Soaring Costs Force Workers Out of Key West

Endurance swimmer Diana Nyad sets off from Havana for Key West

(NEWSER) - And she's off: 61-year-old Diana Nyad began her Cuba-to-Florida endurance swim attempt last night, a 103-mile trip that will take an estimated 60 hours. "The adrenaline's flowing now," she said before setting off from Havana, while taking in the still air and flat water. "This is what I dreamed of: a silver platter. I think this is my day." Nyad is wearing only a swimsuit, swim cap, and goggles. She will stop every 45 minutes for hydration and every 90 minutes for nourishment, but she cannot touch the boat or be held until she finishes if she wants to set a record. More»

Shift to a service economy has left us ticked off

(NEWSER) - America has become a country of harassed JetBlue attendants longing to pull the emergency chute and tell everybody to go to hell, writes Peggy Noonan. Steven Slater's story has struck a chord with the public because the shift to a service economy combined with a decline in manners has left everybody interacting with each other too much ... and seriously annoying one another, Noonan writes at the Wall Street Journal . More»

Tropical disease threatens to spread north

(NEWSER) - Dengue fever, the most prevalent virus spread by mosquitoes globally, poses a growing threat across the world's tropical zones, from Southeast Asia to Central America—and now, Florida. Dengue virus is showing up in the Florida Keys, the CDC reported yesterday, with 5 percent of Key West residents exposed to the virus last year and 12 confirmed cases of the fever so far this year, CNN reports. More»

(NEWSER) - The Florida Keys are in serious danger from rising ocean levels—and woefully unprepared to deal with the challenge, the Miami Herald reports. “South Florida is on the front line against sea-level rise in the United States, and the Florida Keys are ground zero,” a scientist said. In the best-case scenario, the Keys will lose $11 billion in real estate by 2100. More»

Some 4.79 million worked part time in February; 1.8 million held two or more jobs

(NEWSER) - Tough economic times—and a drop in full-time jobs in some sectors—are pushing more people into part-time work, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Labor Department says 16% more workers—some 4.79 million people—are working part-time jobs this year than last, the highest total since 1993. More»