HEAVY WEATHER: It was a rough week in the Houston area where a storm bearing winds up to 100 mph ripped apart homes and businesses, killing four people. Windows were blown out of high rise buildings and the streets of Houston were littered with glass.

  The winds even toppled multiple transmission towers, knocking as many as a million people off the grid. As of last night more than 555,000 homes and businesses were still without electricity. Another 26,000 people lost power in Louisiana.

  With warm and humid weather following the storm, a lot of people are going to be without air conditioning. Authorities say it may be weeks before everyone gets their power back.

THE RAP BEAT: Rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs quickly settled a federal lawsuit brought last year against him by former girlfriend Cassie Ventura and now we might know why.

  CNN obtained 2016 hallway surveillance video from the now-defunct InterContinental Hotel in Century City that shows Combs pursuing Ventura down a hallway and beating her. Wrapped in just a towel, Combs drags Ventura to the floor then beats and stomps her. She did not resist.

  The video illustrates what Ventura described in her lawsuit. Los Angeles prosecutors say the incident is outside the time limit for prosecution.

LOYALTY TEST: Republican politicians have been showing up in support of Donald Trump’s criminal trial in Manhattan, roughly 20 in all. Most senior among them was House Speaker Mike Johnson, who denounced the whole proceeding.

  They all seem to think it’s an outrage that Trump was charged with falsifying business records to cover his payoff to porn star Stormy Daniels. And they want to be in his favor.

 Some of the other big names appearing: Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, a contender for vice president; Florida Sen. Rick Scott; Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville; North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum; former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy; Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert; Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz.

  The most notable person who has not appeared at the trial … Melania Trump.

CHIP SHOT: Top-ranked Pro golfer Scottie Scheffler managed to make his tee time yesterday in Louisville after being accused of dragging a police officer along the ground while attempting to drive past the scene of a fatal accident. He was charged with felony second-degree assault on a police officer. 

  The police said Scheffler disregarded instructions, but the golfer said it was a confusing situation and that he didn’t hit anyone.

  The officer, a uniformed detective, was reported to have experienced pain, swelling and abrasions to his left wrist and knee, and was taken to the hospital for treatment. 

  Scheffler said he warmed up by stretching in a jail cell. He finished his day two shots behind the lead in the PGA Championship at Valhalla.

MEMORABLE WORDS: The commencement speaker at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth delivered more than words. 

  The speaker was Robert Hale, Jr., the billionaire founder and CEO of Quincy-based Granite Telecommunications, who had hauled two giant duffel bags on stage with him. Then he announced that he was going to give each of the 1,200 graduates crossing the stage an envelope containing $500 in cash.  The graduates went wild.

  Further, Hale said, each gradate would receive a second $500 envelope to be given to “someone in need or a charity or cause close to them.” 

  Hale told the crowd that for him and his wife “the greatest joys we’ve had in our life have been the gift of giving.”

THE OBIT PAGE: Actor Dabney Coleman, who was at his best playing characters audiences loved to hate, died at home in Santa Monica, California. He was 92.

 Coleman played a despicable boss in the 1980 movie “9 to 5,” and in the sitcom “Buffalo Bill” starred as the unscrupulous host of a television talk show in Buffalo.

  He was a successful failure with a track record of television shows that had a short life. “Buffalo Bill” lasted only 26 episodes. He told the NY Times in an interview, “Writers write wrong for me sometimes. They’re trying to be funny, usually. Trying to make a joke. And that’s not what I do, you know. It’s not jokes; it’s not words. It’s acting. It’s acting funny.”

THE SPIN RACK: Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin of Virginia vetoed two bills that would have revoked tax exemptions for the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the century-old organization that puts a sheen of nobility on the Confederate rebellion to preserve slavery. The organization was first given tax breaks in the 1950s. — Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani was served with notice of his Arizona election interference indictment while celebrating his 80^th birthday in Palm Beach. — David DePape, 42, the man who broke into then Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s home and beat her husband with a hammer, was sentenced yesterday to 30 years in prison. Paul Pelosi now has a steel plate in his skull and says he has not fully recovered.

BELOW THE FOLD: “I’ll have the shrimp.” Dozens of Red Lobster restaurants across the country have been closing in recent days as the company faces bankruptcy and possible extinction. Some people blame the shrimp … the “endless shrimp.”

  When Red Lobster offered diners “endless shrimp” the company was eaten out of house and home. One TikTok video showed customers packing down hundreds of shrimp for just $20.

  Red Lobster was already suffering following the pandemic and rising food prices. The shrimp may have been endless, but not the company. 

For an audio review of the week’s news, click here.

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