LA Times (April 29)
“All across India, a trail of death and misery is devastating a country whose leaders boasted of defeating the coronavirus just a few months ago. A surge of new cases fueled by the so-called double mutant variant of the coronavirus first discovered in India is now pushing the nation’s overburdened healthcare system toward collapse” and presenting “a cautionary tale for a world wanting to rush back to its rhythms.”
Tags: Boasted, Collapse, Coronavirus, Death, Defeating, Devastating, Double mutant, Healthcare, India, Leaders, Misery, Surge, Variant
New York Times (April 28)
“California is awash in cash, thanks to a booming market. In a single year, the state’s financial outlook has gone from surplus to deficit to surplus as capital gains tax collections have risen amid a soaring stock market and I.P.O. boom.” At the worst, the state “anticipated a $54 billion shortfall,” but it now expects a $15 billion surplus in the fiscal year that starts July 1.
Tags: Booming, California, Capital-gains, Cash, Deficit, Market, Outlook, Soaring, Stock market, Surplus, Tax collections
Supply Chain Management Review (April 27)
“Global manufacturing and supply chains were severely disrupted by the COVID-19 global pandemic, forcing companies to adapt and plan for a new business reality.” This year, however, the industry “is already quickly rebounding with investments in digital transformation aimed at improving speed, resilience and sustainability. While areas of concern persist, most report that lessons from the pandemic have paved the way for new innovations.”
Tags: Adapt, COVID-19, Disrupted, DX, Investments, Manufacturing, Pandemic, Rebounding, Resilience, Speed, Supply chains, Sustainability
Boston Globe (April 27)
“A grand experiment is about to take place in office buildings across Greater Boston, as many businesses begin reopening their offices to employees with newfound expectations around working from home.” The results are unknown, “but a significant majority of office employers are poised to move away from mandating the five-day, in-person workweek.”
Tags: Boston, Employees, Employers, Expectations, Five-day, Grand experiment, In-person, Office buildings, Reopening, Working from home, Workweek
Seattle Times (April 25)
“Even as optimism abounds in the United States, where cases are in steep decline and the vaccine supply has begun to exceed the demand,” fueled on by new variants, the pandemic “has reached one of its bleakest points.” Last week brought a record 5.7 million new COVID-19 infections worldwide, “nearly double the seven-day average in late February. The death toll — now approaching 3.1 million — grew by more than 87,000.”
Reuters (April 23)
“India has slender room to act if economic activity follows its medical infrastructure into a virus-induced state of collapse…. Optimists hope antibodies and vaccines will cause the Covid-19 contagion to burn out quickly. The government will have a hard time softening the financial pain if it doesn’t.”
Tags: Antibodies, Collapse, Contagion, COVID-19, Economic activity, India, Medical infrastructure, Vaccines, Virus-induced
The Oregonian (April 22)
Lawmakers in Oregon may pass “a bill that would require owners of new, fuel-efficient cars and trucks to pay a fee for every mile they drive beginning in 2026. The legislation is intended to help address what transportation officials say is a grim financial reality facing Oregon and other states: Gas taxes are not a sustainable way to pay for highway and street maintenance projects.”
Tags: Cars, Fee, Fuel-efficient, Gas taxes, Highway, Lawmakers, Legislation, Oregon, Street, Sustainable, Transportation, Trucks
Los Angeles Times (April 22)
“California has entered another drought.” But some researchers now suspect “the last one may never have really ended.” They posit “California and other Western states are actually more than two decades into an emerging ‘megadrought’—a hydrological event on par with the worst dry spells of the last millennium. Except this time, they say, human-caused climate change is driving its severity—and will make it that much harder to climb back out of.”
Tags: California, Climate change, Drought, Emerging, Human-caused, Megadrought, Millennium, Researchers
Atlanta Journal-Constitution (April 22)
“The coronavirus has pulverized the balance sheets of many restaurants. But anyone with a drive-thru had a potential advantage as Americans shifted their eating habits and seating positions.” Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A is in that enviable position. Though “the vast majority” of the firm’s 2,000 dining rooms were closed due to the pandemic and remain that way, “sales and profits have soared over the last year.”
Tags: Advantage, Balance sheets, Chick-fil-A, Closed, Coronavirus, Dining rooms, Drive-thru, Eating habits, Pandemic, Profits, Pulverized, Restaurants, Sales, U.S.
Wall Street Journal (April 19)
In India, New Delhi became the first region “to reimpose sweeping measures like the ones employed last spring.” Though “India has sought to avoid the strict lockdowns that punished its economy last spring… the step was necessary to avoid an even bigger disaster: a complete breakdown of its hospitals.” Experts anticipate “a cascade of other Indian states” following New Delhi into lockdown.
Tags: Breakdown, Disaster, Economy, Experts, Hospitals, India, Lockdowns, New Delhi, Punished, Strict
