On the heels of Hurricane Harvey, now estimated to be the second-costliest storm in U.S. history, attention is turning to the next threat, Hurricane Irma.
Irma, which weakened slightly overnight — now down to Category 2 strength with sustained winds of 110 mph — is currently marching westward across the Atlantic Ocean. Irma’s center of circulation is still more than 2,000 miles away from U.S. coast, but signs continue for future concern.
As highlighted Friday, this storm will definitely be one to watch over the next several days — particularly along the East Coast — despite the high uncertainty in impacts at this juncture.
Current status
Although it has dropped to Category 2 strength, Irma continues to look quite healthy on satellite images, as of this morning.
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Irma advisory from the National Hurricane Center as of 11 a.m. Saturday morning. (National Hurricane Center)
Even after Hurricane Harvey’s immediate flooding threat goes away, Texas residents will face a host of potential health problems from the water — and from what the water leaves behind.
Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Tom Price declared a public health emergency in Texas on Sunday. That means the department has put additional medical personnel from across the country on alert, ready to provide help when they are needed.
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The health concerns that floodwater can bring include physical and mental challenges.
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Floodwater is more than simple rain. It’s often contaminated with sewage and chemicals and can hide sharp objects made of metal or glass. Sewage can cause boils or rashes on parts of the body that are submerged for extended periods of time, such as legs, according to environmentalist Wilma Subra. Chemicals can cause rashes and burning of the skin and eyes after exposure.
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Many health risks: Contaminated water, sheltering with groups can spread stomach viruses, skin rashes, respiratory disease
President Donald Trump is getting a second chance at the post-natural disaster presidential visit, embracing the role of “comforter in chief” in a multi-stop tour of areas hard-hit by Harvey.
Trump, joined by first lady Melania Trump, landed here at just after noon ET on Saturday to witness the devastation wrought by the storm firsthand and meet with survivors, four days after his first visit to Texas. Then, he touted the size of the crowd that greeted him outside a firehouse but failed to mention the storm’s victims, leaving critics and even some allies saying he failed to demonstrate the empathy and compassion presidents are expected to display during these visits.
North Korea carried out its sixth nuclear test on Sunday, according to the South Korean military, an extraordinary show of defiance by North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, against President Trump.
A seismic tremor detected at 12:36 p.m., emanating from the Punggye-ri underground nuclear test in northwestern North Korea, set off a scramble to determine whether the North had carried out another test. The South’s military soon confirmed that it had.
The Defense Ministry estimated that the tremor had a magnitude of 5.7, revising an earlier estimate of 5.6. But the United States Geological Survey’s estimate was much higher, at 6.3.
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North Korea released a photo Sunday of what it said was a hydrogen bomb that could be fitted onto a missile. Hours later, a tremor indicated Pyongyang had conducted its sixth nuclear test.Credit Korean Central News Agency
Holler & Dash Biscuit House is a small, counter-service chain that has made some big promises to diners: Each location of the biscuit-heavy concept will seek out local ingredients for its food and drink, whether naturally raised birds for a fried chicken sandwich topped with goat cheese and sweet pepper jelly, or locally roasted, single-origin beans for drip coffee.
If Holler & Dash sounds like the latest chef-driven fast-casual concept, you’re right. You’re also wrong.
The budding chain is a subsidiary of Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, the publicly traded company with more than 600 restaurants in 44 states. Cracker Barrel — known for its roadside locations, its retail shops based on old-timey general stores and its firing of Brad’s wife — launched its first Holler & Dash last year in Homewood, Ala., and has since opened four more locations, including one in Atlanta. The fast-casual aggressively promotes its two chefs, whose résumés include far more refined — and pricey — restaurants.
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José Andrés, whose restaurants include the Michelin-starred Minibar, opened Beefsteak in 2015 to get a foothold in the growing fast-casual scene. (Scott Suchman/For The Washington Post)
The Trump administration refused Thursday to commit to putting Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill. Reneging on an Obama administration decision to replace slave owner Andrew Jackson — President Trump’s favorite president — with Tubman, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin explained he would base a new $20 bill design on preventing counterfeiting rather than on a new portrait.
“Ultimately, we will be looking at this issue,” Mnuchin said in a CNBC interview. “It’s not something I’m focused on at the moment.”
Tubman never waited for a man to affirm her.
Tubman reveled in defying men, defying governments, defying slavery, defying Confederate armies and slave catchers who put a $40,000 bounty on her head.
This black woman who stood 5 feet tall was utterly and completely fearless.
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The $20 bill is getting a new face. The U.S. Treasury says anti-slavery crusader Harriet Tubman will replace former President Andrew Jackson on the Twenty. (Reuters)
As water began to recede in some parts of flood-ravaged Houston and as Harvey, now a tropical depression, shifted its wrath to the Beaumont-Port Arthur area of Texas, there were reports early Thursday that a chemical plant at risk of exploding had done just that.
There were two explosions at the Arkema plant in Crosby, about 30 miles northeast of downtown Houston, around 2 a.m., the French chemicals company that owns the plant said in a statement.
It said there was a risk of further explosions at the site.
“We want local residents to be aware that the product is stored in multiple locations on the site, and a threat of additional explosion remains,” Arkema said.
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The scene at a meeting point in the Energy Corridor neighborhood in Houston on Wednesday.Credit Andrew Burton for The New York Times
Two explosions and plumes of black smoke were reported at a flooded chemical plant in Crosby, Texas on Thursday, officials said.
One deputy has been taken to the hospital after he inhaled fumes from the Arkema peroxide plant, the Harris County sheriff’s office tweeted. Nine others drove themselves to the hospital as a precaution, the sheriff’s office said.
The explosions were reported around 2 a.m. (local time).
The facility, which is between Houston and Beaumont, had been closely monitored after plant officials said they expected a chemical reaction that will likely cause a fire that will “resemble a large gasoline fire.”
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And Then – Two explosions reported at chemical plant
“Please return to your vehicles,” the ferry attendant announced over the intercom. “We are approaching the terminal.” I dusted off powdered doughnut residue and left the circular snack bar as the boat crossed the Vineyard Sound.
My first vacation on Martha’s Vineyard was bartered. Jessica B. Harris, the culinary historian, English professor and writer, needed eyes for the drive up from New York, and hands, to unload multiple pieces of luggage and white plastic shopping bags filled with pantry items and Swedish red licorice.
In return I would stay in Dr. Harris’s pink-trimmed cottage in Oak Bluffs. Between the pale blue hydrangea bushes of that storied neighborhood and the shoreline of the Inkwell, a historically African-American beach on the island, I met seasoned black Vineyarders whose screen doors swung open in time-honored hospitality.
Many lifelong connections to Martha’s Vineyard began in Dr. Harris’s kitchen. The moments spent communing over brimming picnic baskets, and the salty-sweet smell of serenity, bring people back time and again.
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The culinary historian and writer Jessica Harris, bottom left, hosts a “five to seven” soirée on her porch.Credit Elizabeth Cecil for The New York Times
The US Food and Drug Administration approved a new leukemia treatment, which the agency considers the first gene therapy it has cleared to hit the market in the United States.
The treatment, called Kymriah, aims to give some patients a second chance after first-line drugs have failed. This may happen in up to a fifth of patients, according to the FDA.
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Each dose of Kymriah contains a patient’s own immune cells, which are sent to a lab to be genetically modified using a virus. This therapy — known as chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy, or CAR-T — gives the cells the ability to recognize and kill the source of the cancer.
In the world, human beings are facing various problems. People who are full of greed, anger, and ignorance are seen to be fighting with each other in words and deeds. As the fighting continues, various problems such as civil wars, wars of aggression, and wars of aggression are occurring. As world peace is being destroyed, humans are facing unbearable problems. Innocent children and women are not getting the rights they deserve and deserve. I can't think of one thing every time. What is it? The United Nations. If we look at the responsibilities and duties of the United Nations, I think it is not suitable for solving the problems that are happening in the world today. In fact, the United Nations and the World Security Council, such an organization must rule the world, must be able to give orders, and must have various ways to obey orders. There must be no organization that can influence more than that organization. There should be experts from each country. They can even dominate the superpowers like the US, China, and Britain. Only then will global peace be achieved quickly. Now, if a country with power develops more militarily, economically, or socially than its own country, then powerful countries will jealously seek out enemies and wage war. Or they will attack with fighter jets. In this, innocent people are losing their lives. No one understands the value of a life. You should think about how to achieve global peace by controlling these. If the US continues to be the permanent president of the UN, world peace will never be achieved. If you think carefully, no one sees that they are working for the common good, but for their own benefit, for the benefit of their own country. The permanent president of the UN and the Security Council has rejected this, As a young Rohingya, I have come to realize that only by electing the president and secretary from among the countries in the world through a secret ballot system and governing the world fairly can we achieve global peace. The United Nations and the Security Council are organizations in which any country must govern, give orders, and make them obey their orders. For example, only when a defendant is tried in court can we hold the leaders of the countries in check and control them, can we achieve global peace smoothly. Otherwise, it will not be easy for powerful countries to use various excuses to end this war every year, every year, for the benefit of themselves and their countries. No country's leaders pay any attention to the words of the United Nations and the Security Council. If we look at it in practice, look at the Rohingya issue. Myanmar is a small country. Even that country has been under siege for 8 years. What action can be taken? Why is the UN and the Security Council Powerless? Without such Power, how can the organization bring about global peace? Everyone should think about it. Whether there is a veto or a strong one, all countries in the world can only achieve global peace if they are subject to the UN and the Security Council. Seek peace in the quiet embrace of nature. Peace is an indispensable need of the human race. It is not as if one person can kill another person, and it is as if one country can attack another country, but instead of trying to build peace, we must try to destroy the peace now, and the world is getting hotter and is on the verge of collapse. I especially appeal to all the world experts to urgently try to bring about peace in all parts of the world. Mr, Noor Muhamed Arkhan Rohingya Youth Myanmar
Film and Writing Festival for Comedy. Showcasing best of comedy short films at the FEEDBACK Film Festival. Plus, showcasing best of comedy novels, short stories, poems, screenplays (TV, short, feature) at the festival performed by professional actors.
Irma advisory from the National Hurricane Center as of 11 a.m. Saturday morning. (National Hurricane Center)
Many health risks: Contaminated water, sheltering with groups can spread stomach viruses, skin rashes, respiratory disease
Trump visits with Harvey victims, serves food
And Then – Two explosions reported at chemical plant
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