06/24/24

Good morning! It’s Monday, June 24th.

National Pralines Day.

This is how I learned that pralines are a delicious treat and not, as I previously thought, just another kind of nut.

They’re a nut confection.

Laugh at me all you want, but you came to me for the news. So who’s the goofball?

And now, the news.

Ten Shot in Columbus, Ohio

-via NBC News

We start how we start here in America, with ten people shot, including one critically, in Columbus, Ohio’s Short North Arts District.

The victims range in age from 16 to 27.

It happened around 2:30 Sunday morning. A suspect was spotted briefly, before being lost in a highway pursuit. Which I didn’t even know was possible. I’m not trying to place blame, I’m just saying… I genuinely didn’t know that happened.

So as of this recording, the suspect has not yet been apprehended (though they do at least know what kind of car he was driving – a white Honda Civic), and a motive is not yet known.

Bus Accident in Seattle

-via ABC News

And in Seattle, at least eleven people were injured, including one critically, after a bus crashed into a building in downtown Seattle.

Well, less building and more… stairs outside of the building.

The crash is still being investigated.

Shooting in Russia

-via CNN

Gunmen launched a coordinated attack on a church, a synagogue, and a police post in Russia, leaving at least fifteen police officers and a priest dead. This is a developing story and multiple news sources are reporting different things, so I’m going to do my best here.

In the church, a priest was killed by a knife while an armed guard at the church was shot. Additional priests locked themselves in the church as they awaited help.

At the police post, at least one police officer was injured.

Meanwhile, the synagogue was set on fire, which may have been empty at the time of the attack. Some reports say the church was also set on fire.

Again, this is a developing story coming from a country that is famous for, among many things, state-controlled news. Authorities are working to identify the terrorists, as well as get clarity on how many people have been killed or injured.

Olympics

-via NBC News (A.C. Units) and CBS News (Seine)

Hey, we’re just about a month away from the Olympics, and here’s something… months of testing have shown that there are still high levels of bacteria in the Seine despite the money spent to try and clean it. In addition to whatever role it will play in the opening ceremonies, officials had also planned to use the river for events like the triathlon.

So it’s important that everyone feels very comfortable with water that testing has shown to have bacteria.

To help with what is a physical problem, as well as an optics issue, France’s president, as well as Paris’ mayor, promised that they would jump into the water on Sunday, June 23rd.

Yesterday.

In turn, protesters made their own promise… that they would poop in the Seine, in protest of the Olympic conditions as well as how much money has been spent ahead of the games.

So all of that was supposed to happen yesterday – the poopin and the jumpin.

Paris’ mayor, Anne Hidalgo, has delayed her jump because of reported legislative work. Which I have no problem believing, she’s the mayor of a large city that’s hosting the world in a few weeks.

But also… pictures of the Seine from Sunday show a brown water. The protest didn’t happen, the water is just… brown. Dirty.

I guess we’ll see what happens here but hopefully there’s a backup plan for the events that were supposed to use the water because were I an Olympic athlete, which we all know I could have been for speed skating, I for sure would not risk my health and swim in something with high levels of bacteria.

So that’s one form of Olympics-related protest happening. There’s another one that’s kind of happening as well though –

The games are, obviously, aiming for sustainability. As we all should. In fact, Paris as a whole has closed more than 100 streets to motor vehicles, tripled parking fees for SUVs, taken out about 50,000 parking spots, and added more than 800 miles of bike lanes in the ten years since Mayor Hidalgo has been in office.

Those are large strides that have contributed to 40% drop in air pollution.

So, of course, they don’t want to undo that work just so I can happily water women’s soccer and so much swimming and water polo that I honestly don’t know how I’m going to get any sleep.

Air conditioners are incredibly rare in Paris, but the Olympics did note that they’ll use cooling pipes in the flooring. That’s not good enough though.

So America, as well as Germany, Australia, Italy, Canada and Britain, will be bringing our own air conditioning units to the games.

And honestly, I get it. We’re talking about needing athletes to be in peak physical condition. And I guess this isn’t really a protest, but practicality. But I would imagine the mayor’s not thrilled. On the other hand, she was about to jump into a poo river so it’s like.. where does this rank on the priority list?

Anyway, the point is… the Olympics are not perfect but dang I really missed the summer Olympics and you should expect this podcast to be… exactly as annoying as it always is, but more in a sports way.

And that’s it. That’s the news.

I’m proud of pralines. The classic nut confection that we all know about.

But more than that… because I know about you… I’m proud of you.