Random News: February 26, 2023

DISCLAIMER: Zak's Random News is very random and doesn't cover many things, and not everything may be accurate, because I'm just some guy. Go find a real news source.

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Good morning. It’s February 26, 2023, and it’s a Sunday. I’m a guy in a bathrobe of blue, so let’s look around and find out what’s new…

• It seems like my local weather is on top of national news, so let’s get that out of the way.
• I live in Southern California. It’s usually warm and dry. These past few days, that was not the case. It was snowing in places that generally do not get snow. Even down here at low elevations — I’m not that far above sea level — it hailed.
• It wasn’t all fun and games. Tens of thousands of people lost power, and there was some pretty serious flooding and road closures. All beaches were closed due to lightning strikes. At the peak of the storm, up to 10 inches of rain fell in lower elevations and some mountain areas were blasted with more than 5 feet of snow.
• So that was kinda nuts. It’s sunny today, with another storm system coming in tomorrow (not as strong as the last one).
• Chicago has a mayoral election on Tuesday and not one of the nine candidates has a clear path to victory. 
• Mayor Lori Lightfoot, a Democrat, faces eight challengers in Tuesday’s contest. They’ve made the race almost entirely about crime.
• The only thing that’s certain is that Lightfoot won’t crack the 50 percent needed to avoid a two-person runoff on April 4.
• In really bad news for a lot of folks, roughly 14 million people who are currently covered by Medicaid will lose access to that health care coverage this year.
• Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oklahoma, and West Virginia are among the states that will begin removing ineligible Medicaid recipients as early as April. Other states will start taking that step in May, June or July.
• Why? During the pandemic, the federal government prohibited states from kicking people off Medicaid, even if they were no longer eligible. Previously, people would regularly lose their Medicaid coverage if they started making too much money to qualify for the program, gained health care coverage through their employer or moved into a new state.
• Over the next year, states will be required to start checking the eligibility again of every person who is on Medicaid. Good luck, people.
• While we’re on the topic of government programs: millions of low-income Americans will confront smaller balances in the accounts they use to pay for groceries, leaving food banks bracing for a spike in demand.
• As of March 1, the emergency allotment for individuals and households enrolled in the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, will end in 32 states, the District of Columbia, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
• Charles Jones, a 63-year-old U.S. military veteran based in Rockford, IL, received an enhanced monthly SNAP benefit of $281 under the temporary program. After it ends next week, his payments will plummet to $23 — the minimum monthly amount.
• I don’t understand how a wealthy nation can allow people to starve.
• And now, The Weather: “Housefly” by Cory Hanson
• As a person currently fighting a case of COVID, this next item is rather personally applicable to me…
• The pandemic most likely originated from a laboratory leak, according to a classified intelligence report from the U.S. Energy Department. The updated assessment from the Energy Department is allegedly the result of new intelligence.
• Several virology labs are located in Wuhan, China, where the pandemic began, including the Wuhan Institute of Virology, where bat coronaviruses were studied.
• To be clear, they feel the leak was unintentional. I think that’s obvious. The virus spreads too easily and knows no nationality, and couldn’t be used as a targeted bioweapon as such.
• As you likely know by now, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) gave exclusive access to thousands of hours of Capitol surveillance footage from the Jan. 6 riot to Fox News' Tucker Carlson.
• On Friday, a group of news organizations asked McCarthy on Friday for the same access. They’ve sent a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Department of Justice and the FBI.
• However, handing over the footage to Fox News in the first place was an "egregious security breach" that exposes the Capitol complex.
• Way to go, Kevin. You’re doing a helluva job. Snicker.
• From the Sports Desk… nah.
• Today in history… Galileo Galilei is formally banned by the Roman Catholic Church from teaching or defending the view that the earth orbits the sun (1616). Napoleon Bonaparte escapes from exile on the island of Elba (1815). Kinemacolor, the first successful color motion picture process, is first shown to the general public at the Palace Theatre in London (1909). President Woodrow Wilson signs an act of Congress establishing the Grand Canyon National Park (1919). President Calvin Coolidge signs legislation establishing the 96,000 acres (390 km2) Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming (1929). Robert Watson-Watt carries out a demonstration which leads directly to the development of radar (1935). U.N. Secretary-General U Thant signs United Nations proclamation of the vernal equinox as Earth Day (1971). The Tower Commission rebukes President Ronald Reagan for not controlling his national security staff (1987). In New York City, a truck bomb parked below the North Tower of the World Trade Center explodes, killing six and injuring over a thousand people (1993). Seventeen-year-old African-American student Trayvon Martin is shot to death by neighborhood watch coordinator George Zimmerman in an altercation in Sanford, FL (2012). 
• February 26 is the birthday of playwright Christopher Marlowe (1564), author Victor Hugo (1802), fashion designer Levi Strauss (1829), soldier/hunter Buffalo Bill (1846), physician/businessman John Harvey Kellogg (1852), businessman Herbert Henry Dow (1866), animator Tex Avery (1908), actor Robert Alda (1914), actor Jackie Gleason (1916), actor Tony Randall (1920), singer-songwriter/pianist Fats Domino (1928), singer-songwriter Johnny Cash (1932), singer-songwriter Michael Bolton (1953), politician Tim Kaine (1958), bass player Tim Commerford (1968), and NFL player Marshall Faulk (1973). 

I’m going to keep drinking my delicious coffee that I can actually taste and smell, and then take a shower and get dressed and do human things. Still very much in recovery from that damned virus, but I seem to be getting better each passing day. That’s always the goal, isn’t it? Enjoy your day.