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Relevant Section, with example implementation:

With an annual budget of roughly $2 million, the program saves Eugene $14 million annually in ambulance trips and emergency room costs, plus an estimated $8.5 million in public safety costs—and has successfully diverted thousands from the criminal legal system. Of the estimated 17,700 calls CAHOOTS responded to in 2019, teams requested police backup only 311 times.

311/17700=~1.75%

Article Text Below:

What Happens When We Send Mental Health Providers Instead Of Police

For Daniel Prude, Patrick Warren Sr., and Ricardo Muñoz, 911 calls led to tragedy. They are three of at least 97 people killed just last year after police responded to reports of someone “behaving erratically or having a mental health crisis.”

Like Prude, Warren Sr., and Muñoz, nearly a quarter of the more than 6,000 people fatally shot by police since 2015 were experiencing a mental health crisis. Today, a person having a mental health crisis is more likely to encounter law enforcement than they are to get any medical support or treatment, making jails the largest behavioral health facilities in the country. Chicago’s Cook County Jail, the Los Angeles County Jail, and New York’s Rikers Island jail complex each hold more people with serious mental health conditions than any dedicated treatment facility in the country.

Numerous deadly encounters prove that police are ill-equipped to safely and effectively serve people experiencing mental health crises, yet police have been the default first responders for a range of social issues. And as with so many aspects of our broken criminal legal system, Black people become victims in disproportionate numbers. A study published in January 2021 found that police are more likely to shoot and kill Black men who exhibit mental health conditions than white men who display similar behaviors.

Advocates across the country have called for officials to develop services that curb police involvement in mental health crises, and community organizations have led the way. Approaches vary, but a growing number of cities are starting programs that rely on first responders who aren’t police, such as counselors or social workers, to respond to calls that involve mental health crises and substance use.

Eugene, Oregon, is home to one of the oldest such civilian response programs in the country, launched in 1989. The Crisis Assistance Helping Out on the Streets (CAHOOTS) program, operated by Eugene’s White Bird Clinic, pairs a medic with a crisis worker to respond to 911 and non-emergency calls involving mental health, homelessness, and substance use. The teams are trained to provide crisis intervention, counseling, basic emergency medical care, transportation, and referrals to services.

With an annual budget of roughly $2 million, the program saves Eugene $14 million annually in ambulance trips and emergency room costs, plus an estimated $8.5 million in public safety costs—and has successfully diverted thousands from the criminal legal system. Of the estimated 17,700 calls CAHOOTS responded to in 2019, teams requested police backup only 311 times.

The program has served as a model for places like Denver and Olympia, Washington, with many other cities looking to create their own programs. Of course, every community is different, so a one-size-fits-all approach will not work. Eugene, for example, is more than 80 percent white. White Bird Clinic Director of Consulting Tim Black recognizes that residents have a “healthy enough relationship” with police, so they may feel more comfortable calling 911 for crisis response incidents than people who live in communities that are overpoliced.

Denver’s Support Team Assisted Response (STAR) program, which launched as a pilot in June 2020, similarly sends health care workers to respond to incidents related to mental health, poverty, homelessness, and substance use. As of May 2021, STAR had successfully responded to 1,323 calls, none of which resulted in injury, arrest, or a request for police backup. Denver’s police chief has said the program “saves lives” and “prevents tragedies.”

But the program faces criticism from community members and advocates, who have said that responses have been “clinical” and that responders often can’t relate personally to the people they serve. STAR is staffed by social workers who are predominantly white, and advocates envision a community-driven program that includes “providers who share lived experiences and identities with Denver’s diverse population.”

Polling shows that Democrats, independents, and Republicans alike support programs that replace police with trained experts in situations involving behavioral or mental health crises. But residents, community organizations, behavioral health professionals, and others need to be involved in the creation and implementation of any crisis response program. And stakeholders need to ensure that these programs don’t perpetuate inequities based on who they serve, which calls get diverted, and how first responders work to resolve a situation.

With American Rescue Plan (ARP) funding, local governments have an opportunity to make real investments in health-first approaches. Denver has already committed to using ARP dollars to enable an expansion of STAR, and other cities—including Charlotte, Long Beach, Phoenix, and San Francisco—are funding similar programs through ARP. Cities need to create and implement programs that actually promote public safety—and save lives.

From the article:

What alternatives to plastic are coming?

Here are a few new ideas headed to the produce aisle:

Bags from trees. An Austrian company is using beechwood trees to make biodegradable cellulose net bags to hold produce. Other companies offer similar netting that decomposes within a few weeks.

Film from peels. Orange peels, shrimp shells and other natural waste is being turned into film that can be used like cellophane, or made into bags. An edible coating made from plant-based fatty acids is sprayed on cucumbers, avocados and other produce sold at many major grocery stores. They work in a way similar to the wax coating commonly used on citrus and apples.

Clamshells from cardboard. Plastic clamshells are a $9.1 billion business in the United States, and the number of growers who use them is vast. Replacing them will be an enormous challenge, particularly for more fragile fruits and vegetables. Plenty of designers are trying. Driscoll’s has been working to develop paper containers for use in the United States and Canada. In the meantime, the company is using more recycled plastic in its clamshells in the United States.

Ice that feels like gelatin. Luxin Wang and other scientists at the University of California, Davis, have invented reusable jelly ice. It is lighter than ice and doesn’t melt. It could eliminate the need for plastic ice packs, which can’t be recycled. After about a dozen uses, the jelly ice can be tossed into a garden or the garbage, where it dissolves.

Boxes with atmosphere. Broccoli is usually shipped in wax-coated boxes packed with ice. The soggy cartons can’t be recycled. Iceless broccoli shipping containers use a mix of gases that help preserve the vegetable instead of chilling it with ice, which is heavy to ship and can transmit pathogens when it melts. Other sustainable, lighter shipping cartons are being designed to remove ethylene, a plant hormone that encourages ripening.

Containers from plants. Rice-paddy straw left over after harvests, grasses, sugar cane stalks and even food waste are all being turned into trays and boxes that are either biodegradable or can be composted.

From the article:

The last coal producers in New England will shutter their doors permanently under an agreement reached with environmental groups and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Wednesday.

Two plants in New Hampshire, Schiller and Merrimack, will voluntarily cease operations in 2025 and 2028, respectively, said Jim Andrews, president and CEO of Granite Shore Power.

By closing the plants, Granite Shore Power — the company that operates them — resolved litigation brought by the Conservation Law Foundation and the Sierra Club, which alleged they violated the Clean Water Act.

The region’s coal-free status comes as part of a larger pledge by the U.S. to phase out coal power plants through the Powering Past Coal Alliance. The U.S. joins 56 other nations in committing to no new coal plants and the closing of existing operations.

The U.S. has not named a target date for completing the transition, but the Biden administration, through other works, has indicated a plan aimed at no coal by 2035.

New Hampshire will become the 16th coal-free state in the nation, according to a statement by the Sierra Club.

Facilities like Merrimack have fallen short of emissions requirements in the past, exceeding one emissions limit by 70 percent in 2023, according to reporting from New Hampshire Public Radio. Previous failures to meet requirements did not inform the company’s decision, Andrews said.

He has said that new “renewable energy parks” of solar arrays and storage facilities will be developed.

From the article:

When it comes to performance, the RM1 serves as the brand’s entry-level offering with a hub motor dishing out an approachable 3 kW (about 4 horsepower) of nominal output. The motor peaks out at 4.4 kW, or about 5.8 horsepower, and delivers a top speed of 45 miles per hour. Depending on how you spec it, the RM1 promises anywhere from 40 to 80 miles on a single charge. Quite a lot of range of an urban runabout. At $6,495 USD, it’s quite the expensive runabout, but it makes up for it with its classy styling.

As for the RM1S, it’s packing more than double the power at 7 kW (9.4 ponies) nominal and 10.5 kW (14 horsepower) max, so not only is it quicker, with a top speed of 70 miles per hour, it’s also surely much more fun to ride for folks craving the performance of a small-displacement ICE motorcycle. 80 miles of range on a single charge is also pretty decent, considering its fairly light 293-pound weight figure. For double the performance of the RM1, you’ll have to fork up quite a hefty $8,995 USD for the RM1S.

Maeving’s plans of entering the US have been circulating for nearly a year now, with the brand’s first announcement in March 2023. It was initially eyeing a late-2023 launch, but it seems its entry stateside was delayed by a couple of months.

Interesting stuff.

I'd suggest reducing the decimals (significant figures) to a more readable amount (like 1 or 2). Additionally, inconsistent number of decimals makes it harder to compare down a column. Ex: 2.23 instead of 2.23758366384763.