The Week In News

went up 2.3% and 1.5% respectively. In all, the price of beef and veal went up 2.4%.

Prices are rising due to beef shortages caused by droughts. The extreme weather has been depleting water resources and grass that cows need for survival, and as such, farmers are being forced to sell their livestock. In fact, according to the USDA, the cattle supply has decreased 3% year over year.

The government recently released similar data. From July 2022 to July 2023, uncooked beef steaks went up 7.8% in price. Uncooked beef roast became 6.3% more expensive, and uncooked ground beef rose 3.1% in price. The government concluded that, in all, the price of beef and veal went up 5.3% over the last twelve months.

But beef isn’t the only grocery store item getting more expensive. In July, hot dogs became 2.7% more expensive and apples rose 2.4%, while citrus fruit and ice cream increased in price by 1.7% and 1.5%, respectively. Coffee and butter both rose 1% in cost. Other foods have gone up over the past year, including bread by 9.5%, flour by 8.5%, rice by 6.5%, and sugar by 9.7%.

Conversely, some foods went down in price last month, including margarine and eggs, which became 2.4% and 2.2% less expensive, respectively, while chicken, seafood, and fresh fish all decreased by 1.1% in cost. Additionally, milk’s price dropped 0.6%.

As for restaurants, menu prices did go up in the month of July, but only 0.2% higher. However, from the span of July 2022 to July 2023, fast and casual food rose 7.1% in cost, while dine-in restaurants became 5.8% more expensive. Many customers are having enough of the high prices, leading many fast food and restaurant chains to actively lose business.

More Driverless Taxis in San Fran

California regulators agreed last week to the expansion of driverless taxi services in San Francisco, despite the safety concerns of local officials and community activists.

In a 3-1 vote, the California Public Utilities Commission, which regulates self-driving cars in the state, gave

Cruise and Waymo permission to offer paid rides anytime during the day throughout the city. One commissioner was absent.

Cruise, a General Motors subsidiary, had been offering paid rides in one-third of the city while Waymo, which is owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet, was offering free trips to passengers in its driverless cars. The vote had no impact on the frequent test drives that Waymo and Cruise have been conducting without passengers on San Francisco streets.

The commission’s decision after a seven-hour hearing followed months of protest by city officials and civic groups, who complained that the driverless cars were a potential road hazard. While the autonomous vehicles have not been blamed for any serious incidents, city officials say they often shut down and won’t move after encountering an unexpected obstacle like a fire hose or downed electrical lines.

The expansion plan was the first indication that driverless cars could be commercially viable after billions of dollars in investments by the tech and auto industries. “San Francisco would be a proof of concept” for the rest of the country, said Matt Wansley, a law professor at Cardozo School of Law in New York.

Cruise operates 300 vehicles in San Francisco during the night and 100 during the day, while Waymo operates 250 throughout the day. Neither company expected a significant increase in the number of vehicles.

Waymo said its driverless fleet would “align” with rider demands, while Cruise said it would focus on expanding the market to new parts of the city, since it had offered paid rides only in northwest San Francisco.

Both supporters and opponents of driverless cars — including trade unions, gig workers, disability groups and transportation activists — flocked to the commission’s headquarters in San Francisco on Thursday. In a campaign organized by Waymo, close to 100 employees and riders showed up to the meeting in yellow shirts that said, “Safer Roads for All.” (© The New York Times)

Maui Wildfires

Several wildfires raged in Maui, the second largest island in Hawaii, over the past week, leading to at least ninety-nine fatalities and countless missing, as of Tuesday.

Thousands of people have been evacuated to emergency shelters, with many left homeless due to the calamity. The fires have caused billions of dollars in damages, said Hawaii Governor Josh Green, adding that “upwards of 1,700 buildings” have been destroyed, with around 80% of the town “gone.”

“If you have additional space in your home, if you have the capacity to take someone in from west Maui, please do,” the governor urged. “Please consider bringing those people into your lives.”

Power outages have swept the county, leaving around 11,000 businesses and homes without electricity and making it very difficult for officials to communicate with one another.

“There’s no power. There’s no internet. There’s no radio coverage,” John Pelletier, police chief of Maui County, said two days after the fire began.

The disaster started on Tuesday, August 8, when Maui County announced that the Lahaina brush fire was “100% contained before 9 a.m.” that day. An hour later, another wildfire, the Kula Fire, started becoming an issue, leading to evacuations in certain areas. By the time the afternoon came along, yet another wildfire, the Upcountry brush fire, became problematic, forcing even more evacuations. Then, the Lahaina fire came back to life. The fires consumed the island at high speeds, leaving many with little time to escape.

“Now I want to caution everyone, Lahaina is a devastated zone,” Green said on Friday. Residents of Lahaina “will see destruction like they’ve not ever seen in their lives. Everyone, please brace themselves as they go back.”

Sadly, the comprehensive emergency alarm system on the islands was not activated during the fires, sitting silent as fires raged. Downed power lines and fire hydrants bereft of water contributed to the intensity of the tragedy.

Of the many people who lost their lives, only a few have been identified. Many of the bodies were so charred they will only be identified with DNA testing. Additionally, there are many people still considered missing.

A resident of Maui said that the town as looking like “a massive grave,” as if “there was a war that happened.”

President Joe Biden has approved a disaster declaration to provide Maui with federal funds needed for the island’s rebuilding, and over 130 members of the Army National Guard and Air National Guard have been sent to the site of the destruction. Additionally, California and Washington have sent search-and-rescue teams, along with search dogs, in hopes of finding survivors in the ruins of Maui.

These fires are now the deadliest natural disaster in all of Hawaii’s history, eclipsing the previous record of sixty-one people killed by a tsunami in 1960.

Say Hi and Be Happy

A recent poll shows that those who say hello to people in the neighborhood have a higher well-being than those who speak with few or no neighbors. And it’s not just about saying hi to your one neighbor. With 100 being a perfect score, well-being rose from 51.5 among people saying howdy to no neighbors to over 64 for people who regularly greeted six neighbors.

“The sweet spot, as far as well-being is concerned, is six greetings,” said Dan Witters, research director