What's Happening

US News

As Hurricane Milton Approaches, Waves of Misinformation Complicate FEMA's Efforts

What's going on: Hurricane Milton is barreling toward central Florida, including the Tampa Bay area, which hasn’t seen a direct hit from a hurricane in more than a century. The storm comes less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene devastated the state. As the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) works on Helene recovery efforts and Milton preparations, the agency is also trying to combat rampant misinformation. One particularly harmful falsehood, debunked on FEMA’s new fact-checking page, claims the agency is “blockading people in Florida and preventing evacuations.” This rumor could deter people from leaving vulnerable areas, despite state officials warning that doing so is imperative. Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump and some GOP lawmakers have been boosting inaccurate claims that FEMA’s response to Helene was biased against Republicans, and that relief funds were diverted to assist undocumented immigrants. Platforms like X and TikTok, where more Americans are getting their news, aren’t helping contain the misinformation.

What it means: Once Milton, now strengthened back to a Category 5 storm,makes landfall — which could happen tonight or early Thursday —it’s likely to have severe and potentially deadly impacts. FEMA warned that false rumors about both hurricanes are putting hundreds of thousands of lives at risk and exacerbating an already dangerous situation. The storm response will require significant resources, including efforts to communicate vital info to people who don’t or can’t evacuate. Plus, all this disinformation is also impacting the morale among first responders, Axios reported, and deterring people from applying for aid and disaster loans that could provide essential post-hurricane assistance. 

Related: Officials Are Getting Hit With Antisemitic Attacks After Helene (WaPo Gift Link)

US News

The US Is Finally Saying Goodbye to Lead Pipes

What's going on: Every lead pipe in the nation needs to be replaced in the next 10 years, according to a new rule from the Biden administration (yes, such a rule didn’t exist already). Despite being banned in 1986, lead pipes continue to deliver water to millions of homes and businesses, in part because it can cost billions of dollars to replace the pipes. Over time, as plumbing corrodes, lead can seep into the water supply, leaving tens of millions of Americans vulnerable to lead contamination. Lead exposure disproportionately harms kids and infants and can cause health problems like irrevocable damage to the brain and nervous system. The administration’s new rule now requires water utilities across the country to replace an estimated 9.2 million lead service linesby 2034 — a move that’ll especially benefit low-income and minority communities where lead pipes are more prevalent.

What it means: Health experts say the rule, which comes a decade after the Flint, Michigan, water crisis, is a game-changer. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates the move will protect as many as 900,000 infants per year from low birth weights and keep kids from losing up to 200,000 IQ points annually. The new plan isn’t perfect, though. The rule places most of the burden on water utility companies to replace the pipes (though many of these companies plan to fight the rule), but it doesn’t require them to pay for the portions of lead lines on private property, including those inside homes. Environmental groups say this omission puts the cost and responsibility on lower-income homeowners who may not be able to afford the necessary replacements.

Related: Does Your Home Have Lead Pipes? Find Out Via These Handy Steps (NYT Gift Link)

Politics

Bob Woodward's Book Reveals New Insights Into Trump and Putin's Friendship

What's going on: JournalistBob Woodward’s latest book War explores two major foreign policy challenges facing the Biden admin: the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. However, details about the friendship between former President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are dominating headlines. In the book, which comes out next week, Woodward reveals that during the height of the pandemic, Trump sent Putin rare COVID-19 testing machines. You know, as friends do. Putin reportedly responded, “I don’t want you to tell anybody because people will get mad at you, not me.” An unnamed Trump aide also told Woodward that the two leaders remained in contact even after Trump left office, allegedly speaking as many as seven times since 2020, including as recently as earlier this year. Both Trump and the Kremlin have denied the reporting in Woodward’s book, which is based on hundreds of hours of interviews with “firsthand participants.”

Tell me more: Woodward’s book isn’t just about Trump. He offered insight on how President Biden and VP Kamala Harris are steering the country’s foreign policy. Woodward described Harris as a Biden loyalist, but as someone without much influence when it comes to the current administration’s foreign policy — an area in which she has faced criticism. The book also shares that Biden reportedly had a few private outbursts when talking about Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He called Putin the “epitome of evil” and Netanyahu a “bad guy.” The president also reportedly criticized his old boss, saying former President Barack Obama “never took Putin seriously” after Russia’s 2014 invasion of Crimea.

Related: Putin Trolled the US Election With His “Endorsement” Last Month (CNN)