PoliticsAxiosMcConnell: "Highly unlikely" he would allow Biden to fill Supreme Court vacancy in 2024
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told radio host Hugh Hewitt on Monday that it is "highly unlikely" a Supreme Court nominee picked by Biden would be confirmed in 2024 if Republicans take control of the Senate. Why it matters: A record number of judges, plus three Supreme Court justices, were confirmed under Trump. What they're saying: Hewitt asked if McConnell would block Biden from filling a 2024 Supreme Court vacancy as he blocked Obama from replacing the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
U.S.NBC NewsSlaying of mother, son highlights legacy of powerful South Carolina dynasty
For nearly a century, fathers of three generations of the Murdaugh family wielded power as South Carolina's top prosecutor for a cluster of counties in a swampy coastal region known as the Lowcountry. The family's fingerprints have been on countless cases tied to the legal system in the Lowcountry. The State newspaper of Columbia noted in 2019 that they helped to put thousands of people in prison and sent more than a dozen to death row and that "year after year, the family law firm in Hampton has won millions of dollars in civil lawsuits, relentlessly pursuing those at fault in fatal collisions."
- WorldAssociated Press
Malaysia expels Frenchman accused of inspiring kidnapping
A Frenchman accused of inspiring the kidnapping in eastern France of a girl whose mother had lost custody was expelled by Malaysia on Sunday. France had issued an Interpol arrest notice for Remy Daillet-Wiedemann, who was detained on immigration charges by Malaysia after living in the Southeast Asian country for several years. Daillet, his pregnant partner and children were placed on a commercial flight on Sunday, a Malaysian official said.
WorldReutersU.N. readies for more displaced Afghans after troop withdrawal
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -The United Nations is preparing for a likely further displacement of civilians in Afghanistan after U.S. and international troops leave the country in September, U.N. refugee chief Filippo Grandi told Reuters on Monday. Violence has been rising as foreign forces begin withdrawing and efforts to broker a peace settlement between the Afghan government and insurgent Taliban have slowed. Grandi pointed to a deadly attack last week on an international demining organization in northern Afghanistan, which killed 10 people.
- PoliticsThe Week
SCOTUS deals a gutting blow to federal criminal justice reform
Yet it made some important changes, like offering a path to retroactive sentencing adjustment for some people serving unduly onerous prison terms, often thanks to now-rescinded mandatory minimum rules that forced judges to issue harsh sentences for certain convictions, especially anything to do with crack cocaine. On Monday, the Supreme Court unanimously dealt that reform a gutting blow. All nine justices held in Terry v.
PoliticsCBS NewsBidens surprise UK churchgoers by showing up to Mass
President Joe Biden and his wife, first lady Jill Biden, surprised locals in Falmouth, England when they dropped into Sacred Heart Catholic Church for Sunday service. The Bidens are in Cornwall, England for the Group of Seven – or G7 – summit, but locals were shocked to see the U.S. president at church ahead of the summit's final day. "I think gobsmacked is probably a very true word," Annie Fitzpatrick, who was at the service, told the Associated Press.
ScienceWashington ExaminerEvidence mounts Wuhan lab studied live bats despite denials
Evidence that includes newly unearthed Chinese government video continues to mount indicating the Wuhan Institute of Virology studied live bats in its lab, despite longtime lab collaborator Peter Daszak calling this a “conspiracy theory." Footage obtained and released by the Australian and Sky News was purportedly shot from inside the Wuhan lab and shows live bats kept in cages. The video was reportedly produced and released by the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2017 to tout the opening and launch of the Wuhan lab's then-new biosafety level four laboratory.
PoliticsArchitectural Digest16 of the Most Charming Lake House Rentals on Airbnb
Where the air is fresh and the vibes are immaculate Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
U.S.ReutersU.S. Supreme Court rejects white supremacists' challenge to anti-riot law
(Reuters) -The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday turned away a free speech challenge to a federal anti-riot law brought by two members of a militant white supremacist group who pleaded guilty to crimes related to a deadly 2017 rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. The justices declined to hear appeals by the two California men, Michael Miselis and Benjamin Daley, of a lower court ruling that upheld their convictions under the 1968 Anti-Riot Act but also deemed some parts of the law a violation of the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment guarantee of freedom of speech. Miselis and Daley were members of the Southern California-based Rise Above Movement, a white supremacist group that billed itself as "combat-ready" and whose purpose was to engage in violent attacks on counter-protesters at various political rallies.
HealthThe WeekThe Delta variant is producing different COVID-19 symptoms than usual, researchers say
The COVID-19 strain fueling infections across the U.K. is linked to a different set of symptoms, including headache, sore throat, and runny nose, BBC reported on Monday. The Delta variant, which was first found in India, now accounts for 90 percent of U.K. cases. Professor Tim Spector, leader of the Zoe COVID Symptom Study, said top symptoms since the start of May are "not the same as they were" previously.
U.S.NBC NewsFire at Illinois chemical plant could cause 'environmental nightmare'
Flames engulfed a chemical plant in Northern Illinois on Monday, forcing the evacuation of neighbors, sending massive plumes of smoke into the sky and threatening an "environmental nightmare," authorities said. Anyone living within a mile of the Chemtool Inc. plant in Rockton was ordered to vacate after flames were reported at about 7 a.m. CT, police and fire officials said. Explosions could be heard around the neighborhood, James Berger of Rockton said.
U.S.Kansas City StarKansas City man charged with murder after bystander was killed during police pursuit
A 30-year-old Kansas City man is accused of murder after he allegedly took police on a high-speed chase earlier this month and an innocent bystander was killed in a car wreck. Francois C. Orloff is charged with second-degree felony murder, resisting arrest by fleeing police and tampering with a motor vehicle. Prosecutors say other criminal charges may be filed against Orloff in the future.
WorldReutersFactbox-China, climate and vaccines - what the G7 agreed this weekend
The Group of Seven rich nations promised to tackle China's growing influence, fight climate change, get more COVID-19 jabs to poor countries and keep up their economic stimulus programmes at their first summit since Joe Biden became U.S. president. Following is a summary of the main points agreed by the leaders of the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada at their three-day meeting at a beachside hotel in southwest England which ended on Sunday. CLIMATE CHANGE - The G7 said it would meet a long overdue funding pledge of $100 billion a year by rich countries to help poorer ones cut emissions and cope with global warming.
- WorldFox News
North Korean defector says 'even North Korea was not this nuts' after attending Ivy League school
As American educational institutions continue to be called into question, a North Korean defector fears the United States' future "is as bleak as North Korea" after she attended one of the country's most prestigious universities. Yeonmi Park has experienced plenty of struggle and hardship, but she does not call herself a victim. One of several hundred North Korean defectors settled in the United States, Park, 27, transferred to Columbia University from a South Korean university in 2016 and was deeply disturbed by what she found.
U.S.TheGrioProtests continue outside of D.C. bar after a woman is dragged down stairs by her hair
Nellie's Sports Bar located in the Shaw neighborhood of Washington D.C. is under fire after a video went viral showing a security guard dragging a Black woman by her hair down a flight of stairs. The demonstrations started around 6:30 p.m. Sunday, with dozens of people rallying behind Keisha Young, 22, of Maryland, the woman seen being dragged out of the bar in video that was shared on Instagram. Young told the outlet that she did nothing to warrant the mistreatment during her visit to celebrate Pride month.
WorldNBC NewsChinese nuclear power plant investigating 'increase of gases' at reactor
A Chinese nuclear power plant is investigating an unusually high concentration of gases in one of its reactors, one of its owners said Monday. Reactor 1 at the vast Taishan power plant in Guandong province, north of Hong Kong, experienced an "increase in the concentration of certain rare gases in the primary circuit," according to the giant French energy company EDF, which holds a 30 percent stake in the plant's parent company. "The presence of certain rare gases in the primary circuit is a known phenomenon, studied and foreseen by the operating procedures of reactors," EDF said in statement on its website.
- WorldAssociated Press
Zambia's Kenneth Kaunda, 97, hospitalized amid virus surge
Zambia's first president Kenneth Kaunda, 97, has been admitted to hospital, his office announced Monday, as the southern African country battles a surge in COVID-19 cases. Kaunda asked for “all Zambians and the international community to pray for him as the medical team is doing everything possible to ensure that he recovers,” according to the statement issued by Kaunda's administrative assistant Rodrick Ngolo. The short statement did not specify the cause of Kaunda's illness, but Zambia is experiencing a surge in COVID-19 cases and the country's founding president was admitted to Maina Soko Medical Center, a treatment center for the disease in the capital, Lusaka.
- WorldReuters Videos
Father, son plead guilty to helping Ghosn flee Japan
An American father and son pleaded guilty in Tokyo on Monday (June 14), to charges that they illegally helped former Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn flee Japan more than a year ago. U.S. Army Special Forces veteran Michael Taylor and his son Peter, could now face up to three years in prison. Buses believed to be carrying the two were seen arriving in court on Monday.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderGOP Rep. Jim Jordan rips into Joe Biden for attending the same G-7, NATO summits with US allies that Trump went to multiple times
Rep. Jim Jordan appeared to criticize Biden on Monday for attending diplomatic summits in Europe. "While Biden pals around with his buddies in Europe, the border crisis rages at home," he tweeted. GOP Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio on Monday appeared to criticize President Joe Biden for attending the Group of Seven and NATO summits in recent days, saying that the president should instead focus his energies on the US-Mexico border.
U.S.Raleigh News and ObserverChances more likely a tropical storm will soon form in the Gulf. Here’s the forecast.
This would be the first tropical depression in the Gulf this hurricane season, which is expected to be more active than normal. The area of potential development in the Bay of Campeche will slowly move northward over waters in the western Gulf of Mexico that are 3 degrees above average for this time of year,” Gulf meteorologist Rocco Calaci says in a Monday morning update. This will accelerate development of this system into a tropical depression (minimum) or perhaps a moderate tropical storm.
U.S.TheGrioNY mom accused of throwing infant daughter, two-year-old son out of window
A Brooklyn, New York mother is being accused of throwing her toddler and infant out of a second floor window, before jumping herself. New York City police were called to the Rockaway Parkway near Winthrop Street apartment on Saturday around 11:24 a.m. The family has been hospitalized at Brookdale Hospital and is expected to survive, though the one-month-old girl is in critical condition, per New York Daily News. “I'm hearing screaming like somebody died,” said a neighbor, Dawn Allen, 42, about sounds heard coming from the apartment 24 hours before the incident.
U.S.The StateDiscovery of body ends search for missing 38-year-old at Joshua Tree, rangers say
Joshua Tree National Park officials found a body in the park days after they began searching for a missing man. Patrick Lynn Welz, a 38-year-old from Twentynine Palms, was last seen on June 5 leaving for a drive to Riverside to visit his father, according to the National Park Service. Five days later, he was reported missing to the National Park Service.
U.S.NBC NewsExtreme temperatures in the West to shatter records, raise alarm for wildfire conditions
Things are heating up in parts of the country, as a prolonged heat event threatens long-standing records and endangers millions of Americans' safety. About 43 million people across the West and the Southwest were under heat alerts Monday, with highs soaring 10 to 30 degrees above average throughout the week. Multiple cities are expected to shatter their daily record high temperatures with triple digits, including Phoenix and Tuscon in Arizona, and Salt Lake City.
TechnologyArchitectural Digest17 Last-Minute Father’s Day Gifts From Amazon He’ll Actually Want
So you don't lose your favorite-kid status Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
- NewsKTRK – Houston
Man shot 7 times during armed robbery in SW Houston, HPD says
The victim, who was hit in the chest, legs and hand, was going for his own firearm to defend himself when he was shot, police said.
“It may seem desperate at this point, but I can’t be mad at any and all efforts to get people vaccinated.”
“I won’t get rich, but I will get to live my life. That seems like reward enough.”
“Offering incentives may encourage people who are not actively opposed to vaccination but may have put it off.”
“At some point, the government is simply rewarding irresponsible behavior.”
“Sure, people should do it without needing an incentive. But what’s the alternative? Not enough people get vaccinated.”