I was a Bernie fan, but Biden’s policies have impressed me. Still, I’m not hailing him as a ‘transformational’ leader just yet

Neighbor’s security camera captured how Beechcraft Bonanza plane nosedived and crashed into vehicle in Pembroke PinesA boy riding in an SUV with his mother died when a small plane struggling to return to a south Florida airport crashed into them on a residential street, officials said.Two people on the plane died in the crash on Monday afternoon, which was recorded by a neighbor’s security camera. The boy’s mother was injured but authorities said she was released from the hospital later on Monday, the Pembroke Pines fire chief, Marcel Rodriguez, said. Continue reading...

Deal with RugbyPass will help league ‘control our destiny’, commissioner says, with eye on 1 August championship gameThe fourth season of Major League Rugby will kick-off with Old Glory DC versus NOLA Gold on Saturday 20 March. Pandemic notwithstanding, league commissioner George Killebrew is feeling bullish. Under a new deal, action and other content will be available to fans in North America via the RugbyPass online platform.Related: Nate Ebner returns to rugby from NFL to compete for US Olympic sevens spot Continue reading...

Abuse tracked by Stop AAPI Hate found more than 68% was verbal harassment while 11% was physical

In an extract from her latest book, Julie DiCaro explains why the old advice about ignoring harassment on social media simply doesn’t workMy first experience with mass trolling was in 2013. I had recently published a piece that attempted to dispel some of the myths about the behavior of rape victims by sharing, for the first time, my own rape story. I’d written it in response to all the slut‑shaming comments I’d seen about the sexual assault victim of then Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston. A segment of FSU fans, educated neither in the dynamics of sexual violence nor in the psychology of trauma, had taken to Twitter to point out that his accuser had to be lying, because she didn’t report the rape immediately and because she texted Winston after the attack.In the piece, I wrote about how it took me months, maybe years, to consider what happened to me “rape,” even though an army officer, much bigger and stronger than I was, held me down and overpowered me. Even though I kept saying no. Even though I was sore for days afterward. It happened during spring break of my senior year of college. The next night, I saw my rapist again at a bar. I made a beeline for him and chatted with him about college basketball. I couldn’t tell you to this day why I did that. Maybe because I needed to convince myself it wasn’t rape. Continue reading...

New Mexico representative is confirmed as interior secretary. Plus, two Capitol rioters charged with ‘bear spray’ assault on an officer, who later diedGood morning.Deb Haaland has made history by becoming the first Indigenous cabinet secretary in US, when she was confirmed as Joe Biden’s secretary of the interior. The Senate confirmed her by a 51-40 vote, Haaland having won over some Republican senators including Lindsey Graham and Lisa Murkowski. Continue reading...

Teenagers from families who have been hit hardest by the recession entered the workforce to support their families. With schools reopening, teachers worry they won’t come back

Migrants, mainly unaccompanied children or family groups, now being flown by government to El Paso amid shortage of facilitiesShelter organizers in the west Texas border city of El Paso are scrambling to open up capacity for children crossing alone into the US from Mexico, as a surge of unaccompanied minors has been met with a shortage of facilities in the ongoing pandemic.Migrants, mainly unaccompanied children or family groups, are now being flown by the federal government from the Rio Grande Valley in south-east Texas to El Paso in an attempt to deal with a situation. Continue reading...

Original draft was criticized for leaving out some groups, but authors of that version say the final product is substandardTwo years ago, California set out to draft a model ethnic studies curriculum for its high schools. The state’s department of education had no idea how heated the debate would get. Continue reading...

The Democratic party mainstays who have spent decades in the Senate have an important dynamic as they wrangle a sometimes unruly CongressIn the final hours ahead of the vote on Joe Biden’s Covid relief bill, Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia had thrown his fellow Democrats a curveball. He had effectively put the entire bill in jeopardy by possibly joining Republicans on unemployment benefits.Manchin seemed immovable. The White House legislative affairs team couldn’t get him to relent. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the top Democrat in the chamber, met with him as well, but couldn’t get him to budge, according to two Democrats with knowledge of those discussions. Eventually Manchin and Biden got on the phone directly, twice. The unemployment benefits in the bill were scaled back by a few weeks and the bill regained momentum. Continue reading...

Baseball players are often accused of presenting themselves as younger than they actually are. But it is becoming harder to slip under teams’ radarsNo matter how full the stadiums may be, normalcy will still be in short supply when the new Major League Baseball season opens under the shadow of the pandemic. “Face mask enforcement officers” will patrol clubhouses to ensure compliance, players will sport electronic contact tracing devices and the specter of an outbreak will loom over every road trip.All of which made the recent headlines surrounding Albert Pujols feel a bit like a return to the before times. The Los Angeles Angels slugger, entering what could be the final campaign of his illustrious career, found himself staring down questions about his age after a former MLB executive asserted that Pujols isn’t really 41. Officially, Pujols was born in 1980, but according to former Miami Marlins president David Samson, “not one person in baseball” actually believes that. The comments evoked memories of a not-long-ago era in baseball, when age falsification was a recurring storyline in the game. “I believe – we all believe, in baseball – that he was one of scores of players who falsified their age in order to better their ability to join Major League Baseball with the highest signing bonus possible,” Samson told the Guardian last week. Continue reading...

Society is full of structures that dehumanise and trivialise women, but we have the power to disrupt themIn the past week, there has been a wave of anger over the treatment of women, and a stronger feeling that things need to change. Individual actions make up the cultural scaffolding that supports violence against women. This means we have the power to disrupt these structures if we want to.We can start by changing how we understand and talk about violence against women. It is not an “isolated incident”, nor is it rare despite current claims that it is. Violence against women exists on a continuum, different forms overlap and their impact is cumulative. This is true for victims of violence but also for the perpetrators. Continue reading...

The columnist has apologised for her Islamophobic insults, but the response at the time shows the issue goes way beyond herLast December, I was referred to as an Islamist and a paedophile worshipper. I read multiple tweets speculating about whether I’m any good in bed, and insults about me supposedly having a moustache. Strange poems popped up portraying lurid sexual fantasies about having a threesome with me and the French far-right leader Marine Le Pen. I saw posts being liked on Facebook that told me to “kill myself for shame” and suggested that I had been a victim of female genital mutilation. None of these were the actions of an anonymous troll – they were the work of Sunday Telegraph columnist Julie Burchill.This morning Burchill published a lengthy apology for these defamatory statements. She acknowledged that some of them “play into Islamophobic tropes”, and admitted that she was wrong to make “racist and misogynist comments” regarding my appearance and sex life. Burchill has apologised “unreservedly and unconditionally” for the “hurtful and unacceptable statements”, and undertakes not to contact me directly again or “engage in any course of action amounting to harassment”. She has also had to pay substantial damages for the distress caused and my legal costs. Continue reading...

He may be obsessed with algorithms and employ a muscle specialist but brash American could just be his sport’s saviourThe second best moment in golf right now is the moment right before Bryson DeChambeau lines up a big drive. There’s the initial flurry of excitement as he unsheathes the big dog from his bag. A little sumo-bounce of the hips, the sense of an immense and gathering power. A couple of taps on the ground. And then the coil, the swing, the devastating crack of metal, which is – needless to say – the best part of all. Then lots of American men holler like caged animals, and DeChambeau howls something unintelligible before bounding down the fairway after the ball.DeChambeau is 27 years old, is ranked No 5 in the world and has a record of one major win and one top-10 finish in 17 attempts. On the face of things, this is an unlikely platform from which to launch the single‑handed destruction of an entire sport. But none of this on its own seems to explain why DeChambeau inspires such awe and fear in equal measure: a product not just of his success, but the bold and iconoclastic way in which he has gone about it. Continue reading...

Pete Ricketts declares ‘Meat on the Menu Day’ to support his state’s beef industry and push back against animal rights activistsNebraska’s governor Pete Ricketts railed Monday against a proclamation by the governor of neighboring Colorado that encourages people to avoid meat for one day a week, calling it a “direct attack on our way of life” and signing a pro-meat declaration of his own.Ricketts surrounded himself with top officials from Nebraska’s meat, agricultural and restaurant industries as he declared Saturday “Meat on the Menu Day” in Nebraska. Continue reading...

Judge says timing of announcement of settlement between Minneapolis and family ‘unfortunate’ amid courtroom tensionThe defense attorney for the former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who is charged with George Floyd’s murder, on Monday asked the judge to delay the trial now under way, saying the announcement by the city of a record $27m settlement for Floyd’s family could make a fair trial impossible.Defense attorney Eric Nelson also raised the possibility of renewing his previously unsuccessful motion to move Chauvin’s trial to another city. Continue reading...

President faces a messaging war with Republicans as he tries to promote the $1.9tn aid packageJoe Biden has launched a publicity blitz for his coronavirus rescue plan but faces disruption from a messaging war with Republicans over an escalating humanitarian emergency at the US-Mexico border. Continue reading...

Dignitatis Humanae Institute, which the former Trump adviser backs, wanted to start the school in an 800-year-old monasterySteve Bannon, the former adviser to Donald Trump, has lost a legal battle to set up a rightwing Catholic political academy in an abbey in Italy.The Council of State on Monday ruled against the Dignitatis Humanae Institute (DHI), which Bannon backs, and which wanted to start the school in an 800-year-old monastery south of Rome. Continue reading...

Police issued a warrant for the arrest of Terry Wright, 65, of Grants Pass, Oregon. The woman's detention on Thursday at a Bank of America in Galveston was captured by the officer’s body camera.

Representative calls on Biden administration to phase out contracts between Ice and local jails and prisons

Julian Elie Khate and George Pierre Tanios charged with assaulting Brian Sicknick with a ‘toxic spray’ during Capitol attack

California governor’s committee start fundraising drive with ad attacking the recall effort as Republican power grabCalifornia’s governor on Monday launched a political committee to raise money to defend his seat in a potential recall election, the strongest acknowledgment to date that he expects to be on the ballot this year.“I won’t be distracted by this partisan, Republican recall – but I will fight it,” Gavin Newsom said in a tweet. “There is too much at stake,” he added. Continue reading...

FBI report: Anthony Quinn Warner acted alone and set off bomb to kill himself but was not motivated by political or social ideologyThe man who blew himself up in his recreational vehicle on Christmas Day in 2020 in Nashville, Tennessee, was grappling with paranoia and conspiracy theories but was not motivated by social or political ideology, the FBI said on Monday.An FBI statement set out to resolve some lingering mysteries from an explosion that perplexed investigators and the public because it appeared to lack a motive. Though the blast damaged dozens of buildings, it took place early on a holiday, well before streets would be busy, and was preceded by a recorded warning. Continue reading...

David Fincher’s frontrunner Mank is a brilliant but nostalgic choice, while there are no nominations for stunning sexual politics drama The Assistant

Utah senator said US spectators should stay home and prohibiting athletes from competing in 2022 winter games is ‘wrong’ answerThe US should boycott the Beijing Winter Olympic Games next year, Mitt Romney said on Monday – but not by keeping its skiers, curlers and bobsledders at home.Related: Beijing 2022: 180 human rights groups call for Winter Olympics boycott Continue reading...

Republicans concerned that Eric Greitens’ candidacy could tip one of the state’s two seats to the Democrats

Miami Beach mayor says ‘too many people [are] coming here to let loose’ as state reports increase in coronavirus casesPolice in Miami Beach used pepper spray and arrested 100 people as large spring break crowds gathered despite the pandemic.Related: Texas police handcuff maskless woman who asked: 'What are you going to do, arrest me?' Continue reading...

Something about video calling hypnotises you into gazing at your own image. I can’t wait to shake the habit

Pennsylvania woman accused of manipulating photos of three girls to make it appear they were drinking, smoking and even nudeA Pennsylvania woman has been accused of creating “deepfake” pictures of her daughter’s cheerleading rivals, doctoring photos and video in an attempt to get them kicked off the squad, officials said.Related: What are deepfakes – and how can you spot them? Continue reading...

Warrant issued after state ended orders requiring masks in public places, though many businesses have kept their own rules in placeAn arrest warrant was issued for a woman who refused to wear a mask at a Texas bank, saying to a police officer: “What are you going to do, arrest me?”Related: 'It’s every man for himself': the Texans defying end of mask mandate Continue reading...

While questions rightly remain over its shadowy nominations process, Grammy voters should be praised for honouring a large number of women and people of colourThe Grammys always attract a degree of controversy. This year, there was singer Teyana Taylor protesting that “all I see is dick” in the all-male nominations for best R&B album, and a slightly peculiar statement from Justin Bieber, asking to be considered an R&B artist rather than a pop singer. More headlines were grabbed by the Weeknd, understandably shocked that his double-platinum album After Hours, and its accompanying single Blinding Lights – a song so omnipresent that it recently celebrated an entire year in the US Top 10 – didn’t receive a single nomination: he subsequently announced he would stop his label submitting his music in future. The latter’s complaint revolved around a lack of transparency in the voting process: the presence of nomination committees that retain executive power over who makes the shortlists and who hold the ability to add artists who have received no nominations in many of the Grammys’ categories.The argument about transparency isn’t going to go away – if your voting process involves a shadowy and apparently unanswerable cabal who exert control over the nominations, you should probably expect people to look askance at it – but, the absence of the Weeknd aside, the actual winners in the Grammys’ big categories brooked little argument. Continue reading...

Abrams said attempts to restrict mail-in voting in Georgia were a ‘redux of Jim Crow in a suit and tie’. Plus, female artists swept the GrammysGood morning.Stacey Abrams launched a searing attack on proposals to restrict voting access in Georgia, describing them as “racist” and “a redux of Jim Crow in a suit and tie” this weekend. Abrams, a former senior state legislator who was credited with helping the Democrats win crucial senate races in the state last year, has become a key voting rights activist in recent years. Continue reading...

Algorithms decide which applications reach human managers’ eyes. But they sort out people with unusual work histories or who lack college degrees

Despite vaccine hesitancy, figures show a big drop in infections – giving hope that, after a brutal year, an end is in sightJoan Phillips, a certified nursing assistant in a Florida nursing home, loved her job but dreaded the danger of going to work in the pandemic. When vaccines became available in December, she jumped at the chance to get one.Months later, it appears that danger has faded. After the rollout of Covid vaccines, the number of new Covid cases among nursing home staff fell 83% – from 28,802 for the week ending 20 December to 4,764 for the week ending 14 February, data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services shows. Continue reading...

The Des Moines Register reporter speaks about her arrest while covering a protest against police brutality: ‘I did my job and I did it correctly’Six days after the murder of George Floyd, the Des Moines Register journalist Andrea Sahouri went to work.The public safety reporter was assigned to cover one of the many protests against police brutality happening around the country, set to take place outside Merle Hay Mall, a shopping complex near the city center of Des Moines, Iowa. Continue reading...

Acclaimed musician celebrated receiving his second vaccine dose by performing for those waiting in line

The renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma gives an impromptu performance in a vaccine waiting room in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, after having received his second dose of the coronavirus vaccine. He performs Ave Maria and the prelude to Bach’s Cello Suite No 1 to the small number of patients waiting to receive the dose. Ma, who played for about 15 minutes, is a part-time resident of the area and wanted to ‘give something back’ to his community, according to a local paper, the Berkshire Eagle Continue reading...

Longtime aide Larry Schwartz has denied mixing political and policy calls or acting improperlyThe coronavirus vaccination tsar for the New York governor, Andrew Cuomo, made appeals for political support for the embattled politician, prompting ethical concerns, according to multiple media reports on Sunday.New York’s “vaccination tsar”, longtime Cuomo aide Larry Schwartz, reportedly pivoted in at least one telephone conversation with a county executive from a discussion of vaccination policy directly to an appeal for support for Cuomo. Continue reading...

Powerful late winter storm brings heavy snow and wind and closes roads in Wyoming, Colorado and Nebraska

Bill includes various measures including ending the right to vote by mail without having to provide an excuseStacey Abrams has described Republican efforts to restrict voting rights in Georgia as “racist” and “a redux of Jim Crow in a suit and tie”.Abrams, who helped Democrats win two key US Senate runoff elections in her home state in January that gave the party a narrow control of the chamber, is a leading critic of voter suppression efforts by Republicans. Continue reading...

The White House is putting government at the heart of the post-Covid economic bounce-back. The implications affect us allDuring the pandemic, the world has been dazzled by the huge sums that governments have been willing to spend propping up their economies. Britain has spent £407bn in support measures, more than 40% of normal government spending in an entire non-Covid year. The European Union has launched an emergency new €750bn (£645bn) coronavirus recovery fund to help its 27 member states. Now the United States has topped them all, passing the $1.9tn (£1.4tn) stimulus package that President Biden signed this week. This takes pandemic-related spending by the US to around $6tn (£4.3tn) – more than it spent fighting the second world war.The Biden package is massive. It puts up to $1,400 into the pockets of low-paid workers and members of their families. It extends a wide range of welfare payments into the autumn, boosts parental tax credits, and maintains special unemployment reliefs and health care subsidies. Much of the support is unconditional. The poorest fifth of US households will see their incomes rise by 20%. Child poverty may be cut in half. Payments began to arrive over the weekend. Continue reading...

Administration to send Fema to help with surge at Mexico border to safely receive, shelter and transfer minor childrenThe House speaker, Nancy Pelosi said, on Sunday that the Biden administration had inherited a broken immigration system as the administration announced it would send federal help to children on the US-Mexico border seeking asylum.“This is a humanitarian challenge to all of us,” Pelosi told told ABC News’ This Week program. “What the administration has inherited is a broken system at the border, and they are working to correct that in the children’s interest.” Continue reading...

Polls shows about half of US men who identified themselves as Republicans said they had no plans to get the vaccineDr Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious disease expert, said on Sunday that he hopes former president Donald Trump will urge his supporters to get the Covid-19 vaccine and emphasized that pandemic-related restrictions should not be lifted prematurely.In a PBS NewsHour/NPR/Marist poll released last week, about half of US men who identified themselves as Republicans said they had no plans to get the vaccine. Continue reading...

One of the great middleweights in boxing history, Marvelous Marvin Hagler died Saturday at the age of 66. He fought on boxing’s biggest stages against its biggest names, as he, Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns and Roberto Durán dominated the middleweight classes during a golden time for boxing in the 1980s. His career ended in controversial fashion after losing to Leonard in 1987: Hagler was the favourite but lost out on a split decision and never fought again• Marvin Hagler, middleweight boxing’s towering champion, dies aged 66 Continue reading...