Wednesday, May 20 coronavirus & top news briefs
Hello, welcome to The Daily Moth! It is Wednesday, May 20. Here are top news briefs and coronavirus updates. Here is a reminder that I’m “under construction” with a new studio setup this week so pardon our dust with the different video quality.
The first big story — in Midland, Michigan, which is in the center of the state’s lower peninsula and is about 2 hours away from Detroit, two dams had catastrophic failures that caused water to overflow into rivers, causing severe flooding in the downtown area. Days of rain caused flooding that overwhelmed the dams.
About 10,000 people were forced to evacuate to higher ground. Some took shelter in a high school. Fortunately, there are no reports of injuries or deaths.
Aerial images show a large body of water with water rushing over the burst Edenville Dam. It is an earthen dam that “split” away from the main concrete dam structure. You can see in a video trees falling from the pressure of the water. A second dam downstream is near breach.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer declared a state of emergency for Midland County. The river is expected to crest at 8 p.m. Over 40,000 people live in Midland. There is a boil water advisory in place.
The Detroit Free Press reported that in 2018, federal regulators revoked the dam owners’ license to generate hydro-power because of safety concerns. The dams are owned by Boyce Hydro Power, LLC, who own the two aforementioned dams and two others.
President Donald Trump tweeted about Michigan two times this morning. The first tweet was to threaten withholding federal funding over applications being sent out to 7.7 million registered voters in Michigan to allow them to use absentee ballots for elections in August and the general election November. People can opt to vote via mail because of Covid-19 concerns. Trump is saying it could lead to fraud and threatened to withhold federal funding. The second tweet was to say that his team is closely monitoring the flooding and to say “thank you” to first responders.
Now here are coronavirus updates. New York state will allow religious gatherings to take place as long as there are 10 or less people.
The Department of Justice warned California that they were discriminating against religious groups because California plans to reopen schools, restaurants, and malls before allowing religious groups to resume in-person services. The DOJ said this was discriminatory.
In Florida, the Tampa Bay Times reported that a data manager at the Florida Department of Health tasked with Covid-19 cases was fired after she refused to remove data that showed there were positive cases of Covid-19 that were not yet announced. The employee, Rebekah Jones, had data that showed there were positive cases in January. This raised questions on the timeline of cases. Jones said Florida officials asked her to change data so it would support the case for reopening. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his office said Jones was an insubordinate employee who changed Covid-19 data without approval. Florida Democrats are now calling for an inquiry. (Florida has a Republican governor). So that’s the controversy.
NBC News reported yesterday that President Trump is not planning to host a traditional event in which the previous president (Barack Obama) is invited for the unveiling of his official White House portrait. NBC said the event, which has been conducted by past presidents, is not on Trump’s calendar. It would be the first time in many presidencies that this event is scrapped. NBC said Obama himself does not want to be a part of the event as long as Trump is in office. This shows that there is a real deep gulf between the two men, with it becoming ugly in recent days with Trump accusing Obama of being a criminal and illegally spying on his campaign. Obama has criticized Trump’s leadership during Covid-19 in recent remarks. If Trump wins re-election, it could be until 2025 that Obama will have his portrait unveiled. When Obama was president, he hosted this event for George W. Bush, and Bush did the same for Bill Clinton. It seems like that tradition will end.
A former WWE wrestler, Shad Gaspard, died after being pulled into the ocean by a rip tide on Sunday while swimming in a Los Angeles-area beach with his 10-year-old son. The boy was rescued but according to a lifeguard, Shad was swept away. He was missing until his body was found today on Venice Beach.
The Washington Post reported that the Trump administration has awarded a $1.3 billion border wall construction contract to a company in North Dakota. The company will build 43 miles of fencing in Arizona that will be painted black. The Post said the contract means the wall would cost more than $30 million a mile. The black paint by itself costs more than $1 million per mile.
That is all the top news updates for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light!
https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/20/entertainment/shad-gaspard-wwe-body-found-trnd/index.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/trump-border-wall-fisher-contract/2020/05/19/d22943f2-99de-11ea-b60c-3be060a4f8e1_story.html