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Friday, August 26, 2022

Wake-Up Call: Ukraine Nuke Power Plant Under Threat

Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is located in the middle of fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces, was briefly cut off from the power grid yesterday, knocked offline by fire damage to a transmission line, fueling ongoing fears about a nuclear catastrophe at the plant. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the plant’s emergency backup diesel generators had to be activated to operate it. Zelenskyy blamed the fire on Russian shelling, while Zaporizhzhia’s Russian-installed regional governor blamed a Ukrainian attack. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a major buildup of his country’s military troops by 13 percent by the end of the year, an apparent effort to replenish Russian forces that have suffered heavy losses in Ukraine and ready for a long fight ahead. Not specified was whether it will be done through expanding the draft, recruiting more volunteers, or both.

➤JUDGE ORDERS REDACTED VERSION OF AFFIDAVIT USED FOR MAR-A-LAGO SEARCH UNSEALED: A judge ordered the Justice Department yesterday to unseal a redacted version of the affidavit it used to obtain the search warrant federal agents executed at former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate earlier this month. The FBI retrieved 11 sets of classified documents, including some that were top secret. The decision came after the Justice Department submitted the portions of the affidavit they want redacted so they're not made public. Depending on the extent of the redactions, more information could be learned from the affidavit about what led to the FBI search. U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart said the Justice Department had made compelling arguments to redact broad parts of the affidavit to protect grand jury information, the identities of witnesses, and details about the investigation’s "strategy, direction, scope, sources and methods."

➤APPEALS COURT: ARKANSAS CAN'T BAN GENDER-AFFIRMING MEDICAL TREATMENT FOR TRANSGENDER KIDS: A federal appeals court ruled yesterday that Arkansas can't enforce its 2021 law banning transgender children from receiving gender-affirming medical treatment. A trial is set for October on whether to permanently block the law. Arkansas' ban bars providing gender-affirming hormone treatment, puberty blockers or surgery to anyone under age 18. The appeals court said yesterday, "Because the minor’s sex at birth determines whether or not the minor can receive certain types of medical care under the law, Act 626 discriminates on the basis of sex." Arkansas argued the law is within the state’s authority to regulate medical practices. Republican Governor Asa Hutchinson vetoed the state's ban last year, but his veto was overridden by Republican state lawmakers. Yesterday, he called the the ban yesterday the "most extreme law in the country," and has said he would sign legislation if it only barred gender-affirming surgery on minors.

Cruz wrote '666' on cell wall
➤PENALTY TRIAL: FLORIDA SCHOOL SHOOTER CRUZ FIXATED ON GUNS, DREAMED OF KILLING OTHERS: It was revealed yesterday during the penalty trial for 23-year-old Nikolas Cruz, who killed 17 people in a school shooting in Parkland, Florida, in 2018, that therapists at another school wrote a letter to his psychiatrist four years before the massacre that said he was fixated on guns and dreamed of killing others and being covered in blood. However, the psychiatrist, Dr. Breet Negin, testified that he never received it and no one followed up with him when he didn't respond. Negin and another psychiatrist who treated Cruz in the decade before the February 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School both testified that they never saw anything that would have led them to believe he was capable of mass murder. Cruz pled guilty to the murders in October, and the penalty trial is to determine whether he will be sentenced to death or life in prison without parole. The defense is trying to show that Cruz had a long history of mental health issues that were never fully treated.

 
➤TWO PLEAD GUILTY IN PLOT TO SELL DIARY STOLEN FROM BIDEN'S DAUGHTER: Aimee Harris and Robert Kurlander pled guilty in a plot to sell a diary and other items stolen from President Biden's daughter to the conservative group Project Veritas for $40,000, prosecutors said Thursday. Harris and Kurlander could face up to five years in prison. Ashley Biden, who's now 41, was moving out of a friend’s Delray Beach, Florida, home in the spring of 2020, as her father was running for president, when she stored the diary and other belongings there. Harris then moved into the same room, found the items and contacted Kurlander, who said he would help her make a, quote, "ton of money" from selling it. The two first tried to sell the items to then-President Donald Trump’s campaign, but a representative said no and told them to take the items to the FBI. They then went to Project Veritas, which paid them an initial $10,000, promising more if they could get more of Ashley's belongings. The two then took Ashley's tax documents, clothes and luggage to the group, which paid them $20,000 each. Project Veritas didn't publish the information from the diary, saying they couldn't confirm it belonged to her. Neither Project Veritas nor any of its staffers have been charged with a crime.

➤STARBUCKS UNION CLAIMS RETALIATION: At least 85 Starbucks workers who were involved in union organizing activities at the company have been fired in recent months, according to their union, Starbucks Workers United. Workers at more than 220 Starbucks coffee shops have voted to join the union since December. According to The Guardian newspaper, the National Labor Relations Board has issued 21 official complaints against Starbucks, including 81 charges and 548 allegations of labor law violations, all of which are currently under review. Starbucks has accused the federal agency of favoring the union campaign and has called for union elections to be temporarily suspended. The company denied all of the allegations.

➤MILLIONS CAN’T WORK DUE TO LONG COVID EFFECTS: At least 1.8 million Americans can’t work because of the effects of long COVID, according to a new report from the Brookings Institution. They are among an estimated 16 million Americans of working age who have symptoms of long COVID. The symptoms can include fatigue, brain fog, fever, and difficulty breathing.

➤HERBAL REMEDY LINKED TO DEATH: A coroner’s report concludes that a California woman’s death was related to her ingestion of white mulberry leaf, an herb used in some over-the-counter diet supplements. Lori McClintock, the wife of Republican U.S. Representative Tom McClintock, died from dehydration due to gastroenteritis, according to the report. Kaiser Health News said her death illuminates the risks in the booming but largely unregulated business in dietary supplements and herbal remedies. The news service said it was not clear whether McClintock took a supplement that contained white mulberry leaf or directly ingested it.


➤A MISSOURI SCHOOL DISTRICT REINSTATES SPANKING:  The Cassville R-IV School District is bringing spanking with a wooden paddle back to schools! The policy is opt-in, meaning parents have to say if they want their children hit in school. Younger students receive one to two spanks, and older children could receive three.  Superintendent Merlyn Johnson claims parents were asking for corporal punishment. "We've had people actually thank us for it," he said. The first state to ban hitting students was New Jersey. In 1977, the Supreme Court determined that each state should decide if corporal punishment should be legal. The American Psychological Association consider corporal punishment a violation of human rights, and the UN has called for it to be banned completely.

➤SEPHORA FINED UNDER CALIFORNIA PRIVACY LAW: The cosmetics retailer Sephora has been fined $1.2 million by the state of California for selling data on its customers without notifying them. It is the first significant settlement to be reached under the state’s tough new online privacy law. The company apparently allowed third-party companies to monitor its customers as they shopped. Sephora argued that the arrangement was not a sale of data in the usual sense. The settlement still needs the approval of a state judge and does not require Sephora to admit wrongdoing, according to NBC News.

🏀THUNDER'S HOLMGREN, NUMBER 2 DRAFT PICK, TO MISS SEASON WITH FOOT INJURY: The Oklahoma City Thunder's Chet Holmgren, who was the Number 2 pick in this year's NBA draft, will miss the upcoming 2022-23 season with a foot injury. The team said yesterday (August 25th) that the forward had a Lisfranc injury, and will undergo surgery to repair a ruptured tendon. Thunder general manager Sam Presti said, "Long-term prognosis is obviously very positive for this . . . he’s going to make a full recovery." The 20-year-old was hurt while playing in a pro-am game last weekend in Seattle, and video appeared to show he suffered the injury while defending LeBron James.
 

🏈BILLS' ARAIZA, TWO OTHERS ACCUSED OF GANG RAPE: Buffalo Bills rookie punter Matt Araiza and two of his former San Diego State teammates were accused of gang raping a 17-year-old girl last year in a lawsuit filed yesterday. The other two are Zavier Leonard, a redshirt SDSU freshman and Nowlin Ewaliko, who was a freshman last season, but is no longer on the roster. The lawsuit accuses Araiza of forcing the girl to have sex with him outside at an off-campus party at his residence early on October 17, 2021. The suit charges Araiza then brought her in a room where at least three other men were, including Leonard and Ewaliko, and she was repeatedly raped. The alleged victim went to police the next day, and while no arrests have been made, detectives recently gave their findings to the DA's office to determine whether charges should be filed, according to the L.A. Times. Araiza's lawyer said the accusation is false, and charged to the Times that it's a "shakedown."

🎾DJOKOVIC WON'T PLAY IN U.S. OPEN BECAUSE UNVACCINATED: Novak Djokovic announced Thursday that he won't be playing in the U.S. Open, which begins next week, since he remains unvaccinated against Covid-19, and vaccination is required for foreign citizens to enter the U.S. Djokovic shared the expected news hours before the draw for the event that begins Monday was revealed. Djokovic also missed the Australian Open in January because of his vaccination status, but did play in the French Open and at Wimbledon, where he won the title. Meanwhile, the draw showed that Serena Williams' first-round opponent in what is expected to be the last tournament of her career will be unseeded Danka Kovinic. The 41-year-old Williams recently announced she was readying to retire, and suggested, but didn't explicitly say, that the U.S. Open would be her final tournament.

🏈BRADY EXPECTED TO PLAY IN BUCS' FINAL PRESEASON GAME: Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady is expected to play in the team's third and final preseason game Saturday against the Indianapolis Colts. While head coach Todd Bowles didn't explicitly say so on Thursday, he told reporters, "Everyone who is healthy will play." Brady returned to training camp this week from an 11-day absence for unspecified "personal issues," and this would be the first time he's played this preseason.

🏈EX-BROWNS CENTER TRETTER RETIRING, STAYING AS PLAYERS' UNION PRESIDENT: Former Cleveland Browns center JC Tretter announced yesterday that he's retiring, but he is staying on his position as president of the NFL Players Association union after he was elected earlier this year for a second term. Tretter, who played nine seasons for the Browns and the Green Bay Packers, told Sports Illustrated he believes his work with the union played a role in him not being re-signed after the Browns released him in March.



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