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Details emerge about shooting, in which shooter left note mentioned fatigue at ‘being rejected’ by womenThe man who stormed on to Michigan State University’s campus and shot three students to death before killing himself bought the ammunition fired during the attack only a few hours earlier, investigators announced on Thursday.Additionally, authorities said, the murderer had no personal or professional connection to the school, making his motive a mystery to them, despite his leaving a note which – among other things – complained about feeling rejected and not having sex during the last decade. Continue reading...

Advocates say it will cast welcome attention on a system mired in scandals of prisoner mistreatment and racial injusticeA United Nations human rights group is touring Los Angeles county jails on Friday, bringing international scrutiny to a detention system criticized for overcrowding, mistreatment and abuse of people with mental illnesses, and conditions described by civil rights groups as “barbaric”.A panel of experts appointed by the UN human rights council and formed after the murder of George Floyd is visiting LA as part of a two-week trip to cities across the US examining racial justice and police violence. In California, the investigators will meet with families of people killed by police and formerly incarcerated people. They will also enter the LA county jail system, the largest in the country, which is run by the LA sheriff’s department (LASD). Continue reading...

The 41% spike comes as the city closed an outreach center that stocked Narcan and allowed supervised drug useDrug-related deaths surged by 41% in San Francisco in the first quarter of this year – with one person dying of an accidental overdose every 10 hours, as the fentanyl crisis continues to ravage the US west coast.San Francisco saw 200 people die of overdoses in the past three months compared to 142 in the same months a year ago, according to reports by the city’s medical examiner. Continue reading...

Former vice-president’s proximity to the ex-president during the Capitol attack makes him a key witness in the criminal inquiryMike Pence testified before a federal grand jury on Thursday in Washington about Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, according to a source familiar with the matter, a day after an appeals court rejected a last-ditch motion to block his appearance.The former vice-president’s testimony lasted for around seven hours and took place behind closed doors, meaning the details of what he told the prosecutors hearing evidence in the case remains uncertain. Continue reading...

Vetoed by the governor but overridden by Republican legislators, the law comes amid a broader nationwide attack on trans rightsKansas enacted what may be the most sweeping transgender bathroom law in the US on Thursday after Republican lawmakers overrode the Democratic governor’s veto of the measure.The state’s governor, Laura Kelly, had blocked the bill, suggesting it was discriminatory and would hurt the state’s ability to attract businesses. But supporters had exactly the two-thirds majority they needed to pass the new law, which will take effect 1 July. Continue reading...

No decision on where Jack Teixeira should remain until trial but judge appears doubtful of arguments that he should be releasedA federal judge has delayed a decision on a detention hearing for the US air national guardsman suspected of leaking highly classified US intelligence documents.Federal prosecutors urged Judge David Hennessy to keep Jack Teixeira, 21, behind bars, arguing he could still pose a grave risk to US national security and have access to secret national defense information, during a nearly 90-minute trial on Thursday in Worcester, Massachusetts. Continue reading...

Basketball star says abilities as an athlete helped her get through ordeal and addressed arrest of journalist Evan GershkovichBrittney Griner got emotional quickly.Speaking to reporters for the first time since a nearly 10-month detainment in Russia on drug-related charges, the WNBA star had to take a moment to compose herself after being asked about her resiliency through the ordeal.Associated Press contributed to this report Continue reading...

The host synonymous with hand-to-mouth television was also a progressive political mind and groundbreaking changemakerI’ll never forget the time I went to a taping of The Jerry Springer Show with two of my closest high school pals. This was back in the 1990s, when Chicago was the center of the talkshow universe and Springer and Oprah were the hottest tickets in town. My parents, bless, wouldn’t have batted an eye if I said I was going to see the queen of daytime. But the king of sleaze? Up to now they wonder how I ever got their permission.Somewhere in my childhood bedroom, the ticket is sitting in a drawer with the actual episode title – not that the show headings stopped TV Guide from calling it “the worst show in the history of television”. Despite producers’ yeoman efforts to class up the spectacle for censors, it was the same show every day: somebody cheated, somebody didn’t know and we’re all about to find out. This one was no different – and still some of the most fun I’ve ever had. Continue reading...

One bill would ban its use in body cameras for 10 years, while the second could allow police to match images to the state driver’s license databaseIn 2020, Robert Williams was arrested for allegedly stealing thousands of dollars of watches. Detroit police had matched grainy surveillance footage of the crime to Williams’ driver’s license photo using a facial recognition service. But Williams wasn’t the robber. At the time of the robbery, he was driving home from work.Williams’ arrest was the first documented case of someone being wrongfully detained based on facial recognition technology, which is used by police departments and government agencies across the US. Continue reading...

Trump lawyer’s cross-examination focuses on early draft of advice columnist’s book and email exchanges with friend during civil trialThe advice columnist E Jean Carroll has denied that she falsely accused Donald Trump of raping her in order to sell books and for political ends.On the third day of Carroll’s civil suit against the former president for battery and defamation, Trump’s lawyer, Joe Tacopina, put it to her that she made her allegation the centrepiece of a book proposal she was trying to sell.Associated Press contributed reporting Continue reading...

Florida governor aims to enhance image before expected formal bid for Republican nominationRon DeSantis is due to spend Friday in Britain on the last leg of a world tour aimed at enhancing his foreign policy credentials before an expected run for the Republican nomination.Formally, DeSantis will meet the foreign secretary, James Cleverly, and the business secretary, Kemi Badenoch, in his role as governor of Florida, the third most populous US state. Continue reading...

Till, 14, beaten and murdered in 1955 crime that shocked America, was accused of lewd comment in Mississippi grocery storeThe white woman whose allegations resulted in the torture and murder of the Black teen Emmett Till, an unpunished killing that outraged America and fueled the civil rights movement, has died.On Thursday, the Calcasieu parish coroner’s office in Louisiana confirmed the death of Carolyn Bryant Donham, Mississippi Today reported. She was 88 and was reported to have had cancer, in hospice care. Continue reading...

Family of famed TV figure and former mayor of Cincinnati announces he died ‘peacefully’ at home in Chicago on ThursdayThe talkshow host Jerry Springer, a former mayor of Cincinnati whose work was vastly influential in daytime TV worldwide, has died. He was 79.Springer’s family said he died “peacefully” on Thursday at home in Chicago. Continue reading...

Jerome Powell appears to address inflation and Russian central bank in video broadcast on Russian state televisionThe chair of the US Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, recently held a call with Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the Ukrainian president who is leading his country’s fight against Russian invaders.Or so Powell thought. Continue reading...

Florida governor attempting to weaken Disney’s self-governing powers after entertainment giant opposed his ‘don’t say gay’ lawDisney’s lawsuit over his attempt to seize its self-governing powers is a political stunt with no legal merit, the increasingly embattled hard-right Florida governor Ron DeSantis, told reporters on Thursday.“I don’t think the suit has merit,” the likely Republican White House hopeful said, adding: “The days of putting one company on a pedestal with no accountability are over in the state of Florida.” Continue reading...

The slow extinction of physical media is bad news for movie fans. We’re told that “everything’s streaming now”, but it’s simply not true

Regulators clear capsules for adults who face risks from C diff, bacteria that can cause nausea, cramps and diarrheaUS health officials have approved the first pill made from healthy bacteria found in human waste to fight dangerous gut infections – an easier way of performing so-called fecal transplants.The treatment from Seres Therapeutics provides a simpler, rigorously tested version of stool-based procedures that some specialists have used for more than a decade. Continue reading...

David Gianforte, who uses he/they pronouns, said they urged father Greg to stand up against ‘unjust, immoral’ legislationThe son of the Republican governor of Montana, Greg Gianforte, met his father in his office to lobby him to reject several bills that would harm transgender people in the state, the Montana Free Press reported.David Gianforte told the paper he identifies as nonbinary and uses he/they pronouns – the first time they disclosed their sexuality publicly. They told the outlet they felt an obligation to use their relationship with their father to stand up for LGBTQ+ people in the state. Continue reading...

Advice columnist is seeking damages in civil lawsuit against former president for alleged 1990s sexual assaultThe advice columnist E Jean Carroll is expected to face a tough cross-examination from Donald Trump’s lawyers on Thursday, following her searing testimony to a New York jury hearing her accusation of rape against the former president.Carroll is seeking damages in her civil lawsuit for battery after Trump allegedly sexually assaulted her in a New York department store changing room in the 1990s. Continue reading...

Decision suspends rule imposed by Republican state attorney general hours before it was due to take effectA Missouri judge on Wednesday temporarily halted enforcement of a first-of-its-kind rule that restricts access to gender-affirming healthcare for transgender children and adults, hours before it was set to take effect.The rule, introduced by Andrew Bailey, the Republican state attorney general, would place requirements on minors and adults before they are allowed to receive gender-affirming treatments such as puberty blockers or hormones. It was set to take effect on Thursday, but transgender Missourians and healthcare providers sued to stop it. Continue reading...

President keeps an eye on cable news during informal meetings with staff, report suggests, but he’s no TV addict like TrumpDonald Trump may not, in fact, have spent hours as president watching the Gorilla Channel but he did watch TV for hours at a time in a room off the Oval Office, even on January 6 as his supporters attacked Congress and the republic was shaken.Joe Biden, according to a new report, is not nearly so glued to the box – but he does have a tiny, secret TV. Continue reading...

Residents in Antioch, California, have been stunned by the investigation that has exposed nearly half the 99-officer squadFrom an early age, Shagoofa Khan felt propelled to make her community a better place. Growing up in Antioch – a small city one hour north-east of San Francisco, where the industrial landscape of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta meets the rolling pastures of Contra Costa county – the now-22-year-old activist witnessed the effects of racial and socioeconomic inequality on a daily basis.At 15, after seeing peers succumb to gang violence, she trained and worked as a teen conflict manager. Once she graduated from high school, Khan – who is the child of immigrants from Pakistan and Afghanistan – ran for local office as a school board trustee, and later became a student senator at Los Medanos Community College. Continue reading...

A wave of ‘free college’ initiatives is sweeping the country but how best to support students financially remains controversialGovernor Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan announced proudly in August that 100,000 people had applied for her state’s free college program, Michigan Reconnect.The program, which covers community college tuition for Michigan residents aged 25 or older to get them to go back to school, was “a gamechanger”, Whitmer said, “not only for the people enrolled in the program, but also for their families, small businesses and the state”. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Florida governor’s team expected to be led by adviser Generra Peck and include top Republican strategistsFlorida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, is quietly assembling a senior staff for an expected 2024 presidential campaign that will be headed by his top political adviser, Generra Peck, and around seven other Republican operatives serving as top advisers, according to two people familiar with the matter.The leadership roster remains subject to change since the campaign – which could launch as soon as the start of next month – does not yet technically exist and most salaries are being paid, for the moment, through the state Republican party. Continue reading...

Advice columnist says former president ‘shattered my reputation’ and says alleged attack left her unable to enjoy romantic life. Plus, South Korean president sings American Pie at state dinner with Biden

The 21-year-old Iraqi, who lived by a smoke-choked oilfield, died of cancer before he got to address the fossil fuel giant’s shareholders. His message must be heardAli Hussein Jaloud, a 21-year-old Iraqi who lives next to one of BP’s biggest oilfields, was meant to ask a question at the company’s annual shareholder meeting today. He was going to challenge the CEO on why his company continues to poison his neighbourhood with cancer-causing pollution. But, just a few days ago, Ali died of a form of leukaemia that has been linked to chemicals released by the burning of fossil fuels. His grieving father will ask why BP did not use its vast profits to help save his life.Over the past two years, my fellow investigator Owen Pinnell and I got to know Ali while making a documentary for BBC News Arabic, Under Poisoned Skies, which revealed the deadly impact of gas flaring in southern Iraq, including at BP’s Rumaila oilfield where Ali lives, surrounded by oil company-patrolled checkpoints. We also found out that Rumaila has more gas flaring than any other oilfield in the world. Continue reading...

Our writers take a look at the best prospects coming out of college, and which teams need to get it right in the coming daysBryce Young, QB, Alabama. I’m guessing you’ve heard that Young is short. And he’s slender too: he looks more like a yoga instructor than an NFL quarterback. But Young is a pocket wizard. There have been comparisons to Patrick Mahomes’ bobbing and weaving style in the pocket, but even those fall short: Young is a more sudden manipulator than the bulkier Mahomes. He creates space when it appears there isn’t any. That’s his superpower, and why he’s separated himself from the other QBs at the top of the class. OC Continue reading...

Think of those presenters who reigned at Fox News before: Bill O’Reilly and Glenn Beck. There’s an endless supply of horrorIt is a truism of the US news industry that no one is bigger than the network itself, an insight that Donald Trump – binned by Rupert Murdoch last year – may still be painfully processing, and which this week became suddenly clear to Tucker Carlson.The former cable news host, who, it was announced on Monday, had “agreed to part ways” with the network, has hired an aggressive Hollywood lawyer – and in line with the preferred volume of the man generally, seems unlikely to go quietly. Even as the share price at Fox dropped in response to the news, wiping $500m (£400m) off its value in apparent flattery of Carlson, the question remains pertinent as to how much he, and those like him, matter as individuals.Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

The fired Fox News host has cash, fame and appeal. The Lincoln Project co-founder says Trump and DeSantis should be worriedThe most irresponsible thing you can do these days is look away from the worst-case scenario.” So says Rick Wilson. In the week Fox News fired Tucker Carlson, Wilson’s worst-case scenario is this: a successful Carlson campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.Wilson is a longtime Republican operative turned co-founder of the anti-Trump Lincoln Project and a media company, Resolute Square, for which he hosts the Enemies List podcast. Continue reading...

When I started at work I loved being mentored. But younger people seem to know more and be more confident than meWhen I started in broadcasting, I always seemed to be the youngest person in the room. I liked it this way. Yes, I was occasionally patronised a bit, and doubtless got on my elders’ nerves, in a who-does-this-kid-think-he-is kind of way. But I didn’t mind being talked down to one jot. After all, they knew a lot more than me about things and I had plenty to learn.This was in the BBC’s business news department. The best of them were only too happy to sit me down and talk me through one of the many topics I didn’t understand. I spent many hours learning at the feet of gifted correspondents such as Rory Cellan-Jones, Simon Gompertz and Jackie Hardgrave. I’ll for ever be grateful to them. They looked out for the work experience kid, professionally and socially. When I was hungover, they probably gave me Calpol. It was good to be the junior; I felt as if I was ahead of the game. Continue reading...

Public defender’s office cites evidence that may link Don Carmignani to eight unsolved assaultsA former San Francisco fire commissioner has been accused of involvement in a series of bear spray attacks on unhoused people in the city.The San Francisco public defender’s office said in a statement on Wednesday that the district attorney’s office had turned over evidence that may link Don Carmignani to eight unsolved assaults using bear spray. Continue reading...

Betty Glover spent seven decades in the American workforce and unable to save, was still working as a cashier at a WinCo storeA 91-year-old grocery store cashier from Oregon can finally retire thanks to an online fundraiser that was made necessary by the economic forces which compel some Americans to work virtually their entire lives.Betty Glover has spent seven decades in the US workforce and occasionally even held down two jobs at a time but nonetheless was unable to save enough to retire and still pay off her monthly bills, medicines, groceries and the camping trailer in which she lives, according to the Rogue Valley Times, which recently profiled her. Continue reading...

Former Fox star did not address his reported firing but offered sweeping complaints about the state of American discourseTucker Carlson has broken his silence for the first time since his abrupt departure from Fox News, posting a video to Twitter that did not directly address his reported firing.Carlson was one of the network’s biggest stars, and gained a large following while spouting xenophobic and racist rhetoric on his show, Tucker Carlson Tonight. He left Fox News without explanation on Monday. News outlets have reported that Carlson was fired on the personal order of Fox owner Rupert Murdoch for, among other things, using vulgar language to describe a female executive. Continue reading...

Former vice-president is considered a crucial witness since the ex-president pressured him to reject electoral college votes for BidenA federal appeals court has denied Donald Trump’s emergency motion to block Mike Pence from testifying in a criminal investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election, paving the way for the special counsel examining the matter to obtain potentially inculpatory accounts of Trump’s desperate bid to stay in power.The sealed ruling by the US appeals court for the DC circuit on Wednesday marks the end of Trump’s efforts to keep Pence from divulging information to federal prosecutors, unless his legal team takes the unlikely step of challenging the decision before the full DC circuit or the supreme court. Continue reading...

Zooey Zephyr will be able to vote remotely, however the decision has drawn protests that brought the legislature to a haltMontana Republicans have barred the transgender lawmaker Zooey Zephyr from the statehouse floor for the rest of the session after she told colleagues they would have “blood on your hands” if they voted to ban gender-affirming medical care for trans children.Under the terms of the punishment, Zephyr will still be able to vote remotely but will be unable to participate in debates on the floor for the remainder of the 90-day legislative session. The Democratic representative had been forbidden from speaking for the past week over her comments, which Republicans said violated decorum. Continue reading...

Republican package challenges Biden to negotiate, but has little hope of success in Senate as spending standoff loomsHouse Republicans narrowly passed sweeping legislation on Wednesday that would raise the government’s legal debt ceiling by $1.5tn in exchange for steep spending restrictions, a tactical victory for the House speaker Kevin McCarthy as he challenges Joe Biden to negotiate and prevent a catastrophic federal default this summer.Biden has threatened to veto the Republican package, which has almost no chance of passing the Senate in the meantime, where Democrats hold a slim majority.Claw back unspent Covid-19 funds.Impose tougher work requirements for recipients of food stamps and other government aid.Halt Biden’s plans to forgive up to $20,000 in student loans.End many of the landmark renewable energy tax breaks Biden signed into law last year. It would tack on a sweeping Republican bill to boost oil, gas and coal production. Continue reading...

Advice columnist says former president ‘shattered my reputation’ and says alleged attack left her unable to enjoy romantic lifeThe advice columnist E Jean Carroll told a New York jury on Wednesday that Donald Trump raped her, leaving her unable to have a romantic relationship, and then “shattered my reputation” by denying the attack occurred.Carroll testified in her civil lawsuit seeking damages for battery – after Trump allegedly sexually assaulted her in a New York department store changing room in 1996 – and for defamation, after he accused her of lying and perpetrating a hoax when she went public with her accusations in a book.Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html Continue reading...

New letter sent to Congress attempts to paint Trump’s retention of classified-marked documents at Florida home as inadvertentDonald Trump’s lawyers in the Mar-a-Lago documents investigation found the 15 boxes the former president returned to the National Archives a year after the end of his presidency mostly contained briefings for calls with foreign leaders, according to a new letter they sent to Congress.The majority of the letter – seen by the Guardian and earlier reported by CNN – served to characterize Trump’s retention of classified-marked documents as inadvertent, and due to White House staffers sweeping all documents into boxes during a chaotic departure at the end of the administration. Continue reading...

Only Republican governor Kevin Stitt stands between Richard Glossip and the death chamber, with lethal injection set for 18 MayRichard Glossip, a death row prisoner in Oklahoma who has insisted he is innocent since he was convicted of murder 25 years ago, has been denied clemency even though the state’s Republican attorney general made an unprecedented appeal to spare his life.The pardon and parole board voted by 2-2 on Wednesday to deny Glossip, 60, clemency in the face of exceptional resistance from Republican politicians in Oklahoma who have joined forces to try and stop his execution going ahead. As things now stand, only the Republican governor Kevin Stitt stands between Glossip and the death chamber, with lethal injection set for 18 May. Continue reading...