“NEW YORK — The death toll from the remnants of Hurricane Ida's stunning blast through the Northeast rose to eight on Thursday after the city and parts of New Jersey became overwhelmed in water.
At least seven people in New York City died in the flooding, police said. Hector Lora, the mayor of Passaic, New Jersey, said one person died there in a submerged car. Flooding was also reported in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. More than 230,000 homes and businesses in the region were without power Thursday morning.
Flooding in the boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn turned major streets into rivers and swamped basement and first floor apartments as the heavy rain pounded the city for multiple hours Wednesday night. The National Weather Service office in New York declared a flash flooding emergency, a rare warning for situations where the flooding is “leading to a severe threat to human life and catastrophic damage.”
The city’s emergency management department warned all residents to avoid travel overnight. Videos shared on social media showed the Brooklyn Queens Expressway impassible, cars stuck in streets in Elmhurst, Queens, and water racing into subway stations in Manhattan.
New York police responded to numerous 911 calls, but the department did not have an initial tally of how many water rescues it was involved in as of Thursday morning.
The National Weather Service recorded 3.15 inches of rain in New York’s Central Park in one hour late Wednesday, far surpassing the record 1.94 inches that fell in one hour during Tropical Storm Henri less than two weeks ago.” Read more at USA Today
A ‘Bans Off Our Bodies’ protested at the Texas State Capitol in Austin on Wednesday. A Texas law prohibiting most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy went into effect on Wednesday after the Supreme Court failed to act on a request to block it.MONTINIQUE MONROE/NYT
“A deeply divided Supreme Court is allowing a Texas law that bans most abortions to remain in force, for now stripping most women of the right to an abortion in the nation’s second-largest state.
The court voted 5-4 to deny an emergency appeal from abortion providers and others that sought to block enforcement of the law that went into effect Wednesday. But the justices also suggested that their order likely isn’t the last word on whether the law can stand because other challenges to it can still be brought.
The Texas law, signed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in May, prohibits abortions once medical professionals can detect cardiac activity, usually around six weeks and before many women know they’re pregnant.” Read more at Boston Globe
“Hundreds of thousands of people still don’t have power in Louisiana and they may not get it back for several more weeks. Cell phone towers were toppled in the storm, there are long lines for gasoline and safe drinking water isn’t reliable.” Read more at NPR
“A new weapons law that went into effect this month in Texas will make it harder for police officers to protect the public from gun violence, experts say. Under the law, most residents who legally own a firearm can carry it openly without a permit or training. The controversial ‘constitutional carry’ law is the latest in a series of pro-gun bills passed by state lawmakers this year as gun violence incidents rise in Texas and nationwide. The number of shootings in Texas increased 14% this year compared to the same period in 2020. Republican supporters argued that by removing the licensing requirement, they are removing an ‘artificial barrier’ to residents' right to bear arms under the Constitution. But Andrew Karwoski, a policy expert at Everytown for Gun Safety, said: ‘Just allowing almost anyone to carry a handgun in public, no questions asked, no background check or safety training, is really dangerous.’” Read more at CNN
“House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is threatening telecommunications and social media companies that comply with a request by the committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob, declaring that Republicans ‘will not forget’ their actions.
McCarthy spoke with then-President Donald Trump on the day of the attack and is a potential witness in the select committee’s probe.
The panel on Monday asked 35 companies to retain phone records and other information related to the attack as it ramps up its investigation ahead of the return of Congress next month. Several of the companies indicated this week that they intend to comply with the panel’s requests, while only one so far has publicly said it will not do so.
‘Adam Schiff, Bennie Thompson, and Nancy Pelosi’s attempts to strong-arm private companies to turn over individuals’ private data would put every American with a phone or computer in the crosshairs of a surveillance state run by Democrat politicians,’ McCarthy said in a statement Tuesday night, referring to the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, the chairman of the select committee and the House speaker.” Read more at Washington Post
“More than two decades after Purdue Pharma launched its blockbuster pain pill OxyContin, a judge approved a bankruptcy plan Wednesday that will grant the drugmaker’s billionaire owners sweeping legal immunity in the opioid epidemic.
Negotiated until the 11th hour, the final terms of the settlement confirmed by U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Robert D. Drain grant the family that owned Purdue Pharma, the Sacklers, broad protection from current and future litigation, despite objections from nine states and a branch of the Justice Department.
The family initially sought relief from any civil litigation, but Drain objected, shouting at one point over an attorney for the Sacklers that the family should be immune only to legal claims related to the crisis they are contributing roughly $4.3 billion to abate. The final settlement will grant relief specifically for claims related to the opioid epidemic.” Read more at Washington Post
“An unidentified person working in ‘the news media’ was suspected by federal investigators of conspiring to ‘unlawfully obtain’ and leak Democratic emails ahead of the 2016 presidential election during special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, The New York Times reports. The Justice Department dropped the bombshell on Wednesday in an amendment to a report detailing its use of law enforcement tools against the news media in 2018. ‘In connection with an investigation into an alleged conspiracy involving persons or entities associated with a foreign government hacking the computers of a United States political party’s central organization,’ the Justice Department authorized a subpoena for the phone and email records of ‘a member of the news media suspected of participating in the conspiracy,’ the DOJ said in the filing. The unnamed media figure was later subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury, according to the filing. It was unclear, however, if that testimony ever took place. No information was provided in the filing on what led investigators to suspect the ‘member of the news media’ of taking part in the election plot.” [Daily Beast] Read it at The New York Times
“A Colorado grand jury indicted three officers and two paramedics in the death of Elijah McClain, a young Black man who was placed in a chokehold and given a sedative. McClain, 23, was stopped by police while walking home from a store in August 2019 in an incident that ended with him in a carotid hold and then injected with ketamine, authorities said. The officers and paramedics each face a charge of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide, and additional assault charges. Shortly after the incident, a district attorney declined to bring criminal charges, citing lack of evidence to prove the officers caused McClain's death. After protests in Aurora and an online petition, Gov. Jared Polis announced a re-examination of the case last year.” Read more at CNN
“At a hearing Thursday, attorneys for two former Minneapolis police officers charged in George Floyd's death will ask a judge to bar their upcoming trial from being livestreamed, saying some witnesses won't testify if it is broadcast. The petition from attorneys for Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng is an about-face from their earlier request to have the trial publicly broadcast, and it's opposed by prosecutors and news media outlets. Lane, Kueng and Tou Thao are scheduled for trial next March on charges of aiding and abetting second-degree murder and manslaughter in Floyd's 2020 death. Their co-defendant, Derek Chauvin, was convicted in April of murder and manslaughter.Another issue expected to be addressed ahead of the trial is whether the jury will remain anonymous. Kueng's lawyer, Thomas Plunkett, opposes an anonymous jury because he says it violates his client's right to a fair and open trial. The jurors from the Chauvin case remain anonymous.” Read more at USA Today
“In two unanimous rulings Thursday the Virginia Supreme Court cleared the way for the removal of Richmond's iconic but divisive Lee Monument. The justices rejected appeals from five nearby property owners and an heir of those who donated the land for the Lee statue to bar moving it as ordered by Gov. Ralph Northam last year during racial justice protests that swept the former capital of the Confederacy following the death of George Floyd.” Read more at Richmond Times-Dispatch
“A special ‘safe streets’ police task force in Beverly Hills made 106 arrests over the past year and a half—and a new lawsuit claims that 105 of those people were Black. The other was a dark-skinned Latino person. The shocking allegation was included in a complaint filed Tuesday by civil-rights lawyer Benjamin Crump. The lawsuit accuses the unit, known as the Rodeo Drive task force, of blatant racial profiling during its 16 months of operation between March 2020 and July 2021. It includes one incident in October 2020 when the unit stopped Salehe Bembury, then vice president of men’s footwear at Versace, for jaywalking. Body-cam footage shows the cops searching Bembury, and him telling them: ‘What’s unfortunate is I literally designed the shoes that are in this bag, and I’m being… searched.’ According to The Guardian, the city defended its task force in a statement, but did not dispute the arrest data in the lawsuit.” Read it atThe Guardian
“South Dakota’s top public safety official told state legislators that the state’s attorney general should have faced manslaughter charges for killing a man with his car last year. Department of Public Safety Secretary Craig Price wrote to the state House of Representatives, ‘In my opinion as a 24-year law enforcement officer, and in the opinion of the highly trained highway patrol officers involved in this investigation, Mr. Ravnsborg should have been charged with 2nd Degree Manslaughter.’ Price sent the letter alongside materials from his office’s investigation of the crash, in which Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg hit a man with his car last year, killing him. Ravnsborg pleaded no contest only to two counts of misdemeanor traffic violations. He will skirt jail time and has refused to resign.” [Daily Beast] Read it at Argus Leader
“There's a dramatic rise in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations due to the Delta variant, and it's affecting all age groups. More than 500,000 children tested positive for the virus within three weeks in the US last month, sparking more concerns about in-person learning. With vaccination rates low among eligible adolescents, health experts urged mask mandates as the most effective tool in controlling infections. ‘The virus is raging in all these children who are unvaccinated ... They have no other protection. They're literally sitting ducks,’ CNN medical analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner said. The US Food and Drug Administration must approve or authorize the vaccines in younger children first, and clinical trials for those under 12 are ongoing.” Read more at CNN
“A Central Texas school district is temporarily closing after two teachers died of covid-19 in the same week, while parents and legislators in the state continue to clash over mask mandates in classrooms.
Officials with the Connally Independent School District, north of Waco, said its five suburban schools will be closed until after the Labor Day holiday following the covid-19 death Saturday of Natalia Chansler, 41, a sixth-grade social studies teacher at Connally Junior High School. Her death came just days after 59-year-old David “Andy” McCormick, a seventh-grade social studies teacher at Connally Junior High, died of covid-19 on Aug. 24, the district said.” Read more at Washington Post
“Joe Rogan, host of a wildly popular podcast who has downplayed the need for coronavirus vaccines, announced Wednesday that he has tested positive for the coronavirus.
In a brief video, Rogan told his 13.1 million Instagram followers that he returned home from the road Saturday night — he’s currently on tour and just performed a series of comedy shows in Florida — feeling weary with a headache.
‘Just to be cautious, I separated from my family, slept in a different part of the house, and throughout the night I got fevers and sweats. And I knew what was going on,’ Rogan said. ‘So I got up in the morning, got tested — and turns out I got covid.’
Rogan said he was now feeling ‘great’ after ‘one bad day’ on Sunday. After his diagnosis, he said he ‘immediately threw the kitchen sink’ at the virus, and listed a litany of therapeutics and treatments he tried, including ivermectin, a medicine used to kill parasites in animals and humans but best known as a horse dewormer.” Read more at Washington Post
“Jonathan Neman, co-founder and CEO of Sweetgreen, a popular salad chain, faced backlash on social media this week after posting that ‘no vaccine nor mask will save us’ and connecting individuals who are obese and overweight with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Neman on Wednesday, in a since-deleted LinkedIn post, wrote, ‘COVID is here to stay for the foreseeable future. We cannot run away from it and no vaccine nor mask will save us,’ Vice reported. However, he noted that he is vaccinated and encourages others to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
‘78% of hospitalizations due to COVID are obese and overweight people,’ Neman said in the LinkedIn post. ‘Is there an underlying problem that perhaps we have not given enough attention to? Is there another way to think about how we tackle ‘healthcare’ by addressing the root cause?
‘What if we made the food that is making us sick illegal? What if we taxed processed food and refined sugar to pay for the impact of the pandemic? What if we incentivized health?’ he added….
Journalists and others on social media criticized Neman’s argument on Wednesday, accusing him of shaming overweight and obese people regardless of their vaccination status. Others called the comments out-of-touch with food that is accessible for low-income individuals and families.” Read more at USA Today
A tree flares up as firefighters continue to battle the Caldor Fire near South Lake Tahoe, Calif., Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2021. A huge firefighting force gathered Tuesday to defend Lake Tahoe from the raging wildfire that forced the evacuation of California communities on the south end of the alpine resort and put others across the state line in Nevada on notice to be ready to flee.
“Fire crews are hoping better weather conditions over the next several days will allow them to get a better handle on the massive Caldor Fire burning miles from scenic tourist destination Lake Tahoe. The blaze has continued to spread east, but crews have been able to corral it just south of Lake Tahoe. As the fire threatened homes late Wednesday, President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration, which offers federal assistance with the blaze.
“The Trump Organization’s director of security has agreed to testify before a Manhattan grand jury investigating the former president and his company, according to a person familiar with the case.
Matthew Calamari Jr., 28, received a subpoena to testify on Tuesday from Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. (D) and will appear before the grand jury Thursday afternoon, according to the person.
Calamari Jr. is the son of Matthew Calamari Sr., who now serves as the Trump Organization’s chief operating officer and has worked for former president Donald Trump as a bodyguard, security man and executive for more than 30 years.
The elder Calamari has not been subpoenaed, according to the person familiar with the case, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the subpoena publicly. Vance’s office declined to comment.” Read more at Washington Post
Taliban forces celebrate the withdrawal of US forces in Kandahar on Wednesday. (Javed Tanveer/AFP/Getty Images)
“The Taliban threw a parade in Afghanistan's second-largest city to show off their newly seized American-made military equipment. In videos posted on social media, the militants displayed the hardware left behind by Afghan and US forces after the withdrawal of the last American troops. Fighters waved white Taliban flags from Humvees and armored vehicles while others dressed in US-style uniforms posed for photos in the cockpits of helicopters. Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said he wasn't concerned about the images because the US had deactivated all the gear abandoned at the airport. ‘They can inspect all they want ... They can look at them ... but they can't fly them. They can't operate them,’ he said.” Read more at CNN
Jonathan Gerrish, 45, was found dead along with his wife Ellen Chung, 31, their one-year-old daughter Muji and their dog in a remote area of the Sierra national forest in California. Photograph: REX/Shutterstock
“A popular national forest in California has closed trails near where a couple, their baby and the family dog were found dead last month.
Pointing to ‘unknown hazards found in and near the Savage Lundy trail’, officials announced Sierra national forest would close trails, campgrounds and picnic sites for nearly a month. John Gerrish, 45, his wife, Ellen Chung, 30, their one-year-old daughter, Muji, and their dog were found dead on the Mariposa county hiking trail. Officials have not yet been able to determine how they died.
Officials found the bodies of the family, who had reportedly gone out for a hike, on 17 August after a family friend reported them missing. With no signs of death immediately clear, the Mariposa county sheriff’s office briefly treated the area as a hazmat site. Investigators initially explored whether carbon monoxide, exposure to gas from mines in the area or toxic algae could have been responsible for the deaths.” Read more at The Guardian
“African American children are suffering long-term disadvantages as a result of vast and growing disparities in the wealth of US families, with Black families with kids having access to barely 1 cent for every dollar enjoyed by their white counterparts.
The shocking racial wealth gap between families, and its impact on Black and Hispanic kids, is revealed in groundbreaking new research by scholars on US inequality. It shows that the basic wealth levels of families from different racial and ethnic backgrounds have diverged to such a stark degree in the past three decades that the future prospects of children from lower-wealth groups are likely to be grossly compromised.
In 2019, the median wealth level for a white family with children in the US was $63,838. The same statistic for a Black family with children was $808.
Hispanic families with kids fare little better. They have a median wealth of $3,175, which equates to 5 cents for every dollar of wealth in an equivalent white household.
“A relatively small group of parents – mostly white – control the lion’s share of the wealth available to children,” the authors conclude.
Wealth is calculated by aggregating a family’s assets and subtracting from it their debts. The median for white families largely consists of the value of the homes they own minus mortgages, with additional wealth coming from savings and inheritance.” Read more at The Guardian