The final plenary here in Belém just fell apart after Colombia registered an objection over lack of fossil fuel phaseout language in the final text. “This is not a point of order. It’s an objection.”

Do Lago has paused the gaveling to confer with objectors. Stay tuned!

A fire broke out in the pavilion section of #COP30 in Belém this afternoon, forcing an evacuation of the entire conference and the cancellation of meetings today. Source of fire unclear and future of the conference, in its second to last day, also unclear.

Big huge thanks to @seywarddarby.bsky.social for this thoughtful summary of my recent piece on valley fever for the @longreads.com newsletter. Full piece is here: grist.org/health/valle...

Capitalizing on a small news lull to say that I will be at #SEJ2025 in Phoenix next week along with several of my Grist colleagues.

Looking forward to panels with @colleenhagerty.com, @yessfun.com, @jkutzie.bsky.social, @virginiagewin.bsky.social, @adamlmahoney.bsky.social, & others. Come through!

At the end of this (good) piece on CDC layoffs, there's this para on the Epidemic Intelligence Service. These are the people who were first on the scene re: Ebola, AIDs, etc. Hard to overstate how important they are. The next gen of federal disease detectives - dismissed. www.npr.org/sections/sho...