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Source: Streetwise Reports 11/07/2024

Dakota Gold Corp. (DC:NYSE American) announced drill results from the first 17 holes of its ongoing infill drilling program to expand the maiden resource at its Richmond Hill Gold Project in the historic Homestake District of South Dakota.

An updated S-K 1300 resource estimate is planned for Q1 2025 and a S-K 1300 Initial Assessment with cashflow analysis is planned for Q2 2025, the company said in a release. The expanded resource is expected to include an additional 88 new drill holes totaling 17,000 meters.

"The highlight of this morning's release was (hole) RH24C-099, which was drilled in the Twin Tunnels Zone and returned 1.15 g/t Au (grams per tonne gold) over 51.7 meters from 132.9 meters," wrote Canaccord Genuity Capital Markets Analyst Peter Bell in an updated research note on Monday. "The results this morning were consistent with the current resource at Richmond Hill, with many cases reporting higher-than-average grades."

Bell said the firm was encouraged by the results, "which we believe provide support for expansion in future resource estimates. With infill and step out drilling at Richmond Hill being just one of three ongoing drill programs currently underway at Dakota, underscoring the company's emphasis on exploration and expansion."

Drilling Is 'Adding Ounces'

The maiden S-K 1300 resource, announced in April, outlined an Indicated Resource of 51.83 million tonnes (Mt) at 0.80 g/t Au for 1.33 million ounces (Moz) and Inferred Resource of 58.06 Mt at 0.61 g/t Au for 1.13 Moz., the company said.

The initial infill drill results release released Monday encountered further gold mineralization from the central portion of the Richmond Hill resource area consistent with results reported in the maiden resource, Dakota said. The drilling was conducted in areas where the original resource block model contained gaps to support the company's belief that the initial resource could be significantly expanded with additional infill drilling.

Highlights of the results include:

• Hole RH24C-077: 0.76 g/t Au over 24.4 meters
• Hole RH24C-083: 0.70 g/t Au over 13.8 meters
• Hole RH24C-085: 1.10 g/t Au over 17.9 meters
• Hole RH24C-088A: 0.96 g/t Au over 41.5 meters
• Hole RH24C-099: 1.15 g/t Au over 51.7 meters

Dakota said the resource remained open in all directions and could be improved with more drilling, metallurgical work, and incorporation of silver into the resource.

"We are very pleased to see that initial results from our infill drill program are adding ounces to our current S-K 1300 resource," said Dakota Vice President of Exploration James Berry. "The results to date show grades and widths consistent with drill holes in the original block model and support an expansion of gold mineralization, including shallow oxide mineralization. We look forward to continuing our infill program on the other zones identified in our Initial assessment for follow-up drilling."

'Vastly Unexplored' District

The historic Homestake Mine produced 41 Moz Au and 9 Moz silver (Ag) over 126 years. The company has 48,000 acres of holdings surrounding the original mine, which was first discovered in 1876 and consolidated by George Hearst.

Areas surrounding "super-giant deposits" like Homestake are believed to contain significant additional gold resources, wrote John Newell wrote.

Areas surrounding "super-giant deposits" like Homestake are believed to contain significant additional gold resources, wrote John Newell of John Newell & Associates this week for a Streetwise Reports piece on the legacy of the famous mine.

"Super-giant deposits are characterized by clusters of geologically similar deposits within several hundred square kilometers, defining profoundly mineralized regions," Newell wrote. "It is believed that at least twice that amount of gold exists in the neighborhood of these super giants. If that is true, then there are at least 100 Moz of gold left to be found in this vastly underexplored precious metal district of South Dakota."

This proximity to a super-giant "suggests a high potential for similar deposits," Newell wrote. "Being in the shadow of many old mines increases the probability of finding significant mineral resources."

The Catalyst: Gold Continues Bull Market

After hitting a record high of US$2,790.15 per ounce on Thursday, spot gold was up 0.1% to US$2,737.35 on Monday afternoon, according to Reuters.

Investors were keeping a close on Tuesday's presidential election in the U.S. and the Federal Reserve's meeting later this week, Anjana Anil reported.

"A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted last month found worries that the U.S. could see a repeat of the unrest that followed Trump's 2020 election defeat, when his false claim that his loss was the result of fraud prompted hundreds to storm the U.S. Capitol," Anil wrote.

Gold's rise has "resulted in big returns for the investors who bought in earlier this year," Angelica Leicht reported for CBS News last month. "For example, the investors who purchased gold in March when it hit US$2,160 per ounce have seen their gold values increase by nearly 27% in the time since. That's a huge uptick in value in a matter of months, especially on an asset that's known more for long-term growth."

Recently polled London Bullion Market Association members indicated they believe the gold price could reach US$2,940/oz during 2025, reported Stockhead on Oct. 28.

"Combined with expectations of lower global interest rates, this further enhances gold's attractiveness as an investment," the article noted.[OWNERSHIP_CHART-7442]

As for gold equities, the S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index (SPCDNX) confirmed a multidecade bull run for junior, intermediate, and senior mining stocks when it closed above 1,000 recently, Stewart Thomson with 321Gold wrote. The index is a key indicator of the health of the general gold, silver, and mining stocks market.

Ownership and Share Structure

According to the company, approximately 25% of its shares are with management and insiders.

Out of management, Co-chairman, Director, President and Chief Executive Officer Robert Quartermain holds the most shares at 8.4%, while COO Jerry Aberle holds 4.8%, the company said.

About 26% of the shares are with institutional investors, according to Yahoo Finance and Edgar filings. Top institutional holders include Fourth Sail Capital with 5.3%, Van Eck Associates with 4.1%, Blackrock Institutional Trust Co. with 3.7%, The Vanguard Group Inc. with about 3.2%, Fidelity Management and Research Co. LLC with 2.7%, and CI Global Asset Management with 2.6%.

About 16.5% is with strategic investors, including Orion Mine Finance, which owns about 9.9%, and Barrick Gold Corp., which owns about 2.5%. The rest is retail.

Dakota Gold has a market cap of US$212.61 million, with 93.66 million shares outstanding. It trades in a 52-week range of US$3.25 and US$1.84.

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Important Disclosures:

1. Dakota Gold Corp. is a billboard sponsor of Streetwise Reports and pays SWR a monthly sponsorship fee between US$4,000 and US$5,000.
2. As of the date of this article, officers and/or employees of Streetwise Reports LLC (including members of their household) own securities of Dakota Gold Corp.
3. Steve Sobek wrote this article for Streetwise Reports LLC and provides services to Streetwise Reports as an employee.
4. This article does not constitute investment advice and is not a solicitation for any investment. Streetwise Reports does not render general or specific investment advice and the information on Streetwise Reports should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her personal financial adviser and perform their own comprehensive investment research. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports' terms of use and full legal disclaimer. Streetwise Reports does not endorse or recommend the business, products, services or securities of any company.

For additional disclosures, please click here.

( Companies Mentioned: DC:NYSE American, )

Source: Streetwise Reports 11/06/2024

Golden Cariboo Resources Ltd. (GCC:CSE; GCCFF:OTC; A0RLEP:WKN; 3TZ:FSE) has reported encouraging results from its 2024 field campaign. During the exploration, the company collected 16 rock samples from the Halo zone, North Hixon zone, and Pioneer area. These samples revealed promising gold mineralization in the region. Notable highlights from the Halo zone include grab samples from newly exposed outcrops, with assays reaching 8.47 g/t Au (grams per tonne, gold), 6.59 g/t Au, and 2.39 g/t Au. These samples were taken from altered andesite tuff with quartz-carbonate veins located approximately 101 meters northeast of the nearest drill collar.

Sampling near the Pioneer showing, situated one-kilometer north-northwest of the Halo zone, also returned assays of 1.13 g/t Au and 0.40 g/t Au. The fieldwork's findings have significantly extended the strike length of known gold mineralization by one kilometer and expanded the surface footprint of mineralization to the northeast. Despite challenging glacial cover, Golden Cariboo's team continues to uncover significant gold-bearing outcrops.

The report also underscored the strategic advantages of the property's location, infrastructure, and proximity to Highway 97, which reduces exploration and operational costs. Wortel detailed Golden Cariboo's drilling campaign, which includes results such as Hole QGQ24-013, which intersected 136.51 meters at 1.77 g/t gold, including a higher-grade interval of 23.89 meters at 3.32 g/t gold.

Valuation metrics from the report included a projected fair value of CA$0.40 per share, representing a 74% potential upside from the current trading price of CA$0.23, and doesn't include the added value from recent, significant exploration success. Despite acknowledging the high risks associated with early-stage exploration projects, Couloir Capital emphasized the long-term value potential in a Tier 1 mining jurisdiction, reinforced by the company's experienced management team and promising geological trends.

Frank Callaghan, President and CEO of Golden Cariboo, stated in the news release, "Although there is a lot of glacial cover on this project, our geologists still managed to find new gold-bearing outcrops in areas of great significance. We have now expanded the surface footprint of gold mineralization at the Halo zone to the northeast and increased the strike length of our gold trend. We're in a very large gold system that is being demonstrated by multiple, varied work programs."

Mining and Metals Market

On October 29, Kitco reported that gold prices had reached nearly US$2,800. This price represents a 35% increase for the year. The rise was attributed to multiple factors, including "geopolitical conflicts, Federal Reserve interest rate normalization, continued strong demand from global central banks, and uncertainties about the upcoming presidential election and potential fiscal stimulus." Analysts at Kitco described this combination of elements as a "perfect storm." They noted it had driven investor sentiment and reinforced gold's value as a hedge against economic turmoil.

LiveMint, on October 30, highlighted the substantial returns seen in gold over the past year. Despite this impressive performance, some analysts expressed caution regarding gold's future trajectory. Ajay Kedia, Director of Kedia Advisory, suggested that while gold prices may see a short-term rally, "investors may have to remain cautious on the yellow metal in the second half of 2025." Kedia noted that gold prices could experience profit-taking and a slowdown if interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve do not materialize as quickly as expected. Nonetheless, gold has continued to serve as a preferred asset for those seeking stability, especially in times of economic and political uncertainty.

In a November 4 report, Egon von Greyerz, Founder and Chairman of Matterhorn Asset Management, provided a historical perspective on gold's role in preserving wealth. Von Greyerz discussed how gold had consistently retained value, even as fiat currencies depreciated over time. He emphasized, "Gold held in the investor's name in safe vaults and jurisdictions outside the financial system is the ultimate form of wealth preservation." Von Greyerz also pointed to gold's outperformance since the 1970s, stating that gold had increased 78 times since President Nixon ended the gold standard in 1971. He argued that gold's journey was "only starting now," citing the ongoing destruction of fiat money value through global debt expansion and monetary policies.

Cariboo Catalysts

According to Golden Cariboo Resources' Q1 2024 investor presentation, the company is advancing exploration on its 3,814-hectare Quesnelle Gold Quartz Mine property, located in British Columbia's historic Cariboo Mining District. The asset benefits from 160 years of mining history and is road-accessible, facilitating year-round exploration. The 2024 exploration program, including trenching and a proposed 2,500-5,000m Phase 2 drilling campaign, aims to delineate the gold system further and complete a National Instrument 43-101 compliant resource estimate.

The property, encircled by Osisko Development Corp. on three sides, holds the potential for high-grade, multi-ounce gold targets. Management is focusing on a multi-phase exploration strategy. This includes trenching to assess shallow overburden and mapping and sampling to refine drill targets. The team's experience and the property's historical and geological significance position Golden Cariboo as a promising exploration venture.

The proposed drilling and development efforts reflect a systematic approach to unlocking value in this underexplored yet historically significant gold camp as the company progresses toward realizing a resource estimate.

Expert Analysis

Golden Cariboo Resources Inc. received favorable coverage from Couloir Capital in a report released on September 3, 2024. Senior Mining Analyst Ron Wortel issued a Buy recommendation for the company, noting the significant potential for discovering a large gold resource at the Quesnelle Gold Quartz property. Wortel highlighted that the property, located in British Columbia's historic Cariboo Mining District, lies along the same geological trend as Osisko Development's projects, suggesting the possibility of tapping into similar high-grade mineralization systems.

The report also underscored the strategic advantages of the property's location, infrastructure, and proximity to Highway 97, which reduces exploration and operational costs. Wortel detailed Golden Cariboo's drilling campaign, pointing out positive early results, such as Hole QGQ24-08, which intersected 263 meters at 0.29 g/t gold, including a higher-grade interval of 200 meters at 0.58 g/t gold. The analyst described these findings as indicative of "bulk-tonnage targets," with visible gold observed in several drill cores, bolstering the outlook for continued exploration success. [OWNERSHIP_CHART-11131]

Valuation metrics from the report included a projected fair value of CA$0.40 per share, representing a 286% potential upside from the current trading price of CA$0.14. Despite acknowledging the high risks associated with early-stage exploration projects, Couloir Capital emphasized the long-term value potential in a Tier 1 mining jurisdiction, reinforced by the company's experienced management team and promising geological trends.

Ownership and Share Structure

According to Golden Cariboo, management and insiders own 30% of Golden Cariboo Resources. President and CEO Frank Callaghan owns 16.45% or 6.93 million shares; Elaine Callaghan has 0.97% or 0.41 million shares; Director Andrew Rees has 0.79% or 0.33 million shares; and Director Laurence Smoliak has 0.3% or 0.13 million shares.

Retail investors hold the remaining. There are no institutional investors.

The company said it has 50.3 million shares outstanding, 24.83 million warrants, and 3.8 million options.

Its market cap is CA$9.7 million. Over the past 52 weeks, Golden Cariboo has traded between CA$0.08 and CA$0.36 per share.

Sign up for our FREE newsletter at: www.streetwisereports.com/get-news

Important Disclosures:

1. Golden Cariboo Resources Ltd. has a consulting relationship with Street Smart an affiliate of Streetwise Reports. Street Smart Clients pay a monthly consulting fee between US$8,000 and US$20,000.
2. As of the date of this article, officers and/or employees of Streetwise Reports LLC (including members of their household) own securities of Golden Cariboo Resources Ltd.
3. James Guttman wrote this article for Streetwise Reports LLC and provides services to Streetwise Reports as an independent contractor.
4. This article does not constitute investment advice and is not a solicitation for any investment. Streetwise Reports does not render general or specific investment advice and the information on Streetwise Reports should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her personal financial adviser and perform their own comprehensive investment research. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports' terms of use and full legal disclaimer. Streetwise Reports does not endorse or recommend the business, products, services or securities of any company.

For additional disclosures, please click here.

( Companies Mentioned: GCC:CSE; GCCFF:OTC; A0RLEP:WKN;3TZ:FSE, )

Source: Streetwise Reports 11/07/2024

Drilling and field operations at Golden Cariboo Resources Ltd.'s (GCC:CSE; GCCFF:OTC; A0RLEP:WKN; 3TZ:FSE) past-producing Quesnelle project in British Columbia's Cariboo Gold District continue to find the yellow metal throughout the project, from visible gold in drill cores to mineralization in outcrop samples.

President and Chief Executive Officer Frank Callaghan told Streetwise Reports that despite the high level of experience on his team, several geologists had never seen visible gold before, and their first views of it were "priceless."

"It was on the outside of this piece of core," Callaghan said. "And then the core had split … and there was more gold on the inside of it, as well."

Callaghan said he's drilled "hundreds and hundreds" of holes, but he "can count on my hands how many times I've seen it (visible gold)."

He said the company is seeing the gold in "every drill hole," so they keep moving forward chasing the deposit and working at the site 24 hours a day.

And according to Callaghan, the structure of the mineralization is "thickening up" as they drill. The technical team has also recognized multiple types of quartz veins that can contain gold, a common feature in large gold deposits of similar nature.

Last month, the company announced it was even forced to stop drilling in a vein zone at the property due to proximity to Osisko Development Corp.'s nearby mineral claims. Drill hole QGQ24-17 was terminated at a depth of 477.32 meters, and the "only thing that stopped us from drilling further was the claim boundary with Osisko," Callaghan said at the time.

On Tuesday, the company announced rock sample results from its 2024 field campaign, which found up to 8.47 grams per tonne gold (g/t Au) in one outcrop in the Halo zone and 1.13 g/t Au in another outcrop near the Pioneer showing.

"Although there is a lot of glacial cover on this project, our geologists still managed to find new gold-bearing outcrops in areas of great significance," Callaghan said in a release announcing the results. "We have now expanded the surface footprint of gold mineralization at the Halo zone to the northeast and increased the strike length of our gold trend. We're in a very large gold system that is being demonstrated by multiple, varied work programs."

Drilling 'Nonstop' and 'Underbudget'

Golden Cariboo, a Canadian explorer-developer, is targeting a potential multimillion-ounce gold resource at the 3,814-hectare Quesnelle project, where gold, silver, lead and zinc were produced historically, according to its Investor Presentation.

The company's neighbors in the mining district include Osisko's Cariboo Gold Project, Spanish Mountain Gold Ltd. (SPA:TSX.V) (Spanish Mountain deposit), Omineca Mining and Metals Ltd. (OMM:TSX.V; OMMSF:OTCMKTS) (Wingdam mine) and Taseko Mines Ltd. (TKO:TSX; TGB:NYSE.MKT) (Gibraltar mine).

Callaghan began rediscovering the Cariboo Camp in the mid-1990s as Barkerville Gold Mines Ltd. He and his then team discovered a gold deposit at Bonanza Ledge and advanced the project to production. He also assembled and developed the Cariboo Gold Project. Ultimately, Osisko Royalties acquired Barkerville and the assets in 2015 for US$338M. Osisko is about to restart mining operations in the camp.

Subsequently, in 2019, Callaghan acquired the Quesnelle Gold Quartz project, where he aims to repeat his previous successes, given the property's geology is similar to that of the other two projects.

Previously, the company reported observing multiple instances of visible gold in several holes earlier this fall and summer.

"Visible gold in current drilling indicates potential for high-grade assays from mineralized targets," Couloir Capital Senior Mining Analyst Ron Wortel wrote in a recent research report.

Given that Golden Cariboo is continuing its exploration program at Quesnelle throughout 2024, near-term catalysts include drill and assay results demonstrating significant grades or widths and better-defined mineralization controls and trends, according to Wortel.

Callaghan told Streetwise Reports that drilling continues to be "nonstop" and underbudget."

External catalysts include market transactions in the junior mining space involving projects or companies in the Cariboo region. Reports by Osisko Development of project advancements or production results relative to adjacent land also could boost Golden Cariboo's stock price.

The Catalyst: Index Also Confirms Bull Run for Junior Stocks

Experts agreed gold is in a bull market and expect it to go higher. However, after hitting a record high of US$2,790.15 per ounce last week, spot gold was down more than 3% to a three-week low on Wednesday morning as investors moved to the U.S. dollar after Donald Trump's election as U.S. president on Tuesday, Reuters reported.

Market participants are also looking ahead to the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision on Thursday for further clues on the bank's easing cycle, Reuters said.

"A clear presidential victory when the market has been pricing in a contested result, removal of an element of risk, Trump-trades include the dollar's strengthening this morning and the combination of the two has brought gold lower," StoneX analyst Rhona O'Connell said, according to Reuters.

Gold's rise has "resulted in big returns for the investors who bought in earlier this year," Angelica Leicht reported for CBS News last month. "For example, the investors who purchased gold in March when it hit US$2,160 per ounce have seen their gold values increase by nearly 27% in the time since. That's a huge uptick in value in a matter of months, especially on an asset that's known more for long-term growth."

Recently polled London Bullion Market Association members indicated they believe the gold price could reach US$2,940/oz during 2025, reported Stockhead on Oct. 28.[OWNERSHIP_CHART-11131]

"Combined with expectations of lower global interest rates, this further enhances gold's attractiveness as an investment," the article noted.

As for gold equities, the S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index (SPCDNX) confirmed a bull run for junior, intermediate, and senior mining stocks when it closed above 1,000 recently, Stewart Thomson with 321Gold wrote. The index is a key indicator of the health of the general gold, silver, and mining stocks market.

Ownership and Share Structure

According to Golden Cariboo, management and insiders own 30% of Golden Cariboo Resources. President and CEO Frank Callaghan owns 16.45% or 6.93 million shares; Elaine Callaghan has 0.97% or 0.41 million shares; Director Andrew Rees has 0.79% or 0.33 million shares; and Director Laurence Smoliak has 0.3% or 0.13 million shares.

Retail investors hold the remaining. There are no institutional investors.

The company said it has 50.3 million shares outstanding, 24.83 million warrants, and 3.8 million options.

Its market cap is CA$9.63 million. Over the past 52 weeks, Golden Cariboo has traded between CA$0.08 and CA$0.36 per share.

Sign up for our FREE newsletter at: www.streetwisereports.com/get-news

Important Disclosures:

1. Omineca Mining and Metals Ltd. is a billboard sponsor of Streetwise Reports and pays SWR a monthly sponsorship fee between US$4,000 and US$5,000.
2. Golden Cariboo Resources Ltd. has a consulting relationship with Street Smart an affiliate of Streetwise Reports. Street Smart Clients pay a monthly consulting fee between US$8,000 and US$20,000.
3. As of the date of this article, officers and/or employees of Streetwise Reports LLC (including members of their household) own securities of Golden Cariboo Resources Ltd. and Omineca Mining and Metals Ltd.
4. Steve Sobek wrote this article for Streetwise Reports LLC and provides services to Streetwise Reports as an employee.
5. This article does not constitute investment advice and is not a solicitation for any investment. Streetwise Reports does not render general or specific investment advice and the information on Streetwise Reports should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her personal financial adviser and perform their own comprehensive investment research. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports' terms of use and full legal disclaimer. Streetwise Reports does not endorse or recommend the business, products, services or securities of any company.

For additional disclosures, please click here.

( Companies Mentioned: GCC:CSE; GCCFF:OTC; A0RLEP:WKN;3TZ:FSE, )

Gay and bisexual men in England, Scotland, and Wales can now donate blood, plasma and platelets under certain circumstances without having to wait three months, the National Health Service announced this week.; Credit: Wilfredo Lee/AP

Gay and bisexual men in England, Scotland, and Wales can now donate blood, plasma and platelets under certain circumstances, the National Health Service announced this week in a momentous shift in policy for most of the U.K.

Beginning Monday, gay men in sexually active, monogamous relationships for at least three months can donate for the first time. The move reverses a policy that limited donor eligibility on perceived risks of contracting HIV/AIDs and other sexually transmitted infections.

The new rules come as the U.K. and other countries around the world report urgent, pandemic-induced blood supply issues.

Donor eligibility will now be based on each person's individual circumstances surrounding health, travel and sexual behaviors regardless of gender, according to the NHS. Potential donors will no longer be asked if they are a man who has had sex with another man, but they will be asked about recent sexual activity.

Anyone who has had the same sexual partner for the last three months can donate, the NHS said.

"Patient safety is at the heart of everything we do. This change is about switching around how we assess the risk of exposure to a sexual infection, so it is more tailored to the individual," said Ella Poppitt, Chief Nurse for blood donation at NHS Blood and Transplant, in a statement. "We screen all donations for evidence of significant infections, which goes hand-in-hand with donor selection to maintain the safety of blood sent to hospitals."

People who engage in anal sex with a new partner or multiple people or who have recently used PrEP or PEP (medication used to prevent HIV infection) will have to wait three months to donate - regardless of their gender.

Why did the U.K. make this change?

The NHS moved to alter its blood donation eligibility rules following a review by the FAIR (For the Assessment of Individualised Risk) steering group. The panel determined an individualized, gender-neutral approach to determining who can donate blood, platelets, and plasma is fairer and still maintains the safety of the U.K.'s blood supply.

The findings were accepted in full by the government last December.

Researchers will continue to monitor the impact of the donor selection changes for the next 12 months to determine if more changes are needed, NHS said.

What is the policy in the U.S.?

Despite efforts by advocates to change regulations in the U.S, the ability for gay and bisexual men to donate blood is still restricted.

A ban on gay and bisexual blood donors has been in effect since the early 1980s when fears about HIV/AIDS were widespread.

The Food and Drug Administration's current policy states a man who has sex with another man in the previous three months can't donate. Federal rules previously made such donors wait 12 months before giving blood, but due to low blood supplies during the pandemic the federal government changed the policy in April.

The Red Cross said they are participating in a pilot study funded by the FDA using behavior-based health history questionnaires, similar to those used in the U.K.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

A COVID-19 vaccination clinic last month in Auburn, Maine. A drop in life expectancy in the U.S. stems largely from the coronavirus pandemic, a new study says.; Credit: Robert F. Bukaty/AP

A new study estimates that life expectancy in the U.S. decreased by nearly two years between 2018 and 2020, largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. And the declines were most pronounced among minority groups, including Black and Hispanic people.

In 2018, average life expectancy in the U.S. was about 79 years (78.7). It declined to about 77 years (76.9) by the end of 2020, according to a new study published in the British Medical Journal.

"We have not seen a decrease like this since World War II. It's a horrific decrease in life expectancy," said Steven Woolf of the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine and an author of the study released on Wednesday. (The study is based on data from the National Center for Health Statistics and includes simulated estimates for 2020.)

Beyond the more than 600,000 deaths in the U.S. directly from the coronavirus, other factors play into the decreased longevity, including "disruptions in health care, disruptions in chronic disease management, and behavioral health crisis, where people struggling with addiction disorders or depression might not have gotten the help that they needed," Woolf said.

The lack of access to care and other pandemic-related disruptions hit some Americans much harder than others. And it's been well documented that the death rate for Black Americans was twice as high compared with white Americans.

The disparity is reflected in the new longevity estimates. "African Americans saw their life expectancy decrease by 3.3 years and Hispanic Americans saw their life expectancy decrease by 3.9 years," Woolf noted.

"These are massive numbers," Woolf said, that reflect the systemic inequalities that long predate the pandemic.

"It is impossible to look at these findings and not see a reflection of the systemic racism in the U.S.," Lesley Curtis, chair of the Department of Population Health Sciences at Duke University School of Medicine, told NPR.

"This study further destroys the myth that the United States is the healthiest place in the world to live," Dr. Richard Besser, president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (an NPR funder), said in an email.

He said wide differences in life expectancy rates were evident before COVID-19. "For example, life expectancy in Princeton, NJ—a predominantly White community—is 14 years higher than Trenton, NJ, a predominantly Black and Latino city only 14 miles away," Besser said.

Life expectancy in the U.S. had already been declining — albeit slowly — in the years leading up to the pandemic. And the U.S. has been losing ground compared with other wealthy countries, said Magali Barbieri of the University of California, Berkeley, in an editorial published alongside the new study.

The study estimates that the decline in life expectancy was .22 years (or about one-fifth of a year) in a group of 16 peer countries (including Austria, Finland, France, Israel, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom) compared with the nearly two-year decline in the United States.

"The U.S. disadvantage in mortality compared with other high income democracies in 2020 is neither new nor sudden," Barbieri wrote. It appears the pandemic has magnified existing vulnerabilities in U.S. society, she added.

"The range of factors that play into this include income inequality, the social safety net, as well as racial inequality and access to health care," Duke's Curtis said.

So, what's the prognosis going forward in the United States? "I think life expectancy will rebound," Woolf of Virginia Commonwealth said.

But it's unlikely that the U.S. is on course to reverse the trend entirely.

"The U.S. has some of the best hospitals and some of the greatest scientists. But other countries do far better in getting quality medical care to their population," Woolf said. "We have big gaps in getting care to people who need it most, when they need it most."

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Housing activists erect a sign in front of Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker's house in Swampscott, Mass., on Oct. 14, 2020. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has extended a moratorium on evictions until the end of July.; Credit: Michael Dwyer/AP

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has extended a moratorium on evictions until the end of July. The ban had been set to expire next week, raising concerns that there could be a flood of evictions with some seven million tenants currently behind on their rent.

The Biden administration says the extension is for "one final month" and will allow time for it to take other steps to stabilize housing for those facing eviction and foreclosure. The White House says it is encouraging state and local courts to adopt anti-eviction diversion programs to help delinquent tenants stay housed and avoid legal action.

The federal government will also try to speed up distribution of tens of billions of dollars in emergency rental assistance that's available but has yet to be spent. In addition, a moratorium on foreclosures involving federally backed mortgages has been extended for "a final month," until July 31.

In announcing the extension of the eviction moratorium, the CDC said that the COVID-19 "pandemic has presented a historic threat to the nation's public health. Keeping people in their homes and out of crowded or congregate settings — like homeless shelters — by preventing evictions is a key step in helping to stop the spread of COVID-19."

The CDC first issued the moratorium last September. It was extended once already in March, until June 30.

But landlords have been pushing back, arguing that they've taken a huge financial hit over the past year, losing billions of dollars a month in rent. Several business groups have sued the CDC and won, though court decisions to lift the moratorium have been stayed pending appeal.

The Alabama Association of Realtors, which brought one of the cases, argued that the CDC exceeded its authority in issuing the ban. The group is seeking relief from the U.S. Supreme Court, but the justices have yet to respond.

In its petition, the Realtors association called the CDC's "continued insistence that public-health concerns necessitate that landlords continue to provide free housing for tenants who have received vaccines (or passed up the chance to get them)...sheer doublespeak."

Housing advocates have argued that the moratorium is still very much needed. They note that $46 billion in emergency rental assistance approved by Congress has been slow getting into the hands of those it was intended to help. The money is supposed to cover rent that tenants currently owe.

The National Low Income Housing Coalition reports that in some states, less than five percent of the funds have been distributed so far. The group pushed the administration to extend the ban to give states and localities more time to get the money out.

Despite the moratorium, thousands of renters have still faced the threat of eviction because of loopholes in the law. Many are the lowest income tenants and disproportionately people of color. A new study by the Eviction Lab at Princeton University has found that communities with the lowest vaccination rates tend to have the highest eviction filings, raising additional health concerns.

"Allowing the moratorium to expire before vaccination rates increase in marginalized communities could lead to increased spread of, and deaths from, COVID-19," a group of more than 40 House lawmakers wrote in a letter this week to President Biden and CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, urging them to extend the moratorium.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Advocates for expanding Medicaid in Kansas staged a protest outside the entrance to the statehouse parking garage in Topeka in May 2019. Today, twelve states have still not expanded Medicaid. The biggest are Texas, Florida, and Georgia, but there are a few outside the South, including Wyoming and Kansas.; Credit: John Hanna/AP

There are more than 2 million people across the United States who have no option when it comes to health insurance. They're in what's known as the "coverage gap" — they don't qualify for Medicaid in their state, and make too little money to be eligible for subsidized health plans on the Affordable Care Act insurance exchanges.

Briana Wright is one of those people. She's 27, lives near Jackson, Miss., works at McDonalds, and doesn't have health insurance. So to figure out her options when she recently learned she needed to have surgery to remove her gallbladder, she called Health Help Mississippi, a nonprofit that helps people enroll in health insurances.

Because she lives in Mississippi, "I wasn't going to be eligible for Medicaid — because I don't have children [and] I'm not pregnant," she tells NPR. When she had her income checked for Healthcare.gov, it was just shy of the federal poverty line — the minimum to qualify for subsidies. "It was $74 [short]. I was like, oh wow," she says.

Wright's inability to get a subsidized policy on Healthcare.gov is related to how the Affordable Care Act was originally designed. People needing insurance who were above the poverty line were supposed to be funneled via the federal and state insurance exchanges to private policies — with federal subsidies to help make those policies affordable. People who were under the poverty line were to be funneled to a newly-expanded version of Medicaid — the public health insurance program that is jointly funded by states and the federal government. But the Supreme Court made Medicaid expansion essentially optional in 2012, and many Republican-led states declined to expand. Today, there are 12 holdout states that have not expanded Medicaid, and Mississippi is one of them.

So, Wright is still uninsured. Her gallbladder is causing her pain, but she can't afford the surgery without shuffling household bills, and risking leaving something else unpaid. "I'm stressed out about it. I don't know what I'm going to do," she says. "I'm going to just have to pay it out of pocket or get on some payment plan until it all gets paid for."

Hoping to finally find a fix for Wright and the millions like her who are in Medicaid limbo, several teams of Democratic lawmakers have recently been hashing out several options — hoping to build on the momentum of the latest Supreme Court confirmation that the ACA is here to stay.

OPTION 1: Sweet-talk the 12 holdout states

The COVID-19 relief bill passed in March included financial enticements for these 12 states to expand Medicaid. Essentially, the federal government will cover 90% of the costs of the newly eligible population, and an additional 5% of the costs of those already enrolled.

It's a good financial deal. An analysis by the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that the net benefit for these states would be $9.6 billion. But, so far — publicly, at least — no states have indicated they intend to take the federal government up on its offer.

"If that is not getting states to move, then that suggests that the deep root of their hesitation is not about financial constraint," says Jamila Michener, a professor of government at Cornell University and author of the book Fragmented Democracy: Medicaid Federalism And Unequal Politics.

Instead, Michener says, the reluctance among some Republican-led legislatures and governors to expand Medicaid may be a combination of partisan resistance to President Obama's signature health law, and not believing "this kind of government intervention for these groups of people is appropriate."

What's Next: When asked about progress on this front in an April press briefing, Biden's press secretary Jen Psaki said "the President is certainly supportive of — and an advocate for — states expanding Medicaid," but did not answer a follow up about whether the White House was directly reaching out to governors regarding this option.

OPTION 2: Create a federal public option to fill the gap

Some have advocated for circumventing these holdout states and creating a new, standalone federal Medicaid program that people who fall into this coverage gap could join. It would be kind of like a tailored public option just for this group.

This idea was included in Biden's 2022 budget, which says, in part: "In States that have not expanded Medicaid, the President has proposed extending coverage to millions of people by providing premium-free, Medicaid-like coverage through a Federal public option, paired with financial incentives to ensure States maintain their existing expansions."

But it wouldn't be simple. "That can be quite complex — to implement a federal program that's targeted to just these 2.2 million people across a handful of states," says Robin Rudowitz, co-director of the Medicaid program at the Kaiser Family Foundation, who wrote a recent analysis of the policy options.

It also may be a heavy lift, politically, says Michener. "Anything that expanded the footprint of the federal government and its role in subsidizing health care would be especially challenging," she says.

What's next: This idea was raised as a possible solution in a letter last month from Georgia's Democratic senators to Senate leaders, and Sen. Raphael Warnock said this week he plans to introduce legislation soon.

OPTION 3: Get around stubborn states by letting cities expand Medicaid

Instead of centralizing the approach, this next idea goes even more local. The COVER Now Act, introduced by Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, would empower local jurisdictions to expand Medicaid. So, if you live in Austin, Texas, maybe you could get Medicaid, even if someone in Lubbock still couldn't.

The political and logistical challenges would be tough, policy analysts say. Logistically, such a plan would require counties and cities to create new infrastructure to run a Medicaid program, Rudowitz notes, and the federal government would have to oversee how well these new local programs complied with all of Medicaid's rules.

"It does not seem feasible politically," Michener says. "The legislators who would have to vote to make this possible would be ceding quite a bit of power to localities." It also might amplify geographic equity concerns, she says. People's access to health insurance would not just "be arbitrarily based on what state you live in — which is the current state of affairs — It's also going to be arbitrary based on what county you live in, based on what city you live in."

What's next: Doggett introduced the bill earlier this month. There's no guarantee it would get a vote on the House floor and — even if it did — it wouldn't survive a likely filibuster in the evenly divided Senate.

OPTION 4: Change the ACA to open up the exchanges

A fourth idea, Rudowitz says, is to change the law to remove the minimum cutoff for the private health insurance exchanges, since "right now, individuals who are below poverty are not eligible for subsidies in the marketplace." With this option, states wouldn't be paying any of the costs, since the federal government pays premium subsidies, Rudowitz says, but "there are issues around beneficiary protections, benefits, out-of-pocket costs."

What's next: This idea hasn't yet been included in any current congressional bills.

Will any of these ideas come to fruition?

Even with a variety of ideas on the table, "there's no slam dunk option, it's a tough policy issue," Rudowitz says. All of these would be complicated to pull off.

It's possible Democrats will include one of these ideas in a reconciliation bill that could pass without the threat of a Republican filibuster. But that bill has yet to be written, and what will be included is anyone's guess.

Even so, Michener says she's glad the discussion of the Medicaid coverage gap is happening, because it's sensitizing the public, as well as people in power, to the problem and potentially changing the political dynamic down the line. "Even in policy areas where you don't have any kind of guaranteed victory, it is often worth fighting the fight," she says. "Politics is a long game."

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Bill Cosby exits the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa., Saturday, June 17, 2017. ; Credit: Matt Rourke/AP

Pennsylvania’s highest court overturned. Bill Cosby’s sex assault conviction Wednesday after finding an agreement with a previous prosecutor prevented him from being charged in the case.

Cosby has served more than two years of a three- to 10-year sentence at a state prison near Philadelphia. He had vowed to serve all 10 years rather than acknowledge any remorse over the 2004 encounter with accuser Andrea Constand.

We dive into how this all happened, through the lens of law, celebrity and the MeToo movement. 

With files from the Associated Press

Guests: 

Ambrosio Rodriguez, former prosecutor; he is currently a criminal defense attorney at The Rodriguez Law Group in Los Angeles; he led the sex crimes team and was in the homicide unit in the Riverside D.A.’s office; he tweets at @aer_attorney

Laurie L. Levenson, professor of criminal law at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles and former federal prosecutor

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

In this photo taken on February 10, 2020 a 'love kit' is seen on the bed in a room at the Dragonfly hotel in Mumbai.; Credit: PUNIT PARANJPE/AFP via Getty Images

A new survey shows that in the era of widespread vaccine availability, American couples are more satisfied in their relationships -- and some are even getting more experimental than they have been.

Led by Indiana University Kinsey Institute researcher Justin Lehmiller in collaboration with the website Lovehoney, which describes itself as “global sexual happiness experts,” the report looked at responses from 2,000 U.S. adults age 18-45, including an oversample of 200 who identified as LGBTQ, and among the major findings of the survey were that more than half (51 percent) of respondents said their sexual interests had changed during the pandemic, and many of those said they’d started trying things they hadn’t before. It also found that 44 percent of people surveyed said they were communicating better with their partner, and among singles surveyed 52 percent say they’re less interested in casual sex and more than a third of them said they weren’t interested in having sex on the first date.

Today on AirTalk, we’ll talk with Professor Lehmiller about the survey, its findings and how the pandemic impacted Americans’ views on relationships and sex.

Guest: 

Justin Lehmiller, social psychologist and research fellow at Indiana University’s Kinsey Institute who conducted the “Summer of Love” survey; author of “Tell Me What You Want: The Science of Sexual Desire and How It Can Help You Improve Your Sex Life” (Hachette Go, July 2020); host of the “Sex and Psychology” podcast; he tweets @JustinLehmiller

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Don't fear the 'shrooms.; Credit: /iStockphoto.com

California on Tuesday moved another step closer to decriminalizing psychedelics — amid a debate over whether their prohibition is an outdated remnant of the War on Drugs — after the author removed a substance (ketamine) from the bill that opponents said can be used as a date-rape drug.

The bill would allow those 21 and older to possess for personal use and “social sharing” psilocybin, the hallucinogenic component of so-called magic mushrooms. It also covers psilocybin, dimethyltryptamine (DMT), ibogaine, mescaline excluding peyote, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, often called ecstasy).

The bill bars sharing with those under age 21 or possessing the substances on school grounds. It would remove the state’s ban on cultivating or transferring mushroom spores or other material containing psilocybin or psilocybin.

Even if California makes the bill law, the drugs would still be illegal under federal law.

With files from the Associated Press.

Guests:

Scott Wiener, author of SB 519; California State Senator representing Senate District 11, which includes all of the city and county of San Francisco, Broadmoor, Colma, Daly City, and part of South San Francisco; he tweets @Scott_Wiener

John Lovell, legislative director of the California Narcotics Officers Association

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

The Solar System is full of its own tricks and treats, so discover some of our favorites below.

Geologists from the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory are often asked to estimate how likely future eruptions are at Yellowstone, but it’s no walk in the national park.

A new study from USGS describes a previously unknown process of marine mineral formation in the Arctic Ocean, driven by frictional heating along tectonic faults rather than by hydrothermal activity. 

Attorney General Merrick Garland ordered a pause on federal executions Thursday while the Justice Department reviews policies and procedures on capital punishment.; Credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images

Attorney General Merrick Garland has imposed a moratorium on scheduling federal executions, the Department of Justice announced on Thursday. The department will review its policies and procedures on capital punishment, following a wave of federal executions carried out under the Trump administration.

In a memo to the Justice Department, Garland justified his decision to halt the deeply controversial practice, citing factors including its capricious application and outsized impact on people of color.

"The Department of Justice must ensure that everyone in the federal criminal justice system is not only afforded the rights guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the United States, but is also treated fairly and humanely. That obligation has special force in capital cases," Garland said in the memo.

"Serious concerns have been raised about the continued use of the death penalty across the country, including arbitrariness in its application, disparate impact on people of color, and the troubling number of exonerations in capital and other serious cases," he added. "Those weighty concerns deserve careful study and evaluation by lawmakers."

Under former President Donald Trump, the federal government carried out its first executions in a generation last year, with 13 inmates put to death in Trump's final year in office. That included an unprecedented number of federal killings carried out in the last days of his single-term presidency, bucking a nearly century-and-a-half practice of pausing capital punishments during the presidential exchange of power.

Then-Attorney General William Barr said the executions were being carried out in cases of "staggeringly brutal murders." Civil rights activists had rallied to spare the lives of those on death row. Concerns of how humanely the sentences could be carried out, as well as the recent exonerations of a number of death row inmates, were major factors in the demonstrations to cease state-sanctioned killings.

"The Department must take care to scrupulously maintain our commitment to fairness and humane treatment in the administration of existing federal laws governing capital sentences," Garland said in his memo on Thursday.

President Biden, who nominated Garland to the top law enforcement post, opposes capital punishment. During his campaign, Biden pledged to pass legislation to end the federal death penalty.

Some congressional Democrats have been working on such legislation, but no action has been taken. Some progressives and activists opposed to capital punishment had been expressing frustration that they have not seen more movement on the issue from Biden.

"A moratorium on federal executions is one step in the right direction, but it is not enough," said Ruth Friedman, director of the Federal Capital Habeas Project. "We know the federal death penalty system is marred by racial bias, arbitrariness, over-reaching, and grievous mistakes by defense lawyers and prosecutors that make it broken beyond repair."

Friedman said Biden should commute all federal death sentences, warning that a pause alone "will just leave these intractable issues unremedied and pave the way for another unconscionable bloodbath like we saw last year."

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Circus of Books storefront.; Credit: Netflix/Circus Of Books (2020)

The documentary “Circus of Books”  tells the story of two book stores, one in West Hollywood and the other in Silver Lake, operated by Karen and Barry Mason, who became accidental book sellers. They also became real pillars of the LGBTQ communties. Rachel Mason is the daughter of the masons and she’s also the filmmaker. Larry talked with Rachel about “Circus of Books” when it was first released on Netflix. Today on FilmWeek, we excerpt a portion of that conversation. 

This conversation aired during FilmWeek’s Saturday broadcast. 

Guest: 

Rachel Mason, director of the Netflix documentary ‘Circus of Books’ and daughter of Circus of Books owners Karen and Barry Mason; she tweets @RachelMasonArt

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Vancouver-based minerals explorer Prosper Gold Corp. (TSVX: PGF; OTCQB: PGXFF) is focused on its district-scale Cyprus copper-gold project in north-central British Columbia. One analyst says the results of a recent geophysical survey put the stock in an excellent position.

Michael Ballanger of GGM Advisory Inc. shares an update on his thoughts on the gold, silver, and copper sectors.

Giant Mining Corp. (CSE: BFG; OTC:BFGFF; FWB:YW5) announced the expansion of its surface exploration program at the Majuba Hill copper-silver deposit in Pershing County, Nevada. Read more to learn about the promising high-grade copper findings and the project's potential impact on the EV and renewable energy sectors.

Stillwater Critical Minerals Corp. (PGE:TSX.V; PGEZF:OTCQB; J0G:FSE) has announced new assay results from its ongoing resource expansion drilling at the Stillwater West PGE-Ni-Cu-Co + Au project. Read more for detailed insights into the high-grade rhodium intercepts and resource expansion potential.

This Buy-rated Canadian explorer-developer is working to achieve first mover status in this emerging clean energy space. Find out what all it has done and is doing.

Skyharbour Resources Ltd. (SYH:TSX.V; SYHBF:OTCQX; SC1P:FSE) announced it has entered into an agreement with Hatchet Uranium Corp. to acquire interest in several of its projects. One analyst says the "spotlight" is on uranium juniors as the energy transition drives a heightened demand for power sources.

Full Text:

Machine learning algorithms can sometimes do a great job with a little help from human expertise, at least in the field of materials science. In many specialized areas of science, engineering and medicine, researchers are turning to machine learning algorithms to analyze data sets that have grown too large for humans to understand. In materials science, success with this effort could accelerate the design of next-generation advanced functional materials, where development now usually depends on old-fashioned trial and error. By themselves, however, data analytics techniques borrowed from other research areas often fail to provide the insights needed to help materials scientists and engineers choose which of many variables to adjust -- and the techniques can't account for dramatic changes such as the introduction of a new chemical compound into the process. In a new study, researchers explain a technique known as dimensional stacking, which shows that human experience still has a role to play in the age of machine intelligence. The machines gain an edge at solving a challenge when the data to be analyzed are intelligently organized based on human knowledge of what factors are likely to be important and related. "When your machine accepts strings of data, it really does matter how you are putting those strings together," said Nazanin Bassiri-Gharb, the paper's corresponding author and a scientist at the Georgia Institute of Technology. "We must be mindful that the organization of data before it goes to the algorithm makes a difference. If you don't plug the information in correctly, you will get a result that isn't necessarily correlated with the reality of the physics and chemistry that govern the materials."

Image credit: Rob Felt/Georgia Tech

This Web site was designed to be a clearing house for technical IT security queries. However, readers continue to submit a broad range of fascinating questions exploring the interface between technolo...

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This Web site was designed to be a clearing house for technical IT security queries. However, readers continue to submit a broad range of fascinating questions exploring the interface between technolo...

This Web site was designed to be a clearing house for technical IT security queries. However, readers continue to submit a broad range of fascinating questions exploring the interface between technolo...

This Web site was designed to be a clearing house for technical IT security queries. However, readers continue to submit a broad range of fascinating questions exploring the interface between technolo...

Canter Resources Corp. (CRC:CSE; CNRCF:OTC; 601:FRA) has completed its acquisition of the Railroad Valley lithium-boron claims (RV project). Read why the company CEO says this aligns with Canter's long-term growth strategy.

This Buy-rated Canadian explorer-developer is working to achieve first mover status in this emerging clean energy space. Find out what all it has done and is doing.

Skyharbour Resources Ltd. (SYH:TSX.V; SYHBF:OTCQX; SC1P:FSE) announced it has entered into an agreement with Hatchet Uranium Corp. to acquire interest in several of its projects. One analyst says the "spotlight" is on uranium juniors as the energy transition drives a heightened demand for power sources.

This bodes well for the possibility of bulk mining at this silver-gold project in British Columbia, noted a Research Capital Corp. report.

Western Exploration Inc. (WEX:TSX.V; WEXPF:OTC) announces more high-grade results from its drilling program at its fully owned Aura gold-silver project in Nevada. Find out why one analyst thinks the company is aligned for M&A attention.

A photo of La Soufrière erupting Friday in St. Vincent. The blast could be sending ash as far as Jamaica and South America.; Credit: Zen Punnett/AFP via Getty Images

La Soufrière, the highest peak on the Caribbean island of St. Vincent, began to explosively erupt Friday morning, forcing thousands to evacuate as ash and smoke filled the sky.

And a larger eruption may be on the way.

Richard Robertson, a geologist with the University of the West Indies Seismic Research Centre, said the volcano is in its explosive eruption phase. The initial explosion of dust and debris St. Vincent experienced Friday is likely just the beginning.

"The explosive eruption has started and it is possible you could have more explosions like these," he said during a press conference. "The first one is not necessarily the worst one, the first bang is not necessarily the biggest bang this volcano will give."

Ralph Gonsalves, the prime minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, ordered residents on the northern side of the island to evacuate Thursday out of the red volcano danger zone. The Associated Press reported some 16,000 people were forced to flee their homes.

Soot and ash fell throughout the night, blanketing neighborhoods and streets across the island Saturday morning. Robertson said the ash is expected to fall for the next handful of days, possibly even weeks.

The dome of the volcano, which is about 3,100 feet long and more than 820 feet wide, was destroyed in Friday's eruption, catapulting 460 million cubic feet of debris into the atmosphere. The ash could reach as far as Jamaica and parts of South America, Robertson said.

The last time La Soufrière had a major eruption was in 1979, which lasted several weeks. This eruption, Robertson said, "will more than likely be a bigger eruption than 1979 was." He added, "We don't know how much material is down there that wants to come out."

The fine ash particles, which are difficult to clean up, pose a respiratory risk, especially for people with underlying issues. Robertson recommended that individuals who have decided to stay on the island do their best to clean the ash before it settles or gets wet.

With more potential eruptions looming, Robertson advised residents to move as far south as possible. La Soufrière could be heard rumbling and grumbling throughout the night, he said, from the sound of magma moving inside the volcano.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry tells NPR that the U.S., China and other major emitters aren't doing enough to stem climate change.; Credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images

President Biden is pledging to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50-52% from 2005 levels by 2030.

It's an ambitious goal that requires transforming much of the economy. Renewable energy would need to make up half of the U.S. power supply from roughly 21% currently. Electric cars make up about 2% of sales now — by 2030, at least half, potentially all, new car sales would need to be electric, according to estimates. Many industrial manufacturing facilities would need to use technologies that haven't been developed.

It's part of Biden's effort to get the U.S. on track to reach the goals of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement to keep global temperatures from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius. Former President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the agreement but Biden has formally rejoined.

John Kerry is Biden's special envoy for climate, a position that involves meeting with countries around the world about efforts to stem emissions.

He calls the threat of climate change "existential."

"That means life and death. And the question is, are we behaving as if it is? And the answer is no," Kerry said in an interview on NPR's All Things Considered.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity and includes extended Web-only answers.

Interview Highlights

Is this more a matter of shoot for the moon and if you miss, at least you'll land among the stars?

No, I think it's achievable. And I think that people who've really studied this, analyzed it and thought about it for a long period of time believe it is achievable.

Already the [car] marketplace is moving towards electric. I mean, you know, Joe Biden didn't create the value of Tesla as the most valuable automobile company in the world. The market did that. And the market did it because that's where people are moving.

The scale of change that you're talking about in the timeframe that is required is something we've never seen in human history.

Let me put it to you this way. How many politicians, how many scientists, how many people have stood up and said, "This is existential for us on this planet"? Existential. That means life and death. And the question is, are we behaving as if it is? And the answer is no.

So why are younger generation folks so angry? Why are they standing up and demonstrating and asking adults to accept adult responsibility to move our nations in the right direction? Because the scientists are telling them that. They learn about this in high school and college. They read. They know what's happening. They know we're experiencing the hottest day in human history, the hottest week, the hottest month, the hottest year. And we see the results. Fires, floods, mudslides, drought, crop disruption, ice melting in the Arctic, run the list.

Climate change is still seen as a partisan issue in the U.S., and Republicans could take over Congress next year. A Republican could win the White House in three years. So why should global leaders view this as a reliable commitment from the United States when GOP leaders have not bought in?

For two reasons. No. 1, when Donald Trump was president of the United States and he pulled out of the agreement, 37 governors in the United States, Republican and Democrats alike, stood up and said, "We're still in." And states, those 37 states, have passed renewable portfolio laws. So at the state level, people are moving because they know it's better for their state. It's a safer, better delivery of power to their state, and it's the way it's going to move.

The second part of the answer: Masses of capital, trillions of dollars, are going to move into the energy market, which is the largest market the world has ever seen and going to grow now. Multiple double-digit trillions of dollars of market. And no politician can come along and tell those banks, or those asset managers or those investors or those venture capitalists or the companies, the corporations that are doing this, they know this is where the market's going to be in the future.

If the $2 trillion infrastructure and jobs plan that the president has put forth does not pass the Senate, does this goal to cut emissions in half by 2030 effectively die with the bill?

Well, it doesn't die, but it certainly takes a blow, a serious one. But the companies I've talked about are going to move in this direction no matter what. I mean, if you look at the biggest companies in America, these folks are all pushing to get this done because they know that the world is going to be better off and that their businesses are going to be better off if we do that. This is a real challenge for all of us, and I think people are waking up to it all around the world.

Let me ask you a question. Why do you think 40 heads of state, including President Xi of China, President Putin of Russia, Prime Minister Modi of India, huge populations come together and say, "We have to do this"? Do they know something that some of these opponents of it don't know or aren't willing to admit? I mean, the only leader in the entire world that saw fit to pull out of the Paris agreement was Donald Trump.

But it's so easy to make commitments and we haven't seen countries follow through on those commitments.

This is accurate. They're doing things; they're not doing enough. There are very few countries that are doing enough. Most countries are not. And of the 20 countries that equal 81% of all the emissions, they are the critical ones that have to do more. And we're among them. We are 15% of all the world's emissions. China is 30%. Does China need to do more? Absolutely. All of the 20 need to do more.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

A tropical storm with 65-mile-an-hour winds is drenching Cuba, and is expected to reach Key West and the west coast of Florida within the next 48 hours.

The National Hurricane Center expects Tropical Storm Elsa to drop between 5 and 10 inches of rain on central and western Cuba, leading to significant flooding and mudslides. The storm probably will weaken somewhat as it crosses the island, but could strengthen again as it approaches Florida.

According to the Associated Press, Cuban officials evacuated 180,000 people as a precaution against the possibility of heavy flooding.

Most of those evacuated stayed at relatives' homes, others went to government shelters, and hundreds living in mountainous areas took refuge in caves prepared for emergencies. The storm had killed at least three people on other Caribbean islands before it reached Cuba

The National Weather Service says that the western coast of Florida, including Tampa Bay, can expect a storm surge that would lift water levels between two and four feet. Much of Florida could see heavy rainfall that could reach six inches in some places. The storm will then bring heavy rains to Georgia and the Carolinas later in the week.

Florida officials were worried that the storm could destabilize what was left of the condominium building that partially collapsed over a week ago. In order to avoid an uncontrolled collapse, they approved the demolition of the remaining portion of the building, which took place on Sunday night.

"The hurricane was coming, the potential for that building to fall on the pile with the victims in it was a tragic thought," Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett told NPR on Monday.

It's early in the hurricane season. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted a busier-than-average Atlantic hurricane season, but it would be hard to top last year's, which set an all-time record with 30 named storms.

Tropical storms are fueled by warm water in the upper layers of the ocean, and ocean temperatures have been rising as heat is trapped by greenhouse gases.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

The data in a QR code is a series of dots in a square grid. Each dot represents a one and each blank a zero in binary code, and the patterns encode sets of numbers, letters or both, including URLs.

Panelists in a discussion on ‘Mobility Megatrends 2050’, highlighted that in the next decade, with electrification, autonomous driving, smart and connected infrastructure, modal diversity, and mobility that is integrated, resilient, shared, and sustainable – powered by disruptive business models, will transform and shape up of the automotive industry. The industry is racing towards a new world, driven by sustainability and changing consumer behaviour, encompassing electric vehicles, autonomous cars, mobility fleet sharing, and always connected.

​So, we think that now we are entering into earnings season with this business update and particularly the banking sector should do well, both PSU and private banks.

The Challenge is part of Small Steps to Health and Wealth�, a national Cooperative Extension program developed to motivate Americans to take action to simultaneously improve their health and personal finances. SSHW was built around a framework of 25 research-based behavior change strategies. The Challenge was originally developed in a �paper and pencil� format with printed worksheets and is now available online.

Three applied research centers at the Charlotte Research Institute will install instrumentation and conduct experiments at the Eco-Complex, an expansion of innovative waste reduction and waste processing technology already underway at the Complex.