NEWS OF THE DAY
1 New Orleans flooding: As New Orleans’ waterpumping system continues to malfunction, the mayor is urging residents in some of the city’s already-soaked neighborhoods to move their vehicles to higher ground because more rain is in the forecast. Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s office said Thursday the city has lost service to one of its power turbines, which powers most of the pumping stations that service the East Bank of New Orleans. New Orleans’ municipal pumping system is supposed to move water out of the low-lying city. The National Weather Service said showers and thunderstorms are in the forecast every day from Thursday through Sunday.
2 Imperiled salmon: A group that represents farmers says saving imperiled salmon in the largest river system in the Pacific Northwest is too costly and is turning to the Trump administration. The Columbia-Snake River Irrigators Association in Kennewick, Wash. wants the government to convene a Cabinet-level committee with the power to allow exemptions to the Endangered Species Act. The group says the panel could end years of legal challenges over federal dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers and bring stability for businesses that rely on the water. The group made a similar request during the Obama administration but got nowhere. It sees hope in a series of pro-industry environmental decisions by President Trump. Environmental groups say such a change could hurt fishing companies and others that rely on healthy runs of federally protected salmon and steelhead.
3 Fox host sues: Suspended Fox News host Eric Bolling this week sued the reporter who broke the story that he had allegedly sent lewd text messages to colleagues. Bolling filed a $50 million defamation lawsuit in state Supreme Court in Manhattan against Yashar Ali, a Huffington Post contributing writer. The cable news host said Ali damaged his reputation through what the court papers call the “highly reckless publication of actionable false and misleading statements about the plaintiff ’s conduct and character.” Bolling was suspended over the weekend pending an internal investigation.
4 Rare whale: Federal researchers in the Bering Sea have made contact with one of the rarest whales on Earth. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientists photographed two animals in the eastern stock of North Pacific right whales. Just 30 to 50 of the critically endangered animals remain from a population largely wiped out by whalers.
5 Cleaning caper: A Virginia man returned home from a trip and found that his apartment had been broken into — and cleaned. Arlington County Police said Thursday that shortly after midnight Monday, a man returned to his Arlington apartment after a trip. He called police when he noticed that his apartment appeared to have been cleaned and some items had been moved around. Nothing was missing.