8 WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is moving to protect workers and communities from extreme heat after a dangerously hot summer that spurred an onslaught of drought-worsened wildfires and caused hundreds of deaths from the Pacific Northwest to hurricane-ravaged Louisiana. Under a plan announced Monday, the U.S. Departments of Labor and of Health and Human Services as well as other federal agencies are launching actions intended to reduce heat-related illness and protect public health. White House climate adviser Gina McCarthy called heat stress a “silent killer” that disproportionately affects the poor, elderly and minority groups. While not as dramatic as wildfires or hurricanes, “heat stress is a significant, real threat that has deadly consequences,″ McCarthy said in an interview. “Many people don’t recognize that heat stress is a real physical problem until it’s too late for them,″ she said. The …
North america
AP PHOTOS: Haitian migrants flock to small Texas border city
30 Thousands of Haitian migrants flocked to a small Texas border city , presenting the Biden administration with a challenge as it tries to manage large numbers of asylum-seekers. U.S. authorities have moved to expel many of the more 12,000 migrants who were camped around a bridge in Del Rio, Texas, after crossing from Ciudad Acuña, Mexico. Officials are also trying to to block others from crossing the border from Mexico. It’s a massive show of force that signals the beginning of what could be one of America’s swiftest, large-scale expulsions of migrants or refugees in decades. In recent days, many Haitians crossed the Rio Grande into the U.S. Some then waded back through the river to buy supplies in Mexico before returning to the Texas encampment. Haitians carried boxes on their …
Is Fort Worth the next great American booze city?
As a booze enthusiast and native Texan, I’m quite proud of how far the state has come in terms as how we brew, distill, harvest and imbibe. In fact, Texas — boasting more than 130 distilleries — now trails just California, New York and Washington in terms of its sheer volume of producers. And one Texas town that’s been right at the forefront of that movement is Fort Worth. The 13th-largest city in the States, Cowtown now offers a variety of distilleries creating delicious spirits via innovative methods. From premier vodka crafted with Texas-grown black-eyed peas to small-batch grain-to-glass bourbons, local spirit-makers are combining regional and unconventional ingredients with experimental techniques that fuse Texas tradition with advances in distilling. In terms of where to start, you can’t talk spirits in Texas without mentioning its booming bourbon business. Generally, Texas bourbon features flavor notes that are distinctive to the region. As Blackland Distillery master …