Tuesday, August 23 top stories
Hello! My name is Renca and I will take Alex’s place today for top news. Today is Tuesday, August 23. Let’s see what we have.
Dr. Anthony Fauci stepping down in December
Dr. Anthony Fauci (81) will be stepping down from his two positions as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and as a chief of medical officer to the President this coming December.
He has served at NIAID for 38 years, starting in former President Ronald Regan’s administration. He helped lead the US response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. He continued to help the US response to the West Nile virus, anthrax, pandemic influenza, various bird influenza threats, Ebola, and Zika. He became one of the public faces for the response to COVID 19.
President Joe Biden shared in a statement that Americans and the entire world will continue to benefit from Fauci’s expertise in whatever he does next and the USA has become stronger and healthier because of him.
Fauci mentioned that he is not retiring, but he is pursuing the next chapter of his career.
Body found in car, police say could be the missing teen
For the last few weeks, there was a big search for a missing teen, Kiely Rodni (16), who was last seen on August 6th at a campground party in a wooded area of Lake Tahoe. As of yesterday, it seems that her body might have been found in a car underwater. The police cannot confirm if it is Kiely as they have to do an autopsy, but they revealed that it is highly likely that the deceased body is Kiely because the car she used was identified.
Kiely was at the Prosser Family Campground. She was at a huge party that had about 300 teens there and drinking was involved. After spending some time there, she texted her mother that she was on the way home. Her mother acknowledged her message and told her to get home safe. When her mother woke up the next morning, she found that her daughter never arrived.
Authorities explored different possibilities for why Kiely is missing and ruled out it was a possible abduction. After the few weeks search, a vehicle was found by a volunteer dive group named Adventures with Purpose who often join underwater searches. They found the car upside down and was about 14 feet down from the lake’s surface and a dead body was inside. They identified that the car found was the same car that Kiely drove in on the night of the party.
Kiely’s family mentioned that they are grieving but very grateful that they got a lot of help from the community for the search. They are awaiting autopsy results.
Controversy in Pakistan over Imran Khan
In Pakistan, there is a big controversy involving the former prime minister, Imran Khan. He was charged with spreading terrorism and of encouraging people to riot.
News reports explained that Khan was removed from power in April by a no-confidence vote. But since then, Khan has been hosting large rallies and giving speeches criticizing the new government.
On Saturday, in a speech, Khan criticized a specific police chief and a specific judge. That’s when he got his criminal charges. Authorities said Khan was inciting (causing) rebellion.
Khan’s supporters surrounded his home to prevent police from arresting him. Many are watching to see what will happen with the case.
Arkansas police officers suspended
In Arkansas, three police officers were suspended after a viral video showed them violently arresting a man on Sunday. The officers punched, kneeled, and shoved the man while he was lying on the pavement. Many felt the use of force was excessive.
Federal law enforcement said they would start an investigation. There is also a state investigation.
The man who was arrested name is Randal Worcester (27). He allegedly threatened a gas station clerk. It is not clear what happened to make the police officers feel the need to beat him. One of the officers said Worcester punched at him.
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Finnish Prime Minister faces backlash over video
A video of Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin (36) dancing with her friends at a party went viral on social media and became a national controversy in Finland last week. That video showed Marin dressed up, with her group of friends and some Finnish celebrities, dancing around, and lip-synching to a song.
When that video went viral, Marin faced criticism from the opposition parties including one leader demanding her to take a drug test. Marin took a drug test this recent Friday in response to the criticism. Yesterday, the results came out negative. Marin mentioned that “she danced, sang, and partied- perfectly legal things” and never would be in a situation to take illegal things.
Marin is known for going clubbing and music festivals. However that video that went viral happened during a private time which she was upset that it got public.
This backlash also impacted some other people, mainly women, who feel that women are usually held to an unfair standard so they started a trend #solidaritywithsanna by showing different video clips of various professional working women at parties dancing with their friends during their free time.
Marin got elected in 2019 and she became the country’s and the world’s youngest serving prime minister.
Flooding in Dallas Fort Worth
Heavy rainfall and thunderstorms have caused a heavy flood in Dallas- Fort Worth area on Sunday night into Monday. More than 9 inches of rain fell over a 24 hours period which makes it the highest rainfall over that length of time in that area since 1932.
In one article, it mentions that Dallas-Fort Worth got a summer's worth of rain in one day. Homes were flooded and drivers were forced to leave their cars in high water.
There has been hundreds of traffic accidents and hundreds of flights to and from the Dallas Fort Worth airport have been canceled. Governor Greg Abbott ordered the Texas Division of Emergency Management to increase the readiness level of the state’s emergency operations to support communities that were impacted by the flood.
This rainfall is moving towards the east, specifically northern Louisiana, central Mississippi, and southern Arkansas and will hit their area tonight and for the next 48 hours.
That’s all for now. See you tomorrow. Stay with the light.
Fauci: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/dr-anthony-fauci-stepping-down-december-next-phase-of-career/
Kiely: https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/22/us/kiely-rodni-california-car-body-identification/index.html
Pakistan: https://www.axios.com/2022/08/22/pakistan-terrorism-charges-imran-khan
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/8/22/pakistan-explainer-imran-khan-charges
Arkansas: https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/21/us/arkansas-officer-punching-video-suspensions/index.html
Finland: https://www.npr.org/2022/08/22/1118684757/finland-prime-minister-sanna-marin-social-media-trend
https://nypost.com/2022/08/22/finnish-pm-sanna-marins-drug-test-negative-after-partying/
Texas: https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/23/us/texas-dallas-fort-worth-flooding-tuesday/index.html