Free Republic

Key Points Approximately 50,000 ILA union longshoremen were walking off the job at East Coast and Gulf Coast ports from New England to Texas starting at 12:01 a.m. ET on October 1 after failing to reach an agreement with ports ownership on a new contract, the union’s first strike since 1977. Between 43%-49% of all U.S. imports and billions of dollars in trade monthly move through the U.S East Coast and Gulf ports. The International Longshoreman’s Association, the largest maritime union in North America, rejected an offer from the port management group USMX on Monday that included a wage hike...

The storm surge, wind damage and inland flooding from Hurricane Helene have been catastrophic, flooding neighborhoods, stranding residents and destroying homes in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee. More than 130 people have been killed, according to The Associated Press. Helene, which made landfall in Florida's Big Bend region Thursday night as a massive Category 4 hurricane, was the strongest hurricane to make landfall in the Big Bend on record.