June 24 top stories
Hello, it is June 24. Hope your weekend was good. Here are today’s top stories.
Police stop dad accused of trying to drown his 2 kids at Conn. beach
According to authorities, a father trying to drown his two small children at a Connecticut beach early Saturday morning was thwarted by police officers.
An officer spotted an SUV parked on a beach in West Haven at about 2:30 a.m. and heard screaming from the water as he approached. As the officer entered the water, the man continued to drift further away from the two children while screaming, “Stay back.”
Police said it had become obvious that the man later identified as Romney Desronvil, 41, was deliberately drowning his children.
The first officer to arrive was able to take the children – both under three years old, and other officers helped get them to shore. Lifesaving measures were provided to the children and they were taken to a hospital, where they remained in intensive care on Saturday.
The father is in custody. The incident remains under investigation.
Researchers say bird flu virus inching closer to humans
It’s been nearly three months since the U.S. government announced an outbreak of the bird flu virus on dairy farms. The World Health Organization considers the virus a public health concern because of its potential to cause a pandemic, yet the U.S. has tested only about 45 people across the country.
Experts said with so few tests run, it’s impossible to know how many farmworkers have been infected, or how serious the disease is. A lack of testing means the country might not notice if the virus begins to spread between people – the gateway to another pandemic.
The CDC’s bird flu test is the only one the FDA has authorized for use right now. As the outbreak grows – with at least 114 herds infected in 12 states as of June 18 – researchers said the CDC and FDA are not moving fast to remove barriers that block clinical labs from testing.
Researchers, including the ones who led the nation’s response to COVID, cite testing failures as a key reason the U.S. fared so poorly with COVID.
Gunmen kill at least 19 police, priest and civilians in attacks on places of worship in Russia
Multiple sources reported that Sunday’s terrorist attacks in Dagestan, the mostly Muslim region in the North Caucasus in southern Russia, that left at least 19 people dead.
The attacks, carried out by four gunmen in Dagestan’s capital, and two in the seaside city, appeared to catch Dagestani officials by surprise. At least 15 police officers, a priest and some civilians were among those killed, and the attackers also burned down synagogues and set fire to Orthodox churches.
Local officials said five attackers were eventually killed.
The governor of the Dagestan region announced three days of mourning on Monday. He did not give details as to who is behind the attacks and there has been no immediate claim of responsibility.
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South Korea factory fire kills more than 20 workers
Officials said a fire likely sparked by exploding lithium batteries swept through a manufacturing factory near South Korea’s capital on Monday, killing 22 mostly Chinese migrant workers and injuring eight.
The fire began after batteries exploded while workers were examining and packaging them on the second floor of the factory in a city just south of Seoul, at around 10:30 a.m.
The dead included 18 Chinese, two South Koreans and one Laotian. Two of the eight injured were in serious condition.
A senior fire official said the video of the incident showed the factory’s second floor being engulfed with blaze, about 15 seconds after a small amount of white smoke was seen billowing from a battery. They added that workers at the site mobilized fire extinguishers but failed to put out the blaze. They later rushed to an area where there was no exit before they likely inhaled toxic smoke and lost their consciousness. The dead foreign workers were daily laborers so they were not likely familiar with the building’s internal structure.
See Alex’s report on the Supreme Court agreeing to hear whether states can restrict gender-affirming care for minors Monday.
Supreme Court to decide whether states can restrict gender-affirming care for minors
The Supreme Court said it would hear a case about whether states can restrict doctors from providing gender-affirming care for transgender minors during the next term, which is this fall.
The case is about a transgender care ban in Tennessee, which bans hormone therapy and puberty blockers and imposes civil penalties for doctors who violate the prohibitions. Almost half of U.S. states have various types of bans on transgender care for minors.
The Biden administration challenged the Tennessee ban. The Biden administration said the different laws and court decisions about transgender care are causing uncertainty and the Supreme Court needs to step in and resolve whether these types of bans are discriminatory.
Because the Supreme Court will hear the case this fall, it is likely that we won’t know the final decision until the summer of 2025.
Thanks for the report. That’s all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light!
Police stop dad accused of trying to drown his 2 kids at Conn. beach
Researchers say bird flu virus inching closer to humans
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/19/opinion/bird-flu-public-risk.html
https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/18/health/bird-flu-risk-opinion-frieden/index.html
Gunmen kill at least 19 police, priest and civilians in attacks on places of worship in Russia
South Korea factory fire kills more than 20 workers
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crgggmeyjj7o
Supreme Court to decide whether states can restrict gender-affirming care for minors