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The flash floods that have devastated Texas are already a difficult crisis to manage. More than 100 people are confirmed dead after the July 4 deluge, and many more remain missing. But while recovery efforts are underway, Texas authorities are grappling with a compounding challenge: civilian drone operators interfering with emergency response. Amateur pilots are either trying to capture dramatic footage of the disaster or, in some cases, attempting to locate missing or stranded people themselves. Thats not just unhelpfulits dangerous. We know that people want to volunteer, but what we are starting to see is personal drones flying, Kerrville city manager Dalton Rice said at a recent press conference. Rice discouraged these have-a-go heroes with drones. These personal drones flying is a danger to aircraft, which then risks further operations, he added. What might seem like good intentions from above is, in practice, making things worse on the ground. Particularly with emergency response, people think that they’re doing good, when, in reality, they’re causing more harm than good, says Ryan Wallace, a professor and drone expert at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. This isnt a new problem. In January 2025, a drone collided with one of two Super Scooper amphibious aircraft fighting the Los Angeles wildfires. The collision forced the aircraft to land and be decommissioned, instantly halving the regions firefighting capacity. Its a sad reality that people have been flying drones over disaster zones without permission ever since the technology came into widespread use over a decade ago, says Arthur Holland Michel, a drone expert and author of Eyes in the Sky. The growing availability of consumer drones over the past decade has worsened the issue. As drones became less expensive in the 2010s, more people had them for unregulated recreational use or professional photography, explains Robin Murphy, professor emeritus at Texas A&M University. She recalls how, during Hurricane Harvey in 2017, officials had to call the sheriff to stop a civilian trying to film flood footage to sell to the news, just so official drone teams could gather time-sensitive emergency data. Between 2015 and 2025, there have been 190 recorded instances of unmanned aircraft system (UAS) incursions, conflicts, or airspace intrusions that interfered with wildfire and U.S. Forest Service operations, according to Wallace. Despite repeated education campaigns, the message isnt sinking in. Aviation authorities have tried again and again to educate drone users about the very real risks of interfering with rescue efforts and disaster relief, but it just doesnt seem to get through to some people, Wallace says. While technical and legal options exist to disable unauthorized drones, the burden often falls on responders, who should be focused on saving lives and not policing airspace. The comparison, Murphy notes, is stark: Its like a civilian walking up to a SWAT team commander during an active shooter event and offering to help cover off an angle because they have a gun permit. There are so many problems with this, she says. The person doesnt have radios, doesnt know the parlance, isnt trained in SWAT, there are procedures for joining an agency, the agency would be liable for this persons actions, and so on. Same thing with self-deploying drones. Low-flying civilian drones also pose a collision risk to helicopters operating just above the ground to aid trapped residents. In crowded and chaotic airspace, the presence of rogue drones can quite literally turn deadly. Even when drone pilots arent disrupting emergency aircraft, their contributions often cant be used. The emergency managers usually can’t use the data because it is not verified, says Murphy. For example, agencies cant accept a report from a person claiming to be a civil engineer they have never met and without credentials who says a building is about to collapse; the agencies have a process for obtaining data according to accountability standards. The file formats from commercial drones also dont always align with agency tools. One colleague, Murphy recalls, spent 40 hours converting well-meaning footage from a civilian into a usable format after a fire. What is disturbing to me personally is the lack of enforcement or consequences, she adds. The agencies are in a no-win situation and cant do it; if they come down hard on self-deployed teamsassuming they had time during a response. As for why early warnings didnt prevent more loss of life during the Texas floods, some observers point to recent staffing cuts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which may have led to the early retirement of a key local meteorologist. The forecasting question may take time to answer, but the drone problem is already making itself known.
Category:
E-Commerce
Real estate investors are snapping up a bigger share of U.S. homes on the market as rising prices and stubbornly high borrowing costs freeze out many other would-be homebuyers.Nearly 27% of all homes sold in the first three months of the year were bought by investorsthe highest share in at least five years, according to a report by real estate data provider BatchData.Between 2020 and 2023, the share of homes bought by investors averaged 18.5%.All told, investors bought 265,000 homes in the January-March quarter, an increase of 1.2% from the same period a year earlier, the firm said.Despite the modest annual increase, the rise in the share of investor home purchases is more a reflection of how much the housing market has slowed as traditional buyers face growing affordability constraints, according to BatchData.The U.S. housing market has been in a sales slump since early 2022, when mortgage rates began to climb from pandemic-era lows. Home sales fell last year to their lowest level in nearly 30 years.They’ve remained sluggish so far this year, as many prospective homebuyers have been discouraged by elevated mortgage rates and home prices that have kept climbing, though more slowly.As home sales have slowed, properties are taking longer to sell. That’s led to a sharply higher inventory of homes on the market, benefitting investors and other home shoppers who can afford to bypass current mortgage rates by paying in cash or tapping home equity gains.“As traditional buyers struggle with affordability, investors with cash and financing advantages are stepping in to maintain transaction volume,” according to the report.BatchData analyzes U.S. home sales records to determine which properties were purchased by investors. These could include vacation homes or rentals, but not a homebuyer’s primary residence.Investors bought 1.2 million homes in 2024, up from an average of 1.1 million homes a year going back to 2020, according to BatchData.Even so, investor-owned homes account for roughly 20% of the nation’s 86 million single-family homes, the firm said.Of those, mom-and-pop investors, or those who own between 1 and 5 homes, account for 85% of all investor-owned residential properties, while those with between 6 and 10 properties account for another 5%.Institutional investors that own 1,000 or more homes account for only about 2.2% of all investor-owned homes, the firm said.And that number could get smaller, amid signs that large institutional investors are scaling back home purchases.Out of a group of eight of the biggest companies that own and lease single-family houses, including Invitation Homes and American Homes 4 Rent, six sold more homes in the second quarter than they bought, according to data from Parci Labs. Alex Veiga, AP Business Writer
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E-Commerce
Theres nothing more American than fireworks, the Fourth of July, and bald eagles. Unfortunately the combination of the first two elements is stressful for all wildlife, including the internet-famous bald eagle family of Big Bear, California: Jackie and Shadow, and their daughters, Sunny and Gizmo. Ahead of the big holiday last week, Friends of the Big Bear Valley (FOBBV), the nonprofit organization behind the livestreamed web cameras that have turned these birds into superstars, attempted to present evidence to the city about the harmful impact that fireworks have on nature. However, the fireworks display went forward nonetheless, to the dismay of many of the eagles’ fans. Here’s a recap and what to know about the controversy. A preshow warning about fireworks In 2023, FOBBV created a presentation outlining the many negative impacts of fireworks ahead of a Memorial Day show. The loud noises of the nighttime spectacle cause the eagles to enter fight-or-flight mode and fly off into the night. Eagles do not have great nighttime vision and risk injury when they flee a scene in such a way. In 2019, for instance, Jackie and Shadow left their chick Simba unprotected and without food for the night because they were scared. In 2022, Jackie and Shadow left the area for six days. “We have noticed that Jackie and Shadow fly off each year with the fireworks, we have them on camera,” said Sandy Steers, executive director of FOBBV, according to local station ABC7. Fast Company reached out to FOBBV for further comment. A problem for animal life more broadly Bald Eagles are not the only animals impacted by fireworks. Other local birds become disoriented and some even have heart attacks and die. Mammals have been known to run into busy roadways. Pets such as dogs and cats also suffer, often becoming lost in all the chaos. Beyond their impact on animals, fireworks pollute the environment. Toxic substances such as sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and strontium negatively impact air quality. Perchlorates, a chemical compound that acts as an oxidizer, are highly water soluble, which means they can contaminate lakes. The soil and plant life are also at risk from debris. For all these reasons and more, FOBBV urged the city to find a creative alternative, such as a block party, drone show, and/or light show. How did Jackie and Shadow react to the fireworks? As anticipated, Jackie and Shadow were not too happy about this years firework display. They followed their typical nighttime routine, roosting around 8 p.m. local time. They appeared ready for sleep at around 8:30 but were rudely awoken instead around 9 by the bangs of fireworks. One eagle flew away immediately. Jackie made several vocalizations to express her displeasure and warn others about danger. Both eagles were gone by 9:18. The good news is, Jackie and Shadow were spotted on camera the next evening, safe and sound. What about Sunny and Gizmo? Jackie and Shadow’s daughters are more of a mystery. They have not been seen since June 27, before the fireworks display. But this is normal behavior as the girls have been testing their limits and trying to decide where to settle down. It is quite possible they were further away from the show, but the organization still worries about the impact the fireworks had on the young birds. What have the organizers of the fireworks said about this? Visit Big Bear, a city-affiliated group that was involved in the fireworks, defended the decision to put on the display, according to the Los Angeles Times, saying it did not believe it would disrupt the eagles’ habitat. Fast Company has reached out to the group for additional comment. What have fans of the eagle family said? Many are not happy. A Change.org petition calling for the cancellation of the fireworks had attracted more than 40,000 signatures over the course of several days. Even though the petition didn’t stop the fireworks from happening, organizers wrote that they were happy to have spread awareness about the issue. However, amid the widespread criticism, some supporters of the eagles are also urging for calm. In a Facebook post on Thursday, FOBBV noted that some critics of the fireworks had been “aggressive with agencies and their employees” and had taken to cyberbullying tactics and even posted people’s personal information. FOBBV said it condemns such behavior. “It’s time to be kind!” the group wrote. How can I check in on the eagles myself? The livestreamed bald eagle Nest Cam is still up and running. You can join thousands of other viewers via this YouTube link or by watching the embedded video below.
Category:
E-Commerce
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