‘Places like this could become uninhabitable’: The California city facing record-breaking heat
The long-range weather forecast from meteorologist Mike Everett is bleak: “Places like this could become uninhabitable.”
He has spent the last week guiding viewers of NBC News in Palm Springs, California, through its latest record-breaking heatwave.
The desert city is used to the heat but things are extreme. It has recorded its hottest June ever, multiple days in the mid-to-high 40s Celsius and equalled its record high of 50C (122F).
Meteorologist Mike Everett has bad news for those who prefer a cooler climate
And what is traditionally the hottest part of the year is still to come.
Within decades, Mike says, the increasing frequency and intensity of these heatwaves could turn this resort playground into a ghost town in summer.
“It is climate change, pure and simple,” he said.
“People will just move, they’ll migrate very similar to like we did at the beginning of mankind. They’re going to get away from the equator and start inhabiting the north.
At least the people of Palm Springs are used to dealing with the heat. Tens of millions across America’s west have faced weeks of record-breaking temperatures, many of them places not accustomed to extreme temperatures.
Palm Springs recorded its hottest June – and the summer is not over yet
In many places there hasn’t even been any respite from the heat at night: Palm Springs has seen record minimum temperatures in the 30s Celsius.
Even the evening provides little respite and the hottest part of the year is yet to come
Patrick and Ryan Nash have just moved here from the cooler California coast.
“The (heat)waves that we’ve had recently are much earlier in the year. Typically it won’t get this hot until around August or maybe September in previous years,” said Ryan.
“The heatwaves are usually three or four days long but now we’re getting these high-pressure systems that last for a week. We’re like day three of nine so it’s going to be this intense for a while.”
Many desert cities are now focussing on how to adapt to hotter temperatures, planning new areas of shade in landscape design and even considering encouraging people to work at night instead of the day.
Carlos Moreno has shifted his hours and altered his diet to cope with the heat
Construction worker Carlos Moreno has shifted his hours to starting earlier in the day and even altered his diet to cope with the heat.
But, for many like him, there is little else they can do: “If we can’t work in this heat we can’t just stay at home.”
Donald Trump described the hush money case against him as a “mess” after the jury who will decide his fate has been selected.
Leaving the court in New York after proceedings were adjourned for the day, Trump addressed reporters, saying he was supposed to be in states like Georgia, New Hampshire and North Carolina as part of his campaign for the 2024 presidential election.
“[But instead] I’ve been here all day,” he said, labelling the trial as “unfair”.
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Trump held up a stack of news stories and editorials that he said were critical of the case while he continued railing against the trial.
“The whole thing is a mess,” he said.
It comes as all 12 jurors have been seated in the first criminal case against a former US president.
Pic: AP
Members of the jury include a sales professional, a software engineer, an English teacher and multiple lawyers.
Sky News’ US partner network, NBC News reported there are seven men and five women on the jury.
It comes after lawyers grilled hundreds of potential jurors asking questions on everything from their hobbies and social media posts to their opinion of the former president.
More than half of a second group of prospective jurors were dismissed by Judge Juan Merchan on Thursday after most said they doubted their ability to be fair and impartial.
One juror was also dismissed after she said she “slept on it overnight” and woke up with concerns about her ability to be fair and impartial in the case.
The challenge now is to select six alternate jury members before the trial can move to opening statements, with Mr Merchan hopeful this will be completed on Friday.
Read more:
Judge warns Donald Trump over ‘intimidating’ potential jurors
Trump calls hush money case an ‘assault on America’
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Trump is accused of criminally altering business records to cover up a $130,000 (£104,200) payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, real name Stephanie Clifford, during his 2016 election campaign.
Ms Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who was paid $150,000 (£120,000), both claim to have had affairs with Trump.
Stormy Daniels. Pic: AP
His lawyers say the payment was meant to spare himself and his family embarrassment, not to help him win the election.
Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. He could get up to four years in prison if convicted.
The former president faces two other criminal trials accusing him of trying to subvert his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden, and another that accuses him of mishandling classified information after he left the White House in 2021.
He has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him.
Crisis-hit Boeing has rushed to defend itself from fresh whistleblower allegations of poor practice, as the airline continues to grapple its latest safety crisis.
A Congressional investigation heard evidence on Wednesday on the safety culture and manufacturing standards at the company – rocked in January by a mid-air scare that saw an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 flight suffer a panel blowout.
One Boeing quality engineer, Sam Salehpour, told members of a Senate subcommittee that Boeing was taking shortcuts to bolster production levels that could lead to jetliners breaking apart.
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He said of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner, that has more than 1,000 in use across airlines globally including at British Airways, that excessive force was used to jam together sections of fuselage.
He claimed the extra force could compromise the carbon-composite material used for the plane’s frame.
“They are putting out defective airplanes,” he concluded, while adding that he was threatened when he raised concerns about the issue.
Boeing quality engineer Sam Salehpour testifies during the Senate homeland security subcommittee hearing. Pic: AP
The engineer said he studied Boeing’s own data and concluded “that the company is taking manufacturing shortcuts on the 787 programme that could significantly reduce the airplane’s safety and the life cycle”.
Boeing denied his claims surrounding both the Dreamliner’s structural integrity and that factory workers jumped on sections of fuselage to force them to align.
Two Boeing engineering executives said this week that its testing and inspections regimes have found no signs of fatigue or cracking in the composite panels, saying they were almost impervious to fatigue.
The company’s track record is facing fresh scrutiny amid criticism from regulators and safety officials alike in the wake of the incident aboard the Alaska Airlines plane.
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What’s going on at Boeing?
It has become a trust issue again after the worst period in Boeing’s history when two fatal crashes, both involving MAX 8 aircraft, left 346 people dead in 2018 and 2019.
All 737 MAX 8 planes were grounded for almost two years while a fix to flawed flight control software was implemented.
A separate Senate commerce committee heard on Wednesday from members of an expert panel that found serious flaws in Boeing’s safety culture.
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Boeing CEO: ‘We fly safe planes’
One of the panel members, MIT aeronautics lecturer Javier de Luis, said employees hear Boeing leadership talk about safety, but workers feel pressure to push planes through the factory as fast as they can.
In talking to Boeing workers, he said he heard “there was a very real fear of payback and retribution if you held your ground”.
Pressure on Boeing to focus on safety has included restrictions placed on production, limiting its manufacturing output.
At the same time, it is still facing three separate investigations by the Federal Aviation Administration, the Justice Department and the National Transportation Safety Board relating to the panel blowout.
A management shake-up announced amid the inquiries will see the chief executive depart the company by the year’s end.
Sky News has approached British Airways for comment.
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