This piece is part of MI x DW, a collaboration that brings Daily Wire readers exclusive commentary and research from the Manhattan Institute&#8217;s world-class team of scholars.
In this piece, <a href="https://www.city-journal.org/article/california-wallis-annenberg-wildlife-crossing-gavin-newsom">originally published in City Journal</a>, Christopher Rufo and Kenneth Schrupp dive into California&#8217;s over-budget animal bridge, a boondoggle that exposes the flaws in Governor Gavin Newsom&#8217;s approach to governance.
In 2022, California Governor Gavin Newsom broke ground on the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing (WAWC), a project featuring an overpass for animals atop ten lanes of the 101 Freeway in Southern California. At the ceremony, Newsom boasted that the state had committed $54 million. He promised to “complete the job within another $10 million,” before seeming to hedge on whether that final sum would do the trick. Officials <a href="https://smmc.ca.gov/liberty-canyon-wildlife-corridor" target="_blank" rel="noopener">projected</a> a 2025 completion date for the overpass, and estimated that the entire project—which includes the bridge and other ancillary developments—would <a href="https://dot.ca.gov/caltrans-near-me/district-7/district-7-projects/d7-101-annenberg-wildlife-crossing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cost</a> $92 million, some of it coming from private philanthropists.
Nearly four years after the ceremony, the bridge is past due and the project <a href="https://www.latimes.com/lifestyle/story/2026-01-26/la-wallis-annenberg-wildlife-crossing-is-on-track-for-november-opening" target="_blank" rel="noopener">some</a> $21 million over budget. What was supposed to be the world’s largest wildlife crossing has become a jobs program for environmentalists, with taxpayers on the hook for what WAWC leader Beth Pratt told us is an overpass “for everything from monarch butterflies to mountain lions.”
Pratt, a cougar-sweater-<a href="https://www.noozhawk.com/wilderness-spirit-brunch-honors-human-beth-pratt-and-cougar-p-22" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wearing</a> environmental activist who <a href="https://101wildlifecrossing.org/partners-stakeholders" target="_blank" rel="noopener">serves</a> on WAWC’s Partner Leadership Team, is the program’s public face. She is also a regional executive <a href="https://www.nwf.org/About-Us/Leadership/Beth-Pratt-Bergstrom" target="_blank" rel="noopener">director</a> of the National Wildlife Federation. In 2021, the group <a href="https://www.nwf.org/Latest-News/Press-Releases/2021/05-14-21-Annenberg-Foundation-Wildlife-Crossing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">received</a> a $25 million grant from “Wallis Annenberg and the Annenberg Foundation” for the bridge that bears the late philanthropist’s name.
That money apparently was not enough. This past January, donning a hard hat and a “#SAVELACOUGARS” jersey, Pratt announced a possible $21 million overage. She effectively <a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=916599217377224" target="_blank" rel="noopener">blamed</a> President Trump, attributing the multimillion-dollar overrun to “tariffs, inflation, [and] labor problems.”
“There’s no boondoggle,” she said. “Given the times we’re living in,” a potential $21 million overage is “not that bad.”
In response to our request for comment on the cost increases, Pratt argued that they were consistent with those faced by other construction projects.
Within days of Pratt’s announcement, the California Transportation Commission <a href="https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/02/02/california-closes-in-on-completing-the-worlds-largest-wildlife-crossing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">funneled</a> another $18.8 million to the project, well exceeding the governor’s $10 million cap. The project’s total price tag now <a href="https://www.latimes.com/lifestyle/story/2026-01-26/la-wallis-annenberg-wildlife-crossing-is-on-track-for-november-opening" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reaches</a> about $114 million, reportedly including some $77 million in state <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/09/climate/california-mountain-lions.html?unlocked_article_code=1.K1A.-9if.eoqUNFE3ikzX&amp;amp;smid=url-share" target="_blank" rel="noopener">funds</a>. Newsom’s office <a href="https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/02/02/california-closes-in-on-completing-the-worlds-largest-wildlife-crossing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pointed</a> us to a press release in response to our request for comment.
Why has a project primarily consisting of a <a href="https://101wildlifecrossing.org/crossing-faq" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bridge</a> for animals cost over $100 million? One reason is that Newsom and WAWC’s philanthropic supporters apparently don’t mind it becoming a patronage program. As the WAWC-<a href="https://wildlifecrossingfund.org/california-wildlife-reconnected" target="_blank" rel="noopener">endorsing</a> Wildlife Crossing Fund notes, <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rd-xEKMC0FCDPRwDEgCvXJrjCLS431Dy/view" target="_blank" rel="noopener">citing</a> the California Department of Transportation’s estimate, “for every $1 billion spent” on wildlife crossings, “13,000 jobs are created.”
Some of these jobs are absurd. The National Wildlife Federation’s WAWC website <a href="https://101wildlifecrossing.org/crossing-faq" target="_blank" rel="noopener">claims</a> that “[o]ur Native Plant Nursery”—apparently <a href="https://samofund.org/wildlife-crossing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">funded</a> by the nonprofit SAMO Fund and other “partners”—“has prioritized hiring Indigenous team members to help steward the plants that will vegetate the bridge.” The nursery’s co-manager <a href="https://youtu.be/zLcfau1I3_4?si=pyMSbBRjv4x3uQMF&amp;t=414" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> she makes an “offering” after collecting seeds, sometimes including pieces of her hair.
Or consider the ways one of the nursery workers and her associates have spent their time. The nursery’s founding manager <a href="https://youtu.be/zLcfau1I3_4?si=kfrzqW220co-6iEj&amp;t=222" target="_blank" rel="noopener">worked </a>with “helpers and volunteers” to “seed scout[]” across the Santa Monica Mountains. Her associates on the “design team” received “feedback from all the various project partners”—including state and federal bureaucrats—for their plant list.
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A group of experts apparently adds to the operation’s expense. A fungi whiz, Pratt says, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/101wildlifecrossing/posts/from-beth-pratt-i-found-this-really-weird-looking-fungus-in-my-yard-in-the-sierr/1222140663280746" target="_blank" rel="noopener">worked</a> as a WAWC habitat designer, periodically <a href="https://youtu.be/zLcfau1I3_4?si=BCpw_81tBakfpUuh&amp;t=597" target="_blank" rel="noopener">scrutinizing</a> root samples under a microscope. A <a href="https://www.aol.com/news/worlds-largest-wildlife-crossing-finally-100025034.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">contracted</a> soil scientist <a href="https://youtu.be/zLcfau1I3_4?si=XXwO9pCrNeK1U_V3&amp;t=758" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> his process involves assessing local dirt to “rebuild it . . . as close to nature as possible.”
One reason California supposedly needs this overpass is to ensure the safety and genetic diversity of mountain lions in the Santa Monica Mountains, where only about a dozen non-kitten cougars <a href="https://www.nps.gov/samo/learn/nature/pumapage.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">live</a> at any given time. While bridge proponents <a href="https://savelacougars.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">claim</a> that the local mountain lion population could otherwise face extinction, researchers suggest the bridge is not the only solution to ensure their survival.
According to a 2016 <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article/283/1837/20160957/78213/Interactions-between-demography-genetics-and" target="_blank" rel="noopener">paper</a> published by the Royal Society, the mountain lion population living in and around the Santa Monica Mountains is “demographically vigorous.” Still, the paper argues, the population could face “rapid extinction” if it becomes less genetically diverse.
California Governor Gavin Newsom at the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing Groundbreaking Celebration in 2022 (Photo by Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images for The National Wildlife Foundation)
While bridge proponents have <a href="https://www.nps.gov/samo/learn/news/local-mountain-lion-population-faces-precipitous-decline-in-genetic-diversity-within-50-years-possible-extinction.htm?utm_source=chatgpt.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cited</a> this study, the researchers say adding just one new mountain lion to the population per generation was apparently sufficient to reduce extinction risk. If Newsom and the philanthropists were really interested in protecting these lions, $114 million could likely <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0105042" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fund</a> translocations for thousands of years.
At the groundbreaking ceremony, Newsom envisioned WAWC as a catalyst for the construction of wildlife crossings across the state. California, he boasted, set aside $105 million “to replicate projects like this all up and down the state.” Pratt reportedly thinks “<a href="https://laist.com/news/climate-environment/wildlife-crossings-california-public-private-partnership" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hundreds</a> more crossings are needed.”
Californians can’t afford it. The Newsom administration <a href="https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5101" target="_blank" rel="noopener">projects</a> a $2.9 billion budget deficit for 2026–2027. The state legislature’s nonpartisan fiscal advisor had published steeper estimates and <a href="https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5101" target="_blank" rel="noopener">claimed</a> the deficit could rise to $35 billion in coming years.
If the state wants to fund a nine-figure overpass project for animals, it should turn to the Annenberg Foundation, which holds <a href="https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/236257083" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$1.27 billion</a> in net assets. (The foundation did not respond to our request for comment.) California taxpayers shouldn’t have to spend another cent. Gavin Newsom, unfortunately, seems committed to bankrolling what for now is a multimillion-dollar bridge to nowhere.
<a href="https://www.city-journal.org/person/christopher-f-rufo" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Christopher F. Rufo</a> is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a contributing editor of City Journal, and the author of <a href="https://manhattan.institute/book/americas-cultural-revolution-how-the-radical-left-conquered-everything" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">America’s Cultural Revolution</a>. <a href="https://www.city-journal.org/person/kenneth-schrupp" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kenneth Schrupp</a> is an investigative reporter at City Journal.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Gavin Newsom

Gavin Newsom’s $114 Million Butterfly Bridge

California

Environmentalism

Transportation

Democratic lawmakers are twisting the federal judiciary’s arm to restore a controversial climate science chapter that was recently removed from its flagship reference guide for judges, a move that comes amid broader scrutiny over the intersection of climate litigation, judicial education, and political advocacy.
At stake is not merely a single chapter in a reference book, but the perception of neutrality in how federal judges are trained to evaluate complex scientific claims, particularly when those claims sit at the center of high-dollar, politically charged litigation campaigns still unfolding in courts across the country.
According to reporting from <a href="https://subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eenews/2026/03/02/democrats-urge-judicial-group-to-restore-deleted-climate-chapter-cw-00804211">Politico</a>, a group of Senate Democrats led by Ron Wyden (D-OR) sent a letter Friday urging the Federal Judicial Center (FJC) to reinstate a deleted climate chapter from the latest edition of the Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence. The lawmakers argued that removing the chapter “sends a clear and chilling message that the federal judiciary is susceptible to partisan political pressure.”
The FJC is the research and education wing of the judicial branch. It guides and trains federal judges, gives resources, publishes materials, and maintains resources on federal judicial history and procedures.
The Reference Manual is widely used by federal judges as a guide to evaluating complex scientific and technical evidence. The now-removed climate section had drawn objections from a group of state attorneys general who argued that it adopted contested climate attribution methodologies and liability theories that mirror arguments currently being advanced in active climate lawsuits against energy companies. Critics contended that including such material in an official judicial reference guide risked lending institutional credibility to one side of ongoing litigation.
The FJC has not publicly characterized the removal as politically motivated, but the timing followed the objections, prompting Democrats to frame the move as capitulation to outside pressure.
Senator Wyden’s advocacy for restoring the chapter has also drawn attention because of his financial and public ties to a climate litigation attorney whose courtroom tactics have faced scrutiny.
<a href="https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=Roger+worthington&amp;contributor_state=OR">Federal Election Commission records</a> show Wyden has received approximately $11,000 in campaign contributions from Roger Worthington, an Oregon-based attorney involved in climate liability cases.
Worthington has been associated with legal strategies seeking to hold fossil fuel companies financially responsible for climate-related damages. He has also donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Democratic campaigns and causes in the reliably blue state over his career.
Worthington’s litigation conduct has itself become a point of ethics concerns. As reported by <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/news/lead-counsel-in-52-billion-big-oil-lawsuit-facing-ethical-misconduct-allegations-over-climate-activism/">National Review</a>, a court filing alleged that Worthington introduced scientific studies in litigation that he had helped fund without disclosing his involvement, presenting them instead as independent research. During a hearing on the matter, Multnomah County Circuit Judge Benjamin Souede rebuked the lack of transparency, stating, “It is not acceptable to submit a declaration by an expert that is based in part on a reliance on a scientific article that plaintiff’s counsel helped to fund without pointing out to the Court that that is so.”
The judge added that “no lawyer in the history of American jurisprudence thought it appropriate to submit an expert declaration relying on an article that the plaintiff’s lawyer helped buy.”
Additional <a href="https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/energy/celebrity-scientist-michael-mann-co-authors-paper-partly-funded-attorney">reporting</a> noted that a draft of a climate liability study appeared on Worthington’s firm&#8217;s website prior to publication and was later cited in court filings. The draft contained a watermark reading “DO NOT DISTRIBUTE UNDER REVIEW” while the link was later removed, the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20250923213615/https://www.worthingtoncaron.com/documents/Carbon-majors-and-the-scientific-case.pdf">archived version</a> is accessible online to verify this. The motion cited in that reporting argued the circumstances suggested involvement beyond that of a neutral observer.
As an attorney with a specialized background in climate litigation, Worthington has much to gain, as do other donors like him, from the reinstatement of the chapter. This dense web of donations, misdirection, and unethical behavior forms just a small part of the broader national backdrop to the dispute over the climate chapter’s inclusion in the Reference Manual.
The core question now confronting the judiciary’s education wing is whether incorporating new, novel, and actively litigated climate liability theories into official guidance risks blurring the line between neutral scientific explanation and advocacy-aligned framing.

US-POLITICS-CONGRESS-ENVIRONMENT-CLIMATE

Fight Over Climate Chapter Exposes Tensions Between Judicial Neutrality And Activist Lawfare

Courts

Democrats

Lawsuit

U.S.

DC Water, the public utility responsible for the massive sewage spill in the Potomac River, focused much of its attention on environmentalism and diversity, equity, and inclusion goals in recent years.
The spill, considered one of the largest wastewater disasters in U.S. history, has placed DC Water&#8217;s DEI priorities in the spotlight. In 2021, DC Water became one of the first public utilities in the country to release a report on its Environmental, Social, and Governance priorities, a framework used by investors to measure a company’s commitments to leftist causes, including fighting &#8220;climate change.&#8221; Then, in February 2022, DC Water CEO David Gadis touted the utility’s emphasis on forming a leadership team made up mostly of minorities and women.
“When I arrived at DC Water, this was an organization that looked very similar to our industry, and it was predominantly, you know, white male at the top,” said Gadis, who was tapped as DC Water’s CEO in 2018. “But this was a utility that more than 70% people of color worked at this utility, and I really believe and I still believe — the outcomes have been fantastic — that the people at the top, the executives, the chiefs in that C-suite, they should look like the employees that they serve and they work with.”
Gadis made the comments on DEI during an appearance on a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhIodoQiLnk&amp;t=43s">show</a> hosted by the American Water Works Association, a nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring safe water.
“So my executive team looks exactly like the community, it looks like the employees, the staff, be it people of color, women, men,” Gadis added. “It is just a fantastic team that has come together to do a lot of great things here at DC Water and in the community for the customers.”
Asked by American Water Works CEO David LaFrance to describe what his executive team “looks like,” Gadis replied, “We have three women, three women of color, and we have five males total. And of those five males, three of them are of color. And then we have two males that are caucasian. So we are getting that total cross-sectional conversation that’s occurring.”
<div id="attachment_1045859" style="width: 929px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1045859" class="wp-image-1045859 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/DC-Water-919x576.png" alt="" width="919" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/DC-Water-919x576.png 919w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/DC-Water-300x188.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/DC-Water-768x481.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/DC-Water.png 1206w" sizes=" (max-width: 919px) 100vw, 919px" />DC Water CEO David Gadis and Board Chair Dr. Unique Morris-Hughes are joined by Mayor Muriel Bowser to celebrate the launch of the machine to help reduce wastewater flow into the Potomac River on November 4, 2025 / Screenshot: Instagram/D.C. Department of Employee Services</div>
DC Water&#8217;s sewage spill debacle comes just one month after a public utility in Nashville was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tennessee-senator-declares-war-on-woke-nashville-power-company-after-week-long-outage?author=Virginia+Kruta&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Tennessee+Senator+Declares+War+On+%E2%80%98Woke%E2%80%99+Nashville+Power+Company+After+Week-Long+Outage">slammed</a> for its focus on DEI after an ice storm knocked out power for residents for weeks. Between 2023 and the beginning of 2024, the Nashville Electric Service held 102 DEI sessions &#8220;to foster a culture of civility and belonging within our organization with the hopes of extending that dynamic beyond our walls.&#8221; Last month, the electric service faced increased scrutiny for its delayed response to widespread power outages in Nashville.
The sewage spill, which began last month, has unleashed hundreds of millions of gallons of wastewater into the Potomac River, forcing authorities to issue alerts to residents in the nation’s capital, Maryland, and Virginia to avoid contact with the river as E.coli levels skyrocketed. DC Water said the disaster was caused by the partial collapse of the Potomac Interceptor sewer line, which resulted in a massive overflow of wastewater that made its way into the Potomac.
In just the first five days after the sewer line’s collapse, around 194 million gallons overflowed, DC Water <a href="https://www.dcwater.com/about-dc-water/media/news/dc-water-releases-key-findings-extent-sewer-overflow-and-potomac-river" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> on February 6. In an update this week, the utility said that a total of 243.5 million gallons have spilled into the Potomac since January 19.
Earlier this week, President Donald Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116082091487085093" target="_blank" rel="noopener">expressed</a> frustration with state and local leaders over what he viewed as a slow response to the sewage spill. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said he was directing federal authorities to take over the management of the sewage spill response, writing, “I cannot allow incompetent Local ‘Leadership’ to turn the River in the Heart of Washington into a Disaster Zone.”
Betsy Nicholas, president of the Potomac Riverkeeper Network, told <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/5742741-potomac-river-sewage-spill-dc-virginia-maryland/">The Hill</a> that DC Water knew the collapsed sewer line needed to be repaired and &#8220;had money allocated for it.&#8221;
&#8220;It just seems … the whole pipeline collapsed before they were able to do any work on it,&#8221; Nicholas added.
Under Gadis, DC Water has also sought to award contracts to minority- and women-owned businesses, The Daily Caller <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2026/02/17/david-gadis-dc-water-sewage-spill-diversity-dei-flint-michigan-water-crisis/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> on Tuesday. In fiscal year 2024 alone, DC Water awarded women-owned and “disadvantaged” businesses around $520 million of its $1.33 billion in total awards. Gadis also believes it’s important for the utility to have a “diverse workforce” to establish “trust” with homeowners who “like to see people that look like them and walk like them.”
The Daily Wire reached out to DC Water for comment.
The massive sewage spill also marks a rough spot for a utility that <a href="https://www.dcwater.com/sites/default/files/documents/2021-12/DC%20Water%20ESG%20Report%202021.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">vowed</a> to provide “high quality water services in a safe, environmentally friendly, and efficient manner.”
In its 2021 <a href="https://www.dcwater.com/sites/default/files/documents/2021-12/DC%20Water%20ESG%20Report%202021.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ESG report</a>, DC Water said it was “committed to finding renewable energy solutions for our energy demand to mitigate our contribution to climate change.” The utility also said it was “committed to providing healthy water throughout our operations,” and “dramatically reduce the amount of solids, nitrogen, and phosphorous in the cleaned water we return to the Potomac to protect our local rivers and the Chesapeake Bay.”
The Environmental Protection Agency, led by Administrator Lee Zeldin, said that DC Water had not yet reached out for federal help despite the massive scale of the disaster.
“The Potomac Interceptor overflow is a sewage crisis of historic proportion. Never should any American family, community, or waterway ever have to experience this level of extensive environmental damage,” Zeldin <a href="https://x.com/epaleezeldin/status/2023870910365941812" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> in a post on X on Tuesday. “This mess must be completely addressed as fast as humanly possible, and the Trump EPA stands ready, motivated, and highly capable to assist in any way possible to fulfill President Trump’s strong desire to END this disaster.”
Water testing in the Potomac River earlier this week revealed E.coli levels hundreds of times higher than what the EPA considers safe, DC Water officials <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/potomac-river-e-coli-levels-skyrocket-240-million-gallons-sewage-pour-rcna259420">said</a>. Local authorities have assured residents, &#8220;There is no impact to the drinking water supply,&#8221; as the sewer and water systems &#8220;are completely separate.&#8221;

US-ENVIROMENT-SEWAGE-POTOMAC

Ahead Of ‘Sewage Crisis Of Historic Proportion,’ DC Water Officials Were Focused On DEI

D.C. Utility Responsible For Disastrous Potomac Sewage Spill Is Steeped In DEI And Environmentalism

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

Washington D.C.

The Trump administration is set this week to repeal the Obama-era “endangerment finding” on which federal regulations on greenhouse gas emissions rest.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday that President Donald Trump and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin are set to formalize a new rule rescinding the emissions ruling in an event scheduled for Thursday.
“This will be the largest deregulatory action in American history, and it will save the American people $1.3 trillion in crushing regulations. The bulk of the savings will stem from reduced costs for new vehicles, with the EPA projecting average per vehicle savings of more than $2,400 for popular light-duty cars, SUVs, and trucks,” <a href="https://x.com/WarMachineRR/status/2021296500928655493">said</a> Leavitt.
Environmental groups have already promised to explore lawsuits as soon as the final rule is signed.
“Lee Zeldin and Donald Trump plan to toss out the endangerment finding on blatantly specious legal grounds, attempting to wish away the Supreme Court’s landmark 2007 holding in Massachusetts v. EPA that the Clean Air Act does cover greenhouse gas pollution,” the Sierra Club said in a press release. “While this rule specifically concerns greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles, EPA has made clear that it will do the same for other major sources of climate pollution like power plants.”
EPA Administrator Zeldin <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/epa-announces-plan-to-throw-out-obama-era-climate-restrictions">began</a> the move to roll back the finding in July, saying that the deregulatory effort was “driving a dagger into the heart of the climate change religion.”
The new rule will “repeal all resulting greenhouse gas emissions regulations for motor vehicles and engines, thereby reinstating consumer choice and giving Americans the ability to purchase a safe and affordable car for their family while decreasing the cost of living on all products that trucks deliver,” the agency said at the time.
The “endangerment finding” was drawn up in 2009 by the EPA under former President Barack Obama. The finding is not a regulation, but a legal determination that greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane, are a threat to public health and should be regulated. The finding became the basis for a wave of regulations on greenhouse gas emissions that covered power plants, engines, and other common greenhouse gas emitters.
The final rule would rescind emissions standards on motor vehicles and associated compliance programs. It would also remove some mandatory reporting requirements for industries, according to <a href="https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/trump-to-repeal-landmark-climate-finding-in-huge-regulatory-rollback-ff7d58db?gaa_at=eafs&amp;gaa_n=AWEtsqc-iEqI12SYGzN5JMUaWEzF78Y8dnfwJ-FEqju50asm9b4hJlghXz5X3WcVecc%3D&amp;gaa_ts=698b9b82&amp;gaa_sig=pc2gkz7zAniJG3EDoD_PYRiGsQG3TMUz6k3l79yRrTmMy0YBj9Rh-mGWVgarxPaMEU9GGe6Rj6wrvwYIyX9Dhg%3D%3D">The Wall Street Journal</a>.
The rule would not impact regulations on emissions from power plants, but it would lay the groundwork for future rollbacks of those regulations, officials told WSJ.
This move is just one in an ongoing <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/07/10/trump-big-beautiful-bill-ends-7500-ev-tax-credit-time-to-buy-vehicle.html">deregulatory</a> effort by the Trump administration as it relates to alleged climate change. In 2025, President Trump and Congress ended the federal electric vehicle tax credit with the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” repealing provisions that had been expanded under former President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.
Additionally, EPA head Zeldin <a href="https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-launches-biggest-deregulatory-action-us-history">announced</a> in early 2025 that his agency was poised to take dozens of deregulatory actions that would &#8220;roll back trillions in regulatory costs and hidden &#8216;taxes&#8217; on U.S. families,&#8221; according to an EPA press release.

Lee Zeldin

Trump EPA To Repeal Bedrock Climate Finding In ‘Largest Deregulatory Action’ In U.S. History

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Politics

Social Issues

Trump Administration

A coalition of state attorneys general led by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier is warning major corporations that participating in coordinated “plastics sustainability” initiatives could expose them to serious antitrust and consumer protection liability, according to a <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eCxmUDluD7iaEOb6c9qOFvmbrXw03vW9/view">letter</a> obtained by The Daily Wire.
The letter, sent Tuesday, targeted 78 companies affiliated with several prominent plastics and packaging advocacy groups, including Amazon, Lego, Intel, and Microsoft. The attorneys general argue that collective commitments to eliminate products, reduce packaging options, or alter product quality may unlawfully restrain trade by limiting output and bypassing normal market competition.
The warning focuses on companies involved with the U.S. Plastics Pact, the Consumer Goods Forum, and the Sustainable Packaging Coalition. These organizations promote industry-wide targets aimed at reducing or eliminating certain plastic products and mandating recyclability and content standards. According to the attorneys general, those targets are not simply aspirational—they function as coordinated pressure campaigns that can distort markets and harm consumers.
This letter follows earlier warnings sent directly to the advocacy groups in October, escalating scrutiny from the organizational level to individual company participation.
The attorneys general warn that companies that continue to adhere to or enforce these policies may face enforcement under the Sherman Antitrust Act, as well as state and federal consumer protection laws. The letter emphasizes that membership in an industry association does not shield companies from liability if their conduct results in reduced output, degraded product quality, or higher prices.
Collective action lies at the heart of the concern. The advocacy groups themselves have acknowledged that their goals cannot be achieved through individual corporate decisions alone, but require coordinated commitments across competing firms—a hallmark of the kind of conduct antitrust laws are designed to prevent.
The letter draws on legal <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/attorneys-general-warn-financial-institutions-of-antitrust-violations-over-climate-activism">scrutiny</a> of so-called “net-zero alliances”—industry groups that coordinated commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions—as a cautionary example. In those cases, state attorneys general raised antitrust, fiduciary, and consumer protection concerns because competitors aligned on output-related targets and standards instead of competing independently. Some companies responded by withdrawing from the alliances, causing the initiatives to dissolve or weaken without full enforcement actions.
The attorneys general argue this history is instructive because the plastics advocacy groups at issue rely on similar coordinated commitments across multiple companies, which can produce the same anti-competitive effects antitrust law seeks to prevent.
The letter also cites a recent federal court ruling allowing antitrust and consumer protection claims against BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street to proceed. The court found that allegations of coordinated climate commitments leading to reduced output and market manipulation could support legal claims. The attorneys general contend that this precedent directly applies to plastics initiatives.
The letter stresses that environmental or social intentions do not exempt companies from antitrust law. Even for public-interest reasons, courts have consistently held that agreements to restrict output or reduce quality remain illegal. As the attorneys general note, no legal exception allows companies to collude to “protect consumers from their own choices.”
Beyond antitrust concerns, the attorneys general warn that companies may mislead consumers if they promote sustainability targets that are unrealistic, artificially imposed, or unlikely to be met—particularly if they fail to disclose the costs, tradeoffs, or feasibility of those commitments.
Attorney General Uthmeier framed the warning as a response to ideological pressure on corporations. “Multiple advocacy organizations have pressured companies into artificially changing the output and quality of their goods and services in ways that normal market forces would not otherwise bring about,” Uthmeier said. “Advocacy for a particular agenda is not a basis to mislead consumers.”
Jason Isaac, CEO of the American Energy Institute, compared the plastics initiatives to ESG-driven net-zero alliances. “When corporations coordinate through advocacy groups to restrict products, degrade quality, or manipulate markets outside normal competitive forces, that raises serious antitrust and consumer protection concerns,” Isaac said. “Coordinated pressure to eliminate products or reduce quality without regard to consumer demand is not sustainability—it is cartel-like behavior dressed up in advocacy language.”
Will Hild, Executive Director of Consumers’ Research, framed the letter as broader pushback against ESG-driven coordination. “State Attorneys General are sending a clear message to corporate America: you cannot collude with woke activists to push a political agenda and expect to escape scrutiny,” Hild said. “These plastics initiatives are not about serving consumers; they are about quietly eliminating products, reducing quality, and driving up costs.”
The attorneys general now demand that companies explain the legal basis for continued participation in these initiatives and provide documents showing why their conduct does not violate antitrust or consumer protection laws. The letter warns that failure to respond could trigger subpoenas or other compulsory legal action.
Requests for comment sent to Amazon, Intel, Lego, and Microsoft were not returned before publication.

US-NEWS-FLA-AG-TRUMP-ENDORSEMENT-OS

State AGs Tell Companies Their Sustainability Pacts Violate Antitrust Laws

Antitrust

Economy

James Uthmeier

”Raising Hope for Climate Justice” Conference Opens

The Pope Hosts Cringe ‘Climate Justice’ Event

The Pope Hosts Cringe 'Climate Justice' Event

Abortion

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Catholic

Climate Change

Dick Durbin

Opinion

Pope Leo

Pro-Life Movement

The Vatican

Conservationist Jane Goodall has died at the age of 91. 
The British primatologist and anthropologist was best known for her work studying chimpanzees, which began in 1960. Goodall remained active in the scientific community until the day she died, and was on a speaking tour in California at the time of her passing.
Born in London in 1934, Goodall grew up in England with a love for animals, which was spurred in part by her father buying her a stuffed toy chimpanzee named “Jubilee.” 
She <a href="https://www.biography.com/scientists/jane-goodall">traveled</a> to Africa in 1957 and later met anthropologist Louis Leakey, who saw promise in her curiosity and invited her to Tanzania to study wild chimpanzees. 
In July 1960, at the age of 26, Goodall established a field camp at Gombe Stream National Park, where she pioneered immersive observation and discovered that chimpanzees possess the ability to use tools, hunt, and form social bonds. 
Over the decades, Goodall became a fervent conservationist. She founded the Jane Goodall Institute in 1977 and launched Roots &amp; Shoots, a youth-oriented environmental movement. 
She was named a UN Messenger of Peace in 2002 and has received multiple awards, including the Templeton Prize and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which was presented by Joe Biden in January 2025. Goodall’s later years were devoted to conservation, climate activism, and youth outreach.
Goodall was married twice and had one child. She was raised Christian and maintained a belief in a higher power, even as her scientific colleagues were atheist or agnostic. She had critical words for organized religion, choosing instead to embrace a looser approach to spirituality.
“I realized that my experience in the forest, my understanding of the chimpanzees, had given me a new perspective,” she <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2010/jan/13/jane-goodall">wrote</a> in one of her books, Reason for Hope. “I was ­utterly convinced there was a great ­spiritual power that we call God, Allah or Brahma, although I knew, equally ­certainly, that my finite mind could never comprehend its form or nature.”

Jane Goodall

Chimpanzee Expert Jane Goodall Dies At 91

conservation

Death

Science

The Justice Department sued California on Thursday over the state’s strict emissions regulations imposed on heavy-duty trucks. 
The department challenged the California Air Resources Board (CARB) over its “Clean Truck Partnership” that pushes truck manufacturers to phase out internal-combustion engines in favor of “zero emission” engines by 2036. Two separate challenges were filed: One to heavy-duty truck restrictions and another to the guidelines for light-duty vehicles.  

“Agreement, contract, partnership, mandate — whatever California wants to call it, this unlawful action attempts to undermine federal law,” <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-sues-california-end-enforcement-unlawful-emissions-standards-trucks">said</a> Acting Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “President Donald Trump and Congress have invalidated the Clean Air Act waivers that were the basis for California’s actions. CARB must respect the democratic process and stop enforcing unlawful standards.”
The DOJ is joining a lawsuit brought by several truck manufacturers, including Daimler and Volvo, challenging California over its strident emissions standards. 
In its filings, the Justice Department argued that California was illegally trying to supersede federal environmental regulations. California first received approvals from the Biden administration to impose harsher emission standards. 
President Donald Trump signed congressional resolutions in June 2025 invalidating the waivers granted by the Biden administration. 
“Without these waivers, the Clean Air Act prohibits [the California Air Resources Board] from attempting to enforce those regulations,” the Justice Department said. “Yet, in an affront to the rule of law, [the California Air Resources Board] seeks to circumvent that prohibition by enforcing the preempted emissions standards through the Clean Truck Partnership.”
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The Justice Department <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1411296/dl?inline">argued</a> that California was effectively attempting to “impose a nationwide ban on internal-combustion engines in heavy-duty trucks by 2036” through the regulations promulgated through the “Clean Truck Partnership.” 
“The decision whether to ban internal-combustion engines in heavy-duty trucks rests ultimately with the federal government. And it has declined to take such a far-reaching step,” the suit said. “CARB continues to threaten truck manufacturers who refuse to comply with its preempted regulations with severe civil sanctions and hostile regulatory treatment.”

EPA Finalizes New Emissions Rules For Heavy Trucks And Buses

Justice Department Sues California To End Electric Vehicle Mandate

Justice Department Challenges California's Electric Vehicle Mandate

Carbon Emissions

Department of Justice

Trucks

A left-wing organization is pumping money into an effort to kill legislation that would prevent banks from denying loans to farmers based on political considerations. The organization, The Daily Wire has learned, has ties to a deeper network of far-left groups, including one that appears to be flush with foreign money.
Unlocking America’s Future is <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ads/library/?active_status=all&amp;ad_type=all&amp;country=US&amp;is_targeted_country=false&amp;media_type=all&amp;search_type=page&amp;view_all_page_id=163734473485371">running ads</a> on Facebook targeting North Carolina and opposing legislation that would <a href="https://www.carolinajournal.com/house-agriculture-committee-approves-anti-esg-farmers-protection-act/">prevent</a> banks from denying loans to farmers based on controversial environmental, social, and governance (ESG) metrics. The group has spent just shy of $30,000 on Facebook ads from early July to early August.
The legislation, its Republican sponsors say, would prevent farmers from being compelled to go along with a political agenda and ensure that lending remains “based upon whether they have good credit or not but not based upon their ESG score.”
But Unlocking America’s future is just a trade name used by an organization set up by established left-wing organizations to bolster Biden in the 2020 election.
Unlocking America’s Future, <a href="https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_dc/EXTUID_4337124">according</a> to a non-profit database and the Washington, D.C., corporate registry, is a trade name used by Climate Power. This left-wing organization was created in the lead-up to the 2020 election as a <a href="https://www.eenews.net/articles/this-climate-group-has-80m-to-help-biden/">joint project</a> of the Sierra Club, the American Progress Action Fund, and the League of Conservation Voters. The group came on the scene with $80 million ready to deploy in an effort to boost then-candidate Joe Biden.
Under the name “Unlocking America’s Future,” the organization has launched an ad campaign opposing the Farmers Protection Act, targeting Raleigh and other areas with paid ads calling on several state representatives and Governor Josh Stein to reject the proposal.
“Billionaires want to force banks to ignore financial risks, putting North Carolina’s economic future at risk,” read the paid Facebook ads, which began in late May and have continued into August. “Stand up for North Carolina’s economic future by focusing on responsible investing, lowering costs, and creating jobs.”
While the ads grandstand against “billionaires” attempting to exert influence on North Carolina’s politics, the organization has ties to a network of left-wing activist groups tied to a Swiss billionaire.
Climate Power is a project of the Fund for a Better Future, which has been <a href="https://apnews.com/article/dark-money-democrats-wyss-politics-elections-601d40cd01569190559d545418afe396">scrutinized</a> as a vehicle that’s allowed foreign money to flood into American politics through issue-advocacy groups, allowing foreigners to exert influence on America’s politics despite a prohibition on foreign donors directly bankrolling candidates for public office.
Swiss billionaire and prominent left-wing donor Hansjörg Wyss was a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/dark-money-democrats-wyss-politics-elections-601d40cd01569190559d545418afe396">major backer</a> of the Fund for a Better Future, the Associated Press reported as Climate Power sought to boost Biden’s legislative agenda and support Democratic congressional candidates.
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Climate Power has also pushed the diversity, equity, and inclusion agenda, at least internally, according to organization documentation. The organization’s 2023 registration form reveals that the group employed racially discriminatory practices when selecting board members.
“The makeup of the board shall be reflective of the diversity of the progress movement and the corporation staff,” the document reads. “The board should not be less than approximately 40% Board members who identify as Black, Indigenous, or People of Color and 51% of Board members who identify as women.”
“The corporation shall use best efforts to ensure that the diversity of the Board is no lesser than the diversity of staff.” it goes on to add.
Climate Power did not respond to a request for comment.

Hansjorg Wyss

Leftist Network With Foreign Ties Tries To Kill Bill Protecting Farmers From ESG Agenda

Banking

Banks

Dark Money

Donors

North Carolina

Climate activists vandalized the iconic Wall Street Bull with green graffiti declaring &#8220;Greed = Death,” but quickly scrubbed it clean before police officers arrived at the scene.
Members of the environmental activist group Extinction Rebellion defaced the bronze statue early Monday during an Earth Day demonstration, the New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/04/22/us-news/wall-street-bull-painted-over-by-environmental-activists-who-cleaned-up-when-cops-came/">reported</a>.
The vandals spray-painted their organization&#8217;s symbol alongside the anti-capitalist messaging on the bull while hysterically reciting climate alarmist slogans.
The activists also attempted to create an image of the bull defecating on a cutout of Earth by hanging debris-filled brown stockings near the rear of the statue.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
NOW: &quot;Greed=Death&quot; tagged on the Charging Bull in NYSE by Climate activists with Extinction Rebellion, on the National Earth Day. <a href="https://t.co/qtEoZmD4jd">pic.twitter.com/qtEoZmD4jd</a>
&mdash; Oliya Scootercaster 🛴 (@ScooterCasterNY) <a href="https://twitter.com/ScooterCasterNY/status/1914662322397733103?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 22, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The group took credit for the act on X, <a href="https://x.com/XR_NYC/status/1914703015270879295">writing</a>, “Good morning from the resistance. We came to Wall Street to call out the bullshit. Bullshit told by the 1% who gamble with our futures. Bullshit to bailouts for those who wrecked our economy. #GreedIsDeath #ActNow.”
“We spoke the truth, we called them out — and the city&#8217;s elite laughed. But the joke isn’t so funny now, when it’s their stocks and wealth getting screwed.”
After one cop <a href="https://www.nydailynews.com/2025/04/22/earth-day-activists-deface-wall-st-charging-bull-then-clean-it-up/">ordered</a> an activist sitting on the bull&#8217;s neck to dismount, the activists seemed to panic, hastily scrubbing away their graffiti before more police officers even approached the scene, according to the New York Daily News.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Wall Street Bull painted over by environmental activists — who frantically cleaned it up when cops came <a href="https://t.co/ldkrDngmM4">https://t.co/ldkrDngmM4</a> <a href="https://t.co/rBPiqR3if2">pic.twitter.com/rBPiqR3if2</a>
&mdash; New York Post (@nypost) <a href="https://twitter.com/nypost/status/1914714834785960125?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 22, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
As more cops arrived on the scene, they casually watched as the activists finished cleaning their graffiti off the bull, making no immediate arrests.
The 7,100-pound Wall Street Bull, installed in 1989, has long been a symbol of American financial prosperity and a frequent target for anti-capitalist protesters.
The bull has repeatedly been targeted by left-wing protesters, who see the statue as a symbol of corporate “greed” and the evils of capitalism.
In 2019, a Dallas man <a href="https://www.nydailynews.com/2019/09/07/wall-streets-iconic-charging-bull-statue-bashed-by-angry-texas-man/">bashed</a> what appeared to be a heavy silver guitar into the statue while screaming “F**k Trump!,” damaging one of its horns before he was arrested by the NYPD.

Earth Day Protestors Vandalize Iconic Wall St Bull Statue

Climate Activists Deface Wall Street Bull — Then Panic And Clean It Before Cops Come

Earth Day

Vandalism

Wall Street

Today is Earth Day, a good time to remember that the guy who claimed to have founded this &#8220;peace and love&#8221; environmental celebration was a convicted murderer.
Ira Einhorn was a tie-dye-wearing, long-bearded hippie &#8220;guru&#8221; in Philadelphia who originally <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna42711922#.WPudZ4jytPY" target="_blank" rel="noopener">became</a> known for his environmental activism in the 1960s and &#8217;70s.
Today, he&#8217;s better known for killing his girlfriend and stuffing her body in a trunk.
A famous <a href="https://time.com/5242190/earth-day-founder/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">photo</a> shows Einhorn flashing a peace sign on stage at the first Earth Day in Philadelphia on April 22, 1970, and he later claimed that Earth Day was his idea.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Just your annual reminder that one of the original <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/EarthDay?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#EarthDay</a> leaders murdered and composted his girlfriend.
(The Left and the media—but I repeat myself—have tried to distance the festival from Ira Einhorn, but the photos and history books don&#8217;t lie.) <a href="https://t.co/PLciuHG6YW">pic.twitter.com/PLciuHG6YW</a>
— Michael Knowles (@michaeljknowles) <a href="https://twitter.com/michaeljknowles/status/1253000708749582337?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 22, 2020</a></blockquote>
He became popular with ecological groups during the counterculture movement of the &#8217;60s and protested the Vietnam War. He was a teacher at Temple University, but his contract was not renewed after he <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=YEVIDQAAQBAJ&amp;q=temple#v=snippet&amp;q=temple&amp;f=false" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> he offered students &#8220;straight answers about the delights and dangers&#8221; of cannabis and LSD. Their parents were definitely thrilled.
<div id="attachment_910865" style="width: 313px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-910865" class=" wp-image-910865" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-1603199-229x300.jpg" alt="" width="303" height="397" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-1603199-229x300.jpg 229w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-1603199-439x576.jpg 439w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-1603199-768x1007.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-1603199.jpg 781w" sizes=" (max-width: 303px) 100vw, 303px" />Ira Einhorn (Getty Images)</div>
He nicknamed himself &#8220;Unicorn&#8221; because his last name translates to &#8220;one horn.&#8221; Later, he became known as the &#8220;Unicorn Killer.&#8221;
In 1977, Einhorn&#8217;s girlfriend of five years, Holly Maddux, broke up with him and moved to New York City. In September, she returned to their Philadelphia apartment to get her belongings, which Einhorn had allegedly threatened to throw out on the street. She was never seen again.
<div id="attachment_910863" style="width: 308px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-910863" class=" wp-image-910863" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-1479906-225x300.jpg" alt="" width="298" height="397" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-1479906-225x300.jpg 225w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-1479906-433x576.jpg 433w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-1479906.jpg 769w" sizes=" (max-width: 298px) 100vw, 298px" />Holly Maddux (Getty Images)</div>
It was a year and a half later, when a neighbor <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna42711922#.WPudZ4jytPY" target="_blank" rel="noopener">complained</a> about a reddish-brown, stinking liquid leaking from the ceiling right below Einhorn&#8217;s bedroom closet that police showed up and searched his apartment.
They found Maddux&#8217;s mummified, somewhat decomposed body stuffed in a trunk along with Styrofoam, air fresheners, and newspapers.
&#8220;It looks like we found Holly,&#8221; a cop <a href="https://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/index2.php?rev_t=20110224092300&amp;url=http%3A%2Fwww.time.com%2Ftime%2Fnation%2Farticle%2F0%2C8599%2C168382%2C00.html#federation=archive.wikiwix.com&amp;tab=url" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> to Einhorn.
&#8220;You found what you found,&#8221; he allegedly replied.
When police questioned Einhorn about his girlfriend&#8217;s disappearance, he claimed that in true hippie fashion, she had gone out to the neighborhood co-op to buy some tofu and sprouts and never returned.
Making matters even more darkly comical, his new girlfriend <a href="https://www.anothergaze.com/cecelia-condits-body-of-becoming-women-and-the-dark-forest-of-dreams/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly</a> could not smell the body in his apartment thanks to a medication she was taking that affected her sense of smell.
Days before his murder trial was to begin in 1981, Einhorn fled the country and <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna42711922#.WPudZ4jytPY" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lived</a> in Europe for 20 years before he was finally extradited back to the United States.
<div id="attachment_910869" style="width: 378px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-910869" class=" wp-image-910869" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-542412654-1-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="368" height="245" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-542412654-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-542412654-1-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-542412654-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-542412654-1.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 368px) 100vw, 368px" />Ira Einhorn (KLEIN STEPHANE/Sygma via Getty Images)</div>
When the murder case began, Earth Day organizers distanced themselves from Einhorn.
Two organizers of Philadelphia’s first Earth Day wrote to Time Magazine to complain about the idea that Einhorn had come up with the event, saying he was not even a member of the committee that organized it.
&#8220;The photo you ran was taken during a one-hour period when Einhorn literally occupied the podium, refusing to get off the stage and delaying Senator Edmund Muskie’s keynote speech,&#8221; the organizers <a href="https://time.com/vault/issue/1997-11-03/page/20/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> Time. &#8220;It was an unsuccessful attempt — at least at that time — to seize 15 minutes of fame. Now a notorious murder, flight, trial in absentia and foreign capture are giving Einhorn the national media attention he so desperately craved.&#8221;
Einhorn was eventually extradited from France and took the stand in his own defense, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100831230541/http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/2002/10/18/einhorn/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">claiming</a> his girlfriend had been murdered by CIA agents who framed him — we&#8217;re dealing with an extremely stable hippie here, folks.
He was convicted in 2002 and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He died in prison in April 2020 at age 79.
Happy Earth Day!

(FILE PHOTO)  Ira Einhorn Found Guilty Of Murder

Guy Who Claimed To Invent Earth Day Was A Hippie Who Murdered His Girlfriend

Crime

Environment

A California university known for promoting leftist ideology removed racially-based eligibility requirements for its “environmentalist of color” scholarship program after facing legal questions over the discriminatory program. 
On Wednesday, the University of California, Berkeley, told The Daily Wire that it was investigating the program and was prepared to adjust it to comply with the law. Ahead of the investigation, it says that it has already renamed the program to the “Rooted in Joy” scholarship and taken away requirements that recipients “identify as a POC.&#8221;
“UC Berkeley is committed to complying with all state and federal laws regarding discrimination and related matters. We are looking into the matter regarding this particular program and if it is out of compliance, we will correct it promptly,” a spokesman for the university said. 
The rebrand comes after Defending Education filed a complaint with the Education Department, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watchdog-challenges-environmentalist-of-color-scholarship-at-notoriously-liberal-university?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=2&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Notoriously+Liberal+University’s+‘Environmentalist+Of+Color’+Scholarship+Is+Illegal%2C+Watchdog+Claims" target="_blank" rel="noopener">first reported</a> on by The Daily Wire, saying that the scholarship violated the Equal Protection clause of the 14th Amendment and the Civil Rights Act.
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watchdog-challenges-environmentalist-of-color-scholarship-at-notoriously-liberal-university?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=2&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Notoriously+Liberal+University%E2%80%99s+%E2%80%98Environmentalist+Of+Color%E2%80%99+Scholarship+Is+Illegal%2C+Watchdog+Claims">Notoriously Liberal University’s ‘Environmentalist Of Color’ Scholarship Is Illegal, Watchdog Claims</a>
The scholarship program, which offers five students $2,000 per year, is administered by the Student Environmental Resource Center and administered by the Green Initiative Fund. 
The university later said that it had “updated the program website as a first step.”
These updates included removing from the website requirements that a recipient “identify as BIPOC” and completely renaming the program. 
<div id="attachment_905853" style="width: 2570px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-905853" class="size-full wp-image-905853" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-10-Apr-2025-07-52-AM-962.jpg" alt="" width="2560" height="1440" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-10-Apr-2025-07-52-AM-962.jpg 2560w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-10-Apr-2025-07-52-AM-962-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-10-Apr-2025-07-52-AM-962-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-10-Apr-2025-07-52-AM-962-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-10-Apr-2025-07-52-AM-962-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-10-Apr-2025-07-52-AM-962-2048x1152.jpg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" />Before/After.</div>
The university also adjusted the goals of the program, changing its language from bridging “institutional gaps in resources and funding” for “students of color” to “students.” Another goal changed from financially supporting “passionate students of color” to “passionate students.” 
The goals of the scholarship still include a racial angle as the award remains designated for students working at the “intersection of communities of color and the environmental field at UC Berkeley.”
The organizational rebrand also included removing a question from its FAQ on what it meant to be a &#8220;person of color.&#8221; In the previous iteration, the university said that being a &#8220;POC&#8221; can go beyond skin color.
“While navigating the complexities and nuances of this question, SERC recognizes that being a ‘person of color’ goes beyond just skin color, and can include an intersectional expanse of racial, ethnic, and cultural experiences and identities. If you identify as a ‘person of color,’ we encourage you to apply,” the Student Environmental Resource Center said.
Also gone from the program were discussions of how &#8220;BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, Persons-of-Color) are frequently asked to exclusively call upon their experiences with racial trauma and violence&#8221; to now just asking students to &#8220;consider their identities from the lens of radical healing, joy, and growth.&#8221;
The rebranding comes as UC Berkeley is under <a href="https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/office-civil-rights-initiates-title-vi-investigations-institutions-of-higher-education-0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">investigation</a> by the Trump administration over potentially racially exclusionary practices in its graduate programs. The Education Department has warned all universities across the country to abide by the Supreme Court&#8217;s decision to strike down affirmative action or face penalties.

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Berkeley Tries To Rebrand ‘Environmentalist Of Color’ Scholarship After Legal Complaints

Civil Rights

Department of Education

Education

University of California Berkeley

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