A massive strike at U.S. East and Gulf Coast ports has ended | The Excerpt

On Friday's episode of The Excerpt podcast: A massive strike at U.S. East and Gulf Coast ports has ended. Former Memphis police officers have been found guilty of witness tampering in Tyre Nichols' fatal beating. Tennessean Investigative Reporter Kelly Puente reports from North Carolina, where the National Guard is working to assist devastated communities. Two California dairy workers have been infected with bird flu. Barbie releases a new doll for Diwali.

Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

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Taylor Wilson:

Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson, and today is Friday, October 4th, 2024. This is The Excerpt. Today, the court workers strike has come to an end. Plus, former Memphis police officers have been found guilty of witness tampering in the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols. And how the National Guard is reaching remote communities after Helene.

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A union representing US dock workers and port operators has reached a tentative deal on wages that will end a three-day strike that has shut down shipping on the US East Coast and Gulf Coast. That's according to the International Longshoremen's Association Union and the United States Maritime Alliance yesterday. The agreement extends the master contract between the union and port operators until January 15th of next year, allowing negotiations to continue on other aspects of the contract. A joint statement did not specify what wages were agreed upon or the other terms that required negotiation. The statement said that effective immediately, all work covered by the master contract will resume. The tentative agreement is for a wage hike of around 62% over 60 years, the Bergen Record, a part of the USA TODAY network, reported. The Workers' Union had been seeking a 77% raise, while the employer group previously raised its offer to a nearly 50% hike. The deal ends the biggest work stoppage of its kind in nearly half a century, which threatened shortages of everything from bananas to auto parts.

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Three former Memphis officers were convicted yesterday of federal witness tampering charges in connection with the death of Tyre Nichols. The 29-year-old Black man was violently beaten during a traffic stop in 2023. After some five hours of deliberations, two former officers were acquitted of federal civil rights violations, and one former officer was acquitted on the most severe charge, violating Nichols' civil rights causing death. But a jury found Demetrius Haley guilty of using excessive force, being deliberately indifferent to Nichols' medical needs, and conspiring to witness tamper and witness tampering. While Haley was found guilty on all counts, the jury found that the first two counts, using excessive force and being deliberately indifferent to Nichols' medical needs, resulted in injury not death and convicted him on lesser charges. Tadarrius Bean and Justin Smith Jr. were found guilty of witness tampering. They were charged alongside former officers, Emmitt Martin III and Desmond Mills Jr. Both Martin and Mills took deals, pleading guilty to using excessive force and conspiring to witness tamper, ahead of trial and testified for the prosecution at trial. All three convicted former officers were immediately taken into custody and a hearing will be held Monday to determine if they can be released on bond before their sentencing. A sentencing hearing is set for January. Both of Nichols' parents said they were happy to see that the officers who beat their son will be going to federal prison.

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RowVaughn Wells:

This has been a long journey for our family. I'm actually in shock right now because I still can't believe all this stuff is going on, but we're happy that they all have been convicted and they have been arrested.

Taylor Wilson:

That's his mother, RowVaughn Wells. And Tyre's sister, Keyana Dixon, said that she'll never get her little brother back, but that seeing officers held accountable gives her hope for the future that maybe this won't happen to another family.

The death toll from Hurricane Helene has passed 200, and communities across the southeast, particularly in parts of Western North Carolina remain without adequate food and water, while electricity and internet service are sparse with no word when they will return for thousands of residents. Members of the North Carolina National Guard this week have been rushing desperately needed supplies to areas ravaged and cut off in the aftermath of the storm. Tennessean investigative reporter, Kelly Puente has seen the destruction first-hand this week while traveling and reporting around North Carolina. I spoke with Kelly to learn more about the National Guard efforts and what's next.

Kelly, I thank you so much for joining me on The Excerpt today.

Kelly Puente:

Great. Thanks for having me. Appreciate it.

Taylor Wilson:

So Kelly, you're out in the field in Western North Carolina. Really, what have you seen, what have you heard over the past few days as communities try and restart after Helene?

Kelly Puente:

Right now I'm in the town of Swannanoa. It's just east of Asheville. This town was obliterated. I'm in a neighborhood where it has 77 homes; only 11 were left inhabitable. The floodwaters were so high that people had to climb up to their attics to escape the waters; and then neighbors were going around in canoes and kayaks, punching holes into their roof to help people escape from their attics. Some people had to swim down, they were telling me, and break holes into their windows to get out of their homes. It was a perfect storm in this one little neighborhood, because the floodwaters came down from the mountain but then also up from the river. So they were almost getting hit on both sides. Unreal.

The town today is caked in mud and residents are just pushing forward, scooping out mud and paving pathways to get into their houses. I don't think anybody thought that the floodwaters and the hurricane situation would hit the way that it did out here. The big problem is the flooding in these small mountain communities. There's these tiny towns that are basically like virtual little islands. They've been cut off from the world, and the rescue workers and aid are having trouble getting to them. So there's people with no cell service, no running water, no access to medication. It's pretty harrowing.

Taylor Wilson:

So Kelly, how are members of the North Carolina National Guard really assisting recovery efforts in this part of North Carolina this week?

Kelly Puente:

So the National Guard, along with other efforts, are loading up supplies. They have water, they have diapers, they have meal kits, and they're basically going into these small towns that have no access and air-lifting supplies in. When we get there, the look on people's faces, they're just so relieved and grateful.

We stopped in this one town called Fairview, about 20 minutes east of Asheville, and actually one of the National Guards, he was a member of the church where they dropped off supplies and he got to hug his pastor. He was a parishioner, and he had to fight back tears delivering supplies to his own church. And this town of Fairview, they were so relieved to see water because they had been drinking well water, and they hadn't been getting any cell service or hearing the concerns about not to drink well water. So that's how cut off people are here.

Taylor Wilson:

I mean, just super-emotional and powerful that some of these National Guard members come from the same area as these same communities that they're helping this week.

President Joe Biden announced this week that he's dispatching troops to reinforce this National Guard effort. What works does this entail, and how necessary is this?

Kelly Puente:

This is imperative from what I've seen, because a lot of people are saying that they're not getting enough help, they're not seeing enough government, military presence here. There's still people in the mountains, that we're hearing, that need rescue, they need aid. So on the ground here, people are saying as much help as they can get; anything would be good.

Taylor Wilson:

And going forward, I mean, is this a matter of the next few days, the next few weeks? How long are we talking about for some of these recovery efforts? Just really what is next for this part of North Carolina?

Kelly Puente:

This situation is dire. One of the biggest concerns is the water system in Asheville. There's no word on when they're going to be able to get running water back into the town. The whole water system has been obliterated, so they're having to ship in bottled water. It's a nightmare, and it's scary to think how they're going to move forward without running water. It may be a couple of weeks. The news changes daily. It's pretty concerning, especially in some of these smaller areas too.

Taylor Wilson:

It's a distressing time. Kelly Puente is an investigative reporter with the Tennessean part of the USA TODAY network. Thank you, Kelly.

Kelly Puente:

Great. Thank you.

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Taylor Wilson:

Two California dairy workers have been infected with bird flu, state and federal health officials announced yesterday evening. The case has marked California's first human infections amid outbreaks across the US that have now infected 16 people this year. There's no known link between the workers, who were at different dairy farms with infected animals. In a news release, the CDC said this suggested cows which have been getting infected with H5N1 avian influenza in California then passed bird flu to the workers. The two workers had mild symptoms, including eye redness, according to the California Department of Public Health. This symptom has been seen among other livestock workers infected with bird flu in the US. Federal and state health officials have said the risk to the general public is still low.

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With Diwali a little less than a month away, celebrations for the Hindu Festival of Lights have begun, and Mattel today is unveiling a new Diwali special Barbie. The doll will be dressed by famous Indian designer, Anita Dongre. According to Mattel, the limited edition doll blends tradition with Barbie's place in global fashion while celebrating India's cultural richness. Designing the outfit took more than a year and several prototypes before a midnight blue outfit with Dongre's signature print inspired by nature was selected, the fashion designer told USA TODAY earlier this week. You can read more and check out pictures of the special edition Barbie with a link in today's show notes.

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Thanks for listening to The Excerpt. We're produced by Shannon Rae Green and Kaely Monahan, and our executive producer is Laura Beatty. You can get the podcast wherever you get your audio, and if you're on a smart speaker, just ask for The Excerpt. I'm Taylor Wilson, and I'll be back tomorrow with more of The Excerpt from USA TODAY.