Many Deaths Feared in Tower Collapse | She Spied for Love

Amid a frantic rescue effort, many feared the worst for 99 people listed as missing after half of a 12-story beachfront apartment tower collapsed in the Miami-area town of Surfside yesterday. Three people are confirmed dead after 55 apartments pancaked to the ground at 1:20 a.m. Thursday. “All my neighbors’ apartments were gone,” said building resident Alfredo Lopez, whose family experienced earthquake-like trembling and a boom before opening their door to find only 5 feet of 9th-floor hallway opening to an abyss. The search for survivors continues, but dogs trained to bark upon detecting them were reportedly silent.

Sources: Miami Herald, NYT

2. Canada Indigenous Schools: 751 More Graves Found

It’s a “crime scene.” Indigenous investigators yesterday announced the discovery of 751 unmarked graves using a ground-penetrating radar at a Saskatchewan Catholic school site. Operating from 1899 to 1997, it was among 130 institutions housing Indigenous children forcibly torn from their parents in what a government commission termed cultural genocide. It follows this month’s discovery of 215 children’s remains in a school in British Columbia, which spurred efforts to investigate such sites, where some 6,000 children are believed to have died from neglect and abuse. As a result, Canadian leaders’ statues have been toppled and some cities have canceled next week’s Canada Day celebrations.

Sources: BBC, CBC

3. NY State Suspends Giuliani’s Law License

Who knew lawyers couldn’t lie? Now Rudy Giuliani, former President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, has been suspended from practicing law in his home state of New York for doing just that. A state appeals court sanctioned the former U.S. attorney for making “demonstrably false and misleading statements” while arguing that his client had won the 2020 presidential election. That “conduct immediately threatens the public interest,” the court wrote in suspending him. Giuliani, who faces a federal criminal probe into alleged illegal lobbying, said he was “not very happy” and said his statements didn’t cause “a riot, an incident, an anything.”

Sources: CNN, NYT

What do you think? Should repeated falsehoods disqualify lawyers? Tell us here.

4. Biden Agrees to Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill

President Joe Biden has reached a deal with a bipartisan group of senators on a five-year, $1 trillion infrastructure package, cheering Wall Street but not necessarily winning over Congressional leaders. The 10 senators who negotiated the deal Thursday represent the chamber’s center, and could be the bridge needed to pass the package. Even Biden caveated his support, saying he wanted other measures funding child care and sustainable energy as well. GOP Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell derided the expression of unity followed by a left-wing “ultimatum.” The proposal adds $600 billion in new spending to update crumbling U.S. roads, bridges and other infrastructure.

Sources: Politico, CNBC, WSJ (sub)

5. Also Important …

A tornado hit the Czech Republic last night, killing four people. Canadian experts have concluded that Iran’s “recklessness” and “wanton disregard for human life” were to blame for the Jan. 8 downing of Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 in Tehran. And the U.K. is launching a probe of Amazon and Google, alleged to be failing to keep fake reviews on their platforms in check.

Coronavirus Update: An AP analysis has found that nearly all recent U.S. COVID-19 deaths are among the unvaccinated. And the U.S. Surgeon General has warned that the biggest enemy of vaccination efforts is misinformation.

Try This! Show you’ve been paying attention to the briefings all week by taking the OZY News Quiz.

Today on The Carlos Watson Show, dive inside the career of actress and producer Christina Hendricks, and discover how this former goth-punk girl went from a scared young actress in New York City to playing one of the most iconic boss women on TV in Mad Men. Find out how the Good Girls star built her career like a business … and why she’s obsessed with reality TV. Watch now.

She craved love and that was worth everything. At least that’s how Mariam Taha Thompson, 63, explained herself to a federal court that sentenced her Thursday to 23 years in prison. Her betrayal included handing over names of informants and other secrets to her Lebanese paramour, whom she knew to be connected to Iran-allied and U.S.-designated terror group Lebanese Hezbollah. That endangered sources and U.S. troops. But her tale of lovesickness moved her judge, who lightened the 30-year stint prosecutors had sought. With credit for time served and good behavior, she could win release by age 81.

Sources: Washington Post, Al Jazeera

2. Israeli Archeologists ID Early Human Species

Like much that emanates from the Levant, they’re shaking things up. Skull fragments and a lower jaw with teeth 120,000 to 140,000 years old were found in 2010 along with stone tools beneath a cement plant outside Tel Aviv. Yesterday Israeli researchers announced that they’d determined that the chinless “Nesher Ramla Homo” was an undiscovered species, likely a precursor to Neanderthals. The discovery casts doubt on the belief that Neanderthals originated in Europe and is already igniting debate among anthropologists. Thought to have lived among Homo sapiens, NRH could explain why early Neanderthals shared modern human genes.

Sources: Sydney Morning Herald, AFP

3. Premise: Side Hustle App or Global Spynet?

As with so many apps, Premise users can “earn rewards by completing simple tasks!” The San Francisco-based Premise Data Corp. says half its customers are businesses needing commercial data. But users also collect intel for the Pentagon and national governments, often gauging public opinion, and also snapping photos and tracking wireless traffic in Afghanistan, the Wall Street Journal reports. The company, which can track users’ other apps, argues that the information is available to anyone and not intelligence. And, while they don’t know whom they’re working for, the company claims none of its 3 million users have been harmed for data gathering.

Source: WSJ (sub)

4. Conan Signs Off of Late-Night TV

It’s “exhausting,” complained comedic actor Will Ferrell, who zoomed in to bid goodbye to Conan O’Brien during last night’s final episode of Conan, which he’s hosted for 11 years and which featured an animated intro with Homer Simpson. Ferrell had done the same for final broadcasts of Late Night, where O’Brien replaced David Letterman, and The Tonight Show, where he briefly filled Jay Leno’s shoes during a 28-year career as bedtime talk’s quirky stalwart who eschewed the politically charged, made-for-Twitter genre of today. Still, he’s planning a weekly HBO Max show, stand-up specials and podcasts, so Ferrell’s services may again be required.

Sources: Deadline, NPR

5. Trans Runner Banned From US Olympic Trials

“You can play as yourself.” That Japanese LGBTQ activist’s vision, inspired by soccer star Kumi Yokoyama recently coming out as a trans man, hasn’t quite been realized — even in Yokoyama’s adopted U.S. home. It emerged Thursday that transgender runner CeCe Telfer, the first openly transgender woman to win an NCAA title, will be excluded from U.S. Olympic Trials in the women’s 400-meter hurdles because she failed to meet World Athletics standards. Those dictate testosterone levels below 5 nanomoles per liter. Her manager said Telfer would accept the decision, “and will compete on the national and world stage soon.”

Sources: MSN, AP, Washington Post

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