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Thursday, July 8, 2021

Wake-Up Call: Condo Search Shifts to Recovery Mode

Miami Herald Screenshot 7/8/21

After a two-week search at the site of the Champlain Towers South condominium collapse in Surfside, Florida, didn't find any survivors in the rubble since the day of the disaster on June 24th, the effort shifted from rescue to recovery of remains at midnight last night. The change came after authorities said they'd concluded there was "no chance" of finding anyone alive, with Mayor Daniella Levine Cava saying, "We have all asked God for a miracle, so the decision to transition from rescue to recovery is an extremely difficult one." 


Rescue workers, local officials and clergy members stood at attention for a moment of silence to mark the transition. Near the end of the ceremony, an accordion player nearby played "Fanfare for the Common Man," followed by a piccolo playing "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." After more victims were recovered yesterday, the confirmed death toll is now 54, with 86 people still missing.




➤FOUR SUSPECTS KILLED, TWO DETAINED AFTER ASSASSINATION OF HAITI'S PRESIDENT: Haiti's national police chief said last night that four suspects had been killed and two others arrested after the assassination early yesterday morning of 53-year-old President Jovenel Moise. Haiti's government has blamed mercenaries for the killing, with acting prime minister Claude Joseph saying a group of, quote, "highly trained and heavily armed" people attacked Moise's home around 1 a.m., shooting him and his wife. First Lady Marine Moise was flown to Miami for medical treatment. Moise, who took office in February 2017, had been resisting calls to step down from opponents who accused him of corruption and said his term expired in February, because under their Constitution, the term begins when a president is elected, not when they take office. Moise had been insisting he wanted to serve for the rest of the year and had been threatening to amend the Constitution to give himself more power.

➤COVID-19 GLOBAL DEATH TOLL PASSES FOUR MILLION: The global death toll from the Covid-19 pandemic passed four million on Wednesday, a stark number that's actually widely believed to an undercount. AP notes it's about equal to the number of people killing fighting in all wars since 1982. The U.S. has the highest death toll at more than 600,000, while Brazil is second with more than 520,000. After global deaths peaked at more than 18,000 a day in January, they've dropped to some 7,900 daily because of people getting vaccinated. However, the rise of the Delta variant, which is even more contagious than the Alpha variant, itself more contagious than the original virus, is stepping up the rush to get more people vaccinated.

 
➤POPE CONTINUING TO RECOVER FROM SURGERY, HAD 'SEVERE' NARROWING OF THE COLON: The Vatican said Wednesday that Pope Francis' recovery from intestinal surgery on Sunday is continuing to be, quote, "regular and satisfactory," while revealing that the narrowing of his colon that he was operated on for was "severe." The update also said there was no evidence of cancer in the tissue that was removed, which was about half of his colon.

➤U.S. TELLS U.K. SAYS WON'T HOLD ASSANGE IN SUPERMAX IF EXTRADITED: The Biden administration has told Britain that if WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is extradited to the U.S., he won't be held in the high-security Supermax prison in Colorado if he's convicted. The pledge came as part of an appeal of a ruling by a British judge in January blocking the extradition, who said Assange was likely to commit suicide if held in those conditions, which include solitary confinement. The Justice Department also offered to let Assange serve his sentence in his native Australia if he's convicted. The U.S. wants to try Assange on espionage charges.

 
➤POLL..RECORD-HIGH PERCENTAGE OF AMERICANS SAY THEY'RE 'THRIVING': As we emerge from hopefully having passed the worst of the pandemic in the U.S., a new survey found that people are felling good about their lives. Gallup's latest Life Evaluation Index poll found that 59.2 percent of Americans indicated they are "thriving," a record high since Gallup began publishing the Index in 2008. That's a change from one year ago, after the pandemic had taken hold in the U.S., when just 46.4 percent of Americans considered themselves to be thriving, tying a record low. If survey-takers rate their current life situation a "7" or higher on a 0 to 10 scale and their anticipated life in five years an "8" or higher, they are considered to be "thriving."


➤TRUMP FILES SUIT AGAINST FACEBOOK, TWITTER, YOUTUBE, CLAIMING CENSORSHIP: Former President Donald Trump announced yesterday (July 7th) that he'd filed suit against Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, as well as their CEOs, claiming he and other conservatives have been unconstitutionally censored. Trump has been suspended from the three platforms since the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol over concerns he'd incite further violence. However, AP cited legal experts as saying the lawsuits will likely fail in light of precedent and legal protections for the companies.

➤FENCING AROUND CAPITOL SET TO COME DOWN THIS WEEKEND: The remaining fencing around the U.S. Capitol that was put up after the January 6th attack is set to come down this weekend, according to a memo sent to all members of Congress from the House Sergeant at Arms. The work is expected to begin as early as this Friday and end within three days, weather permitting. An outer perimeter fence that blocked off several blocks around the Capitol was removed in March. 

🎢WOMAN DIED AFTER ARTERY TORE ON ROLLERCOASTER: A coroner has determined that a woman who died after riding a rollercoaster at an Indiana theme park last month was killed by her thoracic artery tearing due to the force of the rollercoaster, causing severe internal blood loss. The Duboic County coroner ruled the death an accident, saying, "It was just a reaction her body had from riding the ride. It had nothing to do with a malfunction or anything, as far as safety and that type of thing." The 47-year-old woman, Dawn Jankovic, was unresponsive after riding a rollercoaster called The Voyage at Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari in June.

➤STUDY: JUST 17% OF DOGS ARE ‘EXCEPTIONALLY GIFTED’ AND CAN LEARN MULTIPLE TOY NAMES EFFORTLESSLY: Some dogs are able to “effortlessly” learn the names of multiple toys, a new study finds. Researchers looked at 40 different dog breeds, and found seven were able to learn the names of their toys after three months of training. One dog breed, the Border Collie (one in particular), was able to recognize the names of 37 different toys. But study authors note that the ability to learn toy names is relatively rare in dogs, and only apparent in a number of “gifted” individuals—approximately three percent were able to learn the skill from scratch during the study period. They also found that both puppies and mature dogs had the ability to learn toy names. Study author, Dr. Claudia Fugazza adds, “We were surprised to find that, despite the intensive training, most dogs, irrespective of their age, did not show any evidence of learning [the names of their toys.]” Earlier this year, the same research team found that most gifted dogs can learn new words after hearing them only four times.

➤STUDY..MEN LIKE TO EAT MEAT BECAUSE IT MAKES THEM FEEL MORE MANLY:  Men feel eating meat makes them feel more “manly” finds a new study. University of California researchers polled more than 1,700 U.S. adults and found that, unlike women, the more men felt the need to follow the traditional notions of masculinity, the more beef and chicken they tended to eat, and the less likely they were to be open to vegetarianism. The same effect was not seen among women, suggesting that men may eat more meat in order to validate and perform their sense of traditional masculine identity.


🏒TAMPA BAY BEATS MONTREAL 1-0 TO REPEAT AS STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS: The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Montreal Canadiens 1-0 on their home ice last night in Tampa to repeat as Stanley Cup champions, winning 4 games to 1. Ross Colton scored the game's lone goal for Tampa Bay in the second period, while goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy didn't allow Montreal to score, getting a series-ending shutout for an NHL-record fifth consecutive time dating to the 2020 final. Vasilevskiy was named the winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoffs MVP.



🎾DJOKOVIC WINS, FEDERER UPSET IN WIMBLEDON QUARTERFINALS: Top-seeded Novak Djokovic won his quarterfinal match at Wimbledon yesterday over 48th-ranked Marton Fucsovics, but sixth-seed Roger Federer didn't make it to the semifinals, upset by Number 14 Hubert Hurkacz of Poland in straight sets. In the day's two other quarterfinal matches, Number 7 Matteo Berrettini defeated 16th-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime and Number 10 Denis Shapovalov beat Number 25 Karen Khachanov. Djokovic will play Shapovalov in the semis, and Berrettini will face Hurkacz.

⚾FIVE TAMPA BAY PITCHERS COMBINE TO NO-HIT INDIANS: Five Tampa Bay Rays pitchers combined to no-hit the Cleveland Indians in seven innings last night, winning the second game of a doubleheader 4-0. The game was shortened to seven innings under pandemic rules. The pitchers who put together the no-hitter were: Collin McHugh (two innings); Josh Fleming (two and 2/3 innings); Diego Castillo (one out); Matt Wisler (one inning) and Pete Fairbanks (one inning). However, the game won't go into the official list of no-hitters, since it wasn't at least nine innings.

⚾DEGROM NOT GOING TO ALL-STAR GAME: New York Mets ace Jacob deGrom, who's currently the best pitcher in baseball, said yesterday that he's not going to the All-Star Game. The Cy Young frontrunner told reporters, "I've thought about it and obviously being named to an All-Star team is a great honor, but I'm just going to take that time and just enjoy it with my family . . . and get healthy for the second half." deGrom currently has a 1.08 ERA and leads the majors in strikeouts with 146.


JAPAN DECLARES COVID-19 EMERGENCY, WILL LAST THROUGH TOKYO OLYMPICS: Japanese government officials declared a state of emergency in Tokyo because of an ongoing Covid-19 surge, which will begin next Monday and last through the Olympics to August 22nd. The Olympics are set to begin on July 23rd and close on August 8th. The Games already will take place without foreign spectators, and the planned state of emergency likely means local fans won't be allowed either. That decision is expected later today.
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