DML Morning Briefing ~ Tue. Oct. 11

Today is October 11. Below are some of the stories grabbing headlines this morning. I hope you share this briefing as doing so will make you the smartest person in the room.

1 – BREAKING NEWS: TWENTY-SIX kids and staff are rushed to hospital with carbon monoxide poisoning after leak at Pennsylvania daycare center – as medics scramble every ambulance in city amid fears of being overwhelmed
The Daily Mail reports: More than 20 people, including children, have been rushed to hospital after a suspected carbon monoxide leak at a nursery in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Officials confirmed that 26 people have been taken to four hospitals across Lehigh Valley, and remain in a stable condition.

The incident has been reported as a level 1 mass casualty, meaning that medics and emergency responders could be overwhelmed by the number of patients.

A number of children have fallen ill after the leak on Tuesday morning at Happy Smiles Learning Center on Wabash Street.

MY TAKE – This is beyond scary! Praying that will all be ok!

2 – Texas Gov. Greg Abbott criticizes NYC for ticketing buses carrying migrants
Fox News reports: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott criticized New York City Mayor Eric Adams over the ticketing of buses carrying migrants from his state to the so-called sanctuary city, following a state of emergency declaration in the Big Apple amid the influx.

The New York Police Department was seen over the weekend pulling over buses near the Port Authority that had dropped of dozens of migrants. The officers reportedly searched each bus for possible infractions, including tire treads, fluid levels and even windshield wiper placement, the New York Post reported

Sources told the Post the inspections were part of a ploy to find excuses to take the buses off the road and complicate the transportation of migrants caught illegally crossing the southern border into New York.

A handful of drivers were issued tickets, the paper reported.

“This is another pathetic ploy by Mayor Adams to stop Texas from busing migrants to his self-declared sanctuary city,” a spokesperson for Abbott’s office told Fox News. “Each bus used by the State of Texas for this busing mission undergoes thorough Texas Department of Public Safety Commercial Vehicle inspections before departing for sanctuary cities.”

MY TAKE: Keep it up, Gov. Abbott!

3 – Iran’s crackdown on protests intensifies in Kurdish region
ABC News reports: DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran intensified its crackdown Tuesday on Kurdish areas in the country’s west amid protests sparked by the death of a 22-year-old woman detained by the morality police, activists said.

Riot police fired into at least one neighborhood in Sanandaj, the capital of Iran’s Kurdistan province, as Amnesty International and the White House’s national security adviser criticized the violence targeting demonstrators angered by the death of Mahsa Amini.

Meanwhile, some oil workers Monday joined the protests at two key refinery complexes, for the first time linking an industry key to Iran’s theocracy to the unrest. Workers claimed another protest Tuesday in the crucial oil city of Abadan, with others calling for protests on Wednesday as well.

MY TAKE: Americans, hold on to your freedom before it’s too late. Vote RED in four weeks from today!

4 – Supreme Court to hear case that could raise price of pork
The Associated Press reports: WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court will hear arguments over a California animal cruelty law that could raise the cost of bacon and other pork products nationwide.

The case’s outcome is important to the nation’s $26-billion-a-year pork industry, but the outcome could also limit states’ ability to pass laws with impact outside their borders, from laws aimed at combating climate change to others intended to regulate prescription drug prices.

The case before the court on Tuesday involves California’s Proposition 12, which voters passed in 2018. It said that pork sold in the state needs to come from pigs whose mothers were raised with at least 24 square feet of space, including the ability to lie down and turn around. That rules out the confined “gestation crates,” metal enclosures that are common in the pork industry.

The question for the high court is whether California has impermissibly burdened the pork market and improperly regulated an industry outside its borders.

MY TAKE: Just can’t make this stuff up, folks!!

5 – FBI warns of disturbing trend as retirees are scammed out of $1.7B in single year
Fox News reports: America’s grandparents are increasingly online. They’re connecting with relatives digitally, shopping in the web’s endless aisles, and even finding online love in their golden years.

However, with that wifi connection comes a darker side. Specifically, the danger of scams targeting the elderly population and their substantial life savings.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has raised the flag on the precipitous rise in elder fraud scams in recent years. According to their 2021 Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) report, there were over 92,000 victims who lost $1.7 billion to elder fraud scams. The losses were a 74 percent increase over 2020’s.

“Elder fraud is simply financial fraud that targets any individual, any citizen in the United States over the age of 60 years old,” FBI Deputy Assistant Director of the Criminal Investigation Division Aaron Tapp told Fox News. “… It could be romance based. It could be technology based. But any type of fraud scheme that’s targeting our elderly population.”

MY TAKE: Sickening! Make sure the elderly people in your life don’t fall victim to these scams!

BONUS VIDEO: Randi Weingarten goes to Ukraine. Just soooo much to say about this.