The U.S. economy ended 2017 by adding 148,000 new jobs in December. Despite the modest gain, hiring was strong enough to suggest the economic momentum will continue. But while the national unemployment rate remained unchanged at a 17-year low of 4.1 percent, analysts say the pace of job growth may be slowing down. Mil Arcega has more.
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From: MeNeedIt
Frigid temperatures, some that felt as cold as minus 30 degrees (-34 Celsius), moved across the East Coast on Friday as the region dug out from a massive winter storm that brought more than a foot of snow, hurricane-force winds and coastal flooding a day earlier.
Forecasters predicted strong winds and record-breaking cold air to hang around through the weekend.
The worst cold is likely to be in the White Mountains in New Hampshire. The Mount Washington Observatory, on its website, predicted the mountain’s highest summits could see wind chills of minus 100 degrees into Saturday.
WATCH: East of the Rockies, North America Shivers
Jess Flarity, a 32-year-old visiting a friend in Concord, New Hampshire, said the deep chill reminded him of his time in Alaska.
“I’ve been in minus 60 before so minus 20 doesn’t frighten me,” he said as he waited for a bus back to Boston Friday. “But I did have to prepare, bring some extra cold weather gear — gloves, boots and those kinds of things.”
In Portland, Maine, Jeanne Paterak said the cold snap revived her worries about the impact of climate change.
“We are seeing some historic temperatures and everyone will be vulnerable,” she said as she stocked up on milk, vegetables and juice at a supermarket Friday morning.
Wind chill a worry
The arctic blast could make temperatures feel as low as minus 15 degrees to minus 25 (-26 to -31 Celsius) from Philadelphia to Boston and make residents of states like Maryland and Virginia shiver from temperatures ranging from 10 degrees to 15 degrees (-12 to -9 Celsius). The wind chill could make it feel like minus 35 degrees (-37 Celsius) in the Berkshire hills of western Massachusetts, the National Weather Service said.
Thursday’s storm packed wind gusts of more than 70 mph (113 kph) and dumped as much as 18 inches (46 centimeters) of snow in some places.
It caused school and business closings, airline and rail service cancellations or reductions and thousands of utilities outages, many of them restored quickly. Some ferry services also had to be shut down.
Flights resumed at airports along the East Coast after hundreds were canceled Thursday.
Fires and floods
Massachusetts officials said the storm caused more than 1 million gallons of untreated sewage to spill into Nantucket Harbor after a huge sewer main break. In Gloucester, north of Boston, an estimated 50 cars were destroyed in a school parking lot after a storm surge submerged the lot under a few feet of salt water.
In New Jersey, gusty winds carried flames from a vacant building across the street to two other buildings Friday morning. The flames also spread to two structures adjacent to the vacant building, damaging a total of five in Newark. Two firefighters suffered minor injuries.
In the South, the winter weather forced the need for portable toilets outside Mississippi’s Capitol after pipes burst, and it caused iguanas to become sluggish and topple from trees in South Florida. Residents of southeast Georgia were treated to a rare half-foot of snow (15 centimeters).
Record coastal flooding
In New England, powerful winds brought coastal flooding that reached historic levels in some communities.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration confirmed Friday that water levels in Boston broke the record set during a massive blizzard in 1978.
The flooding sent large trash containers floating down Boston streets, forced the shutdown of a subway station as water cascaded down the steps and prompted rescues of people trapped in cars and homes by rapidly rising waters in several Massachusetts communities.
In Scituate, south of Boston, residents were spending Friday trying to dry out their basements before more frigid temperatures arrived.
Longtime resident Dianne Davis said her home was surrounded by ocean water that eventually filled her basement.
“I’ve never been afraid, but when the water was coming up over my front steps, that’s when I said … ‘OK this is getting serious,”’ Davis said.
At least 10 deaths
At least 10 people died in weather-related accidents, including a 13-year-old girl who was sickened by carbon monoxide in an apartment building in Perth Amboy, New Jersey.
In Massachusetts, a worker suffered cardiac arrest and died Friday while clearing snow at a Massachusetts Water Resources Authority facility. Two people died of cardiac arrest during the storm Thursday on New York’s Long Island, officials said. And in Maine, authorities on Friday said they’re still searching for a clammer who disappeared during the blizzard.
Sunday morning was expected to bring the coldest temperatures from Portland, Maine, to Washington, D.C. More seasonable weather is expected to return early next week with temperatures in the high 30s and near 40s.
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From: MeNeedIt
Social media giant Twitter has reiterated its stance that accounts belonging to world leaders have special status, pushing back against calls from some users for the company to ban U.S. President Donald Trump.
In a blog post Friday, Twitter said it would not block the accounts of world leaders even if their statements were “controversial” because of a need to promote discussions about public policy.
“Blocking a world leader from Twitter or removing their controversial tweets would hide important information people should be able to see and debate,” Twitter said.
It said such a move would also not silence a world leader, but it “would certainly hamper necessary discussion around their words and actions.”
“Twitter is here to serve and help advance the global, public conversation. Elected world leaders play a critical role in that conversation because of their outsized impact on our society,” the post said.
The company has previously said that it considers whether a post is newsworthy and of public interest before deciding whether to remove it.
Twitter did not specifically mention Trump in its statement. The debate over Trump’s tweets grew on Wednesday, when he tweeted that he had a “much bigger” nuclear button than North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Critics said the tweet violated Twitter’s ban against threats of violence.
Last month, Twitter began enforcing new rules to remove “hateful” content on the network, including posts that promote violence.
The company said Friday that it reviews all tweets, including those of world leaders. “We review tweets by leaders within the political context that defines them, and enforce our rules accordingly,” the statement said.
A White House spokeswoman said she did not expect there to be any White House comment on the Twitter statement.
Pete Heinlein at the White House contributed to this report.
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From: MeNeedIt
America’s space agency wants you to head for the mountains with a smartphone and a measuring stick.
NASA’s earth science arm is funding research that recruits citizen scientists on skis, snowshoes and snowmobiles to measure the depth of snow in backcountry locations in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska.
Their measurements will be incorporated into computer models that calculate how much water will end up in the region’s rivers and reservoirs.
Early results promising
“Our initial model runs show that citizen science measurements are doing an amazing job of improving our simulations,” said David Hill, an Oregon State University professor of civil engineering, who is collaborating with Alaska and University of Washington researchers. They received one of 16 NASA citizen science grants for the project.
The snowpack measurements are incorporated into computer models estimating “snow-water equivalent,” the amount of liquid water contained in snow cover, of a watershed.
In Western states, according to NASA, nearly three-fourths of annual stream flow that provides drinking water comes from spring and summer melt.
NASA in February began a multiyear research project to improve the accuracy of its snow measurements with partners in Europe and Canada, trying to solve challenges such as detecting snow through trees.
Several projects
The grant awarded to Hill, Anthony Arendt of the University of Washington and Gabriel Wolken, a research geologist with the Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys, is not directly connected to that project but has a mutual interest, said Kevin Murphy, a program executive for science data systems at NASA headquarters.
“We decided about two years ago to start this program, which really looks at how can we harness the creativity and the capabilities of citizens to augment a lot of our satellite or aircraft measurements,” Murphy said.
Cheap, plentiful volunteers
Snow telemetry stations maintained by the U.S. Agriculture Department are another important tool for measuring snow in high-elevation and other hard-to-access places, Hill said. The unmanned stations collect data using a system of automated sensors.
But too few of them exist, Hill said. “They’re expensive to install, they’re expensive to maintain, so there just aren’t that many.”
The citizen snow-measuring program, Community Snow Observations, aims to supplement that with people.
“We want to turn the public into these mobile snow telemetry stations,” he said. “You just need a probe to do it.”
The measuring device can be as rudimentary as a yardstick, Hill said, but most people venturing into mountains already carry an avalanche probe, a 5- to 6-meter stick that folds down like a tent pole. After an avalanche, the probes are used to feel for people buried in the snow. Probes typically carry measurement markings.
“You want to know when you actually find that person how deep they are,” Hill said. “They’re really just a big, long ruler.”
First volunteers in Alaska
For the citizen science program, an online tutorial tells participants to find undisturbed snow, push the probe firmly to the ground, read the depth in centimeters and enter the data onto a smartphone app. Participants are asked to repeat that several times and average the measurements.
The app records the location and time of the measurement and uploads the information. The program accounts for measurements in continental climate locations with light, dry snow or the wet, dense snow of maritime climates.
Initial measurements were made last winter in Alaska’s Thompson Pass north of Valdez, where other snow research was being conducted.
“I recruited some of the folks from Valdez Avalanche Center. They brought friends along,” said Wolken, the Alaska research geologist. “That was our first go at getting sort of a grassroots, citizen science team.”
The hundreds of measurements collected far outpaced what the scientists could gather themselves. When NASA announced grants for citizen scientist projects, the researchers jumped to apply, Wolken said.
Modeling errors plunge
Preliminary calculations have been “striking,” Hill said, and the subject of a paper written by a doctoral student.
“He has results that basically show that the errors in our modeled snow-water equivalent are cut by about 90 percent with this input from public,” Hill said. “We’re thrilled about that.”
Other NASA grants in the program will use citizen scientists to collect data on mosquito populations and their breeding environments around the world, water depths in lakes in North Carolina and elsewhere, moisture in soil at various locations, changes in giant kelp across the globe, and images of clouds from the ground in Colorado.
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From: MeNeedIt
Britain should charge a 25-pence ($0.34) levy on disposable coffee cups to cut down waste and use the money to improve recycling facilities, a committee of lawmakers said Friday.
Chains Pret A Manger, Costa Coffee, Caffe Nero and Greggs alongside U.S. firm Starbucks are among the biggest coffee-sellers in Britain, rapidly expanding in the last 10 years to meet increasing demand.
Although some outlets give a discount to customers using their own cup, only 1-2 percent of buyers take up the offer, according to parliament’s environmental audit committee, which said a “latte levy” was needed instead.
2.5 billion cups a year
“The UK throws away 2.5 billion disposable coffee cups every year; enough to circle the planet 5½ times,” said chair of the committee, Mary Creagh.
“We’re calling for action to reduce the number of single-use cups, promote reusable cups over disposable cups and to recycle all coffee cups by 2023,” she said.
The committee said that if the recycling target is not met then disposable coffee cups should be banned.
Bag levy success
In October 2015, Britain introduced a charge of 5-pence on all single-use plastic bags provided by large shops, which led to an 83 percent reduction in UK plastic bags used in the first year.
On Friday the environment ministry said the government was working closely with the sector and had made progress in increasing recycling rates.
“We are encouraged by industry action to increase the recycling of paper cups with some major retail chains now offering discounts to customers with reusable cups,” said a spokeswoman.
“We will carefully consider the committee’s recommendations and respond shortly,” she said.
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From: MeNeedIt
A true treasure overlooks the city of Kinshasa on top of Ngaliema Hill. An exhibition room of a few dozen square meters is too small to contain the 45,000 pieces that have been collected from across the Democratic Republic of Congo. But this is the temporary solution to keep some of this collection open to the public until a new and bigger museum, opens in 2018. Abdourahmane Dia has this report.
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From: MeNeedIt
A life threatening cold front swept across North America, bringing piles of snow and icy conditions. The National Weather Service issued wind chill advisories and freeze warnings covering a vast area from South Texas to Canada and from Montana through New England. VOA’s Carol Pearson reports doctors are issuing warnings about injuries from frostbite and ice.
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From: MeNeedIt
New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art is partially abandoning its “pay-what-you-wish” admissions policy that has made it an egalitarian destination for generations of art lovers.
Starting March 1, the museum will charge a mandatory $25 entrance fee to most adult visitors who don’t live in New York state.
Museum President and CEO Daniel Weiss announced the change Thursday.
Weiss says the extra money will help balance the Met’s $305 million annual operating budget.
Entrance will remain free for all children under 12 and pay-as-you-wish for students up to graduate school in New York and surrounding New Jersey and Connecticut.
The $25 fee will allow visitors to enter the Met over three consecutive days, instead of just one.
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From: MeNeedIt
Childish Gambino, Lady Gaga, Little Big Town and Pink will perform at the 60th Grammy Awards, which will also feature Broadway musical tributes by Patti LuPone and Ben Platt in honor of the show’s return to New York City.
The Recording Academy announced Thursday the first round of performers for the January 28 awards show, held live from Madison Square Garden.
Gambino will make his Grammy stage debut after being nominated for five awards, including album of the year and record of the year.
LuPone will reprise her 1981 Grammy performance of “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina,” while Platt, who is nominated for his work on the musical album “Dear Evan Hansen,” will perform a classic from “West Side Story” honoring the music of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Leonard Bernstein.
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From: MeNeedIt
CBS News has fired its political director, Steve Chaggaris, for “inappropriate behavior.”
CBS News says in an emailed statement that “accounts” of his behavior were brought to their attention in the last two weeks and were “immediately investigated.” He was fired Wednesday for “violating company policy.”
The company did not specify what Chaggaris was accused of and declined to answer follow-up questions. Chaggaris was not immediately available for comment.
Chaggaris had led the news team’s political coverage and appeared on-air. He was a longtime employee, having started at CBS News in 1999, with a two-year gap from 2010-2012 working for a news startup and Yahoo.
CBS News fired Charlie Rose in November from its morning show after several women accused him of unwanted sexual advances.
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From: MeNeedIt
Patients in African hospitals are twice as likely to die after surgery than the global average, according to a new study.
Although African patients were younger and at lower risk than average, 1 percent died of complications after elective surgery, compared to a 0.5 percent death rate worldwide.
“It’s really concerning when you see how high the mortality is, considering that the patients are generally fit and they’re having a lot more minor surgeries,” lead author Bruce Biccard of the University of Cape Town said.
Workforce and resource shortages across the continent are likely a major factor, the authors of the study write in the journal The Lancet.
The group of more than 30 African researchers took a one-week snapshot of surgeries at 247 hospitals in 25 African countries, from Algeria to Madagascar.
The study found a severe shortage of African surgeons, obstetricians and anesthesiologists. Previous research has found that fewer patients die after surgery when there are 20 to 40 specialists per 100,000 population. Across the continent, this study found an average of less than one per 100,000.
In addition to the high death rate, “the most alarming finding was how few people actually received surgery,” noted a commentary accompanying the study. An expert panel has estimated that 5 percent of the population needs surgery in a year. African hospitals on average performed less than one-twentieth of that figure.
It noted that patients were receiving surgery later in the course of their diseases. Nearly 60 percent of the operations were urgent or emergency procedures, compared with about a quarter in high-income countries.
Most of the patients who died did not do so on the operating table, but in the days following surgery.
“We’re actually failing to recognize patients who are having complications in the post-op period,” study author Biccard said. “So a minor complication becomes a major complication.”
That offers an opportunity for improvement, Biccard noted. Since increasing the number of doctors is unlikely in the short term, his group is working on a method “that will tell us before surgery which patients we think are going to get into trouble.”
His group is planning a study in 2019 to see if they can reduce patient deaths by focusing limited resources on patients at the highest risk.
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From: MeNeedIt