Smile. It’s Friday. Here’s what you need to know to Get Up to Speed and Out the Door.
1. Budget proposal
The Pentagon’s the big winner in President Donald Trump’s $4.4 trillion budget proposal. Trump, who wants to increase “arsenals of virtually every weapon,” asked for $686 billion, one of the largest military spending requests in US history. Meanwhile, diplomats are taking it on the chin. Trump’s budget would trim funds for the State Department by almost a third, to $39.3 billion. That provoked sharp criticism from lawmakers, retired military leaders and others, who argued that it would undermine US security and leadership.
2. South Africa
Hundreds of first responders. Helicopters. Dogs. Those are just some of the tools being used in the frantic search for people missing after deadly mudslides in Southern California. Seventeen people were killed when mud, trees, rocks and other debris – triggered by heavy rains – gushed down hillsides, destroying homes in coastal communities already ravaged by last year’s wildfires. At least 17 others are missing. Blocked roads and downed power lines hamper the search, but there have been some heart-stirring rescues, like the one of a family of five, including a newborn, plucked from the roof of a muddied, flooded home.
3. Pollution
Oxfam’s deputy chief executive quit amid the growing sex scandal involving the British aid organization’s workers. The resignation of Penny Lawrence was announced after Oxfam execs meet with British government officials. Oxfam gets millions in public funding, now in jeopardy because of the scandal. Oxfam’s workers are accused of hiring prostitutes while working in Haiti (after the 2010 earthquake) and in Chad. The organization also is accused of trying to cover it all up.
4. Gun sales
One of the great ironies of the Trump presidency has been that gun sales have slumped significantly since the President, a vocal supporter of the Second Amendment, took office. (Sales skyrocketed during Barack Obama’s presidency.) The sales slump, combined with legal woes, have caused gun maker Remington to file for bankruptcy. Remington, one of the oldest gun companies in the world, plans to file for Chapter 11. It will stay in business while it restructures its debt.
5. Climate change
The seas are rising at a faster rate every year, and climate change is behind it. That’s the gist of a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. It uses 25 years’ worth of satellite data to determine the oceans have risen almost 3 inches since 1993. The dramatic rise is fueled by ice melting in Greenland and Antarctica. Scientists involved in the study predict the seas will rise another 2 feet by the end of the century, which is bad news for coastal communities worldwide.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“You are 100% responsible.”
Olympic gold medalist Aly Raisman, blasting USA Gymnastics on Twitter and saying the organization enabled former team doctor Larry Nassar, who has has admitted to sexually assaulting underage girls
BREAKFAST BROWSE
People are talking about these. Read up. Join in.
Mark Wahlberg reportedly got paid way more than Michelle Williams for “All the Money in the World” reshoots, and the Twitterverse is ticked off about it.
In the dark
When you’re running the world’s largest consumer electronics show, you need electricity, which the Las Vegas Convention Center had none of Wednesday.
Cloud cover
No, it wasn’t “Independence Day.” But a lot of folks wondered if it was after a cloud shaped like a huge spaceship hovered over Sydney.
Panther power
A GoFundMe campaign to help kids in Harlem see the upcoming “Black Panther” superhero flick gets some help from some big-time celebs.
Back to the future
American Girl dolls usually deal with history, but not the one named Luciana Vega. She’s a Martian astronaut.
‘Chelsea bomber’ sentencing
Ahmad Rahimi, the man convicted in the 2016 bombing in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood that injured 30 people, is set to be sentenced today in federal court in Manhattan.
NUMBER OF THE DAY
$2 to $7
That’s how much in jewelry thieves armed with axes stole from a shop inside Paris’ Ritz Hotel.
“He has incredibly good genes, and it’s just the way God made him.”
AND FINALLY …
Waltz of the marbles
2018 stressing you out already? It’s fine. Watch this magnet marble run paired with Tchaikovsky’s “Waltz of the Flowers” and relax. (Click to view.)