Disgraced former Gov. Andrew Cuomo was stripped of his Emmy Award on Tuesday due to sexual harassment allegations substantiated in the state attorney general’s probe that delivered the death knell to his gubernatorial reign.
“The International Academy announced today that in light of the New York Attorney General’s report, and Andrew Cuomo subsequent resignation as governor, it is rescinding his special 2020 international Emmy Award,” reads a statement from the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
“His name and any reference to his receiving the award will be eliminated from International Academy material going forward.”
Cuomo was bestowed the award in November 2020 for his COVID-19 pandemic press briefings.The scandal-scarred governor, who formally resigned Monday, was formerly recognized for his “effective use of television during the pandemic,” the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced.
Andrew Cuomo was awarded the Emmy in November 2020 for his COVID-19 pandemic press briefings.International Emmy Awards/Handout via REUTERS
But on Monday, the institution made the rare move to rescind the award from the former Hollywood darling.
“That’s great news! The Academy now sees what we see in Cuomo,” said Councilman Robert Holden, who sent a letter to the Academy in February urging them to yank Cuomo’s Emmy award.
“And this is the least of Cuomo’s problems,” the Queens lawmaker added. “We still have the investigations of COVID nursing home deaths and allegations that he used paid government staff to draft his book.”
Actor Cynthia Nixon, Cuomo’s 2018 Democratic gubernatorial primary opponent, appeared to relish in the latest in her rival’s fall from grace.
“The difference between me and Andrew Cuomo? Neither of us is governor, but I still have my Emmy(s),” she said in a tweet Tuesday.
The decision to strip his award, though not common, isn’t without precedent. Similarly dishonored alleged creep Kevin Spacey in October 2017 had his Emmy award rescinded by the academy. Comedian Bill Cosby, who in June had his conviction for sexual assault conviction overturned after several years in prison, never had his honors pulled.
In the throes of the coronavirus pandemic, Cuomo used daily, often nationally televised briefings to provide running commentary on the virus’ spread, projecting an assured, informed aura.
“The Governor’s 111 daily briefings worked so well because he effectively created television shows, with characters, plot lines, and stories of success and failure,” Bruce Paisner, president and CEO of the International Academy, previously said.
“People around the world tuned in to find out what was going on, and ‘New York tough’ became a symbol of the determination to fight back.”
The briefings were comforting to many liberals, with some “Cuomosexuals” even professing their attraction to the 63-year-old.
The former governor’s performances often featured strange gags and remarks — and repeat bits like reminding New Yorkers the day of the week on Saturdays as New Yorkers’ regular schedules had been thrown out of whack by the pandemic-induced stay-at-home precautions.
In June 2020, the gov-turned-showman displayed a bizarre, $415.34 COVID-19 mountain meant to illustrate the Empire State’s battle against the virus. While joined by Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-disease doctor, he compared the fellow Italian American and himself to actors Al Pacino and Robert De Niro.
And while stricken with COVID-19, CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, the former governor’s little brother, called in to detail his experience with the bug.
On Sunday, with just 36 hours left in office, Cuomo reprised his man-in-charge role one last time. But toward the end of the banter-filled one-man show on the weekend storm, he broke character to concede, “Yes, my final day is tomorrow.”
A fast-moving wildfire in northeastern Minnesota has drawn hundreds of firefighters and prompted a wave of evacuations since it started nine days ago.
The Greenwood fire, in the Superior National Forest not far from the Canadian border, has burned at least 19,000 acres and is zero percent contained, according to the U.S. Forest Service. The fire was started by lightning, the authorities said.
“Once it starts rolling,” he said, “it starts to build up steam and feed off itself.”
More than 400 firefighters were assigned to the Greenwood fire, one of two large blazes in the state. About 300 homes have been evacuated, a fire official said. Residents in some areas were advised to prepare to evacuate.
Surveillance footage captured the final moments of a slain couple before they disappeared, as the two women laughed and joked about the ‘weirdo’ camping next to them in the Utah wilderness.
Just five days later, on August 18, the bodies of Kylen Schulte, 24, and Crystal Beck, 38, were found in the La Sal Mountains, the second-highest range in Utah.
The married couple’s friend Kayla Borza, one of the last people to see them alive, had been with them in the tavern in the town of Moab.
‘We were just having a great time, having a couple drinks, and all they said was there was a creep [staying] next to them,’ said Borza, who believes that creep is the man that killed Schulte and Beck.
Surveillance footage captured the final moments of a slain couple, Kylen Schulte, 24, and Crystal Beck, 38, before they disappeared, as the two women laughed and joked about the ‘weirdo’ camping next to them in the Utah wilderness
The married couple’s friend Kayla Borza, one of the last people to see them alive, had been with them in the tavern in the town of Moab
Footage, first obtained by the Daily Beast, showed them laughing over drinks with Borza and enjoying their evening together.
The couple, who got married in April, were semi-regular customers at Woody’s Tavern in Moab, said bar manager Arielle Beck.
Beck (unrelated to Crystal Beck) said the couple were there from around 6pm to 9pm on August 13 and that was the last time they were seen at Woody’s, even though police and local media reported there were seen there again the next evening. Arielle Beck claims she worked both nights and didn’t see them again after Friday.
Schulte (right) and Beck (left) were found shot dead four days after going missing while camping in Utah mountains
Cindy Sue Hunter said she discovered the bodies of her friends, Schulte, 24, and Beck, 38, after receiving a frantic call from Schulte’s father, Sean-Paul, she told ABC4 News Friday.
Schulte’s father, who lives in Montana, called Hunter after he hadn’t heard from the couple in three days following a disturbing call from his daughter, he reportedly told Hunter.
‘He said ‘I just found out that there was a creeper dude that they were scared of. That they needed to move their camp,’ Hunter said. ‘All of a sudden I had such a sense of urgency.’
Hunter was able to locate the couple’s campsite in Moab on Wednesday, remaining on the phone with Kylen’s father while she searched the area.
‘Then I saw her body and I turned away,’ Hunter said. ‘I think something inside me didn’t want to acknowledge what I had seen so I was looking at the beauty of the creek and everything and talking to the father the whole time and I turned around again to make myself see and it was her.’
Kylen Schulte (left) and Crystal Beck, who married recently, were found dead in the Moab mountains of Utah after being reported missing four days earlier
Aunt Bridgit Calvert started a GoFundMe page to help Sean-Paul pay for funeral expenses for the two girls
On Wednesday, the Grand County Sheriff’s Office in Moab released a statement saying: ‘At this time the Grand County Sheriff’s Office is conducting an ongoing homicide investigation.’
When speaking with ABC4 News Friday, Cindy Sue Hunter (pictured) said she discovered the bodies of her friends, Kylen Schulte, 24, and Crystal Beck, 38, while speaking to Schulte’s father on the phone
The Sheriff’s Office continued by saying they believe ‘there is no current danger to the public in the Grand County area.’
Hunter, on the other hand, doesn’t find the sheriff’s statement comforting.
‘How are we safe if you have a double homicide?’ Hunter asked. ‘ You don’t have a suspect in custody. You’re not claiming it was a murder-suicide so how are we possibly safe? It honestly feels like they’re just trying to protect the tourism industry in Moab.’
Schulte’s and Beck were camping in the Moab mountains about a week ago when they reportedly vanished.
Their bodies were discovered near the South Mesa area of La Sal Loop Road and police identified them as the missing women Thursday evening.
Their bodies were transferred to the state medical examiner’s office.
The two reportedly were last seen on August 14 after telling close friends they moved campsites because they had been ‘spooked’ by a ‘weirdo’ man camping near them.
Their bodies were found near the South Mesa area of La Sal Loop Road on August 18
Schulte’s father Sean-Paul asked the people of Moab to help find his daughter’s killers on Facebook as the police’s person of interest has been released and no arrests have been made
Schulte’s father called for the Moab community to help find ‘my girls’ on August 17 in a Facebook post after not hearing from them.
He reported that the girls, ‘Haven’t been to work. Haven’t called. Not in hospital. Not in Moab jail,’ but police were searching for them.
The dad posted again a day later reporting the girls had been missing for four nights and days.
He said: ‘Moab PLEASE PLEASE FIND MY GIRLS.’
In an updated post, he begs Moab not to give up on finding his daughter’s killer and asked them to interview everyone who was on the mountain.
He wrote: ‘Moab. This is Kylen and Crystals dad. Please please
‘DO NOT STOP !!!!’
The sheriff’s office released a statement saying they are looking into all avenues provided by those who come forward.
Schulte’s (left) and Beck (right) were camping in the mountains of Moab, Utah, about a week ago when they reportedly vanished. Their bodies were discovered Wednesday night near the South Mesa area of La Sal Loop Road
‘We are currently following up with what comes to our attention during this investigation and will continue to be available to people to come forward with information,’ the sheriff’s office told local NBC-affiliated television station KSL-TV.
The father reported that a person of interest had been questioned and released by police, but his daughter’s killer was still out there.
The family called Schulte the ‘moon and the stars since the day she was born’ on the GoFundMe page created to help Sean-Paul pay funeral expenses for the two women.
The couple – who was recently married – spent a lot of time camping.
Their aunt wrote on a GoFundMe page, ‘They found their way from the best campsite to the next.’
CIA Director William J. Burns held a secret meeting Monday in Kabul with the Taliban’s de facto leader, Abdul Ghani Baradar, in the highest-level face-to-face encounter between the Taliban and the Biden administration since the militants seized the Afghan capital, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy.
The nine lawmakers opposed Pelosi’s plan to vote Monday on a measure that would advance the infrastructure bill, the budget plan and separate voting rights legislation. She aimed to approve the budget resolution as soon as Tuesday, then hold a final vote on the infrastructure bill only after Democrats wrote their final spending plan and the Senate approved it.
As they lacked the votes to move ahead, Pelosi and her top deputies engaged for hours Monday night with the holdouts, including Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey. Democratic leaders reportedly offered a commitment to vote on the infrastructure bill by Oct. 1.
Asked as she left the Capitol early Tuesday if lawmakers would set a date for an infrastructure vote, Pelosi responded, “We will see tomorrow, won’t we now?”
In a Washington Post column published Sunday, the nine Democrats said they “are firmly opposed to holding the president’s infrastructure legislation hostage to reconciliation, risking its passage and the bipartisan support behind it.”
Democratic leaders will use budget reconciliation to try to pass their plan that aims to expand the social safety net and curb climate change. The process would allow the party to approve it without a vote from Republicans.
The GOP has opposed the trillions in spending and the tax hikes on corporations and the wealthy contained in the plan.
Though they do not need Republican support, Democrats have a tiny margin for error. They will need to win over all 50 members of their Senate caucus and all but three Democrats in the House.
Centrists in the Senate have taken issue with the proposed $3.5 trillion price tag.
The budget plan would expand Medicare coverage, extend strengthened household tax credits passed last year, create incentives to adopt green energy, broaden paid family and medical leave, and boost access to child care, among other measures. Biden sees it as complementary to the infrastructure plan.
The bipartisan bill would put $550 billion in new money into transportation, broadband and utilities.
New York Chief Judge Janet DiFiore, left, swears in Kathy Hochul, right, as the first woman to be New York’s governor while her husband Bill Hochul holds a bible during a swearing-in ceremony at the state Capitol early Tuesday in Albany, N.Y.
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New York Chief Judge Janet DiFiore, left, swears in Kathy Hochul, right, as the first woman to be New York’s governor while her husband Bill Hochul holds a bible during a swearing-in ceremony at the state Capitol early Tuesday in Albany, N.Y.
Hans Pennink/AP
ALBANY, N.Y. — Kathy Hochul became the first female governor of New York at the stroke of midnight Tuesday, taking control of a state government desperate to get back to business after months of distractions over sexual harassment allegations against Andrew Cuomo.
The Democrat from western New York was sworn in as governor in a brief, private ceremony in the New York State Capitol overseen by the state’s chief judge, Janet DiFiore.
Afterward, she told WGRZ, a Buffalo television station, she felt “the weight of responsibility” on her shoulders.
“I’ll tell New Yorkers I’m up to the task. And I’m really proud to be able to serve as their governor and I won’t let them down,” she said.
Hochul’s ascent to the top job was a history-making moment in a capital where women have only recently begun chipping away at a notoriously male-dominated political culture.
Cuomo left office at 12:00 a.m, two weeks after he announced he would resign rather than face a likely impeachment battle. He submitted his resignation letter late Monday to the leaders of the state Assembly and Senate.
On his final day in office, Cuomo released a recorded farewell address in which he defended his record over a decade as New York’s governor and portrayed himself as the victim of a “media frenzy.”
This image, made from video provided by the New York Governor’s Office, shows New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo giving a farewell speech in New York. The governor’s resignation became effective at midnight Monday, and Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul was sworn in right after that.
New York Governor’s Office via AP
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New York Governor’s Office via AP
This image, made from video provided by the New York Governor’s Office, shows New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo giving a farewell speech in New York. The governor’s resignation became effective at midnight Monday, and Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul was sworn in right after that.
New York Governor’s Office via AP
Hochul was scheduled to have a ceremonial swearing-in event Tuesday morning at the Capitol, with more pomp than the brief, legally required event during the night.
She planned to meet with legislative leaders later in the morning and make a public address at 3 p.m.
For the first time, a majority of the most powerful figures in New York state government will be women, including state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Attorney General Letitia James and the chief judge, DiFiore. The state Assembly is led by a man, Speaker Carl Heastie.
Hochul will inherit immense challenges as she takes over an administration facing criticism for inaction in Cuomo’s final months.
COVID-19 has made a comeback, with new cases up nearly 1,370% since late June. Hospitalizations are climbing even as schools prepare to go back into session.
Big decisions lay ahead on whether to mandate masks or vaccines for certain groups, or whether to reinstate social distancing restrictions if the state’s latest wave of infections worsens. Hochul has said she favors making masks mandatory for schoolchildren, a contrast with Cuomo, who said he lacked that authority.
The economy remains unsettled. Jobs lost during the pandemic have been coming back, but unemployment remains double what it was two years ago.
New York has also struggled to get federal relief money into the hands of tenants behind on their rent because of the pandemic, releasing just 6% of the budgeted $2 billion so far. Thousands of households face the possibility of losing their homes if the state allows eviction protections to expire.
Hochul also faces questions about whether she’ll change the culture of governance in New York, following a Cuomo administration that favored force over charm.
Cuomo’s resignation comes after an independent investigation overseen by state Attorney General Letitia James concluded there was credible evidence he’d sexually harassed at least 11 women.
In his farewell remarks, Cuomo struck a defiant tone, saying the attorney general’s report that triggered his resignation was designed to be “a political firecracker on an explosive topic, and it did work.”
“There was a political and media stampede,” he said.
Cuomo also touted himself as a bulwark against his party’s left wing, which he said wants to defund the police and demonize businesses, and boasted of making government effective in his years in office. He cited his work battling the COVID-19 pandemic, legalizing same-sex marriage and hiking the minimum wage to $15.
“I tried my best to deliver for you,” Cuomo said.
Some critics jumped on Cuomo’s remarks as self-serving.
Assemblymember Yuh-Line Niou, a fellow Democrat, tweeted he had a hundred million opportunities to improve as a leader and “Chose himself every time. Goodbye, Governor Cuomo.”
Cuomo’s top aide, Melissa DeRosa, released a statement saying the governor was exploring his options for his post-gubernatorial life but had “no interest in running for office again.”
Cuomo’s resignation won’t end his legal problems.
An aide who said Cuomo groped her breast has filed a complaint with the Albany County Sheriff’s Office. Separately, Cuomo was facing a legislative investigation into whether he misled the public about COVD-19 deaths in nursing homes to protect his reputation as a pandemic leader and improperly got help from state employees in writing a book that may net him $5 million.
The switch in leadership was happening in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Henri, which narrowly missed Long Island on Sunday but dumped rain over the Catskill Mountains and Hudson Valley.
Hochul will need to quickly build her own team of advisers to steer the administration for at least the next 16 months.
Hochul, who said she didn’t work closely with Cuomo and wasn’t aware of the harassment allegations before they became public, has vowed no one will ever call her workplace “toxic.”
“I have a different approach to governing,” Hochul said Wednesday in Queens, adding, “I get the job done because I don’t have time for distractions, particularly coming into this position.”
She announced the planned appointments Monday of two top aides: Karen Persichilli Keogh will become Secretary to the Governor and Elizabeth Fine will be Hochul’s chief legal counselor.
She plans to keep on Cuomo-era employees for 45 days to allow her time to interview new hires, but said she will not keep anyone found to have behaved unethically.
Hochul, who has already said she plans to run for a full term next year, is expected to pick a left-leaning New York City politician as her lieutenant governor. Hochul once represented a conservative Western New York district in Congress for a year and has a reputation as a moderate.
State Democratic Party Chair Jay Jacobs praised Hochul as “formidable.”
“She’s very experienced and I think she’ll be a refreshing and exciting new governor,” he said.
CNN’s Lauren Mascarenhas, Virginia Langmaid, Laura Ly, Taylor Romine, Jennifer Henderson, Kara Devlin and Jacqueline Howard contributed to this report.
Harris, who is on a weeklong swing through Southeast Asia, declared that the U.S. “stands with our allies and our partners” in the face of threats from China.
The address Tuesday morning at Singapore’s iconic Gardens by the Bay waterfront park offered an opportunity for the former state attorney general and U.S. senator to prove her fluidity with diplomatic and security issues.
Harris’ remarks also come during a critical moment for the United States as the Biden administration seeks to further solidify its pivot towards Asia while America’s decades-long focus on the Middle East comes to a messy end with the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Harris’ remarks echoed and expanded upon remarks she delivered at the U.S. Naval Academy graduation in June, where she described a world that is “interconnected,” “interdependent” and “fragile.”
On Monday, Harris told sailors aboard a U.S. combat ship at the Changi naval base in Singapore that “a big part of the history of the 21st century will be written about this very region” and that their work defending the region was pivotal.
“It is in our vital interest to stand united with our allies and our partners in Southeast Asia in defense of a free and open Indo-Pacific,” she said.
Harris also met Monday with Singapore President Halimah Yacob and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. The vice president’s office announced a number of agreements out of that meeting aimed at combating cyberthreats, tackling climate change, addressing the Covid-19 pandemic and alleviating supply chain issues.
After her speech Tuesday, Harris will hold a roundtable discussion with business leaders on supply chain issues, and then travel to Vietnam, where she’ll meet with top officials Wednesday.
President Joe Biden himself has repeatedly emphasized his focus on China as one of America’s main adversaries, pledging in a February speech at the State Department to “confront China’s economic abuses; counter its aggressive, coercive action; to push back on China’s attack on human rights, intellectual property, and global governance” — a message he echoed again later that month to European allies at the virtual G7 Summit and Munich Security Conference.
And in recent months, his administration has ramped up outreach to the Indo-Pacific region, with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Austin both visiting the area in the spring and summer. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also held a number of virtual meetings with Southeast Asian officials earlier this month.
The chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, however, complicated that message of support to the region, raising questions about the U.S. commitment to its allies. While Biden said last week that an indefinite engagement would’ve benefited “true strategic competitors” China and Russia, China has seized on the images of violence from the evacuation to slam the U.S. for its engagement there.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said Monday that the U.S. had done “unscrupulous and dishonest things” in Afghanistan and called on the nation to help rebuild.
“The United States is the root cause and the biggest external factor in the Afghan issue,” Wenbin said. “It cannot just run away like this.”
But Harris, during a joint news conference with Prime Minister Lee on Monday, said that her presence in the country, combined with the agreements around greater cooperation that the Biden administration has pursued with Indo-Pacific countries, speak “volumes in terms of the integrity of the relationships that the United States has around the world on many issues.”
He warned that the fire was “knocking on the door” of the Lake Tahoe region, even after crews were encouraged by progress of getting the fire 5% contained over the weekend. Now, they’re just hoping the amenable weather lasts.
“We have all efforts in place to keep it out of the basin,” Porter said, “but we need to be aware that it is a possibility based on the way the fires have been burning.”
More than 1,700 firefighters and support personnel were working the dense, mountainous terrain as telltale signs of wildfire descended upon one of California’s most famous natural landmarks. Lake Tahoe’s sapphire-blue water looked an ominous shade of orange. Smoke choked the air as schools closed and resorts shuttered summer operations. Tourists and locals alike debated when it might be time to leave, especially with parts of busy Highway 50 closed.
All the uncertainty comes at a crucial moment for both the state and the mountain communities near Tahoe. Across California, the more than 1.5 million acres burned this year mark a 42% increase from the same early point in the fire season last year. Tahoe was also already grappling with an influx of remote workers and tourists seeking outdoor refuge from mask mandates and coronavirus anxiety, increasing competition for housing and adding to congestion.
As fire posed a new threat this week, some Tahoe locals called for tourists to stay away. Others said the onus was on would-be vacationers to monitor the situation.
“We don’t want to be in the business of suggesting whether they should or shouldn’t come up, because we don’t know about their health conditions or how they might be affected,” said Carol Chaplin, president and CEO of the Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority. “It changes so much. We don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Signs of the Caldor Fire, along with the Dixie Fire burning farther north, were also visible in the Bay Area. Smoke drifting south from the fires was expected to linger, causing hazy skies. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District extended an air quality advisory through Tuesday, but because most of the smoke was expected to stay high in the air, a Spare the Air alert wasn’t needed. Air quality across the region was expected to be in either the “good” or “moderate” range Tuesday, the air district said.
The Dixie Fire burning in Butte, Plumas, Tehama, Lassen and Shasta counties slowed on Sunday because of cooler temperatures and increasing humidity, Cal Fire reported. It grew just over 1,700 acres Sunday night, burning a total of 725,821 acres after leaving a trail of near total destruction in towns like Greenville in recent weeks.
On the front lines of the Caldor Fire in El Dorado and Amador counties, more than 17,000 structures remained threatened on Monday, Cal Fire said. Fewer than 200 residents in El Dorado County were under evacuation orders, but wider warning zones remained.
With air sensors in the Tahoe area already maxing out above 500 AQI — meaning the air is hazardous and likely to impact healthy people — many locals started to evacuate even without an official order to do so.
Instead of dropping off their 2-year-old son for his first day of preschool in North Tahoe on Monday morning, Mike Rogge and his wife loaded up their car for an eight-hour drive south to Palm Springs to evade the hazardous air. Rogge, a magazine publisher, woke up with a scratchy throat and decided with his wife to evacuate — for at least a week.
“We’re not the first ones to leave, and I imagine we won’t be the last,” Rogge said. “I guess this is just part of living here now. It’s sad.”
For the past week, firefighters have been battling the Caldor Fire along with the Tamarack Fire — measured at more than 68,000 acres with 82% containment — south of the lake basin.
Last week, the U.S. Forest Service shut down all national forests in Northern California through Sept. 6., including those surrounding Tahoe, where some of the region’s most popular trails, campgrounds, lakes and backcountry areas are located.
Through it all, Tahoe hotel operators and business owners are fielding endless phone calls from prospective visitors as the Labor Day holiday weekend approaches.
“The most common question of course is, ‘Is it going to be smoky on “X” day?’ which is difficult to answer,” said Andy Chapman, chief marketing officer for the North Lake Tahoe Convention and Visitor Bureau. “We’re telling people, it shifts and things change.”
On Monday, fire crews planned to focus on building and strengthening containment lines, especially on the fire’s eastern edge. One of the biggest challenges is rollouts — a term referring to dry, dead timber burning and smoldering as it rolls down hill, which is “easily igniting other vegetation,” said Cal Fire spokesman Keith Wade.
Fire crews were also carrying out an air fight against the fire and have dropped thousands of gallons of water and retardant on the flames in recent days. Heading into the new week, the weather “was, and still is, favorable for us,” Wade said.
So far, Tahoe tourism leaders say the uncertainty isn’t leading to an unusually high number of hotel cancellations. It seems, they said, that many Labor Day visitors are waiting to make the call until the last minute.
Residents like Rogge hope they’ll reconsider to leave roads open for emergency crews.
“Please leave Tahoe alone right now,” he said. “I understand that this is a tourism community, but it is a community first.”
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – The governor is urging visitors to reschedule upcoming travel to Hawaii as the state struggles to respond to a COVID surge that’s threatening to overwhelm hospitals.
He also said that a lockdown “is on the table” if infection rates don’t decline.
“It is not a good time to travel to the islands. I encourage everyone to restrict and curtail travel to Hawaii,” Gov. David Ige said, at a news conference Monday. “Is a lockdown on the table? Yes, it would be if the number of cases continues to grow exponentially as it has in the last 10 weeks … then we will have to take action to limit and ensure that the hospitals aren’t overrun.”
He added that he doesn’t have a specific trigger for when a stay-at-home might be imposed.
“We are in contact with the hospitals every single day about their current situation of the number of patients they are seeing and about their capacity to continue to serve our community,” he said.
The governor’s remarks come as the state grapples with rapid community spread of the Delta variant. Skyrocketing COVID counts are already straining Hawaii hospitals and ICUs are nearing capacity.
Despite the situation, the governor stopped short of announcing any new restrictions Monday.
Igor Vovkovinskiy, the country’s tallest person at 7-foot-8, died in Minnesota at the age of 38. His family says he died of heart disease.
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Igor Vovkovinskiy, the country’s tallest person at 7-foot-8, died in Minnesota at the age of 38. His family says he died of heart disease.
Haraz N. Ghanbari/AP
ROCHESTER, Minn. — Igor Vovkovinskiy, the tallest man in the United States, has died. He was 38.
His family said the Ukrainian-born Vovkovinskiy died of heart disease on Friday at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. His mother, Svetlana Vovkovinska, an ICU nurse at Mayo, initially posted about his death on Facebook.
Vovkovinskiy came to the Mayo Clinic in 1989 as a child seeking treatment. A tumor pressing against his pituitary gland caused it to secrete abnormal levels of growth hormone. He grew to become the tallest man in the U.S. at 7 feet, 8.33 inches (2 meters, 34.5 centimeters) and ended up staying in Rochester.
His older brother, Oleh Ladan of Brooklyn Park, told the Star Tribune of Minneapolis that Vovkovinskiy was a celebrity when he arrived from Ukraine because of his size and the flickering Cold War of the late 1980s. But Ladan said Vovkovinskiy “would have rather lived a normal life than be known.”
Vovkovinskiy met President Barack Obama during a health care reform rally in 2009, when the president noticed him near the stage wearing a T-shirt that read, “World’s Biggest Obama Supporter.”
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Vovkovinskiy appeared on “The Dr. Oz Show” and was called out by President Barack Obama during a campaign rally in 2009, when the president noticed him near the stage wearing a T-shirt that read, “World’s Biggest Obama Supporter.” In 2013, he carried the Ukrainian contestant onto the stage to perform in the Eurovision Song Contest.
When he was 27, Vovkovinskiy traveled to New York City and was declared America’s tallest living person by a Guinness World Records adjudicator on Oz’s show. He edged out a sheriff’s deputy in Virginia by one-third of an inch.
He issued a plea in 2012 to cover the estimated $16,000 cost for specially made shoes that wouldn’t cause him crippling pain. At the time, he said he hadn’t owned a pair for years that fit his size 26, 10E feet. Thousands donated more than double what he needed. Reebok provided the custom shoes for free.
Vovkovinskiy was born Sept. 8, 1982, in Bar, Ukraine, to Vovkovinska and Oleksandr Ladan, according to Ranfranz and Vine Funeral Home, which is holding a memorial service on Saturday. His father died earlier.
WASHINGTON — White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Monday scolded a journalist who asked her about Americans “stranded” in Afghanistan — insisting it is “irresponsible” to use that term despite numerous reports of Americans being unable to board flights out.
Biden administration officials say they don’t know how many US citizens remain in the country following last week’s Taliban takeover, but some are alerting news outlets that they cannot reach Kabul’s airport to be evacuated.
“I think it’s irresponsible to say Americans are stranded. They are not. We are committed to bringing Americans who want to come home home,” Psaki said at her daily press briefing.
“We are in touch with them via phone, via text, via email, via any way that we can possibly reach Americans to get them home if they want to return home.”
When pressed by Peter Doocy of Fox News on whether Americans are stranded, Psaki added, “I’m just calling you out for saying that we are stranding Americans in Afghanistan when I said — when we have been very clear that we are not leaving Americans who want to return home. We are going to bring them home and I think that’s important for the American public to hear and understand.”
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told a journalist it was irresponsible to say Americans are “stranded” in Afghanistan.AP Photo/Susan Walsh
The crisis in Kabul has put the White House on the defensive regarding President Biden’s preparations for the withdrawal of US troops by Aug. 31 following 20 years of war. The swift Taliban offensive left many Americans behind enemy lines.
A senior US official told The Post on Monday that the White House estimates about 4,000 Americans have been evacuated from Afghanistan, meaning that thousands may remain in Taliban-held areas.
The official said that the Pentagon initially estimated there were 8,000-10,000 Americans in Afghanistan and the State Department estimated 10,000-15,0000 US citizens.
US Airmen and US Marines guide evacuees aboard in support of the Afghanistan evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan.Senior Airman Brennen Lege/U.S. Air Force via AP
Biden administration officials on Monday continued to plead ignorance on the precise number of Americans who may need to be rescued.
White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters Monday that “the reason why we can’t give you a precise number is because not every American who comes into Afghanistan goes and puts themselves in a database at the US embassy.”
There are many press reports of Americans unable to reach the Kabul airport. One American, David Marshall Fox, told The Post on Thursday that he and his son unsuccessfully sought to enter the airport on Wednesday while presenting his US passport.
Families begin to board a US Air Force Boeing C-17 Globemaster III during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International.Sgt. Samuel Ruiz/U.S. Marine Corps via AP
Washington Post reporter Susannah George revealed Monday that British troops helped her get to Kabul airport so she could board a US evacuation flight.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said last week that the approximately 5,200 US troops in Kabul “don’t have the capability to go out and collect up large numbers of people” because they have to keep the airport secure.
Relentless rains continued to plague areas from northern New Jersey into southern New England as lackadaisical Post-Tropical Cyclone Henri pushed across the area. A much more disastrous scene was unfolding west of Nashville in Tennessee: Residents continued to assess damage and search for victims after a severe, localized flash flood early Saturday took at least 21 lives (see below).
After sweeping into southwest Rhode Island as a tropical storm with 60 mph winds at midday Sunday, Henri moved west-northwest into the Hudson Valley of New York while slowing to a crawl, heightening the risk of flooding rains. At 5 p.m. EDT Monday, Henri – newly reclassified from tropical depression to post-tropical cyclone – was centered about 60 miles north-northeast of New York City, moving east at 9 mph. Top sustained winds were down to 25 mph. Henri is predicted to head eastward across southern New England, reaching Cape Cod by Tuesday morning, then accelerate eastward on Tuesday toward Nova Scotia.
There were very few reports of sustained tropical-storm-force winds with Henri, but gusts in the 45- to 70-mph range were common along and just inland from the southern New England coastline.
There remains a moderate risk of excessive rainfall through Tuesday morning near Henri’s track, according to the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center. Widespread amounts of 1-2” and localized 2-4” totals are possible in southern New England.
Henri’s slow westward-then-eastward loop across southern New England over a period of more than 24 hours while still classified as a tropical cyclone is extremely unusual if not unprecedented. Nearly all tropical depressions, tropical storms, or hurricanes in the region move more rapidly north or northeast, hauled toward the Atlantic by strong upper-level winds more typical at that latitude than the exceptionally weak steering currents present on Monday.
Including the predecessor rain bands on Saturday night that inundated parts of New Jersey and the New York City area, the heaviest rainfall amounts in each state from Henri as of 11 a.m. EDT Monday, August 23, included:
Connecticut: 5.00” east-northeast of Manchester;
Delaware: 3.42” 8 miles south of Lewes;
Massachusetts: 2.77” at Feeding Hills;
New Jersey: 8.91” at Cranbury; 8.66” at Jamesburg;
New York: 8.03” at Brooklyn; 7.04” at Central Park;
Pennsylvania: 6.67” 1 miles south of Blakeslee;
Rhode Island: 3.81” 1 mile south of Westerly.
Figure 1. Depiction from New York City radar of heavy rains rotating around Tropical Depression Henri at 12:44 p.m. EDT Monday, August 23, 2021. (Image credit: Mark Nissenbaum, Florida State University)
Was this the heaviest rainstorm in New York’s history?
The peak of rainfall in New York City was a two-hour period on Saturday night with 1.94” of rain from 10 to 11 PM EDT and another 1.84” from 11 PM to midnight. Based on an initial automated search of Central Park data, the 1.94” appeared to be the heaviest one-hour total observed there since at least 1943. However, it does not appear to be an all-time record for the site, where records began in 1869. According to station logs tweeted by Brian Brettschneider, Central Park recorded 2.48” of rain in one hour on August 12, 1925, and 2.09” in 30 minutes on July 10, 1905.
Estimates of climatological return periods from the NOAA Atlas-14 product show that Central Park would normally expect a 2”/hour rainfall about once every 10-15 years, perhaps a bit more often in the current human-warmed climate. Substantially more impressive is the two-hour downpour of 3.78” between 10 p.m. and midnight Saturday night, which has an Atlas-14 return period of between 100 and 200 years. (Thanks to Jan Null at Golden Gate Weather Services for the Atlas-14 reference.)
At least 21 killed in Tennessee flash flood
A devastating flash flood early Saturday morning took at least 21 lives in and near the town of Waverly, Tennessee (pop. 4,100), about 65 miles west of Nashville. There were still 40 people missing on Monday morning, and residents and authorities are fearful that many of them have died in the flood.
All but one of the known fatalities occurred in Waverly, a town on Trace Creek, which feeds into Kentucky Lake on the Tennessee River about 10 miles to the west.
As recently as the 1970s, flash floods in the United States sometimes resulted in 100 or more deaths. More recently, with heightened awareness of flash flood risks and improved communication of flash flood warnings, death tolls have tended to be much smaller. It appears the Tennessee disaster is the nation’s deadliest localized flash flood in decades. A flash flood on October 18, 1998, killed 31 people in San Marcos, Texas.
Flash floods are typically driven by rapid water rises in small channels as a result of persistent thunderstorm rains. They are distinct from broader-scale river flooding and from coastal storm-surge flooding during hurricanes. Some larger-scale flooding events, such as the one that killed 27 people across Tennessee on May 1-3, 2010, include both flash and river flooding, as did the deadly inland floods associated with such tropical cyclones as Floyd (1999), Allison (2001), and Harvey (2017).
Saturday’s flooding was well forecast and warned. Many parts of Middle Tennessee had received 2-5” of rain in the days leading up to the Saturday flood. A flash flood watch was issued at 5 p.m. Friday for the affected area, valid from 1 a.m. Saturday through Saturday afternoon, as computer models were already suggesting a band of heavy thunderstorms would develop in the overnight hours. By the predawn hours Saturday, a corridor of intense rainfall was moving south-southeast across the area in a “training echo” fashion. Flash flood warnings were issued for the hardest-hit area beginning at 3:29 a.m., and the warning was upgraded to a flash flood emergency at 7:47 a.m.
Figure 2. Rainfall totals, in inches, as estimated by a blend of radar returns and rain-gauge data for the seven-day period ending at 8 a.m. EDT Monday, August 23, 2021. (Image credit: NWS/AHPS)
Rainfall analyses based on a blend of radar and rain-gauge data show a corridor of 10-20” amounts over the past week (see Figure 2), with most of that falling during the Saturday storm. The highest rainfall amounts measured by CoCoRaHS and NWS cooperative observers in the area included:
17.26” about 9 miles north of Centerville (CoCoRaHS); 17.20” at McEwen (NWS COOP); 13.76” about 6 miles west-southwest of Dickson (CoCoRaHS).
The 17.20” at McEwen is being investigated as a potential 24-hour rainfall record for the state of Tennessee. The CoCoRaHS reading of 17.26” would actually top the McEwen amount, presuming it fell within a 24-hour period. However, verifying this CoCoRaHS report would be a challenge, given the observer’s report from Saturday: “Unfortunately, after 5,000 plus reports this will be the last from this station. The flood took the deck and rain gauge down river, then wrecked the interior, and finally collapsed the brick back side of the house, leaving open framework.”
An incredible 17.02 inches (431 mm) of rain fell in McEwen, Tennessee, in 24 hours – a new state record (to be confirmed), per @NWSNashville Our thoughts are with all those affected by the devastating and deadly flooding @NashvilleFDpic.twitter.com/een4VaUtYm
Figure 3. The Atlantic was blossoming with potential tropical trouble as of the NHC Tropical Weather Outlook issued at 2 p.m. EDT Monday, August 23, 2021. (Image credit: NHC)
Three systems to watch in the Atlantic
After a brief quiet spell, the Atlantic may turn busy quickly starting later this week. At 2 p.m. Monday, the National Hurricane Center, NHC, highlighted three areas for potential development.
A disturbance in the eastern Atlantic south of the Cape Verde Islands, classified as Invest 98L, may be the first of the three to develop. On Monday afternoon, 98L featured a large but disorganized cluster of strong showers and thunderstorms (convection) in a moist atmosphere (mid-level relative humidity of 75%), with some spin already evident. The system will be passing over warm waters with sea surface temperatures (SSTs) of 27-28 degrees Celsius (81-84°F) for the next several days. Moderate to strong wind shear at times, together with infusions of dry air from the Sahara Air Layer just to its north, will be inhibiting factors for 98L, but the shear is likely to decrease by midweek.
NHC gives 98L a 10 percent chance of developing into at least a tropical depression by Wednesday and a 40 percent chance by Saturday.
Figure 4. Visible satellite image of disturbances 97L (center) and 98L (lower right) in the central and eastern tropical Atlantic at 1515Z (11:15 a.m. EDT) Monday, August 22, 2021. (Image credit: tropicaltidbits.com)
Another disturbance, 97L, was located a few hundred miles west of the Cape Verde Islands in the central Atlantic, marked by a band of only moderately strong convection. Much like 98L, 97L will be passing over warm 27-28°C waters by Tuesday within a relatively moist atmosphere (midlevel RH of 55-60%), but it will be hindered by even stronger wind shear (15-25 knots through Wednesday).
NHC gives 97L a 10 percent chance of developing into at least a tropical depression by Wednesday and a 40 percent chance by Saturday. If it develops, 97L will likely end up recurving out to sea long before getting to the western Atlantic.
Figure 5. A broad area of disturbed weather in the southeast Caribbean at 1650Z (1:50 p.m. EDT) Monday, August 23, 2021.
Perhaps most troublesome by the end of this week could be the broad area of disturbed weather located over the southeast Caribbean on Monday. Although unimpressive for now, this disorganized complex of convection is expected to gradually organize as it moves west toward the western Caribbean. NHC gives this system a near-zero chance of development through Thursday but a 40% chance between Thursday and Saturday.
Figure 6. Visible (left) and infrared (right) satellite images of ex-Linda swirling east of Hawaii at 0300Z Monday, August 23, 2021 (5:00 p.m. HST Sunday). (Image credit: RAMMB/CIRA/CSU)
The storm formerly known as Linda sweeps into Hawaii
Although it is now classified as a remnant low by the Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC), what was once category 4 Hurricane Linda was making its presence felt in Hawaii on Monday.
As it moved westward, ex-Linda continued to boast a well-organized low-level circulation on Monday, evident in satellite loops, with pockets of 30-knot wind evident on ASCAT scatterometer imagery. Phase space diagrams from Florida State University showed on Monday that Linda still had a symmetric, warm-core circulation. As recently as Sunday night, satellite imagery had shown a cluster of strong thunderstorms holding their own on the north side of ex-Linda (see Figure 6 above). However, all deep convection was gone from Linda by Monday morning. Had the convection not vanished, there would have been a reasonable case for redesignating the storm as Tropical Depression Linda. (In the area served by NHC, a tropical cyclone can officially persist for as long as 18 hours after the disappearance of convection before being considered a remnant low.)
Ex-Linda’s center will pass over or just south of Oahu on Monday afternoon, August 23. A flash flood watch was in effect for the entire state of Hawaii. Linda’s remnants were predicted by the National Weather Service office in Honolulu to bring widespread 2-4” rains with isolated totals of up to 10”. The islands will also face winds of up to 30 mph, with some gusts as high as 50 mph, especially on the northern side of ex-Linda’s circulation. “The smaller islands from Molokai and Lanai to Kauai appear to be in direct line to experience strong and gusty winds, along with heavy rainfall and thunderstorms that could potentially produce flash flooding,” the NWS/Honolulu office wrote in its forecast discussion at 4 a.m. HST Monday.
Overall, ex-Linda could bring as much wind and rain to parts of Hawaii as Henri brought to New York and southern New England.
Linda had developed into a tropical storm on August 10 in the Eastern Pacific and was classified as a remnant low by CPHC on August 20. It’s easy to see how Linda’s circulation has held together so well into Hawaii: Linda survived longer than expected after it evolved into a powerful annular hurricane – the type dominated by a large eye and a single robust ring of convection that gives it a truck-tire appearance. Annular storms are typically among the most resilient and the most resistant to weakening of all tropical cyclones.
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Debris could be seen piled up in Waverly, Tenn., on Sunday after heavy weekend rains caused deadly flash flooding. Climate change is driving more torrential rain around the world.
Mark Humphrey/AP
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Mark Humphrey/AP
The rain fell fast and hard in Middle Tennessee over the weekend, harder than it has ever fallen before. Up to 17 inches of rain inundated parts of the state in less than 24 hours on Saturday. Streets turned into rivers. Water barreled through homes. At least 21 people died, and more are still missing.
It was another deadly example of climate change after a summer of climate-driven calamities. Flash flooding — when water rises very quickly and flows with enormous speed and power — is getting more common in many places as Earth heats up.
The deadly floods over the weekend were the second major flooding event in Tennessee this year. Torrential rain flooded parts of Nashville in March and killed at least four people.
Climate scientists have warned for decades that global warming would cause more heavy rain. Now, with Earth almost 2 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than it was in the late 1800s, scientists are observing that trend in real time. The amount of rain falling during the heaviest storms increased by almost a third in the Southeast U.S. between 1958 and 2016, according to the most recent National Climate Assessment.
That’s because hotter air can hold more moisture.
Hotter air also dries out soil, which makes it less absorbent. When a lot of rain falls in a short period of time, it can’t soak into the ground, and runoff overwhelms pipes, dams and other drainage infrastructure.
Floodwaters can knock down buildings and carry away cars. Just this summer, more than 180 people were killed in flash floods in Germany and Belgium after record-breaking rains. At least 25 people in central China drowned after being trapped by rising water, and more than 100 people in western India died after heavy rain triggered landslides and flash floods.
The Tennessee floods also underscore how climate change can drive dangerous flooding far from the coasts. Although Tennessee is landlocked, about a quarter million residents live in places that are prone to flooding, according to a 2015 analysis.
Since Friday, a southwesterly wind has been directing the huge plume of smoke from the Caldor Fire directly into the Lake Tahoe basin, saturating the region with thick, toxic air that measures beyond hazardous on the Air Quality Index.
On Monday morning, readings on AirNow showed a 620 AQI in Tahoe City. The Air Quality Index goes up to 500. Anything above 500 is labeled as “beyond index.”
“Anything beyond 500, there isn’t really a number that can be calculated,” said Brendan Schnieder, air quality specialist at the Washoe County Health District in Reno, Nevada. “It’s really 500-plus. It’s the worst it can get.”
When the Air Quality Index goes above 300, the air is considered “hazardous,” which AirNow describes as a “health warning of emergency conditions” that affects everyone.
“Everyone should avoid outdoor activity,” Schnieder said. “And even if you’re inside your home, you should be doing light activity. It can cause a variety of health issues.”
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, wildfire smoke can trigger a wide range of health issues, from acute to very serious issues. Breathing toxic air from wildfire smoke can cause irritation in your lungs and eyes. It can reduce lung function, exacerbate asthma and heart failure. It can cause premature death. The EPA says that children, pregnant women and the elderly are especially vulnerable.
Anecdotally, many people in Lake Tahoe and Reno say that this is the worst wildfire smoke they’ve ever experienced. Schnieder, who has lived in the Reno area since 2004, said he hasn’t been able to see the mountains in a long time. On Tahoe’s West Shore, in Tahoma, longtime resident Ed Miller compares it to the smoke he experienced during 2013’s Rim Fire in Yosemite. But he doesn’t remember the smoke lasting for as long or with the kind of intensity as it has this summer.
“It’s changed our lives,” Miller said. “Our everyday activities. For example, we used to take our puppy swimming almost every day in Homewood. And we’re not doing that anymore. We just canceled an appointment in Truckee, because we don’t want to go out. It’s very gloomy. It’s depressing. It’s anxiety producing.”
Lake Tahoe and parts of northern California and northern Nevada have some of the worst measurements on the Air Quality Index in North America right now. Schnieder said that virtually everywhere else in North America has a better AQI reading — that is to say, healthier and cleaner air — than the central Sierra Nevada, Lake Tahoe, Carson Valley and Reno area.
Sunday even set a new record for air quality in Reno: The 24-hour average for Reno’s AQI was at 251, said Schnieder. On a typical summer day, without wildfires, Reno’s 24-hour average AQI hovers around 25 to 30. Sunday was the worst day on record for particulate matter 2.5, or PM 2.5, which is a measurement of the fine particles in the air from wildfire smoke.
PM 2.5 is “the more concerning of the particulates because it can coat further down into your lungs,” Schnieder said.
The record-breaking measurement in Reno comes from air monitors that are regulated by the EPA’s National Ambient Air Quality Standards, which Schnieder said is a separate source of records than AirNow and PurpleAir. The data for daily average on air quality goes back to the late 1990s, Schnieder said.
Schnieder also said that air quality in the Reno Tahoe region has developed a disturbing pattern that gets worse every year because of wildfires.
“Since 2013, we’ve had wildfire smoke impacts every summer,” Schnieder said. “2018 was notable. 2020 was even worse. And now 2021 is even worse than 2020. So it does appear to be this sort of pattern of more wildfire smoke-affected days. But also, those wildfire smoke-affected days are worse than they have ever been.”
Given how bad the air is in Reno, the Lake Tahoe Basin is located in closer proximity to the Caldor Fire, and many of the residents on the south and west shores are likely seeing even worse air quality. On Monday, AirNow maps showed hazardous air quality levels for many locations around the Tahoe Basin. SFGATE called El Dorado County air quality officials for comment about the smoke in South Lake Tahoe, but the health district was not available. (Mass evacuation orders due to the Caldor Fire have been issued near the El Dorado county seat in Placerville.)
For about 36 hours last week, Tahoe saw a brief reprieve from the wildfire smoke, which has been sitting in the basin for several weeks straight. On Thursday and Friday, a shift of winds graciously cleared the air; you could actually see the mountains on the other side of Lake Tahoe. There were blue skies. Tahoe residents and visitors were finally free to be outside, to go hiking, to swim in the water.
But the taste of summer was short-lived. Winds from the southwest picked up, blowing all the smoke from the Caldor Fire into Tahoe.
“We’re right in the worst-case scenario spot,” said Scott McGuire, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Reno, which forecasts for northern Nevada and the Sierra Nevada. “We’re sandwiched between the Dixie Fire to the north that’s been burning for quite some time now, and then the Caldor Fire, southwest of Lake Tahoe.”
McGuire said that winds are going to stay consistent, blowing from that unfortunate southwestern direction, for the first part of this week. Later in the week, he said some signs are starting to show that winds may shift. But smoke forecasts depend on myriad factors, including the fire itself.
“At this point, the message is, we unfortunately are going to be dealing with some sort of smoke and haze issues for the foreseeable future,” McGuire said.
In Tahoma, Miller is the president of the Meeks Bay Fire Protection District. He said he’s getting many calls from fellow community members, neighbors and friends, regarding the Caldor Fire and the smoke. He has two air filters in his house and he said his street has vacated because so many of his neighbors have left their homes. The visuals caused by the smoke are apocalyptic, he said.
“When you see the sun rise or the sun set,” Miller said. “We’re known for our spectacular sunsets, and when they turn to this hazy orange glow, it looks unearthly.”
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