YOUR MORNING NEWS ROUNDUP | | | | At least 36 dead as people scramble for safety. | | | |
At least 36 people have died in the Lahaina fire in Hawaii, Maui County wrote in a statement posted online. Also in the news: COVID-19 cases are climbing in the U.S., but aren't nearly as high as previous spikes. Taylor Swift has outwitted us again, announcing "1989 (Taylor's Version)" on 8/9. | | | |
Now here we go with Thursday's news. |
At least 36 people have died in fires burning through Hawaii, county reports |
Wildfires, whipped by strong winds from Hurricane D |
ora passing far to the south, took the island of Maui by surprise, killing at least 36 people and leaving behind smoking piles of rubble where historic buildings had stood. |
Officials are unsure what started the ongoing blazes, but experts said they suspect human development on the island is at least partly to blame for the destruction. | The hall of historic Waiola Church in Lahaina and nearby Lahaina Hongwanji Mission are engulfed in flames along Wainee Street on Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii. Matthew Thayer, The Maui News via AP |
Presidential candidate in Ecuador assassinated |
An Ecuadorian presidential candidate known for speaking up against corruption was shot and killed Wednesday at a political rally in the capital of Quito amid a wave of startling violence in the South American country. President Guillermo Lasso confirmed the assassination of Fernando Villavicencio and suggested organized crime was behind his slaying. Villavicencio was one of eight candidates in the Aug. 20 presidential vote. Ecuador's attorney general's office said that one suspect died in custody from wounds sustained in a firefight after the killing, and police detained six suspects following raids in Quito. Read more | Police guard a vehicle parked outside the clinic where presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was taken after he was shot and killed after a campaign rally in Quito, Ecuador. Juan Diego Montenegro, AP |
COVID rates are climbing but nowhere near what they were |
Rates of COVID-19 are ticking upward nationwide but the country is unlikely to see the kind of widespread infections and hospitalizations seen over the last three summers, experts said. While COVID-19 will probably never completely go away, vaccines, antivirals, masks and other prevention tools, along with improved care for the very sick, has transformed an urgent crisis into a manageable disease. Unlike previous summer surges that were mostly caused by the arrival of a new COVID-19 variant, experts say rates are on the rise now because of human behavior. Read more |
Is Ohio a bellwether on abortion rights? |
Ohio voters issued a temporary reprieve to abortion-rights supporters Tuesday when they rejected a proposal to make it harder to amend the state constitution. But an expensive, nasty fight over abortion access in Ohio is only beginning. Voters said no to Issue 1, a measure that would have required 60% of voters to enact new amendments − instead of a simple majority. Issue 1's defeat is good news for backers of the abortion-rights measure, but it doesn't ensure an easy victory in November. Ohio is the only state voting on abortion rights this year, making it the epicenter of the fight over reproductive rights just over a year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Read more |
Taylor Swift reveals '1989 (Taylor's Version)' |
Taylor Swift has unveiled "Taylor's Version" of her triumphant pop breakthrough, 2014's "1989." The album will be available Oct. 27. The ever-clever Swift dropped the news on 8/9 (get it?), which coincided with the last date of the first leg of her Eras tour at SoFi Stadium near Los Angeles. The tour, a colossal success that will traverse South America, Japan, Australia and Europe, returns for more North American dates in October 2024. The rerecorded "1989" will contain 21 songs, five of them previously unreleased "from the vault." The album is the fourth among Swift's catalog to be issued as "Taylor's Version," an exercise she began to reclaim her artistic ownership after the sale of her original master recordings in 2020. Read more | "Taylor's Verision" of her "1989" album arrives Oct. 27. Courtesy |
Photo of the day: Drone captures Florida beach lifeguards forming human chain |
Joseph Osborne was flying his drone over the water off Flagler Beach in Florida when he spotted lifeguards forming a human chain to rescue a boogie boarder who had drifted too far from the shore. Read more | A local tattoo artist in Florida accidentally caught drone footage of a chain of lifeguards rescuing a stranded boogie boarder. Joseph Osborne/@joeosborne_tattoos via Storyful |
Associated Press contributed reporting. | | | | |
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