Storms slam eastern US; Ex-officer sentenced in George Floyd killing; Biden hosts Astros; Oscar-winning director Friedkin dies | Hot off the Wire podcast

On this version of Hot off the Wire:

» At least two people have died, thousands of U.S. flights have been canceled and more than 1 million have lost power as destructively strong storms moved through the eastern U.S.

» Thousands of Los Angeles city employees, including sanitation workers, engineers and traffic officers, walked off the job for a 24-hour strike alleging unfair labor practices.

» A Colombian man once seen as one of the world’s most dangerous drug lords is facing sentencing to at least 20 years in a U.S. prison. Dairo Antonio Úsuga — known as Otoniel — is due to be sentenced Tuesday in a federal court in New York.

» President Joe Biden will use his visit to Arizona to announce a national monument designation for the greater Grand Canyon. National climate adviser Ali Zaidi confirms Biden is visiting the area Tuesday and is expected to announce plans to preserve more than 1,500 square miles just outside Grand Canyon National Park.

» The Dodgers, Red Sox, Brewers, Blue Jays, Reds and Giants pull out impressive wins on the diamond, discipline is handed out following an on-field fight, a NASCAR race is decided in Michigan and the ACC may be looking to expand.

» Tou Thao, the last former Minneapolis police officer convicted in state court for his role in the killing of George Floyd, didn't show any repentance or admit any wrongdoing as he was sentenced to nearly five years.

» A federal judge has tossed out former President Donald Trump’s countersuit against the writer who won a sex abuse lawsuit against him. The judge ruled Monday that Trump can’t claim that E. Jean Carroll defamed him by continuing to say she was not only sexually abused but raped.

» New York Mayor Eric Adams says the city will house as many as 2,000 migrants on an island in the East River where a migrant center was set up last year and then taken down weeks later.

» Authorities say a body has been found on the grounds of the Arizona State Capitol in Phoenix for the second time in less than two weeks.

» President Joe Biden says he can relate to Dusty Baker, the oldest manager to win the World Series. Baker was 73 when he guided the Houston Astros to the title last year. The team celebrated at the White House on Monday.

» Chicago’s Tim Anderson has been suspended six games and Cleveland’s José Ramírez for three games by Major League Baseball for fighting and touching off a lengthy, wild brawl between the White Sox and Guardians on Saturday night.

» William Friedkin, the Oscar winning director of two gripping film classics, “The French Connection” and “The Exorcist,” has died. He was 87.

» Elon Musk says he may need to get surgery before a proposed “cage match” with Mark Zuckerberg.

» The U.S. government’s most ambitious plan ever to slash planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions from passenger vehicles faces skepticism about how realistic it is and whether it goes far enough.

» In a small South Carolina town, a community is getting ready to show off a little-remembered part of the history of the segregated South. The restoration of the Rosenwald school in St. George is nearly complete.

» The Loch Ness Centre in Scotland is calling for “budding monster hunters” and volunteers to join in what it dubs the largest search for the Loch Ness Monster since the 1970s.