Afternoon Update: Pfizer Plant Destroyed By Tornado, Carlee Russell Latest, Tony Bennett Dead

This article is adapted from today’s Morning Wire Afternoon Update. To listen to the podcast version, click here.

Pfizer Plant Destroyed By Tornado

A North Carolina Pfizer pharmaceutical plant that makes anesthesia drugs suffered heavy damage from a Tornado earlier this week. Pfizer confirmed that the large manufacturing complex was damaged by a twister that touched down shortly after midday near Rocky Mount. The company went on to say in an email that it had no reports of serious injuries and all employees were safely evacuated and accounted for.

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Carlee Russell Latest

The boyfriend of Carlee Russell, the Alabama woman who disappeared mysteriously for two days last week — has wiped all traces of her from his social media. The Facebook page of Thomar Latrell Simmons was once filled with photos of him and Russell, but now those photos have been removed, the New York Post reported. The picture purge came hours after Hoover police revealed some strange internet searches that Carlee had done days before going missing, including a movie about an abduction and whether she was too old to be the subject of an Amber Alert.

Russian Prosecutors Move To Imprison Navalny

Russian prosecutors have asked a court to imprison opposition leader Alexei Navalny for 20 years, the Associated Press reported. According to allies of Navalny, the trial, which went on behind closed doors in the prison where the politician is serving another lengthy sentence, is scheduled to conclude with a verdict on August 4. The 47-year-old opposition leader is President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest foe who exposed official corruption and organized major anti-Kremlin protests. He was arrested in January 2021 upon returning to Moscow after recuperating in Germany from nerve agent poisoning that he blames on the Kremlin.

Tony Bennett Dead

Tony Bennett, a singer whose persona and warmth embraced audiences for decades, died today at his home in Manhattan. He was 96. His publicist, Sylvia Weiner, announced his death. His interpretations of musical standards helped spread the American songbook around the world, reeling in tons of fans. Bennett was perhaps best known for singing “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.”

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Little Girl Gets $800k For McNugget Burn

In Fort Lauderdale, Florida, a jury awarded an 8-year-old girl and her family $800,000 after the child suffered second-degree burns due to a hot Chicken McNugget that scalded her leg in 2019. The injury happened as her mother was pulling out of the drive-thru, causing the extremely hot McNugget to land on the child’s lap. Attorneys were seeking $15 million in damages.

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One Winning Ticket For $1 Billion Powerball

A winning ticket has been sold in California for the Powerball jackpot worth an estimated $1.08 billion, the sixth largest in U.S. history and the third largest in the history of the game. The California Lottery said on Twitter that the winning ticket was sold in Los Angeles at Las Palmitas Mini Market.

California has a new Powerball BILLIONAIRE! One lucky ticket sold at Las Palmitas Mini Market in Los Angeles was the only ticket across the country to match all 6 numbers in the July 19 #Powerball draw, winning the $1 Billion Powerball jackpot 🎉 🙌 👏 🤩. (1/3) pic.twitter.com/v3Ae41uyNC

— California Lottery (@calottery) July 20, 2023

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