Category: ESTA News

A survey found that 7 in 10 California voters take the state’s water scarcity problem seriously.

A UC Berkeley Institute for Government Studies (IGS) survey of more than 9,000 voters found that 71% of voters said the state’s drought was “extremely serious” and 23% said “the drought is rather serious.” answered. These voters also agreed on the need for water conservation in the state.

However, only 9% of respondents said that the state’s water scarcity had a real negative impact on themselves and their families. In addition, 32% of voters said they were “slightly affected” and 57% said “very slightly affected” or “not at all”.

The survey results showed a marked change from the survey results in 2015, when California experienced a severe drought. In the survey conducted at the time, more than half of voters (58%) said they had been affected to some extent by water shortages, and 76% said that the drought problem was extremely serious.

In other words, during the drought in 2015, the residents experienced much more realistic damage and difficulties due to the drought.

In the case of the 2015 drought, the newspaper analyzed that residents were actually more affected by the drought, as Governor Jerry Brown issued a forced water conservation order for the first time in 167 years in the state’s history.

At the time, Governor Brown declared a state of emergency following the drought and issued an executive order, including requiring the State Water Resources Commission to establish a plan to force all municipalities to reduce their water use by 25% or more.

He also offered temporary rebates to consumers who buy water and energy-efficient appliances, and mandated significant reductions in water consumption on university campuses, golf courses and cemeteries.

On the other hand, Governor Gavin Newsom is giving residents more autonomy to save water compared to former Governor Brown, by appealing to residents to “voluntarily reduce their water use by 15 percent.”

The semiannual NYC Broadway Week is being held this month, 6^th – 25^th September 2022. Theatre enthusiasts are offered the chance to watch Manhattan Broadway musicals at half price.

The Broadway event has not been held since 2019 and is welcoming back guests by offering a 2 for 1 ticket deal.  Guests can pay for one ticket by entering the event code ‘BWAYWK’ when purchasing two tickets for 21 Broadway works, including musicals and plays.

Ticket buyers can also purchase orchestra seats for $125 per sheet by entering the event code ‘BWAYUP’.

The works participating in the Broadway Week event include musicals that record all-time hits such as ‘The Phantom of the Opera’, ‘Wicked’, ‘Chicago’, ‘Aladdin’, and ‘The Lion King’.

The New York City Department of Health has begun testing sewers for polio and monkeypox in 11 hospitals in New York City.
This testing follows a preemptive measure to ensure public safety in city hospitals where many patients come and go amid concerns about the local spread of the polio virus after the recent detection of the polio virus in a New York City sewage sample.

“Sewage testing in New York City hospitals is the most proactive way to get information about what’s going to happen in the future,” said Joseph Maschi, president of New York City HealthPlus Hospitals.
In collaboration with CUNY researchers, sewage and wastewater samples are collected and tested from hospital sewers and manholes. Infection with the polio virus can cause permanent paralysis of arms and legs, and in severe cases, muscle paralysis and even death.

Both polio and monkeypox are highly contagious viruses which have seen an increase in cases this year. Following the Covid-19 outbreak in 2019 which saw widespread infection and deaths, authorities are seeking to do all that they can to protect the community from polio and monkeypox infection.

It is predicted that over 100 million people in the United States will be exposed to ‘extreme heat’ in 30 years.

According to CNBC broadcast on the 15th, the First Street Foundation, a non-profit organization that studies climate risk, predicted that 50 counties in the United States will experience a heat index (feeling temperature) of 125 degrees Fahrenheit (about 51.7 degrees) or higher next year. More than 8 million people live in these counties.

By 2053, more than 1,000 U.S. counties with a heat index of 125 degrees Fahrenheit or higher are projected to have a population of 108 million each.

This heat wave is expected to occur mainly in southern areas such as Texas and Florida.

In addition, the First Street Foundation predicted that 30 years from now, the number of days with a sensible temperature exceeding 125 degrees Fahrenheit in the southern provinces will nearly double.

Coincidentally, Texas and Florida are regions with a large influx of populations as the culture of telecommuting is spreading after the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) outbreak.

The Midwestern region is also likely to experience an increase in extreme heat.

First Street Foundation CEO Matthew Abbey said: “We must prepare for the inevitable. ‘ He warned.

The foundation came up with these results by applying the United Nations’ future greenhouse gas emission forecasting scenario, calculating precise surface heat measurement, shielding rate, impervious surface (area where rainwater cannot penetrate), and water accessibility.

To consider the impact of climate change on home values, the analysis period was set to 30 years, the most common mortgage maturity in the United States.

The increase in extreme heat and extreme weather will inevitably trigger more ‘climate migration’ in areas already vulnerable to floods and fires, Evie predicted.

The number of domestic passengers at major airports in Southern California, including Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), has finally recovered to pre-COVID-19 levels. The airport and aviation industry, which had fallen into a dark period of a sharp drop in passenger numbers amid the blow of the pandemic since March 2020, have finally come out of a long tunnel.

In the case of LAX, the number of international passengers, whose normalization process started late, is still lower than the pre-pandemic level, but the total number of passengers has recovered to over 75% of the pre-pandemic level, raising expectations that full normalization, including international flights, is not far off.

According to the Los Angeles Business Journal (LBJ) on the 13th, as of June, when the most recent airport passenger numbers were officially counted, the monthly number of passengers at Burbank Airport and Ontario Airport, which are exclusively for domestic flights, among the four major airports in LA County before the pandemic It was counted to exceed the level in June 2019. Burbank Airport saw about 8% more passengers in June compared to 2019, and Ontario Airport saw about 4% more passengers.

In the case of Long Beach Airport, another domestic airport, the number of passengers in June was 4% less than in June 2019, but the total number of passengers at these three Los Angeles County domestic airports is comparable to that in 2019, before the pandemic. Overall, it was found to be 3.5% higher.

In the case of Burbank Airport, the total number of passengers reached 542,000 in June, an increase of 51% compared to June last year. Ontario Airport’s increase in passengers was 19% compared to a year ago.

According to data released by the Los Angeles Airport Corporation (LAWA), the total number of passengers in June exceeded 6 million for the first time since January 2020, breaking the highest number of passengers since the pandemic.

Last June, the number of LAX passengers totaled 6,118,003, including 4,496,561 domestic and 1,621,442 international flights, which is still 24% lower than in June 2019, before the pandemic, but This is an increase of 25.2% compared to the previous month.

In particular, the number of passengers using LAX international routes, including routes to Korea, where normalization began in earnest recently, increased by 112.9% from June last year, more than doubling.

The normalization trend of LAX becomes clearer when looking at the number of users increased during the first half of this year. According to LAWA data, the total number of LAX users in the first half of this year from January to June was 30,646,436, an increase of 70.6% compared to the first half of last year (17,967,459).

In particular, the number of international passengers increased by 157.3% from 2,694,811 in the first half of last year to 6,932,742 in the first half of this year, showing a 2.5-fold increase.

In the first half of this year, the total number of passengers at the four major airports in LA County, including LAX, Burbank, Ontario, and Long Beach, reached 37.6 million, a 75% increase from the first half of last year.

Simulation results show that if China invades Taiwan and US forces intervene, the US and Taiwan will win the war but suffer a huge blow.

According to Bloomberg News on the 9th, the American think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is currently conducting a simulation to predict the outcome of a situation in which China will invade Taiwan in 2026 for armed unification and the United States will respond militarily.

It was assumed that Japan would make more active use of US bases in its own country but would not directly intervene unless the mainland was attacked. The use of nuclear weapons was not considered.

18 simulations out of a total of 22 have been conducted so far. As a result, in most simulations, the US and Taiwan were shown to defeat China, but it was analyzed that they would inflict huge damage.

“In most, if not all, scenarios, Taiwan can repel an invasion,” CSIS senior adviser Mark Cancium said.

The results showed that Chinese missiles sank many U.S. and Japanese surface fleets and destroyed hundreds of moored aircraft on the ground. The most recent result is that the United States lost more than 900 fighters and attack aircraft in four weeks.

In response, Canciam said, “The reason the US military is losing a lot of money is because it cannot conduct a systematic operation to break the Chinese defense until it gets close.” “We have to use military force to respond,” he said.

The success or failure of the land battle depends entirely on the Taiwanese army, but it was observed that it would not be easy for the Chinese army to conduct an amphibious operation because the amphibious operation was not easy.

“All simulations so far have shown that China can establish a bridgehead, but in most situations, it cannot be expanded,” said Cancium. power is limited.”

In the remaining four simulations, a ‘pessimistic’ scenario in which China is in an advantageous position, such as the US delaying military aid to Taiwan or Japan adopting strict neutrality, will be mainly considered. The result will be revealed in December.

The whole of the United States is groaning after a series of mass shootings. In May, a mass shooting at Yuvaldi Elementary School in Texas killed 19 children and two teachers, and a mass shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York that left 10 people dead, and before the wounds even healed, they were shot during an Independence Day parade in Highland Park near Chicago, Illinois. 7 people died and 30 people were injured. According to the Gun Violence Archive (GVA), a non-profit research group in the United States, there were 357 shootings in 2022 alone that resulted in at least four deaths by June this year.

Despite such a tragedy, the Supreme Court ruled on June 23 that, “In order for an ordinary person licensed to possess a firearm to possess a handgun outside the home, he or she must explain the proper reason that possession of a firearm is necessary for self-defense and obtain a prior license.” New York State law was unconstitutional. This law was enacted in the early 20th century after a series of mass shootings by mafia groups in New York City.

President Biden, who immediately issued a statement saying he was “deeply disappointed by the Supreme Court’s ruling,” set up a sharp confrontation with the Supreme Court by signing the Gun Control Act, which had passed both the House and the Senate with bipartisan support, on June 25, two days after the verdict. The new gun control law expands personal background checks for gun buyers between the ages of 18 and 21, expands background checks for gun sellers, increases penalties for gun trafficking, and provides incentives to states with Red Flag Laws. It contains information on what to pay.

To introduce the somewhat unfamiliar Red Flag Act, its original name is ‘Extreme Risk Protection Order’ (ERPO), which has already been established in California (2016) and Illinois (2019), where this accident occurred. It is being enacted and implemented in 19 states including New York (2019). The gist of the law is to temporarily ban the purchase and possession of firearms by those who, through a court review, are at high risk of injuring themselves or others with guns.

For example, if a husband who is abusing domestic violence threatens her wife, her wife can apply to court through her ERPO to prevent her husband from purchasing a firearm, and the husband may already be in possession of a firearm. Even if you do, the government can temporarily confiscate firearms. Other than the wife, family members, roommates, faculty, and medical staff in charge of treatment can also apply. The police officer or prosecutor in charge of the case is obliged to file an ERPO with the court if the husband determines that there is an extreme risk of using a firearm.

However, even if the ERPO temporarily bans firearms for emotionally disturbed people, it would not give her wife direct protection from it, as it would be different from a court restraining order. Also, since this order is a civil field, even if the husband is acquitted in a criminal case, the purchase and possession of firearms is prohibited for a certain period of time regardless of the order.

Since the red flag method is relatively recent, various studies are still in progress on its effectiveness. Statistics so far show that gun suicides have decreased by 7.5 to 13.7 percent, and in California, 58 mass shootings were prevented between 2016 and 2018.

The biggest problem with the gun control law signed by President Biden this time is that the key provisions that Democrats and gun control groups have been insisting on, such as mandatory background checks for all gun traders and the ban on assault guns and large-capacity magazines, are all missing due to Republican opposition. that has no effect whatsoever. Fortunately, financial support for the Red Flag Act is included in a bipartisan agreement between the two parties, and it is hoped that the Red Flag Act will be expanded to more states and play a major role in preventing gun accidents.

Among those in which New York City declared a state of emergency for monkey pox, it was found that close to 130 people were infected in Queens.

According to the data on the number of cases of monkey pox in New York City, as of July 28, there were 129 cases in Queens, accounting for 11.8% of the total.

More than 1 in 10 monkeypox infections in New York City are coming from Queens.

The borough with the highest number of infections was Manhattan, with 562. It was followed by Brooklyn with 251 and the Bronx with 146.

In terms of race, there were 46 Asian-Pacific descent. The race with the highest number of infections was white with 311 people, Hispanic or Latino with 264, and black with 219.

In classification by age, the 30–39-year-old had the highest number with 546, the 40–49-year-old with 243, the 20–29-year-old with 197, the 50-year-old with 104, and the 0–19-year-old with one.

In terms of gender, the number of infected people who identified themselves as male was 1,068, followed by transgender people with 13. There were also three women.

In the classification of sexual orientation, ‘LGBQ+’ (homosexuality, bisexuality, etc.) had the most with 620 people, and ‘straight (heterosexuality)’ with 13 people.

Meanwhile, the number of monkey pox infections in New York City as of August 2, compiled by the City Health Department, stood at 1,512, an increase of 40 in one day.

New York State, which declared a state of emergency for monkey pox on the 29th of last month, has secured 110,000 preventive vaccines from the federal government.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will ease its recommendations regarding the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) as early as this week, CNN reported on the 3rd.

CNN said, citing people familiar with the plan, that the CDC will update current COVID-19 guidelines in schools and communities.

Quarantine recommendations for those exposed to the COVID-19 virus have been relaxed, and the current 6-foot (182 cm) social distance is not emphasized. Testing done on a regular basis in schools to monitor for the spread of the virus will also be relaxed.

Some of the mitigations are expected to come into effect as early as this week. These matters have been passed on to the education and health circles for review, but have not yet been finalized, CNN explained.

“We continue to evaluate and update our guidelines,” the CDC said.

First, according to a plan obtained by CNN, the CDC will not recommend quarantine for people who have not been vaccinated.

Currently, people who have not been vaccinated and who have encountered a person infected with COVID-19 are advised to isolate at home for 5 days.

In the future, we will not recommend quarantine, but instead will be asked to wear a mask and be tested again in at least 5 days. If you have symptoms of COVID-19, you should still be quarantined.

It also decided not to recommend social distancing, which requires people to be kept at least 6 feet away from others as a protective measure. However, it will help people understand in which environment they are more likely to be infected.

In addition, it will soon remove the regular coronavirus test recommendations that students exposed to COVID-19 were required to receive to come to the classroom.

This is a recommendation the CDC recommended when sending to school unvaccinated students who had been exposed to the virus but had no symptoms in December of last year, when the omicron mutation first spread.

This has raised concerns about its sustainability, as it requires a lot of manpower and money for the school.

The CDC’s change in guidelines reflects changes in sentiment about COVID-19, including many Americans not wearing masks or social distancing, as well as high levels of immunity, the source said.

Blood sample testing shows that 95% of Americans have COVID-19 or have been vaccinated and are less likely to become seriously ill if re-infected.

The CDC’s recommendations are not mandated by law, and many cities, states and schools may review but not follow, CNN explained.

Amid the summer vacation season in full swing, a cluster of COVID-19 infections occurred at LA International Airport (LAX), so airport passengers need special attention.

According to the Los Angeles Times, at least 400 TSA and American and Southwest Airlines employees at LAX have been infected with COVID-19.

The Los Angeles County Department of Health has reported that at least 233 TSA employees have been infected with the virus since June 9.

The COVID-19 cluster infection among TSA employees is the largest among those that have occurred in facilities such as nursing homes, workplaces, retail stores, homeless shelters, schools, and prisons in the past.

LAX Airport and TSA said there would be no disruption to passengers’ use of the airport despite the outbreak. Meanwhile, 154 American Airlines employees at LAX Airport have also been infected with COVID-19.

It is recommended that international passengers travelling to the USA keep up to date with changing COVID-19 related restrictions and requirements in both the USA and their own countries of residence.  In addition to COVID-19 information, it is important for travellers to familiarize themselves with the type of Visa or ESTA they require for entry in the USA. Australian nationals are eligible for the Visa Waiver Program and obtaining an ESTA for tourism or business purposes.  Further information relating to ESTA can be found on this website.  Applications for ESTA can also be completed on this website.