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Our holiday misadventure was time-consuming and revelatory. Turns out, Mr Z can change a tyre in his sleepGetting a puncture in a car always felt like a plot point in a film, a good way to summon chaos, but unlikely to happen in real life. Not if you drive like an undertaker, anyway; surely not if you drive like an undertaker slowing down regularly to admire the view. The whole possibility seemed so remote that even when the car told me it had happened, then swapped languages to tell me again in every tongue of Europe, I still thought: surely some misunderstanding?Not a misunderstanding, no. I had a flat tyre in a far-off land (well, Italy), an adolescent for company, who was ready with advice but no significant expertise, and no reception. A friendly man came by; he had no reception, either, but gave us a bottle of wine, as if that would help. I was incredibly grateful, naturally, but we already had a bunch of wine - we were driving back from the wine shop. So now I felt like both a puncture-getting fool and the kind of grifter who accepts someone's wine because they are on the take, rather than because they don't know enough Italian to say: No thanks, I've already got some." Continue reading...

The USA went through to the last 16 with a whimper, and survived an almighty scare when Ana Capeta hit the post in injury-time

As Americans half a world away slept through the night unaware, or rose prematurely from their slumber to watch a World Cup match with a 3 am ET kickoff, the United States slept-walked through their final group-stage game against Portugal, doing the bare minimum to advance to the knockout rounds of the 2023 World Cup.Elsewhere, the Netherlands scored early and often against Vietnam, running out 7-0 winners to take the group with seven points to USA's five and a vastly superior goal difference. USA will now play the winner of Group G - either Sweden or Italy - in Melbourne, Australia, on Sunday. Continue reading...

The Olympic sprint champion died during childbirth earlier this year. But she was far from an anomaly in a troubled US health systemThe last time Tianna Madison saw Tori Bowie alive was at a meet in Gainesville, Florida. This was in April 2021 - back when the rival sprinters were on separate quests to regain the form that powered them to gold in the 4x100m at the 2016 Olympics. Bowie was one of track and field's most striking personalities, a speed demon as well as a style icon, the elite runner whose go-to accessory was a colorful hair scarf. Madison always looked forward to sharing the spotlight with her. There were hugs, pleasantries and no hard feelings when Madison beat Bowie in the 100m - the pair finished second and ninth, respectivelyAt a meet, I always want to circle back and catch up with people," Madison says. But it's also work; you race, you're sweaty, exhausted, hungry ..." Continue reading...

President had previously failed to publicly mention Navy, daughter from Hunter Biden's relationship with Lunden RobertsFor the first time in an interview, Joe Biden acknowledged he has seven grandchildren, including Hunter Biden's four-year-old daughter Navy.I have seven grandkids," the president said, five of 'em old enough to talk on the phone, you know, every day I either text or call them." Continue reading...

The police had been searching for the driver of the car, when a person of interest came forward and was taken into custodyA man drove a sport-utility vehicle into six people in North Carolina who were described as migrant workers in what appears to be an intentional assault", police have said.All six victims were taken to hospital after the apparent attack, and have since been released. Continue reading...

Reprieve expected to be brief, with the forecast calling for highs again above 110F for several days later in the weekPhoenix's record stretch of daily highs over 110F (43.3C) ended Monday as cooling monsoon rains slightly tempered the dangerous heatwave that suffocated the American south-west throughout July.The region, from Texas across New Mexico and Arizona and into California's desert, has been grappling with historic heat since June. Phoenix and its suburbs sweltered more intensely than most, with several records including the 31 consecutive days of 110F days. The previous record was 18 straight days, set in 1974. Continue reading...

The blog is now closed, but you can read more about Donald Trump's swirling legal peril here.A judge in Georgia turned down an attempt by Donald Trump to stop Fulton county district attorney Fani Willis's investigation into his efforts to overturn the 2020 election result in the state. Over the weekend, Willis said she could announce charges in the case anytime between now and the first day of September. Meanwhile, a former business partner of Hunter Biden reported for an interview with the Republican-led House oversight committee, as the GOP toys with the idea of starting impeachment proceedings against Joe Biden when they return from their August recess.Here's what else has happened today:Trump is in a historically good position to win the Republican presidential primary, CNN concludes.At a weekend rally in Pennsylvania, Trump called for stopping aid to Ukraine until the government helps prove alleged corruption by the Biden family.Ron DeSantis's once-promising presidential campaign is suffering from both Republican defections and his own missteps.Trump is not only in a historically strong position for a nonincumbent to win the Republican nomination, but he is in a better position to win the general election than at any point during the 2020 cycle and almost at any point during the 2016 cycle.No one in Trump's current polling position in the modern era has lost an open presidential primary that didn't feature an incumbent. He's pulling in more than 50% of support in the national primary polls, i.e., more than all his competitors combined.What should arguably be more amazing is that despite most Americans agreeing that Trump's two indictments thus far were warranted, he remains competitive in a potential rematch with President Joe Biden. A poll out last week from Marquette University Law School had Biden and Trump tied percentage-wise (with a statistically insignificant few more respondents choosing Trump).The Marquette poll is one of a number of surveys showing Trump either tied or ahead of Biden. The ABC News/Washington Post poll has published three surveys of the matchup between the two, and Trump has come out ahead - albeit within the margin of error - every time. Other pollsters have shown Biden only narrowly ahead. Continue reading...

Lori Vallow Daybell was also found guilty of murdering a romantic rival and will serve three consecutive life termsLori Vallow Daybell, an Idaho mother convicted of murdering her two youngest children and a romantic rival, was sentenced to life in prison without parole Monday.Vallow Daybell was found guilty in May of killing her children, Joshua JJ" Vallow, seven, and Tylee Ryan, 16, as well as conspiring to kill Tammy Daybell, her fifth husband's previous wife. Vallow Daybell will serve three life sentences one after the other, the judge said. Continue reading...

Officers shot and wounded armed man who fired shots and was trying to gain entry to Margolin Hebrew Academy, police sayPolice in Memphis said they had likely prevented a mass shooting after they shot a man who earlier was reported to have opened fire at a Jewish day school in the Tennessee city.In a statement and news conference, local police said they had responded to a report of a white man with a handgun shooting outside the Margolin Hebrew Academy and trying to gain entry to the building. Continue reading...

African Americans helped build the iconic beach town, historian Alison Rose Jefferson details as California weighs reparationsAt Shutters on the Beach, a luxury hotel in Santa Monica, guests staying in $1,500-a-night rooms can get pristine views of white-sand shores and the Pacific Ocean, hot stone massages, afternoons filled with live jazz and fresh seafood dinners.Few visitors, however, will know that 100 years ago, the site was at the center of a painful turning point for Santa Monica's Black community. Continue reading...

Ukraine and allies seek to draw countries such as Brazil and India off the fence and back Kyiv's proposals for just and durable peace'Jake Sullivan, the US national security adviser, is expected to attend a meeting in Saudi Arabia this weekend at which Ukraine and its allies will try to persuade countries from the global south to back Kyiv's proposals for ending the war.According to officials involved in planning for the meeting, it is primarily aimed at drawing neutral countries such as Brazil and India off the fence in their approach to the Russian invasion. Continue reading...

Officials at Olympic national park are searching for animal after attack on eight-year-old on SaturdayA quick-acting mother saved her eight-year-old child from an attack by a cougar on Saturday in Washington state's Olympic national park.In a statement, park officials said: The cougar casually abandoned its attack after being yelled and screamed at by the child's mother." Continue reading...

Latest poll puts ex-president at 54% with closest challenger Ron DeSantis - whose campaign appears to be sputtering out - on 17%Fani Willis, the district attorney of Fulton county, Georgia, is ready to go" with indictments in her investigation of Donald Trump's election subversion. In Washington, the special counsel Jack Smith is expected to add charges regarding election subversion to 40 counts already filed over the former president's retention of classified records.Trump already faces 34 criminal charges in New York over hush-money payments to the porn star Stormy Daniels. Referring to Trump being ordered to pay $5m after being found liable for sexual abuse and defamation against the writer E Jean Carroll, a judge recently said Carroll proved Trump raped her. Lawsuits over Trump's business affairs continue. Continue reading...

Mar-a-Lago manager, accused of conspiracy and obstruction in classified documents case, to be arraigned on 10 August

Troubled shipping company expected to file for bankruptcy, Teamsters union says, after it failed to refinance huge debtsThe embattled US trucking company Yellow ceased operations on Sunday, and it has laid off all 30,000 of its workers.Yellow, once one of America's dominant shipping companies, intends to file for bankruptcy, said the Teamsters union, which represents employees of the firm. The filing would come after Yellow failed to reorganize and refinance more than a billion dollars in debt. Continue reading...

Man may have died from electric shock drowning, which can occur when electrical current leaks into surrounding watersA 24-year-old man died after being electrocuted when he jumped off a dock into Georgia's Lake Lanier on Thursday, news outlets reported.The Georgia department of natural resources told news outlets that a neighbor was able to pull the man from the water. The man was taken to Northside Forsyth Hospital, where he later died. Continue reading...

The Americans usually have a place in the knockout stages assured by now. But they must secure a point against a disciplined Portugal to progress this timeFour years ago, the United States steamrolled their way through the Women's World Cup, scoring in the opening 12 minutes of their first six games on their march to a second straight title.Their start to the 2023 World Cup has been less dominant. A 3-0 victory over Vietnam in their opener was satisfactory for a brand-new starting 11, even if they were wasteful in front of goal. Then came a horrendous first-half against the Netherlands. USA captain Lindsey Horan eventually salvaged a point for her team against the Dutch, but the mood was one of disappointment not only at the result, but also the performance. Continue reading...

Victim infected with Naegleria fowleri, which destroys brain tissue, probably after swimming in lake or pondA Georgia resident has died from a rare brain infection, commonly known as the brain-eating amoeba", state health officials said on Friday.The victim was infected with Naegleria fowleri, an amoeba that destroys brain tissue, causes brain swelling and usually death, the Georgia department of health confirmed in a news release. Continue reading...

The PM is misguided to focus so strongly on Ulez and popular low-traffic schemes. Keir Starmer should know better, tooIsn't it extraordinary that the Tories scent blood over that most prosaic of innovations, the ponderously named low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) - and yet the idea that a few bollards and barriers strewn across residential areas should still become their main line of electoral attack is just further proof that the Tory government has abandoned any attempt to demonstrate serious intent.Let's be clear. There is precious little blood to be drawn in LTNs. This is a niche concern, affecting a very small percentage of the population, of whom only a minority are opposed. Moreover, as with the ultra-low emission zone (Ulez), the issue that has triggered this renewed interest in LTNs, it is the Tories who originally encouraged the concept by persuading and funding councils to introduce them during the pandemic. There is, too, an irony in the fact that the pro-motorist" campaign against LTNs, previously articulated by the transport secretary, Mark Harper, is now being spearheaded by a prime minister whose default transport mode is a helicopter. Continue reading...

The future of Meagan Wolfe, the state's top election administrator, is uncertain as her reappointment has turned into a political showdown with RepublicansThe future of Wisconsin's top election administrator, a respected and experienced elections official, is uncertain as state Republicans continue to fan the flames of rightwing conspiracy theories about her role in the 2020 election.When Meagan Wolfe took over as interim elections administrator of the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) in 2018, her appointment to the seat was uncontroversial. Then the assistant elections administrator, Wolfe had helped run Wisconsin elections since 2011, redesigning the state's online voter information portal and overseeing IT and cybersecurity work on elections statewide. Republicans in the state senate confirmed her appointment to helm the WEC unanimously in 2019. Continue reading...

Governor trails Trump for his party's presidential nomination but there are signs that support is tailing off in his home stateRon DeSantis is facing growing backlash in Florida as his presidential campaign flails across the country. Analysts and political opponents are seeing signs of a tail-off in his support, and evidence of Republicans recoiling at his extremist positions on slavery, education, abortion and immigration.Hints at a shift in his standing came towards the end of the recently concluded legislative session in his home state, when several Republican lawmakers defied the governor by voting against new laws restricting abortions or expanding his feud with Disney. They passed anyway. Continue reading...

State's prisons at crisis point with temperatures regularly above 115F threatening physical and mental health of inmatesIn Texas, animal shelters are obliged by law to ensure that their ambient temperature does not rise above 85F (29C) for more than two hours, a measure designed to protect dogs and cats from extreme heat and provide for their health and wellbeing".If only humans were so lucky. Continue reading...

Presidential hopeful makes comment after Senate Republican leader, 81, froze and was unable to speak this week. Plus, search for answers as Antarctic sea ice at historic lowsGood morning.Presidential hopeful Nikki Haley has suggested her fellow Republican Mitch McConnell - the longtime powerful US Senate leader - should step aside after an episode in which he physically froze and was unable to speak at the Capitol this week.What is Haley calling for? She thinks there should be congressional term limits and mental acuity tests for politicans aged 75 and above. She also said the 90-year-old US senator Dianne Feinstein, the 80-year-old president Joe Biden, and 83-year-old congresswoman Nancy Pelosi - all of whom are prominent Democrats - should know when to walk away".What has McConnell said? His spokesperson said last week that the 81-year-old intends to fulfil his term, which ends in 2026. He has led the US Senate's Republican conference since 2007. McConnell's office said the senator felt lightheaded but has not released more details on what caused the episode in question.What else did he say? Murphy's comments came after the Wall Street Journal published an interview with Alito on Friday in which he said: I know this is a controversial view, but I'm willing to say it. No provision in the constitution gives them the authority to regulate the supreme court - period." Continue reading...

The Florida governor tried to outflank Trump on the right. Bad idea. Next to the former president, the devil with the best Republican tunes, DeSantis is a minor fiend at bestRon DeSantis has revealed the next phase of his plan to win the Republican presidential nomination by firing 30% of his campaign staff. He has also dismissed a staffer, Nate Hochman, a prominent conservative writer, for creating a video that features a notorious Nazi symbol. A pro-DeSantis political action committee has used artificial intelligence to generate a video in which Trump's voice trashes the Republican governor of Iowa. A recent poll showed Trump ahead of DeSantis in Iowa by 27 points.After his campaign declared he was entering his insurgent" stage as the underdog", DeSantis disappeared on a donor-provided private jet, his usual mode of travel. Several billionaire donors, however, previously enamored of DeSantis's electability", gave notice that they are jumping overboard without the lifeboat of another candidate. Rupert Murdoch withdrew his mandate of heaven, not so privately dubbing DeSantis a loser". Two DeSantis fundraisers in the exclusive Hamptons were scrapped for lack of interest and a third was poorly attended. Continue reading...

It feels like a Greek myth: to wait a lifetime to speak out, only to find you are cursed with eternal silenceI have long believed in the power of women's stories. A free person tells her own story," writes Rebecca Solnit. A valued person lives in a society in which her story has a place." As a feminist and a writer, this is the closest thing I have to a doctrine: we have to create a society in which women's stories are told by them, and heard by as many people as possible.The #MeToo movement has made plain just how many stories remain disregarded, ridiculed or, perhaps worst of all, never heard, but it also revealed how an avalanche of change can occur from the simple, ancient act of a woman telling her story. Then another. And another. And another.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

The developed world needs to be shocked out of its complacency about our warming world, and the unexpected effects that will followA surreal video filmed by a tourist in the most perfect location in Greece" last week, posted to show how a weekend trip turned into survival mode in 24 hours", could easily pass for a TV climate crisis awareness-raising campaign. It brings to mind two harrowing adverts released by Save the Children in 2014 and 2016, showing what life would look like for a British girl if war came to our shores and she became a refugee.The brief Greece video unwittingly follows the same script of rapid unravelling: an idyllic waterside scene is instantly transformed, overshadowed by looming fire and smoke, then abandoned for boats, buses and waiting holding pens as hundreds of tired and bewildered people seek shelter and fail to secure flights out. Continue reading...

Former Arkansas governor strikes contrast with fellow candidates who have openly floated idea of pardoning ex-presidentFormer Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson has said it is inappropriate" for some of his fellow Republican presidential hopefuls to publicly discuss potentially pardoning Donald Trump, who is their party's frontrunner for its 2024 nomination despite his mounting criminal charges.Anybody who promises pardons during a presidential campaign is not serving our system of justice well," Hutchinson said Sunday on CBS's Face the Nation. And it's inappropriate." Continue reading...

Alix Dorsainvil of New Hampshire was working for Christian organization El Roi Haiti near capital Port-au-PrinceAn American woman and her child have been kidnapped in Haiti, according to a non-profit humanitarian organization affiliated with the woman.On Saturday, El Roi Haiti announced that Alix Dorsainvil and her child were kidnapped two days earlier from the non-profit's campus while the woman served in the group's community ministry near the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince. Continue reading...

The forward wasn't expecting to play a crucial role for the USWNT. But injuries and her willingness to work on all aspects of her game have reaped rewardsHere's the thing about Trinity Rodman's journey to the 2023 World Cup: It wasn't always part of some long-term plan she laid out when she turned professional two years ago.It sounds silly, but it wasn't even in my mind just because of how young I was and still am," Rodman told the Guardian in an interview prior to the World Cup. I think I've always just been trying to build my game." Continue reading...

Beta - or testing - site for Save' plan should take only 10 minutes to use and aims to cut undergraduate payments in halfThe Joe Biden White House is launching a beta - or testing - website as part of its new income-driven student loan repayment plan, according to reports.The site, which CNN first reported on Sunday, comes as part of the president's Saving on a Valuable Education (Save) plan, which was announced earlier this year after the supreme court struck down an earlier iteration of Biden's student loan forgiveness plan. Continue reading...

Presidential hopeful makes comment after Senate Republican leader, 81, froze and was unable to speak this weekPresidential hopeful Nikki Haley has suggested her fellow Republican Mitch McConnell - the longtime powerful US Senate leader - should step aside after an episode in which he physically froze and was unable to speak at the Capitol this week.Appearing on CBS's Face the Nation on Sunday, Haley was asked by the host Margaret Brennan whether she still had confidence in McConnell's ability to lead after the episode. Continue reading...

Senator Chris Murphy dismisses Justice Samuel Alito's claims that Senate has no authority' to regulate the supreme courtSenator Chris Murphy has dismissed claims by the supreme court justice, Samuel Alito, that the Senate has no authority" to create a code of conduct for the court as stunningly wrong".The Connecticut Democrat made those remarks in an interview on CNN's State of the Union on Sunday, adding that Alito should know that more than anyone else because his seat on the supreme court exists only because of an act passed by Congress". Continue reading...

New Hampshire governor Chris Sununu attacks ex-president and says his 2024 bid is a far cry from his victorious 2016 runDonald Trump's campaign for president is a far cry from his victorious run for the White House in 2016, his fellow Republican and New Hampshire governor Chris Sununu said on Sunday.This is not the Donald Trump of 2016, don't fool yourself," Sununu - who recently passed on an Oval Office run of his own in part to elevate his credibility in speaking out against the ex-president - said during an interview on ABC's This Week. He doesn't have the energy, he doesn't have the fastball, he basically is droning on for 90 minutes in his long-form speeches about his legal battles, as opposed to talking about the future of this country." Continue reading...

I spent six months in Europe as my peers were finishing primary school. It's only now I can fully appreciate the gift

Decision comes as lawmakers in conservative states are pushing for measures making it easier to ban or restrict access to booksArkansas is temporarily blocked from enforcing a law that would have allowed criminal charges against librarians and booksellers for providing harmful" materials to minors, a federal judge ruled on Saturday.US district judge Timothy L Brooks issued a preliminary injunction against the law, which also would have created a new process to challenge library materials and request that they be relocated to areas not accessible by kids. The measure, signed by the state's Republican governor, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, earlier this year, was set to take effect on 1 August. Continue reading...

Talismanic United States footballer's diverse approach to clothes mirrors her flair on the fieldThe United States women's national football team (USWNT) are off to a good start in the defence of their World Cup title, winning their opening match against Vietnam 3-0 before drawing with the Netherlands on Thursday. This year, the team are looking to give Megan Rapinoe, their talismanic attacker, a final piece of silverware before she retires.Over the past decade, Rapinoe has established herself as a global superstar. In the 2019 World Cup, she won both the Golden Boot (for most goals scored in the tournament) and the Golden Ball (best player). She is a double Olympic medallist and recipient of the most prestigious prize in the game, the Ballon d'Or. Last year, she received the presidential medal of freedom. Continue reading...

There have been nearly 415 mass shootings in the US as of Sunday morningThe latest mass shootings in the US left a total of 10 people wounded in Seattle and Lansing, Michigan, late Friday and early Sunday, respectively, according to authorities.In each of the shootings, five people were wounded, including two who were in critical condition. Continue reading...

The ultra-wealthy want to limit their interactions as they glide through life. But the rest of us want the touch points' they would rather avoid: ticket sellers, bank branches, customer service assistants you can actually talk to ...I got a new insight into the psyche of the super-rich recently, from an article about the planetary middle finger that is the private jet. A big selling point is the ability to minimise what are known as touch points': the individual microinteractions that take place as we move through the world, like saying hello to a gate agent or asking a fellow passenger to switch seats," New York magazine explained. When you fly commercial, there are more than 700 touch points," Alexandra Price, a brand communications manager at the jet-charter company VistaJet told the reporter. When you fly private, it's just 20."It makes being ridiculously rich sound like having very high-end noise cancelling headphones, but for your whole life, so that you exist in a bubble of serenity insulated from the grubby taint of microinteracting" with the public. It's babyish - a sort of bought helplessness - and regal, gliding through life behind a protective cordon that prevents scrofulous peasants from reaching for the hem of your Loro Piana leisurewear. Continue reading...

You'd better not wait - small businesses must reconsider their location and business model to survive in this new eraYou'd have to be asleep not to notice the generational change that's happening in just about every US city. A significant swath of our downtown office space is sitting empty. New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Denver, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Houston, Dallas and other big cities are experiencing record-high office vacancies as workers keep working from home and companies keep letting them.Let's face it: the downtown office market has changed significantly and permanently. Companies - such as Comcast in my home town of Philadelphia - can demand that their employees come back to the office, but they're fighting against the tide. Work attitudes have changed. Technology is better. Remote working is accepted. Some face-time is necessary but we're never going to go back to a 100% in-the-office policy, and companies that attempt this will lose talent to those that adapt to the shift. Continue reading...

By denying the true ills of slavery, DeSantis is working to release the government from the obligation of fixing inequality todayIn the mid-20th century, a generation after the civil war, the United Daughters of the Confederacy set out to rebrand the image of slavery. The group, comprised of female descendants of Confederate soldiers, was fixated on returning the country's social order to its antebellum racial hierarchy. It sought to reimagine slavery as a benign institution, and to glorify the lost cause" of white southern insurrectionists who attempted to overthrow the government in slavery's defense. The place that served as ground zero for the UDC's revisionist-history effort? Schools.In one of its most successful campaigns, the UDC called for the widespread adoption of textbooks that trivialized the horrors of slavery. As a result, a 1954 middle school textbook titled History of Georgia claimed that a typical slave owner often had a barbecue or picnic for his slaves. The [enslaved] often had a great frolic. Even while working in the cotton fields they sang songs." (It is no coincidence that the book was published the same year the NAACP won the supreme court case to desegregate public schools.) And while most contemporary school texts have since moved towards acknowledging that slavery and the subsequent Jim Crow era were reprehensible, organized efforts against teaching accurate racial history continue to occur. Continue reading...

US and UK must use financial firepower of the state to put economies on a saner courseLike many other politicians, Joe Biden talks a good game about the need to tackle global heating. Climate change is an existential threat", the US president said last week, as America sizzled amid record-breaking temperatures.Biden had to do something in response to what Antonio Guterres, the UN secretary general, described as the boiling of the planet. The White House announced a series of measures - such as improved access to drinking water and planting more trees - in response to what has been the hottest month on record. Continue reading...

Crime is down, inflation is falling and the border is quiet. Little wonder the House speaker is floating impeachment of the president for ... somethingIt was the word that the far right of the Republican party most wanted to hear. Kevin McCarthy, speaker of the House of Representatives, said this week his colleagues' investigations of Joe Biden are rising to the level of an impeachment" inquiry.Republicans in Congress admit that they do not yet have any direct evidence of wrongdoing by the US president. But, critics say, there is a simple explanation why they would float the ultimate sanction: they need to put Biden's character on trial because their case against his policies is falling apart. Continue reading...

Ron DeSantis's slew of laws attacking teaching of race and gender issues sees state's colleges struggle to fill faculty postsWith the start of the 2023-24 academic year only six weeks away, senior officials at New College of Florida (NCF) made a startling announcement in mid-July: 36 of the small honors college's approximately 100 full-time teaching positions were vacant. The provost, Bradley Thiessen, described the number of faculty openings as ridiculously high", and the disclosure was the latest evidence of a brain drain afflicting colleges and universities throughout the Sunshine state.Governor Ron DeSantis opened 2023 with the appointment of six political allies to the college's 13-member board of trustees who vowed to drastically alter the supposedly woke"-friendly learning environment on its Sarasota campus. At its first meeting in late January, the revamped panel voted to fire the college president, Patricia Okker, without cause and appoint a former Republican state legislator and education commissioner in her place. Continue reading...