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In 2021 legislative sessions, lawmakers in 28 states have pushed a whopping 106 bills that would restrict voting accessIt’s been less than a month since rightwing insurrectionists stormed the Capitol building in a deadly riot incited by the former president and his false claims of mass voter fraud. In the riot’s wake, many prominent Republicans have tried to distance themselves from the attackers and those who spurred them on. “The mob was fed lies,” said the Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell. “They were provoked by the president and other powerful people.”Those “other powerful people” were powerful members of the Republican party and leading voices in conservative media, who are now either claiming we simply need to move on for the sake of healing, or saying that actually, the riot was the left’s fault. But while some Republicans are positioning themselves as honest and reasonable by condemning the riot and recognizing that it was sparked by lies about voter fraud, their party’s actions and policy priorities tell a very different story. Because as our nation remains rocked by an attack on the heart of our democracy, Republicans are using the same baseless lies that fueled it to push a staggering number of laws to scale back voting rights. Continue reading...

The average number of daily deaths from coronavirus among the county’s Latino residents increases from 3.5 deaths to 40 deaths per 100,000The average number of Latino residents dying from coronavirus each day in Los Angeles county has increased by more than 1,000% since November, according to county public health officials.Los Angeles is battling one of the worst Covid-19 outbreaks in the US, amid a winter surge that has left hospitals across the region overwhelmed. LA county’s Latino population has faced the brunt of the crisis. Continue reading...

The tennis player on being there for her daughter, crying a lot and bringing back dinosaursBorn in Michigan, Serena Williams, 39 made her professional tennis debut at the age of 14. The winner of four Olympic gold medals and 23 grand slam singles titles, Serena is married to Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. They have a three-year-old daughter and live in Beverly Hills. She recently launched a luggage collection with global lifestyle brand Away.What is your greatest fear?

Martin Scorsese’s Netflix series of conversations with this slightly fearsome – and to be frank, grumpy old lady – has brightened my daysLike a lot of New Yorkers, I have a Fran Lebowitz story – not a classic one, but it gives a flavour of the woman. It was the early noughties, and I was walking out of a fashion show. Among the celebrities dolled up like birds of paradise, a more pigeonesque figure in a pair of jeans and a blue blazer stood out. “Oh my God, that’s Fran Lebowitz!” I gasped, inwardly and outwardly. As she started to light her cigarette, someone told her to wait until she was outside.“Oh, for God’s sake,” she said, and stomped off. Continue reading...

Rather than retreating from the company’s over-valued shares, traders have embraced them with nihilistic exuberanceWhen I worked in high finance it was a running joke that day traders – small retail traders – were like beetles sifting through the dung of the big funds that truly drove the markets. They are in a weak position, given their lack of capital and coordination, but an entire retail brokerage industry – nowadays exemplified by companies such as Robinhood – is designed to cultivate a myth of their heroic status.That’s why the GameStop story stands out. In his book Liar’s Poker, former Wall Street trader Michael Lewis described powerful traders who work for big investment banks as “big swinging dicks”, but the folk appeal of the GameStop saga stems from the fact that a swarm of “little swinging dicks” have seemingly banded together to become a giant swinging dick, defying gravity to push the price of a stock far beyond its actual underlying value. Continue reading...

Abolishing the filibuster could allow Senate Democrats to pass Joe Biden’s agenda, but there are risksWhile the US Senate has temporarily averted a showdown over its so-called filibuster rule, the issue appears likely to resurface, as the wafer-thin Democratic majority endeavors to pass Joe Biden’s legislative agenda into law – and Republicans try to stop them. Here’s what you need to know: Continue reading...

With Republicans planning to obstruct the president’s agenda, some Democrats are pushing Biden to support eliminating the filibusterJoe Biden rose to power by promising bold action to confront the numerous crises facing the United States – namely the coronavirus pandemic, a struggling economy and the climate emergency. Over his first two weeks in office, the new president has signed a series of executive orders aimed at following through on those promises. Continue reading...

As Mitch McConnell goes into battle for the minority once again, Adam Jentleson’s book is perfectly timedFor nearly a month, Mitch McConnell and his Senate Republicans have waged the parliamentary equivalent of a guerrilla war. Having lost the Georgia runoffs and with them the Senate, McConnell has still managed to stymie formal reorganization of the chamber. In an already sulfurous political landscape, the filibuster – the need for super-majorities of 60 votes to pass legislation – looms once again as a flashpoint.Related: ‘The perfect target’: Russia cultivated Trump as asset for 40 years – ex-KGB spy Continue reading...

Democratic congresswoman said Marjorie Taylor Greene and her staff refused to wear masks and berated herThe Democratic representative Cori Bush said she is moving her office away from that of Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene due to safety concerns after Greene and her staff berated her and refused to wear masks. Continue reading...

When a freezer where the supply was stored failed, the hospitals sent out word over social media so it wouldn’t go to wasteSeattle hospitals rushed out Covid-19 vaccines to hundreds of people in the middle of the night after a freezer they were being stored in failed.It’s not clear what exactly caused the freezer failure Thursday night, but the Northwest and Montlake campuses of the UW Medical Center and the Swedish Medical Center received more than 1,300 vaccine doses that needed to be used before they expired at 5.30am Friday, the Seattle Times reported. Continue reading...

Covid-19 vaccines not yet approved for children, but they are a key step in pursuit of widespread immunityChildren in the US will “hopefully” start to be vaccinated against Covid-19 by late spring or early summer, Dr Anthony Fauci said on Friday.Related: Black Americans receiving Covid vaccines at lower rates than whites Continue reading...

President said he supported passing relief with or without Republicans

The Chad Wheeler case is the latest example of the NFL dropping the ball when it comes to violence against women

Matt Gaetz flies to Cheney’s home state to hold rally and urge voters to oust her in primary after she backed impeachment

Officials said they shut down operation after student Andrei Doroshin sought to monetize informationWhen Philadelphia began getting its first batches of Covid-19 vaccines, it looked to partner with someone who could get a mass vaccination site up and running quickly.City hall officials might have looked across the skyline to the world-renowned health providers at the University of Pennsylvania, Temple University or Jefferson Health. Continue reading...

National Weather Service says to ‘make sure all exposed skin is protected’ as city’s temperatures as low as 15F to 20F on FridayPlunging temperatures gripped New York on Friday, with the US National Weather Service warning that people in the city risked getting frostbite if they ventured outdoors unprotected.If people did need to be outside, the weather service advised to wear gloves and hats. It added in a warning bulletin that “frostbite can occur in a short amount of time, so dress in layers and make sure all exposed skin is protected”. Continue reading...

Even the ‘Spanish’ flu quickly faded from collective memory. We must ensure the same doesn’t happen with CovidOne day this will all be over. That’s hard to believe now, when even this month seems interminable, the January that refused to end. But one day, not soon perhaps, we will speak of the pandemic in the past tense. When that time comes, how will we remember the plague that visited death upon us?So far, the act of remembering has been deferred or even forbidden. Second only to the deaths themselves, perhaps the greatest pain the coronavirus has inflicted has been its denial of the right to say goodbye. Quarantine rules have kept people from the bedsides of loved ones in their final hours, their parting words exchanged by phone or left unsaid. I’m still haunted by the story of an early victim of the virus, a 13-year-old boy whose family had to stay away from their child’s funeral. For many, that most intimate of rituals has come via a livestream: better than nothing, but remote in every sense. Even those able to bury their dead in person have had to keep their distance from one another, denied the consolation of touch. Continue reading...

Paper says Donald McNeil Jr was ‘disciplined’ for using racist language on a Times-endorsed educational tripThe New York Times has confirmed the paper investigated and “disciplined” its high-profile public health and Covid-19 reporter after he used racial slurs during a trip with high school students in 2019.Donald McNeil Jr, a 45-year veteran of the paper and its lead reporter on the coronavirus pandemic, was accused by a number of students of using the N-word during a Times-endorsed educational trip to Peru. The reporter also suggested he did not believe in white privilege and used stereotypes about Black teenagers, according to complaints filed to the paper, which were reported by the Daily Beast. Continue reading...

Owner of 1,400 pubs and bars, including Pitcher & Piano chain, will evaluate all-cash offer from Platinum EquityPub chain Marston’s has received a takeover approach from a US private equity group in a move that could fuel a spate of deals in the embattled hospitality sector.The news of the all-cash offer from Platinum Equity Advisors prompted a 17% spike in Marston’s share price to 87p, giving the pub and brewing group a market value of £553m. Continue reading...

It’s eerily similar to the 17th-century Dutch bubble, but with the self-organising potential of the internet added to the mixTowards the end of 1636, there was an outbreak of bubonic plague in the Netherlands. The concept of a lockdown was not really established at the time, but merchant trade slowed to a trickle. Idle young men in the town of Haarlem gathered in taverns, and looked for amusement in one of the few commodities still trading – contracts for the delivery of flower bulbs the following spring. What ensued is often regarded as the first financial bubble in recorded history – the “tulip mania”.Nearly 400 years later, something similar has happened in the US stock market. This week, the share price of a company called GameStop – an unexceptional retailer that appears to have been surprised and confused by the whole episode – became the battleground between some of the biggest names in finance and a few hundred bored (mostly) bros exchanging messages on the WallStreetBets forum, part of the sprawling discussion site Reddit. Continue reading...

IMG Models chief says design student ‘exudes joy’ and will join poet Amanda Gorman at agencyThe vice-president Kamala Harris’s stepdaughter, Ella Emhoff, has signed with IMG Models – home of Gigi and Bella Hadid – after her appearance at the presidential inauguration.Emhoff’s two looks – a jewel-encrusted Miu Miu coat and a merlot-coloured Batsheva dress – went viral during the televised ceremony. Continue reading...

Who pulled up? Who keeps going? Who hasn’t kept up?Zlatan Ibrahimovic was sent off in the second half of the Milan derby this week. Who followed him off the pitch 20 minutes later?Romelu LukakuAshley YoungAlexis SánchezPaolo ValeriTom Brady has reached yet another Super Bowl. By the time the game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Kansas City Chiefs is played next weekend, what percentage of Super Bowls will have featured Brady?6%12%18%25%What will make this year's Super Bowl different from the previous 54?The sitting US president will not be in attendance for the first timeThe two teams are from the same US stateOne of the teams is playing in their home stadiumThere will be no fansIt was an interesting week at Chelsea, where Frank Lampard was replaced by Thomas Tuchel as manager of the men’s team. How did the Chelsea women’s team make the news?They became the first club to put out a full starting XI of foreign players in the Women’s Super LeagueTheir game against Aston Villa was delayed for three hours because of snow, so it started on Tuesday and ended on WednesdayThey selected three sisters for their game against Aston Villa – a first in the Women's Super LeagueThey set a new record for the longest unbeaten run in the Women’s Super LeagueYannick Bestaven won the Vendée Globe round-the-world sailing race this week. He was declared the winner of the solo race with a time of 80 days, three hours, 44 minutes and 46 seconds. However, Bestaven was not the first sailor to reach the finish line. What happened?The sailor who finished first had taken a shortcut, bypassing AustraliaThe sailor who finished first had snuck his partner on to the boat, so was disqualified from the solo raceBestaven had set off 10 days later than all of the other competitors due to a Covid scareAfter Bestaven reached the finish line, he was reimbursed 10 hours of time that he had used rescuing a fellow competitor whose boat had sunkThe January transfer window has been quiet this year, with just a handful of permanent deals going through so far. Which Premier League club holds the record for paying the most for a player in January?Manchester United in 2020Chelsea in 2019Liverpool in 2018Manchester City in 2017Teams from which two cities will contest the Copa Libertadores final at the Maracanã on Saturday night?Buenos Aires and BogotáMedellín and MontevideoSão Paulo and SantosLima and La PlataWho said: "I need activity, guys, come on. You don’t get away with being inactive in this business and that’s the way it is. I’ll take me licks. It’s a tough one to swallow"?Gareth BaleDonny van de BeekFrank LampardConor McGregorMartin Ødegaard has joined Arsenal on loan from Real Madrid. Which of these records has Ødegaard not broken in his career?The youngest player to represent Real MadridThe youngest player to play in the Norwegian professional leaguesThe youngest player to represent NorwayThe youngest player to score in a clásicoAll 20 Premier League teams have scored at least one goal in the league in 2021. Which team was slowest to find the net?Newcastle UnitedLiverpoolWest BromFulham3 and above.Not bad. Have a good weekend4 and above.Well played. Have a great weekend5 and above.Well played. Have a great weekend6 and above.Well played. Have a great weekend7 and above.A fantastic score. Have a great weekend8 and above.A fantastic score. Have a great weekend9 and above.A fantastic score. Have a great weekend10 and above.Perfection. Fantastic. Have a great weekend2 and above.Ah well. Have a good weekend0 and above.Ah well. Have a good weekend1 and above.Ah well. Have a good weekend Continue reading...

It may not last, this urge to flee even virtual contact with other humans in favour of box sets and bed. But what if it does?“How has it been, all this time?” A casual acquaintance – the mother of a vague friend of my children – asked this question on the street, from behind a mask and at a safe social distance. We hadn’t seen each other for months, and my children had drifted from hers, as they had from all but a handful of friends. We regarded each other curiously, reminded in the moment of how strange this all was. “Fine,” I said reflexively. “It’s been fine.”I have no idea if this is true. For those lucky enough to have avoided catastrophic health or economic losses, measuring the cost of the last year can be hard. How, in fact, are we doing? I have watched my kids adapt, with an almost seamless ability, to online learning and no indoor playdates. We have grown accustomed to barely leaving the neighbourhood and not seeing family for over a year; and, on the rare occasions when we have a babysitter, to wearing masks inside the house. Meanwhile, we are unmoored from all but a handful of close friends. If it is fine – and it is largely fine, or at least it is this week – I also wonder if some social muscle has atrophied and we have become weird. A year ago, it was weird having to stay in all the time. Now the idea of going out, going anywhere, seeing anyone or doing anything, fills us in the first instance with dread. Continue reading...

White people are being vaccinated at significantly higher rates than Black people, according to an analysis. Plus, Biden makes health insurance more accessible

A new exhibition combines interviews with ex-detainees on their trauma during Covid-19, and imagery of the growth of private-run detention in the US“Imagine how it feels there, locked up, the whole day without catching the air, without … seeing the light, because that is a cave there, in there you go crazy; without being able to see my family, just being able to listen to them on a phone and be able to say, ‘OK, bye,’ because the calls are expensive.”That’s how Alejandro, an asylum seeker from Cuba, described his time in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) detention center. Continue reading...

New Mexico city faces a crisis as Covid ravages the tourism-based economy and newcomers crowd the housing marketShawna Martinez moved to Santa Fe to attend school in 1989 and never left. Working at Hotel Santa Fe for nearly 30 years, she has had a front seat to the explosive growth of this tourist town in past years.But late last year, on Martinez’s 50th birthday, her landlady delivered news that she was selling the property where Martinez rents a small, two-bedroom casita for $900. Martinez’s lease wouldn’t be renewed and she would need to move. Continue reading...

‘Women’s bodies are not political bargaining chips’ says UNFPA director, as US funding restored after Trump era

In every state Blacks were significantly underrepresented among people vaccinated so far, analysis by Kaiser Health News showsBlack Americans are receiving Covid vaccinations at dramatically lower rates than white Americans in the first weeks of the chaotic rollout, according to a new analysis.About 3% of Americans have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine so far. But in 16 states that have released data by race, white residents are being vaccinated at significantly higher rates than Black residents, according to the analysis – in many cases two to three times higher. Continue reading...

The Miami Heat will employ canines to sniff out the virus among fans attending games. But can dogs be trained in time to work at the Super Bowl?Nearly 100 million people are expected to watch Super Bowl LV in Tampa, the first time the big game has been held during a pandemic (the World Series has survived two). But only 22,000 of those viewers, 7,500 of them vaccinated healthcare workers, will be in actual attendance, representing just one-third the capacity of Raymond James Stadium. Social distancing and face-coverings will be enforced. The first few rows will be kept clear as a buffer between the field and the fans. By this stage of the pandemic, everyone should be aware that, at any one time, a portion of the population is composed of asymptomatic carriers who can infect others they come into contact with. As a result, any large gathering has the potential to become a super-spreader event with wide-reaching consequences. Large-scale testing at gatherings such as sporting events is limited by the availability of trained personnel, equipment, money, and the time it takes for the results of the actual test to work.But an unconventional solution may be in the works. Continue reading...

The KGB ‘played the game as if they were immensely impressed by his personality’, Yuri Shvets, a key source for a new book, tells the GuardianDonald Trump was cultivated as a Russian asset over 40 years and proved so willing to parrot anti-western propaganda that there were celebrations in Moscow, a former KGB spy has told the Guardian.Yuri Shvets, posted to Washington by the Soviet Union in the 1980s, compares the former US president to “the Cambridge five”, the British spy ring that passed secrets to Moscow during the second world war and early cold war. Continue reading...

Respondents call for bold action from the new administration, foreseeing difficult battles aheadOne week after the inauguration of Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States, we asked Americans how they feel about the election result and what their hopes are for the next four years. Continue reading...

The Democrats’ victory involved working with minorities and helping the working class. Keir Starmer, take heed“Culture war” used to be a term inextricably linked with the maelstrom of US politics. Popularised by American sociologist James Davison Hunter in his 1991 book Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America, it described how socially progressive and conservative coalitions were locked in a seemingly eternal conflict. It could make for surprising alliances, he noted, citing Protestant, Catholic and Jewish clergy joining forces in anti-abortion movements during the late 1980s.The battlegrounds of the US culture war are familiar ones, long regarded with bafflement by patronising and complacent European eyes: God, guns, abortion, gay rights and, of course, race. In a moment that threatened to temporarily derail his 2008 presidential bid, Barack Obama said of working-class rust-belt Americans: “They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them.” As the Tea Party movement’s backlash against his Medicare proposals underlined, culture wars became a highly effective means to mobilise low-income white Americans to vote against their economic interests. Continue reading...

Britain’s schools shutdown risks creating a generation of angry, withdrawn young people. Who will pick up the pieces?It’s never been exactly easy to get a teenager up in the morning. But behind many of our children’s closed bedroom doors, something is now unravelling. During last spring and summer, parents of older children worried about them galivanting off for rebellious lockdown-busting parties. In the dark depths of January, the fear is more for kids with all the stuffing knocked out of them; teenagers spending the whole day huddled miserably under duvets, refusing to complete online lessons, or mentally checking out.Illicit teenage parties were, of course, a health risk. But sad, withdrawn, angry kids who would rather roll over than face another day in lockdown represent a whole new medical crisis in the making. Continue reading...

World must keep food exports flowing freely to ease shortages and mitigate price spikes

Oaklin Springs cemetery’s board has since voted to remove the whites-only provision from its sales contractsThe family of a Black sheriff’s deputy in Louisiana said a local cemetery declined to bury his body after he died last week due to a “whites only” policy. Continue reading...

Former Trump press secretary’s early haul signals how expensive the 2022 race could becomeThe former White House press secretary, Sarah Sanders, has raised more than $1m in the first four days of her bid for Arkansas governor, her campaign has said.Sanders announced on Monday she was running for Arkansas governor with a nearly eight-minute video that embraced former president Donald Trump, even as the Senate prepared for an impeachment trial on charges he incited the deadly riot at the US Capitol on 6 January. Continue reading...

Congresswoman tells senator who rejected Biden’s victory: ‘If you want to help, you can resign’The Democratic representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has rejected a message of support from Ted Cruz, adding the Texas senator “almost had me murdered three weeks ago”.Cruz on Thursday had endorsed Ocasio-Cortez’s call on Twitter for a congressional hearing about the decision by the online trading platform Robinhood to restrict trading in GameStop shares. But while welcoming the chance to work across party lines on the issue, Ocasio-Cortez had harsh words for Cruz. Continue reading...

FBI says Ian Rogers also sent texts that could be seen as threats against the governor’s office and social media companiesUS prosecutors have charged a northern California man with stockpiling weapons, including pipe bombs, after dozens of arms were found during a raid on his home and office. Continue reading...

President’s move to end ‘abortion ban’ on overseas funding hailed – now aid groups want apology for harmful Trump policiesHealth groups around the world are celebrating the end of a harmful policy banning US funding for overseas aid organisations that facilitate or promote abortion, which was scrapped by the US president, Joe Biden, in a presidential memorandum on Thursday.Reproductive rights advocates are urging the new administration to now go further and permanently repeal the Mexico City policy – known as the “global gag rule” – to prevent it being reinstated by a future Republican president. The policy has been blamed for contributing to thousands of maternal deaths in the developing world over the past four years. Continue reading...

President expected to sign executive order for special sign-up opportunity amid the coronavirus pandemicJoe Biden has signed an executive order to reopen federal health insurance marketplaces in an executive action meant to signal the importance of expanding healthcare, a key commitment during his campaign.The order is designed to aid people who lost their jobs, and consequently their health insurance, amid the pandemic. Continue reading...

The GameStop-style frenzy looks like a familiar case of speculative excess that will end badly for manyThe squeezing of the hedge funds, or at least a few of them, is splendid entertainment. The pure bizarreness of the rise in GameStop’s share price since the start of this month – a 25-fold rise at the peak – beats anything seen in the dotcom mania at the turn of the century. But the lesson of 20 years ago should be remembered: when it looks easy for anybody to make quick money speculating in stock markets, the party is probably about to end.This Reddit crew prefer a different narrative, naturally. For them, cranking up share prices and trying to create hell for short-selling hedge funds is about beating Wall Street at its own game. And give the traders credit, their loosely coordinated tactics worked like a dream at GameStop. The likes of Melvin Capital, the short-selling hedge fund forced into a bailout, never saw the rebel alliance coming. Continue reading...

A visibly angry Nancy Pelosi accused Republican leaders of showing disregard to the victims of school shootings after the QAnon-supporting congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene was assigned a seat on the House education committee. Greene has previously suggested the 2018 mass school shooting in Parkland, Florida was a 'false flag' and was filmed harassing a teenage survivor on Capitol Hill in 2019. 'She has mocked the killing of little children,' Pelosi said. 'What could they be thinking? Or is thinking too strong a word for what they might be doing?'

Chicago city council granted home occupied by 14-year-old who was lynched in 1955 and his mother landmark statusThe South Side home of Emmett Till has formally gained Chicago landmark status and will be turned into a museum by a local non-profit that bought the structure in 2019.Related: 'Racism is in the bones of our nation': Will Joe Biden answer 'cry' for racial justice? Continue reading...

Letter sent to Nancy Pelosi and Kevin McCarthy asks if Congress members can use personal allowances for additional securityPervasive fear among some members of Congress that they will be the targets of further politically motivated violence following the deadly insurrection at the US Capitol has led more than 30 of them write a letter to House leaders.The group sent the letter to the House of Representatives speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and the Republican minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, asking for more support over security concerns. Continue reading...

Others taken to hospital after liquid nitrogen leak in Gainesville, at center of poultry industryA liquid nitrogen leak at a north-east Georgia poultry plant killed six people on Thursday, with others taken to the hospital.A spokesperson for Northeast Georgia health system said five people had died at Prime Pak Foods near Gainesville and another died after being taken to hospital. Continue reading...

Congresswoman known for supporting QAnon was filmed following David Hogg, 18, and claiming mass shooting was a ‘false flag’Survivors of the 2018 mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, are asking congressional Republicans to publicly censure Marjorie Taylor Greene for suggesting the school shooting was a “false flag” and for harassing a teenage survivor on Capitol Hill in 2019, as well as calling for Greene’s resignation.Greene, the newly elected Georgia congresswoman who is known for her support of the pro-Trump QAnon conspiracy theory, was filmed in March 2019 as she followed 18-year-old David Hogg, one of the students who survived the shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas high school, outside Capitol Hill. Continue reading...

Journalist, broadcaster and influential historian of American society and politicsThe journalist and historian Godfrey Hodgson, who has died aged 86, was among the most perceptive and industrious observers of his generation, particularly in the field of American society and politics.His reputation was founded on his landmark study, America in Our Time: From World War II to Nixon (1976), acknowledged by the Cambridge historian Gary Gerstle as “one of the great works of political and social history written in the past half century”. At 600 pages long and in continuous print since its first publication, it was but one item in a prolific output that ran to more than 15 books, extensive university teaching and a lifetime of newspaper and television reporting (as well as numerous Guardian obituaries). As a journalist, Hodgson reckoned he had worked in 48 of the 50 US states. Continue reading...