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Community of Gullah-Geechee people in Georgia protest vote for lifting protective laws, threatening a 230-year-old heritageFor more than 230 years, a small community of Gullah-Geechee people have called Sapelo Island off the coast of Georgia home. Hogg Hammock, the area on the island where these descendants of enslaved people live, is a 427-acre coastal community of 40 residents and has been designated as a historic site since 1996. That means that the construction of houses more than 1,400 sq ft and any road paving or demolition of property are strictly prohibited to preserve the island community.On Tuesday, McIntosh county commissioners, who preside over Sapelo, voted to remove zoning restrictions in Hogg Hammock. Gullah-Geechee residents fear that wealthy transplants who want to develop larger homes and who could force a rise of property taxes there will displace them and upend their livelihoods. Continue reading...

Five former Memphis officers were indicted on four counts for violently beating Nichols, 29, during a routine traffic stopFive former Memphis police officers are now facing federal civil rights charges in the beating death of Tyre Nichols as they continue to fight second-degree murder charges in state courts arising from the killing.Tadarrius Bean, Desmond Mills, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin and Justin Smith were indicted on Tuesday in US district court in Memphis. The four-count indictment charges each of them with deprivation of rights under the color of law through excessive force and failure to intervene, and through deliberate indifference; conspiracy to witness tampering; and obstruction of justice through witness tampering. Continue reading...

Spotlight on partisan split of issue as Republicans push for works to be taken out of schools and librariesA Senate hearing on book bans and censorship on Tuesday spotlighted the growing phenomenon in America and highlighted a partisan split on the issue, with Democrats decrying censorship as Republicans and rightwing activists push for many works to be taken out of schools and libraries, claiming it should be parents' rights to do so.Many of the most commonly banned books deal with topics such as racism, sexuality and gender identity. Conservatives also argue that some books, many exploring queer identity and LGBTQ+ themes, include sexually explicit content inappropriate for students. School librarians opposing such book bans have been attacked and harassed. Continue reading...

Advisory panel reviewed studies of phenylephrine, an active ingredient in Benadryl, Mucinex, Sudafed PE and TylenolA common decongestant ingredient of numerous popular over-the-counter cold and flu remedies does not work, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) concluded on Tuesday.An advisory panel spent two days looking at studies of phenylephrine, an active ingredient in well-known medicines including Benadryl, Mucinex, Sudafed PE and Tylenol, and reported to the FDA that it is no more effective than a placebo. Continue reading...

This live blog is now closed. You read our latest full report on House moves to impeach Biden below:

Little-known local official Stacey Klein is second Republican to declare run in closely watched 2024 raceA second Republican with little name recognition is entering the race to take on the Democratic senator Tammy Baldwin, whose 2024 push for re-election in Wisconsin is expected to be one of the most closely watched US Senate contests in the nation.Stacey Klein, a Trempealeau county board supervisor, filed to run on Tuesday and said she would make a formal announcement on Saturday. Klein, who has three siblings in the military, said she always had a desire to serve in a big way". Continue reading...

Thousands of Americans are attracted to the idea of a self-reliant life in a remote area, but the dangers can be profoundMost city-slickers would shudder at the idea of living in a remote area with few neighbors to help if something went wrong.But self-reliance is alluring to thousands of people in the US who live off the grid" in homes heated with wood stoves, powered by solar panels and, often, totally under the radar of tax collectors. Continue reading...

Republicans claim the president has profited from his son's business dealings overseas - but haven't yet turned up proof

Susanna Gibson, who is running for a seat in state's house of delegates, called report gutter politics'A Virginia Democrat running in a closely contested legislative election has denounced reports that she and her husband engaged in sex acts livestreamed on an online platform in exchange for tips".Susanna Gibson, a nurse practitioner and a first-time candidate seeking a seat in Virginia's house of delegates, shared the videos on a platform called Chaturbate. Continue reading...

Kevin McCarthy said on Tuesday he was directing a House of Representatives committee to open a formal impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden over his family's business dealings. The speaker said a House investigation had found a 'culture of corruption' around the Biden family. The announcement from the Republican leader comes as he faces mounting pressure from his right-flank to take action against Biden

Petition argues that Trump's activities to overturn 2020 election, including those on 6 January, amount to engaging in insurrectionA group of Minnesota voters filed a lawsuit on Tuesday seeking to remove Donald Trump from the ballot in their state, escalating the effort to disqualify the former president from running based on untested constitutional language that prohibits anyone who has engaged in insurrection" from holding office.The voters are being represented by Free Speech for People, a left-leaning group that has aggressively been pushing to remove Trump from the ballot in several states. A similar lawsuit was filed in Colorado last week by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, another watchdog group.Join us for a livestreamed event on 26 September, Democracy and Distrust: Overcoming threats to the 2024 election Continue reading...

Tech entrepreneur and 2020 Democratic hopeful says he has spoken with No Labels, who are considering launching a candidateThe tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang, who ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, has had conversations" with No Labels, a group considering launching a third-party candidate in the 2024 election.I've had conversations with various folks who are associated with No Labels," Yang told Politico. Continue reading...

Ex-Trump aide says his contempt of Congress conviction makes ex-colleagues fear massive legal bills ... and prison time'Peter Navarro's contempt of Congress conviction has everybody in that frigging White House" feeling as if they are grappling with massive legal bills and ... prison time", the ex-Donald Trump administration official said on Monday.Navarro's remarks came in an interview with the far-right media outlet Newsmax in which he used the term SOBs" - short for sons of bitches - to refer to the US justice department prosecutors who secured a guilty verdict against him last week. Continue reading...

Stomach problems are so ubiquitous that they are trending on TikTok. They provide an insight into a lot of our current problems: from anxiety and stress to a poor dietAmerican exceptionalism strikes again, this time in the pharmaceutical aisle. According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, the US is having a love affair with laxatives; Americans of all ages are ingesting so much of the stuff that there are now shortages nationwide.It's crazy to think that our collective bowel dysfunction problems have gotten so bad that we're running out of stool softeners," Dr George Pavlou, head of the Gastroenterology Associates of New Jersey, told the WSJ. Continue reading...

The Jets quarterback suffered an apparently serious injury on his debut. The one positive was how his teammates reacted to the setbackIt took all of four offensive snaps for the lights to go out in New York. All the excitement around the Jets' new season evaporated when Aaron Rodgers suffered a suspected achilles injury that may well end his season (the results of the MRI will be announced on Tuesday). At 39, Rodgers came to the Jets (their stadium is in New Jersey but this is a New York team) with a little tarnish but far more talent, football IQ, and promise than any Jets quarterback probably ever. For the last few months he seemed to be everywhere in New York - grinning from the stands at Knicks games and the US Open, attending Broadway shows and charming his new teammates on HBO's Hard Knocks. He instantly became the nucleus of the franchise, the player that was supposed to inspire his teammates and catapult the historically fleabitten Jets not just to respectability, but to the postseason for the first time since 2010.But the anticipation around this Bills-Jets opener turned into an instant nightmare for Jets fans. Rodgers is one the NFL's most omnipresent figures, and news of his injury left the whole league shaken. Even the most cold-hearted Chicago Bears fan wouldn't have wished this on the former Green Bay Packer. The look on Jets head coach Robert Saleh's face - and the eerie silence at MetLife Stadium as Rodgers sat on the turf after his injury - said it all. The Jets season felt over before it began. Continue reading...

Convicted murderer Danelo Cavalcante has been on the run after escaping prison as police warn people to stay indoorsDanelo Cavalcante, the convicted murderer who has been on the run for 13 days after escaping from a Pennsylvania prison, is now armed and believed to be hiding out deep in the countryside.Early on Tuesday, police warned residents of the rural community of South Coventry Township - about 20 miles from Chester county prison where he escaped - to lock all doors and windows, secure vehicles and stay indoors. The fugitive, who is reportedly carrying a .22 caliber rifle, is being described as extremely dangerous and the public are being told not to approach him. Continue reading...

Dodge Hellonen sentenced to an hour of community service for every marine killed or wounded in American civil warOne of three active-duty US marines who stormed the nation's Capitol together was sentenced on Monday to probation and 279 hours of community service - one hour for every marine who was killed or wounded fighting in the American civil war.The US district judge Ana Reyes said she could not fathom why Dodge Hellonen violated his oath to protect the constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic" - and risked his career - by joining the 6 January 2021 riot that disrupted Congress from certifying Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 presidential election. Continue reading...

Danny Garcia hoped to flee the life of poverty and crime that led him to poach wood from national park land. But the circle of violence was inescapableThe last time I talked to Danny Garcia was two weeks before he was killed.In December 2022, a 6.4-magnitude earthquake rattled northern California. Its strength was such that along stretches of Highway 101, which runs north-south through some of the state's most celebrated forest, the asphalt heaved and cracked. A hundred people were displaced from their homes.

A strong economy and legislative wins seem to cut little ice but party strategists say it is still early in the election cycleDemocratic strategists are urging a don't panic" response to a series of opinion polls that reveal deep worries over Joe Biden's age and his ability to beat Donald Trump in the 2024 US presidential election.A CNN survey conducted by SSRS caused shockwaves this week when it put Biden's approval rating at just 39% and found two in three Democrats say the party should nominate someone else next year. In a hypothetical contest, registered voters were split between Trump (47%) and Biden (46%). Continue reading...

Campaigners estimate about $3.7bn in trade finance was supplied to oil and gas projects despite bank's green pledges. Plus, the rapid descent of Tucker Carlson

A husband who doesn't want his wife to get an abortion could sue the friend who offered to drive her, according to this legislation's own architectHow free can any woman be in a country where her right to control her body and family depends on the jurisdiction where she happens to live? Republicans are looking to find out. Over the past few weeks, as Republican officials in anti-choice states seek to make their abortion bans enforceable and compel women into childbirth, a new front has opened up in the abortion wars: roads. The anti-choice movement, through a series of inventive legal theories and cynical legislative maneuvers, is now attacking women's right to travel.In a court filing last month, Alabama attorney general Steve Marshall wrote that he believes his office has a right to prosecute those who help women travel across state lines in search of an abortion. The filing comes in a lawsuit from two women's health clinics and an abortion fund, which sued Marshall after he publicly stated his intention to criminally investigate organizations like theirs, which provide financial and logistical help to pregnant patients seeking to leave the state. In his response, Marshall unequivocally states that Alabama, which bans all abortions with no rape or incest exemption, views any effort to help women cross state lines as a criminal conspiracy".Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...

Workers at the big three carmakers earn less now in real dollars than they did 15 years ago - as their CEOs make more and more. Their fight is everyone's fightIn the United States today, at a time of unprecedented income and wealth inequality, weekly wages for the average American worker are actually lower than they were 50 years ago after adjusting for inflation. In other words, despite a massive increase in worker productivity, despite CEOs now making nearly 400 times more than what their employees earn, despite record-breaking corporate profits, dividends and stock buybacks, average American workers are worse off than they were 50 years ago.That morally grotesque and growing inequality is exactly what has been occurring in the automobile industry for decades. This time, however, under new union leadership, the members of the United Auto Workers (UAW) are fighting back. If the big three automakers (General Motors, Ford and Stellantis) do not provide reasonable contracts to address longstanding inequities in the industry, there will be a strike - and all of us should support the strikers. Continue reading...

Artists and dancers say officers have ramped up fines and ticketing in Manhattan's celebrated Washington Square ParkOn what seemed to be an otherwise unremarkable July day, performer Kanami Kusajima was dancing in New York City's famed Washington Square Park, just as she had since the city began its long journey into post-Covid lockdown recovery.Kusajima, who had become the face of the city's resilience when mayoral officials used her photo in a widespread NO STOPPING NEW YORK" ad campaign, was shocked when police issued a ticket for her use of a tiny speaker. Continue reading...

People who worked on recovery efforts afraid to travel to Florida in case they are targeted by immigration authoritiesMaria, a 43-year-old woman from Honduras, has worked on recovery efforts after five different natural disasters in the US. She has done work remodeling, rebuilding, and demolishing homes and buildings damaged by multiple hurricanes, including Hurricane Ian which hit Florida in 2022.But, as Florida reals from yet another hit in the form of Hurricane Idalia, Maria will not be returning to the state to help with the clean-up. Continue reading...

Mark Dickey, 40, is back on the surface after spending a week trapped in a Turkish cave, describing the ordeal as a 'crazy, crazy adventure'. Dickey fell ill at a depth of 1,120 metres (3,700ft), sparking what organisers said was one of the largest and most complicated underground rescue operations ever mounted. After being pulled up, Dickey told reporters: 'It's been one hell of a crazy, crazy adventure. But I'm on the surface safely. I'm still alive'.

The former USA and LA Galaxy coach resigned from New England last week. But it's unclear exactly what brought about his downfallThe most successful coach in the history of MLS and the US men's national team must beg the league commissioner for permission if he ever wants to return to a job in MLS. And yet, six weeks after Bruce Arena was placed on leave and a couple of days after he resigned as New England Revolution head coach and sporting director, it's still unclear precisely what he did to deserve such a severe sanction.Allegations of inappropriate comments were followed by a virtual omerta from the club, the league and Arena himself, resulting in a level of transparency during the disciplinary process that's in inverse proportion to his status in the American game. Continue reading...

As sport is gradually supplanted by scripted entertainment, it is starting to resemble something else entirelyThe pitcher walks back to the mound, ball sheathed in his right hand, quietly contemplating his next move. Sixty feet away, the batter raises and cocks his bat in anticipation. Then the pitcher slowly removes his shirt, flings his glove and cap to one side and launches into a sexy rendition of a Celine Dion song, while his teammates gather in formation around him and wave flares. Behind home plate, the umpire is enthusiastically twerking.The Savannah Bananas were born a decade ago, when a former pitcher called Jesse Cole was coaching a team in the Cape Cod league for the summer and realised that the game he was watching was boring him to tears. So he bought a small team in Savannah, renamed it the Bananas, put on a yellow tuxedo, hired a group of elderly cheerleaders named the Banana Nanas, and thus was built a sensation that in a few short years has begun to change the way people think about sport. Continue reading...

Biography by Walter Isaacson contains colorful nugget of then New York mayor seeking 10% stake in PayPal in return for adviceElon Musk backed away from a plan to recruit Rudy Giuliani as a political fixer to help him turn PayPal into a bank in 2001 after he and an associate found the then New York mayor surrounded by goonish confidantes" in an office that felt like a mob scene".This guy occupies a different planet," Musk, who would become the world's richest man, said of Giuliani, then approaching the peak of his fame. Continue reading...

In Hanoi, Joe Biden says ties have entered a new stage', as analysts note Vietnam is prepared to challenge China's regional ambitionsOver the weekend, US President Joe Biden arrived in Hanoi and finalised a diplomatic agreement with former foe Vietnam that was, until recently, almost unthinkable.Shortly after touching down in the country, Biden met Nguyen Phu Trong, general secretary of the Communist party of Vietnam, to upgrade their ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership (CSP), the highest of Vietnam's three diplomatic levels - save for a special category reserved for Cambodia and Laos. Continue reading...

The recusal motion against US district judge Tanya Chutkan based on two public statements alone faces major legal hurdlesDonald Trump's legal team on Monday asked the federal judge overseeing the 2020 election interference prosecution against him to remove herself from the case, arguing that her previous public comments about the former president's culpability in the January 6 Capitol attack was disqualifying.The recusal motion, filed to and against the US district judge Tanya Chutkan, faces major legal hurdles: to succeed, Trump must show a reasonable person" would conclude from just her remarks - but not any of her actual rulings - that she was unable to preside impartially. Continue reading...

Former US president files motion to recuse Tanya Chutkan over previous comments about his culpabilityJoe Biden's national security tour of south-east Asia reached Hanoi, Vietnam, on Sunday, where the president called for stability in the US-China relationship against an increasingly complex diplomatic picture in the region for his country.I don't want to contain China," Biden said.I just want to make sure that we have a relationship with China that is on the up and up, squared away, everybody knows what it's all about.On the one hand, we've got to pass a continuing resolution. We also have the impeachment issue. And we also have members of the House, led by my good friend, Chip Roy, who are concerned about policy issues. They want riders in the appropriations bills, amendments in the appropriations bills that guarantee some type of security on our Southern border.There is not a strong connection at this point between the evidence on Hunter Biden and any evidence connecting the president. Continue reading...

Biden due at ceremony on military base in Alaska while event in New York featured victims delivering personal messagesFrom Ground Zero to small towns, Americans looked back Monday on 9/11 with moments of silence, tearful words and appeals to teach younger generations about the deadly terror attacks that struck the nation exactly 22 years before.For those of us who lost people on that day, that day is still happening," Edward Edelman said as he arrived at New York's World Trade Center to honor his slain brother-in-law, Daniel McGinley. Everybody else moves on. And you find a way to go forward, but that day is always happening for you." Continue reading...

Tulane university researchers accused of serious' violations that breached international protocol over animal deathsAn animal rights group is demanding the firing of researchers at a Louisiana university who killed laboratory rats with scissors and a blunt blade - and used out-of-date anesthetics for pain relief.The episodes are detailed in separate, self-reported notices of violation to the federal Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare (Olaw), which were sent by Tulane University in New Orleans and obtained by the Stop Animal Exploitation Now advocacy group. Continue reading...

City condemned for controversial move after activists and protesters deliver signatures to clerk's office at city hallThe city of Atlanta has refused to begin counting and verifying petitions signed by about 116,000 registered voters to put on the ballot the question of whether a controversial police and fire department training center known as Cop City" should be built.The move was backed by a legal memo from lawyers hired by the city, citing an active court case, after dozens of activists and Atlanta residents delivered the petitions to the clerk's office at city hall on Monday. Continue reading...

Program caught in a partisan fight over abortion and is under threat amid Congress's negotiations over government shutdownSeveral people were arrested after entering the office of Kevin McCarthy, the speaker of the House, during a protest for HIV/Aids funding on Monday.The US President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar), a widely bipartisan program, has since been reauthorized three times, and Joe Biden earlier this year indicated that he would work with Congress to extend it a fourth. Continue reading...

Volcano, which erupted for several weeks in June, erupted on Sunday, displaying glowing lava, but no communities threatenedKilauea, one of the most active volcanoes in the world, began erupting after a two-month pause, displaying glowing lava that is a safe distance from people and structures in a national park on Hawaii's Big Island.The Hawaii volcano observatory said the eruption was observed on Sunday afternoon at the summit of Kilauea. Continue reading...

Washington should come clean about its role in the 1973 Chilean coup d'etat, as it is seen as part of attempts to destabilise leftwing governments in Latin AmericaThree decades before the 2001 al-Qaida terror attacks on the US, September 11 was infamous for another bloody event which ended one era of history and brought forth another. The 1973 military coup in Chile installed General Augusto Pinochet as the dictator of a regime that tortured, killed and disappeared thousands in the name of fighting communism. Salvador Allende, the first socialist in the Americas to take office via the ballot box, killed himself as troops stormed the presidential palace. Under Pinochet, parliament was closed, political parties outlawed, and media outlets shut down. Chile became a test-bed for the shock therapy" policies of the University of Chicago economist Milton Friedman.The death of democracy was undoubtedly hastened by the actions of leading powers, including the UK and Australia, but most notably the US. Shamefully, Conservative governments led by Edward Heath and Margaret Thatcher resisted helping Pinochet's victims because of sympathetic attitudes towards the coup. The Labour governments of 1974-79 ran a more ethical foreign policy, accepting Chilean refugees and imposing sanctions on the junta. Continue reading...

Former Spanish football president quit his role without apology and no mention of wrongdoing in the Jenni Hermoso scandalLuis Rubiales firmly yelled I'm not going to resign" in his speech at an extraordinary general assembly of Spain's football federation (RFEF) last month, banging a fist on the podium to assert his position. But, 17 days later, he announced his resignation from his position as federation president, as well as vice-president of Uefa. The right decision has been made, but Rubiales is leaving the federation in authoritative fashion after announcing his decision to quit in an interview with Piers Morgan, a clip of which has been posted online prior to their full sit-down being aired on Tuesday.The resignation statement released by Rubiales was nothing less than expected. There was no apology, no mention of Jenni Hermoso, the player who he grabbed and kissed during the medal ceremony following Spain's World Cup success in Sydney last month, no mention of the other players who secured that incredible achievement, and no mention of doing anything wrong. Continue reading...

The Serb captured his 24th grand slam title at the US Open on Sunday. His skills do not appear to be on the wane as he approaches his late 30sNovak Djokovic is his sport's most stubborn obstacle - a great wall of skill, cunning and grit. And yet there were times in the US Open final on Sunday when it appeared he might actually yield as he stood hunched over, banging on his thighs in a bid to jumpstart his legs. At one point during a torturously long second set against Daniil Medvedev - the hardest physically grueling set I've had to play," he told CBS on Monday - Djokovic was scrambling so hard to catch up with the Russian's groundstrokes that he lost his grip and his racket went flying. When Medvedev took his own tumble and lay on the ground to catch himself, Djokovic crossed the net to check on him. Before offering Medvedev a helping hand, it seemed like Djokovic might want to lie down next to his opponent to catch a breath.On paper, Djokovic's straight sets victory over Medvedev makes it look like becoming the oldest US Open winner was a breeze. But in reality he couldn't wait for it to be over. That's why I didn't celebrate maybe as I did in Roland Garros or fall to the floor or jump out of joy," he said after the final. I was just so relieved when I saw his forehand in the net." Continue reading...

Ahead of Citizens United decision that unleashed dark money flood, Thomas worked with Leonard Leo and Harlan CrowIn the months before the US supreme court handed down Citizens United, the 2010 ruling which unleashed a flood of dark money into American politics, the wife of a conservative justice worked with a prominent rightwing activist and a mega-donor closely linked to her husband to form a group to exploit the decision.So said a blockbuster report from Politico, detailing moves by Ginni Thomas - wife of Justice Clarence Thomas - and Leonard Leo, the Federalist Society chief who has worked to stock the court with rightwingers, leading to a series of epochal decisions, including the removal of the federal right to abortion. Continue reading...

Children, some as young as 15, incarcerated at notorious Angola prison, which has reputation for brutality and violenceLouisiana has until Friday to remove children from its notorious state penitentiary at Angola after a federal judge found they were being held in intolerable" conditions that included prolonged solitary confinement, punishment with mace and handcuffs, and inadequate education and mental health care.The ruling brings to a climax a year-long battle between civil rights groups and the state of Louisiana, which has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world. Angola prison, named after the African country from which enslaved people were forcibly brought to work on the plantation where the penitentiary is located, has a reputation for penal brutality and violence. Continue reading...

The final grand slam of the year saw Coco Gauff claim her first major title and Novak Djokovic his 24th. Here are some of our favourite images from the fortnight at Flushing Meadows Continue reading...

In an extract from his weekly newsletter, Jonathan Wilson answers your questions on hypothetical transfers, James Maddison and attack v defenceAlternate reality time: if Lionel Messi had gone to the Premier League this summer instead of MLS, how would he have fared? For argument's sake, let's say he went to Newcastle United - Parveez.As we've seen over the past few weeks, Lionel Messi remains a sensationally good creative player. I'm sure that even in the Premier League there'd have been plenty of goals and assists. That said, I've been taken aback by just how easy he found it in the Leagues Cup, just how much space he was given. His impact in his three MLS games to date has been less eye-catching, so it may be that in the more-established competition, defensive structures are more coherent; certainly if a 36-year-old can dominate MLS as he dominated the Leagues Cup, I'm not sure it's a great sign for the level of the competition. Yes, he did it at the World Cup, but the international game, of necessity given the lack of time available to coaches, is far less systems-driven than elite club soccer and so privileges the individual.Have a question for Jonathan? Email soccerwithjw@theguardian.com.This is an extract from Soccer With Jonathan Wilson, a weekly look at the game in Europe. To subscribe, just visit this page and follow the instructions. Continue reading...

Paul Landis's recollection of Kennedy's slaying is bound to fuel those who believe multiple shooters killed the late presidentAn ex-Secret Service agent who was feet away from John F Kennedy when the former president was shot dead has broken his decades-old silence to cast doubt on the single-bullet theory held by the commission which investigated the assassination.In an interview published by the New York Times over the weekend, Paul Landis said that he long believed the official finding that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone when he killed Kennedy. Continue reading...

Governor says we righted a wrong' in overturning disorderly conduct conviction after father arrested at school board meetingThe Virginia governor, Glenn Youngkin, has pardoned a father who was arrested at a school board meeting in 2021 after his daughter was sexually assaulted in a school bathroom by another student.The man's arrest occurred after disrupting a Loudoun county school board meeting after the assault, providing a key moment in what was then a budding parents' rights movement across schools nationwide. Continue reading...

The constitution bars anyone from holding public office if they engaged in insurrection' - but political vitriol makes it a tough callAfter defending the integrity of US elections from an onslaught of threats over the last several years, secretaries of state across the US are now turning to a new high-stakes question: Is Donald Trump eligible to run for president?Several secretaries are already working with attorneys general in their states and studying whether Trump is disqualified under a provision of the 14th amendment that bars anyone from holding public office if they've previously taken an oath to the United States and then engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same". That language clearly disqualifies Trump from running in 2024, William Baude and Michael Stokes Paulsen, two prominent conservative scholars, concluded in a lengthy forthcoming law review article. If the public record is accurate, the case is not even close. He is no longer eligible to the office of Presidency, or any other state or federal office covered by the Constitution. All who are committed to the Constitution should take note and say so," they write in the article. Continue reading...

To counter social-media conspiracy theories, we need more honest information about contraception and its side-effectsBirth control is this generation's cigarettes," says a woman on TikTok. When women start taking the pill they get massively depressed," says another. It's a class-one carcinogen," continues the feed. It was 99.9% effective in ruining my life." Then there's the meme of a woman unfolding a contraceptive pill side-effects warning leaflet, as large as a bath towel. Meanwhile those who have come off hormonal contraception and turned to fertility awareness apps give the impression of a world of joy and rainbows - and no accidents.There's a seismic shift going on in contraception, and health professionals are scrambling to catch up. The TikTok health claims above are wildly exaggerated and often incorrect, but that's not stopping a generation of women, trans and non-binary people binning their pills. The latest abortion rate in England and Wales is 19 per 1,000 women and growing, the highest it has been since legalisation in 1967 - and in Scotland it is 16 per 1,000, but terminations are up 19% year on year there, with a rise among teenagers too. Some doctors have suggested that social media is to blame for the rise in abortions, as women turn away from the pill.Kate Muir's book Everything You Need to Know About the Pill is published next yearDo 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.