U.S. population increased by only 393,000 people in the year ended July 1, notes Grumpy Editor.
That brings the total population to 331.9 million. That includes 148,000 more births than deaths.
Covid-19 became the nation’s third leading cause of death during that period.
Birth rates have fallen steadily since the 2007-2009 recession. But death rates have edged up, especially in states smacked by the epidemic.
IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…
PASSPORT COST RISES TODAY. Cost to renew a U.S. passport goes up by $20 today, reaching $130, announces the State Department. That’s an 18.2 percent increase.
SAMARITAN AIDS WOMAN IN STORE. Deshawn Pressley, an Ohio good samaritan, receives an award after he answers an 87-year-old woman’s calls for help at a grocery store when a man snatches her purse in the checkout line. He chased the purse-snatcher out of the store in Lemon Township and into the parking lot where he takes down the suspect and makes a citizen’s arrest.
AUSSIE PARROTS GETTING 'DRUNK.' Parrots in Western Australia’s Kimberley region are getting “drunk” on fermented fruit and, in some cases, dying as a result of eating the fallen produce.
PERSON STEALS FIRE TRUCK. Orange County, Calif, police arrest a person suspected of stealing a fire truck from outside UCI Medical Center then driving through several cities before being detained in Anaheim.
MANNY AMERICANS FEEL STRESSFUL IN HOLIDAY SEASON. Nearly half of Americans consider the holiday season more stressful than joyful and report they’re having trouble getting into the holiday spirit this year, finds a Rasmussen Reports survey.
UNUSUAL TORNADO TIME. There is a high likelihood that December 2021 will end up as being the most prolific tornado-producing December on record once final damage surveys are completed, says AccuWeather Forecaster Randy Adkins. While tornadoes aren't uncommon during December, the likelihood of a tornado occurring on a December day in the United States is 12 to 15 percent, he points out.
The United Nations reveals global population hits eight billion and India is expected to surpass China as the most populous country in the next year, notes Grumpy Editor.
Global population has more than tripled since 1950 as mortality dropped and life expectancy increased, due in large part to better sanitation, access to clean drinking water and the development of vaccines and antibiotics, along with improved nutrition, adds the U.N.
It points out between 1990 and 2019, human life expectancy at birth increased by almost nine years to age 72 but people in the poorest nations died about seven years earlier than the global average due to high levels of child and maternal mortality, war and the HIV epidemic.
Although humanity is larger than it has ever been, the world population is growing at its slowest rate since 1950 as families have fewer children while the population is expected to peak at 10.4 billion in the 2080s and remain at that level into the 2100s, according to U.N. projections.
Life expectancy fell by a year to 71 in 2021, due in large part of the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic --- still, people born in 2050 are expected to live until age 77 on average, the U.N. adds.
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NORTH KOREA INTERCONTINENTAL BALLISTIC MISSILE ABLE TO STRIKE U.S. MAINLAND. North Korea fires one of the most powerful intercontinental ballistic missiles it has ever launched with the potential trajectory to strike the U.S. mainland. The Communist nation has fired at least 88 ballistic and other missiles this year.
GANNETT CONTINUES TO SLASH COSTS. Gannett’s news division, in the third move to slash costs in the last six months, on Dec. 1 and 2 is set to inform those affected by another round of layoffs.
FIVE MOST POPULAR NAMES FOR DOGS AND CATS. Rover finds we gravitated to similar pet names this year. Top five most popular names for canines are Max, Charlie, Cooper, Milo and Buddy. For cats, it’s Luna, Bella, Daisy, Lucy, and Lily.
U.S. PARTS FOUND IN DOWNED DRONES. Intelligence collected from downed Iranian drones in Ukraine shows most of the parts are manufactured in the U.S., Europe and other allied nations, reveals The Wall Street Journal.
JUDY WOODRUFF TO DEPART NIGHTLY PBS NEWSHOUR.PBS NewsHour lead anchor Judy Woodruff is leaving Dec. 30 and will embark on a two-year reporting project focusing on the nation’s divisions. She has held her nightly job since 2013.
OWL STUCK IN PICKUP GRILLE IS RESCUED. Wildlife rescuers in Colorado’s Colorado Springs area remove a great horned owl embedded in the front grille of a pickup truck. The owl is recovering.
SALMON ROUTE GETS A BOOST. A U.S. agency seeking to restore habitat for endangered fish gave final approval to decommission four dams straddling the California-Oregon border. The removal is expected to improve the health of the Klamath River, the route Chinook salmon and endangered coho salmon take from the Pacific Ocean to their upstream spawning grounds.
AIRPOWER MISSES MARK. All branches of the military are falling far short when it comes to keeping an array of war planes and attack helicopter fleets "mission capable," according to a government watchdog report.
Census Bureau officials say population figures in the 2020 census of six states were undercounted while with eight states they were overcounted, notes Grumpy Editor.
Totals for other states and the District of Columbia fell within estimated ranges reports The Wall Street Journal.
The pandemic resulted in some difficulties and miscounts with the tally.
Population estimates provide distribution of some federal and state aid.
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PENTAGON GETS ABOUT 400 UFO REPORTS. Pentagon officials tell a House panel there are now close to 400 reports from military personnel of possible encounters with UFOs. A Navy official points out investigators are "reasonably confident" the floating pyramid-shaped objects captured on video are likely drones.
UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS RECIPIENTS EBB. People receiving unemployment benefits fell to to 1.3 million for the week ended May 7. That’s the lowest point in 50 years.
PROBLEMS SEEN WITH POWER GRID. A power grid regulator warns extreme temperatures and ongoing drought this summer could cause the power grid to buckle across vast areas of the country, potentially leading to electricity shortages and blackouts.
MAJOR UNDERGROUND TUNNEL DISCOVERED. Authorities discover an underground smuggling tunnel at the U.S.-Mexico border that runs the length of six football fields. It features reinforced walls, electricity, ventilation and a rail system. From Tijuana, it’s about 1,744 feet long, 61 feet deep, with a diameter of about 4 feet at its widest point.
ARMY SUICIDE CRISIS GRIPS ALASKA.The Army is dispatching about 40 mental health counselors and chaplains to Alaska in coming weeks to address a suicide crisis among soldiers. Seventeen soldiers last year died by confirmed or suspected suicide.
RINGLING BROS. CIRCUS TO RETURN. Ringling Bros., the historic circus known for acts featuring lions, tigers and elephants shut down in 2017 in response to pressure from animal rights groups and changing audience tastes is returning, but without animals. Rather, it will use human talent from around the world when it starts a 50-plus city tour September next year.
GUN PRODUCTION SOARS. Domestic gun makers produced 11.3 million firearms in 2020 (the latest year for which data are available), roughly triple the 3.9 million that were made in 2000, while the U.S. population increased 18 percent.
BASEBALL PITCHER TOSSES FIVE HOME RUNS IN INNING. Baseball’s Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi becomes the third pitcher in major league history to allow five home runs in one inning. In his Fenway Park start against the Houston Astros, Eovaldi lasts 1⅔ innings, allowing eight hits and six earned runs while striking out none.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that with 26 million more people in the U.S. since 2005, aging roads are more crowded and additional time is required to reach destinations.
So Grumpy Editor notes that print and broadcast media late last week focused, often at length, on a report that growing urban population has boosted traffic congestion around the country and it is outpacing the nation’s ability to build infrastructure.
Among the nation’s worst traffic cities, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, Houston and Riverside (Calif.) experienced population growth outpacing the national average of 0.7 percent last year, according to a report by Inrix, a Kirkland, Wash. company that analyzes travel data, and the Texas A&M Transportation Institute, College Station, Texas.
U.S. population now stands at an estimated 321.2 million, according to the Census Bureau. This compares with 295.5 million 10 years ago.
Washington, D.C. tops the list of commuter gridlock, followed by Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York.
Rush-hour congestion adds 82 hours annually to motorists’ average commute in Washington, 80 extra hours in Los Angeles, 78 hours in San Francisco and 74 hours in New York.
Average travel-time delay per commuter nationwide is more than twice what it was in 1982, while for cities with under 500,000 people, the problem is four times worse than in 1982, adds the report.
Traffic congestion findings are drawn from traffic speed data collected by Inrix, along with highway performance data from the Federal Highway Administration.
More congestion lies ahead. The report predicts by 2020 annual delay per commuter will rise to 47 hours from 42.
In case you missed these...
As the weekend neared, excited print/television/top-of the hour radio news, in following tropical storm Erika through the Caribbean, noted the likelihood of slamming Florida Sunday night or Monday as a hurricane. But on Saturday morning, the National Hurricane Center issued: “All coastal watches and warnings are discontinued” as Erika fizzled…Meanwhile, many editors missed an unusual atmospheric development over land far to the West on Tuesday when fierce winds brought a high, wide wall of thick dust to the Phoenix area. Wind was strong enough to topple a tractor-trailer. The Washington Post was alert on the event, noting “A mean and massive dust storm swallowed up parts of the Phoenix area on Tuesday.” NBCNews also reported on the giant "duster," coupled with footage.
That word omitted again in a news story
“Illegal” was missing from this sentence from a Boston Globe story on Donald Trump’s Friday night appearance at a Norwood, Mass. campaign rally: “Some researchers have disputed Trump’s claims about immigrants and crime, arguing that immigrants, regardless of their status, are less likely than the native-born to commit serious felonies"...Earlier in the week in the aftermath of Trump ordering biased Jorge Ramos out of a news conference, the Los Angeles Times noted the Univision anchor "has been called the Spanish-language Walter Cronkite." And Juan Williams, yesterday on Fox News, repeated that description. Wait a minute.Unlike Ramos, viewers watching the CBS Evening News, anchored by Cronkite for 19 years, never got a clue as to which way the veteran newsman leaned politically.
No airstrikes against Islamic State camps
Washington Free Beacon writer Bill Gertz on Friday revealed the "Pentagon has not conducted airstrikes against an estimated 60 Islamic State (IS) training camps that are supplying thousands of fighters each month to the terror group, according to defense and intelligence officials"...Two U.S. servicemen killed in southern Afghanistan by a shooter in an Afghan uniform Wednesday originally were identified as NATO personnel. Thus, the incident didn't get much coverage in the U.S. The two were Air Force special operations troops identified as Capt. Matthew D. Roland, 27, and Staff Sgt. Forrest B. Sibley, 31...Long-time production by AM General of the military's famous vehicle, the Humvee, now goes to Wisconsin’s Oshkosh Corp. which won a contract that could be worth $30 billion or more to build nearly 50,000 vehicles over the next 25 years for the Army and another 5,500 for the Marine Corps.
Chopping due in ‘discover the forest’ PSAs
Enough, already! Listeners to a national morning radio news hour hear four or five public service announcements for the U.S. Forest Service, repeated daily (often the same PSA within minutes), promoting "discover the forest"...Chipotle Mexican grill plans a one-day hiring binge. It intends to sign up 4,000 workers in a single day, Sept. 9...American Journalism Review, founded as the Washington Journalism Review in 1977, is ending its online publication. AJR was produced by Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland. Merrill College Dean Lucy Dalglish said, “Unfortunately, we are unable to provide the resources needed to keep AJR the vibrant, innovative online publication it deserves to be."
Summertime delicacy:
USA Today got to the meat of things with sizzling summer news on Wednesday with "13 ways to eat watermelon all day long."
