Breaking News Alert
The New York Times
Thursday, July 2, 2009 — 8:34 AM ET
—–Unemployment at 9.5%; 467,000 Jobs Lost in June
The American economy shed 467,000 jobs last month, and the
unemployment rate rose to 9.5 percent, its highest level in
26 years, the Labor Department reported on Thursday.
July 2, 2009
More Bad News
Bike group retraces Trail of Tears
This cycling group is following the forced removal of the Cherokee Nation. What a great idea! Unfortunately it was a sad moment in his history.
By Dipti Vaidya • THE TENNESSEAN • July 2, 2009
Riding 900-plus miles from Georgia to Oklahoma, their journey is more than physical — it is also about memory.
“You think you’re hurting right now, but you think how bad they were hurting when they were walking this trail and it kind of puts it into perspective,” said Sarah Holcomb, one of several young bicyclists from the Cherokee Nation who are retracing their ancestors’ journey on the Trail of Tears, the forced exodus of the Cherokee to western lands in 1838-39.
On Wednesday, the Remember the Removal group rode from Woodbury, Tenn., to Murfreesboro, along a country road that approximates the historic route. Their 23-day trip began Saturday at the former tribal capital of New Echota in north Georgia.
The Cherokee Nation’s chief, Chad Smith, joined the group in Woodbury for the rest of the trip.
From Murfreesboro, they and their bikes were driven to Nashville, where they stopped at Mt. Olivet Cemetery to pay respects to William Bates, a former senator who spoke against a second seizure of Cherokee land in 1898.
Tags: World | US Politics | trail of tears | Cherokee Nation
Tenn. ranks high in adult, child obesity
I’m posting this report to both my blogs this morning. I feel that it relates to The Earth is Not a Trash Can because of the large amounts of fast food litter I find in the streets. How many calories does a 32-ounce soda really have? It relates to Life in ObamaNation because of the health care issue. I support affordable health care for all, but I believe that some responsibility should be placed on the individual to take care of her health. And it is hard to eat correctly with way food is manufactured in our country (Food, Inc.). We need to make some major lifestyles changes. Please eat locally grown whole foods, exercise and please, don’t litter. And I don’t agree that obesity is a genetic condition.
By Chris Echegaray • THE TENNESSEAN • July 2, 2009
State health officials say Tennessee is making progress in fighting fat, but a report released Wednesday still ranked the state fourth in the nation for its percentage of obese adults.
The report from Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation showed 30.2 percent of Tennessee adults are obese. It also ranked the state fifth for childhood obesity, with 36.5 percent of youth ages 10-17 in that category.
Tennesseans have to get up from their desks for some physical activity, said Pam Davis, director of the Centennial Center for the Treatment of Obesity in Nashville.
They must stop rewarding themselves with food, she said.
“There’s a lot that can be done to fight this, and it starts with us as individuals,” Davis said. “I really think the state needs to see obesity as a chronic, multifactorial disease that has a genetic component.”
Hiring might not rebound in an economic recovery
I know that what I did for 35 years will not return as a position, print production director. Print is dead.
By Don Lee
July 2, 2009 Reporting from Washington — Even as the nation’s economy begins clawing its way out of the worst recession in 60 years, there are growing signs that this recovery could come with an unsettling twist: The wheels of commerce may begin to turn again without any substantial boost in jobs.Not only is the national unemployment rate, now 9.4%, likely to climb into double digits later this year, but it is also expected to remain there well into 2010, economists say. That would prolong the misery of the unemployed, squeeze retailers and other businesses, and add millions of dollars in government costs and lost productivity. It could even threaten the recovery itself.
Though it’s common for the jobless rate to keep climbing for a time after economic output turns positive, the aftermath of the last two downturns, in 1990-91 and 2001, introduced the idea of a “jobless recovery.” Even though the economy improved, many unemployed workers discovered that jobs as good as the ones they’d lost were almost impossible to find.
This time, many economists say, there are new factors that could make the problem worse. Many more layoffs in this recession have been permanent, not temporary.
Tags: Layoffs | Tech & Biz | print production
