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Do we really need real-time updates on our kids at daycare and stat-tracking packages like they're a draft prospect for the upcoming season? Alas, I AcceptLet's get this out of the way: I love my child very much and am deeply invested in her safety and happiness. God, you know an article is going to be a doozy when you've got to put that disclaimer up the top.A few years ago, by some mystic coincidence, a number of my friends all had babies around the same time. It was somewhat of a trend - like saying hot girl summer" or going to Italy, except this one came with the lifelong consequence of a human being. Continue reading...

Cantu used final words before lethal injection to maintain his innocence of 2000 killing of cousin and cousin's girlfriendA Texas inmate who had long claimed his conviction more than 20 years ago was based on false testimony and questionable evidence was executed on Wednesday evening for fatally shooting two people, including his cousin.Ivan Cantu received a lethal injection and was pronounced dead at 6.47pm at the state penitentiary in Huntsville for the November 2000 fatal shooting of his cousin, James Mosqueda, 27, and his cousin's girlfriend, Amy Kitchen, 22. In final words from the execution chamber, he said several times that he was innocent of the killings. Continue reading...

President will visit the well-regulated crossing at Brownsville while Trump will make dueling trip to hotspot 300 miles upstreamJoe Biden will travel to the US-Mexico border on Thursday amid rising concerns expressed by voters nationwide over immigration, as pressure builds on the US president to respond to alarmist rightwing claims of invasion", crisis" and waves of migrant crime".But when Biden arrives in Brownsville, Texas, he is likely to encounter scenes like those prevailing earlier this week in the city of almost 200,000 that lies at the eastern end of the border. Shoppers walked the streets and preparations were under way for annual binational celebrations, Charro Days and Sombrero fest, which highlight the city's close relationship with its Mexican sister city, Matamoros. Continue reading...

Footage of Stinnett in Texas's northern panhandle region showed the burned-out town after it was hit by a wildfire. The Smokehouse Creek fire, now the second largest wildfire in the state's history, has burned more than 202,000 hectares (500,000 acres) since it began on Monday

Everyone deserves the right to a good death. Yet fears disabled people have about being coerced into euthanasia are justifiedHuman beings are not good at talking about death. That includes politicians. It is ironic - though understandable - that the one life event we will all experience receives barely any political attention.Hospices have their budgets cut in real terms without pushback; many receive no funding from the state in the first place, instead relying on piecemeal charity. Care homes, where large numbers of us will live out our final days, are frequently neglected too. Continue reading...

Organization affiliated with Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein spends more than half a million dollars on candidate who believes life begins at fertilization. Plus, Michigan anti-war campaign hails huge vote tally

Tracy Cohen alleges fashion label forced her to work around the clock and fired her for formally complaining about conditionsA woman who says she sold nearly $50m in products for Gucci is accusing the fashion label of forcing her to work around the clock while enduring discriminatory comments about her age and mental health before she was fired for formally complaining about her working conditions.In a pending lawsuit filed in federal court in Chicago, Tracy Cohen contends that her experience during a nearly 18-year career at Gucci is only one of several cases which illustrate a toxic work culture at the renowned luxury brand. Continue reading...

Internal communications from CEO Sam Altman reportedly under scrutiny in SEC inquiry

Voters want Biden to drastically change course on Gaza and deliver a ceasefire. Only stopping Israel's war will assuage votersThe Michigan Democratic primary was the first test of the electoral strength of the movement for a ceasefire in Gaza. It exhibited strength beyond what any observer expected, showing the size and enthusiasm of the peace movement and the danger to President Biden of continuing his current policy of full support for Israel. Organizers of the Listen to Michigan campaign to vote uncommitted in the Michigan primary set the bar at 10,000 votes - the margin of victory in Michigan's 2016 general election. Uncommitted" had blown past that number before even 10% of the vote had been counted. Biden needs to heed this flashing warning sign and drastically change course: call for a ceasefire, halt arms shipments to Israel and exert maximal diplomatic pressure now. The call for a ceasefire now can no longer be written off as a demand of only leftwing activists or Arab and Muslim communities. A large swathe of the Democratic base demands it.Biden can win uncommitted voters in the general election. These are consistent Democratic voters who turn out to Democratic primaries and powered Biden's win in the swing state in 2020. The uncommitted vote showed strength far beyond what both organizers and the Biden campaign expected. Uncommitted" won outright on college campuses like the University of Michigan and Eastern Michigan University, dominating predominantly Arab east Dearborn with over 80% of the vote. But the strength wasn't limited to progressive and Arab areas. Uncommitted" captured 10% or more of the vote across the state, from affluent suburban areas to rural areas, and did even better in the working-class Black-majority core of the Michigan Democratic electorate of Detroit, winning 23% of the election day votes in the city. Continue reading...

Artificial intelligence can make companies more efficient and workers happier - or cause mass misery. The choice is oursAs artificial intelligence spreads rapidly across America's economy, there's a lively debate about how it will transform the future of work. What many people fail to realize is that AI has already changed millions of workers' jobs - often for the worse.At Amazon, some warehouse and delivery drivers complain that AI-driven bots have fired them without any human intervention whatsoever. At some companies, surveillance apps track how much time workers spend in trips to the bathroom, with some workers protesting that the time limits are too strict. Continue reading...

Exuberant celebrations are an longstanding tradition in US college sports. But a number of injuries have left some wondering if changes need to be madeUS college students seem to love running into a moshpit after big sporting victories. What's the deal with that? It's a tale as old as time in American college sports: field storming (or court storming, in the case of basketball). It has been happening for decades: The home team wins a game against a highly touted opponent, usually as an underdog, and then thousands of undergraduates celebrate by rushing out of their seats and streaming into a mass of humanity on the playing surface.Sounds fun. Everyone must love that, right? Not exactly. Lately, a litany of coaches, administrators, and media have called for an end to field-storming. Duke men's basketball coach Jon Scheyer, ESPN's top analyst Jay Bilas, and some of the most high-profile athletic executives in the country are pushing for the elimination of the practice, with various proposed solutions to get it out of college sports. Continue reading...

Apologists for the mass slaughter of Palestinians are held up as mainstream, respectable moderates. Meanwhile, the destruction of Gaza goes onA new consensus has emerged in British politics: peaceful protesters are dangerous, hateful extremists, but apologists for the mass slaughter of tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians are mainstream, respectable moderates. From his prime ministerial bully pulpit, Rishi Sunak declares there is a growing consensus" that mob rule is replacing democratic rule". The world has been turned upside down, and you are entitled to ask why.How this all unfolded is instructive. Last week, the Scottish National party used one of its three annual opposition days to table a motion demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Labour was in a bind: under pressure from voters who are opposed to Israel's brutal war, a huge parliamentary rebellion beckoned, with shadow ministers prepared to resign.Owen Jones is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Organization affiliated with Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein spends half a million on candidate who believes life begins at fertilizationA group connected to anti-abortion billionaire Trump mega-donors has funneled more than half a million dollars to an Alabama supreme court judicial candidate who said embryos were human beings whose lives begin at fertilization".Alabama's supreme court was thrust into the limelight earlier this month when eight of the court's nine justices ruled that embryos created for in vitro fertilization (IVF) were extrauterine children" in the eyes of the law. Continue reading...

Inter Miami's trip to LA represented a passing of the torch from the MLS's old glamor franchise to its new oneThe atmosphere surrounding Lionel Messi's most recent match at the Dignity Health Sports Park featured the kind of energy, anticipation and hype that permeated the place when an England international called it home.David Beckham, that international, propelled Major League Soccer into global significance during his 5 1/2 seasons with the Los Angeles Galaxy. Messi - who became the first MLS player to win the FIFA Ballon d'Or last year as a member of Inter Miami - now becomes the league's focal point to expand that influence in his first full season. Continue reading...

As the draft approaches and thoughts turn toward free agency, a number of teams are looking to make moves that could alter their trajectoryWhat the Bears do with the draft's top pick is the hinge point of the offseason. They have three options:They can take Caleb Williams, the top quarterback in the class, and trade Justin FieldsThey can trade the pick and stick with FieldsThey can draft Williams and keep Fields Continue reading...

With talk of sending troops to Ukraine, the French president is asking how far the west will go to stop Putin. But his bombshell could backfireEmmanuel Macron sure knows how to make a headline.But did the French president, who once called Nato brain dead, really mean it when he said this week that Europe shouldn't rule out sending ground troops to Ukraine to prevent Russia winning the war? Was it a trial balloon, an off-the-cuff soundbite uncoordinated with allies, or the start of a real strategic debate? Continue reading...

Richard Lewis, Larry David's co-star in Curb Your Enthusiasm and a beloved standup comedian has died at the age of 76. The acclaimed comedian was a regular performer in clubs and on late-night TV for decades and was known for exploring his neuroses in stream-of-consciousness diatribes, leading to his nickname The Prince of Pain. Lewis said last year that he had Parkinson's disease and was stepping off the standup stage. Despite that partial retirement, he was in the currently airing Season 12 of Curb Your Enthusiasm on HBO.

Kentucky senator, 82 and the longest-serving Senate leader in history, will step aside as minority leader at end of this yearMitch McConnell of Kentucky will step down as Republican leader in the US Senate at the end of this year, a move that will shake up US politics yet more in a tumultuous election cycle.McConnell is 82 and the longest-serving Senate leader in history. He is also a highly divisive figure in a bitterly divided America and the subject of fierce speculation about his health after recent scares in public. Continue reading...

US justice department scrutinizing whether door blowout violated 2021 agreement with Boeing after two fatal plane crashesThe Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is giving Boeing 90 days to come up with a plan to fix quality problems and meet safety standards for building new planes, as the justice department reportedly reviews whether a mid-flight plane door panel blowout in January violated a previous settlement agreement between the company and the US government.The FAA said on Wednesday that the directive follows meetings with top Boeing officials, including the company's chief executive at FAA headquarters in Washington. Continue reading...

Judge Tracie Porter sides with voters who sought disqualification but delays ruling from taking effect in light of expected appealAn Illinois state judge on Wednesday barred Donald Trump from appearing on the Illinois Republican presidential primary ballot because of his role in the attack at the US Capitol on January 6, but she delayed her ruling from taking effect in light of an expected appeal by the former US president.The Cook county circuit judge Tracie Porter sided with Illinois voters who argued that the former president should be disqualified from the state's March 19 primary ballot and its 5 November general election ballot for violating the anti-insurrection clause of the US constitution's 14th amendment. Continue reading...

US district judge Aileen Cannon rejects Trump's motion to review special counsel filing on redacting classified informationA federal judge on Tuesday rejected an attempt by Donald Trump to review a sensitive court filing submitted by special counsel prosecutors that detailed their reasons for wanting to redact some of the classified documents that would be turned over to the former president in discovery.The attempt by Trump to access the filing was a brazen move that would have defeated the purpose of rules to protect national security in Espionage Act prosecutions and potentially thrown into disarray the scope and viability of continuing the case against Trump. Continue reading...

Lieutenant governor pardons' animal and Republican local politician adopts it after it's saved in New OrleansA piglet that was rescued after being tossed like a football near a Mardi Gras event in New Orleans was pardoned" on Wednesday and has found a permanent home with a Louisiana lawmaker.The weeks-old pig - dubbed Earl Piglet" Long, a play on the name of the 45th governor of Louisiana - was ceremoniously pardoned by the lieutenant governor, Billy Nungesser, on the Louisiana capitol steps. Continue reading...

Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith rejects Access to Family Building Act, saying bill is vast overreach full of poison pills'Senate Democrats' attempts to move forward a bill that would have granted Americans federal protections for in vitro fertilization access have failed.The bill, sponsored by the Illinois Democrat Tammy Duckworth, came after a recent Alabama supreme court ruling that declared frozen embryos are children and led to the closure of multiple infertility clinics across the state. Continue reading...

Pacific leaders are increasingly concerned that Washington's actions in the region conflict with their objectivesA delay by the US in providing crucial funding to Pacific Island nations is fuelling concern in the region - but questions about the competing visions held by the US and regional leaders are even more pressing.The funding is part of longstanding agreements the US has with three nations in the north Pacific, the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), the Marshall Islands and Palau. The agreements, known as the Compacts of Free Association (Cofa), provide a range of assistance to these nations, including visa-free entry to the US, grant assistance, trust fund contributions, and support for government services including the US postal service. In exchange, the US gets exclusive military access to large parts of the north Pacific.Terence Wesley-Smith is Professor Emeritus in the Center for Pacific Islands Studies, University of Hawaii at Manoa and former director of the CenterGerard Finin is former director of the Pacific Islands Development Program, East-West Center, and is now affiliated with the Georgetown University's Center for Australian, New Zealand and Pacific Studies Continue reading...

Justices to consider whether former president is immune from prosecution over effort to overturn election loss to Biden

Ticket holders for postponed 2023 Brisbane and Melbourne events accuse organiser of not responding to emails

This live blog is now closed. You can read our full report on Trump's supreme court immunity case here:

President's health is under scrutiny due to the upcoming elections even as physician declares the 81-year-old active, healthy, robust'Joe Biden continues to be fit for duty" and able to fully execute all his responsibilities, according to a summary of his annual physical performed by his doctor.Kevin O'Connor, physician to the president, wrote after Biden was examined by him and a team of doctors that: President Biden is a healthy, active, robust, 81-year-old male, who remains fit to execute the duties of the presidency, to include those as chief executive, head of state and commander in chief." Continue reading...

After sifting through monuments of childhood, Margaret McNally realised it was time to confront her own belongings - and those of her late husbandIn the midst of this country's housing crisis, my mother has called time on living in our four-bedroom, one-bathroom home of 52 years. The 90-year-old matriarch of our family, who ran the modest Moonee Ponds abode with spit'n'shine precision, will now join my 95-year-old father, who has a two-year head start on life in aged care.My parents are lucky to afford residential care at a time when financial insecurity can slide into homelessness for so many. They'd worked hard throughout their lives (one for wages; the other unpaid for home duties) to buy and keep the 1927 weatherboard and wood-stumped house above the heads of their five-kid brood.Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best reads Continue reading...

Smokehouse Creek fire at 0% containment with several counties still evacuated amid growing flamesA historic wildfire in Texas continued to rage on Wednesday morning as firefighters work to contain the flames and survey damage.The Smokehouse Creek fire, the second largest wildfire in Texas to date, has consumed more than 500,000 acres in Texas's Panhandle area since it ignited on Monday. Continue reading...

More than 100,000 Democrats checked uncommitted' in primary election in rebuke to president's unwavering support for IsraelA last-minute push by anti-war activists to reject President Joe Biden over his unwavering support for Israel far exceeded expectations in the Michigan Democratic party primary on Tuesday night.Leaders from the grassroots campaign, called Listen to Michigan, said ahead of the primary that they would count 10,000 uncommitted" votes - roughly Trump's winning margin in Michigan eight years ago - as a victory. Continue reading...

A person of such profound commitment and depth of feeling could be much more useful to the world alive than deadThe horror of it is beyond my capacity to describe. On Sunday afternoon, a US air force airman named Aaron Bushnell doused himself in gasoline outside the Israeli embassy in Washington DC and lit himself on fire. His phone was propped on the ground nearby, livestreaming to Twitch. I will no longer be complicit in genocide," Bushnell said. I am about to engage in an extreme act of protest. But compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers, it's not extreme at all. This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal." Then he set fire to his body and screamed, Free Palestine." Bushnell died at a nearby hospital some nine hours later. He was 25.Bushnell's political self-killing has opened a rupture in American political discourse, dividing even those with a commitment to the Palestinian cause and a fervent opposition to US aid to Israel. Bushnell's slow and violent death, the terrifying spectacle of it and its brutal irreversibility, have proved profoundly disturbing to many. There have been wild speculations about his mental health. (Who but an insane person would do such a thing?" some wonder; as if this question could not be asked of Israel's war itself.) And there have been, too, fervent calls for caution, for reporters and commentators to write about the act in ways that will not encourage others to follow Bushnell's lead.Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist.In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org Continue reading...

Company pleads guilty to using distribution center where FDA discovered decaying rodents, rodent feces, urine, and odors'Family Dollar Stores has been ordered to pay $41.675m - the largest criminal penalty in a food safety case - after getting caught using a rodent-infested warehouse to distribute food, cosmetic and medical device products to more than 400 stores in the US.After conducting an investigation, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) discovered live rodents, dead and decaying rodents, rodent feces, urine, and odors, and evidence of gnawing and nesting", according to a statement released by the US Department of Justice. Continue reading...

Bill mandates insurance carriers cover discredited practice and would force people to list sex assigned at birth on driver's licensesHundreds of LGBTQ+ people gathered on the steps of the Florida state house on Wednesday to protest against a first-in-the-nation bill that critics say would raise health insurance costs for all state residents.The Republican-backed proposal, house bill 1639, mandates that insurance carriers cover conversion therapy, a scientifically discredited practice whose practitioners falsely claim to be able to change the sexual orientation or identity of LGBTQ+ people. Continue reading...

Envelope addressed to Judge Arthur Engoron intercepted by two court officers just before 9.30am WednesdayThe New York judge who oversaw Donald Trump's civil fraud trial was sent an envelope containing a white powder on Wednesday, triggering a police investigation.The envelope addressed to Judge Arthur Engoron, who clashed repeatedly with the former president and his legal team throughout the Manhattan fraud trial, was intercepted by two court officers just before 9.30am. Court staff check the mail as a security measure after the judge was inundated with threats before, during and after Trump's civil fraud trial, including a bomb threat at his home on the day of closing arguments. Continue reading...

He was once a moderate. As his party moved right, so did he - presiding over an ever-more partisan, acrimonious Senate

Body-camera footage shows Nex Benedict, 16, speaking with police after altercation in Oklahoma high school bathroomNewly released body camera footage gives new insight into a fight that took place at an Oklahoma high school just before a non-binary teenager who was bullied died.Body-camera footage released by the Owasso police department on Friday shows 16-year-old Nex Benedict and their mother speaking with police on 7 February, the same day the teenager visited an area hospital after a fight broke out at their high school, CNN reported. Continue reading...

Self-help author says Biden can't defeat Trump, who she calls a fascist' and a juggernaut of dark, dark vision'The self-help author Marianne Williamson un-suspended" her quixotic, all-but-certainly doomed campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, saying she did so because Joe Biden could not defeat Donald Trump, who she called a fascist" and a juggernaut of dark, dark vision".I am un-suspending my campaign for the presidency of the United States," Williamson said, in a social media video the morning after a Michigan primary in which despite having suspended her campaign she finished third, way behind Biden and uncommitted" but slightly ahead of the Minnesota congressman Dean Phillips, another rank outsider. Continue reading...

On both sides of the Atlantic, populists are peddling racism. I'm here in the UK to urge Black communities to see it for what it is

Republican Senate leader, hell-bent on getting the majority', said to be ready to push principles aside in quest for political powerMitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the US Senate, will look past a load of shit" to endorse Donald Trump for president, a GOP colleague said.He'll look past a load of shit to improve the path to the majority," the senator said, speaking anonymously to the Hill. That'd be the one reason why Mitch would rise above principle and do the politically expedient thing ... because he is hell-bent on getting the majority, and he'll make personal sacrifices for that." Continue reading...

We all know how devastating a second Trump term would be. It's also important to understand the damage that Biden is doing by funding a plausible genocideHere we go again, eh? For a short but wonderful period, it looked like Donald Trump's political career was over. An indicted former president running again? It had never happened before. Trump's legal problems looked insurmountable.And yet, like a phoenix with a toupee, Trump has risen from the ashes. It now seems inevitable that 2024 will be a repeat of 2020: a Joe Biden vs Trump rematch.Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...

David Martosko discovered Silas Burke enslaved a six-year-old named Fenton and suggests name change to honor him insteadA former reporter has launched a campaign to rename his Virginia hometown, Burke, to stop the commemoration of an enslaver and instead honor a child he enslaved, a six-year-old boy named Fenton.My town is named after an unusually horrible person," David Martosko said, but it doesn't have to be. Names say something about who we are and what we aspire to become. Continue reading...

Antoinette Candia-Bailey was a beloved administrator at Lincoln University. Her suicide devastated a community - and roiled Black academiaAntoinette Candia-Bailey couldn't wait to slap a Lincoln University bumper sticker on her mother's car upon receiving her acceptance letter to the historically Black college. After graduating in the late 90s with a degree in sociology, she made regular trips back to the central Missouri school to celebrate homecoming with her sisters of Alpha Kappa Alpha Inc, the nation's oldest Black sorority. When a position as vice-president of student affairs came available at Lincoln in spring 2023, Candia-Bailey - a polished administrator with a PhD in leadership studies, whom most knew as Bonnie" - saw fit to continue her higher-ed career where it started. I don't know anybody who loved that school more than she did," says Monica Graham, a former classmate.But when the two met up at homecoming last October, Graham couldn't help noticing a dip in her friend's school spirit. Things have gotten really, really bad at the university," Candia-Bailey told her, but I'm not going to let it kill me." Three months later, Candia-Bailey was found dead by suicide at age 49. Says Graham: My heart just dropped." Continue reading...

Westerners are financing the same bloodshed they condemn. The time for the world's deep concern' is over - Russia and Ukraine need action

Amid a lack of popular support for fetal personhood', GOP seeks to support IVF without drawing attention to its record of undermining itRepublicans have been forced to stake an uncomfortable position between their anti-abortion base and the wider American public, as fallout from an Alabama supreme court ruling that embryos are extrauterine children" continues into a second week.Meanwhile, Democrats have seized on the issue as the forewarned conclusion of decades of Republican policies to restrict reproductive rights, and pointed to contraceptives as the next frontier for restrictions. Continue reading...