Florida Governor Ron DeSantis issued an executive order on Friday mandating that masks remain optional in schools throughout Florida. In doing so DeSantis overruled a re-newed requirement for masks in schools imposed by two Florida counties, Broward and Gadsen. DeSantis’s order comes in the midst of a resurgence of COVID-19 by way of the Delta variant throughout the US.
On July 28th an 8.2 magnitude earthquake rocked Alaska near the Aleutian Islands. This is the most significant earthquake in the US since 1965 when an 8.7 magnitude earthquake occurred in the same area. Thankfully there was hardly any damage reported thus far, as the earthquake’s epicenter was very deep, occurring 20 miles underground, and the area impacted is sparsely populated.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo asked businesses throughout New York, but especially in New York City (NYC), to end remote work for their employees in a meeting with the Association for a Better New York. The reason for his request is that he is concerned that both tourism to NYC and local businesses throughout NYC will suffer tremendous hits which would in turn sharply damage NYC’s economy as well as the economy for the entire state. He asked NYC businesses to set a target end date for remote work to Labor Day this year.
On Friday, veteran Starlin Castro of the Washington Nationals was suspended without pay for suspicions of domestic abuse, child abuse, and sexual assault.
Karely Cicale shares the latest controversy in the sports world.
The US swim team had another stellar night in the pool on Friday. The fastest swimmer in the world, USA’s Caeleb Dressel, won his second gold medal in the 100 meter butterfly final, and the greatest female swimmer of all time, American Katie Ledecky, took gold in the 800 meter freestyle event. The US has remained dominant in the pool along with our rivals, Australia, throughout this year’s Summer Olympics.
Shortly after the release of its newest project, “Black Widow,”Marvel actress Scarlett Johansson is suing the Disney studio for a supposed breach in contract.
Congress passed a $2.1 billion bill that has the dual purpose of better funding Capitol security measures and personnel as well as funding Operation Allies Refuge which will help Afghani’s who helped the US military over the past 20 years relocate to the US. The bill unanimously passed in the Senate with a vote of 98-0 and was quickly approved in the House with a vote of 416-11. The funds for the bill are essentially split in half for its dual purposes.
Rasmussen’s poll shows that 66% of Americans want Congress to investigate these events, while 21% do not want this investigation. By political affiliation, 75% of Republicans and 60% of Democrats support it.
As the US prepares to withdraw its final and small round of troops from Afghanistan the White House has announced Operation Allies Refuge for those Afghani citizens who assisted the US military in the country over the past 20 years. According to this program those Afghanis who assisted the US, fear retaliation from the Taliban, and who wish to come to the US, will be given the status of refuges and thereby afforded relocation to the US. The first wave of 200 Afghan refugees arrived in the US at Fort Lee, Virginia on Friday.
