This is a transcript of the news segment of The Morning Brew podcast which you can find on Twitch. The link to the channel and air times can be found on the sidebar. If you wish to see the video of the segment, click below.
North Korea Launches Missile Tests Ahead of Talks
Wednesday, South Korea’s military confirmed a ballistic missile launch from North Korea’s Wonsan military base off the east coast. South Korea’s military reported it flying the distance of 450 km (280 miles) and had an altitude of 910 km (565 miles). It is suspected to be a Pukguksong-class missile that could have been launched from a submarine. SK military officials would not officially confirm if the missile was actually launched from a submarine. It is all asserted the missile broke into two parts before falling.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe protested the launch claiming that one of the parts of the missile landed in Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone, which is a violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions.
The actual splashdown location of the missile has not been confirmed. The test comes before talks are supposed to resume between the United States and North Korea on Saturday, October 5.
Washington State: Lethal Wolf Removal ‘simply unacceptable’
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee penned a letter to the state’s Department of Fish and Wildlife in regard to the killing of wolves in the state by cattle ranchers. Gov. Inslee said this problem has reached “simply unacceptable” levels.
This letter is a direct response to the predation of livestock, which involved four wolf killings from the Profanity pack in August after a judge from the King County Superior Court ordered a halt to the “lethal removal”.
In the 1930s Washington saw the eradication of wolves from their state at the request of the livestock industry.
Canis Lupus has begun to make its way into the state in the past decade. Hozomeen Mountain had an establishment of a den in the Ross Lake National Recreation Area. Since the re-crossing into the Washington state border, the wolf population has seen an increase. Its numbers are now estimated to be 126 animals with 27 packs and 15 breeding pairs. A pack has even made a home west of the Cascade Crest in Diobsud Creek.
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and a broad-based Wolf Advisory group has been supervising the re-population.
There has been some resistance, however. There is a Ferry County rancher refusing to make his livestock less susceptible to wolf attacks, and there was a Methow Valley family caught in the act of selling bloody wolf pelts to Alberta after killing two animals from the Wolf Creek pack.
Even though the wolves have been removed from the endangered list in Eastern Washington, they are still on the same list in regards to state protection.
Sources:
MSN
Marine Life and Invasive Species Boards Eliminated
On Friday, June 14 of this year, President Trump issued an Executive Order directed all agencies to reduce their advisory boards by “at least” one third. The deadline for this was September 30.
As of Tuesday, the government stopped funding the Marine Protected Areas Federal Advisory Committee headed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or the Department’s Invasive Species Advisory Committee.
This effectively ends the work of the many scientists and academics on those boards. The Marine panel suggested ways to reinforce the country’s protected marine areas and point out any challenges facing the areas. Currently, there are more than 1,700 marine protected areas in the U.S. This is 41 percent of marine waters, marine monuments, and sanctuaries.
An undisclosed spokesperson said the committee has had only two meetings since its establishment since 2017 and no meetings have convened in 2019.
As a scientist on the committee, Will McClintock posited that this would lead to a focus on the energy industry over conservation.
“To me, the thing that is lost is having a balanced perspective on how ocean resources are used and protected. A committee like this is not interested in supporting one of two sectors like oil and gas or fisheries. We are interested in supporting all sectors in finding a way to protect and use ocean resources,”
McClintock was quoted.
The National Invasive Species Council told its committee that it was to be cut in half. The council’s job is overseeing the prevention of illegal imports at ports of entry of invasive species to the U.S.
Many committee members speculated their recommendations were not liked by other agencies with their reports often overlapping with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. One of the many jobs of the USDA is supervising food imports at these ports of entry. The committee members wrote,
“Current efforts to prevent the importation, establishment, expansion, and impact of invasive species are insufficient to protect the United States from a continuous stream of invasive species, ranging from pathogens, bacteria, plants, and animals.”
committee member quote
The USDA’s belief is that the input from the committee can be done by other methods.
Sources:
The Hill
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