It's Your Week. Two years since the pandemic was declared, we talk life, death, gas prices
When a family friend died in 2020 while living in a nursing home, my mother, a journalist herself, was asked to pen the obituary. My mother made sure to note, among our friend's love of bridge and her lifelong marriage, that she died during the COVID pandemic.
My son was born in September 2020. In all my dreaming and musing of what he might do and be when he grows up, I imagine all the times people will ask for his birthday and he'll say, yup, 2020.
I'm Sallee Ann, and welcome to Your Week, a newsletter just for Paste BN subscribers. This week, two years out from the start of COVID restrictions and guidelines, we talk life, death and, just as constant, rising gas prices.
First, check out these stories you can't miss
- COVID pandemic declared two years ago, some using storytelling to heal
- Teddy bears, diplomas, favorite books: Ukrainians leave (almost) everything behind
- Native women fought to change the racist Washington football team nickname. They were successful, but their story has been barely told
- What is 'breadcrumbing' in a relationship? And how to handle it
🌞 Have our top stories in your inbox every day by signing up for Your Day, another newsletter exclusive to subscribers.
Dying for care
This week, we published a massive project from our investigative and data reporters on nursing homes during the pandemic. Be sure to set aside time to read the investigation, along with our related stories on how COVID-19 deaths are counted in nursing homes and a guide to picking a nursing home for a loved one.
We also have a database where you can look up how nursing homes near you fare and compare.
Here's more from the team behind the project:
"In a first-of-its-kind analysis, Paste BN has identified nursing home ownership webs invisible to consumers. Problems across chains eluded the federal officials overseeing nursing homes, who focused on failures at individual facilities during the pandemic.
"Reporters scored the performance of every nursing home in America to probe questions of corporate responsibility left unanswered by dozens of research papers on COVID’s more than 140,000 nursing home deaths. The investigation found a nursing home chain that reported that its residents had died of COVID-19 last winter at rates well above the national average."
Read the project in its entirety at dyingforcare.usatoday.com
Rising gas prices and you
Our newsroom has been covering Russia's invasion of Ukraine around-the-clock for weeks now. One of the offshoots of that coverage has been rising gas prices. We know gas prices affect our readers personally and do our best to answer your every question – and questions maybe you didn't realize you had.
Here's a roundup of our coverage, and if you still think we're missing something, let me know and I'll work to get you an answer.
- Russia's war in Ukraine has driven up gas prices. Will rising oil costs increase food prices next?
- Will soaring gas prices put your job at risk? These 7 occupations may feel the heat
- Soaring gas prices are walloping Americans but hitting lower-income hardest
- Do gas stations price gouge? Have there been price-gouging probes?
- How to save money at the pump as gas prices hit all-time high with Russian invasion of Ukraine
- How to save money on gas with a club membership at Costco, Sam's Club, Walmart+ and Kroger
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