- This year’s massive outbreak of cholera in war-torn Yemen could lead to 1 million cases of the bacterial disease before the end of the year, the fastest-spreading outbreak of the disease in modern history. The epidemic which began in late April now surpasses Haiti’s cholera outbreak after the massive 2010 earthquake. Yemen is in the midst of a three-year civil war between Houthi rebels and a coalition backed by Saudi Arabia supplied with US made weapons. (“Yemen’s Cholera Outbreak Now the Worst in History as Millionth Case Looms,” The Guardian, Oct. 12, 2017; “How Yemen’s Cholera Outbreak Became the Fastest Growing in Modern History,” Frontline, Oct. 18, 2017)
- A month after Hurricane Maria tore through Puerto Rico, raw sewage is flowing into rivers and reservoirs which supplies water to the island’s 3.5 million people. Residents, most still without electricity, don’t have clean water for drinking, bathing and washing clothes. The situation has become so dire that some people have turned to tapping water from known polluted sources, including Environmental Protection Agency designated toxic pollution superfund sites. (“Raw Sewage Contaminating Waters in Puerto Rico after Maria,”Washington Post, Oct. 16, 2017; “Puerto Rico’s Environmental Catastrophe,” The Atlantic, Oct. 18, 2017)
- About half of the country’s 1.6 million prisoners have some sort of job behind bars. Though prisoners technically volunteer to work many of these jobs, nothing is really voluntary in prison. Nationally prison labor provides many local and county public services. Every state now depends on inmates to clean and prepare meals in jails and prisons. (“Both Red and Blue States Rely on Prison Labor,” The American Prospect, Oct. 17, 2017)
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