ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS SATURDAY, MARCH 16, 2024 C7 00 1 IN THE NEWS budget plan would cut some taxes President Joe Biden released a budget proposal Monday aimed at getting atten- tion: It would offer tax breaks for families, lower health care costs, smaller and higher taxes on the wealthy and corporations. Unlikely to pass the House and Senate to become law, the proposal for 2025 is an election-year blueprint about what the future could hold if Biden and enough of his fellow Democrats win in November. If the Biden budget became law, it would cut by $3 trillion over a decade. It would raise tax revenues by $4.9 tril- lion over that period and use about $1.9 trillion to fund var- ious programs. NUCLEAR THREAT: President Vladimir Putin said Wednes- day that Russia is ready to use nuclear weapons if its sover- eignty is threatened, issuing another warning to the West just days before an election in which all but certain to secure another six-year term.
GAZA WAR: Palestinians be- gan fasting for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan on Monday with hunger wors- ening across the Gaza Strip and no end in sight to the war between Israel and Hamas. On Thursday, Senate Major- ity Leader Chuck Schumer said he believes Israel should hold elections because Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has his TIKTOK: The House on Wednesday passed a bill that would lead to a nationwide ban of the video app TikTok if its China-based owner sell its stake. On Thursday, former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he plans to put together an investor group to buy TikTok. Associated Press WEEK IN REVIEW JACQUELYN MARTIN, ASSOCIATED PRESS SPECIAL COUNSEL TESTIFIES IN CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS CASE Lawmakers on Tuesday turned a hearing on President Joe handling of documents into a proxy battle between the Democratic president and Republican Donald Trump, as a newly released transcript of testimony last fall showed that he repeatedly insisted he never meant to retain information after he left the vice presidency. Testifying before the House Judiciary Committee, special counsel Robert Hur stood by his 345-page report that questioned competence but recommended no criminal charges.
Above, Hur is sworn in before the hearing Tuesday in Washington. IN THE NEWS Biden, Trump clinch nominations President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump clinched their par- presidential nominations Tuesday with decisive victo- ries in Georgia, Mississippi and Washington state, setting up a general election rematch. Neither Biden, a Democrat, nor Trump, a Republican, faced major opposition. But the magnitude of their wins gave each man the delegate majority he needed to claim his nomination. At 81, Biden is the oldest president in U.S.
history, while the 77-year-old Trump is facing decades in prison as a defendant in four criminal cases. PARADE SHOOTING: Federal prosecutors said Wednes- day three Missouri men were charged with federal counts re- lated to the illegal purchase of high-powered after the Feb. 14 shooting at the Kansas City Super Bowl pa- rade left one person dead and roughly two dozen injured. Named in the new charges were Fedo Antonia Manning, 22, Ronnel Dewayne Williams 21, and Chaelyn Hendrick Groves, 19, all of Kansas City. SAY GAY: Students and teachers can discuss sexual orientation and gender iden- tity in Florida classrooms provided not part of in- struction, under a settlement reached Monday between Florida education officials and civil rights attorneys who challenged a state law that critics dubbed Say CONSUMER PRICES: Con- sumer prices in the United States rose 0.4% from Janu- ary to February, higher than the previous of 0.3%, the Labor Department said Tuesday.
THE WATER COOLER ACADEMY AWARDS: was crowned best pic- ture at last 96th Acad- emy Awards, and also took best director (Christopher Nolan), best actor (Cillian Murphy) and best supporting actor (Robert Downey Among other no- table awards, Emma Stone won best actress for her performance as Bella Baxter in and best supporting actress went to Joy Randolph for WORDLE: The New York Times recently several Digi- tal Millennium Copyright Act takedown notices to developers of Wordle-inspired games, cit- ing infringement on the ownership of the Wordle name, as well as its look and feel such as the layout and color scheme of green, gray and yellow tiles. ERIC CARMEN (1949-2024): Singer-songwriter Eric Car- men, who fronted the pow- er-pop 1970s band the Rasp- berries and later had soaring pop hits like by and from the hit soundtrack, died Monday at age 74. In a post on his website, his wife, Amy Carmen, said he died in his sleep. CMT NOMINATIONS: CMT on Wednesday announced the nominees for their fan-voted country music video awards show. Jelly Roll, Kelsea Baller- ini, Lainey Wilson, Megan Mo- roney and Cody Johnson led the nominations with three each.
Ballerini will also host the show, which is set for 8 p.m. EDT April 7 at the Moody Center in Austin, Texas. BIG NUMBER 25 Consecutive months in which U.S. unemploy- ment remained below the longest such streak since the 1960s, according to a govern- ment report released March 10 that February data. SHE SAID Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with Kate Middleton, Princess of Wales, after a snapshot of her and her children was released to the media last Sunday, then retracted when it was learned the photo had been digitally manipulated.
On Monday, she apologized any VISIT OUR WEBSITE TO VIEW MORE WEEK IN REVIEW CONTENT ast week, as expected, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra- tion reported that the 2023-24 winter was the warmest on record nationwide the time winter was more than 5 de- grees above the full average over the 20th century. Then this week, NASA, NOAA and the European SUBLETTE Coperni- cus Program re- ported that it was the warmest winter on record for the Northern Hemisphere. Not surprisingly, this has given spring blossoms and leaves a jump start for much of the country. From the Central Plains to the Middle Atlantic, the leaves of spring are showing up two to three weeks ahead of schedule. This also means blooms are showing up earlier, and with them, pollen.
The same car- bon dioxide that is driving the warming climate is also a key component of plant photosyn- thesis, the process in which plants use carbon dioxide along with sunlight, water and chlo- rophyll to make food. As a result, the growing sea- son over the last half century has increased an average of two weeks across the United States. This means that allergy sea- son is starting earlier, and its intensity is also getting worse as the concentration of pollen in the air has also risen. In ad- dition, evidence from both oak and ragweed pollens indicate that the higher carbon dioxide concentration leads to stron- ger allergens within the pollen, compounding the problem. Peaches and pollen are A 2021 study examined pollen counts for 60 sites across North two possible paybacks America since 1990, and the majority of locations saw their pollen seasons trending earlier in the year, along with a higher total amount of airborne pollen during the course of the season.
Beyond these health effects, the warmer winter also pres- ents problems for agriculture, especially fruit trees. Warm winters disrupt the natural dormancy of trees during the winter, as the cold weather gives them the break they need before blossoming in the spring and producing fruit toward the summer. The disruption causes the trees to prematurely, well before normal. If there is a brief freeze, even one that is close to the normal time of year, there can be tremendous damage to a fruit crop. In both South Carolina and Georgia, the 2022-23 win- ter was the sixth warmest on record.
This allowed a brief mid-March freeze to decimate the 2023 peach crop. In South Carolina, production was down 66 percent compared to 2022. In Georgia, it was down 78 per- cent. So far this month, most areas east of the Rockies are having one of their 20 warmest starts to March. From the Midwest to the Northeast, it has been among the warmest.
But very cold air has been hovering in Canada, and most of the data suggest one or two more surges of cold air will reach as far south as Alabama, Georgia and Mis- sissippi before the last week of the month. Warmer winters may sound good, but we may have to pay the price for them during spring and summer in the decades to come. Sean Sublette is the chief WEATHER Warm winter could cause trouble later MIGUEL MARTINEZ, ASSOCIATED PRESS Jim Markley, the proprietor of CJ Orchards Farm, stands inside a peach tree with abundant leaves but no fruit on May 31 in Rutledge, Ga. LM OTERO, ASSOCIATED PRESS Dori Wright takes photos of blooming Feb. 27 at the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden in Dallas.
Meteorologists made it official: It was the warmest U.S. winter on record. SEAN.
