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Last fall, all seven city council seats were up for grabs and all were won by female candidates below the age of 40When Rebecca Noecker first decided to enter politics in 2016, she was a young mom with two kids and many questions. She had a background in education but no knowledge of how to run for office.There were so many systems that I saw around me that just felt broken and people were in pain and I wanted to do something about that," Noecker, 39, said. And it felt like politics was a way to do it." Continue reading...

Abortion opponents are emboldened by the fall of Roe, but many states have enacted protections after rulingMike Pence had a message: always vote against abortion rights - even if, he suggested, that means voting for Donald Trump.That's why we have primaries. We sort 'em out at every level. But after the primary's over, you vote pro-life," the former Republican vice-president to Trump told a downtown Washington DC ballroom of young, diehard anti-abortion activists on Saturday. You go get behind men and women who are going to stand for the right to life." Continue reading...

James Cromitie was convicted in 2010 after FBI invented a conspiracy to attack synagogues and military planesA man convicted in a post-9/11 terrorism sting was ordered freed from prison by a judge who criticized the FBI for relying on an unsavory" confidential informant for an agency-invented conspiracy to blow up New York synagogues and shoot down national guard planes.The US district judge Colleen McMahon on Friday granted James Cromitie, 58, compassionate release from prison six months after she ordered the release of his three co-defendants, known as the Newburgh Four, for similar reasons. Continue reading...

Cold snap continues from south to Pacific north-west, with thaw not expected until next weekThe deep freeze affecting millions of people across the US is continuing this weekend, as bitterly frigid air spilled into the midwest from Canada amid high winds that could make it feel like -30F (-34C) outside in some areas.The list of severe weather events was growing as the US struggled with the intense cold and news reports said at least 55 people across 10 states had been killed in weather-related incidents over the past week or so since the cold snap hit. Continue reading...

A year after a gunman opened fire at a nearby dance studio, the Lai Lai Ballroom is a refuge, with neon-lit dancefloors and Cantonese pop hitsOn a Tuesday afternoon in mid-January, a dozen older Asian couples twirled to classic Cantonese pop hits on the neon-lit dancefloor at Lai Lai Ballroom and Studio, a beloved venue in Alhambra. The studio emanated a lush serenity of retirement bliss: between songs, dancers dressed in casual sweaters and long skirts retreated to cafe tables to chat over water and hot tea.That the Lai Lai Ballroom remains a refuge for immigrant Asian seniors felt like a quiet miracle to some. One year ago, on 21 January 2023, a gunman opened fire at the nearby Star Ballroom and Studio, killing 11 people in the worst mass shooting in modern Los Angeles county history. All but one of the shooter's victims were in their 60s or 70s. The shooter, Huu Can Tran, went to Lai Lai next, where its third-generation co-owner Brandon Tsay tackled and disarmed him. Despite the horror, many survivors have resumed dancing, both as a way to heal and an expression of defiance. Continue reading...

In relentlessly pursuing his own agenda, the prime minister has lost the trust of Israelis and isolated his countryIt was plain long before the 7 October attacks that Israel badly needed a change of leadership. That need is now urgent. The prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, should have resigned over the security failures surrounding the Hamas massacre, when about 1,200 Israelis were murdered. Instead, he has blamed others. Netanyahu argued the crisis required him to stay and lead a war to destroy the terrorists. He has repeatedly promised total victory" and the freeing of Israeli hostages. But he has repeatedly failed to deliver.The ongoing violence is unprecedented, Hamas is undefeated, many innocents remain in captivity, and government and country are split over tactics and a long-term settlement. Netanyahu must go. Continue reading...

Haley needs a strong showing after Trump's Iowa victory, but ex-president is running strong after picking up new endorsementThe New Hampshire primary campaign has entered its final days with an increasingly nasty tone as Nikki Haley and Donald Trump attacked each other amid yet more signs that Republicans are consolidating their support around the former US president as he secured a vital endorsement.On Friday night in New Hampshire, South Carolina senator Tim Scott, the only Black Republican in the Senate and a former presidential hopeful himself, said he was throwing his weight behind Trump amid rumors that he is in the running to become Trump's running mate. Continue reading...

Donald Trump says there would have been a 'nuclear holocaust' if he did not 'deal' with North Korea when he was president, in footage from his deposition last April and released this week by the New York State attorney general's office. The former president called the fraud case against him 'crazy', insisting that banks 'were fully paid'. Responding to a question about his 40 Wall Street office tower, across the street from the office of the attorney general, Letitia James, Trump insisted that somebody 'open the curtain' to look at the building

Officials say search will continue after as many as 121 unmarked graves were located at MacDill air force base in TampaAs many as 121 unmarked graves in a former Black cemetery have been discovered at a US air force base in Florida, military officials confirmed.A nonintrusive archaeological survey performed over the past two years at the MacDill air force base in Tampa identified 58 probable graves and 63 possible graves, base officials said on Thursday, WFTS-TV reported. Continue reading...

Non-profit says it is investigating 51-year-old's claim of actual innocence' over high-profile killing of pregnant wifeTwo decades after Scott Peterson was sentenced to death for the murder of his pregnant wife in a high-profile trial, the Los Angeles Innocence Project said this week that it had taken up the case.The development marks a significant breakthrough for the 51-year-old, who has long maintained his innocence and has claimed he received an unfair trial. Continue reading...

Haley, who finished third in Iowa, ramps up criticism of Republican rival but some say she can - and should - go furtherIn the final days before New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary, Nikki Haley is sharpening her attacks on Donald Trump as the former South Carolina governor courts the state's famously discerning independent voters.After coming in third in the Iowa caucuses, Haley's is casting her candidacy as a better choice" for a nation barreling towards a possible rematch between Trump, 77 and Joe Biden, 81. Continue reading...

The DEI is making airplane travel unsafe' theory has gone from a fringe view to a staple of the US rightwing newsYou'd better be careful out there. I don't know if you've heard, but planes are currently disintegrating in mid-air because of diversity. That's right, thanks to wokeness gone mad, women and minorities are being ushered into the highest levels of the aviation industry without a single qualification to their name. Nobody cares if you can fly or not, the only qualification for being a pilot these days is a vagina and some melanin. Continue reading...

Lawyers tell court Lawrence Hecker, 92, has declined mentally and physically while incarceratedA 92-year-old retired Catholic priest jailed in New Orleans since September on charges of child rape and kidnapping has been hospitalized, his attorneys said on Friday.Lawrence Hecker - who admitted that he sexually molested or harassed underage boys in the 1960s and 1970s during a remarkable interview with WWL Louisiana and the Guardian in August - has experienced mental decline, disorientation and some physical ailments while being held in New Orleans's jail, attorneys argued during a state court hearing.Ramon Antonio Vargas contributed to this report Continue reading...

The former president's nihilist, autocratic anti-politics transcend borders. In Iowa, as in so much of the world, voters are opting for the strongmanThe comforting conceit that Donald Trump is an unpleasant yet passing American aberration, often heard during his 2017-21 presidency, is harder to believe than ever after his Iowa caucus landslide victory last week. As matters stand, Trump is on course to win a third consecutive Republican presidential nomination and a possible second White House term.The bigger, worldwide picture is more alarming still. Far from being an exception to the rule, Trump reflects, amplifies and popularises a regressive global trend towards authoritarian, totalitarian, dictatorial, nationalistic and religiously, ethnically and culturally majoritarian forms of rightwing governance. Continue reading...

Smirking, pouting and defiant ex-president bragged about properties and claimed he prevented nuclear war with North KoreaMonths before Donald Trump's defiant turn as a witness at his New York civil fraud trial, the former president came face to face with the state attorney general who is suing him when he sat for a deposition last year at her Manhattan office.Video made public on Friday of the seven-hour, closed-door session last April shows the Republican presidential frontrunner's demeanor going from calm and cool to indignant - at one point ripping into the lawsuit of the attorney general, Letitia James, against him as a disgrace" and a terrible thing". Continue reading...

Venture fund and real estate startup linked to far-right groups promote residential development as community for rightwingersA venture fund and a real estate startup - both with links to far-right organizations - are promoting a residential development in rural Kentucky as a haven for fellow rightwingers.The promoters have presented the planned development as an aligned community" for rightwingers who want to disappear from the cultural insanity of the broader country" and spearhead the revival of the region". Continue reading...

Former UN ambassador needs to perform well in the Granite state to stem Trump steamroll and appease wealthy donorsThere is rest for neither the wicked nor the warm undergarments among Republican presidential candidates this week, as the Republican primary rolls from a bone-bustingly cold Iowa to an almost-as-frigid New Hampshire.In Manchester, the state's largest city, the temperature dropped to 10F (-12C) in the days before Tuesday's primary election, cold enough for icicles to cling to cars, rooftops and, in a park near the center of town, a roundabout. Continue reading...

Tale of generosity between Tony and Tracey Gonzalez from Illinois and Joely Sanders and Frank Pompa from Arizona goes viralWhen Tony Gonzalez of Illinois required an organ donor to be freed from the dialysis machine keeping him alive despite his failing kidney, an Arizona woman named Joely Sanders stepped up.Sanders's brother, Frank Pompa, also required a new kidney after one of his had failed - and, of all people, it was Gonzalez's wife, Tracey, who provided the crucial organ donation to free him from his dialysis machine in October. Continue reading...

With In Search of the Beloved Community, Raymond Arsenault delivers a fitting tribute to the late Democrat from GeorgiaJohn Lewis: In Search of the Beloved Community chronicles one man's quest for a more perfect union. An adventure of recent times, it is made exceptional by the way the narrative intersects with current events. It is the perfect book, at the right time.Raymond Arsenault also offers the first full-length biography of the Georgia congressman and stalwart freedom-fighter. The book illuminates Lewis's time as a planner and participant of protests, his service in Congress and his time as an American elder statesman. Continue reading...

Guinness must rule on whether he should keep or be stripped of his world record. I'm touched by the formal, goofy dignity of it allIn October, a dog died in Portugal. A common occurence. Except that this dog, Bobi, had taken longer to die than any other dog in recorded history. At 31 years and five months old, Bobi was, according to the world's foremost keeper of this kind of knowledge, Guinness World Records, the oldest dog of all time.Or was he? In human years, Bobi would have been near-mythically old at about 200. His supposed age defies what science thinks it knows about dogs. When Bobi died, he had reached more than double the usual life expectancy of his breed, a Rafeiro do Alentejo. Suspicion has mounted. Pictures of Bobi in the late 90s seem to show a dog with different coloured paws to the one that died in October. An investigation by Wired found that the Portuguese government database for dog registration did not have any registration information or data to confirm his age. Bobi's owner's claim that the dog was born in 1992 is, as yet, not sufficiently substantiated. His record has now attracted enough scrutiny for GWR to launch a formal review" into Bobi this week.Imogen West-Knights is a writer and journalist Continue reading...

US president says Israeli PM not opposed to all two-state solutions after pair talk for first time in nearly a monthJoe Biden has said the creation of an independent state for Palestinians was still possible while Benjamin Netanyahu was still in office, following a call with the Israeli prime minister on Friday.The US president spoke to Netanyahu for the first time in nearly a month about differences over a future Palestinian state, as well as Israel's ongoing offensive in Gaza, where the Palestinian death toll is approaching 25,000, according to local health authorities. Continue reading...

On the 51st anniversary of Roe v Wade, a sparse crowd of activists brave snow on March for Life in Washington DCWhile Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are planning a cascade of ads and events to coincide with the 51st anniversary of Roe v Wade, hundreds of anti-abortion activists gathered on the National Mall in Washington DC on Friday in hopes of re-energizing a movement that has repeatedly stumbled since Roe's overturning.Originally organized around the goal of overturning the Roe precedent that established federal abortion rights, the March for Life has seen what was once its greatest victory become a political liability. In the 18 months since Roe's demise, abortion rights supporters have trounced anti-abortion activists in state-level ballot referendums. Yet the march's message was largely similar to past years: speakers and attendees alike talked about the need to make abortion unthinkable" rather than just illegal - with scant details on how to make that happen. Continue reading...

Anthem Rugby Carolina, based in Charlotte, will field young American players in attempt to grow domestic gameMajor League Rugby, the US men's professional rugby union competition, will this year include a team predominantly featuring young American players, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, and backed by World Rugby in an attempt to boost the US game in the run-up to the 2031 and 2033 World Cups.The introduction of Anthem Rugby Carolina will restore the league to 12 teams and two conferences, after the recent collapses of the Toronto Arrows and New York Ironworkers, the latter MLR champions in 2022. The announcement of the new team, widely reported before being confirmed on Friday, comes a little over a month before the season seven kick-off, on the first weekend in March. Continue reading...

Hard-right Republicans ensure chances of more money and weapons for Kyiv hinge on immigration reform negotiationsJoe Biden on Friday signed a measure to keep the US government funded but as Washington shivered under its second major snowfall in a week, the bill did not unfreeze funding for Ukraine.Hard-right House Republicans, led by the speaker, Mike Johnson, are ensuring the chances of more money and weapons for Kyiv in its fight with Moscow hinge on negotiations for immigration reform. Continue reading...

Eric Swalwell calls for action against Trump ally apparently recorded saying congressman or colleague has to die'The California Democratic congressman Eric Swalwell has called for the rightwing activist and Trump ally Roger Stone to be prosecuted over an alleged death threat he also made against Jerry Nadler, a Democrat from New York.Asked by Scripps News if he wanted Stone to be prosecuted, Swalwell said: Yes, I absolutely do. I know [the] aim [of the threat] is to not just threaten and in this case take a specific action, but its aim is to silence Donald Trump's critics." Continue reading...

Quick-thinking state police officer enlists pet canine to carry rescue equipment to man who fell through iceA man who fell through the ice on a frozen Michigan lake was rescued after a quick-thinking state police officer used the stranded man's dog to get rescue equipment to him and pull the man to safety.Bystanders called 911 on Thursday after the 65-year-old Traverse City man fell through ice-covered Arbutus Lake, state police said. Continue reading...

Grand jury in New Mexico charged the actor for a shooting on Rust set that killed cinematographer Halyna HutchinsActor Alec Baldwin is facing a new involuntary manslaughter charge over the 2021 fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of the movie Rust.A Santa Fe, New Mexico, grand jury indicted Baldwin on Friday, months after prosecutors had dismissed the same criminal charge against him. Continue reading...

John Kirby said the US still opposes a ceasefire in Gaza amid growing pressure on the Biden administration to push for an end to fighting as the death toll passed 24,000 people. Kirby said: 'We don't believe a ceasefire is going to be to the benefit of anybody but Hamas. We do support humanitarian pauses, as I said, to try to get hostages out and more aid in. But we don't support a ceasefire at this time'

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Records submitted in Nathan Wade divorce case show DA named as travel companion while Trump investigation was ongoingThe Fulton county district attorney prosecuting Donald Trump over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia had travel paid for by a special prosecutor she hired for the case and with whom she is alleged to have been involved in an improper relationship, according to a court filing submitted on Friday.Bank records for the special prosecutor Nathan Wade attached as an exhibit to the filing, submitted by Wade's wife in a divorce proceeding, showed that the district attorney, Fani Willis, was named as a travel companion on at least two trips while the Trump investigation was ongoing. Continue reading...

No Republican can out-Trump Trump. Opponents need to target his flaws: a bloody insurrection and a record of broken promisesThe few Republicans who have not succumbed to the cult of Donald Trump cling to one last hope. They are crossing their fingers that on Tuesday night the ex-president's march to his party's nomination will be halted, or at least delayed, by a defeat in the New Hampshire primary at the hands of the former governor of South Carolina, Nikki Haley. But it is a thin hope.Even if Haley wins a famous victory in this snowbound state, the battles ahead are on terrain far more tricky for her and congenial to him. On Monday, Trump won his party's contest in Iowa by a record-breaking margin, amassing more votes than all his rivals combined - and the primary electorates that come next look more like Iowa's than New Hampshire's, which, unusually, includes a big slice of Trump-sceptic independents. When you combine that with surveys that show Trump even - or better than even - with Joe Biden, making him many forecasters' favourite to win the White House in November, it prompts a question that confounds blue-state America and baffles most of the rest of the world. Given all that he's said and all that he's done, given all that he is, why do so many Americans want Donald Trump to be their next president?Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnistJonathan Freedland is presenting three special episodes of the Guardian's Politics Weekly America podcast from New Hampshire. You can hear the first episode here Continue reading...

A man who fell through the ice on a frozen Michigan lake was rescued after a quick-thinking state police officer used the stranded man's dog to get rescue equipment to him and pull the man to safety.Michigan state police said bystanders called 911 on Thursday after the 65-year-old man fell through ice-covered Arbutus Lake. They praised the actions of officer Kammeron Bennetts, whose body-camera captured the rescue. The officer called the man's dog, Ruby, and attached a rescue disc tethered to a rope to the dog's collar. When the man called Ruby back to him, the officer was then able to pull him to the lake's edge across the icy surface in East Bay Township Continue reading...

Matthew Brackley, who previously tried to unseat Maine's Democratic senate majority leader, pleads guilty to assaulting officersA former Republican legislative candidate has pleaded guilty to assaulting law enforcement officers during the insurrection by extremist supporters of Donald Trump at the US Capitol on 6 January 2021 in the final days of his one-term presidency.Officials said that Matthew Brackley, 40, of Waldoboro, Maine, traveled to Washington DC, Trump's Stop the Steal rally on January 6, prior to him encouraging the crowd to go to the Capitol. Continue reading...

An Atlas Air Boeing 747-8 cargo plane with five crew members made an emergency landing at Miami international airport after facing an engine malfunction shortly after departure. Footage on X shows flames shooting out of the left wing of the aircraft while in flight. No injuries were reported Continue reading...

A mass prisoner release would seem like a PR win for Hamas, but it's Israel's only route to victoryMore than three months into a conflict that has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people, it is clear there is only one way Israel can return all of the hostages from Gaza alive: an all for all" deal with Hamas - all of the hostages, an estimated 129 of whom are believed to be alive, in exchange for all of the Palestinians in Israeli prisons.There are about 8,000 Palestinian prisoners now in Israeli jails. Of these, 559 are serving life sentences for killing Israelis, and another 130 were caught in Israel in the two days after the 7 October Hamas attacks. Continue reading...

Richard Howson's job with Florida-based tech firm sparks anger among unions and industry expertsThe disgraced executive who led Carillion before the construction company's collapse has landed a senior role at a technology firm in Florida, only months after he was banned from being a company director in the UK.Richard Howson, who received an eight-year disqualification from the Insolvency Service in October, has been named construction president at Tampa-based TECfusions, the Guardian can reveal. The appointment sparked anger among unions and industry experts. Continue reading...

Judge cites failure of star-studded Los Angeles enclave to sign off on affordable housing plan that addresses city's needIt's the home of Taylor Swift, Adele, Jennifer Lawrence, Jeff Bezos and any number of other celebrity grandees whose elaborate mansions, replete with helipads and cascading swimming pools, perch on some of the highest-value real estate in the world.But just having the cash to splash in Beverly Hills may no longer be enough to get yourself the latest spa basement or indoor basketball court, after a judge banned all new luxury permits for home renovations until the city first builds more affordable housing. Continue reading...

Ex-South Carolina governor at a town hall in New Hampshire said one should talk about a pardon after someone has been convicted'

Atlas Air 747 cargo plane bound for Puerto Rico was filmed trailing flames from left wing before landing safely back in MiamiA Boeing cargo airliner made an emergency landing in Florida on Thursday night after what its operator called an engine malfunction" occurred shortly after takeoff, in the latest setback for the beleaguered company.Video taken by an eyewitness and posted to social media showed the 747-8 aircraft trailing flames and sparks from its left wing as it circled back to land at Miami international airport at about 10.30pm. Continue reading...

They had health warnings but focused on other things. Their deaths opened my eyes to the scale of the challenge aheadThe kids' bedtime had long since passed, and my frustration was beginning to show.As they faffed, I fretted - about the list of chores still to do before I could collapse into bed myself. At last as I harriedly tucked in my daughter, she looked up at me with a concerned expression and said: Dad, does Poppy need surgery?" Continue reading...

Majiah Washington saw the baby's parents, her neighbors, struggling to save the baby after a storm coated Portland with iceMajiah Washington noticed a flash outside her home this week in Portland, where a dangerous storm had coated the city with ice. Opening her blinds, she saw a red SUV with a downed power line on it and a couple who had been putting their baby in the car.The woman screamed to her boyfriend to get the baby to safety, and he grabbed the child and began to scramble up the driveway on concrete so slick it was almost impossible to walk. But before he made it halfway, he slid backward and his foot touched the live wire - a little fire, then smoke," Washington said. Continue reading...

The state party has voted to oust Kristina Karamo, but she is refusing to accept the result. So who's in charge?Michigan's Republican party has devolved into feuding factions - and at this point, it's not even clear who, if anyone, is in charge.Kristina Karamo, the Michigan GOP's election-denying chair, was ousted in a 6 January vote held during a special meeting called by state committee members critical of Karamo. But she and the faction that support her have refused to step down, further inflaming the chaos that has engulfed the swing-state Republican party with just months left before the 2024 presidential election. On Saturday, the party will meet to vote on a new state party leader. Continue reading...

The decision by Britain's strictest head' reflects a wider culture with a myopic view of what multiculturalism should look like