Despite years of drought science, California and Arizona still can't figure out how much water they have.

Top of the Alty World

"Less Than Zero: Despite decades of accepted science, California and Arizona are still miscounting their water supplies"—ProPublica

New York City could be an important test case in a new move to desegregate public schools.—Slate

GOP presidential contender John Kasich believes in climate change he just doesn't want to do anything about it.—Mother Jones

Growing research shows toxins in feminine-hygiene products lead to dangerously high levels of chemicals in the body.—The Atlantic

Top of Alty Utah

Doug Owens has announced his intentions to challenge Mia Love in 2016.—Utah Policy

The Prison Relocation Commission adds two more months to its decision deadline.—Utah Political Capitol

Today is the third anniversary of the Young Mormon Feminist blog that gives younger LDS women a forum to speak out.—Salt Lake City Weekly

Controversy over Reagan Billboard's political power has been an ongoing issue with local officials.—SL City News

Rantosphere

Jesse Harris at Utah Politico Hub sounds off on receiving unsolicited campaign emails from Doug Owens and other politicos.

This isn’t the first time this has happened either. Luke Garrott’s campaign added me to his email list a few years ago under the same circumstances. Jackie Biskupski did the same thing to me last month. I’ve never lived within the city limits of Salt Lake City, never supported their campaigns, never had any communication with either of them until their unsolicited campaign email hit my inbox.

You’d think it would be common sense (not to mention common decency) to only send campaign email to people who asked for it. You’re going to annoy people who didn’t sign up for it, end up being reported to spam filters (Google is pretty good at killing that kind of thing), and maybe end up earning the ire of a blogger with the time to wonder if you went to the Mark Towner School of Political Spamming. That increased name recognition comes with the baggage of negative associations.—Utah Politico Hub

The Long View

Rolling Stone looks at four dudes who fled poverty and violence by skateboarding from El Salvador to the United States.

In March, Kelvin and the other patinetos (who asked that I not use their last names) left San Salvador in the dead of night, and skated three hundred and fifty miles through Guatemala to the border town of Tecún Umán. That was the easy part. It's fifteen hundred miles across Mexico, much of it past growing ranks of Mexican immigration security agents, kidnappers and extortionists. And then there's the business of actually crossing into the US — where armed Border Patrol, infrared cameras, and electric fences make it one of the world's most militarized borders.

The patinetos have discovered an unlikely advantage, though: attention-grabbing ollies and kick flips can be a form of camouflage. Officials tend to have certain qualities in mind when looking for migrants: poor, haggard and lost. The skaters, with their devil-may-care swagger, often coast by authorities without prompting a second glance. "Skating has served us well crossing Mexico," says Rene. "It's a new way to migrate."—Rolling Stone