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2021 has left the pressure sensitive label industry in complete and utter chaos.Shipping costs and freight rates are soaring. Soaring freight rates, cargo container shortages, and port congestion have driven up shipping costs. Lead times have extended so far out, they are unknown.A rising need for pulp and paper has far exceeded supply and demand, escalating raw material costs. Packaging supplies like sealing tape, stretch film, and ribbon are seeing price hikes to the moon.We know these disruptions mean big problems for the label industry, but what do they really mean for everyday people?Well, someone has to pay when the...

he states occupational safety board, Cal/OSHA, voted Thursday to keep masks mandatory for employees at work past June 15, unless everyone in the room is fully vaccinated. Members who initially rejected the revision said they are concerned that it doesn’t go far enough or that it requires employers to stockpile the most effective N95 facemasks for employees who want them starting July 1. The decision means that the current Nov 2020 rules remain in place, meaning all employees must continue wearing face coverings, whether or not they are vaccinated, even past June 15. The board could meet once again to...

Dr. Anthony Fauci gave a wide-ranging interview that was published late Thursday that mainly focused on the origins of the coronavirus, and he was asked if he believed his own National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases could have any responsibility for the global pandemic. "Are you really saying that we are implicated because we gave a multibillion-dollar institution $120,000 a year for bat surveillance?" he asked, according to the Financial Times. The paper did not post the precise question asked to Fauci, but the top disease doctor has been facing increased criticism by Republicans, including Sen. Rand Paul over...

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Friday on MSNBC’s “Hallie Jackson Reports” that the Biden administration has “to deliver this summer” with an infrastructure package passed through Congress. Jackson said, “You have progressives in the words of Politico, losing their minds over President Biden waiting to get some kind of a deal with Republicans. On the other side, you have Senator Joe Manchin making very clear with NBC News this morning. He is not down to go it alone. He wants Republican support. If this June 7th deadline, if you will, comes and goes and Republicans aren’t where Democrats want them...

United Airlines officials announced a commercial agreement with Denver-based aerospace company Boom Supersonic to add aircraft to its global fleet as well as a cooperative sustainability initiative – a move that facilitates a leap forward in returning supersonic speeds to aviation. Under the terms of the agreement, United will purchase 15 of Boom’s Overture airliners, once the aircraft meets United’s safety, operating, and sustainability requirements, with an option for an additional 35 aircraft. The companies will work together on meeting those requirements before delivery. Once operational, Overture is expected to be the first large commercial aircraft to be net-zero carbon...

The rise of the Greens in Germany may hit a snag this Sunday, when the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt goes to vote. The far-right Alternative for Germany has taken the lead in some opinion polls there.

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When President Joe Biden campaigned for the presidency, one of his signature campaign promises was a $1,400 stimulus check. The president delivered, signing the American Rescue Plan Act into law in March and authorizing a third stimulus payment to follow the first two that were issued under the Trump administration...But despite a number of Democrats and millions of Americans calling for a fourth check, the Biden administration has now made clear that fighting for another direct payment is not a priority. ... Jen Psaki explained the White House's position on stimulus checks. "He's happy to hear from a range of...

Infection rates already falling before restrictions put in place. A major new study by German scientists at Munich University has found that lockdowns had no effect on reducing the country’s coronavirus infection rate. Oh. “Statisticians at Munich University found “no direct connection” between the German lockdown and falling infection rates in the country,” reports the Telegraph. The study found that, on all three occasions before Germany imposed its lockdowns in November, December and April, infection rates had already begun to fall. The R rate – the number that indicates how many other people an infected person passes the virus to...

Californians are eagerly awaiting June 15 as the grand reopening date for our state, as determined by the Governor. The lifting of restrictions and confusing color-coded tiers signals that the sacrifices made professionally, personally, emotionally, have paid off and we are entering an official recovery from the ravages of COVID. However, before anyone begins their celebrations, Cal/OSHA has told employers the recovery has begun for everyone but them. We may be going “beyond the blueprint,” but the body of individuals appointed by the Governor, who are not legislators, voted Thursday that employers will be left holding the bag on the...

Earlier today Bari Weiss published the first in a series of stories about the spread of woke ideology in the field of medicine. The piece was written by reporter Katie Herzog who co-hosts a podcast with Jesse Singal, another critic of cancel culture. The piece opens exactly the way some previous pieces on this topic have opened, with a group of about a dozen people who meet regularly on Zoom to discuss what they see happening in their own workplaces. The only difference is that these people are doctors. As Herzog describes it, none of these people would be mistaken...

Texas is bracing for a brutally hot summer and a record-breaking demand for energy. After the winter storm in February left millions without power for days, there’s a new report warning Texas is at an “elevated risk” of energy emergencies this summer. The new report comes from the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, or NERC... The report outlines two main concerns about the Texas power grid for this summer. Electricity reserve margins have gone down, so generation may not be able to keep up with growth in demand. The second concern is we rely heavily on wind and solar power...

LeBron is one-and-done for the first time in his NBA playoff career, and as one might imagine from a man who flops shamelessly, he didn’t take it well. Instead of shaking hands with the victorious Suns who eliminated James and the Lakers without too much difficulty, the “Chosen One” left the floor and headed to the locker room.

NEW YORK (AP) — The building has stunning Manhattan skyline views, its spa offers deep-tissue massages, and the fancy restaurant off the lobby serves up prime steaks. Best of all, many apartments at the Trump World Tower are selling at a deep discount — assuming the buyer doesn’t mind the name over the door. “Fifty percent of the people wouldn’t want to live in a Trump building for any reason … but then there are guys like me,” says Lou Sollecito, a car dealer who recently bought a two-bedroom unit with views of the Empire State Building. “It’s a super...

Progressive hopefuls launched aggressive attacks at frontrunner Terry McAuliffe during the last week of Virginia's Democratic gubernatorial primary, invoking race to portray the multimillionaire former governor as out of touch with minority voters. Former state lawmaker Jennifer Carroll Foy landed the most piercing blows against McAuliffe during the primary's final debate Tuesday night. She first argued that the "out-of-touch millionaire" McAuliffe "had his chance" as governor and "failed the people of Virginia." Minutes later, she seemingly accused McAuliffe of viewing black people as "convicted felons" after the former governor touted his work to restore voting privileges to former prisoners. "Terry...

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) - While recreational marijuana is now legal in Arizona, driving impaired with weed in your system is against the law, and officers are cracking down on marijuana-related DUI. A traffic stop for a marijuana-related DUI will usually start like an alcohol-related one, but a breathalyzer for marijuana isn't commonly available for law enforcement, so officers need other ways to detect drugs in a suspect's system. Often, a drug recognition expert gets called out, and if it's determined the driver is impaired, marijuana DUI investigations in Arizona require a blood test. "If you just have marijuana in your...

New data from online real estate brokerage Redfin further illustrates how wild the Austin housing market has been in 2021. Redfin says more than 1,500 homes have sold for more than $100,000 above asking price since the beginning of 2021 in Austin, and 72 of them sold for more than $300,000 over the asking price. At this time last year, only 22 homes had winning bids over $100,000 over the asking price. The year-over-year gap is even wider for homes that sold in a range of $25,000-$99,999 over the asking price. Last year, from Jan. 1, 2020 to May 23,...

The Supreme Court will consider whether setting Obamacare’s individual mandate tax to $0 renders the mandate unconstitutional, and if any other parts of Obamacare should fall with it.In a few weeks, health care will once again take center stage at the Supreme Court. In what has become a semi-regular occurrence, the justices will soon rule on a case focused on two central questions: Whether Congress’ 2017 decision to set Obamacare’s individual mandate tax to $0 renders the mandate unconstitutional, and if so, what if any other parts of Obamacare should fall with it.In advance of the impending ruling, John McDonough...

<p>A months long Vanity Fair investigation, interviews with more than 40 people, and a review of hundreds of pages of U.S. government documents, including internal memos, meeting minutes, and email correspondence, found that conflicts of interest, stemming in part from large government grants supporting controversial virology research, hampered the U.S. investigation into COVID-19’s origin at every step. In one State Department meeting, officials seeking to demand transparency from the Chinese government say they were explicitly told by colleagues not to explore the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s gain-of-function research, because it would bring unwelcome attention to U.S. government funding of it.</p>

The Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant (BGCAPP) team destroyed the last of the 155mm projectiles containing VX nerve agent on May 28. “There are two important milestones to recognize here,” said Dr. Candace Coyle, BGCAPP site project manager. “This marks not only the completion of the second of five destruction campaigns in Kentucky, but also the destruction of all projectiles containing nerve agent in the U.S. chemical weapons stockpile.” With the completion of the VX 155mm projectile campaign, BGCAPP teams will now focus on completing destruction of mustard-filled projectiles and preparing for destruction of nerve agent-filled rockets. ...