In our news wrap Thursday, hundreds in Georgia have fled their homes as wildfires threaten areas in the southern part of the state, Warner Bros. shareholders voted to approve the company’s $81 billion sale to Paramount and the European Union formally approved a loan package for Ukraine valued at more than $100 billion.
Amna Nawaz:
In Georgia, hundreds of people have fled their homes and more than 80 homes have now been destroyed as raging wildfires continue to threaten areas in the south of the state.
Woman:
My house is gone.
Amna Nawaz:
Today, distraught residents returned to their properties reduced to ash and ember. Georgia’s biggest blaze broke out over the weekend, and, at last check, it was only 10 percent contained. Officials say that dry, windy conditions are to blame, but also fallen tree limbs still scattered from Hurricane Helene, which devastated the area more than a year-and-a-half ago.
Seth Hawkins, Spokesperson, Georgia Forestry Commission:
What we’re finding out here, what’s driving this somewhat is, there’s just ton of old Hurricane Helene debris down in the woods, right? It’s just some of it’s laying around, and it’s just a tinderbox out there. So we’re definitely seeing some of those flare-ups.
Amna Nawaz:
Hundreds of fires have also spread this week in neighboring Florida. Officials have called it the state’s worst fire season in decades.
Warner Bros. shareholders voted today to approve the company’s $81 billion sale to Paramount. It’s a major step in a deal that could dramatically reshape Hollywood and the broader media landscape. The combined company would bring the likes of CNN, HBO Max, and Harry Potter under the same umbrella as CBS and the Paramount+ streaming service, but it still requires regulatory approval.
And critics, including some big names in Hollywood, have said the deal would lead to job losses and fewer options for filmmakers and moviegoers.
Overseas, the European Union formally approved a loan package for Ukraine today valued at more than $100 billion. The much-needed funds were announced during a meeting in Cyprus attended by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The loan comes as Russian oil began flowing again to Hungary and Slovakia through a pipeline in Ukraine that had been damaged during the fighting. Hungary had previously blocked the loan. The money will help Ukraine meet its economic and military needs for the next two years. Without it, economists had warned the country would start running out of cash in June.
The U.S. Senate took a pivotal first step toward funding ICE and Border Patrol and potentially finding a way to end the shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security in the coming weeks.
Man:
On this vote, the yeas are 50, the nays are 48, and the concurrent resolution, as amended, is agreed to.
Amna Nawaz:
DHS as a whole remains unfunded, but the measure voted on early this morning would allow Republicans to get around a Democratic filibuster of ICE and Border Patrol. It still has several more steps to go before it could take effect.
And it comes amid a push by Democrats for policy changes to the agency after two protesters were killed by federal agents earlier this year. In the meantime, Republicans accused Democrats of wanting to defund crucial immigration operations.
Sen. John Thune (R-SD):
To prevent Democrats from deciding that they want to defund law enforcement again in September, we’re going to fund these critical functions for the next three years.
Amna Nawaz:
Republicans hold a slim majority in the House, so even a few objections within the party could derail the budget plan. DHS has been shut since mid-February, making this the longest partial government shutdown in U.S. history.
Round one of the NFL draft kicks off in Pittsburgh tonight, with the city expecting hundreds of thousands of visitors for the three-day event. Officials are advising residents to use public transportation, instead of driving, to avoid the crowds, and city schools have moved to remote learning.
Authorities pledged a — quote — “significant law enforcement presence,” both on the main draft campus and around the city. The NFL draft has become a blockbuster event in its own right, as top prospects hope to hear their name called to join one of the NFL’s 32 teams.
Meta is cutting 10 percent of its work force, or about 8,000 jobs, as the company pushes deeper into A.I. The owner of Facebook and Instagram is just the latest tech firm to announce layoffs as part of a broader effort to embrace the possibilities of A.I.
Separately, Microsoft is reportedly planning to offer voluntary buyouts to thousands of U.S. employees. It’s the first time the software giant has ever offered buyouts to employees as it looks to cut costs.
In the meantime, on Wall Street, stocks fell following the latest spike in oil prices. The Dow Jones industrial average lost nearly 200 points on the day. The Nasdaq handed back more than 200 points, or nearly 1 percent. The S&P 500 fell back from its latest all-time high.
And conductor and composer Michael Tilson Thomas has died. Born and raised in California, Tilson Thomas was a gifted pianist from a young age. He later committed himself to conducting and led orchestras in Buffalo, Miami, London, and eventually San Francisco, where he stayed for 25 years.
Tilson Thomas told the “American Masters” program that a conductor’s job is to — quote — “get 100 or so people to agree where now really is.” He was also a devoted teacher of classical music in the tradition of Leonard Bernstein. In 2015, Tilson Thomas explained the importance of mentorship to the “News Hour’s” Jeffrey Brown.
Michael Tilson Thomas:
It’s essential for me, this sense of contact with a new brilliant spirit of another generation with whom I feel so much in common.
Jeffrey Brown:
But why is it essential?
Michael Tilson Thomas:
Because it reminds me too of the relationship I had with mentors of mine who were 50 years older than I. My major piano teacher was a pupil of a guy called Moriz Rosenthal, who had been a pupil of Liszt, who was a pupil of Czerny, who was a pupil of Beethoven.
Amna Nawaz:
Among his recognitions, a staggering 12 Grammy Awards, the National Medal of the Arts presented by then-President Barack Obama, and a Kennedy Center Honor in 2019. His publicist said Tilson Thomas died at his home after years of battling an aggressive form of brain cancer. Michael Tilson Thomas was 81 years old.
