Week of 03/12: FREECABLE TV’s Top 10 Stories

The Poisoning Of Iranian schoolgirls

CNN - Iran has arrested more than 100 people “in connection with” the suspected poisoning of hundreds of schoolgirls across the country, according to the state-run IRNA news agency this week. Citing a statement from Iran’s Interior Ministry, IRNA said the people had been “identified, arrested and investigated” in several cities, including the capital Tehran. “Initial inquiries show that a number of these people, out of mischief or adventurism and with the aim of shutting down classrooms and influenced by the created psychological atmosphere, have taken measures such as using harmless and smelly substances,” the statement read.

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Another Train Derails In Ohio

NPR - A Norfolk Southern train derailed this week in Springfield, Ohio, sending 28 cars sliding diagonally across the tracks but injuring no one, according to several state and local agencies. Since the crash marks the rail line's second major derailment in just over a month, officials stressed that the cars that derailed this weekend were not carrying toxic materials and the incident does not pose a threat to the community. "There is NO risk to the public," said Norfolk Southern spokesperson Connor Spielmaker on Twitter. "We're looking at clean air, clean soil and clean water," said Clark County health commissioner Charles Patterson in a Sunday press conference. "There have been multiple sweeps by multiple teams."

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Domestic Terrorism In Atlanta

CNN - A Georgia judge denied bond for 22 of the 23 people arrested and charged with domestic terrorism amid violent protests this week at the site of a planned law enforcement training facility in Atlanta dubbed “Cop City” by opponents who claim it would propagate militarized policing and harm the environment. Authorities said officers and construction equipment were assailed with Molotov cocktails, commercial-grade fireworks, bricks and large rocks during the demonstrations. “This is not a protest, this is criminal activity,” Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said at a news conference. “When you throw commercial-grade fireworks, when you throw Molotov cocktails, large rocks, a number of items at officers – your only intent is to harm.”

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The Unruly United Airlines Passenger Incident

ABC - A United Airlines passenger was arrested this week after he allegedly tried to open a plane emergency exit door and then allegedly tried to stab a flight attendant, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Massachusetts. Francisco Severo Torres, 33, allegedly tried to stab a flight attendant in the neck with a broken metal spoon after he was confronted about tampering with the door, federal prosecutors said. Torres later told police he went into the bathroom to break the spoon "to make a weapon," court records said. Torres also allegedly told investigators he believed a flight attendant was trying to kill him, so he tried to kill the flight attendant first, according to court records.

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One Influencer's Pandemic Relief Scam

NBC - A social media influencer pleaded guilty this week to using identities she stole to obtain more than $1 million in pandemic relief to help fund a lavish lifestyle, prosecutors said. Danielle Miller, 32, reportedly assumed identities through the online Massachusetts driver’s license portal and other methods and displayed some of the cache from her scheme on social media, according to the U.S. attorney’s office for Massachusetts. Victims also came from Wisconsin and Arizona, a criminal complaint filed in the case noted. In all, Miller obtained $1.5 million through fraud, most of it related to pandemic relief efforts, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

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Trump's 'Freedom Cities'

CNN - Former President Donald Trump this week proposed building up to 10 futuristic “freedom cities” on federal land, part of a plan that the 2024 presidential contender said would “create a new American future” in a country that has “lost its boldness.” This pitch came the day before he was set to address the Conservative Political Action Conference in the Washington, DC, area, and as the 2024 Republican presidential field began to take shape. “We’ll actually build new cities in our country again,” Trump said. “These freedom cities will reopen the frontier, reignite American imagination, and give hundreds of thousands of young people and other people, all hardworking families, a new shot at home ownership and in fact, the American dream.”

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The White House Singles Out Fox New's Tucker Carlson

Politico - The White House joined in widespread condemnation of Fox News star Tucker Carlson this week, having even gone as far as singling out the prime-time ratings king by name for his recent portrayal of the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. “We agree with the chief of the Capitol Police and the wide range of bipartisan lawmakers who have condemned this false depiction of the unprecedented, violent attack on our Constitution and the rule of law — which cost police officers their lives,” White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said. “We also agree with what Fox News’s own attorneys and executives have now repeatedly stressed in multiple courts of law: that Tucker Carlson is not credible.”

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House Panel Investigates COVID Origins

CNBC - On the heels of a federal agency's recent assessment that COVID-19 "mostly likely" emerged from a lab leak rather than natural human exposure, a special panel formed by House Republicans to investigate the origins of the virus held its first hearing this week. Notably, Dr. Robert Redfield, who served as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under former President Donald Trump, doubled down in his testimony in the House that the "more likely" origin of COVID-19 was from an "accidental lab leak" as opposed to jumping to humans from animals. Still, Redfield said, "From the earliest days of the pandemic, my view was both theories about the origin needed to be aggressively and thoroughly examined."

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China, The Biggest National Security Threat To The U.S.

TIME - U.S. intelligence leaders this week outlined a range of national security threats facing America, while making clear that China ranked atop the list. The ruling Chinese Communist Party “represents both the leading and most consequential threat to U.S. national security and leadership globally,” Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told the Senate Intelligence Committee at its annual hearing on the top threats to the nation. “Its intelligence-specific ambitions and capabilities make it for us our most serious and consequential intelligence rival.”

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The Current Risk Rate Of Long COVID

NBC - When someone gets infected today, what is their risk of developing long Covid? "Even the medical community is unclear on all of this. The data is just emerging so rapidly and the estimates are varied," said Dr. Rainu Kaushal, chair of the department of population health sciences at Weill Cornell Medicine. Most researchers said it's fair to assume that the current risk for vaccinated people is 10% or less, and some thought the odds were smaller — 5% or lower. But it is important to note that even reinfections may bring a risk of long Covid.