July 12 top stories
It is June 12. Here are today’s top stories.
More than 108 million under heat wave alerts
The National Weather Service issued heat alerts for more than 108 million people in the U.S. on Tuesday. There is an expanding, intensifying heat wave. Many parts of the Southwest and Texas are seeing temperatures of 100 to 110 degrees F. There is a “heat dome” in the Southwest.
Axios said the “long duration of this event, continuing well into next week in some areas, increases public health dangers.” Many cities in the Southwest may see heat-related records broken during the current heat wave.
Phoenix has had 12 straight days of temperature highs of 110 F or above and is expected to continue to see these levels. The record is 18 straight days.
Death Valley, California, which is one of the hottest areas in the world, may see temperatures reach 125 to 130 degrees F this weekend.
Florida is experiencing heat in part because temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico are in the 90s.
Surgeon fatally shot by patient in exam room
Yesterday afternoon in Tennessee, a surgeon named Dr. Benjamin Mauck was shot and killed by a patient in a clinic.
Police said it was a “targeted” attack. The suspect is a 29-year-old man named Larry Pickens. He was arrested within five minutes after the shooting.
Police said it is not clear what the motive was for the shooting.
Dr. Mauck specialized in elbow and hand and wrist surgery.
Soccer coach accused of raping unconscious boys
On Sunday, police in Franklin, Tennessee said they arrested a soccer coach named Camilo Hurtado Campos on charges of drugging and raping several young children.
Police explained that they were contacted by a local restaurant after staff found a cell phone that was left behind by Campos. When workers looked through the phone to try and find who the phone belonged to, they saw many videos of children being assaulted, so they called police.
Police said during their investigation, they found hundreds of disturbing videos and pictures and that in many of them, Campos recorded himself raping unconscious boys between approximately 9 and 17 years old.
Police said Campos would visit school playgrounds where he approached children and recruited them as players on his team. After getting their trust, Campos would invite the kids to his home where he would drug and rape them and some of the victims may have not realized what happened because they weren’t awake.
Police said there could be a decade of victims. The investigation is ongoing and additional charges are expected.
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Bank of America fined $150M for consumer abuses
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said it ordered Bank of America, the second-largest U.S. bank, to pay $150 million in penalties for engaging in deceptive practices that hurt hundreds of thousands of its customers in recent years.
The CFPB said the bank charged multiple $35 overdraft fees for the same transaction, failed to properly issue rewards to credit card users and signed up customers for card accounts without their consent.
The CFPB said the bank also has to pay $80 million to customers who received unfair and bogus fees.
Chinese agents hacked U.S. State Department
News reports said Chinese intelligence agents hacked into emails belonging to two dozen U.S. government agencies, including the State Department. The email accounts were Microsoft email accounts that belonged to the agencies.
Sen. Warner (D-VA) said this appears to be a “significant cybersecurity breach by Chinese intelligence.”
The hackers may have gained access to the emails since at least May. The breaches were detected in mid-June.
Giant sphere in Las Vegas
There is a new attraction in Las Vegas and it is a giant sphere at the Venetian Resort. It has 580,000 square feet of LEDs on it that can make the sphere look like anything, such as the moon or a giant eyeball.
The sphere is called “The Sphere.” Inside of the structure, there is an 18,000-seat venue. It will host its first concert on September 29 with U2 performing in a 2 1/2 month residency.
The cost to build The Sphere was over $2 billion.
That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.
https://www.axios.com/2023/07/12/heat-wave-warnings-millions-southeast-to-southwest
https://www.franklintn.gov/Home/Components/News/News/10951/1801
https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/12/us/franklin-tennessee-rape-investigation-soccer-wednesday/index.html
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/07/11/bank-of-america-fined-fake-accounts-bogus-fees.html
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/07/12/us-government-emails-compromised-by-china-based-espionage-group.html