Our picksLiving on top of an earthquake fault; fighting WMDs; executing drug dealers, and more

Threat from cyber hackers is growing, U.S. grid regulator says (Ari Natter, Bloomberg)
Hackers increasingly threaten sites in the U.S. ranging from nuclear power plants to water processing systems, according to a member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, adding his voice to warnings from several agencies and officials in recent weeks. “Cyberattacks have the potential to cause significant, widespread impacts on energy infrastructure,” Commissioner Neil Chatterjee said Friday in an emailed response to questions. “Sophisticated hacking tools are becoming more widely available, and cyber threats are constantly evolving, making such attacks more versatile.”

Worried about being on top of an earthquake fault? New California maps will let you know on a smartphone (Rong-Gong Lin II, Los Angeles Times)
‘When the ground breaks under an existing building, there’s a higher chance that the building will collapse.’

How conspiracy theories about the Salisbury attack tap into anti-Semitic tropes (Danny Stone, New Statesman) The U.K. government, and now EU leaders, have blamed Russia for the Salisbury attack, in which former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter were poisoned. Yet among some sections of the online left, there seemed a reluctance to point fingers. But if Russia didn’t do it, how could the matter be explained to fit a pre-existing worldview? Jews such as myself wondered how long it would be before the finger pointed at us.

‘Oh my God…It’s fake’: Far right falls for hoax about Broward County sheriff (Marc Caputo, Politico)
In the wake of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre, the far-right fever swamps buzzed with false information and conspiracy theories about student “crisis actors” who were paid to lie about the mass shooting. But ironically, conspiracy-minded conservatives fell for a political hoax involving a different kind of actor. The subject? Broward County’s Democratic sheriff, Scott Israel. Yechezkel Rodal, the woman who was at the center of the fake stories about the sheriff, and her lawyer now admit that all of it was a lie. The revelation comes amid growing concerns about the spate of conspiracy theories and “false flag” attacks surrounding recent mass shootings — especially in Florida — that are surfacing on right-wing and fringe media sites.

For Special Operations Forces, fighting WMD means getting deeper into enemies’ leadership and decision-making (Patrick Tucker, Defense One)
SOCOM is getting more intel and gear as it settles into its role as the Pentagon’s anti-WMD coordinator.

Turlock, Calif., Police and Fire confront an emergency: Their radios aren’t so great anymore (John Holland, The Modesto Bee)
Even when the system generally works, it is showing its age in sound quality and coverage.

Trump wants to execute drug dealers — but most states won’t (Natalie Delgadillo, Governing)
In the state the president previewed his new policy, a bipartisan bill to ban the death penalty just passed, representing a growing opposition to the practice.