Friday, September 23 top stories
It is Friday, September 23. Here are today’s top stories.
Hurricane Fiona targeting Canada’s Atlantic coast
Category 3 Hurricane Fiona passed west of Bermuda, causing heavy rainfall and wind gusts of up to 93 mph on the island. Now it is continuing to move northwards and is on course to make landfall on Canada’s Atlantic province of Nova Scotia by Saturday afternoon. Officials warned that the storm may bring 100 mph winds and a damaging storm surge.
There is another storm that is developing in the southern Caribbean that is forecast to turn into a hurricane. It may hit Cuba on Tuesday and then hit Florida on Wednesday.
3-year-old fatally shoots mom with unsecured firearm
Police in South Carolina said a 3-year-old child accidentally shot and killed her mother after the child got ahold of an unsecured firearm in their home.
This happened on Wednesday morning. The mother’s name was Cora Bush and she was 33.
The grandmother was in the home at the time and explained what happened to the police and police said her account of the incident corroborated with the evidence at the scene and the injury to the victim.
A news report said data shows that “so far this year there have been at least 194 unintentional shootings by children in the U.S., resulting in 82 deaths and 123 injuries.”
Fraudsters likely stole $45 billion from pandemic unemployment
The Labor Department’s inspector general said it is likely that $45 billion from the pandemic-era unemployment insurance program was stolen by fraudsters. Some fraudsters used Social Security numbers belonging to dead people or prisoners who were ineligible for aid.
The inspector general said there were over 205,000 Social Security numbers of deceased people that were used to file claims for UI benefits.
The unemployment program started in 2020 during the first few months of the coronavirus pandemic. The U.S. Department of Justice has a task force dedicated to investigating and prosecuting suspected fraudsters.
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Capital rioter who had Hitler-style mustache sentenced 4 years
A Capitol rioter who had a Hitler-style mustache was sentenced to four years in prison for his role in the riot. His name is Timothy Hale-Cusanelli. News reports said he was one of the first rioters to break into the U.S. Capitol.
He worked as a security guard at a Navy base in New Jersey and had a government security clearance when he rioted.
Prosecutors said he admired Adolf Hitler, supported white supremacist and anti-Semitic ideologies, and expressed hopes for a second U.S. civil war.
In separate but related news, Timothy’s aunt Cynthia Hughes was invited to speak at a Trump rally earlier this month in Pennsylvania. The aunt complained that he and the other Jan 6. rioters were being treated unfairly.
200 whales die after being stranded in Australia
About 200 pilot whales have died after being stranded this week on the Australian island of Tasmania. Many died from pounding surf. There are about 30 whales that are still alive and workers hope to rescue them and release them into deeper water.
There were fourteen sperm whales that became stranded in another part of Tasmania on Monday. Scientists said they do not know why the whales became stranded. It is possible that warmer temperatures are changing ocean currents and moving the whales’ traditional food. Another possible cause is Tasmania’s ocean floor. The island is near a shelf edge that drops off to deeper waters.
AP News said the pilot whale is notorious for stranding in mass numbers but the reasons why are not entirely understood. The whales will be left to decompose naturally on the beach.
Updates on Russia’s war on Ukraine
Here are three updates on Russia’s war on Ukraine
There are reports that there is a big increase in people trying to leave Russia, possibly to avoid being called into military service after Russian President Putin announced he would mobilize about 300,000 men. The border between Russia and Georgia had a long line of cars. Many one-way flight tickets out of Russia have sold out completely or skyrocketed in price. There are also videos of weeping family members saying goodbye to men boarding buses to go off to war. News reports said the morale is very low.
The second update is that there are referendums in Russian-controlled regions in eastern Ukraine on breaking away from Ukraine to become a part of Russia. Russian leaders said they would annex the areas, which consist of about 15% of Ukraine. News reports said officials are forcing residents to vote. President Biden and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy said the votes are a sham. But the referendums may have serious consequences because Russian leaders could say that the regions are a part of the Russian land, and if there is any kind of military action against it from Ukrainian forces, it would be considered an attack on Russian soil and allow Russia to use more powerful weapons in “defense,” which may include nuclear weapons.
The third update is a report that the U.S. government has been sending private messages to the Russian government for months to warn them against using nuclear weapons. The U.S. said there would be “grave consequences.” It is not known exactly what the U.S. has been saying, but the messages are a part of the U.S.’s strategy to deter Russia from making this step.
That is all the top stories for this week. Have a good weekend and stay with the light.
https://apnews.com/article/storms-seniors-hurricanes-bermuda-canada-825e13d23a76e8ee85034f71aea5cf82
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-63003568
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/09/22/hale-cusanelli-sentencing-jan-6/
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-62996212
https://www.axios.com/2022/09/23/russian-controlled-ukraine-regions-russia-vote