NEWS

Around North America in seven stories…

RETAIL

APPLE STAFF FORM FRUITFUL UNION

EMPLOYEES AT APPLE’S Grand Central Station store in New York have announced a plan to start a new worker’s union. If this bid is successful, it will be the first of its kind at one of the tech giant’s US stores. Known as Fruit Stand Workers United, the staff must gather signatures of support from 30 percent of colleagues within the store in order to qualify for a union election.

With Apple yet to comment, this move follows similar drives for unionization by the staff at both Starbucks and Amazon. The group has explained how they continue to work through extraordinary times with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and once-in-a-generation consumer price inflation.

The collective is also campaigning for a $30 minimum hourly wage for all employees, additional holiday time and provision for more robust safety protocols at the Grand Central location.

SUPPLY CHAIN

GROUNDS FOR CONCERN

A TURBULENT AND trying month of struggle for ‘The Ever Forward’ container ship, has finally come to an end after the 1,096-foot vessel ran aground in the perilous shallow waters of Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay. The vessel has now finally been freed from its predicament.

The ship became entrenched in water just 25 feet deep after leaving Baltimore. Coincidentally, her sister ship ‘The Ever Given’, became stuck in Egypt’s Suez Canal last year, causing huge disruptions to global supply chains. Two previous attempts to dislodge the vessel had proved unsuccessful, leading to the deployment of barges to remove approximately 500 of the total 5,000 containers on board.

Finally, salvage vessels were able to free The Ever Forward from the treacherously shallow, murky waters. The ship’s hull will now be thoroughly examined by inspectors before being allowed to return to Baltimore. Thankfully no injuries, damage or pollution was sustained during the incident.

TRANSPORT

AMERICA UNMASKS

FACE MASKS WILL no longer be required to be worn on public transport in the US, after a judge voided the previous national mandate. The White House press secretary Jen Psaki has described the decision as “disappointing” and details how the Centers for Disease Control are still recommending that people wear masks on public transit.

The judge, in Tampa, Florida, has ruled that the guidelines previously enforced, which covered airlines, airports, mass transit and taxis, were unlawful and will be scrapped immediately. Shortly after the change in policy was announced, several major airlines rapidly switched to an optional mask policy, including Alaska Airlines and United Airlines. However, despite this ruling New York City’s public transit system says it will continue to enforce its strict mask requirements.

AEROSPACE

BETWEEN A ROCKET AND A HARD PLACE

THE DEBUT FLIGHT of NASA’s new Artemis mega moon rocket is set to face additional delays in scheduling, following a series of unfortunately failed fueling tests. Officials have detailed that it will be highly difficult to meet the originally proposed launch window of early June.

The impressive 30-storey space launch system rocket has been resting on the pad at Kennedy Space Center for the last month, returning to the hangar next week for valve and fuel leak repairs. The problems occurred earlier this month, preventing NASA from filling the rocket’s fuel tanks for the critical dress rehearsal.

The rocket will now likely spend several weeks in the hangar before heading back to the pad for a testing rerun. With various solutions for getting back on schedule being considered, NASA wants this test flight completed smoothly before putting astronauts on board for the second launch, a lunar fly-around targeted for 2024.

IMAGE CREDIT: NASA/FRANK MICHAUX Artemis mega moon rocket

AGRICULTURE

GOING WITH THE FLOW

THE STATE OF California is giving rivers more room to flow in order to prevent flood risk. Land that farmers no longer desire will be used to rediscover old floodplains as a means to let the rivers breathe, meaning when heavy rain causes the water levels to cascade over their banks, it will run onto the land allowing traditional ecosystems to flourish once again, whilst also lowering the risk of flooding further downstream.

The Dos Rios Ranch Preserve is California’s largest single floodplain restoration project, part of the state’s central valley, located at the meeting point of the Tuolumne and San Joaquin rivers. It is an agricultural powerhouse covering 20,000 square miles, and hosting around 250 different crops. The affluently diverse region constitutes about one percent of US farmland and produces a staggering 25 percent of the nation’s food.

As climate change alters the nation’s environments, California aims to fund and prioritize similar projects that will reduce risk to property while also restoring wildlife habitats.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

HISTORY IN THE BAKING

THE SMITHSONIAN NATIONAL Zoo’s most famous occupants, a pair of giant pandas, had an enthusiastic birthday breakfast in front of adoring crowds of onlookers, as the zoo celebrated 50 years of its iconic panda exchange agreement with the Chinese government.

Made from frozen fruit juice, sweet potatoes, carrots and sugar cane, the cake lasted just 15 minutes once giant panda mother Mei Xiang and her cub Xiao Qi Ji got their paws on it.

Xiao Qi Ji’s father Tian Tian largely sat out the morning’s celebrations, instead choosing to munch bamboo in the neighboring enclosure, understandable behavior for these mostly solitary gentle giants.

AUTOMOTIVE

PASSENGERLESS POLICE PERIL

SAN FRANCISCO’S POLICE officers have been faced with a brand-new challenge after apprehending an autonomous vehicle with no one inside driving it. Officers cautiously approached the car, because it had been driving without headlights, to investigate further.

Cruise, the company responsible, has said the headlights issue was the result of human error. The company, which is owned by General Motors and develops self-driving technology, has been test running autonomous vehicles (AVs) in the US recently.

Earlier this year Cruise started allowing members of the public to join a waiting list to hail free nighttime rides. The AVs can detect lights and sirens so they will come to a stop if intercepted by the police, although glitches with driverless cars have inevitably occurred as the technology develops gradually.