Now that Republicans are confident they’ll pass their tax plan, some lawmakers have begun talking about the need to tackle the deficit that’s sure to grow as a result, painting a bull’s eye on entitlement and other spending programs. To justify the coming cuts, some are trotting out harmful and false narratives about low-income Americans, writes Michele Gilman. The clinical law professor describes the three most pernicious myths about the poor she expects we’ll be hearing a lot more of in coming months.

What happens to your recycling after it’s picked up curbside? Much of it probably is shipped to China, which processes a huge share of U.S. and European scrap. Now, however, China is dramatically slashing imports of what it calls “foreign garbage.” University of California, Berkeley environmental politics professor Kate O’Neill calls Beijing’s move a wake-up call for western nations to clean up their own acts.

And as wildfires continue in California, University of California fire researcher Max Moritz explains how fire-prone areas can learn how to co-exist with wildfires, starting with better land-use planning and building codes.