The Guardian

• Lasers in the sky: hi-tech missions track record snowpack loss in US west

  Data from missions showing critically low snowpack on mountains across the west raises alarm among experts

  High above the jagged peaks of California’s Sierra Nevada, the view from the cockpit is breathtaking. At first glance, the mountains appear draped in a pristine white blanket. But as the flight crew gears up for a high-stakes mission, the sensors onboard this specialized aircraft prove that looks can be deceiving.

  “This is a distinct dry year,” says Tom Painter, CEO of Airborne Snow Observatories.

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• Advocates decry Trump’s plan to open 24m acres of federal lands to cattle grazing

  Opponents say administration’s plan prioritizes big agriculture at expense of wildlife and protected species

  New legal action aims to head off a Trump administration plan to open up to 24m acres of federal lands to cattle grazing, which opponents characterized as a gift to big agriculture and said could cause a spike in deaths among already imperiled wolves, grizzlies, steelhead salmon and other wildlife.

  The plan also calls for opening up parts of Grand Canyon national park, and other sensitive landscapes. Cattle destroy critical habitats for wildlife because they strip land bare of essential vegetation and pollute streams with feces, urine, sediment and carcasses. Meanwhile, park rangers and ranchers often kill grizzly bears and other predators who prey on cattle, despite that ranchers and the government pushed the cattle into the predators’ home range.

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• A deadly bacterium is creeping up the US east coast. How worried should we be?

  Warming ocean waters are priming beaches and raw shellfish for Vibrio even as scientists are trying to stay one step ahead

  Bailey Magers and Sunil Kumar cut strange figures on Pensacola Beach. Bags of disinfectant solution surrounded them on the white sand; their gloved hands juggled test tubes while layers of rubber and plastic shielded their skin from the elements. As the two organized their seawater samples on the popular Florida shoreline last August, an older woman wearing a swimsuit walked over to ask what they were doing.

  “We’re just actively monitoring water quality,” they told her, but she pressed on.

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• Sean Duffy faces backlash for new family reality show: ‘unfocused and out of touch’

  US transportation secretary announces The Great American Road Trip amid transportation crises and rising fuel prices

  Sean Duffy, the US transportation secretary, hauled his family into a van for a wholesome, seven-month trek across the nation, which was filmed for an upcoming reality TV program, he told Fox News on Friday.

  The revelation drew immediate blowback as “tone-deaf”, from critics who pointed toward various crises that have recently hammered the country’s transportation sector.

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• ‘Closing the chapter’ on Fema: Trump panel seeks to weaken disaster response amid climate crisis

  Council’s plan will leave Federal Emergency Management Agency ill-equipped to respond to extreme weather events, experts say

  Sweeping changes may be in store at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), the nation’s frontline emergency response coordinator, that experts warned could further erode US capacity to handle disasters as the risks of extreme weather fueled by the climate crisis continue to rise.

  Fears about a fundamental overhaul of Fema’s form and function have been brewing since Donald Trump returned to the White House. After castigating the agency over claims that it was too expensive and “doesn’t get the job done”, Trump set to gutting Fema as an early priority for his second term.

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