The News Not Noise Letter: The “First-Ever Weather” Continues
California is under its first-ever tropical storm watch; plus the Taylor Swift effect continues, and what’s the deep question in deep space?
For regular updates, follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. And now you can find me on Threads, Meta’s new alternative to Twitter.
A note: we know many colleges and universities are beginning their Fall semesters soon. If you’re a college student or you know a college student looking for a remote digital journalism internship for college credit, check out https://newsnotnoise.com/intern-with-us to apply!
There’s lots of news this week, so we divided up this newsletter. In the second half we explain why everyone’s talking about the question mark in deep space. Plus, we get into some news that doesn’t suck about the Taylor Swift Effect and a hummingbird heroine. But first, we cover some hard news, including the fourth felony indictment of Former President Trump, which came down after we sent out Monday’s newsletter. If you don’t want the tough stuff, skip ahead to the item called In Her Generous Era.
Here are today’s headlines:
Trump Indicted, Again: The state of Georgia charged former President Trump and 18 others with felony racketeering and conspiracy — the same types of charges often leveled against mafia members and other members of organized criminal gangs. (In this case, it seems a rather disorganized gang). The 98-page indictment alleges 160+ “overt acts” of wrongdoing including individual emails and Tweets. Each defendant involved is charged with racketeering among other crimes. The scope of the alleged conspiracy is huge: some of those charged didn’t even know one another. In addition to Trump, some of the other high-profile defendants are Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows, and Trevian Kutti (a former publicist for Kanye West).
The defendants must report to booking before August 25. We wonder, might Trump show up early, say on August 23d the day of the first GOP primary debate, so he can upstage the event?
Trump and his alleged co-conspirators will be booked at Atlanta’s Rice Street Jail, which is notorious among rappers and condemned in some lyrics (including this track – don’t click if you’re bothered by profanity and difficult themes).
Georgia officials are investigating threats against the grand-jurors who indicted Trump; their names and addresses were listed on a far-right website that’s big with Q-anon fans.
Pollsters are divided on whether Trump’s mounting indictments are helping or hurting his poll numbers. Some polling shows these indictments are shoring up his support in the primary but will hurt him in the general. But in this interesting study, the authors argue that the methodology of those polls is wrong; they think the indictments are actually hurting Trump slightly among primary voters. (H/T Taegan Goddard at the Political Wire, for sharing the study). The upshot? It’s too soon to know the political impact of these indictments.
Maui Updates: The death toll from the Maui wildfires is now reported at 111, and roughly 1000 people remain missing. Identifying the deceased and certifying death is a slow process; it will take time to know the true number of casualties. The head of Maui’s Emergency Management Agency resigned Thursday, citing health reasons; he had defended his decision not to alert warning sirens as the fire approached Lahaina. Currently over 400 US troops, 190 federal search and rescue team members and 420 FEMA staff are on the ground in Maui and the Pentagon is “executing six approved mission assignments from FEMA” including “moving people, cargo and supplies to the island; housing first responders; and helping with aerial firefighting.” The Hawaii Community Foundation is sending donations as direct aid to at least 34 organizations on the ground. Meanwhile Hawaii’s Gov. Josh Green is vowing to help protect homeowners from opportunistic developers looking to buy land for cheap. For places you can donate, please see the list we included in Monday’s newsletter.
Hurricane Hilary: California is under its first ever tropical storm watch as Hurricane Hilary approaches Southern California. It’s been upgraded to a Category 4 hurricane and is projected to reach San Diego and Los Angeles as a tropical storm Sunday night. It would be the first tropical storm to make landfall in SoCal in nearly a century. Forecasters are predicting anywhere from 3-10 inches of rain in a region stretching from SoCal, to Nevada, Arizona and even Utah. They warn of “life-threatening flooding” and the odd possibility that it could turn Death Valley into “a massive lake.” Tropical storms are always difficult to predict, and even slight changes could alter which areas will be hardest hit. We recommend readers in all the areas mentioned keep an eye on your local forecast as the storm develops. Other good resources: accuweather, NOAA, and for those of you new to storms, a member of the NNN audience sent me this Ready.gov tip sheet on what to include in an emergency kit.
Here’s some News That Doesn’t Suck:
In Her Generous Era: Taylor Swift already made headlines during the Eras Tour by giving hefty bonuses to her crew including tour truck drivers, but that isn’t the only way she’s been generous. Swift has also been donating money to local food banks near her tour stops and raising awareness about food insecurity. We’re now learning that where Tay-Tay goes and gives, others follow. Her generosity has driven a surge in support for these food banks beyond her own financial contribution. This makes sense: a recent study from Northwestern confirmed that spreading the word about your own charitable giving isn’t just empty “virtue signaling” but instead prompts others in your network to donate as well, creating a “chain reaction.” “Charities need word of mouth just like any other business,” said Ike Silver, assistant professor of marketing at Northwestern and the leader of this study. T-Swizzle has a bigger network and greater reach than most humans; and it’s no surprise her generosity is amplified. At a time when the news and social media is filled with so much rage and outrage – negative messages – this is a great reminder that empathy, care, and generosity go viral, too.
The Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything? If you have never read the sci-fi novel The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, it’s a delight. In it, a supercomputer spits out the answer to “life, the universe and everything,” and the answer is: 42. The book’s characters have to find the ultimate question – to which 42 is the answer. A new discovery by the James Webb Space Telescope suggests perhaps this is more than just a sci-fi plot. The telescope captured an image of a mysterious reddish-orange question mark in a distant star formation. It’s featured at the top of this newsletter and as you can see it’s, basically, a question mark in deep space. The question mark isn’t photoshopped, nor a computer error. Scientists believe that shape is likely formed by two to three galaxies merging, but that hasn’t stopped speculation on social media, where some people are joking that the question mark is a “glitch in the simulation.”
Paying subscribers get an additional item – today it’s about a surprising hummingbird hospital – and a few fun social posts. To those who signed up, thank you for your support! It truly makes all the difference in the world.