What we’re reading: Turkey and Syria earthquakes, Greg Abbott plans to ban the use of TikTok

AP

Rescue workers search for survivors on a collapsed building in Malatya, Turkey, Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023. Search teams and aid are pouring into Turkey and Syria as rescuers working in freezing temperatures dig through the remains of buildings flattened by a magnitude 7.8 earthquake. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) (AP)

By Gianna Mares, TCU 360 Staff Writer
Published Feb 8, 2023

Earthquakes in Turkey and Syria kill more than 7,700 people

Emergency crews have been working in freezing temperatures to rescue thousands of earthquake survivors, according to The New York Times. 

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan declared a three-month state of emergency in areas of the country that were severely impacted. The Kahramanmaras earthquake was strongest at 4:17 a.m. reaching a magnitude of 7.8, according to The Washington Post.  

Turkey’s infrastructure is under intense questioning after numerous buildings collapsed. “The construction sector in Turkey prioritizes quantity and profit over quality and that is why we are faced with this devastating loss of life,” said Erol Kirtas, a civil engineer based in Cologne, Germany. 

Rescue workers search for survivors on a collapsed building in Malatya, Turkey, Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023. Search teams and aid are pouring into Turkey and Syria as rescuers working in freezing temperatures dig through the remains of buildings flattened by a magnitude 7.8 earthquake. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

The Turkish news agency Demiroren said that Erdoğan plans to visit the earthquake disaster zone Wednesday, according to The New York Times. 

 

Powerball: Winning $747 million jackpot ticket sold 

There’s a winner!

A lucky player in Washington state became the fifth-largest Powerball winner in history Monday, according to the lottery game. “The winning numbers were 05, 11, 22, 23, 69 and the Powerball 07,” said CBS News. 

The winning ticket was sold in Auburn, WA.

The sum of money is the first Powerball jackpot won since Nov. 19, and is the ninth-largest jackpot in U.S. history, according to FOX News. 

The lottery’s website says the next drawing will take place Wednesday night and the estimated jackpot is $20 million. 

The winner has not come forward to claim their prize. 

 

Texas couple charged for dealing fentanyl-laced pills to middle and high school students 

The Justice Department charged a Texas couple on Monday for dealing fentanyl-laced pills, which led to three students’ deaths, according to ABC News.  

FILE – This photo provided by the U.S. Attorneys Office for Utah and introduced as evidence in a 2019 trial shows fentanyl-laced fake oxycodone pills collected during an investigation. In a resumption of a brutal trend, nearly 71,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in 2019 according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a new record high that predates the COVID-19 crisis. The numbers were driven by fentanyl and similar synthetic opioids, which accounted for 36,500 overdose deaths. (U.S. Attorneys Office for Utah via AP)

Luis Eduardo Navarrete and Magaly Mejia Cano are charged with conspiracy to distribute, and possess with intent to distribute, a controlled substance, according to ABC News. 

Three students in the Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District have died and six have been hospitalized due to fentanyl overdoses. It is suspected that the fentanyl-laced pills may have been sourced from one Dallas-area home.

“To deal fentanyl is to knowingly imperil lives. To deal fentanyl to minors — naive middle and high school students — is to shatter futures,” said Leigha Simonton, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas.

Navarrete and Mejia Cano will appear in federal court in Dallas on Monday, according to NBC DFW.  

 

Texas Governor Greg Abbott shifts toward statewide TikTok ban

Texas governor Greg Abbott has announced a statewide model security plan to ban TikTok, a Chinese-owned social media app, on all state-issued devices. 

“The security risks associated with the use of TikTok on devices used to conduct the important business of our state must not be underestimated or ignored,” Abbott said.

Government officials and employees are not allowed to use devices that can access TikTok or other prohibited apps while conducting state business, according to KXAN News. Texas is not the only state doing this: 25 states have already banned TikTok on state-issued devices, according to KXAN News.  

Multiple Texas departments are hard at work helping “safeguard the state’s sensitive information and critical infrastructure from potential threats posed by hostile foreign actors,” Abbott said. 

The University of Texas system and Texas A&M did away with the app last December, according to KXAN News.