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AZUZ: Staying in the Western Hemisphere, and jumping to Northern Canada. An entire city in the province of Alberta has been evacuated. Eighty-eight thousand people have been told to leave their homes and whole neighborhoods have been scorched by an explosive wildfire.
The city of Fort McMurray has been the hardest hit. Officials don't know yet what started the fire. But they know what's made it worse, extreme temperatures exceeding 90 degrees Fahrenheit, bone dry conditions and high winds. Seventy-four hundred acres and 1,600 buildings and houses have been destroyed. But there had been no reports of deaths or no injuries, and cooler weather in the 60s later this week should help firefighters.
U.S. President Barack Obama traveled to Flint, Michigan, yesterday and took a sip of filtered water. His aim: to reassure residents that the federal government isn't ignoring them.
The city's had a water crisis since its supply was switched two years ago to the polluted Flint River. It wasn't treated properly and caused lead, a dangerous toxic metal, to seep into Flint's water supply. It's been switched back but problems continue. Residents blamed local and state officials for causing them and a complaint was filed against the Obama administration last week saying the Environmental Protection Agency knew about the lead poisoning months before residents were notified.
President Obama called on Congress to pass emergency funding to help the city. U.S. lawmakers are debating a package worth $150 million for water system repairs and health care assistance.
AZUZ: A couple of weeks ago, we showed you a type of hoverboard apparently powered by a jet turbine engine. Its inventor, Franky Zapata, just set a Guinness World Record on it for the furthest flight on a hoverboard. He was off the coast of Southern France. He had to fly farther than 905 feet, the previous record, and he did it. Zapata flew almost 1 1/2 miles.
The board is still a prototype. You can't buy one. But if it hits the market, it's the board to board if you're bored with the boards that board on water, board on land, board on asphalt, board on sand, but leave you gasping for air, wishing you'd soared with the board that hovers aboarding the gravity that holds down others.
That's all I got today. I'm Carl Azuz. We'll see you Friday.
