need2know-afternoon-edition-110823

We're keeping an eye on a fire at a chemical plant. It's sending black smoke into the skies above Shepard Texas. That's about 60 miles north of Houston. Officials there say an explosion caused a fire out of sound resource solutions. That's the name of the company which is a plant that makes substances used in glue and paint remover. There's no word yet on exactly what caused that explosion. The company's president says one employee was injured and is being treated for burns and as a result of the fire, authorities closed the highway evacuated a nearby school. They also issued a shelter in place warning. They're also advising people who live nearby and local business owners is to turn off H VAC systems because the plant house toxic materials that may be harmful to skin and organs. Major news this afternoon for Eli Lilly and the weight loss drug market. The company's diabetes drug was granted us approval from the FDA for treating patients with obesity. The drug is expected to be available by the end of the year. It is for just over $1000 for one month supply. Now, in a statement from the agency they said this in light of increasing rates of both obesity and overweight in this in the US. Today's approval addresses an unmet medical need. This new entry from Eli Lilly is called Zep Bound. It'll join other popular weight loss drugs like wove and Zec. This market is huge. It's expected to reach $100 billion in sales by 2030. And federal prosecutors announced the arrest of 16 men connected to the gambino crime family. The operation was a co ordinated effort between us and Italian law enforcement. There were arrests in both countries. The defendants are accused of extortion, assault, arson and attempts to influence New York's demolition and carting industries. One of the accused remains at large. The gambinos are one of New York's Costa Nostra organized crime groups once led by the notorious John Gotti. He died in federal prison in 2002. Former President Donald Trump's daughter, Ivanka Trump. She took the stand today in a New York City courthouse testifying in her father's civil fraud lawsuit. Ivanka Trump is the fourth member of the Trump family to take the stand in this trial, which will determine if Trump and his two adult sons inflated their company's worth to gain favorable business loans. The New York Attorney General's office questioned the former president's daughter about her role in securing financing for one of her father's properties, the Doral Gold Resort and Spa in Florida. At one point in the testimony, Ivanka was briefly excused from the stand while Trump's attorneys argued about the revel the relevance of a line of questioning and some of the evidence being presented, the objections were overruled by the judge and Ivanka was back on the stand to continue her testimony. Ivanka Trump was an executive at the Trump organization until 2017. That's when she left to take a role at the White House during her father's presidency. And here's some major takeaways from election day. 2023 results are showing voters chose to protect abortion rights in key races in several largely conservative states. In Ohio, voters passed a ballot measure enshrining the right to abortion in the state's constitution. With over 56% of the vote, the measure will protect abortion access through 22 weeks. And in Virginia Democrats took control of the State's House Senate and the majority in both chambers. This means Republican Governor Glenn Youngin will likely fail to pass a 15 week abortion ban in the state. And in Kentucky, democratic governor Andy Beshear was re elected, defeating Republican state Attorney General Daniel Cameron. Here's beer. The people of Kentucky elected me as just the third two consecutive term governor in our history. Look. Well, we never have a guess. Super pacs. My opponent is Super Pac Mr mcconnell's Super Pac Seven Association. Hello. Hey, is we need them all at the same time. In 2022 Kentucky voted against a ballot measure that would deny any constitutional protections for abortion rights. And tonight is the third debate in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, former New Jersey governors Chris Christie, along with Florida, Governor Ron desantis, former Un Ambassador Nikki Haley, businessman Vivek Ramaswami, and South Carolina, Senator Tim Scott. They're all gonna be facing off in Miami Florida. Former President Trump will not attend only five candidates qualified for tonight's debate compared to seven who were on stage last time. Here's columnist and political analyst, Jonathan Harris on how that's going to affect the dynamics of this particular debate. You're going to get a chance to probably have a little bit more serious responses because their responses will be longer. It won't be people kind of trying to fight over each other for a takeaway sound. But I think you're going to see a little bit more fleshed out responses because there's less people on the stage, you're probably going to see less bickering because again, there's not everyone trying to fight over each other to be heard. And I think that's actually going to give an opportunity for more fleshed out responses to some major issues that have developed certainly since the last debate and tonight's debate kicks off at 8 p.m. Eastern, moving overseas to the latest developments in the war between Israel and Hamas. The Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt is closed today due to what a US official is calling a security circumstance. The crossing is expected to reopen for humanitarian aid and evacuations as soon as this issue is resolved. The Israeli defense Forces say it's reached the heart of Gaza city. The military opened a five hour window for civilians to safely pass to the south. Now, since Sunday, more than 22,000 people have left. And the Red Crescent Society says a major hospital in Gaza is slowing down operations because it just doesn't have enough fuel. The Red Crescent says it's unable to obtain fuel in the territory. No fuel has been delivered to Gaza since the war began at the G7 summit in Tokyo Secretary of State Anthony Blinken echoed the White House's position that the United States is against the possibility of Israel reoccupying the Gaza Strip. Here's Blinken. It's also clear that Israel cannot occupy Gaza. Um Now the reality is that there may be a need for some transition period uh at the end of the conflict, but it is imperative that um the Palestinian people uh be central to uh to governance uh in uh in Gaza and in the West Bank as well. Uh And that again, we don't see a reoccupation, an adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel envisions a fluid or flexible situation, not an ongoing occupation. And Lincoln arrived in Seoul, South Korea today for a two day stop and meeting with that country's top official Lincoln's visit ties in with the US South Korea and Japan's condemnation of the ever strengthening relationship between North Korea and Russia. This is the first trip a Secretary of State has made to South Korea in more than two years. And as we mentioned, for Lincoln, this is part of a broader Asia trip that has included stops in India Tokyo or for the G7 summit and a measure to censure Congresswoman Rashida Talib for her comments on the Israel Hamas War passed yesterday in the house. This measure got 234 votes with all but four Republicans and 22 Democrats supporting the censure. Tib is the only Palestinian American in Congress. And she posted a video on social media in the past week that included protesters chanting quote from the river to the sea. That's a call for Palestinian civil rights and freedom of movement members of Congress. However, argue that the saying was anti Semitic and called for the destruction of Israel now while speaking on the house floor, Talib said her criticism of Israel was restricted to its government and leadership and quote, it's important to separate people and government.