As more and more states move to block genderaffirming care for minors, the issue of whether or not to give Americans under the age of 18 access to this type of medical treatment that includes puberty blockers, hormone therapies and surgeries is becoming more contentious. In the first half of 2023 several states, including Texas, Missouri and Idaho, enacted laws that ban such care, bringing the total number of states that prohibit genderaffirming care up to 20. Advocates of the bans argue that this type of medical care is endangering children and there is a lack of scientific evidence to…

Following the historic fires in Maui, Hawaii, climate activists and lawmakers ramped up a plea to President Biden to declare a national climate emergency. Such a declaration would allow the president to take more actions aimed at reducing the toll and destruction of climate-driven disasters. “Tomorrow, you could wake up and your whole community could be ashes,” Kaniela Ing, a Maui resident and the national director of the Green New Deal Network, a climate justice organization, told Politico amid the Maui fire disaster. “That’s the urgency we’re operating under, so if there was ever a moment to declare a climate…