July 18 top stories
It is July 18. Here are today’s top stories.
Trump says he expects arrest related to 2020 election probe
Donald Trump said today that he received a letter from special counsel Jack Smith that said he is a target of a grand jury investigation into efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden.
The special counsel investigation is probing Trump’s role in the Jan 6. riot and his role in trying to change his election losses in several states after the 2020 election.
If Trump is indicted and arrested, this would be his third criminal case this year. The first was related to the hush money payment scheme in New York and the second is related to his alleged mishandling of classified documents. Trump has pleaded not guilty in both cases and he is expected to also plead not guilty in the 2020 election case.
Woman gored by bison at Yellowstone
A 47-year-old woman visiting Yellowstone National Park was gored by a bison and hospitalized on Monday with injuries to her chest and abdomen.
The tourist was walking with another person near the north shore of Lake Yellowstone when they saw two bison. The visitors tried to turn away but one bison charged at them and hit the 47-year-old woman. She is unidentified but is from Phoenix.
The National Park Service said this is the first reported bison attack against a park visitor since June 2022. Park officials said bison can run three times faster than humans.
US soldier detained in North Korea after crossing border
A US army soldier was detained in North Korea after he crossed the border from South Korea without permission.
The man’s name is Travis King. News reports said before he went across the border, he was at the airport in Seoul, South Korea to be sent back to America for disciplinary reasons. There are typically over 25,000 US soldiers in South Korea at any time, so King may have been accused of doing something wrong and was sent back to America. But he somehow left the terminal at the airport and joined a tour of the Korean border at the truce village of Panmunjom.
Witnesses said the man said “ha ha ha” and ran between buildings and when he went behind a building over the border, he disappeared from sight.
A UN official said they believe King is in the custody of North Korea’s military and are working to resolve the incident.
BBC said King is believed to be the only American citizen currently in North Korean custody.
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Phoenix reaches 110 degrees for 19 days in a row
Phoenix reached at least 110 degrees F for 19 consecutive days as of today, which is a new record. Phoenix may continue to see these levels because weather forecasts said temperatures will reach 115 degrees or higher for at least one more week.
There continues to be an extreme heat wave in the U.S. with almost 60 million people experiencing temperatures of at least 100 degrees F. There is also a heat wave gripping Europe, the Middle East, and China.
The Washington Post said El Paso has endured 33 consecutive days at or above 100 degrees. Reno, Nevada tied its all-time record of 108 degrees on Sunday. Las Vegas hit 116 degrees on Sunday, which is one degree below its record high.
Global warming is blamed for causing average temperatures to increase and it causes extreme heat to be more severe and more common.
“Space junk” washes ashore on Australian coast
On Australia’s western coast, a large and mysterious object washed ashore. It is a cylinder that is about 10 feet wide and taller than an average person.
Police said the item is likely a piece of space debris — space junk. CNN said police initially set up a cordon around the object and told locals to stay away, but later said the object posed no risk to the community. Now officials are figuring out what to do to remove the object from the beach.
The Australian Space Agency said the object could be from a foreign space launch vehicle and is asking other countries if they can help figure out the mystery.
An expert said some rockets have multiple stages that dump pieces as it moves through the sky and that this part may have been dumped before it went into outer space because it didn’t burn like things typically do when they re-enter the atmosphere.
That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.
https://www.axios.com/2023/07/18/trump-target-jan-6-2020-election-jack-smith
https://abcnews.go.com/US/bison-gores-tourist-yellowstone-national-park/story
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2023/07/18/phoenix-heat-wave-record-temperature-streak/