Our picksAllowing composting of human bodies; Huawei drama & U.S. tech companies; “Junk” news, and more

Washington becomes 1st state to allow composting of human bodies (AP)
Ashes to ashes, guts to dirt. Gov. Jay Inslee signed legislation Tuesday making Washington the first state to approve composting as an alternative to burying or cremating human remains.
It allows licensed facilities to offer “natural organic reduction,” which turns a body, mixed with substances such as wood chips and straw, into about two wheelbarrows’ worth of soil in a span of several weeks.
Loved ones are allowed to keep the soil to spread, just as they might spread the ashes of someone who has been cremated — or even use it to plant vegetables or a tree.

A Russia scandal even populists couldn’t stomach (Yascha Mounk, The Atlantic)
In a sting video, the head of Austria’s far-right Freedom Party is seen soliciting illegal donations from a Russian billionaire.

Trump was right not to sign the Christchurch call (Graeme Wood, The Atlantic)
The pledge to eliminate extremist content online is antithetical to the American understanding of free expression.

‘Junk news’ gets higher engagement before E.U. elections, Oxford study finds (Ben Popken, NBC News)
Misinformation trends in the E.U. elections could foreshadow what’s in store for America’s next presidential race.

Michael Cohen called CEO tied to Russian oligarch hundreds of times, according to FBI (Justin Miller, Daily Beast)
Newly unsealed search warrants confirm that Trump’s lawyer and a sanctioned Russian billionaire met in the months after the election.

DHS backup border funding plan would take millions from TSA, other agencies (Julia Ainsley, NBC News)
The funding from TSA includes $50 million planned for advanced screening equipment and $3 million collected from loose change left in trays at airports.

Federal efforts to secure key cities from mass terror attack found faulty (Adam Kredo, Washington Free Beacon)
Report: DHS ‘does not have assurance that cities can sustain threat detection and deterrence’

Millions of people and animals are at risk of naturally occurring anthrax (Ted Ranosa, Tech Times)
Infectious disease experts warn about the potential health risks of naturally occurring anthrax, which threatens millions of people and livestock around the world.
Many people know anthrax as a bioterrorism weapon cultured in laboratories. However, some bacteria can also be found living in natural settings. Wildlife and livestock, such as pigs, cattle, goats, and deer, can easily pick up the microorganisms through the air they breathe or the grass that they feed on.

The Huawei drama is a gift to U.S. tech companies (Alexis C. Madrigal, The Atlantic)
Faced with opponents along the political spectrum, tech needs a new way to emphasize its importance to the country, and the challenge of China could be that organizing narrative.

QAnon teams up with alleged cult leader (Will Sommer, Daily Beast)
The conspiracy theory has a new group of allies: a woman who claims she’s a conduit for a 35,000-year-old warrior god, and her thousands of followers.