Taylor Casey: The search for the 41 year old American woman in the Bahamas continues. The 41-year-old from Chicago was last seen June 19 on Paradise Island, the site of a yoga retreat she was attending. The Royal Bhamas Police Force has found traces of her since the search began, including scent trails traced by dogs, and a cell phone found in water. Thus far the phone has not yielded additional clues due to difficulty accessing the data. Casey’s family has asked the FBI to take over the search, expressing dissatisfaction with how local authorities have handled the search.
Squirt Guns in Barcelona: Demonstrations were carried out in Barcelona, Spain on July 8 demanding the paring down of the country’s $13.8 billion tourism industry. Thousands of protestors marched through popular tourist areas, chanting for tourists to go home and spraying them with water guns. The protestors argued that the industry has degraded the quality of life for locals by increasing prices and pressure on public services while profits remain concentrated in only a few hands. The city’s mayor has taken some steps to meet their demands, including increasing the nightly tourism tax and phasing out short-term rental licenses for services like Air BnB by 2028.
Texans in Danger: Hurricane Beryl has killed at least 8 people in Texas and Louisiana, and left 2.5 million homes without electricity. 2.3 million people still lacked power on Tuesday morning. Repair crews have been stymied by the extensive damage and flooding which continues to render many roadways impassable. The situation is particularly dangerous as temperatures in the 90s and heat indexes of 105 are expected in the next several days while many lack access to air conditioning or even refrigeration. “The lack of proper cooling combined with many people outdoors cleaning up after Beryl could produce dangerous heat conditions,” the National Weather Service in Houston said. Heat is the deadliest form of extreme weather in the US, killing more than twice as many people each year as hurricanes and tornadoes combined.
BYD invests in Turkey: Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD, which competes with Tesla for top ranking in production of battery electric cars, has agreed to spend $1 billion on a new factory in Turkey, according to the Turkish government. CEO Wang Chuanfu signed an agreement regarding the factory in Istanbul on Monday. The move will allow BYD cars to avoid recently announced European Union tariffs on Chinese electric automobiles, since the Turkish plant will be within the EU’s customs union. The factory is expected to produce up to 150,000 electrics and hybrids every year after its completion in 2026.
Johns Hopkins med school goes Tuition Free: On Monday Bloomberg Philanthropies, the former mayor of New York City and media mogul’s giving organization, announced a $1 billion gift to Johns Hopkins University. The funds will be pooled with other large donations to make the medical school tuition-free. Students from families earning less than $300,000 will be eligible to have their tuition covered, while medical students from families earning less than $175,000 will have the entire cost of attendance including living expenses covered. Recent surveys showed that upon graduation the average medical student had debt in excess of $200,000.
