Monday, August 9 top stories
It is Monday, August 9. Here are today’s top stories.
One of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s assistants who accused him of sexual harassment, Brittany Commisso, gave an interview with CBS News in which she gave details of increasing levels of sexual harassment when she worked with him at the governor’s mansion.
She is the same person who filed a criminal complaint last week against Cuomo. Here is a clip of the interview.
[CBS Video Clip]
Cuomo has denied the allegations.
In other news from Cuomo-world, a top aide named Melissa DeRosa resigned on Sunday night. She worked as the secretary to the governor for the past two years.
The New York State Assembly is currently carrying out an impeachment inquiry.
California’s Dixie Fire, which destroyed the town of Greenville, is now the second-largest wildfire in the state’s history. There are four people missing from the fire. Over 600 buildings were burned.
Over 2,000 people on the Greek island of Evia were forced to evacuate by boat to escape wildfires that have been spreading for six days. A video shows hundreds of passengers on a ferry moving away from a landscape full of flames.
Scientists with the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a study that said there is no doubt that human activity has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land. The IPCC report said temperatures on Earth will rise by about 1.5C (2.7F) over the next 20 years, which means more heatwaves, droughts and flooding with severe impacts on the environment.
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The delayed 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo has concluded. Not as many people watched the Olympics as previous ones, partly because of the staggered TV schedule with major time zone differences and partly because of the pall from the coronavirus pandemic.
The U.S. came out on top of the medal count with the most golds and overall medals. China came in second, followed by Japan, Great Britain, and the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC).
What’s next? The 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China will take place in February 2022. Then in 2024, it’ll be time for the Paris Summer Olympics.
In Chicago, a 29-year-old female police officer named Ella French was fatally shot during a traffic stop. A second officer was seriously wounded. CBS News said on Saturday night, officers stopped a vehicle with two men and a woman inside. A passenger in the back seat shot at both officers. Officers returned fire and all three in the car are in custody.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the community needs to stop fighting about policies on police officers and instead be united against a common enemy: the guns and the gangs.
The Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said all members of the U.S. military will be required to get the Covid-19 vaccine by September 15 or earlier if the FDA provides final approval. This requirement would be in line with President Joe Biden’s directive for all federal employees to be vaccinated or face weekly testing and masking requirements.
Today Canada has reopened its land borders for Americans who wish to visit, but the U.S. is not reciprocating with a ban against Canadian tourists still in place at least until August 21. The Canadian border has been closed since March 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic. Canada requires American visitors to be fully vaccinated for at least 14 days and to show proof of a negative Covid-19 test within the past 72 hours.
That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/andrew-cuomo-investigation-brittany-commisso-speaks-out/
https://www.axios.com/dixie-fire-2nd-largest-california-0f216015-1174-4222-9ed8-0057239853a9.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/08/09/greece-wildfires-evia-residents-evacuate/
https://twitter.com/i/events/1424568170749202438
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/chicago-officer-ella-french-shot-dead-traffic-stop/
https://cbsnews.com/news/canada-letting-american-visitors-in-again-but-its-not-mutual-yet/