COLLEGE FOOTBALL VIRUS OUTBREAK FACES Last season’s playoff Coronavirus cases Eilish concert film, teams all reload with spike on US bases Imagine Dragons new quarterbacks in Japan, S. Korea new this week Page 24 Page 5 Page 14 California fire approaches Lake Tahoe after mass evacuation ›› Page 12 stripes.com Volume 80 Edition 98 ©SS 2021 WEDNESDAY,SEPTEMBER 1, 2021 50¢/Free to Deployed Areas HURRICANE IDA Powerless Louisiana faces huge cleanup task BY REBECCA SANTANA AND JAY REEVES Associated Press NEW ORLEANS — Louisiana communities beginning the huge task of clearing debris and repair- ing the damage inflicted by Hurri- cane Ida are facing the dispiriting prospect of weeks without elec- tricity in the oppressive, late-sum- mer heat. Ida ravaged the region’s power grid, leaving all of New Orleans and hundreds of thousands of oth- er Louisiana residents in the dark with no clear timeline on when the electricity would come back on. Some areas outside New Orleans also suffered major flooding and damage to homes and businesses. “I can’t tell you when the power is going to be restored. I can’t tell you when all the debris is going to be cleaned up and repairs made,” Gov. John Bel Edwards said Mon- day. “But what I can tell you is we are going to work hard every day to deliver as much assistance as we can.” The storm was blamed for at least four deaths in Louisiana and Mississippi, including two people killed Monday night when seven vehicles plunged into a 20-foot- deep hole near Lucedale, Miss., where a highway had collapsed af- Last boots on the ground ter torrential rains. On Monday, rescuers in boats, helicopters and high-water trucks brought more than 670 people in US officially ends 2-decade presence in Afghanistan Louisiana trapped by floodwaters Page 6 to safety. An additional 20 people were rescued in Mississippi. Department of Defense Crews planned to go door to door Maj. Gen. Chris Donahue, the last American service member to leave Afghanistan, boards a C-17 at Hamid Karzai International Airport shortly before midnight Tuesday. That final flight out of Kabul marked the end of nearly 20 years in Afghanistan. SEE CLEANUP ON PAGE 10 PAGE 2 • STARS AND STRIPES • Wednesday, September 1, 2021 BUSINESS/WEATHER PNC Bank to raise base wages to $18 an hour EXCHANGE RATES Military rates South Korea (Won) 1,158.75 Associated Press a 20% pay raise. The increase is In addition to the higher base Switzerland (Franc) .9125 Euro costs (Sept. 1) $1.15 Thailand (Baht) 32.24 NEW YORK — PNC Bank is the more substantial at BBVA, which pay, PNC and BBVA employees Dollar buys (Sept. 1) 0.8244 Turkey (New Lira) 8.3319 British pound (Sept. 1) $1.34 latest large U.S. financial services had an $11 minimum wage before making more than minimum wage Japanese yen (Sept. 1) 107.00 (Military exchange rates are those available company to increase wages in a bid PNC bought the bank. will also receive a bump up in pay, South Korean won (Sept. 1) 1,135.00 to customers at military banking facilities in the Commercial rates country of issuance for Japan, South Korea, Ger­ to keep and attract employees, rais- About 20,000 PNC and BBVA in what Demchak described as an many, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Bahrain (Dinar) .3770 For nonlocal currency exchange rates (i.e., pur­ ing its minimum wage to $18 an employees will see their base pay “accordion effect” across its Britain (Pound) 1.3782 chasing British pounds in Germany), check with Canada (Dollar) 1.2622 your local military banking facility. Commercial hour while also giving higher-paid rise to $18 an hour, the bank said. branches. China (Yuan) 6.4606 rates are interbank rates provided for reference Denmark (Krone) 6.2900 workers a bump in pay. “We want the best we can find, Pittsburgh-based PNC is now Egypt (Pound) 15.7103 when buying currency. All figures are foreign The bank said Monday that the and we can afford to do so,” said Bill one of the country’s largest banks Euro .8459 currencies to one dollar, except for the British Hong Kong (Dollar) 7.7806 pound, which is represented in dollars­to­ wage increase will apply to both Demchak, chairman and CEO of after acquiring BBVA, giving it a Hungary (Forint) 295.55 pound, and the euro, which is dollars­to­euro.) Israel (Shekel) 3.2067 PNC employees as well as those PNC Financial Services Group Inc., nationwide footprint and making it Japan (Yen) 109.71 INTEREST RATES working for BBVA USA, which in an interview. “We need to show able to compete more effectively Kuwait (Dinar) .3007 Norway (Krone) 8.6935 Prime rate 3.25 PNC acquired last year. Base-level that we can provide both a career with the large money-center banks Philippines (Peso) 49.69 Interest Rates Discount rate 0.75 Poland (Zloty) 3.83 Federal funds market rate 0.09 PNC employees will see their wag- path as well as compensation that like JPMorgan Chase and Bank of Saudi Arabia (Riyal) 3.7508 3­month bill 0.05 es increase from $15 an hour to $18, makes it us a lifetime opportunity.” America. Singapore (Dollar) 1.3436 30­year bond 1.90 WEATHER OUTLOOK WEDNESDAY IN THE MIDDLE EAST WEDNESDAY IN EUROPE THURSDAY IN THE PACIFIC Misawa 71/64 Kabul Seoul 85/62 72/67 Baghdad 111/80 Drawsko Osan Tokyo Kandahar Mildenhall/ 71/68 68/65 Pomorskie Busan 99/68 Lakenheath 64/53 64/55 73/70 Iwakuni Kuwait City 80/77 Bahrain Brussels Zagan Sasebo 104/86 95/90 Ramstein 64/52 81/77 Guam 63/54 71/48 83/80 Riyadh Lajes, Stuttgart 107/79 Doha Azores Pápa 101/86 74/71 67/50 Aviano/ 68/57 Vicenza 75/56 Naples 83/66 Okinawa Morón 83/80 82/66 Sigonella Rota 89/62 The weather is provided by the Djibouti 77/62 Souda Bay American Forces Network Weather Center, 91/85 80/75 2nd Weather Squadron at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb. TODAY IN STRIPES American Roundup ...... 11 Classified .................... 13 Comics .........................17 Crossword ................... 17 Faces .......................... 14 Opinion ........................ 16 Sports .................... 18-24 Wednesday, September 1, 2021 • STARS AND STRIPES • PAGE 3 PACIFIC N. Korea rails against US-S. Korea exercise BY DAVID CHOI lies’ military exercises and on Sat- ter the United Nations’ nuclear North Korea’s inventory of fissile South Korea’s Ministry of Uni- Stars and Stripes urday alleged the most recent drill watchdog issued a report indicat- material for nuclear weapons.” fication mentioned Pyongyang’s CAMP HUMPHREYS, South was “fueling up the instability of ing the regime restarted its Yong- President Joe Biden is aware of statement during a press briefing Korea — North Korean officials the situation.” byon nuclear reactor in July. The the UN’s report and is “closely co- Monday and said it “will thor- have railed against a recent joint The drills were “the most vivid International Atomic Energy ordinating” with allies, White oughly prepare for all possibilities military exercise between the U.S. expression of the U.S. hostile pol- Agency said North Korea’s “nu- House press secretary Jen Psaki without forejudging the attitude of and South Korea, calling it "the icy against [North Korea], which clear activities continue to be a said on Monday. the North.” most vivid expression” of a “hos- is aimed at stifling our state by cause for serious concern” and de- “This report underscores the The Unification Ministry will tile policy.” means of force,” according to the scribed the evidence as “deeply urgent need for dialogue and di- “keep trying to rebuild trust and The Aug. 16-26 drills consisted ministry statement. troubling.” plomacy so we can achieve the reinstate relations between South of computer simulations and a North Korea may “continue bol- The agency’s findings corrobo- complete denuclearization of the and North Korea as early as pos- smaller number of troops than the stering the national defensive rate an analysis from the Center Korean Peninsula,” Psaki said at a sible,” spokeswoman Lee Jong thousands of ground forces used power and preemptive strike ca- for Strategic and International press briefing. “We continue to Joo said in the briefing. in large-scale field exercises of the pabilities which can strongly con- Studies think-tank in April that seek dialogue with [North Korea] past. tain and eliminate the outside said the regime’s activity “is likely so we can address this reported Stars and Stripes reporter Yoo Kyong Chang contributed to this report. North Korea’s Foreign Ministry threats," the statement reads. an indicator of a new reprocessing activity and the full range of issues [email protected] frequently complains about the al- The statement comes a day af- campaign designed to expand related to denuclearization.” Twitter: @choibboy US war veteran wins Paralympics road cycling gold in Japan BY SETH ROBSON During the time trial, Morelli Stars and Stripes was focused on her race plan and FUJI INTERNATIONAL “staying where I needed to be,” she SPEEDWAY, Japan — A former said. U.S. Army officer who served in The speedway course, which in- Iraq and Afghanistan won Para- cluded a final straight past a mas- lympic cycling gold Tuesday on a sive grandstand and pit row, ap- track that usually hosts motor pealed to her, Morelli said. sports. “I’m not super technical but it On the first morning of road cy- had enough hills that I was able to cling at the games, Shawn Morelli hold my own,” she said.