Income inequality may be dragging down math skills in U.S. kids

By HealthDay News

The United States has the highest income gap in the developed world, and it's affecting how kids do in school, new research suggests.

A new study reports that 10-year-olds' scores on standardized math tests were lower on average between 1992 and 2019 in states with higher levels of income inequality -- a measure of how unevenly income is distributed through a population.

And the struggles aren't limited to low-income kids, the study's author said.

"For math, income inequality was associated with lower achievement for both poor and non-poor students alike," said Joseph Workman, a sociologist at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Workman said addressing social inequality may be a more effective way to boost academic achievement than reforming schools or changing curriculum.

The study compared fourth-graders' math and reading scores from 1992 to 2019 with income data from all 50 states.

It used data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which measures student achievement nationwide using a sample of youngsters from each state. It's commonly known as the nation's report card.

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Workman's study found that states with the biggest increases in income inequality also had the smallest increase in math scores, an average 17.5 points. That compared to 24.3 points in states where the divide didn't widen as quickly.

The gap was associated with lower achievement for poor and more affluent students alike, the findings showed.

But while math gaps were significant, reading results were not linked to income inequality overall, according to the report published Tuesday in the journal Educational Review.

RELATED Study: Economic decline, rising inequality breeds polarization

"For reading, income inequality benefited non-poor students and harmed poor students," Workman said. "So, for reading the benefits and harms cancel out to no association overall."

Preliminary evidence suggests these same patterns apply for students of other ages, too.

Income inequality has been attributed to an array of concerns -- from mental health issues to higher divorce rates, substance abuse and child mistreatment. That may affect a child's development, researchers suggest.

The income gap also may result in a high concentration of children from disadvantaged backgrounds at some schools, making it harder for them meet each child's needs, the study suggests.

The income gap in the United States has been U-shaped. Levels were high from the 1910s to the 1930s, fell from the 1940s to the 1970s, and then rose again.

Workman said his findings have important implications for policymakers.

"Assessments of the No Child Left Behind Act, which attempted to raise achievement and reduce achievement disparity by reforming schools, have provided scant evidence of the policy being effective in achieving its goals," Workman said in a journal news release.

"An effective strategy to raise achievement may be to reduce income inequality. Policies such as progressive tax rates, wealth tax, inheritance tax and annual wealth tax can effectively reduce inequality," Workman said.

He suggested that higher tax revenues could be earmarked for programs that support child development, such as universal pre-kindergarten or summer learning programs.

More information
Pew Research Center has information about income inequality in the U.S.
Copyright © 2021 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

California bans 'forever chemicals' from children's products, food packaging


California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed two bills into law on Tuesday to ban the use of so-called forever chemicals in food packaging and children's products. 

File Photo by Terry Schmitt/UPI | License Photo

Oct. 6 (UPI) -- California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a pair of bills into law banning the use of toxic so-called forever chemicals in products for children and in disposable food packaging.

The Democratic governor signed the bills into law Tuesday regulating the use of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, better known as PFAS, which are considered forever chemicals as they do not breakdown in the environment and present serious health concerns, such as cancer, fetal development issues and reduce vaccine effectiveness.

Assembly Bill 652, one of the laws Newsom signed Tuesday, goes into effect July 1, 2023, to ban the use of PFAS chemicals in children's products including pillows, changing pads, car seats and crib mattresses, among a slew of other products.

According the nonprofit, nonpartisan Environmental Working Group, PFAS coating on children's products sloughs off with wear and can be inhaled by children as dust particles or directly ingested through their mouths.

"Children are particularly vulnerable to harm resulting from PFAS exposure," David Andrews, senior scientist at EWG, said in a statement. "Many PFAS chemicals bioaccumulate and are found in the blood of almost all Americans, including babies and infants."

Bill Allayaud, EWG's director of California government affairs, said the new law places California in the lead of protecting children's health.

"We applaud Gov. Newsom for giving parents confidence that the products they buy for their children are free from toxic PFAS," he said.

The other legislation Gavin signed into law, Assembly Bill 1200, prohibits the forever chemicals from being added to disposable food packaging, utensils and papers straws staring Jan. 1, 2023, as well as requires cookware manufacturers to disclose the presence of all hazardous chemicals, including PFASs, on their labels from January of 2024.

"For the first time, cookware manufacturers must disclose on labels the chemicals present in the surface coatings of their products," Susan Little, EWG's senior advocate for California government affairs, said in a separate statement, adding that for too long consumers have been kept in the dark about the chemicals used in their cookware, which can enter the human bodies via the food they consume.

According to a report from the Ecology Center, 79% of cooking pans and 20% of baking pans were coated in these forever chemicals.

Food is a major source of exposure to these forever chemicals but Andrews said there is no reason PFAS need to be included in food packaging.

"PFAS can leach from packaging into food and they are toxic at incredibly low concentrations," he said.

Connecticut, Maine, Minnesota, New York, Vermont and Washington have all banned PFAS from food packaging.

The signing of the laws follow the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in late April establishing a council to better understand and reduce the risk of PFAS.

Tree rings show climate change making hurricanes wetter, more dangerous

By Denise Mann, HealthDay News

Researchers say climate change is making hurricanes such as Florence -- two people sit on a bench in downtown Wilmington, N.C., at the flooded waters edge after the storm had been downgraded to a tropical storm -- bigger, wetter and more dangerous. 

File Photo by Ken Cedeno/UPI | License Photo


The rings of stately pines on the coasts of North and South Carolina offer telling long-term evidence of climate change and a chilling forecast for the future.

The upshot: The last 300 years have gotten wetter and wetter, making hurricanes ever more dangerous.

"Our findings suggest that the maximum amount of rainfall from these storms is increasing and is likely going to continue to do so in a warmer world," said Justin Maxwell, a climatologist at Indiana University Bloomington, who led the new study.

Heavier storms are especially risky for coastal cities with lots of hard surfaces that don't allow water to seep into the ground, he said.

RELATED Ida's record rainfall in NYC, Northeast driven by climate change

Potential dangers include infectious diseases from bacteria and disease-carrying organisms in floodwater, as well as flood-related injuries. In addition, chemical spills -- a risk when industrial facilities are flooded -- may release toxic chemicals into nearby water and air.

For the study, Maxwell's team analyzed tree rings from longleaf pine trees on the Carolinas' coast to see if rainfall has gotten heavier during the past 300 years. Until now, data went only as far back as 1948. But tree-ring data can reveal not only a tree's age but also the weather history where it grew.

Researchers say climate change is making hurricanes, bigger, wetter and more dangerous, including effects such as those seen in downtown New Orleans after Hurricane Ida tore through the city in August. 

File Photo by AJ Sisco/UPI | License Photo

The reconstruction revealed hurricane-related rainfall since the year 1700 rose between 2.5 and 5 inches during extreme years.

RELATED Venice faces rising flood risks in the decades ahead

"An increase of 2.5 to 5 inches of rain is a lot and will present problems for cities as this trend continues," Maxwell said.

Rainfall totals correlated with average hurricane length and speed, suggesting that the increased rainfall is due to the slowing of storms.

"They are more likely to stall and are hovering in one location longer, producing more rain," Maxwell said.

RELATED Report: Climate change indicators saw record highs last year

Climate change and global warming could be driving these trends, he said.

"A warmer world leads to weaker global winds and when these winds are weaker, tropical cyclones are more likely to meander and stall in a small area, which will result in more rainfall for that location," Maxwell explained.

Most of the increase in hurricane-generated rainfall occurred during the last 60 years, he noted. Infamous examples of slow-moving storms are Hurricane Harvey in 2017 and Hurricane Florence in 2018.

"Recent hurricanes Ida and Nicholas were also slow-moving storms that produced high rainfall totals and widespread flooding," he said. "We expect these types of storms to be more common in a warmer world."

Being forewarned is forearmed, Maxwell said.

"Having an understanding that these storms are getting wetter can help coastal committees be more prepared for flooding," he said.

Researchers say climate change is making hurricanes bigger, wetter and more dangerous, including effects such as those seen in a trailer park in Wilmington, N.C., after Hurricane Florence in September 2018. 

File Photo by Ken Cedeno/UPI | License Photo

The findings were published in the Oct. 12 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

While the study looked only at the Carolinas, there is some evidence that extreme rainfall has been increasing over the United States in general, according to Tom Knutson, leader of the Weather and Climate Dynamic Division at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Princeton, N.J. He reviewed the findings.

The dangers of inland flooding are real and should be taken seriously, Knutson said.

He recalled Hurricane Harvey, a devastating category 4 hurricane that claimed more than 100 lives in 2017.

"When Hurricane Harvey stalled out over Houston in 2017, it rained for three days, resulting in more than 3-feet of rain in some areas and lots of flooding and health issues among residents," Knutson said. "Harvey is a classic example of how bad the situation can get when a hurricane stalls out."

A record 18 storms and hurricanes have made landfall in the United States in the past two years, the Washington Post recently reported.

More information
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has information on how to prepare for a flood.

Copyright © 2021 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Researchers find 1st evidence of multiple people buried in Tomb of Nestor's Cup



The Tomb of Nestor's Cup on the Italian island of Ischia is named for a wine cup featuring one of the earliest surviving inscriptions in the Greek language. Photo by Gigante et al./PLOS ONE

Oct. 6 (UPI) -- An analysis of burnt bone fragments in the 8th century Tomb of Nestor's Cup has revealed that the cremains of not one, but at least three humans were buried at the site in Italy, scientists announced Wednesday.

The tomb, discovered in 1954 and on the island of modern-day Ischia, was long believed to contain the cremains of a young person about 10 years old to 14 years old at death. The archaeological site on what was previously called Pithekoussai, was notable because of a broken wine cup that featured one of the earliest surviving examples of Greek writing.

It read, in translation: "I am Nestor's cup, good to drink from. Whoever drinks this cup empty, straightaway desire for beautiful-crowned Aphrodite will seize him."

Researchers at the University of Padua, Italy, conducted a microscopic analysis of the remains to try to answer the question of who was buried with the famed cup.

"A vast body of literature has attempted to explain the unique association between the exceptionality of the grave good complex, the symposiac and erotic evocation of the Nestor's Cup inscription with the young age of the individual buried with it," the research article, published Wednesday in PLOS ONE, read.

The researchers studied 195 burnt bone fragments, determining at least 45 belonged to animals, including goats and possibly dogs. The animals were likely buried with the human remains to act as food or companions.

Of the 130 human bone fragments, the scientists were able to identify characteristics of varying life stages, indicating at least three individuals' cremains were buried in the tomb.

The article said the discovery raises even more questions about the tomb. Researchers have been unable to determine the identity of those buried in the tomb, their age at death, how they died or why they were buried with the cup.

"Our research rewrites the history and the previous archaeological interpretation of the Tomb, throwing new light on funeral practices, culture and society of the Greek immigrants in the ancient West Mediterranean," the authors, led by Melania Gigante, said in a statement.

"We are sure that our study can be a new methodological step toward the reconstruction of the life-history of people in ancient times, even in case of poor preservation and/or complexity of the skeletal assemblage," they said.

Evidence of people on the Azores archipelago 700 years earlier than thought

by Bob Yirka , Phys.org

Landscape view of Pico (foreground) and Faial (background) Islands. Credit: Santiago Giralt.

An international team of researchers has found evidence that people lived on islands in the Azores archipelago approximately 700 years earlier than prior evidence has shown. In their paper, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the group describes their study of sediment cores taken from lakes on some of the islands in the archipelago.

Due to the absence of other evidence, historians have believed that people first arrived in the Azores in 1427, when Portuguese sailor Diogo de Silves landed on Santa Maria Island. Soon thereafter, others from Portugal arrived and made the archipelago their home. In this new effort, the researchers found evidence that humans were living on some of the islands in the Azores approximately 700 years earlier.

Looking to learn more about the history of the Azores, the researchers began collecting sediment samples from several of the lakes on the islands and studying them to see what they might reveal. Sediment samples can serve as historical evidence because material in the air that falls to the surface of a lake and then to the lake bottom is covered over by new layers of sediment as time passes.

Analysis of the sediment cores showed an increase in 5-beta-stigmasterol in a core layer dated to a time between 700 CE and 850 CE, taken from Peixinho Lake. The compound is typically found in the feces of livestock, such as cows and sheep—neither of which lived in the Azores prior to the arrival of humans. They also saw upticks in charcoal particles (suggesting large fires had been burning) along with a dip in native tree pollens. The findings suggest someone had burned down forest to provide more land for livestock. The researchers found similar evidence in cores taken from Caldeirão Lake, which is on a different island, though it appeared approximately a century later. And they found evidence of non-native ryegrass in the sediment taken from a lake on a third island.

Lake Caldeirão inside the collapsed caldera of Corvo Island. Credit: Santiago Giralt.

The findings present strong evidence of humans inhabiting the archipelago hundreds of years before the Portuguese arrived. The researchers theorize that they were likely Norse seafarers, noting their accomplishments in sailing up and down the coasts of many parts of Europe.Sediment cores from Dogger Littoral suggest Dogger Island survived ancient tsunami

More information: Pedro M. Raposeiro et al, Climate change facilitated the early colonization of the Azores Archipelago during medieval times, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2021). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2108236118

Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 

© 2021 Science X Network

Acheulean Tool-Making Tradition May Have Persisted Until About 177,000 Years Ago Before Homo Sapiens Arrived

Margaret Davis Oct 05, 2021 

Fac

Acheulean technologies, the longest-lasting tool-making in prehistory, first appeared 1.75 million years ago in easter Africa and persisted until 1.2 million years ago in India. It is characterized by the production of large bifacial tools, such as cleavers and stone handaxes.

Phys.org reported that new research from scientists at Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History re-examined an Acheulean site at the margins of the monsoon zone in the Thar Desert, India. They reveal that Acheulean populations must have persisted until 177,000 years ago, just before Homo sapiens arrived.

(Photo: Wikimedia Commons)
A photograph of the upper pre-historic archeological site at the Kariandusi Museum in Kenya. The photograph is of the extensive collection of Acheulean hand-axes excavated by Louis Leakey in 1928. The hand-axes are from the Lower Paleolithic era and are made from both obsidian and trachyte.

World's Youngest Acheulean Sites

In a paper titled "Constraining the Chronology and Ecology of Late Acheulean and Middle Palaeolithic Occupations at the Margins of the Monsoon" published in Scientific Reports, researchers reported the recent occupation of Acheulean populations in the site of Singi Talav up to 177,000 years ago.

It turns out that this is the youngest site of Acheulean populations in India. South Asia has been known before as the home of the world's youngest Acheulean sites, but this discovery opens a new understanding of the earliest expansions of Homo sapiens across Asia.

Singi Talav is located in a lakeside close to the modern town of Didwana at the monsoon zone of the Thar Desert, where multiple stone tools were discovered in the early 1980s. Since then, several Acheulean sites have been examined to determine the dates of Acheulean occupations in India. However, the techniques needed to accurately date the discoveries were inadequate at that time, so they remain poorly known.

Study lead author Dr. Jimbob Blinkhorn said that the lakeside site has ideal preservation conditions for an archaeological site, which allowed scientists to return after three decades since it was first excavated. They used modern methods to re-examine the site, such as luminescence methods and new approaches to date the Acheulean occupation.

These methods allowed them to determine the last time sediments were exposed to light to understand when ancient humans lived in the area and created the stone tools. They were also able to compare it to other sites across the region.

Studying the Ecology of an Acheulean Site in India

The Thar Desert is located at the western edge of the modern Indian monsoon system. According to Britannica, the subtropical climate in the desert resulted from persistent high pressure and the site's subsidence. The southwest monsoon winds bring rain during summer, but it tends to bypass the desert to the east.

As Phys.org reported, researchers believe that the summer monsoon system of that site may have allowed ancient humans to thrive, although it might have fluctuated significantly. Researchers examined phytoliths and soil geochemistry to reveal the site's ecology when Acheulean stone tools were made.

This is the first time that the ecology of an Acheulean site in India has been examined with modern techniques to reveal a broader character of the landscape where ancient humans might live.

They noted that their findings support evidence from across the region that the youngest Acheulean populations of the world are in India, which persisted until Homo sapiens appeared and expanded across Asia. The Thar Desert most likely became a key ecological frontier for Homo sapiens to expand their populations and meet other populations.

The fast-food chain Raising Cane's is sending corporate staff to work as fry cooks, cashiers, and recruiters in its restaurants amid an expansion drive and the labor shortage: report

Stephen Jones
Wed, October 6, 2021

A Raising Cane's restaurant. Hollis Johnson

Corporate staff at Raising Cane's will work as fry cooks and cashiers amid the labor shortage.

They will start going into restaurants this week, where they will also recruit staff, per Bloomberg.

About half of the 500-restaurant chain's corporate staff will go into locations, Bloomberg reported.

A fast-food chain is asking corporate staff to fry chicken and serve customers in its restaurants amid an industrywide labor shortage, Bloomberg first reported.

Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers, which has more than 500 restaurants and is known for its chicken-finger meals, will send half of its corporate staff into branches across the US this week, Bloomberg reported.

The company wants to hire 10,000 workers over the next 50 days - the corporate staff will also work in recruitment at restaurants, according to Bloomberg.

Raising Cane's told Insider that 200 people from its Dallas office were shipping out to its restaurants, as well as 250 members of its "field team," which includes marketing and training staff. Senior vice presidents were among the staff sent to restaurants, the company said.

Co-CEO AJ Kumaran said: "It's no secret that today's hiring market is a challenge, and ahead of our massive growth next year, having the support we need is critical. We are all in this together."

Raising Cane's, headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, has 40,000 workers, and is planning to expand its footprint in 2022.

The restaurant sector has been suffering from a long-running labor shortage, and many restaurants say they are struggling to find staff. Some employers are raising pay as a result, which has led to increased menu prices.

Some business owners have gone as far as blaming a lack of desire to work. Workers, meanwhile, say they don't need to take low-paying jobs in such a competitive labor market.

The number of people employed in the food-service industry fell in August for the first time since April 2020, according to employment figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Fears over the Delta variant, as well as a mismatch between job seekers and employers, are some of the reasons behind the shortage, which has not eased despite unemployment benefits winding down.

Expanded Coverage Module: what-is-the-labor-shortage-and-how-long-will-it-last

Read the original article on Business Insider

Survey: 4 in 10 workers may quit, change jobs due to pandemic stress
By HealthDay News



Four in 10 people in the U.S. are considering changing jobs because of pandemic-related stress, a new survey says. File Photo by Trask Smith/UPI | License Photo

The pressures of the pandemic have dramatically altered the American workplace, and now a new survey shows that many folks who have struggled with low salaries, long hours and lack of opportunity plan to change jobs, the American Psychological Association said Tuesday.

More than 40% of workers said they plan to make the switch in the coming year, the poll found.

If that occurs, it could seriously affect many industries already facing shortages of workers, particularly in the hospitality and health care industry, the survey authors noted.

According to the American Psychological Association survey, 59% of respondents had experienced the effects of work-related stress.

RELATED Pandemic stress had effects on menstrual cycles, women say in survey

The most common complaints were low salaries (56%, up from 49% in 2019), long hours (54%, up from 46%) and lack of opportunity for growth or advancement (52%, up from 44%).

About 44% said that they intended to find jobs outside of their company or organization in the next year, up from 32% in 2019. These numbers were even more striking among certain groups -- 58% among Hispanic workers, 57% of Black workers, 56% of LGBTQ+ workers and 63% of workers with disabilities.

"Stress at work can have broad negative consequences for employers and employees alike, including loss of productivity, high turnover and repercussions for the employee's physical and emotional health," said APA CEO Arthur Evans, Jr.

RELATED  COVID-19 lockdowns revealed significant, cliche gender differences

"A workplace that pays attention to worker well-being is better positioned to recruit and retain engaged and productive staff," Evans said.

Nearly 60% of workers said they had felt negative effects of work-related stress in the past month, including a lack of interest, motivation or energy (26%), difficulty focusing (21%), or a lack of effort at work (19%).

Among front-line workers, 67% said they had negative effects of work-related stress and 35% said they were often fed up at work.

Workers who perform manual labor, or customer service, sales or entertainment were more likely than those who work in desk jobs to have experienced physical fatigue (51% and 53% versus 38%, respectively), mental weariness (41% and 44% versus 29%) and emotional exhaustion (41% and 40% versus 25%) often in the past 30 days.

The online survey, conducted by The Harris Poll, questioned more than 1,500 U.S. workers between July 26 and Aug. 4, 2021.

Among workers, 87% indicated that there are steps that employers can take to improve employee well-being and maybe reduce turnover.

The employees thought flexible hours (34%), encouraging employees to take care of their health (32%), encouraging employees to use paid time off (30%), and encouraging breaks during the workday (30%) would improve conditions.

"During the pandemic, many employers switched to remote work where possible, thus providing greater flexibility for their employees," Evans said in an APA news release.

"Policies that promote flexible hours and breaks during the workday and provide other forms of support for employees to take care of themselves may also help employers retain staff in competitive markets," Evans said.More information

For more on the effects of COVID-19 on the economy, head to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Copyright © 2021 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Worker stress high during pandemic, particularly among health staffs, study finds

Researchers say that stress during the COVID-19 pandemic has been especially high for medical workers, specifically those who are younger and are women, has taken a particularly high toll. 

File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

Oct. 6 (UPI) -- People's stress levels have been high across the board since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, but particularly so for healthcare workers, women and those age 50 and younger, a study published Wednesday by PLOS ONE found.

In the assessment of more than 10,000 adults in 44 countries, including the United States, during the first half of 2020, study participants scored as high as 90 on the visual analog scale -- a 0 to 100 scoring system designed to measure stress levels, the data showed

Physicians and paramedics registered among the highest scores, above 90, on average, according to the researchers.

Compared with workers in other occupations, healthcare staffs were more than twice as likely to score above 80 on the scale, with paramedics 88% more likely to do so than physicians.

Across all occupations women were about 80% more likely to register above 80 on the scale, while those age 50 years and younger were 45% more likely to do so, they said.

"The pandemic has generated high levels of stress among workers," study co-author Dr. Sébastien Couarraze told UPI in an email.

"These levels have been particularly high for caregivers and in particular for paramedics," said Couarraze, an anesthesiologist at the University Hospital of Toulouse in France.

Previous research has documented high levels of on-the-job stress during the pandemic, even as many people worked from home.

Although healthcare professionals have been working at the "frontlines" of the pandemic, Couarraze and his colleagues said, treating patients with COVID-19, people in other occupations have said they are concerned that the related economic downturn threatens their job security.

This is particularly true in the United States compared with other wealthy countries, studies suggest.

For this study, Couarraze and his colleagues used data from COVISTRESS, an international questionnaire distributed online that has collected demographic and stress-related information during the pandemic.

They analyzed responses from more than 10,000 workers, including roughly 1,400 healthcare workers, 631 physicians and 748 paramedics who completed the survey from January to June 2020.

The higher effects of pandemic-related stress on younger, working age adults is likely explained by efforts designed to "ensure the protection of older populations," Couarraze said.

Based on their findings, continuing to monitor work-related stress, in particular among healthcare workers, is crucial for planning post-pandemic social services, the researchers said.

"It is necessary to integrate stress management or stress learning programs" into workplaces, Couarraze said.

Workers at all of Kellogg's U.S. cereal plants go on strike


JOSH FUNK
Tue, October 5, 2021

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Work at all of the Kellogg Company's U.S. cereal plants came to a halt Tuesday as roughly 1,400 workers went on strike, but it wasn't immediately clear how much the supply of Frosted Flakes or any of the company's other iconic brands would be disrupted.

The strike includes plants in Omaha, Nebraska Battle Creek, Michigan; Lancaster, Pennsylvania; and Memphis, Tennessee.

The union and the Battle Creek-based company have been at an impasse at the bargaining table for more than a year, said Daniel Osborn, president of the local union in Omaha. The dispute involves an assortment of pay and benefit issues such as the loss premium health care, holiday and vacation pay and reduced retirement benefits

“The company continues to threaten to send additional jobs to Mexico if workers do not accept outrageous proposals that take away protections that workers have had for decades," said Anthony Shelton, president of the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union.

The threat to move work to Mexico doesn't sit well with Osborn.

“A lot of Americans probably don't have too much issue with the Nike or Under Armor hats being made elsewhere or even our vehicles, but when they start manufacturing our food down where they are out of the FDA control and OSHA control, I have a huge problem with that,” Osborn said.

The company insists that its offer is fair and would increase wages and benefits for its employees that it said made an average of $120,000 a year last year.

"We are disappointed by the union’s decision to strike. Kellogg provides compensation and benefits for our U.S. ready to eat cereal employees that are among the industry’s best," Kellogg spokesperson Kris Bahner said in a statement.

Osborn said he expects the company to try to bring non-union workers into the plants at some point this week to try to resume operations and maintain the supply of its products.

The company acknowledged that it is "implementing contingency plans" to limit supply disruptions for consumers.

The plants have all continued to operate throughout the coronavirus pandemic, but Osborn said that for much of that time workers were putting in 12-hour shifts, seven days a week to keep up production while so many people were out because of the virus.

“The level we were working at is unsustainable,” Osborn said.

Kellogg’s workers aren’t the first food workers to strike during the pandemic.

Earlier this summer, more than 600 workers at a Frito-Lay plant in Topeka, Kansas, walked off the job to protest working conditions during the pandemic, including forced overtime. That strike ended in July when workers ratified a new contract.

Workers at Nabisco plants in five states went on strike in August to protest plans by Nabisco’s parent, Mondelez International, to move some work to Mexico, among other issues, according to the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union, which also represents the Kellogg's workers. That strike ended last month when workers ratified a new contract.

___

Associated Press writer Dee-Ann Durbin contributed to this report from Detroit.

Fed up by pandemic, US food workers launch rare strikes

By DEE-ANN DURBIN and GRANT SCHULTE

1 of 6

First shift worker Travis Huffman joins other BCTGM Local 3G union members in a strike against Kellogg Co., Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021, outside the Kellogg plant on Porter Street in Battle Creek, Mich. Workers in Battle Creek, Lancaster, Memphis and Omaha walked out at 1 a.m. Tuesday,, demanding livable wages and better benefits.

 (Alyssa Keown/Battle Creek Enquirer via AP)


OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A summer of labor unrest at U.S. food manufacturers has stretched into fall, as pandemic-weary workers continue to strike for better pay.

Around 1,400 workers at Kellogg Co.’s U.S. cereal plants walked off the job this week, saying negotiations with the company over pay and benefits are at an impasse. Meanwhile, in Kentucky, a strike by 420 workers against Heaven Hill Distillery is in its fourth week.

The actions come on top of strikes earlier this summer by 600 workers at a Frito-Lay plant in Topeka, Kansas, and 1,000 workers at five Nabisco plants across the U.S. In June, Smithfield Foods narrowly avoided a strike by thousands of workers at a plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

The number of actions is unusual. Kellogg says this is the first time its U.S. cereal workers have gone on strike since 1972. Nabisco workers last walked off the job in 1969.

But after a difficult 18 months, which saw many workers putting in 12-hour shifts and mandatory overtime to meet pandemic demand, employees are in no mood to compromise.

“We’re drawing a line in the sand,” said Rob Long, a production mechanic who has worked at Kellogg’s Omaha plant for 11 years.

Long said he and others are upset about a two-tiered system of employees that gives fewer benefits and less pay to newer workers, creating a wedge within the ranks. Long said the company wants to get rid of a provision that currently caps the lower tier of workers at 30% of the workforce.

After decades of watching companies chip away at pay and benefits, food workers sense that they have a rare upper hand in the wake of the pandemic, says Patricia Campos-Medina, the executive director of The Worker Institute at ILR Cornell.

Labor shortages mean companies can’t easily find replacements for food production workers, (SCABS)   she said. And the pandemic put a spotlight on the essential __ and sometimes dangerous __ nature of their work.

“Workers in general are demanding that companies invest more in the workforce and not just use the profits for the shareholders,” she said.

Campos-Medina said the trend is not only happening with unionized workers like those at Kellogg, who are members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers Union. Non-union fast food workers have walked off the job in dozens of U.S. cities seeking a $15 minimum wage. And workers at three Starbucks stores in Buffalo, New York, are trying to unionize.

The strikes come as food companies are still trying to get back to normal levels of production. Kellogg’s cereal sales had been anemic for years, for example, as families shifted to portable breakfast items like nutrition bars. But when schools closed and kids were home last year, U.S. cereal sales shot up 7%. So far this year, they’re down 7.7%.

Kris Bahner, Kellogg’s senior vice president for global corporate affairs, says the company’s compensation and benefits are already among the industry’s best. The company says its employees made an average of $120,000 last year.

“We are disappointed by the union’s decision to strike,” she said. Kellogg began negotiating a new four-year contract on Sept. 8.

But workers on the picket line in Omaha say they’re routinely working 74- to 84-hour weeks to earn that money. Some workers said they’ve endured 12-hour shifts seven days a week throughout the pandemic, with only a few minutes’ notice about mandatory overtime.

“We do make good money, but we’ve given up a lot,” said Dan Jourdan, a packing machine operator who has worked at Kellogg since 2001. “If we worked just 40 hours a week, we’d make nowhere near that kind of wage.”

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Durbin reported from Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Navajo leaders seek hearing on oil and gas drilling dispute

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN

In this Nov. 21, 1996, file photo, tourists cast their shadows on the ancient Anasazi ruins of Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico. Top officials with the largest Native American tribe in the United States are renewing a request for congressional leaders to hold a field hearing before deciding on federal legislation aimed at limiting oil and gas development around Chaco Culture National Historical Park. (AP Photo/Eric Draper, File)


ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Top officials with the largest Native American tribe in the United States are renewing a request for congressional leaders to hold a field hearing before deciding on federal legislation aimed at limiting oil and gas development around Chaco Culture National Historical Park.

The Navajo Nation has struggled for years with high poverty rates and joblessness, and the tribe’s legislative leaders say individual Navajo allottees stand to lose an important source of income if a 10-mile (16-kilometer) buffer is created around the park as proposed. They’re calling for a smaller area of federal land holdings to be made off limits to oil and gas development as a compromise to protect Navajo interests.

Navajo Council Speaker Seth Damon and other council members recently sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy outlining their concerns about pending legislation and the need to fund a comprehensive study of cultural resources throughout the region.

They said a field hearing would allow congressional leaders to “’hear directly from the Navajo people who face a real threat” under the current version of legislation. While the measure wouldn’t directly affect tribal or allottee land, allottees fear their parcels would be landlocked by a federal ban, making them undesirable for future development.

A World Heritage site, Chaco is thought to be the center of what was once a hub of Indigenous civilization. Within the park, walls of stacked stone jut up from the bottom of the canyon, some perfectly aligned with the seasonal movements of the sun and moon. Circular subterranean rooms called kivas are cut into the desert floor.

Outside the park, archaeologists say there are discoveries still to be made.

Other tribes, environmental groups and archaeologists have been pushing to stop drilling across an expansive area of northwestern New Mexico, saying sites beyond Chaco’s boundaries need protection and that the federal government’s leasing program needs an overhaul.

The Navajo Nation passed its own legislation in 2019 recognizing the cultural, spiritual and cosmological connection that Navajos have to the Chaco region. The measure expounded on the need for protections, but it also called for respecting and working with Navajo allottees.


In this April 24, 2015, file photo, pumpjacks work in a field in the Permian Basin near Lovington, N.M. Top officials with the largest Native American tribe in the United States are renewing a request for congressional leaders to hold a field hearing before deciding on federal legislation aimed at limiting oil and gas development around Chaco Culture National Historical Park. The Navajo Nation has struggled for years with high poverty rates and joblessness, and the tribe’s legislative leaders say individual Navajo allottees stand to lose an important source of income if a 10-mile buffer is created around the park. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)

The fight over development in the region has spanned several presidential administrations on both sides of the political aisle. Past administrations — including the Trump and Obama administrations — put on hold leases adjacent to the park through agency actions, but activists are pushing for something more permanent that won’t be upended by a future administration.

U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the first Native American to hold a cabinet position, was among the sponsors of legislation calling for greater protections during her tenure in the U.S. House. A member of Laguna Pueblo in central New Mexico, Haaland has referred to the area as a sacred place.

She’s now under growing pressure to use her administrative powers to establish a buffer around the park pending the outcome of the federal legislation.

Several New Mexico pueblos, Navajo Council Member Daniel Tso and environmental groups also have sent letters to U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández, voicing their support for the Chaco legislation. The first-term Democratic congresswoman also has spoken with Navajo leaders about her position on the matter.

Leger Fernández said Wednesday she’s committed to cultural preservation. She said once those resources are lost, they’re gone forever.

“We’ve been engaged in tribal consultation throughout and will continue conversations with Navajo Nation and the pueblos, as well as the Navajo allottees to protect allottees’ rights to develop their land as they see fit,” she said.

White House restoring environmental reviews for big projects

By MATTHEW DALY

In this Dec. 19, 2020, file photo, Brenda Mallory speaks at The Queen Theater in Wilmington Del. President Joe Biden is restoring federal regulations guiding environmental reviews of major infrastructure projects such as highways and pipelines. It's the latest reversal of a Trump-era environmental rollback. The White House Council on Environmental Quality said Wednesday it will restore key provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act, a bedrock environmental law designed to ensure community safeguards during environmental reviews for a wide range of federal projects and decisions. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)


WASHINGTON (AP) — In the latest reversal of a Trump-era environmental rollback, President Joe Biden is restoring federal regulations guiding environmental reviews of major infrastructure projects such as highways and pipelines. The reviews were scaled back by the Trump administration in a bid to fast-track the projects.

The White House Council on Environmental Quality said Wednesday it will restore key provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act, a bedrock environmental law designed to ensure community safeguards during environmental reviews for a wide range of federal projects and decisions.

Last year, President Donald Trump overhauled the rules in a bid to accelerate projects he said would boost the economy and provide jobs.

Trump made slashing government regulations a hallmark of his presidency. He and his administration frequently expressed frustration at rules they said unnecessarily slowed approval for interstate oil and gas pipelines and other big projects. The rule change imposed last year restricted the timelines for environmental reviews and public comment and allowed federal officials to disregard a project’s role in cumulative effects, such as climate change.

The 2020 changes caused implementation challenges for federal agencies and “sowed confusion among stakeholders and the general public,″ the White House said in a statement. The changes proposed Wednesday will restore regulatory certainty and “help ensure that American infrastructure gets built right the first time and delivers real benefits — not harms — to people who live nearby,” Council on Environmental Quality Chair Brenda Mallory said.

Contrary to assertions by the Trump administration, Mallory and other White House officials said, the new rule will actually speed up completion of major projects, since a rigorous review is more likely to withstand a legal challenge by environmental groups or states. Many Trump-era environmental decisions were reversed or delayed by courts after finding they did not undergo sufficient analysis.

Environmental groups and African American, Latino and tribal activists had protested the Trump-era rule change, saying it would worsen pollution in areas already reeling from oil refineries, chemical plants and other hazardous sites. The National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, approved in 1970, is credited with giving poorer communities a platform to negotiate with government regulators and big industries over major projects.

“The National Environmental Policy Act is critical to ensuring that federal project managers look before they leap — and listen to experts and the public on a project’s potential impacts to people and wildlife alike,” said Mustafa Santiago Ali, vice president of environmental justice, climate and community revitalization for the National Wildlife Federation. “This proposed rule will help restore several foundational NEPA protections that were stripped away by the previous administration making a sham of the NEPA process.”

Rosalie Winn, a senior attorney for the Environmental Defense Fund, said the new rule will allow agencies to consider climate change and other cumulative effects as they weigh major infrastructure projects, including a number that would be authorized under a bipartisan infrastructure bill that has passed the Senate.

The Environmental Defense Fund was among environmental groups that challenged the Trump-era rule in court. Those cases are now on hold.

Winn said she agreed with the White House that following proper NEPA guidelines ultimately allows major projects to move forward more quickly.

“We definitely saw during the Trump administration a real failure to follow requirements under NEPA and other laws that ultimately did slow down and halt a number of their actions,″ she said.

The new proposal “is an important first step to reestablish NEPA safeguards and ensure the federal government considers the climate and environmental justice impacts of industrial projects,″ Winn said.

The Council on Environmental Quality will accept comments through late November. The rule change is expected to become final early next year.

In brazen attack by settlers, Palestinians see larger threat

By JACK JEFFERY

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A Palestinian man leans on his smashed vehicle following a settlers attack from nearby settlement outposts on his Bedouin community, in the West Bank village of al-Mufagara, near Hebron, Thursday, Sept. 30, 2021. An Israeli settler attack last week damaged much of the village’s fragile infrastructure. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)


Al-MUFAGARA, West Bank (AP) — Dozens of Jewish settlers swept down from the dusty hills, hurling rocks at a small Palestinian village in broad daylight, smashing windows, cars and water cisterns as families hid inside their homes and Israeli soldiers looked on.

Palestinians in this rural part of the occupied West Bank say last week’s attack was especially violent but not unusual. They view it as part of a much larger effort by Israel to force them off their land, including by cutting off vital water resources in a parched region.

Days after the attack — in which a 4-year-old boy was hospitalized after being struck in the head by a stone as his family hid inside their home — residents of the village of Al-Mufagara surveyed the damage. It included the smashed water cisterns on which the Bedouin community and its livestock rely.

“They attacked everything we have, our water containers, our animals, our trees, our houses,” said Mohammed Rahbi, deputy head of the rural Yatta regional council. “It was an attack on humanity itself.”

The hardscrabble region is in what’s known as Area C, the 60% of the West Bank that is under full Israeli military control, according to agreements reached in the 1990s. Palestinians say it’s nearly impossible to secure building permits, even for basic infrastructure like water and electricity. The military has designated an area that includes Al-Mufagara as a firing range, making it even harder for residents to remain on the land.

Israeli authorities have meanwhile tolerated the construction of two nearby settlement outposts that are illegal even under Israeli law, where those who took part in last Wednesday’s attack are believed to have come from.

After ambushing a local shepherd and killing a number of his sheep, the settlers — shirtless with scarves wrapped around their faces — rampaged through the small cluster of stone homes and animal pens.

Footage released by the Israeli rights group B’Tselem showed Israeli soldiers standing among the settlers as they hurled the stones. At one point a soldier threw a tear gas grenade and shoved the Palestinian who was filming the attack. “This is our home,” the Palestinian shouted.

Israeli police said they arrested five Israeli suspects, including a teenager. All have since been released.

The military declined a request for an interview. But its top commander overseeing the West Bank, Maj. Gen. Yehuda Fuchs, last week held a rare meeting with Palestinian residents and said Israel is committed to the security of everyone in the area.

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid condemned the attack as “terror” and blamed it on a “violent and dangerous fringe” that he said should be brought to justice. The U.S. State Department also condemned the violence.
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But rights groups say settlers have launched several similar attacks over the past year, with the military doing little to stop them.

“This is happening all the time,” said Hagai El-Ad, the head of B’Tselem. “Soldiers sometimes even participate directly in such assaults on Palestinians. And this is part of that bigger state project of forcible transfer of Palestinians from their communities in large parts of the West Bank.”

Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 war and has granted the Palestinian Authority limited autonomy in cities and towns that make up less than 40% of the territory. The Palestinians want the entire West Bank to form the main part of their future state.

Around 500,000 Jewish settlers live in the West Bank amid more than 2.5 million Palestinians. Most settlers live in the more than 120 settlements authorized by the Israeli government, but more radical settlers have built dozens of outposts without state permission in rural areas.

The nationalist parties that dominate Israel’s political system view the West Bank as the biblical heartland of the Jewish people and support the settlers. Israel’s current prime minister, Naftali Bennett, is a longtime supporter of settlements who is opposed to a Palestinian state.

Israeli authorities are reluctant to evacuate outposts because doing so ignites clashes between soldiers and settlers, and successive governments have retroactively authorized 15 outposts. Israel subsidizes settlements and provides water and electricity to many outposts.

The Palestinians view all settlements as illegal and an obstacle to peace, a position with wide international support.

Even as the settlements develop largely unchecked, the 1,300 Palestinians living in Al-Mufagara and the surrounding area, known as Masafer Yatta, are unable to build or maintain basic infrastructure. According to statistics published by Peace Now, an anti-settlement Israeli monitoring group, Israeli authorities approved around 1% of Palestinian requests for Area C construction permits submitted between 2009 and 2016.

“Israel is just trying to empty Masafer of the communities that have lived there for generations,” said Quamar Mishirqi-Assad, director of Haqel, a rights group that works with local communities.

Rahbi said he has submitted dozens of applications for new housing and irrigation projects that have been rejected. He says Israel only approves such projects in the nearby community of Al-Tuwani, which is outside its declared firing range.

A spokesman for COGAT, the Israeli defense body that grants the permits, said the refusals in the military zone were for the safety of the residents. Speaking on condition of anonymity under military guidelines, he could not explain why settler communities, including unauthorized outposts, do not face the same barriers.

This was not the first time local sources of water have been harmed.

Over the last two years, the military has destroyed nearly all the pipelines linking Masafer to Israel’s national water carrier, as well as more than 20 local wells, according to Al-Haq, a Palestinian human rights group. COGAT had no immediate comment.

Rural Palestinian communities often struggle with shortages. A report released Friday by the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said 660,000 Palestinians have “limited access to water” and denounced Israel’s recent destruction of vital water sources in Masafer. Israel refused to comment on the report, saying the U.N. is biased against it.

According to Rahbi, most communities have built small pipes that connect to al-Tuwani, the only village in the area connected to Israel’s water supplier, Mekorot.

But Rahbi said it isn’t enough. Residents collect rainwater during the winter months in plastic cisterns and purchase expensive water tankers from nearby cities. Suppliers often charge extra because of the poor roads.

During the settler attack on Wednesday, many of the plastic cisterns and pipes were damaged and will be costly to replace.

Despite the growing hardships, the Palestinians say they are determined to stay.

“People here are rooted, in love with the land,” Rahbi said.

First Wind Turbine to Generate 14 MW Begins Tests in Rotterdam

14 MW wind turbine begins certification testing in Rotterdam (GE Renewable Energy)

PUBLISHED OCT 5, 2021 5:11 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

 

The first wind turbine operating at 14 MW has begun testing in Rotterdam. It marks an important incremental step for the industry which envisions even larger wind turbines able to operate at up to 20 MW. GE Renewable Energy, which is manufacturing the turbines noted that the new turbine is an uprated version of its 13 MW turbine, which received its type certification in January 2021.

The new 14 MW turbine has officially started certification measurements making the Haliade-X prototype and GE the first industry player to operate a turbine at this power output. According to the engineers, when the turbine goes into operation. one can generate up to 74 GWh of gross annual energy production based on estimates for typical wind conditions at a German North Sea site.

Vincent Schellings, Chief Technology Officer, GE Renewable Energy Offshore Wind, said: “We’re pleased to announce that the Haliade-X prototype is the first turbine in the industry to successfully run at 14 MW. When we first commissioned our Haliade-X prototype in November 2019 at 12 MW, we made a big leap forward in the industry. Over the past two years, we have learned a lot about operating and optimizing the performance of our Haliade-X platform, enabling us to uprate the Haliade-X platform to 14 MW today.”

The Haliade-X 14 MW is expected to make its commercial debut at the Dogger Bank C offshore wind farm, which is located off the northeast coast of England. GE Renewable Energy will provide 87 units of the Haliade-X 14 MW for Dogger Bank C. Combined with the Dogger Bank A and Dogger Bank B phases, the installation is due to become the largest offshore wind farm in the world upon completion. 

GE noted that the ability to produce more power from a single turbine means fewer turbines need to be installed at each wind farm. In addition to less capital expenditure, this also simplifies operations and maintenance, improving the affordability and accessibility of renewable energy for customers and consumers.