need2know-afternoon-edition-060623

We start with major news in the golf world that PGA tour and the Saudi backed live golf tour are going to merge both tours signed an agreement to combine their businesses into a new company. PGA Tour Commissioner Jahan tells the associated press, the deal came together over the last seven weeks. What's so surprising about this marriage is for some time now, both these tours were in court battling each other. Liv golf was accusing the PGA of anti competitive practices. The PGA, meanwhile, it was countersuing after several high profile players defected to the Saudi backed organization. Now, as part of this agreement, both sides will immediately drop lawsuits against each other in the midwestern state. Oklahoma is going to have the first publicly funded religious school in the country. Oklahoma has a statewide virtual school board. It voted 3 to 2 to approve an application from the Catholic archdiocese of Oklahoma to form an online charter public school. And this would be for students in K through grade 12. The State's Attorney General is calling this decision unconstitutional and saying it's extremely disappointing that board members violated their oath in order to fund religious schools without with tax dollars. Now, in so doing, these members have exposed themselves and the state to potential legal action that could be costly. The school can open as early as late next year and it'll start with spots for about 500 students and one of the biggest drug makers in the US is suing the Biden administration over the inflation reduction act. This act allows the Department of Health and Human Services to negotiate lower drug prices for seniors on Medicare in Merck's lawsuit, it calls the department's new powers tantamount to extortion. It's asking a DC based federal judge to stop the practice by saying it's an unconstitutional seizure of private property by the federal government in southern Ukraine. The wall of the dam collapse. Not only is that causing major flooding and threatening drinking water, but it's also endangering Europe's largest nuclear power plant. The United Nations Secretary General is describing this collapse as another devastating consequence of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Ukrainian military is saying Russia destroyed it in a panic. Russia is saying Ukraine did it as an act of deliberate sabotage at the White House. John Kirby, who is the National Security Council coordinator for Strategic Communications, spoke about the matter. We've seen the reports that Russia was responsible for the explosion at the dam which I would remind Russian forces took over illegally last year and have been occupying since then. We cannot say conclusively what happened at this point. The White House is also saying casualties are likely but it's too early to quantify them. More than 1000 people have been evacuated from the area because of extreme flooding. Authorities are closely monitoring the nearby power plant but they say there's currently no immediate nuclear safety risk and it is so hot and dry in parts of the US that the national weather service is now issuing red flag warnings in five vastly different states. And that means a combination of warm temperatures, strong winds and low humidity is increasing the risk of wildfires in these states. Look at how far apart they are portions of Alaska Michigan in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Washington are under a red flag warning until at least 10 PM this evening, but it could last longer right now. The service is saying be careful with camping, outdoor grills, smoking materials, chainsaws, all terrain vehicles, all of these can create a spark that could be the beginning of a dangerous and destructive fire. And in the Caribbean, a 4.9 magnitude earthquake hit southern Haiti. Four people are dead, 36 injured. This quake took down homes and buildings. It also blocked a key route connecting two of the country's major areas. Rescue teams as you can see right now are still searching through rubble for survivors and surveying damage. Haitians were already dealing with the aftermath of intense rainfall that caused major flooding which killed at least 51 people and injured 140 nearly 31,600 homes were flooded. Experts warned these two shocks to Haitian life combined with the start of hurricane season could be disastrous.