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Thursday, July 6, 2023

7/6 WAKE-UP CALL: Concerns Grow Over Ukraine Nuclear Plant

Concerns intensified that a Russian-occupied nuclear reactor in southern Ukraine could be the target of fresh attacks as Kyiv and Moscow traded barbs over the potential of a radiological incident. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy reinforced a warning overnight that Russia may be planning to sabotage the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which Moscow’s forces have occupied since the start of the war. The Kremlin responded Wednesday that the government in Kyiv is planning a provocation.

“We have information from our intelligence that Russian troops have placed objects resembling explosives on the roof of several power units” at Zaporizhzhia, Zelenskiy said in his nightly address to the nation. The objects may also be used to “simulate” an attack, he said. Inspectors from the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency have reported that they’ve seen no evidence of anti-personnel mines installed within the plant’s grounds that could endanger reactor safety. IAEA monitors at the facility continue to monitor the situation, a spokesperson said. The nuclear plant, the largest in Europe, has been the target of artillery, drone and rocket attacks on and off for more than a year, with Ukrainian and Russian official blaming each other for the strikes.


SNOW IN TWH: The Secret Service is carrying out fingerprint and DNA analysis of a bag of cocaine found at the White House to track down its owner.  It comes after the Biden family showed a united front on the Truman balcony for Independence Day inviting recovering drug addict Hunter Biden and the rest of the clan to enjoy a dazzling fireworks display.  The dime-sized bag was discovered on Sunday in a cubby hole in the lobby area of the West Wing, where visitors leave their cell phones and other electronics before entering the White House complex. 

President Joe Biden laughed and again ignored questions about the cocaine found at the White House - as the administration tried to distance the first family and staff from the shocking discovery by suggesting it was a visitor. Biden sat and watched reporters as they tried and failed to get his response to the drug scandal while he was in the Oval Office with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson on Wednesday.  Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre implied in her daily briefing that a member of the public left the Schedule A substance in a 'heavily-traveled area' of the West Wing - the office space that includes the Oval Office and an area for staff.

'LOVE CHILD'? WHAT LOVE CHILD??: White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre once again declined to answer questions about President Biden’s estranged granddaughter following a weekend report claiming that aides are told not to acknowledge Hunter’s child with a former stripper. Jean Pierre was asked about the NYTimes’ bombshell report Saturday on 4-year-old Navy Joan Roberts, whom Hunter Biden shares with Arkansas baby mama Lunden Alexis Roberts, at Wednesday’s press briefing. “There was a story in the New York Times over the weekend about Hunter Biden’s daughter in Arkansas. Does the president acknowledge this little girl as his granddaughter?” a reporter asked. “I don’t have anything to share from here,” Jean-Pierre bluntly responded.


FORMER NYC MAYOR, WIFE DISCLOSE 'OPEN' MARRIAGE: In a nearly three-hour interview with an ingratiating NYTimes, the former New York City mayor and his wife of 29 years revealed they were splitting up in order to date “other people’’ — although neither spouse plans to divorce or move out of their Brooklyn house. But while the pair took pains to appear jolly about their change in relationship status, Bill de Blasio, 62, showed that he was always insecure about his union with Chirlane McCray, 68. In fact, the city’s ex-first lady deeply resented that her hub’s political career eclipsed her own. She also was fond of torturing her man with her well-publicized declaration of homo­sexuality.

➤TRUMP FUNDRAISING SOARS: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's main fundraising committee raised more than $35 million during the April-June period, a campaign official said, nearly twice what the group gathered in the prior three months. The acceleration in fundraising could be a sign that Trump's 2024 campaign coffers are benefiting from the former president's legal problems. Trump was indicted by a federal grand jury in June on charges that include mishandling classified documents after he left the White House in 2021. Prosecutors in New York City charged him in April in a separate case involving an alleged hush-money payment to a porn star.

➤ACTIVISTS GET ABORTION ON OHIO BALLOT: Activists in Ohio delivered a petition demanding a vote this November on a constitutional amendment protecting abortion rights. The petition got more than 700,000 signatures, several hundred thousand more than are needed to get a question on the ballot. An attempt to ban abortions in Ohio after the sixth week of pregnancy has been temporarily blocked by a court.

➤CANDIDATES SAY MILITARY MUST FIGHT CARTELS: Some Republicans, including presidential candidates, want to send the military into Mexico to fight drug cartels. The idea is popular among non-Republicans, too, as Americans are anxious about a continuing opioid crisis fueling record numbers of drug-overdose deaths. The rhetoric is also useful for GOP candidates eager to campaign on border and immigration policy, a topic of concern for their fellow party members, but less so for most Democrats. The Mexican Foreign Ministry didn’t respond to a request for comment, but President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has repeatedly said he is unwilling to host the U.S. military on Mexican soil.

➤EL PASO GUNMAN TO LEARN FATE: A white supremacist who massacred 23 Hispanic shoppers at a Walmart in the border city of El Paso in 2019 could receive multiple life sentences and the death penalty. 24-year-old Patrick Crusius (right) has begun the sentencing process after pleading guilty to federal hate crime and weapons charges in one of the deadliest mass shootings in American history.  Although the federal government did not seek the death penalty, Texas prosecutors have not taken lethal injection off the table under a separate case in state court.

✞'MULAN' STAR DEAD: Coco Lee, the Hong Kong-born singer and voice star of Disney’s Mandarin “Mulan,” died Wednesday at age 48. The entertainer’s sisters Nancy and Carol Lee announced the news on social media, revealing that after living for years with depression, Lee attempted suicide on Sunday, putting her into a coma until she ultimately succumbed three days later.

➤ESTRANGED WIFE MUST VACATE: Christine Baumgartner has been ordered to leave the mansion she formerly shared with estranged husband Kevin Costner. The 49-year-old handbag designer has until the end of the month to vacate the $145 million estate that she and the 68-year-old actor and director lived in with their children. The latest court ruling may indicate that the judge plans to agree with Costner's legal team that the couple's prenuptial agreement is valid and enforceable. Costner was not only the primary breadwinner, but the only person making money recently, and Baumgartner says in her filing that she has no income. 

⚾MLB REDS 9 NATIONALS 2:  MLB's newest superstar Elly De La Cruz hit a massive solo homer and two doubles after an incident with a covering on the knob of his bat, and the surging Cincinnati Reds beat the Washington Nationals 9-2 on Wednesday night.

Joey Votto also homered and finished with three hits as Cincinnati won for the seventh time in eight games. Will Benson had two hits and two RBIs for the NL Central leaders, and Graham Ashcraft (4-6) pitched six effective innings in his first win since May 28. Washington collected 10 hits, but it went 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position in its fourth loss in five games. Nationals right-hander Josiah Gray (6-7) allowed three earned runs and eight hits in five innings.

⚾MLB METS 2, DIAMONDBACKS 1:  Francisco Alvarez homered to tie it with two outs in the ninth, Mark Canha tripled in the go-ahead run and the New York Mets beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 2-1. The Mets won their fourth in a row, but they waited until they were down to their last strike, when Alvarez homered to right field off Andrew Chafin (2-2), the fourth Arizona pitcher of the game. Alvarez, the rookie catcher, flung his bat joyfully in the air as he neared first base and saw the ball clear the wall for his 15th homer. He leads the majors with five tying or go-ahead home runs in the sixth inning or later.

⚾PHILLIES 8, RAYS 4: Taijuan Walker overcome early struggles to win his sixth consecutive start and the Philadelphia Phillies extended their road winning streak to 11 games with an 8-4 victory over the AL-leading Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday night. It´s the third-longest road winning streak in Phillies history, trailing a 13-game run in 1976 and 12-game stretch that spanned the 1887 and ´88 seasons. Tampa Bay has lost a season-high four in a row and 10 of 16 overall. Walker (10-3) allowed four runs and five hits, all in the first three of his seven-inning outing. Bryson Stott had four hits as Philadelphia finished with 17 hits overall. Bryce Harper went 2 for 5 in his fifth consecutive game with two hits.

⚾MLB ORIOLES 6, YANKEES 3: Touted prospect Colton Cowser hit an RBI single in his major league debut and scored the go-ahead run when fellow rookie Jordan Westburg followed with a two-run triple, sending Dean Kremer and Baltimore past New York. Kremer (9-4) struck out a career-high 10 in seven innings of four-hit ball. Ryan O´Hearn lined a two-run homer in the ninth, and All-Star relievers Yennier Cano and Félix Bautista combined to get the final six outs as the second-place Orioles won for the second time in eight games. Bautista got four outs for his 23rd save. Josh Donaldson and Anthony Volpe homered for the Yankees, who had won the first two games of this four-game series between AL East playoff contenders. 

A cameraman has been hospitalized after getting hit in the head by an errant throw (below) in worrying scenes during Wednesday's game between the New York Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles. Pete Stendel, who works for YES Network, needed to be carted off the field at Yankee Stadium but raised his hand into the air and made a peace sign, to wild cheers from the thousands of fans. The throw came from O's shortstop Gunnar Henderson and it sailed over 1st base - where Ryan O'Hearn tried to catch it - and it hit the cameraman at the bottom of the fifth inning.

⚾MLB SCORES:

  • Astros 6 Rockies 4
  • Athletics 12 Tigers 3
  • Marlins 10 Cardinals 9
  • Reds Sox 4 Rangers 2
  • Braves 9 Guardians 1
  • Twins 5 Royals 0
  • Cubs 4 Brewers 3
  • Padres 5 Angels 3
  • Giants 2 Mariners 0
  • Dodgers 6 Pirates 4

⚾YANKEES SUSPEND CORDERO: The New York Yankees have suspended Jimmy Cordero for the rest of the season for violating Major League Baseball’s domestic violence policy. That’s 76 games he’ll miss, including the season and postseason. The announcement did not reveal the details of the allegation against Cordero.

🎾TSITSIPAS SURVIVES AT WIMBLEDON: Number 5-seed Stefanos Tsitsipas advanced to the second round at Wimbledon yesterday after a five-set thriller against Austria’s Dominic Thiem. It took him almost four hours and two tiebreaks to get the win, with a score of 3-6, 7-6 (7-1), 6-2 (7-6), 7-6 (10-8).
  • Novak Djokovic, the seven-time and reigning Wimbledon champion, advanced to the third round after defeating Australia’s Jordan Thompson 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), 7-5.
  • Iga Swiatek easily made it to the second round, defeating Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-2, 6-0.
  • Play was interrupted twice on Day 3 at Wimbledon when protesters against fossil fuels ran onto the courts and dumped boxes of confetti and puzzle pieces onto the grass lawn. The protesters were arrested.

🌞BABY, IT'S HOT OUTSIDE: Monday, July 3 marked the hottest day on Earth ever recorded, according to data from the U.S. National Centers for Environmental Prediction. The average global temperature reached 62.62 degrees Fahrenheit, surpassing a record set in 2016. Researchers suspect the shift is due to a combination of climate change and El Niño.



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