United States – Page 29 – Desdemona Despair

Vandals defaced Jewish gravestones with swastikas and anti-Semitic graffiti at a Jewish cemetery near Strasbourg in eastern France, 3 December 2019. Photo: AFP

April 30, 2022

Antisemitism rose dramatically in 2021 – “Right at the outset of the pandemic in 2020, conspiracy theories began to sprout around the world, blaming the Jews and Israel for spreading the virus”

27 April 2022 (BBC News) – The number of anti-Semitic incidents around the world dramatically increased last year, a study by Tel Aviv University has found. The report identifies the US, Canada, the UK, Germany, and Australia as among countries where there was a sharp rise. This was fuelled by radical left- and right-wing political […]

Total COVID-19 cases and deaths in the United States, 30 April 2022. Data: COVID-19 Dashboard by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University (JHU). Graphic: Johns Hopkins University

April 30, 2022

We weren’t supposed to get anywhere near 1 million COVID deaths in the U.S. Then we did.

By Nicholas Goldberg 18 April 2022 (Los Angeles Times) – At the start of the pandemic, in late March 2020, President Trump held a White House briefing at which his top advisors presented their official COVID-19 death projections. In somber tones, they forecasted that between 100,000 and 240,000 Americans would die from the disease if we followed […]

Percent change of total consumer credit, seasonally adjusted at an annual rate, March 2002-February 2022. Debt levels jumped by nearly $42 billion to a total of almost $4.5 trillion, an annual increase of 11.3 percent, seasonally adjusted, which set a new high and far outperformed economists’ expectations. In January 2022, total credit had grown only 2.4 percent. Graphic: U.S. Federal Reserve Board

April 18, 2022

U.S. consumer debt jumped by $40 billion in February 2022, an annual increase of 11.3 percent and a new high

By Anneken Tappe 7 April 2022 NEW YORK (CNN Business) – Americans got into a lot more debt in February as rampant inflation kept up the pressure, the Federal Reserve’s consumer credit report showed Thursday. Debt levels jumped by nearly $42 billion to a total of almost $4.5 trillion. That’s an annual increase of 11.3%, seasonally adjusted, far outperforming […]

Anti-solar supporters pose for a portrait at the Johnson County BOCC public hearing on the solar amendments recommended by the Planning Commission in Olathe, Kansas, U.S., 4 April 2022. Photo: Arin Yoon / REUTERS

April 9, 2022

U.S. solar expansion stalled by rural land-use protests – “It’s pretty obvious that, if there’s a climate urgency, we’re not behaving that way”

By Nichola Groom 7 April 2022 (Reuters) – The Solar Star project in California is among the largest solar energy facilities in the world, boasting 1.7 million panels spread over 3,000 acres north of Los Angeles. Its gargantuan scale points to an uncomfortable fact for the industry: a natural gas power plant 100 miles south […]

Death rates from all drug poisonings per 100,000 Washington state residents, 2003-2020. Graphic: UW ADAI

April 9, 2022

DEA warns of “mass overdose events” from fentanyl as deadly trend spreads across U.S. – “I’ve been doing drug-trends research for 20 years, and fentanyl’s growth is the biggest, fastest shift we’ve ever seen—and also the most lethal”

By Beth Dalbey 7 April 2022 SEATTLE, Washington (Patch) – A rash of deadly “mass overdose events” across the country has the Drug Enforcement Administration warning Washington and other states to prepare for the worst. Drug Enforcement Administration head Anne Milgram said in the letter to local, state and federal law enforcement officials that in […]

FAO Food Price Index (left) and FAO Food Commodity Price Indices (right), January 2021 - March 2022. Graphic: FAO

April 8, 2022

The FAO Food Price Index makes a giant leap to another all-time high in March 2022

8 April 2022 (FAO) – The FAO Food Price Index (FFPI) averaged 159.3 points in March 2022, up 17.9 points (12.6 percent) from February, making a giant leap to a new highest level since its inception in 1990. The latest increase reflects new all-time highs for vegetable oils, cereals, and meat sub-indices, while those of […]

A houseboat rests in a cove at Lake Powell near Page, Arizona on 30 July 2021. In the summer of 2021, the water levels hit a historic low amid a climate change-fueled megadrought engulfing the U.S. West. Severe drought across the West drained reservoirs in 2021, slashing hydropower production and further stressing the region’s power grids. And as extreme weather becomes more common with climate change, grid operators are adapting to swings in hydropower generation. Photo: Rick Bowmer / AP Photo

April 6, 2022

Lake Powell hits historic low, raising hydropower concerns – “We clearly weren’t sufficiently prepared for the need to move this quickly”

By Sam Metz and Felicia Fonseca 16 March 2022 SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – A massive reservoir known as a boating mecca dipped below a critical threshold on Tuesday raising new concerns about a source of power that millions of people in the U.S. West rely on for electricity. Lake Powell’s fall to below 3,525 […]

Lake Mead end of month elevations, projections from the February and March 2022 24-month study inflow scenarios. Water year 2022 got off to a promising start in the Colorado River Basin with a wetter-than-normal October, but it was followed by the second-driest November on record and resulted in a loss of 1.5 million acre-feet of inflow for Lake Powell compared to the previous month’s projections. December projections showed the reservoir dropping below the target elevation of 3,525 feet as early as February 2022. As defined in the Drought Response Operations Agreement, the target elevation provides a sufficient buffer to allow for response actions to prevent Lake Powell from dropping below the minimum power pool elevation of 3,490 feet, the lowest elevation that Glen Canyon Dam can generate hydropower. Graphic: U.S. Bureau of Reclamation

April 4, 2022

Empty canals, dead cotton fields: Arizona farmers are getting slammed by 2022 water cuts in the U.S. West – “We’re not making one dime off this farm right now”

By Emma Newburger 3 April 2022 CASA GRANDE, Arizona (CNBC) – On the drought-stricken land where Pinal County farmers have irrigated crops for thousands of years, Nancy Caywood stopped her pickup truck along an empty canal and pointed to a field of dead alfalfa. “It’s heart wrenching,” said Caywood, a third-generation farmer who manages 247 […]

Number of March tornadoes across the United States, 2013-2022. March 2022 saw more tornadoes in the U.S. than any March on record. Data: NCDC / Storm Prediction Center Graphic: CNN

April 3, 2022

March 2022 set new U.S. tornado record for second year in a row – Scientists are seeing a dangerous shift in early-spring tornadoes

By Caitlin Kaiser and Brandon Miller 31 March 2022 (CNN) – This month has seen more tornadoes in the US than any March on record following this week’s severe weather outbreak. It’s the second year in a row the country has endured a record number of tornadoes in March, solidifying a trend toward more severe weather […]

Futures prices of West Texas intermediate crude oil and lithium, May 2021-March 2022. Graphic: Bloomberg

March 29, 2022

A world that’s more expensive is starting to destroy demand – “A renewed spike in gas prices would see demand destruction become more widespread”

By David R Baker, Allison Smith, and Sheela Tobben 27 March 2022 (Bloomberg) – Prices for some of the world’s most pivotal products – foods, fuels, plastics, metals – are spiking beyond what many buyers can afford. That’s forcing consumers to cut back and, if the trend grows, may tip economies already buffeted by pandemic […]