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It’s been a newsy week, so this we’re zigging where others zag, and focusing on fascinating stories that didn’t dominate this week’s headlines. We’ve got a mix of thought-provoking, hard-hitting, sad and uplifting articles, but it’s a Biden- and Trump-free zone, folks. This thread is where we highlight the work of newsrooms that are active in the fediverse and ask you to boost the posts you like, follow publications’ profiles and subscribe or otherwise support them. Feel free to comment, discuss and recommend!

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As many as 50,000 queer people currently serve in the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the country offers them and their partners no legal protections.@timkmak’s Counteroffensive looks at what happens when an LGBTQ+ serviceperson is injured, killed or goes missing during the war, as well as the possibility of new legislation on civil partnerships, and the challenges of making that happen in a conflict zone.

counteroffensive.news/p/ukrain

The Counteroffensive with Tim Mak · Ukrainian LGBTQ soldiers face injustice: Who takes the body?By Mariana Lastovyria

Two years ago, Arizona launched the largest school-voucher program in the history of education. @ProPublica reports on how this has contributed to a “budget meltdown,” a shortfall of $1.4 billion that has led to deep cuts in other programs including water infrastructure projects, highway repairs and improvements to air-conditioning in sweltering state prisons.

propublica.org/article/arizona

ProPublicaSchool Vouchers Were Supposed to Save Taxpayer Money. Instead They Blew a Massive Hole in Arizona’s Budget.Arizona, the model for voucher programs across the country, has spent so much money paying private schoolers’ tuition that it’s now facing hundreds of millions in budget cuts to critical state programs and projects.

Protestors took to the streets of Nairobi last month because of a proposed new bill that would hike taxes and introduce new levies. Police fired on them. During a week of protests that culminated in the storming of parliament and the scrapping of part of the bill, 39 people including children died in the protests, over 360 were injured and 627 were arrested. 32 people were also abducted, and it's alleged that this was sanctioned by the state. @thecontinent reports on the “cost of resistance.”

continent.substack.com/p/kenya

The Continent · Kenya: Life is cheap when police turn on the peopleBy The Continent

In the state of Massachusetts, people who are convicted of a felony can’t vote, but those who are incarcerated for misdemeanors, or who are imprisoned while waiting for a trial, can. @gbhnews covers a new effort to provide voting opportunities and information to those individuals. “The idea is to expand voter access behind the wall,” said DeAnza Cook, a board member of non-profit Healing Our Land.

wgbh.org/news/local/2024-07-18

A corrections officer in uniform speaks two inmates wearing olive drab clothing as they stand at a row of blue voting booths.
GBH · New ballot boxes arrive to Boston jails this fallBy Paul Singer
Flipboard

Oh goodie, a new reason to fear the climate crisis: Poisonous algal blooms. @thexylom writes about how these can create biotoxins that contaminate shellfish, and that can’t be detected… until you eat them. Warmer temperatures, sea-level rises and saltier oceans make them worse. Aquaculture farmers are trying to mitigate these effects, but it’s a challenge, and that has a knock-on effect on already-struggling fishing communities.

thexylom.com/post/aquafarmers-

Can you vape the internet? You can sure try! After an image of a vape with a screen that showed Facebook and X icons went viral, @404mediaco’s Samantha Cole ordered the Swype Vape 30K Puffs Touch Screen Disposable and put it through its paces, as well as explaining the rise of so-called “smart vapes.”

404media.co/twitter-internet-v

404 Media · I Tried to Vape the InternetAfter a vape with a screen showing Twitter and Facebook icons on it went viral, I ordered the “Swype Vape 30K Puffs Touch Screen Disposable" to see if I could inhale some social media myself.

Last of all, our @CultureDesk shared this gorgeous @KnowableMag story, and we’re sharing it again. It’s about Jenny Graves, an evolutionary geneticist who got so fed up of singing about Biblical creation stories in her choir that she wrote an entire oratorio about the scientific origins of the universe. Read here about her long and amazing scientific career, as well as the genesis — pardon the pun — of “Origins of the Universe, of Life, of Species, of Humanity.” “I think science is very beautiful,” says Graves. “Just look at the James Webb telescope images: Beautiful science is right there. Look down at the microscope: beautiful science. The idea of expressing beautiful science and beautiful music always really appealed to me.”

knowablemagazine.org/content/a

Knowable Magazine | Annual ReviewsOf genes, chromosomes and oratoriosJenny Graves has spent her life mapping genes and comparing genomes. Now she’s created a musical opus about evolution of life on this planet — bringing the same drive and experimentalism she brought to the study of marsupial chromosomes.

@Flipboard @404mediaco would be interested to know if they calibrated the step counter specifically for the vape or if the embedded os basically thinks it's a smartwatch.