Invasive plants don't get much coverage in the news, especially at the state and national level.  As I've argued previously, this lack of media attention is a problem when it comes to motivating the public and political players into proactively funding invasive plant management and mitigating impacts to human health, infrastructure, and natural resources.  Admittedly, as a weed scientist, I'm biased on the issue.  

However, sometimes there is a particular plant that is just so terrifying that it lends itself to coverage in a major news outlet, as was the case for this article about giant hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum) by Caitlin O'Kane on CBS news last month: "Giant hogweed, plant that causes blindness and third-degree burns, discovered in Virginia."  As the headline suggests, this is a plant you should keep a safe distance from if you are unlucky enough to come across it.  Just in case you're thinking that this is just sensationalism, there's a page on Snopes that confirms the assertions about giant hogweed's dangerous sap (and also confirms its place in popular culture).  I won't provide a direct link here, but a simple Google search of "giant hogweed" turns up some images of what look like very painful giant hogweed injuries.  The photograph below was taken by Gavin Edmondstone:

Giant hogweed is native to the Caucasus region and southwest Asia, and is presently found in Europe, Canada, the United States,  Australia, and New Zealand, where it was likely introduced as an ornamental for its showy inflorescence.  Apparently it was a well known nuisance in Britain, so much so that the band Genesis released the ominous song "Return of the Giant Hogweed" on their 1971 album Nursery Cryme:

"Turn and run
Nothing can stop them
Around every river and canal their power is growing..." (Google the song title for the complete lyrics- they are fantastic!  And strangely factual...)

Here in the US, giant hogweed is mostly found in New England and the Pacific Northwest.  As the article suggests, giant hogweed has expanded down the east coast and was recently discovered for the first time in Virginia.  Over on the west coast, it has made it as far south as northwestern Oregon.  Californians should be on the lookout however, as we do share some similar habitats with Oregon, particularly in the northern part of the state.  California also has a native congener called "cowparsnip" (Heracleum maximum), suggesting that suitable habitats do exist across the state.

For those involved with management of this plant, a great resource with information on controlling giant hogweed can be found in DiTomaso et al. (2013) Weed Control in Natural Areas in the Western United States, as well as several state conservation webpages.  Before embarking on control, be careful not to confuse with natives that may look similar- your local county Natural Resources Advisor can be of great help in correctly identifying invasive plants.  And it should go without saying, but given the potential for painful injury, this is a plant you may want to enlist the help of professionals with if you have it on your property.

As the band Genesis proclaims:

Now if we could just get some similar coverage in the press or popular culture for our less glamorous but equally terrifying invasive grasses...

On a typical weekday, three-quarters of U.S. Latinos get their news from internet sources, nearly equal to the share who do so from television, according to a 2016 survey of Latino adults by Pew Research Center.

For years, TV was the most commonly used platform for news among U.S. Hispanics. In recent years, however, the share getting their news from TV has declined, from 92% in 2006 to 79% in 2016. Meanwhile, 74% of Hispanics said in 2016 that they used the internet – including social media or smartphone apps – as a source of news on a typical weekday, up from 37% in 2006.

Hispanics also consume news from radio and newspapers, but neither is as widely used as TV or the internet. In 2016, 55% of Hispanics got news from radio on a typical weekday, down from 64% in 2006 (but mostly unchanged from 2012). The use of newspapers as a news source continued its decline, falling from 58% in 2006 to 34% a decade later.

The growth of the internet as a news source on a typical weekday among Hispanics mirrors the trend in the overall U.S. population. As Pew Research Center previously reported, the internet is closing in on TV as the top source for news among all Americans.

Millennials (those ages 18 to 35 in 2016) are driving many of the changes in Hispanic news consumption – in part because this generation makes up more than a quarter of U.S. Hispanic adults, a higher share than among other racial or ethnic groups. In 2016, 91% of Hispanic Millennials got news from the internet on a typical weekday, making them the only generation of Hispanics for which the internet is the most widely used news platform. By contrast, television remains the top source for news among older generations of Hispanics (even as the internet grows as a source of news for all generations).

Foreign-born Latinos, who tend to be older than U.S.-born Latinos, continue to rely heavily on TV for news. In 2016, 85% of foreign-born Latinos said that on a typical weekday they got their news from TV, the group's most widely used news source. Meanwhile, two-thirds (67%) of foreign-born Latinos said they use the internet for news, a share that has increased sharply since 2006, when only 25% said so. (News consumption among U.S.-born Latinos generally reflects that of Latinos overall.)

Many Latinos speak English and Spanish, and this bilingualism is reflected in their news habits. In 2016, Latinos primarily consumed news in English, with 83% saying they get at least some of their news in this language on a typical weekday (29% only in English and 54% in both English and Spanish). At the same time, a comparable share (71%) said they get at least some of their news in Spanish (17% only in Spanish and 54% in both English and Spanish).

Hispanic Millennials use English-language news sources more than older generations, with 91% in 2016 saying they get at least some of their news in English, compared with 68% who said they consume at least some of their news in Spanish.

Foreign-born Latinos, by contrast, prefer Spanish-language news sources: 89% in 2016 said they get at least some of their news in Spanish, and 70% said they get at least some of it in English.

The landscape of news outlets has changed over the past decade as the news habits of Hispanics have shifted. Univision and Telemundo, the two largest Spanish-language television networks in the U.S., have had viewership declines in their most popular news programs. In addition, several news outlets that targeted Hispanics as a primary audience, often in English, have either closed or been folded into larger news organizations, including CNN Latino, NBC Latino, Fox News Latino and VOXXI.

Source: Published originally on PEW Research center, Among U.S. Latinos, the internet now rivals television as a source for news, by Antonio Flores and Mark Hugo Lopez, January 11^th, 2018.

When companies or politicians seek to speak to Latino audiences, they head to Spanish-language television networks, Spanish-language radio or Spanish-language newspapers.

The theory has always been that the best way to tap into the fast-growing segment of the population, with its $1.3 trillion spending power and increasing political influence, was to do so in its native language.

But a new poll by Fox News Latino turns that theory on its head.

When asked in what language they prefer to get their news, 79 percent of registered Latino voters said they preferred their news in English.

“I'm not incredibly surprised. It reflects a demographic shift as second-, third- and even fourth-generation Latinos, who identify with their culture, but English is their dominant language,” Jessica J. Gonzalez, executive vice president and general counsel of the National Hispanic Media Coalition, told Fox News Latino.

The poll surveyed 803 registered Latino voters nationwide between Aug. 7 and 10. The poll, which has a sampling error margin of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points, was conducted under the direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R).

“This is why our agency has been focused on infusing more people of color into Latino media for years. For a long time, there's been an assumption that all Latinos have been watching news in Spanish,” Gonzalez added.

Following the trend, Univision, which began in 1962 as a Spanish-language news channel, launched Univision News this year with news targeting “English-dominant” Latinos.

In 2010, Fox News Latino launched a ground-breaking website appealing to second- and third-generation Hispanics with national news in English. Fox News Latino launched to fill a gap in the media for Latinos looking for news about their community in English.

According to the Pew Research Center, 62 percent of Hispanics speak primarily English or are bilingual.

"When I was growing up, speaking Spanish was something that people didn't do,” Mark Hugo Lopez at the Pew Research Center told Univision. “People were trying to run away from all those things that were Mexican.”

Aly Colόn, John S. and James L. Knight Professor of Media Ethics at Washington and Lee University in Virginia, said that when you compare Univision with its main Spanish-language rival, Telemundo, you see that Univision is looking more toward an English-oriented audience, which means a younger and more affluent group. In comparison, he said, Spanish-language network Telemundo is looking to reach more recent immigrants from Latin America.

“The news media looks at [their audiences] as one thing, but really it's multiple things. But depending on how they view their audience will determine whether it's in English or Spanish,” Colόn told Fox News Latino.

Gonzalez said she believes the lack of newsroom diversity is the true missed opportunity.

“If you're not serving your audience, they're not going to watch,” Gonzalez said. “At a conference of ours recently, [ABC News correspondent] John Quiñones talked about how he was able to gather news as a Latino that his non-Latino peers could not – because the community was comfortable with him and he was comfortable in the community.”

Source: Published originally on Fox News Latino, Fox News Latino poll: 79% of Latinos prefer to get their news in English, by Rebekah Sager, August 15, 2016

A new poll by The Associated Press finds black millennials say they are just as engaged in getting news online as their white counterparts, further debunking a long-held belief that people of color are at risk of being left behind technologically.

In general, 64 percent of millennials say they read and watch news online regularly, including 66 percent of blacks, according to the poll, conducted by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and the American Press Institute. Sixty-five percent of white millennials say they keep up with the news online, while 53 percent of Hispanics do the same.

The findings suggest that, despite fears that millennials — those 18-34 years old — may not be going to traditional sources for news, they are clearly getting news from social media.

Overall, 57 percent of millennials say they get news and information from Facebook at least once a day, and 81 percent say they get it from Facebook at least once a week. And the poll found that Hispanics and blacks are just as likely as any millennials to have a paid news subscription.

"People of color are very wired and just as adept in using technology," said Tom Rosenstiel, executive director of the American Press Institute, which funded the study. "If you want a subject that hasn't been covered in the mainstream, millennials have found ways to get at that information through community sharing more than traditional ways. The way they get news is heavily influenced by topic."

In the 1990s, policy makers and advocacy groups expressed concern that minorities would be adversely affected by a "digital divide" in terms of access to technology. Over time, however, minorities emerged among the biggest users of certain forms of technology, such as smartphones.

The AP-NORC study found no evidence to suggest that blacks and Hispanics lag behind in terms of technology use with nearly all millennials across racial and ethnic groups using a smartphone, and half using a tablet.

There was little differentiation between racial groups in terms of getting news from Facebook, the poll found. But about half of black millennials said they comment on news stories posted to Facebook, compared to about 3 in 10 whites and Hispanics.

Blacks are also more likely to use Facebook for keeping up with what's "trending" on social media — 41 percent of blacks compared with 29 percent of whites and 24 percent of Hispanics.

Those who are Hispanic or black are more likely than white millennials to get news and information from YouTube (38 percent of Hispanics compared with 33 percent of blacks and. 20 percent of whites) and Instagram (30 percent of Hispanics compared with 45 percent of blacks and 19 percent of whites).

According to Rosenstiel, YouTube's popularity partially stems from users' ability to produce content without gatekeepers.

"We see topics that aren't mainstream finding a big audience — a lot of gamers, comedy, news commentary. As something goes mainstream, young people look for new channels to exercise some control," he said.

Streaming music, TV, or movies is the most commonly cited online activity among blacks, while keeping up with what their friends are doing is the most commonly cited online activity among Hispanics. For white millennials, checking and sending email was most common.

"What we've seen is millennials' similarities are much greater than the differences people thought that there were going to be," Rosenstiel said of the online experience. "We've created new common ground."

Source: Published originally on USNEWS.com as Poll shows similar levels of news, technology use among black, white, Hispanic millennials by Glynn A. Hill, Associated Press,August 21, 2015.