Nation and world news in brief for August 9
Debby makes second landfall in South Carolina
ATLANTA (Reuters) — Tropical Storm Debby made a second landfall northeast of Charleston early on Thursday as it dumped more rain on coastal South and North Carolina, exacerbating fears of flash flooding in areas already soaked by the slow-moving weather system.
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The storm came ashore again near Bulls Bay, South Carolina, three days after slamming into Florida’s Gulf Coast as a Category 1 hurricane on Monday, then traveling across northern Florida and Georgia to the Atlantic Coast.
The National Hurricane Center downgraded Debby to a tropical depression, as its wind speeds eased upon making landfall, with gusts hitting maximum speeds of 35 mph (56 kph).
Third death is tied to listeria, health officials say
(NYT) — A third person has died from consuming products tainted with listeria, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday, the latest death connected to a nationwide outbreak that began in May and has been linked to meats sliced at deli counters.
Officials also said that the number of people sickened by food contaminated by the bacteria had risen to 43 since they last released numbers in late July. The outbreak has been linked by federal food safety officials to Boar’s Head deli meats, and the company recently recalled millions of pounds of meat.
Boar’s Head, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the third death, which occurred in Virginia, began recalling sliceable deli meats in late July, after federal food safety officials announced that a sample of Boar’s Head liverwurst for sale at a Maryland store had tested positive for the same strain of the bacteria causing the outbreak of listeriosis.
On July 30, Boar’s Head recalled 7 million pounds of meat, following an earlier and more limited recall. The recall includes more than 70 products — including those made from ham, beef and poultry — that were manufactured at its plant in Virginia.
The two other people who died in the outbreak lived in New Jersey and Illinois.
US states sue over Biden rule extending health insurance to DACA immigrants
(Reuters) — A group of Republican-led states filed a lawsuit on Thursday seeking to block the Biden administration from allowing up to 200,000 immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children to access federally-run health insurance.
The 15 states led by the office of Republican Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach say a rule adopted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in May violates a federal law that prohibits giving public benefits to people who lack legal immigration status.
The rule classifies participants in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program created in 2012 as “legally present” in the United States, allowing them to enroll in basic healthcare programs created by the 2010 Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare.
But Kansas and the other states in their lawsuit said that because individuals have to lack legal status to enroll in DACA, they are by definition not legally present in the country.
They said the rule improperly encourages DACA recipients to remain in the United States illegally, in turn forcing states to spend millions of dollars on public services for them and their children.
