Eleven Marines reported feeling ill and three were hospitalized Tuesday after a gunnery sergeant opened an envelope containing an unidentified substance at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Virginia, near Washington, D.C. The people exposed to the envelope reported itchy hands and faces, bloody noses, sore throats, and other symptoms. The three who were hospitalized were stable, but no further details on their conditions were immediately available. The FBI and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service are investigating jointly. In 2001, anthrax sent in the mail killed five people and injured 17, prompting the U.S. Postal Service and government agencies and corporations to start screening mail for toxic substances.

Source: NBC News, USA Today

The Rev. Billy Graham, the charismatic North Carolina evangelist known as "America's pastor," died early Wednesday at his home in North Carolina. He was 99. Graham has been called a main driver in the rise of evangelical Christianity. Known for his national and international preaching and activism, he was a counselor to numerous American presidents. In 1983, President Reagan awarded Graham the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. In 2007, former presidents George H.W. Bush, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton attended the dedication of the Billy Graham Museum and Library in Charlotte. "When he prays with you in the Oval Office or upstairs in the White House, you feel he's praying for you, not the president," Clinton said at the ceremony.

Source: The Associated Press

Editor's note: Most of the people I post here who have passed away (at suspicious ages) are known, but not widely known, so I think it's interesting that we're being made aware of the death when generally few would realize or care. Billy Graham, on the other hand, was very much widely known, so it makes sense that the media is talking about him. However, I think it's still very interesting that he passed away at the age that just happens to be a derivative of the number 11.

Heavy rains caused the collapse of huge garbage mound on the outskirts of Mozambique's capital of Maputo on Monday, killing an estimated 17 people. Debris from the Hulene garbage dump came crashing down on a densely populated, impoverished neighborhood, destroying an undetermined number of homes. "The mountains of garbage collapsed on the houses and many families were still inside these residences," Fatima Belchoir, a national disaster official, told the Portuguese news agency Lusa. The dump is the largest in Maputo, and the poor in the area often sift through the refuse looking for food and items they can sell.

Source: BBC News, The Associated Press

Former Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, a longtime rival of former autocratic leader Robert Mugabe, died Wednesday from colon cancer. He was 65. Tsvangirai, a former labor leader, led the Movement for Democratic Change party for nearly 20 years, challenging Mugabe in elections in 2002 and 2008. In 2008, Tsvangirai won more votes than Mugabe in the first round but withdrew from the runoff after 200 of his supporters had been killed. Tsvangirai became prime minister in a power-sharing deal brokered by South Africa after the disputed 2008 vote, but the agreement limited his ability to oppose Mugabe. Tsvangirai's death came after months of hospitalization in neighboring South Africa, and just three months after Mugabe, who had ruled since independence in 1980, was ousted by the military.

Source: The New York Times

Editor's Note: I know everyone knows this guy, and we've been waiting for news of his death. So, it makes absolute sense that The Week magazine is reporting this in their "10 things you need to know today" newsletter.

A gunman police identified as an ex-student opened fire with an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in South Florida on Wednesday, killing 17 people and wounding at least 16 others. Police arrested a suspect, and a federal official identified him as Nikolas Cruz, 19, who had been expelled for disciplinary reasons. Panicked students took cover under desks and teachers barricaded classrooms as the gunman fired shot after shot. One man, Jay Golden, said his daughter sent him texts from a locked room where she was hiding with 40 other students and a teacher. "She was crying," Golden said. "I'm freaking out ... You put your kids in school and it's supposed to be a safe place and this stuff happens all the time."

Source: The Miami Herald, Sun Sentinel

Editor's note: Some news sources were indicating this was the 18th school shooting this year. (See Also)

In January 2018, lab-bred Aedes aegypti mosquitoes carrying wolbachia bacteria were released in South Miami, Florida. It was the first phase of the Miami-Dade County Mosquito Reduction Test Program, which targeted a one-half square-mile treatment area that received the altered mosquitoes and a corresponding control area within the city. After initial monitoring, more wolbachia mosquitoes will be released into South Miami each week for several months — 666 million in all — with the ultimate goal of reducing mosquito populations and their potential for disease transmission. The project is being conducted by the Miami-Dade County Mosquito Control & Habitat Management Division in collaboration with MosquitoMate, Inc., which created the technology. They’ve already been tested in Key West, Florida, (although due to Hurricane Irma, results of the tests are still pending), Kentucky, California and New York. Interest in releasing lab-made mosquitoes has peaked in recent years in response to the Zika virus scare, which has since petered out in the U.S.

Source: Mercola.com

Editor's note: "Are you kidding me?"

At least 18 people were killed and about 60 more injured, 10 critically, when a double-decker bus flipped on its side in Hong Kong on Saturday. The cause of the crash is unconfirmed, but a local news outlet reported the bus was behind schedule, and the driver was speeding to make up lost time. One passenger said it felt as if the driver were piloting an airplane every time he took a corner. A judge will lead an independent investigation into the crash.

The New York Times, BBC News

John Mahoney, a prolific actor best known for playing the curmudgeonly father on Frasier (1993-2004), died in hospice care in Chicago on Sunday, his manager said Monday. He was 77. Mahoney, who moved to the U.S. from his native England at age 19, quit his job as a medical magazine editor and started acting full-time in his late 30s at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre, after meeting cofounder John Malkovich in 1977. Along with his stage career, Mahoney's film credits include Moonstruck, The American President, In the Line of Fire, Tin Men, Reality Bites, and Say Anything, where he was the father of John Cusack's love interest. Mahoney's awards include a Tony and a SAG Award, along with two Emmy and two Golden Globe nominations.

Source: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter