Monday, September 30, 2024
It is Monday, September 30, 2024. Here are today’s top stories.
———
Helene death toll is over 115
News reports said at least 119 people were killed in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene and there are many people who are still unaccounted for. Most of the deaths happened in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, where there is widespread flooding. There were deaths in Florida, Tennessee, and Virginia as well.
One horrific story from North Carolina is when a family was stranded on a rooftop in Asheville waiting for rescue from flooding. The roof collapsed and two 70-year-olds and a 6-year-old drowned.
The Weather Channel said Helene was a huge storm with tropical-storm-force winds extending over 300 miles out from the center just before landfall. It means that the Carolinas and other affected areas received a long and relentless rainstorm and all of that water just came swarming down the mountains and hills into rivers.
The fire chief of Asheville said they are in urgent need of food and water. There are hundreds of roads closed, many in western North Carolina, that is making it more difficult for aid to come in.
President Biden said he’s directed his team to provide every available resource as fast as possible and would visit the impact zone this week. There are now thousands of US National Guard members across the East Coast who are mobilizing to help affected areas.
https://weather.com/storms/hurricane/news/2024-09-28-helene-north-arolina-flooding-florida-update
https://abcnews.go.com/US/live-updates/hurricane-helene/?id=113931821
———
Routh pleads not guilty to attempted assassination of Trump
Ryan Routh pleaded not guilty to his charges in connection to the alleged attempted assassination of Donald Trump at his golf course. His attorneys requested a trial by jury. He is being held without bail.
This is the second time that Trump’s gone through an attempted assassination attempt in the past few months.
The first person who tried to shoot Trump, Thomas Crooks, was shot and killed by a Secret Service sniper team who were at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania.
https://www.axios.com/2024/09/30/trump-assassination-attempt-suspect-ryan-routh-plea-guilty
———
Dikembe Mutombo dies of brain cancer at 58
Dikembe Mutombo, a Basketball Hall of Famer who played 18 seasons in the NBA and was well-known for his finger-wagging gesture whenever he made blocks, passed away at the age of 58 from brain cancer.
Mutombo was born and raised in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He came to the U.S. to play college basketball for Georgetown
University. He was drafted as a 7-2 center in 1991 by the Denver Nuggets and played for six different teams during his career.
After his NBA career, he became a global ambassador for the NBA and worked to grow the game in African countries.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/2024/09/30/dikembe-mutombo-dies-brain-cancer/75450910007/
———
[Sponsored Video from Sorenson: www.sorenson.com]
———
Israel and Hezbollah conflict continues to escalate
Israeli airstrikes killed the leader of Hezbollah and six of the group’s top commanders in the last 10 days. One of the airstrikes hit central Beirut on Friday.
The conflict has continued to escalate with more Israeli airstrikes and raids with a serious possibility of a ground operation into Lebanon. Tragically, over 1,000 people in Lebanon have been killed, with many of them being women and children.
Hezbollah has vowed to battle back, saying it is prepared for a “long fight.” Hezbollah has launched constant rocket attacks into northern Israel, launching several hundred daily, but most of the rockets have been intercepted or fallen into open areas. Hezbollah and Hamas in Gaza are allies and both are supported by Iran. Hezbollah started firing rockets into Israel after Hamas’ attack in southern Israel on October 7 and has vowed to continue attacking until there is a cease-fire in Gaza.
Israeli PM Netanyahu has shown little interest in a cease-fire and has pushed his military to attack.
———
DirecTV to buy Dish for $1
DirecTV announced today that it would buy its rival Dish Network for just $1. The deal is very cheap because DirecTV agreed to absorb Dish Network’s billions of dollars’ worth of debt. CNN Business explained that the satellite services have struggled to retain subscribers in the streaming era. DirecTV said it hopes that the merger will create a more robust competitive force against streaming services.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/30/media/directv-dish-network-merger/index.html
———
That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.