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A suddenly distorted wide receiver market – thanks, Jacksonville! – turned a position once considered an NFL draft afterthought into the focal point of Thursday’s first round

A 19-hour journey from New York to Chicago filled me with wonder. Partly, as in the UK, at the priceAmtrak trains leave New York from the Moynihan Train Hall, a vast Beaux Arts building that used to house the city’s main post office. Like its equivalents in London – Paddington or St Pancras – it is designed to give travellers a sense of soaring possibility, the first stage in a journey that might take them anywhere. Last week, over Easter, my two seven-year-olds and I boarded a train at Moynihan for the 19-hour journey to Chicago. We could barely have been more excited if we’d been setting out in covered wagons.The romance of train travel is an anachronism that climate activists are keen to revive, but it’s a tough sell. In the US, the national train network is slow, patchy and underfunded. Amtrak teeters, apparently indefinitely, on the brink of bankruptcy, requiring multiple government subsidies – the latest, in November last year, totalled $66bn. In Britain, the issue is cost, too, although it’s one largely borne by the consumer. Andy Burnham’s recent Twitter fury about the cost of rail fares between London and Manchester – £369 for a last-minute return, which, as the mayor of Manchester pointed out, might buy you a return flight to Brazil – highlighted an exorbitant system so riven with fare rules as to make it unusable beyond the narrowest of circumstances.Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

The bolide, which disintegrated in Louisiana, was also reportedly spotted in Arkansas and MississippiA loud boom prefaced a streaking fireball spotted in three Southern states, scientists confirmed Thursday.More than 30 people in Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi reported seeing the exceptionally bright meteor in the sky around 8am Wednesday after hearing loud booms in Claiborne county, Mississippi, and surrounding areas, Nasa reported. It was first spotted 54 miles (87 km) above the Mississippi River, near Alcorn, Mississippi, officials said. Continue reading...

Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert among those poised to receive letters requesting voluntary cooperation, sources sayThe House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol is expected to issue letters requesting voluntary cooperation from House minority leader Kevin McCarthy and around a dozen other Republican members of Congress, according to two sources familiar with the matter.The panel intends to issue a letter to McCarthy – the top House Republican – and is considering further letters to Scott Perry, Jim Jordan, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Mo Brooks, Lauren Boebert, Andy Biggs, as well as some Republican senators, the sources said. Continue reading...

President’s request includes over $20bn in military aid, $8.5bn in economic aid to Kyiv and $3bn in humanitarian relief

Effort to ‘help prevent children from becoming the next generation of smokers’ likely to face stiff opposition from big tobaccoThe US Food and Drug Administration on Thursday issued a long-awaited proposal to ban menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars, a major victory for anti-smoking advocates but one that could dent sales at tobacco companies.The proposal, which comes a year after the agency announced the plan, still needs to be finalized, and could take years to implement as it is likely to face stiff opposition from big tobacco. Continue reading...

It’s peculiar that we think certain elements about ourselves are set in stone, even if there’s no real evidence to suggest thatFor the last year I’ve been going to the physio once or twice every week, a by-product of having hips and knees that tend to seize up like elastic bands that have been pulled too tight. What began as a demoralising routine of strength tests and painful needling, has recently felt triumphant: I’m completing increasingly strenuous rehab exercises – successfully completing them. I’m not only in less pain, but I’m stronger than I thought I was.“You’re the dux of rehab,” my best friend Brigid texted when I bragged about graduating to another difficulty level. I was in no position to disagree. Continue reading...

Make or Break’s behind-the-scenes look at the World Surf League engages fans and non-fans alike even if some hard questions remain ignoredThere is a moment early in the first episode of Make or Break, a new series from Apple TV+ about the World Surf League, when Tyler Wright neatly encapsulates the tension at the heart of professional surfing. “We come from a sport of, ‘aww we’re hippies’,” says the Australian surfer, a two-time WSL champion. “We’re not. We’re competitive little assholes.”Surfing has long grappled with this bipolar identity; a sport initially beloved by the counter-culture movement that grew popular, some would say too popular, on the back of booming commercial and competitive success. Make or Break, an entertaining seven-part series, is the latest attempt by the surfing elite to capitalise on its popularity. Given the show has already been renewed for a second season – before it even went to air – they will most likely succeed. Continue reading...

Bill approved without discussion or debate now heads to the Republican governor, Kevin Stitt, who is expected to sign itThe Oklahoma house gave final approval on Thursday to a Texas-style abortion ban that prohibits the procedure after about six weeks of pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant.The bill approved by the GOP-led house on a 68-12 vote without discussion or debate now heads to the Republican governor, Kevin Stitt, who is expected to sign it within days. The assault on abortion rights is one of several culture-war issues conservatives in GOP-led states have embraced, like restricting LGBTQ+ rights, that drive the party’s base in an election year. Continue reading...

Seattle came back from a two-goal deficit amid a hostile atmosphere as they attempted to score a rare continental triumph for MLSWhen it comes to the Pumas UNAM, the only certainty is uncertainty. In that sense, Wednesday night’s first-leg of the Concacaf Champions League final lived up to its billing in a match filled with surprises, twists and VAR-filled drama. By the time the final whistle blew, the Pumas had thrown away a two-goal lead in a 2-2 draw that felt like a loss for a team who departed the Estadio Olímpico Universitario wondering what could have been. In contrast, Seattle head home for the second leg upbeat after escaping what had looked like a heavy defeat.Drama peppered the match: four VAR reviews, and the same number of penalties, the last of which was scored in the ninth minute of added time by Nicolás Lodeiro to give the Sounders a crucial draw. Continue reading...

After prosecutors dropped criminal charges against Moses for trying to register to vote, I met her in person – and learned what’s next now that her case is overHello, and Happy Thursday,I’ve been closely following the criminal case against Pamela Moses, who was sentenced to six years in prison for trying to register to vote, for the last few months. But on Monday I met her in person for the first time. Continue reading...

Move could thwart state’s retaliation against company’s opposition to ‘don’t say gay’ lawDisney has told investors that attempts by the state of Florida to repeal the company’s ability to operate a private government in the state are unlawful, in a move that could thwart Florida’s retaliation against Disney’s opposition to a “don’t say gay” law.Ron DeSantis, Florida’s governor, has pushed legislation that would eliminate the Disney-operated Reedy Creek Improvement district, a move which would have huge financial implications for the company. Continue reading...

On Saturday night, Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano will earn $1m apiece for their bout. The pioneering Jane Couch and the promoter Eddie Hearn reflect on the rise of female fightersEddie Hearn and Jane Couch could hardly be more different but they are united this week by a shared disbelief and delight. As we approach the landmark moment on Saturday night when Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano step into the ring at Madison Square Garden in New York to contest the most significant and lucrative fight in the history of women’s boxing, the promoter and the pioneer sound relieved and ecstatic.Twenty-four years ago Couch won her case against the British Boxing Board of Control when the high court ruled that she should become the first woman in the UK to be granted a licence to box professionally. Until then the BBBC had banned women from the ring on the basis that they were too frail and “emotionally unstable” to box, owing to their menstrual cycle. Continue reading...

Some Republicans in Congress allegedly considered using martial law to keep Trump in office. Thankfully our institutions have held the lineThis week has seen developments in two important legal battles. At stake is whether we are a society ruled by law or not. Without law, we face not survival of the fittest but survival of the fiercest – those most willing to use intimidation, force and violence to get their way.First, a New York judge held Donald Trump in contempt for stiffing a subpoena from the state attorney general, Letitia James, for documents relating to her civil investigation of the Trump Organization. She is investigating Trump’s businesses for allegedly inflating financial statements to lenders. Continue reading...

Twitter is less like a ‘town square’ and more like any Starbucks, McDonalds, or shopping center. It has other obligations and interests that are at odds with completely unfettered speechOn Tuesday, as Elon Musk just started to learn how difficult his new part-time job as owner of Twitter would be, he thought to tweet out a policy pronouncement about his new toy.“The extreme antibody reaction from those who fear free speech says it all,” Musk declared, either amused or annoyed by those of us who consider him dangerous or unworthy of running a major global communication platform that has been a tool for harassment, disinformation and conspiracy-theory promotion since its inception in 2006.Siva Vaidhyanathan is a professor of media studies at the University of Virginia and the author of Antisocial Media: How Facebook Disconnects Us and Undermines Democracy Continue reading...

The actor’s response to criticism of The First Lady is astonishingly thin-skinned and misses our role in building dialogue and serving readersIt’s hard to see your idols torn down unfairly but it’s also galling when they attempt to tear you down without just cause. I am a Viola Davis fan; many of her performances have been majestic and the critics have often crowded round to say so, as far as I can tell.But some have not been kind about her portrayal of Michelle Obama in The First Lady and now she has said that critics “absolutely serve no purpose”, although her defenders suggest the comment refers to critics on Twitter, not the entire body of criticism.Arifa Akbar is the Guardian’s chief theatre critic Continue reading...

To avoid more people suffering, the UK government must ban this abhorrent practice outright, not only for gay peopleYou hear it all the time, the question: “When did you know you were trans?” The question should really be: “When did I know that the rest of the world didn’t behave in the same way as I did?”When I came out at 14, more than 30 years ago, my mother thought I was gay and confused. She thought that if I could just learn to pee standing up and toughened up a bit, there wouldn’t be a problem. Continue reading...

Russian leader says any country that intervenes will be hit with ‘lightning-fast’ retaliation as UK calls for more support for Kyiv. Plus, global measles cases surge by 80% in a year

From February until just this week, Mexico has been the second-to-last stop on a journey to a semblance of normalcy for Ukrainian familiesJust over the zigzag pathway of the Tijuana border crossing, a mile or so from the taco and churros stands that feed locals and tourists alike, rests a pop-up encampment for Ukrainian and Russian refugees fleeing an invasion they could neither endure nor support.From February until just this week, Mexico has been their second-to-last stop in a weeks-long journey; Tijuana a two- or three-day respite on the way to something better, something safer, where their children can slowly work toward normalcy after their lives were upended by war. Continue reading...

A slew of bills are rolling back recently won freedoms. Is America ready to fight for LGBTQ+ rights all over again?In 2019, the Atlantic ran an opinion piece titled “The struggle for gay rights is over”. Written by the rightwing academic James Kirchick, the piece was obviously meant as a provocation, but its argument that “for those born into a form of adversity, sometimes the hardest thing to do is admitting that they’ve won” was at least considered cogent enough at the time to publish.It came towards the end of a slew of political victories for the LGBTQ+ cause. At that time, it seemed as though the US supreme court would hand down a landmark ruling immediately before Pride Weekend every couple of years. The demise of the homophobic Defense of Marriage Act in 2013 was followed by the end of the federal ban on marriage equality in 2015. Widespread acceptance of same-sex marriage rights, gay people serving in the military and the need for protections for LGBTQ+ people followed. As recently as 2020, the court, then with two Trump appointees, ruled that the 1964 Civil Rights Act protected gay, lesbian and transgender workers. For all the terrible crises of our century, LGBTQ+ people’s rights were solidly enshrined, and attitudes were shifting in line with legislation. In 1985, 89% of parents said they would be sad if they discovered their child was gay or a lesbian. By 2015, it was down to 39%. Continue reading...

Charles McCrory has spent decades in prison for the murder of his wife, convicted on the strength of bite mark evidence. The problem? CSI-style forensics is bad scienceCharles McCrory is haunted by a memory from his 1985 trial in which he was accused of murdering his wife, Julie Bonds, in a bloody attack at their home in Andalusia, a small town in deepest Alabama.What haunts him is the look on the jurors’ faces as they listened to the testimony of the prosecution’s star witness, a dentist named Richard Souviron. He was a founding father of a cutting-edge branch of forensic science known as bite-mark analysis, which claimed to be able to identify violent criminals by matching their unique dental patterns to the bite wounds on victims’ bodies. Continue reading...

Our writers take a look at the best prospects coming out of college, and which teams need to get it right in the coming daysThis is a great draft class! It is unusually loaded at edge rusher and offensive tackle, two of the game’s premier positions. Where discussing this class gets sticky is that there are such slender gaps between the upper tiers of any given position group: there isn’t an obvious ‘elite’ sect. There are 50 players this year worthy of going in the first round. It just so happens they don’t play the game’s most valuable position. OC Continue reading...

Report released by Minnesota’s human rights department says agency and city will negotiate an agreement to address problemsThe Minneapolis police department has engaged in a pattern of racial discrimination for at least a decade, including stopping and arresting Black people at a higher rate than white people, using force more often on people of color and maintaining a culture where racist language is tolerated, a state investigation launched after George Floyd’s murder by an officer found.The report released Wednesday by the Minnesota department of human rights, following a nearly two-year investigation, said the agency and the city would negotiate a court-enforceable agreement to address the long list of problems identified in the report. Continue reading...

Plea agreement filed in federal court calls for Louis Enrique Colon to admit to a single felony charge and cooperate with prosecutorsA member of the far-right Proud Boys group on Wednesday pleaded guilty to obstructing police officers when he joined the 6 January 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol by supporters of then-president Donald Trump, in their attempt to overturn his election defeat.The plea agreement filed in federal court in Washington, DC, calls for Louis Enrique Colon of Missouri to admit to a single felony charge and cooperate with prosecutors. Continue reading...

US leaders reflect on legacy of US secretary of state as family shared memories at Washington National CathedralPresidents and dignitaries gathered in Washington on Wednesday to remember Madeleine Albright, the first woman to serve as US secretary of state, while drawing upon her life’s work to warn of the increasing precariousness of freedom and democracy.Family members and colleagues of Albright shared loving and affectionate memories of her during the funeral service at Washington National Cathedral, while US leaders reflected on her legacy. Continue reading...

Legal fight over process could be a factor in the battle between Democrats and Republicans for control of the HouseNew York’s highest court on Wednesday rejected the state’s new congressional district maps, which had been widely seen as favoring Democrats.The legal fight over New York’s redistricting process could be a factor in the battle between Democrats and Republicans for control of the US House. Continue reading...

Consulting firm was protecting client confidentiality, chief says, and wasn’t obliged to disclose work advising drug manufacturerThe head of the influential and secretive consulting firm McKinsey & Company has denied the company illegally hid work for Purdue Pharma, the drug-maker that kickstarted the opioid epidemic, while also advising for the Food and Drug Administration.But Bob Sternfels, McKinsey’s global managing partner, apologised for the company’s work with Purdue, manufacturer of the powerful painkiller OxyContin that initially drove an epidemic that has claimed more than one million lives over the past two decades. Continue reading...

Fears grow in UK that any proposals could downgrade workers’ rights despite assurances on both sidesBritain’s trade talks with the US are moving ahead with only “minimal” input from workers, small businesses and thinktanks, according to MPs who accused the UK trade secretary, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, of shielding her department from outside scrutiny.Conservative and Labour MPs on the trade select committee also said scrutiny of a deal struck with Australia and New Zealand was in danger of being “rushed through” parliament before they could make an assessment of its impact on imports and exports to and from the Commonwealth countries. Continue reading...

Ex-president also testifies that thrown tomatoes can be lethal, after activist sues over his treatment by Trump securityDonald Trump has revealed in sworn testimony that he hired Matthew Calamari, a senior executive in the Trump Organization at the time an activist alleges he was roughed up by Trump’s security team, as a bodyguard after seeing him demonstrate “bravery” in a fight at a tennis competition.Trump discussed Calamari in a deposition for a civil lawsuit brought by Efrain Galicia, the activist who alleged the incident occurred while he was protesting outside Trump Tower in 2015. Continue reading...

Ex-president found to be in contempt after failure to comply with subpoena in New York state attorney general’s fraud investigationDonald Trump is appealing the contempt of court order he received from a Manhattan judge that fines him $10,000 a day for failing to comply with a subpoena, according to documents filed Wednesday.The contempt order was issued in the civil investigation by New York state attorney Letitia James into the former president’s business practices. On 7 April, James asked Judge Arthur Engoron to hold Trump in contempt of court for not turning over documents and information she had subpoenaed as part of the investigation. Continue reading...

Vladimir Putin’s frustration is leading him to escalate Russia’s confrontation with the westSteadily, ominously, the stakes are rising in the confrontation that Vladimir Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine has provoked with the west. Russia’s state energy company Gazprom halted gas supplies to two EU member states – Poland and Bulgaria – on Wednesday and warned that more countries could be similarly targeted. Poland, with good reason, described this as a “direct attack”. Moscow is also talking darkly of delivering a “proportionate response” to the demonisation of Russia by western governments. On Tuesday, Mr Putin’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, accused Nato of “engaging in a war with Russia through a proxy”. The risk of nuclear escalation, he said, was becoming “considerable”.Economic warfare and apocalyptic threats can be read as signs of Russia’s bitter frustration at the way events have unfolded since February. The scale and practical value of western solidarity with Ukraine – in the form of sanctions, financial aid and military assistance – have come as an unpleasant surprise to the Kremlin. The humiliating failure of Mr Putin’s initial plan to capture Kyiv and topple the Ukrainian government was down to the bravery and skill of those who fought to defend their country. But external military assistance was crucial in giving the country’s armed forces sufficient means to resist. Continue reading...

Judge says he needs more time to determine a punishment and orders Alexander Jerich to write 25-page essay on 2016 massacreA Florida judge has ordered a man who defaced an LGBTQ+ Pride mural to write a 25-page essay about the 2016 Pulse gay nightclub shooting.Last June, the city of Delray Beach in south Florida unveiled a rainbow mural at an intersection on the fifth anniversary of the attack, in which a gunman killed 49 people at the club in Orlando. Continue reading...

State lawmaker claims it’s his nickname – but he struggles to spell it and opponent says he doesn’t use itA state Republican lawmaker who wanted to refer to himself as “The Patriot” on the ballot can’t use that nickname, the Oklahoma Election Board has ruled.Sean Roberts can still run for Oklahoma labor commissioner, but he can’t refer to himself using that nickname on the ballot, the board decided Monday. Continue reading...

Boxers Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano faced off on top of the Empire State Building to launch an historic fight week. Seven-division world champion Serrano, will go head to head with undisputed lightweight champion Taylor on Saturday night at the iconic Madison Square Garden.This fight is already making history as 'the biggest female fight of all time', as it looks to put female boxing more firmly on the map.

Bill Hwang and Patrick Halligan accused of 11 criminal counts in case likely to trigger one of biggest recent Wall Street prosecutionsUS prosecutors charged the founder and chief financial officer of collapsed investor Archegos Capital Management with fraud on Wednesday morning in a move that is likely to start one of the biggest Wall Street white-collar prosecutions in years.Archegos founder Bill Hwang and his former top lieutenant, Patrick Halligan, were arrested at their homes and are expected to appear in court later today. Continue reading...

The Puerto Rican lightweight who headlines Madison Square Garden with Katie Taylor on Saturday hopes this is just the startAmanda Serrano is on top of the world – that’s how it feels, anyway, standing on the 86th-floor observation deck of the Empire State Building on a misty Tuesday afternoon. As the seven-division champion from Brooklyn’s Bushwick neighbourhood poses for photographs, the city unspools behind her, offering an evocative glimpse of Madison Square Garden. In the storied venue’s 140 years of hosting boxing, a women’s fight has never headlined a card – until Saturday night, when Serrano will climb through the ropes to challenge Ireland’s Katie Taylor for the undisputed lightweight championship.The fight has been billed as the biggest in women’s boxing history – perhaps in recent boxing history, period. Serrano and Taylor are the world’s top two female boxers regardless of weight. The last time the pound-for-pound No 1 and No 2 squared off was more than a decade ago when Manny Pacquiao defeated Juan Manuel Márquez by split decision in 2008. Continue reading...

Leaked recording shows senior House Republican said Florida congressman Matt Gaetz and others put Americans at riskKevin McCarthy, the senior Republican in the House of Representatives, privately accused one of his colleagues of “putting people in jeopardy” in the wake of the January 6 insurrection, according to a leaked audio recording.In a phone call with Republican leaders on 10 January 2021, McCarthy said that Matt Gaetz, a Florida congressman and ardent Trump supporter, was putting Americans at risk with his comments after the assault on the US Capitol that left five people dead. Continue reading...

Kremlin accused of blackmail while Gazprom claims supply halted because of failure to pay in roubles. Plus, Santa takes on Sarah Palin

There’s a strong risk that the case will spark anger and violence – whether the court overturns Roe v Wade or notCivil wars don’t always begin with gunfire. Sometimes civil wars begin with learned arguments. In April 1861, Confederate forces shot on Fort Sumter, but at the time even Jefferson Davis, the Confederate president, had doubts about whether the event mattered all that much. It was, he claimed, “either the beginning of a fearful war, or the end of a political contest”; he could not say which. During the decades that preceded the assault on Fort Sumter, complex legal and political fissures had been working their way through the United States, slowly rendering the country ungovernable and opening the path to mass violence.The US is the middle of another such legal crackup, this time over the question of abortion. The courts today face the crisis American courts faced in the 1850s: is there any way to make laws for a country with furious and widening differences in fundamental values?Stephen Marche is the author, most recently, of The Next Civil War: Dispatches from the American Future Continue reading...

Resolutions to be voted on at shareholder meeting including stopping global sales of product and racial justice auditWomen’s health groups are calling on Johnson & Johnson’s largest shareholders to force the company to end all sales of its controversial talc-based baby powder and hire an independent firm to conduct a racial justice audit.The pressure comes after decades of independent science suggested a link between ovarian cancer and baby powder, and the Food and Drug Administration detected cancer-causing asbestos in one lot of the product. Internal company memos show Johnson & Johnson for years marketed it to African American and overweight women and, the groups charge, knew of the asbestos contamination. Continue reading...