In 1909, naturalist Dr. Edgar A. Mearns joined Theodore Roosevelt and scientists from the Smithsonian and New York’s American Museum of Natural History on an […]

The post New project will improve access to thousands of scientific field books, journals and notes in Smithsonian collections appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Nutmeg-loving toucans wearing GPS transmitters recently helped a team of scientists at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama address an age-old problem in plant ecology: accurately estimating seed dispersal.

The post Toucans wearing GPS backpacks help Smithsonian scientists study seed dispersal appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

When you’re caught under the mistletoe, the tradition is to kiss the person next to you. But this holiday season you may want to wow them first with some cool mistletoe facts from Smithsonian botanist Sylvia Orli.

The post Mistletoe facts from a Smithsonian botanist appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The post Smithsonian paleobotanist Scott Wing discusses ancient global warming & what it portends for the future appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The National Park Service and the Smithsonian Institution have announced a new partnership to share responsibility for selected National Park Service natural history collections, making them more readily available to researchers through the Smithsonian.

The post National Park Service natural history collections transferred to care of the Smithsonian appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Small-Whorled Pogonia: Endangered Orchid on the Edge. The small-whorled pogonia (Isotria medeoloides) is endangered 16 of the 20 states where it still appears, earning it the title "rarest orchid east of the Mississippi."

The post Small-Whorled Pogonia: Endangered Orchid on the Edge appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Despite many laws to protect it, a new survey reveals wild ginseng in Maryland is on the decline.

The post Wild ginseng in steep decline in Maryland, survey reveals: Q&A with Smithsonian botanist Christopher Puttock appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The post Smithsonian scientists work to ensure survival of North America’s wild orchids appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

What can you do to bring some of the Smithsonian’s 137 million objects to life? Put them in 3-D! This is a full-time job for […]

The post VIDEO: 3-D scanning at the Smithsonian appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

South American rainforests thrived during three extreme global warming events in the past, say paleontologists at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in a new report […]

The post Smithsonian scientists discover that rainforests take the heat appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

As the Rim Fire burns deeper into Yosemite, park managers are fighting fire with fire—and one of the Smithsonian’s ForestGEO plots was caught in the […]

The post Smithsonian research plot burns in Yosemite fires appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Tucked into the wooded landscape and rolling hills of the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Edgewater, Md., is a new forest. Six months ago, a […]

The post Century-long Smithsonian experiment tests forest diversity appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

A 57-acre research plot at a University of Michigan forest preserve northwest of Ann Arbor has been added to a Smithsonian Institution global network used […]

The post University of Michigan forest preserve joins Smithsonian global network appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History announced today that scientists with the museum’s Global Genome Initiative will attempt to capture the genomic diversity of half the […]

The post Smithsonian and Partners To Preserve Earth’s Genomic Plant Diversity appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Invasive species have become a problem in marine environments around the world, and the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries are no exception. Non-native species of […]

The post Smithsonian Scientists Work to Stop Invasions appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Rattlesnake, zebra and peacock plants have a new wild relative, discovered by Rodolfo Flores, Panamanian botanist and intern at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI). […]

The post Smithsonian Botanist Discovers New Ground-Flowering Plant in Panama appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

With net in hand and eyes peeled, Mauren Turcatel spent two-weeks last October chasing blood-thirsty predators through the Amazon jungle of Brazil. One-by-one they appeared […]

The post Blood-thirsty jungle horse-flies catch big chill from Smithsonian entomologist appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Given its scale and diversity, the Smithsonian’s collection of 154 million items presents a unique digitization challenge. This video showcases a conveyor belt driven imaging […]

The post Digitizing the Smithsonian’s Botany Collection appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) celebrated with Panama the completion of the Panama Canal expansion project on June 26, 2016. The $5.6 billion engineering […]

The post Smithsonian celebrates Panama Canal expansion! appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Fort Pierce, Fla. – Fall in southern Florida is festival season: when the weather stops being oppressively hot and 70 degrees is positively autumnal.  On […]

The post Annual Smithsonian-led science festival draws crowds in Fort Pierce, Florida appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Spending time in a beautiful garden can be transformative. In fact, some visitors to the Smithsonian’s Mary Livingston Ripley Garden in Washington D.C. have taken […]

The post Monarch Butterflies Make the Most of the Smithsonian’s Gardens appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation offers a range of compelling residential, hands-on, interdisciplinary programs in conservation biology for undergraduate and graduate students and professionals at […]

The post Field Research: Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

On Earth Day weekend, the Smithsonian will convene the first Earth Optimism Summit, a three-day event featuring more than 150 scientists, thought leaders, philanthropists, conservationists […]

The post Smithsonian To Convene Earth Optimism Summit April 21–23 appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Smithsonian scientists have discovered two new gecko species—the Lenya banded bent-toed gecko (Cyrtodactylus lenya) and Tenasserim Mountain bent-toed gecko (C. payarhtanesnsis)—in the little-studied lowland forests […]

The post Smithsonian Scientists Discover Two New Gecko Species in Vanishing Myanmar Rainforest appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The Smithsonian is celebrating Earth Day this month by hosting the first Earth Optimism Summit from April 21 to 23 in Washington, D.C. Its goal […]

The post The Smithsonian’s history is right in line with Earth Optimism appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

This Earth Day weekend in Washington, D.C., the Smithsonian is convening the first Earth Optimism Summit. The three-day event, taking place April 21–23, will look […]

The post Earth Optimism: Smithsonian’s “Agua Salud” Project restores degraded land with forest appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Is it foolish to be optimistic about our environment and its future prospects? Every day, we hear dire warnings about the health of the planet […]

The post The Argument for Environmental Optimism: Opinion by Smithsonian Secretary David J. Skorton appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

A tiny invasive insect from Asia might have an effect on Chesapeake Bay waters. The emerald ash borer is killing millions of ash trees in […]

The post Invasive ash borer found in Smithsonian Environmental Research Center forest; ash deaths may impact Chesapeake waters appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

(A male golden-collared manakin cleans up his display area.) Few of us would find a marriage proposal made amidst dirty dishes and messy clutter particularly […]

The post Clean = Sexy for this Panamanian Bird appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

 Mass Digitization of the living orchid collection maintained by Smithsonian Gardens.

The post Smithsonian Digitization: Orchid Collection appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

No green thumb? You don’t need to water these dazzling orchids to enjoy them. More than 8,000 living specimens in the Smithsonian Gardens Orchid Collection […]

The post See thousands of orchids in incredible detail in the Smithsonian’s newly digitized collection appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Jerry "The King" Lawler with Jim Ross.; Credit: WWE

Jim Ross is the most famous pro wrestling play-by play commentator of all time. He's a native Californian, but grew up in Oklahoma and took his trademark drawl into doing commentary. He's worked in wrestling for more than 40 years, calling matches on shows seen by millions of people around the world.

This weekend, he's in the Bay Area for Wrestlemania weekend (the first Wrestlemania in Northern California, and the first in California in 10 years). Ross no longer commentates for WWE, but he's still a storyteller, online and in person. He hosts regular live storytelling shows with stories from his decades-long career and a bit of comedy, along with a live guest, and he also has a huge online presence including a podcast that went to number one in sports its first week out.

Ross has been watching wrestling since he was a kid.

"My dad wasn't a big fan of it. He missed the point. The point is not whether it's real or if it's staged. The point is, are you entertained by it, or not? And I was," Ross said.

He's been at ringside for numerous historic matches, helping the wrestlers to tell their stories ever since he got his first job in wrestling out of college at 22.

"The greater the star, the easier it is to tell their story," Ross said. "Those participants make music. They make different kinds of music, and the announcers, the broadcasters, have to be able to provide the adequate lyric to the competitors' music."

Ross's voice is so powerful that it's become a meme online to pair his voice with another dramatic footage, from sports and beyond — you can even find it paired with dramatic moments from shows like "Breaking Bad" and "Game of Thrones." Ross says that the first time he saw someone do that was with a hit by Michigan running back Jadaveon Clowney, a video which went viral and sparked others to do likewise.

The JR Treatment

"I get sent these memes all the time. 'Hey JR, check this one out.' Or people will say, somebody will make a great dunk at an NBA game, and somebody will say 'I can't wait to see this get the JR treatment.' And now there are major sports websites that will send out a tweet, 'Here's a great play from Sunday's 49er-Charger game that's got the JR treatment.' So now it's got a name. 'The JR Treatment.'"

Those viral videos have even helped him land new commentating roles since leaving WWE. He did a call of a fight between NASCAR drivers for the Daytona 500 for a special pre-show video, and it's led to him having opportunities in traditional sports.

"It's been done in boxing, and MMA. Believe it or not, I've gotten feelers that we're entertaining now from a variety of combat sports entities that actually heard what my call would sound like doing their product," Ross said. "It had my tone, had my inflection, had my level of enthusiasm."

Ross also played a huge role behind the scenes, working as WWE's executive vice president of talent and signing future stars like the Rock, Mick Foley and more. He says that Mick Foley's match against the Undertaker in 1998's Hell in a Cell match was his most memorable to call.

"I have people walk up to me and start quoting my commentary when Undertaker threw Foley off the Hell in a Cell, this massive cage with a roof on it, that was about 17 feet high from the roof to the floor," Ross said. "It looked like no human being, quite honestly, could survive that fall. You don't practice falls like that in wrestling school."

Ross has managed to stay relevant with the help of a popular podcast and 1.3 million followers on Twitter, where he regularly dispenses his thoughts on wrestling and beyond. He started doing that podcast after being lobbied to do it by "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, and continues to try new things.

"I was very reluctant to engage in social media, and primarily because we sometimes get set in our ways, especially the older we get," Ross said. "But change, for any of us, in any walk of life, whether it's your diet, it's your relationships, the way you approach your job, or any changes that you need to affect, whether it's on doctor's orders, your significant other's suggestions — change is not always a negative thing. So I got on Twitter, and then Twitter connected me to so many people."

While some may feel that pro wrestling, given its predetermined results, doesn't need real athletes, Ross disagrees and says there are plenty of reasons to want real athletes.

"They're competitive. They don't want to be on the second team. They want to be in the game. And they've been in that mindset since some of them were in little league, or Pop Warner football, or elementary school wrestling, or whatever it may be."

He says they also understand how to be coached and how to play well with others, as well as handling the bumps and bruises that come with the territory and the difficult travel schedule.

"I don't know that anybody in any entity, unless you're the most well-traveled comedian or entertainer, has that. Because the thing about pro wrestling is it doesn't have an off-season, so you don't get a chance to really go recharge your batteries. You've got to maintain that competitive edge to survive."

Ross says there's one match he wishes he had another shot at calling: Ric Flair's retirement match against Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania 24 in Orlando at the Citrus Bowl. While Ross has traditionally been a play-by-play commentator, that night he was assigned to be a color commentator, which gave him some different challenges.

"I thought I had great stories to tell because of my relationship with Ric — I've known him for 25 years — and I didn't think that I contributed as much to that match from an emotional standpoint as I could. I was obligated to get in soundbites and get in, get out," Ross said. "That's the biggest match at the biggest stage, and I love both those guys, and I really wanted to be extra special that night, and I just don't know in my heart that we got there."

He says California has its own wrestling legacy to be proud of. The California Wrestlemania match that Ross says he'll always remember: Bret Hart versus Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania 12 in Anaheim, where two now wrestling legends wrestled for more than an hour.

He also thinks the economics of Wrestlemania make a lot of sense for whichever city hosts it, thanks to the travelers it draws in from around the world. Cities now bid to try to bring in Wrestlemania, Ross says. With Los Angeles gearing up to build a new stadium, Ross has a Wrestlemania prediction for that stadium.

"I will bet you money — I will bet you some of my barbecue sauce — if L.A. builds a stadium, that Wrestlemania will be one of the first non-football events in that stadium. And they will sell it out. They'll fill every seat. And it'll be great for the city, and the businesses of Los Angeles.

Ross says that what made him a great broadcaster is the same thing that can make someone a success in wrestling or anywhere else — most importantly, don't talk down to your audience.

"You have to be a fan of the genre, or a fan of the game, and you have to be willing to prepare and be ready for your broadcast," Ross said. "You have to be willing to tell the story that the average fan — not the hardcore fan, but the average, casual fan can understand and relate to. ... You know, we're storytellers, and some people are just natural-born storytellers."

Ross plans to continue telling stories for the foreseeable future, on stage, online, calling matches in the legit sports world and wherever else his life takes him. He's even gotten into acting — you can see him in the new film "What Now."

"I think retirement is overblown. How many days can you go fishing? How many rounds of golf can you play?" Ross said. "I had the idea when I left WWE after 21 years, I'm going to reinvent myself. I'm not going to become a trivia answer. ... I don't think you're going to read anywhere, anytime soon, that Jim Ross has finally retired — until you read my eulogy."

Listen to the audio for the full hour-long interview with Jim Ross, talking his career past, present and future — along with the origins of his signature barbecue sauce.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Brock Lesnar after losing his championship in the main event of Wrestlemania 31.; Credit: WWE

World Wrestling Entertainment held their annual Wrestlemania show last weekend in Northern California, the culmination of another year's worth of spectacle. According to the company, it was their highest grossing event of all-time, drawing $12.6 million, with an official attendance placing it fifth on their list of all-time crowds for the event. The show was headlined by former UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar going up against up-and-coming star (and a relative of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson) Roman Reigns.

WWE Network

It comes at a time when the company has embarked on a new way of making money: their over-the-top online programming provider, the WWE Network, where fans can pay $9.99 a month to see programming including what formerly used to cost $45 for most shows and $60 for Wrestlemania. They're one year in now on gambling that enough fans will want the Network that it will ultimately make them more money in the long-term, despite losing that pay-per-view revenue. Wall Street doesn't appear to be buying it — after announcing the day after Wrestlemania that they'd hit 1.3 million subscribers, WWE's stock took a significant loss.

"The point is not whether it's real or if it's staged. The point is, are you entertained by it, or not?" former WWE announcer Jim Ross told KPCC in an interview. WWE is looking for more fans to be entertained enough to plunk down $9.99 for all the pro wrestling content they want.

NXT

They're also in a transitional period with their audiences. They've launched a new show that's only on the Network called "NXT," turning their minor league into a program targeting hardcore pro wrestling fans with a different style of show than the more family-targeted "Raw" and "Smackdown." It's also where they groom potential future stars, many of whom seem to break the mold of some of the traditional stars on WWE's main roster.

They're signing up talent that's been getting buzz on the independent circuits, trying to create their own underground movement that hopefully spells money, and taking the NXT brand on tour for the first time. On the Raw after Wrestlemania, several NXT stars made their debut on the main roster. That follows a sell-out crowd (albeit at a smaller 5,000 seat venue) on the Friday night before Wrestlemania for a non-televised NXT show.

Give Divas a chance

WWE also faces cultural forces pushing them in new directions, including a difference in how society deals with gender. When WWE executive Stephanie McMahon, daughter of the famed Vince McMahon, tweeted in support of Patricia Arquette's speech calling for greater equality for women at the Academy Awards, one of their own wrestlers, AJ Lee, responded by publicly calling Stephanie McMahon out on Twitter for not promoting the women in her own company equally and paying them less than the male stars.

AJ tweet 1

AJ tweet 2

Of course, the women in the company aren't given the same prominence as the men in part because it's felt that they won't make the company as much money. Still, it forced WWE's hand and Stephanie McMahon and the company as a whole publicly embraced the idea of giving the women (who WWE brands as "divas") a chance with the Give Divas A Chance movement (and accompanying trending hashtag).

What's next

The women have been promoted nearly equal to the men in that underground NXT league, but only time will tell if it continues to trickle upward. Wrestlemania didn't seem to show huge promise of that happening, with the one women's match of the show only getting a few minutes in the ring. However, the show also included a high-profile storyline with UFC female fighter and champion Ronda Rousey alongside the Rock, going up against Stephanie McMahon and Triple H, so there appears to be the room for women in prominent positions when they have the right storyline.

Whether WWE is able to wade through these forces of change to make more money — and perhaps regain some of the cultural currency that they've lost since becoming a monopoly and purchasing their top competition in 2001 — remains to be seen. They've stayed relatively steady despite a challenge from UFC, which many see as being what pro wrestling would be like if WWE didn't present fictional  They'll have to hope that giving new stars, including "divas," a chance will take them to another level.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

File: California school employees can now take their required training to spot child abuse and neglect by going online.; Credit: Cayoup/Flickr

Public school employees can take their required annual training to spot child abuse or neglect online, California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson announced Monday.

“Nothing is more important than the safety of our students,” Torlakson said in a written statement. “The new online training lessons will help school employees carry out their responsibilities to protect children and take action if they suspect abuse or neglect.”

A new California law requires school employees, including teachers, teacher aides, and substitute teachers, to show proof to their employers that they’ve taken the training.

“We were hearing anecdotally that there may have been suspicions of abuse and neglect that was not always reported and we wanted to do something about that issue,” said Stephanie Papas, a California Department of Education consultant.

Recent high-profile cases, such as that of former Miramonte Elementary teacher Mark Berndt, revealed that school employees failed to report allegations of abuse. Los Angeles Unified agreed to pay a record $140 million to settle claims filed by one group of students in the case and $30 million to a second group. Berndt is serving a 25-year sentence after pleading no contest to the charges of committing lewd acts on children.

Papas, who helped create the new two-hour online training, said the course will help employees tell if a child has been hurt from abuse or from an accident, for example.

“We have photos that are examples of, say, a welt that is in the shape of a belt buckle or a slap on a child’s cheek that’s left a hand imprint,” she said.

In-person trainings are more effective, she said, but they’re more expensive than online trainings. That pushed the Department of Education to provide the free online training for school districts still under budget constraints.

She said current employees have until this fall to show their school districts proof that they’ve taken the training.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

A Washington, D.C., think tank issued a report that says California Virtual Acadmies, a major online school network, has had more dropouts than graduates in most years.; Credit: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

A report released Thursday by a labor group-affiliated Washington think tank is questioning the education provided by an online public school program that says it is in a union fight.

The report by In the Public Interest, a group funded by unions, says the thousands of students enrolled in the California Virtual Academies online public school known as CAVA are receiving a  substandard education by most measures.

"So in every year since CAVA began graduating students, with the exception of 2013, it has produced more dropouts than graduates,” said Shahrzad Habibi, who authored the report.

She said state test score data show that 71 percent of California public schools performed better than the virtual academies.

The report calls on California officials to investigate the online schools’ administration and finances.

California Virtual Academies enrolls about 14,000 kindergarten to 12th grade students through 11 sites, including those in Los Angeles, San Diego, and Fresno. It is run by a national for-profit company called K12 Inc.

In a written statement, California Virtual Academies did not dispute the reported low student performance numbers, but denied other allegations in the study, which it called “inaccurate and deeply flawed.”

“The report relies primarily on misinformation from the California Teachers Association — the union currently engaged in a coordinated and well-funded distortion campaign to unionize the eleven independent California Virtual Academies charter schools.”

In the Public Interest, which supports the work of labor unions, partnered with the American Federation of Teachers last year on a website to track for-profit charter school companies.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Apr 8, 2020; 133:e0702-e0702
RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

Source: Streetwise Reports   05/06/2020

In a May 4 research note, H.C. Wainwright & Co. analyst Ed Arce reported that Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc. (ARCT:NASDAQ) formed a partnership with Catalent Inc. (CTLT:NYSE), which "raises the profile of LUNAR-COV19 as a leading vaccine candidate."

Arce reviewed Catalent's contribution to the partnership. The global contract development and manufacturing organization is to manufacture Arcturus' messenger RNA (mRNA) LUNAR-COV19 for protection against SARS-CoV-2 to be used first for human clinical trials and potentially, eventually commercially.

As for timing, Arce noted, San Diego, Calif.-based Arcturus intends to transfer its vaccine technology to Catalent this month and expects Catalent to manufacture the first batches of LUNAR-COV19 by June 2020. "Critically, Arcturus continues to anticipate initiation of Phase 1 testing of LUNAR-COV19 in the summer of 2020," Arce highlighted.

Catalent is to produce the vaccine at its biomanufacturing facility in Madison, Wisc. "This facility utilizes Catalent's flex-suite, a current good manufacturing practice manufacturing suite, that can produce batches at multiple scales and support Arcturus' proprietary mRNA manufacturing process," explained Arce.

Obtaining the vaccine from one facility domestically versus multiple entities worldwide should result in several benefits, Arce continued. They include easy development and production, accelerated delivery and improved costs. Arcturus believes Catalent can produce millions of doses of LUNAR-COV19 mRNA in 2020 and, if need be, hundreds of millions of doses each year subsequently for use globally.

Arce pointed out that LUNAR-COV19 differentiates itself from other similar vaccine candidates in that the technology and delivery platform behind it deliver an "extraordinarily low dose (perhaps 2 micrograms)" in "a potential single shot."

H.C. Wainwright has a Buy rating and a $62 per share price target on Arcturus, the stock of which is currently trading at about $42.12 per share.

Disclosure:
1) Doresa Banning compiled this article for Streetwise Reports LLC and provides services to Streetwise Reports as an independent contractor. She or members of her household own securities of the following companies mentioned in the article: None. She or members of her household are paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None.
2) The following companies mentioned in this article are billboard sponsors of Streetwise Reports: None. Click here for important disclosures about sponsor fees.
3) Comments and opinions expressed are those of the specific experts and not of Streetwise Reports or its officers. The information provided above is for informational purposes only and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security.
4) The article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports' terms of use and full legal disclaimer. This article is not a solicitation for investment. Streetwise Reports does not render general or specific investment advice and the information on Streetwise Reports should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Streetwise Reports does not endorse or recommend the business, products, services or securities of any company mentioned on Streetwise Reports.
5) From time to time, Streetwise Reports LLC and its directors, officers, employees or members of their families, as well as persons interviewed for articles and interviews on the site, may have a long or short position in securities mentioned. Directors, officers, employees or members of their immediate families are prohibited from making purchases and/or sales of those securities in the open market or otherwise from the time of the interview or the decision to write an article until three business days after the publication of the interview or article. The foregoing prohibition does not apply to articles that in substance only restate previously published company releases.
6) This article does not constitute medical advice. Officers, employees and contributors to Streetwise Reports are not licensed medical professionals. Readers should always contact their healthcare professionals for medical advice.

Disclosures from H.C. Wainwright & Co., Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc., First Take, May 4, 2020

Investment Banking Services include, but are not limited to, acting as a manager/co-manager in the underwriting or placement of securities, acting as financial advisor, and/or providing corporate finance or capital markets-related services to a company or one of its affiliates or subsidiaries within the past 12 months.

I, Ed Arce, certify that 1) all of the views expressed in this report accurately reflect my personal views about any and all subject securities or issuers discussed; and 2) no part of my compensation was, is, or will be directly or indirectly related to the specific recommendation or views expressed in this research report; and 3) neither myself nor any members of my household is an officer, director or advisory board member of these companies.

None of the research analysts or the research analyst's household has a financial interest in the securities of Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc. (including, without limitation, any option, right, warrant, future, long or short position).

As of April 30, 2020 neither the Firm nor its affiliates beneficially own 1% or more of any class of common equity securities of Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc.

Neither the research analyst nor the Firm has any material conflict of interest in of which the research analyst knows or has reason to know at the time of publication of this research report.

The research analyst principally responsible for preparation of the report does not receive compensation that is based upon any specific investment banking services or transaction but is compensated based on factors including total revenue and profitability of the Firm, a substantial portion of which is derived from investment banking services.

The firm or its affiliates received compensation from Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc. for non-investment banking services in the previous 12 months.

The Firm or its affiliates did receive compensation from Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc. for investment banking services within twelve months before, and will seek compensation from the companies mentioned in this report for investment banking services within three months following publication of the research report.

H.C. Wainwright & Co., LLC managed or co-managed a public offering of securities for Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc. during the past 12 months.

The Firm does not make a market in Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc. as of the date of this research report.

H.C. Wainwright & Co., LLC and its affiliates, officers, directors, and employees, excluding its analysts, will from time to time have long or short positions in, act as principal in, and buy or sell, the securities or derivatives (including options and warrants) thereof of covered companies referred to in this research report.

( Companies Mentioned: ARCT:NASDAQ, )

The latest and final in a series of congressionally mandated biennial reviews of the evidence of health problems that may be linked to exposure to Agent Orange and other herbicides used during the Vietnam War changed the categorization of health outcomes for bladder cancer, hypothyroidism, and spina bifida and clarified the breadth of the previous finding for Parkinson’s disease.

The National Academy of Medicine today announced Daniel Weinberger is the recipient of the 2019 Rhoda and Bernard Sarnat International Prize in Mental Health, for his fundamental role in elucidating the biological origins and genetic expressions of schizophrenia, and for transforming how clinicians, researchers, and the public understand mental illness.

Nearly 14,000 people – including industry leaders, policymakers, administrators, and researchers from government, industry, and academia – are expected to gather for the Transportation Research Board’s 99th Annual Meeting, taking place at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C., from Jan. 12-16, 2020.

Dried and cracked earth is visible on an unplanted field at a farm on April 29, 2014 near Mendota, California. ; Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

• Summer is upon us, and KPIX in San Francisco reports three years of drought in the Central Valley has turned America's salad bowl into a "dust bowl." (KPIX)
• Speaking of summer and San Francisco, it appears denizens of the City by the Bay have done such a good job of conserving water, their water agency has already decided there will be no mandatory restrictions this summer. (San Jose Mercury News)
• Meanwhile, SFGate columnist Mark Morford wonders how water availability will factor into property values for summer get-aways north of San Francisco:

Wait, what? Right, the water. The Looming Issue. The Unexpected Fear. Water – or rather, the potential lack thereof – is something I didn’t realize I’d be quite so worried about when I started my search. But now? It’s damn near unavoidable. (SFGate)

• "As the Water Bond Turns" continues in Sacramento. In the latest episode, Gov. Brown stops playing hard to get and decides to commit, but will he find a willing (political) partner? Stay Tuned. (Sacramento Bee)

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

; Credit: Beatrice the Biologist / Scientific American

Today's dryku:
Food budgets are tight
Droughts do raise vegetables' price
But don't make snakes bite

Food:

• The USDA released its monthly food price outlook. Looks like prices are going to be up at least 3.5%. Fresh fruit could go up by 6%. Bloomberg has a chart showing how produce is projected to hit its highest price in 18 years. (LA Times)

Critters:

• Southern California seems to be seeing a higher rate of rattlesnake bites this year. Despite the article's headline, experts in the story say it's not because of the drought. A shorter winter has brought snakes out of hibernation earlier, meaning a longer active season, meaning more need for anti-venin.

As of June 12, 128 people were admitted to a hospital for a snakebite and of those, 93 received doses of anti-venin, Heard said. In 2013, 269 Californians went to a hospital for a snakebite and of those, 166 received anti-venin, he said. Simply doubling the number of patients needing anti-venin treatment would equal 186, more than 2013. (Some patients get “dry bites” meaning no venom is injected and therefore do not need anti-venin, he said). (Contra Costa Times)

• It's been a mixed bag for salmon this year. Some have needed to be trucked out to the ocean, because their streams are too dry. In the case of coho salmon, the drought has actually caused a record number to enter the ocean. It's not all good news though:

Biologists say that only 206 salmon egg clusters, known as "redds," were counted in the Lagunitas this year, well below the 20-year average of 250 "redds." And the fish that headed off to the ocean may not fare as well. They are smaller than normal and could face more difficult ocean conditions due to the warming pattern known as El Niño, scientists say. (Chico Enterprise-Record)

Fireworks:

• Sacramento cops are out in force, looking for illegal fireworks. The sheriff's department will double its number of officers on the hunt. Starting this week, having the little fire starters can mean jail time. (CBS Sacramento)

Water jerks:

• Everyone seems to be at a loss on how to get people to start saving water. Beatrice the Biologist may have stumbled onto the answer — it's a mixture of shame and badges. I'm going to print out the car one and post it in my window. Maybe then people will stop judging me for my filthy Camry. (Scientific American)

How has your community been affected by the drought? Share your story with a photo on Twitter or Instagram. Tag it #mydrought. For more details on our photo project, click here.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

The Department of Toxic Substances Control is claiming that FedEx Ground has mishandled hazardous materials in packages. ; Credit: Thomas Hawk/via Flickr

State regulators have sued FedEx Ground, claiming the company mishandled hazardous chemicals at facilities throughout California during the last 5 years.  

An investigation into a fire four years ago in San Diego prompted a wider inquiry into how FedEx handles restricted chemicals in statewide shipping at all of its facilities.

Regulators claim FedEx didn’t handle thousands of damaged and hazardous packages properly. The state’s complaint claims FedEx would remove damaged packages from shipping and store them for lengthy periods of time in salvage drums, which were moved from hubs to terminals within the company’s network of facilities.  

These packages contained goods ranging from insecticides and acids to old batteries and other flammable and toxic materials – pretty small shipments, less than 65 pounds, but investigators say they’ve found problems with more than 20 tons of goods shipped over a 5-year period.

Each violation alleged in the state’s lawsuit carries a penalty of up to 25-thousand dollars. In a written statement, FedEx spokeswoman Katie Wassmer says the company "complies with all applicable local, state and federal reporting requirements." 

The state-court complaint is the latest legal salvo in a dispute among California and local officials and FedEx.

Earlier this spring, FedEx sued the DTSC and district attorneys from three cities, including Los Angeles, seeking a declaration that federal law pre-empts California's waste handling laws, and that state officials are incorrectly interpreting laws governing FedEx. 

"To preserve our rights as a federally-registered motor carrier, FedEx Ground filed suit in federal court" said Wassmer. "We are confident that a thorough review of the regulatory framework through the judicial process will support our position."

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

This is a public service campaign suggesting you save water...and suggesting some other things too. ; Credit: SFPUC

Friday's news is going to make you wait for it...when it comes to an explanation for the picture above.

The Wall Street Journal takes on pricing and other big-think policies that various authors claim are worsening the drought.

• Those higher food prices Jed wrote about yesterday? Alyssia Finley, assistant editor of OpinionJournal.com, says they're the fault of environmentalists, and higher food prices will be the way the rest of the country will pay for California's "green sanctimony." (WSJ)
• Economist Edward Lazear argues that "government-dictated prices, coupled with restrictions on the transfer of water, have made a bad situation much worse." He takes aim at the state's limitations on water transfers (lifted, he doesn't note; but he argues that pricing distorts the need for transfers anyway). He argues that public agencies that protect environmental conditions with water should pay for the privilege:

Although there may be good reasons to ensure that some fish and wildlife be protected, we should not pretend that this protection is costless. Agencies that divert water for environmental purposes should be required to budget explicitly for the lost revenue associated with the decision to divert it for this purpose, rather than allowing it to be sold at the market price for urban or agricultural use. (WSJ)

...and he argues that farmers, who might have to pay more for water on a more-open market, should get extra money to help them transition to the free market.

• Cato loves Lazear's arguments, and offers one amendment. Chris Edwards wants the federal government to get out of the water business, and in California, to hand over the Central Valley Project to the state. (Cato)
• In other business news, it's going to be a mixed bag for boat businesses at California recreation areas this summer. They're nervous in Tahoe, but overall expect to benefit from Folsom Lake's bad year. (TradeOnly Today)
• CNN gets into the Firehawk, which is a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter with a giant water tank on it. L.A. County owns a few. They're going to be busy this summer, thanks to the drought. (CNN)
• And finally, in a move that reminds me of the time I wanted to name this blog "Hot, Wet, Climate Action," the San Francisco Public Utility Commission has a new, sexy (or is it sexxy?) campaign to conserve water, with words like "QUICKIE" and "DOING IT" popping out of copy alongside minimalist pictures of pieces of water plumbing. My favorite is "DIRTY HANDS" with its faucet shot to look like a piece of anatomy. (SFPUC)

VIDEO: Get paid for doing it nice!

How has your community been affected by the drought (besides getting more suggestive ads about jiggling the toilet handle)? Share your story with a photo on Twitter or Instagram. Tag it #mydrought. For more details on our photo project, click here.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Less water in Hoover Dam means less power coming from the Dam's generating units. ; Credit: Dawn Danby/via Flickr

Monday's fat stack of news also includes some views about what to do about drought and Western water supplies.

The New York Times has published six answers to the questions "What are the best ways to share the water? And how can we ensure it lasts for the foreseeable future?" Pat Mulroy, former general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, weighs in, as do several other think tankers:

[N]ew energy and fuel production options have become more water intensive. Unconventional oil and gas production methods such as hydraulic fracturing have significant implications for local and regional water quality and quantity. Bioenergy consumes water at various stages of production (including irrigation for crops) and also has impacts on water quality and quantity...We should be pursuing cleaner energy and streamlined approaches to conserving water in order to truly safeguard our water supply. (Newsha Ajami/Stanford University)

An incredible 40 percent of the water consumed by Americans goes into meat and dairy production. Livestock must drink water and there is some water use at the farm, but most of this water is for the producing animal feed...Is this a wise allocation of the limited supply of freshwater in America? (Arjen Hoekstra/University of Twente, Netherlands)

• Closer to home, the Sacramento Bee has an ongoing series about drought solutions. Mariposa County resident Tom DeVries, who lives in forestland at 4,000 feet, offers his take:

Trees take water; a big one can draw 100 gallons a day out of the ground. All that junk forest in California is sucking up water that should be filling my spring and well and flowing downhill toward the rest of you. (Sac Bee)

• You know who else has good ideas about how to conserve water in drought? Australians. (KQED)
• Jay Lund from UC Davis modeled a "mega-drought" with his team and found that the economic consequences of a big drought event could be mostly managed through smarter water conservation policies. (California Water Blog)
• Falling water levels at Lake Mead are lowering Hoover Dam's energy production. Generating units have recently been "derated," meaning that they're expected to have a lower capacity for producing electricity now that there's less water to turn turbines. (EE News)
• Jason Dearen and Garance Burke report on "senior rights holders," and how poorly California accounts for water use by people who have rights dating back before 1914 at anytime, and how much that matters now during the drought. (AP)
• You're gonna see a lot of these stories all week: it's a terrible year for setting off fireworks. I bet rural fire chiefs have their teeth on edge already. (Merced Sun-Star)
• And we'll finish up in Southern California. In the first of a duo of Dana Bartholomew stories, the Daily News reports on Turf Terminators, a company that offers to leverage the recently-raised turf removal incentive and swap out homeowners' lawns for less thirsty landscapes...essentially for free, since the company's premise is that it can do the work for the price of the rebate. (Daily News)
• In the second, Bartholomew profiles a Studio City water-conservation demonstration at homes along Rhodes Avenue. (Daily News)
• And a UCLA project examining water use and conservation potential in territory served by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power suggests that we're not pricing water well enough to encourage conservation. Authors of a policy brief with the California Center for Sustainable Communities say dual metering, for inside and outside, would also improve conservation. (Imperial Valley News)

How has your community been affected by the drought? Share your story with a photo on Twitter or Instagram. Tag it #mydrought. For more details on our photo project, click here.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

California cherries. ; Credit: Flickr Creative Commons/ babi_santander

Food for thought:

• As food production in the California Salad Bowl withers, growers in Oregon are seeing more business come their way. Many are jumping at the chance:

That means there is a great opportunity to supply a need to grocery markets. “Growers can take advantage of the crops that can be grown here that they won’t grow there,” Penhallegon said. “This would be the year to increase production. (Farmers) just need to find out what is lacking. Lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers; there is an open door there.” (Corvallis Gazette-Times)

• Are you enjoying cherry season? Have you noticed how expensive they are? That may be because the harvest is down 75 percent this year. It's because of warm days in the winter. (Capital Public Radio)

Water fight:

• The Wall Street Journal looks at the fines and citations that more California cities are using to get people to save water. Sacramento is one of the most aggressive when it comes to policing, but it kind of has to be:

This year, the city cut outdoor watering to three days a week from two. Because only about half its homes have water meters to measure use, Sacramento must rely on inspectors to help enforce the rules. (Wall Street Journal)

• Today's other fight is over those well-drilling men. Everyone wants a piece of these guys. All these new wells and shrinking aquifers puts me in mind of "There Will Be Blood." Perhaps a effective ad campaign would feature Daniel Day-Lewis yelling, "I ... drink ... your ... MILKSHAKE!"

We're on a one-way trajectory toward depletion, toward running out of groundwater, says Jay Famiglietti, a University of California hydrologist and a leading expert on groundwater. He points out that California is the only Western state that doesn't really monitor or regulate how much groundwater is pumped.

So it's not unlike having several straws in a glass, and everyone drinking at the same time, and no one really watching the level, Famiglietti says. (NPR)

Evaporation:

• Here and Now has an interesting story (also interesting sounding - think Radiolab) on the science of stopping water loss from evaporation. Apparently, reservoirs can lose just as much water to evaporation as it does to use. (Here & Now)

How has your community been affected by the drought? Share your story with a photo on Twitter or Instagram. Tag it #mydrought. For more details on our photo project, click here.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

A screencap from NBCLA of the rapidly spreading, 4,300-acre vegetation fire in the Pope Valley area of Napa County, which by Thursday had destroyed two homes and prompted the mandatory evacuation of hundreds of others.; Credit: NBCLA

Today's dryku comes from H. Hanson of Pyro Spectaculars:

Because it's so dry
Professional fireworks shows
Are the way to go

Hanson actually wrote no less than five excellent drykus about the importance of professional fireworks shows during the drought. His company will be doing the fireworks at the Rose Bowl Friday night. You can get more information about that and other shows at our Fireworks FAQ. And remember to keep sending your #drykus to @kpccdryku.

Fire:

• Firefighters continue to battle a wildfire burning near Napa. Thousands of acres have burned, and more than 200 homes have been evacuated. Fire officials said the intensity is due to the bone-dry conditions. (KPCC)

Hunger:

• Tulare County and other areas hit hard by the drought have been providing food assistance to people who've lost work because of the drought. Supplies are running short, because need is more than anticipated.

Pickers aren’t the only workers hurt by the drought. Food banks are seeing some truck drivers, too. Less picking means less product to ship.

“We think [this] is going to have a devastating effect on our families,” said Wynn, adding that Visalia Emergency Aid passed out more than 500 boxes in about three weeks. “We only have 87 boxes left to last us through the rest of summer, and we serve over 800 families a month.” (Visalia Times-Delta)

Wildlife:

• The drought is driving insects from the desert into more urban areas. They're coming in search of water and nourishment. The good news is we might see more butterflies. The bad news?

Also, expect to see more roaches, black widows and ants during the summer, when they are most active, according to David Wilcox, owner of the Yucca Valley-based Sahara Pest Control that services the Coachella Valley. (The Desert Sun)

• Lakes and rivers are lower, which means less water to warm, which means warmer water, which means less oxygen in the water, which means a lot of people worried about fish. (Fresno Bee)

Wine:

• Finally, because we need some good news this morning, some wine growers/makers say that the drought is stressing their vines perfectly. That means the wine this year should be of good quality, even if there's less of it. Stock up. (CBS Sacramento)

How has your community been affected by the drought? Share your story with a photo on Twitter or Instagram. Tag it #mydrought. For more details on our photo project, click here.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

A 1962 Thousand Oaks survey picture of H.L. Hall Water Well and Test Hole Drilling, and Aitken and Kidder Water Development, by Pat Allen. Water well drilling goes back a century in California, but records are scarce for public viewing.

Monday's news is nosy about your neighbor — and your neighbors' groundwater drilling.

• More great reporting from the Sacramento Bee on anachronistic problems of transparency in how we manage water in California. Even some well drillers now favor more transparency for groundwater "well logs":

In all other Western states, such records are accessible to whomever wants to see them – from university professors to civil engineers, real estate agents to the media. But in California, well logs are barred from public inspection by a 63-year-old law written to keep data gathered by well-drilling companies from falling into the hands of competitors. “The lack of information about well logs makes no sense, particularly as we are trying hard to manage a diminishing public trust resource,” said Jeffrey Mount, senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California, a nonpartisan think tank in San Francisco. “This is another one of those anachronistic statutes that does not belong in a modern water management system,” Mount said. (Sacramento Bee)

• Nearly 90 percent of the $700 million in "emergency drought relief" money authorized by the governor a few months ago is yet to be spent. But, as our public radio colleague Ben Adler reports, that's not necessarily as bad as it sounds. Grants take time. (Capital Public Radio)
• The secret new trend in water district conservation isn't cops, it's guys who make "water-wise house calls":

One out of every four households has a leak of some sort, usually something as simple as a loose toilet flapper, [water district spokeswoman] Figueroa said. "Leaks are common," she added. "Don't be embarrassed." (SJ Mercury News)

• The New York Times reports on how Californians are tracking their neighbors' usage deep into the drought. Ian Lovett explores Twitter-based shower-shaming (a phenomenon this blog noticed some months ago), ratting your neighbor out for violating restrictions and other guilt-based behavioral nudges. About our region, he writes:

Most homes in Southern California have already been outfitted with efficient shower heads, toilets and garden hoses, making it harder for residents to significantly reduce their water consumption than it was during the last severe drought a quarter-century ago. (NYT)

And how has your community been affected by the drought? Share your story with a photo on Twitter or Instagram. Tag it #mydrought. For more details on our photo project, click here.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

; Credit: Kaba/Flickr

Tuesday's drought news makes you question whether waiting so long in the drive-thru line will continue to be worth it.

First, today's dryku:
Burger prices rise
Will we turn to other foods?
Burritos' do too

Food:

• Have you noticed the increased food prices at the grocery store? Well, now you're going to see it at your fast food joints too. In-N-Out and Chipotle are having to raise prices on their food. Starbucks has also.

In-N-Out raised the cost of its hamburgers and cheeseburgers by a dime and their famous Double-Double jumped 15 cents to $3.45. French fries were unchanged but soft drinks went up a nickel. (San Gabriel Valley Tribune)

Oil and Water:

• They don't mix, but they separate pretty well. The New York Times looks at how an oil field in the Central Valley also pumps 760,000 gallons of water each day that it sells to a local water district. Article goes on to look at the fight over water use in fracking. (NY Times)

Looting:

• The lowering water levels at Lake Oroville have revealed more prehistoric artifacts. Volunteers are helping rangers by keeping tabs on looters who are digging up the relics. My favorite factoid is about how meth heads are among the many culprits. Does smoking meth cause an uncontrollable digging impulse?

Though many who disturb artifacts may not know any better, others can be troublesome. Among them are insomniac "tweakers" high on methamphetamine. "They just dig and dig like little squirrels," Dobis said. (LA Times)

Witches:

• Dowsers have been the media darlings of the current drought year. Benjamin Radford pokes at the practice and points out why we should trust our suspicions about the water-finding trick. He also gives a history lesson about all the things dowsing has been used to find: water, oil, jewels, murderers... (Discovery)

Maps and charts:

• Finally, I leave you with Weather Underground's latest roundup of water statistics. This year is dry but not the worst on record. Reservoirs are still holding a decent amount of water, especially Pyramid Lake. What's up with that? I'm going to have to look into that. (Weather Underground)

And how has your community been affected by the drought? Share your story with a photo on Twitter or Instagram. Tag it #mydrought. For more details on our photo project, click here.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

On Broad Beach in Malibu, high tide not only wets sand but also retaining walls and broken down rock revetments. What happens next in homeowners' efforts to get sand trucked in here will go to the State Lands Commission - and the next Controller likely will weigh in on the problem. ; Credit: Molly Peterson/KPCC

The most common question I’ve been asked about the statewide Controller race this election year is the same question I get every four years. “Wait, we have one?”

The inevitable follow-up question: “What does this person do?” Down-ballot races in California’s state election can seem like a tedious part of a the voting process. Most of us just don't take the time to research them. In 2010, the last time we elected statewide executives, 435,308 of those people who voted for Governor just didn’t bother to vote for anybody in the Controller race. 

But in addition to being the chief fiscal officer of the 8th-largest economy in the world, the Controller sits on something like 80 state commissions and boards. And if you’re interested in California’s environment, a biggie there is the State Lands Commission.

The State Lands Commission oversees roughly 4 million acres of submerged land and tidelands, holding them in trust for the public. Right now it's looking at policy alternatives to respond to sea level rise. It manage the state's offshore oil-drilling leases. It even gets authority over historical shipwrecks! 

Three issues coming before to the Lands Commission mean the Controller matters:  

• Coastal Access and Martin’s Beach: At the end of September, Governor Jerry Brown signed a law requiring the State Lands Commission to negotiate with Vinod Khlosa, a private property owner who famously shut down coastal access over his land this year. The commission has all of next year to negotiate with Khlosa. If no deal is reached, it can use eminent domain authority to force public access – something that would represent a big break in historical practice, because that authority hasn’t ever been used in the 76 years that the commission has existed.
• Malibu’s Broad Beach has been rapidly eroding under pressure of waves and storms worsened by climate change, and very rich homeowners there have been seeking to add sand in front of their houses to combat the risk of damage to very expensive properties. Earlier this year, those homeowners successfully completed an application to the State Lands Commission, and the commission was expected to decide on it in October. The decision’s been put over till after the election.
• Fracking: Offshore oil made news late last year and earlier this year when some operators didn’t report that they were using drilling and production techniques collectively referred to as hydraulic fracturing. The news prompted the EPA to require chemical disclosures for drilling operations it oversees.  The state agencies that should be overseeing these issues – the Coastal Commission and the Lands Commission – are considering their next moves too.

Positions on these issues don’t really come up when it comes to the Controller race, though both Betty Yee and Ashley Swearengin have gone on the record to say they’re against fracking. 

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.