Dixie Fire Stirs Anxiety In The California Town Decimated In 2018 By The Camp Fire – NPR
Dixie Fire Stirs Anxiety In The California Town Decimated In 2018 By The Camp Fire – NPR

A bench stands outside a scorched building as the Dixie Fire tears through the Greenville community of Plumas County, Calif., on Aug. 4, 2021.

Noah Berger/AP


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A bench stands outside a scorched building as the Dixie Fire tears through the Greenville community of Plumas County, Calif., on Aug. 4, 2021.

Noah Berger/AP

Out-of-control wildfires in northern California are burning homes and again forcing thousands to evacuate.

One of the biggest concerns remains the Dixie Fire, the second largest wildfire in the U.S. It has now burned some 322,000 acres, including much of the northern Sierra Nevada town of Greenville.

Until recently, the Dixie Fire had been burning in mostly remote wild lands. But that changed dramatically Wednesday as erratic winds sent the flames racing toward whole communities around the popular vacation enclave of Lake Almanor.

By late afternoon, an ominous emergency alert broke into local radio here warning all Greenville, Calif., residents to leave immediately.

“We lost Greenville tonight,” said U.S. Rep. Doug LaMalfa in an emotional video to his constituents posted to Facebook. “There’s just no words for how us in government haven’t been able to get the job done.”

Only a dramatic change in the weather will stop wildfires like this in an era of climate change. They’re also burning through dense, overgrown forests built up from a legacy of suppressing fires. The Dixie Fire is the latest to rage in this mostly rural part of the Sierra Nevada that’s been traumatized by huge and deadly wildfires since 2018.

Flames consume buildings as the Dixie Fire tears through the Greenville community of Plumas County, Calif., on Aug. 4, 2021.

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Flames consume buildings as the Dixie Fire tears through the Greenville community of Plumas County, Calif., on Aug. 4, 2021.

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“It started at the same place the Camp Fire did, that’s all people needed to hear,” says Steve Crowder, the mayor of Paradise, Calif.

His community is still reeling from the Camp Fire in November of 2018, which killed 85 people and destroyed close to 19,000 structures. The Dixie Fire started in the same area, also likely due to downed power lines.

“It really is tough on people,” Crowder says. “It just brings back all kinds of memories.”

Paradise is actually pretty safe — for now

The huge, volcano-like plume of the Dixie Fire can be seen from out the back of Paradise town hall, though so far it’s burning away from it. But people who have moved back in, like Stephen Murray, know that could easily change. Paradise is about 15 miles as the crow flies from where the Dixie Fire started and is still burning.

“Last Thursday, I had my truck packed and I was ready to leave. Even though I rebuilt my home and all that, it’s not worth staying,” Murray says. He didn’t end up leaving for good though, for now. He’s been making a living as a contractor, clearing out debris from burnt out lots. But it’s so dry he can only operate machinery in the early morning due to the threat of sparks igniting more fires.

“Unfortunately the Dixie Fire has put me out of work for the last 20 days,” Murray says.

In the hot afternoon sun obscured by dense smoke, he looks nervously at his neighbor’s abandoned property, overgrown with dry brush.

But even if the Dixie Fire were to blow back this way, the irony is that Paradise today is actually pretty safe, for now. New power lines are being buried underground. Homes are being built to more fire resistant code. And most of the forests are gone because thousands of trees had to be removed.

“This is a safer community and quite honestly one of the safest in the Sierra,” says Jim Broshears, a longtime wildland fire chief who now runs the town’s emergency services.

Residents have their bags packed so they’re ready to leave if they have to

This is of little solace to the thousands of Camp Fire survivors who decided to leave Paradise and put their lives back together elsewhere.

Linda and Bob Oslin moved to a home about 30 minutes away from Paradise after losing everything in the Camp Fire. They were evacuated due to wildfires last summer and figure it’s only a matter of time before they’ll have to leave again.

They have suitcases packed and their essential documents are already in a pickup outside.

“I have my suitcase ready to go and I just live out of my suitcase,” Linda says. “This is our life from … May to December.”

The Oslins know this could soon be their life year round as wildfire “seasons” are now a relic of the cooler past.

Source Article from https://www.npr.org/2021/08/05/1025127666/paradise-dixie-fire-camp-fire-wildfire-paradise-california

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White House touts more than 864,000 vaccinations in last 24 hours, highest rate since early July – CNN
White House touts more than 864,000 vaccinations in last 24 hours, highest rate since early July – CNN

Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/05/politics/vaccine-mandates-progress-delta/index.html

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The full picture of Trump’s attempted coup is only starting to emerge – CNN
The full picture of Trump’s attempted coup is only starting to emerge – CNN

(CNN)President Donald Trump — back in the final days of his presidency — didn’t exactly make a secret of his effort to overturn the election he’d just lost and so it’s very easy to get tired of thinking about it, now that he’s out of office and his official powers have been clipped.

        • Trump pressured acting DOJ officials like acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen on December 27 to “Just say that the election was corrupt + leave the rest to me and the R. Congressmen,” according to the notes of acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue’s notes, shared with House investigators.
        • A day later, on December 28, at least one acting DOJ official, Jeffrey Clark, who was in charge of the civil division, apparently bought into Trump’s lies, or wanted to assuage him, and drafted a letter suggesting there were election irregularities in the election (there weren’t), but it was rebuffed by other top acting officials.
        • Officials like Rosen’s chief of staff Patrick Hovakimian drafted letters of resignation in case his boss was pushed out in favor of Clark.
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    Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/05/politics/what-matters-trump-doj-coup/index.html

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    CNN’s prominent female hosts mum on Chris Cuomo’s role in big brother’s sexual harassment scandal – Fox News
    CNN’s prominent female hosts mum on Chris Cuomo’s role in big brother’s sexual harassment scandal – Fox News
    Video

    Media top headlines August 5

    In media news today, CNN execs reportedly suggested Chris Cuomo take ‘temporary leave’ to advise his brother, a reporter who accused Gov. Cuomo of bullying says CNN host needs to come clean about his role in brother’s scandal, and MSNBC’s Chris Hayes complains about how Sen. Rubio encouraged people to get vaccinated.

    CNN host Chris Cuomo has been scolded by just about everyone in the media industry since the New York attorney general revealed his involvement in his brother’s sexual harassment scandal with one seemingly notable exception: CNN’s prominent female anchors. 

    The Poynter Institute, an MSNBC column, countless Twitter personalities, media watchdogs, journalism professors and even liberal former U.S. attorney Joyce Vance have condemned Chris Cuomo for advising his brother, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, not to step down amid sexual misconduct allegations.

    REPORTER WHO ACCUSED GOV. CUOMO OF BULLYING SAYS CNN HOST NEEDS TO COME CLEAN ABOUT ROLE IN SIBLING’S SCANDAL

    Alisyn Camerota, Brianna Keilar, Kate Bolduan are among the prominent women at CNN that have been silent about Chris Cuomo’s role in his brother’s sexual harassment scandal.
    (Getty Images)

    New York Attorney General Letitia James announced Tuesday that an investigation into sexual harassment allegations against Gov. Cuomo found that he harassed multiple women from 2013 to 2020. James’ report also indicated that CNN’s Cuomo crafted a statement for his big brother while he was simultaneously serving as a news anchor for the liberal network. The “Cuomo Prime Time” namesake has yet to comment publicly on the debacle, but he’s not the only prominent person from the network to remain silent. 

    None of CNN’s female anchors have condemned their colleague on air for helping the governor navigate sexual harassment claims, according to a search of Grabien Media. 

    CNN female personalities Alisyn Camerota, Brianna Keilar, Kate Bolduan, Erin Burnett, Dana Bash, Pamela Brown, Ana Cabrera and Christine Romans haven’t condemned Chris Cuomo’s role on Twitter, either. Bolduan and Bash did express shock at Gov. Cuomo’s reported behavior itself following James’ press conference.

    CNN’S CHRIS CUOMO WILL FOREVER HAVE A ‘CREDIBILITY PROBLEM’ FOR ROLE IN BROTHER’S SCANDAL: POYNTER INSTITUTE

    It’s obviously awkward for anyone to publicly criticize a colleague, and CNN’s prominent females aren’t expected to do anything that could make them uncomfortable in the workplace. CNN’s “Early Start” co-anchor Laura Jarrett retweeted the full attorney general report on Twitter, but did not directly mention Chris Cuomo’s involvement. 

    Some female CNN personalities, such as Kate Bennett and S.E. Cupp, have taken to Twitter to express disgust with Gov. Cuomo, but none of them have appeared to publicly criticize Chris Cuomo’s role. 

    CNN is the only major cable news network without a female anchor during primetime. Despite that, CNN fancies itself as a progressive workplace. Their recent projects include “Badass Women of Washington” and a celebration of the 100th anniversary of women being allowed to vote, so it raises eyebrows as to why the network’s prominent females haven’t mentioned their colleague’s growing scandal. 

    CNN did not immediately respond when asked if female staffers were told not to publicly speak out against Chris Cuomo. One female CNN host told Fox News she was not instructed how to cover the story by management.

    However, women from other networks and industries have been vocal. 

    “CNN’s Chris Cuomo running cover for his powerful brother amid sexual harassment allegations is why so many women do not come forward,” activist Jen Perelman tweeted. “There should be a price to pay for this.”

    Journalist Laura Bassett wrote Tuesday for MSNBC that CNN’s Cuomo “should resign from covering politics or be fired” over advising his brother.

    “It’s extremely inappropriate and unethical for a journalist to advise and craft the statements of a politician, regardless of family relation,” Bassett wrote. 

    CNN EXECS REPORTEDLY SUGGESTED CHRIS CUOMO TAKE ‘TEMPORARY LEAVE’ TO ADVISE BROTHER AMID SCANDALS

    “The View” co-host Meghan McCain slammed Chris Cuomo, too, noting that failing to report on his brother’s scandal is “the worst kind of nepotism.”

    The New York Times reported on Wednesday that CNN executives even “floated the idea” earlier this year that he take a “temporary leave” as his brother faced multiple controversies, including accusations of sexual misconduct. 

    Prior to the damning attorney general report, Cuomo previously apologized to his CNN colleagues on air for putting them in a “bad spot” and acknowledged he was in a “unique and difficult situation” as the brother of the nation’s most prominent governor while being CNN’s star anchor, but he insisted “I know where the line is.”

    CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

    When the governor’s scandals first emerged, Cuomo told his viewers that he “obviously” cannot cover his brother, but that wasn’t the case last year when he invited the New York Democrat nearly a dozen times for chummy interviews where he praised the “Luv Guv’s” leadership during the pandemic. The two of them even performed prop comedy with a giant Q-tip. 

    At the time, CNN had lifted its rule that barred Cuomo from interviewing his brother. But ever since the governor went from being a media darling to an embattled figure, CNN reinstated its rule on the Cuomo siblings.

    CNN also recently welcomed back its top legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin from an extended leave of absence that was granted when he was caught masturbating on a Zoom call in front of several female staffers at his other gig as a writer for the New Yorker. The prestigious magazine fired Toobin for his actions, but CNN allowed him to stick around and even enlisted Camerota to explain the graphic details to viewers on his first day back. 

    Fox News’ Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report. 

    Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/media/cnn-prominent-females-mum-chris-cuomo

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    Covid vaccinations surging in states hit hardest by latest wave of infections – NBC News
    Covid vaccinations surging in states hit hardest by latest wave of infections – NBC News
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    Justice Dept. to Investigate Phoenix Police – The New York Times
    Justice Dept. to Investigate Phoenix Police – The New York Times

    “We had a sigh of relief in some ways because the violence we have been exposing for years has finally been seen at a national level,” said Viri Hernandez, the executive director of Poder in Action, a nonprofit that works with people who have lost loved ones to police violence.

    After the murder of Mr. Floyd while in police custody last year in Minneapolis, activists around the country, including in Phoenix, demanded that police departments be defunded. While the movement has gained traction in some cities, like Minneapolis and Los Angeles, Ms. Hernandez said officials in Phoenix had shown little appetite for cutting the police budget.

    “For years we have been saying this, and last year after George Floyd our demands were echoed in the streets,” she said, quickly adding, “Defunding is not happening here even though community members have made that a priority.”

    In recent years, both Arizona and Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, have had some of the highest rates of police shootings that resulted in deaths. Analyzing data from 2015 to 2020, one study found that Arizona had the fourth-highest rate of police killings among states, while Maricopa County had the ninth-highest rate among the nation’s 100 most populous counties.

    At the same time, homelessness has become a growing concern in Phoenix, along with other cities, especially in the western United States, where more people are living on the streets amid a pandemic and mental health and addiction crises. Alarming activists and those experiencing homelessness has been the police response: a steady flow of early-morning sweeps of homeless encampments, in which officers seize people’s belongings.

    “Police are just playing Whac-a-Mole, just pushing them from place to place,” said Elizabeth Venable, the founder of the Fund for Empowerment’s Houseless Leadership Project, which advocates on behalf of the homeless.

    Ms. Venable said she was contacted this week by officials at the Justice Department to participate in the investigation, and she said she would organize groups of people to meet with federal investigators to discuss the police response to homelessness.

    Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/05/us/politics/justice-department-phoenix-police.html

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    Florida Governor DeSantis clashes with President Biden as state faces mounting COVID surge – CBS News
    Florida Governor DeSantis clashes with President Biden as state faces mounting COVID surge – CBS News

    Florida now has more than 12,000 hospital patients with the coronavirus — the highest number since the start of the pandemic. Schools are about to open in the state, and the governor says new COVID requirements are out of the question.

    Inside Memorial Healthcare System in Broward County, ICU beds are once again filling up fast, CBS News’ Manuel Bojorquez reports.

    “It has gone up 400% in the last six weeks,” said Aurelio Fernandez, the president and CEO of Memorial, which recently added 266 beds to keep up with demand.

    Hospitals are also facing staffing shortages. Sixty percent of hospitals in the state could see a critical staffing shortage within the next week, according to the Florida Hospital Association.   

    President Biden called out hot-spot governors this week, including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, for failing to implement restrictions, including mask mandates in schools. 

    “If you’re not going to help, at least get out of the way of people trying to do the right thing,” Mr. Biden said on Tuesday.

    DeSantis signed an executive order late last week barring school districts from forcing students to mask up, despite guidance from the CDC saying masks should be required of everyone inside K-12 schools. He signed it to “protect parents’ freedom to choose” whether their children wear masks in schools.   

    DeSantis said of the president on Wednesday, “He thinks that should be a decision for the government, well I can tell ya in Florida, the parents are gonna be the ones in charge of that decision.”

    The governor argued during a press conference in Panama City that Mr. Biden’s immigration policies are responsible for the COVID surge, claiming, without any evidence, that undocumented immigrants are causing the virus to spread.

    “Why don’t you get this border secure, and until you do that, I don’t want to hear a blip about COVID from you,” DeSantis said of the president.  

    The rise of COVID of Florida is because of the highly-contagious delta variant, and because of permissive behavior, said CBS News medical contributor Dr. David Agus.

    “With low vaccination rates and … going out without masks and in large groups you’re going to get significant spread of the virus, period,” he said.

    The surge in infections in the state includes children. As of Wednesday, 135 children under 18 in Florida were hospitalized with COVID, the highest it’s ever been.     

    John Moreno Escobar, who is running for the Broward County School Board and whose son, Luca, will begin first grade this year, said, “the minimum we could do to protect all of the people who decided to get vaccinated or not is to put our mask on, even if we’re vaccinated.”

    He believes it’s up to parents to convince those who are hesitant.

    “We are protecting others by putting the mask on,” he said. “Putting a mask is protecting the life of someone else, and life is sacred and we should protect it all as a community.”

    Source Article from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/desantis-biden-clash-florida-covid-19-surge/

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    DOJ opens investigation into how Phoenix Police Department treats city’s homeless residents – CNN
    DOJ opens investigation into how Phoenix Police Department treats city’s homeless residents – CNN

    By Christina Carrega and Devan Cole, CNN

    Updated 4:14 PM ET, Thu August 5, 2021

    Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/05/politics/phoenix-justice-garland/index.html

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    Richard Trumka, President Of The AFL-CIO, Dies At Age 72 – NPR
    Richard Trumka, President Of The AFL-CIO, Dies At Age 72 – NPR

    AFL-CIO leader Richard Trumka addresses a 2019 rally in Washington, D.C. He had been president of the federation since 2009.

    Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images


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    AFL-CIO leader Richard Trumka addresses a 2019 rally in Washington, D.C. He had been president of the federation since 2009.

    Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

    Richard Trumka, the longtime head of the powerful AFL-CIO and a close ally of Democratic Party leaders, has died. He was 72.

    Speaking before a White House event Thursday, President Biden said that Trumka died of a heart attack while on a camping trip with family.

    “He wasn’t just a great labor leader, he was a friend,” Biden said. “He was someone I could confide in. You knew whatever he said he’d do, he would do.”

    “The labor movement, the AFL-CIO and the nation lost a legend today,” the 12.5 million-member organization said in announcing his passing. “Rich Trumka devoted his life to working people, from his early days as president of the United Mine Workers of America to his unparalleled leadership as the voice of America’s labor movement.”

    Liz Shuler, the federation’s secretary-treasurer, wrote on Twitter that even as the AFL-CIO mourns Trumka’s death, “we will stand on his shoulders to continue the fight for workers, and for the fair and just society he believed in so passionately. We will honor his legacy with action.”

    Trumka had led the AFL-CIO since 2009. He was secretary-treasurer of the organization for more than a decade before then.

    Trumka grew up in a coal mining town in southwestern Pennsylvania. His father was a miner, and he worked in the mines as well before college and law school. In 1982, at age 33, he was elected the youngest president of the United Mine Workers of America.

    Trumka was always easy to spot on a picket line or at a political rally. His burly physique and thick mustache always made him stand out.

    His death set off a wave of condolences from unions and Democratic leaders.

    “He had in his veins, in every atom of his body, the heart, the thoughts, the needs of the working people of America. He was them,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in emotional remarks on the Senate floor.

    Schumer added: “The working people of America have lost a fierce warrior at a time when we needed him most.”

    Trumka’s death comes as the pandemic has raised concerns about worker safety and workplace standards, and as Biden and congressional Democrats seek to pass two massive spending plans that would inject funds into many union-heavy sectors. In recent years, Trumka has also been outspoken about trade deals.

    Biden has long touted his connections to labor groups, and in mid-February, barely a month into his term, he gathered 10 union leaders in the Oval Office for a meeting that lasted two hours. Trumka was among that group.

    “This president really does get it,” Trumka said after that meeting.

    During the 2008 election, when Democrat Barack Obama was on the presidential ballot, Trumka started to encounter union members who told him they had reservations about voting for an African American candidate. In response, he began touring union halls and factory floors, confronting the issue.

    “We can’t tap-dance around the fact that there are a lot of white folks out there,” he said at a Las Vegas event, who “just can’t get past this idea that there’s something wrong with voting for a Black man.”

    Source Article from https://www.npr.org/2021/08/05/1025136446/powerful-u-s-labor-leader-richard-trumka-dies

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    Cuomo impeachment probe nears its end as NY lawmakers give governor Aug. 13 deadline to submit evidence – CNBC
    Cuomo impeachment probe nears its end as NY lawmakers give governor Aug. 13 deadline to submit evidence – CNBC

    New York state lawmakers warned Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s lawyers on Thursday that the Assembly’s impeachment probe into various accusations against the governor is nearing an end and gave him until Aug. 13 to furnish any final evidence.

    The request from attorneys for the Assembly Judiciary Committee came two days after a scathing, detailed report that said Cuomo sexually harassed multiple women.

    “The Committee’s investigation is nearing completion and the Assembly will soon consider potential articles of impeachment against your client,” read the warning.

    The Judiciary Committee launched its impeachment investigation in March, following initial accusations of sexual harassment made against the governor.

    Committee staff members were also charged with investigating other allegations of wrongdoing by Cuomo, including whether his staff tried to hide or alter data on coronavirus deaths in New York nursing homes and whether he misused state resources to promote a book he wrote about leadership in 2020.

    Cuomo and his staff have denied these allegations.

    The impeachment probe was conducted parallel to an investigation led by the state Attorney General’s office.

    On Tuesday, New York Attorney General Letitia James released the findings of her office’s investigation: a bombshell report that found Cuomo sexually harassed at least 11 women and retaliated against a former employee who complained publicly about his conduct.

    The 165-page report landed like a grenade in Albany and Washington, immediately prompting scores of Cuomo’s fellow Democrats in office, up to and including President Joe Biden, to call for his resignation.

    A spokesman for the governor did not respond to a request for comment from CNBC.

    So far, Cuomo has shown no signs that he plans to step down.

    On the contrary, the governor issued a statement Tuesday strongly denying some of the allegations against him and portraying himself as the victim of a political witch hunt.

    But Thursday’s announcement set in motion an impeachment clock that could count down the final weeks and months of Cuomo’s governorship.

    It’s unclear how long it might take to formally impeach the governor and remove him from office, but legislators have warned it could be months.

    The Judiciary Committee plans to meet on Monday to devise a timetable for the next steps in an impeachment.

    Source Article from https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/05/cuomo-impeachment-probe-nears-end-lawmakers-set-deadline-for-evidence.html

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    ‘We lost Greenville’: Dixie Fire wipes out much of Northern California community – CNN
    ‘We lost Greenville’: Dixie Fire wipes out much of Northern California community – CNN

    By Jason Hanna and Joe Sutton, CNN

    Updated 10:48 AM ET, Thu August 5, 2021

    Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/05/weather/greenville-california-dixie-fire/index.html

    14 views no comments
    DeSantis Blames COVID Surge on Immigrants as Florida Pediatric Cases Soar, Hospitals Fill Up – Slate
    DeSantis Blames COVID Surge on Immigrants as Florida Pediatric Cases Soar, Hospitals Fill Up – Slate

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    Source Article from https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/08/desantis-blames-covid-immigrants-florida-hospitals-fill-up.html

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    You shouldn’t miss this massive bombshell in Trump’s ongoing election fraud lie – CNN
    You shouldn’t miss this massive bombshell in Trump’s ongoing election fraud lie – CNN

    Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large

    Updated 10:57 AM ET, Thu August 5, 2021

    Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/05/politics/donald-trump-jeffrey-rosen-election-fraud-cnn/index.html

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    How one Republican is struggling to get to yes on Biden’s big deal – POLITICO
    How one Republican is struggling to get to yes on Biden’s big deal – POLITICO

    No stranger to the spotlight of intra-GOP controversy, Moran is giving few clues how he will vote on the infrastructure deal even as his colleagues privately offer competing predictions. Moran and other Republicans wanted to see bill text and a detailing of the measure’s finances, neither of which were available before two key votes to advance the bill.

    “I’m still very interested in seeing a result on a bipartisan infrastructure bill, and hope to be able to be a yes,” Moran said in an interview. “I’m going to talk to my colleagues, finish the analysis, and make a decision as to whether I believe overall this is better for the country to have it.”

    Like other Republicans, Moran got spooked when Biden said in June that he wouldn’t sign the bipartisan bill until it was accompanied by a $3.5 trillion Democratic-only spending bill. He’s criticized a similar position from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and stayed hopeful that moderate Democrats will tank the bigger plan, saying his constituents have a hard time separating the two spending bills.

    Moran has also taken hits from former Trump aides this summer for his role in the bipartisan infrastructure bill, with the Coalition to Protect American Workers running ads against him asking him to “stop Biden’s radical plan” to increase IRS enforcement to pay for the proposal. The laid-back senator came back from a recess and complained about the beefed-up IRS provisions in the bill, but even after they were removed he still has not supported it on the floor.

    Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), who runs the Veterans Affairs Committee with Moran, said: “I’m sure it got his attention. And he said, ‘Do I really need to fight this fight?’” Moran said the ads didn’t have “much of a consequence. Most people were confused as to what the point was.”

    Tester called Marc Short, a former top aide to Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence who founded the CPAW group, a “prick” (the two tangled in 2018 over Trump’s Veterans Affairs nominee). In a statement, Short said his group is “grateful for Senator Moran’s efforts to remove $40 billion to hire additional enforcement agents at the IRS.”

    Moran is far from the only senator up in 2022 who could come under scrutiny for his vote on the infrastructure package. Of the Republicans who will face voters next year, only five have supported advancing the legislation: Sens. John Hoeven of North Dakota, Todd Young of Indiana, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Mike Crapo of Idaho and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who was a principal negotiator.

    A former GOP campaign chief himself, Young declined to comment on Trump’s vow to back primary challenges to those who supported the bill. And other Republicans up for reelection, like Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), said the former president’s vocal opposition was not a deciding factor. Trump’s statement came just before the first crucial vote to overcome a filibuster last week.

    Moran said he was dining with Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and other senators afterwards when he learned of Trump’s latest threat.

    “I didn’t even know he had said that,” Moran said.

    Though Moran is neither a Sunday show fixture nor a household name, he’s an integral part of today’s GOP and is an apt test case for the party’s shifting terrain as Republicans consider supporting a bill Biden badly wants. A longtime House member, Moran defeated a colleague in the 2010 Senate primary and then four years later helped win the majority for the GOP as National Republican Senatorial Committee chair.

    Then, as he sought reelection, Moran suggested in 2016 he’d meet with former President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee. He immediately faced threats of a primary challenge and backed off, joining the party’s blockade of Merrick Garland. A year later, he and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) torpedoed Republicans’ Obamacare replacement plan, though both ultimately backed a hastily constructed repeal bill that failed on the Senate floor.

    “Jerry’s not the most solid decider in the world. Never has been,” said one GOP senator. This same Republican then predicted Moran would ultimately support the infrastructure bill.

    Still, colleagues said Moran is thoughtful about his votes on big issues, talking them through with fellow senators and Kansans before coming down. He also generally holds town halls ahead of making big decisions — including recent events during the infrastructure debate.

    Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), who replaced Moran in the larger group of senators pushing the infrastructure bill, expressed sympathy for his position given Biden’s comments and Pelosi’s pledge to hold the bipartisan bill until she gets the $3.5 trillion social spending package.

    “It did violate a trust that’s been I think difficult for Jerry to overcome. And so he’s just becoming a harder person to rebuild the trust with than some of the others,” Cramer said.

    While Cramer and other supporters of the package emphasize it’s a separate effort from Democrats’ big social spending bill, that’s not convincing many members of the conference. Current chair of the Senate’s campaign arm Rick Scott (R-Fla.) is a vocal opponent of the infrastructure deal. And some Senate Republicans are warning their colleagues that they could face political consequences for backing the legislation.

    “It’s a big mistake for Republicans to support this,” said Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.). “Those who do are going to have to explain why they’re in favor of massive deficit spending … and why they are supporting the Biden agenda, because that’s what this is.”

    From the get-go, Moran’s support for the infrastructure bill has been unusual — he was accidentally omitted from the original press release announcing the support of 21 senators. But in Washington, infrastructure is not considered as ideological as issues like immigration, health care or gun safety, which potentially shelters GOP supporters from internal criticism. Moran said his most recent town hall didn’t even include a question about infrastructure.

    Still, other members of the bipartisan group have taken notice of Moran’s increased skepticism about its work. And getting Moran back on board is a big priority for the Senate’s latest bipartisan gang when the bill comes to a final vote in the coming days.

    “Sen. Moran is in the same place that many of our colleagues are,” said Murkowski. “So my hope is he and his team have taken these past couple of days really scouring it, and sees the benefit for the people of Kansas.”

    Source Article from https://www.politico.com/news/2021/08/05/jerry-moran-infrastructure-502448

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    Texas van crash probe, Western wildfires, ‘The Suicide Squad’: 5 things to know Thursday – USA TODAY
    Texas van crash probe, Western wildfires, ‘The Suicide Squad’: 5 things to know Thursday – USA TODAY

    Investigation into deadly Texas van crash expected to continue

    At least 10 people were killed and 20 more were injured when an overloaded van crashed Wednesday in Encino, Texas, a town about 100 miles south of Corpus Christi, authorities said. Brooks County Sheriff Urbino Martinez said the van, designed to hold 15 passengers, was top-heavy and tipped over when the driver lost control on a curve. The van held 29 suspected undocumented migrants, he said. Additional details about the crash are expected to come Thursday or in the coming days. The identities of the 30 in the van were being withheld until relatives can be notified, an official with the Texas Department of Public Safety said. No information about the van, including where it was registered or who owned it, was immediately released. A surge in migrants crossing the border illegally has brought about an uptick in the number of crashes involving vehicles jammed with migrants who pay large amounts to be smuggled into the country.

    Prefer to listen? Check out the 5 Things podcast:

    Red flag warnings prompt more wildfire fears across the West

    Firefighters battling dozens of blazes across the West braced for more hot, dry weather as dangerous conditions threatened to spark new wildfires in multiple states. The National Weather Service issued red flag warnings for parts of California, Nevada and Oregon until Thursday evening, expecting gusty winds and low humidity that could cause the dry vegetation to burn rapidly. There are 27 active large wildfires in those three states, and across 14 states, 96 large wildfires have burned more than 2,900 square miles, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. In Northern California, the Dixie Fire remains the largest blaze in the state as conditions stoke the flames. The Dixie Fire blazed through Greenville, California, leaving behind only a few structures. The fire primarily burned through most of the downtown area and some surrounding homes in the small mountain community. 

    Spirit Airlines bedlam goes on: Hundreds of Thursday flights already canceled

    Spirit Airlines, which has canceled more than 1,300 flights and stranded passengers since Sunday as it grapples with a series of issues, said Wednesday cancellations should ease in the days to come as it reboots its operation. However, that day doesn’t appear to be Thursday. The carrier has already canceled 349 of its Thursday flights or 45% of its scheduled flights, as of 6 a.m. EDT, according to flight tracker FlightAware. It will be the fifth consecutive day of frustration for passengers on the budget airline and comes as a busy summer travel weekend looms. The carrier canceled more than 400 flights per day, or a whopping 60% percent of its operation, on both Tuesday and Wednesday alone. The airline apologized to passengers and employees in a statement issued Wednesday and continued to attribute the massive woes to “overlapping operational challenges,” including weather, technology system outages and staffing shortages. 

    James Gunn brings ‘The Suicide Squad’ back to the big screen

    The body count is high and chaos reigns in writer/director James Gunn’s absurdly delightful and indubitably not-for-kids “The Suicide Squad,”  writes USA TODAY movie critic Brian Truitt. The film, out in theaters and streaming on HBO Max Thursday evening, is a soft reboot of 2016’s “Suicide Squad.” Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn returns and Idris Elba and John Cena will debut new characters. Viola Davis returns as Amanda Waller, who runs survive-or-else missions out of outlaw-filled Belle Reve prison with members of Task Force X. Their newest assignment: venturing to the fictional South American island of Corto Maltese, where the Squad traverses jungles, fights enemy guerrillas, goes disco dancing at a nightclub, and has to infiltrate an old Nazi stronghold from World War II that’s been housing a monstrous experiment. Before tackling this DC project, Gunn was firmly entrenched in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as he directed the two “Guardians of the Galaxy” movies. 

    Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett to perform together ‘One Last Time’

    Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett will reunite Thursday at New York’s Radio City Music Hall for the second of two farewell concerts celebrating Bennett’s 95th birthday. The longtime friends and collaborators are playing “One Last Time” shows in the leadup to their second joint album, “Love for Sale,” out Oct. 1. Bennett, who turned 95 on Tuesday, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2016. But the music legend was as spry and charismatic as ever in a roughly half-hour solo set in Tuesday’s sold-out show. “He’s my friend. He’s my musical companion. He’s the greatest singer in the whole world,” said Lady Gaga during her rendition of “New York, New York.”

    Source Article from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2021/08/05/texas-van-crash-probe-western-wildfires-5-things-know-thursday/5443624001/

    305 views no comments
    Republicans go after Newsom, mask mandates in recall debate – Los Angeles Times
    Republicans go after Newsom, mask mandates in recall debate – Los Angeles Times

    Four Republicans hoping to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom if he falls in the Sept. 14 recall election took turns blaming the governor for the state’s problems during a debate peppered with vows to end pandemic-related mask mandates, enact massive tax cuts and abolish state and local sanctuary policies that offer protections for immigrants without legal status.

    The Wednesday evening event took place at a crucial time in the campaign: Recent polls show that Californians most likely to vote are nearly evenly divided on whether to oust Newsom, and registered voters will start receiving mail-in ballots in less than two weeks.

    The four Republican candidates onstage — former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, businessman John Cox, Assemblyman Kevin Kiley of Rocklin and former Northern California Rep. Doug Ose — offered a bleak portrait of a state guided by the liberal policies of Newsom and California’s Democratic leadership: rising violent crime, businesses fleeing the state and homeless encampments lining city streets.

    Both Cox and Ose said they favored changing California law to force treatment on homeless people who are experiencing mental illness or addicted to drugs. Kiley said as governor he would ensure law enforcement officials in California cooperated with federal immigration agencies to crack down on people entering the country illegally.

    Though all four candidates were united in their opposition to mask and vaccination mandates, arguing that decisions should be left to individuals, their approaches varied.

    Faulconer urged Californians to get vaccinated.

    “Vaccination is how we get our way out of this. I’m vaccinated, my family’s vaccinated. And if we don’t want to be dealing this with our kids and our grandchildren, we have to take action,” he said. “But I do not favor mandates, I favor education. You’re not going to mandate your way out of the coronavirus.”

    Cox, who said he had tested positive for the coronavirus earlier in the pandemic, said there shouldn’t be mandates because many people have already had the virus and have antibodies.

    “They don’t need the vaccine. They shouldn’t get the vaccine,” he said, directly contradicting the recommendations of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization.

    Kiley criticized Newsom’s response to the pandemic, including the rollout of vaccines and lotteries to encourage vaccination.

    “It is a perfect case study for the perversity of California politics, you know, using bright lights and cash giveaways and state control as a mirage for a broken state government that fails to serve California in the most basic way,” he said.

    The main target during the debate, Newsom, skipped the event. The Democratic governor spent his morning joined by state and federal firefighters as he held a news conference that provided campaign-ad-style imagery at the site of a Butte County wildfire.

    The two most well-known Republicans in the race also were missing from the debate, which was held in front of a maskless crowd of about 120 in a replica of the White House East Room at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda.

    Olympian-turned-reality television star Caitlyn Jenner, who has failed to gain traction in the race, was in Australia filming “Celebrity Big Brother.” The campaign of talk radio host Larry Elder, who has topped the field of replacement candidates in recent polls and generated ample buzz since entering the race in mid-July, said he had a scheduling conflict and did not want to participate in a GOP firing squad.

    If the candidates who showed up were worried about Elder, they didn’t show it.

    “I was on his show a lot in 2018,” said Cox, who unsuccessfully ran against Newsom in the gubernatorial race that year. “He said I would be a great governor.”

    The candidates largely focused their fire on Newsom rather than one another, though there were a few moments of tension, notably when Ose said he had called Faulconer a “plastic man” because the former mayor used modified data to bolster his claim of reducing homelessness in San Diego. Faulconer disputed Ose’s comment.

    The debate was a crucial test for Faulconer, long seen as the state GOP’s best chance for ending a 15-year drought in statewide elections. He announced in February that he would challenge Newsom, more than two months before the recall qualified for the ballot.

    He has tried to thread the needle in courting GOP base voters, some of whom are skeptical of his policies when he was mayor of San Diego, while appealing to moderate voters. Faulconer, who did not support Donald Trump’s presidential run in 2016 but did in 2020, was asked whether he would welcome the assistance of the former president in an endorsement or a campaign appearance, and repeatedly refused to answer directly.

    “I’d probably take the endorsement and support of any Republican, independent or Democrat who wants to get rid of Gavin Newsom and make California a better state,” he said.

    Newsom and his anti-recall allies have spent months arguing that the recall is a Republican-driven effort birthed by acolytes of Trump. Earlier Wednesday, a Sacramento judge rejected a lawsuit by recall leaders challenging Newsom’s description of them as “Republicans and Trump supporters” in the official voter information guide.

    Faulconer spent the weeks leading up to Wednesday’s debate outlining policy positions on pressing issues such as homelessness and the state’s drought, offering proposals that were more detailed than those of many of his recall opponents, but doing little to chip away at the apparent surge in support for Elder.

    Faulconer joined the others onstage in castigating what they called the teaching in California schools of critical race theory, which focuses on the broad effect systemic racism has had on the lives of people of color in the U.S.

    “The U.S. is not a racist country. The more folks that stand up and speak truth to that I think the better off we’re going to be,” Faulconer said, adding that critical race theory courses lead to “cancel culture.”

    The candidates pledged to use the office to retool state government, rescind Newsom’s declaration of a state of emergency to respond to the pandemic and change appointees who determine education policy.

    But given the Democrats’ supermajority in both chambers of the state Legislature, which provides the ability to override any veto by the governor, none of them would have much power to force changes in state law or reshape the state’s budget.

    They’d also have only a year to make the changes they promised before they face the electorate again in the 2022 election.

    Of the hopefuls on the stage, the one who was arguably most in need of a boost from the event was Cox, whose defeat by Newsom in the 2018 governor’s race was the most lopsided in modern California history.

    Cox said he supported former President Trump’s effort to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. When discussing how he would address homelessness, he said that “a lot of people living on the streets” need to be placed in conservatorships.

    The businessman’s recall campaign, mostly funded by himself, has sought to make a spectacle of the state’s problems — beginning with a bus tour in which Cox brought along a 1,000-pound Kodiak bear intended to symbolize the need for aggressive change, and turning in recent weeks to events staged alongside an 8-foot-tall ball of trash to illustrate the need for swift action on homelessness.

    Kiley, elected to an Assembly seat from the Sacramento suburbs in 2016, has gained a following during the pandemic among Newsom’s critics for challenging the governor’s use of emergency executive powers. He and a fellow Republican legislator lost a legal battle over Newsom’s executive orders last year to modify state election rules in response to COVID-19 — a battle that has endeared him to some of the party’s most die-hard conservative followers.

    Last week, Kiley leaned on his experience as a former teacher in Los Angeles in embracing a nascent effort to place a measure on the November 2022 statewide ballot that would authorize vouchers for families to send their children to the school of their choice.

    Ose argued he had the skill set as an elected leader to tackle problems such as the state’s unemployment insurance program, which has been plagued by billions of dollars in fraudulent unemployment claims and delayed benefit payments for those out of work. Ose said he would run the agency like a successful business and make sure that Californians didn’t spend hours on hold when calling for assistance.

    “Just answer the damn phone,” Ose said.

    The candidates’ performances Wednesday may play a pivotal role Saturday when the California Republican Party will decide whether to endorse someone in the race.

    Voters will be asked two questions on the ballot for the Sept. 14 recall election: Should Newsom be recalled, and who should replace him if he is recalled?

    Forty-six candidates will appear on the ballot, but only a handful have assembled campaigns and raised notable sums.

    For the four Republican candidates who participated, the debate provided a measure of public attention that their campaigns would otherwise have struggled to achieve. It aired on KTTV-TV Channel 11 and other Fox affiliates statewide, the Salem Radio Network and other radio stations. A second debate is planned for the week of Aug. 23.

    The 90-minute face-off was moderated by conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, KTTV anchors Christine Devine and Elex Michaelson and former U.S. national security advisor Robert C. O’Brien.

    Times staff writer John Myers contributed to this report.

    Source Article from https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2021-08-04/recall-debate-faulconer-cox-kiley-ose-newsom

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    ‘The Pied Piper leading us off a cliff’: Florida governor condemned as Covid surges – The Guardian
    ‘The Pied Piper leading us off a cliff’: Florida governor condemned as Covid surges – The Guardian

    Florida governor Ron DeSantis earned a new moniker this week as the resurgent coronavirus continued to wreak havoc on his state: the “Pied Piper of Covid-19, leading everybody off a cliff.”

    The stark assessment of the Republican politician from Dan Gelber, the mayor of Miami Beach, came as Florida continued to set records for new cases and hospitalizations, saw worrying surges in both deaths and rates of positivity, and led the nation in pediatric Covid admissions.

    With the highly contagious Delta variant swirling, a state comprising little more than 6% of the US population was accounting for one in five of the country’s new cases, recording 50,997 in the three days to Tuesday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

    Meanwhile, DeSantis, who says the spike is “seasonal” and opposes lockdowns or new restrictions, was following up his signing of an executive order banning children from having to wear masks in schools by dismissing the burgeoning crisis in Florida’s hospitals as “media hysteria”.

    “You try to fearmonger, you try to do this stuff,” DeSantis snapped at a reporter who asked him at a press conference in Miami on Tuesday about the state setting a new high for Covid hospitalizations of 11,863.

    “Our hospitals are open for business. We’re not shutting down. We’re gonna have schools open. We’re protecting every Floridian’s job in this state, we are protecting people’s small businesses. These interventions have failed time and time again throughout this pandemic,” he said, referring to mask mandates.

    It is the governor’s single minded desire to keep the state open despite the Delta variant-fuelled spike that has drawn criticism from local political leaders to the White House, where Joe Biden said on Tuesday: “I say to these governors, ‘Please help’. But if you are not going to help, at least get out of the way of the people who are trying to do the right thing.”

    DeSantis, a likely Republican presidential candidate in 2024 if Trump doesn’t run, and a possible running mate if he does, shares the former president’s prioritizing of the economy.

    But Gelber said he thought DeSantis’s stance could backfire and end up hurting businesses.

    “I’m the mayor of a hospitality town. I think most people coming here would rather be in a place that they feel safer than a place that they feel like they may be getting the virus,” he told CNN.

    “He’s like the Pied Piper just leading everybody off a cliff right now, letting them know that they don’t have to like the CDC, they don’t have to wear masks, they can do whatever they want in the midst of an enormous pandemic and Florida, by wide margins, is easily the worst state in the country.”

    The mayor said he felt “hamstrung” by legislation signed by DeSantis in May that gave him veto power over coronavirus mandates by municipalities.

    “We’re not allowed a mask edict now. We were one of the first cities to require it and the governor stopped allowing us to do it, then immediately we saw a surge across our county and state.”

    Charlie Crist, a former Florida governor and Democrat seeking to unseat DeSantis next year, accused his rival of “a blatant disregard for the health and wellbeing of children and teachers” over the order withholding state funds from school districts that impose mask mandates on students.

    On Tuesday, officials in Broward county, the nation’s sixth-largest school district, which last week voted to enforce mask-wearing, said they would back down, although appeared to be reconsidering their position a day later.

    “With his latest stunt the Governor ignores science and the facts – that masks work,” Crist said in a statement to the Guardian.

    “For the past year, masks kept Florida’s schools from becoming major contributors to the virus’ spread. They enabled our kids to be in the classroom safely. Now, with only a week until school starts back, Florida tragically leads the nation in children hospitalized due to the virus.

    “He wants to defund the school systems trying to keep them safe. It’s unconscionable.”

    In an emailed response to the Guardian, DeSantis’s press secretary, Christina Pushaw, countered Gelber and Crists’s assertions that mask mandates were effective. In Texas, she said, cases declined following the lifting of a mandate in March, while in California numbers surged at the start of the year with a mandate in place.

    “The governor and Florida department of health have always encouraged Floridians to protect themselves and their communities. The best way to do that is to get vaccinated,” she said.

    Dr Jay Wolfson, professor of public health medicine at the University of South Florida, does not expect DeSantis to change course.

    “The one driving force that most affects the governor’s decisions in the state’s policies is deaths. As long as deaths remain stable or under control, the rates of hospitalization and infectiousness are likely not going to elicit mandating masks or vaccines or doing anything else that would jeopardize the economic policies,” he said.

    “Balancing public health policy interests against economic policy interests can be a delicate game and there are compelling interests on both sides.

    “These judgment calls are not always based exclusively on educational or health issues, they’re based on political pragmatic realities, and thus far the governor has been successful in demonstrating he has a significant amount of political support for the positions that he’s taking.”

    Source Article from https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/aug/05/ron-desantis-florida-governor-covid-coronavirus

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    Cuomo facing impeachment votes from majority of NY Assembly if he doesn’t resign: report – Fox News
    Cuomo facing impeachment votes from majority of NY Assembly if he doesn’t resign: report – Fox News
    Video

    Gov. Cuomo’s hypocrisy is a ‘national embarassment’: Democratic state senator

    New York state senator Brad Hoylman calls for Andrew Cuomo’s impeachment on ‘Your World.’

    If New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo doesn’t resign following the state attorney general’s report this week that found the governor had sexually harassed 11 women, a majority of state Assembly members are reportedly prepared to start impeachment proceedings. 

    At least 86 Assembly members – more than half the total of 150 – have either publicly said or told The Associated Press they would be in favor of taking that step to remove Cuomo in the wake of the latest bombshell against him. 

    Attorney General Letitia James’ investigation began after several women came forward to accuse Cuomo of harassment earlier this year. 

    As recently as last year, Cuomo was a prominent voice in the Democratic Party and lauded for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, but the tidal wave of allegations and accusations he downplayed the number of coronavirus nursing home deaths has left him with few supporters. 

    TIME’S UP CO-FOUNDERS HELPED GOV. CUOMO IN DRAFTING LETTER ATTACKING ACCUSER LINDSEY BOYLAN: AG REPORT

    State Assemblyman Ron Kim, a Democrat, called on the assembly to return to session “immediately” to begin impeachment proceedings.

    “There is no measure left to hide the truth. The governor broke the law so we must hold him accountable,” Kim said in a statement. 

    “There is no measure left to hide the truth. The governor broke the law so we must hold him accountable.”

    — Ron Kim, New York state assemblyman

    New York state Assemblyman Ron Kim, left, has been a vocal critic of embattled New Yorkl Gov. Andrew Cuomo (AP/ Reuters)

    “When institutions fail to believe victims, allow predators to act with impunity, or fail to put policies of protection in place, it sends a strong signal that condones this type of unacceptable behavior. We cannot afford to ignore his transgressions any longer: doing so will erode the integrity of our legislative body and demonstrate complicity in sheltering a sexual predator.”

    State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, a Democrat, said in a statement: “As I said, when these disturbing allegations first came to light, the governor must resign for the good of the state. Now that the investigation is complete and the allegations have been substantiated, it should be clear to everyone that he can no longer serve as governor.”

    “It should be clear to everyone that he can no longer serve as governor.”

    — Andrea Stewart-Cousins, New York state Senate majority leader 

    New York state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins speaks in New York City, June 12, 2020. (Reuters)

    Prominent Democrats at the national and state level, including President Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and both of New York’s U.S. senators, have called for Cuomo to resign. The report found Cuomo engaged in “unwanted groping, kissing, and hugging,” made inappropriate remarks toward staffers and oversaw a workplace culture “rife with fear and intimidation.”

    CUOMO SEXUALLY HARASSED MULTIPLE WOMEN IN VIOLATION OF STATE AND FEDERAL LAW, NY AG FINDS

    White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday, “The president believes Governor Cuomo should do the right thing, resign, and leave space for future leadership in New York,” Psaki said.

    One of the governor’s closest allies, New York Democratic Party chairperson Jay Jacobs, declared that Cuomo “has lost his ability to govern, both practically and morally.” Jacobs told Spectrum News he had tried privately to persuade Cuomo to resign but “wasn’t making headway.”

    Cuomo, in his third term, denied many of the allegations written in the report on Tuesday and claimed others were mischaracterized or misconstrued. He said “politics and bias” were interwoven throughout the report. 

    Assembly Democrats, who lead the chamber, debated virtually for hours Tuesday about whether to impeach the governor now, wait to see whether he resigns, or give the Judiciary Committee time to wrap up its wide-ranging investigation into topics from sexual misconduct to the Cuomo administration’s months-long obfuscation of the total number of nursing home residents who died from COVID-19.

    At least 40 Democrats back starting impeachment proceedings if Cuomo doesn’t leave on his own. The assembly includes 106 Democrats, 43 Republicans and one Independent.

    It takes a simple majority to authorize an impeachment trial.

    Assembly Republican Leader Will Barclay urged Democratic Speaker Carl Heastie this week to convene an emergency special session to vote to impeach Cuomo and Hestie said he wants to conclude the body’s investigation quickly.

    CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

    Deputy Majority Leader Mike Gianaris told The Associated Press the Assembly has been preparing for an impeachment trial for months that could start in the next few weeks. 

    “We’ll be ready to go if and when the impeachment articles are sent over,” he said. “It could happen very quickly.”

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

    Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/cuomo-facing-impeachment-votes-from-majority-of-ny-assembly-if-he-doesnt-resign-report

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    As people of all ages flock to a Louisiana vaccination site, an official says he is optimistic outreach is working – CNN
    As people of all ages flock to a Louisiana vaccination site, an official says he is optimistic outreach is working – CNN

    By Madeline Holcombe, Nadia Romero and Jeff Simon, CNN

    Updated 5:26 AM ET, Thu August 5, 2021

    Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/05/us/louisiana-baton-rouge-vaccination-increase/index.html

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    Texas van crash probe, Western wildfires, ‘The Suicide Squad’: 5 things to know Thursday – USA TODAY
    Texas van crash probe, Western wildfires, ‘The Suicide Squad’: 5 things to know Thursday – USA TODAY

    Investigation into deadly Texas van crash expected to continue

    At least 10 people were killed and 20 more were injured when an overloaded van crashed Wednesday in Encino, Texas, a town about 100 miles south of Corpus Christi, authorities said. Brooks County Sheriff Urbino Martinez said the van, designed to hold 15 passengers, was top-heavy and tipped over when the driver lost control on a curve. The van held 29 suspected undocumented migrants, he said. Additional details about the crash are expected to come Thursday or in the coming days. The identities of the 30 in the van were being withheld until relatives can be notified, an official with the Texas Department of Public Safety said. No information about the van, including where it was registered or who owned it, was immediately released. A surge in migrants crossing the border illegally has brought about an uptick in the number of crashes involving vehicles jammed with migrants who pay large amounts to be smuggled into the country.

    Prefer to listen? Check out the 5 Things podcast:

    Red flag warnings prompt more wildfire fears across the West

    Firefighters battling dozens of blazes across the West braced for more hot, dry weather as dangerous conditions threatened to spark new wildfires in multiple states. The National Weather Service issued red flag warnings for parts of California, Nevada and Oregon until Thursday evening, expecting gusty winds and low humidity that could cause the dry vegetation to burn rapidly. There are 27 active large wildfires in those three states, and across 14 states, 96 large wildfires have burned more than 2,900 square miles, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. In Northern California, the Dixie Fire remains the largest blaze in the state as conditions stoke the flames. The Dixie Fire blazed through Greenville, California, leaving behind only a few structures. The fire primarily burned through most of the downtown area and some surrounding homes in the small mountain community. 

    Spirit Airlines bedlam goes on: Hundreds of Thursday flights already canceled

    Spirit Airlines, which has canceled more than 1,300 flights and stranded passengers since Sunday as it grapples with a series of issues, said Wednesday cancellations should ease in the days to come as it reboots its operation. However, that day doesn’t appear to be Thursday. The carrier has already canceled 349 of its Thursday flights or 45% of its scheduled flights, as of 6 a.m. EDT, according to flight tracker FlightAware. It will be the fifth consecutive day of frustration for passengers on the budget airline and comes as a busy summer travel weekend looms. The carrier canceled more than 400 flights per day, or a whopping 60% percent of its operation, on both Tuesday and Wednesday alone. The airline apologized to passengers and employees in a statement issued Wednesday and continued to attribute the massive woes to “overlapping operational challenges,” including weather, technology system outages and staffing shortages. 

    James Gunn brings ‘The Suicide Squad’ back to the big screen

    The body count is high and chaos reigns in writer/director James Gunn’s absurdly delightful and indubitably not-for-kids “The Suicide Squad,”  writes USA TODAY movie critic Brian Truitt. The film, out in theaters and streaming on HBO Max Thursday evening, is a soft reboot of 2016’s “Suicide Squad.” Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn returns and Idris Elba and John Cena will debut new characters. Viola Davis returns as Amanda Waller, who runs survive-or-else missions out of outlaw-filled Belle Reve prison with members of Task Force X. Their newest assignment: venturing to the fictional South American island of Corto Maltese, where the Squad traverses jungles, fights enemy guerrillas, goes disco dancing at a nightclub, and has to infiltrate an old Nazi stronghold from World War II that’s been housing a monstrous experiment. Before tackling this DC project, Gunn was firmly entrenched in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as he directed the two “Guardians of the Galaxy” movies. 

    Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett to perform together ‘One Last Time’

    Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett will reunite Thursday at New York’s Radio City Music Hall for the second of two farewell concerts celebrating Bennett’s 95th birthday. The longtime friends and collaborators are playing “One Last Time” shows in the leadup to their second joint album, “Love for Sale,” out Oct. 1. Bennett, who turned 95 on Tuesday, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2016. But the music legend was as spry and charismatic as ever in a roughly half-hour solo set in Tuesday’s sold-out show. “He’s my friend. He’s my musical companion. He’s the greatest singer in the whole world,” said Lady Gaga during her rendition of “New York, New York.”

    Source Article from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2021/08/05/texas-van-crash-probe-western-wildfires-5-things-know-thursday/5443624001/

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    How Cuomo’s office sought help from prominent liberal advocates as it pushed to discredit an accuser – The Washington Post
    How Cuomo’s office sought help from prominent liberal advocates as it pushed to discredit an accuser – The Washington Post

    David — a onetime lawyer in the governor’s office who called for his former boss to resign this week — suggested changes to the never-released Boylan letter, which was later leaked to reporters, according to the investigation. He later made an effort to get signatures for it, even though he told Cuomo advisers he would not sign it himself, David told investigators. He also provided Cuomo advisers with an internal memo about Boylan, which he had retained after leaving the governor’s office, the report said.

    Source Article from https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/cuomo-harassment-allegations–advocacy-groups/2021/08/04/57103eee-f51f-11eb-9738-8395ec2a44e7_story.html

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