World News: Your weekend must reads 📰

Saturday, October 1

Good morning! Welcome once again to the weekend edition of The Short List, where we shine the spotlight on some of the best reads of the week from USA TODAY.

I'm John Riley, and I'll be your guide today.

But first: Our thoughts and prayers go out to all those hit by Hurricane Ian. Here's how you can help those affected.

'Positional segregation' in NFL coaching

🏈In 2003, the NFL implemented the Rooney Rule, which required teams with coaching and front office vacancies to interview minority candidates.

Nearly two decades later, USA TODAY Sports compiled data for all 722 on-field NFL coaches at the start of this season.

The analysis reveals that, even in 2022, there are stark racial disparities among coaches of different position groups — evidence of subconscious stereotypes that helped funnel white assistants to coordinator and head coaching positions while stunting the progress of their Black counterparts.

•	From Nancy Armour: Cincinnati Bengals now have least-diverse staff
•	'Didn't look the part': Reasons Black coaches don't get top jobs
•	What we learned: Four key findings from USA TODAY's analysis of NFL coaches

Faces of inflation

Surging inflation in the U.S. means household budgets are being stretched thinner than a rubber band. 💸 People are cutting back on meat for dinner and on nights out. Even kids are going without new shoes or supplies for school.

USA TODAY talked with families from California to Georgia and from Arkansas to Ohio about how they are coping with their new economic reality.

"Our pay increases have not kept up with inflation and it is hurting us," says Sonja Smith, who was forced out of retirement last year when she could no longer pay her bills. "I'm barely making it."

•	Catch-22: Fed's efforts to control inflation hit low-income Americans hardest

We healed the ozone hole, right?

In 1987, chemicals in aerosol cans and refrigeration were eating up the atmosphere's ozone layer, and heavy solar radiation was leaking through. Scientists warned of a dangerous "ozone hole" over Antarctica – and future damage to life on Earth.

But that fate was averted, thanks to the Montreal Protocol, a binding agreement among nations to phase out ozone-depleting substances. Today, the ozone hole is on track to fully heal by 2070.😌

So why can't humanity do the same for climate change? Solutions won't come as easily, but our ozone experience shows there is hope, experts say.

"You can't say that people can't change the system," said Susan Solomon, an atmospheric chemist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "But it has to be powered by public demand."

There are more great reads below.👇 See you next week!