Monday, April 5 top stories

It is Monday, April 5. Hope your weekend was good.

On Sunday I got the Pfizer vaccine on my left arm, because I mostly use my right arm on “Moth.” There was a strange side effect though. It was worse yesterday but it’s better now. I’ll show you a picture.

My hand’s better, but there’s still some hair left. Just kidding. That’s my belated April Fool’s Day tweet.

On a serious note, my wife and I did get our vaccines at Ford Field, thanks to the state of Michigan and FEMA. We had an ASL interpreter who made the process smooth and easy. Our left shoulders are a bit sore. We’ll have to get our second shots at the end of April. I’m happy and privileged to be able to build a protective barrier against the coronavirus.

Now, here are today’s top stories.

In Tampa Bay, there is a very serious situation with a huge holding pool filled with polluted water from a shuttered fertilizer plant that is leaking on one side. The pool could burst, so local residents have been evacuated and emergency crews are trying to pump out the pool, which can hold 800 million gallons. Here is a clip from CBS News.

The water is being pumped out and into the bay at Port Manatee. Gov. Ron DeSantis said the water is not radioactive.

A scientist told Axios that the water will cause an algae bloom, followed by fish kills, and that the bay will be stinky.

The immediate concern is the safety of residents in the area from flooding should the holding pool burst. There is a jail across the street from the plant and inmates were first moved to a second floor, but then moved to a separate facility.

The central Florida area is one of the top fertilizer producers in the world because it sits on “Bone Valley,” a huge deposit of fossils of land and marine creatures from 300 million years ago, which holds a lot of phosphate. It is mined and after it is processed into fertilizer, it helps plants to grow and is considered essential to agriculture.

This incident is sure to raise questions on similar holding pools of polluted water and what should be done with them before they start to deteriorate and threaten other ecosystems.

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Stanford women’s basketball team beat Arizona last night to win the NCAA women’s basketball championship.

It is Stanford’s third championship under coach Tara VanDerveer. She won two in 1990 and 1992, and after 35 seasons, she’s got her third.

*Correction: It was 29 years between Stanford's second and third championships, not 35 years.

DMX, a rapper, had a heart attack over the weekend and is currently in the hospital on life support at a hospital in White Plains. DMX’s birth name is Earl Simmons and he rose to fame in the 90’s. His family said he is in a coma and is on a ventilator.

There were news reports that said he overdosed on drugs, but it is not confirmed. DMX’s former manager said he is in a “vegetative state with lung and brain failure and no brain activity.” He is 50 years old. His supporters plan to hold a prayer vigil tonight.

Pope Francis, during his Easter Sunday address, said it is a scandal that armed conflicts are continuing to play out during the coronavirus pandemic and that countries are bulking up their military arsenals. He gave out statements of support for people going through armed conflicts in Myanmar, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Nigeria, and Ethiopia. Francis also said vaccines are an essential tool in the pandemic battle and called for the vaccines to reach out to the poorest nations.

Former President Donald Trump has continued to lie about his election loss by claiming it was rigged. He released a statement on Sunday morning to say “Happy Easter to ALL, including the Radical Left CRAZIES who rigged our Presidential Election…”

Here is a reminder that Trump lost the election by about 7 million votes. The votes were affirmed after multiple recounts.

Trump’s side tried to file over 60 lawsuits alleging election misconduct, but they were thrown out due to lack of evidence or merit.

On January 6 and 7, Congress confirmed Joe Biden’s victory with 306 electoral votes to Trump’s 232 after they were delayed for hours by a mob that stormed the Capitol because they believed the election was stolen.

On January 20, Biden was inaugurated as the 46th president.

That’s all the top news stories for today. Check out our other videos. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.

https://www.axios.com/tampa-bay-manatee-county-evacuation-piney-point-phosphate-plant-d5f02404-2560-4724-bccf-e6d4b8746650.html

http://www.hrkholdings.com/eastport/about.php

http://baysoundings.com/legacy-archives/sum05/phosphate4.html

https://sports.yahoo.com/ncaa-championship-stanford-tara-vanderveer-longest-29-years-between-titles-any-sport-021836771.html

https://www.foxnews.com/sports/tiger-woods-lauds-stanford-womens-basketball-title

https://twitter.com/i/events/1378363456072548353

https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2021/04/05/dmx-heart-attack-prayer-vigil/

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/04/04/pope-pandemic-wars-scandalous-479024

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/apr/04/trump-wishes-happy-easter-to-radical-left-crazies