Harris’ VP: Vice President Harris has selected Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to run for vice president on the Democratic ticket in the presidential election. It had been speculated that she had narrowed down the field to Walz and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro. Walz has been governor in Minnesota since 2018. A Siena College poll this morning showed that Harris leads Trump by 14 points in New York state.
Google case: U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta in the District of Columbia has ruled that Google is a monopoly and has used its position to block competition in the search engine business. A separate proceeding is expected to determine what penalties Google may face and what steps will be taken to eliminate Google’s monopoly. Attorney General Merrick Garland called the decision an historic win for the American people. The White House described it as a victory. Google said it pans to appeal the judge’s decision.
Debby: Tropical Storm Debby was over southeastern Georgia this morning, moving into the Carolinas, dumping unprecedented amounts rain. At least four people died in Florida as a result of the storm and one person died in Georgia. The mayor of Savannah , Georgia, said he is terrified of the forecast amount of rain and accompanying flooding. Two feet of rain has been forecast to fall in some places through tomorrow.
Donations: Bloomberg Philanthropies, run by billionaire and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, plans to donate $600 million to Black medical schools. The announcement was scheduled to be made at today’s session of the convention of the National Medical Association, which represents African American doctors. Last month Bloomberg pledged $1 billion to Johns Hopkins University, which will allow medical students to attend the school free of tuition. Â
U.N. employees: Investigators for the United Nations say that nine employees of the U.N.’s Palestine humanitarian aid agency were involved in the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israel. A total of 19 U.N. employees were investigated but not enough evidence was found that all of them had helped Hamas when it attacked Israel, killed about 1,200 people and took hostages. The U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East has about 14,000 employees in Gaza. Â
Electricity: The U.S. Department of Energy today announced a $2.2 billion investment in the nation’s electrical grid for eight projects across 18 states. The projects would protect against growing threats of extreme weather events, lower costs for communities, and create additional grid capacity to meet load growth stemming from an increase in manufacturing and new data centers. The government says the projects will create at least 5,000 jobs and upgrade more than 1,000 miles of transmission lines. The Biden Administration announced a couple of months ago that it would be making upgrades to the nation’s electrical distribution facilities.
