Oil spills in U.S. western states threaten water and health, residents fear

Urban oil and gas operations, like this drill pad near Bella Romero middle school in Greeley, Colo., worry neighbors that spills or toxic leaks could affect their health. Photo courtesy of 350Colorado

MARCH 18, 2020

DENVER, March 18 (UPI) -- Oil spills and gas leaks in the U.S. West, along with the oil industry's boom-and-bust business model, are worrying people who live near fossil fuel operations.

With the international price of oil collapsing this month to under $30 a barrel, smaller operators might be on the verge of bankruptcy and could go broke without cleaning up their well operations, as has happened before, industry observers say.

"The oil companies are in a precarious position. We will see how much they can endure," said Jesse Prentice-Dunn, conservation and energy analyst at the Denver-based Center for Western Priorities conservation and policy group.

"Small operators are hit the hardest, and that's where you see some real environmental problems," he said. "That's where communities are at risk, because [small operators] can go bankrupt and not shut down wells safely."

RELATED Occidental Petroleum fined $18.25 million for fatal 2017 natural gas explosion

Almost 3,000 oil spills were reported in top drilling states of Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico in 2019, an average of eight a day, an analysis by the nonprofit center showed.

People who live near fracking and drilling sites worry that water supplies might become contaminated, or that their health could be affected by toxic chemical leaks near their homes.

"I looked over the bridge, and the water in the Black River looked milky. It looked white," said Bert Rios, a 67-year-old retired heavy equipment operator from Malaga, N.M. Rios reported the spill to county and state health officials in late February.

Dallas-based Matador Resources, drilling for a pipeline to pass under the river in New Mexico's Permian Basin oil field, had breached the bank, releasing a white foamy substance into the water. The New Mexico Environment Department reported that the leak was drilling mud, a chemical grease.

The spill threatened the last remaining habitat of the endangered Texas hornshell mussel and polluted water used by area livestock, New Mexico's Department of Fish and Game reported.

"I'm glad I spoke up," Rios said. "There's those who wouldn't have said anything. I grew up here. My grandchildren swim in that river. My brother owns property on that river. I go fishing there in the summer."

RELATED Cheaper oil leads to decline in U.S. producer prices

Methane emissions from the thousands of natural gas wells in the Permian Basin spiked by 228 percent in 2019 to 8.1 million cubic feet from 2.5 million cubic feet in 2018, the analysis found. Methane has more than 100 times the global-warming potential of carbon dioxide, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Despite the tight profits for producers of oil, which was selling at around $65 per barrel in November, drilling has increased in the United States. In 2019, U.S. crude output rose to 12.3 million barrels per day from 11 million in 2018, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

"If you drill, there will be spills. It's inevitable," Prentice-Dunn said.

State agencies reported 23,600 barrels of oil spilled last year in the three states, along with 170,223 barrels of produced water, a byproduct of drilling that contains toxic chemicals.

On Colorado's Front Range, new housing conflicts with oil and gas drilling on the hydrocarbon-rich Denver-Julesburg oil and shale field.

Broomfield, Colo., resident Mackenzie Carignan described the smell of gasses emitted last year from drilling mud at Broomfield's new mega oil fracking pad with dozens of wells a mile from her house.

"It was a burning rubber mixed with rubbing alcohol smell that felt like it physically closed your throat," Carignan said. "My kids were gagging in their beds."

In Greeley, a toxic gas-sniffing mobile truck from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment identified more than 100 episodes last fall of elevated levels of cancer-causing benzene near a local middle school, an analysis released March 12 shows.

The school is about 800 feet from a drilling pad with 11 wells, a tank and other buildings.

The symptoms of benzene exposure include headaches and irritation of the eyes, and nose. Those symptoms could be mistaken by families as symptoms of a cold, said Patricia Nelson, the mother of a student.

"One of our worst fears has been realized. We were fearful there would be health impacts [from the wells] affecting our children, and that's exactly what has happened," she said.

About 65 percent of Colorado's 636 oil spills, which dumped 30,505 barrels of material last year, occurred less than a mile from a human residence, the Center for Western Priorities analysis shows. About 77 percent of spills were within a mile of well water.

"We know some of these spills are happening close to communities, and that's a problem," Prentice-Dunn said.

In Wyoming, Hot Springs County neighbors who drink water from the Boysen Reservoir oppose plans to increase the produced water released from the Moneta Divide oil and gas field to 8 million gallons per day from 2 million.

"We're the first community on the north side of the Wind River Canyon," said Mike Chimenti, the mayor of Thermopolis, population 3,000, which is near the entrance to Yellowstone National Park. "A lot of carcinogens, cancer-causing agents, are being dumped into Boysen reservoir that travel down the Bighorn River to us."

Wyoming's Department of Environmental Quality issued a violation to Riverton, Wyo.,-based Aethon Energy Operating LLC for discharging polluted produced water that ended up in the Boyson drinking-water reservoir.

The regulatory agency found black sediment deposits, foams and free oil deposits in Alkali and Badwater creeks below the oil field, according to a violation notice. Both creeks empty into the reservoir.

Produced water from the oil field was not clean enough for livestock and wildlife to drink, as required by the EPA's Clean Water Act, said Dan Heilig, senior conservation advocate of the Lander-Wyo.,-based Wyoming Outdoor Council, a non-profit environmental group.

The water from the oil field contained chlorides, sulfates, salt and other possible contaminants, including benzene, which were poisoning the local creeks, Heilig said.

Financial pressure on oil and gas companies that can go broke increases environmental threats for communities near oil and gas operations, Prentice-Dunn said.

"In the past, we've seen the cost to reclaim all these abandoned wells has far outstripped the amount of bonds the government has to pay for it," he said.


"What a crash in the oil market could portend are wells being abandoned, and taxpayers will be left on the hook."

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Migrant workers in South Korea demand more rights



Migrant workers in South Korea stage a protest in August. Activists are demanding an expansion of their rights and filed a constitutional appeal on Wednesday. File Photo by Yonhap/EPA-EFE

March 18 (UPI) -- Migrant workers in South Korea are calling for new labor rights, including an expanded right to transfer to another place of employment on their work visas.

Migrants Joint Action, a coalition of workers' rights groups, said Wednesday during a press conference outside South Korea's constitutional court that foreign workers' rights in Korea are too restrictive. They likened their work conditions to those of "forced labor," South Korean news service News 1 reported.

The group said five migrant workers who remained unidentified have filed a constitutional appeal, claiming South Korea's employment permit system violates basic rights guaranteed by the nation's constitution.

South Korea passed a law in 2004 guaranteeing the protection of foreign workers, who are, by law, guaranteed the same rights to wages and work benefits as South Korean citizens. Migrants Joint Action said Wednesday the government has favored South Korean citizens. Migrant workers are not allowed to change workplaces as often in order to "protect domestic workers," the group said.

The activists also said South Korean work visa laws force migrant workers to be bound by non-compete agreements and contracts. Workers who seek to transfer to another workplace must prove they are resigning for reasons beyond their area of responsibility. Those who leave their current employer eventually become undocumented, activists said.

Park Young-ah, a lawyer representing the workers, said the group has a "right to be free from forced labor."

"We are filing a constitutional appeal because the conditions of employment violate the law," Park said.

RELATED Hundreds of undocumented migrants leaving South Korea

One plaintiff, a Mongolian national who declined to be identified, said he was ordered to drive a forklift although he did not have a license, local paper Kyunghyang Shinmun reported.

When the plaintiff, who began working in Korea in December 2018, refused to drive the vehicle, his boss reportedly said he would send him back to Mongolia, according to the report.

In 2011, South Korea's constitutional court limited the number of work transfers for migrant workers to three workplaces per employment visa. Workers need more rights, however, activists said Wednesday.

Coronavirus conspiracies go viral on Whatsapp as crisis deepens


LONDON (Reuters) - On Sunday morning, a viral outbreak in the Dutch city of Utrecht infected more than 60 people in less than hour. Unlike the coronavirus, however, the infection happened on WhatsApp.

FILE PHOTO: The Whatsapp logo and binary cyber codes are seen in this illustration taken November 26, 2019. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

Messages telling people to drink hot soup to stop coronavirus, or to test for infection by holding their breath for 15 seconds, were shared between friends and relatives in a matter of minutes, contradicting official medical advice.

Ivonne Hoek, 63, said she received the message from a friend shortly after 11 a.m., who said they were sent it by a neighbor who works in a hospital. Alarmed, she promptly forwarded it to her two children. With the click of a button at 11:36, her son, Tim, sent it to his entire 65-person Frisbee team.

“I probably wouldn’t have paid any attention to this if I’d seen it from a stranger on Facebook. But I trust my mum very much,” 35-year-old told Tim van Caubergh told Reuters.


“I shared it because it came from a trusted source ... that is how these things happen.”

The coronavirus crisis, which has killed almost 9,000 people worldwide and threatened economic misery for millions more, has been accompanied by what the World Health Organization (WHO) has called an “infodemic” of misinformation.

Twitter (TWTR.N) followed social media competitor Facebook (FB.O) on Wednesday in barring users from posting misleading information about the coronavirus, including denials of expert guidance and encouragement of fake treatments.

CHAT CONTENT HARD TO POLICE

But the rapid spread of one such message in the Netherlands shows the challenges faced by private chat platforms, such as text messages or Facebook-owned WhatsApp, where content is harder to police and often perceived as coming from a trusted source when shared by friends and family.

“I think there’s a sense of security and community that exists in these group chats that gives anything shared there a mark of authenticity,” said Anna-Sophie Harling, head of Europe for the U.S.-based misinformation monitoring center NewsGuard.

“People can quickly send and resend images, text and voice notes, and it all happens in private, making it really, really difficult to counteract those claims.”

WhatsApp has previously restricted the number of people to whom users can forward messages after viral rumors on its platform triggered a wave of mass beatings and deaths in India in 2018.

WhatsApp, which has over 2 billion users worldwide, said on Wednesday it had partnered with the WHO and other U.N. agencies to launch a service for sharing official health guidance about coronavirus.



FILE PHOTO: Silhouettes of laptop and mobile device users are seen next to a screen projection of Whatsapp logo in this picture illustration taken March 28, 2018. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

WhatsApp chief Will Cathcart said the platform had also donated $1 million to factchecking organizations “to support their life-saving work to debunk rumors.”

Despite the moves and official warnings, viral messages touting conspiracy theories and phoney medical advice have continued to spread online, raising alarm about the supposed dangers of infection from 5G phone masts or eating ice cream.

Lisa-Maria Neudert, a researcher at Oxford University’s Project on Computational Propaganda, said such misinformation could hamper efforts to control the spread of the virus.

“From my own experience, yes I do think this has an impact,” she said. “I know educated people that are heeding inaccurate medical advice they have seen shared on social media and in private messages.”


Reporting by Jack Stubbs; Editing by Mark Heinrich
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Playboy suspends iconic magazine after 66 years over coronavirus pandemic


Cydney Henderson, USA TODAY

Playboy magazine is the latest victim of the coronavirus.

© Getty LAS VEGAS, NV - JUNE 23: A first issue Playboy Magazine, with Marilyn Monroe on the cover and signed by Hugh Hefner, in a protective plastic case is displayed during a preview for Julien's Auctions Hollywood legends memorabilia auction at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino on June 23, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Gabe Ginsberg/Getty Images)

The iconic magazine founded by Hugh Hefner in 1953 is suspending production of its print edition amid the global pandemic, CEO Ben Kohn said in an open letter posted on Medium Wednesday.

"Last week, as the disruption of the coronavirus pandemic to content production and the supply chain became clearer and clearer, we were forced to accelerate a conversation we’ve been having internally," Kohn said.

Playboy had considered discontinuing its magazine long before the coronavirus outbreak because of the wide accessibility of free pornography on the internet and the decline of print in the digital age. As a result, the company scaled back the once monthly publication to bi-monthly in 2017 and quarterly in 2019.

"We have decided that our Spring 2020 Issue, which arrives on U.S. newsstands and as a digital download this week, will be our final printed publication for the year in the U.S.," Kohn added.

The company plans to move forward with content on a "digital-first publishing schedule" with hopes of producing "special edition" print publications in 2021.

"Print is how we began and print will always be a part of who we are," Kohn said. "Over the past 66 years, we’ve become far more than a magazine. And sometimes you have to let go of the past to make room for the future."

Despite shuttering the print edition, Kohn assured fans that "the Playboy brand is more successful than ever before" and driving "over $3 billion in annual consumer spend worldwide."

At its height in the 1970s, Playboy magazine had a circulation of more than 7 million. Marilyn Monroe covered the first-ever issue in 1953. The likes of Madonna, Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Pamela Anderson, Kim Kardashian and Carmen Electra have gone on to be Playboy cover models. 

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From Jerry Falwell Jr. to Dr. Drew: 5 Coronavirus Doubters

Misinformation about the coronavirus continues to circulate across swaths of the American media — on popular podcasts, in blog posts, in online videos and on prime-time cable news shows — as recently as this week.

© Rich Fury/Getty Images Dr. Drew Pinsky has condoned flouting the directives of public health officials.

Some of the disseminators are entertainers. Others are medical doctors. Some are conservatives who insist the virus is being hyped for political purposes. One is a comedian with no medical training who has raised doubts about vaccinating children.

Even as President Trump and the federal government’s top public health officials warn that the virus is not something to be taken lightly — and the authorities reported more coronavirus deaths in the United States on Wednesday — these commentators make misleading comments, cherry-pick facts and go so far as to claim that the virus could be a hoax or a North Korean plot.


Dr. Drew and Rob Schneider scoff at staying home.

Dr. Drew Pinsky, the celebrity addiction specialist whose HLN cable news show was canceled after he speculated in 2016 that Hillary Clinton might be seriously ill, has condoned on his current web program flouting the directives of public health officials who are urging Americans not to go about their business as usual.

Dr. Pinsky has also handed over his program to the comedian Rob Schneider, a former “Saturday Night Live” performer, who says the coronavirus crackdowns are nothing more than political stunts by elected officials seeking the spotlight.

Mr. Schneider, who has also opposed mandatory vaccines for children, appeared Monday on Dr. Pinsky’s program and talked about going out to dinner in defiance of the new guidelines.

“This is not affecting people who are healthy,” Mr. Schneider said, falsely.

Dr. Pinsky agreed, saying sick people should stay home, but “everyone else goes about their business.”

[Video: Watch on YouTube.]

Sean Hannity makes misleading claims about death rates.

Sean Hannity, the host of the most-watched program on cable news, has used his platform to play down the seriousness of the coronavirus. Mr. Hannity, who reaches close to four million people each weeknight on Fox News and about 15 million each week on his syndicated radio show, describes his approach as “facts without fear,” presenting himself to his audience as a truth-teller in a time of panic.

© Samuel Corum/Anadolu Agency, via Getty Images Sharyl Attkisson, a podcast host, has published her own analysis of coronavirus death rates.

In the opening of his Fox program on Monday, Mr. Hannity fumed at Democrats and the “media mob” for spreading “hysteria” and “fake news” before making a misleading claim about coronavirus deaths that many of Mr. Trump’s media allies have repeated since the outbreak began.


Citing tens of thousands of flu deaths each year, Mr. Hannity said, “Thankfully the toll surrounding coronavirus is lower.” Such claims ignore the fact that the virus is just beginning to be diagnosed in the United States, and that those who get it are far more likely to die. Experts, including those who have appeared on Mr. Hannity’s show, like Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, say it is perhaps 10 times as deadly as the seasonal flu.

Mr. Hannity then went on to predict that in “hopefully four to six weeks, max,” the country “can get back to life as normal.”

[Video: Watch on YouTube.]

One of Mr. Hannity’s top sources selectively picks facts.

Sharyl Attkisson, a former CBS News journalist, has developed a devoted following among right-leaning television viewers.

In the past, she has promoted the debunked theory that vaccines cause autism. Now she has taken an intense interest in coronavirus and published her own analysis of the death rates, which Mr. Hannity cited on his radio program on Monday even though the information was several days out of date.

The facts she has chosen recently to highlight falsely leave the impression that the deaths are not all that significant in number and largely contained to one facility.

“Look at those 30-some-odd deaths — most of them were from Washington State,” Ms. Attkisson said last week on her podcast, adding that most of those were in an assisted-living facility. “The vast majority of those who passed away were from one cluster in the United States — almost none anywhere else.”

And yet visitors to Ms. Attkisson’s website this week might have come away confused about the severity of the virus, as there were several ads for high-grade protective masks.

Jerry Falwell Jr. suggests North Koreans are behind the virus.

Jerry Falwell Jr., a close ally of Mr. Trump, appeared last week on “Fox & Friends” and offered a startling explanation for the virus’s arrival in the United States.

Mr. Falwell, the president of Liberty University and son of the famous evangelist, shared a theory that he said he had heard from a local restaurant owner: Perhaps the North Koreans and the Chinese colluded to spread the coronavirus inside the United States.

“He said, ‘You remember the North Korean leader promised a Christmas present for America?’” Mr. Falwell asked the “Fox & Friends” hosts. “Could it be they got together with China and this is that present? I don’t know. But it really is something strange going on here.”

None of the hosts challenged Mr. Falwell on his baseless conspiracy theory.

[Video: Watch on YouTube.]

Ron Paul sees ‘a big hoax.’

Ron Paul, the former Texas congressman and Republican presidential candidate, has long spread conspiracy theories about the government, describing secret plots underway to undermine the rights of citizens. The government’s response to the coronavirus, he wrote this week, could be one of those plots.

Mr. Paul, who is a physician, appeared to mock the designation of the outbreak as a pandemic.

“People should ask themselves whether this coronavirus ‘pandemic’ could be a big hoax, with the actual danger of the disease massively exaggerated by those who seek to profit — financially or politically — from the ensuing panic,” he wrote in a baseless article on the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity website that was then posted on the website of the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on Monday.

Mr. Paul pointed to the small U.S. death toll at the time — noting that it was not even 100 people. It has since quickly reached that grim milestone.

Amazon Drivers Received Single Wipe to Clean Vans Before Shifts

When about two dozen Amazon.com Inc. delivery drivers reported for their shifts Tuesday morning on California’s central coast, their manager passed around a sleeve of disinfecting wipes. He said they could each take only one to clean their vans before starting their routes, according to three people present. The drivers, who work for a company that has a delivery contract with Amazon, thought it was a joke at first. Upon realizing it wasn’t, they got busy figuring out how to use a tiny wipe to clean a van shared with other drivers and packed with boxes touched by untold others. One driver furiously scrubbed her scanner since she touches it frequently. Another wiped down his steering wheel and door handle.

© Bloomberg An employee arranges Amazon.com Inc. packages before delivery at the United States Postal Service (USPS) Joseph Curseen Jr. and Thomas Morris Jr. processing and distribution center in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2017. The USPS said it expects to deliver over 15 billion total pieces of mail this holiday season with expanded Sunday delivery operations in certain areas, delivering over six million packages each Sunday in December.

“I felt so disposable,” said one of the drivers, who like the others requested anonymity for fear of losing her job. “We’re really worried, and one wipe for a van just doesn’t cut it.”


Around the country, drivers who deliver Amazon packages are providing a valuable public service by bringing household essentials to homes and helping consumers avoid stores, potentially minimizing the spread of the coronavirus that has infected at least 7,000 people in the U.S. and killed more than 100. Yet some of these drivers harbor fear and resentment since they see friends and family members urged to stay at home while they are being told to crisscross town at their own peril. Amazon is offering a temporary $2 hourly pay bump that for most of them will total about $500 over six weeks in hazard pay.

The coronavirus outbreak poses a challenge of unprecedented severity for Amazon—and it’s hardly the only company grappling with a pandemic that has upended the daily lives of people around the world. The company has announced plans to hire 100,000 people and issue temporary raises to help keep groceries and other essentials flowing. It has set up a $25 million relief fund to pay delivery workers for up to two weeks if they get sick with the virus or miss work due to quarantines. Amazon on Tuesday told suppliers that it would stop accepting shipments of non-essential goods in its warehouses, an effort to keep things such as food and cleaning supplies moving through the system.

Some of this will almost certainly help. But Amazon, already trying to keep up with a surge in online orders, depends on the willingness of tens of thousands of contract drivers to show up each day. The company uses United Parcel Service Inc., the U.S. Postal Service and other companies for about half of its deliveries worldwide and in a crisis could likely increase its reliance on the big carriers. But it has the most direct control over its own network of independent drivers who shuttle around in dark blue vans emblazoned with the Amazon smile.

Depending on the role, delivery couriers are exposed more often to diseases or infections over the course of their job than most other job types, according to Department of Labor data tracking worker behavior. If enough Amazon drivers get sick, or simply worry about the risk enough to stay home, the Seattle-based company’s logistics machine could struggle to meet its commitments to shoppers.

Not all the 12 drivers interviewed for this story were overly concerned about their safety. One in South Bend, Indiana, where there have been few confirmed coronavirus cases, said the pandemic hasn’t changed how he does the job at all. He made one delivery to a nursing home, and the front desk clerk wiped the package with a disinfecting wipe, but other than that it’s been business as usual, he said.

“My warehouse manager and logistics manager have been keeping a hand sanitizer station where we all check in and encouraging people to use it,” he said. “There is little risk to me honestly. There aren't any community spread patients yet in my area, so I definitely wouldn't be staying home until that occur

It’s also true that some jobs—a grocery clerk, say or an Uber driver—are potentially more exposed to the virus. But several of the other Amazon drivers Bloomberg interviewed worry when customers greet them at doorsteps and in office buildings and are concerned about all of the people who touched boxes and envelopes before they did. One driver noted that when delivering alcohol he is required to get close enough to customers to request their identification. Some are taking their own precautions—one driver in Chicago wears a N95 mask and uses hand sanitizer after every pickup.

The challenge Amazon faces in keeping its frontline workers healthy and willing to work has already become apparent in its warehouses. After a handful of Covid-19 cases were reported in at least three Amazon depots in Europe, unions there this week called for the company to cut shifts and close the facilities for cleaning. At Amazon’s main logistics hub in Italy, where two workers were diagnosed with the disease, absenteeism has hit 30% in recent weeks, people familiar with the matter have told Bloomberg.

“The health and safety of our employees and contractors around the world continues to be our top priority,” an Amazon spokesperson said in an email. “As communities around the world are requiring social distancing, we’re seeing that our teams—much like grocery stores, pharmacies and other essential services—have a unique role getting customers the critical items they need and this is especially vital for the elderly, people with underlying health issues, and those sick or quarantined. We have implemented a series of preventative health measures for employees, delivery and transportation partners at our sites around the world.”

Amazon typically focuses on moving packages as quickly as possible at the lowest cost, but the outbreak requires the company to slow things down and give specific safety instructions to each employee, said Barbara Hoopes, a business professor and logistics expert at Virginia Tech. Even independent contractors in their own vehicles should get instructions specifically tailored to their roles and a kit with hand sanitizer, disinfecting wipes and any other equipment needed to improve their safety, she said.

“This is the type of business that we want to continue to operate since supply chain is critical for a functioning economy, but the workers are more at risk,” Hoopes said. “Amazon can be a leader in giving employees and contractors instructions on what to do.”

Some of the drivers interviewed for this story say that isn’t happening. They’re receiving generic advice about washing their hands and staying home if they are having symptoms but no specific instructions regarding their jobs or how to minimize their risk of exposure. Instead, they describe a haphazard operation where safety takes a back seat to the swift delivery of toilet paper, food and cough meds

Much of what happens with Amazon deliveries is beyond the company’s direct control. It utilizes independent contractors driving their own vehicles to deliver packages as well as employees of separate companies that operate as Amazon delivery partners. So a lot of the people delivering Amazon packages aren’t Amazon employees at all. The California drivers instructed to wipe down their vans with a single disinfecting wipe work for one of the delivery service partners, which have been urged by Amazon to take on more routes to meet demand through the crisis. They say they have instructions to wipe down vans multiple times during each shift but that their employers aren’t providing them with the supplies they need. Some drivers say they have no disinfecting wipes at all. Another driver said his company had only 10 pair of protective gloves one day for about 30 drivers reporting for their shifts.

“No one wants to be put in this situation,” said an Amazon delivery driver in Richmond, Virginia. “It’s not fair, but what am I going to do. I have bills to pay.”

One driver in Texas supports an elderly mother and two sons, one with a compromised immune system. She goes to work each day to support her family but fears putting them at risk if she brings illness home. She’s hopeful the raises Amazon announced will be paid to drivers like her—her employer hasn’t yet made that clear—but worries about the toll additional hours will take on her immune system since managers are asking drivers to work six days each week.

“I’m not even sure I could find another job right now if I decided the risk was too great,” she said. “My mother and son are in a high-risk group so you would think it would make the decision easy, but it’s not, not when my children depend on me.”

One driver in Boston stopped making deliveries about two weeks ago due to concerns about the virus. She has a full-time job and drives for Amazon on the side in her own car for extra money. She’s worried about other drivers who can’t afford to give it up, even if they are feeling ill. Still, she said she’d take the risk out of financial necessity if the economy melts down and she loses her full-time job.

“Anyone with a shred of common sense knows you shouldn’t be going to some stranger’s door to deliver groceries right now,” she said. “This system is set up to take care of Amazon’s customers. It’s not set up to take care of drivers.”

Another driver in California is worried about his safety but feels good when customers thank him for making deliveries so they can stay safe at home. Some of them seem lonely and eager to chat since they are stuck in their own homes, but he tries to keep the conversations brief and not let people get too close.

“I try to get the door as quickly as I can and get away before they see me,” he said. “They try to make conversation and I just try to keep my distance when they do.”

5.7 magnitude earthquake strikes Salt Lake City, knocking out coronavirus hotline


Stocks set to drop again as virus volatility continues
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No ticket refunds if Olympics are postponed







Slide 1-4 of 18: Construction workers looks at the rubble from a building after an earthquake Wednesday, March 18, 2020, in Salt Lake City. A 5.7-magnitude earthquake has shaken the city and many of its suburbs. The quake sent panicked residents running to the streets, knocked out power to tens of thousands of homes and closed the city's airport and its light rail system. 18 SLIDES © Rick Bowmer/AP Photo


A 5.7-magnitude earthquake hit the Salt Lake Valley on March 18 and was followed by at least 20 aftershocks ranging from magnitude 2.5 to 3.9. The quake sent panicked residents running to the streets, knocked out power to tens of thousands of homes and closed the city's airport and its light rail system.(Pictured) Construction workers looks at the rubble from a building after an earthquake, on March 18 in Salt Lake City.


A 5.7 magnitude earthquake struck just outside Salt Lake City early Wednesday, knocking out the state's coronavirus hotline, according to the governor.

A temporary COVID-19 information line was set up at 1-844-442-5224.

This was the state's largest earthquake since 1992, according to Utah Emergency Management.

There are no reports of injuries, but the Salt Lake City Airport was temporarily knocked out of operation, officials said.

Dr. Scott Williams, a Salt Lake City physician, told ABC News that his "house just started shaking fairly violently. And my first thought was, 'Has a truck gone off the road and is coming into my house?'"

"It lasted about 15, 20 seconds, shaking pretty hard," he said. "Then I felt swaying for about another 15 seconds."

Williams added, "We're all supposed to be social distancing, and now we all need to get together and check on each other."

ESPN reporter Holly Rowe tweeted that she was "shaken out of sound sleep" by the quake.

Power was knocked out to 50,000 customers, including at the studio of ABC Salt Lake affiliate KTVX, where anchor Brian Carlson said he felt at least 20 aftershocks.






a person standing in front of a brick building: Salt Lake City Police Office Henry Vadnais strings up police tape around fallen bricks outside a building after an earthquake in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, March 18, 2020.Next Slide
Full screen

1/5 SLIDES © Spenser Heaps/The Deseret News via AP

Salt Lake City Police Office Henry Vadnais strings up police tape around fallen bricks outside a building after an earthquake in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, March 18, 2020.

Abby Huntsman, former co-host of ABC's "The View," told ABC News, "I didn’t expect to be woken up by a 5.7 earthquake. All I could think to do in that moment was to run and grab my sleeping kids."

"These things are unforgettable, and remind us that while coronavirus is an immediate concern, earthquakes and other natural disasters can be quite dangerous and require families and communities to be prepared," Huntsman said. "Praying everyone in Utah is OK this morning."

Utah Department of Health employees are being told not report to any department buildings in the wake of the earthquake, even though the coronavirus pandemic is intensifying.

"Assessments are being made and we will send another alert when buildings are clear to be occupied," the department tweeted. "If you are currently teleworking or telecommuting, please continue to do so."

The state's public health lab is also being assessed for damage, halting lab operations.

Salt Lake City schools were already closed due to coronavirus, but because of the quake, district officials said they won't be able to provide food, laptops or iPads to students on Wednesday.

There were at least 59 aftershocks by Wednesday afternoon, according to the state's Department of Natural Resources.

ABC News' Jeff Cook and Clayton Sandell contributed to this report.

Clean water access for India's poor spawns virus concerns

By SHEIKH SAALIQ, Associated Press



In this Tuesday, March 17, 2020 photo, a slum dweller fills water from a tap next to a drain filled with plastic and other filth in New Delhi, India. Experts say keeping hands clean is one of the easiest and best ways to prevent transmission of the coronavirus, in addition to social distancing. But for India’s homeless and urban poor who live in thousands of slums across major cities and towns, maintaining good hygiene can be nearly impossible. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri 3 SLIDES © Provided by Associated Press


NEW DELHI (AP) — Dharam Singh Rajput can’t afford to buy hand sanitizer, which could help ward off transmission of the coronavirus in his community.

The Rajput family could opt for something more basic — soap and water — to achieve hand hygiene. But sometimes there is no clean running water in their neighborhood, which sits next to open sewage canals and mounds of garbage in the heart of New Delhi, India's capital. “The kind of water we have access to has the potential to cause more diseases instead of warding off the virus if we use it to wash our hands,” Rajput said.

Experts say keeping hands clean is one of the easiest and best ways to prevent transmission of the new coronavirus, in addition to social distancing. But for India’s homeless and urban poor who live in thousands of slums across major cities and towns, maintaining good hygiene can be nearly impossible.

About 160 million — more than the population of Russia — of India's 1.3 billion people don't have access to clean water.

That could leave impoverished Indians like Rajput and his family at risk during the virus outbreak.

“It could prove disastrous for people who don’t have access to clean water,” said Samrat Basak, the director of the World Resource Institute's Urban Water Program in India.

With India being the world's second-most populous country, and having weak health care facilities and growing concerns that there may be an undetected communal spread of the virus, the risks associated with the lack of clean water aren’t being overstated. UNICEF said last week that almost 20% of urban Indians do not have facilities with water and soap at home. What could make things worse, experts say, is that social distancing is nearly impossible in many Indian cities that are among the world's most densely populated areas. So far, the government has apparently been able to keep a lid on community transmission of the virus. Authorities have confirmed 147 cases and three deaths, all linked to foreign travel or direct contact with someone who caught the disease abroad.


While the coronavirus can be deadly, particularly for the elderly and people with other health problems, for most people it causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. Some feel no symptoms at all and the vast majority of people recover.


India's government has made fervent appeals to the public to practice social distancing and good hand hygiene. India also was one of the first countries to essentially shut its borders and deny entry to all but a select few foreigners. But in a country as big as India, community transmission is all but inevitable, experts say.

“Clean water is the first line of defense,” said V.K. Madhavan, India chief executive at WaterAid, a global advocacy group for water and sanitation. “If there is no access to clean water, the situation could worsen.”

India’s clean water problem isn’t new.

Hundreds of thousands of people wait in line every day to fill buckets from government water trucks. Hospitals and schools struggle with clean water supplies. People are forced to wash utensils and clothes in dirty water.

About 600 million Indians face acute water shortages, according to government think tank NITI Aayog.

The water crisis hits the poor particularly hard since wealthy people can pay for water from private sources that those living in slums can't afford.

The mortality rate due to inadequate or unsafe water is also high. About 200,000 people die each year in India from diseases related to unclean water. Insufficient water also leads to food insecurity.

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“When clean drinking water runs out, people will have no choice but to rely on unsafe water,” said Dr. Anant Bhan, a global health researcher. “It could expose India’s huge population to extreme vulnerability.”


Government promises to provide clean water to many Indians have so far failed despite efforts by Prime Minister Narendra Modi that have been internationally lauded.

“Access to clean water is a basic human right,” said Madhavan. “No one should fear losing their life because they couldn’t practice the first line of defense, which is hand washing.” ___ Associated Press videojournalist Shonal Ganguly contributed to this report.

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The Associated Press receives support for health and science coverage from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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Follow AP coverage of the virus outbreak at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak.

Watchdog says Israel's West Bank settlements surged in 2019

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank surged ahead in 2019, a watchdog group said in a report Tuesday, maintaining a rapid pace that has drawn strength from the friendly policies of the Trump administration.© Provided by Associated Press FILE - In this Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2020 photo, a view of the West Bank settlement of Ma'ale Efraim on the hills of the Jordan Valley. An Israeli watchdog group tells The Associated Press that Israel's settlement activity in the West Bank surged ahead in 2019, maintaining a rapid pace that has drawn strength from the friendly policies of the Trump administration. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Peace Now, a monitoring group that opposes the settlements, said that Israel's average annual construction rate has risen 25% since President Donald Trump took office in 2017.


Perhaps more significantly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government last year approved plans to build thousands of new homes, laying the groundwork for a sharp spike in construction in the coming years. That included an explosion in plans for new settlement projects approved early this year.

“In my opinion, they’re trying to take advantage of the window of opportunity that they have under the Trump administration, knowing that it might change in a few months,” said Hagit Ofran, a researcher for the group. “There was no such supportive administration for the settlements previously, ever.”

Most of the world considers the West Bank, captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war, to be occupied territory and Israeli settlements illegal obstacles to peace.

In a break from his Republican and Democratic predecessors, Trump has taken a much softer line toward the settlements. Surrounded by a group of advisers with close ties to the settlement movement, Trump’s administration declared last year that it did not consider the settlements to be illegal under international law. Then, in January, he unveiled a Mideast plan that envisions placing large parts of the West Bank, including all of the settlements, under permanent Israeli control.

The Palestinians, with wide international backing, seek all of the West Bank and east Jerusalem, also captured in 1967, as parts of a future independent state.

With nearly 500,000 settlers now living in the West Bank, and over 220,000 more in east Jerusalem, the Palestinians say the chances of establishing a state in those territories are quickly dwindling. They have rejected the Trump Mideast plan, saying it would extinguish any remaining hopes of independence.

According to the Peace Now figures, Israel began construction on 1,917 new homes in the West Bank last year. That marked a slight dip from 2,100 construction starts in 2018. But overall, Israel has begun construction on an average of 2,267 homes per year since Trump took office, compared to an annual average of 1,807 units during the Obama administration. The construction was scattered throughout the West Bank, including small settlements deep inside the territory.

That new annual construction could house roughly an addition 9,000 people per year in settlements, based on Peace Now's estimate of four people per a household.

Under Israeli law, settlements must go through several stages of bureaucratic planning before construction begins.

According to Peace Now, Israel last year advanced plans to build nearly 8,457 new homes, putting them on track to potentially be built in the coming years — up from 5,618 units last year and 6,742 in 2017.

By comparison, Israel advanced plans for a total 4,611 new homes during the final two years of the Obama administration, when ties with the U.S. were strained.

Peace Now gathers its data from official Israeli sources and by conducting aerial photography of settlements. Israeli settlement groups, using different sets of measures, have also reported rapid growth in the settler population during the Trump era.

Oded Revivi, mayor of the settlement of Efrat and the chief foreign envoy of the Yesha settler council, said it was “no secret” that the Trump administration has been more tolerant of construction.

Whether the thousands of units in the pipeline are built, he said, will depend on who leads Israel’s next government and who wins the U.S. presidential election in November.

“If we still have the same players, Netanyahu and Trump, I predict the figures you will see in 2020, or more accurately 2021, will actually be higher than 2019,” he said.

Netanyahu, fighting for his political life, took a number of pro-settlement steps while campaigning for re-election early this year.

Immediately after Trump unveiled his Mideast plan, Netanyahu vowed to begin annexing the settlements. When the White House balked, he pushed forward a flurry of new settlement plans as he tried to cater to his hard-line base.

During the first two months of this year, Israel pushed ahead plans for an additional 7,500 homes — nearly half of them in the sensitive “E1” area, according to Peace Now.

Developing that area, jutting deep into the West Bank east of Jerusalem, would hinder Palestinian hopes of creating a contiguous state. Israel has previously refrained from building in E1 due to opposition by prior U.S. administrations. Israel also moved ahead with plans to build over 1,500 units in a contentious area of east Jerusalem.

Despite these steps, Netanyahu came up short as the March 2 election ended in deadlock. Netanyahu’s rival, Benny Gantz, is now trying to form the country’s next government but also appears to face long odds of success. If neither man can cobble together a governing coalition, the country could plunge into a fourth consecutive election, placing Netanyahu’s future into question as he prepares to go on trial for corruption charges.

Trump’s future, meanwhile, also is suddenly in question following widespread criticism of the slow U.S. response to the coronavirus crisis.

The virus could also play a role in the growth of the settlements in the coming months. An economic slowdown, for instance, could potentially slow demand in the Israeli housing market, including in settlements.

In the West Bank, there are also risks from Israelis and Palestinians — who are covered by two different health systems and governments — coming together. Revivi’s settlement, for example, is next to the Palestinian city of Bethlehem, and residents often come into contact with one other. Thousands of Palestinians, including construction workers, work in the settlements.

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“With all the potential of catching the virus, all these things become a much more relevant issue that needs to be discussed, determined, decided upon and definitely acted upon,” Revivi said.

New Zealand passes historic law to decriminalize abortion

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand has passed a landmark bill that treats abortion as a health issue rather than a crime, a major reform in laws that have been unchanged for more than four decades. 

© Associated Press New Zealand Justice Minister Andrew Little speaks to lawmakers in Wellington, New Zealand Wednesday, March 18, 2020. Lawmakers voted in favor of a landmark bill that treats abortion as a health issue rather than a crime. (AP Photo/Nick Perry)

The reform passed through parliament late on Wednesday by a vote of 68 to 51.

The legislation modernizes abortion laws in place since 1977 and proposes that a woman should have access to abortion until 20 weeks of pregnancy, with advice from her doctor.

After 20 weeks, a pregnant woman would require a test and two doctors will have to agree an abortion is the right decision. These conditions for post-20 week pregnancy were tougher than the government's original proposal.

Under the old law abortion was an offence in New Zealand, and a woman could only legally get an abortion if two doctors certified that continuing the pregnancy would result in danger to her mental or physical health.

“For over forty years abortion has been the only medical procedure considered a crime in New Zealand. But from now abortions will be rightly treated as a health issue,” Minister of Justice Andrew Little said in a statement after the law was passed.

The passing of the bill is seen as a win for Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's center-left coalition party, ahead of a general election in September.

Decriminalizing abortion was one of Ardern's campaign promises when she was elected in 2017 but plans to change the laws were delayed as lawmakers argued over the bill.

New Zealand is the latest country to liberalize abortion laws. South Korea's high court overturned a ban on abortion in April, while Ireland legalized abortion in a referendum.

In the United States some conservative-leaning states have taken action to curb abortion rights, however.

(Reporting by Praveen Menon; Editing by Tom Brown)