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Semiconductors are foundational to modern life, enabling everything from our phones to the energy grid. But increased offshore demand for semiconductors, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, has resulted in a global shortage—affecting virtually every industry. Some predict that the chip shortage will continue into 2023. On top of an already stressed supply chain, Russia's invasion of Ukraine has led to new concerns for the semiconductor industry, both because Ukraine produces over half of the world's supply of neon gas—which is used in the production of chips—and because of the precedent that it sets for a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan.

CARRBORO, N.C. (WTVD) -- Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools reinstituted the mask mandate at one of its high schools on Thursday. The decision follows the confirmation of about 30 COVID-19 cases at Carrboro High School.

The Labor Department’s March report on inflation showed that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was up by 8.5 percent over the past year. The core CPI, which excludes highly volatile energy and food prices, was up 6.5 percent over the past year. Anticipating the spike in inflation, the Biden administration blamed the Russian war in Ukraine for the surge in prices. A closer look reveals this not to the case.

The war in Ukraine sent global food prices soaring to an all-time high in March, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The March record surpassed the also-record-breaking change in food prices observed in February when the war began. The organization calculates a food price index that measures a monthly change in international prices of a basket of commonly traded food commodities such as vegetable oils, cereals, and meat. The current index value is approximately 37 percent higher than one year ago. The news has raised fears of a world hunger crisis with far-reaching effects.

The Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently authorized a second booster shot of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines for those age 50 and older. The recommendation follows a study out of Israel recently published in The New England Journal of Medicine.