Month: July 2022

Ivana Trump, the ex-wife of former President Donald Trump, died on Thursday, her family announced. She was 73 years old.  New York City officials confirmed that authorities responded to a 911 call at Trump’s Upper East Side home around 12:40 p.m. Thursday afternoon, where she was found alone and unresponsive. She was pronounced dead on the scene. An official cause of death for Trump not yet been determined by the medical examiner, though no foul play is believed to be involved.

Born Ivana MareIvana Marie Zelnickova in the former Czechoslovakia, she left the country in 1970 and worked as a model. She later married Donald Trump in 1977, and went on to hold key positions in the Trump Organization, including acting as CEO of Trump’s Castle in Atlantic City, and helping to design interiors for the Grand Hyatt Hotel and Trump Tower.  Ivana Trump also created her own clothing line and authored several bestselling books.

Ivana Trump shared three children — Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric — with the former president, whom she was married to until 1992. She remarried twice after their highly publicized divorce, but did not have any other children.  Donald Trump announced Ivana’s death in a post on his social media site Truth Social, calling her a “wonderful, beautiful, and amazing woman, who led a great inspirational life,” adding, “her pride and joy were her three children. She was so proud of them, as we were all so proud of her. Rest in Peace, Ivana!”

Son Eric Trump posted a tribute to his mother on Instagram Thursday, remembering her as “a force in business, a world-class athlete, a radiant beauty, and caring mother and friend. She fled from communism and embraced this country. She taught her children about grit and toughness, compassion and determination. She will be dearly missed by her mother, her three children and ten grandchildren.”

Daughter Ivanka Trump tweeted she was “heartbroken” about the death of her mother: “Mom was brilliant, charming, passionate and wickedly funny. She lived life to the fullest — never forgoing an opportunity to laugh and dance. I will miss her forever and will keep her memory alive in our hearts always.”

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The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bipartisan bill with a 260-169 vote to create a nationwide alert system to be used in active-shooter incidents. The Active Shooter Alert Act would establish a network similar to Amber alerts, to notify the public when a shooter is nearby. The bill will now head to the Senate.

Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I., who co-sponsored the bill, in a statement: “During active shooter events, law enforcement officers are having to take to social media to communicate with the surrounding community so that no one accidentally walks into the line of fire. This is terribly inefficient and dangerous. Law enforcement needs and deserves better tools than Twitter to communicate with the community and the Active Shooter Alert Act answers that call.”

Rep. Fred Upton, R-M.I., who also co-sponsored the bill, said he did so because it has nationwide support from law enforcement officials and organizations: “By alerting the public to an ongoing active shooter threat, we can help folks avoid the area and better enable police and first responders to focus on ending the situation and saving lives.”

Cicilline and Upton introduced the bill in hopes the new alert system could prevent further tragedy in the wake of active-shooting incidents, saying in a joint statement:  “The new alert system established under the Active Shooter Alert Act could be deployed during emergency situations like that recently seen in Highland Park, Ill., when the suspected shooter was at large for 8 hours — providing him the time to drive to Wisconsin and contemplate carrying out another mass shooting.”

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The Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization for Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday. The two-shot vaccine was authorized for use in people 18 years and older.

FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert M. Califf said in a statement: “Authorizing an additional COVID-19 vaccine expands the available vaccine options for the prevention of COVID-19, including the most severe outcomes that can occur such as hospitalization and death. Today’s authorization offers adults in the United States, who have not yet received a COVID-19 vaccine, another option that meets the FDA’s rigorous standards for safety, effectiveness and manufacturing quality need to support emergency use authorization.”

The vaccine contains an added ingredient to produce a stronger immune response; and is a more traditional type of vaccine, in that it employs a whole, deactivated virus. The two other widely used COVID-19 vaccines, by Moderna and Pfizer, are mRNA-based.

Earlier in the week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced that the Biden administration had secured 3.2 million doses of Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine. If the CDC signs off on use of the vaccine, it will be made available for free to U.S. states and jurisdictions shortly thereafter.

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Officials said on Thursday that over 40 people are unaccounted for and more than 100 homes have been damaged or destroyed due to severe flooding throughout Western Virginia on Wednesday. The Virginia Department of Emergency Management said that beginning on Tuesday through early Wednesday morning, torrential rain caused flash flooding in Buchanan County, Virginia, as well as widespread power outages and damages to roads and homes.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Buchanan County Sheriff’s Office said that 44 people, including children, in the Whitewood area were “unaccounted for.”  The Sheriff’s office added: “This does not mean the person is missing, it means we are attempting to reach and locate the person and check on their wellbeing.”  No fatalities have been confirmed.  Officials said search-and-rescue efforts are being made difficult as many roadways are blocked by landslides and approaches to bridges are washed out.

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin declared a state of emergency in response to the floods, saying in a statement: “We are deeply saddened to learn that another flood has impacted a community still recovering from last year’s flood. In the wake of the devastation, I want Virginians in Buchanan County to know that we are making every resource available to help those impacted by this storm.”

Additionally in eastern Tennessee, severe thunderstorms prompted the evacuation of more than 400 people from a campground on the Little Pigeon River. No injuries were reported in the Tennessee flooding, but officials said that vehicles and debris from the Greenbrier Campground were washed downstream by floodwaters.

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On Tuesday, social media platform Twitter said it has sued Elon Musk to force him to complete the $44 billion acquisition of the social media company. Musk and Twitter had been prepared for a legal fight after the billionaire said on Friday he was backing out of his April agreement to buy the company.

According to the buyout agreement, Musk must pay a $1 billion fee if the deal collapses, but a court also has the power to force him to go through with the purchase. Twitter’s complaint says that Musk has been “a model of bad faith” since he first proposed to take the company private in April, and accuses him of abruptly changing his mind as the stock market declined.  The complaint said: “Rather than bear the cost of the market downturn, as the merger agreement requires, Musk wants to shift it to Twitter’s stockholders.”

The lawsuit also stated that Musk knew about bots on Twitter well before his purchase (having tweeted about the issue frequently), but only decided to make it an issue in the acquisition once the stock market dropped. According to the complaint, “Musk has been working furiously — albeit fruitlessly — to try to show that the company he promised to buy and not disparage has made material misrepresentations about its business to regulators and investors.” 

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Two people – including a 7-year-old child – were killed, and more than a dozen suffered injuries after the private boat they were on capsized in the Hudson River.

First responders received calls reporting people in the water shortly before 3 p.m. on Tuesday. According to police, a 7-year-old child and a 48-year-old woman were trapped under the 18-foot vessel after the boat capsized near Pier 79; they were taken to local hospitals in critical condition, but ultimately succumbed to their injuries and died.  Eleven others passengers were also injured, including the captain of the boat, who is reportedly in critical condition. The extent of the other passengers’ injuries was not immediately known.

The incident took place near a NY Waterway terminal and two ferries came to the aid of the people who were in the water, rescuing nine people.

The circumstances leading up to the tragedy is currently being investigated. Authorities say they are looking to see if the boat was overloaded with too many passengers, or if the weather played a role.

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