Three things for September 3
1. Flash flooding kills dozens in the Northeast
Three days after the hurricane blew ashore in Louisiana, Ida's rainy remains hit the Northeast on Wednesday and Thursday, submerging cars, swamping subway stations and basement apartments and resulting in the drowning of people in five states, reports AP News.
According to the New York Times, at least 43 people were killed due to the flash flooding.
According to AP News, at least 25 people died in New Jersey, the most of any state. Most drowned after their vehicles were caught in flash floods. In New York City, 11 people died when they were unable to escape rising water in their low-lying apartments.
New York received a record three inches in just an hour, resulting in flash flooding in many subway stations.
Seven rivers in the Northeast reached their highest levels on record, Dartmouth University researcher Evan Dethier said.
On Friday, Sept. 3, communities labored to haul away ruined vehicles, pump out homes and highways, clear away muck and other debris and restore mass transit.
2. Biden responds to Supreme Court action
On Thursday, Sept. 2, President Joe Biden announced the launch of a “whole-of-government effort” in response to a Supreme Court decision to allow a Texas law banning abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, reports U.S. News.
This decision came despite petitioners filing an emergency response to stop the bill.
“The Supreme Court’s ruling overnight is an unprecedented assault on a woman’s constitutional rights under Roe v. Wade, which has been the law of the land for almost fifty years,” Biden said in a statement.
The new law in Texas allows private citizens to sue anyone aiding, seeking or providing an abortion after six weeks of pregnancy.
Biden claimed allowing citizens this power will unleash “unconstitutional chaos.”
“And it not only empowers complete strangers to inject themselves into the most private of decisions made by a woman — it actually incentivizes them to do so with the prospect of $10,000 if they win their case,” said Biden.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, one of the three justices who dissented the bill, said the Texas bill is “clearly unconstitutional.”
The five conservative justices wrote that the petitioners raised “serious questions” about the law’s constitutionality, according to U.S. News.
However, the justices argued the request by petitioners did not meet certain procedural thresholds.
“I am directing that Council and the Office of the White House Counsel to launch a whole-of-government effort to respond to this decision, looking specifically to the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Justice to see what steps the Federal Government can take to ensure that women in Texas have access to safe and legal abortions as protected by Roe, and what legal tools we have to insulate women and providers from the impact of Texas’ bizarre scheme of outsourced enforcement to private parties,” said Biden.
3. ABBA to release new album after 40 years
The “Dancing Queen” quartet is releasing its first new music in four decades and an entirely digital performance, according to U.S. News.
The album “Voyage” will be released on Nov. 5 as a follow-up to 1981’s “The Visitors.” A virtual version of the band will begin a series of concerts in London on May 27.
“We took a break in the spring of 1982, and now we’ve decided it’s time to end it. They say it’s foolhardy to wait more than 40 years between albums, so we’ve recorded a follow-up to ‘The Visitors,’” said ABBA in a statement on Thursday, Sept. 2.
“It was so joyful to be together in the studio again, the four of us,” said Benny Andersson, 74, who plays keyboards, sings and writes songs.
The show will commence 50 years after the founding of the group. Last week, ABBA launched a website with the title “ABBA Voyage.”
Tickets go on sale Tuesday.
