Authorities believe they found Gabby Petito's body, U.S. blocks part of Texas border: 5 Things podcast
On today's episode of the 5 Things podcast: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is up for reelection. He's facing a tough battle against Conservative Party rival Erin O'Toole. Plus, authorities believe they found Gabby Petito's body, Congress is back in session, the U.S. blocks part of its Texas border and sends some Haitian migrants home and the Emmys crown 'The Crown.'
Hit play on the player above to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.
Taylor Wilson:
Good morning, I'm Taylor Wilson. And this is 5 Things you need to know Monday, the 20th of September, 2021. Today Canada votes. Plus Gabby Petito's remains have likely been found. And more.
Taylor Wilson:
Here are some of the top headlines.
A shooting at a Russian university has left at least eight people dead. The shooting happened in the city of Perm, and there were also reports of students jumping out of a building's windows.
A volcano erupted on Spain's La Palma island yesterday for the first time in 30 years. There were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries, but some homes were destroyed.
And the SpaceX civilian mission landed safely over the weekend. The four non-astronauts splashed down near Florida Saturday night, after three days in orbit.
Taylor Wilson:
Canadians will head to the polls today for national elections. Canada does not directly elect the prime minister, but instead gives the job to the leader of the party who either wins the majority of seats in the House of Commons, or can ally with another party to reach a majority. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau faces a tough battle against Conservative Party rival, Erin O'Toole.
Taylor Wilson:
The Liberal Party has been in office for six years, and Trudeau is calling the election early during the pandemic, but he's hoping that Canadians back his response to COVID-19, which has been better than some other countries around the world. Canada has seen far fewer cases and deaths than others. And despite a slow vaccine start, has now become one of the most vaccinated countries on the planet. Trudeau has hard line stances on vaccine mandates and says they should be required for any Canadians to travel by rail or air, something conservatives oppose.
Justin Trudeau:
The choices that leaders make in a crisis matter. Half measures won't do to fight this pandemic.
Taylor Wilson:
But many Canadians have Trudeau fatigue after he became a media darling when first elected in 2015, including features on the covers of Rolling Stone and Vogue, setting a high bar. Trudeau was also still under fire after photos circled showing him in black and brown face when he was younger.
Taylor Wilson:
As for O'Toole, he's changed his tune on a number of issues. When he won his party's leadership a year ago, he promised to take back Canada, ringing similar to Donald Trump's Make America Great Again campaign. But he's now calling himself progressive and going against social and fiscal policies that made him his party's leader. He now favors a carbon tax he once promised to kill and he's had contradicting takes on guns. He's also pressing Trudeau for scheduling the election as Canada fights a new wave of coronavirus.
Erin O'Toole:
Mr. Trudeau called an election that's costing us $600 million rather than keeping the Delta variant from spreading, rather than actually working together.
Taylor Wilson:
Polling shows O'Toole's conservatives could defeat the liberals, but Canada's far right People's Party of Canada may stand in the way and bleed votes away from conservatives to allow for a liberal victory. Polling suggest though that no party will get a majority of parliament seats. So an alliance may be needed to pass legislation.
Taylor Wilson:
The case of Gabby Petito has taken another dark turn. The woman went missing last month during a cross-country trip with her fiance. She was last seen in Wyoming's Grand Teton National Park. Yesterday, the FBI said they found remains of a body near the park that they believe is Gabby.
FBI Agent Charles Jones:
Earlier today, human remains were discovered consistent with the description of Gabrielle Gabby Petito. Full forensic identification has not been completed to confirm 100% that we found Gabby, but her family has been notified of this discovery. The cause of death has not been determined at this time.
Taylor Wilson:
The FBI's announcement comes after law enforcement in Florida conducted a second day of searching for Petito's fiance, Brian Laundrie. He initially returned home to Florida from the trip without Gabby and then disappeared last week.
Taylor Wilson:
The couple left on their trip from Long Island in New York, where they had been high school sweethearts. Before the trip, they were living with Laundrie's parents who had moved to North Port, Florida in recent years. The couple aimed to reach Oregon by the end of October.
Taylor Wilson:
After Brian Laundrie returned to Florida alone, he hired a lawyer and refused to talk with authorities. Body camera footage showed the couple in Utah at one point of their trip. They were questioned on the side of a highway after a witness reported potential domestic violence. The officer found that the situation was more a mental health crisis than domestic assault. But Laundrie told an officer that Petito hit him.
Taylor Wilson:
The case has gripped social media around the country and the world. On TikTok, a hashtag #GabbyPetito has gained more than 275 million views.
Taylor Wilson:
Congress is back in session today and lawmakers will quickly face some major decisions, one of the biggest, infrastructure. The Senate previously approved a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill last month, and the House agreed to vote on it by September 27th. It's been linked to a much broader $3.5 trillion budget plan.
Taylor Wilson:
The package has President Joe Biden priorities like expanding Medicare to include vision, dental, and hearing benefits to finance paid family and medical leave and to give federally subsidized community college and pre-K. To pay for those programs, the Ways and Means Committee agreed to overturn 2017 Trump Administration tax cuts affecting corporations and people who make more than $400,000 a year.
Taylor Wilson:
The House passed the blueprint for the budget, but have not passed the legislation itself yet. If they do, Senate Democrats hope to pass it without support from Republicans, but they would need every member of their own party on board and Democratic senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema have said $3.5 trillion is too steep. Additionally, Congress is dealing with extending routine government funding, increasing the debt limit, taking action on voting rights, and more.
Taylor Wilson:
The United States blocked its border with Mexico yesterday at a Texas town, Del Rio, where thousands of Haitian migrants have crossed and set up camp in recent weeks. Many of them have lived in different parts of Latin America for years, fleeing violence and an economic crisis in Haiti. But they've recently been seeking asylum in the US instead.
Taylor Wilson:
The US is now sending flights of some of those migrants gathered at the border back to their homeland in the Caribbean. Many Haitians are against returning though. The country is still reeling after an earthquake more than a decade ago killed hundreds of thousands of people and destroyed entire neighborhoods. More recently, the country has been thrown into political unrest after the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July.
Taylor Wilson:
In Texas, US Customs and Border Protection closed off vehicle and pedestrian traffic at the only crossing in the area on Friday. It's still not clear what migrants in the area will do if they try to avoid the flights back to Haiti. Many had already been living on the Mexican side of the border and may return there while deciding whether to try and enter the US.
Taylor Wilson:
There are concerns back in Haiti about sending thousands of people who in some cases have not been back in years to a country with few job opportunities as it stands. Prime Minister Ariel Henry said migrants would be welcomed back, but Election Minister, Mathias Pierre, said most Haitians can not even satisfy basic human needs and that the Prime Minister should negotiate with the US government to stop deportations. Guerline Jozef from the Haitian Bridge Alliance, a community organization for Haitian immigrants echoed that to the AP.
Guerline Jozef:
People have literally been spending five months on a journey, dying on the way. If the United States, the superpower, first world country cannot absorb the people at the border, how do we expect Haiti to absorb them? They simply, they have fled.
Taylor Wilson:
For more on this developing story, search Haiti on usatoday.com.
Taylor Wilson:
TV's biggest night is in the books. Man, one of the big winners at last night's Emmy's, Ted Lasso.
Video trailer:
Oi mate, this you?
Ted Lasso:
I believe it is.
Wicked.
You coaching football. You are a legend for doing something so stupid. I mean, it's mental. They're going to murder you.
Taylor Wilson:
The apple TV hit won best comedy series. Meanwhile, The Crown won Best Drama and Best Writing in a drama series to Peter Morgan.
Peter Morgan:
Please wrap up already. I'm very proud. I'm very grateful. We're going to party.
Taylor Wilson:
And Queen's Gambit took home outstanding limited series. For a full awards round up, head to the Entertainment section on usatoday.com.
Taylor Wilson:
And you can find more episodes of 5 Things every morning wherever you're listening right now. Thanks as always to Shannon Green and Claire Thornton for their great work on the show. I'll be back tomorrow with another edition of 5 Things, part of the USA Today Network.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Gabby Petito investigation, The Crown, Ted Lasso Emmys wins: 5 Things podcast
