Monday morning news - August 30, 2021

For WORLD Radio, I'm Kent Covington. 

Hurricane Ida slams Louisiana, Mississippi » AUDIO: [SOUND OF HURRICANE]

One of the most powerful storms ever to hit the United States blasted ashore on Sunday.

Hurricane Ida slammed into Port Fourchon, Louisiana just before noon Central as a Category 4 storm with winds of 150 mph.

From there, the eye of the storm roared inland, passing just to the west of New Orleans on the exact same date that Hurricane Katrina ravaged the region 16 years ago.

As of this morning, some parts of the state are just beginning to assess the devastation while other parts of Louisiana are still bracing for Ida.

Gov. John Bel Edwards had this warning on Sunday afternoon.

EDWARDS: We can expect devastating impacts to continue for most of the next 24 hours or so as the hurricane passes through the state.

The storm is slamming Mississippi today as well.

Ida is expected to push northeast through the rest of the week, bringing strong winds and rain through Nashville and Charleston, all the way up to New England.

Biden pays respects to US troops killed in Afghanistan » President Biden stood witness with grieving families Sunday under a gray sky as soldiers carried 13 flag-draped caskets off a transport plane at Dover Air Force Base.

The president and first lady Jill Biden also met privately with family members of the soldiers killed in the suicide attack last week at the Kabul airport. The dead ranged in age from 20 to 31.

Also on Sunday, a U.S. drone strike in Afghanistan blew up a vehicle carrying explosives that the Pentagon said posed an imminent threat to the Kabul airport. Some reports stated several ISIS terrorists were inside the vehicle, but that is unconfirmed.

Meanwhile, the evacuation is ongoing at the airport. And Secretary of State Tony Blinken told ABC’s This Week…

BLINKEN: We have about 300 American citizens left who have indicated to us that they want to leave. We are very actively working to help them get to the airport, get on a plane, and get out of Afghanistan.

But with just hours remaining until the president’s and Taliban’s evacuation deadline, GOP Senator Lindsey Graham said from information he’s seen, he believes many Americans and allies will be left stranded.

GRAHAM: The parade of horribles are about to unfold. We’re leaving thousands of Afghans allies behind who fought bravely with us. We’re going to leave hundreds of American citizens behind.

He added that in his view, the war is not over, it has simply shifted to a new chapter—one that could again see violence return to American soil.

The chance of another 9/11 just went through the roof.

The State Department released a statement saying it had received “assurances” from the Taliban that people with travel documents would still be able to leave the country after August 31st.

U.S. airlifts aid to Haiti to reach hardest areas hardest hit by quake » In Haiti, U.S. military aircraft are now ferrying food, tarps and other supplies into another disaster zone.

Aircraft flying out of the capital, Port-au-Prince, arrived over the weekend in the southern peninsula. That as the focus of relief efforts shifts to the areas hardest hit by the Aug. 14th earthquake.

In the community of Jeremie, people waved and cheered as a Marine Corps unit descended in a tilt-rotor Osprey aircraft with pallets of rice, tarps, and more.

But most of the supplies were not destined for Jeremie. They were instead sent out to remote mountain communities where landslides buried homes.

Troops under the direction of Miami-based U.S. Southern Command have so far delivered more than 265,000 pounds of relief assistance.

Actor Ed Asner dies » Actor Ed Asner has died.

Asner was a journeyman actor until he was hired in 1970 to play newsman Lou Grant on The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

AUDIO: You know what? You got spunk! … I hate spunk!

The part brought Asner three best supporting actor Emmys on Mary Tyler Moore and two best actor awards for a spinoff titled Lou Grant. He went on to win four other Emmys.

On the big screen, he played Santa Claus in the hit 2003 film Elf. And in 2009, he was the voice of the elderly hero in the hit animated Pixar film, Up.

Ed Asner was 91 years old.

I’m Kent Covington. For more news, features, and analysis, visit us at wng.org.

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