Orlando declares water shortage linked to rise in Florida COVID-19 cases
CBSN
A flood of COVID-19 cases in Florida is leading to a water shortage in Orlando, with the city asking residents to cut their usage for at least several weeks to conserve resources for hospitalized patients.
A surge in hospitalized patients in the state is creating "a regional shortage of liquid oxygen," the Orlando Utilities Commission announced Friday. Liquid oxygen is also used to treat water, and its diversion to hospitals is straining the region's water supplies. City officials are asking residents to stop watering their lawns and washing their cars to save water for COVID-19 patients. "We're asking customers to limit watering their lawns immediately. Lawn irrigation is the most impactful change and would significantly reduce water," the OUC said on its website. It's aiming to get daily use down to 50 million gallons, from the typical 90 million, to keep up with reduced liquid-oxygen supplies.
More Americans are turning to artificial intelligence to manage their finances. But the tech shouldn't be the only tool you rely on to deal with money matters, according to CBS News business analyst Jill Schlesinger. Edited by Aimee Picchi In:
Spring break "takeovers" have started to overwhelm some Florida cities and local officials. Kelsie Hoffman contributed to this report. In:
Motorists are paying sharply higher fuel prices since the outbreak of the Iran war, despite the U.S. being the world's largest oil producer. Why? Edited by Alain Sherter In:
President Trump's director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Joe Kent, announced his immediate resignation Tuesday, citing the decision to begin a war against Iran when "Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation." In:
Air travelers faced hundreds of flight cancellations and thousands of delays on Tuesday in the wake of powerful storms that struck the Midwest and Eastern Seaboard. Many airports also continue to struggle with disruption from reduced staffing at often-jammed security checkpoints amid a partial government shutdown that has lasted more than a month. Mark Strassmann contributed to this report. In:
President Trump has invited farmers and biofuels producers to the White House for a big event next week as the industry awaits the government's announcement on mandates for the fuel additives. In:
A bitter Democratic primary is unfolding in Maine as two candidates battle for the chance to challenge five-term Republican Sen. Susan Collins, one of the GOP's most vulnerable incumbents in the upcoming midterm elections.
From a surprising heatwave in California to blizzards burying parts of the Midwest and storms rolling over the East Coast, chaotic weather put more than half the nation's population in the path of extreme conditions Monday.
The race to fill the seat of retiring Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin has been heating up in the days leading up to Tuesday's 2026 Democratic primary and could set the tone for other midterm primaries on issues like President Trump's deportation policies and outside spending. And another factor in the race is Gov. JB Pritzker's attempt at powerbrokering: he's given his endorsement and millions in campaign funds to his lieutenant governor, Julianna Stratton. In:
A man who was accused of planting pipe bombs outside the Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee headquarters on the eve of the Jan. 6 attack in 2021 is asking a judge to dismiss the criminal charges against him, arguing he is covered by President Trump's sweeping pardons of alleged Jan. 6 rioters.
Kouri Richins, a Utah mother accused of murdering her husband and later publishing a children's book about grief, has been found guilty on all charges by a jury in Utah. The Associated Press contributed to this report. In:
The Kennedy Center's board of directors voted on Monday to shut down operations for two years as President Trump calls for a major overhaul of the D.C.-based performing arts institution. In:
A person believed to be the ex-wife of the suspect in the attack at Michigan's Temple Israel last week told authorities that the suspect was "not stable" ahead of the attack, according to a 911 call obtained by CBS News Detroit. Lucia I Suarez Sang contributed to this report. In: