Preparing for Milton also means fighting misinformation, FEMA says

WASHINGTON — As Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell on Wednesday warned of “catastrophic impacts” from Hurricane Milton, she and the federal government are also fighting misinformation about this storm and the recovery effort from Hurricane Helene.

Some of the claims come from former President Donald Trump, lawmakers in Congress and others online, indicating that FEMA and the federal government are untrustworthy and misusing response funds.

President Joe Biden said Wednesday there has been a “reckless, irresponsible and relentless promotion of disinformation and outright lies.”

“It’s undermining confidence in the incredible rescue and recovery work that has already been taken and will continue be taken and it’s harmful to those who need the help most,” Biden said, specifically calling out Trump claims that migrants are receiving money allocated for disaster aid.

—CQ-Roll Call

‘Same sex kissing’ concern launched ‘Oklahoma!’ controversy in Texas town, report finds

DALLAS — Former Sherman Superintendent Tyson Bennett intervened in the casting of a high school musical because he wanted to prevent “same sex kissing,” according to a third-party investigation.

The school board commissioned the probe after a transgender boy was removed from his role in "Oklahoma!" in November, a move that thrust Sherman High School into the national debate over LGBTQ student rights.

The investigation report – obtained by The Dallas Morning News on Wednesday through a public records request – found the casting controversy was driven by Bennett. Sherman school trustees approved a voluntary separation agreement with Bennett in May.

“None of the participants involved appeared to have any issues with the play’s staging except for Dr. Bennett,” according to the report, submitted by Darrell G-M Noga, of the Texas-based Fee, Smith & Sharp firm.

—The Dallas Morning News

Study: Severe COVID raised risk of heart attack, stroke as much as having heart disease

LOS ANGELES — People hospitalized for COVID-19 early in the pandemic suffered an increased risk of serious "cardiac events" such as heart attacks and strokes that was akin to people with a history of heart disease, a newly released study has found.

Researchers from USC, UCLA and the Cleveland Clinic analyzed more than 10,000 COVID cases tracked by the U.K. Biobank to examine how COVID affected the risk of heart attacks and other cardiac threats.

Their study, released Wednesday in the journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology, assessed outcomes for people sickened in the first year of the pandemic and followed for a period of nearly three years.

The findings underscore that among "people who don't have any evidence of heart disease, having severe COVID put them at a significantly increased risk of heart attack, stroke and death," said principal investigator Hooman Allayee, professor of population and public health sciences at USC's Keck School of Medicine.

—Los Angeles Times

Russian forces enter mining city as Kyiv battles to defend east

Russian forces closed in on the center of an industrial city in eastern Ukraine as they pressed ahead with an offensive aimed at cementing control over the Donetsk region.

Fierce fighting continued Wednesday in the center of Toretsk, a coal mining city some 680 kilometers (420 miles) east of Kyiv, a military spokeswoman said. Russian troops took up positions in the city center as of Tuesday, according to the DeepState map service operated in cooperation with the Defense Ministry.

The advance is part of Russia’s grinding offensive in the area as Ukrainian troops struggle to hold back assaults across the front line. The capture of Toretsk would bolster the Kremlin’s aim to seize strategic Donetsk settlements such as Pokrovsk and key hubs such as Kramatorsk and Slovyansk.

Some 1,400 civilians remain in Toretsk, whose prewar population exceeded 60,000, Donetsk regional Governor Vadym Filashkin told Ukraine’s public broadcaster. Russian troops reached the outskirts of the city in late September, according to DeepState and the U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War.

—Bloomberg News