6.29.2023

Southern US Sizzles 

More than 30 million people remain under heat advisories across much of the southern and central US as a slow-moving pocket of elevated temperatures began moving from Texas and northern Mexico into Mississippi and other nearby states. Officials have linked at least 13 deaths to the heat wave.

The near-record temperatures are being driven by a weather phenomenon known as a heat dome—when pockets of hot air become trapped in place for days or weeks by variations in the jet stream. Extreme examples of the effect have been linked to a number of recent heat waves, including a stretch of 110-degree-plus days in 2021 across the Pacific Northwest that caused more than 900 deaths in the US and Canada.

Temperatures are expected to reach around 20 degrees above average through the weekend across the Southeast. Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Nashville, Tennessee, reached just under 100 degrees yesterday, while a number of cities in Texas surpassed 110 degrees.

See forecasts for the region here.

Penny Pleads Not Guilty

Former Marine Daniel Penny pleaded not guilty yesterday to charges of second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide after fatally subduing Jordan Neely on a New York City subway train last month. 

Neely, 30, had been reportedly acting erratically before video footage (see here, warning—sensitive content) showed Penny, 24, and two others restraining him for at least three minutes, leading to Neely's death May 1. The city's medical examiner's office said Neely died from compression of the neck. Penny has claimed his actions were out of self-defense. Neely suffered from substance abuse and mental health issues, according to his relatives. 

Penny, who served in the Marines for four years before being discharged in 2021, was initially charged with manslaughter and released on a $100K bond. Earlier this month, a New York grand jury voted to indict Penny on revised charges. Penny will return to court in October. If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison for manslaughter and four years for negligent homicide. 

Simone Biles Returns

Seven-time Olympic gymnastics medalist Simone Biles will participate in this year's US Classic, her first competition since stepping back from the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 due to a persistent disorientation known as "the twisties." 

Biles, 26, shot to fame in 2013 after winning two gold medals at the world championships as a 16-year-old and has since earned 25 world medals, a record for all gymnasts (see bio). At the Rio Olympics in 2016, the 4-foot-8-inch Ohioan became the first female US gymnast to win four gold medals at a single Olympics; her athletic prowess led to the creation of four new moves named after her. She became the youngest person to receive the US Presidential Medal of Freedom last year. 

Her sudden decision mid-Olympics not to compete in three core events in 2021 drew international focus to the mental health of athletes. In the same year, Biles testified at a Senate panel investigating the FBI's alleged failure to hold gymnastics coach Larry Nassar accountable for sexual assault claims. 

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> Conversations with a Murderer

Guardian | Mark O'Connell. A writer tracks down wealthy-socialite-turned-murderer  Malcolm Macarthur after his release from prison in 2012 to hear his account of a double homicide in 1982 that stunned Ireland and set off a political uproar. (Read)

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