The state has the largest homeless population in the US and Covid-19 has exposed how precarious the safety net isThis project was made in partnership with Family Promise, a national nonprofit dedicated to helping homeless and low-income families.The Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated a kind of homelessness that is often invisible – individuals and families living in their cars, motels, crowded shelters, or even doubled up with relatives or friends.It is a reality faced by millions of people across America, but especially acutely in California, which has the country’s largest homeless population. Continue reading...

As we commemorate Black History Month, my mind goes back to the NBA players whose beliefs and principles cost them their careersI recently interviewed former NBA player Matt Barnes for my show The Rematch, where he discussed meeting with Joe Biden before November’s presidential election. Barnes and a coalition of prominent Black influencers including billionaire businessman Robert F Smith, CNN’s Van Jones, Charlamagne tha God and film director Deon Taylor pushed Biden on subjects such as the 1994 Crime Bill, making sure he and Kamala Harris would be held accountable for their policies around race and social justice moving forward. Continue reading...

Staff at St James parish hospital have struggled to handle the surge of Covid patients – and despite the arrival of vaccines, problems persistThe “heroes work here” sign in front of St James parish hospital is long gone, along with open intensive care unit beds in the state of Louisiana.Staffers at the rural hospital spent hours each day in January calling larger hospitals in search of the elusive beds for Covid-19 patients. They leveraged personal connections and begged nurses elsewhere to take patients they know are beyond their hospital’s care level. Continue reading...

Although the state produces the most electricity in the US, millions of its underprivileged residents found themselves in the cold and darkAs a brutal winter storm pummeled much of Texas, Cecilia Corral scoured social media posts written by fellow Austinites. From single mothers and their newborns, others in her city were freezing without heat or desperately needed food.“Yesterday, I lost count the number of times that I cried from what I was seeing,” said Corral, co-founder and vice president of product at CareMessage, a nonprofit and patient engagement platform focused on medically underserved areas. Continue reading...

After getting hit, they suffered devastating symptoms that wouldn’t go away. It seemed no one could help – until they found each otherThe Jack Britt high school girls’ soccer team was playing on a muggy evening in Fayetteville, North Carolina, when the sky grew dark. It was 30 September 2015. Shana Williams Turner, a 46-year-old teacher in the school’s special education department, was supervising. She watched as the weather started to turn.Thunder rumbled above, each clap bringing lightning closer. Shana saw a lightning bolt hit a grocery store across the street. Scared, she and the choir teacher, Richard Butler, ran to a nearby ticket booth to find shelter. Continue reading...

Millions of people are without power in Texas as one of the worst storms in history plunges Texas into chaos

President calls for teachers to be vaccinated sooner as he describes plans for tackling Covid-19 in televised town hallJoe Biden laid out his plans for fighting the next stage of the coronavirus pandemic in a primetime town hall on Tuesday, pledging to make 600m doses of the Covid-19 vaccine available by the end of July, saying teachers should be moved “up the hierarchy” of the vaccine queue, and predicting most elementary schools would reopen by the end of his first 100 days in office.Seeking to move beyond his predecessor’s impeachment trial and reassure the American people that more aid was on the way, Biden addressed a small crowd in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. After landing on a slick, snow-covered tarmac in below-freezing weather, he took questions from a small audience of Democrats, Republicans and independents invited for a small, socially distant gathering at the historic Pabst Theater. Continue reading...

Officials warn of treacherous travel conditions as icy winter storm heads to America’s north-eastFerocious winter weather sweeping across large parts of the central and southern US has brought record-breaking cold temperatures, left millions without power and killed at least 21 people across multiple states. Continue reading...

Sites in Los Angeles and Oakland are part of Biden administration’s work to speed Covid-19 immunization processThe Federal Emergency Management Agency has opened up its first Covid-19 mass vaccination sites, part of the Biden administration’s efforts to speed up immunizations and to reach communities of color that have been disproportionately harmed by the pandemic.Fema’s first mass vaccination sites opened on Tuesday morning in Los Angeles and Oakland, California. Continue reading...

The Biden administration is attempting to push through what would be the first increase since 2009 as part of a pandemic relief billWorkers at fast-food restaurant chains in 15 cities around the US went on strike on Tuesday demanding a raise in their minimum wage to $15 an hour.

Civil rights lawsuit says company’s practices led to a $700,000 sales gap between Black- and white-owned franchisesThe Black owner of 14 McDonald’s franchises in Ohio says one of the world’s largest restaurant chains has shown more favorable treatment to white owners and denied him the opportunity to buy restaurants in more affluent communities, according to a civil rights lawsuit filed this week.The lawsuit filed by Herbert Washington, a former college track star who played for parts of two seasons with the Oakland Athletics in the mid-1970s, said the Chicago-based company’s discriminatory practices has led to a $700,000 sales gap between Black-owned franchises and those owned by whites. Continue reading...

The New York governor was hailed as a hero last spring when his forthright leadership contrasted with Trump’s but now faces claims of a cover-upEleven months ago, Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York was hailed as one of most effective US leaders in confronting the coronavirus, idolized in online fan videos and lionized in the pages of the New York Times. Continue reading...

Lawsuit brought by Bennie Thompson and NAACP argues ex-president and lawyer violated law known as Ku Klux Klan Act

Golden State Warriors Draymond Green gave an impassioned rant during a press conference sharply criticising the NBA. The forward said that players put on the trading block by teams are treated unfairly.‘It’s bullshit’ he said. ‘As a player, you’re the worst person in the world when you want a different situation,’ Green said. ‘But a team can say they’re trading you, and that man is to stay in shape, he is to stay professional, and if not his career is on the line. At some point, this league has to protect the players from embarrassment like that.’

Facilities sheltering people ‘getting overpacked’ as state struggles to deal with freezing temperatures and snowAs Texas remains in the grip of an arctic blast that has left millions of people without power for several days advocates are warning of a growing crisis for the homeless in the state.The homeless and the elderly are always the most vulnerable populations in a natural disaster, and many in Texas are facing limited options for food or warmth as the state struggles to deal with the freezing temperatures and deep snow. Continue reading...

Relatives of Adam Kinzinger publish an open letter accusing the Illinois representative of joining ‘the devil’s army’Family disagreements over US politics proliferated under four years of Donald Trump, with Facebook and other social media providing an accelerant for acrimony.Related: Trump remains 2024 candidate of choice for most Republicans, poll shows Continue reading...

59% of Republican voters said they wanted Trump to play prominent role in party, but tens of thousands left after Capitol riotIf the 2024 Republican presidential primary were held today, Donald Trump would be the clear favorite to win big. That was the message from a Politico-Morning Consult poll released on Tuesday, three days after Trump’s acquittal in his second impeachment trial, on a charge of inciting the insurrection at the US Capitol on 6 January.Related: Wall Street Journal warns Republicans: ‘Trump won’t win another election’ Continue reading...

As Wall Street enjoys its hottest run in 17 years, economists debate the new president’s optionsIt’s fair to say that Wall Street usually takes little interest in debates between economists, even ones as distinguished as Larry Summers and Paul Krugman.But the debate between the two Keynesians over the merits of Joe Biden’s stimulus package matters at a time when global stock markets are on their hottest run for 17 years. The mood has changed completely since fearful investors were piling into cash a year ago. The way the markets look at it, successful Covid vaccines plus low interest rates plus higher US government spending equals rapid growth and higher corporate profits. Continue reading...

It is the most expensive country in the world to have a baby, there is no way of knowing the bill in advance, and you can potentially be charged just for holding your newbornI’m delighted to announce my partner has been struck with a short-term disability. She is pregnant. Which, in the capitalist utopia that is the US, is pretty much the same thing. It’s the only developed country without mandated paid maternity leave; in some states, however, short-term disability insurance covers your income for a few weeks while you recover from the miracle of birth.You know what is really a miracle? The fact that anyone gives birth in the US at all. (And, in fact, not many people do: the birthrate has plummeted.) It doesn’t just have the worst parental leave in the rich world, it is also the most expensive country in which to have a baby. It is hard to pin down exact costs because they vary wildly depending on your location and your health insurance. However, even with decent insurance, you can expect to pay a few thousand dollars out-of-pocket for an uncomplicated birth. Indeed, the cost of delivering a regular American baby is more than that of delivering a Royal baby in the UK. Continue reading...

Deadly tornado left at least 10 people injured, destroyed homes and downed power lines, leaving thousands without electricityAt least three people were killed after a tornado tore through a seaside town in North Carolina, while millions of people in Texas remained in the dark early on Tuesday amid subfreezing temperatures.Related: Two die in Texas as winter storm brings snow and ice across southern US Continue reading...

Filming for the BBC in Niger, we were told by many Nigeriens that we were the first ever to come and ask about their history

Nancy Pelosi says Congress will establish a 9/11-style commission into the ‘facts and causes’ of the siege. Plus, a Valentine’s Day card mocking George Floyd’s death was reportedly circulated among LA police officers

Infection rates are back on the decline, but public health experts have warned against a rush to gather indoorsWhen Andrew Cuomo announced that New York City restaurants could reopen for limited indoor dining in time for Valentine’s Day, he took the liberty of suggesting that couples might want to propose – noting that wedding venues would be reopening a month later. Continue reading...

Lawmakers call on president to appoint Democratic majority-board that can fire postmaster general Louis DeJoyEven in a drama-filled election unlike any other, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and his assault on the postal service stood out.After Trump appointed the businessman to run the agency, DeJoy largely failed in his mission to help the former president discourage voters from casting ballots by mail, but evidence suggests his policies and the pandemic have decimated the postal service. Now many, including Democratic lawmakers, are calling on Biden to act swiftly to remove him and the Trump-majority UnitedStates Postal Service board of governors. Continue reading...

The vast majority of people who trade in shares are already the wealthiest 10% of American householdsRobinhood wants to “democratize finance”, according to its mission statement. And, for a brief period last month, the trading app seemed to be doing just that as small investors appeared to be battering Wall Street investors who had bet on the demise of GameStop, AMC cinemas and other.The long-term fallout of a saga that gripped the world is still unknown and regulators are poring over the sudden rise in shares of GameStop and others. But what is true is that share ownership in the US is still anything but democratic – the vast majority of people who trade in shares are already the wealthiest slice of society. Continue reading...

Unlike breakout hits Crazy Rich Asians and The Farewell, the acclaimed drama avoids a culture clash narrative and focuses on a more universal themeLee Issac Chung’s soulful drama Minari is set to break records for Asian American representation at this year’s Oscars, over a year after it received rapturous reviews at the Sundance film festival and coming soon after Crazy Rich Asians and The Farewell made key strides.These three films have become successive rallying points for Asian Americans looking for representation on screen and while they all tell family stories, it’s the ways in which they differ that count. Continue reading...

The photographers in new book But Still, It Turns create work that speaks to ‘the brilliant tangle of reality’. Curator Paul Graham talks us through them ... Continue reading...

Lurching from Obama to Trump to Biden, the system denies coalitions of compromise. And in the UK, each party is ridden with conflictThe one event more outrageous than a mob storming the Capitol was the spectacle of 43 Republican senators endorsing the attempted coup and its instigator. By refusing to impeach Donald Trump, they left all other democracies aghast, delighting autocrats everywhere.“This sad chapter in our history has reminded us that democracy is fragile,” said Joe Biden. Fragile indeed, when the erstwhile leaders of the democratic world refuse to defend democracy’s first principle, the transition of power by loser’s consent. Why bother lowering America’s founding documents nightly into a nuclear bombproof shelter beneath the National Archives, when they are ripped up by Congress in broad daylight? Continue reading...

He has a nicer life than me, scuttling from deli to deli and snuffling through gifts from brands. And yet still I followThe ecosystem connecting influencer and influenced is a fragile one, particularly now. A business model built on selling dreams and aspirations when our wildest aspiration is “a pleasant evening”, to quote the name of a friend’s jigsaw of a beer garden, is a tough ask. We need to envy the influencers, but not so much that it becomes unbearable.This became abundantly clear in January when heavily hashtagged pics of reality TV stars on “essential work trips” to Dubai caused the celebs to leak followers, field angry comments from erstwhile fans and face the fact that hard graft down the content coal mines does not earn you a Thursday clap. Continue reading...

As a paediatrician, I know about the importance of vaccines and will be first in line when it is my turn to roll up my sleeveMoving to the US with two young children during a pandemic was a feat I would never have thought was possible. My husband had been awarded a prestigious fellowship with the Mayo Clinic, an opportunity too good to pass up. It took months of mental anguish and preparation in the face of Covid-19 to take a trip of a lifetime, across the seas to a new country and to establish a new life, far away from home.It has been a challenge, living in a country where Covid has raged like wildfire. Our children have become accustomed to putting “alcohol” on their hands if we go out for groceries and masks have become a way of daily life. Continue reading...

Thousands without electricity in rotating outages in the southern state as President Joe Biden declares an emergencyTwo people have died in Texas, likely due to below-freezing temperatures and power outages, officials say, as unusual winter storms hit large parts of the southern US.Authorities reported two men were found dead along Houston-area roadways. Causes of death were pending, but officials said the subfreezing temperatures were the suspected cause. Continue reading...

Calls to investigate attack followed Trump’s acquittal in his second impeachment trialNancy Pelosi, the House speaker, said on Monday that the US Congress will move to establish an outside, independent commission to review the “facts and causes” related to the deadly 6 January insurrection at the US Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump in the waning days of his presidency.Pelosi said in a letter to members of Congress that the commission would be modeled on a similar one convened after the 11 September 2001, terrorist attack on Washington and New York. Continue reading...

Governor, who has faced calls to resign, acknowledged that officials should have moved faster to release some informationUnder fire over his management of the coronavirus’ lethal path through New York’s nursing homes, Andrew Cuomo insisted Monday the state didn’t cover up deaths – but the governor acknowledged that officials should have moved faster to release some information sought by lawmakers, the public and the press. Continue reading...

‘People will find my wrath,’ police chief says if inquiry confirms report that Valentine-like format was circulated among officersThe Los Angeles district attorney and the police department are investigating after a police officer reported that an image of George Floyd had been made into a mock-Valentine meme featuring the words “You take my breath away” and circulated among officers.Related: 'It is so much bigger than Trayvon': how bereaved mother Sybrina Fulton fought back Continue reading...

Infectious disease expert tells Axios he had been nervous going there when many were coming down with the virusAnthony Fauci, America’s top infectious disease expert and chief medical and coronavirus adviser to Joe Biden, revealed on Monday that he had been nervous entering the White House when many there were coming down with Covid-19 late in Donald Trump’s presidency.Fauci is 80 years old and said that as such he was acutely aware that he was at high risk of suffering a “serious outcome” if he became infected by coronavirus, he told Axios in an interview clip posted online. Continue reading...

Half of Republicans want Trump to remain as head of their party while half of American voters want him banished from politics

The surge is low compared to past years, but Covid-19 has reduced housing capacity, necessitating use of a controversial influx facilityThousands of unaccompanied immigrant children are attempting to flee to the United States amid the coronavirus pandemic, propelled by devastating natural disasters, chronic violence, and severe economic hardship at home.US Customs and Border Protection encountered 5,871 kids at the south-west border without a parent or legal guardian last month, the largest influx yet since the start of the public health crisis in early 2020. Continue reading...

After a year of enforced proximity, romance is in deep hibernation for many couples. But love is everywhere, expressed in quiet acts of kindnessValentine’s Day passed untroubled by grand romantic gestures: he regrouted the shower, I picked my cuticles. Dinner was leftovers in front of sitcom reruns with the kids.Some aspects of Covid life are fascinating, like a deeply unethical mass psychology experiment. The impact on romantic relationships is one of them: have partners ever experienced so much unsolicited togetherness? What effect will it have? Pandemic years are dog years, with new couples feeling the seven-year itch and old lags plumbing fresh depths of taking each other for granted. Continue reading...

FTSE 100 posts biggest daily gain for over a month as investors buoyed up by vaccine and US economy hopesThe pound has hit its highest level against the dollar for almost three years as global markets were buoyed up by hopes for a faster economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.Sterling rose by 0.5% to hit a 33-month high against the dollar on Monday, trading above $1.39 on the global currency markets for the first time since 2018, while also rising to a nine-month high against the euro of almost €1.15. Continue reading...

A politician may have a better chance of sorting out WTO’s problems than a technocratWith Donald Trump’s departure, it was only a matter of time before Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was appointed to run the World Trade Organization. Joe Biden could have maintained Washington’s objection to the former Nigerian finance minister becoming the first woman and the first African to run the Geneva-based body, but has sensibly decided not to.Like the football manager taking over a team struggling at the bottom of the table, Okonjo-Iweala is in the happy position of taking over at the WTO when the only way is up. Of all the big multilateral economic organisations, the WTO is the toughest gig: trade is a hugely contentious issue and yet decisions in Geneva are made by consensus. The old days when trade deals were a stitch-up between the United States and the Europeans are long gone. There has not been a successfully completed round of trade liberalisation talks since 1993. The WTO’s ability to police global trade is in doubt because the US has blocked the appointment of new judges to its appeals body. Continue reading...

The Bulls legend and Bubba Wallace’s black-owned team broke barriers in a sport with a history of intolerance. But Nascar’s redemption is not completeWith one lap left in Sunday’s Daytona 500, Bubba Wallace made his move. Pinned behind 15 cars arranged in a neat row on the top groove of Daytona’s 2.5-mile oval, Wallace charged into the bottom lane behind Kevin Harvick in hope of running down race leader Joey Logano. Just when Wallace appeared to be gathering steam – disaster. Brad Keselowski, jostled by an extra-hard shove from Michael McDowell, rocketed him into Logano’s left-side rear bumper, triggering a multicar pile-up. Wallace might have snuck through if Logano’s windmilling Ford hadn’t hit his Toyota flush on the nose. In the end Wallace finished a fiery 17th while McDowell stole the checkered flag under caution. Needless to say, you can expect Michael Jordan to take this personally.Besides maybe Harry and Meghan, you would be hard pressed to name another couple people are rooting harder for than Jordan and Wallace – Nascar’s new racing royalty. Wallace is the supremely gifted Nascar driver who happens to be an anti-racism trailblazer. And Jordan is a lifelong racing fan who finally has some skin in the game after decades of fence sitting. Last September they would make their relationship official, forming a single-car operation called 23XI Racing (pronounced twenty-three eleven). Wallace signed on as a free agent, Jordan as a co-owner alongside the veteran Cup driver and longtime Jordan Brand ambassador Denny Hamlin. Together, Jordan and Wallace give Nascar folk not one but two black friends to point to the next time the sport’s grim track record of intolerance is challenged. Continue reading...

Matt Minshall says the problem is party-first politics, while Daniel Peacock writes that Congress has failed to hold the president to account. Plus letters from Pete Stockwell and Magi YoungThe deepest problem affecting the progress and development of democracy is the crippling dominance of party-first politics (Senate Republicans stand by their man and Trump wins his second acquittal, 13 February). It restricts the power of politicians to act in the best interests of their countries and their people.The clear illustration of the power of party politics has been the trial of Donald Trump. Before the trial began, and ahead of any formal evidence being heard, the base of the Republican party had already decided the outcome. Thus, the verdict of one of the most politically important trials in history was given based on party dogma and not on the evidence, nor in the interests of the country. Continue reading...

The Sussexes’ baby announcement shared on Valentine’s Day is a confident image of defiance that seems to take us inside their love – granny must find it utterly bafflingThe Duke of Sussex’s left foot steals the show. His knobbly toes shove themselves into the foreground, bulging out to rhyme with his wife’s baby bump. Misan Harriman, the Nigerian-born photographer and friend of Meghan who took the picture remotely from his home in Woking, has created an unbuttoned romantic pastoral that doesn’t so much rebel against royal portraiture as bring it to an end.Producing babies has been the primary business of royalty since time immemorial. Harry and Meghan’s new child will be eighth in line to the British throne, but the picture tells us quite flamboyantly the Sussexes are not in Britain and have no desire to be. It is a confident image of defiance. A cup of California dreamin’. The garden looks semi-tropical. Harriman’s preference for black and white gives the sun-kissed lawn a lovely silvery glow that sets the couple almost in a vision of paradise. But at the same time, their intimate casualness – those toes again – is intended to show us they are anchored to the reality that matters. Continue reading...