Washed Away: An astonishing 1,300 people are missing and at least 93 reported dead in devastating floods that swept through parts of Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Switzerland.

  Worst hit were the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia. 

  Rivers overflowed and whole neighborhoods were cut off as cars were tumbled and some homes swept away by raging waters that followed deluges of rain. Some neighborhoods were up to their ground floor windows in water. The village of Schuld, many of whose 700 residents live in historic homes, was almost entirely destroyed.

  Rescuers are having trouble checking on possible survivors because the hard line and cellphone networks are down. 

  Environmental activists have been quick to draw a relationship between the floods and climate change. Hannah Cloke, Professor of Hydrology at the University of Reading in England told the BBC, “The fact that other parts of the northern hemisphere are currently suffering record-breaking heatwaves and fires should serve as a reminder of just how much more dangerous our weather could become in an ever-warmer world.”

Viral News: In his first formal advisory, Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy yesterday accused tech and social media companies of not doing enough to stop the spread of dangerous health misinformation. 

  Murthy said the misinformation  is “an urgent threat to public health.” 

  “Modern technology companies have enabled misinformation to poison our information environment, with little accountability to their users,” Dr. Murthy said at a press briefing. “We expect more from our technology companies,” he added. “We’re asking them to operate with greater transparency and accountability.”

  As Covid-19 surges in some parts of the country, Los Angeles County announced that it is reviving its indoor mask mandate, applying to its 10 million residents regardless of vaccination status. It is the biggest reversal of policy as the country continues efforts to fully re-open after the pandemic.

Money in the Bank: Money started flowing yesterday into the bank accounts of as many as 35 million Americans who qualify for the child tax credit established in March as part of the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill.

  The credit is a maximum of $3,600 per child, half of which is paid directly to families every month, and the other half can be claimed on tax returns.

  People who don’t even make enough money to pay income tax also qualify. The monthly payments amount to $300 for each child 5 and younger and $250 for those between 5 and 17. 

  The US is behind most of the developing world in giving such tax credits to families. The Biden administration says the payments, which are expected to average $423 per family, will cut child poverty in half.

Sane Enough: Five years after he shot and killed five people in the newsroom of the Capital Gazette newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland, a jury found that Jarrod Ramos was sufficiently sane to be held criminally responsible for what he did. 

  Ramos pleaded guilty to the killings, but requested a sanity trial in hopes of being sent to a psychiatric facility rather than prison. Yesterday’s decision means he goes to prison for life.

  Prosecutors said Ramos spent seven years stewing and plotting revenge for something written about him in the newspaper about a stalking case.

  Defense lawyer Matthew Connell argued to the jury that, “It’s hard to define mental illness, but you know it when you see it.” He went on, “And this is what it looks like. It looks like a man in his late 30s, living alone in a basement, urinating in bottles, not bathing for weeks at a time, creating a written manifesto of sorts.”

  The jury disagreed.

Dangerous Beat: Noted Dutch crime reporter Peter R. de Vries, known for his television reports about unsolved crimes, has died of his wounds just over a week after being shot in a busy Amsterdam street. Two men are in custody.

  The 64-year-old was shot in the head minutes after leaving a television studio.

  De Vries’s family issued a statement saying, “He lived true to his motto: On bended knee is no way to be free.”

  De Vries won an international Emmy Award in the current affairs category in 2008 for his work investigating the 2005 disappearance of American teenager Natalee Holloway in Aruba. At home, he was known for his work on numerous cases, including the 1983 kidnapping of beer magnate Freddy Heineken.

The Spin Rack: Owners of Chevrolet Bolts from model years 2017 through 2019 have been urged to park their cars outdoors after charging and to avoid leaving them while they charge overnight because, well, because they have a tendency to burst into flames. It’s the second such recall for the Bolt; 51,000 last year. — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he may open the border for vaccinated travelers in mid-September. — The search for bodies in the Surfside, Florida condominium collapse is near its end. Ninety-seven bodies have been found. 

Life in Exile:  Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka and husband Jared Kushner have closed on a 6-bedroom, 8½-bathroom French neo-classical mansion in Florida for $24 million. It’s every bit as tasteful as you might expect.

-30-