Tuesday, June 1 top stories
It is Tuesday, June 1. Ready for top story briefs?
Al Jazeera wrote a report that said an estimated 43,000 children in the U.S. lost a parent from the coronavirus pandemic. The father you see in the picture is Rodrigo Guerra and he died from Covid-19 on Christmas Eve at the age of 33, leaving behind his wife Laura and a one-year-old baby girl.
The report said there are many families dealing with financial impacts such as medical bills or childcare costs in addition to the emotional toll of losing a loved one.
The father in this picture is Martin Addison, who died from Covid-19 last April at the age of 44. The mother, Pamela, said “our lives can’t go back to normal.”
The article is a reminder that there were hundreds of thousands of Americans and over 3.5 million worldwide who passed away due to coronavirus, and that most of them left behind family and loved ones.
A 7-year-old boy from Jacksonville, Florida, Chase, is hailed as a hero because he swam for an hour to get help for his father and his 4-year-old sister, who were stranded in the St. Johns River.
What happened? The family went boating on Friday. The father anchored the boat so he could go fishing as both kids swam in the water. The girl, who was wearing a life vest, was pulled away by a strong current. The boy swam after her, but was stuck in the current as well.
The father jumped into the water and tried to stay with both kids, but the girl kept on drifting away so he told Chase to swim for the shore and that he loved him. Chase said he swam by dog paddling for about a mile and took breaks by floating on his back. When he got to dry land, he ran to a nearby house and called for help.
First responders were able to find the father and the sister over a mile away from the boat’s location.
In Miami on early Sunday morning, three armed men got out of a SUV near a venue and opened fire into a crowd filled with teenagers and young adults. Two 26-year-old men were killed and over 20 were injured. The three suspects quickly ran back into their SUV and drove off.
That SUV was later found submerged in a canal — it was reported stolen two weeks ago.
The suspects have not been identified. There is a reward of $130,000 for information leading to the shooters’ arrests and convictions.
A Miami official said the shooting was an act of domestic terrorism.
In very sad news, the remains of 215 children were found buried at the site of what was an Indigenous residential school called the Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia.
CBS News explained that from the late 1800’s up to 1970, over 150,000 First Nations children were required to attend state-funded Christian schools as a part of a program to assimilate them into Canadian society, with them barred from speaking in their native languages. Many were abused and it is believed that thousands died. Kamloops was once the largest Indigenous residential school. The 215 remains were detected by ground-penetrating radar and there may be more bodies found from additional searches.
People have placed pairs of shoes on stairs or on memorials to honor those who died.
One of the world’s top tennis players, Naomi Osaka (Japan), pulled out of the French Open after tournament officials refused to honor her wish to not make herself available for media interviews due to her mental health needs.
The Grand Slams pushed back on Osaka, fining her $15,000 and suggesting in a tweet that Osaka did not fulfill her responsibilities.
Yesterday Osaka made her final decision to withdraw, saying she never wanted to be a distraction. She said she has suffered from depression since the US Open in 2018 and would take some time away from the court with the goal to come back later and make things better.
Many on social media have expressed support for Osaka, saying her only obligation to the media should be to play on the court in front of cameras.
The head of the French Tennis Federation said he was sorry and sad for Osaka and then ironically refused to answer reporters’ questions.
News reports say the largest meat producer in the world, JBS SA, has halted processing cattle in its five biggest beef plants in the U.S. due to cyberattacks on the company’s computer networks.
JBS, which is a Brazilian company, supplies about 1/4 of all U.S. beef capacity and about 1/5 of all pork capacity.
Some of JBS’ plants in Canada and Australia were also shut down. It is not known exactly what the hackers did and what information is compromised.
The White House said it would provide assistance to JBS and that they suspect the hackers are from a criminal organization based in Russia.
Last month a ransomware attack caused the U.S. based Colonial Pipeline to shut down for six days. The pipeline CEO paid $4.4 million in bitcoin to get its computer systems back.
That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.
Parents died from Covid: https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2021/5/31/no-going-back-to-normal-43000-us-kids-lost-a-parent-to-covid
Boy Hero: https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/31/us/florida-seven-year-old-saves-family-stranded-in-river-trnd/index.html
https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2021/05/29/brave-7-year-old-recounts-hour-long-swim-to-shore-after-boating-mishap-on-st-johns-river/
Miami: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/miami-police-offer-130-000-search-suspected-shooters-who-left-n1269153
https://www.npr.org/2021/06/01/1002057582/miami-police-are-searching-for-suspects-in-a-banquet-hall-shooting
Osaka: https://www.axios.com/naomi-osaka-french-open-withdrawal-4b230940-4d15-4b1a-9dc1-b67c6815be29.html
https://twitter.com/naomiosaka/status/1399422304854188037
Cyberattack: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/meat-latest-cyber-victim-hackers-214130697.html