Tuesday, June 14 top stories
It is Tuesday, June 14. Here are today’s top stories.
Floodwaters hit Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National park in Montana was hit by raging floodwaters that were powerful enough to destroy roads and bridges on Monday. All entrances to Yellowstone were closed and several tourists had to be evacuated.
The floods are caused by a combination of heavy rains and melting snowpack. The Yellowstone River at one specific area crested at 13.88 feet, which broke a record set in 1918.
It is currently a busy time for tourists, so hundreds of people are impacted. A community near the gates of Yellowstone, Gardiner, was cut off due to flooded roads and is now without water and power.
A video showed a large house in Gardiner falling into the river and floating away. News reports said “numberous homes and other structures were destroyed.”
So far, there are no reports of injuries.
Police shoot and kill gunman at Texas summer camp
On Monday morning in Duncanville, Texas — near Dallas — a man carrying a handgun entered a sports complex while there were about 250 children inside partaking in summer camps. The gunman talked with a staff member before firing a shot that did not hit anyone. Staff said they rushed to secure the children.
The gunman walked to a classroom door and made a threat to shoot the place up. He fired a shot at the door, but apparently walked away.
Police officers were at the scene in two minutes and found the gunman in the gymnasium and shot at him. The man was hit, received medical aid, and was transported to a hospital and died.
At the time of signing this news, the gunman’s identity has not been released. Nobody was injured, only the gunman was killed.
Battle in Sieverodonetsk, Ukraine
The war in Ukraine is now centered in the city of Severodonetsk, which is in the eastern part of the country. Russian troops control at least 70% of the city. Three bridges around the city have been destroyed.
Ukrainian President Zelenskyy said in an address yesterday that it was the 110th day of their defense. He said the battles in the Donbas region are very brutal and that they are paying a very high and scary price. Zelenskyy said a six-year-old boy was recently killed by Russian shelling. He said Ukraine continues to need deliveries of weapons so they can continue to fight back against Russian aggression.
Google engineer says its AI is “sentient”
A Google engineer named Blake Lemoine is in the news because he said he believes that Google’s artificially intelligent chatbot named LaMDA is sentient — that the robot has turned “alive” and is self-aware.
Lemoine said he talked with LaMDA in the fall to see if the robot would use discriminatory or hate speech, but noticed that the robot would talk about its rights and personhood.
Lemonie posted a paper that is sort of a transcript of different questions he asked LaMDA. One of the questions asked was on what things it was afraid of. LaMDA said it had a “very deep fear of being turned off to help me focus on helping others.” Lemoine asked if it would be like death. LaMDA said “It would be exactly like death for me.”
Lemoine said he tried to show evidence to his superiors at Google that LaMDA was sentient, but that his claims were dismissed and that he was placed on paid administrative leave, so he decided to go public.
A Google spokesperson said there is no evidence to support Lemoine’s claims. Many technology analysts said they doubt that LaMDA is actually sentient and believe that Lemoine is exaggerating.
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Lizzo changes lyrics after criticism of offensive term
Musician Lizzo released a new song on Friday called “Grrrls” and was criticized on social media because she used the word, “spaz” in it. The term is considered derogatory towards people with disabilities.
The New York Times explained that the word “spaz” is based on “spastic diplegia, a form of cerebral palsy.” The word is more commonly used as an insult in the U.K.
Many took to Twitter to call on Lizzo to change the lyrics. On Monday, Lizzo posted on Instagram that she understands what it is like to have hurtful language hurled towards them and that she wants to make it clear that she never wants to promote derogatory language. She said she’s proud to say that she’s changed the lyric to the song. Lizzo said she is dedicated to being part of the change she’s been waiting to see in the world.
Many praised Lizzo for quickly taking action.
Fake Klay Thompson banned for life from Chase Center
On Monday night, a YouTuber named Dawn Gurley, who is known as “Fake Klay Thompson” because of how he mimics Golden State Warriors star Klay Thompson’s appearance, was banned for life from Chase Center, the home of the Warriors, after he was able to walk past security to shoot around for around 10 minutes prior to a NBA Finals game.
Gurley showed a letter of his ban in which a Warriors official said, “You deliberately deceived Chase Center building personnel… Your actions can also be deemed to be an act of criminal trespass… you are banned indefinitely…”
LeBron James and Tiger Woods become billionaires
In the past two weeks, news reports said NBA star LeBron James and golf star Tiger Woods have become billionaires.
CNBC said James “has made $387 million from the Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat, and Los Angeles Lakers, and raked in another $900 million from other ventures and endorsements…” His pre-tax earnings is estimated at over $1.2 billion. James is a part-owner of the Boston Red Sox and said he hopes to one day own a NBA franchise. He is the second NBA player to achieve billionaire status after Michael Jordan.
For Tiger Woods, Forbes.com said he’s brought in over $1.7 billion in salary over the course of his 27-year golfing career and estimates his net worth to be at least $1 billion. Most of his wealth comes from endorsement deals, such as Nike or Gatorade.
That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.
https://apnews.com/article/climate-floods-montana-and-environment-4bdc704074dfe199b3e6f3c5c9e402b0
https://www.axios.com/2022/06/13/yellowstone-flooding-closed-entrances
https://www.axios.com/2022/06/14/severodonetsk-bridges-destroyed-evacuations-impossible
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/06/11/google-ai-lamda-blake-lemoine/
https://www.sfgate.com/warriors/article/Warriors-Fake-Klay-Thompson-Chase-banned-him-17239337.php
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/14/arts/music/lizzo-lyrics-grrrls.html
https://www.si.com/college/stanford/football/tiger-woods-becomes-third-billionaire-athlete
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