US news | The Guardian

Legislation that limits what universities can teach about racism and sexism violates first and 14th amendment, judge rulesA federal judge in Florida halted part of a state law that limits what colleges and universities can teach students about racism and sexism, calling it “positively dystopian”.Issuing a temporary injunction on the law on Thursday, US district court judge Mark Walker said it violates first amendment rights to free speech, and 14th amendment rights to due process on campuses. Continue reading...

Lake-effect snow, caused by frigid air picking up moisture from warmer lakes, prompts driving ban and state of emergencyA dangerous lake-effect snowstorm has paralyzed parts of western and northern New York state, with more than 1ft of snow already on the ground on Friday morning in places and a driving ban keeping people off the roads in the Buffalo area.The worst snowfall was expected in Buffalo, where the National Weather Service said up to 4ft might fall in some spots through Sunday, with periods of near-zero visibility. Continue reading...

The electoral support at the state and local levels for more climate action comes as world leaders meet at Cop27While the economy and abortion rights drove momentum behind the midterm election this year, voters in cities and states across the US also turned out to pass a number of climate ballot initiatives .Among the measures passed were a historic multibillion-dollar investment into environmental improvement projects in New York state, including up to $1.5bn in funding for climate change mitigation. This election also saw a $50m green bond act pass in Rhode Island, and in Colorado, the city of Boulder approved a climate tax as well as a ballot measure that will allow the city to borrow against that tax to fund climate projects. Continue reading...

After six hostile years, Britain is realising that, even after Brexit, it can’t turn its back on its European neighboursThe soap opera of British politics in recent months may have eclipsed something more consequential for the UK in the long run than the revolving doors in Downing Street. The relationship between the UK and the rest of Europe is slowly and quietly changing.It is too early to speak of a turning point, but there is at least a chance that we will look back on 2022 as the year when Britons and other Europeans finally escaped a downward spiral that has, since the Brexit referendum, poisoned not just the relationship between the UK and the EU, but bilateral relationships between the UK and many EU countries. Things might not be getting better, but they have at least, for now, stopped getting worse. In the sad world of UK-EU relations, this is progress.Helene von Bismarck is a German historian and author who specialises in the UK’s interactions with the world Continue reading...

The social media firm is struggling to retain workers after Musk demanded they sign a pledge committing to being ‘extremely hardcore’. Plus, lab-grown meat officially safe to eat in the US

To Republicans, Pelosi has long taken on a kind of mythic malice. But progressives, too, were not enamored of herAs the new House Republican majority stumbles into power, with all the chaotic, embittered bumbling of a rich man’s son who can only seem to fail upwards, another, peculiar kind of political transition is taking place: Nancy Pelosi, 82, is leaving the House speakership, almost certainly for the last time.Perhaps no individual has come to symbolize the Democrats more to the people who do not like the party. To Republicans, Pelosi has long taken on a kind of mythic malice. To the Fox-watching white male, Pelosi symbolizes liberal elitism, a vague but totalizing specter of corruption, and that particular kind of liberal decadence that can be evoked by the name of the city that makes up nearly all of her longtime congressional district: San Francisco. She’s a woman in power, and she’s long been supportive of gay rights, and she opposed the Iraq war. She’s been a reliable opponent of conservatives’ favorite culture war crusades: she supports gun control and opposes Confederate statues. In an association facilitated by misogyny, her very face is a shorthand for liberal extremism, a visual code that denotes secularism, taxation and frightening new pronouns. Continue reading...

Seven US voters offer their take on the recent elections that produced mixed results, and Trump’s 2024 announcementAs America digests the final results of the midterm elections, seven US voters share their reactions to a Democratic-controlled Senate, the Republican win of the House and Donald Trump’s announcement that he will run for president again. Continue reading...

Sean Maloney, head of the influential Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, lost by less than 1% – and redistricting may have been part of itJack Dunnigan stood behind the counter of Pickwick Bookshop, a venerable store he owns, with its homey smell of nobly ageing paper, in the picturesque, liberal riverside town of Nyack about 30 miles north of downtown New York City, and sighed.“I had a feeling he was going to,” Dunnigan said of the local Democratic congressman and national party stalwart Sean Maloney’s loss to his Republican challenger, Mike Lawler, in the midterm elections. Continue reading...

Our writers give their verdicts on Gregg Berhalter’s men, including key players, strengths and weaknesses and where the journey will endThe Cleveland Guardians. A very young group bursting with promise that’s probably still a few years away. A mostly empty trophy case, too, despite occasional blips of success over the years. BAG Continue reading...

Millions of workers in the US work throughout the night, and the impacts can be profound on their healthRoger Reinhardt works third shift at a beer production facility in Michigan from 10pm-8am, four days a week. He initially started working nights because it was the only shift available when he started working but he has continued doing it for the extra pay.But is not not easy. Continue reading...

Focusing on activists detracts from what we should be angry about – failure to tackle the most urgent problems of our ageDisruptive political activism, from strikes to boycotts to road occupations, always makes enemies. That’s part of the point: confrontations and controversies mean publicity. More ambitiously, stunts and provocations by activists are also meant to remind the public that the status quo itself is built on disruptions. Even supposedly cautious governments are constantly altering the distribution of power and wealth, and the environment itself.Four years since the founding of Extinction Rebellion, known by its highly committed members as XR, climate activists in Britain and many other countries are still launching waves of protests: blocking roads, throwing food over famous artworks, gluing themselves to surfaces in public places and spray-painting banks that invest in fossil fuels. New groups have appeared with XR-style tactics and goals: Just Stop Oil, Insulate Britain, Animal Rebellion, Youth Climate Swarm. A steady stream of activists from teenagers to pensioners are prepared to face arrest and imprisonment in order to press governments, businesses and voters to change their behaviour. Continue reading...

Four-member panel focused on whether they have uncovered sufficient evidence that Trump violated civil and criminal statutesThe House January 6 select committee has created a subcommittee to examine the scope of potential criminal referrals it might make to the justice department over the Capitol attack as well as what materials to share with federal prosecutors, its chairman and other members said on Thursday.The special subcommittee – led by Congressman Jamie Raskin, overseeing a four-person group that also involves Liz Cheney, Adam Schiff and Zoe Lofgren – has been chiefly focused on whether they have uncovered sufficient evidence that former US president Donald Trump violated civil and criminal statutes. Continue reading...

Nicholas Joseph Gutierrez, 22, veered onto the wrong side of the road in his SUV, injuring more than two dozen cadetsAuthorities have arrested a 22-year-old driver on suspicion of attempted murder for allegedly plowing his vehicle into Los Angeles county sheriff’s academy recruits on a training run, injuring more than two dozen people.The Los Angeles county sheriff’s department said in a statement on Thursday that Nicholas Joseph Gutierrez was arrested on Wednesday for investigation of attempted murder on a peace officer. Continue reading...

Strike was launched to protest against Starbucks’ failure to bargain with unionized stores and failure to adequately staff storesWorkers at over 100 unionized Starbucks stores around the US walked off the job on Thursday, coinciding with Starbucks’ Red Cup Day, a promotional day where customers receive a free red reusable holiday Starbucks cup when they order a holiday seasonal beverage.The strike was launched to protest against Starbucks’ failure to bargain with unionized stores and failure to adequately staff stores, especially on one of Starbucks’ busiest days where no pay differential is offered to workers. About 2,000 workers at 112 stores participated in the strikes in 25 states. Continue reading...

Outgoing speaker, 82, who has led House Democrats for two decades, makes announcement after Republicans win controlNancy Pelosi, a giant of American politics and the first woman to lead the House of Representatives, is stepping down from leadership to make way for a new generation, she said on Thursday.The 82-year-old, an ally of Joe Biden who led congressional Democrats for two decades, made the announcement after Republicans regained a majority in the chamber. Continue reading...

Experts say the amount spent on the failed campaign would not have been enough to build adequate affordable homesThroughout billionaire Rick Caruso’s unsuccessful campaign to become mayor of Los Angeles, critics had one question: why was the real estate developer spending $100m on a race focused on homelessness, rather than simply using his wealth to build desperately needed affordable housing?Caruso, the developer of some of Los Angeles’ most popular luxury malls, has an estimated net worth of $5.3bn. He made ending visible street homelessness the center of his mayoral campaign. Continue reading...

Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, announces that she will step down as the Democratic House leader. Pelosi says she will continue 'as a member of the House – speaking for the people of San Francisco, serving the great state of California and defending our constitution,' but adds that she will 'not seek re-election to Democratic leadership in the next Congress'. Republicans won back control of the House in the midterm elections, scraping a victory that many had expected to be a red wave of wins but instead turned into more of a trickle Continue reading...

Expect a slew of investigations into everything from the Afghanistan withdrawal to immigration at the southern borderJoe Biden needs to lawyer up. He’s about to see an onslaught of investigations into him, his appointees and their conduct that will now be launched by Republican-controlled congressional committees. It’s not impossible that a Republican-controlled congress could even try to push for his impeachment.The Republicans squeaked out a bare majority in the House of Representatives this week, with a final tally of 218 Republican seats to 211 Democratic ones. The Republicans performance was abysmal compared to the predictions, with anger over abortion bans and Republican antipathy toward democracy driving voters into the Democratic tent. But the huge structural advantages of being the opposition party in a midterm election, along with some help from gerrymandered redistricting plans blessed by the Republican-majority US supreme court, pushed the Republicans over the top. Now, they are poised to use their new investigatory power in Congress to launch a slew of inquiries into the Biden administration, over matters ranging from the grave to the absurdly trivial.Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...

Republican candidate posts video on Twitter vowing to ‘fight on’ claiming tens of thousands of voters disenfranchisedKari Lake, the Republican candidate for Arizona governor, declined to concede her race on Thursday, instead vowing to “fight on” in a new video posted on Twitter.The Associated Press has projected Lake will lose the race to Katie Hobbs, a Democrat. But Lake, who made election denialism a centerpiece of her campaign, has declined to recognize her opponent as the winner. Continue reading...

Lawyer for Petito’s parents said whatever money is received will go to the Gabby Petito FoundationThe families of Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie have reached a $3m settlement in a wrongful death lawsuit filed after authorities concluded he strangled her during a cross-country trip in August 2021.The settlement was signed on Thursday by a Sarasota county circuit judge, Hunter W Carroll. A lawyer for Petito’s parents said whatever money is received will go to the Gabby Petito Foundation, dedicated to locating missing people and curbing domestic violence. Continue reading...

Former first lady said she decided to straighten her hair as Americans were ‘just getting adjusted’ to a Black first familyMichelle Obama said that Americans “weren’t ready” for her natural hair during Barack Obama’s tenure at the White House.The former first lady was speaking at the Warner Theatre in Washington DC on Tuesday to promote her new book, The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times, with the former talkshow host Ellen DeGeneres. Continue reading...

Donald Trump has announced his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, probably sparking another period of tumult in US politics and especially his own political party. His third candidacy comes as he faces intensifying legal troubles, including investigations by the justice department into the removal of hundreds of classified documents from the White House to his Florida estate and into his role in the January 6 attack. But could they derail his bid? The Guardian US politics correspondent Hugo Lowell explains what Trump is facing and whether he still stands a chance

Republican Senate candidate for Georgia rehashes plot of late-night movie and considers merits of both creaturesIn a campaign speech on Wednesday, the Republican candidate for US Senate in Georgia, Herschel Walker, told supporters: “I don’t want to be a vampire any more. I want to be a werewolf.”The remark was the latest controversial or outright bizarre intervention from the former football star who like other candidates endorsed by Donald Trump struggled to overcome his Democratic opponent in the midterm elections. Continue reading...

Attacking art works that are safely encased in glass does nothing to further the activists’ cause – if anything it makes a case for climate complacencyAs an art historian, my job is to look askance at words such as “masterpiece”, and to question the canon of “great art”. In my spare time, I have also sprayed chalk paint on civic structures in protest at the lack of action on climate. So at first I expected to view the latest attacks on art as shocking but justifiable. After all, do these attacks not also reveal the fragility of what we hold dear? Do they not make us think about what we want to save for the next generation? Yet the answer to these questions, I decided, is mostly no. Instead, these attacks feel part of a helpless careering towards climate chaos.As splash after splash of acidic liquid hits the glass casings of art works by Van Gogh, Monet, Klimt, and now Emily Carr, everyone around the world who sees the photographs and footage is going through the same mental process: an astonished intake of breath, followed by the realisation that everything is actually fine. The art work is safe behind glass, tightly sealed by expert conservators. What looks dangerous is a mere spectacle, not a reality. Continue reading...

As long as you can guarantee I won’t be stuck with them indefinitely, then saddle up, buckarooHere’s a pitch for new parents I’m working on: please let me hang out with your baby. Wait, come back!It’s not easy to phrase this without sounding like the kind of person someone might one day do an investigative podcast about, but it’s my strong belief that new parents should be forced to let their friends, and specifically me, look after their children. Continue reading...

It’s OK to Be Angry About Capitalism, out next year, will argue the world needs to ‘recognise that economic rights are human rights’Former presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders is to publish a book outlining “a vision of what would be possible if the political revolution took place”.It’s OK to Be Angry About Capitalism will be published by Penguin Random House in February 2023. Continue reading...

Jarrett Hobbs, 41, from North Carolina, shown on video being repeatedly punched in head and neck in Camden county jailAttorneys for a Georgia jail detainee shown on security footage being punched by guards repeatedly in the head and neck have called for the deputies to be fired and arrested, insisting the videos show the violence was unjustified.“There is no way in hell that anybody should be beaten the way this man was beaten,” Harry Daniels, an attorney, told reporters. “I don’t care what he did. I don’t care if he knocked the damn door down. You don’t beat a person like that.” Continue reading...

Both law schools say US News & World Report’s annual rankings are in conflict with commitments to diversity and affordabilityYale and Harvard law schools both said on Wednesday they will no longer participate in US News & World Report’s annual ranking of law schools, the biggest shake-up to the closely watched list in years.Yale, which has captured the No 1 spot every year since US News began ranking law schools in 1990, was first to announce the decision. Hours later, the Harvard Law dean, John Manning, informed students it would do the same. The school is ranked No 4. Continue reading...

Panel vice-chair issues statement with chair Bennie Thompson after Trump vice-president gives interview to CBSThe chair and vice-chair of the January 6 committee hit back after Mike Pence said they had “no right” to his testimony about the Capitol attack, and claimed they presided over a “partisan” investigation.Testimony presented to the panel and to the nation in a series of dramatic public hearings was “not partisan”, Bennie Thompson and Liz Cheney said. “It was truthful.” Continue reading...

Slim majority means any member of party sitting in House of Representatives could block legislation. Plus, the meteorite that may solve mystery of Earth’s water

His campaign proved that class can be a driver of political behavior and a foundation of redistributive economic policyThe midterm elections last Tuesday blew a hole in conventional political wisdom. The supposed law that the president’s party could never win a midterm. That partisanship was too entrenched for voters to split their tickets between parties at a high rate. That candidate quality and experience no longer mattered. That politics has been so nationalized that the entire country would get more Republican or Democratic together, rather than different climates in different states or regions. The most important myth busted for people with leftwing politics is the impressive win of John Fetterman for Senate in Pennsylvania. Fetterman proved that progressive politics really could win back working class white Trump voters in rural areas.The idea that populist redistributive economics could win back working class Trump voters has been proposed since immediately after the 2016 election. It made sense ideologically to leftists, but there was no proof of concept until this election. Every attempt at using Medicare for All and anti-elite rhetoric to bring Trump voters in ancestrally Democratic areas back to the party had failed miserably. The platform and messaging of Fetterman, however, led him to a shocking 4.4% win in a state that President Biden won by just 1.1%. The president’s party flipping a Senate seat in a midterm election, let alone quadrupling the president’s winning margin, is incredibly rare. Respected sites like Fivethirtyeight and Sabato’s Crystal Ball viewed Oz as a clear favorite. Beyond this, Fetterman flipped the script on 40 years of partisan trends. Fetterman matched Biden’s margins in highly educated urban and suburban areas that have been getting more Democratic for decades, especially in the Trump era. His surprising winning margin came most of all from drastically improving on Biden’s margins in working class post-industrial and rural areas that had been getting redder for the last few decades, even faster than the suburbs had been getting bluer. How did he do this, and what does this mean for Democrats going forward?Ben Davis works in political data in Washington, DC. He worked on the data team for the Bernie Sanders 2020 campaign Continue reading...

Republicans were expected to maintain their iron grip on state legislature –but Democrats took control of the vital swing state’s senate and houseEarly on the morning after the midterm elections, a stunning new development that few Michigan political observers imagined possible took shape: Democrats, for the first time in nearly 40 years, took control of the vital swing state’s senate and house.They achieved it in a year Republicans were expected to maintain their iron grip on the state legislature, but when the dust settled, Democrats held a 56-54 majority in the House and 20-18 advantage in the Senate. It came in addition to Dems sweeping the statewide offices at the top of the ballot, retaining control of the state supreme court and winning a majority of US House seats. Continue reading...

The Americans are on the right path as they look towards co-hosting the World Cup in 2026. But in Qatar they lack the experience of previous USMNT rostersThe Gregg Berhalter era began in the desert with a 3-0 friendly win over Panama in January 2019 in front of 9,040 people in Glendale, Arizona.The journey to Qatar has spanned 56 matches: a sometimes thrilling, occasionally dreary trip from the cacti and air-conditioned sprawl of the oblivious Phoenix suburbs to the dense skyscrapers and ignoble stadiums of the peninsula hosting the globe’s highest-profile sporting event. Continue reading...

Gary Gold’s Eagles are 80 minutes away from Pool C in France but Os Lobos are on the up. A nerve-shredding night is in storeOn Friday, USA and Portugal will meet in Dubai for a winner-takes-all Test match, the prize the last place at the Rugby World Cup in France next year. It is by some distance the most important game in the recent history of American rugby.The US will host the men’s World Cup in 2031 and the women’s tournament two years later. World Rugby has placed a significant bet. Executives are of course neutral but without wishing any ill to the Portuguese, anyone seeking to plant rugby union in the American consciousness will be mighty relieved should the Eagles make it into Pool C with Australia, Wales, Fiji and Georgia. Continue reading...

Claims of delays, unfair labor practices and retaliation against workers as the battle for a first union contract stallsStarbucks corporate board meetings reportedly include two empty chairs to represent employees and customers. It is a sort of gimmick aimed at portraying an inclusive company culture.But recently workers at unionized Starbucks stores have been posting photos of empty chairs at tables set out for talks on a first union contract. They do so as a way of making a very different point: workers have now made multiple complaints about Starbucks attorneys showing up to bargaining sessions and then leaving before any bargaining could begin. Continue reading...

The Jets haven’t appeared in the playoffs since the 2010 season. But a strong defense and talented young players have transformed the teamThe 10th anniversary of the Butt Fumble arrives next Tuesday, but the New York Jets probably won’t mark the day because that sad-sack play symbolically planted them on their tushies. The Jets have won 57 of 160 games since, with seven 10-loss seasons and zero playoff appearances.But look again. Six of those victories have come this year, in just nine games, and the Jets find themselves one-half game out of first place in the AFC East – and tied with the Buffalo Bills, whom the Jets beat in their last game and many consider to be of Super Bowl caliber. Continue reading...

Kevin McCarthy will be a mere stooge – that is, until he’s replaced by someone even more TrumpistEven before the midterm elections – when the vaunted “red wave” dried up – influential Republicans, over drinks in Washington, casually discussed the fate of Kevin McCarthy as a short-timer.The man who would be the speaker of the House had already been taking a victory lap before a single vote was counted. “I’m better prepared now,” he recently told New York magazine. “If I’m not going to be acceptable to the body having that scenario this time, no one’s acceptable,” he boasted to Punchbowl News. The failed frozen yogurt shop owner from Bakersfield, California, envisions himself at last standing as the hero of his Horatio Alger success story atop the greasy pole. McCarthy now trumpets that he has won the confidence of the far-right Freedom Caucus that previously opposed his elevation. He clutches its leader, his twitchy former foe Jim Jordan, as a great friend. “Probably my biggest advocate is Jim Jordan,” he has said. Continue reading...

Gigs have come roaring back after a lull – though some comics are preparing DeSantis impressionsRepublicans may be split on Donald Trump’s bid for the presidency, but at least one group of people woke up happy the morning after his announcement. “I’m totally energized,” said John Di Domenico, a Las Vegas-based comic who makes a living impersonating Trump at corporate events and parties. “We just got new booking requests today, and I keep getting texts from people who see this as another opportunity for me.”After watching the events of January 6, Di Domenico wasn’t sure he would ever be able to put on his $4,000 wig and bronzer spray tan ever again. “There was a dip,” he said. The best way he can explain it: on Mother’s Day 2020, at the height of Trump’s re-election campaign, he shot 30 Cameo videos dressed as the president – short clips intended as gifts for his female fanbase. Continue reading...

Slim majority means any member of party sitting in House of Representatives could stymie legislation

The Democrat takes over as the second Black mayor in LA’s history, beating a rival who spent over $80m of his own money on the raceThe congresswoman Karen Bass was elected mayor of Los Angeles, defeating billionaire real estate developer Rick Caruso and becoming the first woman to run the second-largest city in the US.The Democrat, who has served as a US representative for more than a decade, had amassed an insurmountable lead of nearly 47,000 votes, with 70% of the votes counted, the Associated Press reported on Wednesday, nearly one one week after the election. Caruso had a slight lead in the first counts after the polls closed, but Bass soon surpassed him and steadily increased her lead as ballots were counted. Continue reading...

Eric Trump posts photo to Instagram with Australian mining billionaire in background

The cadets were on a training run when a 22-year-old driver going the wrong way crashed into them, critically injuring fiveMore than 20 Los Angeles county sheriff’s academy recruits were injured early Wednesday morning when an SUV driving the wrong way hit the class while they were on a training run.Authorities have detained a 22-year-old driver in connection with the incident, which left 25 people injured, five critically, including head trauma, broken bones and “loss of limb”, said Sheriff Alex Villanueva. Continue reading...

With Republicans in control of the House and Democrats holding the Senate, expect a legislative logjamRepublicans officially captured control of the House on Wednesday, as the Associated Press called the 218th seat for the party. The House victory ends four years of Democratic control of the lower chamber, handing Republicans the speakership and the chairmanships of key committees, while Democrats will maintain control of the Senate.But the incoming Republican speaker has the unenviable task of attempting to pass legislation with a very narrow majority, where only a few defections within the party will be enough to kill a bill. Continue reading...

Controlling an unruly party with an extremely narrow majority will all but guarantee brutal tests every dayEven before Republicans took the House of Representatives, leading figures on the right of the party pointed to troubled waters ahead for Kevin McCarthy – or whoever else becomes the next House speaker.Now Republicans have won their slim victory in the lower chamber of Congress, the next two years are likely to be chaotic. Controlling an unruly party with an extremely narrow majority will all but guarantee brutal tests every day, especially from the right wing. Continue reading...

Xu Yanjun was accused of a lead role in a five-year Chinese state-backed scheme to steal commercial secrets from GE AviationA US federal court has sentenced a Chinese intelligence officer to 20 years in prison after he was convicted last year of plotting to steal trade secrets from from US and French aviation and aerospace companies.Xu Yanjun was accused of a lead role in a five-year Chinese state-backed scheme to steal commercial secrets from GE Aviation, one of the world’s leading aircraft engine manufacturers, and France’s Safran Group, which was working with GE on engine development. Continue reading...