i'm a former member the gaithersburg city council and a proud supporter the gaithersburg book festival since it's inception if you joined us for the first 10 book festivals, well, welcome back and if this it's it is really great to be here in person this year after two years of virtual book festival, as you know, gaithersburg is a city that values and supports the arts and humanities and we're pleased to bring you this fabulous festival. thanks and part to the generous support of our sponsors and volunteers. our volunteers are wearing these bright orange shirts. so if you see them, make sure you say thank you and if you see our sponsors, they're the ones walking around with money falling out of their pockets say thank you to them, too. before i introduce our author michael dobbs, let me make a few announcements. please silence all of your electronic mobile devices for the latest updates about the book festival. make sure you're following the gaithersburg book festival on facebook and twitter and if you post about the festival if you're one of those people that social media savvy, pleas

of a devastating cycle that's killed. 5 people, clean up and recovery efforts are underway in gaithersburg and hawkes bay of north island side phone. gabrielle cause catastrophic flooding landslides, a dummies homes on monday. more than 3000 people have been forced to leave their homes. the government says the disaster is the country's worston decades. hundreds of retired people in china are protesting against major cuts to their medical benefits gathered in one and the northeastern city of dahlia. it's the latest unrest, and since nationwide, protests against coven 19 restrictions were held last year. provincial authorities at reducing medical expense claims by more than half a u. s. court has sentenced a man to life without parole for killing 10 people last year in a racially motivated mass shooting 19 year old peyton gander and target of african americans at a supermarket in buffalo in the state of new york. it was one of the worst in a series of mass shootings that lead to increased calls from more gun controls inside stories coming up. next, we'll be back in about 30 minutes away. ah