Page 4 - aruba-today-20220618

A4 U.S. NEWS
Saturday 18 June 2022
Montana governor under fire for vacationing during flood

By MATTHEW BROWN and in Argentina.
AMY BETH HANSON Montana reporters started
Associated Press asking more questions after
RED LODGE, Mont. (AP) — noticing Lt. Gov. Kristen Ju-
As punishing floods tore ras' signature on the flood-
through Yellowstone Na- disaster declaration.
tional Park and neighbor- "Truthfully, it speaks for it-
ing Montana communities, self. It just does," Demo-
the state's governor was cratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester
nowhere to be seen. of Montana said of the
In the immediate after- governor's AWOL status as
math, the state issued a he toured flood damage
disaster declaration at- in Red Lodge on Friday.
tributed to the Republican "When you're in public ser-
governor, but for some rea- vice, there are things that
son it carried the lieutenant take precedent, and this is
governor's signature. pretty important."
It wasn't until Wednesday Gianforte finally toured the
— more than 48 hours after flood zone Friday but didn't
the flood hit the state — address his absence. He in-
that Gov. Greg Gianforte's stead encouraged visitors
office acknowledged he to still come to the Yellow-
was out of the country, A sunken vehicle rests in front of home where volunteers are cleaning out a flooded basement stone region.
though it wouldn't say ex- Thursday, June 16, 2022, in Red Lodge, Mont. "Here's a very simple mes-
actly where he was, citing Associated Press sage for people that have
unspecified security con- planned trips to Yellow-
cerns. dark about where he was pleaded guilty to misde- But Gianforte's critics seized stone Park: We're open.
Gianforte finally returned and who was actually in meanor assault. on his mysterious disap- You've got to come. There's
on Thursday night from charge," said Sheila Ho- While Gianforte was away, pearance and started so much to do in Montana,"
what his office said was a gan, executive director of Montana's lieutenant gov- the mocking social media he said. "The vitality of our
vacation with his wife in Ita- the Montana Democratic ernor served as acting gov- hashtag #WhereIsGreg. communities depend on
ly. But he found himself fac- Party. ernor. Montanans and others it, and your families need
ing a torrent of criticism for Gianforte, 61, is a tech And in Gianforte's de- traded wisecracks about what we have in Montana."
not hurrying home sooner mogul elected governor fense, his office said he was Gianforte and the Appala- The floods washed away
and for not telling the pub- two years ago. He made briefed regularly about the chian Trail — a reference to roads, bridges and houses
lic his whereabouts during headlines when he body- flooding, which caused former South Carolina Gov. and closed all of Yellow-
the emergency. slammed a reporter the widespread damage to Mark Sanford, who disap- stone, threatening some
"In a moment of unprec- day before winning a seat small communities in the peared in 2009 and had his of the communities on the
edented disaster and in Congress in a 2017 spe- southern part of the state staff tell reporters he was park's outskirts that depend
economic uncertainty, cial election. He initially and had threatened to cut hiking the Appalachian heavily on tourists visiting
Gianforte purposefully misled investigators about off fresh water to Billings, Trail while he was actually one of America's most be-
kept Montanans in the the attack but eventually the state's largest city. having a tryst with his lover loved natural attractions.q

Alaska officials release new details on milk, sealant mix-up

tary school in which officials products until this week," fast." Shortly after breakfast,
say 12 students and two when the district's food ser- students "complained of
adults drank the floor seal- vice contractor "ran short the 'milk' tasting bad" and
ant. on milk and sent staff to re- burning their mouths and
Juneau School District chief trieve shelf stable milk," the throats, and it was "quickly
of staff Kristin Bartlett said by statement said. discovered" that what was
email Friday that as the in- On Tuesday, three boxes of served was a "slightly scent-
vestigation has progressed, floor sealant were picked ed liquid floor sealant re-
school officials "have been up from the warehouse by sembling milk."
able to get clarification on the contractor, with one "Staff immediately directed
some of the details of what delivered to the summer students to stop consum-
happened." program, the statement ing the substance and re-
The district in a statement said. The others were deliv- moved it," the statement
late Thursday said it now ered to two other schools said.
understands that in the and remained unopened, Twelve students and two
The Glacier Valley Elementary School is seen in Juneau, Alaska, spring of 2021, a pallet of according to the state- adults each ingested up
on Tuesday, June 14, 2022. floor sealant was mistakenly ment. to three ounces of the floor
Associated Press delivered to a district food Bartlett said the boxes sealant, the statement
commodity warehouse at "were marked with a label said. Poison control was
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — not on the same pallet as the same time as four pal- that said Seal 341." contacted for instructions,
School district officials in first believed. lets of shelf stable milk. The According to the district but the district said a delay
Alaska investigating how A number of agencies are warehouse is intended for statement, a worker with in parental notification was
students at a summer child- involved in the ongoing in- food items only. the contractor "took the "longer than it should have
care program were served vestigation into Tuesday's "The pallet of floor seal- box of floor sealant and been" and caused fami-
floor sealant instead of milk incident at a summer pro- ant remained untouched poured its contents into lies to learn of the incident
say the two products were gram at a Juneau elemen- in storage with other food cups to be served at break- from other sources.q