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As the US hits record high temperatures, some people are forced to choose between food and energy bills

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Climate change, record heat, U.S. climate change, U.S. record heat, heatwaves and economics, energy poverty, record heat and energy costs, energy costs, Stacey Freeman North Carolina, theGrio.com

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — During the heat dome that blanketed much of the Southeast in June, Stacey Freeman used window units to cool her poorly insulated mobile home in Fayetteville, N.C. The 44-year-old mom relied on space heaters during the winter.

In each cases, her energy bills bumped into tons of of dollars a month.

“Sometimes I have to choose whether to pay the electric bill,” Freeman said, “or pay all the rent, buy food, or not let my son play sports?”

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As a regional field organizer for PowerUp NC, Freeman’s job is to help people properly weatherize their homes, especially in the Sandhills region where she lives and works and where poverty and rising temperatures make residents vulnerable to the health effects of climate change.

But Freeman’s income is just too high to afford the services she helps others obtain through her grassroots initiative for sustainability, clean energy and environmental justice.

Like a growing variety of Americans, Freeman is battling what is named energy povertyincluding the inability to pay utility bills for heating or cooling the home. Households that spend greater than 6% Some researchers suggest that around 20% of their income from electricity bills goes to the energy poor.

Energy poverty can increase exposure to extreme heat or cold, which increases the risk of respiratory problems, heart problems, allergies, kidney disease and other health problems. And that burden falls disproportionately on households in communities of color, which experience it at a rate 60% higher than in white communities.

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Public health and environmental experts say that as climate change continues to drive extreme weather, greater policy efforts are needed to help vulnerable communities, especially during heatwaves.

“Energy poverty is just one example of how climate change can exacerbate existing inequities in our communities,” said Summer Tonizzo, spokeswoman for the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.

Extreme heat is the leading explanation for weather-related deaths in the U.S., and the risk increases as temperatures rise. Last yr, 2,302 people died in the U.S. died of heat-related causeswhich is a 44% increase compared to 2021. In one week in early July this yr, extreme heat killed at the very least 28 people, according to The Washington Postbased on reports from government officials, health workers and local media reports.

Yet 1 in 7 households spends about 14% of their income on energy, according to RMI, an energy and sustainability think tank. Nationally 16% of households lives in energy poverty, according to an evaluation co-authored by Noah Kittner, an assistant professor of public health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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“Old, inefficient buildings and heating systems force people to supplement their energy needs in ways that increase costs,” Kittner said.

Pregnant women, people with heart or lung disease, young children, older people, and people who work or exercise outdoors are most vulnerable to heat-related health problems. High temperatures have also been linked to mental health problems, equivalent to suicide and severe depression.

Location is one other risk factor. For example, in the historically black community in Raleigh often called Method, temperatures might be 10 to 20 degrees warmer than nearby areas with more vegetation and less development, said La’Meshia Whittington, an environmental justice and clean energy advocate. Interstate 440 runs through Method, and the city stores shuttle buses there, often with their engines running.

“That creates a lot of pollution that heats the area,” Whittington said. “There’s no ground to absorb the heat. Instead, it bounces off the shingles, the roofs, the sidewalks, and creates a furnace.”

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Method residents often complain of chronic headaches and respiratory problems, she added.

While rural areas tend to have cooler temperatures than nearby urban areas because they’ve less asphalt and more trees, they often lack resources like health care facilities and cooling centers. Substandard housing and higher poverty rates contribute to high rates of heat-related illnesses.

As Ashley Ward, director of the Heat Policy Innovation Hub at Duke University, puts it, energy poverty “is about burdens piling up without any means of addressing them at the individual level.”

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In many parts of the country, extreme heat is a comparatively latest problem. Policymakers have historically focused on the risks posed by lower temperatures.

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The federal low-income home energy assistance program, established greater than 4 a long time ago, has a funding formula that favors states with a chilly climate over those experiencing extreme heat, according to a Georgetown University study. Florida, Georgia, Arizona, Texas and Nevada have the lowest proportional allocations of federal funds, while North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska have the highest.

North Carolina relies heavily on private donors and local nonprofits like PowerUp to provide fans and air conditioners during the summer, but the state doesn’t subsidize energy bills.

On extremely hot days, Freeman and her colleagues at PowerUp NC work with state health officials to direct vulnerable people to cooling centers.

On a private level, staying cool this summer meant sending my son to a free, open-air recreation center as a substitute of paying for him to play in a sports league.

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“We do things that don’t cost anything,” she said. “We’re just trying to keep up with the electric bill.”


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Gayle King says that the next element on her wish list is marriage

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The next great adventure of Gayle King? Walking after passing … I hope. After a fast detours into space at the starting of this month with a controversial but historical flight of blue origin, King returns on earth, but her dreams of the future are still orbiting.

During the performance at the “Time 100” gala, the journalist jokingly shared a few of her wishes from her position.

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“Wedding” – said King People magazineAsked what would occur next on her wish list. “No, piercing my ears.”

Now the king is not foreign to marriage. The 70-year-old co-host of “CBS Mornings” married her ex-husband, William Bumpus, in 1982–1993, with whom she shares two children, Kirby Bumpus, 38 years old, and William Bumpus Jr., 37 years old. And although King maintained the level of privacy about who he was arranging, she was refreshed, she was open to the headlight.

“The fight is real! If I could go to the dating application, and people did not know that it was me, but I think it is difficult when you are a public figure,” she said about Tamron Hall ShowExplaining how often it is to satisfy a friend of a friend, in search of potential suitors.

And in terms of its type, King says that she is interested by dating the younger ones, but not too young.

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“I don’t want to make an appointment with someone I could give birth,” she emphasized. “I don’t want to be a nurse or a purse. I would like to (if) all teeth. It would be nice … You want someone who is celebrating you, who is excited to you, who is very convenient in your own skin.”

And although he wants to search out his person, King explained that he is not desperate or hurried.

“I believe that this happens when you have it,” said King Interview with Sherri Shepherd. “However, God lasts a little longer than I thought.”

“But you know that my life is good. I don’t sit here with my fingers crossed and feel sorry for myself, I don’t have it, but I believe that life is always better when it is divided,” she concluded.

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Gayle King becomes

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Patrick Mahomes explains why he cut his “diapers” and the internet has several thoughts

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Patrick Mahomes has a brand new one: a shorter, more elegant cut on top with a slight atrophy on the sides and back.

The 29-year-old quarterback of the NFL opened on what inspired him to cut off the curls, which he historically refused until now, during the last virtual interview Todd Labo of Sports Radio 810 WHB.

According to the player Kansas City Chiefs, one among the reasons why he wouldn’t cut his hair before, was the superstition about the winning series of Super Bowl. However, the band lost to Philadelphia Eagles during the Super Bowl Lix.

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“Yes, I mean, I wanted to do it for some time, but it was a kind of one of these superstitions,” said Mahomes. “I was still winning a super bowl, which is a good thing, but I don’t want to cut my hair when I did it. I told everyone in the season, win or lose. I get a hairstyle. That’s enough. I’m enough. I’m very excited.”

He added that looking back at his days with longer hair, “I can’t believe that let me keep these diapers for so long.”

Mahomes said that he looks “much better” with shorter hair and intends to maintain it in this manner “in the future”.

Believe or not, reactions to his latest hair and his reasoning behind them were mixed. While many fans of skilled players have a good time a fresh spring cut, some appear to prefer longer hair. There are also others who publicly query the use of the word “diapers”.

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AND User on x He said, “Calling your natural hair as” diapers? “Really?

A debate on whether Mahomes, who identifies as a biograph and has a black father and a white mother, may even consider his hair texture as a “diaper”. For a transparent date, in relation to hair is Dreagtors, which used to explain hair with extremely tight curls or breakdowns.

“Oh no. Mahomes here thinking that his hair was diapers? Who (he was) nearby. He (of course) does not know the nap,” he said One user for x.

Finally, there are those that perceive this as more ammunition to advertise their team, Philadelphia Eagles and his playmaker Super Bowl.

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“Jalen Hurts never” – wrote the user in the post Threads.

Patrick Mahomes collects leaders for the second title Super Bowl, 25-22 over 49ers in extra time

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The pastor calls for a “full of target boycott” about concerns about diversity, equality, inclusion

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Pastor Georgia Megachurch, who was led by the national 40-day “fast” The boycott of target stores in reference to the involvement of the retail chain within the initiative of diversity is now calling for this effort to proceed the “full boycott”.

Reverend Jamal Bryant said this week that the retailer from Minneapolis didn’t meet all the necessities of the boycott. Among them: restoring involvement within the principles of diversity, equity and inclusion, and promising money to banks and corporations with their very own black.

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Target announced in January that it will be so Issue a handful of dei initiativesIn this program geared toward helping black employees in constructing significant careers and promoting black firms. Conservative activists and President Donald Trump They tried to dismantle Dei’s policy within the federal government and schools.

Bryant is a pastor of one of the biggest churches within the south, a latest birth of the Baptist missionary church in Stonecrest, Georgia, on the outskirts of Atlanta. The 40-day “fast” destination stores coincided at the start of Lent on March 5, and other faith leaders supported the protest.

“Until the target appears in a table with serious, specific suggestions to satisfy our four requirements, we will remain in this position,” said Bryant on a website dedicated to boycott efforts.

“Silence and delay are no longer permissible,” he added. “Our communities deserve to act, not phrases. Our demands are not radical – they are fair, reasonable and long late.”

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In a statement on Wednesday, Target said: “We are still committing to creating a friendly environment for all team members, guests and suppliers.”

“This is the basis for how we support and develop our activities,” said the corporate. “We focus on supporting the organization and creating opportunities for people in 2000 communities in which we live and operate.”

Objective serves almost 2,000 stores throughout the country and employs over 400,000 people.

Why buyers abandon the Costco goal after Fallback:

(Tagstranslate) @AP

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