Taylor Swift: Officials in Austria say that the two teenagers who were arrested for plotting to attack concerts by Taylor Swift had been radicalized online. What they apparently planned to do is being classified as terrorism and resulted in the cancellation of three Swift concerts. Officials say that chemicals and bomb-making supplies were found. One of the suspects had pledged allegiance to the leader of the terrorist group ISIS.
Titan lawsuit: The family of a French explorer who died when the submersible Titan imploded in June 2023 has filed a $50 million lawsuit against the operator of the deep water vehicle charging gross negligence. The lawsuit alleges that the operator OceanGate knew about defects and the troubled history of the submersible. All five people onboard died when the Titan imploded while on a mission in the North Atlantic.
Astronauts: The two NASA astronauts who rode Boeing’s Starliner space vehicle to the International Space Station may have to remain at the space station until sometime next year. They were supposed to have returned to Earth after about a week. The Starliner developed helium leaks and thruster problems and tests have been underway to determine whether it will be safe to use it to bring the astronauts back to Earth. A decision on what will be done is expected to be made in a week or two.
Project 2025: A report in The Washington Post reveals that Donald Trump is not telling the truth when he denies knowing the people at the Heritage Foundation who created the Project 2025 plan for a second Trump administration and denies knowing about the project. The Post reports that Trump was on a private plane flight with Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts to attend a Heritage Foundation conference. In his keynote address to the conference, Trump said the Heritage Foundation people were going to draw up plans for what a second Trump administration would do. In an earlier interview with The Post, Roberts had said he had discussed Project 2025 with Trump.
Unemployment: The Labor Department reported this morning that in the week ending August 3, initial claims for unemployment insurance dropped by 17,000 from the previous week. The number of new claims was 233,000, down from previous week’s level of 250,000. The insured unemployment rate was 1.2% for the week ending July 27, unchanged from the previous week. The highest insured unemployment rate in the week ending July 20 was in New Jersey at 2.8%. In Connecticut it was 1.8% and in New York it was 1.7%.
Debby: Tropical Storm Debby made a second landfall this morning near Charleston, South Carolina, and continued moving northward toward New York and Vermont. From 10 to 15 inches of rain have fallen in parts of South Carolina and the governors of North Carolina and Virginia are warning residents to take precautions against flooding that is expected. Rain with possible thunderstorms is forecast for the New York Metro area through early Saturday.