Free Republic

(Reuters) - The United States may sell its 1 million barrel Northeast gasoline reserve in fiscal year 2024, according to the draft text of a funding bill released on Sunday. The reserve, first established in 2014 after Superstorm Sandy left motorists in the northeastern United States without fuel, is located in New York Harbor, New York, Boston, Massachusetts and Portland, Maine. The proceeds from the sale of the refined products in the reserve would be deposited into the Treasury's general fund, according to the text of the bill, which is likely to pass this week. Once the Northeast Gasoline Supply...

The National Weather Service has started issuing its first Winter Storm Warnings across the Northeast and New England, including Boston and Providence, in advance of a potential nor’easter that could dump plowable snow on millions of people in the region starting Monday. More than 20 million Americans across the region had been under Winter Storm Watches as forecasters began to keep an eye on computer forecast models showing the potential for a disruptive winter storm. As those models began to come into agreement, however, the decision was made to start upgrading those winter weather alerts to Winter Storm Warnings.

Relief from extreme temperatures in the Northeast and New England is on the way with the arrival of a cold front expected to sweep across the region this week, but hot weather is expected to remain across the southern half of the US for at least the next several days. According to the FOX Forecast Center, an area of high pressure that had been centered over the Southwest and south-central US will reposition itself eastward as we get into the middle of the week, allowing temperatures in the Desert Southwest to finally ease and return to normal. High temperatures will...

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre claimed the Canadian wildfires, causing record poor air quality in many locations throughout the northeast, are the result of the “climate crisis.” Since Monday, winds brought poor air quality from Canadian wildfires into the northeast. “As of Wednesday, Canada was on track to experience its worst wildfire season ever, with officials reporting more than 400 active fires, with more than 240 listed as ‘out of control'” the Washington Post reported. #HappeningNow Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre: “Climate Change a top priority” in light of Code Red air quality conditions in NE from Canadian wildfires. Biden...

The XBB.1.5 omicron subvariant is raising concerns of a potential surge in COVID-19 cases as it sweeps across the Northeast. Officials have warned in recent weeks that the strain is highly transmissible, can more easily evade the immunity offered by vaccines or prior infections than past variants — and is likely to drive cases up around the country.

Amid warnings from health officials and the White House over a new COVID-19 surge coming this winter, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed a new variant is now dominant in parts of the Northeast. The Omicron subvariant XBB accounts for about 52.6% of all cases in New England between Dec. 18 and Dec. 24, according to the CDC. XBB constitutes 18.3% of cases across the country. “It looks like it’s just going to blow the other (variants) away in a very short period,” Jeremy Luban, professor of molecular medicine, biochemistry, and molecular biotechnology at UMass Chan Medical...

It looks like President Joe Biden might get his winter of death after all, and it’s not because of the unvaccinated. If you live in the Northeast, you know that even in normal times, heating oil bills constitute a significant expense because winters are usually brutal. Unfortunately, this year could be the worst year ever for residents of the region hoping to adequately heat their homes. Not only are heating oil prices through the roof on anti-fossil fuel President Joe Biden’s watch, but even for those who have the funds to stock up, it doesn’t really matter: heating oil rationing...

Diesel and heating oil supplies in the Northeast are more than 50% below the recent average, raising concerns that an extreme weather event could cause supply disruptions, federal officials said. Fuel supplies are lower than normal across the country for a variety of reasons, including the war in Ukraine. But it’s the worst in the Northeast. Diesel fuel and heating oil, which comprise the distillate category, are 63% below the five-year average in New England and 58% below the same average from Maryland to New York, according to a survey by the Department of Energy. Gasoline inventories are not as...

About 100 million people in the Northeast will be blasted with a quick shot of heat and humidity this Saturday and Sunday. High temperatures are expected to range between the upper 80s and mid-90s from Ohio to Washington, D.C. to Baltimore to Philadelphia to New York City. AccuWeather meteorologists say some cities in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast could see the hottest conditions since last August. In some metro areas, record highs for this time of year that have stood the test of time could be broken. Daily record highs that have stood since the World War II and Great Depression...

U.S. natural gas futures jumped as much as 6% to $4.298/MMBtu Tuesday morning as traders are concerned about the possibility of a major winter snowstorm on Friday evening into Saturday for the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions.We first alerted readers on Monday about the prospects of “a possible nor’easter impacting the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast from Friday Night to Saturday.” Within 72 hours of the storm (today), meteorologists can start discussing potential impacts. Around 48 hours (Thursday), more accurate snowfall total estimates will be circulated on social media and mainstream media outlets. On Friday, meteorologists can pinpoint town-by-town potential impacts. So far,...

Even though the storm will be moving along quickly, it will strengthen off the mid-Atlantic and New England coasts, according to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Joe Lundberg. It is likely to become "the first bomb cyclone of the 2022 winter season” in the Northeast, he added. A bomb cyclone is defined as a storm that’s central pressure plummets by 0.71 of an inch of mercury (24 millibars) within 24 hours. That means the storm could whip up strong winds and pull in more moisture, helping it to fuel heavier snow rates as it chugs up the Eastern Seaboard. The heaviest snow...

Former FDA chief Scott Gottlieb is warning that the “true Delta wave” has yet to begin in the Northeast — and predicted it would start soon after Labor Day. “I think there’s sort of a perception that we’re sort of through this Delta wave here in the Northeast because we’ve seen Delta cases go up and go down in places like the New York metropolitan region. We’re also seeing positive [tests] come down,” said Dr. Gottlieb, the former head of the federal Food and Drug Administration, on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Friday.

As people in northeastern China grow increasingly dissatisfied with the central government’s neglect of the region’s economic development, authorities are worried that mass protests could soon break out, according to an insider. The insider, who requested anonymity in order to speak freely, formerly worked for a senior official at the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front Work Department (UFWD). The agency is in charge of persuading Chinese people domestic and abroad to agree with the Party’s policies and maintain the Party’s rule. While the insider caught up with his former superior during Lunar New Year, the latter revealed the central government’s...

Coronavirus patients in northeastern China are reportedly taking longer to recover from the virus and to exhibit symptoms than patients from the original outbreak in Wuhan, one of China’s top doctors told state TV Tuesday. Dr. Qiu Haibo, who is taking care of patients in the northeast, said the more than two-week incubation period is making it hard to keep the virus from spreading and could show the virus is changing, Bloomberg reported. Patients in the northeast also mostly have lung damage rather than in their heart, kidney and stomach as in Wuhan. At least 46 cases have popped up...

While coastal communities in New England are still recovering from costly beach erosion due to last week's coastal storm, another one could be on the way this week -- and it's expected to intensify rapidly. Some models are even suggesting this possible nor'easter could strengthen so quickly it could become a "bomb cyclone," which generally is marked by a pressure drop of 24 millibars (a unit of pressure) within 24 hours. Winds could reach tropical storm-force (39 mph+) with even higher gusts by Wednesday

As heat expands across the northeastern United States, highs near the century mark will be common, with some locations experiencing dangerously high AccuWeather ReelFeel® Temperatures well above 100 F -- but not before what's left of Barry sweeps through with localized flooding downpours. While temperatures may be briefly held back in areas that receive a thorough drenching for a day or so, intense July sunshine, combined with a northward retreat of the jet stream will allow an impressive heat wave to build even for midsummer standards.

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — A hammer attack on the A train Thursday is the most recent in a mounting number of incidents involving emotionally-disturbed individuals in New York. A homeless man who had been sleeping and taking up several seats caused panic when he pulled out a hammer, threatened a passenger who has apparently wanted him to move, then spit at him as he rushed off the train.

The Northeastern part of the United States, once known as a bulwark of Puritans and other strict Christian sects, now dominates the top 10 list of the most “post-Christian” cities, according to a report by the Barna Group. For the report, released Wednesday, Barna drew from data based on interviews with 21,378 adults conducted over a 10-year period that concluded in April 2018, with a sampling error of plus or minus 0.7 percentage points.The cities were listed in geographic area classifications known as Designated Market Areas, a term developed by The Nielsen Company to define a local media market.Springfield-Holyoke, Massachusetts,...

A Wilkinsburg woman is accused of starving three children that had been in her care for seven months, according to Allegheny County police. Jennifer Stout, 35, was jailed Saturday on charges of aggravated assault, child endangerment and reckless endangerment. Authorities said in a criminal complaint that the three children — two girls, ages 12 and 9, and a 2-year-old boy — were taken toChildren’s Hospital of Pittsburgh on Thursday by their aunt. Family members told police that the children’s mother left them with Stout during the summer, according to the complaint. The aunt reported deplorable conditions at Stout’s Hunter...

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Nouri Mahmoud, a spokesperson for the People’s Protection Units (YPG), has accused Turkey of sending sleeper cells to areas held by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).In an interview with Kurdistan24 last week, Mahmoud said Turkey directly supports all “jihadi groups.”  The spokesperson was referring to when the so-called Islamic State (IS) controlled Jarabulus and Tal Abyad, “when the borders were open and oil deals ongoing.”However, after the SDF controlled areas from IS in Tal Abyad, Manbij, Raqqa, and now also Deir al-Zor, Turkey, “through its intelligence, started to send infiltrators to Syria,” he added.“When we talk...