Good morning. It's Monday, Aug. 30, and the city of New Orleans is in the dark after Hurricane Ida pummelled Louisiana yesterday and overnight. Have feedback? Let us know at [email protected].

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NEED TO KNOW

Hurricane Ida

Hurricane Ida made landfall along the Louisiana coast yesterday as a Category 4 storm, arriving with sustained wind speeds of 150 mph and dumping almost 13 inches of rain in some locations. As of this early this morning, at least one person had been reported dead—a number expected to rise as rescue crews assess the storm's aftermath. 

More than 1 million people were without power this morning, including the entire city of New Orleans, where all eight transmission lines into the city were knocked down. Officials say it could take days or weeks to entirely restore power. 

Ida arrived on the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, which caused more than 1,800 deaths and an estimated $125B in damage. Meteorologists say Ida is stronger but smaller than Katrina, and lacks the extensive storm surge that resulted from the 2005 storm. 

The storm is expected to pass through the Mid-South tomorrow morning (see trajectory), eventually bringing heavy rains to the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast through the end of the week.

See photos of the damage here, and watch the storm peel the roof off a hospital. 

ISIS-K Strike

The US military killed two leaders of an ISIS splinter group in Afghanistan and injured a third, officials said. The targeted strike follows a deadly bombing at the Kabul airport Thursday that killed 13 US troops and injured at least a dozen others, while killing at least 170 Afghans. Yesterday, officials said a second strike destroyed an explosives-laden truck headed toward the airport.   

Defense officials released the names of the 13 service members killed in the airport attack (see bios). Victims included 20-year-old Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum, who was expecting a child in three weeks, and Sgt. Nicole Gee, whose earlier photo holding an Afghan baby set to be evacuated went viral.

ISIS-K, short for ISIS-Khorasan Province, is an offshoot of the broader ISIS jihadi organization (see overview). While the Taliban and fellow extremist group al-Qaida have close ties, ISIS-K and the Taliban have clashed over which group is the preeminent Islamist authority in the region. Analysts say ISIS-K may pose a threat to the Taliban government after the US withdrawal; the group was linked to at least 77 attacks across the country, including the targeting of civilians, in the first four months of 2021 (paywall, The Dispatch).  

US officials have warned Americans who are not through the checkpoints to avoid heading to the airport. It is unclear how those remaining Americans will be evacuated by tomorrow's deadline. 

Caldor Fire

California firefighters began setting up camp over the weekend at Echo Summit in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, anticipating the approach of the Caldor Fire as it moves toward Lake Tahoe. As of yesterday, the fire's eastern edge had advanced to under 8 miles from the resort town of South Lake Tahoe, where most of the residents have reportedly already evacuated (see map). The fire was at 13% containment as of this morning.  

The fire has burned through more than 168,000 acres, making it the second-largest wildfire currently burning in the state, ahead of the Monument Fire (163,000 acres) and behind the Dixie Fire (765,000), but is closer to highly populated areas. The Dixie Fire, which has burned since mid-July in Northern California, is the largest single-source fire in the state's history.     

The cause of the Caldor Fire is under investigation.

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IN THE KNOW

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture

> Actor Ed Asner, whose seven Emmy awards are a record for male performers, dies at 91 (More) | Influential reggae artist and dub music pioneer Lee "Scratch" Perry dies at 85 (More)

> Soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo transfers to former club Manchester United from Juventus in blockbuster move (More) | Michigan tops Ohio 5-2 to win its first Little League World Series since 1959 (More)

> Kanye West releases "Donda" album after monthlong wait and multiple large public listening sessions (More)

Science & Technology

> Delta variant doubles risk of hospitalization in COVID-19 patients compared to earlier strains, UK study finds (More)

> Paleontologists reveal the most complete fossil of a Pterosaur species ever discovered; analysis suggests it may have foraged like a chicken and flown short distances to evade predators (More)

> SpaceX makes delivery to the International Space Station with a payload including avocados, ants, and robotic components; marks the company's 23rd delivery for NASA in under a decade (More)

Business & Markets

> US stock markets up Friday (S&P 500 +0.8%, Dow +0.6%, Nasdaq +1.2%) after Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's remarks prepare markets for tapering bond purchases (More)

> Apple CEO Tim Cook receives $750M of stock as final installment of compensation package awarded when he assumed CEO role in 2011 (More) | Shares of buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) provider Affirm jump 30% in after-hours trading after announcing partnership with Amazon (More) 

> Electric vehicle maker Rivian files for initial public offering; analysts believe the company could be valued as high as $80B (More)

Politics & World Affairs

Brought to you by Ground News

> Average US COVID-19 deaths near 1,290 per day, almost a 30% increase over the past week; total hospitalizations at 95,600, with numbers appearing to have plateaued in recent days (More)

> International atomic watchdog says North Korea appears to have restarted its primary reactor used to produce nuclear weapon fuel (More)

> Thousands march in Washington, DC, voting rights demonstration; event came on the 58th anniversary of the March on Washington, which included Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech (More)

From our partners: How many news apps does it take to see the whole political spectrum? Just one. Ground News makes it easy to compare how a single story is being framed across the media landscape. They put a spotlight on stories that are underreported by both the left and the right. And they don't use your browsing history to show you content you already agree with. Download Ground News for free—it's the last politics news app you’ll ever need.

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ETCETERA

Key facts about Afghanistan in map form.

Miami Beach is getting a 7-mile underwater sculpture garden.

Scientists discover the world's northernmost island.

Google Maps is now available—on original Nintendo.

Massive floating wind farm design has 117 turbines.

Cow hitches a ride through a McDonald's drive-thru.

Spectacular photos of dogs in midair.

Introducing the world's first space sweeper.

Clickbait: Is pizza better for breakfast than cereal?

Historybook: Baseball great Ted Williams born (1918); HBD Warren Buffett (1930); Thurgood Marshall becomes first Black Supreme Court justice (1967); HBD Cameron Diaz (1972); Guion Bluford becomes first Black person in space (1983).

"Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful."

- Warren Buffett

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