TV News LIES

A tornado struck north-eastern Wisconsin on Monday, blackening the midday sky and sending workers sheltering in office basements as ferocious winds splintered homes, scattered twisted metal across a highway and knocked out power to more than 30,000 people.

The National Weather Service confirmed a tornado in Winnebago county, about 90 miles (145km) north-west of Milwaukee. Damage was reported in cities including Appleton and Menasha, where police chief Matt Albrecht said some homes and businesses were “severely impacted”.

The tornado ripped roofs off homes and flipped vehicles in Menasha, just blocks from the shores of Lake Winnebago. Video showed a trail of destruction, with some homes reduced to their outer walls.

Greg Van Driest was working in downtown Appleton when the sky got as dark as night.

“The word we all were using was ‘ominous’,” he said. “It’s like, ‘Whoa, look at that …’ You looked outside and you thought it was three in the morning, it was that dark.”

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At least 40 million people were under extreme heat warnings across central and southern parts of the United States on Sunday as high temperatures and severe humidity gripped large swaths of the country for a second straight day.

Heat indexes well above 100F (38C) stretched from Minnesota down to Mississippi, extending west into southern California and Nevada. Parts of the south-west were expected to see highs of 120F (49C), according to the National Weather Service.

Meteorologists said the sweltering weather was the result of another heat dome – a phenomenon in which atmospheric conditions trap heat, accentuating and prolonging already high temperatures.

“It’s extraordinarily hot,” said Pete Miller, an outreach manager for the homeless services network Threshold CoC, which was passing out water bottles to residents in Omaha, Nebraska, on Sunday.

“We’re seeing a lot of people who are exhausted, drained by the heat in a way that is really dangerous,” Miller added. “The humidity is insane. You stand outside for 30 seconds and you get drenched. And it’s going to be like that all night.”

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Federal green grants canceled last year were selected “solely” based on a state’s political affiliation, the Trump administration said in a recent court filing.

In the filing, Department of Energy (DOE) lawyer Jeff Novak said the department came up with a list of 624 grants slated for potential termination.

Novak said the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) selected 284 of those grants to be included in a tranche of cancellations. 

He wrote that all except one of the 284 grants OMB selected had ties to states that voted for then-Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024 and had two Democratic-caucusing senators. Novak noted that the other 340 grants have not been canceled.

“DOE accepts that the inclusion of grants in the October notice tranche was based solely on the political identity of the grant recipient’s state,” he wrote.

He added that the grants’ inclusion in the October cancellations was not “based on any programmatic, statutory, cost-reduction, or performance-based factor.”

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Tropical Storm Bertha formed Monday evening in the Gulf of Mexico south of the Florida Panhandle as it drifts erratically toward populated coastal areas, bringing a threat of heavy rain, storm surge and damaging wind gusts.

Meanwhile, in the eastern Pacific Ocean, Hurricane Fausto formed far from Mexico’s Baja California peninsula and posed no threat to land Monday night.

The center of Bertha was located about 110 miles (180 km) south of Panama City, Florida. Maximum sustained winds were around 40 mph, according to an evening advisory from the Miami-based National Hurricane Center.

The slow-moving storm has been drifting erratically, but is expected to stay near or along the northern Gulf coast early this week, bringing heavy rainfall to areas of northern Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana as it pushes westward toward Texas. Forecasters said some additional strengthening is expected in the coming hours.

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Five family members who had set out for a day of hiking were killed after a flash flood swept through canyons of southern Utah on Friday, law enforcement officials said.

The victims were a captain in the Provo fire department, his wife and their sons, according to fire officials. A daughter who was not on the trip survived.

The family arrived on Friday at Sunglow campground in a scenic red rock canyon near Bicknell, Utah, for their day excursion, the Wayne county sheriff’s office said.

“It is believed the family fell victim to flooding caused by heavy rains,” the sheriff’s office said in a news release.

Although the sheriff’s office did not identify the victims, the Provo fire department confirmed in a social media post that a fire captain, Spencer Long, and his family members were killed.

“We are absolutely heartbroken by the death of Captain Spencer Long and his family. Our thoughts are with his family, friends, and colleagues during this difficult time,” officials with the fire department wrote.

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A century-old water pipe buried below a bustling boulevard in a Los Angeles county city burst early Thursday, sending a shock of water spewing into the streets and snarling traffic as several major roads shut down.

The 36in riveted steel pipe’s rupture left a protruding sinkhole and cracked pavement in West Hollywood. Images of the aftermath showed local metro buses partially submerged in murky brown water.

No injuries had been reported, according to John Heilman, the city’s mayor. “All of our residents to our knowledge are safe,” he said during a Thursday press conference, adding that there was no immediate need for evacuations.

“We know these road closures and traffic impacts are disruptive, and we appreciate everyone’s patience as crews work to stabilize the area, assess the damage, and begin repairs,” Heilman also said in a statement.

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