Latest news with #Kreher
Business Insider
4 days ago
- Business
- Business Insider
Puerto Rico wants your next vacation to last forever
When Charity Kreher's husband was offered a job in Puerto Rico, the couple mulled over the opportunity before coming to the same conclusion: "Why not?" Kreher had never stepped foot on the island before she left Tulsa, Oklahoma, with her husband and two young children to start their new life in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in November 2024. But she was excited to take the leap. "It was like, if we don't do it, would we be kicking ourselves for not getting out of our comfort zone?" Kreher, 34, told Business Insider. So far, life on the island has been wonderful. The Krehers have become more active as a family thanks to Puerto Rico's temperate climate and scores of scenic beaches and trails, and they've quickly built a support system in their kind and welcoming community. Maybe their kids will even end up being bilingual. "Some things are different, but you're not left wanting, like maybe some folks would imagine," Kreher said. With its white sand beaches, lively culture, and relatively fast flight time from the East Coast, Americans often see Puerto Rico as an easy tropical getaway that doesn't require digging up a passport. Travelers are increasingly flocking to the island: Luis Muñoz Marin International Airport, in the capital municipality of San Juan, received 6.6 million passenger arrivals in 2024 — an 8% increase from the previous year, according to Discover Puerto Rico, which called the stat "record growth." But Puerto Rico isn't satisfied with quick trips anymore. They want you to stay longer — like, forever — and are introducing favorable tax incentives and new infrastructure to make your everyday life feel like a vacation. Room for a rebrand Compared to the mainland states, Puerto Rico is fairly small. Its entire area — all 3,515 square miles — could fit inside Connecticut. Its estimated population, about 3.1 million people according to the 2023 US Census, is roughly comparable to the population of Iowa. In 2022 and 2023 combined, 50,577 Americans moved to Puerto Rico. While that's not a particularly impressive statistic — the island only captured more American movers than one state, Wyoming, in 2023 — Puerto Rico has plans to better accommodate more long-term residents in the future. An influx of Americans will require updated infrastructure to make them happy. Though cities on the northern part of the island, like Condado, Old San Juan, and Dorado, have a healthy number of Americans living in them and are generally better equipped with things like generators and cisterns, other parts of Puerto Rico are still lacking. In 2019, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) gave Puerto Rico a "D-" grade in infrastructure, citing issues like poor roadway conditions and inadequate energy infrastructure. For Kreher, who lives with her family in a three-bedroom apartment in Condado, it's not a major problem. She chose their building not just for its location directly on the ocean, but because it has a backup generator, a non-negotiable for her setup as a remote worker who requires a reliable connection. Still, the Krehers haven't been entirely immune to Puerto Rico's infrastructure issues. "The last time we were at church, the power went out halfway through the sermon, and they didn't have a generator," Kreher said. But when these things happen, everyone takes it in stride: "You wouldn't believe how frequently the stoplights go out and how we all just know how to handle it," she added. In 2019, Puerto Rico passed the Puerto Rico Energy Public Policy Act, which set a goal to reach 100% of the island's electricity needs with renewable energy by 2050. In December 2022, Congress approved $1 billion to upgrade the resilience of Puerto Rico's electric grid. It's enough of an issue that Puerto Rico is trying to change the narrative and expand comfortable living to other parts of the island. Moncayo, a resort-style luxury development, is scheduled to open in 2027 on Puerto Rico's eastern shoreline. Carter Redd, the developer and president of Moncayo, told Business Insider that the development was designed intentionally with a primary residential community — not vacationers — in mind. The amenities you'd expect to see at a tropical residence like golf, pickleball, and a wellness facility are all still there, but Moncayo is also enticing full-time residents with a farm, a PPK-12 international school, and a medical center. "There are more and more people who are looking to Puerto Rico not as a weekend getaway or as a second or third home, but as a primary home community and destination," Redd said. Moncayo isn't the only luxury development coming to the island. Four Seasons Resort and Residences Puerto Rico is set to open in late 2025 just thirty minutes from Luis Muñoz Marin International Airport, and the Mandarin Oriental Esencia, a residential project on 2,000 acres of the island's southwestern coast, is scheduled to open in 2028. Taxes that aren't taxing For some, the cost of living is an important factor in leaving the US. Though Puerto Rico isn't necessarily any cheaper than the mainland, there are some incentives that can sweeten the deal for foreigners. Michael McCready, a 56-year-old lawyer, moved from Chicago to San Juan in January. He pays more for rent in San Juan than he did in Chicago, but his take-home pay is a lot larger thanks to Act 60, a tax incentive put in place in 2020 to lure Americans and foreigners to Puerto Rico in hopes of boosting the economy. Act 60 gives residents a 4% income tax rate, a 75% discount on property tax, and a 100% exemption from capital gains accrued while in Puerto Rico. Carlos Fontan, the former director at the Office of Incentives for Businesses in Puerto Rico, said Act 60 is not dissimilar to the ways different states play with tax provisions to attract residents. "We want people in Puerto Rico who can invest in different sectors of the island, create jobs, and create opportunities," Fontan said. "It's a win-win situation for our socioeconomic framework on the island." Fontan and Humberto Mercader, former deputy secretary of the Puerto Rico Department of Economic Development and Commerce, believe Act 60 will help change misconceptions about Puerto Rico as a vacation-only destination. According to the Foundation for Puerto Rico's Economy, tourism only accounted for 2% of Puerto Rico's GDP in 2022, while manufacturing accounted for 43%. "Puerto Rico has a very strong industrial base and an entrepreneurial ecosystem that is sometimes overlooked because of the tourism," Mercader told Business Insider. "But when you think about attracting long-term residents, you're talking about bringing people who will bring their businesses here." For movers like McCready, Puerto Rico's lifestyle advantages are what sold him. The tax incentives were the cherry on top. "I joke to my wife and say I would live at the North Pole for these taxes," he said. "But it just happens to be an absolutely amazing place to live. Even without the tax benefits, I would still be happy here."
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Farmers say bird flu a 'crisis' as egg prices soar
For Brian Kreher, a fourth-generation farmer in the small town of Clarence, New York, the latest outbreak of bird flu has meant many sleepless nights. He considers his 18-acre farm one of the lucky ones. With extensive safety precautions, he hasn't lost any birds to the virus, which has ravaged poultry farms across the US. But the outbreak forced him to make tough calls, like deciding whether to accept a new batch of baby chicks from a hatchery near a virus hotspot in Pennsylvania. If he didn't, he would have no chickens to replace those that die or get sick. "I had no choice," Kreher told the BBC. "It was either accept those baby chicks, or over the next year, we slowly exit farming." "Egg farmers are in the fight of our lives and we are losing," he said. Though the avian flu, or H5N1, has circulated among American poultry flocks for years, an outbreak starting in 2022 has wreaked havoc on farms, killing over 156 million birds and sending egg prices skyrocketing. The virus then got a foothold among dairy cows last year, and this month, a different strain - tied to severe infections in humans - was found in the cattle. Cows, dairy workers, and America's struggle to track bird flu The worsening outbreak comes as President Donald Trump's new administration makes sweeping cuts to government staffing and research funding that public health experts say threatens the country's ability to respond to bird flu and other potential pandemics. This week, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) told the BBC it fired several officials who were working on the response to bird flu before trying to hire them back days later. The administration also promised billions in funding cuts to the National Institutes of Health, which scientists say could hamper research that helps them understand the evolution of viruses. "Right now, the risk to most Americans remains low, but the virus is continuing to surprise us, and so that could change, and could change quickly," said Michaela Simoneau, a global health security fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "I worry, as all of these funding cuts are in the political conversation, that we don't cut those programs that have been shown to be most essential." Trump officials said they are working on a new plan to respond to bird flu, one that includes more safety precautions and vaccines while moving away from culling - a process where farmers kill all their birds after one flock becomes infected to prevent the spread of the highly contagious and fatal disease. When asked for details about the new strategy, the White House did not provide specifics to the BBC, but said Joe Biden's administration had "crushed American agriculture with regulatory uncertainty", inflation and "radical environmental policies". Scientists have seen a number of warning signs in recent months that the avian flu is adapting to infect humans, said Andrew Pekosz, a molecular biology professor at Johns Hopkins University. Influenza viruses don't typically grow well in mammals, so the length of time the virus has circulated in dairy cows is concerning because it allows more opportunities to evolve, Mr Pekosz said. Bird flu infected cattle for the first time ever in the US at the beginning of last year. Since then, there have been nearly 1,000 confirmed cases across 17 states. There also have been 68 confirmed cases among humans, most of whom worked closely with animals. Then, in February, a new variant of the virus - called D1.1 - was detected in dairy cows and an infected worker in Nevada for the first time. The strain also caused two severe infections in humans in North America, a teenager in hospital in British Columbia and a patient in Louisiana who died from the virus. The new variant also means there are now at least two instances in which cows have caught the virus from wild birds, and not other dairy herds. "We're seeing these little red flags, real signs that the virus is making some inroads," Mr Pekosz said. The virus has upended poultry and dairy farms where workers have had to kill millions of birds to prevent more infections. It's a battle US consumers have felt at the grocery store and a recurring theme during the presidential campaign - in January, the average cost of eggs in the US rose more than 15% from a year ago, to $4.95 a dozen. Mr Kreher said that despite a host of security measures, including washing vehicles on farms, wearing steel-toed boots and using lasers to deter wild birds, the outbreak continues to worsen across the country. Bird flu "is on our minds from the moment we get up to the moment we sleep, if sleep comes", he said. "We need new strategies to fight this virus." California poultry farmer Christian Alexandre has seen firsthand the financial and emotional devastation of a bird flu outbreak. In 2022, he had to kill all 45,000 of his chickens when the virus spread at his family farm near the Oregon border. "It was extremely painful," said Mr Alexandre, president of the American Pastured Poultry Producers Association. In response to soaring egg prices, Trump officials now say they want to move away from the slaughtering, focusing instead on preventative measures. Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, told the BBC's US partner CBS News last week that he is working on a plan with newly confirmed USDA leader Brooke Rollins to combat the virus "with biosecurity and medication". "Rollins and I have been working with all the best people in government, including academics around the country and around the world, to have a plan ready for the president next week," Hassett said. Mr Alexandre said he was not sure that vaccinations and other precautions could replace the need to cull flocks - but he said new ideas were desperately needed. "What farmers and the USDA have been doing has just obviously not worked," he said. "We're in a crisis." Vaccines for birds against the avian flu already exist in countries around the world, and last week, the USDA granted conditional approval to a new shot developed by Zoetis. Still, many poultry industry groups oppose vaccinating birds against the virus. This is because most countries don't accept exports of poultry that are vaccinated because of fears that it masks the presence of the virus, said Tom Super of the National Chicken Council. Public health experts have been critical of the US government's response to bird flu since the virus first spread to dairy cows, arguing Biden officials fell short in their disease surveillance efforts. But Trump's team has slowed communications about the disease, which also concerns public health experts. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reportedly withheld weekly reports on bird flu and canceled weeks of briefings with lawmakers and state health officials. "I haven't seen anything from this administration that would say that they're taking this outbreak any more seriously," Mr Pekosz said. Ms Simoneau sees one encouraging sign from the Trump administration: Gerald Parker, a bird flu expert, veterinarian and former top-ranking health official, was chosen to lead the White House's Pandemic Office. At the same time, she said, the wide cuts and the decision to withdraw from the World Health Organization under Trump's leadership could hamper efforts to respond to H5N1. "We're cutting ourselves off from that global information system at a time when we really need all of those signals that we can get," she said. Ms Simoneau said fatigue and a decrease in trust in public health officials following the Covid pandemic makes for a difficult environment for any administration to respond to a potential health crisis. But, she said, the threat is one Trump officials should take seriously. "We don't know if this could be an emergency for humans next week, or if it could be several months from now, or if it might not happen at all," Ms Simoneau said. "But taking your eye off the ball isn't really an option." Cows, dairy workers, and America's struggle to track bird flu Trump administration to cut billions from biomedical research funding First bird flu-related death reported in US
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Farmers say bird flu a 'crisis' as egg prices soar
For Brian Kreher, a fourth-generation farmer in the small town of Clarence, New York, the latest outbreak of bird flu has meant many sleepless nights. He considers his 18-acre farm one of the lucky ones. With extensive safety precautions, he hasn't lost any birds to the virus, which has ravaged poultry farms across the US. But the outbreak forced him to make tough calls, like deciding whether to accept a new batch of baby chicks from a hatchery near a virus hotspot in Pennsylvania. If he didn't, he would have no chickens to replace those that die or get sick. "I had no choice," Kreher told the BBC. "It was either accept those baby chicks, or over the next year, we slowly exit farming." "Egg farmers are in the fight of our lives and we are losing," he said. Though the avian flu, or H5N1, has circulated among American poultry flocks for years, an outbreak starting in 2022 has wreaked havoc on farms, killing over 156 million birds and sending egg prices skyrocketing. The virus then got a foothold among dairy cows last year, and this month, a different strain - tied to severe infections in humans - was found in the cattle. Cows, dairy workers, and America's struggle to track bird flu The worsening outbreak comes as President Donald Trump's new administration makes sweeping cuts to government staffing and research funding that public health experts say threatens the country's ability to respond to bird flu and other potential pandemics. This week, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) told the BBC it fired several officials who were working on the response to bird flu before trying to hire them back days later. The administration also promised billions in funding cuts to the National Institutes of Health, which scientists say could hamper research that helps them understand the evolution of viruses. "Right now, the risk to most Americans remains low, but the virus is continuing to surprise us, and so that could change, and could change quickly," said Michaela Simoneau, a global health security fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "I worry, as all of these funding cuts are in the political conversation, that we don't cut those programs that have been shown to be most essential." Trump officials said they are working on a new plan to respond to bird flu, one that includes more safety precautions and vaccines while moving away from culling - a process where farmers kill all their birds after one flock becomes infected to prevent the spread of the highly contagious and fatal disease. When asked for details about the new strategy, the White House did not provide specifics to the BBC, but said Joe Biden's administration had "crushed American agriculture with regulatory uncertainty", inflation and "radical environmental policies". Scientists have seen a number of warning signs in recent months that the avian flu is adapting to infect humans, said Andrew Pekosz, a molecular biology professor at Johns Hopkins University. Influenza viruses don't typically grow well in mammals, so the length of time the virus has circulated in dairy cows is concerning because it allows more opportunities to evolve, Mr Pekosz said. Bird flu infected cattle for the first time ever in the US at the beginning of last year. Since then, there have been nearly 1,000 confirmed cases across 17 states. There also have been 68 confirmed cases among humans, most of whom worked closely with animals. Then, in February, a new variant of the virus - called D1.1 - was detected in dairy cows and an infected worker in Nevada for the first time. The strain also caused two severe infections in humans in North America, a teenager in hospital in British Columbia and a patient in Louisiana who died from the virus. The new variant also means there are now at least two instances in which cows have caught the virus from wild birds, and not other dairy herds. "We're seeing these little red flags, real signs that the virus is making some inroads," Mr Pekosz said. The virus has upended poultry and dairy farms where workers have had to kill millions of birds to prevent more infections. It's a battle US consumers have felt at the grocery store and a recurring theme during the presidential campaign - in January, the average cost of eggs in the US rose more than 15% from a year ago, to $4.95 a dozen. Mr Kreher said that despite a host of security measures, including washing vehicles on farms, wearing steel-toed boots and using lasers to deter wild birds, the outbreak continues to worsen across the country. Bird flu "is on our minds from the moment we get up to the moment we sleep, if sleep comes", he said. "We need new strategies to fight this virus." California poultry farmer Christian Alexandre has seen firsthand the financial and emotional devastation of a bird flu outbreak. In 2022, he had to kill all 45,000 of his chickens when the virus spread at his family farm near the Oregon border. "It was extremely painful," said Mr Alexandre, president of the American Pastured Poultry Producers Association. In response to soaring egg prices, Trump officials now say they want to move away from the slaughtering, focusing instead on preventative measures. Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, told the BBC's US partner CBS News last week that he is working on a plan with newly confirmed USDA leader Brooke Rollins to combat the virus "with biosecurity and medication". "Rollins and I have been working with all the best people in government, including academics around the country and around the world, to have a plan ready for the president next week," Hassett said. Mr Alexandre said he was not sure that vaccinations and other precautions could replace the need to cull flocks - but he said new ideas were desperately needed. "What farmers and the USDA have been doing has just obviously not worked," he said. "We're in a crisis." Vaccines for birds against the avian flu already exist in countries around the world, and last week, the USDA granted conditional approval to a new shot developed by Zoetis. Still, many poultry industry groups oppose vaccinating birds against the virus. This is because most countries don't accept exports of poultry that are vaccinated because of fears that it masks the presence of the virus, said Tom Super of the National Chicken Council. Public health experts have been critical of the US government's response to bird flu since the virus first spread to dairy cows, arguing Biden officials fell short in their disease surveillance efforts. But Trump's team has slowed communications about the disease, which also concerns public health experts. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reportedly withheld weekly reports on bird flu and canceled weeks of briefings with lawmakers and state health officials. "I haven't seen anything from this administration that would say that they're taking this outbreak any more seriously," Mr Pekosz said. Ms Simoneau sees one encouraging sign from the Trump administration: Gerald Parker, a bird flu expert, veterinarian and former top-ranking health official, was chosen to lead the White House's Pandemic Office. At the same time, she said, the wide cuts and the decision to withdraw from the World Health Organization under Trump's leadership could hamper efforts to respond to H5N1. "We're cutting ourselves off from that global information system at a time when we really need all of those signals that we can get," she said. Ms Simoneau said fatigue and a decrease in trust in public health officials following the Covid pandemic makes for a difficult environment for any administration to respond to a potential health crisis. But, she said, the threat is one Trump officials should take seriously. "We don't know if this could be an emergency for humans next week, or if it could be several months from now, or if it might not happen at all," Ms Simoneau said. "But taking your eye off the ball isn't really an option." Cows, dairy workers, and America's struggle to track bird flu Trump administration to cut billions from biomedical research funding First bird flu-related death reported in US
BBC News
21-02-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Farmers say bird flu a 'crisis' as egg prices soar
For Brian Kreher, a fourth-generation farmer in the small town of Clarence, New York, the latest outbreak of bird flu has meant many sleepless considers his 18-acre farm one of the lucky ones. With extensive safety precautions, he hasn't lost any birds to the virus, which has ravaged poultry farms across the the outbreak forced him to make tough calls, like deciding whether to accept a new batch of baby chicks from a hatchery near a virus hotspot in Pennsylvania. If he didn't, he would have no chickens to replace those that die or get sick."I had no choice," Kreher told the BBC. "It was either accept those baby chicks, or over the next year, we slowly exit farming.""Egg farmers are in the fight of our lives and we are losing," he the avian flu, or H5N1, has circulated among American poultry flocks for years, an outbreak starting in 2022 has wreaked havoc on farms, killing over 156 million birds and sending egg prices skyrocketing. The virus then got a foothold among dairy cows last year, and this month, a different strain - tied to severe infections in humans - was found in the cattle. The worsening outbreak comes as President Donald Trump's new administration makes sweeping cuts to government staffing and research funding that public health experts say threatens the country's ability to respond to bird flu and other potential week, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) told the BBC it fired several officials who were working on the response to bird flu before trying to hire them back days later. The administration also promised billions in funding cuts to the National Institutes of Health, which scientists say could hamper research that helps them understand the evolution of viruses."Right now, the risk to most Americans remains low, but the virus is continuing to surprise us, and so that could change, and could change quickly," said Michaela Simoneau, a global health security fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies."I worry, as all of these funding cuts are in the political conversation, that we don't cut those programs that have been shown to be most essential."Trump officials said they are working on a new plan to respond to bird flu, one that includes more safety precautions and vaccines while moving away from culling - a process where farmers kill all their birds after one flock becomes infected to prevent the spread of the highly contagious and fatal asked for details about the new strategy, the White House did not provide specifics to the BBC, but said Joe Biden's administration had "crushed American agriculture with regulatory uncertainty", inflation and "radical environmental policies". Red flags as a virus mutates Scientists have seen a number of warning signs in recent months that the avian flu is adapting to infect humans, said Andrew Pekosz, a molecular biology professor at Johns Hopkins viruses don't typically grow well in mammals, so the length of time the virus has circulated in dairy cows is concerning because it allows more opportunities to evolve, Mr Pekosz flu infected cattle for the first time ever in the US at the beginning of last year. Since then, there have been nearly 1,000 confirmed cases across 17 states. There also have been 68 confirmed cases among humans, most of whom worked closely with in February, a new variant of the virus - called D1.1 - was detected in dairy cows and an infected worker in Nevada for the first time. The strain also caused two severe infections in humans in North America, a teenager in hospital in British Columbia and a patient in Louisiana who died from the new variant also means there are now at least two instances in which cows have caught the virus from wild birds, and not other dairy herds."We're seeing these little red flags, real signs that the virus is making some inroads," Mr Pekosz virus has upended poultry and dairy farms where workers have had to kill millions of birds to prevent more infections. It's a battle US consumers have felt at the grocery store and a recurring theme during the presidential campaign - in January, the average cost of eggs in the US rose more than 15% from a year ago, to $4.95 a Kreher said that despite a host of security measures, including washing vehicles on farms, wearing steel-toed boots and using lasers to deter wild birds, the outbreak continues to worsen across the flu "is on our minds from the moment we get up to the moment we sleep, if sleep comes", he said. "We need new strategies to fight this virus." A new Trump strategy for farmers in crisis California poultry farmer Christian Alexandre has seen firsthand the financial and emotional devastation of a bird flu outbreak. In 2022, he had to kill all 45,000 of his chickens when the virus spread at his family farm near the Oregon border."It was extremely painful," said Mr Alexandre, president of the American Pastured Poultry Producers response to soaring egg prices, Trump officials now say they want to move away from the slaughtering, focusing instead on preventative Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, told the BBC's US partner CBS News last week that he is working on a plan with newly confirmed USDA leader Brooke Rollins to combat the virus "with biosecurity and medication"."Rollins and I have been working with all the best people in government, including academics around the country and around the world, to have a plan ready for the president next week," Hassett Alexandre said he was not sure that vaccinations and other precautions could replace the need to cull flocks - but he said new ideas were desperately needed."What farmers and the USDA have been doing has just obviously not worked," he said. "We're in a crisis."Vaccines for birds against the avian flu already exist in countries around the world, and last week, the USDA granted conditional approval to a new shot developed by many poultry industry groups oppose vaccinating birds against the virus. This is because most countries don't accept exports of poultry that are vaccinated because of fears that it masks the presence of the virus, said Tom Super of the National Chicken Council. Public health experts have been critical of the US government's response to bird flu since the virus first spread to dairy cows, arguing Biden officials fell short in their disease surveillance Trump's team has slowed communications about the disease, which also concerns public health experts. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reportedly withheld weekly reports on bird flu and canceled weeks of briefings with lawmakers and state health officials."I haven't seen anything from this administration that would say that they're taking this outbreak any more seriously," Mr Pekosz Simoneau sees one encouraging sign from the Trump administration: Gerald Parker, a bird flu expert, veterinarian and former top-ranking health official, was chosen to lead the White House's Pandemic the same time, she said, the wide cuts and the decision to withdraw from the World Health Organization under Trump's leadership could hamper efforts to respond to H5N1."We're cutting ourselves off from that global information system at a time when we really need all of those signals that we can get," she Simoneau said fatigue and a decrease in trust in public health officials following the Covid pandemic makes for a difficult environment for any administration to respond to a potential health crisis. But, she said, the threat is one Trump officials should take seriously."We don't know if this could be an emergency for humans next week, or if it could be several months from now, or if it might not happen at all," Ms Simoneau said. "But taking your eye off the ball isn't really an option."
