here are some of tonight’s stories
- ‘Trash public lands’? Republicans take fraught border hike
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At river where Tigrayan bodies floated, fears of ‘many more’
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‘We lost Greenville’: Wildfire decimates California town
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‘This attack happened’: Medals to honor Jan. 6 responders
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Iran swears in new hard-line president amid regional tension
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Native Hawaiians ‘reclaim’ surfing with Moore’s Olympic gold
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How Syrian refugees helped clean up flooded German towns
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AFL-CIO President Trumka, prominent US labour leader, dies at 72
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Biden offers temporary ‘safe haven’ in US to Hong Kong residents
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New Berlin Girls Sell Lemonade To Raise Down Syndrome Awareness
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‘Trash public lands’? Republicans take fraught border hike
It was nearing midnight, and Rep. Bruce Westerman was on the lookout for litter.
“Think what would happen if an American citizen left trash on public lands,” said the Arkansas Republican, riding in a pickup truck driven by Chris Cabrera, the vice president of the National Border Patrol Council.
“If an agent caught you,” Westerman continued, “you’d probably get fined. And I think it’s frowned upon by most Americans if you trash public lands.”
The truck bumped along through the darkness on dirt roads heavily pockmarked by footprints and pools of water from recent rainfalls, with the sides of the vehicle brushed occasionally by overgrown branches of mesquite trees and carrizo cane.
It pulled over in a muddy clearing that was strewn with some surgical masks, a few plastic grocery bags and several articles of clothing, allowing Westerman to disembark into a cloud of mosquitoes to inspect the debris.
AP News
‘There are only so many beds’: COVID-19 surge hits hospitals
Florida hospitals slammed with COVID-19 patients are suspending elective surgeries and putting beds in conference rooms, an auditorium and a cafeteria. As of midweek, Mississippi had just six open intensive care beds in the entire state.
Georgia medical centers are turning people away. And in Louisiana, an organ transplant had to be postponed along with other procedures.
“We are seeing a surge like we’ve not seen before in terms of the patients coming,” Dr. Marc Napp, chief medical officer for Memorial Healthcare System in Hollywood, Florida, said Wednesday. “It’s the sheer number coming in at the same time. There are only so many beds, so many doctors, only so many nurses.”
Belarus runner used quick thinking to avoid being sent home
A Belarusian Olympic sprinter who feared reprisals back home after publicly criticizing her coaches at the Tokyo Games used quick thinking to get help, using her phone to translate a plea and show it to Japanese police as she tried to avoid being forced onto a plane.
Krystsina Tsimanouskaya described on Thursday a dramatic series of events at the Olympics that led her to decide not to return to Belarus, where an authoritarian government has relentlessly pursued its critics. She fled instead to Poland, arriving Wednesday.
After posting a message on social media that criticized the way her team was being managed, Tsimanouskaya said she was told to pack her bags. Team officials told her to say she was injured and had to go home early.
At river where Tigrayan bodies floated, fears of ‘many more’
From time to time, a body floating down the river separating Ethiopia’s troubled Tigray region from Sudan was a silent reminder of a war conducted in the shadows. But in recent days, the corpses became a flow.
Bloated, drained of color from their journey, the bodies were often mutilated: genitals severed, eyes gouged, a missing limb. The Sudanese fishermen who spotted them, and the refugees from Tigray who helped pull them to shore, found many corpses’ hands bound. Some of them had been shot.
The Associated Press reported dozens of bodies floating down the Tekeze River earlier this week and saw six of the graves on Wednesday, marking the first time any reporters could reach the scene. Doctors who saw the bodies said one was tattooed with a common name in the Tigrinya language and others had the facial markings common among Tigrayans, raising fresh alarm about atrocities in the least-known area of the Tigray war.
‘We lost Greenville’: Wildfire decimates California town
A 3-week-old wildfire engulfed a tiny Northern California mountain town, leveling most of its historic downtown and leaving blocks of homes in ashes, while a new wind-whipped blaze destroyed homes as crews braced for another explosive run of flames Thursday amid dangerous weather.
The Dixie Fire, swollen by bone-dry vegetation and 40 mph (64 kph) gusts, raged through the northern Sierra Nevada community of Greenville on Wednesday evening. A gas station, church, hotel, museum and bar were among many fixtures gutted in the town, which dates to California’s Gold Rush era and had some structures that were more than a century old.
The fire “burnt down our entire downtown. Our historical buildings, families homes, small businesses, and our children’s schools are completely lost,” Plumas County Supervisor Kevin Goss wrote on Facebook. The sheriff’s department said there was “widespread devastation throughout the area.”
US automakers pledge huge increase in electric vehicles
Declaring the U.S. must “move fast” to win the world’s carmaking future, President Joe Biden on Thursday announced a commitment from the auto industry to produce electric vehicles for as much as half of U.S. sales by the end of the decade.
Biden also wants automakers to raise gas mileage and cut tailpipe pollution between now and model year 2026. That would mark a significant step toward meeting his pledge to cut emissions and battle climate change as he pushes a history-making shift in the U.S. from internal combustion engines to battery-powered vehicles.
He urged that the components needed to make that sweeping change — from batteries to semiconductors — be made in the United States, too, aiming for both industry and union support for the environmental effort, with the promise of new jobs and billions in federal electric vehicle investments.
‘This attack happened’: Medals to honor Jan. 6 responders
The Senate has voted to award Congressional Gold Medals to the Capitol Police and the Metropolitan Police Department for protecting Congress during the Jan. 6 insurrection, sending the legislation to President Joe Biden for his signature.
Hundreds of officers from the two police departments responded to the attack and dozens of them were beaten and injured as the mob of former President Donald Trump’s supporters pushed past them to break into the building and interrupt the certification of Biden’s victory. The police and National Guard troops eventually cleared the building and the count resumed.
The medals are “a recognition that will be on display for people to understand and remember what these officers did,” Senate Rules Committee Chairwoman Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said in an interview with The Associated Press shortly before she called up the bill for passage.
While introducing the legislation, Klobuchar said children of the future will be able to walk by and see the medals in the Smithsonian, and their parents will tell them, “This happened, this attack happened.”
Lawmakers give Cuomo deadline in impeachment probe
State lawmakers told Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Thursday that their ongoing investigation of his conduct in office is almost done and gave him a deadline of Aug. 13 to provide additional evidence as they moved toward what seemed like an increasingly inevitable impeachment battle.
Since March, the Assembly’s judiciary committee has been investigating whether there are grounds to impeach the Democratic governor over sexual harassment allegations, misleading the public about COVID-19 outbreaks at nursing homes and using state resources and staff for his $5 million book deal.
In a letter sent Thursday, the law firm leading the investigation, Davis Polk & Wardwell, reminded Cuomo’s legal team that it has subpoenaed certain documents and expects “full compliance from the governor,” but that his time to respond was almost up.
Iran swears in new hard-line president amid regional tension
The protégé of Iran’s supreme leader, Ebrahim Raisi, was sworn in as the country’s new president during a ceremony in parliament on Thursday, an inauguration that completes hard-liners’ dominance of all branches of government in the Islamic Republic.
The former judiciary chief known for his distrust of the West takes the reins at a tense time. Iran’s indirect talks with the U.S. to salvage Tehran’s landmark 2015 nuclear deal have stalled, as Washington maintains crippling sanctions on the country and regional hostilities simmer.
“The sanctions must be lifted,” Raisi said during his half-hour inauguration speech. “We will support any diplomatic plan that supports this goal.”
Wearing the traditional black turban that identifies him in the Shiite tradition as a direct descendant of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad, Raisi recited the oath of office with his right hand on the Quran.
Summer funding helped school districts address disparities
After another pandemic-disrupted school year, organizers of vastly expanded summer learning opportunities are investing heavily in efforts to make them accessible to the most vulnerable students.
While there have been success stories, the programs have faced many of the same challenges that educators have been up against since the pandemic hit: Attendance has been inconsistent, some families have lost interest, and COVID-19 still has many reluctant to let students learn in-person.
Educators also have had to address persistent barriers to access for summer programs for families that juggle work and child care and have limited access to transportation.
“We’re starting from a really unequal playing field,” said Halley Potter, a senior fellow at The Century Foundation who studies educational inequity. “There’s a lot that school districts have to do, and community organizations that are running these programs as well, in order to help pick that up.”
Native Hawaiians ‘reclaim’ surfing with Moore’s Olympic gold
Carissa Moore wore a white and yellow plumeria pinned next to her ear for her victory-lap interviews after making history as the first Olympic gold medalist at surfing’s historic debut.
Her mother — crowned the Honolulu Lei Queen in 2016 — had given her the flower hair clip before she left for Tokyo to remind the only Native Hawaiian Olympic surfer of where she came from.
At this pinnacle point, Moore is still in disbelief when she’s compared to Duke Kahanamoku, the godfather of modern surfing who is memorialized in Hawaii with a cherished monument.
“I don’t think I’ll have a statue,” Moore said, grinning from ear to ear while her body bobbed into a quiet giggle at the suggestion. “Gosh, there’s only a few people in Hawaii that I think deserve that.”
US jobless claims down 14,000 to 385,000 as economy rebounds
The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell last week by 14,000 to 385,000, more evidence that the economy and the job market are rebounding briskly from the coronavirus recession.
The Labor Department reported Thursday that unemployment claims — a proxy for layoffs — dropped last week from a revised 399,000 the week before. The applications have more or less fallen steadily since topping 900,000 in early January. Still, they remain high by historic levels: Before the pandemic slammed the United States in March 2020, they were coming in at around 220,000 a week.
Since cratering in the spring of 2020, the U.S. economy has bounded back as the rollout of vaccines encourages businesses to reopen or return to normal operating hours and consumers to return to shops, restaurants and bars. The United States has been adding more than 540,000 jobs a month this year, and the Labor Department’s July jobs report out Friday is expected to show it tacked on nearly 863,000 more last month, according to a survey of economists by the data firm FactSet.
Al Jazeera News
Seven states make up half of COVID cases in the US: White House
Seven United States states with the lowest COVID-19 vaccination rates account for half of the country’s new cases and hospitalisations in the last week, despite making up less than 25 percent of the nation’s population, the White House said on Thursday.
The states are Florida, Texas, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi, according to President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 coordinator, Jeff Zients, who spoke during a press briefing.
Of those states, Florida and Texas account for about a third of new coronavirus cases and an even higher share of hospitalisations in the country.
How Syrian refugees helped clean up flooded German towns
Syrian refugee volunteers were part of the cleaning up of German towns that were devastated by last month’s floods that killed at least 180 people.
The Syrian Volunteers in Germany group said hundreds of its volunteers rushed to the worst-affected areas in western Germany after seeing the destruction on social media.
The group collected debris and renovated buildings such as a centuries-old church.
“There are one million Syrians in Germany and we are one with the German population in good and bad times,” said Barakat Oubaid, organiser of the volunteer group.
AFL-CIO President Trumka, prominent US labour leader, dies at 72
Richard Trumka, the president of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), has died at age 72, representatives for the United States-based group said on Thursday.
Local chapters of the labour group in Philadelphia and Ohio posted condolences on Twitter announcing his death. US lawmakers posted messages of condolences about Trumka.
Trumka died unexpectedly of a likely heart attack, one unnamed source told the Politico news organisation.
“It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that we have learned @AFLCIO President Richard Trumka has passed away. You have been a champion for workers and an incredible pillar in the fight for workers’ rights,” the Philadelphia AFL-CIO unit tweeted.
Qatar Airways grounds 13 Airbus A350s citing fuselage degradation
Qatar Airways said on Thursday that it grounded 13 Airbus A350s over what it described as fuselages “degrading at an accelerated rate” in the long-range aircraft, further escalating a monthslong dispute with the European planemaker over the issue.
While Airbus declined to specifically discuss the announcement, Qatar Airways’ decision to ground the aircraft raised questions about the A350’s carbon composite fuselage, designed to make the twin-aisle aircraft lighter and cheaper to operate by burning less jet fuel. Qatar Airways is also one of the world’s top operators of the aircraft.
In its statement, Qatar Airways said it had been monitoring the degradation beneath the paint on the fuselage of the aircraft for some time. It described the issue as a “significant condition”, without elaborating.
Biden offers temporary ‘safe haven’ in US to Hong Kong residents
Responding to Beijing’s crackdown on democracy in Hong Kong, the United States will provide “safe haven” to citizens of the Chinese territory for the next 18 months, allowing thousands to extend stays in the US, the White House has said.
China “has continued its assault on Hong Kong’s autonomy, undermining its remaining democratic processes and institutions, imposing limits on academic freedom, and cracking down on freedom of the press”, President Joe Biden said in a memo outlining the new policy on Thursday.
“Offering safe haven for Hong Kong residents who have been deprived of their guaranteed freedoms in Hong Kong furthers United States interests in the region,” Biden said.
Forest fire in Greece threatens Olympics birthplace
A forest fire in Greece has threatened the archaeological site at the birthplace of the modern Olympics amid the protracted European heatwave.
Firefighters waged “an all-night battle” overnight on Wednesday to protect the site from fire in the southern Peloponnese region near ancient Olympia, said Citizens Protection Minister Michalis Chrisochoidis.
“We will continue the battle all day in order to contain all the fronts and extinguish the fire. The conditions are difficult,” Chrisochoidis said on Thursday.
New Berlin Girls Sell Lemonade To Raise Down Syndrome Awareness
Two New Berlin girls will raise awareness and sell lemonade to raise money for the Down Syndrome Association of Wisconsin for the third year.
Maddy Stannis, 12, and Julia Aguilar, 9, will open their lemonade stand at 5640 S. Timber Ridge Drive on Aug. 12. The stand's hours will be 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
They started it together in 2019, Maddy's mother, Marita Stannis, told Patch. The girls raised $1,000 that summer and more than doubled that in the summer of 2020.
NJ Governor Loses His Cool With Anti-Vaccine Protesters
"No forced injections!" protesters jeered. "You are the ultimate knuckleheads!" Gov. Phil Murphy angrily replied.
"You are the ultimate knuckleheads." This coronavirus-related insult – a favorite of Gov. Phil Murphy's – was one of several choice phrases the governor had for a group of protesters on Wednesday.
The dustup took place in Union City, while Murphy spoke at a news conference about the state's revamped eviction ban. Read More: NJ Eviction Law Is Game Changer For Renters, Landlords
The governor's speech took an impromptu detour as he spoke about rising COVID-19 case numbers and the need to get a vaccine.
Good News Network
Mom Sparks Creative Imagination in Kids With Her Toys Made From Cardboard Boxes – LOOK
This smart mom is saving parents money by showing them how to make intricate kids’ toys—from cardboard boxes.
Engineer and mother-of-two Nazdar Tayib builds everything from kitchen sets to pirate ships—and she shares tutorial videos online for others to enjoy.
Nazdar also creates toy school buses, barbecue grills, cars, washing machines, and anything else her five-year-old son and two-year-old daughter desire.
“I know some parents can’t buy things for their kids, like a playhouse or play kitchens because they’re expensive, so why not make it from cardboard?,” said Nazdar, who lives in Tennessee.
WTG Mom !
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