US news | The Guardian

Police in California ask for help in identifying those responsible for gunfire that broke out after ‘large fight’Police in Sacramento, California, are hunting for at least two suspects after six people were killed and 10 others injured during a shooting in the city’s downtown early Sunday morning.Kathy Lester, chief of the Sacramento police department, said at a news conference that police were patrolling the area at about 2am after hearing gunfire. When they arrived at the scene, she said, they found a crowd gathered on the street and six people dead. Continue reading...

Chris Sununu of New Hampshire makes remarks at event noted for tradition of roasting politicians with cutting comedy speechesA Republican governor has blasted Donald Trump as “fucking crazy” and said if he was ever committed to a mental institution “he ain’t getting out”.Chris Sununu of New Hampshire delivered the remarks at Saturday’s Gridiron Club dinner in Washington DC, an event noted for its tradition of roasting politicians with satirical and often cutting comedy speeches. Continue reading...

Secretary of state promises US will join allies in documenting atrocities and hold perpetrators accountableGrowing evidence of Russian war crimes in Ukraine are “a punch to the gut”, the US secretary of state Antony Blinken said on Sunday, promising that America would join its allies in documenting the atrocities to hold the perpetrators accountable.A retreat of Russian forces around Kyiv has revealed evidence of atrocities against civilians as Ukrainian troops and journalists have moved back into a broad swathe of suburbs and towns around the capital. Continue reading...

Former New York senator and secretary of state believes Democrats are holding themselves back by constant introspectionHillary Clinton has called on Democrats “to do a better job” of selling themselves to America’s voters to avoid humiliation in this year’s midterm elections where Republicans are widely expected to perform strongly and likely grab control of Congress.The former Democratic presidential candidate was speaking frankly on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, saying she thought last summer’s chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan was harmful to Joe Biden. The US president’s approval ratings have slumped in recent weeks to the lowest level since he took office. Continue reading...

Trump praises little-known Republicans Matthew DePerno and Kristina Karamo, who both falsely claimed 2020 election fraud and are now seeking key Michigan officesEight hours before Donald Trump took the stage in the Detroit suburbs on Saturday, an army of canvassers darted along the line of people snaking outside the hulking sports complex where supporters of the former president were waiting to get in. “You guys think we’re gonna have a fair election?,” one canvasser asked Marco Braggion, 26 and Christian Howard, 25, who was standing in a cowboy hat and jean jacket. “We need to be able to work those polls to keep eyes on what’s going on.”It was an exchange that underscored how Republicans, stewing in doubts about the 2020 election, are organizing to take control of the machinery of elections – how ballots are cast and counted. And when Trump took the stage Saturday evening, his first visit to Michigan since 2020, that’s what he was focused on too. He was there to campaign for two-little known candidates who are seeking offices that wield significant power over voting rules in Michigan, one of the most important battleground states in the presidential election. Continue reading...

We’re epidemiologists, nurses and physicians, artists and biologists. We have come together with a common anger at the US government’s handling of CovidA new omicron variant, referred to as BA 2, is taking hold in the US. Anthony Fauci and others have said they don’t expect a new surge in the US, but BA.2 is causing devastating surges elsewhere, and the policies and behaviors we might use to prevent a surge in the US have been widely abandoned, in part thanks to the CDC’s new system for measuring and conveying Covid risk.In late February, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) unveiled a new Covid-19 monitoring system based on what they call “Community Levels.” By downplaying the importance of Sars-CoV-2 transmission, the new system instantly turned what was a pandemic map still red from Omicron transmission to green – creating the false impression that the pandemic is over. Continue reading...

Biden administration belatedly reversed a hard-right assault but humanitarian concerns risk being swamped by politicsAs the Biden administration announced on Friday plans to end Covid-related restrictions for undocumented people arriving at the southern border, it guaranteed that irregular immigration will return as even more of a polarizing, point-scoring, policy debate.And as the US hurtles toward midterm elections, another prescient anniversary looms this week. Continue reading...

Cedar City proposes to pump water from valleys outside the county, a plan opponents fear would irreversibly harm delicate ecosystemsThe ground in Cedar Valley is sinking and splintering. Fissures that snake through the region are a visible sign of Utah’s water woes, and the result of years spent overdrawing from an underground aquifer that supplies the area.And yet Cedar City, at the heart of the valley, continues to grow. Visitors flock to nearby national parks such as Zion and Bryce Canyon, adding to the flow of new residents expected to move here in the coming years. Cedar City is already the most populous in Utah’s Iron county, and finding more water has become an existential quest. Continue reading...

From flouting Covid rules to fraud to racism to underpaying employees, US figures reveal a rogues’ galleryWe all know that our small business owners are the lifeblood of the US economy. There are approximately 30 million of us and we provide more than half of the jobs in this country. Everyone seems to love us. Politicians court us. Big brands tip their hats to us. Each year we celebrate our small business community with Small Business Week, Small Business Saturday, National Entrepreneurship Month and many other days honoring independent workers and minority business owners.Yay for us! But you know what? As much as I’m an advocate and a voice for my fellow small business brethren, even I have to admit that not all small business owners are worthy of such praise. Some, in fact, are not worthy at all. Continue reading...

President’s $813bn proposal is a 4% increase for the Pentagon which already spends more than the next 11 countries combinedWhen Joe Biden released his annual budget proposal last week, one number in particular jumped out to progressives: $813bn. That is how much Biden is calling to spend on national defense in the US in the coming fiscal year. If approved, that number would represent the largest defense budget that America has ever seen.US presidents’ budget proposals are generally considered to be reflections of their policy priorities rather than realistic estimates of final spending allocations. If Biden’s call for a 4% increase in defense spending was meant to signal his policy priorities, progressives wasted no time in telling the president that his priorities are backwards. Continue reading...

It is appalling enough that the police have found a pattern of criminality at the very heart of government. It is worse that the prime minister treats this scandal as a joke

The longer the war goes on, the more the early anti-Putin momentum could be stalled by political stresses, an energy crisis and the huge bill for military and humanitarian aid

Arguing for sex-based categories in sports such as swimming and cycling is not bigotry. It’s fairnessIf you want a case study of how not to handle the question of transgender athletes in sport, look to the treatment of British cyclist Emily Bridges. As a talented male junior, Bridges won three silver medals at national championships and seemed destined for the Olympics.Bridges came out as trans in 2020 but had continued to participate in men’s events while transitioning. Having sufficiently reduced her testosterone levels, she became eligible to compete in women’s races. Her first such race would have been yesterday at the National Omnium Championships alongside the likes of five-time Olympic champion Laura Kenny. Continue reading...

Larry Ray accused of psychological abuse at the prestigious Sarah Lawrence college, in trial that echoes Nxivm caseNew York is accustomed to high-profile trials, the details picked over like canapés at a cocktail party.But the trial of Lawrence “Larry” Ray, on federal charges of sex trafficking, extortion and conspiracy has caused revulsion and horror, and raised troubling questions that go far beyond criminal justice. Continue reading...

Analysis: As oil prices – and diplomatic tensions – rise, two of the biggest US allies are questioning the basis of their relationshipAs Joe Biden moved to open US strategic oil reserves, his two biggest oil-producing allies have kept their tanks firmly shut. The UAE and Saudi Arabia continue to rebuff the US president as he attempts to counter soaring oil prices prompted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. And both countries have been unusually frank about their refusal to step in.The five-week-old war is bringing tensions to a head in several parts of the world, but perhaps nowhere is a regional order more under strain than the Middle East, where two of America’s biggest allies are now seriously questioning the foundations of their relationship. Continue reading...

Herschel Walker, frontrunner for party nomination in Georgia, claimed to have graduated in top 1% – but never actually graduatedA Republican Senate candidate in Georgia said for years that he graduated in the top 1% of his university’s class – but actually never graduated college at all.Herschel Walker, a former pro football player who is running as a Republican in Georgia’s US Senateprimary, has publicly stated multiple times that he graduated in the top 1% of his class at University of Georgia despite never completing his degree. Continue reading...

Giving the prince centre stage at Philip’s memorial service was a foolish misstepIt’s six weeks since Prince Andrew settled out of court with his accuser, Virginia Giuffre, for a sum estimated at £12m. Cheap at the price, it was suggested, if the money (source unexplained) prevented sexual assault charges and a public trial ruining his mother’s platinum jubilee. Whatever’s left to be ruined, that is, after mixed results from the Cambridges’ vintage-inspired Caribbean visit in which only Kate’s elaborate wardrobe signalled that anything had changed since 1953.Since Andrew testified in the settlement to a hitherto unsuspected concern for victims of sex trafficking, along with a newfound regret for knowing Jeffrey Epstein, the deal was also welcomed as a victory for Giuffre’s fellow survivors. A lawyer for Sarah Ransome, one of those abused by Epstein, called the settlement a “banner day”; survivors had “been heard and were no longer silenced”. Continue reading...

Northern Irishman admits 2015 injury set him back in the majors and after a quiet 2022, he says: ‘Lower expectations are good’Life was sweeter than ice cream for Rory McIlroy in the first half of 2015. He was the reigning Open and US PGA champion, had finished a career-best fourth at the Masters and posted a Top 10 at a quirky US Open at Chambers Bay. He won the Dubai Desert Classic, WGC Match Play and Wells Fargo Championship – which included a course-record 61 – by late May. Form was not so temporary.It seemed inevitable McIlroy would make a serious tilt at defending the Claret Jug at the Old Course at St Andrews, a venue he adores. Cue an extraordinary social media bulletin on 6 July confirming McIlroy had ruptured left ankle ligaments playing football. He has not played the game since. “And deliberately,” he says. “I don’t want to do that again. I pride myself on not making the same mistake twice. I have played other things but never football because that could happen.” He provides only half a smile. Continue reading...

‘We must teach that America is good’ says top Republican of bill banning teaching that US is ‘fundamentally racist’The Georgia senate passed a bill on Friday that would limit discussions of race in kindergarten through 12th grade classrooms.House Bill 1084, the “Protect Students First Act”, was approved by the Georgia senate. The measure requires local school boards and administrators to ban discrimination on the “basis of race” by limiting how race can be discussed in classrooms. Continue reading...

Local district attorney’s office calls for investigation following incident involving police officer Evan Driskill and Delane Gordon

BlackRock’s Robert Kapito is right about the entitlement problem in the US: we have a very entitled generation of executives who seem to think sacrifice is just for poor peopleRobert Kapito, the president of asset management behemoth BlackRock, earns about $20m a year and is worth in the region of $400m. You can buy a lot of fancy trinkets with that kind of money but, alas, it doesn’t seem to purchase much self-awareness. We are in the middle of a cost of living crisis, with low-income households disproportionately affected by the highest inflation in 40 years. People are struggling to heat their homes thanks to surging energy prices and worrying about feeding their families thanks to rocketing food prices. Kapito’s reaction to all this? To complain to a bunch of energy executives about how entitled young people are and how it’s about time they learned a thing or two about how tough life is.Arwa Mahdawi’s new book, Strong Female Lead, is available for order Continue reading...

A mysterious gap of 7 hours 37 minutes in phone records for 6 January 2021 coincides with the insurrection in Washington DCAt 2.26pm on 6 January last year, Donald Trump picked up a White House phone and placed a call to Mike Lee, the Republican senator from Utah. The communication came at a very significant moment.Thirty-seven minutes earlier, a riot had been declared by Washington DC police. Minutes after that the then vice-president, Mike Pence, was rushed out of the Senate chamber, where he had been presiding over Congress’s certification of Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election, and put into hiding. Continue reading...

In Republicans’ fevered imaginations, schoolchildren are browbeaten into admitting they are racistOn the southern steps of the Mississippi state capitol last week, a group of protesters gathered in front of a bronzed casket.It was empty, but for piles of paper, strewn across the inside. They were printouts of dozens of bills that have died in the state legislature in recent months; a bill to expand healthcare coverage for new mothers; a bill to help provide healthy food options in rural and underserved communities, a bill to restore voting rights to formerly incarcerated people. Continue reading...

In a state marked by inequality and staggering housing prices, nearly 20% of community college students report experiencing homelessnessAt Long Beach City College, a nearly 100-year-old community college south of Los Angeles, at least eight students have been given permission to sleep in their cars in a campus parking facility, as part of an official campus program to help college students who cannot afford a place to live.The college parking garage, which has a security guard, wifi, and bathrooms nearby, is seen as a safer alternative to students sleeping in their cars on the street, where fears of being robbed or written up by the police make it even more difficult for them to succeed at school. At least 98 students enrolled at the school are known to be experiencing homelessness this semester, according to the college’s basic needs program manager, with at least 25 of them living in their cars. Continue reading...

Native Hawaiian musician to be depicted in 2023 as part of program honoring eminent American womenThe late Native Hawaiian hula teacher Edith Kanaka’ole is among five women who will be individually featured on US quarters in 2023 as part of a program that depicts notable women on the coins.The US Mint described Kanaka’ole, who died in 1978, as a composer, chanter, dancer, teacher and entertainer. Continue reading...

Martha Mitchell, wife of Nixon’s attorney general who ordered the break-in at the scandal’s heart, was drugged and kidnappedThe phone call came five days after the Watergate break-in. Martha Mitchell began telling a reporter that she would leave her husband, former US attorney general John Mitchell, if he did not quit the “dirty business” of politics.But the conversation ended abruptly and Mitchell was heard shouting: “You just get away – get away!” Then the line went dead. She had been accosted by a former FBI agent and would be forcibly tranquilized and held captive for days. Continue reading...

The North Carolina representative is becoming one of the fastest rising stars in his party – but has also found himself condemned by some on his own sideThe way he told it, Madison Cawthorn was set to go to the prestigious US Naval Academy before a car crash left him partially paralysed.According to Cawthorn, he had also been accepted into Harvard and Princeton, and worked full-time for a congressman, before being elected to the House of Representatives. Continue reading...

The former governor says she will ‘combat the left’s socialist, big-government, America-last agenda’Sarah Palin has announced her run for Alaska’s only seat in the US House of Representatives, marking her first run for public office in over a decade.“America is at a tipping point,” Palin said in a statement released on her Twitter account announcing her candidacy. “As I’ve watched the far left destroy the country, I knew I had to step up and join the fight. Continue reading...

Maxwell repeatedly requested a new trial after a juror on her case failed to disclose childhood sexual abuse during jury selectionGhislaine Maxwell’s bid for a new trial has been denied, the judge in her Manhattan federal court sex-trafficking case said on Friday.The daughter of the late British media baron Robert Maxwell repeatedly requested a new trial after a juror in the case failed to disclose childhood sexual abuse during jury selection. Continue reading...

Administration signals end of Title 42 immigration restrictions – ostensibly to fight Covid – but some fear electoral consequencesJoe Biden will next month end a controversial pandemic-related expulsion policy that effectively closed America’s asylum system at its border with Mexico, it was announced on Friday.The decision to lift the Title 42 public health order, which will take effect on 23 May, is seen as long overdue by immigration advocates who regard the order as inhumane. But it was seized on by Republicans and some electorally vulnerable Democrats, who warned of chaos at the border. Continue reading...

Gregg Berhalter’s exciting young side will face England, Iran and one of Wales or Scotland or Ukraine in their return to the World Cup stage following an eight-year absenceIt’s unclear when exactly the US will know the identity of their opponents in their first game, given the ongoing invasion of Ukraine, but some time in June appears most likely. Wales, who beat Austria 2-1 in a playoff semi-final on 24 March courtesy of two superb goals from Gareth Bale, will face the winners of a match between Scotland and Ukraine. Continue reading...

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention terminates Title 42 from 23 May, ending policy widely criticized as pretext to keep migrants out• Senate deal on drastically pared-down Covid aid package may be imminentUS adds 431,000 jobs as hiring spree cuts unemployment rate to 3.6%• Disney staff stage walkouts over ‘don’t say gay’ bill• Sign up to receive First Thing – our daily briefing by emailThe late supreme court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is to be honoured by having a US navy ship named after her.The yet-to-be-built fuel tanker will join a fleet of John Lewis-class “replenishment oilers” named for historical figures in human and civil rights. The navy took delivery of the first of the fleet, a tribute to the former Democratic congressman, last summer. Continue reading...

Psaki will reportedly stay on until end of April before joining liberal cable news networkJen Psaki is reportedly preparing to quit as Joe Biden’s White House press secretary, to become a TV host with MSNBC.Axios first reported the move on Friday, citing anonymous sources “close to the matter”. Other outlets said they had confirmed the news, and reported that Psaki was expected to stay through the end of April. Continue reading...

Dominic Taddeo, 64, pleaded guilty in 1992 to killing three men in 1980s mob wars for Rochester, New York, crime familyA New York mobster who killed three people and attempted to kill two others has escaped from federal custody after recently being moved to a halfway house, according to the Bureau of Prisons.Dominic Taddeo, a hitman from a Rochester-area crime family, pleaded guilty in 1992 to racketeering charges that included the killings of three men during mob wars in the 1980s. Continue reading...

Some tasty groups have been thrown together after the draw for World Cup 2022 was made in QatarMore World Cup draw chat in this week’s Football Weekly Extra podcast. Barry claims the new Adidas ball is so amazing it may be able to go back in time.From David Hytner’s World Cup draw preview in which Gareth Southgate responds to questions about Qatar’s woeful labour rights record, its outlawing of homosexuality and its male guardianship system that denies women the right to make key decisions about their lives? Continue reading...

The ship will be part of a fleet named after important civil rights figures including John Lewis and Thurgood MarshallThe late supreme court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is to be honoured by having a US navy ship named after her.The yet-to-be-built USNS Ruth Bader Ginsburg fuel tanker will join a fleet of John Lewis-class “replenishment oilers” named for historical figures in US movements for human and civil rights. Continue reading...

Judge said Lonnie Coffman’s weaponry showed he had come to Washington ‘to do battle’An Alabama man found with a “small armory” of guns, ammunition and molotov cocktails in his pickup truck ahead of the 6 January 2021 US Capitol riot was sentenced to almost four years in prison, one of the stiffest sentences so far handed down.US district judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said the 46-month sentence reflected the seriousness of the charges against Lonnie Coffman, 72, who had pleaded guilty to possessing unregistered firearms. Continue reading...

Kushner becomes first member of Donald Trump’s family to speak to investigatorsJared Kushner testified on Thursday before the House select committee investigating the 6 January attack on the Capitol, becoming the first member of Donald Trump’s family to speak to investigators.Democrat Elaine Luria, a member of the select committee, confirmed that Kushner appeared before the panel “voluntarily”, although she would not provide details on what he said. Continue reading...

Whitney Young high school says in email to students teacher hung doll from projector string and was challenged by Black colleagueA prestigious Chicago high school that counts Michelle Obama among its alumni launched an investigation after a white teacher hung a Black doll by its neck in his classroom and was challenged by a Black colleague.In an email to students and families obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times, Joyce Kenner, principal of the Whitney Young magnet high school, wrote of the Monday incident: “Unfortunately … a teacher hung a small stuffed African American football doll by a pull-down string from a projector screen in their classroom. Continue reading...