Radar images show large swath of West Texas oil patch is heaving and sinking at alarming rates – “This region of Texas has been punctured like a pin cushion with oil wells and injection wells since the 1940s”

By Margaret Allen 20 March 2018(SMU) – Analysis indicates decades of oil production activity have destabilized localities in an area of about 4,000 square miles populated by small towns, roadways and a vast network of oil and gas pipelines and storage tanksTwo giant sinkholes near Wink, Texas, may just be the tip of the iceberg, […]

France’s bird population collapses due to pesticides – “The situation is catastrophic. Our countryside is in the process of becoming a veritable desert.”

20 March 2018 (AFP) –  Bird populations across the French countryside have fallen by a third over the last decade and a half, researchers have said. Dozens of species have seen their numbers decline, in some cases by two-thirds, the scientists said in a pair of studies – one national in scope and the other […]

50 years after the riots: Continued economic inequality for African Americans – “So little has changed since 1968”

By Lauren Victoria Burke 15 March 2018 (NNPA Newswire) – Late last year, The Washington Post wrote that African Americans were the only group that showed no economic improvement since 2000. They based their conclusions on Census data. This year, there was even more sobering news in a report by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). […]

The people of Cape Town are running out of water — and they’re not alone

By Amal Ahmed 17 March 2018 (Popular Science) – Day Zero: that’s the ominous label officials in Cape Town have bestowed on the day that water will run out. A three year drought in the region drained reservoirs faster than expected. They were full at the start of 2014, but estimates from the end of […]

How the 2008 financial crash made cities unaffordable worldwide – Property markets in the world’s major cities have “synchronised”, leaving behind nations and citizens

By Nathan Brooker 14 March 2018 (Financial Times) –  In the stormy spring of 2008, the UK’s worsening property downturn was yet to hit Sloane Street in central London. A full year after the start of the credit crunch and the run on Northern Rock — which started a slide that would see more than 20 […]

Under Trump’s watch, U.S. national debt tops $21 trillion for first time ever – Consumer credit card debt surpasses $1 trillion

By Kathryn Watson 17 March 2018 (CBS News) – About a year ago, President Trump pledged to eliminate the national debt “over a period of eight years.” But for the first time in history, the national debt surpassed $21 trillion this week, according to the U.S. Treasury. The landmark comes shortly after Congress passed, and […]

Record Afghanistan opium crop signals violent year for U.S. forces

By Will Porter and Kyle Anzalone 7 March 2018 (Consortium News) – In Afghanistan, the world’s most powerful military is threatened by a small, pink flower.Despite an escalation of the Afghan conflict under the Trump administration, a record opium crop, coupled with steady Taliban gains, foretell bitter fighting in the coming months for American forces […]

U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry says moving from fossil fuels to renewables is “immoral”

By Joe Romm 8 March 2018 (ThinkProgress) – Energy Secretary Rick Perry said on Wednesday that it was “immoral” to help poor nations shift off of fossil fuels.“Look those people in the eyes that are starving and tell them you can’t have electricity,” said Perry in remarks after his big speech to the oil and […]

Amid soaring inflation, life is a daily struggle in Venezuela – “We are barely surviving. If prices keep rising, I don’t know what we’re going to eat.”

By Mariana Zuñiga 12 March 2018 CARACAS, Venezuela (NBC News) – Antonio Perez, 73, a semiretired real estate agent, woke up at 5 a.m. to stand in line outside a bank to cash his monthly pension. His breakfast was a cup of coffee.By the time he arrived, there were already 140 people there waiting to […]

How blood-plasma companies target the poorest Americans

By H. Luke Shaefer and Analidis Ochoa 15 March 2018(The Atlantic) – Medicaid, housing subsidies, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program—these are some of the things that make up the backbone of the U.S.’s social safety net. And the federal government, guided by President Trump’s proposed budget for 2019, is seeking to make deep cuts to […]

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