Tag: Missing

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Politics

Last lacking individual recognized, dying toll 98

Final missing person identified, death toll 98

People visit the memorial which contains pictures of some of the victims from the partially collapsed 12-story Champlain Towers South Condo building on July 15, 2021 in Surfside, Florida. 92 victims have been identified while the search and recovery work is nearing completion.

Joe Raedle | Getty Images

The last person missing in the collapse of a residential complex in Surfside, Florida has been recovered and identified, bringing the death toll to 98, according to Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava.

The remains of Estelle Hedeya, 54, were finally identified by authorities, the victim’s younger brother told the Associated Press. A total of 242 people are now recorded, said Levine Cava.

“Although we have identified all of the missing reported victims, the Miami-Dade police are continuing their ongoing search and recovery efforts on the evidence pile to ensure that all identifiable human remains are recovered,” Levine Cava said during a press conference Monday.

Miami-Dade Police Department director Alfredo Ramirez found that human remains had been recovered from the “secondary site” of the collapse, where the remaining portion of the condo building stood before it was demolished three weeks ago.

“We are recovering human remains and will continue to process them […]”said Ramirez.” We are still working on the stacks of evidence and will continue until we think we have done all we can.

The fire department ended their search for bodies on Friday when the heap of debris was almost completely swept away from the collapse site. Miami-Dade Police Department officials were forced to stop efforts to recover the remains and personal effects.

“Nothing we can say or do will bring back those 98 angels who left grieving families, loved ones and loved ones in this community and around the world,” said Levine Cava. “But we did everything we could to bring the families out of school. I am particularly proud that, thanks to this tireless effort, we were finally able to close down all the people who reported missing relatives.”

The news comes more than a month after the sudden collapse of the 12-story Champlain Towers South. First responders pursued an emotional and tireless search that shifted from rescue to recovery after officials said the possibility of finding someone alive was “near zero”.

Search teams had spent weeks tackling the dangers of the rubble, including severe weather conditions that temporarily halted their work. Ultimately, they cleared more than 14,000 tons of concrete and rubble from the construction site.

As their search neared the end, authorities focused on helping victims and families affected by the collapse. This includes the provision of resources by a family counseling center, which offers psychological counseling as well as financial and housing assistance, among other things.

Last week, a judge ruled that victims and families affected by the collapse should initially receive at least $ 150 million in compensation.

The compensation includes insurance for the Champlain Towers South building and the expected proceeds from the sale of the land on which the condominium building once stood.

While the exact cause of the collapse is still unknown, a 2018 report shows the 40-year-old building suffered significant structural damage, with cracks in the underground parking garage and waterproofing problems under the pool.

Recent reports also show that the repeal of a law in Florida in 2010 that required condos to schedule repairs may also have contributed to the collapse.

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World News

Tons of Lacking and Scores Useless as Raging Floods Strike Western Europe

Hundreds Missing and Scores Dead as Raging Floods Strike Western Europe

BERLIN – After a day of frantic rescue efforts and orders to evacuate cities that were quickly filling with water released from violent storms, German authorities said late Thursday that after confirming numerous deaths, they were unable, at least 1,300 people to explain.

That staggering number was announced after rapidly flowing water from swollen rivers poured through towns and villages in two western German states, where news outlets said more than 80 people had died and other fatalities were expected in the hardest-hit regions.

With communication severely hampered, the authorities hoped the missing people would be safe, if out of reach. But the storms and floods have already proven deadly.

At least 11 other people are believed to have died in Belgium, according to the authorities, who also ordered residents of downtown Liege to evacuate when the Meuse, which flows through the center, overflowed.

The storms and the resulting floods have also struck the neighboring countries of Switzerland, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, as a slowly moving weather system threatened to bring even more rain to the flooded region overnight and until Friday.

The devastation caused by the storm came just days after the European Union announced an ambitious plan to move away from fossil fuels over the next nine years in order to make the 27-country bloc climate-neutral by 2050. Early on, politicians drew parallels between floods and the effects of climate change.

But the immediate focus on Thursday remained the rescue effort, with hundreds of firefighters, rescue workers and soldiers working to rescue people from the upper floors and roofs of their homes, filling sandbags to contain rising waters and looking for missing people.

One of the hardest hit regions was the German district of Ahrweiler, where flash floods flooded the village of Schuld, washed away six houses and left several more shortly before the collapse. At least 50 people died in the Ahrweiler district, the police said.

With so many missing, the district authority said late Thursday that the death toll is expected to rise. “In view of the complexity of the amount of damage, a final assessment of the situation is currently not possible,” it said in a press release.

“We do not have exact death numbers, but we can say that we have many people who fell victim to this flood,” said Armin Laschet, the governor of North Rhine-Westphalia, one of the most severely affected federal states in Germany.

“Many people lost everything they owned after the mud flowed into their homes,” said Laschet, who will replace Angela Merkel as Chancellor in the federal elections on September 26th.

The floods in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate were among the worst in decades, after days of continuous rain sank more water than the soil and sewer system could absorb.

Police asked people to upload pictures of the floods to help them find it.

The police in North Rhine-Westphalia reported at least 30 deaths, with at least 15 people being known in the Euskirchen district south of Düsseldorf. Many others were still saved, although some villages remained inaccessible.

Ms. Merkel, who was visiting Washington on Thursday, expressed her condolences to the missing and thanked the thousands of helpers. She has promised the federal government to support the affected regions.

“Whatever is possible, we will do wherever we can,” she said, adding that Germany had received offers of help from its European partners.

Hundreds of firefighters worked all night to evacuate the stranded people. In Altena, North Rhine-Westphalia, two firefighters were killed while rescuing people, the police said.

“The water still flows knee-high through the streets, parked cars are thrown to the side, garbage and rubble pile up on the sides,” said Alexander Bange, the district spokesman for the Märkisches Land North Rhine-Westphalia news agency DPA

Today’s Best Reader Comments

    • Floods in Germany and other parts of Western Europe cause at least 40 deaths: “I live in the upper Meuse valley in Belgium. After the rains yesterday and tonight, this morning masses of water tumbled down the hills in many parts of the valley. Roads were impassable. I had never seen that before; and we are not among the hardest hit places. ”Yves C., Belgium.
    • Tech workers swear by San Francisco. Now they come back .: “We need people who are committed to San Francisco and call it home. Not just a place for tech workers who commute to Silicon Valley mornings and evenings and clog our streets with huge transport buses. ”Gary, San Francisco.
    • One restaurant was closed for a “Kindness Day” after customers made its employees cry: “Having lived in a different country, I feel like Americans are used to excellent service and plenty of options. This persistent feeling of frustration is not good for us. ”Kathryn, Colorado.

“It’s really very depressing here,” he said.

Dozens of communities remained without electricity, while some villages were completely cut off, the police said. Telephone and cellular networks were also down, making it difficult for the authorities to track down the missing persons.

Belgium and the Netherlands also saw significant flooding when the weather system took hold in the region. According to the public broadcaster RTBF, at least two people were killed in the floods in the province of Liège in Belgium.

As the Meuse continued to reach dangerous proportions, the regional authorities asked the people of the city to evacuate and, if this was not possible, to take shelter on the upper floors of the buildings. All shops were closed and tourists were advised to leave.

The Belgian Defense Force said it was using helicopters and personnel to help with rescue and salvage work, while reports say the river is expected to rise several meters and endanger a dam.

In the Netherlands, according to the Dutch news agency NU.nl, soldiers were sent to the province of Limburg for evacuation, where at least one nursing home had to be evacuated.

Intense rain in Switzerland caused the country’s weather service to warn on Thursday that the floods would worsen in the coming days. On Lake Biel, Lake Thun and Lake Lucerne there is a high risk of flooding and the potential for landslides has been pointed out.

The chairman of Friends of the Earth Germany in North Rhine-Westphalia combined the severe flooding in the region with a failed policy of the state legislature. The effects of climate change are one of the issues that were hotly debated in Germany ahead of the September elections, in which the Greens are running for second place behind the conservative Christian Democrats led by Mr Laschet.

“The catastrophic consequences of the heavy rainfalls of the last few days are mostly homemade,” said Holger Sticht, who heads the regional chapter and made lawmakers and industry responsible for building in floodplains and forests. “We urgently need to change course.”

Megan Specia contributed to the coverage.

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Business

This is One Factor Lacking from President Biden’s Price range: Booming Progress

Here's One Thing Missing from President Biden's Budget: Booming Growth

“We are a really big economy where really big forces are shaping what happens to G.D.P. growth,” said Wendy Edelberg, director of the Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution and a former C.B.O. chief economist.

Even these moderate projections by the Biden administration imply that its policies will lift growth in economic activity by a few tenths of a percent each year over a decade. This is significant when comparing it with the growth that would be expected by simply looking at demographic factors and historical averages of productivity growth. The forecast is more inherently optimistic about Mr. Biden’s policies — and their potential to increase productivity and the size of the work force — than it might seem at first glance.

Biden’s 2022 Budget

    • A new year, a new budget: The 2022 fiscal year for the federal government begins on October 1, and President Biden has revealed what he’d like to spend, starting then. But any spending requires approval from both chambers of Congress.
    • Ambitious total spending: President Biden would like the federal government to spend $6 trillion in the 2022 fiscal year, and for total spending to rise to $8.2 trillion by 2031. That would take the United States to its highest sustained levels of federal spending since World War II, while running deficits above $1.3 trillion through the next decade.
    • Infrastructure plan: The budget outlines the president’s desired first year of investment in his American Jobs Plan, which seeks to fund improvements to roads, bridges, public transit and more with a total of $2.3 billion over eight years.
    • Families plan: The budget also addresses the other major spending proposal Biden has already rolled out, his American Families Plan, aimed at bolstering the United States’ social safety net by expanding access to education, reducing the cost of child care and supporting women in the work force.
    • Mandatory programs: As usual, mandatory spending on programs like Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare make up a significant portion of the proposed budget. They are growing as America’s population ages.
    • Discretionary spending: Funding for the individual budgets of the agencies and programs under the executive branch would reach around $1.5 trillion in 2022, a 16 percent increase from the previous budget.
    • How Biden would pay for it: The president would largely fund his agenda by raising taxes on corporations and high earners, which would begin to shrink budget deficits in the 2030s. Administration officials have said tax increases would fully offset the jobs and families plans over the course of 15 years, which the budget request backs up. In the meantime, the budget deficit would remain above $1.3 trillion each year.

“Making the claim that your fiscal policies will boost growth by four-tenths of a point seems optimistic, but I can see how they could get there,” she said.

Jason Furman, the Obama administration’s former top economist, said: “I think there’s a problem that people have in their head — more extravagant ideas about what economic policy can do and how quickly it can do it. When you’re talking about productivity enhancement, you’re talking about compounding that becomes a big deal for a long time.”

In other words, the difference of a few tenths of a percent of G.D.P. growth might not mean much for a single year, but a gap of that size that persists for many years has a big impact on living standards.

Some of the administration’s policies, by design, would focus on the very long-term impact on the nation’s economic potential. For example, additional money for community colleges might actually depress the size of the labor force, and thus G.D.P., in the short run if more adults go back to school. But it would then increase those workers’ productive potential, and thus contribution to growth, for the decades that follow.

Conservatives, for their part, view the Biden agenda as likely to restrain growth, particularly once tax increases and new regulatory action go into effect. Mr. Mulligan, the Trump adviser, said he believed the Biden agenda would reduce the nation’s growth path by around 0.8 percentage points a year compared with its Trump-era trajectory. Douglas Holtz-Eakin, president of the American Action Forum, said he thought Mr. Biden’s policies could create faster growth in the short term but slower growth in the long run because of taxes and spending.

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Business

China says retail gross sales grew 17.7% in April, lacking expectations

China says retail sales grew 17.7% in April, missing expectations

A worker uses a thermometer to check a customer’s temperature as they enter a Starbucks store while the country is hit by the new coronavirus outbreak in Beijing, China on Jan. 30, 2020.

A worker uses a thermometer to check a customer’s temperature as they enter a Starbucks store while the country is hit by the new coronavirus outbreak in Beijing, China on Jan. 30, 2020.

BEIJING – As the latest sign of a sluggish recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, China said on Monday that consumer spending grew more slowly than expected in April.

Retail sales rose 17.7% year over year last month, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Monday. According to analysts polled by Reuters, this fell short of expectations of 24.9% growth in April.

Retail sales in April also slowed from 34.2% year over year in March.

“China is still experiencing an unbalanced recovery as employment, household income, consumption, manufacturing investment, the service sector and private businesses have not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels,” Bruce Pang, director of macro and strategic research at China Renaissance, said in one Explanation.

Catering sales, which also include restaurants, rose 46.4% year over year in April from 91.6% in March.

Online sales of consumer goods rose 23.1% year over year in the first four months of the year, slower than the growth rate of 25.8% in the first three months of the year. The statistics bureau has not published any growth rates for a month.

In a quarterly monetary policy report released last week, the People’s Bank of China noted that the foundation for economic recovery is not yet solid and consumer spending remains constrained.

The urban unemployment rate fell from 5.3% in March to 5.1% in April, but the average number of hours worked fell from 46.9 hours in March to 46.4 hours last month.

Consumption has left China’s macroeconomic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic behind. Retail sales declined last year despite the expansion of China’s GDP – the only major economy that grew last year.

“The travel, leisure, and entertainment sectors are a busy place for a lot of people,” said Zhiwei Zhang, chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management, in a note. “The uncertainty of Covid is still holding these sectors back.

“Economic growth is likely to have peaked quarter over quarter in the first quarter,” he said, reckoning that growth will slow in the coming months and that the likelihood of a rate hike by the central bank has decreased.

In yet another sign of persistent consumption weakness, Chinese tourist travel surged to a record high during the May 1-5 holidays, but spending was still below 2019 levels.

Other April numbers showed steady growth in non-consumer sectors.

Industrial production rose 9.8% in April, in line with Reuters’ expectations.

Fixed investment rose 19.9% ​​in the first four months of the year, slightly above the 19% forecast by a Reuters survey.

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Business

What to do in case you are lacking your cost

What to do if you are missing your payment

The US government has sent billions of dollars in stimulus checks to Americans since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, some people may still ask, “Where’s my money?”

If you feel like you have been left in the lurch, you can claim the missing funds.

Filing a tax return this tax season can help if you still owe your most recent $ 1,400 stimulus payment. It can also help resolve the situation if you miss one or both of the first two checks for up to $ 1,200 or $ 600.

The deadline for filing the federal tax has been extended to May 17 this year.

More from Personal Finance:
Additional stimulus checks of $ 1,400 will be sent while the IRS is processing tax returns
Why some advocate a fourth stimulus payment
How Deferred Tax Savings Can Help You Get a $ 1,400 Stimulus Check

If you miss that date, you can still claim missing stimulus check funds by filing the funds by October 15, an IRS spokesman confirmed.

However, there are advantages to filing earlier.

For one, the sooner you bet on lack of stimulus money, the sooner you can get it. However, it is important to remember that even though you may be subject to stimulus testing, you may owe taxes in excess of this amount.

If you choose to extend your tax return, you only have more time to file your tax return than you have to pay your money owed. Interest and penalties may apply on any balance you owe the IRS.

Who else could be considered for stimulus checks?

Stimulus Checks printed at the Philadelphia Financial Center in Philadelphia.

Jeff Fusco | Getty Images

You are generally eligible for any stimulus check as long as your Adjusted Gross Income is up to $ 75,000 if you are single, $ 112,500 if filing as a head of household, or $ 150,000 if you are married and submit together.

However, each stimulus test has its own eligibility rules, particularly with regard to exit rates above these income thresholds and dependent eligibility.

To learn more about why or not you may or may not qualify for the money, the IRS has information on their website about the first payments of $ 1,200, the second payments of $ 600, and the payments of $ 1,400 .

As the IRS processes tax returns this season, it is putting in extra cash every week in the form of new checks for people who were previously unregistered, as well as “surcharge” payments to those whose previous checks were broken.

You may be eligible for a top-up payment if the tax return you filed this tax season shows that your income has decreased since last year, or if, for example, you added another dependent to your family.

If you’re on federal benefits and don’t typically file a tax return, you might have received your payment automatically. However, the IRS has asked federal beneficiaries to file a return to ensure their eligible dependents are included.

On Tuesday, the Social Security Agency announced that any recipients of social security or supplementary insurance income who have not received their checks should file tax returns to ensure they receive their payments.

The government also encourages people who are unregistered to file tax returns in order to receive their economic reviews, especially the homeless or rural poor.

In general, if you have used the IRS Online Nonfiler Tool in the past year, you shouldn’t have to file your information again via a tax return. The nonfiler tool was not reopened this year.

Instead, the IRS encourages people to file tax returns. This will also help the tax authority assess whether you are eligible for additional tax credits, such as: B. The Extended Tax Credit for Children or the Tax Credit for Earned Income.

Here’s how to claim your missing $ 600 or $ 1,200 payments

urbazon | E + | Getty Images

The stimulus checks are usually advance payments of a tax credit.

The 2020 tax returns now offer a section where you can claim the Refund Credit for either the first stimulus check of $ 1,200 or the second payment of $ 600 if that money is yours – line 30 of Forms 1040 or 1040-SR.

In this part of the return, applicants can start with the amount of the economic stimulus money they have already received and calculate further funds due. This can be done either through a worksheet that accompanies the tax form or through tax preparation software.

Once the IRS receives the return, the tax authorities will also enumerate your refund balance, which means that the amount you claimed may be corrected.

According to the tax authority, if there is a discrepancy it could lead to a “slight delay” in processing the tax return.

For people who still don’t understand why they received less money than they thought was due, or no money at all, the process could help clear the confusion.

In this situation, the IRS sends letters to the filers explaining what caused the correction.

Some reasons the IRS may correct the loan amount is for not providing a valid Social Security number or claiming that you are dependent on a 2020 tax return. If a relative was at least 17 years old on January 1, 2020, they are not entitled to one of the first two exams.

Mathematical errors in the discount calculations can also lead to a correction.

The IRS has more information on electronic filing on its website, including free filing and tax preparation services.

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Business

Racist Moments in WWE Catalog Are Lacking on Peacock Streaming

Racist Moments in WWE Catalog Are Missing on Peacock Streaming

Fans of the WWE network have seen and heard racist tropes in the ring for years.

During a showdown between Roddy Piper and Bad News Brown in 1990, a white wrestler, Mr. Piper, who is white, showed up for the match with half his face painted black.

In 2005, WWE executive director Vince McMahon repeatedly used a racist arc in a prepared sketch.

Until recently, these segments were available on the WWE network, allowing subscribers to revisit old episodes and seasons of WrestleMania from the 1980s. But this month after WWE episodes moved to Peacock, NBCUniversal’s young streaming service, longtime wrestling viewers realized they couldn’t find either segment.

“The whole match is over,” said Christopher Jeter, 30, who has been watching professional wrestling since he was ten and now writes about it for Daily DDT, a news and opinion center on WWE. “I wouldn’t say it’s a big loss.”

NBCUniversal said that Peacock “reviews WWE content to make sure it is in line with Peacock’s standards and practices,” as it does with other shows and films on the platform.

“Peacock and WWE are reviewing all past content to make sure it meets our 2021 standards,” WWE said.

NBCUniversal announced in January that Peacock had acquired exclusive streaming rights to WWE network content through a multi-year agreement.

In March, the company announced that Peacock would release favorite WWE content at launch, including any previous WrestleManias that led to WrestleMania 37.

The company said Peacock will continue to add WWE Network content to its library to make the entire archive available to fans.

The segments are being removed as other streaming services and entertainment companies have tried to provide context for the audience for older movies and TV shows with objectionable content.

Disney’s streaming service includes a 12-second disclaimer that cannot be skipped before movies like “Dumbo” and “Peter Pan” tell viewers that they will see “negative representations” and “abuse of people or cultures”.

“Those stereotypes were wrong then and are wrong now,” warns the disclaimer. “Instead of removing this content, we want to acknowledge its harmful effects, learn from it and stimulate conversation so that together we can create a more inclusive future.”

This month, Turner Classic Movies screened 18 classic films, including “The Jazz Singer” and “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” preceded by commentary from film experts who prepared viewers for scenes that might or might disturb them.

HBO Max first removed “Gone With the Wind” from its streaming service and then added it with a four-minute introduction from TCM presenter Jacqueline Stewart explaining the film’s enduring cultural significance despite “denying the horrors of slavery as well as his Legacies of Racial Inequality. “

Last June, an NBC spokesperson said that at the request of Tina Fey, the show’s creator, and Robert Carlock, an executive producer and showrunner, four blackface episodes of “30 Rock” were withdrawn.

Mr Jeter, the WWE fan who writes on wrestling, said that racist and sexist depictions of women, blacks and other people of color have long been part of professional wrestling.

“It became such a part of product viewing that it was expected,” he said. “But it’s not why I watch wrestling.”

Most fans, he said, watch wrestling because they enjoy the combination of athleticism and dramatic storytelling. The racist tropics were often a distraction, said Mr Jeter.

“I’m sure there are fans who say, ‘Why are you censoring?’” He said. “But it’s really not a big deal that they are getting rid of those stories and segments that haven’t aged really well and weren’t really good at the time.”

Categories
World News

Glacier Bursts in India, Leaving Extra Than 100 Lacking in Floods

Glacier Bursts in India, Leaving More Than 100 Missing in Floods

NEW DELHI – A Himalayan glacier broke, causing sudden, massive flooding in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand on Sunday, destroying two dam projects and forcing authorities to try to evacuate villages and save more than 100 lives.

Trivendra Singh Rawat, the prime minister of Uttarakhand, said seven bodies had been recovered and that about 125 people, including many workers on the two largely swept away hydropower projects, were not reported.

“An avalanche came and completely broke the Rishiganga power plant project and almost all of the workers there are missing,” said Ashok Kumar, the Uttarakhand police chief. “When the water came downriver, we alerted the people.”

The scenes were reminiscent of floods in Uttarakhand in 2013, when heavy rain for several days led to landslides in which thousands of people were killed and entire villages were washed away.

But the latest disaster has also aroused fears about what is to come. Scientists who said a glacier breaking in the middle of winter was a result of climate change have warned that rising temperatures are melting Himalayan glaciers at an alarming rate. The glaciers that provide water to tens of millions of people may have largely disappeared by the end of the century, according to a recent study.

The Chamoli district in Uttarakhand appeared to be hardest hit by the flowing Dhauliganga River. Amit Shah, India’s interior minister, said the country’s disaster relief teams had been flown in. Hundreds of soldiers and members of the Indian-Tibetan border police were also there, other officials said.

Videos on social media showed violent water fluctuations down the mountain canyons, washing away bridges, and what hydroelectric power stations looked like one of the dams.

Officials said 35 people were working on the Rishiganga power plant project, which was closer to the swept glacier, and 176 others were working on a second project about three miles downstream.

Ratan Singh Rana, 55, from Raini village near the Rishiganga Project, said the water flowed down the mountain around 10:30 a.m.

“I was sitting on the floor of my house,” he said. “I saw black liquid flowing from the Nanda Devi mountainside – with a lot of noise downwards – as if a volcano had erupted.”

“It was only 20-25 meters from us,” he added. “We ran uphill about 250 meters and kept crying and shouting, ‘Bhago, bhago! Bachao, bachao! “He said, using the Hindi words for” run “and” save us! ” “

Mr. Rana said the muddy water swept large boulders and ice downstream. His daughter and granddaughter were trapped in the house, and mud debris locked the main entrance. You managed to save her from the back of the house.

“We thought the whole world would drown in it,” he said. “I thought that today is the end, that we would leave this world today.”

Late on Sunday afternoon, the worst damage from the flooding appeared to be over.

Prime Minister Mr Rawat visited Chamoli and posted a video on Twitter indicating that water flow had slowed. He expressed hope that some of the missing could be saved. Local media reports say 16 people trapped in a tunnel have so far been rescued.

“Our particular focus is on rescuing the workers trapped in the tunnels,” he said.

The disaster led critics to point fingers at the government for building a dam near the glaciers at a time when the area is so vulnerable to climate change.

Uma Bharti, a former minister of water resources and river development in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, said she had warned against placing a hydropower project on the river near the Himalayas.

“This incident, which occurred near Rishiganga in the Himalayas, is both worrying and cautionary,” Ms. Bharti said on Twitter. She said she warned that the Himalayas “is a very sensitive area and therefore these projects on the Ganges and its tributaries should not be built.”

Anil Joshi, an environmentalist who studies the Himalayan region, said the swept-away dam was built on India’s second highest mountain just a few kilometers from the Nanda Devi Glacier.

“At this point, a glacier avalanche is indicative of climate change,” Joshi said, referring to how the episode happened during the winter cold. “Changes in temperature caused glaciers to detach and damaged the dam in Rishiganga.”

Mr Joshi said he had difficulty understanding why the government built the dam so close to the glacier. “Now this water is flowing at cyclone speed.” he said.

Categories
Politics

Lacking in College Reopening Plans: Black Households’ Belief

Missing in School Reopening Plans: Black Families’ Trust

Thousands of black students have returned to the classroom in the past few months. Distance learning has been disastrous, especially for many black children, and data has shown that students are falling behind in key subjects. This could undermine decades of work by local school districts and the federal government to close the performance gap between black and white students.

In interviews, some parents said they had no choice but to bring their children back to classrooms so they could work. Others said they couldn’t take it any longer if their children struggled with online learning.

Charles Johnson, a Brooklyn parent, allowed his son to return to personal high school classes last fall after his son requested. He then attended a day of class before the city closed high schools indefinitely.

“He hates distance learning, oh my god, he hates it,” said Mr. Johnson. But Mr Johnson, who suffers from diabetes and other health problems, said he would not consider sending his child back. The risk feels too great.

“As bad as I want the schools to open,” he said, “I don’t want him in these classrooms.”

Also, in many cities and counties, Latin American and Asian American families are less likely than white families to send their children back. Asian-Americans have opted out of in-person tuition with the highest rates of any ethnic group in New York City. Latino families in Chicago most likely said they would keep their children at home when schools reopened.

Still, the pattern is most consistent and pronounced among black families, who have been particularly hard hit by decades of segregation, divestment, and racism. By one estimate, a $ 23 billion gap, or $ 2,226 per student, separates funding from predominantly white and non-white districts, and Indiana University Bloomington sociologist who studied the reopening, Jessica Calarco, said the pandemic said the pandemic have increased this inequality.