Opioid crisis: Incalculable pain and a $1 trillion hit to the U.S.

By Irina Ivanova 24 October 2018 (CBS News) – President Donald Trump is set Wednesday to sign another bill that aims to stem America’s opioid crisis. It comes as overdose deaths from the drugs have continued to surge. Roughly 70,000 people died from overdoses last year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, […]

Why the world’s recycling system stopped working – “If the recycling industry is good, why do America, Europe, Korea, and Japan have to export to other countries?”

By Leslie Hook and John Reed 24 October 2018 (Financial Times) – As Robert Reed examines a mountain of trash piled three storeys high, a thin white plastic bag catches his eye. He fishes it out and holds it up. “That is a problem plastic,” he says gravely. “These get stuck in the machines, and […]

Burmese python invasion in Florida a hidden legacy of Hurricane Andrew

By Matt Morrison 26 October 2018 (CBS News) – It’s been 26 years since Hurricane Andrew became the costliest storm in Florida’s history, but today residents of the Sunshine State are still paying the price in a way few would have imagined. Captive Burmese pythons let loose by Andrew’s destruction have flourished in the southern […]

Austin urged to boil water as Texas flood shuts down treatment plants – Wettest autumn on record in Dallas

By Mark D. Wilson 22 October 2018 (The Statesman) – Silt and debris from floodwaters have overwhelmed Austin’s ability to produce clean water, prompting an unprecedented citywide alert Monday that urged residents to avoid drinking tap water without boiling it first. By Monday evening, the situation led to a run on bottled water supplies at […]

Hurricane Willa strengthens to a Category 5 in Eastern Pacific, threatens Mexico – Willa is only the fourth eastern Pacific hurricane to reach Category 5 strength in October since 1971

22 October 2018 (The Weather Channel) – Hurricane Willa has intensified to a Category 5 storm in the eastern Pacific Ocean and will threaten Mexico with destructive winds, life-threatening storm surge, and flooding rainfall as it makes landfall on Tuesday.A hurricane warning has been posted from San Blas to Mazatlán, including Las Islas Marias. A […]

Record measles outbreak raging in Europe – “It’s unacceptable to have in the 21st century diseases that should have been and could have been eradicated”

By Lauren Dunn and Linda Carroll 21 October 2018 (NBC News) – A raging measles outbreak in Europe may be a warning sign of what could occur in the U.S. if something doesn’t change soon, experts say. So far this year, there have been 41,000 cases in Europe and 40 deaths, according to the World […]

Trump EPA scraps pair of air pollution science panels – “By removing science and scientists, they are making it easier for the administration to set a weaker standard”

By Dino Grandoni and Juliet Eilperin 13 October 2018 (The Washington Post) – The Environmental Protection Agency moved this week to disband two outside panels of experts charged with advising the agency on limiting harmful emissions of soot and smog-forming pollutants.The agency informed scientists advising the EPA on the health impacts of soot that their […]

After Hurricane Michael, “It will be years” before life at Tyndall Air Force base returns to normal

By Amanda Morris 20 October 2018 (NPR) – Swimming in St. Andrew Bay was the first thing Jillian Arrowood wanted to do when she moved into her new home on Tyndall Air Force base on 8 October 2018. She and her two daughters had just joined her husband William, her son, and her father-in-law, an […]

Sewage spill from Hurricane Michael causes Florida fish kills – “It was horrible down here. You couldn’t hardly breathe. It smells like pure crap.”

By Terray Sylvester 18 October 2018 APALACHICOLA, Florida (Reuters) – A sewage spill from a Florida wastewater plant during Hurricane Michael into a river feeding environmentally fragile Apalachicola Bay is suspected of causing mass fish kills downstream, state officials said on Thursday.Experts say the discharge of 80,000 gallons of partially treated sewage into the Apalachicola […]

Persistent Alaska warmth in fall 2018 has brought back “the blob” – No snow yet in Fairbanks, latest on record

By Ian Livingston 18 October 2018 (The Washington Post) – Throughout early fall, Alaska has been oddly warm and pleasant. The cause of the freakishly nice weather has been massive high pressure anchored over and around the state. One of the strongest on record for fall, this sprawling dome of warm air has helped keep […]

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