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  • Some rural hospitals shifting to emergency-only care

    Some rural hospitals shifting to emergency-only care

    [ad_1]

    As rural hospitals continue to struggle financially, a new type of hospital is slowly taking root, especially in the Southeast.

    What You Need To Know

    • Rural hospitals that close their inpatient care beds to offer emergency care can get federal funding and higher Medicare reimbursements

    • The federal government’s effort, which started in 2023, is seen as a solution for some struggling rural hospitals

    • It means rural patients might have to travel farther to receive inpatient care

    Rural emergency hospitals receive more than $3 million in federal funding a year and higher Medicare reimbursements in exchange for closing all inpatient beds and providing 24/7 emergency care. While that makes it easier for a hospital to stay open, experts say it doesn’t solve all of the challenges facing rural health care.

    People might have to travel farther for treatments for illnesses that require inpatient stays, like pneumonia or COVID-19. In some of the communities where hospitals have converted to the new designation, residents are confused about what kind of care they can receive. Plus, rural hospitals are hesitant to make the switch, because there’s no margin of error.

    “It’s ironic” that the facilities that might need the most help can’t afford to take the risk, said Carrie Cochran-McClain, chief policy officer at the National Rural Health Association.

    She pointed to having to give up certain services and benefits, such as a federal discount program for prescription drugs.

    The government, which classifies hospitals by type, rolled out the rural emergency option in January 2023. Only 19 hospitals across the U.S. received rural emergency hospital status last year, according to the University of North Carolina’s Sheps Center for Health Services Research.

    The majority are in the South, but some are in the Midwest, and hospitals in Nebraska and Florida recently started to explore the option.

    The designation is aimed at a specific population, said George Pink, deputy director of the Sheps Center’s Rural Health Research Program, and that’s rural hospitals on the brink of closure with few people getting inpatient care already.

    Saving rural care

    That was the case for Irwin County Hospital in Ocilla, Georgia, which was the second rural emergency hospital established in the U.S.

    Weeks prior to converting, the hospital received at least $1 million in credit from the county so it could pay employees — money that county board of supervisors chairman Scott Carver doubted he’d see returned.

    “We operate on a $6 million budget for the county, so to extend that kind of line of credit was dangerous on our part to some degree,” he said. “But … we felt like we had to try.”

    Irwin County Hospital became a rural emergency hospital on Feb. 1, 2023. Quentin Whitwell, the hospital’s CEO, said it was an ideal candidate.

    “We’re still finding out what some of the impacts are, given that it’s a new thing,” said Whitwell, who through his company Progressive Health Systems owns and manages six hospitals in the Southeast, most of which are rural emergency hospitals or have applied for the designation. “But the change to a rural emergency hospital has transformed this hospital.”

    A combination of state programs and tax credits, plus the new designation, means the hospital has $4 million in the bank, Carver said. Simply put, the work was worth it to him.

    Traci Harper, a longtime Ocilla resident, isn’t so sure. About a year ago, she rushed her son to the hospital for emergency care for spinal meningitis.

    Because the new designation requires the hospital to transfer patients to larger hospitals within 24 hours, Harper’s son was sent to another in-state facility and three days later ended up getting the care he needed in a hospital in Jacksonville, Florida.

    “That’s two hours away,” she said. “The whole time I could have taken him there myself, but nobody told me that.”

    ‘Barely surviving’

    Nebraska’s first rural emergency hospital opened in February in a city called Friend.

    Warren Memorial Hospital had reached a breaking point: Federal pandemic relief money had dried up. The city, which owns the hospital, had to start extending lines of credit so hospital employees could get paid. A major street repair project was even delayed, said Jared Chaffin, the hospital’s chief financial officer and one of three co-CEOs.

    “Back in the summer, we were barely surviving,” said Amy Thimm, the hospital’s vice president of clinical services and quality and co-CEO.

    Though residents expressed concerns at a September town hall about closing inpatient services, the importance of having emergency care outweighed other worries.

    “We have farmers and ranchers and people who don’t have the time to drive an hour to get care, so they’ll just go without,” said Ron Te Brink, co-CEO and chief information officer. “Rural health care is so extremely important to a lot of Nebraska communities like ours.”

    The first federal payment, about $270,000, arrived March 5. Chaffin projects the hospital’s revenue will be $6 million this year — more than it’s ever made.

    “That’s just insane, especially for our little hospital here,” he said. “We still have Mount Everest to climb, and we still have so much work ahead of us. The designation alone is not a savior for the hospital — it’s a lifeline.”

    Rural troubles

    That lifeline has proven difficult to hold onto for Alliance Healthcare System in Holly Springs, Mississippi, another one of Whitwell’s hospitals and the fourth facility in the country to convert.

    Months after being approved as a rural emergency hospital in March 2023, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reneged on its decision.

    Hospital CEO Dr. Kenneth Williams told The Associated Press that the government said the hospital isn’t rural because it is less than an hour away from Memphis. A CMS spokesperson said the facility was “inadvertently certified.”

    The hospital has until April to transition back to full service, but many in the community of mostly retirees believe the hospital has closed, Williams said. Patient volume is at a record low. If the federal payments stop coming, Williams isn’t sure the hospital will survive.

    “We might have been closed if we hadn’t (become a rural emergency hospital), so … something had to be done,” he said. “Do I regret all of the issues that for some reason we’ve incurred that the other (hospitals) have not? I don’t know.”

    Though Alliance appears to be one of few facilities that have been hurt by converting to a rural emergency hospital, Pink said it’s too soon to know if the federal designation is a success.

    “If my intuition is correct, it will probably work well for some communities and it may not work well for others,” he said.

    Cochran-McClain said her organization is trying to work with Congress to change regulations that have been a barrier for rural facilities, like closing inpatient behavioral health beds that are already scarce.

    Brock Slabach, the National Rural Health Association’s chief operations officer, said over 30 facilities are interested in converting to rural emergency hospitals this year.

    As Whitwell sees it: “As this program evolves, there will be more people that I think will understand the value.” 

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    Associated Press

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  • Some rural hospitals shifting to emergency-only care

    Some rural hospitals shifting to emergency-only care

    [ad_1]

    As rural hospitals continue to struggle financially, a new type of hospital is slowly taking root, especially in the Southeast.

    What You Need To Know

    • Rural hospitals that close their inpatient care beds to offer emergency care can get federal funding and higher Medicare reimbursements

    • The federal government’s effort, which started in 2023, is seen as a solution for some struggling rural hospitals

    • It means rural patients might have to travel farther to receive inpatient care

    Rural emergency hospitals receive more than $3 million in federal funding a year and higher Medicare reimbursements in exchange for closing all inpatient beds and providing 24/7 emergency care. While that makes it easier for a hospital to stay open, experts say it doesn’t solve all of the challenges facing rural health care.

    People might have to travel farther for treatments for illnesses that require inpatient stays, like pneumonia or COVID-19. In some of the communities where hospitals have converted to the new designation, residents are confused about what kind of care they can receive. Plus, rural hospitals are hesitant to make the switch, because there’s no margin of error.

    “It’s ironic” that the facilities that might need the most help can’t afford to take the risk, said Carrie Cochran-McClain, chief policy officer at the National Rural Health Association.

    She pointed to having to give up certain services and benefits, such as a federal discount program for prescription drugs.

    The government, which classifies hospitals by type, rolled out the rural emergency option in January 2023. Only 19 hospitals across the U.S. received rural emergency hospital status last year, according to the University of North Carolina’s Sheps Center for Health Services Research.

    The majority are in the South, but some are in the Midwest, and hospitals in Nebraska and Florida recently started to explore the option.

    The designation is aimed at a specific population, said George Pink, deputy director of the Sheps Center’s Rural Health Research Program, and that’s rural hospitals on the brink of closure with few people getting inpatient care already.

    Saving rural care

    That was the case for Irwin County Hospital in Ocilla, Georgia, which was the second rural emergency hospital established in the U.S.

    Weeks prior to converting, the hospital received at least $1 million in credit from the county so it could pay employees — money that county board of supervisors chairman Scott Carver doubted he’d see returned.

    “We operate on a $6 million budget for the county, so to extend that kind of line of credit was dangerous on our part to some degree,” he said. “But … we felt like we had to try.”

    Irwin County Hospital became a rural emergency hospital on Feb. 1, 2023. Quentin Whitwell, the hospital’s CEO, said it was an ideal candidate.

    “We’re still finding out what some of the impacts are, given that it’s a new thing,” said Whitwell, who through his company Progressive Health Systems owns and manages six hospitals in the Southeast, most of which are rural emergency hospitals or have applied for the designation. “But the change to a rural emergency hospital has transformed this hospital.”

    A combination of state programs and tax credits, plus the new designation, means the hospital has $4 million in the bank, Carver said. Simply put, the work was worth it to him.

    Traci Harper, a longtime Ocilla resident, isn’t so sure. About a year ago, she rushed her son to the hospital for emergency care for spinal meningitis.

    Because the new designation requires the hospital to transfer patients to larger hospitals within 24 hours, Harper’s son was sent to another in-state facility and three days later ended up getting the care he needed in a hospital in Jacksonville, Florida.

    “That’s two hours away,” she said. “The whole time I could have taken him there myself, but nobody told me that.”

    ‘Barely surviving’

    Nebraska’s first rural emergency hospital opened in February in a city called Friend.

    Warren Memorial Hospital had reached a breaking point: Federal pandemic relief money had dried up. The city, which owns the hospital, had to start extending lines of credit so hospital employees could get paid. A major street repair project was even delayed, said Jared Chaffin, the hospital’s chief financial officer and one of three co-CEOs.

    “Back in the summer, we were barely surviving,” said Amy Thimm, the hospital’s vice president of clinical services and quality and co-CEO.

    Though residents expressed concerns at a September town hall about closing inpatient services, the importance of having emergency care outweighed other worries.

    “We have farmers and ranchers and people who don’t have the time to drive an hour to get care, so they’ll just go without,” said Ron Te Brink, co-CEO and chief information officer. “Rural health care is so extremely important to a lot of Nebraska communities like ours.”

    The first federal payment, about $270,000, arrived March 5. Chaffin projects the hospital’s revenue will be $6 million this year — more than it’s ever made.

    “That’s just insane, especially for our little hospital here,” he said. “We still have Mount Everest to climb, and we still have so much work ahead of us. The designation alone is not a savior for the hospital — it’s a lifeline.”

    Rural troubles

    That lifeline has proven difficult to hold onto for Alliance Healthcare System in Holly Springs, Mississippi, another one of Whitwell’s hospitals and the fourth facility in the country to convert.

    Months after being approved as a rural emergency hospital in March 2023, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reneged on its decision.

    Hospital CEO Dr. Kenneth Williams told The Associated Press that the government said the hospital isn’t rural because it is less than an hour away from Memphis. A CMS spokesperson said the facility was “inadvertently certified.”

    The hospital has until April to transition back to full service, but many in the community of mostly retirees believe the hospital has closed, Williams said. Patient volume is at a record low. If the federal payments stop coming, Williams isn’t sure the hospital will survive.

    “We might have been closed if we hadn’t (become a rural emergency hospital), so … something had to be done,” he said. “Do I regret all of the issues that for some reason we’ve incurred that the other (hospitals) have not? I don’t know.”

    Though Alliance appears to be one of few facilities that have been hurt by converting to a rural emergency hospital, Pink said it’s too soon to know if the federal designation is a success.

    “If my intuition is correct, it will probably work well for some communities and it may not work well for others,” he said.

    Cochran-McClain said her organization is trying to work with Congress to change regulations that have been a barrier for rural facilities, like closing inpatient behavioral health beds that are already scarce.

    Brock Slabach, the National Rural Health Association’s chief operations officer, said over 30 facilities are interested in converting to rural emergency hospitals this year.

    As Whitwell sees it: “As this program evolves, there will be more people that I think will understand the value.” 

    [ad_2]

    Associated Press

    Source link

  • Some rural hospitals shifting to emergency-only care

    Some rural hospitals shifting to emergency-only care

    [ad_1]

    As rural hospitals continue to struggle financially, a new type of hospital is slowly taking root, especially in the Southeast.

    What You Need To Know

    • Rural hospitals that close their inpatient care beds to offer emergency care can get federal funding and higher Medicare reimbursements

    • The federal government’s effort, which started in 2023, is seen as a solution for some struggling rural hospitals

    • It means rural patients might have to travel farther to receive inpatient care

    Rural emergency hospitals receive more than $3 million in federal funding a year and higher Medicare reimbursements in exchange for closing all inpatient beds and providing 24/7 emergency care. While that makes it easier for a hospital to stay open, experts say it doesn’t solve all of the challenges facing rural health care.

    People might have to travel farther for treatments for illnesses that require inpatient stays, like pneumonia or COVID-19. In some of the communities where hospitals have converted to the new designation, residents are confused about what kind of care they can receive. Plus, rural hospitals are hesitant to make the switch, because there’s no margin of error.

    “It’s ironic” that the facilities that might need the most help can’t afford to take the risk, said Carrie Cochran-McClain, chief policy officer at the National Rural Health Association.

    She pointed to having to give up certain services and benefits, such as a federal discount program for prescription drugs.

    The government, which classifies hospitals by type, rolled out the rural emergency option in January 2023. Only 19 hospitals across the U.S. received rural emergency hospital status last year, according to the University of North Carolina’s Sheps Center for Health Services Research.

    The majority are in the South, but some are in the Midwest, and hospitals in Nebraska and Florida recently started to explore the option.

    The designation is aimed at a specific population, said George Pink, deputy director of the Sheps Center’s Rural Health Research Program, and that’s rural hospitals on the brink of closure with few people getting inpatient care already.

    Saving rural care

    That was the case for Irwin County Hospital in Ocilla, Georgia, which was the second rural emergency hospital established in the U.S.

    Weeks prior to converting, the hospital received at least $1 million in credit from the county so it could pay employees — money that county board of supervisors chairman Scott Carver doubted he’d see returned.

    “We operate on a $6 million budget for the county, so to extend that kind of line of credit was dangerous on our part to some degree,” he said. “But … we felt like we had to try.”

    Irwin County Hospital became a rural emergency hospital on Feb. 1, 2023. Quentin Whitwell, the hospital’s CEO, said it was an ideal candidate.

    “We’re still finding out what some of the impacts are, given that it’s a new thing,” said Whitwell, who through his company Progressive Health Systems owns and manages six hospitals in the Southeast, most of which are rural emergency hospitals or have applied for the designation. “But the change to a rural emergency hospital has transformed this hospital.”

    A combination of state programs and tax credits, plus the new designation, means the hospital has $4 million in the bank, Carver said. Simply put, the work was worth it to him.

    Traci Harper, a longtime Ocilla resident, isn’t so sure. About a year ago, she rushed her son to the hospital for emergency care for spinal meningitis.

    Because the new designation requires the hospital to transfer patients to larger hospitals within 24 hours, Harper’s son was sent to another in-state facility and three days later ended up getting the care he needed in a hospital in Jacksonville, Florida.

    “That’s two hours away,” she said. “The whole time I could have taken him there myself, but nobody told me that.”

    ‘Barely surviving’

    Nebraska’s first rural emergency hospital opened in February in a city called Friend.

    Warren Memorial Hospital had reached a breaking point: Federal pandemic relief money had dried up. The city, which owns the hospital, had to start extending lines of credit so hospital employees could get paid. A major street repair project was even delayed, said Jared Chaffin, the hospital’s chief financial officer and one of three co-CEOs.

    “Back in the summer, we were barely surviving,” said Amy Thimm, the hospital’s vice president of clinical services and quality and co-CEO.

    Though residents expressed concerns at a September town hall about closing inpatient services, the importance of having emergency care outweighed other worries.

    “We have farmers and ranchers and people who don’t have the time to drive an hour to get care, so they’ll just go without,” said Ron Te Brink, co-CEO and chief information officer. “Rural health care is so extremely important to a lot of Nebraska communities like ours.”

    The first federal payment, about $270,000, arrived March 5. Chaffin projects the hospital’s revenue will be $6 million this year — more than it’s ever made.

    “That’s just insane, especially for our little hospital here,” he said. “We still have Mount Everest to climb, and we still have so much work ahead of us. The designation alone is not a savior for the hospital — it’s a lifeline.”

    Rural troubles

    That lifeline has proven difficult to hold onto for Alliance Healthcare System in Holly Springs, Mississippi, another one of Whitwell’s hospitals and the fourth facility in the country to convert.

    Months after being approved as a rural emergency hospital in March 2023, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reneged on its decision.

    Hospital CEO Dr. Kenneth Williams told The Associated Press that the government said the hospital isn’t rural because it is less than an hour away from Memphis. A CMS spokesperson said the facility was “inadvertently certified.”

    The hospital has until April to transition back to full service, but many in the community of mostly retirees believe the hospital has closed, Williams said. Patient volume is at a record low. If the federal payments stop coming, Williams isn’t sure the hospital will survive.

    “We might have been closed if we hadn’t (become a rural emergency hospital), so … something had to be done,” he said. “Do I regret all of the issues that for some reason we’ve incurred that the other (hospitals) have not? I don’t know.”

    Though Alliance appears to be one of few facilities that have been hurt by converting to a rural emergency hospital, Pink said it’s too soon to know if the federal designation is a success.

    “If my intuition is correct, it will probably work well for some communities and it may not work well for others,” he said.

    Cochran-McClain said her organization is trying to work with Congress to change regulations that have been a barrier for rural facilities, like closing inpatient behavioral health beds that are already scarce.

    Brock Slabach, the National Rural Health Association’s chief operations officer, said over 30 facilities are interested in converting to rural emergency hospitals this year.

    As Whitwell sees it: “As this program evolves, there will be more people that I think will understand the value.” 

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    Associated Press

    Source link

  • Weather Explained: Why spring allergies have us sneezing

    Weather Explained: Why spring allergies have us sneezing

    [ad_1]

    Allergies are the sixth leading cause of chronic illness in the United States, according to American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.

    Nearly 10% of the U.S. population is diagnosed with hay fever each year, especially during the spring months when the pollen count is quite high.

    Check out the video above for more on how plants and wind can result in those itchy and watery eyes.

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    Meteorologist Nick Merianos

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  • Judge: DA or special prosecutor must step aside in Trump case

    Judge: DA or special prosecutor must step aside in Trump case

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    Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis must step aside from the Georgia election interference case against Donald Trump or remove the special prosecutor with whom she had a romantic relationship before the case can proceed, the judge overseeing it ruled Friday.

    What You Need To Know

    • The judge in the Georgia election interference case against Donald Trump and others says Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis must step aside or remove the special prosecutor with whom she had a romantic relationship before the case can proceed

    • Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade testified at a hearing last month they had engaged in a romantic relationship but rejected the idea Willis improperly benefited from it as lawyers for Trump and some of his co-defendants alleged

    • Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee said Friday he found the “allegations and evidence legally insufficient to support a finding of an actual conflict of interest,” but he found there remains an “appearance of impropriety”
    • An attorney for Trump said that while they respect the court’s ruling, they “believe that the Court did not afford appropriate significance to the prosecutorial misconduct of Willis and Wade”

    Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee did not find that Willis’ relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade amounted to a conflict of interest that should disqualify her from the case. However, he said, the allegations created an “appearance of impropriety” that infected the prosecution team.

    “As the case moves forward, reasonable members of the public could easily be left to wonder whether the financial exchanges have continued resulting in some form of benefit to the District Attorney, or even whether the romantic relationship has resumed,” the judge wrote.

    “Put differently, an outsider could reasonably think that the District Attorney is not exercising her independent professional judgment totally free of any compromising influences. As long as Wade remains on the case, this unnecessary perception will persist.”

    Willis hired Wade to lead the team to investigate and ultimately prosecute Trump and 18 others accused of participating in a wide-ranging scheme to illegally try to overturn Trump’s narrow loss to Democrat Joe Biden in Georgia in 2020. Willis and Wade testified at a hearing last month that they had engaged in a romantic relationship, but they rejected the idea that Willis improperly benefited from it, as lawyers for Trump and some of his co-defendants alleged.

    McAfee wrote that there was insufficient evidence that Willis had a personal stake in the prosecution. But he condemned what he described as a “tremendous” lapse in judgment and the “unprofessional manner of the District Attorney’s testimony.” Even so, he said dismissal of the case was not the appropriate remedy to “adequately dissipate the financial cloud of impropriety and potential untruthfulness found here.”

    McAfee found no showing that the due process rights of Trump and the other defendants had been violated or that the issues involved prejudiced them in any way. He also said the disqualification of a constitutional officer, like a district attorney, is not necessary “when a less drastic and sufficiently remedial option is available.”

    The judge said he believes that “Georgia law does not permit the finding of an actual conflict for simply making bad choices — even repeatedly — and it is the trial court’s duty to confine itself to the relevant issues and applicable law properly brought before it.”

    An attorney for co-defendant Michael Roman asked McAfee to dismiss the indictment and prevent Willis and Wade and their offices from continuing to prosecute the case. The attorney, Ashleigh Merchant, alleged that Willis paid Wade large sums for his work and then improperly benefited from the prosecution of the case when Wade used his earnings to pay for vacations for the two of them.

    Willis had insisted that the relationship created no financial or personal conflict of interest that justified removing her office from the case. She and Wade both testified that their relationship began in the spring of 2022 and ended in the summer of 2023. They both said that Willis either paid for things herself or used cash to reimburse Wade for travel expenses.

    An attorney for Trump said that while they respect the court’s ruling, they “believe that the Court did not afford appropriate significance to the prosecutorial misconduct of Willis and Wade.”

    “We will use all legal options available as we continue to fight to end this case, which should never have been brought in the first place,” said Trump attorney Steve Sadow, who also alleged that Willis “played the race card and falsely accused the defendants and their counsel of racism.”

    The sprawling indictment charges Trump and more than a dozen other defendants with violating Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, known as RICO. The case uses a statute normally associated with mobsters to accuse the former president, lawyers and other aides of a “criminal enterprise” to keep him in power after he lost the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden.

    Trump, Republicans’ presumptive presidential nominee for 2024, has denied doing anything wrong and pleaded not guilty.

    Earlier this week, the judge dismissed some of the charges against Trump.

    The six challenged counts charged the defendants with soliciting public officers to violate their oaths. One count stemmed from a phone call Trump made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a fellow Republican, on Jan. 2, 2021, in which Trump urged Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes” for him to win the election in the state.

    Another of the dismissed counts accused Trump of soliciting then-Georgia House Speaker David Ralston to violate his oath of office by calling a special session of the legislature to unlawfully appoint presidential electors.

    McAfee said the counts did not allege sufficient detail regarding the nature of the violations.

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    Associated Press

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  • Police confirm 2 dead in fierce storm that damaged homes and businesses in Ohio and Kentucky

    Police confirm 2 dead in fierce storm that damaged homes and businesses in Ohio and Kentucky

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    Police in Ohio confirmed two deaths resulting from a fierce storm system that unleashed suspected twisters and damaged homes and businesses in parts of Ohio and Kentucky on Thursday.Video above: Aerial footage show damage left from storms across southeast Indiana, northern KentuckyChief Deputy Joe Kopus of the Logan County Sheriff’s Department in Logan County in Bellefontaine, Ohio, confirmed the fatalities in an email early Friday to The Associated Press. He said there likely would be more fatalities discovered, noting there was heavy damage in Lakeview, Midway, Orchard Island and Russel’s Point.The Indiana State Police said there are “many significant injuries” after a tornado tore through the community of Winchester.“There have been many, many significant injuries, but I don’t know the number. I don’t know where they are. I don’t know what those injuries are,” Indiana State Police Superintendent Douglas Carter told reporters just before midnight Thursday. “There’s a lot that we don’t know yet.”Earlier in the night state police said they were investigating reports of deaths but at the news conference Carter said there were “no known fatalities.”State officials called on Indiana Task Force One to help with search efforts in Winchester, a town of 4,700 people located nearly 70 miles northeast of Indianapolis, according to a post by the rescue team on X. The team is one of 28 Department of Homeland Security and Federal Emergency Management Agency-sponsored Urban Search and Rescue teams in the United States.“I’m shaken; it’s overwhelming,” Winchester Mayor Bob McCoy said. “I heard what sounded like a train and then I started hearing sirens.”Video below shows reported tornado moving through southeast IndianaHe and his wife were hunkered in a closet during the twister, which hit about 8 p.m.“I’ve never heard that sound before; I don’t want to hear it again,” McCoy said.The suspected tornado damaged a Walmart store and a Taco Bell in Winchester, Randolph County Sheriff Art Moystner told FOX59/CBS4. Travel throughout the county is restricted to emergency management workers only, he said.At about the same time as the tornado hit Winchester, another suspected twister touched down about 75 miles to the east in Ohio. The tornado hit near the southern end of Indian Lake, impacting the villages of Lakeview and Russells Point, said Sheri Timmers, a spokesperson for Logan County, home to the villages.“As far as we know, we have lots of injuries. We don’t know the extent of the injuries,” Timmers said. “An RV park was impacted.”Multiple buildings in the Indian Lake area were damaged, Timmers said, but the full extent of the destruction was still being assessed. Whether anyone was missing in the aftermath, was not immediately known.“They’re right now doing some searching,” she said.Amber Fagan, president and chief executive of the Indian Lake Area Chamber of Commerce, called the village of Lakeview “completely demolished,” saying homes, campgrounds and a laundromat were hard-hit by the tornado.“There’s places burning,” she said. “There’s power lines through people’s windows.”A shelter has been opened for anyone displaced.In Ohio’s Huron County, emergency management officials posted on Facebook that there was a “confirmed large and extremely dangerous tornado” near Plymouth — some 75 miles northeast of Indian Lake.To the west of Winchester, Indiana, in Delaware County, emergency management officials said initial assessments suggested that up to half of the structures in the small town of Selma were damaged by a possible tornado.“We are relieved to report that only minor injuries have been reported thus far, with one individual transported to the hospital for treatment,” the Delaware County Emergency Management Agency said in a news release. About 750 people live in Selma.Video below: Roof ripped off home in Hanover, IndianaEarlier, storms damaged homes and trailers in the Ohio River communities of Hanover and Lamb in Indiana.The Ohio governor’s office said they did not have any information about fatalities in the state.Jefferson County Sheriff Ben Flint said storms destroyed three or four single-family homes and four or five other structures and demolished several uninhabited campers along the river.“We were fortunate that no one was injured,” Flint told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.Sgt. Stephen Wheeles of the Indiana State Police earlier said another suspected tornado struck Jefferson County, damaging several homes and downing trees and power lines.He posted photos on X showing one home with its roof torn off and another missing roof shingles as well as an image of a baseball-sized hailstone.Around 2,000 Duke Energy customers in Hanover lost power at one point during the storms, the company reported.In Kentucky, Trimble County Emergency Management Director Andrew Stark said the storms damaged at least 50 structures, including homes.“We have a whole bunch of damage,” Stark told the Courier Journal of Louisville.Video below: Strong hail moves through Vevay, IndianaKentucky Gov. Andy Beshear issued a statement saying a tornado touched down along the Indiana state border in Gallatin and Trimble counties and there were reports of a couple of minor injuries. He urged Kentuckians to stay aware of the weather as more storms were expected across the state Thursday evening and overnight.“It does appear that there is some really significant damage, especially to the town of Milton in Trimble County,” Beshear said. “We think there are over 100 structures that are potentially damaged.”The state’s emergency operations center was activated to coordinate storm response, Beshear said.Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb posted on Facebook Thursday night that the Indiana Department of Homeland Security is monitoring the current weather situation.“Severe weather has impacted Hoosiers all across the state, and we have emergency response personnel in the impacted areas,” he wrote.The Indiana Department of Homeland Security posted on Facebook that their staff are on scene in Randolph County, home to Winchester, working with locals and that the State Emergency Operations Center has been activated to an enhanced staffing level to respond to the storm.A Facebook post on the Winchester Community High School page said all the schools in that school district would be closed on Friday. Another post said the high school had electricity and was open for emergency use for people who “need somewhere warm and dry.”Large pieces of hail also was reported in parts of the St. Louis area Thursday afternoon.There were unconfirmed reports of tornadoes in Jefferson County, Missouri, and Monroe County, Illinois, but no immediate reports of damage.Severe weather was possible into Thursday night from northeast Texas to Indiana and Ohio, the National Weather Service said on X.

    Police in Ohio confirmed two deaths resulting from a fierce storm system that unleashed suspected twisters and damaged homes and businesses in parts of Ohio and Kentucky on Thursday.

    Video above: Aerial footage show damage left from storms across southeast Indiana, northern Kentucky

    Chief Deputy Joe Kopus of the Logan County Sheriff’s Department in Logan County in Bellefontaine, Ohio, confirmed the fatalities in an email early Friday to The Associated Press. He said there likely would be more fatalities discovered, noting there was heavy damage in Lakeview, Midway, Orchard Island and Russel’s Point.

    The Indiana State Police said there are “many significant injuries” after a tornado tore through the community of Winchester.

    “There have been many, many significant injuries, but I don’t know the number. I don’t know where they are. I don’t know what those injuries are,” Indiana State Police Superintendent Douglas Carter told reporters just before midnight Thursday. “There’s a lot that we don’t know yet.”

    Earlier in the night state police said they were investigating reports of deaths but at the news conference Carter said there were “no known fatalities.”

    State officials called on Indiana Task Force One to help with search efforts in Winchester, a town of 4,700 people located nearly 70 miles northeast of Indianapolis, according to a post by the rescue team on X. The team is one of 28 Department of Homeland Security and Federal Emergency Management Agency-sponsored Urban Search and Rescue teams in the United States.

    “I’m shaken; it’s overwhelming,” Winchester Mayor Bob McCoy said. “I heard what sounded like a train and then I started hearing sirens.”

    Video below shows reported tornado moving through southeast Indiana

    He and his wife were hunkered in a closet during the twister, which hit about 8 p.m.

    “I’ve never heard that sound before; I don’t want to hear it again,” McCoy said.

    The suspected tornado damaged a Walmart store and a Taco Bell in Winchester, Randolph County Sheriff Art Moystner told FOX59/CBS4. Travel throughout the county is restricted to emergency management workers only, he said.

    At about the same time as the tornado hit Winchester, another suspected twister touched down about 75 miles to the east in Ohio. The tornado hit near the southern end of Indian Lake, impacting the villages of Lakeview and Russells Point, said Sheri Timmers, a spokesperson for Logan County, home to the villages.

    “As far as we know, we have lots of injuries. We don’t know the extent of the injuries,” Timmers said. “An RV park was impacted.”

    Multiple buildings in the Indian Lake area were damaged, Timmers said, but the full extent of the destruction was still being assessed. Whether anyone was missing in the aftermath, was not immediately known.

    “They’re right now doing some searching,” she said.

    Amber Fagan, president and chief executive of the Indian Lake Area Chamber of Commerce, called the village of Lakeview “completely demolished,” saying homes, campgrounds and a laundromat were hard-hit by the tornado.

    “There’s places burning,” she said. “There’s power lines through people’s windows.”

    A shelter has been opened for anyone displaced.

    In Ohio’s Huron County, emergency management officials posted on Facebook that there was a “confirmed large and extremely dangerous tornado” near Plymouth — some 75 miles northeast of Indian Lake.

    To the west of Winchester, Indiana, in Delaware County, emergency management officials said initial assessments suggested that up to half of the structures in the small town of Selma were damaged by a possible tornado.

    “We are relieved to report that only minor injuries have been reported thus far, with one individual transported to the hospital for treatment,” the Delaware County Emergency Management Agency said in a news release. About 750 people live in Selma.

    Video below: Roof ripped off home in Hanover, Indiana

    Earlier, storms damaged homes and trailers in the Ohio River communities of Hanover and Lamb in Indiana.

    The Ohio governor’s office said they did not have any information about fatalities in the state.

    Jefferson County Sheriff Ben Flint said storms destroyed three or four single-family homes and four or five other structures and demolished several uninhabited campers along the river.

    “We were fortunate that no one was injured,” Flint told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

    Sgt. Stephen Wheeles of the Indiana State Police earlier said another suspected tornado struck Jefferson County, damaging several homes and downing trees and power lines.

    He posted photos on X showing one home with its roof torn off and another missing roof shingles as well as an image of a baseball-sized hailstone.

    Around 2,000 Duke Energy customers in Hanover lost power at one point during the storms, the company reported.

    In Kentucky, Trimble County Emergency Management Director Andrew Stark said the storms damaged at least 50 structures, including homes.

    “We have a whole bunch of damage,” Stark told the Courier Journal of Louisville.

    Video below: Strong hail moves through Vevay, Indiana

    Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear issued a statement saying a tornado touched down along the Indiana state border in Gallatin and Trimble counties and there were reports of a couple of minor injuries. He urged Kentuckians to stay aware of the weather as more storms were expected across the state Thursday evening and overnight.

    “It does appear that there is some really significant damage, especially to the town of Milton in Trimble County,” Beshear said. “We think there are over 100 structures that are potentially damaged.”

    The state’s emergency operations center was activated to coordinate storm response, Beshear said.

    Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb posted on Facebook Thursday night that the Indiana Department of Homeland Security is monitoring the current weather situation.

    “Severe weather has impacted Hoosiers all across the state, and we have emergency response personnel in the impacted areas,” he wrote.

    The Indiana Department of Homeland Security posted on Facebook that their staff are on scene in Randolph County, home to Winchester, working with locals and that the State Emergency Operations Center has been activated to an enhanced staffing level to respond to the storm.

    A Facebook post on the Winchester Community High School page said all the schools in that school district would be closed on Friday. Another post said the high school had electricity and was open for emergency use for people who “need somewhere warm and dry.”

    Large pieces of hail also was reported in parts of the St. Louis area Thursday afternoon.

    There were unconfirmed reports of tornadoes in Jefferson County, Missouri, and Monroe County, Illinois, but no immediate reports of damage.

    Severe weather was possible into Thursday night from northeast Texas to Indiana and Ohio, the National Weather Service said on X.

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  • Energy Department will fund 52 clean hydrogen projects in 24 states

    Energy Department will fund 52 clean hydrogen projects in 24 states

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    The Department of Energy announced Wednesday that it will invest $750 million to fund clean hydrogen production in 24 states. The move is part of an ambitious plan to boost low- and no-emissions hydrogen as a major energy source for the United States as electricity demand increases.

    What You Need To Know

    • The Department of Energy will invest $750 million in clean hydrogen production projects in 24 states

    • The 52 projects are funded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law

    • They will enable the production of fuel cells and the electrolyzers needed to produce clean hydrogen

    • The DOE funding annoncement comes five months after the Biden administration announced it would invest $7 billion in so-called hydrogen hubs in seven regions around the country

    Funded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the money will fund 52 projects to increase hydrogen fuel cell production and the electrolyzers needed to generate clean hydrogen. Electrolyzers separate hydrogen from water using renewable sources of electricity, such as wind and solar.

    The projects are expected to produce electrolyzers that can generate 1.3 million tons of clean hydrogen annually — enough to power about 14,000 homes. They will also produce enough hydrogen fuel cells to power 15% of the medium- and heavy-duty trucks sold in the U.S. each year, according to the DOE.

    Collectively, the projects “will supercharge our progress and ensure our leadership in clean hydrogen will be felt across the nation for generations to come,” Energy Secretary Jennifer M. Granholm said in a statement.

    The DOE clean hydrogen funding announcement comes five months after the Biden administration announced a $7 billion investment in so-called hydrogen hubs in seven parts of the country. Each hub will include private and public entities that both produce and consume hydrogen in their geographic areas as part of the administration’s goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.

    When fully operational, the seven hubs are expected to reduce 25 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year — the equivalent of taking 5-1/2 million gas-powered vehicles off the road.

    “Green hydrogen is one of the most promising technologies in the transition to a clean energy future and will support the industries that have long been central to our state, from mobility to manufacturing,” U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., said in a statement.

    Michigan is receiving funding for two projects: A General Motors fuel cell manufacturing plant and a Nel Hydrogen electrolyzer manufacturing facility.

    California, Texas, South Carolina and Ohio are among the states receiving funding for at least three projects as the Biden administration works to spur more sustainably produced hydrogen for use in manufacturing, transportation and electricity generation.

    One of the most abundant elements on earth, hydrogen can be used to produce electricity, power manufacturing facilities, heat buildings and fuel vehicles with substantially lower greenhouse gas emissions than fossil fuels, but it depends how it is produced. The dominant method for making hydrogen currently uses natural gas and is less expensive than more sustainable methods, such as landfill gas or electrolysis.

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    Susan Carpenter

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  • SpaceX successfully launches Starship but loses spacecraft while in orbit

    SpaceX successfully launches Starship but loses spacecraft while in orbit

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    NATIONWIDE — SpaceX was able to successfully launch Starship on Thursday morning and while the spacecraft itself was in space for the first time, it was lost while orbiting the planet. Its exact fate is currently unknown after the company stated it was not sending out a signal.         

    What You Need To Know

    • A number of accomplishments were made, stated SpaceX
    • It was the longest Starship test so far; about 51 minutes
    • The launch happened at the company’s Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas
    • Scroll down to learn more about the Starship

    The liftoff happened at 9:25 a.m. ET with a mixture of cheers from the Starship team heard over SpaceX’s live feed and the roar of the Starship’s Raptor engines.

    The launch took place at SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas.

    Collectively known as Starship, the first-stage rocket’s 33 Raptor engines, fueled with thousands of tons of sub-cooled liquid oxygen and liquid methane, lit up as it went into the sky.

    The new hot stage separation worked as designed, just like during the second launch attempt in November 2023. While it worked last time, it resulted in the rocket being destroyed. (Please see below for more.)

    The first-stage Super Heavy rocket had a hard-water landing in the Gulf of Mexico, confirmed SpaceX. The damage to it is unknown.

    The Starship spacecraft was doing various tests while in orbit, including the opening and closing of the payload door, affectionately known as the “Pez door”.

    At one point, the Starship was traveling 40 miles (65 kilometers) above the round Earth and moving at 15,973 mph (25,707 kmh).

    The plan was for Starship to have a water landing in the Indian Ocean. However, about 51 minutes after liftoff, SpaceX announced on its live feed, “We are making the call now that we have lost ship 28.”

    The ship’s signal back down to the team was lost and SpaceX confirmed that it would take a “little bit of time” to find out what exactly happened to the ship.

    SpaceX admitted during its live feed that there was always a chance the Starship and the Super Heavy rocket would not survive their splashdowns.

    However, SpaceX considered that the third flight test made some accomplishments, some not seen before:

    • All Raptor engines lighting up
    • The second time the hot stage separation worked
    • The craft’s heat shield being intact
    • The payload doors worked
    • The first time Starship was in space
    • The longest Starship test so far

    SpaceX stated it will review the data that was collected and use that for the next Starship test.

    NASA Administrator Bill Nelson called it a “successful test flight” of the Starship on X.

    “Together, we are making great strides through Artemis to return humanity to the Moon—then look onward to Mars,” Nelson stated about NASA’s and SpaceX’s plans.

    Later after the launch test, Federal Aviation Administration stated that it will be investigating the Starship flight.

    “No public injuries or public property damage have been reported. The FAA is overseeing the SpaceX-led mishap investigation to ensure the company complies with its FAA-approved mishap investigation plan and other regulatory requirements,” the FAA stated. “The FAA will be involved in every step of the mishap investigation process and must approve SpaceX’s final report, including any corrective actions.”

    Getting off the ground

    The launch did not go off on time due to wind concerns and giving boats in the splashdown areas time to get out of the way.

    The 110-minute launch window was originally set for 8 a.m. ET, but SpaceX pushed the time back to 8:02 a.m. ET. Then SpaceX pushed it to 9:10 a.m. ET, so that boats in the splash down zones had time to move out of the area, stated SpaceX.

    On Wednesday afternoon, the California-based company announced that it would be testing its 397-foot-tall stacked Starship for a third time on Thursday from its Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas.

    SpaceX was waiting for the FAA to grant its approval for the third flight attempt. The company announced last week that it was aiming for Thursday for the launch date.

    SpaceX CEO and founder Elon Musk posted on X, stating that “Starship will make life multiplanetary.”

    About Starship

    Starship is where SpaceX’s hopes and dreams are stored. If all goes well, it will take humans back to Earth’s moon and eventually, it will go to Mars.

    It is a two-stage heavy lift launch rocket that will be a fully reusable transportation system to carry humans and cargo into space. The rocket is known as the Super Heavy and the spacecraft is called Starship, but collectively, they are known as Starship.

    Both the Super Heavy rocket, with its 33 Raptor engines fueled by thousands of tons of sub-cooled liquid oxygen and liquid methane, and the Starship are designed to be reusable.

    The Starship is planned to carry 100 crew members and cargo to Earth orbit, the moon and eventually Mars, according to the ship’s user guide.

    What to expect for the third-test flight

    For the third test, SpaceX stated it built on the two previous launches and planned to showoff a series of demonstrations.

    “The third flight test aims to build on what we’ve learned from previous flights while attempting a number of ambitious objectives, including the successful ascent burn of both stages, opening and closing Starship’s payload door, a propellant transfer demonstration during the upper stage’s coast phase, the first ever re-light of a Raptor engine while in space, and a controlled reentry of Starship. It will also fly a new trajectory, with Starship targeted to splashdown in the Indian Ocean,” SpaceX explained.

    If things had gone according to plan, this would have been Starship’s flight path.

    Starship’s flight history

    SpaceX’s first launch attempt of Starship happened on April 2023, which saw a series of failures that caused the rocket to explode.

    The FAA issued a series of requirements before the California-based company could try again, which included 63 corrective actions.

    For the second test in November 2023, SpaceX was forced to blow up Starship.

    The new stage separation, called hot stage separation, worked as designed, but it resulted in the Super Heavy rocket’s destruction.

    “Following stage separation, Super Heavy initiated its boostback burn, which sends commands to 13 of the vehicle’s 33 Raptor engines to propel the rocket toward its intended landing location. During this burn, several engines began shutting down before one engine failed energetically, quickly cascading to a rapid unscheduled disassembly of the booster,” SpaceX described.

    SpaceX believed the likely cause of the booster blowing up was a filter blockage where liquid oxygen fuel goes to the engines.

    Minutes later after the hot stage separation, SpaceX could not regain a signal to the Starship spacecraft and the company was forced to destroy it.

    “A leak in the aft section of the spacecraft that developed when the liquid oxygen vent was initiated resulted in a combustion event and subsequent fires that led to a loss of communication between the spacecraft’s flight computers. This resulted in a commanded shut down of all six engines prior to completion of the ascent burn, followed by the Autonomous Flight Safety System detecting a mission rule violation and activating the flight termination system, leading to vehicle breakup,” the company stated.

    SpaceX stated it has corrected the issues (17 corrective actions) that occurred during the second flight attempt.

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    Anthony Leone

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  • Judge overseeing Georgia election case dismisses some charges against Trump

    Judge overseeing Georgia election case dismisses some charges against Trump

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    The judge overseeing the Georgia 2020 election interference case on Wednesday dismissed some of the charges against former President Donald Trump and others, but the rest of the sweeping racketeering indictment remains intact.

    What You Need To Know

    • The judge overseeing the Georgia election interference case has dismissed some of the charges against ex-President Donald Trump, but others remain

    • Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee wrote Wednesday in an order six of the charges in the indictment must be quashed, including three against Trump

    • The judge wrote that prosecutors could seek a new indictment on the charges he dismissed

    • The six charges in question have to do with soliciting elected officials to violate their oaths of office, including two charges related to the phone call Trump made to fellow Republican Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Jan. 2, 2021

    Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee wrote in an order that six of the counts in the indictment must be quashed, including three against Trump, the presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee. But he left in place other counts — including 10 facing Trump — and said prosecutors could seek a new indictment on the charges he dismissed.

    The ruling is a blow for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who already is facing an effort to have her removed from the prosecution over her romantic relationship with a colleague. It’s the first time charges in any of Trump’s four criminal cases have been dismissed, with the judge saying prosecutors failed to provide enough detail about the alleged crime.

    The sprawling indictment charges Trump and more than a dozen other defendants with violating Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, known as RICO. The case uses a statute normally associated with mobsters to accuse the former president, lawyers and other aides of a “criminal enterprise” to keep him in power after he lost the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden.

    Lawyers for Trump did not immediately respond to a text message seeking comment Wednesday. A Willis spokesperson also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    McAfee’s ruling came after challenges to parts of the indictment from Trump, former New York mayor and current Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and attorneys John Eastman, Ray Smith and Robert Cheeley. They have all pleaded not guilty. No trial date has been set.

    The six challenged counts charge the defendants with soliciting public officers to violate their oaths. One count stems from a phone call Trump made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a fellow Republican, on Jan. 2, 2021, in which Trump urged Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes.”

    Another of the dismissed counts accuses Trump of soliciting then-Georgia House Speaker David Ralson to violate his oath of office by calling a special session of the legislature to unlawfully appoint presidential electors.

    McAfee said the counts did not allege sufficient detail regarding the nature of the violations.

    “The lack of detail concerning an essential legal element is, in the undersigned’s opinion, fatal,” McAfee wrote. “They do not give the Defendants enough information to prepare their defenses intelligently.”

    McAfee’s order leaves Meadows facing only a RICO charge. Jim Durham, a lawyer for Meadows, declined to comment.

    The ruling comes as McAfee is considering a bid to have Willis disqualified from the case over what defense attorneys say is a conflict of interest due to her romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade. McAfee could rule by the end of this week on the disqualification bid, which would throw the most sprawling of the four criminal cases against Trump into question.

    Willis, who has said their relationship ended months ago, has said there is no conflict of interest and no reason to remove her from the case.

    The nearly 100-page Georgia indictment details dozens of alleged acts by Trump or his allies to undo his defeat, including harassing an election worker, who faced false claims of fraud, and attempting to persuade Georgia lawmakers to ignore the will of voters and appoint a new slate of Electoral College electors favorable to Trump.

    Of the 19 people originally charged in the indictment, four have pleaded guilty after reaching deals with prosecutors. They include prominent Trump allies and attorneys Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro.

    The Georgia case covers some of the same ground as the federal case in Washington brought by special counsel Jack Smith that charges Trump with conspiring to overturn his election loss in a desperate bid to stay in power. Trump is charged separately by Smith with hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate and thwarting government efforts to retrieve them.

    Trump is scheduled to go to trial later this month in New York in a case accusing him of falsifying his company’s internal records to hide the true nature of payments to a former lawyer who helped Trump bury negative stories during his 2016 presidential campaign.

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    Associated Press

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  • Biden meets with Teamsters Union weeks after Trump

    Biden meets with Teamsters Union weeks after Trump

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    President Joe Biden made his way to the Teamsters headquarters in Washington on Tuesday to make the case as to why he should win members’ support in November as both he and former President Donald Trump vie for the powerful union’s endorsement. 

    What You Need To Know

    • President Joe Biden made his way to the Teamsters headquarters in Washington on Tuesday to make the case as to why he should win the union’s support
    • Biden was expected to meet with Teamsters’ president Sean M. O’Brien, general secretary-treasurer Fred Zuckerman and the Teamsters General Executive Board as well as union members, behind closed doors according to the group
    • The Teamsters also met with former President Donald Trump in Washington and January and the union’s president sat down with Trump at Mar-a-Lago this year
    • Biden secured the endorsement of the United Auto Workers union in January

    Biden – who often touts himself as the most pro-union president in U.S. history – traveled less than two miles from the White House for the “rank-and-file Presidential roundtable,” as the union billed it. There, he is expected to meet with Teamsters’ president Sean M. O’Brien, general secretary-treasurer Fred Zuckerman and the Teamsters General Executive Board as well as union members, all behind closed doors, according to the group. 

    “We realize that President Biden’s time is limited and we appreciate that he is making it a priority to meet with Teamsters,” O’Brien said in a statement. “Our rank-and-file members and leadership are eager to have this conversation about the future of our country and the commitments that working people need from our next President.” 

    Tuesday’s discussion is expected to include conversations on workers’ wages and wealth inequality, antitrust enforcement in the warehouse and package delivery industries, and the freedom to form and join a union more quickly among other topics. 

    The 1.3 million-member union representing workers in a diverse range of industries endorsed Biden in 2020 and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016. But the group has held off throwing its support behind Biden’s reelection bid early, meeting with Trump in Washington in January as well as other current or past candidates Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Asa Hutchinson, Marianne Williamson, Dr. Cornel West, and Dean Phillips. 

    “Stranger things have happened,” Trump told reporters following his meeting with the group in Washington in January regarding a possible endorsement in the face of the union passing him up in 2020 and 2016. 

    O’Brien also made the trip to Florida in January to sit-down with Trump at Mar-a-Lago, an event that featured the two posing for a picture together. The potent force in the labor world also drew headlines when its PAC donated $45,000 to a fund for the Republican National Committee in January. The Teamsters’ PAC also donated thousands to the Democratic National Committee’s fund in December. 

    Through these roundtable conversations, the Teamsters want to make sure that all our members’ voices are heard and our elected officials do not take for granted the power of the Teamsters vote,” O’Brien said in a statement ahead of his meeting with Biden. 

    Biden and Trump, both of whom have yet to officially lock up enough delegates to win their parties’ nominations but look all but certain to be headed for a 2020 rematch in November, are looking to shore up support from organized labor – something that could be crucial to winning the blue-collar workers in swing states like Michigan and Wisconsin. 

    Biden secured the endorsement of the United Auto Workers union in January, months after making history when he joined striking UAW members on the picket line in Michigan as they pursued better pay and benefits from the Big Three Detroit automakers.

    The president called out UAW Shawn Fain as a “great friend and a great labor leader” during his State of the Union address on Thursday. The White House invited Fain to the address to watch with the first lady from her viewing box. 

    The UAW leader has feuded with Trump, calling the former president a “scab” while endorsing Biden this year. 

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    Maddie Gannon

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  • Biden meets with Teamsters Union weeks after Trump

    Biden meets with Teamsters Union weeks after Trump

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    President Joe Biden made his way to the Teamsters headquarters in Washington on Tuesday to make the case as to why he should win members’ support in November as both he and former President Donald Trump vie for the powerful union’s endorsement. 

    What You Need To Know

    • President Joe Biden made his way to the Teamsters headquarters in Washington on Tuesday to make the case as to why he should win the union’s support
    • Biden was expected to meet with Teamsters’ president Sean M. O’Brien, general secretary-treasurer Fred Zuckerman and the Teamsters General Executive Board as well as union members, behind closed doors according to the group
    • The Teamsters also met with former President Donald Trump in Washington and January and the union’s president sat down with Trump at Mar-a-Lago this year
    • Biden secured the endorsement of the United Auto Workers union in January

    Biden – who often touts himself as the most pro-union president in U.S. history – traveled less than two miles from the White House for the “rank-and-file Presidential roundtable,” as the union billed it. There, he is expected to meet with Teamsters’ president Sean M. O’Brien, general secretary-treasurer Fred Zuckerman and the Teamsters General Executive Board as well as union members, all behind closed doors, according to the group. 

    “We realize that President Biden’s time is limited and we appreciate that he is making it a priority to meet with Teamsters,” O’Brien said in a statement. “Our rank-and-file members and leadership are eager to have this conversation about the future of our country and the commitments that working people need from our next President.” 

    Tuesday’s discussion is expected to include conversations on workers’ wages and wealth inequality, antitrust enforcement in the warehouse and package delivery industries, and the freedom to form and join a union more quickly among other topics. 

    The 1.3 million-member union representing workers in a diverse range of industries endorsed Biden in 2020 and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016. But the group has held off throwing its support behind Biden’s reelection bid early, meeting with Trump in Washington in January as well as other current or past candidates Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Asa Hutchinson, Marianne Williamson, Dr. Cornel West, and Dean Phillips. 

    “Stranger things have happened,” Trump told reporters following his meeting with the group in Washington in January regarding a possible endorsement in the face of the union passing him up in 2020 and 2016. 

    O’Brien also made the trip to Florida in January to sit-down with Trump at Mar-a-Lago, an event that featured the two posing for a picture together. The potent force in the labor world also drew headlines when its PAC donated $45,000 to a fund for the Republican National Committee in January. The Teamsters’ PAC also donated thousands to the Democratic National Committee’s fund in December. 

    Through these roundtable conversations, the Teamsters want to make sure that all our members’ voices are heard and our elected officials do not take for granted the power of the Teamsters vote,” O’Brien said in a statement ahead of his meeting with Biden. 

    Biden and Trump, both of whom have yet to officially lock up enough delegates to win their parties’ nominations but look all but certain to be headed for a 2020 rematch in November, are looking to shore up support from organized labor – something that could be crucial to winning the blue-collar workers in swing states like Michigan and Wisconsin. 

    Biden secured the endorsement of the United Auto Workers union in January, months after making history when he joined striking UAW members on the picket line in Michigan as they pursued better pay and benefits from the Big Three Detroit automakers.

    The president called out UAW Shawn Fain as a “great friend and a great labor leader” during his State of the Union address on Thursday. The White House invited Fain to the address to watch with the first lady from her viewing box. 

    The UAW leader has feuded with Trump, calling the former president a “scab” while endorsing Biden this year. 

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    Maddie Gannon

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  • Disney seeks major expansion of California theme park

    Disney seeks major expansion of California theme park

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    Walking through the frosty, snow-covered hamlet of Arendelle from “Frozen,” or the bustling, critter-filled metropolis of “Zootopia” might be possible one day for visitors to Disney’s California theme parks.

    That’s only if Disney wins approval from local officials to expand its Anaheim resort over the next four decades.

    What You Need To Know

    • Disney is seeking approval from local officials to expand its California theme park offerings over the next four decades
    • The proposal wouldn’t increase the company’s geographic footprint in Anaheim, but would allow for new attractions on unused spaces, including a large parking lot
    • Disney officials say there isn’t room to build new immersive experiences in its California theme parks without these changes
    • Anaheim’s planning commission is expected to review the proposal Monday, and the city council still must approve it before it to takes effect. The plan would require Disney to invest $1.9 billion in theme park-related offerings in the next decade

    The proposed expansion wouldn’t increase Disney’s 490-acre footprint in Southern California or change what the company already has permission to build. But it could help the company develop new attractions. They could place rides and entertainment options on what is currently a sprawling, 50-acre parking lot — and move parking for Disneyland to a multistory structure — all while keeping within the boundaries of a resort surrounded by residential neighborhoods.

    “We know there are stories out there we haven’t told yet, like ‘Wakanda’ or ‘Coco’ or ‘Frozen’ or ‘Zootopia’,” said Rachel Alde, Disney’s senior vice president of global development and finance. “We know what kind of stories we would love to tell. We need to get the guidance on what we can build there so we can understand how.”

    The city of Anaheim’s planning commission on Monday reviewed the proposal for Disneyland, dubbed the “happiest place on Earth.” The project — which would require Disney to invest at least $1.9 billion in the theme park, lodging, entertainment and related uses over the next decade — still must be approved by the city council before taking effect.

    Disney’s goal is to create what it calls more immersive experiences for tourists, similar to the attraction Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, which opened in California in 2019. The company said it doesn’t yet know which stories would be central to the new developments, but the idea is to create areas like “Zootopia” in Shanghai Disneyland, where animal characters walk through a vibrant cityscape that resembles the setting of the film.

    Right now, there isn’t enough room in the original Disneyland in California to build something on a large scale without affecting existing attractions, which are relished by loyal, long-time visitors to the company’s oldest theme park, Alde said.

    Staff for the city’s Planning and Building Department has recommended Disney’s application be approved.

    The project “will allow us to continue Walt’s legacy of bringing Disney stories to life, right here in Anaheim,” Ken Potrock, president of Disneyland Resort, told the planning commission on Monday. Disneyland was founded in 1955 by Walt Disney.

    Amid overwhelmingly positive public comment during hourslong meeting, neighbors and Anaheim residents praised Disney’s outreach to the community, including seeking feedback for noise and design.

    One woman noted that the resort’s work to include neighbor voices in meetings and town halls featured multiple efforts “short of coming to my front door and handing me an invitation.”

    Other speakers in support included trade organizations, like the California Chamber of Commerce and the California Attractions and Parks Association, and local unions.

    It’s the first time Disney has sought a major change to its California theme parks since the 1990s, when the company obtained approvals to turn its first park into a resort hub. It later added a second park, Disney California Adventure Park, and a shopping and entertainment area called Downtown Disney.

    Disneyland was the second-most visited theme park in the world in 2022 with 16.8 million people coming through the gates, according to a report by the Themed Entertainment Association and AECOM.

    Disney’s parks are a tourism magnet for Southern California and especially for Anaheim, which is Orange County’s most populous city and home to more than 345,000 people as well as a major league baseball team and national hockey league team. Hotel revenue typically makes up about half of Anaheim’s revenue, and is expected to climb to $236 million this year, according to city estimates.

    “Visitors generate a tremendous amount of revenue for our city that allows us to invest in our neighborhoods,” said Erin Ryan, a spokesperson for the city of Anaheim. “Disney brings a lot of tourists here.”

    The plan also would require the company to invest tens of millions of dollars in street improvements, affordable housing and other infrastructure in the city. Disney has held workshops to address residents’ questions about the proposal, including concerns about the company’s plan to absorb a local road into the theme park.

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    Associated Press

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  • Biden-Harris campaign launches program to mobilize student voters

    Biden-Harris campaign launches program to mobilize student voters

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    As voters express concern about President Joe Biden’s age, according to polling, the organizers of his reelection campaign are courting young people with a new Students for Biden-Harris initiative.

    Designed to mobilize student voters throughout the country, the program launched Monday to reach young people on campus and online by touting the Biden administration’s achievements on the issues they care about most.

    What You Need To Know

    • Biden-Harris 2024 launched Students for Biden-Harris on Monday

    • The program is designed to mobilize student voters throughout the country on campus and online

    • In the 2020 election, 65% of Gen Z voters between the ages of 18 and 24 voted for Biden

    • Inflation, jobs that pay a living wage, gun violence and climate chnage are key isseus for voters 18 to 34 years old

    “Whether it’s tackling the climate crisis, fighting gun violence or being the most pro-union administration, we are making progress on the vision of a more equitable world,” Biden-Harris 2024 National Advisory Board Member and first-term U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., said in a statement. 

    “Young voters were crucial in delivering the election for President Biden and Vice President Harris in 2020, and they will be just as consequential in 2024,” said Frost, who was 25 years old when he was elected in 2020 and is the first member of Generation Z to serve in Congress.

    In the 2020 election, 65% of Gen Z voters between the ages of 18 and 24 voted for Biden — or about 11% more than all other age groups, according to an NBC poll.

    In the 2024 rematch between Biden and former president Donald Trump, students will be just as critical of a voting bloc. Referring to young Americans as “a key constituency,” Students for Biden-Harris sees the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022 as a driving force for young women in particular.

    “We’re ready to get to work,” Vice President Kamala Harris said at an event Monday to help launch the new initiative. “We’re ready to mobilize young voters across the country in the fight for our fundamental rights and freedoms.”

    Biden-Harris 2024 announced on Monday a joint endorsement from a coalition of 15 youth vote groups, including College Democrats of America, High School Democrats of America, Planned Parenthood Action Fund and Voices of Gen-Z.

    “The President and Vice President are proud to earn the support of these groups that represent young Americans nationwide,” Biden-Harris 2024 Campaign Manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said in a statement Monday. “The President and Vice President have spent their first term working with young people and fighting for the issues that matter most to them — taking historic action to cancel student debt, combat climate change and address gun violence.”

    Since 2021, the Biden administration has canceled $138 billion in student loan debt for about 3.9 billion borrowers. It also enacted the Inflation Reduction Act — the largest initiative in U.S. history to address climate change — and signed the first major gun safety law passed by Congress in almost three decades.

    Inflation/cost of living, jobs that pay a living wage, gun violence and climate change are the key issues for voters between the ages of 18 and 34 in the 2024 election, according to the Tufts Tisch College Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.

    Young voters who say climate is their top issue are 20 points more likely to vote than other young people and 37 points more likely to prefer a Democrat for president. The Tufts poll found Democrats have an overall advantage among young people in the upcoming election, with 51% backing the Democratic candidate, 30% supporting the Republican and 16% undecided.

    The poll found that 57% of youth are extremely like to vote in 2024; another 15% say they are fairly likely to cast a ballot. Yet only 19% of young people have heard so far from political parties, campaigns or community organizations.

    The Students for Biden-Harris organizing program said it is working with youth vote groups to mobilize on more than 1,000 campuses where they are active, using over 500,000 volunteers that can reach 26+ million people on social media and make more than 155 million direct contacts with voters.

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    Susan Carpenter

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  • Spring training offers a warm break for teams and fans

    Spring training offers a warm break for teams and fans

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    When birds migrate north in the spring, baseball players and fans migrate south to Florida and Arizona every March for spring training.

    Not only is spring training an opportunity for MLB teams to get some practice in before a long season, but for fans to escape the cold weather and enjoy some warmth, sunshine and baseball in warmer climates. 

    What You Need To Know

    • Florida and Arizona host 15 MLB teams each every year for spring training

    • Spring training games are unofficial, and gives fans a chance to see their team play in warmer climates

    • Florida and Arizona are both warm in March, but differ in precipitation and humidity

    Since the late 1800s, MLB teams have sent their players and coaches south to train and practice in a warmer climate to prepare for the season.

    Since 2018, MLB has split the league with 15 teams training in Florida and the other 15 in Arizona. The reason for those two locations is pretty straight-forward: the weather. 

    Florida Grapefruit League

    MLB spreads out most of the teams that train in Florida along the Gulf Coast, with a few teams in south Florida. Average high temperatures in south and central Florida during March hover around the upper 70s and lower 80s. 

    The Toronto Blue Jays and Minnesota Twins play in the two coldest spots as far as March temperatures go, averaging high temperatures in the lower 40s.

    Not only do the players and fans get to escape the cold, but Toronto and Minneapolis average around 8 inches of snowfall during March.

    Minnesota Twins’ spring home, Fort Myers, has an average high temperature in March almost 40 degrees warmer than Minneapolis, and hasn’t even had a low temperature below 40 degrees in March since 2013. 

    Along with the Twins, the Blue Jays, Red Sox and Tigers all get about a 35 degree temperature increase after traveling south during a typical March day.

    The Marlins actually get to travel more than 80 miles north to Jupiter from Miami, and get a break from the heat, with average temperatures about 3 degrees lower. 

    How about the rest of the list? Besides the Astros, Rays and Marlins, the temperature difference is pretty significant and worthy of a trip to Florida for Spring Break. 

    Arizona Cactus League

    In the Cactus League, all 15 teams play and train in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The average high temperature in March for the Phoenix area is a balmy 78.1 degrees.

    Since the Cactus League is more centralized with no two teams more than a 45 minute drive apart, average temperatures are all within a few degrees of each other.

    The biggest difference from the Grapefruit League? The desert offers much lower humidity and less rainfall. 

    Midwest teams from the NL and AL Central Divisions have the biggest disparity when it comes to Arizona temperatures, getting about a 30 degree increase during the month of March.

    The Colorado Rockies escape Denver’s snowiest month of the year on average to play in sunny Scottsdale. 

    Similar to the Marlins, the Arizona Diamondbacks who play in downtown Phoenix, get to travel 20 minutes into Scottdale, where the average March high temperatures is only a few degrees lower.

    Beach or Desert?

    So, if you’re a neutral fan in a cold weather state and want to take in some baseball on Spring Break, do you go to Florida or Arizona?

    Florida teams are more spread out requiring longer drives, and you’ll have to deal with more humidity and higher rain chances. The Cactus league is much more centralized, and it’s a dry heat, but besides baseball, Phoenix may have less to offer for tourist opportunities when you’re not at a game.

    Our team of meteorologists dives deep into the science of weather and breaks down timely weather data and information. To view more weather and climate stories, check out our weather blogs section.

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    Meteorologist Reid Lybarger

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  • ‘Oppenheimer’ crowned best picture at an Academy Awards shadowed by war

    ‘Oppenheimer’ crowned best picture at an Academy Awards shadowed by war

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    LOS ANGELES — “Oppenheimer,” a solemn three-hour biopic that became an unlikely billion-dollar box-office sensation, was crowned best picture at a 96th Academy Awards that doubled as a coronation for Christopher Nolan.

    What You Need To Know

    • In anointing “Oppenheimer,” the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences did something it hasn’t done for more than a decade: hand its top prize to a widely seen, big-budget studio film

    • “Oppenheimer” emerged — even over its partner in cultural phenomenon, “Barbie” — as a fittingly foreboding film for times rife with cataclysm, man-made or not

    • The most closely watched contest went to Emma Stone, who won best best actress for her performance as Bella Baxter in “Poor Things”

    • A year after “Navalny” won the same award, Mstyslav Chernov’s “20 Days in Mariupol,” a harrowing chronicle of the early days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, won best documentary

    After passing over arguably Hollywood’s foremost big-screen auteur for years, the Oscars made up for lost time by heaping seven awards on Nolan’s blockbuster biopic, including best actor for Cillian Murphy, best supporting actor for Robert Downey Jr. and best director for Nolan.

    In anointing “Oppenheimer,” the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences did something it hasn’t done for more than a decade: hand its top prize to a widely seen, big-budget studio film. In a film industry where a cape, dinosaur or Tom Cruise has often been a requirement for such box office, “Oppenheimer” brought droves of moviegoers to theaters with a complex, fission-filled drama about J. Robert Oppenheimer and the creation of the atomic bomb.

    “For better or worse, we’re all living in Oppenheimer’s world,” said Murphy in his acceptance speech. “I’d like to dedicate this to the peacemakers.”

    As a film heavy with unease for human capacity for mass destruction, “Oppenheimer” also emerged — even over its partner in cultural phenomenon, “Barbie” — as a fittingly foreboding film for times rife with cataclysm, man-made or not.

    Sunday’s Oscars at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles unfolded against the backdrop of wars in Gaza and Ukraine, and with a potentially momentous U.S. election on the horizon. Awards for the documentary winner, “20 Days in Mariupol,” and best international film, “The Zone of Interest,” brought geopolitics into the Oscar spotlight.

    The most closely watched contest went to Emma Stone, who won best actress for her performance as Bella Baxter in “Poor Things.” In what was seen as the night’s most nail-biting category, Stone won over Lily Gladstone of “Killers of the Flower Moon.” Gladstone would have become the first Native American to win an Academy Award.

    Instead, Oscar voters couldn’t resist the full-bodied extremes of Stone’s “Poor Things” performance. The win for Stone, her second best actress Oscar following her 2017 win for “La La Land,” confirmed the 35-year-old as arguably the preeminent big-screen actress of her generation. The list of women to win best actress two or more times is illustrious, including Katharine Hepburn, Frances McDormand, Ingrid Bergman and Bette Davis.

    “Oh, boy, this is really overwhelming,” said Stone, who fought back tears and a broken dress during her speech.

    Sunday’s broadcast had razzle dazzle, including a sprawling song-and-dance rendition of the “Barbie” hit “I’m Just Ken” by Ryan Gosling, with an assist on guitar by Slash and a sea of Kens who swarmed the stage.

    But protest and politics intruded on an election-year Academy Awards. Late during the show, host Jimmy Kimmel read a critical social media post from former president Donald Trump.

    “Thank you for watching,” said Kimmel. “Isn’t it past your jail time?”

    Nolan has had many movies in the Oscar mix before, including “Inception,” “Dunkirk” and “The Dark Knight.” But his win Sunday for direction is the first Academy Award for the 53-year-old filmmaker. Addressing the crowd, Nolan noted cinema is just over a hundred years old.

    “Imagine being there 100 years into painting or theater,” said Nolan, who shared the best-picture award with Emma Thomas, his wife and producer. “We don’t know where this incredible journey is going from here. But to know that you think that I’m a meaningful part of it means the world to me.”

    Downey, nominated twice before (for “Chaplin” and “Tropic Thunder”), also notched his first Oscar, crowning the illustrious second act of his up-and-down career.

    “I’d like to thank my terrible childhood and the academy, in that order,” said Downey, the son of filmmaker Robert Downey Sr.

    “Barbie,” last year’s biggest box-office hit with more than $1.4 billion in ticket sales, ultimately won just one award: best song (sorry, Ken) for Billie Eilish and Finneas’ “What Was I Made For?” It’s their second Oscar, two years after winning for their James Bond theme, “No Time to Die.”

    Protests over Israel’s war in Gaza snarled traffic around the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, slowing stars’ arrival on the red carpet and turning the Oscar’ attention toward the ongoing conflict. Some protesters shouted “Shame!” at those trying to reach the awards.

    Jonathan Glazer, the British filmmaker whose chilling Auschwitz drama “The Zone of Interest” won best international film, drew connections between the dehumanization depicted in his film and today.

    “Right now, we stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation which has led to conflict for so many innocent people, whether the victims of October the 7th in Israel, or the ongoing attack on Gaza, all the victims, this dehumanization, how do we resist?”

    A year after “Navalny” won the same award, Mstyslav Chernov’s “20 Days in Mariupol,” a harrowing chronicle of the early days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, won best documentary. The win, a first for The Associated Press and PBS’ “Frontline,” came as the war in Ukraine passed the two-year mark with no signs of abating.

    Chernov, the Ukrainian filmmaker and AP journalist whose hometown was bombed the day he learned of his Oscar nomination, spoke forcefully about Russia’s invasion.

    “This is the first Oscar in Ukrainian history, and I’m honored,” said Chernov. “Probably I will be the first director on this stage to say I wish I’d never made this film. I wish to be able to exchange this (for) Russia never attacking Ukraine.”

    In the early going, Yorgos Lanthimos’ Frankenstein-riff “Poor Things” ran away with three prizes for its sumptuous craft, including awards for production design, makeup and hairstyling and costume design. “Poor Things” fared second best to “Oppenheimer,” with a total of four awards.

    Kimmel, hosting the ABC telecast for the fourth time, opened the awards with a monologue that emphasized Hollywood as “a union town” following 2023’s actor and writer strikes, drew a standing ovation for bringing out teamsters and behind-the-scenes workers — who are now entering their own labor negotiations.

    The night’s first award was one of its most predictable: Da’Vine Joy Randolph for best supporting actress, for her performance in Alexander Payne’s “The Holdovers.” An emotional Randolph was accompanied to the stage by her “Holdovers” co-star Paul Giamatti.

    “For so long I’ve always wanted to be different,” said Randolph. “And now I realize I just need to be myself.”

    Though Randolph’s win was widely expected, an upset quickly followed. Hayao Miyazaki’s “The Boy and the Heron” won for best animated feature, a surprise over the slightly favored “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.” Miyazaki, the 83-year-old Japanese anime master who came out of retirement to make “The Boy and the Heron,” didn’t attend the ceremony. He also didn’t attend the 2003 Oscars when his “Spirited Away” won the same award.

    Best original screenplay went to “Anatomy of a Fall,” which, like “Barbie,” was penned by a couple: director Justine Triet and Arthur Harari. “This will help me through my midlife crisis, I think,” said Triet.

    In adapted screenplay, where “Barbie” was nominated — and where some suspected Greta Gerwig would win after being overlooked for director — the Oscar went to Cord Jefferson, who wrote and directed his feature film debut “American Fiction.” He pleaded for executives to take risks on young filmmakers like himself.

    “Instead of making a $200 million movie, try making 20 $10 million movies,” said Jefferson, previously an award-winning TV writer.

    The Oscars belonged largely to theatrical-first films. Though it came into the awards with 19 nominations, Netflix was a bit player. Its lone win came for live action short: Wes Anderson’s “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar,” based on the story by Roald Dahl.

    The win for “Oppenheimer” offered Hollywood a chance to celebrate despite swirling storm clouds in the film industry. Nolan’s film debuted last year just as actors joined screenwriters in a prolonged strike over streaming economics and artificial intelligence. The actors’ strike ended in November, but little of Hollywood’s unease subsided. Streaming has proved less lucrative for most studios not named Netflix.

    But “Barbenheimer” was the kind of unplanned phenomenon Hollywood needs more of. The two films could also give a lift to the Oscar telecast, which has historically benefitted from having big movies in contention. The Academy Awards’ largest audience ever came when James Cameron’s “Titanic” swept the 1998 Oscars.

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    Associated Press

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  • U.S. flies forces in to defend embassy in Haiti, evacuate nonessential personnel

    U.S. flies forces in to defend embassy in Haiti, evacuate nonessential personnel

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    The U.S. military said Sunday that it had flown forces in to beef up security at the U.S. Embassy in Haiti and allow nonessential personnel to leave.

    What You Need To Know

    • The U.S. military has flown forces in to beef up security at the U.S. Embassy in Haiti and evacuate nonessential personnel
    • The U.S. Southern Command said Sunday that the aircraft flew directly into the embassy compound meaning that it involved helicopters
    • Southcom was careful to point out that “no Haitians were on board the military aircraft.” That seemed aimed at quashing any reports of senior government officials possibly leaving Haiti as the gang attacks in Haiti worsen
    • The neighborhood around the embassy in the capital Port-au-Prince is largely controlled by gangs
    • The Southcom statement said that the United States remains focused on aiding Haitian police and arranging some kind of U.N.-authorized security deployment

    The aircraft flew to the embassy compound, the U.S. Southern Command said, meaning that the effort involved helicopters. It was careful to point out that “no Haitians were on board the military aircraft.” That seemed aimed at quashing any speculation that senior government officials might be leaving as the gang attacks in Haiti worsen.

    The neighborhood around the embassy in the capital, Port-au-Prince, is largely controlled by gangs.

    “This airlift of personnel into and out of the Embassy is consistent with our standard practice for Embassy security augmentation worldwide, and no Haitians were on board the military aircraft,” according to the Southcom statement.

    In many cases, nonessential personnel can include the families of diplomats, but the embassy had already ordered departure for nonessential staff and all family members in July.

    The statement Sunday said that the United States remains focused on aiding Haitian police and arranging some kind of U.N.-authorized security deployment. But those efforts have been unsuccessful so far.

    The U.S. embassy in Haiti said they remain open, but noted that could change if the country continues to devolve into violence. A State Department spokesperson also confirmed the arrival of security personnel and the departure of staff that marked a reduction in the diplomatic presence on the ground.

    Haiti’s embattled prime minister, Ariel Henry, traveled recently to Kenya to push for the U.N.-backed deployment of a police force from the East African country to fight the gangs. But a Kenyan court ruled in January that such a deployment would be unconstitutional.

    Henry, who is facing calls to resign or form a transitional council, remains unable to return home. He arrived in Puerto Rico on Tuesday after he was unable to land in the Dominican Republic, which borders Haiti.

    On Saturday, the office of Dominican President Luis Abinader issued a statement saying that “Henry is not welcome in the Dominican Republic for safety reasons.” The Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, has closed its land border.

    “Given the current situation, the presence of the Haitian prime minister in the Dominican Republic is not considered appropriate,” according to the statement, adding that “this decision reflects the firm position of the Dominican government to safeguard its national security and stability.”

    The statement described the security situation in Haiti as “totally unsustainable” and said that it “poses a direct threat to the safety and stability of the Dominican Republic.”

    The statement predicted “the situation could deteriorate even further if a peacekeeping force is not implemented urgently to restore order.”

    Caribbean leaders have called for an emergency meeting Monday in Jamaica on what they called Haiti’s “dire” situation. They have invited the United States, France, Canada, the United Nations and Brazil to the meeting.

    Members of the Caricom regional trade bloc have been trying for months to get political actors in Haiti to agree to form an umbrella transitional unity government.

    Caricom said Friday that while regional leaders remain deeply engaged in trying to bring opposition parties and civil society groups together to form a unity government, “the stakeholders are not yet where they need to be.”

    “We are acutely aware of the urgent need for consensus to be reached,” according to the statement. “We have impressed on the respective parties that time is not on their side in agreeing to the way forward. From our reports, the situation on the ground remains dire and is of serious concern to us.”

    In February, Henry agreed to hold a general election by mid-2025, and the international community has tried to find some foreign armed force willing to fight gang violence there.

    Caricom has also pushed Henry to announce a power-sharing, consensus government in the meantime, but the prime minister has yet to do so even as Haitian opposition parties and civil society groups are demanding his resignation.

    Henry, a neurosurgeon, was appointed as Haiti’s prime minister after the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise.

    It was unclear whether Henry would be in Jamaica for the Caricom meeting.

    In Port-au-Prince, meanwhile, police and palace guards worked Saturday to retake some streets in the capital after gangs launched major attacks on at least three police stations.

    Guards from the National Palace accompanied by an armored truck tried to set up a security perimeter around one of the three downtown stations after police fought off an attack by gangs late Friday.

    Sporadic gunfire continued Saturday, and one woman writhed in pain on the sidewalk in downtown Port-au-Prince with a gunshot wound after a stray bullet hit her in the leg.

    The unrelenting gang attacks have paralyzed the country for more than a week and left it with dwindling supplies of basic goods. Haitian officials extended a state of emergency and nightly curfew on Thursday as gangs continued to attack key state institutions.

    But average Haitians, many of whom have been forced from their homes by the bloody street fighting, can’t wait. The problem for police in securing government buildings is that many Haitians have streamed into them, seeking refuge.

    “We are the ones who pay taxes, and we need to have shelter,” said one woman, who didn’t give her name for safety reasons.

    Another Port-au-Prince resident, who also did not give his name, described Friday’s attacks.

    “They (the gangs) came with big guns. We have no guns and we cannot defend ourselves. All of us, the children are suffering,” said the man.

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    Associated Press

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  • A U.S. ship with equipment for building a pier is on its way to Gaza

    A U.S. ship with equipment for building a pier is on its way to Gaza

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    A U.S. Army vessel carrying equipment for building a temporary pier in Gaza was on its way to the Mediterranean on Sunday, three days after U.S. President Joe Biden announced plans to ramp up aid deliveries by sea to the besieged enclave where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been going hungry.

    What You Need To Know

    • A U.S. Army vessel carrying equipment for building a temporary pier in Gaza is on its way to the Mediterranean
    • The voyage began just two days after U.S. President Joe Biden announced plans to ramp up aid deliveries by sea to the besieged enclave where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been going hungry
    • Meanwhile, Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza has dragged on, with at least 22 Palestinians reported killed in two Israeli strikes overnight and into Sunday
    • Among the dead were women and children, including an infant. Biden has sharply criticized Israel for its conduct of the war, saying it must do much more to prevent the killing of civilians


    The opening of the sea corridor, along with airdrops by the U.S., Jordan and others, showed increasing alarm over Gaza’s humanitarian crisis and a new willingness to bypass Israeli control over land shipments.

    Israel said it welcomed the sea deliveries and would inspect Gaza-bound cargo before it leaves a staging area in nearby Cyprus. The daily number of aid trucks entering Gaza by land over the past five months has been far below the 500 that entered before the war because of Israeli restrictions and security issues.

    Biden has stepped up his public criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying he believes Netanyahu is “hurting Israel more than helping Israel” in how he is approaching its war against Hamas in Gaza, now in its sixth month.

    Speaking Saturday to MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart, the president expressed support for Israel’s right to pursue Hamas after the militants’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, but said that Netanyahu “must pay more attention to the innocent lives being lost as a consequence of the actions taken.” He added that “you cannot have 30,000 more Palestinians dead.”

    In Gaza, Palestinian casualties continued to rise.

    The Civil Defense Department said at least nine Palestinians, including children, were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a house in Gaza City late Saturday.

    Footage shared by the civil defense showed first responders pulling out the dead and injured trapped in the collapsed house. One rescuer was seen holding a dead infant, before placing the limp body on a sofa amid the wreckage.

    Elsewhere, the bodies of 15 people, including women and children, were taken to the main hospital in the central town of Deir al-Balah on Sunday, according to an Associated Press journalist. Relatives said they were killed by Israeli artillery fire toward a large tent camp for displaced Palestinians in the coastal area east of the southern city of Khan Younis.

    Israel rarely comments on specific incidents during the war. It has held that Hamas is responsible for civilian casualties because the militant group operates from within civilian areas.

    The Health Ministry in Gaza said Sunday that at least 31,045 Palestinians have been killed since the war began. It doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count but says women and children make up two-thirds of the dead. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government, and its figures from previous wars have largely matched those of the U.N. and independent experts.

    Meanwhile, U.S. efforts got underway to set up the temporary pier in Gaza for the sea deliveries. U.S. Central Command said a first U.S. Army vessel, the General Frank S. Besson, left a base in Virginia on Saturday and was on its way to the Eastern Mediterranean with equipment for pier construction.

    U.S. officials said it will likely be weeks before the pier is operational.

    The sea corridor is backed by the EU together with the United States, the United Arab Emirates and other countries. The European Commission has said that U.N. agencies and the Red Cross will also play a role.

    A ship belonging to Spain’s Open Arms aid group was expected to make a pilot voyage to test the corridor as early as this weekend. The ship has been waiting at Cyprus’ port of Larnaca.

    Open Arms founder Oscar Camps has said the ship, which is pulling a barge with 200 tons of rice and flour, would take two to three days to arrive at an undisclosed location.

    A member of the charity World Central Kitchen, which is also involved in the test run, said on X, formerly Twitter, that once the barge reaches Gaza, the aid would be offloaded by a crane, placed on trucks and driven to northern Gaza, which has been largely cut off from aid shipments.

    Senior aid officials have warned that air and sea deliveries can’t make up for a shortage of supply routes on land.

    The new push for getting more aid in came on the eve of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which follows a lunar calendar and could start as early as Sunday evening, depending on the sighting of a crescent moon.

    Israel declared war on Oct. 7 after Hamas militants attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians and taking 250 hostages. Israel’s blistering air and ground offensive has devastated large parts of Gaza, displaced about 80% of the population of 2.3 million and set off a worsening humanitarian crisis.

    The U.S. and regional mediators Egypt and Qatar had hoped to have a six-week cease-fire in place by the start of Ramadan, but talks appeared to be stalled, with Hamas holding out for assurances that a temporary truce will lead to an end of hostilities.

    Mediators had hoped to alleviate some of the immediate crisis with the temporary cease-fire, which would have seen Hamas release some of the Israeli hostages it’s holding, Israel release some Palestinian prisoners and aid groups be given access for a major influx of assistance into Gaza.

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    Associated Press

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  • A U.S. ship with equipment for building a pier is on its way to Gaza

    A U.S. ship with equipment for building a pier is on its way to Gaza

    [ad_1]

    A U.S. Army vessel carrying equipment for building a temporary pier in Gaza was on its way to the Mediterranean on Sunday, three days after U.S. President Joe Biden announced plans to ramp up aid deliveries by sea to the besieged enclave where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been going hungry.

    What You Need To Know

    • A U.S. Army vessel carrying equipment for building a temporary pier in Gaza is on its way to the Mediterranean
    • The voyage began just two days after U.S. President Joe Biden announced plans to ramp up aid deliveries by sea to the besieged enclave where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been going hungry
    • Meanwhile, Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza has dragged on, with at least 22 Palestinians reported killed in two Israeli strikes overnight and into Sunday
    • Among the dead were women and children, including an infant. Biden has sharply criticized Israel for its conduct of the war, saying it must do much more to prevent the killing of civilians


    The opening of the sea corridor, along with airdrops by the U.S., Jordan and others, showed increasing alarm over Gaza’s humanitarian crisis and a new willingness to bypass Israeli control over land shipments.

    Israel said it welcomed the sea deliveries and would inspect Gaza-bound cargo before it leaves a staging area in nearby Cyprus. The daily number of aid trucks entering Gaza by land over the past five months has been far below the 500 that entered before the war because of Israeli restrictions and security issues.

    Biden has stepped up his public criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying he believes Netanyahu is “hurting Israel more than helping Israel” in how he is approaching its war against Hamas in Gaza, now in its sixth month.

    Speaking Saturday to MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart, the president expressed support for Israel’s right to pursue Hamas after the militants’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, but said that Netanyahu “must pay more attention to the innocent lives being lost as a consequence of the actions taken.” He added that “you cannot have 30,000 more Palestinians dead.”

    In Gaza, Palestinian casualties continued to rise.

    The Civil Defense Department said at least nine Palestinians, including children, were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a house in Gaza City late Saturday.

    Footage shared by the civil defense showed first responders pulling out the dead and injured trapped in the collapsed house. One rescuer was seen holding a dead infant, before placing the limp body on a sofa amid the wreckage.

    Elsewhere, the bodies of 15 people, including women and children, were taken to the main hospital in the central town of Deir al-Balah on Sunday, according to an Associated Press journalist. Relatives said they were killed by Israeli artillery fire toward a large tent camp for displaced Palestinians in the coastal area east of the southern city of Khan Younis.

    Israel rarely comments on specific incidents during the war. It has held that Hamas is responsible for civilian casualties because the militant group operates from within civilian areas.

    The Health Ministry in Gaza said Sunday that at least 31,045 Palestinians have been killed since the war began. It doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count but says women and children make up two-thirds of the dead. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government, and its figures from previous wars have largely matched those of the U.N. and independent experts.

    Meanwhile, U.S. efforts got underway to set up the temporary pier in Gaza for the sea deliveries. U.S. Central Command said a first U.S. Army vessel, the General Frank S. Besson, left a base in Virginia on Saturday and was on its way to the Eastern Mediterranean with equipment for pier construction.

    U.S. officials said it will likely be weeks before the pier is operational.

    The sea corridor is backed by the EU together with the United States, the United Arab Emirates and other countries. The European Commission has said that U.N. agencies and the Red Cross will also play a role.

    A ship belonging to Spain’s Open Arms aid group was expected to make a pilot voyage to test the corridor as early as this weekend. The ship has been waiting at Cyprus’ port of Larnaca.

    Open Arms founder Oscar Camps has said the ship, which is pulling a barge with 200 tons of rice and flour, would take two to three days to arrive at an undisclosed location.

    A member of the charity World Central Kitchen, which is also involved in the test run, said on X, formerly Twitter, that once the barge reaches Gaza, the aid would be offloaded by a crane, placed on trucks and driven to northern Gaza, which has been largely cut off from aid shipments.

    Senior aid officials have warned that air and sea deliveries can’t make up for a shortage of supply routes on land.

    The new push for getting more aid in came on the eve of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which follows a lunar calendar and could start as early as Sunday evening, depending on the sighting of a crescent moon.

    Israel declared war on Oct. 7 after Hamas militants attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians and taking 250 hostages. Israel’s blistering air and ground offensive has devastated large parts of Gaza, displaced about 80% of the population of 2.3 million and set off a worsening humanitarian crisis.

    The U.S. and regional mediators Egypt and Qatar had hoped to have a six-week cease-fire in place by the start of Ramadan, but talks appeared to be stalled, with Hamas holding out for assurances that a temporary truce will lead to an end of hostilities.

    Mediators had hoped to alleviate some of the immediate crisis with the temporary cease-fire, which would have seen Hamas release some of the Israeli hostages it’s holding, Israel release some Palestinian prisoners and aid groups be given access for a major influx of assistance into Gaza.

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    Associated Press

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  • A U.S. ship with equipment for building a pier is on its way to Gaza

    A U.S. ship with equipment for building a pier is on its way to Gaza

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    A U.S. Army vessel carrying equipment for building a temporary pier in Gaza was on its way to the Mediterranean on Sunday, three days after U.S. President Joe Biden announced plans to ramp up aid deliveries by sea to the besieged enclave where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been going hungry.

    What You Need To Know

    • A U.S. Army vessel carrying equipment for building a temporary pier in Gaza is on its way to the Mediterranean
    • The voyage began just two days after U.S. President Joe Biden announced plans to ramp up aid deliveries by sea to the besieged enclave where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been going hungry
    • Meanwhile, Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza has dragged on, with at least 22 Palestinians reported killed in two Israeli strikes overnight and into Sunday
    • Among the dead were women and children, including an infant. Biden has sharply criticized Israel for its conduct of the war, saying it must do much more to prevent the killing of civilians


    The opening of the sea corridor, along with airdrops by the U.S., Jordan and others, showed increasing alarm over Gaza’s humanitarian crisis and a new willingness to bypass Israeli control over land shipments.

    Israel said it welcomed the sea deliveries and would inspect Gaza-bound cargo before it leaves a staging area in nearby Cyprus. The daily number of aid trucks entering Gaza by land over the past five months has been far below the 500 that entered before the war because of Israeli restrictions and security issues.

    Biden has stepped up his public criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying he believes Netanyahu is “hurting Israel more than helping Israel” in how he is approaching its war against Hamas in Gaza, now in its sixth month.

    Speaking Saturday to MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart, the president expressed support for Israel’s right to pursue Hamas after the militants’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, but said that Netanyahu “must pay more attention to the innocent lives being lost as a consequence of the actions taken.” He added that “you cannot have 30,000 more Palestinians dead.”

    In Gaza, Palestinian casualties continued to rise.

    The Civil Defense Department said at least nine Palestinians, including children, were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a house in Gaza City late Saturday.

    Footage shared by the civil defense showed first responders pulling out the dead and injured trapped in the collapsed house. One rescuer was seen holding a dead infant, before placing the limp body on a sofa amid the wreckage.

    Elsewhere, the bodies of 15 people, including women and children, were taken to the main hospital in the central town of Deir al-Balah on Sunday, according to an Associated Press journalist. Relatives said they were killed by Israeli artillery fire toward a large tent camp for displaced Palestinians in the coastal area east of the southern city of Khan Younis.

    Israel rarely comments on specific incidents during the war. It has held that Hamas is responsible for civilian casualties because the militant group operates from within civilian areas.

    The Health Ministry in Gaza said Sunday that at least 31,045 Palestinians have been killed since the war began. It doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count but says women and children make up two-thirds of the dead. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government, and its figures from previous wars have largely matched those of the U.N. and independent experts.

    Meanwhile, U.S. efforts got underway to set up the temporary pier in Gaza for the sea deliveries. U.S. Central Command said a first U.S. Army vessel, the General Frank S. Besson, left a base in Virginia on Saturday and was on its way to the Eastern Mediterranean with equipment for pier construction.

    U.S. officials said it will likely be weeks before the pier is operational.

    The sea corridor is backed by the EU together with the United States, the United Arab Emirates and other countries. The European Commission has said that U.N. agencies and the Red Cross will also play a role.

    A ship belonging to Spain’s Open Arms aid group was expected to make a pilot voyage to test the corridor as early as this weekend. The ship has been waiting at Cyprus’ port of Larnaca.

    Open Arms founder Oscar Camps has said the ship, which is pulling a barge with 200 tons of rice and flour, would take two to three days to arrive at an undisclosed location.

    A member of the charity World Central Kitchen, which is also involved in the test run, said on X, formerly Twitter, that once the barge reaches Gaza, the aid would be offloaded by a crane, placed on trucks and driven to northern Gaza, which has been largely cut off from aid shipments.

    Senior aid officials have warned that air and sea deliveries can’t make up for a shortage of supply routes on land.

    The new push for getting more aid in came on the eve of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which follows a lunar calendar and could start as early as Sunday evening, depending on the sighting of a crescent moon.

    Israel declared war on Oct. 7 after Hamas militants attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians and taking 250 hostages. Israel’s blistering air and ground offensive has devastated large parts of Gaza, displaced about 80% of the population of 2.3 million and set off a worsening humanitarian crisis.

    The U.S. and regional mediators Egypt and Qatar had hoped to have a six-week cease-fire in place by the start of Ramadan, but talks appeared to be stalled, with Hamas holding out for assurances that a temporary truce will lead to an end of hostilities.

    Mediators had hoped to alleviate some of the immediate crisis with the temporary cease-fire, which would have seen Hamas release some of the Israeli hostages it’s holding, Israel release some Palestinian prisoners and aid groups be given access for a major influx of assistance into Gaza.

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    Associated Press

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  • Pope Francis’ ‘white flag’ remark met by criticism from Ukraine and its allies

    Pope Francis’ ‘white flag’ remark met by criticism from Ukraine and its allies

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    Ukrainian and allied officials criticized Pope Francis for saying that Kyiv should have the “courage” to negotiate an end to the war with Russia, a statement many interpreted as a call for Ukraine to surrender.

    What You Need To Know

    • Ukrainian and allied officials have criticized Pope Francis for saying that Kyiv should have the “courage” to negotiate an end to the war with Russia
    • The pontiff’s statement was interpreted by many as a call on Ukraine to surrender
    • The foreign minister of Poland and Ukraine’s ambassador to the Vatican both used World War II analogies to condemn the pope’s remarks
    • Francis used the phrase “the courage of the white flag” to argue that Ukraine should be open to peace talks

    The foreign minister of Poland, a vocal ally of Kyiv, and Ukraine’s ambassador to the Vatican, both used World War II analogies to condemn the pope’s remarks. And a leader of one of Ukraine’s Christian churches on Sunday said that only the country’s determined resistance to Moscow’s full-scale invasion, launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Feb. 24, 2022, had prevented a mass slaughter of civilians.

    In an interview recorded last month with Swiss broadcaster RSI and partially released on Saturday, Francis used the phrase “the courage of the white flag” as he argued that Ukraine, facing a possible defeat, should be open to peace talks brokered by international powers.

    “How about, for balance, encouraging Putin to have the courage to withdraw his army from Ukraine? Peace would immediately ensue without the need for negotiations,” Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski responded with a post on X, formerly Twitter.

    In a separate post, Sikorski drew parallels between those calling for negotiations while “denying (Ukraine) the means to defend itself” and European leaders’ “appeasement” of Adolf Hitler just before World War II.

    Andrii Yurash, Ukraine’s ambassador to the Holy See, said that it was “necessary to learn lessons” from that conflict. His tweet appeared to compare the pope’s comments to calls for “talking with Hitler” while raising “a white flag to satisfy him.”

    Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni later clarified that the pope supported “a stop to hostilities (and) a truce achieved with the courage of negotiations,” rather than an outright Ukrainian surrender. Bruni said that the journalist interviewing Francis used the term “white flag” in the question that prompted the controversial remarks.

    “I think that the strongest one is the one who looks at the situation, thinks about the people and has the courage of the white flag, and negotiates,” Francis said, when asked to weigh in on the debate between those who say that Ukraine should agree to peace talks and those who argue that any negotiations would legitimize Moscow’s aggression.

    Kyiv remains firm on not engaging directly with Russia on peace talks, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said multiple times that the initiative in peace negotiations must come from the country that has been invaded.

    Throughout the war, Francis has tried to maintain the Vatican’s traditional diplomatic neutrality, but that has often been accompanied by apparent sympathy with the Russian rationale for invading Ukraine, such as when he noted that NATO was “barking at Russia’s door” with its eastward expansion.

    While the pope has spoken in the past about the need for talks between Kyiv and Moscow, the RSI interview appears to mark the first time when he publicly used terms such as “white flag” or “defeated” while discussing the war.

    In the RSI interview, Francis insisted that “negotiations are never a surrender.”

    “When you see that you are defeated, that things are not going well, you have to have the courage to negotiate,” he said.

    Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, said Sunday that surrender isn’t on the minds of Ukrainians.

    “Ukraine is wounded, but unconquered! Ukraine is exhausted, but it stands and will endure. Believe me, it never crosses anyone’s mind to surrender. Even where there is fighting today: listen to our people in Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Odesa, Kharkiv, Sumy,” Shevchuk said while meeting with Ukrainians in New York City. He mentioned the regions that have been under heavy Russian artillery and drone attacks.

    Shevchuk also spoke of the brutality of Moscow’s invasion, referencing the town near Kyiv where Russian occupation left hundreds of civilians dead in the streets and in mass graves. He argued that, if not for Ukrainians’ fierce resistance as Russian forces marched on the capital in February 2022, the gruesome scenes seen in Bucha would have been “just an introduction.”

    During the Angelus prayer on Sunday from the window overlooking St. Peter’s Square, Francis said that he was praying “for peace in the tormented Ukraine and in the Holy Land.”

    “Let the hostilities which cause immense suffering among the civilian population cease as soon as possible,” he said.

    Elsewhere, both Ukraine and Russia reported civilian deaths on Sunday after overnight trading drone, missile and shelling attacks that also caused a fire at a Russian oil depot and targeted Ukrainian power stations, according to officials.

    Ukrainian air defenses overnight shot down 35 out of 39 drones launched by Russia, air force commander Mykola Oleshchuk reported, following a 4½-hour barrage that officials said damaged unspecified industrial sites in southern Ukraine and also targeted power stations.

    Two people died under rubble after Iranian-made Shahed drones around midnight struck private homes and state offices in Dobropillya, a large Ukrainian-held town in the east, authorities said.

    In Myrnohrad, another eastern Ukrainian town, 11 civilians were wounded after Russian missiles overnight struck residential buildings, the local prosecutor’s office reported. It also posted photos of rubble lining the courtyard outside a high-rise apartment building, its windows blown out, and of cars parked outside that appeared reduced to piles of twisted metal.

    A woman also died in Russia’s Kursk region, which borders Ukraine, after shells fired from Ukraine set her house on fire, according to local Gov. Roman Starovoit, who also said that the woman’s husband suffered severe burns.

    Starovoit also said that debris from a downed Ukrainian drone sparked a fire at an oil depot in the Kursk region.

    Nine Ukrainian drones targeted the Belgorod region, another southern Russian province that borders Ukraine, overnight and on Sunday, according to local Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov. Later Sunday, Russia’s Defense Ministry said that two drones were shot down over the Novgorod region in northern Russia, more than 620 miles from the Ukrainian border. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

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    Associated Press

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