Coal prices drop from highs

U.S. coal prices plunged from record highs as warm winter conditions eased demand for the dirtiest fossil fuel.

Coal from the Northern Appalachia region slumped to $115 a ton for the week ending Jan. 6, down 45% from the prior week, according to government figures released Monday.

Spot prices for coal from Central Appalachia fell 33%, and fuel from the Illinois Basin dropped 31%.

Global prices have surged in the past year as Russia’s war in Ukraine upended international markets.

But warm weather, especially in Europe, has eased concerns of fuel shortages, helping depress demand and prices.

Nurses walk off in New York

More than 7,000 nurses at two major New York hospitals walked off the job Monday morning, protesting pay and staffing arrangements they contend have overwhelmed health care professionals during the coronavirus pandemic and beyond.

Last-minute talks to avoid a work stoppage at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan and Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx broke down overnight, and the New York State Nurses Association rejected an earlier proposal by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) to take this dispute to binding arbitration.

Mount Sinai spokeswoman Lucia Lee said the union walked out of negotiations shortly after 1 a.m.

Representatives from both hospitals said the union rejected the same nearly 20% wage increase proposal that nurses at peer institutions accepted in previous bargaining talks.

From wire reports