Free Republic

Mayor Eric Adams strode into Cipriani Wall Street, packed with the city’s civic and business elite, to tout a highly ambitious, thinly sketched plan to reinvigorate the city’s commercial districts. “We’re going to show the country why we are New York, and this new New York conversation is going to show how together we get all cylinders operating on the same engine to regain our economy, regain our city, and we leave no one behind,” he said. That plan would include more bus lanes, electric-vehicle charging stations, and converting official buildings to residential use. In recent weeks, he announced an...

There’s a nationwide shortage of Tylenol and other common pain medications. Meanwhile, there’s plenty of Fentanyl coming in through America’s porous southern border for anyone who wants to get high — or dead. CBS News reported Thursday on our “national shortage” of children’s Tylenol and other medicines have “retailers like CVS, Target and Walgreens” placing strict limits on how much medicine people can buy. Even though companies like Johnson & Johnson are producing new meds “around the clock,” shortages could nevertheless last “into early next year.” One reason for the shortages is a spike in demand caused by the annual...

erman Health Minister Karl Lauterbach has vowed new measures to boost drug supply, but health groups are skeptical that the situation will improve soon. Medical associations in Germany on Wednesday warned that the country's ongoing drug shortages are likely to persist for months, despite new measures announced by Berlin. Liquid ibuprofen and parecetamol for children are among the drugs experiencing supply chain bottlenecks.

Chuck Schumer has apparently had an epiphany — without serfs, there can be no lord.Yesterday, the re-elected Senate leader addressed a crowd of reporters, and recognized a serious issue plaguing America, “Now more than ever, we’re short of workers.”But don’t fret, the fearless leader has a solution: fill the void with foreign-born invaders, and grant them citizenship.Citing the shortage, Schumer announced his party’s reinvigorated support for amnesty and citizenship for the illegal populations currently within our (fluid) borders — amnesty because these aliens are criminals for already having already violated America’s laws, and citizenship so they can officially become tax...

The economic crisis in Cuba continues to impact the population, this time affecting Catholics specifically because the lack of wheat flour has meant that no more Communion hosts can be made. The St. Teresa Discalced Carmelite Monastery in Havana announced the news Wednesday. “We inform all the dioceses that there are no longer hosts for sale. We have been working with the little flour that was left and what was in reserve has already run out,” the nuns reported in a statement shared by the Catholic publication Vida Cristiana. “We hope and trust in the Lord that we can resume...

As it's written right now, a proposed law being considered in Trenton would provide funding to schools and districts that have plans in place to deliver extra lessons to underperforming students multiple times per week. The "high-dosage tutoring" legislation is also meant to address an ongoing teacher shortage, according to primary sponsor Sen. Vin Gopal, D-Monmouth. The Senate Education Committee, which Gopal chairs, received testimony on the proposal on Thursday. The bill was up for discussion only, not a vote. "This bill is far from perfect, it's just a start," Gopal said. Under the bill, the High Efficiency Accelerated Learning...

“I’m with a pretty good company and they take care of us pretty good,” he said. Over the years, he’s seen diesel prices go up and down, but lately, he’s noticing an uptick in certain cities. Not only that, but he also is concerned about supply. “It’s going up and going up... when you can find it,” said Mullis. His concerns are warranted. Mansfield Energy Corporation issued a supply alert, saying poor pipeline shipping economics and historically low diesel inventories are all combining to cause a shortage in parts of the southeast. Some gas stations have already increased diesel prices...

Slump in imports, cargo diversions to other ports help shrink queue of dozens of vessels The backup of container ships off Southern California’s coast that was at the heart of U.S. supply chain congestion during the Covid-19 pandemic has effectively disappeared. The queue of ships waiting to unload at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach fell from a peak of 109 ships in January to four vessels this week ... . U.S. import volumes are declining ... The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach together handled 686,133 loaded import containers in September, down 18% from a year...

Micron Technology Inc. executives warned about a semiconductor downturn in late June, but now say that a “sharp and sudden” drop in demand exceeded even those expectations, suggesting the current chip glut could get a lot worse. Micron MU, 0.74% reported a worse-than-expected fiscal fourth quarter Thursday, with revenue plunging 23% from last year, but that wasn’t the big miss. Executives guided for $4 billion to $4.5 billion in revenue in the current quarter, more than $1 billion lower than analysts’ expectations, and suggested they could post a loss in the quarter even on an adjusted basis. “As we look...

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios Illustration of a beer tap dripping droplets of beer. The U.S. is experiencing a shortage of carbon dioxide and Boston beermakers are beginning to worry they won't have enough of the gas to get their products to market. Driving the news: A CO2 production hub in Jackson, Mississippi, became contaminated by an extinct volcano, which cut down on an already limited supply of the gas. The pandemic put pressure on the CO2 market and drove up prices in part due to the immense amount of dry ice (frozen carbon dioxide) needed to transport COVID-19 vaccines last...

California will suffer an energy shortage and “Flex Alerts” through Labor Day due to high temperatures, and residents will be asked to conserve electricity during afternoons and evenings, which means refraining from charging electric vehicles, among other uses. The Sacramento Bee reported Tuesday (emphasis added): Hoping to avoid blackouts, the California Independent System Operator, which manages the state’s power grid, warned Tuesday that it probably will issue a series of Flex Alerts over the next several days. Flex Alerts are voluntary calls for conservation during the afternoon and evening hours, when energy use tends to soar. Residents will be asked...

Diesel and heating oil supplies in the Northeast are more than 50% below the recent average, raising concerns that an extreme weather event could cause supply disruptions, federal officials said. Fuel supplies are lower than normal across the country for a variety of reasons, including the war in Ukraine. But it’s the worst in the Northeast. Diesel fuel and heating oil, which comprise the distillate category, are 63% below the five-year average in New England and 58% below the same average from Maryland to New York, according to a survey by the Department of Energy. Gasoline inventories are not as...

A state effort to ease Colorado’s dire shortage of health care workers will offer tuition-free training for several thousand students, providing a much-needed boost to hospitals and clinics. The Care Forward Colorado Program will invest $26 million of federal COVID stimulus funding into the program for two years, guaranteeing free schooling for students interested in becoming certified nursing assistants, emergency medical technicians, pharmacy technicians, phlebotomy technicians, medical assistants or dental assistants. The program, created through legislation supported by a bipartisan group of lawmakers during the last legislative session and signed into law by Gov. Jared Polis, has the potential to...

While you might have cracked open a cold one to enjoy Saturday’s preseason football game, the U.S. is experiencing a shortage of carbon dioxide, which produces all that fizz and bubbly in the beer. Issues with contamination and a train line strike have impacted the carbon dioxide supply around the country. Many local breweries said they're monitoring the situation, thankful that their supplies haven’t fizzled out just yet. While some breweries are worried about production, others are turning to greener methods to help. Lone Oak Farm Brewing Company in Olney, Maryland, is one business using alternative methods to prevent products...

Idaho has a potato shortage. If you haven't heard about it already or noticed fewer and fewer potatoes in your grocery store's produce section, you will soon. So, what's the problem? The weather. Not this year’s weather, mind you. It’s the weather from over a year ago that’s to blame. “I'm not sure if you remember last June, but we had some just unbelievably hot temperatures here in Idaho. It did a number on our potato crop,” said Jamey Higham, president and CEO of the Idaho Potato Commission. “And so, our yields were significantly down last year.” Now, keep that...

Just went to fuel up and saw the following notice on the gas pumps. Unfortunately, I can neither confirm nor deny who put the "I Did That" Sticker on the notice. But God bless that Man!

President Joe Biden's administration announced its 17th Operation Fly Formula mission on Monday as marketing data shows the baby formula shortage is getting worse. The administration announced two flights to transport Nestlé Health Science amino acid-based formula from Switzerland to John F. Kennedy Airport in New York on July 21 and 22. The delivery will include the equivalent of 802,446 8-ounce bottles of formula, which will be distributed primarily to hospitals and home health care providers. But, despite the rash of flights the administration has announced, U.S. stores are still struggling to stock baby formula on their shelves. Formula availability...

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia—For Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, his high-profile meeting with President Biden was an immediate victory, signaling that his isolation on the world stage is over. But the American president will have to wait weeks, perhaps months, before the world knows if his sojourn to the Middle East paid off for the U.S. On Saturday, Mr. Biden left Saudi Arabia, the second and final stop on a four-day Middle East tour that also took him to Israel. His aim was to reaffirm U.S. ties with an oil-rich region, following a rift with Saudi leaders after Mr. Biden...

The jobs report and minutes from the Federal Reserve’s June meeting were the economic highlights of the week, but they are, respectively, a lagging indicator and old news. This column instead digs into the auto market, where there is an underappreciated ticking time bomb. Lucky Lopez is a car dealer who has been in the business for about 20 years. In recent meetings with bankers, where he bids on repossessed vehicles before they go to auction, he has noticed some common characteristics of the defaulted loans. Most of the loans on recently repossessed cars originated during 2020 and 2021, whereas...

Like some of you, I love to check out car models and drive salesmen crazy with the classic "just looking" line. I look at the sticker and check out all the options. It's an old habit and a wonderful way to kill time when my wife is at the mall. It beats drinking another cup of coffee at the mall café.Last week, I made another trip to the local dealership. Everything looked normal except for the prices. Check this out:With interest rates rising, it's also becoming harder to spread the pain of higher pricing with long-term financing. The average monthly...