U.S.Associated PressIllegal marijuana farms take West's water in 'blatant theft'
Jack Dwyer pursued a dream of getting back to the land by moving in 1972 to an idyllic, tree-studded parcel in Oregon with a creek running through it. From dusty towns to forests in the U.S. West, illegal marijuana growers are taking water in uncontrolled amounts when there often isn't enough to go around for even licensed users. Conflicts about water have long existed, but illegal marijuana farms — which proliferate despite legalization in many Western states — are adding strain during a severe drought.
BusinessBarrons.comThe Stock Market Dropped Because There’s Something Scarier Than Taxes, Tapers, and Contagion
Wall Street has found something scarier than tapering, taxes, and China Evergrande Group combined. The reasons for a pullback are many: The stock market has rallied for too long and has gone up too smoothly, the Federal Reserve is about to remove the bond buying that has helped prop markets up, taxes are ready to rise, economic data are slowing. For the S&P 500, it was the first close since June 18 below its 50-day moving average—a technical measure of the previous 50 days' closes that often ends up acting as support or resistance and that currently sits at 4436.35.
HealthLA TimesBig gap between Pfizer, Moderna vaccines seen for preventing COVID hospitalizations
Amid persistent concerns that the protection offered by COVID-19 vaccines may be waning, a report released Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finds that America's workhorse shot is significantly less effective at preventing severe cases of disease over the long term than many experts had realized. Data collected from 18 states between March and August suggest the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine reduces the risk of being hospitalized with COVID-19 by 91% in the first four months after receiving the second dose. Beyond 120 days, however, that vaccine efficacy drops to 77%.
U.S.Associated PressBody composting a 'green' alternative to burial, cremation
In a suburban Denver warehouse tucked between an auto repair shop and a computer recycling business, Seth Viddal is dealing with life and death. “It's a natural process where the body is returned to an elemental level over a short period of time,” said Viddal, who likened the practice to backyard composting of food scraps and yard waste. “This is the same process but done with a human body inside of a vessel, and in our case, in a controlled environment.”
ScienceUSA TODAYScientists created the world's whitest paint. It could eliminate the need for air conditioning.
The whitest paint in the world has been created in a lab at Purdue University, a paint so white that it could eventually reduce or even eliminate the need for air conditioning, scientists say. The paint has now made it into the Guinness World Records book as the whitest ever made. “When we started this project about seven years ago, we had saving energy and fighting climate change in mind,” said Xiulin Ruan, a professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue, in a statement.
PoliticsHuffPostEric Trump Asks Question About His Dad, Gets The Same Stinging Response
Eric Trump received a resounding “no” in response to a question posed via a web address he shared Thursday on Twitter. Former President Donald Trump's son posted the URL doyoumissmeyet.com. It linked to a page featuring an image of his father in front of the American flag.
ScienceReutersStudy rewrites understanding of modern Japan's genetic ancestry
An analysis of ancient DNA is transforming the understanding of the genetic ancestry of Japan's modern-day population, identifying a crucial contribution from people who arrived about 1,700 years ago and helped revolutionize Japanese culture. Research published on Friday showed that the people of Japan bear genetic signatures from three ancient populations rather than just two as previously thought - a more complex ancestry for the archipelago nation of roughly 125 million. The researchers analyzed genetic information from 17 ancient Japanese people - DNA extracted from the bones of 12 specifically for this study and five done previously - and compared it to genomic data for modern Japanese people.
HealthMiami Herald‘In so much pain’: Political activist Laura Loomer, who wished for COVID, now has it
Outspoken anti vaxxer and alt-right agitator Laura Loomer is feeling the effects of COVID-19. The 28-year-old Barry University alum announced she had contracted the virus on conservative social media platform Gettr Wednesday. “Yesterday I was feeling ill,” wrote Loomer, a onetime Republican nominee to represent Florida's 21st congressional district in the 2020 United States House of Representatives elections.
U.S.Kansas City StarAfter school worker cuts biracial girl’s hair, Michigan parent sues for $1 million
Six months after a 7-year-old girl's hair was cut by a school worker without her parent's permission, her father has sued the Michigan school district. Jimmy Hoffmeyer seeks $1 million from Mount Pleasant Public Schools, alleging it violated his biracial daughter's constitutional rights. Two staffers at Ganiard Elementary School were also named in the lawsuit, in which the father makes racial discrimination and ethnic intimidation accusations.
BusinessEngadgetMan who unlocked 1.9 million AT&T phones sentenced to 12 years in prison
A US district court has sentenced a man who unlocked 1.9 million AT&T phones to 12 years in prison. Muhammad Fahd continued the seven-year scheme to defraud the company even after learning of an investigation against him, according to the Department of Justice. At Fahd's sentencing hearing, Judge Robert S. Lasnik said he committed a “terrible cybercrime over an extended period,” with AT&T said to have lost $201.5 million as a result.
U.S.INSIDERPolice asked Gabby Petito's family to stop discussing her relationship with Brian Laundrie, without explaining why, attorney says
Gabby Petito's family has been told not to talk about her relationship with Brian Laundrie. It is unclear why police have asked them to do this, the family said. The couple's relationship became a focus after police were called out to a fight between them.
PoliticsHuffPostEven Steve Bannon Looks Skeptical About Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's Latest Claim
In her first year as a member of the House, Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene has said a lot of outrageous things. Greene, who has said she believes in the QAnon conspiracy theory but not in the effectiveness of vaccines, was being interviewed on Bannon's “Real America's Voice” podcast when she told the former Trump White House strategist: “I have been the most effective member of Congress this session.” Greene, however, has been unable to do much congressional work since February, when she was stripped of her committee assignments because of her support for racist and antisemitic conspiracy theories, and for advocating the execution prominent Democrats.
U.S.Associated PressTexas teen posts images of slain family, then kills self
A South Texas teen who said he killed his family and posted graphic images of their bodies on social media killed himself after officers found him at his home, authorities said Thursday. The Aransas Pass police and San Patricio County sheriff's office say they started investigating after being alerted to the images on social media. They say the teen, identified as 15-year-old William Quince Colburn III, had also threatened to continue the violence at a school.
U.S.The Daily BeastAnti-Mask Florida Official Dies of COVID—and Takes GOP Software Secrets With Him
Just a day after testing positive for COVID-19, a Florida Republican official who battled against mask mandates, attacked the vaccine, and railed at CDC officials has died in Tampa. Gregg Prentice, who was 61, led the Hillsborough County Election Integrity Committee—and his sudden death has sent the local GOP scrambling as it no longer has access to essential campaign finance software without his help. In a Sept. 14 letter to the Federal Election Commission, the Hillsborough County Republican Executive Committee reported it might not be able to file its monthly financial reports as required—because only Prentice knew how to do it.
- WorldAccuWeather
Earthquake rattles Southern California
A magnitude-4.3 earthquake was reported just south of Los Angeles on Sept. and people across Los Angeles County captured the event on video.
U.S.ReutersCalifornia governor signs into law measure to fight housing crisis
California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed legislation aimed at combating the state's housing crisis by expanding housing production and aiming to streamline housing approvals. Newsom's office said on Thursday California will put $1.75 billion into what his administration is calling a new California Housing Accelerator, which he claimed will accelerate building 6,500 affordable multi-family units that were stalled for lack of tax-exempt bonds and low-income housing tax credits. "Governor Newsom's California Comeback Plan will lead to over 84,000 new housing units and exits from homelessness, including today's announcement of $1.75 billion in affordable housing funding for the new California Housing Accelerator", his office said in a statement.
U.S.Miami HeraldDiners gone wild: Watch an all-out brawl at this upscale Brickell restaurant
Truluck's steakhouse in Brickell is where you go for a nice meal out with a sleek decor, expertly prepared seafood and steaks and spot-on service. But on Friday night, the longtime venerated eatery, with a handful of locations throughout the country, was a scene of absolute chaos as a brawl broke out among diners. The out of control scene captured on a bystander's cellphone looks like something out of an R-rated action movie, not a restaurant where entrees run you $40 and up.
U.S.TODAYNew bodycam video shows emotional Gabby Petito after reported fight with fiancé in Utah
New police body camera footage captured a visibly distraught Gabrielle “Gabby” Petito and her fiancé after an alleged physical altercation between them on a cross-country road trip in Utah. It showed an officer talking to Brian Laundrie and an emotional Petito after authorities pulled over their white van near a grocery store in the city, about 140 miles southeast of Provo. Petito could be seen wiping away tears as she told the responding officer she was struggling with her mental health.
PoliticsReutersBiden approval drops to lowest of presidency: Reuters/Ipsos poll
Public approval of U.S. President Joe Biden has dropped to the lowest level of his presidency, with Americans appearing to be increasingly critical of his response to the coronavirus pandemic, according to the latest Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll. The national poll, conducted Sept. 15-16, found that 44% of U.S. adults approved of Biden's performance in office, while 50% disapproved and the rest were not sure. While most Americans support the kind of vaccine and mask requirements that Biden has ordered recently to slow the spread of the Delta variant, some Republicans have criticized what they consider to be an overreaction by the White House.
U.S.INSIDERAn Alabama couple who trashed vaccines on their YouTube channel died from COVID-19 within 3 weeks of each other
An Alabama couple who opposed COVID-19 vaccines on YouTube died from the disease, AL.com reported. In a video, Dusty and Tristan Graham said the vaccine was "technically not" a vaccine. The couple's channel had 10,000 subscribers before it was removed from YouTube, Social Blade said.
PoliticsHuffPostJon Stewart Admits Why He Was Wrong About Donald Trump
Jon Stewart admitted the mistake he made when Donald Trump first announced his candidacy for president in 2015. Back then, the then-host of “The Daily Show” figured the reality TV personality was a comedic “gift from heaven. But in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter published Wednesday, Stewart said he misjudged, failing to consider that Trump's “certainty, his ridiculousness, his shamelessness is what made him dangerous.
BusinessAssociated PressAP FACT CHECK: Biden's shaky claims on jobs, gasoline
Boasting that government policies can make a difference in improving the economy, President Joe Biden went too far Thursday in taking credit for job growth since taking office. Jeffery Born, an energy-markets expert at Northeastern University, said current gasoline prices are partly a result of production and refining capacity that was knocked offline by Hurricane Ida and other factors – even a shortage of tanker drivers.
BusinessThe WrapHBO Max Cuts Price in Half for Customers Following HBO’s Amazon Prime Exit
HBO Max is cutting its price in half for new and returning customers in attempt to offset the loss of users who subscribed to HBO through Amazon's Prime Video Channels, following the Sept. 15 end of that deal, WarnerMedia revealed Friday. The promotional offer is good through Sept. 26 and will allow those who take advantage up to six months of ad-free HBO Max at 50% off, so $7.49/month.
- U.S.NY Daily News
Woman accepts $100 from police chief so he could rape her teen relative: feds
A West Virginia woman admitted in federal court this week that she arranged for a police chief to rape a teenage girl in her family for as little as $50, authorities said. The Fayette County woman, who was arrested in March following a months-long investigation, pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking of a minor. Co-defendant Larry Allen Clay, Jr., the now-former chief of the Gauley Bridge Police Department, has been charged with conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking of a minor via coercion and sex trafficking of a minor via coercion.
WorldIn The Know by YahooTwitter users just discovered an ‘abandoned’ McDonald’s on a remote island in Alaska: ‘The prices haven’t changed much’
Twitter users are freaking out after discovering the existence of an abandoned McDonald's on an island in Alaska. The fast-food location, which has seemingly been untouched since the 1990s, is on Adak Island, a remote place in the Aleutian Islands, far out into the northern Pacific Ocean. The abandoned McDonald's, meanwhile, spread widely on Twitter thanks to a user named @RealJezebelley.
“It’s time for a late-stage empire to sober up a bit and refocus on building a functioning nation-state here on the home front.”
“The response to evil abroad cannot be to throw up our hands. Failure is not inevitable.”
“The United States keeps insisting that it must do that which it cannot do.”
“When the U.S. blames others, it doesn’t recognize its mistakes, so it repeats them.”
“Nothing has been resolved, no lessons have been learned, no meaningful assessment of the war on terror has been passed.”