Sales expected to hit an all-time high', with figures suggesting fireworks market should increase by $100m from last yearCost of living, poor air quality and environmental concerns are no match for Americans' willingness to spend a record amount on fireworks, according to reports ahead of the Fourth of July holiday.According to the American Pyrotechnics Association, US consumer fireworks retailers have reported that sales of rockets, missiles, roman candles, aerial spinners, parachutes, sparklers, poppers, fountains, jumping jacks and firecrackers should increase by about $100m this year over 2022. Continue reading...
Terrel Vineyard was checking on cattle while riding his horse Shorty when both were hit by lightning in OshkoshA Nebraska rodeo athlete and his horse both died after being struck by lightning last month in an exceedingly rare worst case scenario that came to pass.Terrel Vineyard, 27, was on his horse, Shorty, and checking on cattle in Oshkosh, Nebraska, on the afternoon of 21 June when he and the animal were hit by lightning, according to the Lighting Safety Council. Continue reading...
Biden committed to rejoining body to counter Chinese influence' after Trump administration pulled out over anti-Israeli bias'The US is set to rejoin Unesco this month after a four-year absence from the global cultural and educational body that the country abandoned during the Donald Trump presidency over what his administration called anti-Israeli bias".The United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization's reunion with the US came after a two-day special session held at the body's headquarters in Paris. Continue reading...
Vice-president decries conservative-dominated court's decisions on LGBTQ+ rights, student debt relief and affirmative actionThe US supreme court rulings which struck down the White House's student debt relief plan, affirmative action in college admission and a Colorado law that protected LGBTQ+ rights portend a national movement to attack hard-won and hard-fought freedoms", Vice-President Kamala Harris has said.In an interview with National Public Radio's Michel Martin, Harris declared that this is a serious moment" for people who believe in the promise of our country [but] understand we have some work yet to do to fully achieve that promise". Continue reading...
The supreme court's ruling ending race-conscious admissions shifts the burden of proving' racism to the college essayThose who knew Justice Clarence Thomas during his formative years at College of the Holy Cross and Yale Law School have long noted the sharp ideological turn he took over the course of his life: from admiring Malcolm X and protesting racism alongside his Black classmates to deeply resenting the affirmative action policies that afforded him his success.That switch may have occurred most pointedly during his time at Yale, when, in Thomas's own recollection, a white admissions officer told him and a group of Black students that none of them was qualified to be there. Continue reading...
A new book by Miles Taylor, an ex-Trump official, claims the former president repeatedly sexualized his daughterIf you're eating anything right now I'd advise you to stop immediately because the next couple of paragraphs will turn your stomach. A new book by Miles Taylor, a former Trump administration official, contains some extremely disturbing claims that Donald Trump repeatedly sexualized his daughter Ivanka Trump. Continue reading...
Weather probably milder than previous summers but wet winter spurred growth in grasses and vegetation that is ready to burn'It's been a slow start to the summer in California, where an extremely wet winter and unseasonably cool spring have left the landscapes lush. But a timely spike in temperatures is forecast for the holiday weekend, providing both ideal weather for revelry and the return of high risks.State officials have issued strong warnings to residents and visitors alike: California has been spared a ferocious fire so far this year - but the dangers still loom large. Continue reading...
No reports of injuries as black smoke seen billowing into the air at Hollywood film and TV studiosAn electrical fire that broke out at the Warner Bros studios in California is under investigation.In pictures circulating on social media, black smoke could be seen billowing into the air at the Hollywood set, where hit TV shows including Friends and The Big Bang Theory were filmed. Continue reading...
Edward Blum's group used Asian Americans for display to serve a longstanding anti-affirmative action agendaDuring last October's oral arguments in the supreme court's affirmative action cases, Justice John Roberts interrupted Harvard's lawyer, Seth Waxman, to ask: Isn't that what the case is about, the discrimination against Asian Americans?"In a word, no. Continue reading...
For street ice-cream sellers, seniors lacking air-conditioning and even animals in the zoo, relief from extreme temperatures is hard to come byJust after 8am, when temperatures are already reaching 80F, Mark Jalufka arrives at Sam's Club to pick up 20 cases of bottled water.Jalufka is the general manager of the Lions Club Tube Rental in San Marcos, Texas. Every day during the summer, he rents inflatable inner tubes to hundreds of Texans looking to cool off in the spring-fed San Marcos River. He and his staff work outside all day, and that means he needs lots of water. Continue reading...
State department's findings also reflect poorly on Antony Blinken as it outlines the agency's failure to expand crisis taskforceA US state department report on Friday criticized the handling of the 2021 evacuation from Afghanistan, saying decisions by President Joe Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump to withdraw troops had serious consequences for the viability" and security of the former US-backed government.Adverse findings in the report also reflected badly on Antony Blinken, the secretary of state, without naming him. They included the department's failure to expand its crisis-management taskforce as the Taliban advanced on Kabul in August 2021 and the lack of a senior diplomat to oversee all elements of the crisis response". Continue reading...
Meryl Streep, Jennifer Lawrence and others lend their names to demand a strong deal as writers' strike enters third monthThe US actors' union and Hollywood studios announced in a statement on Friday that the two sides had agreed to extend their current labor deal through 12 July, hours before a midnight deadline.The parties will continue to negotiate under a mutually agreed upon media blackout," the parties said. Continue reading...
From its recent rulings to its billionaire donor scandals, this supreme court term has been defined by judicial activist Leonard LeoOnce again, the US supreme court has issued rulings triggering national uproar. This time, the court has ruled that universities' race-conscious admission policies are unconstitutional, that businesses can deny services to LGBTQ+ customers, and that Joe Biden can't move forward with his student loan forgiveness plan. And just like the justices' decision last year to end federal abortion protections and other troubling Scotus developments this term, the court's new decisions are all examples of how dark money reigns supreme.That's because one person's fingerprints are all over these developments: the conservative legal activist Leonard Leo, the king of dark money. And based on Biden's preliminary response to some of these new court rulings, it appears the president isn't going to do anything to stop him.In light of that, the money and gifts flowing to conservative justices can be seen not merely as cheap influence-peddling schemes to secure specific rulings in individual cases. It can also be seen as a grand plan to deter the ideological freedom that lifetime appointments afford.In short, the largesse from billionaires and Leo - who helped assemble the supreme court's 6-3 conservative supermajority as Trump's judicial adviser - creates personal financial incentives for justices to remain doctrinaire ideologues and resist any deviation from the conservative line, even if they might once in a while have an inkling to dissent."The article was co-published with the Lever, a reader-supported investigative news outletJoel Warner is the managing editor at the Lever Continue reading...
Joe Biden accused the Republicans who led the successful effort to block his plan to cancel some federal student loan debt of 'stunning' hypocrisy, and vowed to keep fighting to help more Americans afford college degrees.Biden announced a new path on student loan relief that would be slower but legally sound
President says the court misinterpreted the constitution' as he announces intention to use another law for debt forgivenessJoe Biden vowed the fight was not over" on Friday after the US supreme court ruled against his landmark student debt forgiveness plan.I think the court misinterpreted the constitution," the president said, delivering remarks at the White House and announcing his intention to pivot to another law to find another path forward. Continue reading...
A salary analysis found that when controlled for other factors affecting pay, the disparities arose from gender discriminationThe Walt Disney Company has systematically underpaid women, depriving female employees of more than $150m in wages in California since 2015, according to a new analysis of salary data carried out as part of a class-action lawsuit alleging widespread pay gaps at the company.Attorneys for a group of women suing Disney alleged in state court in Los Angeles on Friday that the entertainment and media corporation has paid women on average 2% less than men doing equivalent jobs, in violation of California's Equal Pay Act. Continue reading...
Riots in France, the Wagner mutiny in Russia, the missile attack in Kramatorsk, Eid al-Adha in Indonesia and Elton John at Glastonbury: the most striking images this week Continue reading...
Rivera's appearance on Friday's Fox & Friends will be his last on the channel as staffing shake-ups continueFox News mainstay Geraldo Rivera has parted ways with the network as staffing shake-ups at the conservative institution continue.Rivera first shared word of his departure from the channel on Thursday, posting a video on Twitter showing him on a boat off the coast of Long Island while saying that he had been dismissed from a panel show which Fox airs weekdays at 5pm ET. Continue reading...
Court overturns judge's ruling which suspended the ban though it is not clear how soon it will take effectThe Indiana supreme court ruled on Friday that the state's abortion ban does not violate the state constitution, removing a major hurdle to enforcing the ban Republicans approved last summer.The court's decision overturns a county judge's ruling that the ban probably violates the state constitution's privacy protections, which she said are stronger than those found in the US constitution. That judge's order has allowed abortions to continue in Indiana since September, despite the ban. Continue reading...
The killing of 17-year-old Nahel shows how little has changed since the deaths of two teenagers fleeing police in 2005Since the video went viral of the brutal killing by a police officer of Nahel, a 17-year-old shot dead at point-blank range, the streets and housing estates of many poorer French neighbourhoods have been in a state of open revolt. France faces George Floyd moment," I read in the international media, as if we were suddenly waking up to the issue of racist police violence. This naive comparison itself reflects a denial of the systemic racist violence that for decades has been inherent to French policing.I first became involved in antiracist campaigning after a 2005 event that had many parallels with the killing of Nahel. Three teenagers aged between 15 and 17 were heading home one afternoon after playing football with friends when they were suddenly pursued by police. Although they had done nothing wrong (and this was confirmed by a subsequent inquiry) these terrified youngsters, these children, hid from the police in an electricity substation. Two of them, Zyed Benna and Bouna Traore, were electrocuted. The third, Muhittin Altun, suffered appalling burns and life-changing injuries.Rokhaya Diallo is a writer, journalist, film director and activistDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...
Conservatives cooked up an absurd case because they know the Biden administration is fully able to cancel debtLast August, President Biden did something no president has done before. He announced a plan to mass cancel student debt, offering $10,000 to $20,000 of relief for borrowers who earn under $125,000 annually.The triumph of this policy was more than the sliver of debt that it potentially sliced off the second-largest type of household debt in the US. More fundamentally, Biden's policy proposal put an ideological dent in the American doctrinal belief that a creditor's right to repayment is the first-order business of any economy.Eleni Schirmer, a writer and postdoctoral fellow at the Concordia University Social Justice Centre in Montreal, is part of the Debt Collective Continue reading...
The acclaimed American actor - known for Catch-22, Little Miss Sunshine and Edward Scissorhands - has died at the age of 89. Here we look back at his long and varied career Continue reading...
Don't worry, privileged white students can still rely on their parents' money and connections to get into Harvard. Yay!Affirmative action as we know it is officially over.The US supreme court ruled this week that race can no longer be considered as a factor in university admissions. And just to be clear, affirmative action as a whole isn't cancelled - it's just the race part that the court is gutting.Tayo Bero is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...
Taylor Taranto found with materials to create an explosive device a few blocks away from former president's Washington DC homeA man armed with explosive materials and weapons, and wanted for crimes related to the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol, was arrested late on Thursday in the Washington DC neighborhood where the former US president Barack Obama lives, law enforcement officials said.Taylor Taranto, 37, was spotted by law enforcement officials a few blocks from the former president's home and fled, though he was chased by Secret Service agents. Taranto has an open warrant on charges related to the insurrection, two law enforcement officials said. The officials were not authorized to speak publicly about an ongoing case and spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity. Continue reading...
Maxwell was given 20-year prison sentence for helping Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse teenage girlsThe US government has urged an appeals court to uphold Ghislaine Maxwell's conviction and 20-year prison sentence for helping the disgraced late financier Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse teenage girls.In a Thursday night filing with the second US circuit court of appeals in Manhattan, federal prosecutors said none of Maxwell's legal arguments about the fairness of her trial held merit.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...
The crime of infanticide provides context for tragic cases such as Paris Mayo's - but courts are becoming ever harsherLast week, 19-year-old Paris Mayo was sentenced to at least 12 years in prison for the murder of her newborn baby when she was 15. After concealing her pregnancy, Mayo delivered her baby alone, silently, in her parents' home in Ross-on-Wye while upstairs her father, who would die 10 days later, was undergoing dialysis, and her mother slept.Mayo told police the baby all of a sudden popped out" while she leaned against a windowsill downstairs. Terrified of being discovered, she crushed her baby's head and stuffed his mouth with cotton wool balls before concealing his body in a bin bag, explaining: I didn't want anyone to throw him away, I just wanted someone to deal with it."Julie Wheelwright is a historian and author of Sisters in Arms: Female Warriors from Antiquity to the New MillenniumDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...
Byrne worked with the late Sands on three films - Gothic, Siesta and All Things to All Men. He remembers a fierce, mysterious and much-loved man, fearless as both actor and adventurerOver the last few months, images of Julian have been recurring in my mind.A summer morning, so many years ago, filming Gothic in Berkshire. Julian, Natasha Richardson and myself lounging beneath a cedar tree. Continue reading...
Studies show that states with higher murder rates are those that vote red even as conservatives stoke fear about crimeBe it congressional campaigns or defending Donald Trump from his many legal entanglements, Republicans have kept up a consistent message to the US: Democrats can't be trusted to keep you safe.Alvin Bragg ... is going after President Trump when you have all kinds of things happening in his town that are harmful to families who live there," Ohio congressman Jim Jordan, one of Trump's top allies in Congress, said on Fox News after the Democratic Manhattan prosecutor in March indicted Trump for allegedly falsifying business records. Jordan, who chairs the House judiciary committee, appeared to be ignoring data that shows New York is one of the safest cities in the country. Continue reading...
Alliance Defending Freedom distributes hundreds of thousands of dollars to fringe groups attacking trans, gay and abortion rights. Plus, Ketanji Jackson's impassioned affirmative action dissent
Severe weather, staffing issues and record-high numbers of summer travelers strain country's airline industryAmericans may have to put their weekend celebrations on hold. Travelers in the US faced a chaotic week leading up to the Fourth of July weekend as soaring flight delays and cancellations were seen across the country.From Monday through Wednesday, at least 28,000 flights were delayed each day, and at least 1,200 were canceled, with Monday and Tuesday seeing about 2,200 cancellations each, according to the flight-tracking website FlightAware. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) forecast 29 June would be the busiest day for air travel during the summer, with 52,564 scheduled flights. By 1pm ET on Thursday, over 19,000 flights across the country had been delayed and 1,160 had been cancelled, according to FlightAware. Continue reading...
Fraudsters are being given more sophisticated ways to trick us into believing they are someone they are notThis year, I was sent a link to a video of myself, passionately explaining why I had invested into a new technology company. In the video I spoke enthusiastically about the great faith I had in the company's leadership and encouraged others to try the service out. The problem was, I had never met the company nor used its product.It looked and sounded like me, right down to the fading Mancunian accent. But it wasn't. It was an AI-generated fake used in a business pitch and designed to wow me into investing in a company. Far from impressing me, it left me concerned about the myriad ways these new tools could be used for fraudulent purposes.James Wise is a partner at the venture capital firm Balderton, and a trustee of the thinktank Demos Continue reading...
Smoke from unchecked Canada wildfires hits air quality in north-east as further south 80m American under excessive heat alertsExtreme heatwaves are continuing to spread across the country as meteorologists warn Americans to prepare for a hot and smoky summer. With the 235 out-of-control Canadian wildfires showing no signs of dying down, smoke has drifted south into the US and shrouded multiple cities including Chicago and Detroit in a thick haze.There are no signs of the relief coming for the next week or longer, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Weather Prediction Center.42% have experienced short-term injury or illness23% report complications to an existing chronic condition15% have suffered a long-term injury or a new chronic condition Continue reading...
In an interview with Reuters, the ex-president weighed in on the Ukraine-Russia war and China's spy operation in CubaDonald Trump, a longtime admirer of Vladimir Putin, said on Thursday that the Russian president has been somewhat weakened" by an aborted mutiny and that the US should use this moment to negotiate a peace settlement between Russia and Ukraine.I want people to stop dying over this ridiculous war," Trump told Reuters in a telephone interview. Continue reading...
Ex-president's claims of absolute immunity and that statements were opinion were rejected; lawsuit scheduled for early next yearA federal judge on Thursday rejected Donald Trump's bid to dismiss the first of E Jean Carroll's two lawsuits accusing the former US president of defamation for denying he raped her in the mid-1990s.US district judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan found no merit in Trump's arguments that he deserved absolute presidential immunity and that many of his statements about Carroll were opinion and thus protected. Continue reading...
Farris spent decades working with Coretta Scott King - often behind the scenes - to promote her brother's legacyChristine King Farris, the last living sibling of Martin Luther King Jr, has died.Her niece, the Reverand Bernice King, tweeted that her beloved aunt" had died on Thursday. She was 95. Continue reading...
The 1,100-page document details examples of discrimination and recommends how to address the harms of chattel slaveryCalifornia's first-in-the-nation reparations taskforce released its final report with recommendations for how the state should atone for its history of racial violence and discrimination against Black residents on Thursday.This document, which could serve as a national model for how governments can attempt to right the wrongs of the past, marks the end of a nearly three-year effort that began in the wake of George Floyd's murder and the ensuing reckoning around systemic racism and anti-Blackness in the US. Continue reading...
by Chris Stein in Washington and Joanna Walters in Ne on (#6CKE4)
President says he will ask education department to look into ways to maintain student diversity as race-conscious admissions endsJoe Biden slammed the US supreme court on Thursday as not a normal court" after it ruled to end race-conscious admissions at universities across the country, and he announced he will ask the Department of Education to look into ways to maintain student diversity in higher education.The court has effectively ended affirmative action in college admissions and I strongly, strongly disagree with the court's decision," the US president said in a short speech at the White House scheduled specifically for him to react to the decision. Continue reading...
The US supreme court ruled against considering race in university admissions. Here is Ketanji Brown Jackson's dissenting opinionGulf-sized race-based gaps exist with respect to the health, wealth, and well-being of American citizens. They were created in the distant past, but have indisputably been passed down to the present day through the generations. Every moment these gaps persist is a moment in which this great country falls short of actualizing one of its foundational principles - the self-evident" truth that all of us are created equal. Yet, today, the Court determines that holistic admissions programs like the one that the University of North Carolina (UNC) has operated, consistent with Grutter v Bollinger (2003), are a problem with respect to achievement of that aspiration, rather than a viable solution (as has long been evident to historians, sociologists, and policymakers alike).JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR has persuasively established that nothing in the Constitution or Title VI prohibits institutions from taking race into account to ensure the racial diversity of admits in higher education. I join her opinion without qualification. I write separately to expound upon the universal benefits of considering race in this context, in response to a suggestion that has permeated this legal action from the start. Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) has maintained, both subtly and overtly, that it is unfair for a college's admissions process to consider race as one factor in a holistic review of its applicants.This is Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson's dissenting opinion from Thursday's supreme court ruling against affirmative action. It has been lightly edited to remove some footnotes and legal citations Continue reading...
Scot Peterson found not guilty of felony child neglect during the 2018 shooting at a high school in which 17 were killedA Florida sheriff's deputy was acquitted on Thursday of felony child neglect and other charges for failing to act during the 2018 Parkland school massacre, concluding the first trial in US history of a law enforcement officer for conduct during an on-campus shooting.The former Broward county deputy Scot Peterson wept as the verdicts were read. The jury had deliberated for 19 hours over four days. Continue reading...
Annual government count shows 9% increase, sharper than last year's 4%, in country's most populous countyThe unhoused population of Los Angeles has grown by 9%, with more than 75,000 people now experiencing homelessness across the county, according to data from the government's annual count, released on Thursday.The Los Angeles homeless services authority (Lahsa) report suggests that there was a sharper increase in homelessness this year compared with last year, when the agency estimated a 4% rise in the population. The agency count includes people living on the street and people in shelters. Continue reading...
The US president has condemned the supreme court's conservative justices for their decision on Thursday against race-based admissions.The justices concluded that admissions policies at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina violated the US constitution's equal protection clause.A reporter asked Biden if he agreed with the Congressional Black Caucus that the ruling threw into question the legitimacy of the court. The US president replied: 'This is not a normal court'
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