USA Outlook, July 4 to July 8, 2022

USA OUTLOOK Weekly newsletter July 4 to July 8

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July 4, 2022

July 4, 2022

Major cities cancel July 4 fireworks amid fire fears, supply chain issues Americans honor their freedom with patriotism and pyrotechnics. But this July 4, the skies will be quiet in dozens of cities.

Salt Lake City canceled its fireworks celebrations due to drought and wildfire concerns. Minneapolis and Sacramento, California, couldn’t find enough workers.

Phoenix could not get fireworks due to shipping delays.

Despite “huge demand,” suppliers were only able to fill about 75% of the fireworks ordered, according to American Pyrotechnics Association president Steve Pelkey.

“The West Coast has probably been hit the hardest because those companies that are relying on the Port of L.A., a lot of those companies have been waiting two, three or four months for their inventory,” Pelkey told CBS News.

Thousands of flights canceled in U.S. as air travel breaks pandemic record during Fourth of July weekend Americans didn’t let high gas prices and airport chaos keep them at home this Fourth of July.

Millions of travelers packed into airports over the holiday weekend, and many were met with chaos as thousands of flights were delayed or cancelled.

The Transportation Security Administration estimates it screened more than 6 million people Friday through Sunday — a number close to pre-pandemic levels.

Close to 2.5 million passengers were screened on Friday alone, making it the busiest day at U.S. airports since the start of the covid-19 pandemic.

This is in the middle of growing demand, staff shortages and high gas prices, a combination that led to headaches for hundreds of thousands of travelers.

Nearly 17,000 flights were delayed and more than 1,400 were canceled over the weekend, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware.

Photo: cbsnews

Fuente Source

Fuente Source

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/flight-delays-cancellations-fourth-of-julyholiday-travel/

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fireworks-cancellations-july-4/

July 6, 2022

July 7, 2022

Dems propose raising taxes on high earners to extend Medicare solvency Senate Democrats want to raise taxes on some high earners and use the money to extend the solvency of Medicare, the latest step in the party’s election-year attempt to craft a scaledback version of the economic package that collapsed last year, Democratic aides told The Associated Press.

Democrats expect to submit legislative language on their Medicare plan to the Senate’s parliamentarian in the next few days, the aides said. It was the latest sign that Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., could be edging toward a compromise the party hopes to push through Congress this summer over solid Republican opposition.

Manchin scuttled last year’s bill.

What to know about public service loan forgiveness

Under the latest proposal, people earning more than $400,000 a year and couples making more than $500,000 would have to pay a 3.8% tax on their earnings from tax-advantaged businesses called pass throughs. Until now, many of them have been using a loophole to avoid paying that levy.

More than 145,000 U.S. borrowers have had the remainder of their student loan debt canceled through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, and officials say many more likely qualify.

The program, launched in 2007 to steer more graduates to public service, cancels student debt after 10 years of public interest work, or 120 payments.

Teachers, librarians, nurses, public interest lawyers, military members and other public workers can all apply.

The U.S. Department of Education has relaxed the complex rules for applying for the program, but only until Oct. 31.

Fuente Source

Fuente Source

https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/public-service-loanforgiveness-86307992

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/medicare-solvency-senate-bill-taxes-highearners-chuck-schumer-joe-manchin-2022/

July 7, 2022

Photo: Jeenah Moon—Bloomberg/Getty Images

The omicron subvariant now dominating the U.S. is ‘the worst version of the virus that we’ve seen’ New immune-evading Omicron subvariant BA.5 is now dominant in the U.S.—and previous heavy hitter “stealth Omicron” is now a shadow of its former self, according to federal health data released Tuesday.

BA.5 is estimated to have caused nearly 54% of COVID infections in the U.S. last week, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Along with twin variant BA.4, it swept South Africa this spring thanks to its ability to evade immunity from both prior infection and vaccination.

The week before that, the two variants combined made up slightly more than half of U.S. cases. But last week, BA.5 accomplished the same feat alone, without the help of BA.4, which came in third at 16.5%.

The BA.2.12.1 variant, dominant until mid-June, came in second last week, accounting for a little over a quarter of cases. And so-called stealth Omicron, BA.2, nicknamed for its ability to evade detection on PCR tests, came in fourth, making up less than 3% of cases.

“The Omicron subvariant BA.5 is the worst version of the virus that we’ve seen,” Dr. Eric Topol, a professor of molecular medicine at Scripps Research and founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, wrote last week, before the latest numbers, but as the subvariant was well on its way to becoming dominant in the U.S.

Fuente Source https://fortune.com/2022/07/05/ba5-omicron-subvariant-now-dominant-in-us-immune-escape-evasion-ba4/