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EXPLAINER: Dental, vision and hearing benefits for Medicare

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR

FILE - In this April 28, 2021 file photo, President Joe Biden greets Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., as Biden arrives to speak to a joint session of Congress in the House Chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. Many working-age people assume that Medicare covers just about every kind of health care that an older person may need. But it doesn’t. Some of the biggest gaps involve dental, vision and hearing services. Now Democrats are trying to make those benefits a standard part of Medicare under massive legislation expected later this year to advance President Joe Biden’s domestic agenda. Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders and other progressives are leading the push. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, Pool)


WASHINGTON (AP) — Many working-age people assume that Medicare covers just about every kind of health care that an older person may need.

It doesn’t.

Some of the biggest gaps involve dental, vision and hearing services. Medicare does not cover dental cleanings or root canals. It doesn’t cover everyday eyeglasses and contact lenses. It doesn’t cover hearing aids.

Now Democrats are trying to make those benefits a standard part of Medicare under massive, multifaceted legislation expected later this year to advance President Joe Biden’s ambitious domestic agenda.

Many consider such as expansion of the program overdue. But that doesn’t mean it will be easy.

WHAT ARE THE PROSPECTS?

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and other progressives are leading the push for dental, vision and hearing coverage. Their goal is to provide a comprehensive benefit available to as many Medicare recipients as possible without delays such as an extended phase-in period.

But adding more benefits to Medicare is expensive, and the idea will have to compete with other priorities on Democrats’ health care wish list.

Republicans are expected to unite in opposition to the far-reaching Biden agenda legislation into which Medicare benefits would get spliced. Democrats would have to pass the bill under special budget rules allowing a simple majority to clear the Senate.

“It’s way too soon to handicap the odds,” said Tricia Neuman, a Medicare expert with the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation.

HOW WOULD THE NEW BENEFITS BE PROVIDED?

The simplest approach seems to involve making dental, vision and hearing coverage a component of Medicare Part B, which pays for outpatient care.

Part B is voluntary, but the vast majority of Medicare’s more than 60 million beneficiaries sign up. There’s a premium, and most people now pay $148.50 a month. While not cheap, that’s actually considered a good deal because taxpayers cover 75% of the overall cost of the insurance. Premiums would be expected to rise with richer benefits, but the cost would be spread broadly.

On a side note, most people with private Medicare Advantage plans now have some level of dental coverage, but that can vary greatly. If dental, vision and hearing benefits were standard under Part B, the Medicare Advantage plans would have to provide them as well.

WHAT KINDS OF SERVICES WOULD BE COVERED?

Though details will take a while to flesh out, comprehensive dental coverage would include regular preventive care such as cleanings and X-rays, minor work such as fillings, and major work including root canals, crowns and dentures.

Vision coverage would include eyeglasses and contacts, plus the needed exams and fittings. Hearing coverage would include hearing aids and their maintenance, as well as audiology services.

HOW MUCH WOULD THIS ALL COST?

Again, that’s unclear because key details such as the scope of benefits and cost sharing by Medicare beneficiaries haven’t been determined.

But a 2019 bill from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., carried a price tag of almost $360 billion over 10 years.

Of that, $238 billion would have paid for dental care, $30 billion would have paid for vision care, and $89 billion would have paid for hearing services, the Congressional Budget Office estimated.

The coverage expansion was part of broader legislation that would have empowered Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices. Some of the savings from drug costs would have been plowed back into the program.

Pelosi’s bill passed the House, but went nowhere in the Senate. Democrats are still using its approach as a template.

WHAT’S THE NEED?

Dental, vision and hearing are considered integral to good health.

An older person with hearing problems who cannot afford hearing aids may find herself in a deepening state of isolation that can exacerbate depression. Dental infections can spread through the bloodstream to other parts of the body.

But a 2019 Kaiser Foundation report found that nearly 2 out of 3 Medicare recipients had no dental coverage, and nearly half had not seen a dentist in the past year. About 1 in 7 had lost all their teeth.

Black and Hispanic enrollees were far less likely to have visited a dentist in the past year.

“It is obviously a big, gaping hole in the Medicare program,” said David Certner, legislative director for AARP.

WHY DOESN’T MEDICARE COVER DENTAL, VISION AND HEARING?

Experts say the reason probably dates back to 1965, when the program was created.

It was modeled after the kinds of private health insurance that were then most commonly available. And those were built around hospitalization and visits to the doctor’s office.

Another big gap in coverage — retail pharmacy prescription drugs — wasn’t addressed until 2003.

WHAT ELSE ISN’T COVERED BY MEDICARE?

Long-term care.

Supreme Court sides with Alaska Natives in COVID-19 aid case

NOT FIRST NATIONS BUT THE INDIAN AGENTS WHO SUPPLY THEM


FILE - This June 8, 2021, file photo shows the Supreme Court in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, FIle)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court ruled Friday that hundreds of millions of dollars in coronavirus relief money tied up in court should benefit Alaska Natives rather than be spread more broadly among Native American tribes around the U.S.

The justices ruled 6-3 in the case, which involved the massive pandemic relief package passed last year and signed into law by then-President Donald Trump. The $2.2 trillion legislation earmarked $8 billion for “Tribal governments” to cover expenses related to the pandemic.

The question for the court was whether Alaska Native corporations, which are for-profit companies that provide benefits and social services to more than 100,000 Alaska Natives, count as “Indian tribes.” The high court answered yes.

“The Court today affirms what the Federal Government has maintained for almost half a century: ANCs are Indian tribes,” wrote Justice Sonia Sotomayor for a group of both liberal and conservative members of the court.

Sotomayor and Justice Neil Gorsuch, who dissented, dueled over language in the CARES Act, with Sotomayor at one point comparing it to a poorly constructed restaurant advertisement.

If the restaurant offers “50% off any meat, vegetable, or seafood dish, including ceviche, which is cooked,” the best reading of the advertisement, she said, is that “cooked” doesn’t apply to the ceviche, a raw fish dish, but that ceviche is still 50% off. A different reading would make the ceviche a “red herring,” she went on to say.

Gorsuch, who at an argument once revealed his preference for turmeric in his steak rub, called the example “a bit underdone.” He went on to cite two different newspaper stories about ceviche. He was joined in his dissent by justices Clarence Thomas and Elena Kagan.

The case is important not only because of the amount of money it involves but also because Native Americans and Alaska Natives have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic. Both the Trump and Biden administrations agreed that the corporations should be treated as Indian tribes and that doing differently would be a dramatic departure from the status quo.

The federal government had set aside approximately $500 million for Alaska Native corporations under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.

But after the CARES Act was passed, three groups of Native American tribes sued to prevent payments to Alaska Native corporations. They argued that under the language of the law, only federally recognized tribes qualify for the aid and Alaska Native corporations do not because they are not sovereign governments, as tribes are.

In a statement after the ruling, Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez said the coalition of tribes that brought the lawsuit was disappointed.

“This case was never about the funds. Instead, it was about upholding tribal sovereignty and the status of federally-recognized tribes,” he said, adding that the ruling “undermines federally-recognized tribes and will have consequences far beyond the allocation of CARES Act dollars.”

Part of the issue for the Supreme Court was that Alaska is unique. Unlike in the lower 48 states, Alaska Native tribes aren’t situated on reservations. Instead, Native land is owned by Alaska Native corporations created under a 1971 law. The for-profit corporations run oil, gas, mining and other enterprises. Alaska Natives own shares in the corporations, which provide a range of services from healthcare and elder care to educational support and housing assistance.

Associations representing Native corporations cheered the decision.

“We are pleased to see the Court affirm Alaska Native corporations’ eligibility for CARES Act funds to help our people and communities recover from the devastating effects of COVID-19. Alaska’s economy is only now starting to recover, and these funds are needed to help our communities get back on their feet,” the associations said.

BARBAROUS COUNTRY

AP-NORC poll: Most say restrict abortion after 1st trimester
By DAVID CRARY and HANNAH FINGERHUT

NEW YORK (AP) — A solid majority of Americans believe most abortions should be legal in the first three months of a woman’s pregnancy, but most say the procedure should usually be illegal in the second and third trimesters, according to a new poll.

The poll comes just weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a case involving a currently blocked Mississippi law that would ban abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, two weeks into the second trimester. If the high court upholds the law, it would be the first time since the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision confirming a woman’s right to abortion that a state would be allowed to ban abortions before a fetus can survive outside the womb.

The new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds 61% of Americans say abortion should be legal in most or all circumstances in the first trimester of a pregnancy. However, 65% said abortion should usually be illegal in the second trimester, and 80% said that about the third trimester.

Still, the poll finds many Americans believe that the procedure should be allowable under at least some circumstances even during the second or third trimesters. For abortions during the second trimester, 34% say they should usually or always be legal, and another 30% say they should be illegal in most but not all cases. In the third trimester, 19% think most or all abortions should be legal, and another 26% say they should be illegal only in most cases.

Michael New, an abortion opponent who teaches social research at Catholic University of America, predicted the findings regarding second- and third-trimester abortions will be useful to the anti-abortion movement.

“This helps counter the narrative that the abortion policy outcome established by the Roe v. Wade decision enjoys substantial public support,” he said.

David O’Steen, executive director of the National Right to Life Committee, said the findings suggest that abortion rights advocates are “way out of the public mainstream” to the extent that they support abortion access even late in pregnancy.

But Dr. Daniel Grossman, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of California, San Francisco, who supports abortion rights, cited research showing that Americans viewed second-trimester abortions more empathetically when told about some of the reasons why women seek them.

These include time-consuming difficulties making arrangements with an abortion clinic and learning during the second trimester that the fetus would die or have severe disabilities due to abnormalities, Grossman said.

“More work needs to be done to elevate the voices of people who have had abortions and who want to share their stories to help people understand the many reasons why this medical care is so necessary,” he said via email.

Majorities of Americans — Republicans and Democrats alike — think a pregnant woman should be able to obtain a legal abortion if her life is seriously endangered, if the pregnancy results from rape or incest or if the child would be born with a life-threatening illness.

Americans are closely divided over whether a pregnant woman should be able to obtain a legal abortion if she wants one for any reason, 49% yes to 50% no.

Jenny Ma, senior staff attorney with the Center for Reproductive Rights, said women seeking second-trimester abortions included disproportionately high numbers of young people, Black women and women living in poverty. Some had not learned they were pregnant until much later than the norm; others had trouble raising the needed funds to afford an abortion, Ma said.

She noted that Republican-governed states have enacted numerous restrictions in recent years that often complicated the process for getting even a first-trimester abortion.

“Removing the many existing barriers to earlier abortion care would reduce need for second- and third-trimester abortions,” Ma said.

Abortions after the first trimester are not rare, but they are exceptions to the norm. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in its most recent report on abortion in the U.S., estimated that 92% of the abortions in 2018 were performed within the first 13 weeks of pregnancy.

The poll also shows how opinions on abortion diverge sharply along party lines. Roughly three-quarters of Democrats think abortion should be legal in all or most cases; about two-thirds of Republicans think it should be illegal in all or most cases.

But most Americans fall between extreme opinions on the issue. Just 23% say abortion in general should be legal in all cases, while 33% say it should be legal in most cases. Thirty percent say abortion should be illegal in most cases; just 13% say it should be illegal in all cases.

Respondents from three major religious groups — white mainline Protestants, nonwhite Protestants and Catholics — are closely divided as to whether abortion should usually be legal or illegal in most cases. It was different for white evangelicals — about three-quarters of them say abortion should be illegal in all or most cases.



Dave Steiner, a hotel manager from suburban Chicago, was among those responding to the AP-NORC poll who said abortion should be legal in the first trimester but generally illegal thereafter.

“I was raised a very strict Catholic -- abortion was just no, no, no,” said Steiner, 67. “As I became more liberal and a Democrat, I felt the woman should have the right to choose -- but that should be in the first trimester.”

“Abortions are going to happen anyway,” he added. “If you’re making it illegal, you’re just chasing it underground.”

___

Fingerhut reported from Washington. Associated Press video journalist Hilary Powell in Washington contributed to this report.

___

The AP-NORC poll of 1,125 adults used a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.2 percentage points.

As virus surges in Uganda, hospitals accused of profiteering

FILE - In this Monday, May 31, 2021 file photo, a woman receives a coronavirus vaccination at the Kololo airstrip in Kampala, Uganda. Virus cases are surging in Uganda, making scarce hospital beds even more expensive, and concern is growing over the alleged exploitation of patients by private hospitals accused of demanding payment up front and hiking fees. (AP Photo/Nicholas Bamulanzeki, File)

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — As he struggled to breathe earlier this month, Dr. Nathan Tumubone was tormented by thoughts of hospitalization as a COVID-19 patient. Thinking of the costs involved, he knew he wanted to stay home.

He and his wife “steamed” up to five times a day, inhaling what they felt was the relieving vapor rising from a boiling concoction of herbs.

“The truth is I didn’t want to go to hospital,” said the general practitioner. “We’ve seen the costs are really high, and one wouldn’t want to get in there.”

As virus cases surge in Uganda, making scarce hospital beds even more expensive, concern is growing over the alleged exploitation of patients by private hospitals accused of demanding payment up front and hiking fees.

Uganda is among African countries seeing a dramatic rise in the number of infections amid a severe vaccine shortage. The pandemic is resurging in 12 of Africa’s 54 countries, the World Health Organization reported Thursday, saying the current wave is “picking up speed, spreading faster, hitting harder.”

Africa’s top public health official, John Nkengasong of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Thursday that Africa’s third wave is “very devastating” as the delta variant drives infections in many countries.

Just 1% of people across Africa have been fully vaccinated, and Uganda has vaccinated under 1% of its 44 million people. It has confirmed 75,537 infections, including 781 deaths. The actual totals are believed to be much higher because only a few thousand samples are tested daily.

Hospitals in cities including the capital, Kampala, report difficulties in finding bottled oxygen, and some are running out of space for COVID-19 patients. Intensive care units are in high demand.

FILE - In this Tuesday, April 27, 2021 file photo, a woman waits for the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine at the Butanda Health Center III in Western Uganda. Virus cases are surging in Uganda, making scarce hospital beds even more expensive, and concern is growing over the alleged exploitation of patients by private hospitals accused of demanding payment up front and hiking fees. (AP Photo/Patrick Onen, File)

FILE - In this Monday, May 31, 2021 file photo, people wait in the stands to receive coronavirus vaccinations at the Kololo airstrip in Kampala, Uganda. Virus cases are surging in Uganda, making scarce hospital beds even more expensive, and concern is growing over the alleged exploitation of patients by private hospitals accused of demanding payment up front and hiking fees. (AP Photo/Nicholas Bamulanzeki, File)

Although the practice of requiring deposits from patients has long been seen as acceptable in this East African country where few have health insurance, it is raising anger among some who cite attempts to profiteer from the pandemic.

Without a national health insurance scheme, COVID-19 has highlighted that health care in Uganda is “commoditized, available to the highest bidder,” said Daniel Kalinaki, a columnist with the Daily Monitor newspaper.

“The lingering question is how did we go from a place where you paid what you could and made sure to clear your dues on your next visit, to one where patients will not be touched until the whiny-voiced bean counter in the accounts office confirms that their deposit has cleared?”

Many Ugandans don’t trust government hospitals, citing the decay they find there as well as the occasional lack of basic supplies. Top government officials routinely seek treatment abroad. Most people attend private facilities that have mushroomed across the country in the years since the health sector was opened up to private investors.

Some hospital bills shared by families of COVID-19 patients emerging from intensive care show sums of up to $15,000, a small fortune in a country where annual per capita income is less than $1,000.

Private hospital directors who spoke to the local press defended their fees policy, saying looking after COVID-19 patients is risky and not cheap.

Health authorities have said they are investigating allegations of exploitation.

Cissy Kagaba, a prominent anti-corruption activist who recently lost both parents to COVID-19, told The Associated Press she was shocked when the family received a bill of nearly $6,000 when her father was let out of an intensive care unit. “Risk allowances” and other items on the receipt looked suspicious, she said.

“When we saw the bill, we couldn’t believe how much it was,” she said, adding that alleged exploitation of patients mirrors rampant official corruption. “You cannot expect any different from them. If you have a government that exploits its own people, what do you expect from the private sector?”

Tumubone, the doctor who is recovering from COVID-19, said he panicked when it seemed he would need to go to a hospital. He and his wife experimented with home care, inhaling steam from the boiling leaves of guava, mango and eucalyptus trees.

Lockdown measures were tightened in Uganda last week. All schools have been ordered shut, a nighttime curfew remains in place, and only vehicles carrying cargo and those transporting the sick or essential workers are permitted to operate on the roads.

Congress votes to reinstate methane rules loosened by Trump


FILE - In this Feb. 25, 2015, file photo, a gas flare is seen at a natural gas processing facility near Williston, N.D. Congressional Democrats have approved a measure reinstating rules aimed at limiting climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions from oil and gas drilling, a rare effort by Democrats to use the legislative branch to overturn a regulatory rollback under President Donald Trump. The House gave final legislative approval Friday, June 25, to a resolution that would undo a Trump-era environmental rule that relaxed requirements of a 2016 Obama administration rule targeting methane emissions from oil and gas drilling.. (AP Photo/Matthew Brown, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional Democrats have approved a measure reinstating rules aimed at limiting climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions from oil and gas drilling, a rare effort by Democrats to use the legislative branch to overturn a regulatory rollback under President Donald Trump.

The House gave final legislative approval Friday to a resolution that would undo a Trump-era environmental rule that relaxed requirements of a 2016 Obama administration rule targeting methane emissions from leaks and flares in oil and gas wells.

The resolution was approved, 229-191, and now goes to President Joe Biden, who is expected to sign it. Twelve Republicans joined 217 Democrats to support the measure.

Democrats and environmentalists called the methane rule one of the Trump administration’s most egregious actions to deregulate U.S. businesses and said its removal would help launch a broader effort by the Biden administration and Congress to tackle climate change. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming, packing a stronger punch in the short term than carbon dioxide.

“Congress just delivered its first bipartisan win for the climate,″ said Fred Krupp, president of the Environmental Defense Fund. “Controlling methane is a winning proposition for all sides because it cuts pollution and reduces waste.″

The resolution was approved under the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to overturn certain regulations that have been in place for a short time. The Trump methane rule was finalized last September.

FILE - In this April 21, 2021, file photo the sun sets beyond a pumpjack near Goldsmith, Texas. Congressional Democrats have approved a measure reinstating rules aimed at limiting climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions from oil and gas drilling. The House gave final legislative approval Friday, June 25, to a resolution that would undo a Trump-era environmental rule that relaxed requirements of a 2016 Obama administration rule targeting methane emissions from oil and gas drilling. (Eli Hartman/Odessa American via AP, File)

Action on methane was one of just three Trump-era rules targeted by the Democratic-controlled Congress under the review law, a sharp contrast to 14 Obama-era rules repealed by congressional Republicans in the first year of the Trump administration.

Other rules approved by Democrats targeted Trump-era actions loosening regulations on payday lenders and another that Democrats said gave employers an unfair advantage over workers in settling discrimination claims.

Rep. Diana DeGette D-Colo., who sponsored the methane measure, called its approval “a big win in our overall effort to combat the climate crisis, and a critical first step toward sufficiently reducing our nation’s overall methane emissions.”

If Biden and Congress are “going to be serious about combating this climate crisis, we have to take steps now to cut the amount of methane in our atmosphere,” DeGette said. The legislation will keep more than 1.6 million tons of methane out of the air that all Americans breathe and require oil and gas companies “to take the steps necessary to better protect our planet and the public’s health” by reinstating methane standards put in place in 2016, she said.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said the action on methane was part of an effort by Congress to reassert its own power. She called the Congressional Review Act “one of the Congress’s most important tools ... to deliver for the people and to reclaim our authority under the Constitution, upholding the balance of powers that is the foundation of our American democracy.″

Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla., chair of the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, said the measure approved Friday “will restore common-sense safeguards to limit methane pollution from oil and gas production. It’s a modest and straightforward step in the right direction, but it’s a very important one.″

Republicans disagreed, saying the measure took unfair aim at oil and gas companies that are already working to reduce emissions of methane and other greenhouse gases.

Rep. Pete Stauber, R-Minn., said the repeal measure advanced “radical activist priorities” while empowering foreign oil producers in the Middle East and Russia.

Rep. Yvette Herrell, R-N.M, said the measure would “nickel and dime the most essential business in my district,″ oil and gas producers who she said could be forced out of business by excessive government regulations.

Those statements were at odds with the oil and gas industry, which largely supported the Obama-era rule. In 2016, the Environmental Protection Agency curbed methane emissions at facilities built or modified since 2015, requiring companies to deploy technology to detect and fix leaks at oil and gas wells. Many large energy companies have embraced methane capture as a way to save money and promote natural gas as a cleaner option than coal in the nation’s power plants.

The action by Congress clears the way for the EPA to develop rules to regulate methane emissions from new and existing wells, including hundreds of thousands of older wells that are not subject to federal regulation under current law.

Oil giant BP said Friday it supports direct federal regulation of methane emissions.

“Keeping methane in the pipes is good for the planet and for business. It means that we can sell it as a cleaner fuel source rather than losing it,″ said Mary Streett, a senior vice president at BP. “We’re pleased that Congress recognizes the importance of this objective and we encourage the president to sign the resolution.″

The American Petroleum Institute, the industry’s top lobbying group, said it will work with the Biden administration to support direct regulation of methane from new and existing sources.

“We have an opportunity to build on the progress the industry has made in driving down methane emissions through technological advancement, and we are committed to finding common ground on cost-effective government policies,″ said API spokeswoman Jessica Szymanski.

US BACKED SAUDI IMPERIALISM



A father and daughter's grave marks the cost of Yemen's war

By SAMY MAGDY 2 hours ago

MARIB, Yemen (AP) — Among the growing number of graves of the war dead in the cemetery of the Yemeni city of Marib, one tombstone stands out. It has two “martyrs” listed — a father and his young daughter.

Taher Farag and his 2-year-old Liyan were inseparable, their family say. So earlier this month, when Farag drove to the market to buy food for his wife to make lunch, he took Liyan with him.

Along the way, he stopped at a gas station in Marib’s Rawdah neighborhood to fill his tank. It was then, as they waited in line, that the ballistic missile fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels hit the station, followed by the blast of an explosives-laden drone. The gas station went up in a ball of flame, incinerating vehicles in line.

Yemeni fighters backed by the Saudi-led coalition look at damages in the aftermath of a ballistic missile and an explosive-laden drone fired by Yemen's Houthi rebels that hit a fuel station on June 5, 2021, killing two-year-old Liyan Taher and her father 32-year-old Taher Farag in the Rawdha neighborhood of the central city of Marib, Yemen, Sunday, June 20, 2021. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)

At least 21 people were killed, including Farag and his daughter, in the June 5 attack, according to Liz Throssell, a spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.

It was the deadliest single attack in the monthslong grind of an offensive launched by Houthi rebels trying to capture Marib, the last stronghold of the Yemeni government in the country’s north. Since February, the rebels have been waging their assault, making only slow progress as Saudi-backed government fighters dig in to defend the city and Saudi airstrikes inflict casualties on the rebels.

The Houthis have fired ballistic missiles and sent drones into Marib as well, often hitting civilian areas and camps for displaced people. More than 120 civilians have been killed, including 15 children, and more than 220 wounded in the past six months, according to the government.

At home, Farag’s wife Gamila Saleh Ali heard the explosion. She didn’t think her husband and daughter were in danger — there are plenty of explosions in Marib. Still, she called his phone to be safe. There was no answer. She called again and again, each time no answer.

A mobile photograph of two-year-old Liyan Taher, who was killed with her father 32-year-old Taher Farag on June 5, 2021 in a ballistic missile and an explosive-laden drone fired by Yemen's Houthi rebels that hit a fuel station in Rawdha neighborhood, at their home in Marib, Yemen, Saturday, June 19, 2021. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)

Then came the scream of her husband’s mother, who lives in the same building. She went out and found her family weeping. “I realized that Liyan and her father were martyred,” the 27-year-old said. “I returned to my room and prayed to God.”

“She was a fun-loving child,” she said of Liyan, while cradling the couple’s 10-month-old son. “Her dad adored her. He used to tell me, ‘Liyan is mine, and the boy is yours.’ ... He was so attached to her and she was so attached to her father.”

The 32-year-old Farag was once a farmer in his hometown of Kharif in northwestern Yemen, before fleeing with his family after the Iran-backed Houthis overran most of the country’s north in 2014, including the capital, Sanaa.

The damaged car belonging to 32-year-old Taher Farag and his two-year-old daughter Liyan Taher, who were both killed on June 5, 2021 from a ballistic missile and an explosive-laden drone fired by Yemen's Houthi rebels hitting a fuel station in the Rawdha neighborhood of the central city of Marib, Yemen, Sunday, June 20, 2021. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)

Like many driven from their homes, he settled in Marib, a seemingly safe refuge outside Houthi territory. He was able to find work driving a taxi. The area is now home to some 2.2 million displaced people, many of them crowded into camps on the city’s outskirts, according to official statistics.

They find themselves caught in one of the last active fronts in a war that has dragged on for nearly seven years, between the Houthis and the government, which controls much of the south and is backed by a Saudi-led coalition. The war has been largely stalemated for years but continues to wreak destruction, killing more than 130,000 people and spawning the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

The tombstone of two-year-old Liyan Taher and her father 32-year-old Taher Farag, who were both killed on June 5, 2021, after a ballistic missile and an explosive-laden drone fired by Yemen's Houthi rebels hit a fuel station in the Rawdha neighborhood, at a mass graveyard in Marib, Yemen, Monday, June 21, 2021. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)

The same day as the strike on the gas station, an Omani delegation landed in Sanaa for talks with rebel leaders, including the group’s religious and military leader, Abdel-Malek al-Houthi. Pressure is mounting on the Houthis to stop their Marib offensive and agree on a nationwide cease-fire, paving the way for peace talks.

In the meantime, Marib’s residents endure the frequent blasts of missile and drone attacks.

Gamila Salih Ali, mother and wife of two-year-old Liyan Taher, and 32-year-old Taher Farag, who were both killed in a ballistic missile and an explosive-laden drone fired by Yemen's Houthi rebels that hit a fuel station on June 5, 2021 in Rawdha neighborhood, sits near her daughters toys at their home in Marib, Yemen, Saturday, June 19, 2021. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)

Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, the head of the rebels’ Supreme Revolutionary Committee, said the missile strike targeted a military position and called for an independent investigation. He did not provide evidence.

The gas station is located several hundred meters (yards) from the perimeter fence of a military camp.

“The blast was strong, so strong. It sent me flying far,” said one worker at the station being treated at Marib’s main hospital. His right leg was broken, and he was burned over much of his body. He spoke on condition he not be named for the safety of family living in Houthi-held territory.

“We found shrapnel and remains of burned bodies. There were screams,” said Eissa Mohammed, who lives across the street.

Farag and Liyan’s bodies, charred beyond recognition, were found inside his burned-out taxi, hugging each other, officials and family said.

“So we buried them in the same grave,” said Farag’s younger brother, Ayed.

A Yemeni man, who is unidentified for his security, severely injured on June 5, 2021, after a ballistic missile and an explosive-laden drone fired by Yemen's Houthi rebels hit a fuel station in the Rawdha neighborhood, receives treatment at a hospital, in Marib, Yemen, Monday, June 21, 2021. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)

The entrance of the home of two-year-old Liyan Taher and her father 32-year-old Taher Farag, who were both killed in a ballistic missile and an explosive-laden drone fired by Yemen's Houthi rebels that hit a fuel station on June 5, 2021 in Rawdha neighborhood, in Marib, Yemen, Saturday, June 19, 2021. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)

A man and boy look at damages in the aftermath of a ballistic missile and an explosive-laden drone fired by Yemen's Houthi rebels that hit a fuel station on June 5, 2021, killing two-year-old Liyan Taher and her father 32-year-old Taher Farag in the Rawdha neighborhood of the central city of Marib, Yemen, Sunday, June 20, 2021. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)


Children stand in front of the apartment building of two-year-old Liyan Taher and her father 32-year-old Taher Farag, who were both killed in a ballistic missile and an explosive-laden drone fired by Yemen's Houthi rebels that hit a fuel station on June 5, 2021 in Rawdha neighborhood, in Marib, Yemen, Saturday, June 19, 2021. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)

EXPLAINER: Why some schools in Canada have unmarked graves

By ROB GILLIESyesterday


FILE - In this June 1, 2021, file photo, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visits a memorial at the Eternal Flame on Parliament Hill in Ottawa that's in recognition of discovery of children's remains at the site of a former residential school in Kamloops, British Columbia. Leaders of Indigenous groups in Canada say investigators have found more than 600 unmarked graves at the site of a former residential school for Indigenous children in Saskatchewan. That follows last month's discovery of about 215 bodies at another such school in British Columbia. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP, File)

TORONTO (AP) — Leaders of Indigenous groups in Canada say investigators have found more than 600 unmarked graves at the site of a former residential school for Indigenous children, which follows the discovery of 215 bodies at another school last month.

The new discovery was at the Marieval Indian Residential School, which operated from 1899 to 1997 where the Cowessess First Nation is now located, about 85 miles (135 kilometers) east of Regina, the capital of the province of Saskatchewan.

Ground-penetrating radar registered 751 ”hits,″ indicating at least 600 bodies were buried, said Chief Cadmus Delorme of the Cowessess. Some and perhaps most are from over a century ago. The gravesite is believed to hold the bodies of children and adults, and even people from outside the community who attended church there.

Perry Bellegarde, chief of the Assembly of First Nations, said it is not unusual to find such graves at former residential schools but is always a devastating discovery that reopens old wounds about the forced assimilation of native children at those often-abusive institutions.

Many non-Indigenous Canadians were not aware of the extent of the problems at the schools until the remains of 215 children were found last month at what was once the country’s largest such school in British Columbia.

WHAT ARE RESIDENTIAL SCHOOLS?

From the 19th century until the 1970s, 1990'S more than 150,000 Indigenous children were forced to attend state-funded Christian boarding schools in an effort to assimilate them into Canadian society. Thousands of children died there of disease and other causes, with many never returned to their families.

Nearly three-quarters of the 130 residential schools were run by Roman Catholic missionary congregations, with others operated by the Presbyterian, Anglican and the United Church of Canada, which today is the largest Protestant denomination in the country.

The Canadian government has admitted its role in a century of isolating native children from their homes, families and cultures, and that physical and sexual abuse was rampant in the schools, where students were beaten for speaking their native language. That legacy of abuse and isolation has been cited by native leaders as a cause of alcoholism and drug addiction widely seen on reservations today.

A sign, with text related to the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves at the former Indian Residential Schools, is attached by orange ribbon to a light pole across the street from the St. Paul Co-Cathedral in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan., Friday, June 25, 2021. The doors of the Roman Catholic church were splattered with red paint Thursday afternoon, the paint has since been removed. (Liam Richards/The Canadian Press via AP)

Indigenous leaders have called it a form of cultural genocide.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday called it “an incredibly harmful government policy that was Canada’s reality for many, many decades and Canadians today are horrified and ashamed of how our country behaved.”

He said the policy “forced assimilation” on the children.

WHAT’S BEHIND THE DISCOVERY OF THE REMAINS?

A National Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which was set up as part of a government apology and settlement, issued a report in 2015 that identified about 3,200 confirmed deaths at schools. While some died of diseases like tuberculosis amid the often- deplorable conditions, it noted that a cause of death for about half of them often was not recorded.

The government wanted to keep costs down at the schools, so adequate regulations were never established, the reconciliation commission said..

It said the practice at the schools was to not send the bodies home to their communities. Delorme said the graves at the Saskatchewan school were marked at one time, but that the Catholic operators of the facility had removed them.

WHAT APOLOGIES HAVE BEEN MADE?

Former Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologized in Parliament in 2008 for the government’s role. Among the Christian denominations, the Presbyterian, Anglican and United churches also apologized for their roles in the abuse.

A papal apology was one of 94 recommendations from the reconciliation commission, but the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops said in 2018 that the pope could not personally apologize for the residential schools.

Former Pope Benedict XVI met with some former students and victims in 2009 and told them of his “personal anguish” over their suffering.

After last month’s discovery, Pope Francis expressed his pain and pressed religious and political authorities to shed light on “this sad affair,” but didn’t offer an apology.

Trudeau said Friday he has spoken to Francis personally “to impress upon him how important it is not just that he makes an apology but that he makes an apology to indigenous Canadians on Canadian soil.”

Archbishop Don Bolen of the Regina Archdiocese posted a letter on its website this week to the Cowessess First Nation in which he repeated an apology he said he made two years ago.

WHAT COMPENSATION HAS BEEN OFFERED?

The reconciliation commission was created as part of a $5 billion Canadian ($4 billion U.S.) class action settlement in 2005, the largest in Canadian history.

Under the settlement, students who attended the schools were eligible to receive $10,000 Canadian ($8,143 U.S.) for the first school year and $3,000 Canadian ($2,443 U.S.) for every year thereafter. Victims of physical and sexual abuse were eligible for further compensation.

Trudeau has said the government will help preserve gravesites and search for unmarked burial grounds at other schools, but he and his ministers have stressed the need for indigenous communities to decide for themselves how they want to proceed.

The government previously announced $27 million Canadian ($22 million U.S.) for the effort in what it called a first step.

WHO MURDERED McAFEE IS TRENDING

Widow seeks ‘thorough’ investigation into John McAfee death

By RENATA BRITO and ARITZ PARRA

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Lawyer Javier Villalba, left and John McAfee's wife Janice speak briefly with journalists on leaving the Brians 2 penitentiary center in Sant Esteve Sesrovires, near Barcelona, northeast Spain, Friday, June 25, 2021. A judge in northeastern Spain has ordered an autopsy for John McAfee, creator of the McAfee antivirus software, a gun-loving antivirus pioneer, cryptocurrency promoter and occasional politician who died in a cell pending extradition to the United States for allegedly evading millions in unpaid taxes. McAfee's Spanish lawyer, Javier Villalba, said the entrepreneur's death had come as a surprise to his wife and other relatives, since McAfee "had not said goodbye." (AP Photo/Joan Mateu)

SANT ESTEVE SESROVIRES, Spain (AP) — The widow of John McAfee, the British-American tycoon who died in a Spanish prison this week while awaiting extradition to the United States, on Friday demanded a “thorough investigation” of his death, saying her husband did not appear suicidal when they last spoke.

Authorities in Spain are conducting an autopsy on McAfee’s body but have said that everything at the scene in his cell indicated that the 75-year-old killed himself.

An official source familiar with the investigation told The Associated Press that a suicide note had been found in McAfee’s pocket. The source, who was not authorized to speak about an ongoing judicial inquiry, refused to comment on the content of the note.

McAfee’s Spanish lawyer, Javier Villalba, said that the family had not been informed by authorities about the note.

In her first public remarks since the software entrepreneur’s death on Wednesday, McAfee’s widow Janice McAfee said she wanted a “thorough investigation” to provide “answers about this was able to happen.”

“His last words to me were ‘I love you and I will call you in the evening,’” the 38-year-old told reporters outside the Brians 2 penitentiary northwest of Barcelona where she recovered her late husband’s belongings. She said they spoke earlier on the day he was found dead.

“Those words are not words of somebody who is suicidal,” she added.

John McAfee was arrested at the Barcelona airport in October last year on a warrant issued by prosecutors in Tennessee who were seeking up to three decades of imprisonment for allegedly evading more than $4 million in taxes.

The day before he was found dead, Spain’s National Court had announced that it was agreeing to his extradition to the U.S. but the decision was not final.

“We had a plan of action already in place to appeal that decision,” Janice McAfee told reporters. “I blame the U.S. authorities for this tragedy: Because of these politically motivated charges against him my husband is now dead.”

The National Court judge said John McAfee had provided no evidence to back his allegations that he was being politically persecuted. “On the contrary, according to his own testimony, he took part in primaries of a certain party to defend his convictions with a result little favorable to him,” the judge wrote in the ruling seen by AP.

In an e-mailed statement, the U.S. State Department confirmed for the first time the tycoon’s death, offering the family condolences. It said: “We are closely monitoring local authorities’ investigation into the cause of death. We stand ready to provide all appropriate assistance to the family. Out of respect to the family during this difficult time, we have no further comment.”

Results of McAfee’s autopsy could take “days or weeks,” authorities have said.

The couple reportedly met in 2012 in Miami and married the following year. John McAfee had several children from previous relationships, Janice McAfee said.

The entrepreneur had not been connected with the companies that took over the antivirus software he built after he sold his shares in the 1990s. That early success had made McAfee rich and followed him in his troubled biography.

In 2012, he was sought for questioning in connection with the murder of his neighbor in Belize, but was never charged with a crime. The controversy didn’t stop him from making long-shot runs for the U.S. presidency starting in 2016.

But it was his more recent tax problems that kept him away from the U.S., the country where the British-born entrepreneur was raised and had built his early success.

The Tennessee prosecutors’ indictments from 2020 showed that the tycoon allegedly failed to declare income made by promoting cryptocurrencies, attending speaking engagements and selling the rights for a documentary on his eventful life.

“Even though he was born in England, America was his home,” Janice McAfee said. “He came there when he was a child. He had his first girlfriend there, his first case, you know, his first job. He made his first millions there and he wanted to be there. But, you know, politics just wouldn’t allow for that to happen.”

John McAfee’s social media postings indicated that he had chosen a northeastern Spanish coastal resort town as his base in Europe at least since late 2019.

“All John wanted to do was spend his remaining years fishing and drinking,” his widow said on Friday. “He had hope that things would work out. We knew that there would be an uphill battle to continue to fight this situation. But he’s a fighter ... And anybody that knows John, that knows him even a little bit, knows that about him.”

“He was just so loving. He had a big heart and he just loved people and he just wanted to have peace in his life,” Janice McAfee added. “My prayers are that his soul has found the peace in death that he could not find in life.”

__

Parra reported from Madrid.

LIKE NAZI GOLD IN POLAND

Affidavit: FBI feared Pennsylvania would seize fabled gold

By MICHAEL RUBINKAM

FILE - This Sept. 20, 2018, file photo, Dennis Parada, right, and his son Kem Parada stand at the site of the FBI's dig for Civil War-era gold in Dents Run, Pa. Court documents unsealed Thursday, June 24, 2021, show that an FBI agent applied for a federal warrant in 2018 to seize a cache of gold that he said had been "stolen during the Civil War" while en route to the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia. The Paradas, co-owners of the treasure-hunting outfit Finders Keepers, have said they believe the FBI found gold at the site and have pursued legal action to get more information. (AP Photo/Michael Rubinkam, File)


An FBI agent applied for a federal warrant in 2018 to seize a fabled cache of U.S. government gold he said was “stolen during the Civil War” and hidden in a Pennsylvania cave, saying the state might take the gold for itself if the feds asked for permission, according to court documents unsealed Thursday.

The newly unsealed affidavit confirms previous reporting by The Associated Press that the government had been looking for a legendary cache of gold at the site, which federal authorities had long refused to confirm. In any case, the FBI said, the dig came up empty.

The AP and The Philadelphia Inquirer petitioned a federal judge to unseal the case. Federal prosecutors did not oppose the request, and the judge agreed, paving the way for Thursday’s release of documents.

“I have probable cause to believe that a significant cache of gold is secreted in the underground cave” in Dent’s Run, holding “one or more tons” belonging to the U.S. government, wrote Jacob Archer of the FBI’s art crime team in Philadelphia.

Archer told the judge he needed a seizure warrant because he feared that if the federal government sought permission from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to excavate the site, the state would claim the gold for itself, setting up a costly legal battle.

“I am concerned that, even if DCNR gave initial consent for the FBI to excavate the cache of gold secreted at the Dent’s Run Site, that consent could be revoked before the FBI recovered the United States property, with the result of DCNR unlawfully claiming that that cache of gold is abandoned property and, thus, belongs to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” the affidavit said.

Archer also revealed allegations against a legislative staffer who, he wrote, tried to get some of the loot for himself.

In 2013, the affidavit said, the legislative staffer contacted a pair of treasure hunters who had identified the likely site of the gold. The staffer “corruptly” offered to get the treasure hunters a state permit to dig “in return for three bars of gold or ten percent” of whatever they recovered. The staffer said he was acting on behalf of others in state government, according to Archer, including “someone who controlled money going to DCNR and someone working in the Pennsylvania governor’s office.”

No one has been charged in connection with the case, and federal prosecutors say they consider the matter closed. A spokesperson for the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources declined comment.

The FBI had long refused to explain exactly why it went digging on state-owned land in Elk County in March 2018, saying only in written statements over the years that agents were there for a court-authorized excavation of “what evidence suggested may have been a cultural heritage site.”

According to the affidavit, the FBI based its request for a seizure warrant partly on the work done by the treasure hunters, who had made hundreds of trips to the area. The father-son duo told authorities they believed they had found the location of the fabled Union gold, which, according to legend, was either lost or stolen on its way to the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia in 1863.

After meeting with the treasure hunters in early 2018, the FBI brought in a contractor with more sophisticated instruments. The contractor detected an underground mass that weighed up to nine tons and had the density of gold, the affidavit said.

That amount of gold would today be worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Archer wrote that he also spoke with a journalist, identified as “Person 3,” who had done extensive research on a Civil War-era group called the Knights of the Golden Circle. The KGC, Archer wrote, was a secret society of Confederate sympathizers that had purportedly “buried secret caches of weapons, coins, and gold and silver bullion, much of which was stolen from robberies of banks, trains carrying payroll of the Union Army during the Civil War and from northern army military posts, in southern, western and northern states.”

Archer said that a turtle carving found on a rock near the proposed dig site was “very likely ... a KGC marker for that site.”

Archer wasn’t able to confirm the U.S. Mint had actually missed any expected shipments of gold because the Mint did not have records for the Civil War period, the affidavit said.

The FBI apparently did not indicate to the judge, in writing, what it found at the site, according to the documents unsealed Thursday. A spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s office in Philadelphia said that no such document was filed with the court because the dig came up empty.

Dennis and Kem Parada, co-owners of the treasure-hunting outfit Finders Keepers, have said they believe the FBI found gold at the site. They are seeking thousands of pages of FBI documents about the investigation as well as video files of the dig.

Their attorney, Bill Cluck, said the court documents revealed Thursday simply raise more questions.

He noted the warrant granted by U.S. Magistrate Judge Richard Lloret gave FBI agents permission to dig from 6 a.m to 10 p.m. But residents have told of hearing a backhoe and jackhammer overnight — when the excavation was supposed to have been paused — and seeing a convoy of FBI vehicles, including large armored trucks.

In addition, it is telling that the FBI never checked back with the contractor whose sensitive instruments had indicated the possible presence of gold to ask what went wrong, said Warren Getler, the journalist identified as “Person 3” in the affidavit.

“Did the science really go wrong? I am not so sure about that,” said Getler, author of “Rebel Gold,” a book exploring the possibility of buried Civil War-era caches of gold and silver.

“Why did they send four or five armored cars after the fact?” he asked. “Why did they work under cover of darkness? Why did they kick us off the mountain at 3 p.m. that day when we were supposed to be working as partners?”

The FBI assertion of an empty hole is “insulting all the credible people who did this kind of work,” Dennis Parada previously told the AP. “It was a slap in the face, really, to think all these people could make that kind of mistake.”

Experts get 1st clues on what may have caused condo collapse

By CURT ANDERSON and BOBBY CAINA CALVAN

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This photo provided by Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, search and rescue personnel search for survivors through the rubble at the Champlain Towers South Condo in Surfside, Fla., section of Miami, Friday, June 25, 2021. The apartment building partially collapsed on Thursday. (Miami-Dade Fire Rescue via AP)

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Some of the concrete columns were cracked. The parking garage was frequently flooded with corrosive saltwater. And the roof was undergoing repairs, with crews pounding on the tower from above for weeks.

Officials don’t yet know whether any — or all — of those factors caused a Florida beachside condominium tower to suddenly collapse Thursday morning.

But experts are closely examining a 2018 repor t that identified numerous issues with the Champlain Towers South building in Surfside, including “major structural damage” to a concrete structural slab below its pool deck that needed to be extensively repaired.

“Failure to replace waterproofing in the near future will cause the extent of the concrete deterioration to expand exponentially,” said the report from the Morabito Consultants engineering firm. The situation is a “major error” dating to the building’s original construction, according to the report, which was released with other documents late Friday by Surfside officials.

The report also uncovered “abundant cracking” and other faults in concrete columns, beams and walls in the parking garage. Some of the damage was minor, while other columns had exposed and deteriorating rebar.

It wasn’t immediately clear from the documents whether this issue or others identified in the report were ever dealt with or had any role in the building collapse. Frank Morabito, the firm’s president, did not immediately respond Saturday to an email seeking comment.

The building was in the midst of its 40-year recertification process, which requires detailed structural and electrical inspections. In an interview Friday, Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said he wasn’t sure if the inspection had been completed, but he said it may contain vital clues.

“It should have been a very straightforward thing,” Burkett said. “Buildings in America do not just fall down like this. There is a reason. We need to find out what that reason is.”

The 12-story tower’s collapse has left at least four people dead, 159 missing as of Friday and numerous questions about how this could have happened — and whether other similar buildings are in danger.

Details of the Champlain Towers recertification inspection will be made public once they are completed, Surfside Town Clerk Sandra McCready said in an email.

Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said at a news conference Friday that she has seen no evidence of a sinkhole — much more common in other parts of Florida — or of something criminal, such as a bomb.

“I can tell you that at this time, they haven’t found any evidence of foul play,” she said.

Beyond that, much focus is on ocean water, which is rising in South Florida and elsewhere because of climate change. Last year, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law a measure that would require developers to complete sea-level rise studies before beginning publicly funded projects.

Like everyone else, the governor wants answers about the cause of the collapse as soon as possible.

“We need a definitive answer for how this might have happened,” DeSantis said at a news conference. “It really is a unique type of tragedy to have, in the middle of the night, half a building just collapse like that.”

Meanwhile, the land on which Champlain Towers sits has been gradually sinking, according to a study published last year by an environmental professor at Florida International University.

But the professor, Shimon Wdowinski, cautioned against blaming the collapse on the caving ground. The study used satellite data collected between 1993 to 1999 to study the sinking of land in Norfolk, Virginia, and Miami Beach.

In a video interview released by the university, Wdowinski said his study found numerous examples of sinking earth, some leading to cracks in buildings — which he called “pretty common” in Florida.

“In most cases, these buildings just move,” he said, “there’s no catastrophic collapse like in the case in Surfside, which was very unfortunate.”

Another theory is that the saltwater ubiquitous in the area, which is subject to flooding during so-called King Tide events, intrudes into concrete supports, corrodes the steel-reinforcing rebar inside and weakens the concrete.

Abi Aghayere, an engineering researcher at Drexel University, said determining if there was such deterioration could be one key to the collapse.

“Did a column fail by itself? This column has been carrying this load for 40 years, why would it fail now?” said Aghayere, adding that it is rare for rebar to be corroded without anyone noticing. “You will have concrete popping out, falling out.”

Others have cited frequent flooding in the building’s lower parking garage, including the possibility of water seeping up underneath through the porous limestone rock on which the barrier island sits that includes Surfside and Miami Beach.

Surfside officials say roof work was ongoing at the now-collapsed tower but have downplayed the possibility that work was a cause. Barry Cohen, a lawyer who escaped the crippled Champlain Towers building with his wife, said the roof work could be part of a “perfect storm” of causes that combined to bring down the structure.

“They were doing a new roof. And I think, all day long, the building was pounding and pounding and pounding. They’ve been doing it for over a month,” Cohen said.

Another issue cited by some people is construction at a nearby building that might cause vibrations that weakened Champlain Towers. Cohen said he raised concerns previously that the work was possibly causing cracked pavers on the pool deck.

The collapse is already drawing lawsuits, including one filed hours after the collapse by attorney Brad Sohn against the condo’s homeowners association seeking damages for negligence and other reasons for all of the tower’s residents.

The association, the lawsuit contends, “could have prevented the collapse of Champlain Towers South through the exercise of ordinary care, safety measures and oversight.”

An attorney for the association, Ken Direktor, did not respond Friday to an email requesting comment.

_____

Associated Press writers Freida Frisaro in Fort Lauderdale, Florida; and Bernard Condon in New York contributed to this report.

SEE

 https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2021/06/collapsed-miami-condo-had-been-sinking.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2021/06/third-world-usa-construction-corruption.html

LET'S NOT FORGET THIS HAPPENED ONLY 

THREE DAYS EARLIER

USS Gerald Ford shock trials register as 3.9 magnitude ...

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/uss-gerald-ford-shock-trials-earthquake-florida

2:07

2021-06-21 · The blast registered as a 3.9 magnitude earthquake. June 21, 2021 / 2:26 PM / CBS/AFP. The U.S. Navy has started a series of tests on its newest and most advanced aircraft carrier

US Navy detonates huge 40,000lb bomb next to its own aircraft carrier triggering earthquake 100 miles away in Florida

THE US Navy detonated a mammoth 40,000lb bomb next to its OWN aircraft carrier – triggering an …

The Sun · 3d

1 of 20

‘Deep fire’ slowing rescue effort at collapsed Florida condo

By RUSS BYNUM, CURT ANDERSON and BERNARD CONDON

SURFSIDE, Fla. (AP) — A “very deep fire” hampered rescue efforts Saturday at the collapsed oceanfront condominium tower near Miami where authorities are racing to recover any survivors beneath a mountain of rubble, officials said.

Rescuers were using infrared technology, water and foam to battle the blaze, whose source was unclear. Smoke has been the biggest barrier, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said during a news conference.

“We’re facing very incredible difficulties with this fire. It’s a very deep fire. It’s extremely difficult to locate the source of the fire,” she said.

One hundred fifty-nine people remain unaccounted for since Thursday’s collapse, which killed at least four.

Authorities also announced Saturday they are beginning an audit of buildings nearing their 40-year review — like the fallen Champlain Towers South — to make sure they’re safe.

Federal Emergency Management Agency officials have joined local and state authorities at the site, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said.

The news came after word of a 2018 engineering report that showed the building had “major structural damage” to a concrete slab below its pool deck that needed extensive repairs, part of a series of documents released by the city of Surfside.

While the report from the firm of Morabito Consultants did not warn of imminent danger from the damage — and it is unclear if any of the damage observed was responsible for the collapse — it did note the need for extensive and costly repairs to fix systemic issues with the building.

It said the waterproofing under the pool deck had failed and had been improperly laid flat instead of sloped, preventing water from draining off.

“The failed waterproofing is causing major structural damage to the concrete structural slab below these areas. Failure to replaced the waterproofing in the near future will cause the extent of the concrete deterioration to expand exponentially,” the report said.

The firm recommended that the damaged slabs be replaced in what would be a major repair.

The report also uncovered “abundant cracking and spalling” of concrete columns, beams and walls in the parking garage. Some of the damage was minor, while other columns had exposed and deteriorating rebar. It also noted that many of the building’s previous attempts to fix the columns and other damage with epoxy were marred by poor workmanship and were failing.

Beneath the pool deck “where the slab had been epoxy-injected, new cracks were radiating from the originally repaired cracks,” the report said.

Gregg Schlesinger, a former construction project engineer who is now a lawyer handling construction defect cases, said another area of concern in the report is cracks that were discovered in the tower’s stucco facade. Schlesinger said that could indicate structural problems inside the exterior that could have been critical in the collapse.

“The building speaks to us. It is telling us we have a serious problem,” Schlesinger said in a phone interview Saturday.

He added that there are frequently “telltale signs” on oceanfront buildings indicating problems structurally largely from saltwater and salty air intrusion.

“This is a wakeup call for folks on the beach. Investigate and repair. This should be done every five years,” Schlesinger added. “The scary portion is the other buildings. You think this is unique? No.”

Abi Aghayere, a Drexel University engineering researcher, said the extent of the damage shown in the engineering report was notable. In addition to possible problems under the pool, he said several areas above the entrance drive showing signs of deterioration were worrisome and should have been repaired immediately because access issues prevented a closer inspection.

“Were the supporting members deteriorated to the extent that a critical structural element or their connections failed leading to progressive collapse?” he wrote in an email to the AP after reviewing the report. “Were there other areas in the structure that were badly deteriorated and unnoticed?”

On Saturday, a crane could be seen removing pieces of rubble from a more than 30-foot pile of debris at the collapse site. Scores of rescuers used big machines, small buckets, drones, microphones and their own hands to pick through the mountain of debris that had been the 12-story Champlain Towers South.

Levine Cava told WPLG there was no change in the number of people still unaccounted for: “We are at status quo,” she said. “I’m hopeful this will be a day that we have will have a breakthrough.”

Rachel Spiegel was anxious for any update on her missing mother, 66-year-old Judy Spiegel, who lived on the sixth floor.

“I’m just praying for a miracle,” Spiegel said. “We’re heartbroken that she was even in the building.”

Jeanne Ugarte was coming to grips with what she feared was a tragic end for longtime friends Juan and Ana Mora and their son Juan Jr., who was visiting his parents in their condo at the tower.

“I know they’re not going to find them (alive),” Ugarte said. “It’s been too long.”

While officials said no cause for the collapse early Thursday has been determined, Gov. Ron DeSantis said a “definitive answer” was needed in a timely manner. Video showed the center of the building appearing to tumble down first, followed by a section nearer to the beach.

The 2018 report was part of preliminary work by the engineering company conducting the building’s required inspections for a recertification due this year of the building’s structural integrity at 40 years. The condominium tower was built in 1981.

___

Condon reported from New York. Associated Press Terry Spencer in Surfside contributed to this report.