearly double at $160.

The main difference between the two states comes down to the fact that a greater share of Arizona residents are exposed to scorching summer temperatures — and therefore use more air conditioning, especially in population centers like Phoenix. (Average summer highs in Phoenix are about 20 degrees Fahrenheit higher than they are in Albuquerque, New Mexico’s largest city.) As a result, Arizonans use an additional 400 kWh every month, which leads to higher energy costs.

Arizona AC consumption vs. national average

Share of total residential electricity consumption by end use

Arizona residents use more than a quarter of their electricity on AC...

...compared to the national average of less than one-tenth.

Source: EIA Residential Energy Consumption Survey

Clayton Aldern / Grist / Adi Fauzanto / Wesley Tingey / Alex Perz / Ivan Rudoy / Fré Sonneveld / Unsplash

Arizona residents could also see higher prices in the coming years as a result of rate cases that are being considered, which, if approved, will take effect in 2026. Both Arizona Public Service and Tucson Electric Power are asking the state to approve a 14 percent increase in rates, which could translate to an increase of about $200 in average household energy bills per year. Both utilities have justified the increase by citing the need to modernize the grid as well as higher costs of constructing and maintaining infrastructure.

Texas

Key factor:** Regulatory free-for-all

Texas is a land of contrasts. Though it’s an oil-and-gas stronghold, the Lone Star State generates a significant share of its electricity from wind and solar. And unlike most states, it operates its own power grid and runs a deregulated electricity market in which electricity prices can swing sharply from hour to hour.

In Texas, local utilities compete to buy power from generators — natural gas plants, wind farms, and solar arrays among them — in a wholesale market, and then sell that energy to customers. The system gives consumers a lot of choice in picking utility providers, but it also allows utilities to pass on wild swings in the price of power generation. If the cost of natural gas skyrockets during a particularly cold winter when solar is less available, for instance, wholesale electricity prices jump with it. This can lead to eye-popping energy bills, like those seen during 2021’s Winter Storm Uri. The setup ultimately leaves consumers exposed to price shocks, especially when extreme weather hits.

Natural gas vs. electricity producer prices

Producer Price Index, January 2000 – November 2025

Natural gas PPI

Electricity PPI

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics via FRED

Clayton Aldern / Grist

Perhaps as a result, rising electricity costs in Texas are driven by the cost of delivering power — and in particular by swings in natural gas prices, since gas-fired power plants are the state’s primary providers when weather conditions don’t enable wind and solar. While average retail electricity prices fell by a little more than 5 percent between 2019 and 2024, Texans still pay some of the highest energy bills in the country, reflecting surging demand driven by population growth and industrial expansions as well as sharp price spikes during the state’s scorching summers and winter months.

As the state’s population grows, new data centers get built, and more renewable power is brought online, utilities are also having to invest heavily to expand the grid and harden it against extreme weather like Uri, during which at least 246 people died, mostly due to hypothermia. One analysis found that transmission costs grew from $1.5 billion in 2010 to over $5 billion in 2024 and could surpass $12 billion per year by 2033.

Anita Hofschneider contributed reporting to this piece.

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline What’s behind your eye-popping power bill? We broke it down, region by region. on Feb 18, 2026.

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Article Summary

• The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has approved waivers in 18 states, allowing for the first ever restrictions on food purchases through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
• Those on the ground in states that have already implemented these restrictions report confusion over what items are now prohibited.
• Retailers want more clarity on how these restrictions will be enforced, while warning that the cost of compliance could increase food prices for all consumers.
• Given additional policy changes and increased scrutiny of the program, retailers, food policy experts, and SNAP households are concerned about the longterm impacts.

Adam and Beth Bedway own and run a small ceramics studio in Wheeling, West Virginia. They see their business as a way to bring entertainment, culture, and business to an otherwise quiet town, off the Ohio River, nestled on the border between Ohio and West Virginia. The couple describes the studio as a community space that aims to be a place for entertainment and education.

Since 2018, the entrepreneurial couple has benefited from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which they’ve used to support themselves and their children, and to keep the business running.

As small business owners who strive to offer good-paying jobs to their employees and give back to the community as much as possible, they don’t have much excess revenue to support themselves.

With the help of SNAP, though, they’ve been able to devote finances to the business without worrying about putting food on the table. Lately, they’ve been feeling less confident this help is secure.

“We try so hard to bring arts and culture and experiences to our area, but without that security, what happens then?” Beth said. “The only reason that we’ve been able to grow the way we have and have all the offerings that we have with our business is because we had that little bit of security.”

The types of foods that are now restricted vary widely state by state, as are the ways some of those foods are defined.

Starting Jan. 1, new federal SNAP restrictions went into effect across several states. West Virginia was one of five states that implemented SNAP food restrictions approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Throughout 2026, at least 13 more states are on track to start similar restrictions. The restrictions are the result of policies promoted by the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement, which has found increased support in both federal and state governments.

The types of foods that are now restricted vary widely state by state, as are the ways some of those foods are defined. In West Virginia, for example, SNAP participants can no longer use benefits on soda, but there’s still confusion among shoppers about what the term “soda” includes.

Adam said he prefers to manage his ADHD with the help of the caffeine in sodas.

“So many people are going to argue, ‘Oh it’s so silly, it’s just soda,’” Beth Bedway said. “But it’s just this for now.”

With other recent federal changes to SNAP and her governor’s backing of the MAHA movement, she’s worried more restrictions or shifts to the program could follow.

More than a month into several of these waivers, the people who watch the issue closely—anti-hunger advocates, individuals who rely on SNAP, and the stores that oversee these transactions—are reporting confusion and complications. There’s also concern about how these could erode participation in assistance programs.

Eighteen states have been given waivers to restrict federal food benefits, but those restrictions vary from state to state. (Photo credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

SNAP Waiver ‘Chaos’

In 2025, the USDA approved 18 waivers letting states restrict certain foods from SNAP purchasing that have historically been allowed. The Trump administration and other proponents of the waivers argue that taxpayer dollars should not be going to sodas, candy, and unhealthy foods. SNAP households should prioritize healthy, fresh foods. Now that several waivers are in effect, though, anti-hunger groups point out that even some foods considered healthy, like granola bars, are prohibited in some states, while foods like ice cream remain available.

There have been previous attempts to enact such waivers, but the USDA has denied them: In 2007, the agency determined that SNAP restrictions could increase the program’s complexity and costs and would not necessarily be effective in changing purchasing trends. Now, the agency has reversed course.

With the rise of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s MAHA movement, these waivers have found more support within the administration.

Policy experts and SNAP recipients in Indiana, West Virginia, Nebraska, and Iowa reported challenges with the implementation of restrictions just a month into the policies.

Speaking to reporters recently after an event celebrating other MAHA initiatives, Calley Means, a senior advisor at the Department of Health and Human Services, said he’s heard “nothing but positive feedback” about the waivers. He said implementing these waivers is “very easy” and has been seamless so far. More waivers are likely to get approved in the future, he added.

But Civil Eats spoke to policy experts and SNAP recipients in Indiana, West Virginia, Nebraska, and Iowa, who reported challenges with the implementation of restrictions just a month into the policies.

Overall, outreach about the restrictions has been limited, said Gina Plata-Nino, SNAP director at the Food Research and Action Center. States sent out a letter to SNAP households and updated websites with information about what now can and cannot be purchased. But there’s still a lot of confusion, which is falling on retailers to handle.

“It’s creating more chaos,” Plata-Nino said.

(Graphic credit: Rebekah Alvey)

Confusion and Frustration for Consumers

“It’s being branded as a healthy foods waiver, or a soda and candy ban,” Luke Elzinga, policy and advocacy manager at anti-hunger group Des Moines Area Religious Council, said. “But it’s a lot more complicated than that.”

Iowa’s waiver is the most restrictive, Elzinga said, and also the most confusing. That’s because it is tied to the state’s sales tax on food and beverages. Under Iowa’s new policy, any taxable food or beverages are also ineligible for SNAP purchases.

On top of banning soda purchases, that means SNAP households aren’t able to use benefits on zero-sugar sodas, lemonade, Capri Sun, sweet tea, and many other beverages. The definition of candy is also complex because of the state tax code. Under the waiver’s definition, a granola bar or a fruit bar can be considered candy unless it contains flour. But a Twix bar, because it contains flour, is acceptable.

When SNAP participants want to use their benefits on prepared foods, the caveats are even more confusing. Does the retailer have a microwave available? Does the prepared salad come with dressing? Was a slice of cake made in the store? Is the cup of fruit served with or without a spoon?

For guidance related to what is now restricted under the waiver, the Iowa state Health and Human Services website directs visitors to the state Department of Revenue page on the sales tax.

“There’s just confusion too about what qualifies.”

Shortly after West Virginia’s waiver took effect, Hunter Starks attempted to buy flavored water with their EBT card at a gas station. It wasn’t accepted. A week later, they were able to buy the same product at the same station.

“There’s just confusion too about what qualifies,” said Starks, who recently went back on the program as they attend graduate school. They have intermittently received SNAP benefits since their 9-year-old daughter was born, and often rely on the program to balance the budget.

Starks said there’s also not a lot of guidance coming from the state on what is included in the restriction. Instead, they get most of their information from a Facebook group of other SNAP recipients.

West Virginia’s Governor Patrick Morrisey, a Republican, was one of the first state leaders to back the Make America Healthy Again movement. During an event with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Morrisey signed the state’s ban on certain artificial dyes in school meals. This is also where Kennedy urged states to submit waivers on the SNAP food restrictions.

Given the governor’s backing of MAHA, Starks said they are worried the SNAP restriction will go further.

“Our governor’s at least made an appearance to want to jump on board a lot with [MAHA],” Starks said. “I think these changes are him trying to do that, when in reality all it does is restrict people’s ability to make their own choices.”

Food policy experts echo concerns about how these waivers single out SNAP recipients and limit their choices at the grocery store. Eric Savaiano, food and nutrition access program manager at Nebraska Appleseed, said the restrictions on SNAP purchases are a “slippery slope” to taking away people’s dignity and choice.

Savaiano also shared instances where SNAP recipients can no longer purchase beverages they’ve used for medical conditions. One individual has issues staying awake and uses caffeine through energy drinks or soda to maintain their work. Another individual has grown accustomed to drinking Olipops for its probiotics.

Under Nebraska’s new waiver, these beverages are not permissible as SNAP purchases.

“We have seen that overall, there have been some challenges with implementation,” Savaiano said. “People not knowing what to expect when they get to the grocery store and being surprised when they get to check out, and then frustration when they can’t get what they’re used to getting.”

Added Costs for Retailers

Retailers in waiver states also report confusion about what foods qualify under the restrictions, along with the potential for added costs. This raises concern about the enforcement side of these new policies, said Margaret Hardin Mannion, director of government relations at the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS).

At the very end of 2025, the USDA issued additional guidance detailing penalties related to the restrictions. The agency set a 90-day grace period after the state implementation date before enforcement begins. For the first states that implemented the waivers on Jan. 1, that means enforcement will start on April 1.

“I think there’s some real concern that it’s going to lead to many, many retailers being pushed out of the program.”

After that, retailers will get one warning if they are caught incorrectly applying the restrictions. Upon the second error, the retailer could be involuntarily removed from the SNAP program, no longer able to offer the benefit to its customers.

“I think there’s some real concern that it’s going to lead to many, many retailers being pushed out of the program, even if they are trying their best to comply with the new requirements,” Mannion said.

Retailers small and large have urged the USDA and state agencies to improve communications to SNAP households. But they have not seen a hoped-for “robust education campaign,” Mannion said. Some states are providing signs to retailers that explain the changes, but retail organizations are also creating their own.

“The message we want to get across is that this is not a retailer decision,” Mannion said. “This is government driven.”

Given the differences in how states define sugary beverages or candy, and the various exemptions for juice or dairy, retailers must now go through items individually to determine whether they fall under the restrictions. This process is time consuming and requires a lot of personnel, Mannion said. If an item does fall under the restriction, the store is also responsible for changing it in their system and updating shelf signage.

That all adds a cost, Mannion said, and it comes as retailers and the entire SNAP system are bracing for more policy changes, like proposed changes to SNAP retailer stocking requirements. In September, the USDA proposed a rule that would require SNAP retailers to increase the variety of foods from three to seven in each of the four staple food categories: animal protein, dairy, grains, fruits and vegetables.

Rollins recently suggested at an event celebrating the Dietary Guidelines that the final version of the rule could come in a matter of weeks.

“I think we’re concerned that this is just the tip of the iceberg,” Mannion said.

Potential Costs for All Consumers

The total up-front cost of the SNAP restrictions is projected to be $1 billion for convenience stores, $11.8 million for small-format stores and $215.5 million for supercenters, according to an analysis released by NACS, the National Grocers Association, and the Food Industry Association (FMI).

Some of these costs could be passed to consumers, the analysis says, which means the impact of these restrictions could reach beyond SNAP households.

“These SNAP restrictions are increasing food prices for everyone, and the high cost of healthy food is the No. 1 reason people on SNAP can’t eat healthier,” said Elzinga of the Des Moines Area Religious Council. “Banning items does not make healthy food more affordable.”

One of the “greatest fears,” Elzinga said, is that SNAP retailers will drop out of the program and stop accepting EBT. This could be because the costs of compliance are too high or because they get a second strike and are removed from the program.

In Iowa, one in three SNAP participants, more than 800,000 people, live in a border county. These shoppers could simply take their business to neighboring states that do not have SNAP restrictions. If all of those participants travelled out of state for their shopping, Iowa would lose about $23 million per month in economic activity, Elzinga said.

This is one issue states will be required to monitor and report on when evaluating the waivers.

Given their proximity to the West Virginia border, Adam and Beth Bedway can travel to Ohio or Pennsylvania to do their SNAP shopping, without restrictions.

“But there are lots of very poor places in this state that are right dead center in the middle of the state, where you’re four hours from the border,” Adam Bedway said. “We’re just very fortunate to have those options.”

Beth also pointed out that much of the state already struggles with access to clean water and fresh fruits and vegetables. In some parts of the state, the closest store for miles could be a Dollar General or a convenience store, which may not stock fresh options or could price them higher.

A Wave of Changes to SNAP

SNAP restrictions are taking effect alongside other major shifts in the food program. Last year, Republicans passed their One Big, Beautiful Bill (OBBB), which cut federal spending for SNAP by almost $187 billion through 2034.

Some of the policy changes included in the bill have already taken effect, like expanded work requirements. Other parts of the bill shift more costs of the program to the states, and those provisions are set to kick in next year.

In addition, Republicans in Congress have fixated on alleged fraud in the program, threatening to require that states recertify SNAP households and release more data on participants. Under the Trump administration, the USDA has focused on this, as well.

The changes in SNAP eligibility add to the workload of already overburdened SNAP case workers. And the impending cost-shifts to the states already have states considering how to absorb these in their budgets.

On top of this, it’s also not clear how states will fund implementation of the SNAP restrictions, Plata-Nino said.

Nebraska, for example, has estimated the state will spend $2 million on implementing the restrictions, Plata-Nino said, all while the state is facing a $471 million budget shortfall.

The USDA has historically been responsible for monitoring SNAP retailers. Typically, the only program where state agencies and SNAP retailers have a connection is through the Special Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).

But these are very different programs, and have separate funding mechanisms to support state’s work and monitoring for WIC.

Nebraska has said it would use leftover funding through another program, SNAP-Ed, to cover the administration of its restriction after the federal SNAP-Ed program was cut in the OBBB. Plata-Nino said the waiver implementation funds won’t go toward outreach or explaining the new restrictions to SNAP households.

Experts worry that fraud allegations by federal officials could increase stigma around food aid and decrease participation. (Credit: USDA)

Higher Uncertainty, Lower Participation

In the midst of the USDA’s heightened focus on fraud, the agency took to social media to mobilize shoppers to help the agency “fight fraud.” “If you suspect someone is abusing federal nutrition programs, REPORT FRAUD NOW,” the post reads, paired with a photo of a full grocery cart. This rhetoric raises another concern with the overall changes to SNAP policy, which is the potential increased stigma around the program.

“When program stigma is higher, it has a dampening effect on participation,” Elzinga said.

Elzinga believes growing stigma around SNAP is already having an impact in Iowa. Food banks and pantries are continuously breaking records in terms of visits, he said, but SNAP enrollment is nearing an 18-year low. He worries the new restrictions will lead to fewer people participating in SNAP and more people turning to food pantries to feed their families.

“When program stigma is higher, it has a dampening effect on participation.”

The drop in enrollment could also be tied to federal and state policy shifts, like previous changes to work requirements. But Elzinga said negative narratives around the program likely have an effect.

Despite the concerns from retailers, SNAP recipients, and anti-hunger groups, during a speech on Jan. 13, less than two weeks after the restrictions kicked in, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, a Republican, called on the state legislature to keep the federal waiver “moving forward.”

Three more states, Kansas, Mississippi, and Ohio, have also submitted waivers for USDA approval. Some of the states that have already approved waivers are also talking about expanding the list of restricted foods, Plata-Nino said.

As states legislatures return to session, several will consider legislation to request their own SNAP food restriction waiver.

In West Virginia, facing all the changes to the program her family has relied on for nearly a decade, Beth said she’s “waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

“It’s unsettling,” she said. “It makes me question what is the future for us in this state, what is the future for the SNAP program? At what point are we just going to be kicked off of any assistance without warning?”

The post Confusion and ‘More Chaos’ as States Implement SNAP Food Restrictions appeared first on Civil Eats.

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The U.S. food system operates a lot like fast fashion, say Liz Carlisle and Aubrey Streit Krug. In their new book, Living Roots: The Promise of Perennial Foods, they explain that most crops—like the corn, wheat, rice, and soybeans that dominate the system—are annuals, in the ground for a single season. They are harvested by people working in less-than-ideal conditions; processed into cheap, low-quality products; and shipped out in high volume. All the while, their supply chains expend a tremendous amount of fossil fuels.

With the changing climate front of mind, Living Roots explores an alternate vision, one focused on the long game and built on perennials—plants that remain in the ground year after year. Edited by Carlisle and Streit Krug, the collection of 34 essays by Indigenous leaders, farmers, scientists, and chefs makes a case for centering perennial crops on our farms and in our diets.

Because of their deep and robust root systems, perennial crops—including fruit and nut trees, forage grasses, and grains like Kernza—can pull large amounts of carbon out of the atmosphere and store it underground. They also reduce erosion, increase the organic matter in soil, boost biodiversity, and improve the health of those who eat them.

Because of their deep and robust root systems, perennial crops can pull large amounts of carbon out of the atmosphere and store it underground.

In the book, we hear from Indigenous people restoring buffalo herds on the native grasslands of the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota and studying the sacred serviceberry on Blackfeet land in Montana. We hear from the creators of an urban food forest in Southeast Atlanta and a farmer raising chickens under a protective canopy of hazelnut trees in Minnesota. And we meet the researchers studying the ecological effects of prairie strips, or perennial patches within annual crop fields, and those developing perennial versions of rice, sorghum, and the oilseed silphium.

Recently, we caught up withCarlisle, an agroecologist and associate professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, to discuss the promise of perennial agriculture, the roadblocks it faces, and where she finds hope.

A number of your books, including Lentil Underground, Grain by Grain, and Healing Grounds, have looked at the promise of organic and regenerative agricultural systems. How does this book fit into your trajectory as a writer and thinker, and what do you hope it adds to your body of work?

Working on this project has been about trying to respond to this moment. I’m feeling the weight of so many crises at once. There’s the urgent need to slow emissions but also the urgent need to adapt to the climate change that’s already here—and then at the same time, the urgent need to address the deep divisions and inequity in our society that are making it difficult to tackle collective challenges like climate change. I see the perennial movement as having the capacity to help us do all these things at once.

How did you select the contributors to the book?

Groups that have been working hard for a long time—on things like agroforestry or regenerative grazing or breeding perennial grains—are starting to come together into a broader perennial movement. We wanted the book to offer a behind-the-scenes. What would it be like to host an awesome potluck with all these people working on perennials in different ways?

We wanted the book to represent different kinds of perennial foods and their diverse geographies, mostly across North America but a little bit from around the world. We also wanted to show the diverse roles that people play.

Do you have personal experience with the perennial movement, or are you approaching it more from the perspective of an interested researcher?
It comes from a personal place for me, and for Aubrey as well. For me, the joy of participating in the culture around perennial foods—whether it’s planting fruit trees in a community orchard or enjoying the culinary traditions from all over the world that are tied to them—reminds me what a beautiful planet we live on, and how joyful it is to live in community. It helps me get up every day and fight for those things, and it propels me forward to do my larger work as a researcher and an educator.

Also, one of the most exciting things for me is experiencing what a powerful rallying point perennials are for people from different parts of the political spectrum. When you start talking about planting a tree to benefit future generations, that’s something a lot of people can get behind, together.

The environmental benefits of perennial agriculture are well documented, and yet 60 to 80 percent of cropland is dedicated to annuals. Why has getting farmers to adopt perennials proven so difficult?

Many of the book’s contributors have written about this in their own context. I think about Wendy Johnson, an amazing Iowa farmer. She talks a lot about how crop insurance is such a huge impediment for folks in the Midwest to move to anything other than corn and soy, let alone perennials. So that’s about current federal farm policy.

There’s also the way markets are structured—do farmers have a clear opportunity to sell that crop into a market they can count on?

In California, land tenure is a big issue. When folks are renting on short-term leases—one, two, or three years—they can’t really plant perennials and be there for those perennials to benefit them.

What are the biggest challenges for the perennial movement under the present administration?

Climate Smart Commodities funding [canceled in April 2025] had been a huge boost to perennials, better than anything we’d ever seen from federal farm policy.

Jesse Smith, my neighbor here in Santa Barbara, is the leader of an elderberry project that involved a bunch of partners across coastal California to develop native blue elderberry as a viable commercial crop. When they lost their Climate-Smart Commodities funding and had to jump through hoops to try to get it back, that slowed what had been exciting progress, not only on the farm, but with things like a processing facility, which is key to make a viable market. Losing that funding was a big blow.

The other challenge: A transition to perennials is a huge learning experience. People need to figure out what to grow, which varieties, how to space them, and how to take care of them over multiple years. The pullback of USDA staff that would have supported farmers in transitioning to perennials has been a real challenge.

Is there a flip side—are there unique opportunities now?

What’s happening on the community level, with the growth of organizations like the Savanna Institute and movements like Indigenous buffalo restoration, is just extraordinary.

There’s a lot more knowledge and resources in the community for farmers who are looking to perennialize. They have a better chance of finding a peer who could be a mentor or finding a conference that they could attend to support them in that transition.

Also, the transition to perennials or more regenerative methods in general might have felt voluntary or opt-in 20 or 30 years ago. Now, a lot of farmers and farm communities are experiencing just how difficult it is to continue with conventional farming under the current climate and market circumstances. The chaos is driving a lot of people to look for alternatives. And there are robust community efforts waiting to receive them.

Many contributors identify with perennials on a very personal level, and several speak to their spiritual significance. What makes perennials resonate in this deep way?

Perennial plants weave these intergenerational connections—you can literally find yourself pruning a plant that a parent or a grandparent pruned, and you can see the evidence of their care. You might even connect to an ancestor you didn’t even know when they were living, but that plant is a connection between you.

Plants, like people, have to make decisions about how to allocate resources, and perennial plants make this interesting choice to allocate a large share of the energy they harvest from the sun to building up robust root systems. These roots support a whole community of organisms underground, providing a profound lesson about getting through hard times by investing in community and collective wellbeing.

Wisconsin agriculture educator Laura Paine points out that annual cropping systems are always a carbon source, not a carbon sink, and even using regenerative techniques on annuals cannot be considered a solution to climate change. What do you make of Paine’s point, and are perennials the only climate solution?

She’s in this Midwestern context, and has seen a lot of attempts to take really simplified agroecosystems—corn and soy monocultures—and add a single ecological practice to try to solve the problems associated with them, whether that’s no-till or a small amount of cover cropping. I think it has been frustrating for her to see the inadequacy of that response.

Combinations have been more effective, and perennials bring a combination, because if you’re growing perennials, you’re not tilling as much—maybe not at all—and you have roots in the ground all year round. We’re certainly not suggesting that agriculture should be only perennial, but it’s essential that we move towards more of a perennial balance.

In his essay, Ted Crews of The Land Institute points out that perennializing agriculture could be an ecological and social game changer, but the existential threats of climate change, biodiversity loss, and food security require faster solutions. What do you see as the way through?

At this point in the climate crisis, we have to find ways to address short-term problems that also contribute to long-term solutions. What I see in the perennial movement are some immediate solutions for farmers looking for alternative crops and for communities looking for local, healthy food sources. At the same time, [by growing these,] we’re building towards better climate resilience and lower emissions for the future. We really do need to do both things at once.

We don’t have to wait on the perfect Kernza variety. We have many perennial foods that we can work with right now as we’re developing those crops. Folks at the Savanna Institute are working to make hazelnuts better for farmers, but we can be planting them and processing them and eating them right now, even as we improve those varieties.
Wendy Johnson started with an acre of chestnuts and apples on her family farm. Now she’s directly managing a little over 100 acres, and she helps her dad with 1,000 acres, still mostly conventional corn and soy. They’re not in a financial place to just overnight convert the whole thing [to perennials], but she’s weaving them in, knowing that 30 years from now, that will better set up the next generation to make it a viable operation.

What surprised you most as you collected these meditations on perennials? What new insights or understanding emerged?

The long-game aspect of it was maybe one of the biggest lessons for me. A lot of stories have multiple turns in them. Like Wendy Johnson, growing up on a farm in Iowa, moving away to LA for a career in fashion, and getting inspired to go back and convert some of the farm to organic. A story could end there, but hers doesn’t. Her organic corn and soy plants get flooded out twice [in 2016 and 2018], and so she has another aha moment—‘Maybe I need to move to a more perennial cropping system.’ And then, she talks about the challenge of building it out in the current environment.

A surprise for me, and a gift of this book, is thinking about change at the pace of perennials. If you want to have fruit at some point, you got to plant that tree and take care of it. That’s what impresses me most about the folks in this book—their ability to engage in deep, long-term processes.

If someone reads this book and wants to support the adoption of perennials, what would you encourage them to do?

Plug in with a community of people, whether it’s working on an urban food forest, like the incredible one in Atlanta that Kelsi Bowens and Rosemary Griffin write about, or helping farmers establish hedgerows, or working in a community garden.

And then, of course, we have to change the policies and the structures that our farmers work within. Let lawmakers at all levels know that [perennial agriculture] is important and that you want to see investment in it. We certainly have a lot of opportunities at the state level right now. California and some other places like Minnesota are moving things forward with incentive programs for farmers that help pay for establishing perennials. And there are also some equally exciting programs at municipal and county levels, including with urban orchards.

Within the perennial movement, where are you seeing the most promise and hope right now?

During the pandemic, there was this huge upswell of energy around community food systems—mutual aid groups and urban food forests—and I’ve seen a lot of that sustained. That’s a bright light.

I’m also really excited about regenerative grazing and how that’s taking off within communities involved in animal agriculture. I’m headed to the perennial farm gathering that the Savanna Institute sponsors in March, and it’s been super exciting to see that get bigger and bigger as folks get excited about agroforestry.

There are a lot of points that are individually exciting, but then you put them together and you’re like, ‘Wow—this is a lot of roots going in the ground.’

This conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

The post The Power of Perennial Agriculture appeared first on Civil Eats.

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In ordinary circumstances coral reefs are among the most productive ecosystems on Earth, built slowly by animals that appear to be plants. Each coral polyp houses microscopic algae that convert sunlight into sugars, supplying most of the coral’s energy. When conditions deteriorate, especially when water becomes too warm, this partnership breaks down. The coral expels its symbionts, loses its color, and turns white. This is coral bleaching. The coral is still alive, but weakened. If stressful conditions persist, many die. Bleaching is not new, but its scale is. Before the late 20th century, mass events were rare. Over the past four decades they have become increasingly frequent and severe, driven primarily by ocean warming. A rise of only 1–2 °C above typical summer temperatures can trigger widespread bleaching across entire regions. A newly published global analysis in Nature Communications provides a stark benchmark. During the Third Global Coral Bleaching Event from 2014 to 2017, marine heatwaves affected reefs worldwide for an unusually prolonged period. Based on more than 15,000 reef surveys, researchers estimate that over half of the world’s reefs experienced moderate or worse bleaching, and roughly 15% suffered moderate or greater mortality. The scale of damage exceeded that of any previously recorded global bleaching event, underscoring the accelerating impact of ocean warming on reef systems. Global distribution of heat stress from the first three Global Coral Bleaching Events That episode is now often treated as a reference point because it was both global and sustained. Unlike earlier events, it…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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The southern elephant seal population in South Africa has seen its conservation status improve from near threatened to least concern, with a recent assessment citing the absence of serious threats to the species’ breeding colonies. Elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) are native to sub-Antarctic islands, including Prince Edward Island and Marion Island, which are part of South Africa. They breed on these two islands, and while the colonies are separate, some seals move between the two populations, which allows interbreeding and increases genetic diversity of the species. According to the recently published 2025 Mammal Red List for Southern Africa, “no serious threats have been affecting the land breeding colonies” of the two islands in the last 40 years, resulting in an increase in elephant seal numbers. The latest assessment was part of a collaboration between the nonprofit Endangered Wildlife Trust and the South African National Biodiversity Institute that brought together 163 researchers from 40 institutions to update the conservation statuses of 336 mammal species native to South Africa, Lesotho and Eswatini (formerly known as Swaziland). The review was guided by the standards set down by the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority that puts out the global edition of the Red List. The assessment found that 20% of the 336 species are threatened with extinction while 11% are categorized as near threatened. Of the 67 endemic species, those found nowhere else on Earth, 29 are threatened with extinction. Apart from the southern elephant seal, the researchers noted that the status of…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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This story was originally published by Gaylord News.

Gavin Norman*Gaylord News*

WASHINGTON – Oklahoma has been home to 76 Indian boarding schools, more than any other state in the nation. That history is now at the center of a new bipartisan push in Washington to uncover decades of hidden tribal history; history that has been long withheld by religious institutions and the federal government.

The legislation, titled the “Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act of 2026” (H.R. 7325), has been reintroduced to the U.S. House of Representatives. Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK) and Rep. Sharice Davids (D-KS) are the two main sponsors of the legislation. According to Cole, the bill aims to form an official commission to investigate past federal actions that forcibly enrolled nearly “86 percent” of Indigenous school-age children into the boarding school system.

“For years, Indian boarding schools forcibly removed Native children from their families, stripped them of their heritage, and, in many cases, took their lives,” Cole, Chickasaw Nation, said. “Yet, for far too long, little has been known about these Indian boarding schools, and these stories have been kept in the shadows. This silence cannot go on. We must bring light to this dark chapter in our nation’s history.”

Davids, whose grandparents survived the boarding school system, emphasized that the trauma is not a piece of the past, but a living force in tribal communities.

“I would not be here without the resilience of my ancestors and those who came before me – including my grandparents, who survived federal Indian boarding schools,” Davids, Ho-Chunk, said. “Their experiences are not distant history; they shape our families and communities today. Establishing a Truth and Healing Commission would bring survivors, experts, federal partners, and tribal leaders together to fully understand what happened to our relatives and to take meaningful steps toward a more honest and hopeful future.”

While this 2026 push is picking up momentum, it follows years of legislative difficulties, primarily centered on the investigative ability to gather evidence. Previous iterations of the bill, such as H.R. 5444, faced opposition over the inclusion of subpoena power. Opponents in the past have argued that granting such authority made the commission adversarial rather than healing.

At this point, researchers have located fewer than 40 percent of boarding school records from the hundreds of federal, state, and religious institutions.

In Oklahoma, many boarding schools were run by religious organizations through federal funding, and thousands of pages of student rosters and health reports remain behind the closed doors of private entities that are not subject to standard federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.

Advocates such as the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition (NABS) insist that without this legislation, the truth remains trapped in church and private archives. NABS took to social media to release a statement in support of the bill.

“This critical legislation acknowledges the devastating legacy of the federal Indian boarding school era and charts a path toward truth, justice, and healing for Native peoples and all Americans. For more than a century, government-funded and church-run boarding schools sought to erase Indigenous identities, languages, and cultures-leaving generational trauma that continues to this day,” the NABS wrote.

Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. of the Cherokee Nation has been a consistent supporter of federal transparency, recently linking the need for historical honesty to the defense of tribal sovereignty.

“In the Cherokee Nation, our advocacy for our citizens has always been about restoration, accountability, and looking out for one another as Cherokees,” Hoskin said.

The proposed commission would have a six-year timeline to locate and identify marked and unmarked burial sites. In Oklahoma, at least 50 burial sites have already been identified, with many more expected as research continues. The commission would be given subpoena power under the new bill, which was specifically designed to overcome the legislative blockades that have prevented tribal citizens from identifying where their family members were buried.

H.R. 7325 was referred this month to the House Committee of Education and the Workforce, along with the Committee on Natural Resources. The legislation calls for a possible $90 million in funding to hold convenings across all 12 Bureau of Indian Affairs regions. The funding is meant to guarantee researchers have the resources to gain access to the estimated 100 million pages of documents that have yet to be uncovered.

Two boarding schools, Riverside Indian School in Anadarko, OK and Sequoyah High School in Tahlequah, OK, continue to operate in Oklahoma today, tracing their roots back to the 19th-century federal system. Today, these schools emphasize self-determination and cultural preservation, they are the remaining links to an era with such hidden history.

In Oklahoma, where the boarding school system was the most prevalent, the proposed commission aims to obtain all records surrounding these educational institutions. The legislation looks to provide a formal record on the impact these schools had on tribal nations, as well as to their citizens. The bill is currently pending approval from the Committee of Education and the Workforce, and the Committee of Natural Resources; it has not yet been scheduled for a vote on the House floor.

Gaylord News is a reporting project of the University of Oklahoma Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication. For more stories by Gaylord News go to GaylordNews.net.

The post Tom Cole leading bipartisan push to uncover history of state’s Indian boarding schools appeared first on ICT.

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Northern Japan, especially the island of Hokkaido, is home to some of the snowiest cities in the world. Sapporo, the island's largest city and host of an annual snow festival, typically sees more than 140 days of snowfall, with nearly six meters (20 feet) accumulating on average each year. The ski resorts surrounding the city delight in the relatively dry, powdery "sea-effect" snow that often falls when frigid air from Siberia flows across the relatively warm waters of the Sea of Japan.

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Imagine someone has chronic pain. One doctor focuses on the body part that hurts and keeps trying to fix that single symptom. Another uses a more comprehensive brain-body approach and tries to understand what's keeping the nervous system stuck in alarm mode—perhaps stress, fear of symptoms or learned triggers. Because they're looking at the problem differently, they'll resort to completely different treatments.

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The value of wetlands on the landscape cannot be overstated—they store and filter water, provide wildlife habitat, cool the atmosphere and sequester carbon. Yet, in the farmland area of Canada's Prairies, wetlands are being drained to increase crop production and expand urban development.

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Frank Cuozzo and Michelle Sauther first traveled to South Africa in 2012 to search for some of the most unusual primates on Earth—bushbabies. These animals are nocturnal and small, often around the size of a housecat. Bushbabies have big ears, round eyes and get their names from the eerie, wailing noises they make at night.

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The role of soil and forests in greenhouse gas sequestration has been studied for a long time. However, forests are also home to invisible organisms that may affect the climate. "Soil, water and peatlands have been studied in the Biogeochemistry Research Group at the University of Eastern Finland since the mid-1980s, led by Professor Emeritus Pertti Martikainen. When Martikainen retired in 2016, Professor of Microbial Biogeochemistry Jukka Pumpanen took over as the group's leader," says Academy Research Fellow Henri Siljanen from the Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences.

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Most Hawaiʻi residents believe sea level rise is already affecting the state, expect major impacts within their lifetimes, and support significant changes to how and where development occurs. At the same time, many remain uncertain about how large-scale adaptation should be financed.

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Yesterday, an international team of researchers from various disciplines set off aboard the German research vessel METEOR for an expedition along the west coast of Africa, led by the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel. The expedition focuses on two poorly understood phenomena: the Benguela upwelling system off the coasts of Angola and Namibia, which partly operates independently of the wind, and the recurring marine heat waves known as Benguela Niños, which have a significant impact on the local climate and cause flooding in Angola and Namibia.

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Forecasting earthquakes presents a serious challenge on land, but in the oceans that cover around 70% of Earth's surface it is all but impossible. However, the vast network of undersea cables that crisscross the world's seas could soon change this. As well as transmitting data around the planet, they can also monitor the tectonic movements that cause earthquakes and tsunamis.

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