promoearn: Your weekend must reads 📰

Saturday, October 8, 2022

Your weekend must reads 📰

Saturday, October 8

Congratulations! You've made it to the weekend – and to another edition of The Short List: Weekend edition.✨ I'm John Riley, here again with some of USA TODAY's best reads of the week. Here we go:

'I wouldn't leave this island for anything'

Florida is struggling to recover from Hurricane Ian, which destroyed entire communities and killed dozens of people as it tore through the southwestern part of the state.⛈️

On Pine Island, which was cut off from the mainland after the storm destroyed the island's causeway, its 9,000 residents are now facing months or years of rebuilding. But despite a lack of power, water and supplies, many islanders are opting to stay put.

"I wouldn't leave this island for anything," said Christine Wright. "It becomes a part of you, in your blood."

More on Ian's aftermath:

•	To stay or go?: Why it's not always an easy choice for people in hurricanes
•	Wage exploitation: Migrants are helping rebuild. They might not get paid for it.
•	Grim details: The last moments of Hurricane Ian's victims, told in a spreadsheet
•	'Then all the water came': Flooding stuns Florida's DeSoto County
•	Rescuing the livestock: 'We ride in a boat, but the horses can't'

How race affects the search for missing kids

🔵Social media could – and should – be an equalizer for finding missing children.

But a USA TODAY analysis suggests social media audiences still pick favorites by bestowing more likes, shares and views on posts about missing white children – especially girls – than missing Black children.

In 375 videos featured on Facebook by The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, the average views on posts about white girls was more than 63,000; for Black girls, it was 38,300.

•	Missing kids that need your attention: 5 cases to know about

A 'major threat' to democracy

🗳️Across the country, more than 300 candidates who have either questioned or renounced the outcome of the 2020 presidential election will be on the ballot in 2022. They are vying for Congress, governor, attorney general and secretary of state –and a significant number are running in battleground states that propelled Joe Biden to victory.

The USA TODAY Network examined seven of those swing states Biden won in 2020, representing a total of 84 electoral votes.

Experts warn that any election deniers who win these crucial seats will have various tools that could throw the country into chaos in 2024.

There are more compelling stories below. 👇 See you next week.