Story of the Week #821: TUESDAY January 11, 2022: ‘DEADLY CONSEQUENCES : The Rise of Fentanyl’ from ZUMA Press photographer Roberto E. Rosales of the Albuquerque Journal: Esperanza Cordova isn’t afraid of the blues. Then again, the 43-year-old isn’t afraid of much. She’s been using heroin since she was 15 and, once fentanyl showed up, overdosed ”plenty of times” on a mix of the two. In the past year, she’s seen more than a dozen people overdose and die. Not strangers, people she cared about. Too many to count. The recent surge in drug US overdose deaths: 100,306 dead from April 2020 to April 2021, marks the first time the toll topped six figures in a 12-month period, according to provisional data from the National Center for Health Statistics. Recent data released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) points to one potential answer in illegally manufactured fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that can be 50 times more potent than heroin. Fentanyl has changed the streets of Albuquerque, and swept across New Mexico in a perfect storm with authorities are seizing record amounts of the drug, while fighting a spike in the violent crime that has come along with it. Health officials meanwhile, count the rising dead from a record number of overdoses as the drug takes center stage in the opioid crisis. Welcome to ‘DEADLY CONSEQUENCES : The Rise of Fentanyl’
Scott Mc Kiernan, Founder & Editor-in-Chief, ZUMA Press
Alongside a lingering global pandemic, the year 2021 was filled with climate disasters, some so intense they surprised even the scientists who study them. Extreme rainstorms turned to raging flash floods that swept through mountain towns in Europe, killing over 200 people. Across Asia, excessive rainfall inundated wide areas and flooded subway stations in China. Heat waves shattered records in the Pacific Northwest, Europe and the Arctic. Wildfires swept through communities in California, Canada, Greece and Australia. The area around Boulder was so unusually dry on Dec. 30, 2021, that a powerful wind storm sent grass fires racing through neighborhoods in Superior and Louisville, burning hundreds of homes in a matter of hours. Officials said the winds were so strong, there was little firefighters could do but evacuate homes and businesses in the fires’ paths. The fire damaged or destroyed between $819 million and $1.6 billion worth of homes, which would make it the 10th costliest fire in US history. Welcome to ‘URBAN Firestorm’
Scott Mc Kiernan, Founder & Editor-in-Chief, ZUMA Press
Sit back and enjoy POM! “The Pictures of the Month” presented by Scott Mc Kiernan and ZUMA Press. ZUMA received a huge volume of over one million professional photographer’s images, all shot in the month of December. The ZUMA photographers covered the four corners of the world to bring pictures that need to be seen! POM shows the best work of these photojournalists, documenting the most important events of the past month.
We close out 2021 with tornadoes in December, wildfires with 100 plus mph winds, and Omicron becoming the dominant Covid-19 variant. These stories and more as the December 2021 Pictures Of the Month for @ZUMAPress is now published. Happy New Year Everyone! PLEASE SHARE! #photojournalism http://www.thepicturesofthemonth.com
ZUMA’s talented award-winning picture editing staff of Jessica Cotsonas, Julie Rogers, Mark Avery, Ruaridh Stewart, Scott Mc Kiernan, Shalan Stewart, and the POM Editor-in-Chief Jim Colton made this ZUMA show possible. Enjoy and pass the word to others.
Photographers:
Adam Davy • Aditya Saputra • Alexander Demianchuk • Alvaro Blanco • Andrea Staccioli • Andrew Harnik • Andrew Matthews • Andrew Milligan • Ashraf Amra • Aslam Iqbal • Bashar Taleb • Ben Birchall • Bernd Wuestneck • Billy Bennight • Bob Daemmrich • Carl Glenn Payne • Carsten Koall • Chaiwat Subprasom • Chong Voon Chung • Chris Tuite • Christian Gooden • Danil Aikin • Darryl Dyck • Debarchan Chatterjee • Debby Wong • Dinendra Haria • Dmitry Feoktistov • Dominic Lipinski • Dominick Del Vecchio • Eddie Moore • Enric Fontcuberta • Federico Gambarini • Fuad Nizam • Gavriil Grigorov • Grigory Sysoyev • Hao Qunying • Hu Chao • Jabin Botsford • Kieran Cleeves • Kirill Kukhmar • Marcel Engelbrech • Mario Buehner • Martyn Wheatley • Matthias Oesterle • Mayank Makhija • Md Rafayat Haque Khan • Muammar Awad • Mustasinur Rahman Alvi • Nancy Kaszerman • Nidal Eshtayeh • Ondrej Hajek • Owen Humphreys • Patrick Steiner • Paul Edwards • Pawel Wilczynski • Peerapon Boonyakiat • Peter Kovalev • Rana Sajid Hussain • Richard Tsong-Taatarii • Ringo Chiu • Robin Loznak • Ron Sachs • Salim • Scott Kinser • Sebastian Kahnert • Sergei Bobylev • Sergei Karpukhin • Sergei Savostyanov • Shang Hao • Silas Walker • Soeren Stache • Suvra Kanti Das • Tao Ming • Thomas Warnack • Tom Williams • Uwe Anspach • Valery Sharifulin • Victoria Jones • Vitaly Zalessky • Yui Mok
Newspapers, Picture Agencies + Wire Services:
APA Images • Albuquerque Journal • CNP • CQ Roll Call • CSM • CTK • Cyfrasport • dpa • EFE • Eurokinissi • FEMA • GEPA • i-Images • ImageSPACE • Imago • Lexington Herald-Leader • Newspix • NurPhoto • Oakland County Sherrif’s Office • PA Wire • Pacific Press • Panoramic • SIPA Asia • SOPA Images • St. Louis Post-Dispatch • TASS • The Canadian Press • Vatican Media • Xinhua • ZUMA Press Wire
Music: ‘El Guardià Dels Somnis by Roger Subirana Mata
zReportage.com Story of the Week #819: TUESDAY December 28, 2021: ‘ROAD to Nowhere’ from ZUMA Press award winning photographer Richard Tsong-Taatarii: Several thousand Haitian migrants are clustered outside a stadium in southern Mexico that has been re-purposed into a migration office, urging authorities to let them pass freely through Mexico. Two caravans of migrants largely from Haiti and Central America have departed from the southern city of Tapachula in recent weeks, many taking off on foot for the long journey in hopes of reaching the U.S.- Mexico border. The rise in the number of Haitians trying to make their way through Mexico has been spurred by economic malaise, an earthquake and political turmoil following the assassination of Haitian President Moise in July. UN Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration said: ‘Today, there are over 258 million migrants around the world living outside their country of birth. This figure is expected to grow for a number of reasons including population growth, increasing connectivity, trade, rising inequality, demographic imbalances and climate change,’ statement. Welcome to ‘ROAD to Nowhere’
Scott Mc Kiernan, Founder & Editor-in-Chief, ZUMA Press
December 23, 2021, Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain: VINICIUS JR. (20) of Real Madrid gesticulating during the La Liga Santander match between Athletic Club and Real Madrid at San Mames stadium
Scott Mc Kiernan, Founder & Editor-in-Chief, ZUMA Press
December 24, 2021, New Taipei, Taipei, Taiwan: People take photos on a footbridge with Christmas lights decoration in New Taipei, as Taiwan Covid and Omicron situations remain stable, amid global concerns of the spread of Omicron.
Scott Mc Kiernan, Founder & Editor-in-Chief, ZUMA Press
Invisible People is an American non-profit organization working for homeless people in the United States. The organization educates the public about homelessness through storytelling, educational resources.
Scott Mc Kiernan, Founder & Editor-in-Chief, ZUMA Press
ZUMAland.com 