Social media users were left stunned on Tuesday after Instagram account Celeb Spellcheck shared a series of magazine covers, including an old Ralph cover with Jennifer Hawkins looking ‘barely recognisable’.
The cover, which was from 2004, featured the former Miss Universe Australia posing for the cameras in a red bikini.
Jennifer Hawkins is ‘barely recognisable’ in a resurfaced magazine cover shared by Instagram account Celeb Spellcheck. Photo: Getty
“Jennifer Hawkins, Mistress of the Universe!” the headline read.
Instagram users were shocked at how different Jennifer looked, with one user writing, “Wow Jen Hawkins is unrecognizable.”
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“Bloody hell didn’t even realize it was her!” another agreed. “How does she look so different? How old was she here?!”
“I would never have known that was Jen Hawkins!” a third said.
“Didn’t recognize Jen Hawkins 😮,” someone else added.
Social media users had no idea it was Jennifer until they saw her name on the cover. Photo: Ralph Magazine via Instagram/Celeb Spellcheck
“Doesn’t even look like her,” yet another agreed, with one person adding, “She’s barely recognizable in that pic ay.”
Others joked that the early 2000s was the “golden era of Photoshop” and that the magazine covers were “honestly iconic.”
“Before lip fillers, eyebrow feathering and Botox,” another said.
Jen has never revealed whether or not she’s had any plastic surgery, instead saying, ‘I am happy with who I am as a person and really just want to live my life.’ Photo: Getty
Jennifer appears to have fuller lips and thicker brows nowadays, however, the model has never admitted to having any work done, telling The Australian Women’s Weekly in 2014, “When someone says ‘under the knife’ I don’t have a reaction.”
“Everyone in the industry gets that. That’s fine. I’m cool with that. I’m cool with people having an opinion, but as I said, I am happy with who I am as a person and really just want to live my life.” life.”
She’s also previously told The Daily Telegraph it’s a personal choice to get plastic surgery, saying, “Each to their own!”
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Attorneys for Robert E. “Bobby” Crimo III entered a not guilty plea at his arraignment in Lake County Circuit Court Wednesday after a grand jury indicted him on 117 felony counts for the July Fourth mass shooting in Highland Park that killed seven people and wounded dozens of others.
During the hearing, Judge Victoria Rossetti informed Crimo, 21, of the range of sentences he could face, including natural life if he is convicted of first-degree murder. Manacled at the waist, wearing dark jail scrubs and a mask, Crimo answered in a clear voice that he understood.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed to return to court Nov. 1 for a case management conference.
Authorities allege Crimo, who grew up in Highland Park, climbed onto a store building and fired more than 80 rounds from an assault-style rifle into the crowd along the city’s Independence Day parade route before escaping in the ensuing chaos.
Police said Crimo disguised himself as a woman and dropped the rifle before escaping.
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He was arrested later that day after a police officer spotted him driving in North Chicago. Police have said that following the Highland Park shooting, Crimo drove to the vicinity of Madison, Wisconsin, where he allegedly contemplated attacking another gathering.
Meanwhile, officials in Highland Park, which bans the possession of assault-style rifles and large-capacity magazines within city limits, are pressing for a similar prohibition at the state level. Numerous legislators are co-sponsoring a bill to that effect and Gov. JB Pritzker has endorsed the concept.
Last week, Democratic House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch announced the formation of a working group devoted to firearm safety and reform, saying he wanted “to take a balanced and research-driven approach to meaningfully reform our laws in Illinois.”
Check back for updates.
Freelance reporter Cliff Ward contributed to this story.
Neighbors star Olympia Valance showed off her incredible figure in a skimpy baby blue bikini in Mykonos on Monday.
The former soap actress, 29, looked stunning as she enjoyed some fun in the sun on the popular Greek island.
Olympia appeared to be having the time of her life with her former AFL star husband Tom Bellchambers, 33, who donned matching blue swim shorts.
Olympia Valance (pictured) looked sensational in a bikini as she enjoyed her sun-soaked honeymoon in Mykonos with husband Tom Bellchambers on Monday
Olympia appeared delighted as she waded into the water for a refreshing dip.
At one point, the brunette bombshell appeared to flick her hair back and squeeze the salty sea from her famous locks.
She then tied her tresses into a chic ponytail, as she continued to frolic in the Aegean Sea.
Olympia’s sensational curves were on full display as she paddled in her sizzling swimwear.
Olympia appeared delighted as she waded into the water for a refreshing dip
The former soap actress, 29, looked stunning as she enjoyed some fun in the sun on the popular Greek island
At one point, the brunette bombshell appeared to flick her hair back and squeeze the salty sea from her famous locks
Olympia ensured she was comfortable for her day in the sea
She then tied her tresses into a chic ponytail, as she continued to frolic in the Aegean Sea
It wasn’t long before Tom joined his beautiful wife for a dip.
The couple waded in the shallows and lovingly looked at each other, as holidaymakers buzzed round them.
Olympia soon draped her arms around Tom as the couple shared a laugh.
The Playing for Keeps star’s skin started to show signs of being sun-kissed as she paddled in the crystal clear waters.
It wasn’t long before Tom joined his beautiful wife for a dip. Both pictured
The couple waded in the shallows and lovingly looked at each other, as holidaymakers buzzed round them
Olympia soon draped her arms around Tom as the couple shared a laugh
The lovers shared a kiss as they cooled off, with Olympia’s sparkler on full display
The Playing for Keeps star’s skin started to show signs of being sun-kissed as she paddled in the crystal clear waters
After their paddle, the newlyweds relaxed beneath the shade of a beach umbrella and took in the sights and sounds around them.
Olympia donned sunglasses for the occasion, as she surveyed the beach with a refreshing drink.
Olympia and Tom’s beachside frolic comes after she and sister Holly celebrated the highly anticipated finale of Neighbours.
After their paddle, the newlyweds relaxed beneath the shade of a beach umbrella and took in the sights and sounds around them
Olympia looked divine as she quenched her thirst
Olympia donned sunglasses for the occasion, as she surveyed the beach with a refreshing drink
The pair were pictured drinking Champagne at sunset after the soap bid farewell.
‘WOW. So that’s it, the last episode ever of Neighbours. What an end of an era for us all.’
She added in reference to their characters on the show: ‘Big love from Greece, Flick and Paige.’
Holly began her career on Neighbors as Felicity ‘Flick’ Scully back in 1999.
Olympia and Tom’s beachside frolic comes after she and sister Holly (right) celebrated the highly anticipated finale of Neighbours. The pair were pictured drinking Champagne at sunset after the soap bid farewell
Holly left the soap in 2002 to begin her music career, producing hits including Kiss Kiss and Down Boy.
However, she’s mostly retreated from the spotlight since marrying billionaire Nick Candy.
Olympia meanwhile played Paige Smith on Neighbors from 2014 to 2017, but reprized her role in 2020 for the 35th anniversary of the show.
Olympia and Tom couldn’t get enough of the cool water
Olympia played Paige Smith on Neighbors from 2014 to 2017, and reprized her role in 2020 for the 35th anniversary of the show
Both sisters returned to the show for the finale this week, which also saw the likes of Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan and Guy Pearce return.
Olympia recently told Greek publication Neos Kosmos: ‘Neighbours have always felt like home to me. There is a reason why everyone refers to Neighbors as the best training ground in the world.’
She said news of the show’s cancellation in March, following the loss of its main UK broadcast partner Channel 5, left her extremely sad.
Olympia recently told Greek publication Neos Kosmos, ‘Neighbours have always felt like home to me. There is a reason why everyone refers to Neighbors as the best training ground in the world’
She said news of the show’s cancellation in March, following the loss of its main UK broadcast partner Channel 5, left her extremely sad
While Donald J. Trump’s wing of the Republican Party flexed its muscle in primaries across the country on Tuesday, a remarkable victory for abortion rights in Kansas, coupled with a couple of defeats for Trump-styled candidates, suggest this year’s midterms are a trickier environment for uncompromising conservatives than Republicans once believed.
But there is a twist: In places where the night was roughest for the far right, the Republican Party may well benefit in November.
In Missouri, the defeat of former Gov. Eric Greitens in the Republican Senate primary means that the seat of Senator Roy Blunt, who is retiring, is likely to remain safely in GOP hands. And in Michigan, Tudor Dixon, a GOP candidate for governor backed by the state’s powerful DeVos family (and, in the final days, by Mr. Trump), defeated several far-right rivals to set up what could be a competitive general election against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat.
Where Trump-backed candidates prevailed, Democrats may prosper. That is especially true in Western Michigan, where a candidate endorsed by the former president, John Gibbs, narrowly beat one of the 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Mr. Trump, Representative Peter Meijer. Mr. Gibbs’s victory handed Democrats a golden opportunity to grab a seat that has been redrawn to lean toward their party.
Here are five takeaways from a big election night in Arizona, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri and Washington.
Kansas rattles the nation, and the midterms, with its abortion vote.
Voters in deep-red Kansas delivered a loud warning shot to Republicans across the country, signaling that abortion has the potential to energize voters who the GOP had hoped would remain disengaged. Democrats are likely to use the vote to try to build momentum and depict Republicans as out of step with the majority of Americans on the issue.
The vote in Kansas, which resoundingly rejected a ballot referendum that would have removed the right to abortion from the State Constitution, was the first test of Americans’ political attitudes on the issue since the Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. wade decision. It revealed that from the bluest counties to the reddest ones, abortion rights outran Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s performance of him in the state in 2020.
Abortion rights supporters marched on Saturday at the Capitol building in Topeka, Kan.Credit…Arin Yoon for The New York Times
As the polls began to close, Scott Schwab, the Kansas secretary of state, said election officials expected turnout to reach about 50 percent — far above the 36 percent that his office had predicted before Election Day, and particularly stunning for a primary in a nonpresidential election year.
It is too soon to tell the partisan breakdown, but early results indicated that the strength of the abortion rights side wasn’t limited to Democratic areas.
The referendum was rejected not only in moderate and increasingly blue areas like the Kansas City suburbs, but also in certain conservative parts of the state. Swing areas swing left.
As both parties look ahead to elections this fall in battleground states like Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona that could help decide the future of abortion rights, Kansans showed that the political winds on the issue are shifting.
Another impeachment vote loses his seat.
For much of this year, a vote in 2021 to impeach Mr. Trump for inciting the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol appeared to be a career-ending move for a House Republican.
Of the 10 who cast that vote, four retired before they could face the primary electorate. One, Representative Tom Rice of South Carolina, was defeated by a Trump-endorsed Republican. One, Representative David Valadao of California, survived a primary night to remain on the ballot in November.
Tuesday was a major defensive stand for the anti-Trump GOP, with three of the remaining four Republicans who voted for impeachment facing the former president’s wrath on the ballot. Races for two in Washington, Representatives Jaime Herrera Beutler and Dan Newhouse, were too close to call — and one, Mr. Meijer, did not survive.
There was plenty of drama. Mr. Meijer was not only battling the Trump-backed Mr. Gibbs, but also the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which spent more than $400,000 on advertising meant to lift the little-known Mr. Gibbs, in hopes that he could be more easily defeated by Hillary Scholten, the Democrat, in November.
John Gibbs waiting for results at his watch party in Wyoming, Mich., on Tuesday.Credit…Brittany Greenson for The New York Times
Ms. Beutler’s Trump-endorsed opponent, Joe Kent, is a square-jawed retired Army Ranger whose wife was killed by a suicide bomber in Syria. Mr. Kent has turned to the hard right, expressing sympathy for Jan. 6 rioters and repeating false claims of a stolen 2020 election.
The Democrats’ high-risk strategy of elevating an election-denying conspiracy theorist in Michigan worked for now: Mr. Gibbs will be the Republican nominee in a newly drawn seat that Mr. Biden would have won by nine percentage points in 2020. If Mr. Gibbs prevails in November, the recriminations against the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee will be brutal.
But if the two impeachment supporters win in Washington, it would mean that more of the 10 who faced primary voters have survived than have been defeated. Later this month, Representative Liz Cheney will be the last of the 10 to face voters.
Meanwhile, the former president’s winning streak in Republican primaries for the Senate kept rolling in Arizona, where a political newcomer, Blake Masters, captured the nomination after receiving Mr. Trump’s endorsement.
Another conspiracy theorist comes closer to overseeing elections.
If Mr. Trump’s grip on the Republican Party is loosening slightly, his false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen have persisted and spread among prominent Republican candidates. And some candidates’ primary victories on Tuesday could make the issue of democratic elections a central theme in their November general elections.
Mark Finchem, who has identified himself as a member of the Oath Keepers militia in the past and has waved around wild, false allegations of election improprieties, won the Republican nomination for secretary of state in Arizona.
He will be vying in November for a post overseeing future elections in a state that Mr. Biden narrowly won in 2020 and where election conspiracy theorists have wreaked havoc ever since.
Voting in Mesa, Ariz., on Tuesday.Credit…Rebecca Noble for The New York Times
The Arizona race for governor between Kari Lake, a conspiracy-minded, Trump-backed candidate, and Karrin Taylor Robson, a rival favored by the establishment, was too close to call. If Ms. Lake wins in addition to Mr. Finchem and Mr. Masters, it would make a clean sweep of election-denying candidates backed by the former president at the top of the ticket in Arizona.
In Missouri, the victor in the Republican primary for the state’s open Senate seat, Eric Schmitt, led several other state attorneys general in appealing to the Supreme Court in 2020 to take up and possibly throw out Mr. Biden’s election victory in Pennsylvania.
And in Michigan, Ms. Dixon, a conservative commentator who won the Republican nomination for governor, has wavered when questioned whether Mr. Biden’s 154,000-vote victory in her state was legitimate.
Election officials are also still fighting the conspiracy theories. In Michigan, prominent election deniers who have clung to the falsehoods of a stolen 2020 presidential contest have organized to sign up as poll workers and have forced officials to respond to a string of specific claims and concerns about safety.
In Arizona, Republican legislators who have questioned Mr. Biden’s victory in their state were calling on Tuesday for people to stake out drop boxes to ensure that no one was illegally stuffing with them ballots, according to voting rights groups and a local news report.
Shame still exists in politics (but it’s a low bar).
The decisive defeat of Mr. Greitens in Missouri’s Republican Senate primary showed that after all the tumult of the last six years, there are still lines that cannot be crossed in politics. Mr. Trump once said he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue in New York and not lose any supporters.
Eric Greitens greeted supporters on Tuesday as he arrived to vote in Innsbrook, Mo.Credit…Whitney Curtis for The New York Times
Mr. Greitens resigned the Missouri governorship in 2018 while facing accusations that he had lured a former girlfriend to his home, tied her up, torn off her clothes, photographed her partly naked, threatened to release the pictures if she talked and coerced her into performing oral-sex
He thought he could make a political comeback as a United States senator. Even after his former wife he accused him in a sworn affidavit of physically abusing her and one of their young sons de ella, he pressed on, denying the allegations and arguing that his accusers had been manipulated by establishment RINOs, or Republicans in name only .
As of Wednesday morning, Mr. Greitens had mustered less than 19 percent of the vote, a distant third-place finish. Mud that rancid still sticks.
The results set up three competitive governor’s races.
Governor Whitmer has maintained much higher approval ratings than Mr. Biden as she has led Michigan through a pandemic, an economic crisis and a dam collapse.
But she could face a tough competitor in Ms. Dixon, who managed to unite warring factions of her party allied with Mr. Trump and the state’s wealthy DeVos family. Ms. Dixon has said she decided to run for office out of her anger over Ms. Whitmer’s policies de ella, particularly health restrictions early in the pandemic that were among the most stringent in the country.
Races in Arizona and Kansas could prove to be even tighter.
In Arizona, Katie Hobbs, the Democratic secretary of state and now the party’s nominee for governor, has emerged as a high-profile defender of the state’s 2020 election results who has weathered death threats that prompted round-the-clock security from state troopers.
She will be squaring off against Ms. Lake or Ms. Taylor Robson, who has the endorsements of former Vice President Mike Pence and Gov. Doug Ducey, who is term-limited.
In Kansas, Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat, will face Derek Schmidt, the Trump-backed state attorney general. It is a tough landscape for Democrats, but Ms. Kelly’s approval ratings are relatively strong. A former state senator, she rose to higher office in 2018 after defeating Kris W. Kobach, a Republican known for specific warnings about election fraud and illegal immigration. Mr. Kobach won the Republican primary for Kansas attorney general on Tuesday.
Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger (Ill.) blamed Democrats on CNN’s “New Day” Wednesday after moderate GOP Rep. Peter Meijer (Mich.) was defeated in his primary election by a Trump-endorsed candidate.
Meijer, who voted to impeach former President Trump after the 2021 Capitol attack, lost to Trump-backed challenger John Gibbs on Tuesday, after the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on ads supporting Gibbs.
Meijer’s race was among a number of primaries in which the Democratic campaign arms spent money on Trump-backed candidates, a strategy seemingly aiming to make it easier for Democrats to win general elections.
“I mean, the DCCC needs to be ashamed of themselves,” Kinzinger said.
“If Peter’s opponent wins and goes on in November to win, the Democrats own that. Congratulations,” he continued. “Here’s the thing, don’t keep coming to me asking where are all the good Republicans that defend democracy and then take your donors’ money to spend half a million dollars promoting one of the worst election deniers that’s out there.”
Although some Democrats have spoken out against the DCCC’s strategy, top Democratic officials such as Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) have come out in favor of the tactic.
“The political decisions that are made out there are made in furtherance of our winning the election,” Pelosi said last week, “because we think the contrast between Democrats and Republicans — as they are now — is so drastic that we have to win. ”
Meijer’s defeat is another win for Trump, who has made a midterm priority out of getting Republicans out of office who publicly opposed him following the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
Meijer said Democrats disregarded “certain moral limits” in politics when backing his opponent.
“If successful, Republican voters will be blamed if any of these candidates are ultimately elected, but there is no doubt Democrats’ fingerprints will be on the weapon,” Meijer said in an essay posted online Monday.
President Biden on Wednesday is continuing to test positive for the coronavirus and therefore will maintain his “strict isolation measures,” the White House’s doctor says.
Kevin O’Connor said in a letter that Biden, who finished a light workout this morning, feels well yet is “still experiencing an occasional cough, but less frequently than yesterday.
“He remains fever-free and in good spirits. His temperature, pulse, blood pressure, respiratory rate and oxygen saturation remain entirely normal,” O’Connor added. “His lungs remain clear.”
“Given his rebound positivity which we reported Saturday, we continued daily monitoring. This morning, his SARS-CoV-2 antigen testing remained positive,” the doctor also said.
BIDEN SHARES VIDEO AFTER TESTING POSITIVE FOR COVID AGAIN
President Biden speaks from the Blue Room Balcony of the White House Monday, Aug. 1, in Washington. (Jim Watson/Pool via AP)
Biden will remain isolating and will “conduct the business of the American people from the Executive Residence,” according to O’Connor.
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Read the letter here:
O’Connor said last week that Biden tested negative for COVID-19 on Tuesday evening, Wednesday morning, Thursday morning, and Friday morning, but tested positive on Saturday morning by an antigen test.
BIDEN ‘PLAYED TOO LOOSE’ WITH CDC’S MASK GUIDANCE AFTER NEGATIVE COVID TEST, DOCTOR SAYS: ‘NOT A GOOD LOOK’
President Biden virtually attends a meeting with his economic team in the South Court Auditorium on the White House complex in Washington on Friday, July 22. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)
The president first tested positive for the coronavirus on July 21.
His lawyer, Amanda Bevins, appeared on his behalf at an arraignment in Napa County Superior Court in California and entered a plea of not guilty to the charges, which were brought after Pelosi was arrested on May 28 after having been involved in a nighttime collision.
Pelosi, who did not appear in court on Wednesday, will remain free on his own recognizance and is due back in court on August 23.
The 82-year-old had been attempting to cross SR-29 in late May when his 2021 Porsche was hit by a 2014 Jeep traveling northbound on the road, according to a collision report from the California Highway Patrol. The vehicles “sustained major collision damage,” according to a criminal complaint.
The complaint noted that Pelosi was operating his vehicle “while under the influence of an alcoholic beverage and a drug and under their combined influence.” Authorities said in the complaint that when asked for ID at the scene, Pelosi handed the officers both his license from him and an “11-99 Foundation” card. The foundation is the California Highway Patrol charity, which “provides emergency assistance to California Highway Patrol employees and scholarships to their children,” according to its website.
The punishment for the misdemeanor charges “includes up to five years of probation, a minimum of five days in jail, installation of an ignition interlock device, fines and fees, completion of a court ordered drinking driver class and other terms, according to a release from the Napa County District Attorney’s Office.
Pelosi completed sobriety tests at the time of the incident “showing signs of impairment,” according to a criminal complaint. The criminal complaint noted that California Highway Patrol determined Pelosi “was the proximate cause of the collision.”
A native of San Francisco, he has been married to Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, since 1963. The two have five children.
Microsoft has flagged a formatting bug that freezes Outlook whenever you open emails with complex tables, including, er, Uber receipts. The glitch is SW powerful it even crashes Word, too. The problem was first noted in a standard release of Outlook, but existing beta and Current Channel Preview versions face the same bug if they try to open messages with tables.
Microsoft says it’s developed a fix to reach beta users “shortly” and get everyone in a patch arriving August 9th. If you really need to see a breakdown of that last Uber trip, you can revert to the earlier version in Windows by running Command Prompt instructions in Microsoft’s .
— Matt Smith
The biggest stories you might have missed
Who says greatness has to be expensive?
The middle of the smartphone road has amazing options that balance price and features. These days, you can still get incredible cameras, vivid screens and decent battery life without breaking the bank. But there are so many—so where do you start? How about this guide? We’ve just updated it with a new overall winner.
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Infrared light detection has increased the detail.
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NASA and its partners on the James Webb Space Telescope have shared a fresh look at the Cartwheel Galaxy. It reveals extra details about both the star formation and the black hole at the center of the galaxy, which is around 500 million light-years from Earth. Using infrared light detection, JWST could peer through the dust that obscured the Cartwheel Galaxy from view when other telescopes observed it.
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Fix your smartphone or tablet on your own terms.
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Samsung’s self-repair program, in collaboration with iFixit, is finally available. You can now try to fix your Galaxy S20, Galaxy S21 or Galaxy Tab S7+ with officially sanctioned components and tools, complete with guides to walk you through the repair process. The initial selection is just screen and batteries, charging ports and back glass, with prices ranging between $67 (for a charging port on any model) to $227 (for a Tab S7+ display).
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The Prime perk is currently available in 10 US metro areas.
Amazon is giving some Prime members another perk. Subscribers in more than 10 US metro areas will now be able to shop from select local brick-and-mortar stores through Amazon and have the items delivered to their home on the same day. At the moment, participating retailers include apparel brands PacSun, Superdry and Diesel, as well as popular vitamin retailer GNC.
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They’re working with Xbox Cloud Gaming and NVIDIA GeForce Now.
Logitech and Tencent have announced they’re working on a handheld cloud gaming device. They’re blending the Logitech G brand’s hardware know-how with Tencent’s software prowess. According to their landing page, the device is tentatively — and imaginatively — called the Logitech G Gaming Handheld. It will “support multiple cloud gaming services,” Logitech said. Tencent and Logitech are working with the Xbox Cloud Gaming and GeForce Now teams at Microsoft and NVIDIA, so expect the handheld to support both platforms.
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Taiwan’s presidential website hit by cyberattack ahead of Nancy Pelosi’s visit
The site was bombarded by more than 200 times the normal traffic.
As more than 300,000 people anxiously watched the flight path of SPAR19, the US Air Force plane carrying Nancy Pelosi on her tour of Asia, Taiwan’s presidential website went down in an apparent cyberattack. According to Taiwanese presidential spokesperson Chang Tun-Han, the attack originated outside Taiwan and saw the website bombarded with more than 200 times its regular traffic. They claim the website was back to normal operation “within 20 minutes.”
Missy Crovetti panicked Thursday when she was forwarded a photo of her nearly 100-year-old grandma sitting on her bed, partially submerged in the floodwaters that were ravaging eastern Kentucky.
The picture showed Mae Amburgey — or “MomMae,” as Crovetti calls her — wearing capri pants and a turquoise sweater that was already halfway soaked. Amburgey had clasped her hands around her right knee; the lower part of her legs disappeared into the muck. Around her de ella: an overturned dresser, artwork made by her grandson de ella, a pillow topped with one of her shoes and a box of Little Debbie Nutty Buddy bars.
From her home in Green Oaks, Ill., Crovetti, 52, immediately tried calling her grandma but couldn’t get through. She also tried her brother de ella, who’d taken the photo, and her uncle de ella — both of whom were at her grandmother’s house de ella. They didn’t answer, either. She didn’t know whether they were still in the house or whether they’d escaped.
More than 500 miles away, Crovetti did the only thing she could think of to help: She uploaded the photo to Facebook with a plea in the hope that her SOS might reach someone in Letcher County, Ky., who could help her grandmother, who’s either 97 or 98, depending on which family Bible you consult.
“My grandmother, Uncle and Brother are trapped in her house across from the high school if anyone has posted a boat around that area, the water is about 4 feet deep in the house,” she.
She published the post at 1:26 pm and hoped it would be enough.
“I was desperate,” she said.
Amburgey, her son and her grandson were but three of thousands of Kentuckians forced to grapple with the effects of torrential rains that pounded the eastern part of the state late last week. Between 14 and 16 inches of rain hit in a four-day period, transforming idyllic streams and creeks into raging rivers, according to the National Weather Service office in Jackson, Ky. On Tuesday, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) said the disaster had killed at least 37 people, displaced hundreds and inflicted “hundreds of millions of dollars” in damage, according to the Associated Press and a YouTube video of the governor. On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Beshear warned that as the floods recede, “we’re going to be finding bodies for weeks.”
Death toll for Kentucky floods climbs to 28, with more storms coming
Randy Polly, who was across the street from Amburgey’s house during Thursday’s flooding, told The Washington Post he watched floodwaters overtake and kill two people “right in front of me” early Thursday. When he called 911, a dispatcher told him that, even if they weren’t scrambling to field more than 300 calls, rescue workers wouldn’t be able to get to them until the waters receded.
Scads of homes have since been damaged in and around the area, and people are desperate for basic supplies. “This is a war zone,” Polly said.
Before she knew of any flooding, Crovetti woke up last Thursday and, knowing that forecasters had predicted extremes, checked the weather to see whether they’d been right. But not in her home state of Kentucky. Because her son de ella attends school in Seattle, which was under the threat of a heat wave, she checked the weather for the Pacific Northwest. When Crovetti did, she happened to spot a flood warning for her home state of Kentucky. As she probed further, she realized her relatives in Ermine might be in danger.
Photos posted by her Facebook friends confirmed her hunch. The floodwaters seemed to rise with each photo she saw. Then she started to recognize landmarks in some of the photos and knew that if those places had flooded, her grandmother’s house would have, too. That’s when she knew “my family was in trouble.”
Shortly after, an acquaintance forwarded the photo that her brother, Gregory, had taken of their grandmother.
Although Crovetti couldn’t reach anyone by phone, Polly said a friendly stranger soon came to the family’s aid. Initially, the man couldn’t reach Amburgey’s house because of the floodwaters, which Polly estimated were 20 feet high at one point. But in a second effort, he went upstream and used the current to drift toward the home. After breaking a window, he was able to help Amburgey and the two male relatives out of the house.
Polly, 49, captured the rescue on video and then watched as the four-person party drifted away.
“I didn’t think I’d ever see them again,” Polly told The Post.
Dramatic video captures nearly 100-year-old Mae Amburgey being rescued out of her flooded home in Whitesburg, Ky., on July 28. (Video: Randy Polly)
About 45 minutes after Crovetti posted the SOS call on Facebook, a relative sent another photo of her grandmother, this time hooked up to oxygen in a hospital. She later learned that her Uncle Larry had been swept away from the other three in their party and had clung to a tree until the anonymous rescuer returned to save him, too. Crovetti said she doesn’t know who the man is and referred to him as “the good Samaritan” and her grandmother’s “guardian angel.”
But it’s not a happy ending yet, she said. Her grandmother de ella got pneumonia and suffered a cut to her leg de ella, part of which she has gotten infected.
“We just hope she pulls through,” Crovetti said. “She’s got a long road in front of her.”
So does Kentucky, she added.
Crovetti and Polly both highlighted that thousands in eastern Kentucky are suffering through flooding of biblical proportions. Hundreds of homes have been damaged in the Ermine area alone, Polly said. People need basic supplies such as cleaning products and fresh water.
“We need help so bad,” Polly said. “People have no idea what’s going on here.”
Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.
SAVE $120: amazon(opens in a new tab) and Walmart(opens in a new tab) have the Apple Watch Series 7 (GPS, 41mm) on sale for its all-time low price of $279 as of Aug. 2. That’s 30% off its $399 MSRP.
Several major retailers seem to be clearing out their inventories ahead of this fall’s new Apple Watch (Pro? Series 8?) release.
As of Aug. 2, the 41mm Apple Watch Series 7 with GPS has made a quick return to its all-time low Prime Day price at Amazon(opens in a new tab) and Walmart(opens in a new tab). (Hope you like the green case/clover sport band combo, because that’s the only colorway they’ve discounted to this degree.) Apple usually sells it for $399, so you’ll pocket a 30% savings.
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The best fitness trackers for keeping up with your goals
A quick aside in case you’re in the market for a new pair of wireless earbuds, too: Amazon was randomly giving customers 20% off last year’s Beats Studio Buds(opens in a new tab) or Beats Fit Pro(opens in a new tab) with an Apple Watch Series 7 purchase at the time of writing. Both are winners of our Mashable’s Choice Award, so you can’t go wrong.
Apple’s most notable upgrades to last year’s Series 7 were primarily cosmetic. Compared to the Series 6 from 2020, it’s got a bigger, curvier, and more durable watch face screen, with room for a full keyboard, more text, and larger buttons. Its 18-hour battery life carried over from the previous generation, though it did get new USB-C “charging architecture” that allows it to juice up 33 percent faster.
Features-wise, increased workout support for biking and e-biking (including fall detection) joined the Series 7’s suite of health tools. That further includes a Mindfulness app, a heart sensor, a blood oxygen sensor, an always-on altimeter, and an Emergency SOS function.
