Deaths and damage spanned huge areas in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Maryland
The death toll from floods and tornadoes in the US north-east rose past 40 on Thursday, as authorities continued to digest the full impact of the remnants of Hurricane Ida.
Ida struck Louisiana last Sunday, knocking out power to the city of New Orleans and causing deaths in that state and Mississippi.
Continue reading...National Hurricane Center says storm to slow down further and likely stall near Connecticut-New York line
The slow-rolling storm Henri was taking its time drenching the US north-east on Monday.
Henri, which made landfall as a tropical storm on Sunday afternoon in Rhode Island, had moved north-west through Connecticut. It hurled rain westward far before its arrival, flooding areas as far south-west as New Jersey before pelting north-east Pennsylvania, even as it dropped to tropical depression status.
Continue reading...Tropical Storm Henri made landfall in Rhode Island on Sunday, packing high winds and heavy rains that were projected to leave devastation from New Jersey and New York up to Massachusetts.
Related: The show did not go on: storm thwarts Central Park concert celebrating city’s Covid comeback
Continue reading...Preparations for a monster storm forecast to hit parts of the US north-east were stepped up on Saturday after Henri was promoted to a hurricane as it moved closer to land.
In New York, Andrew Cuomo used his last hours as governor to direct the state response, declaring a state of emergency in some areas and telling residents: “If you have to get to higher ground, it has to be today.”
Continue reading...Expansion will stretch hundreds miles and is fiercely opposed by numerous groups – but despite repeated calls the Canadian government has not forced the pipeline reveal its insurers
Nestled in the harbors of Vancouver, the Tsleil-Waututh Nation has lived for thousands of years within an inlet set against the mountain views of the Pacific north-west.
But across the water from Tsleil-Waututh Nation’s reserve, less than 2km away, or a little over a mile, is a jarring juxtaposition: an industrial terminal for the large Trans Mountain oil pipeline.
Continue reading...Conspiracy theorist was fighting Connecticut court sanction in defamation lawsuit brought by relatives of victims of the shooting
The US supreme court on Monday declined to hear an appeal by the Infowars host, Trump ally and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who was fighting a Connecticut court sanction in a defamation lawsuit brought by relatives of some victims of the Sandy Hook school shooting.
Related: Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones ordered to pay $100,000 in Sandy Hook case
Continue reading...A fire on Friday evening destroyed a large section of Paul Newman’s Hole in the Wall Gang Camp in Connecticut, a long-established haven for seriously ill children.
Officials in the nearby town of Ashford said they responded to an alarm and arrived to find a large fire in the main camp building, which resembles an old western town and was reportedly inspired by the late actor’s role in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
Continue reading...Officials in Danbury, Connecticut, say they will name their sewage plant after the comedian John Oliver, in retaliation for an expletive-filled rant about the city on his HBO show.
Related: John Oliver: US is 'making a mockery of the phrase a jury of your peers'
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Joe Biden assailed Donald Trump in a pair of virtual events in Wisconsin, calling him “a destroyer of everything he touches.”
“All he’s ever done is hollow out what really matters and then slap a gold sign on a flimsy foundation,” Biden said during the virtual rally in the battleground state.
“Donald Trump claimed he would fight for the forgotten man, the working class,” the former vice president continued. “But as soon as he got into office, he forgot them.”
Earlier on Wednesday, Biden held a virtual roundtable with Wisconsin congressman Ron Kind and community advocates who spoke about the challenges facing rural Americans during the epidemic.
During the back and forth, Biden, referring to federal funding to combat the economic fallout from the virus, said: “Not one more penny should go to a Fortune 500 company. Period. Period. They don’t need it.”
“Among the speakers at the “rally” was Wisconsin senator Tammy Baldwin, who has been mentioned as a possible vice presidential nominee after she won re-election in 2018. Biden called her a “true champion for Wisconsin, a true leader.”
Biden has been ramping up his virtual campaign schedule in recent weeks. Earlier events have been riddled with technical glitches - and the occasional honking duck. By contrast, Wednesday’s events went smoothly.
Related: Biden's lead over Trump widens – but strain on his virtual campaign grows
Prisoners and advocates told the Guardian that some infected inmates are in isolation without medical care or adequate food, cut off from family and attorneys
More than 3,200 prisoners in California have contracted Covid-19 and at least 16 inmates have died, in a public health catastrophe that advocates say was both predictable and preventable.
Related: 'People are sick all around me': inside the coronavirus catastrophe in California prisons
Continue reading...Mother’s Day weekend got off to an unseasonably snowy start in the US north-east on Saturday, thanks to the polar vortex bringing cold air down from the north.
Some higher elevation areas in northern New York state and New England reported snowfall accumulations of up to 10in, while traces of snow were seen along the coast from Maine to Boston and as far south as Manhattan.
Continue reading...Lenny Pozner, whose six-year-old son was killed in the shooting, sued authors of a book that claimed the shooting never happened
The father of a victim of the Sandy Hook elementary school massacre has won a defamation lawsuit against the authors of a book that claimed the shooting never happened; the latest victory for victims’ relatives who have been taking a more aggressive stance against conspiracy theorists.
The book, Nobody Died at Sandy Hook, has also been pulled from shelves to settle claims against its publisher filed by Lenny Pozner, whose six-year-old son, Noah, was killed in the shooting.
Continue reading...High court justices issued 4-3 ruling over how Remington marketed the Bushmaster military-style rifle used in the shooting
The Connecticut supreme court has dealt a blow to gun manufacturers by ruling that victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting could go to trial against Remington Arms, on the grounds that the gun company irresponsibly marketed the gun used in the shooting to high-risk individuals.
“The families are grateful that our state’s supreme court has rejected the gun industry’s bid for complete immunity, not only from the consequences of their reckless conduct but also from the truth-seeking discovery process,” Josh Koskoff, one of the lawyers representing the Sandy Hook families, said.
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