Good morning, Her Campus! With a break-neck news cycle, there is no possible way for you to stay on top of every story that comes across your feeds—we’re all only human, after all.
But, life comes at you fast. So grab a cup of coffee and settle in for this quick and dirty guide to stories you might’ve been sleeping on (like, literally. It’s early.)
Trump Administration Prepares to Roll Back Regulations That Require Cars to Be Efficient & Cleaner
The Trump administration is set to roll back federal fuel-efficiency targets for cars and light trucks, The Washington Post reports.
The undoing of the standards, which were set in place by the Obama administration to combat climate change, would most likely mean a legal battle with California, as the state has vowed to keep the strict emissions rules in place regardless if the administration decides to roll back the standards or not, The New York Times reports. California State Attorney General Xavier Becerra, said of the potential rollback: “We’re prepared to take whatever action, legal or otherwise, that we must to protect our economy, our environment and the public health of people of California.”
This could be cause for concern, since this could potentially lead to two separate standards: a stricter standard for California (and the 12 states that follow the state’s lead) and a separate standard for the rest of the country. However, Scott Pruitt, head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), told Bloomberg TV earlier this month that he is ready to take on such a challenge from California, as it is “not the arbiter of these issues.”
Under the current federal rules, 2018 cars are required to have 38.3 miles per gallon (mpg), and cars would need to have approximately 51 mpg in 2025, The Post reports. Pruitt, is set to announce that auto manufacturers cannot meet the fuel efficiency standards set by the Obama administration, and will frame this new policy as a way to eliminate the burden from car makers so they can produce more affordable vehicles for consumers, The Times reports.
As of right now, according to an EPA spokeswoman, the 16-page draft for the plan has been sent over to the White House, The Times reports.
According to Robert Stavins, Director of the Harvard Environmental Economics Program, this rollback could be a “big deal.”
“The result will be more gas-guzzling vehicles on the road, greater total gasoline consumption, and a significant increase in carbon dioxide emissions,” Stavins added.
Major automakers would most likely welcome this opportunity to make new rules that would meet “our customers’ needs for affordable, safe, clean and fuel-efficient transportation,” said Gloria Bergquist, a spokeswoman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers.
The federal rules, however, would have put the U.S. at the forefront, while it has historically fallen behind, of manufacturing electric and fuel efficient vehicles, The Times reports. Rolling back these standards could potentially end up putting the U.S. behind the European Union and China in terms of clean vehicle technology.
Trump has previously talked about rolling back these regulations, however. At a Detroit research facility last March, Trump said, “I’m sure you’ve all heard the big news that we’re going to work on the [Corporate Average Fuel Economy] standards so you can make cars in America again. We want to be the car capital of the world again. We will be, and it won’t be long.”
Russia Has Expelled 60 U.S. Diplomats in Retaliatory Move
Russia, in a retaliatory move, has now expelled 60 U.S. diplomats and announced that it will close the U.S. Consulate in St. Petersburg, CNN reports.
The foreign ministry office declared that the diplomats were “persona non grata” for activities that are “incompatible with diplomatic status,” CNN reports. The diplomats are required to leave the country by April 5.
Russia, according to CNN, has been engaged in a tit-for-tat with Britain, as well as other countries, after Britain accused Russia of poisoning a Russian double agent, Sergei Skripal, and his daughter, Yulia Skripal, on British soil earlier this month.
Russia, however, has denied poisoning Skripal and his daughter, with President Vladimir Putin dismissing the allegations as “delirium.”
Over 20 nations stood with Britain and expelled 100 Russian diplomats from their country. According to CNN, the U.S. expelled 60 Russian diplomats on Monday as part of this response. Now it appears that Russia has asked the 60 U.S. diplomats to leave as a sort of retaliatory move, as both Britain and Russia both asked 23 of each other’s diplomats to leave their respective countries.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reiterated on Thursday that Russia was not involved in the death of Skripal and his daughter, and that the expulsion of Russian diplomats was “absolutely unacceptable” and Russia would retaliate, CNN reports.
State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said that Russia’s decision to expel U.S. diplomats was “regrettable,” but did not see the Russians’ actions as a sort of “tit-for-tat” since the United States’ actions for expelling Russian diplomats was justifiable, and the Russians’ actions were not.
“Toy Story’s” Pizza Planet May Actually Become a Real Pizza Place
If your dream has always been to go to Pizza Planet like Andy from “Toy’s Story,” then your dream just may be coming true. According to HelloGiggles, a real-life Pizza Planet (yes, cue the excited screams) may be coming to Disneyland this April.
And why this wasn’t a thing already, we just don’t understand? I mean, we all know we’ve been dying to get our hands on one of those adorable, little green aliens from the claw crane.
Walt Disney World News Today reported that Disneyland’s Redd Rockett’s Pizza Port would be transformed into Pizza Planet for Pixar Fest. And this is exciting news, because we may finally be able to eat pizza at Pizza Planet.
There aren’t many details at this point, but we do know that this makeover will be temporary. Sigh. But that’s okay. It will totally be worth it!
As long as they have the claw crane, and Buzz and Woody are around, we know that it’ll be totally out of this world! (Bad joke, I know.)
What to look out for…
Taylor Swift’s new, second video for “Delicate” is out now! Check it out!