While you were sleeping, we compiled the biggest stories of the day in one place. Each story has a quick and easy summary, so you're prepared for whatever the day brings. Just click on the links if you want to know more!
1. Hurricane season starts today, but the concern isn't about the water in the tropics:
West Palm Beach's drinking water advisory and Okeechobee County's precautionary boil water notice continue.
More tests will be preformed today to determine if the toxins have cleared in West Palm Beach. Cyanobacteria was detected in the raw water samples collected from the East Lobe of Clear Lake and the finished water at the treatment plant that supplies water to West Palm Beach, Palm Beach, and South Palm Beach.
Hurricane season starts today, but there's no tropical activity expected this week. The tax holiday to prepare runs until Sunday. You can find a list of qualifying items here.
2. Biden to meet often forgotten Tulsa race massacre survivors
President Joe Biden is set to mark the 100th anniversary of a massacre that wiped out a thriving Black community in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Biden will be the first president to participate in remembrances of the destruction of what was known as “Black Wall Street.”
The horrific event occurred in Tulsa over a 14-hour period from May 31 to June 1, 1921. It's estimated 300 Black Americans died and over 1,200 homes were destroyed by an angry white mob.
3. Former Florida health department employee gets whistleblower status
The employee, Rebekah Jones, had raised questions about Florida’s COVID-19 data after being ousted as the data’s curator. State officials said she was fired for insubordination after being reprimanded several times, according to state records.
The Miami Herald reported that the Office of the Inspector General told her attorneys on Friday that “the information disclosed does meet the criteria for whistleblower status as described by ... Florida statutes.”
Spokespeople for the governor’s office and the Department of Health downplayed the significance of the ruling.
“Whistleblower status doesn’t substantiate any claims. It simply provides confidentiality, and means someone made a complaint,” the governor’s spokesperson, Taryn Fenske, told the Herald.
4. Naomi Osaka withdraws from French Open
Osaka's announcement to withdraw from the French Open comes one day after the heads of the four major tennis organizations wrote a letter in which Osaka was fined $15,000 for not participating in press conferences at the event and threatened more penalties if she continued to not engage with the media at Grand Slam events.
Heading into the French Open, Osaka said she had wanted to exercise "self-care" by skipping the press conferences, and announced it early to highlight what she calls are "quite outdated" rules.
In her post on Monday, Osaka said "the best thing for the tournament, the other players and my well-being is that I withdraw so that everyone can get back to focusing on the tennis going on in Paris."
5. NASA releases stunning new image of the Milky Way galaxy's center
It's a composite of hundreds of images taken by the orbiting Chandra X-ray Observatory over the past two decades. Astronomer Daniel Wang of the University of Massachusetts Amherst said Friday he spent a year working on this while stuck at home during the pandemic.
The picture depicts billions of stars and countless black holes at the center, or heart, of the Milky Way. This busy, high-energy galactic center is 26,000 light years away.
Launched in 1999, Chandra is in an extreme oval orbit around Earth.
Today's Forecast
Much needed rain to start June:
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