Bryan Mena

It’s becoming tougher and tougher for Americans to carry on with their spending spree. Years of elevated inflation and the highest interest rates in almost a quarter century are wearing out the US consumer. Savings accumulated during the Covid-19 pandemic are drying up, borrowers continue to rack up debt and delinquencies are marching higher. Retailers say shoppers are fed up with rising prices and are changing their purchasing behavior. Americans power economic growth with their spending, and

While retail, restaurants and other establishments have been springing back to life across much of the U.S. as more people get vaccinated and some Covid restrictions ease, many consumer-facing businesses in cities along the Southern border have yet to see a rebound, their customers still shut out by travel bans.

The Texas Democrat has spent 2021 so far block walking in South Texas and advocating for voting access before the Texas Legislature. If that means anything for his political future, he isn't saying.

Rural counties endured the same storm as big cities, but many haven't fallen under President Joe Biden's major disaster declaration. Officials say it's because those counties lack data on damages.

The economic upheaval wrought by the coronavirus has had a knock-on effect on the biofuels industry. Production plants for biofuels, which California promotes as greener than ordinary diesel or gasoline, often rely on restaurants, factories and other sources that regularly generate used cooking grease. Refineries can turn this into renewable diesel or biodiesel to fill trucks, ships, school buses and more. Biofuels leaders say that the supply of used cooking oil in recent months has run far below the comparable time period in 2019.