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The solution by Camelback Family Planning ensures patients can access pills and treatment without breaking the lawA Phoenix abortion clinic has come up with a way for patients who can end their pregnancy using a pill to get the medication quickly without running afoul of a resurrected Arizona law that bans most abortions.Under the arrangement that began on Monday, patients will have an ultrasound in Arizona, get a prescription through a tele-health appointment with a California doctor and then have it mailed to a post office in a California border town for pickup, all for free. Continue reading...

Police are left baffled as to why the victims were targeted and have announced a $95,000 reward for information leading to an arrestA serial killer may have ambushed five men in central California separately in recent months, shooting them to death alone in the dark, and police are baffled as to why the victims were targeted.None of the men were robbed or beaten before their killings – which all took place within a radius of a few square miles – and none appear to have known each other, Stockton police officer Joseph Silva said on Monday. The shootings do not seem to be related to gangs or drugs. Continue reading...

Stewart Rhodes and four associates face the rare civil war-era charge of seditious conspiracy for attacking the US CapitolThe founder of the Oath Keepers extremist group and four associates planned an “armed rebellion” to keep Donald Trump in power after he lost the election, a federal prosecutor contended on Monday as the most serious case yet went to trial involving the attack on the US Capitol on 6 January 2021.Stewart Rhodes and his band of far-right militants were prepared to go to war to stop Joe Biden from becoming president, assistant US attorney Jeffrey Nestler told jurors. Continue reading...

Tillerson says he barely knew defendant Tom Barrack, who is accused of leaking intelligence to the United Arab EmiratesRex Tillerson, who served a turbulent term as secretary of state under former US president Donald Trump, was called as a government witness Monday at the trial of a Trump ally accused of leaking intelligence to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).Tillerson testified that he barely knew the defendant, Tom Barrack, once the chairman of Trump’s inaugural committee, or anything about his relationship with the UAE. Continue reading...

Cable news has tried to smear ex-president ‘with a series of ever-more scandalous, false, and defamatory labels’, says court filingDonald Trump has sued cable TV network CNN, claiming defamation and seeking punitive damages of $475m, according to a Florida court filing on Monday.The US cable news station has attempted to smear the former US president “with a series of ever-more scandalous, false, and defamatory labels of ‘racist,’ ‘Russian lackey,’ ‘insurrectionist,’ and ultimately ‘Hitler’,” Trump’s lawyers claimed. The lawsuit has been filed in federal court in Fort Lauderdale. Continue reading...

Planned Parenthood will debut the traveling facility later this year to meet increased demand from neighboring statesPlanned Parenthood officials on Monday announced plans for a mobile abortion clinic – a 37ft recreational vehicle that will stay in Illinois but travel close to the borders of adjoining states that have banned the procedure since the US supreme court overturned Roe v Wade earlier this year.The announcement came 100 days after the supreme court ruling that stripped away constitutional protections for abortions, allowing states to ban the procedure. Continue reading...

Stories of tragedy and delay emerge as search-and-rescue teams discover survivors and fatalitiesAs Florida continues grappling with the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Ian, the state’s death roll mounts and stories of tragedy and delay emerge.Over 81 people are confirmed dead and that toll is expected to rise. Rescue crews working brutal shifts – sometimes 20 hours long – are still combing through the wreckage, and flooding continues in many parts of the state. Continue reading...

Tactless jokes and half-arsed platitudes made up chancellor’s vapid Tory conference speechNot waving but drowning. Days like these are coming round with increasing frequency. Days when the sketch is little more than a transcription service. Days when there is no way to improve on the sheer madness of the Tory party. Its capacity for self-harm has become compulsive. An addiction almost. The only way most Conservatives can reassure themselves they are in government is when they are surrounded by chaos. Their lives – and ours – are unmanageable. Interest rates rising, the pound tanking, public infighting. Yup, that’s the way Tories know they are still relevant. Even if they are on life support.We all knew Liz Truss was going to be hopeless. That was a given. We just didn’t know she was going to be so hopeless quite so quickly. Or that she would be given so much enthusiastic support from the half-witted collective that make up her cabinet. Step forward Kamikwasi Kwarteng and the skin-crawlingly needy Chris Philp. Everyone’s favourite punchbag. We imagined Radon Liz might spread out the fun. A managed decline of her party. Instead she has gone for broke, daring the Tories to get rid of her little more than a month after electing her. She is the queen of the clusterfuck. The Trussterfuck. Continue reading...

Dominion Voting Systems accuses Mike Lindell, a prominent Trump supporter, of promoting baseless voter fraud claimsThe defamation lawsuit that voting machine company Dominion is pursuing against the MyPillow chief executive, Mike Lindell, can proceed after the US supreme court rejected the prominent Donald Trump supporter’s appeal aiming to block the case.Dominion Voting Systems in February 2021 filed a $1.3bn lawsuit accusing Lindell of promoting the debunked conspiracy theory that the company’s machines manipulated vote counts in favor of Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election that ousted Trump from the Oval Office. Continue reading...

‘The first thing I saw was an airplane wheel at the end of our bed,’ says home’s resident, Jason Hoffman, who survived the crashA small plane crashed into a home in Minnesota over the weekend, killing all three people onboard but not injuring anyone at the house, according to state officials.The Hermantown Police Department said a plane crashed into the second floor of a local home on Saturday night before falling into the back yard of the property. Two people at the home weren’t hurt, according to the police department. Continue reading...

The Native American actor and activist who declined Brando’s Oscar for The Godfather has died aged 75, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced in a tweet on Sunday. Littlefeather had breast cancer.The Hollywood Reporter cited a statement from her caretaker that said she died at noon on Sunday at home in the northern California city of Novato, surrounded by loved ones

In red states, women’s options and speech are being dramatically constrained by the misogynist laws that have sprung into effect since the reversal of Roe v WadeOn 23 September, staff and faculty at the University of Idaho received a strange missive from their employer. In an email sent out by university lawyers, professors were told that in accordance with the state’s new abortion ban, they are now prohibited from a large swath of activities. They are no longer allowed to “promote abortion”. They are no longer allowed to “counsel in favor of abortion”. They are no longer allowed to tell students, or anyone else, where to get an abortion; they are no longer allowed to dispense emergency contraception, like Plan B. State law now forbids any state resources or state employees’ time from being spent “promoting” or “advertising” either abortion or “services for the prevention of conception”, so the university won’t be dispensing birth control any more, either.The email said that the university can continue to provide condoms, so long as those condoms are distributed for the purposes of preventing disease transmission only, not for birth control. Since when used correctly condoms prevent both pregnancy and disease transmission, how this change will affect condom availability on campus remains unclear. Those university employees who are found to violate this new gag rule, either by “promoting” abortion, or by dispensing contraception, risk felony convictions, prison time, fines, firing and permanent bans from all state employment.Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...

Perla Huerta was reportedly sent to Texas from Florida to fill planes chartered by DeSantis, offering gift cards to asylum seekersA former US army combat medic and counterintelligence agent allegedly solicited asylum seekers to join flights out of Texas to Martha’s Vineyard that Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, chartered.Perla Huerta was sent to Texas from Tampa to fill the planes at the center of the trips, which many have argued could amount to illegal human trafficking, a person briefed on an investigation into the case told the New York Times. Continue reading...

Democratic strategists have spent millions of dollars to aid extremists, on the theory they’ll be easier to defeat in the general election. We will all live with the consequencesAn alarming number of people employed as professional political strategists by the Democratic party do not seem to understand what “politics” actually means. If this sounds too cute to be true, think of it another way: if all of the professional political strategists employed by the Democratic party do understand what “politics” actually means, they are negligent and willing to do harmful things for short-term gain. Either way, it ain’t good.The most glaring manifestation of this in the current election cycle is the fact that Democrats across the country spent millions of dollars to boost the candidacies of right-wing Maga candidates in the Republican primaries, on the theory that those extremists would be easier to defeat in the general election.Hamilton Nolan is a writer based in New York Continue reading...

Residents in Florida and Carolinas face recovery expected to cost tens of billions of dollars. Plus, why screaming can be good for youGood morning.The death toll from Hurricane Ian has passed 80 as embattled residents in Florida and the Carolinas face a recovery expected to cost tens of billions of dollars, and some officials faced criticism over their response to the storm.What has Fema said? US Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) administrator Deanne Criswell asked Americans yesterday “to make informed decisions” about rebuilding in vulnerable areas hit by natural disasters intensified by climate change. Continue reading...

The quarterback’s career stalled badly after a painful end to his time with the New York Jets. But he is thriving after replacing Russell Wilson in SeattleGeno Smith, for most of his career, had been synonymous with the NFL’s most piercing curse word: bust. Heading into this season, even as he had quietly shown maturation on the field, no one bought into the Seattle Seahawks as a competitive franchise. There were several reasons – sloppy game management and unknowns at corner, among them – but mostly it was rooted in few outside Seattle viewing Smith as a legitimate NFL quarterback.He continued to prove the doubters wrong on Sunday, leading the Seahawks to a 48-45 shootout win over Detroit on the road. Smith was electric. He annihilated the Lions’ poor defense, throwing dimes to DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett, and Will Dissly. All told, Smith was 23-of-30 for 320 passing yards and two touchdowns. He also added 49 rushing yards and a score on the ground. Smith achieved back-to-back 300-yard passing games for the first time in his NFL career, a testament to Pete Carroll’s growing faith in his quarterback’s abilities. Continue reading...

Republicans running in next month’s elections cast their party as tough on crime, despite top party names’ legal scrapes“John Fetterman wants to release convicted murderers from prison,” warns the narrator, as a black-and-white photo of Pennsylvania’s lieutenant governor is shown beside pictures of convicted killers. A caption adds darkly: “Socialist John Fetterman loves free stuff … but we can’t let him free murderers.”The campaign ad from Mehmet Oz, candidate for the US Senate in Pennsylvania, is vintage Republican strategy: casting a Democratic opponent as soft on crime. The party is zeroing in on fears over public safety ahead of November’s midterm elections in an effort to change the conversation from abortion, climate or democracy. Continue reading...

I have any number of things I’d love as a gift. But the men in my life either want for nothing – or want something I’d never think ofA shiver of dread traverses my spirit at this time of year, despite the golden-leafed glories of autumn: three men I know have birthdays in quick succession. Why are many – if #NotAllMen – so hard to find gifts for? Do they not have trinkets that catch their eye, stuff they hanker after and once-in-a-lifetime extravagances in open tabs on their phone to be examined, covetously, late at night? There are about 40 things I want at any given time: I can reel off a list sorted by price and ease of acquisition, from a bike bell to a “deathlayer” hen (“like having royalty visit your coop” according to the page I look at on my phone late at night).The men in my life don’t, apparently. My husband only wants technological items with specifications so abstruse they must be sourced via URLs he provides. My stepfather is a notorious ascetic whose current goal appears to be to liberate himself of all material possessions, becoming agitated if as much as an unexpected packet of digestives enters his life. And in 40 years of gift buying, I have only had two successes with my father: pictures of his grandchildren and a wildlife cam (both my husband’s idea). Continue reading...

Georgia in focus: Despite being hailed as architect of Georgia’s political transformation, Abrams is still an underdog in her rematch with Brian KempStacey Abrams was a high school senior the first time she was invited to the Georgia governor’s mansion. It was for a ceremony honoring the state’s class valedictorians, and Abrams was her school’s top academic achiever. At the time, her family did not own a car, so Abrams and her parents rode the bus from their working-class suburb to the stately mansion in downtown Atlanta.When they arrived, Abrams recalls a guard emerging from the security booth. Eyeing the bus, he told them: “This is a private event. You don’t belong here.” Never mind that her invitation was tucked into her mother’s handbag or that her name was second on the list of invitees. Continue reading...

Climate change, immigration crackdowns and housing costs shake up the country’s largest shellfish farm

The Native American activist died on Sunday, less than two months after the Academy apologised over her treatment at the 1973 Academy Awards

The city’s water department has a small yet effective solution to keep its famous residents’ water use in check – a flow restrictorLos Angeles is living through a historic drought, but that hasn’t stopped some of its most famous residents from keeping their mega mansion lawns and ornate gardens well watered. In response, local authorities have turned to a surprisingly simple trick for keeping the wealthiest in check.That solution is a tiny metal disc known as a “flow restrictor”. The restrictor can be installed in minutes over the pipes of chronic wasters, dramatically slowing down a home’s water flow. Continue reading...

Michael Sheppard has since been fired from his job at Texas jail and faces, along with his brother, a charge of manslaughterAfter stopping for water near the US-Mexico border, one migrant was shot dead and another was wounded when they were fired on by the warden of an allegedly abusive Texas jail and his brother last week.Michael Sheppard – the warden of West Texas Detention Facility, a privately-owned jail which once housed migrants detained by the federal government – and Mark Sheppard each face a charge of manslaughter after the 27 September shooting in rural Hudspeth county, roughy 90 miles (145km) from El Paso.The Associated Press contributed reporting Continue reading...

Death toll likely to increase as questions raised over whether officials in some parts of Florida ordered evacuations in timeThe death toll from Hurricane Ian has climbed past 80 as embattled residents in Florida and the Carolinas face a recovery expected to cost tens of billions of dollars, and some officials faced criticism over their response to the storm.The death toll was expected to keep rising as flood waters receded and search teams pushed further into areas initially cut off from the outside world. Hundreds of people have been rescued as emergency workers sifted through homes and buildings inundated with water or completely washed away. Continue reading...

Glen Ellis put down his camera in the middle of a TV live cross and ran to help families fleeing rising flood waters in Naples, Florida, as Hurricane Ian raged on 28 September. Sunrise host David Koch was heard asking if everything was OK. 7News correspondent Tim Lester confirmed the crew was fine, adding that it was 'an enormous storm'. The National Hurricane Center said Hurricane Ian had developed into an 'extremely dangerous' Category 4 hurricane at the time. The National Weather Service warned of extreme flooding and potential winds up to 110mph

Michael Fanone makes candid and profane remarks about Republicans in Rolling Stone interview as he promotes memoirIn an extraordinarily candid and profane interview with Rolling Stone, Michael Fanone – the former Washington police officer who was seriously hurt at the US Capitol during the January 6 attack – called the Republican House leader, potentially the next speaker, a “fucking weasel bitch”.Fanone said past Republican giants would be unimpressed with Kevin McCarthy. Continue reading...

Former CIA director and retired army general says Moscow’s leader is ‘desperate’ and ‘battlefield reality he faces is irreversible’The US and its allies would destroy Russia’s troops and equipment in Ukraine – as well as sink its Black Sea fleet – if Russian president Vladimir Putin uses nuclear weapons in the country, former CIA director and retired four-star army general David Petraeus warned on Sunday.Petreaus said that he had not spoken to national security adviser Jake Sullivan on the likely US response to nuclear escalation from Russia, which administration officials have said has been repeatedly communicated to Moscow. Continue reading...

Fema administrator says people should ‘make informed decisions’ about rebuilding in areas hit by natural disastersUS Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) administrator Deanne Criswell asked Americans on Sunday “to make informed decisions” about rebuilding in vulnerable areas hit by natural disasters intensified by climate change.“People need to understand what their potential risk my be whether it’s along the coast, inland along a riverbed or in tornado alley,” Criswell told CNN’s Face the Nation. “People need to make informed decisions about what their risk is and if they choose to rebuild there they do so in a way that’s going to reduce their threat.” Continue reading...

The California governor insists he’s not running – but his recent moves suggest national aspirationsGavin Newsom has paid for billboard banners in Mississippi, Texas and several other Republican-run states in the lead up to the November midterms. The California governor’s campaign has aired TV advertisements in Florida, and he’s challenged the state’s governor, Ron DeSantis, to a nationally televised debate.No, he’s not running for president. At least, not officially. Continue reading...

SB202 is forcing officials and voting rights groups to use every resource to ensure elections run smoothlyIn 2021, the Election Integrity Act sent shockwaves across Georgia as citizens learned of new restrictions, such as curbing the way churches could provide pizza and water to voters. However, there are much broader effects of the bill being felt across the state as communities across Georgia prepare for midterm elections, the first major election since the signing of the controversial bill.The 98-page bill, also called SB202, impacts a litany of election elements ranging from voter ID laws to the distance at which food and water can be distributed to voters waiting in line. Election officials say they are being forced to use every resource at their disposal to navigate the bill and ensure this election season runs smoothly. But there is widespread concern that the new law will create fresh barriers to voters of color and the changing Georgia electorate. Continue reading...

It is four years since his killing, but my fight for justice continues. I need details about the plot and the technology that was exploitedOn this day four years ago, the world lost a brilliant thought leader, journalist, husband, father and grandfather: Jamal Khashoggi. As his widow, my loss was compounded by the obfuscation of exactly what happened in the days and weeks leading up to his premeditated murder.Key pieces of evidence that hold these answers rest in Jamal’s personal devices: two mobile telephones, a laptop and a tablet. I believe those devices will reveal previously undisclosed details about Jamal’s murder that are critical to knowing the full truth and advancing the cause of justice. Those devices are in the possession of the government of Turkey.Hanan El Khashoggi is the widow of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist who was killed on 2 October 2018 at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, TurkeyDo 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

Liz Truss is unashamed about a plan that will hit even the middle classes hard. But her party’s drift away from them began long agoAs Liz Truss stumbled through last week’s disastrous round of interviews with local radio stations, Basingstoke’s United Reformed church was giving away bread. Loaves donated by local supermarkets were arranged on a set of metal shelves covered by a tarpaulin. Every so often, someone would gingerly walk up and help themselves, before turning their attention to the hot food that was also available: soup, risotto and stew, cooked by a group of spirited volunteers. They told me that the town’s levels of need were suddenly increasing fast, and they were now feeding whole families.A few yards away, I met Peter. Now retired, he had worked for the telecoms giant Motorola, a once-sizeable local employer that closed its Basingstoke operation in 2017. Rocketing bills, he told me, meant he was now limiting himself to two hours of TV a night, rationing lighting, keeping his heating off, and wearing sweaters and fleeces whenever he was indoors. Among the items in his shopping bag was a baguette he had got from the church. Continue reading...

Representatives seek delay in court proceeding over Khashoggi murder after news crown prince has been named prime ministerThe Biden administration is seeking a 45-day delay in a court proceeding in which it has been asked by a US judge whether it believes Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman should be granted sovereign immunity in a case involving the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.Representatives from the US justice department said in a legal notice filed on Friday that the department was seeking the extension after Saudi Arabia announced in a press release last week that Prince Mohammed had been named prime minister. Continue reading...

Will your small business face greater scrutiny from the IRS? Will your tax bill go up as a result? The answer to both questions: don’t panicThe tax man is receiving a whopping $80bn thanks to the Biden administration’s recently passed Inflation Reduction Act. Some people are losing it.“It’s a middle finger to the American public,” says Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis. Small business will be the first to suffer, Joe Hinchman, executive vice-president at the National Taxpayers Union Foundation, told the New York Post. “The IRS [Internal Revenue Service] will have to target small and medium businesses because they won’t fight back,” he said. “We’ve seen this play out before … the IRS says, ‘We’re going after the rich’ but when you’re trying to raise that much money, the rich can only get you so far.” Continue reading...

A record share of the nation’s wealth is in the hands of billionaires, who pay a lower tax rate than the average American. This is indefensibleOn Tuesday, the Congressional Budget Office released a study of trends in the distribution of family wealth between 1989 and 2019.Over those 30 years, the richest 1% of families increased their share of total national wealth from 27% to 34%. Families in the bottom half of the economy now hold a mere 2%.Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is professor of public policy at the University of California, 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...

Malcolm Kenyatta talks to the Guardian about why the deadly incident at Roxborough high school hit him like a ‘gut punch’A day after a shooting killed a 14-year-old boy and wounded four other children following a football scrimmage at Philadelphia’s Roxborough high school, Malcolm Kenyatta visited his alma mater to talk to students and staffers for the first time in more than a year.It had been well over a decade since Kenyatta, a 32-year-old Black state legislator in Pennsylvania representing north Philadelphia, roamed those same halls as an ambitious student-body president. One of Pennsylvania’s youngest legislators and its first openly gay lawmaker of color, since he was elected in 2018, Kenyatta has advocated for reducing gun violence in a state where Republicans have long dominated the legislature despite having a Democratic governor. Continue reading...

Group allegedly discussed paramilitary training and ‘quick reaction force’ to get weapons to Capitol quickly on January 6The highest-profile prosecution to stem from the January 6 attack on the US Capitol gets under way on Monday in Washington DC, where the founder and four members of the far-right Oath Keepers group will stand trial in federal court on civil war-era charges of seditious conspiracy.It’s a high-stakes trial for the US government, which will attempt to prove that Stewart Rhodes and his associates spent weeks marshaling members of the group to prepare to use violence to deny the certification of the 2016 election and keep Donald Trump in the White House. Continue reading...

With repression at home and aggression abroad, the imperial ambitions of China’s ‘paramount leader’ should worry the worldLike fearsome dictators throughout history, Xi Jinping has a tender side. He loves his mum. In a touching puff piece on Mother’s Day this year, state TV showed China’s strongman president strolling hand in hand with 96-year-old Qi Xin, a Communist party veteran and proud mother of the paramount leader.

Seven people died in 1982 after taking painkillers from bottle someone – police do not know who – had slipped cyanide pills intoForty years after the infamous Tylenol murders killed her father and two other close relatives, a Wisconsin woman refuses to take the popular pain pills.Kasia Janus also always verifies products are properly sealed before she buys anything at stores, she said in a recently published series of interviews with CNN that described the gut-wrenching legacy left behind for her by the unsolved Tylenol killings, which made tampering with medications as well as other consumer goods a federal crime but remain unsolved. Continue reading...

The movie, and TV shows like it, merely add women’s mental and physical suffering to the misogynist mixThere is scarcely a scene in Blonde, Netflix’s new Marilyn biopic, in which Monroe is not topless, crying, being raped or having a forced abortion. Thinking gritty realism? Think again. The whole thing is shot in dreamy high-glamour soft focus, with arty choices and the occasional cameo from a squeaky-voiced foetus. As for realism, some of this stuff didn’t even happen – there is no evidence for the abortions, for example – and much is left out. Filmmaker Andrew Dominik told interviewers Monroe’s activism and success wresting control from a male-dominated industry – forming her own production company, for example – were “not so interesting to me”.At present there’s something of a fetish for biopics about exploited female celebrities, which tout themselves as feminist while dwelling lasciviously on the suffering of their subjects. Take Pam & Tommy, about the famous sex tape, or Judy, which portrays Judy Garland in her last days, or the endless revisiting of the unravellings of Princess Diana, in ever tighter closeup.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk Continue reading...

The polls show where this is headed, and it will take years to repair the harm done to the economyKwasi Kwarteng’s anything-but-mini budget was one of the most dramatic shifts in UK economic policy that we have ever seen – a bigger change, perhaps, than if Boris Johnson had been succeeded by Keir Starmer rather than Liz Truss.The new government is focused on the right objective – to increase the underlying rate of growth in the UK economy, which has been too low since the global financial crisis. If we don’t find a way to address this, successive governments are going to be faced with a choice between not adequately funding public services or doing so at the price of a growing and politically unpopular tax burden. Increasing the growth rate will make politics easier whether you are on the centre-right or centre-left. Continue reading...

Siamak Namazi, convicted along with father on espionage charges, freed from Evin prison on one-week renewable furloughAn Iranian American businessman who has been imprisoned in Iran for nearly seven years has been released from Tehran’s Evin prison on a one-week, renewable furlough, the United Nations announced on Saturday.The release of detainee Siamak Namazi comes as his father, Baquer Namazi, is being allowed to leave Iran for medical treatment, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a statement. Continue reading...