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Wednesday, July 7, 2021

Wake-Up Call: Condo Collapse Death Toll Rising


EIGHT MORE VICTIMS RECOVERED: The remains of eight more victims were recovered Tuesday from the rubble of the collapsed 12-story Champlain Towers South condominium in Surfside, Florida, bringing the confirmed death toll to 36, with 109 people still missing. The eight victims were the most found in a single day since the June 24th collapse. County Fire Chief Alan Cominsky said they were still looking for any open spaces where some people may have survived, but stated, "Unfortunately, we are not seeing anything positive." The searchers continued to carry out their work through rain and wind from Tropical Storm Elsa, even as it hampered their efforts somewhat.

➤ELSA WEAKENS TO TROPICAL STORM, LANDFALL EXPECTED THIS MORNING: Elsa weakened to a tropical storm early Wednesday from a Category 1 hurricane after bringing winds and heavy rain to the Tampa Bay region, and was on track to make landfall on Florida's northern Gulf Coast between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. Forecasters said Elsa would cross north Florida as a tropical storm and then move into Georgia, the Carolinas and Virginia before heading out in the Atlantic Ocean by Friday.

➤CDC..DELTA STRAIN MAKES UP MORE THAN HALF OF U.S. CORONAVIRUS CASES: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday that the delta variant is now making up more than half of the coronavirus cases in the U.S. Surveillance data indicated the Delta variant surged from 30.4 percent of cases for the two-week period ending June 19th to 51.7 percent of cases between June 20th and July 3rd. As the administration is continuing to urge that people get vaccinated, the national rate is still at around 55 percent of Americans ages 12 and older who are fully vaccinated, and there are states and communities which are less than that and are vulnerable to the variant, which is more highly transmissible than the Alpha variant, which was itself more transmissible than the original Covid virus.
 

➤REGULATOR ORDERS AMUSEMENT PARK NOT TO RESTART WATER RIDE AFTER FATAL ACCIDENT: An Iowa regulator yesterday ordered an amusement park in Altoona not to restart a popular water ride until an investigation is completed, after an 11-year-old boy was killed Saturday and his brother was left hospitalized in a medically-induced coma after heir boat flipped over. Adventureland Park voluntarily stopped operating the Raging River ride after the accident, in which one of the round boats carrying six members of a family flipped over. Father David Jaramillo spoke about what happened on ABC's Good Morning America yesterday, saying, "When it flipped over, all of us were trapped in the safety seat belts. I see the silhouettes of my sons trying to grab each other, grab us." The ride was last inspected on Friday, the day before the accident.


➤POLL..NEARLY TWO-THIRDS OF AMERICANS BELIEVE IN ALIEN LIFE: Nearly two-thirds of Americans believe there's alien life beyond our planet, according to a new Pew Research poll, in which 65 percent said their best guess is that intelligent life exists on other planets. Just over half of those surveyed, 51 percent, said they think the unidentified flying objects seen in the recent U.S. intelligence report on the issue are likely evidence of alien life, while 36 per cent said the footage was probably not evidence of it, and 11 percent said it definitely was not. Men were more likely to believe in alien life than women, 70 percent to 60 percent, as were younger people, with more than three-quarters under age 30 believing in it compared to 57 percent of those over age 50. Whatever they believe about potential alien life, Americans aren't too worried about it, with as many as 87 percent not seeing UFOs as a major threat to national security, and just over a quarter believing aliens are friendly.

🌞ARE ‘HEAT DAYS’ THE NEW SNOW DAYS?:  Heatwaves are becoming worse and more frequent in North America, and heat is no joke. Heat is one of the most dangerous weather-related events and some public health officials have proposed naming heatwaves like hurricanes to raise awareness of how dangerous they really are, especially to those who are older, those with weaker immune systems, and outdoor workers. Public health officials are also considering having “heat days” for workers and students. Much like snow days, these heat days would allow workers and students to stay home one days when temperatures and humidity are too much to reasonably handle. Jan Carney, a professor with the University of Vermont, adds, “In addition to heat watches and warnings/advisories, maybe we need to ramp this up even further. We have major alerts for crime, air pollution, and severe weather—should we add extreme heat to the list?” Ultimately, the experts say communities will need to come together to make a decision.

🌞EXPERTS..USE OF SUNSCREENS CAN HALVE SKIN CANCER RISK:  Using sunscreen everyday could really lower your risk of developing skin cancer. The Skin Cancer Foundation says that daily use of at least SPF 15 sunscreen can lower your risk of melanoma—the deadliest type of skin cancer—by 50 percent. They say if you spend most of your day indoors, SPF 15 should provide adequate protection, but if you spend more time outdoors during the hottest part of the day, you should use a sunscreen with a higher SPF and possibly even one that is sweat and water-resistant. Your best choice is a broad spectrum sunscreen that protects against both the rays that burn skin and the rays that cause aging and tanning. You should also be sure to wear sun-protective clothing, reapply every two hours or earlier, and be sure you’re not using expired sunscreen.

➤RUSSIAN HACKERS TRIED TO BREAK INTO RNC SYSTEM: Hackers associated with the Russian government tried to break into the Republican National Committee's systems, Bloomberg first reported yesterday. The RNC said in a statement that the hackers gained access to a contractor for them, Synnex, but they didn't get into any RNC data. Chief of Staff Richard Walters said, "We immediately blocked all access from Synnex accounts to our cloud environment. Our team worked with Microsoft to conduct a review of our systems and after a thorough investigation, no RNC data was accessed."


➤GRIZZLY BEAR KILLS CYCLIST CAMPING IN MONTANA: A grizzly bear killed a bicyclist who was camping in the small town of Ovando, Montana, early Tuesday. Powell County Sheriff Gavin Roselles said the grizzly had wandered into the area earlier where the victim was camping and left, but later returned. Officials said the victim was part of a group on a bike trip. Law enforcement and wildlife specialists were brought in and were searching for the bear to kill it.

➤TIKTOK OUTAGES ON TUESDAY: Social video app TikTok was having outages yesterday (June 6th), with DownDetector showing a spike in outages starting around 4 p.m. ET. Users reported having trouble watching videos, trying to log in, and uploading content, as well as problems liking videos and seeing comments. TikTok said in a tweet that the issue was apparently resolved around 9 p.m. ET.

➤AIR FRYER ‘PASTA CHIPS’ ARE THE LATEST FOOD TREND TAKING OVER TIKTOK:  Pasta has taken over TikTok again. TikTok user @feelgoodfoodie recently posted about how to make “pasta chips” in an air fryer. It’s pretty much just pasta that’s been flavored that gets crisped up so that it eats almost like a potato chip. As of the end of June, the hashtag #PastaChips has gotten over 250 million views, and hundreds of people have shared their own variations of the recipe. The original poster suggests users mix their cooked pasta with parmesan cheese and olive oil before cooking it in an air fryer at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 minutes.

➤U-S SPRINTER SHA'CARRI RICHARDSON NOT GOING TO OLYMPICS:  Days after it was revealed that sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson, who finished first in the 100-meters at the U.S. Olympics Trials, tested positive for marijuana and wouldn't be able to compete in the event at the Tokyo Olympics later this month, it was learned yesterday that she won't be going to the Olympics at all. Richardson's 30-day suspension will end before the 4x100 relay in the Olympics, and it had been thought she might be able to go to the Games to compete in that event. But when USA Track and Field released its Olympic roster yesterday, Richardson wasn't on it. The federation had two discretionary picks in addition to the top four 100-meter finishers in the Trials for the relay team, but chose not to give one to the 21-year-old. USATF said in a statement that it was "incredibly sympathetic" toward Richardson's circumstances and "fully agrees" that the international rules on marijuana should be reevaluated, but said they, quote, "must also maintain fairness for all of the athletes," and decided to give the remaining relay spots to the sixth- and seventh-place finishers, who moved up to fifth and sixth place after Richardson was disqualified. Richardson said last week that the news of her biological mother’s recent death combined with the pressure of readying for trials led her to use marijuana.

🏀SUNS WIN GAME 1 OF NBA FINALS OVER BUCKS 118-105: The Phoenix Suns won Game 1 of the NBA Finals 118-105 over the Milwaukee Bucks last night at home. Chris Paul led the Suns with 32 points and Devin Booker had 27 points. The Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo, who had been questionable before the game because of a hyperextended knee that caused him to miss two games, did play, scoring 20 points. Game 2 is Thursday.

🎾BARTY, SABALENKA, PLISKOVA, KERBER MAKE IT TO WIMBLEDON SEMIFINALS: Ash Barty, Aryna Sabalenka, Karolina Pliskova and Angelique Kerber won their Wimbledon quarterfinals matches yesterday (July 6th) to make it to the semifinals. Top-seeded Barty beat 75th-ranked Ajla Tomljanovic, Number 2 Sabalenka defeated 21st-seeded Ons Jabeur, Number 8 Pliskova downed unseeded Viktorija Golubic, and 25th-seeded Kerber upset Number 19 Karolina Muchova. Barty will play Kerber in the semis and Sabalenka will face Pliskova. The men's quarterfinals are today.

🏒FIREWORKS ACCIDENT THAT KILLED KIVLENIEKS WAS AT COACH'S HOUSE: The fireworks accident that killed 24-year-old Columbus Blue Jackets goalie Matiss Kivlenieks on Sunday took place at the Novi, Michigan, home of the team's goaltending coach, Manny Legace, a Blue Jackets spokesperson said Tuesday. Kivlenieks was at a party celebrating Legace's daughter's wedding. The coach hasn't commented. Kivlenieks died from internal injuries caused when a fireworks mortar blast hit him in the chest.

 
🏌DECHAMBEAU-ROGERS BEAT MICKELSON-BRADY IN 'THE MATCH': Bryson DeChambeau and Aaron Rodgers defeated Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady 3 and 2 in "The Match" charity golf event last night at The Reserve Golf Course at Moonlight Basin in Big Sky, Montana. The pro golfer-NFL quarterback teams faced off in the fourth version of "The Match" series.

🏈MILITARY TO LET NAVAL ACADEMY GRAD KINLEY PURSUE NFL CAREER: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said yesterday that the U.S. military will let Naval Academy graduate Cameron Kinley pursue an NFL career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Austin reversed Acting Navy Secretary Tom Harker's denial of Kinley's request to delay his commissioning in the Navy. Kinley is a cornerback who signed with the Bucs as an undrafted free agent. President Biden said he was "pleased" by Austin's decision.
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