Nation & World Glance
Detroit residents remember Aretha Franklin, impact on city
DETROIT — To the rest of the world, she was the “Queen of Soul” — a woman whose strong and soulful voice could effortlessly jump multiple octaves whether belting out tear-jerking ballads or jump-andshout gospel.
To residents in her hometown of Detroit who followed her more than 50year career, she was simply “Aretha” or more personally “Ree-Ree” — the city’s favorite daughter, often singing at the Baptist church her father once led or headlining charity functions for kids or the less fortunate.
“She was a pioneer woman for Detroit,” said Myron Pullin, fighting back tears Thursday morning outside New Bethel Baptist Church after learning of Franklin’s death from pancreatic cancer.
“It really hurt my heart. I wanted to cry,” Pullin, 56, added beneath somber, gray and swollen clouds. “Her music touches you, but her voice. Patti LaBelle, Gladys Knight, they’re beautiful singers, but to me, Aretha just stood out differently from all of them.”
Franklin, who died at her home in Detroit, had moved to the city from Tennessee as a young child.
Record-breaking fire tornado killed California firefighter
SAN FRANCISCO — In the history of California wildfires there has never been anything like it: A churning tornado filled with fire, the size of three football fields.
An official report describes in chilling detail the intensity of the rare fire phenomenon and how quickly it took the life of Redding firefighter Jeremy Stoke, who was enveloped in seconds as he tried to evacuate residents on July 26.
Three videos released with the report late Wednesday show the massive funnel of smoke and flames in a populated area on the edge of Redding, about 250 miles north of San Francisco.
The smoke-and-fire tornado was about 1,000 feet wide at its base and shot approximately 7.5 miles into the sky; it reached speeds of up to 165 mph, with temperatures that likely exceeded 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit, said the report by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
The tornado exploded in the middle of what was already a gigantic, devastating wildfire that started on July 23 with a spark from a vehicle driving on a flat tire.
Stoke is one of eight people killed since the blaze started and destroyed nearly 1,100 homes. It was 71 percent contained as of Thursday.
Former security leaders blast Trump for yanking clearance
WASHINGTON — Former U.S. security officials issued scathing rebukes to President Donald Trump on Thursday, admonishing him for yanking a top former spy chief’s security clearance in what they cast as an act of political vengeance. Trump said he’d had to do “something” about the “rigged” federal probe of Russian election interference.
Trump’s admission that he acted out of frustration about the Russia probe underscored his willingness to use his executive power to fight back against an investigation he sees as a threat to his presidency. Legal experts said the dispute may add to the evidence being reviewed by special counsel Robert Mueller.
In an opinion piece in The New York Times, former CIA Director John Brennan said Trump’s decision, announced Wednesday, to deny him access to classified information was a desperate attempt to end Mueller’s investigation. Brennan, who served under President Barack Obama and has become a vocal Trump critic, called Trump’s claims that he did not collude with Russia “hogwash.”
The only question remaining is whether the collusion amounts to a “constituted criminally liable conspiracy,” Brennan wrote.
Later Thursday, the retired Navy admiral who oversaw the raid that killed Osama bin Laden called Trump’s moves “McCarthyera tactics.”
Writing in The Washington Post, William H. McRaven said he would “consider it an honor” if Trump would revoke his clearance, as well.
That was followed late Thursday by a joint letter from 12 former senior intelligence officials calling Trump’s action “ill-considered and unprecedented.” They said it “has nothing to do with who should and should not hold security clearances — and everything to do with an attempt to stifle free speech.”
The signees included six former CIA directors, five former deputy directors and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.