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Josh More

WASHINGTON – An endangered squirrel that was driven to the brink of extinction by wildfire just three years ago in southern Arizona has seen its numbers more than triple following federal, state and local preservation efforts.

The Mount Graham red squirrel population was cut from 252 to just 33 squirrels in the wild after the Frye fire destroyed much of their habitat in 2017. But a survey released last month by state and federal agencies estimated there are now at least 109 squirrels on the mountain.

Advocates welcomed the improvement, but said the squirrel, which was put on the endangered species list in 1987, is not out of the woods yet.

“It’s a good sign that it’s heading in an upwards direction rather than stagnating or … heaven forbid, going down,” said Marit Alanen, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Alanen points to a long list of factors threatening the squirrel’s mountain forest habitat, including fires, both natural and man-made, insect infestations and competition from the Abert squirrel, which was introduced in the 1940s. But wildfires have been the biggest threat, reducing the number of trees available to the squirrels and leaving them exposed to predators.

“We’ve been seeing these fires that have just gotten bigger and bigger over the years and have been of higher severity,” said Alanen. She said the Peak fire in 1996, the Nuttall Gibson fire in 2004 and the Frye fire “have impacted at least 95% of the squirrel’s habitat to some degree.”

That reduction in the forest has led to a “habitat bottleneck,” with squirrels competing for fewer suitable trees, said Robin Silver, cofounder of the Center for Biological Diversity. It’s one reason the center filed suit against the Fish and Wildlife Service in September, in an effort to force an expansion of the squirrels’ critical habitat.

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Tech. Sgt. Michael Matkin/U.S. Air National Guard

Rapid antigen testing is a mess. The federal government pushed it out without a plan, and then spent weeks denying problems with false positives.

The promise of antigen tests emerged as a miracle this summer. With repeated use, the theory went, these rapid and cheap coronavirus tests would identify highly infectious people while giving healthy Americans a green light to return to offices, schools and restaurants. The idea of on-the-spot tests with near-instant results was an appealing alternative to the slow, lab-based testing that couldn’t meet public demand.

By September, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services had purchased more than 150 million tests for nursing homes and schools, spending more than $760 million. But it soon became clear that antigen testing — named for the viral proteins, or antigens, that the test detects — posed a new set of problems. Unlike lab-based, molecular PCR tests, which detect snippets of the virus’s genetic material, antigen tests are less sensitive because they can only detect samples with a higher viral load. The tests were prone to more false negatives and false positives. As problems emerged, officials were slow to acknowledge the evidence.

With the benefit of hindsight, experts said the Trump administration should have released antigen tests primarily to communities with outbreaks instead of expecting them to work just as well in large groups of asymptomatic people. Understanding they can produce false results, the government could have ensured that clinics had enough for repeat testing to reduce false negatives and access to more precise PCR tests to weed out false positives. Government agencies, which were aware of the tests’ limitations, could have built up trust by being more transparent about them and how to interpret results, scientists said.

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Courtesy of Angelique Herring

Alex Gordon and Aryelle Lipscomb, who are part of the Student PIRGs New Voters Project, vote safely and in style on Election Day.

LOS ANGELES – Young people stepped up on two fronts this Election Day: volunteering to replace older poll workers who feared exposure to COVID-19 and pushing more of their peers – an age group with historically low turnout – to register and vote.

Across the Southwest, such organizations as Future Leaders of America, California Campus Vote Project and Arizona PIRG Students New Voters Project worked until the last minute to help students register to vote, answer questions and inform voters about initiatives on the ballot, including Proposition 15 in California.

For 18-year-old Yesenia Ramirez Garcia of Goleta, casting her first vote was a proud moment, as she is the first in her family to vote and the first to go to college. Identity and background affect Garcia’s political advocacy, she said, because her identity is political.

“When being queer is something that is debated, when being a person of color and your protections is something debated. It definitely impacts my background, it impacts who I’m going to pick,” Garcia said.

She is one of many youth leaders who spent the past year working to boost voter turnout among people 18 to 29. Throughout the summer, she worked with Future Leaders of America, an organization that provides engagement opportunities, education experiences and personal development for Latino youth and their families in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. She worked the phones for Proposition 15, which would have required commercial and industrial properties, except for commercial agriculture, to be taxed based on market value rather than purchase price.

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Highly High School Spirit Line Twitter account

Photos like this one on social media of the Higley High School spirit line and its fans at football games have raised questions about the fan behavior and protocol during the COVID-19 era.

GILBERT – With several schools experiencing outbreaks of COVID-19 during the high school football season, social media has served as a platform for those pointing fingers at programs that appear to have stands packed with fans, many without face coverings.

But David Hines, executive director of the Arizona Interscholastic Association, which oversees high school sports in the state, said that the AIA can only issue protocols for players, coaches and officials on the field during the season.

It’s up to school districts to establish guidelines for fans, based on the recommendations of county health departments.

Photos of big crowds at schools such as Highland High, Higley High and Williams Field High in Gilbert and the private school Northwest Christian in Phoenix have surfaced on Twitter. Some are from fans and others from media members and they are often accompanied by comments about how closely fans are packed into the stands or the apparent lack of masks.

Hines said he is aware of the tweets, but noted that the crowds are outside the AIA’s jurisdiction.

“We put out a Return to Play document to get kids and coaches back to play,” Hines said. “We also have modifications, which are required for the schools to follow. Now part of our modifications is that the coaches, bench players, bench personnel, etc. all have to be in a mask all the time.

“Obviously, we have kids that come in and out of the game, that’s a little different story. The fans themselves are really under the purview of the school. During the regular season, the schools are in charge of those games.”

While the AIA does not have jurisdiction over how schools handle spectators, Hines said some schools are more diligent about ensuring that their fans are social distancing and wearing masks.

“Our recommendation is that all fans have a mask when they come in and keep a mask on when they are in that facility, especially in indoor facilities, because now we’re closer together, we have less ventilation, and all those criteria,” Hines said. “However, we have had some schools that aren’t quite as diligent as others with the requirement to their fans.