News brief Feb. 10-14

International

After two weeks of searching, a truck cabin lost to a sinkhole has been found lodged in a sewer pipe in Japan.

After the initial incident on Jan. 28, rescuers retrieved the loading platform, but could not reach the rest of the vehicle. They briefly established contact with the driver before soil and debris buried him further.

Drones spotted a human body in the cabin, but it is unknown if this is the 74 year old driver.

The sinkhole, potentially caused by a sewer rupture, opened at an intersection in Yashio city near Tokyo and has grown to 40 meters in diameter.

Officials say installing a temporary bypass pipe will stop water flow, allowing access to the truck. According to Saitama Governor Motohiro Ono, this process could take up to three months.

As sinkholes continue to form, nearby residents evacuate their homes, and the government urges 1.2 million citizens to reduce water usage so as to minimize water flow in the pipes. Events like these are increasingly common in Japan as their aging sewer infrastructure begins to show its age.

National

The death of the penny is nigh.

“For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents. This is so wasteful! I have instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to stop producing new pennies,” President Donald Trump said in a Sunday night Truth Social post.

The Federal Reserve estimates there are 114 billion pennies in circulation, making up $1.14 billion (0.006%) of all U.S. currency.

David Gulley, a professor of economics at Bentley University, told NBC he estimates the cost to produce one penny at around three cents. He calls pennies an economic burden, indicating that “because millions vanish under couch cushions each year, the U.S. Mint must produce a steady stream of replacements.”

Though speculated to be a positive move for the economy, the removal of pennies has drawbacks.

“Prices would have to be rounded to the nearest five cents to allow for cash payments and correct change received back,” Gulley said. “That will be the end of $6.99 fast food combo meals.”

Though pennies will stop being produced, they will continue to be accepted as legal tender for the foreseeable future.

Gulley points out that, as the modern era has moved away from physical currency, the effect will be minimal when it comes to making change. Under 20 percent of U.S. transactions are handled via cash, so most are carried out digitally where cents can be calculated precisely regardless of coinage.

“Eliminating the penny would save taxpayers millions of dollars each year,” David Smith, an economics professor at Pepperdine University told NBC. “In addition, the production of pennies has environmental costs, including the mining of zinc and copper, eliminating the penny could have a positive environmental impact,”

Local

This Tuesday, the Oklahoma City Council authorized the destruction of the Cox Convention Center to make way for a new NBA arena.

The council made a unanimous vote to approve the plan from Thompson, Ventulett, Stainback & Associates (TVS). Construction is scheduled to begin near the end of March.

The architects announced that the project will be complex, and City Manager Craig Freeman noted that, “it’ll be disruptive for a little while.”

The project will require not only destroying the building, but also the parking deck 12 feet underground. A connected pedestrian tunnel will need to be temporarily sealed until construction is complete.

Demolition will take six months to complete. During that period, the workers hope to minimize traffic impact by placing a single construction entrance on the west side and a single exit on the east.

“We’ll also try to work with the contractor to minimize that disruption in terms of limiting the time duration of the construction to limit both noise and dust, so we believe that will minimize the traffic concerns there as well,” Robert O’Keefe, the principal designer with TVS, said. ”We will try to preserve the right-of-way sidewalks on the perimeter as well, but, again, we’ll need to work with the contractor to see what’s possible there.”