By Michelle Chapman and David Koenig 1 March 2021 (AP) – The largest and oldest power cooperative in Texas is filing for bankruptcy protection, citing last month’s winter storm that left millions without power, and it is unlikely to be the last utility to seek shelter in the courts. Brazos Electric Power Cooperative serves distributors […]
By Joshua Kurlantzick 25 February 2021 (The Washington Post) – Early this month, Myanmar’s armed forces took control of the country. Moving overnight, they detained most leading politicians and many civil-society activists, barricaded roads, cut off Internet access, arrested people in the darkness, and made an announcement of the coup on state television. In the […]
By Niv Elis 4 March 2021 (The Hill) – The nation’s debt burden is on track to surpass its historic high point in a decade, reaching 107 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2031, according to a new report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (pdf). The debt surpassed 100 percent of GDP last year […]
25 February 2021 (ERCOT) – [The following report is excerpted from the ERCOT slide presentation, Review of February 2021 Extreme Cold Weather Event (pdf), presented by ERCOT CEO Bill Magness to the Texas Senate Business and Commerce Committee House Joint Committee on State Affairs and Energy Resources on 25 February 2021. –Des] Overview of Cold […]
By Wendy Caldwell 25 February 2021 MEXICO CITY (Monarch Joint Venture) – The presence of the Monarch butterfly in the Mexican hibernation forests decreased by 26 percent last December, occupying 2.10 hectares (ha) compared to the 2.83 ha reported during the same month in 2019. Meanwhile, the core forest area in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere […]
27 February 2021 (AFP) – The U.S. city of Miami is to invest billions of dollars to tackle its vulnerability to rising sea levels, a reality that already affects the daily lives of residents used to constant flooding. Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine-Cava said Friday she will protect communities hardest hit by rising sea levels, […]
By Roosa Tikkanen and Katharine Fields 25 February 2021 (The Commonwealth Fund) – International comparisons of health care systems offer valuable tools to health ministers, policymakers, and academics wishing to evaluate the performance of their country’s system. In this chartbook [ppt, pdf], we use data collected by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) […]
By David Malmquist 24 January 2021 (VIMS) – Sea level “report cards” issued annually by researchers at William & Mary’s Virginia Institute of Marine Science add further evidence of an accelerating rate of sea-level rise during 2020 at nearly all tidal stations along the U.S. coastline. The team’s web-based report cards project sea level to […]
By Suzanne Gamboa and Corky Siemaszko 25 February 2021 SAN ANTONIO (NBC News) – The number of Texans who were boiling their water to make it safe to drink plunged to 3 million Wednesday from 8 million the day before as platoons of plumbers and engineers worked around the clock to repair the countless homes […]
By Laura Sanicola and Erwin Seba 21 February 2021 NEW YORK/HOUSTON (Reuters) – The largest U.S. oil refiners released tons of air pollutants into the skies over Texas this past week, according to figures provided to the state, as refineries and petrochemical plants in the region scrambled to shut production during frigid weather. An arctic […]
