Free Republic

(KTLA) — Coronavirus levels in California’s wastewater have reached a “very high” level for the first time since last winter. According to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the trend matches what’s being reported in several other states. The Golden State was one of seven states with “very high” levels; the others were Arkansas, Florida, Maryland, Nevada, Oregon and Texas. In Los Angeles County, the nation’s most populous, coronavirus levels in wastewater have also increased.

Last winter’s unusual onslaught of rain and snow led to California’s first increase in groundwater levels in four years, state officials reported on Monday. The 2023 Water Year — which spanned from Oct. 1, 2022, through Sept. 30, 2023 — brought a welcome 4.1 million acre-feet of managed groundwater recharge and a total rise in groundwater storage of 8.7 million acre-feet, according to the California Department of Water Resources. Managed groundwater recharge involves purposefully replenishing supplies by injecting excess water into an aquifer. The 4.1 million acre-feet recharge volume was equivalent to the entire storage capacity of Shasta Lake, the...

Serious crime spiked again last year to levels unseen in nearly two decades, according to internal NYPD data obtained by The Post — even as Mayor Eric Adams has repeatedly claimed that “crime is down” in the Big Apple. For the second year in a row under Adams, overall crime was on the rise — driven by a historic surge in assaults, which neared 28,000 for the first time in the city’s publicly recorded history, according to the police department’s rolling report. The report tracks the tally of seven major felony offenses after the time of arrest to when cases...

New York City sea levels could rise more than a foot by the 2030s, according to projections presented by a city climate panel. The nation’s largest city will see as much as 10 percent more precipitation and temperature increases of 2 degrees to 4.7 degrees, the New York City Panel on Climate Change (NPCC) said at a presentation at the Consortium for Climate Risk in the Urban Northeast. The presentation’s contents were first reported by The City. Further into the century, “we can’t rule out” precipitation increases as high as 30 percent, said NPCC member Radley Horton, a climate professor...

During a portion of an interview with NBC News on Monday aired on Tuesday’s edition of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen stated that she thinks there are “good indications” that show inflation “is poised to come down,” but she doesn’t want to make predictions on a month-to-month basis and she believes that “over the next couple of years,” “inflation will come back down toward normal levels we’re accustomed to.” Yellen said, “I think we see some good indications that inflation is poised to come down, but –.”

Americans are flocking to the coasts faster than ever before. And with much of the nation's priciest properties already concentrated near shorelines, this puts more people and buildings at risk from the kind of extreme storms and flooding linked to climate change. But for many communities across the U.S. the toll is likely to go far beyond physical damage. Rising sea levels could have a knock-on effect, making certain areas unlivable long before they're uninhabitable, effectively creating zombie towns, according to a new analysis from nonprofit environmental group Climate Central that looks at the financial impact of sea-level rise over...

The U.S. recorded more than 1,000 COVID-19 deaths on Tuesday as numbers reach levels last seen in April, largely due to the highly infectious delta variant spreading rapidly throughout the country. The 1,017 coronavirus deaths reported on Tuesday equate to roughly 42 fatalities an hour, according to a Reuters tally of state data. The U.S. has recorded more than 620,000 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Gallup's job creation index at +37 in July—a record high Optimism for small-business owners about their business situation is at the highest level seen in a decade, according to a poll from Gallup. Business owners were asked about their current business situation and how they felt about their businesses' future. While business owners are historically more positive about the future than their current situation, the results from this poll show a large uptick in how businesses feel about their current situation. "The overall increase in the index this quarter is mainly the result of an uptick in present situation...

The radiation levels at Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant are now at "unimaginable" levels. Adam Housley, who reported from the area in 2011 following the catastrophic triple-meltdown, said this morning that new fuel leaks have been discovered. He said the radiation levels - as high as 530 sieverts per hour - are now the highest they've been since 2011 when a tsunami hit the coastal reactor. "To put this in very simple terms. Four sieverts can kill a handful of people," he explained. He said that critics, including the U.S. military in 2011, have long questioned whether Tokyo Electric...

There's striking new evidence that Earth's atmosphere is increasingly saturated with carbon dioxide, the major gas from fossil fuel emissions that trigger climate change. ... "This should be taken as a warning," said Ken Caldeira, an atmospheric scientist with the Carnegie Institution's department of global ecology at Stanford University. "It is time to stop building things with tailpipes and smokestacks. "It is time to stop using the sky as a waste dump for our carbon dioxide pollution. If we fail to heed this warning, our children will end up living in a world that is much hotter than any human...

When President Obama gave his blessing to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s decision to invoke the so-called “nuclear option,” he said the effort by Republicans to block his nominees was “unprecedented.” "Today's pattern of obstruction, it just isn't normal," Obama said. "I support the step a majority of senators today took to change the way that Washington is doing business." However, that’s only partially true. Looking at all of Obama’s nominees across his administration, he has suffered unprecedented levels of obstruction, according to the Wall Street Journal. But when it comes to judicial nominees – the process that sparked Senate...

NEW YORK (AP) - Damage from the housing bust is spreading to areas once thought to be immune. In at least 14 major U.S. metro areas, prices are now at 2003 levels—when the housing bubble was just starting to inflate. Prices will likely fall further this year, making many people reluctant to buy or sell. That would push down sales and prices more. The depressed housing industry is slowing an economy that has shown strength elsewhere. And it's starting to hurt those who bought years before the housing boom began. In some cities, people who have paid their mortgages for...

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Palestinians say a huge explosion has leveled the Gaza home of a senior Hamas commander, causing multiple casualties. Palestinians say the blast was caused by an Israeli airstrike, but Israel denies that. The explosion early Monday wrecked the house of Ala Adnaf, a commander of the Hamas military wing, Palestinian security officials said. At least 17 people were rushed to a hospital, and unconfirmed reports said two people were killed. Rescue teams were digging through the rubble. The security officials said a missile fired by an Israeli warplane hit the house. The Israeli military said...

SACRAMENTO — SACRAMENTO – A draft blueprint to stem global warming counts on businesses and everyday Californians to accept a mix of tough regulations and new fees, perhaps as much as $1.5 billion a year collected on targeted products and water bills. The state Air Resources Board spent yesterday drawing praise and protest for its groundbreaking initiative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions linked to global warming. Regulators now will refine the plan before they gather next month for a final vote on the blueprint, which would require a gradual rollback in emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2020, an...

Bacteria Levels In Aircraft Shows Low Risk To Travelers, Study Shows ScienceDaily (May 2, 2008) — Popular wisdom says that aircraft provide the perfect environment for spreading disease, but few studies exist to confirm or deny this suspicion. Now, a team of researchers from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, a leading federal agency and Harvard University has measured concentrations of bacteria in the cabin air of 12 commercial passenger aircraft, and found that flying may be safer than we think. “In general, bacterial concentrations and types found during the study should not pose a risk to travelers,” says Christine Rogers,...

BILLINGS, Mont. - Pesticides, heavy metals and other airborne contaminants are raining down on national parks across the West and Alaska, turning up at sometimes dangerously high levels in lakes, plants and fish. A sweeping, six-year federal study released Tuesday found evidence of 70 contaminants in 20 national parks and monuments — from Denali in Alaska and Glacier in Montana, to Big Bend in Texas and Yosemite in California. The findings revealed that some of the Earth's most pristine wilderness is still within reach of the toxic byproducts of the industrial age. "Contaminants are everywhere. You can't get more remote...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 25, 2008 – Officials project five U.S. Army brigades and two Marine battalions will leave Iraq by the end of July, but it’s too soon to project troop levels beyond that, a senior U.S. military officer said here today. Army Lt. Gen. Carter F. Ham, the Joint Staff's director of operations, answers questions from reporters during a news briefing at the Pentagon on Feb. 25, 2008. Photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Molly A. Burgess, USN  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “There is increasing pressure on al Qaeda in Iraq everywhere inside of Iraq,” Army Lt....

WASHINGTON, Sept. 15, 2007 – President Bush said today he supports the recommendations on reducing troop levels in Iraq made earlier this week by Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of Multinational Force Iraq. During his weekly radio address, Bush voiced confidence in Petraeus’ suggestion that U.S. forces reduce their size by 5,700 troops in Iraq by Christmas, and that troop levels could be scaled down from 20 combat brigades to 15 by July. Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan C. Crocker presented their report to Congress Sept. 10-11. “I have accepted General Petraeus’ recommendations. And I have...

Source: Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Date: July 10, 2007 Low Vitamin D Levels May Be Common In Otherwise Healthy Children Science Daily — Many otherwise healthy children and adolescents have low vitamin D levels, which may put them at risk for bone diseases such as rickets. African American children, children above age nine and with low dietary vitamin D intake were the most likely to have low levels of vitamin D in their blood, according to researchers from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. A study in the current issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition measured blood levels of...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 26, 2007 – When troops ask the military’s highest-ranking officer questions about the war in Iraq, force levels or tour lengths, Marine Gen. Peter Pace is eager to answer frankly and completely. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff fielded questions Feb. 22 and 23 from active duty, National Guard and Reserve troops in Alaska at the Army’s Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks, and at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage. After brief opening remarks, Pace told the troops he’d rather answer their questions than “talk at them.” The troops responded with questions on the global picture...