A man passes a section of roof blown off a building in New Orleans' French Quarter by Hurricane Ida's winds.
“Ida was downgraded to a tropical storm Monday , shortly after it moved into Mississippi after making landfall in Louisiana Sunday as a Category 4 storm. As of Monday morning, Ida had maximum winds of 60 mph and was centered 95 miles (155 kilometers) south-southwest of Jackson, Mississippi. It was moving north at 8 mph. Though Ida lost its hurricane status, it was responsible for at least one death, the Ascension Parish Sheriff's Office confirmed Sunday. Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards confirmed the death in a statement, and added that President Joe Biden officially declared Ida a disaster, releasing federal funds to assist with rescue and recovery efforts, which will begin in earnest Monday morning.
Ida also severed power to New Orleans, the city's Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Preparedness confirmed. Utility company Entergy said power was not expected to be restored overnight.
Ida inflicted noticeable damage to the region, with video showing the hurricane's powerful winds ripping off a portion of the roof from the Lady of the Sea General Hospital in Galliano, Louisiana. A Lafourche Parish official told the USA TODAY Network that "a few" patients and staff were inside at the time.” Read more at USA Today
“Hurricane Ida slammed into Louisiana yesterday as a Category 4 storm, leaving at least one person dead and more than 1 million facing power outages and widespread destruction. Some people had to scramble to their roofs as storm surge and flash flooding overtook levees in areas south of New Orleans. The storm was so strong it actually temporarily stopped the flow of the Mississippi River near the city and caused it to reverse flow -- something the US Geological Survey says is ‘extremely uncommon.’ The hurricane arrived on the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, serving as a grim reminder of the scars of past storms. Ida has now weakened to a tropical storm but is still churning up deadly storm surge as it lingers inland. The National Weather Service in New Orleans says areas affected by surge could be uninhabitable for weeks or months. Tornados -- a common companion of hurricanes -- will also be a threat today.” Read more at CNN
“The US carried out a defensive airstrike yesterday in Kabul, targeting a car that contained a suspected ISIS-K suicide bomber who posed what US Central Command called an ‘imminent’ threat to the airport. The violence continued this morning, when as many as five rockets were fired at Kabul airport. The US says the attack has not hampered ongoing evacuation efforts, but more threats -- including potentially to the US homeland -- may remain. The clock is ticking on tomorrow's deadline to get US troops and Americans out of Afghanistan. It follows the terrorist attack on the Kabul airport last week that left at least 170 dead. The US and about 100 other countries have pledged to hold the Taliban to their promises to let people leave the country after tomorrow. The Biden administration has said the deadline is ‘not a cliff,’ and it is committed to ‘safe passage’ for all Americans and Afghan allies.” Read more at CNN
President Biden watched as fallen U.S. service members arrived at Dover Air Force Base yesterday.Doug Mills/The New York Times
“DOVER, Del. — President Biden on Sunday paid his respects to the 13 Americans killed in last week's suicide bombing in Afghanistan as his military leaders tried to avert more carnage in the final days of a chaotic withdrawal from the country, carrying out a strike on a vehicle in Kabul that officials said posed a terrorist threat.
Biden flew to an Air Force base here to receive the fallen service members, whose remains were returned to the United States on Sunday morning. He first met privately with their family members, including some who have expressed anger at him, and then watched quietly as flag-draped cases transporting the bodies were carried off a plane — a somber moment during the most volatile crisis of his presidency.” Read more at Washington Post
“The Taliban insist they've become more humane. But their actions as they’ve taken control of Afghanistan are harsh reminders of the dreaded early Taliban era, Axios World editor Dave Lawler writes.
With tomorrow as President Biden's departure deadline, the U.S. has to decide how it'll work with the new government.
What's happening: The militants are offering vague assurances that they have changed with the times.
The U.S. will have no influence on the formation of the next government, a senior U.S. official tells Axios.
But the Taliban's clear desire to avoid sanctions and cultivate normal relations does provide leverage.
Taliban leaders have promised amnesty for people who supported the ousted government or foreign forces, but there are already reprisals.
They have said girls can go to school, women can go to work (once the current unrest subsides) and journalists can hold them to account — all within still-to-be-defined limitations.
They've said they'll establish an Islamic system — but not how it will be governed or who will lead it.
It's also unclear to what extent any moves toward moderation by the group's leaders — many of whom spent years in exile after their overthrow in 2001 — will filter down to the rank and file.
Obaidullah Baheer — a lecturer in transitional justice at the American University of Afghanistan, who stayed in Kabul as friends fled — told Axios his interactions with Taliban fighters have been civil, despite his Western clothing.
But he knows of multiple instances of arbitrary beatings.
‘These people who are now in control of Kabul are people who have not experienced governance, but have only fought, for a good 20 years,’ he said. ‘And that obviously has a huge impact on the psyche and the group behavior.’
What we're watching: Under the ousted government, foreign aid had accounted for 75% of the government’s budget and some 40% of GDP.
That sets the U.S. and other foreign powers up for this balancing act: Withhold funding to press the Taliban to respect the rights of women and minorities, without contributing to economic collapse.” Read more at Axios
“North Korea appears to have restarted operations at a power plant capable of producing plutonium for nuclear weapons. The International Atomic Energy Agency, which serves as the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, says the development is ‘deeply troubling’ and ‘a cause for serious concern.’ Such activity violates UN Security Council resolutions, says the IAEA, which monitors nuclear facilities remotely since its inspectors were kicked out of the country in 2009. Relations between the US and North Korea have been frosty for years, and the Biden administration has reportedly reached out to the regime to restart discussion with Washington.” Read more at CNN
“SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. (AP) — Fire officials ordered more evacuations around the Tahoe Basin as a two-week old blaze encroached on the threatened mountain towns surrounding glimmering Lake Tahoe.
By nightfall, all residents on the California side of the Lake Tahoe Basin were warned to evacuate the region, after fire officials had stressed for days that protecting the area was their top firefighting priority.” Read more at AP News
“Tension is building ahead of an election in California that could end with the ousting of Gov. Gavin Newsom. Californians will vote in a recall election on September 14, and if a majority of voters want to replace Newsom, whichever challenger gets the most votes could do just that. Right now, polls show most Californians aren’t in favor of a recall, but the fact that Newsom’s possible exit could pave the way for a political unknown to take the reins is making Democrats nervous. Efforts to recall Newsom began last year among conservatives who took issue with the governor’s record on immigration, taxes, the death penalty and the state's homelessness crisis. They ramped up as California faced more challenges from Covid-19.” Read more at CNN
“Former Massachusetts congressman Joseph P. Kennedy II issued a deeply personal statement Sunday condemning the possible parole of Sirhan B. Sirhan, the man convicted of assassinating his father, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, more than 53 years ago during his campaign for president.
‘Two commissioners of the 18-member California Parole Board made a grievous error last Friday in recommending the release of the man who murdered my father. I understand that there are differing views about ending the sentence of this killer, including within my own family. But emotions and opinions do not change facts or history,’ Kennedy wrote in the statement released to the Globe Sunday evening.” Read more at Boston Globe
“LOS ANGELES — As hundreds of thousands of youngsters return to class in the nation’s second-largest school district, they’re participating in what amounts to a massive public health experiment unfolding in real time: Every single student, teacher, and administrator in the Los Angeles public schools must get tested for the coronavirus every single week — indefinitely.
Even the fully vaccinated are required to get tested. Those who test positive stay home for at least 10 days. And those who decline to get tested can't come at all.
Along with multiple other protocols the Los Angeles Unified School District is implementing — including masking for all and mandatory vaccines for teachers and staff — it amounts to by far the most aggressive anticoronavirus campaign undertaken or announced by a major school district in the United States. And it comes as classrooms nationwide struggle to return to in-person learning amid the Delta variant surge, with some governors trying to block mask mandates even as outbreaks have shut down schools or delayed planned reopenings in Florida, Texas, Iowa, and elsewhere.
In Los Angeles, by contrast, the vast majority of parents, teachers, and students are embracing or at least tolerating the stringent measures the district has adopted, with fewer than 3 percent of the district’s 450,000 K-12 students opting for remote learning instead. And while it remains to be seen whether LA’s ambitious approach will prove successful in keeping the district’s approximately 1,000 schools open for the entirety of the school year, local leaders and public health experts say the district is raising the bar in a way that’s being watched closely and could influence educators nationwide.” Read more at Boston Globe
“EU travel restrictions. The European Council is set to recommend fresh restrictions on U.S. travelers wishing to enter the European Union, citing the increased spread of COVID-19 in the United States. It’s also a sign of European frustrations with U.S. restrictions: Most Europeans have been banned from entering the United States since March 2020. The Council’s recommendations are non-binding, so it’s unclear whether EU member states will carry out the advice, which would include mandatory quarantine requirements.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“Some parents of the Knox County Schools in Tennessee are planning to keep their students home Monday en masse to put pressure on local and state educational leaders to improve COVID-19 safety protocols. The "sick out" aims to force administrators to follow guidance from the Knox County Health Department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and create a more robust virtual experience for students who are home sick or quarantined. COVID-19 cases have been sharply rising in Knox County and across the state over the past two months. New patients are trending younger than they were earlier in the pandemic.” Read more at USA Today
“The man convicted of murdering 20-year-old University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts is expected to be sentenced Monday. Cristhian Bahena Rivera, who was convicted in May for killing Tibbetts, faces a mandatory life sentence for first-degree murder . A week before he was scheduled to be sentenced in July, Bahena Rivera's attorneys filed motions to request a new trial — which was later rejected. Tibbetts' body was found in August 2018, about a month after she disappeared while jogging near Brooklyn, Iowa. Police eventually traced a car seen on surveillance video to Bahena Rivera, a local farmhand. He then led police to her remains.” Read more at USA Today
“Israeli-Palestinian ties. Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas held talks on Sunday in the first major dialogue between the two sides in years. The two discussedsecurity and economic issues, according to Gantz’s office. The meeting comes days after U.S. President Joe Biden hosted Prime Minister Naftali Bennett at the White House and as Hamas gains in popularity over Abbas’s Fatah party. Abbas continues a week of high-level meetings on Thursday, when he meets with Jordanian King Abdullah II and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“Greenland’s total area appears to have increased by 20,000 square feet after Danish researchers accidentally discovered a new island off its northern coast. They have proposed naming it Qeqertaq Avannarleq—’the northernmost island’ in Greenlandic, as it is believed to be the northernmost known island in the world.
The research team originally thought they had landed on Oodaaq, an island that was itself discovered in 1978, before the expedition, led by Morten Rasch of the University of Copenhagen, realized their luck. The island is likely a feature of deposits from regular storms rather than climate change, Rasch said, citing its gravely and silt base.
‘No one knows how long it will remain. In principle, it could disappear as soon as a powerful new storm hits,’ Rasch said.” Read more at Foreign Policy
Ed Asner, as Lou Grant, talks to Mary Richards (played by Mary Tyler Moore) in a scene from "The Mary Tyler Moore Show." Photo: CBS via Getty Images
“The bald, burly, blustery star of ‘Lou Grant’ was Ed Asner, who died in L.A. yesterday at 91.
Asner became a star in middle age as the gruff but lovable newsman Lou Grant, first in the hit comedy ‘The Mary Tyler Moore Show’ and later ‘Lou Grant,’ AP reports:
Asner was a journeyman character actor in films and TV when he was hired in 1970 to play Lou Grant on ‘The Mary Tyler Moore Show.’
For seven seasons he was the rumpled boss to Moore's ebullient Mary Richards in a Minneapolis TV newsroom.
He called her ‘Mary.’ She called him ‘Mr. Grant.’
Ed Asner on "Lou Grant" in 1978. Photo: CBS via Getty Images
Asner then starred for five years on ‘Lou Grant,’ set at ‘The Trib.’
As Screen Actors Guild president, the liberal Asner was caught up in a controversy in 1982, during the Reagan years, when he spoke out against U.S. involvement with repressive governments in Latin America.
‘Lou Grant’ was canceled during the furor. CBS blamed ratings.
P.S. Betty White, 99, who played home-show hostess Sue Ann Nivens, is the lone surviving major cast member of ‘Mary Tyler Moore.’” Read more at Axios
“Peloton will launch a new version of its Tread treadmill Monday after the death of a child. The new treadmill will include several safety features, such as a four-digit passcode users must type before activating the device, and a physical safety key to operate the treadmill. ‘Our goal is to be the go-to fitness solution and the largest and safest home fitness brand in the world,’ said John Foley, Peloton's CEO and co-founder, in a statement. Peloton had voluntarily recalled all of its treadmills in May after the fitness equipment maker admitted in March that a child had died in an accident involving a Tread+ treadmill.” Read more at USA Today
“OWINGS MILLS, Md. — In one of the most scintillating conclusions to a tournament in PGA Tour history, Patrick Cantlay sank an 18-foot putt on the sixth playoff hole to outlast Bryson DeChambeau and win the BMW Championship on Sunday night at Caves Valley Golf Club.
Cantlay claimed the second leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs moments after his approach with a 6-iron landed on the No. 18 green and came to rest below the hole. That allowed him to be aggressive with a birdie putt that yielded his fifth PGA Tour win, the No. 1 seed at this week’s Tour Championship and the sixth and final automatic qualifying spot on the U.S. Ryder Cup team.
DeChambeau had a putt just inside nine feet to extend the playoff but missed right, ending a round in which the 2020 U.S. Open champion failed to take advantage of one opportunity after the next to win a tournament. Both players shot 6-under-par 66s to finish 27 under for the tournament and force the playoff.” Read more at Washington Post