Congolese health officials confirm the country has officially conquered the second-largest Ebola outbreak in human history. In a few years, you could join Russian cosmonauts on a real-life spacewalk (for a hefty, yet to-be-announced price tag). In Milwaukee, activists took matters into their own hands when they believed local police were ignoring a tragic, and disturbing, case of missing children. Join Ben Bowlin for more Strange News Daily, and share your stories on Twitter: #strangedaily.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Strange News Daily. It's a production of I heart media.
In a world full of bizarre events, unsolved mysteries, and
a billion stories from all corners of the globe, some
(00:22):
news gets lost in the shuffle. This is your gateway
to the stories on the fringe of the mainstream map.
These are your dispatches in the dark. I'm Ben Bolan,
and this is the Strange News Daily. Let's start with
(00:44):
some good news for our first story today. While the
media has been focused on the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, another
outbreak has received relatively little media attention. In the world
experienced the second largest outbreak of the ebola virus in
human history. At least three thousand, seven hundred and forty
(01:05):
people were confirmed to be infected, and of those infected,
nearly two thirds some two thousand, two hundred and eighty
seven people died of this disease. Now that's obviously not
the good news. But what is the good news here
is that the outbreak may finally have passed. June marked
(01:26):
forty two days after the last patient linked to the
outbreak went home from hospital. That's two full incubation periods
for this virus and with no new health cases. So far,
Congo health officials and the World Health Organization have officially
declared the outbreak over ebowl UP, which is officially known
(01:48):
as the Bowl of Virus disease or e v B,
is considered rare but extremely dangerous. The symptoms progress from
dry to wet, including things like fever, aches and pains,
including severe headaches, muscle and joint pain, and abdominal or
stomach pain. Symptoms also include weakness and fatigue. Those are
(02:11):
the dry symptoms. The wet symptoms include things like diarrhea, vomiting,
unexplained hemorrhaging, bleeding or bruising, and those who survived the
infection can carry records of their ordeal in the form
of antibodies, which remain in their system for up to
a decade after recovery. This last outbreak lasted twenty two months.
(02:37):
It was the Congo's tenth fight against ebola. Cases were
largely concentrated in two areas, the North Kivu and Uturi provinces.
Health officials struggled against militant groups as well as misinformation
in their efforts to contain the virus. In contrast to
past Ebola outbreaks, doctors already had an effective vaccine in
(03:00):
their arsenal and it helped curb case numbers at least
this time around. In that vaccine became the first and
at this point, the only vaccine to win approval from
the US Food and Drug Administration or f d A.
There are two other new treatments that also proved incredibly
effective at keeping patients alive in clinical trials. During the outbreak.
(03:24):
To curb the spread of this deadly virus, local health
workers traced two hundred and fifty thousand people who had
come into contact with infected individuals. They tested two hundred
and twenty thousand separate samples. They vaccinated three hundred and
three thousand people. According to Matshi Diesel Moti, the Regional
(03:45):
director for Africa at w h O, Congo is now better,
smarter and faster responding to a bola and this is
an enduring legacy which is supporting the response to COVID
nineteen and other outbreaks. That legacy will be inevitably tested
in the coming months as the same local health officials
continue to combat COVID nineteen as well as a measles
(04:08):
outbreak and another separate ebola outbreak that began in a
different region of the country on June one. Our second
story today. If you're like many people super producer Dylan
(04:31):
and myself included, who have had your travel plans dashed
by this pandemic, why not plan ahead for a new
and even more exhilarating adventure. If you'd like to go
to space, Russia would love to hear from you. They're
officially planning to take tourists on real life spacewalks starting
just a few years from now. In Russia's space agency,
(04:55):
ros Cosmos has announced plans to take two tourists to
the Internet National Space Station. In One of these tourists
will have the chance to carry out a spacewalk. The
individual who takes up this challenge will officially become the
first private citizen ever to experience the infinite vacuum of
open space, and they'll go down in history books as
(05:19):
one of the pioneers of space tourism. The trip will
be assisted by spacecraft manufacturer Energy A. It's the prime
developer for Russia's crewed space flight program. In recent days,
the firm signed a contract with the US based company
called Space Adventures. Space Adventures has previously arranged for seven
(05:40):
private tourists to visit the I S S aboard Russian spacecraft.
This company, Space Adventures hasn't revealed the price tag for
this experience yet, but experts estimate it will fall somewhere
in the tens to hundreds of millions of dollars. Not
cheap seats by any means up in till NASA launched
(06:01):
its first rocket from US soil in nearly a decade.
Last month, NASA was paying eighty million dollars per seat
to Russia to launch its astronauts to the International Space Station.
So let's say you're a perspective buyer. The process is
not as simple as ponying up the cash and hopping
on a space shuttle. Instead, the buyers are screened for suitability,
(06:25):
and the chosen candidate will have to undergo six months
of training at Russia's Star City complex before they ever
head into orbit. They'll be accompanied on their space walk
by a Russian cosmonaut. It will take about ninety minutes
to complete the walk, and the civilian astronaut will have
to spend an extra week aboard the I S S
conducting various activities related to the walk. Needless to say,
(06:50):
this is something that no one wants to see go wrong.
These companies aren't the only firms in the game for
this next level of space tourism. Numerous other groups are
currently hatching plans to send civilians into space. For example,
space x plans to take private citizens to I S
S just next year. They'll be traveling aboard the Crew Dragon.
(07:12):
That's the spacecraft you probably saw in the news. It
recently launched American astronauts into space from US soil. This
was the first ever commercial crew program mission. The company
is also hoping to take a group of tourists on
a trip around the Moon literally in three so if
everything goes according to plan, this is shaping up to
(07:34):
be a groundbreaking year. Now, let's talk turkey. If you
feel like a hundred or so million dollars is just
out of your price range, that's completely reasonable, But it
doesn't mean your chances of going to space have been
knocked down to zero. You can go to space for
a much cheaper price without all the hassle of training
(07:57):
to be a cosmonaut or astronaut. All you have to
do is hop on a space balloon and will take
you one thousand feet up into the Stratosphere for a
bargain basement admission ticket price of only a hundred and
twenty five thousand dollars, which is still admittedly a little
bit more expensive than an Airbnb by the Beach. Our
(08:29):
third story today is disturbing and as such may not
be suitable for all listeners. On June, a pair of
black children missing for days from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, were found
by a search party of civilian residents who banded together
after police had decided against issuing child abduction emergency alerts
(08:52):
or AMBER alerts for them. This unfolded against the backdrop
of an alleged child sex trafficking ring. The girl as
relatives suspected that children may have been abducted to be
part of this ring. These girls first went missing the
Sunday earlier, but according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, a
(09:12):
police spokesperson said that the thirteen and fifteen year old
girls cases had quote not been considered critical missing and
did not meet the criteria for an Amber alert. Local
media was presenting this story as one of the police
being victims of violence from civil unrest. Affiliate Fox six
reported that seven police officers one firefighter were hurt in
(09:35):
addition to at least three people being shot not by police,
following a series of fires that were set in the area. However,
social media told a different story. On Facebook, a local photographer,
Amanda Press offered her own account of the case. This
ultimately and thankfully resulted in the reported safe rescue of
(09:57):
these girls. Press painted a pick sure of racist policing
that worked to serve a particular agenda. She said that
one of the missing girls mothers tracked her daughter's phone
to a house on North Street and West Lloyd Street,
and the mother alerted police about it, but the authorities
reportedly never responded. This prompted a search party of civilians.
(10:21):
Press writes, quote a group of neighbors showed up at
the house to knock on the door and look for
the girls, and when they did, shots were fired at
them from inside. Then the police showed up arrested the
people who were shooting from within the house, but claimed
to not see any evidence of the girls there and
left the scene. Press later added that quote the house
is connected with a known sexual predator, and it was
(10:43):
suspected that the girls have been lured or grabbed for
sex trafficking. A community activist named Vaughan L. May's recorded
several videos of this account and streamed it live on
Facebook in conjunction with the missing Person m k E account.
That's a social network that was created in February quote
(11:04):
because there is a clear bias and selective culture practice
when it comes to issuing timely amber alerts and missing
person reports in Milwaukee for POC, standing for persons of color.
After the house was set on fire, press reports, a
search party of neighbors, not police, found the two missing
girls along with two other missing children around four pm.
(11:27):
They were following neighbors tips from house to house that
appeared to be a quote, straight up sex trafficking ring.
They were doing this, press writes while dozens of police
officers were on seen doing nothing but harassing and intimidating residents.
Police on the scene and started using tear gas and
rubber bullets on angry neighbors who were doing their jobs
for them. Milwaukee p D originally said it cannot confirm
(11:51):
allegations of a sex trafficking ring and that an investigation
had started. The police chief also condemned the residents who
were involved in this search. Milwaukee Police Chief Alfonso Morales
called it quote, vigilantism and an unruly crowd. Despite the
fact that the crowd reportedly did find the girls. Rallis continued, saying,
(12:13):
what you had today is vigilantism. You had people take
the law into their own hands and run off on
information that has not been proven. We need to investigate that.
That's what the police are here for. For the record,
the Department of Justice has issued guidelines for Amber alerts,
including five pieces of recommended criteria that the missing girls
(12:36):
case seemed to fit. A community organizer named Frank Nitty
calls this day of victory, saying it helped bring attention
to the missing children. Milwaukee police did confirm two children
who had been missing, one thirteen years old and one
fifteen years old, had been located and are currently with
their families. Police also added that during interviews, these girls
(12:58):
denied ever being at the house in question, the one
that was later set on fire, or knowing anyone who
lived there, and they added there was no evidence supporting
human trafficking at the house. However, at the time of
this recording, numerous local activists and activists in the Greater
Milwaukee area are not satisfied by the official explanation that's
(13:21):
all for now. We've been asking you to chime in
with suggestions for stories you think your fellow listeners should
learn more about. To hit us with your best or
worst dad jokes, as well as your personal experience with
COVID nineteen, the ongoing protest, or anything else happening in
your neck of the global woods. Let us know. You
can tag hashtag Strange daily on Twitter, where you can
(13:41):
reach out to me directly. I'm at Ben Bullet hs
W on Twitter or at Ben Bullet Odd Instagram. Today's
joke comes from Matt W twenty two on Twitter. Matt writes, quote,
I ordered a chicken and an egg from Amazon. I'll
let you know end quote. Golf clap, Matt. I have
(14:02):
to say I especially enjoy the subtlety of the structure there.
Thanks for writing in, and yeah, let us know which
one comes first. Thanks as always to our super producer
Dylan Fagan, our research associate Sam T. Garden. Most importantly,
thanks to you for tuning in. I'm Ben Bully. We'll
see you tomorrow. Until then, stay strange.
Strange News Daily. It's a production of I heart media.
In a world full of bizarre events, unsolved mysteries, and
a billion stories from all corners of the globe, some
(00:22):
news gets lost in the shuffle. This is your gateway
to the stories on the fringe of the mainstream map.
These are your dispatches in the dark. I'm Ben Bolan,
and this is the Strange News Daily. Let's start with
(00:44):
some good news for our first story today. While the
media has been focused on the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, another
outbreak has received relatively little media attention. In the world
experienced the second largest outbreak of the ebola virus in
human history. At least three thousand, seven hundred and forty
(01:05):
people were confirmed to be infected, and of those infected,
nearly two thirds some two thousand, two hundred and eighty
seven people died of this disease. Now that's obviously not
the good news. But what is the good news here
is that the outbreak may finally have passed. June marked
(01:26):
forty two days after the last patient linked to the
outbreak went home from hospital. That's two full incubation periods
for this virus and with no new health cases. So far,
Congo health officials and the World Health Organization have officially
declared the outbreak over ebowl UP, which is officially known
(01:48):
as the Bowl of Virus disease or e v B,
is considered rare but extremely dangerous. The symptoms progress from
dry to wet, including things like fever, aches and pains,
including severe headaches, muscle and joint pain, and abdominal or
stomach pain. Symptoms also include weakness and fatigue. Those are
(02:11):
the dry symptoms. The wet symptoms include things like diarrhea, vomiting,
unexplained hemorrhaging, bleeding or bruising, and those who survived the
infection can carry records of their ordeal in the form
of antibodies, which remain in their system for up to
a decade after recovery. This last outbreak lasted twenty two months.
(02:37):
It was the Congo's tenth fight against ebola. Cases were
largely concentrated in two areas, the North Kivu and Uturi provinces.
Health officials struggled against militant groups as well as misinformation
in their efforts to contain the virus. In contrast to
past Ebola outbreaks, doctors already had an effective vaccine in
(03:00):
their arsenal and it helped curb case numbers at least
this time around. In that vaccine became the first and
at this point, the only vaccine to win approval from
the US Food and Drug Administration or f d A.
There are two other new treatments that also proved incredibly
effective at keeping patients alive in clinical trials. During the outbreak.
(03:24):
To curb the spread of this deadly virus, local health
workers traced two hundred and fifty thousand people who had
come into contact with infected individuals. They tested two hundred
and twenty thousand separate samples. They vaccinated three hundred and
three thousand people. According to Matshi Diesel Moti, the Regional
(03:45):
director for Africa at w h O, Congo is now better,
smarter and faster responding to a bola and this is
an enduring legacy which is supporting the response to COVID
nineteen and other outbreaks. That legacy will be inevitably tested
in the coming months as the same local health officials
continue to combat COVID nineteen as well as a measles
(04:08):
outbreak and another separate ebola outbreak that began in a
different region of the country on June one. Our second
story today. If you're like many people super producer Dylan
(04:31):
and myself included, who have had your travel plans dashed
by this pandemic, why not plan ahead for a new
and even more exhilarating adventure. If you'd like to go
to space, Russia would love to hear from you. They're
officially planning to take tourists on real life spacewalks starting
just a few years from now. In Russia's space agency,
(04:55):
ros Cosmos has announced plans to take two tourists to
the Internet National Space Station. In One of these tourists
will have the chance to carry out a spacewalk. The
individual who takes up this challenge will officially become the
first private citizen ever to experience the infinite vacuum of
open space, and they'll go down in history books as
(05:19):
one of the pioneers of space tourism. The trip will
be assisted by spacecraft manufacturer Energy A. It's the prime
developer for Russia's crewed space flight program. In recent days,
the firm signed a contract with the US based company
called Space Adventures. Space Adventures has previously arranged for seven
(05:40):
private tourists to visit the I S S aboard Russian spacecraft.
This company, Space Adventures hasn't revealed the price tag for
this experience yet, but experts estimate it will fall somewhere
in the tens to hundreds of millions of dollars. Not
cheap seats by any means up in till NASA launched
(06:01):
its first rocket from US soil in nearly a decade.
Last month, NASA was paying eighty million dollars per seat
to Russia to launch its astronauts to the International Space Station.
So let's say you're a perspective buyer. The process is
not as simple as ponying up the cash and hopping
on a space shuttle. Instead, the buyers are screened for suitability,
(06:25):
and the chosen candidate will have to undergo six months
of training at Russia's Star City complex before they ever
head into orbit. They'll be accompanied on their space walk
by a Russian cosmonaut. It will take about ninety minutes
to complete the walk, and the civilian astronaut will have
to spend an extra week aboard the I S S
conducting various activities related to the walk. Needless to say,
(06:50):
this is something that no one wants to see go wrong.
These companies aren't the only firms in the game for
this next level of space tourism. Numerous other groups are
currently hatching plans to send civilians into space. For example,
space x plans to take private citizens to I S
S just next year. They'll be traveling aboard the Crew Dragon.
(07:12):
That's the spacecraft you probably saw in the news. It
recently launched American astronauts into space from US soil. This
was the first ever commercial crew program mission. The company
is also hoping to take a group of tourists on
a trip around the Moon literally in three so if
everything goes according to plan, this is shaping up to
(07:34):
be a groundbreaking year. Now, let's talk turkey. If you
feel like a hundred or so million dollars is just
out of your price range, that's completely reasonable, But it
doesn't mean your chances of going to space have been
knocked down to zero. You can go to space for
a much cheaper price without all the hassle of training
(07:57):
to be a cosmonaut or astronaut. All you have to
do is hop on a space balloon and will take
you one thousand feet up into the Stratosphere for a
bargain basement admission ticket price of only a hundred and
twenty five thousand dollars, which is still admittedly a little
bit more expensive than an Airbnb by the Beach. Our
(08:29):
third story today is disturbing and as such may not
be suitable for all listeners. On June, a pair of
black children missing for days from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, were found
by a search party of civilian residents who banded together
after police had decided against issuing child abduction emergency alerts
(08:52):
or AMBER alerts for them. This unfolded against the backdrop
of an alleged child sex trafficking ring. The girl as
relatives suspected that children may have been abducted to be
part of this ring. These girls first went missing the
Sunday earlier, but according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, a
(09:12):
police spokesperson said that the thirteen and fifteen year old
girls cases had quote not been considered critical missing and
did not meet the criteria for an Amber alert. Local
media was presenting this story as one of the police
being victims of violence from civil unrest. Affiliate Fox six
reported that seven police officers one firefighter were hurt in
(09:35):
addition to at least three people being shot not by police,
following a series of fires that were set in the area. However,
social media told a different story. On Facebook, a local photographer,
Amanda Press offered her own account of the case. This
ultimately and thankfully resulted in the reported safe rescue of
(09:57):
these girls. Press painted a pick sure of racist policing
that worked to serve a particular agenda. She said that
one of the missing girls mothers tracked her daughter's phone
to a house on North Street and West Lloyd Street,
and the mother alerted police about it, but the authorities
reportedly never responded. This prompted a search party of civilians.
(10:21):
Press writes, quote a group of neighbors showed up at
the house to knock on the door and look for
the girls, and when they did, shots were fired at
them from inside. Then the police showed up arrested the
people who were shooting from within the house, but claimed
to not see any evidence of the girls there and
left the scene. Press later added that quote the house
is connected with a known sexual predator, and it was
(10:43):
suspected that the girls have been lured or grabbed for
sex trafficking. A community activist named Vaughan L. May's recorded
several videos of this account and streamed it live on
Facebook in conjunction with the missing Person m k E account.
That's a social network that was created in February quote
(11:04):
because there is a clear bias and selective culture practice
when it comes to issuing timely amber alerts and missing
person reports in Milwaukee for POC, standing for persons of color.
After the house was set on fire, press reports, a
search party of neighbors, not police, found the two missing
girls along with two other missing children around four pm.
(11:27):
They were following neighbors tips from house to house that
appeared to be a quote, straight up sex trafficking ring.
They were doing this, press writes while dozens of police
officers were on seen doing nothing but harassing and intimidating residents.
Police on the scene and started using tear gas and
rubber bullets on angry neighbors who were doing their jobs
for them. Milwaukee p D originally said it cannot confirm
(11:51):
allegations of a sex trafficking ring and that an investigation
had started. The police chief also condemned the residents who
were involved in this search. Milwaukee Police Chief Alfonso Morales
called it quote, vigilantism and an unruly crowd. Despite the
fact that the crowd reportedly did find the girls. Rallis continued, saying,
(12:13):
what you had today is vigilantism. You had people take
the law into their own hands and run off on
information that has not been proven. We need to investigate that.
That's what the police are here for. For the record,
the Department of Justice has issued guidelines for Amber alerts,
including five pieces of recommended criteria that the missing girls
(12:36):
case seemed to fit. A community organizer named Frank Nitty
calls this day of victory, saying it helped bring attention
to the missing children. Milwaukee police did confirm two children
who had been missing, one thirteen years old and one
fifteen years old, had been located and are currently with
their families. Police also added that during interviews, these girls
(12:58):
denied ever being at the house in question, the one
that was later set on fire, or knowing anyone who
lived there, and they added there was no evidence supporting
human trafficking at the house. However, at the time of
this recording, numerous local activists and activists in the Greater
Milwaukee area are not satisfied by the official explanation that's
(13:21):
all for now. We've been asking you to chime in
with suggestions for stories you think your fellow listeners should
learn more about. To hit us with your best or
worst dad jokes, as well as your personal experience with
COVID nineteen, the ongoing protest, or anything else happening in
your neck of the global woods. Let us know. You
can tag hashtag Strange daily on Twitter, where you can
(13:41):
reach out to me directly. I'm at Ben Bullet hs
W on Twitter or at Ben Bullet Odd Instagram. Today's
joke comes from Matt W twenty two on Twitter. Matt writes, quote,
I ordered a chicken and an egg from Amazon. I'll
let you know end quote. Golf clap, Matt. I have
(14:02):
to say I especially enjoy the subtlety of the structure there.
Thanks for writing in, and yeah, let us know which
one comes first. Thanks as always to our super producer
Dylan Fagan, our research associate Sam T. Garden. Most importantly,
thanks to you for tuning in. I'm Ben Bully. We'll
see you tomorrow. Until then, stay strange.
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