Brand Logo
Texas floods tragedy, Musk's new political party and mushroom murders verdict

 
Today's national story

Search for survivors continues after Texas floods

What happened
Authorities in central Texas are looking for dozens of people still missing after Friday's devastating pre-dawn floods caused the banks of Kerr County's Guadalupe River to collapse. A total of 82 people are confirmed dead, including 28 children. Houses and cars were swept away and fast-moving waters engulfed a Christian summer camp where 750 people were staying. 

Who said what
The wait for news has been "agonizing" for Camp Mystic's "tight-knit community of parents and alumni," The New York Times said. Many of the campers have emerged with "harrowing but piecemeal stories of the torrential rains." Some spoke of being woken in the night and having to "wade through rushing water" to higher ground. Authorities this morning said 10 campers and a counselor were still missing.

President Donald Trump, who yesterday signed a major disaster declaration to unlock federal aid for those affected, said the families were "enduring an unimaginable tragedy."

As the search continues, the "scale of the disaster" has led to questions about "whether more could have been done to warn people in the path of the floodwaters," The Texas Tribune said. In recent years, Texas has been "at the epicenter" of extreme weather disasters exacerbated by above-average ocean temperatures and moist air, "two results of global warming," said Bloomberg. 

What next?
Flood watches remain in effect throughout the region, with slow-moving thunderstorms expected to bring another 3 to 4 inches of rain. 

 
 
Today's politics story

Elon Musk launching 'America Party'

What happened
The feud between President Donald Trump and Elon Musk escalated over the weekend after the tech billionaire announced he is forming a new political party. In a post on X on Saturday, Musk said his America Party would "crack the uniparty system." The move was in response to the passage of the GOP's budget bill, signed into law by Trump on Friday, which would "bankrupt the country," Musk said.  

Who said what
Trump yesterday told reporters that his former ally's decision to bankroll a new party was "ridiculous." Musk has gone "off the rails" and is a "TRAIN WRECK," the president said on Truth Social.

The Tesla boss undoubtedly has "deep pockets," Reuters said, but "breaking the Republican-Democratic duopoly will be a tall order." And his political ambitions are in "exactly the opposite direction that most Tesla investors want him to take during this crucial period" for the company, said Dan Ives, a tech analyst with Wedbush Securities, on X yesterday.

What next?
Musk's investors will be watching closely to see if Trump follows through on his threat to stop the flow of billions of dollars in government subsidies to the tycoon's companies. Tesla shares dropped more than 7% in premarket trading this morning.  

 
 
Today's international Story

Australian woman guilty of mushroom murders

What happened
A jury in Australia today found Erin Patterson (pictured above) guilty of murdering three of her estranged husband's relatives by serving them Beef Wellingtons laced with toxic death cap mushrooms. Her husband's parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and aunt, Heather Wilkinson, died in the days following the family lunch in July 2023. Wilkinson's husband was also severely ill after eating the meal but survived. 

Who said what
The so-called mushroom murders case has gripped Australia, and "drew comparisons to an Agatha Christie novel or TV murder mystery," said The Washington Post. The prosecution said that Patterson, 50, lured her guests to dine at her home in Leongatha, a few hours outside Melbourne, by lying about having cancer. Her estranged husband declined, but she deliberately poisoned his family and embarked on a "sustained cover-up," the jury heard in Victoria state's Supreme Court. 

Patterson pleaded not guilty to the charges and insisted the deaths were accidental. Her defense team said the prosecution's case was "ridiculous" and "convoluted." But the jury agreed with the prosecution that she "deliberately picked the mushrooms used in the meal," CNN said. 

What next?
Patterson will be sentenced at a later date and faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. 

 
 

It's not all bad

Weight-loss drugs containing GLP-1s, like Wegovy and Mounjaro, reduce the risk of 42 health conditions in people with diabetes, including dementia and infections, according to a study published in Nature Medicine. Researchers from Washington University in St. Louis made the discoveries while analyzing the records of more than 1.4 million diabetic patients. The team, puzzled by the reduced risk of infections, has called for further trials of the medications to confirm their broader potential.

 
 
Under the radar

How global conflicts are reshaping flight paths

Air travel is being "redirected" by the world's ongoing military clashes. Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, commercial flights have been forced to divert around Ukraine, while most Western airlines have been banned from using Russian airspace. 

Meanwhile, the onset of missile strikes between Israel and Iran caused dozens of flights to busy Middle Eastern airports like Doha's to be diverted or cancelled. Live aviation tracking maps also show "gaping holes" over Israel, Iraq and Iran, said CNN. 

These significant reroutes place a "bigger burden on airlines' bottom lines and on the environment," said The Guardian. Airlines are being forced to "respond rapidly" to the changing geopolitical landscape. Pilots are increasingly finding themselves "sharing the skies with barrages of drones and missiles" near conflict areas and continually responding to the changing threats from events on the ground.

Airlines are making these diversions and absorbing the extra costs to avoid the "worst-case scenario" — a plane "accidentally or intentionally" being brought down by missiles, said Reuters. The industry "prides itself" on safety, so carriers are "racking up costs and losing market share from cancelled flights and expensive reroutings, often at short notice." 

For passengers, navigating the inconvenience of a sudden change to or cancellation of a flight is becoming increasingly difficult. "Tens of thousands of passengers" were stranded at Doha's Hamad International Airport last month after it was abruptly closed, said travel expert Simon Calder at The Independent, and it took "days to clear the backlog."

 
 
On this day

July 7, 1928

A local bakery in Chillicothe, Missouri, started selling the first pre-sliced bread. The bakery produced the loaves using a prototype bread-cutting machine that created uniform slices. Within five years, pre-sliced loaves accounted for 80% of all bread sold in the U.S., and pre-sliced still dominates the market today. 

 
 
TODAY'S newspaperS

The "magnitude" of the Texas flood disaster has "exposed gaps" in the state's "ability to warn people" and renewed calls for a "better monitoring system," The Washington Post says on Monday's front page. Dozens "still missing," The Boston Globe says, as the search for "survivors" and "answers" continues. "Agony" of families affected by Camp Mystic flooding "felt deeply across Texas," says The New York Times. In devastated Kerrville, the community has "come together in prayer" as faith and grief "intertwine," The Dallas Morning News says. Elsewhere, the "fight goes on over teaching ethnic studies in S.F. schools," the San Francisco Chronicle says.

► See the newspaper front pages

 
 
Tall tale

Get thee to a nunnery

Brat Summer is so last year — 2025 is all about Convent Summer, with social media influencers extolling the virtues of swapping a girls' beach trip for a monastic retreat. "Vows of silence that allow people to disconnect" appear to be a major draw for those booking stays at convents and monasteries, said Euronews. TikToker @mc667868 reported that the nunnery she visited last year is now booked out for months, with a long waiting list.

 
 

Morning Report was written and edited by Nadia Croes, Catherine Garcia, Jessica Hullinger, Justin Klawans, Hollie Clemence, Summer Meza, Chas Newkey-Burden, Devika Rao, Rafi Schwartz, Peter Weber, Kari Wilkin and Richard Windsor, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly and Julia Wytrazek.

Image credits, from top: Ronaldo Schemidt / AFP / Getty Images; Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images; Martin Keep / AFP via Getty Images; Illustration by Julia Wytrazek / Getty Images