RESTORED AREA FOR SEQUOIAS TAKING ROOT FOR VISITORS
Park’s largest sequoia grove is ready to open to the public after crews completed a restoration project to protect the nearly 500 ancient trees, officials said Thursday. Mariposa Grove, a 4-acre habitat of the towering, reddish-brown trees, will open Friday after being closed for three years, said Yosemite spokesman Scott Gediman. Crews removed asphalt to protect roots and help water better flow to the ancient sequoias, built 4 miles of trails, and added bridges and boardwalks over sensitive areas. A tram that featured chugging diesel trucks pulling wagons full of tourists within a few feet of the trees was taken out, the Mercury News in San Jose, Calif., reported. One of the goals of the $40 million restoration project is to help the trees thrive for generations.
Moon’s ruling party sweeps local elections across South Korea.
South Korea President Moon Jae-in’s ruling party won 14 of 17 mayoral and gubernatorial races on Wednesday, including the re-election of Seoul’s mayor, in an endorsement of Moon’s embrace of North Korea.
The ruling Democratic Party also won 11 of the 12 vacant parliamentary seats, according to the National Election Commission.
Moon’s party now controls 130 seats in the 300seat National Assembly, widening its advantage over the main opposition Liberty Korea Party, which has 113.
The landslide win for the ruling party will help Moon push through his policies on North Korea, chaebol regulations and consumer-driven economy, Korea Investment & Securities wrote in a research note. The victory is likely to further boost public support for the president and his policies, including his softer approach to North Korea, Yonhap News reported.
“We simply did not have the strength to fend off the president’s peace offensive,” Sohn Hak-kyu, a senior election campaigner for the minor opposition Bareunmirae Party told Yonhap.
AT&T, Time Warner complete major merger.
WASHINGTON» AT&T and Time Warner have completed their merger, one of the biggest media deals ever, just two days after a federal judge approved the combination over objections by the Trump Justice Department that it would hurt consumers.
The merger could shape the way consumers stream TV and movies and how much they pay, and it may usher in a new era of accelerating change and deal making in the media and telecom worlds. The deadline to complete the merger was next week, but the closing came swiftly after the Justice Department signaled it wouldn’t ask the court to postpone the merger while it pondered an appeal of the judge’s decision.
Musk company to build Chicago-to-O’Hare express transport.
CHICAGO»
Entrepreneur Elon Musk said Thursday a high-speed transportation system that will whisk people between downtown Chicago and O’Hare International Airport at speeds of up to 150 mph could be operational in about three years.
Musk joined Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel to formally announce that a Musk-owned enterprise, The Boring Company, was selected for the project and will fund it fully. They said electric vehicles will carry passengers through underground tunnels in about 12 minutes each way.
Emanuel called the new transit system “the fast lane to Chicago’s future,” and said it will create jobs and make the city more competitive.
He scoffed at critics who question the still-unproven technology or the city’s ability to achieve what’s been a goal at City Hall for more than a decade.
Many animals are shifting from day to night to avoid people.
YORK» Lions and NEW tigers and bears are increasingly becoming night owls because of people, a new study says.
Scientists have long known that human activity disrupts nature. Besides becoming more vigilant and reducing time spent looking for food, many mammals may travel to remote areas or move around less to avoid contact with people.
The latest research found even activities like hiking and camping can scare animals and drive them to become more active at night.
“It suggests that animals might be playing it safe around people,” said Kaitlyn Gaynor, an ecologist at the University of California, who led the study. “We may think that we leave no trace when we’re just hiking in the woods, but our mere presence can have lasting consequences.”
Gaynor and her colleagues analyzed 76 studies involving 62 species on six continents. Animals included lions in Tanzania, otters in Brazil, coyotes in California, wild boars in Poland and tigers in Nepal.