• Weeks after the Biden administration pulled its forces out of Afghanistan, Samantha Power, head of the US Agency for International Development, had a conference call with aid contractors, saying the agency was halting humanitarian operations in the country after 20 years. Now, it was up to the contractors who ran the programs in Afghanistan, to tell thousands Afghan aid workers that their work was finished.
(“US AID Contractors Denounce Agency’s Betrayal of Thousands of Afghans Who Carried Out Its Mission,” Intercept, Jan. 23, 2022; “UN Chief Tells Security Council: ‘Afghanistan is Hanging by a Thread,” Reuters, Jan. 26, 2022)
• The Great Plains of the Dakotas offer some of the strongest and sustained winds in the nation to develop wind power. Yet, its also home to an entrenched political establishment loyal to the coal industry, even as it loses its competitive edge to renewable energy.
(“How Coal Holds On in America,” Washington Post, Jan. 17, 2022)
• During former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s brief 2020 presidential campaign, he faced billboards in Iowa, which holds the first presidential primary caucus, asking him, “What are you doing in Iowa? Go back to New York and talk with us.” The signs were funded by wealthy Manhattanites opposed to a new homeless shelter that city planners had slated to be opened in the former Park Savoy Hotel on West 58th Street, what’s known locally as Billionaires’ Row.
(“The Homeless Shelter on Billionaires’ Row,” The Nation, Jan. 27, 2022 )
This week’s News Summary was narrated by Anna Manzo.
