Tag: USA Today

FTC orders Walmart, Amazon, Kroger and more to turn over information on empty shelves, high prices

Mary Pat Campbell

Link:https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/shopping/2021/11/29/supply-chain-ftc-investigation-walmart-amazon-prices/8799724002/

Excerpt:

The Federal Trade Commission said Monday that it is investigating the causes behind ongoing supply chain disruptions and how they are “causing serious and ongoing hardships for consumers and harming competition in the U.S. economy.”

The FTC said it is ordering Walmart, Amazon, Kroger, other large wholesalers and suppliers including Procter & Gamble Co., Tyson Foods and Kraft Heinz Co. “to turn over information to help study causes of empty shelves and sky-high prices.”

Orders also are being sent to C&S Wholesale Grocers, Inc., Associated Wholesale Grocers, Inc. and McLane Co, Inc.

Author(s): Kelly Tyko

Publication Date: 29 Nov 2021

Publication Site: USA Today

Bjorn Lomborg: “Climate Change Coverage Ignores the Heavy Impact of heat on cold deaths”

Mary Pat Campbell
Bjorn Lomborg: “Climate Change Coverage Ignores the Heavy Impact of heat on cold deaths”

Excerpt:

Earlier this month, a landmark study in Nature made headlines around the world. Rising temperatures from global warming increase the number of heat deaths, now causing a third of all heat deaths, or about 100,000 deaths per year.

Obviously, this is a powerful narrative to justify urgent climate policies.

But the study left out glaring truths that even its own authors have abundantly documented. Heat deaths are declining in countries with good data, likely because of ever more air conditioning. This is abundantly clear for the US, which has seen increasing hot days since 1960 affecting a much greater population. Yet, the number of heat deaths has halved. So while global warming could result in more heat deaths, technological development in, for instance, the US, is actually resulting in fewer heat deaths.

More importantly, cold deaths vastly outweigh heat deaths worldwide. This is not just true for cold countries like Canada but also warmer countries like the US, Spain and Brazil. Even in India, cold deaths outweigh heat deaths by 7-to-1. Globally, about 1.7 million deaths are caused by cold, more than five times the number of heat deaths. 

Author(s): Bjorn Lomborg

Publication Date: 26 June 2021

Publication Site: Watts Up With That

States, cities to receive first chunk of $350 billion in aid this week from COVID stimulus passed in March

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/05/10/local-governments-receive-billions-covid-stimulus-plan-may-11/5019387001/

Excerpt:

State, city and county governments this week will receive their first infusion of direct aid from $350 billion in emergency funds approved in the American Rescue Plan, two months after President Joe Biden signed the COVID-19 relief package into law. 

The Biden administration launched an online portal Monday that will allow local and state governments to access their share of funds from the Treasury Department. The amount allocated for each state and municipality was determined by unemployment data.

Most will receive money in two tranches – one this year, the second in 12 months – but states that have seen their unemployment rates increase by 2% or more since February will receive funds in a single payment. Payments will begin within days. Money must be spent by the end of 2024.

…..

The Treasury Department also provided long-awaited guidelines on how funds can be used. State governments and territories are prohibited from using funds to offset tax cuts that were enacted after March 3, limitations that have already prompted the Republican attorney general from Ohio to sue the Biden administration. In addition, recipients cannot use funds to make a deposit to a pension fund or pad reserves.

Author(s): Joey Garrison

Publication Date: 10 May 2021

Publication Site: USA Today

‘Just not equal at all’: Vaccine rollout in Chicago a microcosm of racial disparities nationwide

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/health/2021/02/12/data-analysis-chicago-vaccine-rollout-reflects-us-racial-disparities/4418978001/#new_tab

Graphic:

Excerpt:

It’s possible some majority-white ZIP codes have higher rates of vaccination in part because they have higher concentrations of people in groups prioritized for the first round of vaccines.

Experts said the findings reflect festering systemic problems, including poor health care access and distrust of vaccines, colliding amid a chaotic rollout that failed to ensure equal access to communities of color.

Author(s): Nada Hassanein, Grace Hauck, Jayme Fraser, Aleszu Bajak, USA TODAY

Publication Date: 15 February 2021

Publication Site: USA Today

COVID nursing home deaths: Andrew Cuomo is running from his part in my dad’s death

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2021/02/11/andrew-cuomo-nursing-homes-new-york-coronavirus-covid-19-deaths-column/4448747001/

Excerpt:

Knowing Cuomo respond, “Who cares?” when speaking about the thousands of seniors who died and were not properly counted wasn’t beautiful.

Nothing about the inhumane way our seniors were treated by the Cuomo administration was beautiful. It should be criminal. 

Author(s): Tracey Alvino

Publication Date: 11 February 2021

Publication Site: USA Today