- U.S.Yahoo News
ICE to launch 'Citizens Academy' to teach civilians about 'targeted arrests'
A “Citizens Academy” planned by a branch of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which will include “scenario-based training and exercises,” is spreading alarm among civil liberties and immigration rights organizations — which question why the agency is devoting resources to providing civilians with “firearms familiarization” and instruction in “targeted arrests.” The program, set to begin in Chicago this fall as “a pilot for nationwide implementation,” will be run by ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations branch, which is responsible for detaining and deporting immigrants. A memo from Robert Guadian, the director of ICE ERO's Chicago field office, which was obtained by Yahoo News, describes a six-week program (four-hour sessions held once a week) during which “participants will gain insight into the many facets and responsibilities of ICE/ERO operations” through, among other things, “scenario-based training and exercises conducted in a safe and positive environment, including, but not limited to, defensive tactics, firearms familiarization, and targeted arrests.”
- U.S.USA TODAY
Michigan partygoers test positive for COVID-19 after July 4th lake bash; 43 cases tied to house party
DETROIT – Michigan health officials are calling for attendees of two Fourth of July parties to monitor themselves for symptoms after partygoers tested positive for COVID-19. Several attendees of a Fourth of July party at Torch Lake Sandbar in northern Michigan tested positive for COVID-19, while more than 40 cases in Saline, Michigan, are linked to a holiday house party. The state health department is asking anyone who attended the party at Torch Lake to monitor themselves and seek testing if symptoms develop and self-quarantine.
- PoliticsAssociated Press
Judge seeks more details on Trump's clemency for Roger Stone
A federal judge on Monday demanded more information about President Donald Trump's decision to commute the prison sentence of longtime ally Roger Stone. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson ordered that the parties provide her by Tuesday with a copy of the executive order that commuted Stone's sentence. She also asked for clarity about the scope of the clemency, including whether it covers just his prison sentence or also the two-year period of supervised release that was part of his sentence.
- U.S.Miami Herald
It’s so hot at Death Valley National Park that cars are breaking down
Having your car break down is never pleasant, but it's probably much worse when it's 128 degrees outside. Some unlucky visitors at Death Valley National Park ran into car trouble Sunday when the extreme heat caused their engines to give out, the park said Monday. Yesterday's excessive heat caused at least three vehicles in the park to break down from overheated engines, which can quickly turn fatal if passengers are stranded in this climate without air conditioning,” Death Valley National Park officials said on Facebook.
- PoliticsThe Daily Beast
Ousted U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman: Deal Barr Offered ‘Could Be Seen as a Quid Pro Quo’
Geoffrey Berman, formerly the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, was brought in for a closed-door session of the Judiciary Committee on July 9 to talk about the events surrounding Barr's public announcement on June 19 that Berman had “stepped down” from his post, even though the U.S. attorney made clear to Barr multiple times that he was not stepping down. The next day, Berman said he would leave the job when Barr agreed to let his deputy take over as acting U.S. attorney, as opposed to Craig Carpenito, the U.S. attorney for the district of New Jersey, whom Barr wanted to install in the position until the Trump administration's pick, Securities and Exchange Commission chief Jay Clayton, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
- U.S.The New York Times
'Not a Welcoming Name': Calls to Drop 'Plantation' Gain Steam Nationwide
When Dharyl Auguste was 3 years old, he and his parents packed all of their belongings and left their home in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, to immigrate to the United States. The family settled initially in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, before moving to nearby Sunrise. When it was time for Auguste to attend middle school, he and his parents relocated again, this time to Plantation, Florida.
- WorldReuters
Hamburg sex workers demand Germany's brothels reopen
Prostitutes demonstrated in Hamburg's red light district late on Saturday evening demanding that Germany's brothels be allowed to reopen after months of closure to curb the spread of coronavirus. With shops, restaurants and bars all open again in Germany, where prostitution is legal, sex workers say they are being singled out and deprived of their livelihoods despite not posing a greater health risk. "The oldest profession needs your help," read a notice held up by one woman in a brothel window in the Herbertstrasse, which was flooded with red light after being dark since March.
- U.S.WWD
California Mandates Widespread Reclosure of Indoor Malls, Hair Salons
California is further rolling back the reopening of the economy as the number of people falling ill with the coronavirus continues to rise. During a daily telebrifing on Monday, Gov. Gavin Newsom admitted that cases of the coronavirus “continue to spread” at a level he called “alarming.” It's been several weeks since he abruptly allowed the phased reopening on a county-by-county basis of in-store retail and hair salons, as well as gyms, indoor dining and bars and public parks and beaches, but the allowance of more people gathering in groups has clearly led to an increase in cases.
- WorldBusiness Insider
Japan is 'shocked' and furious at the US after a major coronavirus outbreak at 2 Marine bases in Okinawa — and says the US is not taking the virus seriously
Japanese authorities say they are "shocked" after a significant coronavirus outbreak at two US Marine bases in the country. 61 Marines have been infected with the virus in recent days, spread across two bases in Okinawa prefecture, home to about 26,000 US service personnel. "We now have strong doubts that the US military has taken adequate disease prevention measures," Okinawa governor Denny Tamaki said at a press conference.
- WorldThe Telegraph
Labour handed initial findings of anti-Semitism inquiry by Britain's equalities watchdog
A report into Labour's handling of anti-Semitism has been submitted to the party by Britain's equality watchdog, as Jewish campaigners urged Sir Keir Starmer to act on its findings. More than 12 months after launching a statutory inquiry into whether the party acted unlawfully in dealing with complaints, the Equality and Human Rights Commission has handed Labour a draft version of its report. While Labour has refused to comment on its contents, the report will address allegations that the party under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership failed to tackle anti-Semitism within its ranks.
- U.S.The Independent
Man, 37, who died from coronavirus had dismissed pandemic ‘hype’ on Facebook
An Ohio man who died of Covid-19 had repeatedly posted on Facebook about his scepticism of the outbreak – and a tweet containing a montage of his posts is now going viral. Richard Rose, 37, died at home in Port Clinton on 4 July just days after he tested positive for Covid-19. The montage of his posts spreading on social media, which has been viewed 3.5 million times, shows that he tested positive and was quarantined on 1 July, when he was already viewing symptoms.
- WorldBBC
French man accused of molesting hundreds of children dies in Indonesia
A French man accused of molesting hundreds of children in Indonesia has died in a suspected suicide, police say. Francois Camille Abello, 65, was found unresponsive in his cell at a detention centre in the capital, Jakarta, last Thursday, said spokesman Yusri Yunus. Mr Abello was pronounced dead on Sunday night after three days of treatment.
- U.S.Miami Herald
A squirrel tested positive for the bubonic plague in Colorado. Are people at risk?
Humans can get the plague if an infected animal or flea bites them or if an infected person coughs on them, according to Jefferson County Public Health. Cats are especially susceptible to the plague and if not treated properly, they may die, the release said. They can get the plague through infected flea bites, a rodent scratch or bite or if they eat an infected rodent, according to the release.
- WorldYahoo News Video
Nelson Mandela's daughter Zindzi Mandela dies at 59
Zindzi Mandela, daughter of Nelson Mandela, has died, a spokesperson for the African National Congress said on Monday. She was 59.
U.S.USA TODAY'I wouldn’t trust you to care for a house plant let alone my child': Pressley slams DeVos on reopening schools
Rep. Ayanna Pressley tore into Betsy DeVos after the secretary of education backed President Donald Trump's demand that schools reopen during the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 135,000 people in the U.S. DeVos appeared on Sunday morning news shows to defend Trump's insistence that schools reopen even as the number of confirmed cases across the county continue to spike.
- WorldINSIDER
South Africa's 9 million smokers were faced with cold turkey when the government banned cigarette sales in March as a coronavirus measure. Now Big Tobacco is fighting back.
earlier in July. South Africa's government had also banned the sale of alcohol but has since eased that restriction, which according to an AP report, has led to an increase in "drunken brawls and traffic accidents, putting added strain on hospitals as they deal with the virus." Reuters FITA is also arguing that by banning the legal sale of cigarettes, the South African government is encouraging a black market trade, and putting thousands of jobs at risk.
- U.S.CBS News
Appeals court paves way for first federal execution in 17 years
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals on Sunday overturned a lower court ruling staying the execution of Daniel Lewis Lee. The execution, scheduled for Monday in Indiana, would be the first federal execution in 17 years. The family of Lee's victims filed a petition to delay the execution because they wanted to attend, but feared traveling to Indiana during the coronavirus pandemic.
- LifestyleArchitectural Digest
64 Stunning Kitchen Island Ideas
Bring on the prep space Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
- U.S.Associated Press
Seattle mayor, City Council at odds over 50% police cut
Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan on Monday blasted the City Council's plan to cut the police department's budget by 50% and instead proposed transferring a list of functions like the 911 call center and parking enforcement out of the agency's budget. “The community has made clear, they want us to transform the Seattle Police Department and to reinvest in programs that provide this kind of community safety.” Monday's announcement came after weeks of street protests sparked by the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
- WorldThe Telegraph
German study finds no evidence coronavirus spreads in schools
Schools do not play a major role in spreading the coronavirus, according to the results of a German study released on Monday. The study, the largest carried out on schoolchildren and teachers in Germany, found traces of the virus in fewer than 1 per cent of teachers and children. Scientists from Dresden Technical University said they believe children may act as a “brake” on chains of infection.
- U.S.National Review
Spike in Shootings Continues over the Weekend in Chicago, NYC
A spike in shootings during the past month and a half continued with 64 shooting victims in Chicago and 28 in New York City over the weekend. While overall crime is down in both cities, there has been an uptick in gun violence in June and July as compared to the same period in 2019. That uptick comes in the midst of massive protests against police kindled by the death of George Floyd, an African American man killed during his arrest by officers in Minneapolis.
- U.S.Miami Herald
Woman races across 4 lanes of traffic, dives into canal to save child, Oregon cops say
An Oregon woman raced across a highway to save a toddler from drowning in a canal, the Redmond Police Department said. The woman, later identified as Bailey Vardanega, pulled her car over, ran across four lanes of traffic to jump into the canal and saved the child from drowning, KTVZ/CNN reported. “My legs were faster than I've ever run, and I swam more aggressive than I ever swam,” Vardanega told KTVZ.
- U.S.Reuters
Minority U.S. diplomats face bias entering own country - group
Retired U.S. diplomats on Monday accused the Customs and Border Patrol of a "deeply troubling pattern" of discrimination and harassment against Black, Hispanic and other minority members re-entering their own country. The American Academy of Diplomacy, which groups former U.S. officials in international affairs, urged Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a letter to order a review of incidents, "ensure equal treatment" of minority U.S. diplomats and make clear their mistreatment is "unacceptable."
- U.S.USA TODAY
'Dangerous,' record-breaking heat scorches southern USA
Extreme, record-breaking heat will bake a large portion of the southern tier of the USA early this week. After a sweltering weekend, heat advisories and excessive heat warnings remained in place Monday across the southern USA all the way from Southern California to the Florida Panhandle, and there was the potential for more record high temperatures and very dangerous heat indices, the National Weather Service said. Temperatures could come within a few degrees of record highs set as far back as the Dust Bowl era of the 1930s, AccuWeather said.
- PoliticsThe Guardian
Robert Mueller breaks his silence and condemns Trump for commuting Roger Stone's sentence
The former special counsel Robert Mueller made a rare move on Saturday to publicly defend his two-year investigation into allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia in the 2016 election – and to castigate Donald Trump's decision to commute Roger Stone's prison sentence. Mueller wrote an opinion article for the Washington Post [paywall] published under the headline “Roger Stone remains a convicted felon, and rightly so”. “The work of the special counsel's office – its report, indictments, guilty pleas and convictions – should speak for itself,” he wrote.
“I suspect that the days of widespread compliance with do-it-or-else mandates meant to curb COVID-19 are over.”
“To have mask optional is like saying, ‘Hey, Covid optional.’”
“At this point, with the mask wars well underway, any kind of national mask mandate would be a difficult thing to carry out.”
“Masks help slow the spread, but a well-funded and coordinated testing strategy is the foundation of a modern response.”
“Certain types of masks may also be putting young Black men in danger of harassment or profiling.
