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Friday, July 16, 2021
Good morning, NBC News readers.
A massive search and rescue effort is under way in Germany with at least 1,500 people missing and more than 100 dead after extreme flooding, while wildfires are raging across 12 Western U.S. states. Plus, one teenager's space dreams are coming true.
Here's what we're watching this Friday morning.
'Simply catastrophic': More than 100 dead, as many as 1,500 missing after floods hit Europe More than 1,000 people were still unaccounted for early Friday after raging floods in western Europe left at least 100 people dead and communities devastated as frantic rescue efforts entered a second day.
So far, Germany has taken the biggest brunt from the flooding with more than 90 deaths and as many as 1,500 people assumed to be missing.
The torrential rain and storms stranded people on rooftops, with authorities using inflatable boats and helicopters to identify and rescue residents.
One resident of a town in the southwest German state of Rhineland- Palatinate described the devastation as "simply catastrophic."
"The bakery, the butcher — it's all gone," Edgar Gillessen, 65, told Reuters. "It's scary. Unimaginable."
See video of the scenes of destruction.
Friday's top stories Western wildfires rage across 12 states, U.S. at highest alert level By Erik Ortiz and Conor Murray | Read more The Bootleg Fire, the largest wildfire burning in the U.S., has torched an area bigger than New York City. Meanwhile, a wildfire near Paradise, California, the site of the most destructive fire in the state's history three years ago, is rapidly growing. Democrats pursue ambitious immigration changes in $3.5 trillion budget measure By Sahil Kapur and Julia Ainsley | Read more While Democrats are making an ambitious attempt to muscle through changes in the immigration system as part of the sprawling economic package, it's unclear how they will manage to succeed without Republican support. One month after rolling back restrictions, Los Angeles County reinstates indoor mask mandate By Alicia Victoria Lozano | Read more Fueled by the quickening spread of the delta variant, the mask ordinance will go into effect late Saturday and will apply to everyone regardless of vaccination status. "We’re not where we need to be for the millions at risk of infection here," the Los Angeles County Health Officer Dr. Muntu Davis said Thursday. OPINION Are we really listening to Britney Spears? By Michael Dolce | Read more Doing away with conservatorships or substantially watering them down in the cry to "free Britney" could make matters significantly worse for many, Dolce, a lawyer who advocates for developmentally disabled and mentally ill clients argues in an opinion piece. Bidding wars and 'meaningless' list prices: Buying a house in the Bay Area By Olivia Solon | Read more "It’s a myth that millions of people are moving away and that overall demand is plummeting," says Jeff Tucker, chief economist at the property marketplace Zillow. BETTER 'Most frightful thing': How being hospitalized with COVID-19 changed 1 mom's vaccine plans By Maura Hohman | Read more Yvonne Gloston's family was not vaccinated when they all contracted Covid-19. She was hospitalized, and now her whole family plans to receive vaccinations.
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Also in the news ... The moon’s natural wobble alters Earth’s tides. With climate change, that’s bad news. An influencer's death became a joke on Twitter. Here's why trolls love to hate influencers. Canada may be ready welcome fully vaccinated Americans by mid-August In vaccine plea, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy reveals he's lost 10 family members to Covid You go girl! First woman completes Navy special warfare training What Indian American Kumar Rocker’s historic MLB pick means for South Asians
These cooling pillows offer cooling material and technology to avoid sweaty, sleepless nights throughout the summer.
One fun thing Talk about having an amazing reply to the age-old question: "What did you do this summer?"
Oliver Daemen, 18, is going to be the youngest person ever to travel to space.
Jeff Bezos’ rocket company Blue Origin announced that the Dutch teenager will be their first paying customer when they launch into space aboard the New Shepard rocket July 20.
Daemen will join the Amazon founder, his brother, Mark Bezos, and pilot Wally Funk, who at 82 will be the oldest astronaut ever when they lift off.
The company did not disclose the price of the ticket, but Daemen got the opportunity when the original anonymous $28 million winner of Blue Origin's auction for the spot bowed out "due to scheduling conflicts."
"I am super excited to be going to space," the teenager said in a video posted to Twitter. "I've been dreaming about this all my life."
Read the full story here.
Thanks for reading the Morning Rundown.
If you have any comments — likes, dislikes — send me an email at: petra@nbcuni.com
Thanks, Petra Cahill
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