Ford’s all-electric F150 was certainly newsworthy, but this Ford is also rocking my world—a $20K hybrid truck! Number one, any hybrid that’s under $30k is exciting. But $20K? That’s outrageous. 40 miles to the gallon city, in a truck?
It’s a very busy year—for ticks. There’s been a tick explosion in the Northeast since spring, and dog tick submissions are up 15% or more all over the country where ticks are found. Unusually warm weather in the spring and fall can drive tick booms.
Russia has withdrawn from the Open Skies Treaty with the US and other nations that allowed for surveillance flights over military facilities. The US left the same treaty under President Trump, and President Biden has not re-entered the treaty.
MREs became popular again during the pandemic as worried citizens padded their pantries. MREs have also been helpful outside of the arena of combat during natural disasters. They don’t taste very good, but they get the job done.
The US plans to manufacture more of its own medicines in an effort to be more self-sufficient and to reduce points of failure in the logistics world that could threated American interests. Semi-conductors, large-capacity batteries, and rare minerals are also on the self-sufficiency research list.
Wildfires in Arizona have burned over 138,000 acres. The state is still in danger of more wildfires as drought conditions persist.
Campbell’s soup will be raising prices slightly to cope with increased costs and inflationary pressure. Campbell’s stocks (as in Wall Street) were down after news of the price hike.
Starbucks is running short of dozens of items due to ongoing logistics woes. Hazelnut syrup, some green teas, and even peach flavoring (among others) are harder to come by in some shops.
Consumer prices are up significantly:
JUST IN: Inflation surges by most since 2008 recession, consumer prices up 5% since this time last year – WSJ
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) June 10, 2021
A few US steelmakers are staying shuttered, citing high re-starting costs—is this a short-sighted decision?
Two of the nation’s biggest steelmakers are keeping older mills closed because of the high cost of restarting them and the threats to their survival from rivals’ new plants https://t.co/IQ4i4wO8vZ via @WSJ @bob_tita
— Jennifer Smith (@jensmithWSJ) June 10, 2021
The world has nearly 175.6 million COVID cases. The world has gained 2.8 million cases in a week. New cases around the world are still declining. There have been nearly 3.8 million deaths in total. The US has had nearly 34.3 million cases. Over 613,000 Americans have died. There have been 314 deaths in the last 24 hours in the US. The US gained over 10,000 new cases in the last day, which is quite low compared to days over the past year. India still leads the globe in daily deaths, with over 3,400 in the last day. India has gained over 91,000 new cases in the last day. Case growth in India is still on a downtrend. Brazil had over 2,200 deaths since yesterday.
States are finding novel mechanisms for motivating vaccine fence-sitters:
NEW: Washington state approves request from cannabis retailers to give a free joint to those who get vaccinated against COVID-19
— BNO Newsroom (@BNODesk) June 8, 2021
Clinical trials are underway for COVID vaccines for children under 12:
NEW: Pfizer will begin giving kids 5-11yrs two doses of 10 micrograms (a third of the dose given to adolescents and adults), and 3 micrograms to kids under 5.https://t.co/GtzWNzhT9N
— Apoorva Mandavilli (@apoorva_nyc) June 8, 2021
The CDC is easing travel recommendations in over 100 countries. The CDC says to avoid all travel in countries listed as Level 4.
The US is delivering nearly one billion doses of COVID vaccine to countries in the world who need it. It will still take up to two years to get these doses distributed:
Big announcement: "White House has reached an agreement with Pfizer/BioNTech to provide 500 million doses of coronavirus vaccine to ~100 countries over the next two years"
(bringing to 800M the # of doses the US has agreed to purchase from the companies)https://t.co/5722Y17tEa— Josh Michaud (@joshmich) June 9, 2021
