Wednesday, August 28

Walmart has recalled almost 10,000 boxes of apple juice after high arsenic levels were found by the company.

Dutch conglomerate Refresco Beverages is recalling 9,535 cases of apple juice under Walmart's 'Great Value' brand, which came in 8-ounce plastic bottles in 6-pack cases with a best-by date of December 28, 2024. The recall affects most of the eastern and southern United States -- Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Vermont and West Virginia are all involved in the recall -- as well as Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia.

The juice was found to contain 13 parts per billion (ppb) of inorganic arsenic, which is slightly over the US Food and Drug Administration's limit of 10 ppb. While organic arsenic is less harmful, inorganic arsenic is extremely toxic can cause vomiting, diarrhea, nausea, and stomach pain, and it is linked to cancer and birth defects in the long run.

However, the FDA has not received any reports of arsenic poisoning caused by the apple juice-- the recall is completely voluntary. They have designated the danger level of the juice as a Class II, which means that it could cause medically reversible effects, but the chance of developing severe effects is very unlikely. Class III means that the product is in violation of the law but does not pose a risk to the public, while Class I is exclusive to dangerous products that could result in serious injury or death.

Extreme flooding led to the death of one hiker and injured several others after rain drenched the Grand Canyon earlier this week.

Good weather motivated many hikers to get onto the Havasu Creek trail last Thursday, but it ended in disaster. Rain started to lightly fall during the mid-afternoon, and it soon became a downpour. Reports found that 1-2 inches of precipitation fell across the area in just an hour, turning the hills of the canyon into waterfalls. Videos showed streams of muddy water pouring down from the top of the canyon past hikers, who were forced to take shelter. A nearby bridge was also inundated, and the pathway to cross it was littered with debris and fallen trees.

Over 104 people were evacuated out of the canyon, including many members of the Havasupai tribe, which maintains the reservation on which the trail is located on. One woman, Chenoa Nickerson, age 33, was hiking with her husband in the area when the two were swept into the cascade of floodwaters. Neither of them were wearing a life jacket, but Nickerson's husband managed to survive until he was later rescued by people rafting on the river. Unfortunately, Nickerson was missing for three days until her body was found by a travel group coming down the river, and an investigation into her death is now ongoing.

One person was killed and three others were injured after a powerful landslide in the town of Ketchikan, Alaska.

Following heavy rains from an atmospheric river, a massive chunk of dirt and rock came loose from a steep hillside around 4:15 pm in Ketchikan on Sunday afternoon. Atmospheric rivers drop large amounts of rain on particular areas on their route, and they can stretch from the tropics to the poles.

Ketchikan is near the southernmost tip of Alaska, located on an island near the state's border with Canada. Around 14,000 people live in the hilly town, which relies on fishing as its primary industry. It is also home to an international airport that serves most of southeastern Alaska, adding to its travel appeal.

The landslide came down a thickly forested hill on the upper edge of the town, taking out multiple homes and one of Ketchikan's two main roads. Since many of the flatter slopes have been taken up with homes and businesses, the town has been forced to expand onto the steep hillside. The airport is located on another nearby island, which is much less hilly, but they could not secure funding to build a bridge across the thin strait that divides the two islands, limiting construction to the more mountainous island. This puts the main area of the town at a greater risk of being hit by a landslide.

Unfortunately, landslides like this will only become increasingly common in the future with climate change. Due to the warming world, more water evaporates to become water vapor, forming more storms and stronger atmospheric rivers. This leads to higher amounts of precipitation falling in certain areas, causing more frequent and more intense landslides.

Two workers are dead and another is injured after an airplane tire exploded at the Atlanta airport yesterday.

Delta is Atlanta's primary airline, as it is headquartered in the city, and owns a massive facility at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. Delta's Atlanta airplane hangars can hold 9 to 14 aircraft requiring overnight maintenance, and one of the planes undergoing those fixes on Tuesday morning was a Boeing 757 that had arrived from Las Vegas on Sunday.

Around 5 am, one of the plane's tires exploded, killing two Delta employees and leaving another critically injured. First responders raced to the scene and quickly rushed the injured worker to the hospital, but his current condition is unknown. Delta has launched an extensive investigation into the incident, which aims to find out the cause of the explosion and more details about it.

Fact of the Day (Reader's Digest): Ohio is the only US state that doesn't have a rectangular flag.

Quote of the Day (Gracious Quotes): A seed grows with no sound, but a tree falls with great noise. Destruction has noise but creation is quiet. This is the power of silence, grow silently. (Chanakya)

Word of the Day (Merriam-Webster): Propinquity (noun)- Propinquity is a formal word that typically refers to nearness in place or time, making it a synonym of proximity. It can also be used as a synonym of kinship to refer to the state of being related to others by blood.

In a Sentence: The geographical propinquity of these ancient cultures explains many of the architectural similarities.