U.S.Associated PressBiologists' fears confirmed on the lower Colorado River
Minutes later, the park service confirmed their worst fear: smallmouth bass had in fact been found and were likely reproducing in the Colorado River below Glen Canyon Dam. They may be a beloved sport fish, but smallmouth bass feast on humpback chub, an ancient, threatened fish that's native to the river, and that biologists like Arnold have been working hard to recover. The predators wreaked havoc in the upper river, but were held at bay in Lake Powell where Glen Canyon Dam has served as a barrier for years — until now.
U.S.PeopleElon Musk Had Twins Last Year with Exec Shivon Zilis Just Weeks Before His & Grimes' Baby Was Born
The 51-year-old Tesla CEO fathered twins with Shivon Zilis last November, according to court documents published by the Insider Wednesday. The twins were born in Austin, Texas. The papers reveal that in April, Musk and Zilis –– who is the project director at his Neuralink company –– asked a Texan county court to change their babies' names so they would "have their father's last name and contain their mother's last name as part of their middle name."
U.S.The Daily BeastCouple Slain in Parade Nightmare in Front of Their Toddler
On Monday, he was sitting on his walker and surrounded by his family when he was hit by bullets. We all threw ourselves to the ground,” his daughter, Josefina Toledo, told The Daily Beast after the shooting. My dad, since it's difficult for him to walk… he was sitting on his walker and he was hit in his back and in his head.
U.S.Associated PressChristians strip down at a South Texas nudist community
The gate opens to reveal a seemingly ordinary community. RVs and small homes line the roads, péntaque and pickleball courts offer residents recreational spaces, and the front office acts as the community's nucleus. Misty Katz, part owner of Nature's Resort, finds comfort in shunning clothes.
- WorldUSA TODAY
Woman captures moment lightning strikes her husband's truck on interstate in Florida
The woman filming the video said her husband and three children were traveling in front of her when it was hit by the lightning strike.
BusinessNextSharkCostco’s famous $4.99 rotisserie chicken has a dark side, and the company is getting sued for it
Two Costco shareholders have launched a lawsuit against the company for animal cruelty after reports found that the membership-only grocery has been mistreating its chickens in its $450 million poultry processing plant in Freemont, Nebraska. The lawsuit, filed by shareholders Krystil Smith and Tyler Lobdell at a Seattle court in June, claims “Costco illegally neglects and abandons its chickens,” which, in turn, broke its fiduciary duties. It also mentions that Costco executives had "consciously disregarded clear signs of Costco's ongoing mistreatment of chickens."
BusinessYahoo FinanceOnly one thing will send gas prices back below $4 a gallon, analyst says
Despite West Texas intermediate crude oil futures dipping below $100 per barrel on Tuesday, serious gas price relief may be unlikely happen until motorists make adjustments by driving less. "I think the only thing that's going to make a dent in gasoline or jet fuel prices is demand destruction," Vectis Energy Partners principal Tamar Essner said on Yahoo Finance Live after being asked when gas prices may drop below $4 a gallon (video above). Consumers are beginning to see some pressure taken off their wallets when making their stop at the local gas pump, with the average price of regular unleaded gasoline dropping for the third straight week last week, but prices remain exorbitant as drivers haven't pulled back aggressively on travel.
WorldFTW OutdoorsCan you spot the mountain lion stalking the elk?
Travel Guide Book on Saturday shared an image showing the hind portion of an elk and, somewhere in the arroyo, a predatory mountain lion. Research reveals that the image was captured by a motion-sensor trail camera in October 2019 as part of an arroyo restoration project in New Mexico's Rio Mora National Wildlife Refuge. Rio Mora shared the image as a quiz for its Facebook followers in July 2020.
U.S.Rolling StoneMarjorie Taylor Greene Suggests 4th of July Shooting Was Orchestrated by Democrats
Marjorie Taylor Greene suggested Tuesday night on Facebook that the 4th of July shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, was orchestrated by Democrats as part of an effort to convince Republicans to support gun control measures. “Two shootings on July 4th, one in a rich, white neighborhood and another at a fireworks display,” she said, also referencing two police officers who were shot non-fatally in Philadelphia. Marjorie Taylor Greene just suggested on Facebook the recent mass shootings are false flags “to persuade Republicans to go along with more gun control” because it happened in “a rich white neighborhood” and not during Pride Month.
PoliticsYahoo Celebrity'Fed up' Debra Messing says she got Biden elected during White House call about abortion rights: Report
The White House orchestrated a call with celebrity Democratic supporters amid the Supreme Court's reversal of Roe v. Wade... and it didn't go very well. According to a report from CNN, Debra Messing was among the participants "fed up" about President Joe Biden's lack of urgency and the administration being unprepared despite weeks of warning. White House aides co-organized the call with the advocacy group Build Back Better Together.
U.S.Fort Worth Star-TelegramMan lights firework on his head and it explodes into his skull, Texas cops say
A 43-year-old man lit a firework on top of his head, resulting in his near-sudden death in San Antonio, police say. Officers in San Antonio were called to a residential area just after midnight on Tuesday, July 5, following the firework mishap, according to a police report. First responders found the victim was suffering from severe head trauma, with brain matter exposed from his skull, police said.
U.S.The Daily BeastFamily of Parade Suspect’s Only Friend: ‘It Blows My Mind’
Michele Rebollar remembers the moment during her son Anthony LaPorte's funeral when Bobby Crimo—now charged with massacring seven people and wounding two dozen others at a Chicago suburb's Fourth of July parade—stood up to speak. It was August 2017, and the long-haired, awkward Crimo described how Anthony was one of the only people he had to confide in. “My name is Bobby, and Anthony was the person I would call when I couldn't sleep and he would always reply,” Crimo says in a video of the memorial service reviewed by The Daily Beast.
WorldReutersRussia warns humanity at risk if West seeks to punish it over Ukraine
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said attempts by the West to punish a nuclear power such as Russia for the war in Ukraine risked endangering humanity, as the near five-month conflict leaves cities in ruins and thousands homeless. Russia's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine has triggered the most serious crisis in relations between Russia and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, when many people feared the world was on the brink of nuclear war. U.S. President Joe Biden says Russian President Vladimir Putin is a war criminal and has led the West in arming Ukraine and imposing crippling sanctions on Russia.
U.S.NextSharkYouTuber gets scam ring in India arrested after hacking into their office's CCTV cameras
A YouTuber allegedly hacked into the CCTV cameras of an India-based scam ring office and gathered enough evidence of fraud to alert local police, which ultimately led to five arrests. The most recent video uploaded by Scambaiter on Sunday, titled “I Got Scammers ARRESTED On Their CCTV Cameras!”, has garnered nearly a million views at the time of this writing. In the 20-minute clip, viewers are given a look at CCTV footage taken from June 13-24, beginning with video of the alleged scammers at work, posing as Best Buy's Geek Squad tech support employees, and ending with their arrest by local police in Punjab, India.
U.S.INSIDERThe father of the Highland Park shooting suspect claimed his son called the Copenhagen shooter an 'idiot' the night before the July 4th massacre
The father of the Highland Park shooting suspect said he talked about another mass shooting the night before the massacre. Robert Crimo Jr. said his son called the gunman who killed three people at a Copenhagen shopping mall*/ an "idiot." Crimo and the suspect's mother retained attorney Steve Greenberg, whose firm has previously represented R. Kelly.
WorldReutersU.S. funeral home owner who sold body parts pleads guilty to fraud
A former Colorado funeral home owner pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a federal charge of defrauding relatives of the dead by dissecting their family members' corpses and selling the body parts without permission, a practice exposed in a 2018 Reuters investigative report https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-bodies-funeral. Megan Hess, who operated a funeral home called Sunset Mesa and a human body parts business called Donor Services from the same building, entered the plea to the charge of fraud at a hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Gordon Gallagher in Grand Junction, Colorado. Gallagher scheduled Hess, who had previously pleaded not guilty, to be sentenced in January, with the prosecution calling for 12 to 15 years in prison.
BusinessMoneyWiseBill Gates just won legal approval to buy 2,100 acres of North Dakota farmland worth $13.5M — and people are ‘livid’ about it all across the state
Bill Gates made his fortune in tech, but he's now betting big on something completely different: farmland. Last week, Gates secured the legal approval for purchasing 2,100 acres of farmland from northeastern North Dakota potato growers Campbell Farms. Of course, this isn't first time Gates has invested in the asset class.
U.S.Rolling StoneThe Worst Person You Know Just Made a Great Point: ‘Roe v. Wade’ Edition
In light of the Supreme Court Dobbs decision effectively overturning Roe v. Wade, many reproductive rights activists have criticized cisgender heterosexual men for staying silent on the issue of abortion rights — even though men are arguably just as impacted by the availability of safe, accessible abortion as women are. One surprising straight man who has publicly come out in favor of abortion rights is Dave Portnoy, the founder of Barstool Sports. Portnoy is no stranger to intense controversy — his former employees have accused him of fostering a toxic and misogynistic work environment, promoting cyberbullying and sexual harassment, and he was even accused of sexual misconduct in a Business Insider expose, which he has vehemently denied.
U.S.Associated PressNew evacuations for communities near California forest fire
Evacuation orders were expanded Tuesday for remote California communities near a wildfire that may have been sparked by fireworks or a barbecue on the Fourth of July in a mountainous region that's a top tourism destination. The Electra Fire in Sierra Nevada Gold Country broke out Monday afternoon and tripled in size to about 6.1 square miles (15.8 square kilometers). The fire was making short, uphill runs, fire officials said.
U.S.The Daily BeastLook at My Face and Tell Me We Don’t Need Gun Control
The ambulances and police vehicles that kick off the parade came by, then the marching band passed. That's when we heard it: pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop. I thought it was fireworks until I saw people ducking.
U.S.Military.comArmy Cuts Off More Than 60K Unvaccinated Guard and Reserve Soldiers from Pay and Benefits
Some 40,000 National Guard and 22,000 Reserve soldiers who refused to be vaccinated against COVID-19 are no longer allowed to participate in their military duties, also effectively cutting them off from some of their military benefits, Army officials announced Friday. "Soldiers who refuse the vaccination order without an approved or pending exemption request are subject to adverse administrative actions, including flags, bars to service, and official reprimands," an Army spokesperson said in a statement. The move comes in the midst of the annual training season, during which part-time soldiers are often ordered to serve from two weeks to a month with their units for summer training exercises.
WorldAssociated PressTaliban leader: Afghan soil won't be used to launch attacks
Taliban supreme leader Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada said Wednesday that Afghan soil will not be used to launch attacks against other countries, and he asked the international community to not interfere in Afghanistan's internal affairs. The Taliban say they are adhering to an agreement they signed with the United States in 2020 — before retaking power — in which they promised to fight terrorists. Since their takeover last year, they have repeatedly said Afghanistan would not be used as a launching pad for attacks against other countries.
U.S.INSIDERJustice Clarence Thomas once opposed Highland Park's assault weapons ban, saying that the 'overwhelming majority' of those with the rifles use them lawfully
Highland Park, Illinois, banned assault rifles nearly a decade before Monday's mass shooting. The ban was challenged and the case made its way to the Supreme Court, which refused to hear it. In a dissent, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that an "overwhelming majority" use such weapons lawfully.
U.S.WPXIPolice searching for 2 suspects involved in attack at Washington County Days Inn
Police are searching for two suspects they said were involved in an attack at a Days Inn hotel in Washington County. According to police, the two men used an airsoft gun and personal weapons to carry out the attack on two hotel guests. One of the guests was left with serious injuries.
BusinessReutersOil from U.S. reserves sent overseas as gasoline prices stay high
HOUSTON (Reuters) -More than 5 million barrels of oil that were part of a historic U.S. emergency reserves release to lower domestic fuel prices were exported to Europe and Asia last month, according to data and sources, even as U.S. gasoline and diesel prices hit record highs. The export of crude and fuel is blunting the impact of the moves by U.S. President Joe Biden to lower record pump prices. Biden on Saturday renewed a call for gasoline suppliers to cut their prices, drawing criticism from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
“Left unchecked, if artificial intelligence reaches cognition … it will be fueled by some of the most inhumane impulses of humanity.”
“Now is the time to stop and think — before our technology outstrips us once again.”
“I don't want to talk about sentient robots, because at all ends of the spectrum there are humans harming other humans.”
“Minds can take different forms … We should avoid reducing questions about AIs to ‘Can AIs think and feel like us?’”
“To identify sentience, or consciousness, or even intelligence, we’re going to have to work out what they are.”