Pediatricians are asking the Biden administration to declare a pediatric health emergency to deal with hospitals packed with RSV cases. States like Texas have only a few dozen pediatric beds open across the entire state. New Hampshire’s pediatric wards are full. One children’s hospital in Toronto says it is at 130% of capacity. The Atlantic calls this “the worse pediatric-care crisis in decades.” I will explain what a federal emergency declaration would do to help lighten the strain. 

Two more of the nation's 12 railroad workers' unions will reveal their votes today on a new national contract. The deal is in trouble after a couple of the unions rejected the deal, but today’s votes involve the two biggest rail unions, which represent nearly half of the 115,000 workers that would be covered by the contract.  

Nearly 200 nations finished a two-week meeting about climate change and broke a 30-year logjam over having wealthier nations (like the U.S.) paying billions of dollars to help poorer countries deal with climate change problems. Some cheered the agreement, but while rejoicing, it was well-recognized that big countries like China have not signed on and the agreement is vague about who would get the money and how much each country would pay into the fund. And the U.S. wants to know if contributing to such a fund is the same as admitting some kind of guilt about being one of the world’s biggest contributors to greenhouse gasses.

Just in time for Thanksgiving, I want to point you to two studies that say people who express gratitude are also happier. Grateful people tend to be healthier, less lonely and even have lower blood pressure. I am thankful for you readers for caring enough to join me each day.