Warning of huge teacher layoffs in U.S., FDA to set limits for levels of salt in food, some European flights resume, but still confusion

All of these stories are reported by The New York Times. School districts around the country, forced to resort to drastic money-saving measures, are warning hundreds of thousands of teachers that their jobs may be eliminated in June. The districts have no choice, they say, because their usual sources of revenue- state money and local property taxes- have been hit hard by the recession. In addition, federal stimulus money earmarked for education has been mostly used up this year. In addition to teacher layoffs, districts are planning to close schools, cut programs, enlarge classes and shorten the school day, week or year to save money. Districts in California have given pink slips to 22,000 teachers; Illinois authorities are predicting 17,000 jobs cut in the public schools; and New York has warned nearly 15,000 teachers that their jobs could be cut. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, estimated that state budget cuts imperiled 100,000 to 300,000 public school jobs. In the economic stimulus bill passed last February, Congress appropriated about $100 billion in emergency education financing. State spent much of that in the current fiscal year, saving more than 342,000 school jobs, about 5.5 percent of all the positions in the nation's 15,000 school systems. States will spend $36 billion of the stimulus money in the next fiscal year, leaving their budgets short by some $144 billion. A survey by the American Association of School Administrators found that 9 of 10 superintendents expected to lay off school workers for the fall, up from two of the three superintendents last year.
This is some really scary stuff. I underestimated in how bad of shape the education budget is. My mother is a teacher in Beverly, Massachusetts and she is set to get a pink slip. There is a possibility that her contract will be renewed. It is a shame that we are spending so much money on education and teachers and people working in schools keep getting cut. There has to be something the government can do to slow down the bleeding. This is ridiculous.
High levels of salt in supermarket and restaurant foods should be declared unsafe by the federal government, according to a new report that called on the Food and Drug Administration to mandate maximum levels of sodium and food. Since elevated sodium intake contributes to high blood pressure, which can lead to heart disease, and other health problems, a federal effort to cut salt in the food people eat could prevent 100,000 deaths a year. Salt is currently considered a safe food ingredient, and there is no limit to how much of it that companies can put in their products. According to a study, daily salt intake in the United States is more than twice the amount recommended as adequate. The Grocery Manufacturers Association, which represents companies that make packaged food, said it will cooperate in its salt reduction efforts. Federal dietary guidelines say people should consume no more than 2,300 milligrams of sodium a day, which is equivalent to a teaspoon of salt.
This is a decision that has been a long time coming. There have been so many stories and threats about obesity in American children that we forget what they eat never mind how much. I'm a huge sucker for salty foods and it may be a long time until I cut down, but I should do it. Other than calories and trans fats, sodium is one of the main ingredients to look at in the nutrition facts because it can cause heart disease. This is a start to slow down not just obesity, but for people who have heart complications.
What a jigsaw puzzle it was, with Paris open, but Frankfurt still mostly closed. Barcelona and Rome were definitely open, as was London by the end of Tuesday night. Six days after volcanic ash virtually shut down European airspace, the airlines slowly resumed flights there on Tuesday. But airlines are still uncertain about when they can return to a regular schedule And thousands of stranded travelers and would be vacationers now face a logistical nightmare as they try to figure out when their flights are going to take off- and from where. About 95,000 flights have been canceled since the volcano from Iceland erupted last week. It could now take several weeks for airlines to work through the backlog of passengers, provided the volcano does not act up. Even as flights resume, the airlines still face all sorts of uncertainties, starting with the mind-numbing complexity of Europe's airspace, which is normally of the world's busiest. One of the problems is that airlines, which have been flying increasingly full planes in recent months, have few empty seats on their scheduled flights. They also have to contend with crews that are themselves stranded and airplanes in the wrong airports. In the United States, meanwhile, many travelers have postponed or canceled trips to Europe, opting for domestic destinations or other international spots like South America. Expected ticket prices to Europe, which have risen by 30 to 50 percent from last year's lows, to drop in coming months as travelers put off trips.
This traveling issue between the volcanic ash is an absolute nightmare. The volcanic ash a couple of days ago was over 35,000-40,000 feet high, which is very dangerous for an aircraft because it can shut down the engines and obstruct the pilots view. Meanwhile people are complaining that the airlines are making a bad decision to cancel flights because of all of the travelers that are stranded. Things are so bad that trains have 30,000 more passengers than usual a day. That is a problem and it must be solved. Airlines are going to lose billions of dollars because of this and it will slow down the economy even more. The airlines should have been more prepared for situations like this because then there would not be so many stranded travelers.