What terrifies teens in today’s young adult novels? The economy

By Marcela Valdes 30 September 2013 (NPR) – If you think kids are too young to worry about unemployment numbers, consider this: Some of our most popular young adult novels fairly shiver with economic anxiety. Take Veronica Roth’s Divergent, this week’s top New York Times Young Adult best-seller and a perennial on the list since […]

Flooding is costliest disaster ever in Mexico at $5.7 billion – At least 3 percent of farmland destroyed

By Luis Rojas, with additional reporting by Miguel Gutierrez; Writing by Dave Graham; Editing by Leslie Gevirtz27 September 2013 MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Severe flooding that hit Mexico this month is likely to knock off about 0.1 percentage point from growth in 2013, with reconstruction efforts in the final quarter helping to dampen the impact, […]

Volunteers attempt to count Detroit’s stray dogs – ‘You can tear down the vacant buildings, but where are the strays going to go? Up and down the street?’

By Corey Williams21 September 2013 DETROIT — It doesn’t matter to Jessie Clarke how many stray or loose dogs are roaming the ruins of Detroit. Even one or two are far too many. On Clarke’s left arm is scar tissue from dozens of stitches used to close a gash ripped by two pit bulls that […]

Japan turns off last nuclear reactor amid fears of surge in gas prices

By Phillip Inman and Terry Macalister    15 September 2013 (The Guardian) – Japan will switch off its last nuclear reactor on Monday, amid fears that a growing dependence on gas imports there could push up electricity bills in the UK. Kansai Electric Power’s only functioning reactor was scheduled to be disconnected from the power grid […]

Income gap between the richest 1 percent and the rest of America widest since 1928

[We all know what happened in 1929.] By PAUL WISEMAN, AP Economics Writer10 September 2013 WASHINGTON (AP) – The income gap between the richest 1 percent and the rest of America last year reached the widest point since the Roaring Twenties. The top 1 percent of U.S. earners collected 19.3 percent of household income in […]

$20,000 a year for flood insurance? Hurricane Sandy survivors face tough rebuilding choices

By Miranda Leitsinger3 September 2013 TOMS RIVER, N.J. (NBC News) – Thousands of homeowners in New York and New Jersey impacted by Hurricane Sandy are facing a tough choice that may thwart their efforts to rebuild: Comply with costly new federal construction guidelines or prepare to pay annual flood insurance rates that could top $20,000. […]

Putin tours flood destruction in Russia’s Far East, orders inquiry into behavior of officials – ‘I don’t expect any heroic deeds. You just need to do your duty professionally, work hard and be honest.’

By Denis Dyomkin; editing by Andrew Roche29 August 2013 KHABAROVSK, Russia (Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin ordered an inquiry on Thursday into local officials’ handling of Russia’s worst floods in 120 years, which have cost the country nearly $1 billion (645 million pounds). Putin made the announcement after visiting devastated regions in Russia’s far east […]

U.S. Forest Service running out of money to fight wildfires – ‘We can’t allow our towns and forests to all burn down’

By Jeff Barnard, with additional writing by Matthew Daly in Washington21 August 2013 GRANTS PASS, Oregon (AP) – Running out of money to fight wildfires at the peak of the season, the U.S. Forest Service is diverting $600 million from timber, recreation, and other areas to fill the gap. The nation’s top wildfire-fighting agency was […]

Abandoned dogs roam Detroit in packs as humans dwindle – ‘The suffering of animals goes hand in hand with the suffering of people’

  By Chris Christoff20 August 2013 (Bloomberg) – As many as 50,000 stray dogs roam the streets and vacant homes of bankrupt Detroit, replacing residents, menacing humans who remain and overwhelming the city’s ability to find them homes or peaceful deaths. Dens of as many as 20 canines have been found in boarded-up homes in […]

Increased flooding may cost the world $1 trillion by 2050 – ‘These are scary numbers and they are likely to be underestimates’

By John Roach 19 August 2013 (NBC News) – Flood damage in the world’s major coastal cities may top $1 trillion a year by 2050 due to rising seas and subsiding land, according to a new study. The startling figure is “not a forecast or a prediction,” but rather a means to “show that not […]

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