(NEW YORK) — Slow and steady may win the race for a tortoise vs. a hare, according to Aesop’s Fables. However, in reality, this turn of phrase does not ring true when applied to the gradual climb of consumer prices, especially with the latest exorbitant cost increases on items like eggs.
Egg prices soar nearly 20% since last year
The latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed prices on some household staples rose slightly slower than the overall rate of inflation, but food prices once again spiked upwards in July by 2.2% compared to last year.
Despite a dip in prices for rice, flour, and fish, the cost of a carton of eggs has been steadily on the rise, with a 19% increase from July 2023.
Since June, the price of eggs shot up 5.5% month-over-month.
The consistent increases have been attributed to a combination of factors, largely including a supply-driven price spike as a result of avian flu outbreaks that have wreaked havoc on poultry farms nationwide.
Earlier this spring, with a resurgence of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in egg-laying flocks, the United States Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service reported that 13.64 million table egg-laying hens had been lost to the disease since the beginning of November.
Packets of Pringles chips, manufactured by Kellanova, for sale at a supermarket in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, on Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — As more consumers reach for generic labels to save on money groceries, M&M’s maker Mars is spending big bucks on a new acquisition to gain even more shelf space in the snack aisle.
The candy bar giant, known for brands such as Snickers and Twix, is gearing up to purchase global snacking company Kellanova in an all-cash deal valued at $35.9 billion, which will add well-known packaged foods like Eggo, Pop-Tarts and Pringles to its portfolio.
The family-owned, Virginia-based company announced the deal with the multinational food manufacturer — formerly known as the Kellogg Company — in joint press releases on Wednesday, marking one of the largest CPG mergers in years.
“Mars will acquire all outstanding equity of Kellanova for $83.50 per share in cash,” the release stated. “All of Kellanova’s brands, assets and operations, including its snacking brands, portfolio of international cereal and noodles, North American plant-based foods and frozen breakfast are included in the transaction.”
The deal is expected to close in the first half of next year. Upon completion, Kellanova will become part of Mars Snacking, which is led by Global President Andrew Clarke.
Kellanova, which was spun off from the Kellogg Co. last fall when it officially split up into two different companies, also includes other popular consumer brands such as Cheez-Its, Rice Krispies Treats, MorningStar Farms, NutriGrain and RXBAR. The Chicago-based company reported more than $13 billion in net sales in 2023.
Privately owned Mars, which also has a pet food and veterinary care arm in addition to its confectionery business, previously expanded its scope beyond sweets when it bought healthy snack brand KIND North America for $5 billion in 2020.
Poul Weihrauch, CEO of Mars, Inc. called the forthcoming deal “a substantial opportunity for Mars to further develop a sustainable snacking business that is fit for the future.”
“We will honor the heritage and innovation behind Kellanova’s incredible snacking and food brands while combining our respective strengths to deliver more choice and innovation to consumers and customers,” his statement continued.
Steve Cahillane, chairman, president and CEO of Kellanova, added that the “historic combination” of companies was both a “cultural and strategic fit.”
Boasting the “attractive purchase price” of the all-cash transaction, Cahillane said the move “creates new and exciting opportunities for our employees, customers, and suppliers,” stating he’s “confident Mars is a natural home for the Kellanova brands and employees.”
The sweet-meets-salty food merger resembles a similar strategy from competitor The Hershey Company, which added SkinnyPop with the $1.6 billion buyout of Amplify Snack Brands Inc. in 2017, followed by Dot’s Pretzels in 2021.
Packets of Pringles chips, manufactured by Kellanova, for sale at a supermarket in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, on Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — As more consumers reach for generic labels to save on money groceries, M&M’s maker Mars is spending big bucks on a new acquisition to gain even more shelf space in the snack aisle.
The candy bar giant, known for brands such as Snickers and Twix, is gearing up to purchase global snacking company Kellanova in an all-cash deal valued at $35.9 billion, which will add well-known packaged foods like Eggo, Pop-Tarts and Pringles to its portfolio.
The family-owned, Virginia-based company announced the deal with the multinational food manufacturer — formerly known as the Kellogg Company — in joint press releases on Wednesday, marking one of the largest CPG mergers in years.
“Mars will acquire all outstanding equity of Kellanova for $83.50 per share in cash,” the release stated. “All of Kellanova’s brands, assets and operations, including its snacking brands, portfolio of international cereal and noodles, North American plant-based foods and frozen breakfast are included in the transaction.”
The deal is expected to close in the first half of next year. Upon completion, Kellanova will become part of Mars Snacking, which is led by Global President Andrew Clarke.
Kellanova, which was spun off from the Kellogg Co. last fall when it officially split up into two different companies, also includes other popular consumer brands such as Cheez-Its, Rice Krispies Treats, MorningStar Farms, NutriGrain and RXBAR. The Chicago-based company reported more than $13 billion in net sales in 2023.
Privately owned Mars, which also has a pet food and veterinary care arm in addition to its confectionery business, previously expanded its scope beyond sweets when it bought healthy snack brand KIND North America for $5 billion in 2020.
Poul Weihrauch, CEO of Mars, Inc. called the forthcoming deal “a substantial opportunity for Mars to further develop a sustainable snacking business that is fit for the future.”
“We will honor the heritage and innovation behind Kellanova’s incredible snacking and food brands while combining our respective strengths to deliver more choice and innovation to consumers and customers,” his statement continued.
Steve Cahillane, chairman, president and CEO of Kellanova, added that the “historic combination” of companies was both a “cultural and strategic fit.”
Boasting the “attractive purchase price” of the all-cash transaction, Cahillane said the move “creates new and exciting opportunities for our employees, customers, and suppliers,” stating he’s “confident Mars is a natural home for the Kellanova brands and employees.”
The sweet-meets-salty food merger resembles a similar strategy from competitor The Hershey Company, which added SkinnyPop with the $1.6 billion buyout of Amplify Snack Brands Inc. in 2017, followed by Dot’s Pretzels in 2021.
(NEW YORK) — Pediatric water bead-related emergency room visits increased over 130% in one year, a new study published in The American Journal of Emergency Medicine shows.
Water beads are small balls of polymer that can expand up to 100 to 1,500 times in size when they come in contact with water, according to the National Capital Poison Center.
From 2021 to 2022, an estimated 8,159 ER visits involving patients under 20 years old involved water beads, the study found. Forty-six percent of the cases involved water bead ingestion.
Researchers from Ohio and Missouri analyzed data collected between Jan. 1, 2007, and Dec. 31, 2022, and found that children under the age of 5 were the most commonly seen patients in emergency departments.
The data showed that all water bead-related ER visits involving kids under 5 involved the ingestion of a water bead, while ER visits for patients in other age groups involved a water bead-related eye injury or a water bead inserted into other areas of the body, including the ear canal or nose.
“The number of pediatric water bead-related emergency department visits is increasing rapidly,” Dr. Gary Smith, a senior author of the study and the director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, said in a news release.
“Although swallowing objects and putting them into an ear or the nose are common among children, water beads pose a unique increased risk of harm because of their expanding properties, and they’re hard to detect with X-rays,” Smith said.
Smith and the study’s co-authors called for stronger federal regulation of water beads and a revision of toy safety standards.
In May, three U.S. senators introduced Esther’s Law, legislation that would ban the sale of water beads marketed as toys, require warning labels on water bead packages and direct the Consumer Product Safety Commission to consider further water bead regulation. The legislation, which was referred to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and has not yet been voted on, is named after the late Esther Jo Bethard, who died in July 2023 at 10 months old after swallowing a loose water bead.
Major retailers like Amazon, Target and Walmart announced at the end of 2023 that they would stop selling water beads due to the risk of injuries and death among children.
The CPSC also warned in March that water beads, along with narcotics, are two growing risks, especially for young children. The federal agency recommends water beads be removed from any environment where young kids are present, that children shouldn’t be allowed to play with them unsupervised, and that water beads be secured in containers and in areas were children can’t easily access them.
People stand by the tombs of a family members after corpses were unearthed from temporary graves at the al-Amal hospital in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip and handed over to their families for burial, on July 18, 2024. (Bashar Taleb/AFP via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Israel’s war in Gaza has hit another grim milestone after the Hamas-run Health Ministry in the strip declared that the death toll had passed 40,000 since the start of the war on Oct. 8.
On Thursday officials in Gaza said a total of 40,005 people had been killed in the conflict.
That figure does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. However, Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry said there were more than 11,000 women and more than 16,000 children among the dead.
Israel launched its war in Gaza on Oct. 8, the day after Hamas carried out a surprise terror attack in southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people, including women and children.
The true death toll in Gaza, after more than 10 months of war, could be significantly higher than the Health Ministry’s figure because officials in Gaza estimate that an additional 10,000 people in Gaza are unaccounted for because of the war.
Casey Harrity from Wyoming, who is working in Gaza for the non-governmental organization Save the Children, agrees that the true death toll from the war is “far higher.”
Harrity, who is the NGO’s Team Lead in the strip, said Israel’s military operations over the past 10 months had “squeezed” the population of Gaza “into an incredibly small area.”
In recent days, the IDF has been dropping leaflets in the city of Khan Younis in the south of Gaza, warning civilians to relocate ahead of military operations. The Israel Defense Forces’ tactic of moving civilians has been commonplace throughout much of the war, meaning many Gazans have been displaced multiple times and much of the civilian population now lives in large encampments made up of tents.
“Every available part of land is taken up by tents,” Harrity told ABC News during a videolink interview from her office in Gaza.
“The population doesn’t have toilets. They don’t have running water. They’re living in incredibly dire situations. And we’re seeing outbreaks of disease in these shelters and camps. We’re seeing truly horrifying conditions,” she said.
Harrity said she hears “bombardments, every night” in Gaza. But she said she was “lucky” to be sleeping in a building.
“The vast majority of the population is living outside. They have nowhere safe to go,” she added.
ABC News also spoke to Ghada Al-Haddad, a Palestinian in Gaza working for British-based non-profit Oxfam.
She described how people in Gaza live in constant fear and families often congregate in the same place at night because they would rather be killed together than risk mourning the death of their loved ones.
“When you go to bed, you are not sure you are going to make it to the morning,” Al-Haddad said in an interview with ABC News.
U.N. schools in Gaza were deemed to be “safe spaces” where displaced Palestinian families could shelter.
However, the United Nations Human Rights Office said “at least” 21 schools in Gaza have been targeted by the IDF since early July.
The IDF has accused Hamas of “systematically” hiding and operating from within schools.
However, Al-Haddad said it was now clear that Gaza’s schools “are no longer safe.”
Both Harrity and Al-Haddad spoke of the suffering of Gaza’s children.
Al-Haddad, from British charity Oxfam, said many children in Gaza today are so used to the brutality of war that they can now distinguish between the noise of an Israeli airstrike or an Israeli artillery shell exploding.
She said many children have to walk miles to fetch water for their families or to find wood so they can make a fire to cook.
“This war is … very severe, very brutal and it doesn’t … come to an end,” said Al-Haddad.
Casey Harrity from Save the Children said innocent bystanders are constantly caught up in the crossfire of the war.
“Children are impacted more with their small bodies. When a blast like that goes off, they’re thrown farther, they’re thrown faster, their bones bend and break,” Harrity told ABC News.
“So children really are the largest victims in this war,” she added.
The IDF has said it takes multiple measures, like the use of high-precision weaponry and intelligence, to minimize civilian casualties.
(NEW YORK) — Hurricane Ernesto is expected to strengthen into a major hurricane over the coming days as it travels northwards toward Bermuda, having already left half of Puerto Rico residents without power on Wednesday.
Ernesto had moved out of Puerto Rico as of Thursday morning, with wind gusts of 85 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center. It had brought almost 10 inches of rain to the island. It is expected to gather strength through the coming weekend, possibly growing from a Category 1 to Category 3 hurricane.
By Friday night, the storm is expected to approach Bermuda as a Category 2 hurricane with winds of up to 110 mph. Saturday will see conditions worsen, when the eye wall — and the strongest winds — may brush the island.
The approaching storm may also bring huge waves, storm surge and up to 12 inches of rain. A hurricane warning has been issued for the island.
After churning past Bermuda, Ernesto is projected to continue north and brush the Canadian coast near Newfoundland. Damaging winds, high surf and heavy rain are expected early next week.
The gathering storm currently poses no direct threat to the U.S. East Coast, but its northwards movement is expected to produce high surf and rip currents into the weekend. Florida will begin to see large waves roll in from Thursday night and into Friday, while the Carolinas and Northeast will see similar conditions this weekend.
Puerto Rico suffered flash flooding, storm damage, and widespread power outages on Wednesday as Ernesto moved past the island. Half of all residents were without power, with flooding and damage especially pronounced in the eastern part of the island.
President of Columbia University Dr. Nemat (Minouche) Shafik testifies during a House Committee on Education and the Workforce hearing about antisemitism on college campuses, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on April 17, 2024. (DREW ANGERER/AFP via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Columbia University President Minouche Shafik announced her immediate resignation Wednesday, months after college protests over the Israel-Hamas war gripped the campus.
“I write with sadness to tell you that I am stepping down as president of Columbia University,” Shafik wrote in a letter to members of the university.
The announcement comes after protests broke out on the university’s campus in April, leading to arrests, property damage and backlash over the institution’s handling of the protests.
“It has been difficult to overcome divergent views across our community,” Shafik said in her letter, adding, “This period has taken a considerable toll on my family, as it has for others in our community.”
“Over the summer, I have been able to reflect and have decided that my moving on at this point would best enable Columbia to traverse the challenges ahead. I am making this announcement now so that new leadership can be in place before the new term begins,” Shafik said.
Shafik, who became the first woman and person of color to lead the university in 2023, is the third Ivy League president to step down in recent months.
Harvard President Claudine Gay and University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill previously announced their resignations following Congressional testimonies on the handling of anti-Semitism on campus.
During her congressional testimony in April, Shafik told the committee that Columbia “strives to be a community free of discrimination and hate in all forms, and we condemn the antisemitism that is so pervasive today.”
Shafik said she took the job to foster a diverse community at Columbia.
“But on Oct. 7, the world changed and so did my focus,” she said.
The day after Shafik’s testimony, more than 100 pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested, and an on-campus tent encampment was removed after Shafik gave the New York Police Department the green light to clear the protesters. What followed was weeks of protests and widespread tent encampments that culminated in the occupation of the university’s Hamilton Hall.
In May, Columbia University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences passed a vote of no confidence in Shafik.
“I have tried to navigate a path that upholds academic principles and treats everyone with fairness and compassion,” Shafik wrote in her letter. “It has been distressing — for the community, for me as president and on a personal level — to find myself, colleagues, and students the subject of threats and abuse.”
Shafik, who previously led the London School of Economics and worked for the World Bank, announced she will return to the U.K. following her resignation.
“I am honored to have been asked by the U.K.’s Foreign Secretary to chair a review of the government’s approach to international development and how to improve capability,” Shafik said.
Katrina Armstrong, MD, who leads the university’s medical school and medical center, was announced as the interim president following Shafik’s departure.
(NEW YORK) — An Arizona man pleaded guilty to making threats against federal officials on Tuesday, having repeatedly urged fellow social media users to shoot FBI agents and attack politicians, authorities said.
Michael Lee Tomasi, 37, of Rio Verde, Arizona, leveled a series of threats against FBI agents, elected officials and the judge overseeing right-wing conspiracist Alex Jones’ defamation case, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Tomasi posted the graphic threats over a more than two-year period between May 2021 and November of 2023, primarily on the social media platform ‘www.patriots.win‘, which describes itself as the “community of choice for President Donald J. Trump.”
Tomasi — who was living in Colorado and Arizona at the time of the offenses — pleaded guilty to making threats against federal officials, per a Department of Justice press release. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 23, and faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
Among the offenses detailed in the original indictment were a November 2021 threat to sexually assault a congresswoman.
Tomasi also called for the execution of another member of Congress in March 2022, declaring: “He’s one of them. Kill every corrupt politician.”
The defendant repeatedly threatened FBI agents, writing in November 2021: “FBI has no legal ability to enforce anything. Shoot on site.” In an August 2023 post, Tomasi called for “instant death” for FBI agents. “Shoot the FBI first ask questions later,” he wrote. “They are terrorists that deserve nothing but to be shot on site.”
Tomasi also posted a video of him dancing with two guns in a post titled, “My Let’s Go Brandon dance,” a reference to a derogatory meme about President Joe Biden.
In a Department of Justice press release, U.S. Attorney Gary Restaino for the District of Arizona said the “disgruntled defendant” was “prepared to carry out his threats: when arrested he had a loaded handgun in his vehicle, as well as other firearms and body armor in his home.”
(LONDON) — Ksenia Karelina, a dual American-Russian citizen, was sentenced Thursday to 12 years in a Russian penal colony on treason charges, local media reported.
Karelina was arrested in January and charged with treason, according to Russian state media and the court. She plans to appeal the verdict, her lawyer told ABC News on Thursday.
The prosecution had sought a 15-year prison sentence after Karelina entered a guilty plea, according to the court. The prosecution had also asked for a two-year probation period and a fine of 500,000 Russian rubles, or about $5,600, according to the court.
A former ballerina who lives in California, Karelina holds both U.S. and Russian citizenship. She was jailed for allegedly organizing fundraisers for Ukraine’s military, attending pro-Ukraine rallies and posting messages against Russia’s war in Ukraine, according to Russian state media. Karelina also goes by Khavana.
The Sverdlovsk Regional Court had earlier extended her pre-trial detention in a jail in Yekaterinburg, Russia.
Investigators accused her of committing a crime under Article 275 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. She was charged under that code with “high treason.”
Mikhail Mushailov, a lawyer for Karelina, told ABC News at the time of her guilty plea that after the verdict he would seek her exchange, a move that Karelina had asked for.
The U.S. State Department was asked earlier this month about Karelina and other dual American citizens who were being held abroad. The question came as former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva, a Russian-American journalist, were brought back to the United States through a mutli-country prisoner swap.
The U.S.’s message for those who were still detained was “pretty simple,” Vedant Patel, a department spokesperson, told reporters during a press briefing. He added that “while today is a good day, that the work doesn’t stop.”
“And to the American citizens who continue to be wrongfully detained or held hostage around the world, let me just be very clear that this government, this administration, is not going to stop working,” Patel said.
(NEW YORK) — A 37-year-old backpacker has died after suffering “sudden onset medical complications” while hiking at a national park in Michigan, authorities said.
The currently unnamed 37-year-old female hiker from Battle Creek, Michigan, was with a hiking partner late Monday afternoon near Lake LeSage at Isle Royale National Park in Michigan when authorities say she began to experience “sudden onset medical complications,” according to a statement from the National Park Service detailing the incident.
“As her condition deteriorated, she was eventually unable to walk, lost consciousness, and stopped breathing,” park officials said. “CPR was provided but attempts to resuscitate her were unsuccessful.”
Other backpackers in the area were able contact Michigan State Police who subsequently relayed the message to a National Park Service dispatch center, NPS said.
“Park ranger/EMTs located and stayed with the party Monday evening. Early Tuesday morning a crew of Isle Royale staff responded to transport the party from a remote location,” authorities said.
“The Isle Royale community extends their sincere condolences to the family and friends of the deceased,” NPS continued.
An investigation into the woman’s death is currently ongoing.
