National News

Actors on Strike: What Does This Mean for the Entertainment Industry?

For the second time in the history of Hollywood, actors joined writers on strike against studios on July 13. SAG-AFTRA is a labor union of 160,000 people who are actors, recording artists, and other professional media performers. The rise of streaming services has greatly reduced the residuals an actor makes off of a project. Together with inflation, this has made it hard for members of the union to have adequate pay to make ends meet. Another issue is the fear of AI being used by studios to exploit a performer’s appearance without fair compensation.

During the strike, members of the union will not be able to promote or perform in upcoming movies and shows. With the writer’s strike petitioning for similar demands of better pay and contracts protecting against AI, production on T.V. shows has shut down and the entertainment industry has ground to a halt. Film releases for the rest of 2023 won’t be affected since most of them are finished filming, but movies will be delayed starting next year.

Hurricanes, Earthquakes, and Snow

On August 20, 2023, California was hit by multiple weather-related surprises. A Category 4 hurricane named Hilary made landfall as a tropical storm in Baja California, Mexico before moving up to southern California, creating torrential rainfall, flooding, and tornado warnings. A 5.1 magnitude earthquake hit north of Los Angeles the same day. Added to this, California has had an unusually wet year despite being in a drought, with dangerous flooding and record snowfall caused by 31 intense atmospheric rivers in the winter and spring.

All these anomalies might seem like a worrying byproduct of climate change, but it is unclear how much of the strange patterns were caused by natural chance and how much was by global warming. There is a good possibility that rising water temperatures strengthened Hurricane Hilary since water flowing from Alaska usually makes the Pacific too cold to be a reliable producer of hurricanes, which need temperatures over 26 C to form. However, it was likely a result of the natural El Niño phase, which warms water surfaces in the eastern Pacific. Also at play was a heat dome, a circulating system that trapped hot air and moved the airflow clockwise toward California.

Hurricane Hillary

In August 2023, Hurricane Hilary hit Southern California and was the first notable hurricane in 84 years that devastated multiple parts of the region. Hurricane Hilary originated in Mexico as a Category 4 hurricane where it inflicted the greatest damage, causing one death before evolving into a tropical storm.

The turbulent hurricane developed from the Pacific Ocean, and by Sunday, August 21, it was declared a tropical storm and headed towards Mexico’s Baja Peninsula with winds of 70 mph, to Southern California and conducted an unprecedented quantity of rainfall. The hurricane eventually prompted Governor Gavin Newsom to declare a state of emergency on Saturday, August 19th, to further increase awareness about the anticipation of the impact from the hurricane, ranging from life-threatening winds and devastating flooding. Starting as a Category 4 hurricane in Mexico, the hurricane eventually weakened to a Category 1 with winds around 90 mph on Saturday.

By Sunday, President Biden announced the FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) to arrange supplies to prepare California. Multiple school districts declared all school campuses would close on Monday due to the storm, and remaining districts followed the same day. The California Department of Parks and Recreation ordered beaches and theme parks to close as well and even major sporting games rescheduled their games in preparation for the weather rotation. At least 16 cities experienced a surpassing record of rainfall compared to the previous summer. Los Angeles saw 2.48 inches of rain, San Diego saw 1.82 inches of rain, and Bakersfield saw 1.08 inches of rain. California’s highest rainfall was in Mt. San Jacinto with 11.74 inches of rain. San Bernardino and Riverside were at a great risk of flash flooding, with some counties issuing evacuation orders, while others only issued warnings.

Though the hurricane did not cause any life-threatening damage, injuries, or traffic issues in California, officials warned of risks and to be on the lookout for potential mudslides and rockslides. More than 4,100 calls were made to 911. In Palm Springs, a vehicle rescued 14 residents from a swamped home. In Oak Glen, a couple was saved from a house surrounded by mud in the mountains. The Santa Ana River flooded and stranded 30 people but they were rescued by San Bernardino County respondents. There was minimal infrastructure damage and no serious injuries.

Other states and locations encountered heavy gusts of winds and a downpour of rain in August. Hot weather also contributed to the growth and spread of the tropical storm. Hurricane Hilary brought record-breaking rainfall and colossal winds, also causing a 5.1 earthquake near Ojai, northwest of California, rattling parts of Southern California as well. The earthquake did not cause any critical damage. California was able to recover from the sudden weather change.

Hurricane Hilary resulted in numerous devastating havoc across the southern region of California. Since Hurricane Hilary started as a Category 4 hurricane and eventually weakened to a Category 1 hurricane, California escaped what could have been a much more catastrophic storm. It was presumed that California would have a decent forthcoming of aftereffects from Hilary, but that was fortunately not the case as California was able to recover normally within a few days.

Breaking Down the Trump Indictments

Former President Donald Trump has been indicted in four different cases in the last six months, with 91 charges in total. The first President to be charged with crimes, Trump has pleaded not guilty in every case. On March 30, Trump was indicted by the Manhattan grand jury on 34 charges of falsifying business records to influence the 2016 election. It is alleged he covered up a $130,000 payment his attorney Michael Cohen made to keep Stormy Daniels quiet about an alleged affair she had with Trump in 2006.

On June 8, Trump was again indicted, this time by a federal grand jury in Miami, for keeping classified documents from the White House at his Mar-a-Lago resort. He is charged with showing them to people without clearance, threatening national security, and attempting to conceal the documents from officials.

On August 4, a federal indictment in Washington D.C. alleged that Trump and six other co-conspirators conspired to overturn the 2020 election by knowingly spreading lies that there was fraud in the election and exploiting the violence of the January 6th Insurrection to call for lawmakers and then-Vice President Mike Pence to illegally delay Joe Biden’s certification as President.

On August 14, an Atlanta grand jury in Fulton County accused Trump and 18 of his allies of violating Georgia’s RICO Act, which is a law against criminal enterprises and unpardonable since it is a state law. Trump and his allies are accused of attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia by asking the state’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to find the votes needed for Trump to win. The trials are scheduled for next year, which has opened up a constitutional question of whether Trump, who is the Republican frontrunner for 2024, will be able to be President from prison if he is convicted.