Tuesday morning news: January 17, 2023

For WORLD Radio, I'm Kent Covington. 

Border » New York City Mayor Eric Adams is calling on the federal government to fix the border crisis.

The Democratic mayor said the record flood of traffic across the southern border is “undermining” cities across the country.

ADAMS: And the people who live in the cities don’t deserve this. We expect more from our national leaders to address this issue in a real way.

Adams heard there during a visit to the border city of El Paso, Texas.

Since last spring, New York City has housed some 40,000 asylum seekers, straining his city’s resources. He said “New York cannot take more” and that other cities are in the same boat.

ADAMS: El Paso does not deserve this. Chicago, Washington, Houston, Los Angeles, New York … No city deserves what is happening.

He’s calling for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate a nationwide response.

Fox News, citing border officials reports, reports that when December numbers are released, they will show record quarter-of-a-million migrant encounters last month alone.

Ukraine death toll » In the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, dozens of people are still missing after a Russian missile strike decimated an apartment building.

The death toll has risen to at least 40 people, with 75 more wounded. About 1,700 people lived in the building.

On Monday, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko urged attendees of the World Economic Forum to increase their support for Ukraine following the attack.

KLITSCHKO: Did you see what happens in Dnipro? It's terrorism, it's genocide, to kill unguilty people, children, women, old people, civilians.

Moscow has acknowledged launching missiles over the weekend but denies targeting civilians.

Nepal latest » The search and rescue team looking for survivors from a downed flight in Nepal has retrieved the flight data and the cockpit voice recorder for the crashed plane.

The plane crashed only minutes before landing, killing at least 70 people. 72 people were on the flight.

AUDIO: [Person with their phone on flight]

That audio taken from a video filmed by one of the passengers during the plane’s last moments.

Rescue workers spent yesterday combing wreckage scattered throughout a canyon almost a thousand feet deep.

AUDIO: [Nepalese]

Meanwhile, one relative of one of the victims says authorities should release the bodies of the victims to their families, saying it will get rid of the crowd that has gathered outside a local hospital.

CA weather, Alabama recovery » Rain and snow are still pounding northern and central California after more than a week of storms already battered the state.

Flooding has ravaged roadways and put many communities at risk of flooding, landslides, and avalanches.

Donna Walls works with West County Community Services.

WALLS: Giving out food. We're also giving out supplies. We're also giving out stuff you know, to clean up your house. Pine Sol (cleaning liquid) and stuff like that.

The University of California Berkeley’s field laboratory in northern California reported yesterday that it had recorded almost 50 inches of snow since Friday.

Dry days are forecasted for much of California later this week.

Meanwhile in the southern United States, residents are recovering from a batch of tornadoes that devastated homes and businesses.

Reverend Leodis Strong in Selma, Alabama.

STRONG: It is difficult to wrap your mind around how all of this this city could sustain the damage of this type of this level and that just a few miles from us here, there are persons. They are communities that did lose their lives.

As many as 9 people have died across the region due to the tornadoes.

Calif. Shooting » Six people are dead and police are looking for suspects after a shooting yesterday morning at a central California home.

The victims include a 17-year-old mother and her baby.

Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux

BOUDREAUX: Actually, the report was they believed an active shooter was in the area because of the number of rounds that were being fired.

Boudreaux explained that officers found bodies in the street, and in the doorway of the home and then found even more bodies at the scene.

BOUDREAUX: We have one victim who was alive as deputies arrived and CPR was being given to multiple victims on scene.

However, none of the victims at the scene survived.

Boudreaux added that authorities believed drugs and gang associations factored into the violence.

UGA crash » A University of Georgia football player and a team staff member died in a car crash Sunday morning, hours after celebrating the team’s second consecutive national championship.

Offensive lineman Devin Willock and recruiting analyst Chandler LeCroy were killed when their vehicle went off the road and struck two power poles shortly before 3 a.m.

Two passengers were also injured in the crash.

UGA Coach Kirby Smart and other university officials expressed their shock and offered prayers for the families following the crash.

Mob boss » In Sicily, Italian police walked a notorious Mafia boss out of a clinic in handcuffs yesterday. They had chased Matteo Messina Denaro for nearly 30 years.

Some believe he was still giving orders to fellow criminals while in hiding.

MELONI: [Italian] tell our children...

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is saying here that Italians can tell their children that the Mafia can be defeated. She says they have not won the war, but they’ve struck a blow to organized crime.

Messina Denaro went into hiding in 1993 after a series of bombings across Italy in which two anti-Mafia prosecutors were killed.

AUDIO: [Italian] Thank the prosecutors....

This Italian citizen says Italians can thank the prosecutors who were murdered.

Messina Denaro was convicted of the bombings in absentia and is set to serve multiple life sentences.

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

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