Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on July 29th, 2010
by Pincas Jawetz (PJ@SustainabiliTank.com)
July Update
 A key part of Arizona’s immigration law was temporarily blocked by a federal judge Wednesday. For now, police won’t be able to question people about their immigration status. For many businesses, the damage from the controversy is already done. Reduced spending in restaurants, grocery and retail stores has triggered a domino effect among businesses in the metro Phoenix business community and throughout Arizona. Anecdotal evidence from business owners, real estate agents and community leaders indicates the mere specter of the bill has created a culture of fear among Hispanics in Arizona that’s slowly paralyzing sectors of the economy. In addition, economic boycotts adopted by other states and cities have hit Arizona’s meeting and convention business. Since groups nationwide began announcing boycotts of the state because of SB 1070, at least 40 meetings have been canceled, which resulted in the loss of $12 million in lodging alone, according to Kristen Jarnagin, spokeswoman for the Arizona Hotel & Lodging Association. Full Story
Watch “John King, USA” tonight at 7 p.m. ET for an in-depth look at the immigration debate. |
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How the Gulf of Mexico became the nation’s ‘toilet bowl’ |
Perhaps nowhere is the protracted death of the Gulf Coast more apparent than in Pointe-Aux-Chenes, Louisiana, where decades before the BP oil disaster, the marsh started disintegrating. The Gulf of Mexico became, in effect, the United States’ toilet bowl — known for its seasonal “dead zones,” high erosion rates, dirty industry, ingrained poverty and, now, for the biggest oil disaster in the history of the country. Full story
More on the oil disaster:
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Katrina then and now |
After Hurricane Katrina tore through the Gulf Coast, thousands of residents were displaced, neighborhoods were submerged and streets were littered with debris. To mark Katrina’s five-year anniversary, CNN is embarking on an ambitious project to see what the region looks like now. Instead of compiling a simple before-and-after photo gallery, we’re instead asking iReporters to visit the places devastated by Katrina and document the scene today.
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Posted in Future Events, Futurism, Policy Lessons from Mad Cow Disease, Reporting from Washington DC, The US States
