
'A lot more' than 700,000 people are still in the dark a week after Hurricane Ida swept through Louisiana, governor says
CNN
More than 700,000 people in Louisiana woke up in the dark Saturday as power restoration persists in being a difficult feat after Hurricane Ida battered the state.
"Electricity is one of the biggest challenges that we have across Southeast Louisiana. ... There's not an even rate of restoration going on, and that's always going to be the case. I'm always happy to see people getting powered up, and some people are going to be quite a while," Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said Saturday. The total number of customers without power as of noon Saturday was 718,559, which includes homes and businesses that equate "a lot more" people, Edwards said at a news conference in Livingston Parish. That's down from a peak of 1.1 million customers without power after the Category 4 hurricane made landfall last Sunday.
The Trump administration is preparing to use private military contractors to protect oil and energy assets in Venezuela rather than deploying US troops, according to two sources familiar with the plans, setting up a potential boon for security firms with experience in the region and ties to the administration.

Maria Corina Machado, the Venezuelan opposition leader and 2025 Nobel Peace Prize winner, arrives in Washington this week for high-stakes talks with US President Donald Trump on the future of Venezuela following the ouster of Nicolás Maduro. The meeting comes after Trump surprised many by allowing Maduro’s vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, to assume control, dashing opposition hopes for a new democratic era.

Most Americans see an immigration officer’s fatal shooting of Minneapolis resident Renee Good as an inappropriate use of force, a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS finds. Roughly half view it as a sign of broader issues with the way US Immigration and Customs Enforcement is operating, with less than one-third saying that ICE operations have made cities safer.










