‘Not Very Much Survives a Category 5,’ and the Use of Tear Gas in Chicago

0:02From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Wednesday, October 29th. Here's what we're covering.

0:13As of right now, the reports that are coming in are catastrophic. In Jamaica, officials say that Hurricane Melissa left a swath of devastation as the storm cut across the island yesterday with winds of more than 180 miles per hour. The hurricane made landfall as one of the strongest Category 5 storms on record, knocking out power for hundreds of thousands of people and cutting off access to the Internet. Not very much survives a Category 5 hurricane in terms of infrastructure. So we still are in the early stages, and we're just praying that we will be saved in terms of the loss of lives. As of now, the storm, which has dropped to a Category 3, is tearing across Cuba, where authorities evacuated almost 750 ,000 people ahead of what they warned would be a very difficult night for the country.

1:06Researchers say that hurricanes have been growing increasingly intense, in part because of climate change. And Caribbean nations are considered to be more exposed to climate-fueled disasters than any other part of the world. In recent years, countries there have faced tens of billions of dollars in damage from storms, leaving most of them in deep debt. Meanwhile, the American forecasting teams that track storms have been stretched thin by the government shutdown, and the Times has learned that a handful of retirees from NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, have volunteered to help.

1:46NOAA's so-called hurricane hunter planes have been flying directly into the eye of Melissa to gather crucial data about the storm. But crews that would normally number 15 to 18 people have shrunk by a third. One veteran scientist recently returned as an unpaid intern to help analyze data from the planes. Federal forecasting services were already strained by mass firings earlier this year.

2:18In Chicago yesterday, a federal judge sharply criticized a senior Border Patrol official for his agency's use of force in the city. Gregory Bovino has become one of the public faces of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown there, where law enforcement officers, including Border Patrol and ICE agents, have arrested at least 3 ,000 people, according to the administration. On multiple occasions, crowds have gathered during those arrests, and the agents, including Bovino himself, have responded by deploying tear gas. Bovino was in court because a coalition of media organizations, protesters, and clergy members had filed a lawsuit accusing federal agents of using tear gas and other tactics in a, quote, pattern of extreme brutality that was intended to silence the press and civilians.

3:11The judge had previously barred federal immigration agents from deploying tear gas without first issuing two warnings, among other restrictions. But yesterday in court, she said that they've appeared to violate those rules multiple times. She said agents used tear gas in a neighborhood where children were about to march in a Halloween parade, and that at a different scene, they tossed a gas canister out of a car as they drove away. A government lawyer said Border Patrol agents use tear gas to respond to volatile situations. In some cases, protesters have thrown things at officers or pushed them.

3:46Going forward, the judge told Bovino that he needs to come to the courthouse at 6 p.m. every weekday to personally provide her with a report on the day's arrests and incidents.

4:04Now, three more updates on the Trump administration. President Trump is continuing his trip across Asia. Today, he's in South Korea, meeting with the country's leader to try and finalize a trade deal. He's said multiple times he's also open to meeting with North Korea's leader to try and reopen diplomatic talks with the country, though there's been no response. Instead, ahead of Trump's visit, North Korea test-fired missiles this week designed to carry nuclear weapons. Also, the U.S. military says it's blown up four more boats it claims were smuggling drugs to the U.S., killing 14 people. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the strikes took place in the Pacific Ocean on Monday and that there was one survivor who was rescued off the coast of Mexico.

4:52Hegseth has framed the ongoing boat attacks, which have now killed more than 50 people, as an anti-terror operation, saying, quote, These narco-terrorists have killed more Americans than al-Qaeda, and they will be treated the same. But the Trump administration has provided little evidence to support its allegations of smuggling, and a broad range of experts on military use of force have called the attacks illegal. And in Washington, D.C., the Trump administration has reinstalled a statue honoring a Confederate general. The statue, which was torn down and set on fire by demonstrators in 2020, depicts Albert Pike, who some historians believe was a member of the KKK.

5:33The reinstallment is the latest victory in Trump's effort to restore Confederate symbols in public spaces. It comes as the president has been leaving his mark on D.C. more broadly. He's torn down the east wing of the White House to replace it with a ballroom, unveiled plans to build a giant arch near the Lincoln Memorial, and has now fired the entire board of an independent government agency that would have reviewed those projects.

6:06Yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the military to resume strikes in Gaza, accusing Hamas of violating the ceasefire. Explosions could be seen over the territory, and dozens of people were reportedly killed. A spokesman for Netanyahu said Hamas broke the truce by attacking Israeli forces. Hamas has denied that. Israel's also accused Hamas of not returning all of the bodies of hostages who died during the war. Yesterday, the Israeli military released a video that it said showed Hamas staging the discovery of a body, burying, then unburying, a white body bag. The military said the scene was Hamas' attempt to create the false impression that it's working hard on recovery efforts.

6:49Vice President J.D. Vance said yesterday that the truce is still holding, despite what he called little skirmishes here and there. Meanwhile, under the agreement, hundreds of trucks a day are now entering Gaza, allowing some humanitarian groups to distribute millions of meals. But relief workers say it's still not enough to address the crisis there. They say most of what's being allowed into the territory appears to be goods headed to markets. And after two years of war, most Palestinians there can't afford to buy the food that's arriving.

7:32And finally. Wow, wow, wow. Look at this. Look at this, Lazy Jowler. Going to a concert used to be a kind of guessing game. When will the band really go on? How long are they going to play for? What deep cuts will make the show? I think we're going to have some fun tonight, huh? Now, though, like all things, the internet has taken a lot of the mystery out of it. On the site Setlist FM, fans meticulously document start times, end times, and every single song, in what order, for every last show. If the band sticks to roughly the same lineup, you can check to get a sense of how late you'll be out or even when to take a bathroom break so you don't miss your favorite song.

8:14This kind of obsessive documentation has some people worried that it's sacrificing the surprise of live shows. But several musicians the Times talked with say it can actually help them stay out of a rut. The artists themselves check the site to make sure they're mixing up their lineups enough. and a lot have taken it on as a challenge to keep the audience guessing in the age of the internet by bringing out surprise guests. For the record, the catalog of shows on Setlist FM is encyclopedic and historical. It's not just, you know, what Chapel Roan may have played last night. It's what The Grateful Dead played on May 8, 1977 at Barton Hall.

8:54and even what was Mozart's lineup when he played Prague on September 6, 1791.

9:05Those are the headlines today on The Daily. A look at the trade war between the U.S. and China, ahead of President Trump's meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. You can listen to that in the New York Times app or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow.

9:24Thank you.