Yellowstone to remain closed amid record flooding as landscape has ‘dramatically changed’
Yellowstone National Park officials assessed damage Tuesday as the park remained closed amid dangerous floods, mudslides and rockslides that have eroded roads, ripped apart bridges and forced evacuations this week. The water started to slowly recede Tuesday, but the record-level floods left all five entrances to the park closed at least through Wednesday, and they could remain closed for as long as a week, said park Superintendent Cam Sholly. The park has seen multiple road and bridge failures and power outages, causing the evacuations of more than 10,000 visitors. In days, heavy rain and rapid snowmelt caused a flood that may forever alter the human footprint on the park’s terrain and the communities around it. The historic floodwaters pushed a popular fishing river off course – possibly permanently – and may force roadways to be rebuilt in new places. “The landscape literally and figuratively has changed dramatically in the last 36 hours,” said Bill Berg, a commissioner in nearby Park County.
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Wall Street on edge as Fed mulls stiffer rate hike
Investors will be listening closely Wednesday to learn if the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates more sharply than previously expected. The Fed closes its two-day meeting Wednesday in the wake of a selloff in stocks triggered Friday when May’s Consumer Price Index report revealed that inflation had not yet peaked. That news sparked fears that the Fed could raise interest rates by more than the widely expected 50 basis points (0.50%). Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said last month the Fed wasn’t entertaining a 75-basis-point rate increase, but the Wall Street Journal reported Monday that one was now on the table. Interest rate hikes can have a domino effect on the economy, pushing up rates for credit cards, home equity lines of credit, adjustable-rate mortgages and other loans.
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To tame inflation, Fed raises key interest rate
The Federal Reserve intensified its drive to curb the worst inflation in 40 years by raising its benchmark short-term interest rate by a sizable half-percentage point. (May 4)
AP
FDA meets to discuss vaccine for kids as young as 6 months
A federal advisory panel will meet Wednesday to discuss two COVID-19 vaccines for children as young as 6 months. According to a detailed review by Food and Drug Administration staff, trial data from both Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna raised no new safety issues or concerns about the vaccines, which have been available for older children and adults. The panel will decide Wednesday whether to recommend Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccines for children as young as 6 months. Once authorized by the FDA and CDC, the Biden administration said it expects to have 5 million doses each of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines as soon as June 21 at pharmacies, pediatricians’ offices, libraries, children’s museums, health centers and other outlets.
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Millions of COVID-19 shots ordered for youngest
Millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses have been ordered for small children in anticipation of possible federal authorization next week, White House officials say. (June 9)
AP
‘End of an era’: Microsoft to shut down Internet Explorer
Some 27 years after Microsoft first debuted Internet Explorer, the tech giant will retire the br