Changes come after report says Trump unhappy with helipad's appearance and lawn's slopeThe White House has confirmed that contractors are redoing a new helipad built on the South Lawn to accommodate a new supersized Marine One chopper recently added to the presidential transport fleet.A White House official said the changes to the circular concrete landing pad were ordered as we continue to make improvements as part of the ongoing project to best match the needs of the White House". Continue reading...
President has sued the broadcaster for $10bn, claiming a documentary on 2021 Capitol attack led to financial harmDonald Trump's legal team is making an 11th-hour attempt to block a court order that would grant the BBC access to the president's financial records, as part of his multibillion-dollar lawsuit against the British broadcaster.Trump claims that the BBC's 2024 documentary on the January 6 attacks have damaged the president's business interests. In July, a Miami-based judge ruled that the president would have to start handing over detailed financial records to the BBC by 6 August. The records would reveal details into the hundreds of businesses owned by the US president's family trust. Continue reading...
Filing by attorney general Raul Torrez comes after DoJ appears to have ignored deadline for key Epstein ranch filesNew Mexico filed a lawsuit against the US Department of Justice and the acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, on Wednesday for stonewalling" its criminal investigation into the activities of the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein at a remote ranch in the state.Raul Torrez, the New Mexico attorney general, had said he was mulling the possibility of legal action if the justice department did not share with him by 31 July information about the alleged historical abuse of girls and young women at Epstein's Zorro ranch about 30 miles south of Santa Fe. Continue reading...
Schwartz, president's third pick to lead top US public health agency, confirmed in 51-44 Senate voteDr Erica Schwartz was confirmed by the US Senate as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a rare win for the Trump administration after a string of failed attempts to fill senior health posts.Schwartz was confirmed by a 51-44 vote that broke largely along party lines, with Tim Kaine of Virginia the sole Democrat to support her nomination. Continue reading...
Thomas Smith, whose name remained on ballot, beats Republican rivals in primary contest for eighth districtThomas Smith withdrew from the Republican primary contest for Michigan's eighth district last month. On Tuesday, he won the nomination.Unofficial results show Smith with more than 50% of the vote, according to the Associated Press, defeating the man he endorsed, anti-abortion activist Al Lemmo, and the man Donald Trump endorsed, former federal law enforcement officer Amir Hassan. Continue reading...
by Associated Press and Report for America on (#77G15)
An AP investigation found dozens of active-duty troops' parents and spouses detained despite protectionsThe Trump administration has detained dozens of parents and spouses of active-duty US troops as it rolls back immigration protections for military families in the pursuit of its mass deportation agenda.More than 50 parents and spouses of active-duty service members have been detained since Donald Trump returned to office, and at least six have been deported, an Associated Press investigation found. It is the first accounting of such detentions, which the government does not track. Continue reading...
MTA to sell remaining machines - which weigh up to 1,050lbs - as it transitions to contactless fare systemThe Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) of New York City has begun auctioning off its final MetroCard vending machines, offering New Yorkers the chance to own one of the transit system's most recognizable fixtures as the agency continues its transition to Omny.The auction opened on Wednesday morning and will run through 19 August, according to the MTA. The agency is offering a limited number of retired MetroCard Vending Machines (MVM) and MetroCard Express Machines (MEM), which have served subway riders for decades. Continue reading...
The candidate has crafted a progressive nationalism and shown his party how to turn Republicans' financial advantage against themEvery now and then, a Senate race sets the direction for an entire party. In 1991, a state official named Harris Wofford - advised by a foul-mouthed Cajun named James Carville - upset his far better-known Republican opponent to win a special election in Pennsylvania. He did it by promising to expand access to healthcare - and thus created a template for Bill Clinton's presidential campaign the following year.If Abdul El-Sayed can follow up his victory in last night's Democratic Senate primary by winning the general election in Michigan this fall, he will have created a template of his own. Despite his closer-than-expected margin of victory, his campaign offers a model for how Democrats across the country can answer the political challenge posed by Donald Trump. Continue reading...
If the progressive wins Michigan's general election, it could redefine the 2028 presidential contest. If he fails, the establishment will call him a cautionary tale
Six additional states caught up in investigation after Michigan reported first two US deaths linked to diseaseThe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reportedly expanded the scope of the largest known cyclosporiasis outbreak to more states, including Arkansas and Missouri.A spokesperson from Arkansas's health department confirmed the outbreak expansion to their state in a statement to the Guardian: Arkansas is one of the states the CDC is adding to the multi-state outbreak for cyclosporiasis." Continue reading...
Federal lawsuit alleges kids are being repatriated despite many of them qualifying to remain in the US legallyThe Trump administration is deliberately targeting children who came to the US unaccompanied by a parent or guardian as it pushes to quickly return them to the countries they fled - amid drastic policy changes" in immigration courts, according to allegations in a federal lawsuit shared with the Guardian.The plaintiffs in the lawsuit are trying to prevent imminent deportation to the places from where they escaped danger or harm. Continue reading...
Much of the criticism of Ken Martin is deserved. But his actions are symptomatic of a party that fails to listen to the grassrootsKen Martin is now a convenient scapegoat. As chair of the Democratic National Committee, he has stumbled into disrepute as a dubious fundraiser and bad-tempered boss who bungled an autopsy report on the 2024 election disaster. Much of the criticism is justified. But Martin is just a symptom of what deeply ails a party that does not live up to its name.As the Democratic party's governing body, the Democratic National Committee has long operated as a fortress for party elites who expect to get their way. Martin seemed to offer a bit of a departure when, as Minnesota party chair, he won the committee leadership election last year in part because of his close ties with other state party chairs. They remain among his strongest supporters. That's one reason why Martin is very well-positioned to fend off any challenge to his hold on power when the full committee meets next week in Austin. Continue reading...
Men allegedly used exotic animals for photoshoots featuring a ring of fire in a parking garage in MarylandTwo Baltimore, Maryland, men are facing charges for allegedly using exotic animals - including snakes, a lemur and a spider monkey - in photoshoots featuring three semi-clothed models and a ring of fire in a garage beneath a luxury shopping complex.Photographer Vernon Crowfey III, the 32-year-old owner of the company Photogeniks, was arrested in Towson, Maryland, on 16 July after an undercover officer arranged a shoot with the animals. Continue reading...
Controllers allegedly failed to halt flights, leading to a loss of separation' with a departing passenger jetAn air safety incident" in which Donald Trump's Marine One helicopter came closer than permitted to another aircraft over Washington DC is under investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).Air traffic controllers are believed to have mistakenly failed to halt commercial flights at Ronald Reagan National airport in northern Virginia on Tuesday afternoon when the military helicopter lifted off from the White House with the president on board. Continue reading...
We would like to hear from US parents about whether they have a program comparable to New York's 2-K rolloutThe New York mayor, Zohran Mamdani, has rolled out a 2-K program providing free early care and learning for two-year-olds. The program has two thirds more applicants than spots available, indicating high demand.With this in mind, we would like to hear from parents across the US about whether they have a program comparable to Mamdani's 2-K rollout. If so, how has it helped or changed your life? Continue reading...
Engelbert helped vault the league to new financial heights, but still draws the ire of stakeholders. A co-commissioner for player relations would be a welcome add
The administration's proposed agreement met a scathing response. But universities must remain vigilantThe Trump administration has quietly abandoned the poisonous deal it tried to foist on American universities. Under its so-called Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education, the administration offered select universities privileged access to federal grants if they agreed to conform with Donald Trump's ideology on how they should be run.Universities widely pilloried the proposal, demonstrating the power of a collective defense. Higher education in the United States certainly needs reform, as many university leaders and the public would acknowledge, but not according to the dictates of Trump.Kenneth Roth is a Guardian US columnist, a senior fellow at Yale University, and former executive director of Human Rights Watch. He is the author of Righting Wrongs: Three Decades on the Front Lines Battling Abusive Governments Continue reading...
Haley Stevens trails progressive in Senate primary as counting continues. Plus, meet the man who names cockroaches after Tolkein and Pokemon charactersGood morning.A Democratic Senate primary in Michigan remains too close to call, with Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive former public health official, holding a narrow lead over the establishment-backed congresswoman Haley Stevens. The battleground state is crucial to the party's hopes of winning back control of the Senate in November.Who won in the crowded primary in Washington state? The Democratic representative Marie Gluesenkamp Perez secured one of two spots in the all-party primary, overcoming criticism from both the left and the right. She will face the Republican state senator John Braun in November.Why are citizens being denied a voice in Missouri? The state's top election official has rejected a petition seeking a statewide referendum on redistricting. Hundreds of thousands of petition signatures had been submitted in an effort to force a vote on whether to use a new US House map approved by the Republican-led state legislature. The Republican secretary of state, Denny Hoskins, said the number submitted did not matter because challenging a congressional map was unconstitutional under Missouri law.What is the dispute about? The US Department of State said Viotti's visa had been cancelled in retaliation for Brasilia's refusal to approve Trump's nominee for ambassador to Brazil and its decision last month to deny visas to two US diplomats. Brasilia swiftly condemned the decision, calling it part of a deliberate campaign to influence the outcome of the presidential election in Brazil this October. Lula, 80, is seeking a fourth, non-consecutive term against Flavio Bolsonaro, the senator son of the former president Jair Bolsonaro and a close political ally of Trump. Continue reading...
Union exploring options to oppose program that would put US airport screening into hands of private contractorsThe labor union representing workers at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is raising alarms over a new program that will expand privatizing security checkpoints at three airports.The agency informed the union last month of plans to enact the TSA Gold+ program, which would shift security and control of the screening technology into the hands of private contractors at airports in Tampa, Charleston and Des Moines. Union workers are expected to lose their union contract and benefits once a contractor takes over. Continue reading...
Larry Berg will have plenty of things on his to-do list when he officially starts as the league's commissioner in JanuaryAs Larry Berg fielded his first wave of questions as MLS commissioner-elect, he tried to make clear his ambitious vision to take the league to another level. Until a question about the league's broadcasting plans came up, that is. To his right sat Don Garber, whose 28-year tenure in the role will conclude at year's end.Well, as the incoming commissioner, I'm allowed to kick it to the current commissioner to answer that question," Berg said with a laugh as he briefly reclined in his chair at the league's headquarters in Manhattan. Only for a few months," Garber said. Continue reading...
The AI company apparently found destructively scanning all the books in the world' easier than dealing with copyright in its quest for training dataShould we destroy all the books in the world?An answer to this question can be found in the court documents of Bartz v Anthropic PBC. The northern California district court case, decided in late July this year, highlighted the improbably named Project Panama", one of the AI company Anthropic's efforts to improve its large language model Claude. What is Project Panama?" court exhibit 21 asks, in an internal memo. The answer: Project Panama is our effort to destructively scan all the books in the world." The memo advises discretion: Why use a codename? ... [B]ecause we don't want it to be known that we are working on this." Continue reading...
Amid stop-and-start threats and with a divided staff, it's clear Trump has no idea how to end a war that shouldn't have begunOn Thursday, 23 July, after weeks of escalating attacks between the US and Iran, Donald Trump told a reporter that Iran hadn't received enough pain yet", and he leveled a threat. I am considering a massive attack. Bigger than ever before," he warned. I am close to making a decision." Then, on Monday 27 July, he called it off.A few days later, on Friday 31 July, Trump said: We'll be hitting them very hard. At some point, they're going to say: We just can't take it any more.'" This time, it took him just one day to back down. Continue reading...
Toast the cat escaped his namesake fate when blaze ripped through building and displaced more than 40 familiesA pet cat quite fittingly named Toast survived a devastating fire that recently gutted an apartment complex in Utah by hiding in a closet - and then safely endured a days-long wait before being rescued, according to officials.Beside prompting comments across the news and social media landscapes about cats having nine lives, Toast's death-defying story provided a slight measure of glad tidings surrounding a blaze that ultimately displaced hundreds of residents. Continue reading...
Uncertainty around the investigation into the death of the 18-year-old, whose body was found after a 4 July boat trip with friends, has led some to question whether justice will be meted out equallyAlmost a month after his body was found, mystery still shrouds what happened to Nolan Xavier Wells, an 18-year-old college student from Ocean Springs, Mississippi.There are the facts: Wells was alive on the morning of 4 July when he and a group of friends took a boat out to Horn Island, a barrier island off the coast of Mississippi. Hundreds of people were on the island, enjoying a last hurrah before returning to work or school after the holiday weekend. Wells was due to report to Southwest Mississippi Community College the following Monday for football camp, but he never returned home with his friends that day. The last known photos of him were taken around 4pm that afternoon. Continue reading...
Shouldn't the health secretary have his hands full with the cyclosporiasis outbreak, measles or rabbit fever? Not when there are crispy salmon cakes to prepare ...The US health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr has got his work cut out for him. A cyclosporiasis outbreak linked to iceberg lettuce has the entire country playing salad roulette: one bad leaf and you could become very unwell. The condition isn't normally deadly, but, on Monday, officials in Michigan confirmed the first two fatalities. Meanwhile, it's the worst year for measles in the US since 1991. A disease that was once eliminated now looks as though it's back with a vengeance - thanks in part, according to experts, to anti-vaxxers such as Kennedy himself. And this week New York officials are warning about a rare tick-borne illness called rabbit fever (tularemia).Still, despite having rather a lot on his plate, Kennedy has found the time to front a new cooking show, hosted on YouTube. It's called The Real Food Show and it's supposed to help Americans prepare healthy, affordable meals at home. The first episode features the chef and TV personality Andrew Gruel (perfect name) teaching the US to prepare crispy salmon cakes with ... salad. Which is certainly a bold way to kick things off. Continue reading...
Fifty summers after the ABA-NBA merger, George Gervin, Ralph Simpson and others reflect on the league whose swagger and innovations changed basketball foreverAfter practice, George Gervin wanted to go home. He was a rookie playing for the Virginia Squires of the upstart American Basketball Association, and the sleek, Detroit-born hooper didn't yet know what being a pro quite meant. He didn't know that the real workouts often started after practice. But his teammate Julius Dr J" Erving quickly showed him the ropes.Doc would say, Hey, young fella! Where you going? Me and you ain't done!'" Gervin tells the Guardian. Me and him would play one-on-one after practice. It was beautiful, probably one of the most beautiful experiences I had as a young pro." Continue reading...
We need an enlightened US president to make the case for global AI regulation. Donald Trump is the exact opposite of what is neededWhen I am woken by the sound of my dog whining, I understand that she is hungry and wants me to get up. When my alarm clock goes off, I don't consider its needs. It is following an instruction to rouse me at a certain time but it doesn't care if I stay in bed. It doesn't try to get me up by other means. The dog, on the other hand, will go to plan B. She barks.This capacity for autonomous action was once a difference between animals and machines. AI has blurred the line. Advanced models devise their own strategies to reach a goal. The task might be defined by a human master, but the machine weighs its options for delivery. It can make its own choices. Given rules, it can break them. Continue reading...
by Rachel Leingang and Joseph Gedeon in Detroit on (#77FEW)
Abdul El-Sayed and his opponent Haley Stevens were both optimistic late in the evening, and said the results of the state's Democratic primary might take until Wednesday morning to arriveThe marquee race for the Democratic nomination for Senate in Michigan remained too close to call on Tuesday night, with Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive former public health official, holding a narrow lead over Congresswoman Haley Stevens.The battleground state is crucial to the party's hopes of winning back control of the Senate in November's midterm elections. The winner of Tuesday's Democratic primary will face the Republican nominee, former representative Mike Rogers, in November, to succeed the retiring Democratic senator Gary Peters. Continue reading...
Two-term Democrat faced attacks from the left and right while defending a House seat in a territory Trump wonThe Democratic representative Marie Gluesenkamp Perez secured one of two spots in the state of Washington's crowded, all-party primary, overcoming criticism from both the left and the right to advance in one of November's most closely watched US congressional races.The two-term Democrat - known for bucking her party on key issues - heads into the general election as she seeks to defend a district carried by Donald Trump in 2024 and a district that remains central to the battle for control of the House of Representatives. She will face the Republican state senator John Braun in November. Continue reading...
Wesley Bell wins in St Louis rematch dominated by Israel-Palestine issueUS politics live - latest updatesThe Democratic congressman Wesley Bell won his primary in the St Louis area on Tuesday, ending the progressive former representative Cori Bush's bid for a comeback and blunting the momentum pro-Palestinian candidates have shown in recent elections.Bell unseated Bush, a democratic socialist who opposes aid to the US ally and accuses it of committing a genocide in Gaza, in the Democratic congressional primary two years ago with the help of millions of dollars in spending from pro-Israel groups. Their rematch this year came amid a spate of primary defeats of Democratic incumbents at the hands of progressive outsiders. Continue reading...
Jeanine John Taele allegedly took photos and videos of property days before president's visitLos Angeles county sheriff's deputies arrested an armed California man over the weekend who was seen surveilling Donald Trump's golf course in Rancho Palos Verdes, days before the president was set to arrive there for an event with the Republican National Committee (RNC).Plainclothes federal agents reported Jeanine John Taele, 38, as a suspicious individual", after they observed him on Sunday taking photographs and videos of the golf grounds, located in a coastal town south of Los Angeles, according to county officials. Continue reading...
Missouri's top election official has rejected a petition for a referendum on new congressional districtsMissouri's top election official has rejected a citizens' petition seeking a statewide referendum on the state's redistricting plan backed by Donald Trump.Supporters of the referendum had submitted hundreds of thousands of petition signatures in an effort to force a November election on whether to use a new US House map approved by the Republican-led state legislature. But the Republican secretary of state, Denny Hoskins, asserted on Tuesday that the petition was void because congressional redistricting plans cannot be subject to voter referendums. Continue reading...
by David Smith Washington bureau chief on (#77FDQ)
Move is retaliation for Lula's government refusal to approve Trump's nominee for ambassador in BrasiliaDonald Trump's administration has revoked the visa of Brazil's ambassador to the US in a sharp escalation of a diplomatic feud with the country's president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.The US state department said Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti's visa had been cancelled in retaliation for Brazil's refusal to approve Trump's nominee for ambassador in Brasilia and its decision last month to deny visas to two US diplomats seeking to visit ahead of an October election. Continue reading...
Trump loyalist, who also has president's endorsement, has spent millions trying to prove 2020 election was stolen'Mike Lindell is leaving his role with the MyPillow company to focus on his campaign to become the next governor of Minnesota. In a social media post published on Tuesday, Lindell said that the company was strong enough to withstand his departure.This decision is not about walking away. It is about stepping forward to serve. I am putting Minnesota above myself, my title, and my business interests so I can give this campaign and the people of our state my full time, energy, and attention," Lindell said. Continue reading...
Demonstrators stage tree sit' in Arizona town to stop felling of ancient cottonwood grove to make way for border wallProtesters are staging a tree sit" in a tiny Arizona town to prevent the destruction of a grove of ancient cottonwood trees as federal contractors race to build a row of two 30ft walls along the border with Sonora, Mexico.The gathering ramped up last week in the town of Lochiel, in the remote San Rafael valley of south-east Arizona. On 27 July, contractors working for Fisher Sand and Gravel crushed three of the largest cottonwoods with excavators. Continue reading...
by Robert Tait in Washington and Coral Murphy Marcos on (#77F26)
Miller calls women accusing him liars as Republican senator Bernie Moreno says former son-in-law unfit for CongressMax Miller, the beleaguered US Republican representative from Ohio, has vowed to defy a rising groundswell of resignation calls from his own party over domestic abuse allegations after his ex-father-in-law, Bernie Moreno, a GOP senator, said he was unfit to serve in Congress.In a combative interview with CNN's Jake Tapper, Miller turned the tables by attacking Moreno, accused three women - including his ex-wife - of lying by saying he had been violent towards them, and invoked Donald Trump in insisting that he would not resign. Continue reading...
Disturbing' footage shared by California detainee surfaces amid wider complaints about conditions in ICE detentionAttorneys for a man detained in a California immigration detention center have released footage showing him holding up a bottle of water from inside the facility that appeared to be contaminated with worm-like creatures.The footage came from a video call with Carlitos Ricardo Parias, a Los Angeles man who has been detained for months at the Adelanto Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility, north-east of LA. Continue reading...
Ruling vacates convictions of founder Stewart Rhodes and other militia members who took part in 2021 Capitol attackA US judge on Tuesday granted the justice department's bid to dismiss cases against members of the rightwing Oath Keepers militia who took part in the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol, according to a court filing.The ruling from Washington-based US district judge Amit Mehta tosses out convictions of Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and other members of the group who were convicted of seditious conspiracy for plotting to stop the transfer of power after Donald Trump lost the 2020 election. Continue reading...
