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Hurricanes, wildfires, and drought: US finds itself battling climate disasters on several fronts
CNN
Hurricanes, wildfires, floods, heatwaves and drought wreaking havoc on much of the US paint a picture of a nation in peril. Region by region, the country is facing compounding disasters.
Against the backdrop of the Gulf Coast picking through the rubble of Hurricane Ida's catastrophic aftermath, the Caldor Fire has torched nearly 200,000 acres in California and prompted mandatory evacuations for tens of thousands of people in the popular tourist destination of South Lake Tahoe and other areas nearby. Meanwhile, Tennessee is also facing remnants of Ida as anxiety runs high for residents still reeling from last week's deadly flooding. Simultaneously, for those who stayed to ride out the storm in Louisiana, many will be experiencing searing temperatures that could potentially be dangerous without air conditioning due to downed power lines and uprooted trees that could have provided shade from the heat.
The retired Air Force general announced as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff by President Donald Trump after the abrupt Friday night firing of his predecessor is a respected career F-16 pilot who is described by current and former officials who served with him as a professional with a “strong moral center.”
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Over the past 10 days, Vice President JD Vance put Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on notice, rattled the confidence of century-old allies in Western Europe during his first foreign trip, decamped to Capitol Hill to help in delicate budget talks and delivered a spirited defense of the Trump administration’s first month to a gathering of conservatives outside the nation’s capital.