Friday, May 17, 2024

5/17 WAKE-UP CALL: 4 Dead After Powerful Storms Rip Houston


A storm system that threatened to produce torrential rainfall over East Texas spawned severe thunderstorms in the nation’s fourth-largest city Thursday, causing at least four fatalities and leaving more than 1 million customers without power. The local National Weather Service office issued several Tornado Warnings for the Houston metro but by the time the storms cleared, it was strong winds that are believed to have caused most of the damage. Winds estimated to be in excess of 70 mph toppled trees, blew out windows of high-rise buildings and caused transmission towers holding power lines to crumble.

The Harris County Sheriff’s Office encouraged everyone to stay off the roads as trees blocked streets, with power outages climbing above 800,000 in the Houston metro. PowertOuage.us reported nearby counties also were dealing with outages, sending the state’s tally to well over 1 million customers.

Houston Mayor John Whitmire said at least four people were killed by the storm and state resources were being requested to help with the recovery. Officials said several of the casualties were the result of falling trees during winds that likely reached over 100 mph.

➤EVEN CNN KNOWS COHEN LIES: CNN’s Anderson Cooper left stunned by Trump's attorney's cross examination of Michael Cohen: "It was incredible... lawyers want to build a box around the witness & slam it shut--that's what Todd Blanche did to Cohen... it was an extraordinary cross... Cohen was cornered in... a lie"

➤SCOTUS REJECTS CONSUMER CHALLENGE: The Supreme Court rejected a constitutional challenge that could have dismantled the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. In a 7-2 ruling, the justices found that Congress had the authority to insulate the agency’s funding stream from political interference. The CFPB has standing power to draw funds from the Fed up to a congressionally set cap, but the payday-loan industry argued that Congress must pass specific spending bills rather than provide a funding mechanism. An industry lawyer didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The Dodd-Frank law established the CFPB to avoid a replay of the 2008-09 financial crisis.

➤'MEAN GIRLS' BICKER AT CONGRESSIONAL HEARING: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) traded barbs with Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jasmine Crockett during a train wreck of a House Oversight Committee hearing Thursday night in which the lawmakers took turns body-shaming each other. The hearing on whether to move forward with a contempt resolution against Attorney General Merrick Garland spiraled out of control after Greene brought up the daughter of the Manhattan judge presiding over former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial and then commented on the physical appearances of Crockett (D-Texas). “I’d like to know if any of the Democrats on this committee are employing Judge [Juan] Merchan’s daughter,” Greene asked. 

Crockett demanded that Greene explain “what that has to do with Merrick Garland,” and asked the Republican firebrand, “Do you know what we’re here for?”

➤HARVARD UNRESPONSIVE TO ANTISEMITISM: Harvard was unresponsive to antisemitism, according to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. The school didn’t investigate and discipline student complaints, ignored an advisory group’s recommendations and failed to curtail antisemitism within pro-Palestinian protests, a report from the committee found. Harvard said that it has increased the police presence at Jewish gathering places, made clear that violations of protest and dissent policies will be subject to disciplinary processes, and established two working groups to recommend ways to nurture open inquiry. Harvard called the committee’s report “disappointing.” The House panel’s investigation began months after Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel, which sparked the war in Gaza.


➤TWH BLOCKS RELEASE OF BIDEN AUDIO: White House blocks release of Biden’s special counsel interview audio . . . President Joe Biden has asserted executive privilege over audio of his interview with special counsel Robert Hur that’s at the center a Republican effort to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress, the Justice Department told lawmakers in a letter publicly released on Thursday. It comes as the House Oversight and Accountability Committee and the Judiciary Committee are each expected to hold a hearing to recommend that the full House refer Garland to the Justice Department for the contempt charges over the department’s refusal to hand over the audio. Garland advised Biden in a letter on Thursday that the audio falls within the scope of executive privilege. 

➤SHOOTING SUSPECT CHARGED: Suspect charged with attempted murder of Slovak Prime Minister Fico . . . A man has been charged with the attempted murder of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico after the politician was seriously hurt in a shooting attack. The alleged assailant has not been formally named, but Slovak reports have widely identified him as a 71-year-old from the town of Levice. Reports say he could face up to life in prison. Fico, 59, is in a serious but stable condition after being shot several times in what colleagues described as a politically motivated attack. 

➤PUTIN SHUFFLES WARTIME CABINET: Russia's new defense minister and what's behind Putin’s wartime cabinet reshuffle . . . Andrey Belousov is a veteran apparatchik in the Russian bureaucracy. During the past decade, he occupied several notable positions in the Russian government that ranged from an economic development minister and presidential economic assistant to acting prime minister and first deputy prime minister. Here’s how Dmitriy Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesperson, explained to the Russian press Putin’s rationale for this unusual appointment: "Today, the winner on the battlefield is the one who is more open to innovation, more open to implementation as quickly as possible." "It is natural that at the current stage the president decided that the Ministry of Defense should be headed by a civilian."

➤TANK FIRE KILLS 5 SOLDIERS: Israeli tank fire kills five soldiers in north Gaza, military says . . . Israel's military says five soldiers have been killed by Israeli tank fire in northern Gaza, in one of the deadliest incidents of its kind since the war against Hamas began in October. An initial probe found that two tanks fired at a building in Jabalia refugee camp where the troops had gathered. Troops went back into the area this week after previously pulling out, saying Hamas had regrouped there. 

➤GROCERY PRICES RISING MORE SLOWLY: Grocery prices are finally rising less quickly . . . Grocery prices fell on the whole in April for the first time in 12 months, according to data released Wednesday by the Labor Department. Prices for food at home fell 0.2 percent in April, according to the Labor Department’s consumer price index (CPI), the closely watched inflation gauge. It was the first time food at home prices fell since April 2023 and followed several months of plateauing. After rising quickly for most of the past three years due to supply chain constraints and the impact of the Ukraine war, grocery prices are up just 1.1 percent over the past 12 months. 

🏈NFL DISTANCES ITSELF FROM COMMENTS ON CHRISTIAN VALUES: NFL disagrees with Chiefs kicker Harrison Butler's view on Christian values . . . Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker delivered a powerful address espousing Christian values to a group of graduates at Benedictine College on Saturday. 

Now, the NFL is saying they disagree with Butker. In his commencement speech, the Butker blasted President Joe Biden for his pro-abortion stances, urged male grads to embrace masculinity, and championed the virtues of motherhood by telling female graduates there is no higher calling than being a homemaker. On Wednesday, in a statement to People, NFL Senior Vice President and Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer Jonathan Beane clarified that Butker’s values are not the NFL’s. 

⚾YANKEES SWEEP TWINS: Clarke Schmidt did not allow a run over a career-high eight innings and the New York Yankees scored three times in the first inning to complete a three-game sweep of the host Minnesota Twins with a 5-0 victory Thursday afternoon in Minneapolis. The Yankees became the first team in the American League to reach 30 wins. New York won for the fourth straight outing and the 10th time in 12 games while completing its first sweep at Minnesota since 2013.

After pitching 6 2/3 scoreless innings Friday at Tampa Bay, Schmidt (5-1) allowed three hits, giving up singles to Carlos Santana and Willi Castro along with a double to Carlos Correa. In his past two starts, the right-hander has allowed eight hits in 14 2/3 scoreless innings. Schmidt struck out eight and did not walk a batter for the fourth time this season. He threw 69 of his career-high 103 pitches for strikes and faced six above the minimum en route to his third straight victory.

De La Cruz on pace for 110 stolen bases


⚾MLB SCORES:

  • Rays 7 Red Sox 5
  • Mets 6 Phillies 5
  • Yankees 5 Twins 0
  • Reds 7 Dodgers 2
  • Astros 8 Athletics 1
  • Pirates 5 Cubs 4

🏀NBA SCORES:

  • Timberwolves 115 Nuggets 70

Wolves' 45-point win nearly sets record.  Minnesota had the second highest margin of victgory for a team facing elimination

🏒NHL SCORES:

  • Canuck 3 Oilers 2
  • Rangers 5 Hurricanes 3

Chris Kreider’s hat trick leads Rangers past Hurricanes and to Eastern Conference Finals. After two failed attempts to eliminate the Hurricanes, the third time was the charm for the Rangers.


➤FRIDAY'S WEATHER:



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