Upton Sinclair’s 1906 novel The Jungle described unhygienic practices that were common across the U.S. meat industry. The public outcry following its publication spurred some of the nation’s first food safety legislation. More than a century later, the United States has made considerable progress on food safety, but foodborne illness remains a serious public health problem.
In January 2017, President Donald Trump reinstated and expanded a policy that forbids international organizations from using U.S. foreign aid to promote abortion or provide information about abortion as a form of family planning.
State supreme court judges who rely on public financing to fund their elections become less likely to favor attorneys who have donated to their campaigns in the past, a 2016 study suggests.
According to a Congressional Research Service report, “U.S. Energy: Overview and Key Statistics,” in 2010 renewable sources contributed 8 quadrillion BTUs of energy, which constitutes 11% of U.S. production and 8.2% of consumption.
According to a 2012 report from the Congressional Research Service, “U.S. Energy: Overview and Key Statistics,” petroleum accounts for 40% of all U.S. energy consumption. As of 2010, petroleum was predominantly used for transportation (70.5%), followed by industrial (22.9%), residential (5.7%) and electricity generation (0.9%) uses.
According to a 2012 report from the Congressional Research Service, “U.S. Energy: Overview and Key Statistics,” energy consumption in the U.S. nearly tripled from 1950 to 2011. Over the same period, however, electricity consumption grew even faster, rising from 334 billion to 4,120 billion kilowatt hours — an increase of 1,134%.
