Nation
Oct. 16—Helene and Milton are both likely to be $50 billion disasters
Monstrous hurricanes Helene and Milton caused so much complex havoc that damages are still being added up, but experts in economics, insurance and risk say they are likely to be in the pantheon of super-costly $50 billion disasters.
That would put them in the company of storms like Katrina, Sandy and Harvey. Making those costs even more painful is that most of that damage, particularly in Helene's case, was not insured.
Several experts say damages are skyrocketing because people are building in harm's way, reconstruction costs are soaring faster than inflation and human-caused climate change is making storms stronger and wetter.
Justice Department asked to explain its DEI policy
DALLAS — The federal judge considering Boeing's plea deal with prosecutors wants to know how the Justice Department's diversity, equity and inclusion policies would affect the selection of an independent monitor to oversee the aerospace company.
U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor ordered the Justice Department to explain how it will pick the monitor and whether DEI considerations would — or should — influence the choice. The appointment is a key component of the deal in which Boeing agreed to plead guilty to a felony charge of conspiring to defraud the government.
O'Connor is a conservative nominated to the federal bench in Fort Worth, Texas, by President George W. Bush in 2007.
What's behind the widening gender wage gap?
NEW YORK — The first widening of the gender wage in 20 years is the latest indication that many women have paid a price for leaving the workforce at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, either because they lost their jobs or because they quit because of caretaking responsibilities.
But the finding in a recent Census Bureau report captures a complicated moment for women in the post-pandemic recovery, and not all the news is bad. Wages are growing for all workers, just much faster for men. And the widening of the wage gap is due in large part because of a surge in Latina women joining the full-time workforce.
