[Fox News] Marjorie Taylor Greene calls Johnson’s foreign aid package his ‘3rd betrayal’ of American people
A bipartisan knot of House members clustered in the well of the chamber just around 2 p.m. on Saturday. The House had just approved a...
[Fox News] Is the East Coast on the brink of a major earthquake — and are we prepared?
The earthquake that struck the East Coast earlier this month was felt by an estimated 42 million people and luckily caused little damage, but what are the chances of a bigger, more powerful quake striking the area? And if it does, what could it look like — and are we prepared?
The April 5 phenomenon was a 4.8 magnitude earthquake centered near Whitehouse Station in New Jersey, which is about 40 miles west of New York City.
Shaking was felt from Washington D.C. to Maine, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and it followed a much smaller, 1.7 magnitude earthquake in New York City on Jan. 2.
Earthquakes are rare along the East Coast, with the most powerful one in the last 100 years hitting in August 2011, clocking 5.8 on the Richter scale. It was centered in Virginia and felt from Washington, D.C. to Boston.
4.8 MAGNITUDE EARTHQUAKE STRIKES NEW JERSEY, SHAKING BUILDINGS IN SURROUNDING STATES
Before that, an earthquake in South Carolina in 1886 is understood to have measured between 6.6 and 7.3 on the Richter scale. There is no definitive measurement of that quake since the Richter scale has only been around since the mid-1930s, but the tectonic shift still killed 60 people.
Professor John Ebel, a seismologist in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Boston College, tells Fox News Digital that when quakes start breaking 5.0 on the Richter scale, damage begins to occur.
For instance, the devastating earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria last year measured 7.8 and resulted in the death of nearly 62,000 people as tens of thousands of buildings were either destroyed or severely damaged.
California’s Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989, meanwhile, measured 6.9 and caused 69 deaths, and the 1994 Northridge earthquake in the Golden State clocked 6.7, killing 57 people. Thousands more were injured.
“As you go above magnitude five, the shaking becomes stronger and the area over which the strong shaking is experienced becomes wider,” Ebel says. “So if you get a magnitude six, the shaking is ten times stronger than a magnitude five. So had this month’s earthquake been a 5.8, rather than a 4.8, then we would be looking at damage to unreinforced structures in the greater New York City area.”
“Now I have to qualify this and say that in the past few decades, New York City has had an earthquake provision in its building code while New Jersey, New York and Connecticut have all adopted some version of earthquake provisions in their building codes,” Ebel explained. “So modern buildings that are put up today will actually do quite well, even in strong earthquake shaking… If you have a magnitude 6 or even a magnitude seven.”
In terms of the Tri-state area, Ebel says that the region has had smaller earthquakes, but it’s been spared anything that’s been significantly damaging.
An 1884 quake in Brooklyn did cause limited damage and injuries. Seismologists estimated it would have measured in the region of 5.0 and 5.2, while a quake jolted Massachusetts in 1775 in the region of 6.0 and 6.3.
WHAT TO DO DURING AN EARTHQUAKE AND HOW TO PREPARE
“In 1884 there were things knocked from shelves, some cracks in walls that were reported, particularly plaster walls, which crack very easily if a building is shaken,” Ebel said. “There were some brick walls that had some cracks and people panicked because of the very strong shaking.”
A magnitude five earthquake hits the tri-state area once every 120 years, says Ebel, who penned the book “New England Earthquakes: The Surprising History of Seismic Activity in the Northeast.”
“The question is, can we have something bigger? And in my opinion, yes we can,” he said. “We can’t predict earthquakes, and we don’t know when the next one is going to occur, but we do have a low, not insignificant probability of a damaging earthquake at some point.”
Ebel said that the April 5 earthquake has left seismologists baffled since it didn’t occur on the Ramapo Fault zone, highlighting just how hard it is to predict the phenomenon from occurring. The Ramapo Fault zone is a series of small fault lines that runs through New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Spanning more than 185 miles, it was formed about 200 million years ago.
“Right now it’s a seismological mystery,” Ebel said. “We have some earthquakes in our region where we don’t have faults mapped. But that’s even true in California. Not every earthquake occurs on a known or mapped fault in California, so there are still a lot of seismologists have to learn about the exact relationship between old faults and modern earthquakes.”
Ebel noted that buildings aren’t the only thing to consider when earthquakes strike. In the California quakes, overpasses crumbled while the electrical grid can go down too, causing electrical surges and fires.
Toxic chemicals were knocked off of the shelves of a chemistry building in 1989 and the building had to be evacuated, Ebel said.
“And you think about hospitals and some industrial facilities having that situation,” he explained. “So you have these things that are not catastrophic necessarily, but are going to be a real problem.”
And an earthquake doesn’t necessarily have to rattle land in order to cause destruction.
A jolt out at sea could trigger a dangerous tsunami, like the one on the edge of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland in Canada in 1929. It was felt as far away as New York City.
Waves as high as 23 feet crashed on the shore, according to the International Tsunami Information Center, with up to 28 people losing their lives.
“A tsunami is not necessarily a very high probability event, but it’s one that we have to think about also,” Ebel says in relation to the East Coast.
The Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011 was triggered by an earthquake and subsequent tsunami.
Ebel says a tsunami similar to 1929 could cause a storm surge along the lines of Hurricane Sandy in 2012, where 43 people died in New York City.
“The threat of an earthquake is not as great as in California, but it’s something that we have to take into account and have emergency plans for and have building codes for,” Ebel says. “Our state and local emergency management agencies in all the northeastern states do earthquake planning — what we call tabletop exercises — where they pretend an earthquake occurs.”
“So those kinds of preparations are made on a regular basis,” he concludes. “Building codes are constantly being reevaluated and approved, not just for earthquakes, but for fires and chemical spills and all kinds of things. So we’re getting more prepared all the time.”
[Baltimore Sun] Call in the Carrier Pigeons: Repeatedly raising the price of stamps doesn’t work | GUEST COMMENTARY
It’s hard to keep track of ever-increasing stamp prices. This month, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) proposed hiking stamp prices in July from 68 cents...
[Fox News] How to turn your iPhone into instant foreign language translator
In today’s interconnected world, the ability to communicate across language barriers is more important than ever. Apple has recognized this need and, in a recent iOS update, introduced a nifty feature that allows you to translate languages instantly without even opening the Translate app.
This feature utilizes the “Dynamic Island,” a pill-shaped area at the top of the iPhone screen that can change size and shape to accommodate various types of alerts, notifications and interactions, turning it into a kind of front-and-center information hub. The Dynamic Island feature is available on the iPhone 15 models, which includes the iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max.
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Getting started is simple. Here’s how you can set up the Translate option using the Action Button on your iPhone:
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Once you’ve set it up, using it is just as easy:
Make sure to release the Action Button after the Dynamic Island shows “English, Listening” to ensure the feature works correctly.
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While you can’t change the Translate settings directly from the Action Button, you can still customize your experience within the Translate app itself:
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Apple’s latest update is more than just a technical enhancement. It’s a step toward a world where language differences are no longer a barrier to communication. Whether you’re traveling abroad, learning a new language or connecting with friends and family across the globe, the ability to translate on the fly is a game-changer. It’s a testament to how technology can bring us closer together, making the vast world just a little bit smaller.
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[Fox Business] Summer camp sticker shock: Working parents’ wallets feel the burn
Summer camp has become one of the latest burdens facing parents as the summer nears. Not only are camps filling up at a quick clip, they’re costing families more than ever.
Some working families, facing no other day care options, are shelling out hundreds if not thousands at a time for such camps at a time when they are already battling the high cost of everyday expenses.
“If you told me this two years ago, I would have laughed,” Jamie Aderski, a New Jersey mother with two children, told FOX Business, adding that the most coveted camps fill up instantly and request at least half of the payment – or more – up front.
SUMMER CAMPS, SPORTS LEAGUES JUMP ON BUY-NOW-PAY-LATER BANDWAGON
“Every flat-fee camp then is like, ‘Oh, and then it’s another $65 for supplies, it’s going to be another $15 a week to have an ice cream,” she said, adding that she gets hit with these extra fees for her son’s camp as well as her 4-year-old daughter’s day care and camp.
“I’m like, we’re not going on a vacation in summer… it’s not happening because all of our extra money is going to this camp,” she said.
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Kivilcim Stasik, another New Jersey mother, told FOX Business that she had to decide in January if she was signing her 8-year-old daughter up for Girl Scout camp. It’s not only expensive, but the process itself is “rip your hair out, stressful,” she said.
Within 15 to 20 minutes of camp registration opening “all those spots are gone,” she said.
In addition to the cost of camp, Stasik said she has to shell out more for a babysitter or additional aftercare every day.
In 2022, most day camps reported a daily per-person fee between $1 and $100, while overnight camps were more likely to report daily per-person fees higher than $100, according to the American Camp Association (ACA). About 73% of operators projected that fees would increase in 2023.
The Boy Scouts of America told FOX Business that “camp operations are impacted by the same inflationary pressures facing all businesses and organizations today” and that food and staff costs are usually the largest expenditures at any camp.
“Both sectors have been significantly impacted by rising costs over the last few years,” the Boy Scouts said, adding that “insurance, fuel and other essential cost centers have seen significant increases as well.”
This has ultimately led to the “steady rise in camp costs, and price, for most properties regardless of sponsorship or ownership,” the Boy Scouts said.
Shelly McTighe-Rippengale, executive vice president of YMCA San Diego County, told CBS8 that “inflation has kind of hit all areas of our life, including the YMCA summer camps.”
However, ACA’s website stated that there is still a “camp for just about every budget” with fees ranging from less than $100 to more than $1,500 per week for ACA-accredited resident and day camps.
The association also noted that “almost all camps have some sort of financial support for families in need,” ACA said on its website. “We recommend that parents find the camps that suit their child’s needs and ask the director what sort of summer camp scholarship options are available.”
The organization also noted that parents shouldn’t just assume their income doesn’t qualify.
“Ask your camp what payment or assistance programs they offer. Ask early,” the ACA’s website says.
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FOX Business reached out to the Girl Scouts, YMCA and ACA for comment.
[Fox Business] US unemployment would be higher if illegal immigration were counted correctly: Goldman Sachs
The U.S. unemployment rate would be higher if the government properly accounted for the recent surge in illegal immigration, according to a new analyst note from Goldman Sachs.
The Goldman strategists, led by chief economist Jan Hatzius, projected the immigration spike has actually increased the American labor force by about 1.1 million and household employment by 1 million.
When accounting for those figures, they found the unemployment rate in March would increase to 3.9% from the previously reported 3.8% figure.
The inconsistency in the data stems from the way that immigration is covered.
GOVERNMENT HIRING SPREE PROPPING UP THE US JOB MARKET
The Labor Department’s monthly employment report is based on two surveys. The establishment survey, which gathers data from about 122,000 businesses and government agencies, is used to calculate how many jobs the U.S. adds each month. The other is based on monthly interviews of about 60,000 households and is used to determine the unemployment rate.
But the latter household survey relies on a population estimate from the Census Bureau as a benchmark that has “failed to capture the recent immigration surge” because it uses a lagged migration estimate based on the 2022 American Community Survey, the economists said.
BIDEN FACING ABYSMAL APPROVAL RATING ON IMMIGRATION AS AMERICANS REACT TO SPIRALING BORDER CRISIS
While the census estimates the U.S. population grew by 0.5% in 2023 from the previous year, the Congressional Budget Office has projected it jumped by 0.9%. That inconsistency is the result of the CBO trying to capture a wave of illegal immigration at the southwest border.
Goldman estimated that about 64% of immigrants in 2023 were “unauthorized,” while about one-third filed for asylum, which means they are able to apply for work authorization after 150 days.
“As a result, the household survey, which uses the Census population estimate as a benchmark, has also likely understated the size of the labor force and employment,” they said.
The establishment survey is less impacted because companies are not required to report immigration status when they submit employment data, which has fueled discrepancies between the two reports.
“This means that the surge in unauthorized immigration in 2023 likely contributed to the widening of the employment gap between the establishment survey and the household survey,” the economists added.
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Goldman said the household survey likely underestimates the real number of workers by between 100,000 and 400,000.
Still, the problem will likely be resolved in January 2025, when the Labor Department starts incorporating information from the updated 2023 American Community Survey.
[Fox Business] Tesla’s day of reckoning as first-quarter earnings set to be released
Tesla is set to release its first-quarter earnings on Tuesday after the market closes – and the electric vehicle (EV) maker faces a reckoning from investors after a big sales miss.
The company saw vehicle deliveries decline in the first quarter for the first time in nearly four years – falling well short of analysts’ expectations amid a price war in China, where domestically made EVs like those from BYD have taken market share.
Tesla has responded with price cuts for its most popular cars as well as its Full Self-Drive (FSD) software meant to reinvigorate customer demand.
Tesla also announced last week that it will lay off about 10% of its global workforce in a bid to control costs. Its stock has fallen over 42% year to date as of Monday’s close amid the competitive challenges and financial headwinds it faces, which have left the EV maker at a crossroads.
TESLA’S WEAK FIRST-QUARTER DELIVERIES AN ‘UNMITIGATED DISASTER’ FOR MUSK
CEO Elon Musk will look to reassure investors about the direction of Tesla, the world’s most valuable automaker by market capitalization, during Tuesday’s earnings call. Here’s a look at some of the topics that may be a focus during the call:
In early April, Musk posted on X, formerly Twitter, that Tesla will unveil a robotaxi on Aug. 8 and later added that going “balls to the wall” on autonomous vehicles was a “blindingly obvious” move.
Musk’s robotaxi push comes at a pivotal moment for Tesla and amid legal and regulatory challenges in the pursuit of fully autonomous vehicles.
TESLA AUTOPILOT, SIMILAR AUTOMATED DRIVING SYSTEMS RATED ‘POOR’ BY SAFETY GROUP
Tesla has long touted its Autopilot and Full Self-Driving systems, though they fall short of full autonomy and require drivers’ active supervision. The company has also faced lawsuits and investigations into those technologies.
Robotaxi being thrust to the forefront of Tesla’s planning – potentially at the expense of a long-awaited, low-cost EV option – will likely make it a topic worth paying attention to during Tuesday’s earnings call.
TESLA SLASHES PRICE FOR FULL SELF-DRIVING SOFTWARE
Tesla and Musk have long hinted at plans to make a cost-friendly EV, often referred to as the “Model 2” which has reportedly been developed by the company under the code name “Redwood.” However, the company’s focus on its robotaxi plans has left the status of that project unclear.
In early April, Reuters reported, citing three unnamed sources familiar with Tesla’s plans, that the company has scrapped its plan for the low-cost EV, which was expected to have a starting price of $25,000. The outlet also said it reviewed several internal documents confirming the project’s demise.
ELON MUSK SAYS REUTERS ‘LYING’ IN REPORTING TESLA SCRAPPED PLAN FOR LOW-COST CAR
Musk wrote on X that “Reuters is lying (again)” in response to the report. He had previously said the low-cost EV would be available in 2025. The outlet noted his response in its story and observed that “[he] did not identify any specific inaccuracies.”
The uncertainty around the company’s plans and the market’s reaction to that report – Tesla’s stock fell by nearly 5% after the story broke – suggest that Musk or other Tesla executives may discuss the project’s status during Tuesday’s earnings call.
TESLA ANNOUNCES PRICE CUT FOR CERTAIN MODELS
Earlier this year, Musk made headlines about Tesla’s role in the artificial intelligence (AI) race when he wrote on X, “I am uncomfortable growing Tesla to be a leader in AI & robotics without having ~25% voting control.”
He added that the amount of voting power would “mean I am influential, but can be overridden if twice as many shareholders vote against me vs for me,” but without that much control he “would prefer to build products outside of Tesla.” A recent regulatory filing indicated that when including Musk’s unexercised options, he owns about 21% of Tesla as of the end of March.
Musk also noted recently that rival companies in the AI space, such as OpenAI, have looked to poach Tesla’s top AI engineers – in some cases successfully – so the company is boosting their compensation to keep them in the fold.
TESLA TO LAY OFF MORE THAN 10% OF WORKFORCE
In February, a judge in Delaware voided Musk’s $56 billion pay package on the grounds that Tesla didn’t fully inform shareholders about Musk’s personal relationships with the board members who approved the pay package or the fact that Tesla was on track to achieve many of the performance targets tied to his compensation.
Given that and the compensation plan’s status as the largest ever awarded to the leader of a publicly-traded company, the judge struck down Musk’s pay plan. In response, Musk took to X and posted, “Never incorporate your company in the state of Delaware.”
Tesla has put the potential reinstatement of Musk’s pay package to the company’s shareholders for a vote, along with a potential change in the company’s incorporation state.
ELON MUSK PROVIDES UPDATE ON TESLA ROADSTER TIMELINE
Tesla’s physical headquarters is currently located in Texas, but in the wake of the Delaware ruling that invalidated his pay package, Musk has pushed for Tesla to be reincorporated in Texas.
Several of Musk’s other companies are incorporated in Texas, including SpaceX – a privately-held company that Musk announced switched its business registration state from Delaware to Texas in mid-February.
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Shareholder votes on reinstating Musk’s pay package and changing Tesla’s state of incorporation are expected to take place at the company’s shareholder meeting on June 13.
FOX Business’ Breck Dumas, Aislinn Murphy and Reuters contributed to this report.
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