Indictment quotes multiple music videos as evidence and accuses alleged gang members of targeting other high-profile rap artistsAtlanta rapper Young Thug co-founded a violent street gang that committed multiple murders, shootings and carjackings over roughly a decade and promoted its activities in songs and on social media, prosecutors allege in a sprawling indictment that charges him, rapper Gunna and 26 others with racketeering.The 88-page indictment filed Monday in Georgia’s Fulton county quotes multiple music videos as evidence and accuses alleged gang members of targeting other high-profile rap artists. Continue reading...
The man was rescued after his boat sank in 2016 but his mother was not. Investigators found the boat had been tampered withA man found floating on a raft off the coast of Rhode Island in 2016 after his boat sank was charged in an indictment unsealed Tuesday with killing his mother at sea to inherit the family’s estate.The eight-count indictment released in federal court in Burlington, Vermont, also says Nathan Carman shot and killed his grandfather, John Chakalos, at his home in Windsor, Connecticut, in 2013 as part of an effort to defraud insurance companies, but he was not charged with that killing. Continue reading...
Madison police investigate attack on Wisconsin Family Action after claim by group calling itself Jane’s revengeFederal agents and detectives from the Madison police department are investigating a claim by a pro-choice group that it was behind a weekend arson attack on an anti-abortion office in Wisconsin.The headquarters of Wisconsin Family Action in Madison was attacked in the early hours of Sunday, with a molotov cocktail thrown through a window, starting a small fire, and graffiti spray-painted on an exterior wall. Nobody was hurt. Continue reading...
The Russian president is preparing for a long conflict in Ukraine and a Russian victory in the Donbas might not end the war, the US director of national intelligence has warned.Speaking at a Senate hearing, Avril Haines said the Russian president was counting on western resolve to weaken over time 'as food shortages, inflation and energy prices get worse'
‘Intricately drawn’ message urging Republican senator to back reproductive rights bill was not a crime, police in Maine sayA Republican US senator called local police to investigate a pro-abortion rights – but otherwise harmless – message written in chalk in front of her home, according to authorities.The Maine senator Susan Collins called officers last Saturday evening to complain about an anonymous message written in chalk on a sidewalk just outside her residence in Bangor that asked her to support abortion rights legislation, according to a police report that was obtained by the Guardian. Continue reading...
The Miami circuit may have been a letdown but F1’s expansion strategy in the US appears to be firmly on trackAnytime a sporting event bills itself as “the Super Bowl of” its kind, the pressure to pay that off will be immense. But in terms of spectacle Formula 1’s inaugural Miami Grand Prix more than lived up to the outsized billing. The fake marina, the poolside mermaids and other kitschy touches were a hit. People from all races and cultures turned up in droves, dressed to kill. Female fans trooped out in force. The sun was out, the vibe was Instagram-ready and there was nary a Confederate flag in sight. Nascar, eat your heart out.By the time Gabrielle Union, David Beckham, Kathryn Hahn and Mila Kunis rolled through the Miami Gardens paddock last Sunday for what some were calling MotorCoachella, the crowd had swelled to around 85,000; a staggering number of them were adorned in the latest fashions from Ferrari, Aston Martin and Williams. In the end they got their considerable money’s worth. It hardly mattered that the race itself was big, fat dud. Continue reading...
CVS, Walgreens and Walmart Were found to recklessly dispense narcotic painkillers in two Ohio counties, fueling a drug epidemicA federal judge in Cleveland has begun hearing demands that three of the largest pharmacy chains in the US pay billions of dollars in restitution after a jury found they helped drive America’s opioid epidemic.The size of the award against CVS, Walgreens and Walmart for recklessly dispensing narcotic painkillers in two Ohio counties will help decide the total payout in thousands of federal cases across the country involving drug makers, distributors and pharmacies accused of enabling a drug epidemic that has claimed more than one million lives over two decades. Continue reading...
Saber Lahmar has been charged with encouraging jihadists to fight for Islamic State in Iraq and SyriaAn Algerian preacher who spent eight years in the US-run Guantánamo Bay prison has gone on trial in France for allegedly encouraging several young men to join the Islamic State group.Saber Lahmar, a 52-year-old Algerian released by the US in 2008 and taken in afterwards by France, has been charged with encouraging jihadists to head to Iraq and Syria to fight for the extremist group in 2015. Continue reading...
Joe Biden spoke about the differences between his government's plan to tacke inflation in the US to the ‘ultra-Maga’ plan put forward by congressional republicans.During the speech on inflation ahead of the midterm elections, the president said Americans had a choice between 'different sets of values' adding his plan would lower costs for American families while the opposition would give tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations
Ex-president says he no longer has Trump Organization-issued phones as New York attorney general investigates companyAsked by the New York attorney general to turn over personal cellphones to aid her investigation of alleged fraud at his company, Donald Trump said he had lost them.In an affidavit filed as part of an attempt to stop the accrual of fines for non-compliance with subpoenas, a $10,000 daily penalty which has reached $150,000, the former president said: “I am not currently in possession of any Trump Organization-issued phones, computers or similar devices. Continue reading...
‘What in the world provoked her?’ police ask, after Vicky White fled with murder suspect Casey White, prompting massive manhuntVicky White spent 16 years developing a reputation as a model deputy in the sheriff’s office that operates the jail in Lauderdale county, Alabama, according to her boss.Authorities now say that makes it harder to come to grips with how she became the lover of a murder suspect incarcerated at her lockup, helped him escape from custody, and went on the run with him for more than a week, traveling nearly 300 miles before shooting herself dead as police closed in. Continue reading...
Governor establishes ‘victims of communism day’ and students must receive at least 45 minutes of instruction every NovemberDiscussions of gender identity and sexual preference are banned in many Florida classrooms because of governor Ron DeSantis’s “don’t say gay” law, alongside dozens of math textbooks blocked for “prohibited topics”.Now the Republican who has loudly condemned what he sees as the “indoctrination” of young people has made another subject compulsory: students must receive at least 45 minutes’ instruction every November about the “victims of communism”. Continue reading...
Authorities appeal for information about ‘reprehensible symbol of anti-Black racism and violence’ on campusStanford University said it found a noose hanging from a tree outside a residence hall and is investigating the incident as a hate crime.In an email to students and staff, university officials said campus safety authorities immediately “removed the noose and retained it as evidence” after receiving a report on Sunday evening that a noose was seen outside an undergraduate dormitory. Continue reading...
Carlos Tavares says planned production boost won’t cope with surging demand for electric vehiclesThe chief executive of Stellantis, one of the world’s biggest carmakers, has warned battery shortages could affect the industry as soon as 2025 as the transition towards electric vehicles accelerates.Carlos Tavares, the Stellantis chief executive, said that current plans for battery production may not address the demand from carmakers as they ramp up electric car sales in the coming years, even with significant new investments in European “gigafactory” battery plants and suppliers already at scale in China, South Korea and Japan. Continue reading...
There has been outrage that protesters turned up outside the home of supreme court judges. But what is more shocking – peaceful demonstrations or forcing women to give birth?So, this is how our civil rights end, eh? Not with a bang but with a lot of people whimpering about “civility”.Last week, the US was rocked by the leak of a draft supreme court opinion signalling the court is ready to overturn Roe v Wade. Outrage quickly mounted – but not everyone was outraged by quite the same things. While some people were upset that five out of nine unelected judges (two of whom have been accused of sexual misconduct) have the power to take away women’s bodily autonomy, CNN’s legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin (who reportedly exposed himself on Zoom) had a meltdown over the impropriety of the leak itself. “The idea that a decision of this magnitude could leak is really a shattering experience for the justices and the court,” he told viewers, breathlessly. “I really don’t know how or if the institution is going to recover.” Shattering for the justices? He doesn’t know if the institution is going to recover? Talk about missing the damn point.Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
Company, which has 10.8 million monthly active users, aims to hire LGBTQ+ chief executiveGrindr plans to float through a merger with a so-called Spac investment company in a deal that values the gay dating app at $2.1bn (£1.7bn).The app will receive $384m as part of the deal with Tiga Acquisition Corp (TAC), the Singapore-based special purpose acquisition company (Spac) – also known as a “blank cheque” shell company that raises money first and seeks businesses to buy later. Continue reading...
A leader of Argentina’s Ni Una Menos movement on how to fight backWhen news leaked of the possible overturning of Roe v Wade, tweets and commentaries began circulating calling for people in the United States to learn from experiences in Argentina, Mexico, and Colombia – countries that have recently managed to decriminalize abortion – or from Chile, where it is included in the new constitutional project. This call is interesting because it reveals a new and powerful force rising from Latin America, where the right to abortion was won by a mass feminist movement in the streets. It also challenges the conventional map of progress and women’s rights. It is no longer an issue of an advanced “first world” or “global north,” while the “global south” lags behind. This is a unique political opportunity to reflect on the strategies and arguments for reproductive freedom deployed by the “green tide”, which fights for abortion rights.In Argentina, there are multiple reasons behind the expansion of the green tide and the demand for legal abortion from below. On the one hand, there is the long history of activism by the Campaign for the Right to Legal, Safe, and Free Abortion, formed 15 years ago as a nationwide network, defined by its federal character and its emphasis on participatory democracy and pluralism. On the other hand, more recently the feminist movement reached the mass scale with mobilizations for “Ni Una Menos. Vivas y libres nos queremos” (“Not One Woman Less. We want ourselves alive and free”), against the multiple and interconnected forms of gender-based violence. These were tied to the organization of the international feminist strikes that drew connections between feminized economic violence and precarity and other forms of gender-based violence.Verónica Gago is a leader in Argentina’s #NiUnaMenos movement (Not One More!). She is the author of Feminist International: How to Change Everything Continue reading...
The state has eased barriers to getting abortion pills – and has significantly reduced the rate of unplanned pregnanciesWhen patients came to Kelly Nichols, a nurse practitioner at a clinic in Newark, Delaware, needing care for their miscarriages, Nichols often prescribed medications to help with the process.But if patients came to Nichols seeking to end a pregnancy, she was not able to prescribe them the exact same medications. Continue reading...
by Beth Schwartzapfel for the Marshall Project on (#5Z2A9)
Reginald Reddick will argue before the state supreme court he is entitled to a new trial because he was sentenced to life in prison by a non-unanimous jury, a practice banned in 2018Reginald Reddick is serving life in prison in Louisiana for second-degree murder, even though two jurors at his 1997 trial found him not guilty. Almost anywhere else in the country, he would have been acquitted: even one juror would have been enough to change the outcome.This week, the Louisiana supreme court will hear oral arguments in Reddick’s case, in which he argues that he is entitled to a new trial. The court’s decision could affect more than 1,000 people who, like Reddick, are serving time for crimes that some of their jurors did not believe they committed beyond a reasonable doubt. Continue reading...
US plans extra $40bn aid package for Ukraine amid concern over Russian missiles striking Black Sea port. Plus, Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe sells for $195mGood morning.The White House has dismissed Monday’s Victory Day speech by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, as “revisionist history” and said his suggestion that western aggression led to the Ukraine war was “patently absurd”.Have all Ukrainian refugees been made welcome in other countries? A warm welcome has been given to most people fleeing Putin’s war but Roma women and children are struggling to find homes.What else is happening? Here’s what we know on day 76 of the invasion.What will happen if the temperature stays over the 1.5C global heating limit? The world’s scientists warned in 2018 that 1.5C of global heating would bring severe impacts to billions of people, including heatwaves, floods and even snowstorms. Continue reading...
A decision from the home secretary is imminent. Extradition would set a disastrous precedentPriti Patel now has to make one of the most important decisions of her career: will she bow to heavy pressure from the United States and send a vulnerable man who has been convicted of no crime to face an indeterminate number of years in an American jail where he may experience intimidation and isolation? Her decision is imminent and all other legal avenues have been explored.This was the scenario 10 years ago in the case of Gary McKinnon, the computer hacker who, working out of his north London bedroom, trawled through the computer systems of Nasa and the US defence department in search of information about UFOs and left behind some mildly rude messages about the systems’ sloppy security. The home secretary was Theresa May, who halted extradition proceedings at the last minute.Duncan Campbell is a former Guardian crime correspondent and Los Angeles correspondentDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 300 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at guardian.letters@theguardian.com Continue reading...
The demise of the 1973 ruling could drive the biggest wedge yet between what appears to be two irreconcilable nations“You put your babies in the womb, you will be held accountable!” yelled Steve Corson, tall, bearded and jabbing a finger at women who chanted back: “My body, my choice!”Corson took a deep breath and blew into a shofar. Then Nathan Darnell, wearing a “Jesus Christ is king” cap and holding aloft a cross, grabbed a megaphone. Continue reading...
Casey White and Vicky White were apprehended following a car chase after they fled over a week and a half backThe capture of a former Alabama jail official, along with a murder suspect she allegedly helped escape from custody, ended in tragedy on Monday when the jail official, Vicky White, fatally shot herself after a police chase.Vicky White, 56, was accused of fleeing with Casey White, 38. The pair spent more than a week on the run before law enforcement in Indiana caught up to them.In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is at 800-273-8255 and online chat is also available. You can also text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis text line counselor. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 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 www.befrienders.org Continue reading...
Toxicology test confirmed Tamara Lynn Sytch had blood-alcohol level three times over the legal limit at time of the accidentA member of the World Wrestling Entertainment Hall of Fame crashed into and killed a man while driving drunk in central Florida earlier this year, authorities said.Tamara Lynn “Sunny” Sytch caused the wreck that killed Julian Lasseter on 25 March but it was not until later that a toxicology test confirmed the 49-year-old former pro wrestling personality had a blood-alcohol level more than three times over the legal limit at the time of the accident, police said in a statement to the Guardian on Monday. Continue reading...
The shrinking reservoir in Las Vegas gave up its second discovery just a week after a barrel was found containing a man’s bodyAuthorities in Nevada have recovered another set of human remains from Lake Mead as a devastating drought has depleted the massive reservoir outside Las Vegas.Two sisters paddle boarding in the lake on Saturday spotted the bones, which they initially thought were the remains of a bighorn sheep. Continue reading...
In a lawsuit settlement, the facial recognition startup will stop selling its collection to businesses and individuals in the USFacial recognition startup Clearview AI has agreed to restrict the use of its massive collection of face images to settle allegations that it collected people’s photos without their consent.The company in a legal filing Monday agreed to permanently stop selling access to its face database to private businesses or individuals around the US, putting a limit on what it can do with its ever-growing trove of billions of images pulled from social media and elsewhere on the internet. Continue reading...
Trial opened Monday after Batali waived his right to a jury trial and opted instead to have a judge decide his fateA Massachusetts woman who accused Mario Batali of kissing and groping her while attempting to take a selfie at a Boston restaurant testified Monday that she felt confused and powerless to do anything to stop the celebrity chef.While being questioned by prosecutors at Batali’s sexual misconduct trial, the 32-year-old said he appeared drunk, slurred his words and kept closing his eyes as they took multiple photos together at his insistence. Continue reading...
Focusing on honesty and decency was always going to be a thin strategy when Britons needed policies to address spiralling bills and rising povertyFor Keir Starmer’s team, Beergate has proven to be a bonfire of delusions.It may well be that Durham police, which took no action over Dominic Cummings’ eye-testing sojourn to Barnard Castle, absolves the Labour leader over lockdown beers and curry after a campaign event last year. Even so, this episode offers salutary lessons. The whole shtick of Starmer’s team is that the grownups are back in the room. Jeremy Corbyn and his team, they believed, were fundamentally bad at politics, and brought rightwing media attacks on themselves, the thrust of which Starmer’s team believed were largely justified anyway.Owen Jones is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
Strained supplies are further exacerbated after a recall by manufacturer Abbott, experts sayThe US baby formula shortage is leaving manufacturers scrambling and parents in desperation.During the week starting 24 April, 40% of baby formula was out of stock in more than 11,000 stores across the country, CNN and USA Today reported, compared to an out-of-stock percentage of 2 to 8% during the first half of 2021. Continue reading...
A $34.99 marble bust from a thrift store likely belonged to Roman military leader – and it’s unknown how it ended up in AustinA Texas woman got a bang for her buck when her purchase of a $34.99 marble bust from a Goodwill thrift store turned out to be a relic from ancient Rome.Laura Young, who has been reselling antiques for 11 years, came across a 52lb marble bust in an Austin Goodwill in 2018. Continue reading...
With new commitment from 20 internet providers, about 48m households will be eligible for $30 monthly plansThe Biden administration announced on Monday that 20 internet companies have agreed to provide discounted service to people with low incomes, a program that could effectively make tens of millions of households eligible for free service through an already existing federal subsidy.The $1tn infrastructure package passed by Congress last year included $14.2bn in funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program, which provides $30 monthly subsidies ($75 in tribal areas) on internet service for millions of lower-income households. Continue reading...
Ex-president has 'no comment’ on whether he wanted to fire missiles at Mexico, choosing instead to chide former defense chiefGiven a chance to address whether he contemplated firing missiles at Mexico, as his ex-defense secretary writes in a new memoir, Donald Trump avoided the issue, instead attacking his former cabinet member as “weak and ineffective.”Trump, in a written statement to CBS’s 60 Minutes, said he had “no comment” when asked whether he ever asked ex-defense secretary Mark Esper about sending “missiles into Mexico” to destroy drug cartel labs in the country, which Esper claimed in a memoir published this week. Continue reading...
Stray pup discovered ‘wandering and distressed by the side of the road’ in Massachusetts now in care of local animal sanctuaryA Massachusetts family was in for a surprise when it wanted to give a stray puppy a dog’s chance and brought it home.The family rescued the dog after finding it worse for wear on the side of the road. Continue reading...
by Ed Pilkington in Greensburg, Pennsylvania on (#5Z116)
Trump holds rally to endorse celebrity doctor ahead of Republican Senate primary in Pennsylvania, which will have big consequences for the November electionSay what you like about Donald Trump’s supporters, you cannot fault them for commitment. When the former president arrived for his latest rally in a deeply rural corner of western Pennsylvania, many had already been standing in solid rain for 10 hours.The field in which they were to greet their revered leader was a mud bath. By the time Trump finally arrived, 20 minutes late, the scene had taken on the qualities of the apocalypse – like the closing sequences of the Fyre festival. Continue reading...
Throughout history, the central struggle of civilization has been against brutality by the powerful. Civil society doesn’t let might make rightI keep running into people who feel overwhelmed by so many seemingly unrelated but terrifying things occurring all at once. “How can all this be happening?” they ask.But these things are connected. They are reinforcing each other. As such, they pose a clear challenge to a decent society.Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley and the author of Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few and The Common Good. His new book, The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It, is out now. He is a Guardian US columnist. His newsletter is at robertreich.substack.com Continue reading...
Soldiers ‘fighting for same thing their fathers and grandfathers did’, says president in Victory Day speech. Plus, why film posters for comedies have huge red lettersGood morning.Vladimir Putin has told Russian soldiers they are “fighting for the same thing their fathers and grandfathers did” as he used his Victory Day speech to tie the war in Ukraine to the memory of the second world war and justify his invasion.What did the G7’s statement marking the anniversary say? Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has brought shame on Russia and the sacrifices its people made to defeat Nazi Germany in the second world war, leaders of the G7 group of leading western economies said.What else is happening? Here’s what we know on day 75 of the invasion.What has changed in recent weeks? Sources said the select committee’s assessment can no longer ignore the deep involvement between some Republican members of Congress and the former president’s unlawful schemes to overturn the election. Continue reading...
Today, on Russia’s Victory Day, reimagined by Vladimir Putin as a showcase for his regime, the Guardian and other European outlets are publishing articles by the newspaper Novaya Gazeta, which has suspended publication in Russia because of censorship over the Ukraine warVladimir Putin was born seven years after the end of the second world war, and raised on the Brezhnev-era myth of the great victory. A man of no great education, he loved to quote Soviet films and old stories. The history books portrayed the “great patriotic war” as a magical fable in which the hero – the Russian people – vanquishes a monster, to the envy of the whole world. In this myth there was no room for many of the actual facts of war, such as the Molotov–Ribbentrop pact, the war with Finland, the occupation of the Baltics. The myth ignores the deportation of millions of Poles. It glosses over the Rzhev campaign of the winter of 1942-43, in which the Soviet army sustained terrible losses, preferring to dwell on the storied victories of Moscow and Stalingrad.The myth, celebrated today on Russia’s Victory Day, has become the essential narrative underpinning Putin’s plan to rule Russia eternally.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 300 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at guardian.letters@theguardian.comKirill Martynov is editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta EuropeToday on Russia’s Victory Day, the Guardian and other European news organisations are publishing articles by the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta Continue reading...
Today, on Russia’s Victory Day, reimagined by Vladimir Putin as a showcase for his regime, the Guardian and other European outlets are publishing articles by the newspaper Novaya Gazeta, which has suspended publication in Russia because of censorship over the Ukraine warA month after Putin’s “special operation” in Ukraine began, the Levada Centre, a non-governmental polling organisation, carried out a survey to gauge public attitudes towards the conflict. The results were awaited with some trepidation. Some thought they would show public dissatisfaction with the leadership and that the president’s ratings would fall. Others demurred.There were precedents. After Russia’s short war with Georgia in 2008, Vladimir Putin’s approval rating shot up to 88%. In 2014, after the annexation of Crimea, the same thing happened: the proportion of people who said they approved of his leadership once again rose to the same figure.Alexei Levinson is a sociologist and senior researcher at the Levada Center, Russia’s leading polling organisationToday on Russia’s Victory Day, the Guardian and other European news organisations are publishing articles by the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta Continue reading...
Colorado lawsuit charges group with questioning residents about voting status while Trump loyalists work to sustain falsehoodsConservative groups perpetuating Donald Trump’s false charges that the 2020 election was rigged have sparked a lawsuit against one in Colorado, and a congressional panel investigation of another in New Mexico, over aggressive tactics allegedly used to seek out possible voter fraud.The scrutiny and criticism facing these conservative groups underscore how Trump loyalists in several US states are working to sustain falsehoods about Trump’s loss, while launching new drives that voting rights advocates say smack of voter intimidation, often targeting communities of color. Continue reading...
I get that they don’t want to put us off, but there are many reasons people might have to stop. Guilt trips and secrecy don’t helpI never thought breastfeeding would be hard. When I thought about it at all, my mind conjured beatific scenes suffused with a sort of religious glow. There I was, genteelly offering the child a nipple in the manner of a renaissance Madonna, which the child accepted politely and cherubically. What a pretty picture we made.Well, those preconceptions were – excuse my language – complete horseshit. These days I envisage more of a triptych: the infant Jesus spluttering at the breast, face purple with hangry fury; the infant Jesus possetting milk down Mary’s front; the infant Jesus and the nappy explosion.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 300 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at guardian.letters@theguardian.comRhiannon Lucy Cosslett is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
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