Morning Reads for Hurricane Preparedness Week (May 12)

Good morning! It’s National Hurricane Preparedness Week, and this season looks like it’s going to be an active one. We had the earliest named storm on record in the Eastern Pacific last week, so now is an excellent time to make sure you’re ready for what’s to come. As the last few years have proven, it’s not just those of us who live on the coast who need to be ready. Those storms do quite a bit of damage inland as well. I keep a couple of apps on my phone for warnings (my county’s Code Red and the FEMA alerts), and I’ve filled out the handy Ready Georgia Checklists in the app. If you have pets, you may want to look at the ASPCA’s recommendations, too.

And now, let’s get on to the news.

Pat Conroy

• Stephen Fowler over at GPB has a great rundown of all of the bills Governor Brian Kemp has signed into law (and the one veto) after the 2021 legislative session.
• The Fulton County DA will seek the death penalty in the Atlanta spa shooting case.
• The regents have restarted the search for a new chancellor to lead the University System of Georgia.
• Governor Kemp has temporarily suspended the gas tax while the Colonial pipeline is offline.
• Georgia has the highest mortality rate in the United States.
• Indigent burials are on the rise in Georgia, at great cost to county governments.
• Business groups are calling on Governor Kemp to end the $300 a month federal subsidy that unemployed Georgians currently receive.

Alice Walker

• U.S. House Republicans have voted to remove Representative Liz Cheney from her leadership position.
• The Emergency Broadband Benefit program launches today, which will help needy families with their broadband bill.
• Gas stations throughout the southeast are running out of fuel due to people panic buying.
• NOAA has released “climate normals” for the last decade showing that almost every area in the country has seen higher temperatures. (Alternate link.)
• The U.S. Department of the Interior has approved the country’s first large-scale wind energy project.
• Arrests at the U.S.’s southern border increased in April, with fewer minors crossing without parents. (Alternate link.)
• A Texas judge has blocked the NRA from declaring bankruptcy.
• 100 moderate Republicans are threatening to form a third party.
• Cheating at school has become more rampant during COVID, and there’s no indication it will slow after the pandemic is over. (Alternate link.)
• Here’s a hard look at why we can’t keep people in public service fields in the United States.
• The World Health Organization’s Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response released a report stating that the COVID pandemic was preventable, but mismanagement by the WHO and governments around the world led to “a toxic combination.”
• The Red Cross is warning that COVID cases are sharply rising in Asia.
• 71 suspected COVID patients’ corpses were found floating in the Ganges River in India.
• The low Chinese fertility rate may lead to India overtaking China as the most populous country by 2023.
• More than 30, mostly civilians, died in Gaza and Israel from airstrikes launched by both sides. (Alternate link.)

Flannery O’Connor

• This creepy looking fish washed up on a California beach last week.