The oil and gas industry is increasingly dependent on the manufacture of plastics — and petrochemical lobbyists have endorsed a bill to roll back regulation and increase government assistance. Even though the bill itself is a legislative longshot, federal agencies under Donald Trump could adopt some of its most extreme provisions without congressional approval, said Daniel Rosenberg, director of federal toxics policy at the Natural Resources Defense Council told @ProPublica.

https://www.propublica.org/article/plastics-industry-wish-list-second-trump-administration

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The Plastics Industry’s Wish List for a Second Trump Administration

Critics call it the plastics industry’s Project 2025. Tucked into a federal recycling bill is a litany of regulatory rollbacks and other industry-friendly provisions that federal agencies under Donald Trump could adopt without congressional approval.

^ProPublica

First, Amazon said it wasn’t an employer of delivery drivers, who are unionized with the Teamsters. The National Labor Relations Board rejected that. Now, the tech giant is arguing that union-busting statements made by its managers, including threats to terminate, are covered under the U.S. First Amendment, which protects freedom of speech. Here’s more from @404mediaco.

https://www.404media.co/amazon-says-it-has-a-first-amendment-right-to-union-bust/

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Amazon Says It Has a First Amendment Right to Union Bust

In response to an NLRB complaint, Amazon argues that preventing it from holding captive-audience meetings violates the U.S. Constitution.

^{Jules Roscoe (404 Media)}

Tucson does not currently have a policy of clearing homeless encampments — instead, it allows those that don’t pose a risk to public health and safety to stay, supporting the people who live there and connecting them with services to get them into a permanent living situation. Conservatives aren’t happy, so on Arizona’s election ballot this month, there’ll be a proposition that will likely lead to more unhoused people being arrested and forced into treatment — despite resistance from police and prosecutors who say it simply won’t work. @bolts explains more.

https://boltsmag.org/arizona-prop-312-unhoused-ballot-measure/

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The Next Front in the Fight Over Homelessness Is on the Arizona Ballot - Bolts

Conservatives want to force cities to either use police to force unhoused people into treatment, or pay up.

^{Camille Squires (Bolts)}

Can cats understand human words? This week our @ScienceDesk shared this story about feline cognition and language comprehension. A new study showed that cats could associate human words with images — building on older research that suggested cats know their names. What could this mean for bonds with our furry friends?

https://www.earth.com/news/cats-can-associate-human-words-with-images/

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Cats can associate human words with images - Earth.com

Researchers discovered that cats might link words to images, revealing new insights into feline understanding.

^{Sanjana Gajbhiye (Earth.com)}