Big Time News Blog: 09/16/20

Wednesday, September 16, 2020

Two cranes collide at Austin construction site, sending at least 16 people to the hospital

At least 22 people were injured after two cranes collided in Austin, Texas, Wednesday morning, medics said.

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Oregon Wildfires Are So Devastating They’ve Brought in a Mobile Morgue

The wildfires engulfing the West Coast have become so dire in Oregon that state police have established a new type of emergency response: a mobile morgue. The state-run facility in Linn County, about two hours outside of Portland, will be operated by a 75-member regional response team that is searching incinerated properties for survivors and victims. While the wildfires have hit 10 states across the country, Oregon has been among the worst affected, with more than 30 active fires, at least 900,000 acres burned, eight deaths, and at least 50 people missing. More than 10 percent of the state’s population has been forced to evacuate, and state officials have begged for a presidential disaster declaration.Like ‘a Bomb Went Off’: An Oregon City Destroyed as Wildfires Devastate West Coast“One week into this wildfire crisis, our state has been pushed to its limits,” Oregon Gov. Kate Brown tweeted on Monday evening. The death toll is expected to rise as recovery efforts continue, prompting local officials to use out-of-state resources for a mobile morgue. The facility will quickly identify remains and a separate facility, expected to open this week, will use rapid DNA testing to aid in identification.The mobile morgue—once a symbol of the coronavirus pandemic still plaguing the country—will “give family members closure as soon as possible,” Oregon State Police Capt. Tim Fox told The Oregonian.“We understand this is a super tragic event. We understand this is hard,” he added.Thousands of residents across the West Coast have lost homes to the destructive wildfires, and at least 36 people in three states have died. It took just 45 minutes for Angie Jackson’s family in Talent, OR to have everything they own “burn to a crisp” last week. Jackson said her mother, Corlette, was sleeping on Tuesday after finishing a graveyard shift when she received a call from her other daughter about the Almeda Drive wildfire quickly moving toward the town of 6,641. Jackson’s father, Brian, and brother, Josh, were “hanging out” on the other side of the Totem Pole trailer park, unaware of the wildfire about to wipe out the entire town on the southern edge of the state.When Corlette woke, all she could see was smoke. “She told my sister, ‘I think we are going to be fine,’” Jackson, 33, told The Daily Beast. But less than 10 minutes later, her mother and brother opened their front door to find the driveway of the trailer park alight, prompting Corlette to suggest fleeing the home they’d lived in “forever.”“Seconds later, a sheriff’s deputy loudly banged on their front door, telling them they had less than five minutes to get out of their home,” Jackson said. “They only took their pets and my dad’s diabetes medication. The only clothes they took were the ones on their backs.”Just five minutes after they fled, the trailer park—and most of Talent—was completely “scorched,” Jackson said. Her family had already suffered hardship this year when Brian was laid off due to COVID-19, but Jackson said the most heartbreaking part of learning her parents’ home was destroyed was her mother’s realization that she left her wedding ring behind.‘I Just Want My Sister Home’: Searches for Wildfire Missing End in Triumph, Despair“It was my great-grandmother’s ring,” Jackson said, while choking up. The family is staying at an aunt’s house and is anxious to go home and “start their life again.” “It’s heartbreaking to think about them going back home and finding the earth completely scorched. They thought they were going to go back. Now they have to start all over,” she said.As of Tuesday afternoon, upwards of 30,000 emergency personnel continue to fight blazes that have burned more than 4.7 million acres in 10 states, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. Residents near 39 large fires in California, Oregon, Washington, and Colorado remain under evacuation orders—while officials in Idaho have also issued evacuation orders. Six fires, however, have been contained as rain showers are expected to move into Oregon and humidity will trend across the Pacific Northwest, a development that may bring some relief. “Even with the gradual upward trend of relative humidity, conditions will remain critically dry across much of eastern Oregon, California, the Great Basin, and western Montana,” the National Interagency Fire Center added. Experts warned that unpredictable wind gusts of up to 25 mph, combined with dry weather, may fuel the ongoing disaster. “In California, these La Nina winds that are coming are expected to be hotter and dryer—which is the perfect conditions for these fires to continue,” Maureen Kennedy, an assistant professor at the University of Washington, Tacoma, who specializes in forest management, told The Daily Beast. “Washington State is about to enter the cooler season, so I think we are in a good spot to make progress for the fires.”Winds have pushed smoke across the country and into Canada. On Tuesday, skies over the East Coast, including New York City and Baltimore, were engulfed in a milky haze from blazes thousands of miles away. Alaska Airlines suspended flights out of Portland and Spokane on Monday due to “thick smoke and haze.” Tweets by NWSWakefieldVARelief for firefighters may be several days away, according to experts, who said winds may disperse smoke hanging over West Coast cities but will probably fan the fires.“Right now, there is a lot of wind and fire weather that is too extreme—forcing a lot of emergency personnel to have to wait until the weather changes before taking actionable steps,” Meg Krawchuk, an associate professor at the Oregon State University College of Forestry, told The Daily Beast.“But as the winds shift this week from west to east, this will allow people on the west side of the fire to start setting up their containment lines to get more help on that side that has been hit the hardest by these fires.”State officials have scrambled to contain the domino effect caused by the West Coast fires, using emergency services already strained by the coronavirus pandemic and requesting help from neighboring states and the federal government. President Donald Trump met with California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday to discuss the wildfires, an issue the Democratic governor said was the latest example of catastrophic climate change. Trump, who has been openly skeptical of climate science, seemed to dismiss his pleas to accept the science behind global warming, instead blaming forest mismanagement as the main culprit. Following the meeting, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee wrote in an open letter to Trump, slamming the president for refusing to address climate change and saying it would “accelerate devastating wildfires like those you’re seeing today.”“The rules of fighting wildfires are changing because our climate is changing,” Inslee wrote. “There is no fire suppression plan on this planet that does anyone any good if it doesn’t even acknowledge the role of climate change.”In requesting a presidential disaster declaration on Monday, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown said, “To fight fires of this scale, we need all the help we can get.” While Trump last week approved emergency aid, a declaration would allow additional communications resources, damage assessment teams, and search and rescue support to be distributed. Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

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Biden on Trump's criticism that he didn't institute a mask mandate: 'I'm not the president. He's the president.'

While taking questions from reporters Wednesday, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden responded to President Trump’s remarks at a town hall criticizing Biden for not enacting a mask mandate. “I’m not the president. He’s the president,” Biden said.

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British Airways is fighting for its survival and burning through $26 million a day, CEO Alex Cruz said

The boss of British Airways, Alex Cruz, has told the UK government that the airline is burning through $26 million a day.

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UN chief urges Israelis and Palestinians to negotiate now

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Is TikTok a Music Industry Friend or Troll?

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Officer Who Ordered Police Dog to Bite a Black Man Is Charged With Assault

By BY MICHAEL LEVENSON from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2ZIazNQ

Presidentially, Two Parties Is Plenty

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Fact-checking Trump’s criticism of Obama’s swine flu response.

By BY LINDA QIU from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/3koElz5

Trump’s Middle East Deal Is Good. But Not That Good.

By BY THE EDITORIAL BOARD from NYT Opinion https://ift.tt/3c4mCtX

How the Bible and Faith of Our Founders Shaped Our Constitution

September 17th celebrates Constitution Day, marking that key American document’s ratification. Some question why it’s said America was founded as a Christian nation since there’s no mention of God in the Constitution. But leading Christian historian Peter Lillback explains while the Lord’s name may not appear, the Constitution is deeply rooted in God’s teachings, ways and words.

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Hundreds turned out for anti-mask protest in Utah, which is being mocked as 'a straight parody' on social media

The demonstration gained national attention after a news report from Salt Lake City TV station KTVX-TV was shared on Twitter and TikTok this week.

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Hurricane Sally slows to 2 mph. Here’s why that’s very dangerous for the Southeast

The rain will fall across multiple states as far east as the Carolinas.

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German government calls Navalny recovery 'encouraging'

The German government on Wednesday welcomed news that poisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny's condition has further improved, and confirmed that Moscow has sent a second request for judicial assistance to Germany in the case. Navalny, who fell ill on a domestic flight in Russia on Aug. 20, on Tuesday posted a selfie photo from Berlin's Charité hospital where he has been treated for almost four weeks. “The German government is relieved about the latest news from the Charité, according to which the health situation of Alexei Navalny has further improved," government spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer told reporters, citing his social media.

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An 88-year-old Black man killed by officers in California was a former employee of the same police department

Robert Coleman, a resident of West Sacramento, worked for the police department for nearly a decade, authorities said.

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Hurricane Sally: 'Catastrophic flooding' as storm hits US

Authorities warn of "historic and catastrophic flooding" as Sally makes landfall.

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UN demands all countries enforce UN arms embargo on Libya

The U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution Tuesday demanding that all countries enforce the widely violated U.N. arms embargo on Libya, withdraw all mercenaries from the North African nation. In the years after the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime autocrat Moammar Gadhafi, Libya has sunk further into turmoil and is now divided between two rival administrations, based in the country’s east and west, with an array of fighters and militias — backed by various foreign powers — allied with each side. The resolution’s approval follows a recent report by U.N. experts monitoring sanctions on Libya that accused its warring parties and their international backers — the United Arab Emirates, Russia and Jordan on one side and Turkey and Qatar on the other — of violating the arms embargo, saying it remains “totally ineffective.”

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Chinese virologist who claimed coronavirus was created in a lab and fled to US has been suspended by Twitter

Academic had 60,000 followers before her suspension

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UK hands over to India statues stolen from Hindu temple in 1978

Britain has returned three antique bronze sculptures to Indian authorities more than 40 years after they were stolen from a Hindu temple in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The thieves were convicted in India at the time but it was only in 2019 that three of the statues were found, when the Indian High Commission in London discovered that one of them was being offered for sale by a UK-based dealer. The Indian High Commission tweeted photographs of the statues, taken during a formal handover to the government of Tamil Nadu, describing the event as an "auspicious moment".

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Trump's Threat to Pull Funding From Schools Over How They Teach Slavery Is Part of a Long History of Politicizing American History Class

"Is the point of history class to introduce young Americans to their heritage of heroes, the glories of American history?"

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