Attic Fire Causes $400K In Damage To Carroll County Home, State Fire Marshal's Office Says

A one-alarm fire that started in the attic of a Carroll County home Sunday night caused $400,000 in damage, the state fire marshal's office said Monday.

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  • ‘It’s unfortunate’: Ashley Biden confirms first lady snubbed her mother on traditional White House handover

    "I think we’re all OK with it,' says incoming first daughter in first ever TV interview

  • Arizona Republicans Propose Bill To Ban Use of Local Resources in Federal Gun Control Enforcement

    Arizona Republicans are proposing a ban on the use of local resources to assist in any federal activity that could be seen as oppositional to the Second Amendment. The Second Amendment Firearm Freedoms Act, introduced by State Representative Leo Biasiucci last week, would make Arizona the fifth state — joining Alaska, Idaho, Kansas and Wyoming — with a policy of keeping state resources from enforcing any federal law or executive rule that runs contrary to the right to bear arms. “This state and all political subdivisions of this state are prohibited from using any personnel or financial resourced to enforce, administer, or cooperate with any act, law, treaty, order, rule or regulation of the United States government that violates Amendment II of the Constitution of the United States,” the bill reads. Any “act, law, treaty, order, rule or regulation of the United States government that violates Amendment II of the Constitution of the United States is null, void and unenforceable in this state,” the bill adds, though federal laws override those at the state level. The law would effectively make the Grand Canyon State a “Second Amendment sanctuary,” a term first used by a southern Illinois state’s attorney in 2010. Similar “sanctuary” policies are in place in hundreds of towns and counties nationwide. The Arizona Republicans’ move comes ahead of the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden, a Democrat who has vowed to enact gun control measures, including instituting universal background checks and an assault weapon and high-capacity magazine ban. While campaigning in Texas, Biden said that failed presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke — who famously promised voters, “hell yes, we’re going to take your AR-15” — would “lead” his administration’s gun control policy. “I’m going to guarantee you, this is not the last you’ve seen of this guy,” Biden told a his arm on O’Rourke. “You’re going to take care of the gun problem with me. You’re going to be the one that leads this effort.”

  • Boy Killed By Father After Vaccination Dispute in Heartbreaking Murder-Suicide in SF

    A boy who was killed in an alleged murder-suicide by his father has been identified as 9-year-old Pierce O’Loughlin. Family tragedy: The boy and his father, Stephen O'Loughlin, 49, were both found dead at their home on Scott Street, Marina District in San Francisco on Wednesday afternoon, SF Chronicle reports. The boy’s mother, Lesley Hu, asked authorities to check on her son after learning that he did not show up for school that day.

  • Less than 40 percent of Trump voters want the coronavirus vaccine, poll finds

    A person's 2020 presidential vote is proving the biggest indicator of whether or not they want a coronavirus vaccine.People who supported President-elect Joe Biden in November are overwhelmingly in favor of getting the COVID-19 vaccine, with 79 percent saying they want it and 4 percent saying they've already gotten it, an NPR/PBS Newshour/Marist poll out Tuesday shows. Meanwhile just 39 percent of voters who backed President Trump say they want the vaccine and a similar 4 percent have already gotten it.Marist asked adults whether they'd get a COVID-19 vaccine if it was made available to them. Support for getting the vaccine was clearly divided along party lines, with 75 percent of Democrats saying they wanted the vaccine but just 43 percent of Republicans saying the same. Democratic men were the most likely of any demographic — race, region, income, education, age, or generation — to want the vaccine, at 85 percent. Meanwhile the smallest percentage of adults who said they wanted the vaccine were Trump voters.Also among groups who had a low percentage of vaccine support were Gen Xers — just 49 percent of Americans age 40-55 want the vaccine, the poll found. Republican women and people who live in small towns were not very likely to want the vaccine, with just 41 and 51 percent saying they would like it, respectively. Trump has so far not publicly said if he has gotten the vaccine, but has underplayed the seriousness of the virus for the past year.Marist surveyed 1,173 American adults from Jan. 11–13 via landline and mobile phone, with a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.More stories from theweek.com Trump's White House staff and alumni are reportedly using the same excuse to skip his big sendoff 5 more scathing cartoons about Trump's 2nd impeachment Trump tried to act like a mob boss. Instead he's just a thug.

  • Texas man who stormed Capitol accused of threatening to shoot kids if they turned him in

    Court documents recounted the man's telling his children that he would consider them "traitors" if they contacted authorities.

  • Joe Biden cries in emotional speech before heading to Washington DC for Inauguration Day

    President-elect celebrates his hometown: ‘You were with me my whole career, through the good times and the bad’

  • Trump's White House staff and alumni are reportedly using the same excuse to skip his big sendoff

    Anthony Scaramucci was right: The White House appears to be having trouble rounding up a sizable crowd for President Trump's official send-off from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Wednesday."In what looks like a desperate attempt to build a crowd for the crowd-obsessed president, an email has been making the rounds to current and former White House officials inviting them, and as many as five plus-ones, to Trump's elaborate exit ceremony," Politico reported Tuesday morning. "The go-to excuse for skipping out has been the 6 a.m. call time at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. But truly, many just don't want to be photographed sending off their former boss."Trump's current staffers have a good reason to avoid their outgoing boss. "Former White House officials and campaign staffers who would typically land plum jobs in corporate America after serving their time are now out in the cold," Politico says. One former White House official who got out early put it this way: "No one wants to touch them, they're just toxic." Another former Trump aide, pointing to the fallout from the Jan. 6 insurrection, was more blunt, telling Politico: "They're f---ed."Trump will be the first president since Andrew Johnson, another member of the tiny impeached president club, to skip the inauguration of his successor. "Johnson snubbed Ulysses S. Grant in 1869," The Washington Post notes. More stories from theweek.com 5 more scathing cartoons about Trump's 2nd impeachment Trump tried to act like a mob boss. Instead he's just a thug. The most alarming thing about the Trump presidency

  • Georgia lawyer said he kicked in Pelosi's door, she could've been 'torn into little pieces'

    Suspect William McCall Calhoun Jr. faces a host of charges stemming from the Jan. 6 pro-Trump riot at the U.S. Capitol Building.

  • The Coolest New Automotive Technology at CES 2021

    Mercedes-Benz’s Hyperscreen, General Motors’ Bright Drop, and Jeep’s Electric Wrangler were among the unveils that turned headsOriginally Appeared on Architectural Digest

  • Guns selling out as people panic-buy weapons ahead of Biden inauguration

    ‘I really can’t keep the ARs on the wall’ gun store manager says as enthusiasts stock up over fears new administration will enact gun-control laws

  • Trump delivers farewell address

    President Trump delivered his farewell address from the White House on Tuesday, the day before President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration.

  • Egyptian woman arrested for 'violating family values' with suggestively decorated cupcakes

    The arrest of an Egyptian woman for baking and selling cupcakes bearing iced genitals sparked national debate across Egypt on Monday when the state’s security apparatus turned its full attention to the “cupcake incident”. The baker, whose identity has not been released by the authorities, was arrested on Monday reportedly on charges of ‘violating family values’ after photos of the adult cakes went viral on Facebook. She was later released on bail worth EGP 5,000 (£233). A group of “older” women had been enjoying the cakes at a birthday party at Cairo’s elite Gezira Sporting Club and posted the photo in the club’s Facebook group. Though the photos were taken down by the club’s management after complaints, they went viral on social media after being leaked outside of the private group days later. This led to the involvement of MPs and the formation of a legal committee to investigate the crime. According to Egypt’s Youm7 newspaper, the baker denied making the graphic decorations on top of the cakes. It is unclear from reports whether the group of women ordered the cakes, were sent them by accident, or decorated them themselves. The incident has garnered massive attention across Egypt’s state-controlled media, with the female baker being made an example of, in the country’s latest attempt at controlling public morality. The scandal quickly became the top-trending topic on Egyptian social media and prime-time TV hosts began to condemn the women on air, adding to the growing debate over cupcake gate. An Egyptian MP on Monday evening called for Dr Ashraf Sobhy, the minister of youth and sport (as the incident took place in a sporting club) to be summoned to provide an explanation. The minister quickly announced he had formed a legal committee to investigate the incident. According to newspaper Akhbar el-Yom, fines may be issued against the group of women - who were not arrested alongside the baker - if the investigation finds them guilty. The newspaper also reported claims that the toppers had been imported from America. From TikTok influencers to actresses, belly-dancers and novelists - the arrest of the baker is the latest in a string of charges and jail-time brought against Egyptians in recent years for harming public morals. Earlier this month two female TikTok influencers, who had served time in jail also for “violating family values” were acquitted, in the continued struggle for freedom of expression in the conservative country.

  • Pence tried to contact Capitol officer Eugene Goodman to thank him

    The officer who may have saved the life of Vice President Mike Pence could now be giving him the side-eye. The cop hailed as a hero for leading a crowd of insurrectionists away from the Senate floor and potentially saving hundreds of lawmakers’ lives has, perhaps, left the vice president on read. Vice President Mike Pence has reportedly reached out to thank Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman for his heroism on Jan. 6, but they have yet to connect.

  • Trump fraud claims open Republican rift in Texas and other red states

    Pat Cowan, a Republican official in west Texas, would rather blow up her party than see it controlled by “weak” Republicans who increasingly are distancing themselves from President Donald Trump since the U.S. Capitol riots he is accused of inciting. “You can’t tell those Republicans from the Democrats!” she scoffed in an interview at her home in Levelland, Texas.

  • Fired Florida COVID data scientist arrested: "Censored by the state"

    "Insurrectionists planning attacks across the country this week and Florida is jailing scientists for the crimes of knowing and speaking," she tweeted.

  • Hawley Blocks Quick Vote on Biden’s DHS Secretary Nominee, Citing Lax Immigration Stance

    Senator Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) blocked a quick confirmation of Alejandro Mayorkas as Joe Biden’s Department of Homeland Security secretary, citing Mayorkas’s immigration policy stance. Mayorkas is a former Obama administration official considered the architect of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which allowed illegal immigrants brought to the U.S. as children a renewable deportation deferment, without providing a path to citizenship. The confirmation hearings for Mayorkas come as Biden has pledged to undue many of the Trump administration’s restrictions on immigration, although it is unclear how quickly the Biden administration can act on those promises. “Mr. Mayorkas has not adequately explained how he will enforce federal law and secure the southern border given President-elect Biden’s promise to roll back major enforcement and security measures,” Hawley said in a statement. “Given this, I cannot consent to skip the standard vetting process and fast-track this nomination when so many questions remain unanswered.” Biden is reportedly set to propose an immigration-reform bill that would grant roughly eleven million illegal immigrants a path to citizenship over eight years. The bill could also grant citizenship to agricultural workers and illegal immigrants brought to the U.S. as children. However, the proposal is not expected to include Republican-backed border security measures. The looming immigration debates in Congress come as a new migrant caravan continues to travel toward the U.S.-Mexico border. Several thousand people in the caravan clashed with Guatemalan security forces while crossing the border from Honduras on Sunday. “There’s help on the way, but now is not the time to make the journey,” a Biden official said in comments to NBC.

  • Trump ends term with ‘patriotic education’ report which makes excuses for slavery and calls anti-abortion movement ‘great reform’

    White House website says report is “rebuttal of reckless 're-education' attempts that seek to reframe American history around idea that United States is not an exceptional country but an evil one”

  • Israeli Covid czar says first Pfizer jab not as effective as hoped and blames spike in cases on British strain

    Israel’s coronavirus czar has warned that the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine offers less protection than expected, as he blamed the country’s surge in Covid cases partly on the new British variant. Nachman Ash said many Israelis had caught Covid in between their first and second doses of the Pfizer vaccine, suggesting that the first jab is “less effective than we thought,” according to Army Radio. His remarks underline the importance of receiving a second vaccine dose, which according to recent studies is more than 90 per cent effective in protecting against coronavirus. Israel has already given the first of two jabs to nearly 30 per cent of the population and on Tuesday announced it would extend eligibility to those aged 40 and over. But Mr Ash is said to have warned at a cabinet meeting that a new strain of Covid originating in Britain was hampering efforts to tackle the pandemic, as it was responsible for nearly 40 per cent of new cases. It comes after two studies by Israeli healthcare providers found that the first dose of the vaccine reduced the risk of infection by between 30 and 60 per cent. And according to Israeli newspaper Haaretz, a survey by the health ministry found that around six per cent of 189,000 citizens who had received the first jab tested positive for Covid within two weeks. It also stated that 69 people from the sample had tested positive for coronavirus after receiving their second dose of the vaccine. Another study of a hundred people in Israel found that 98 per cent were protected from the disease once the second dose was administered. That research, carried out by the Sheba Medical Center, also said that a second dose of the Pfizer vaccine significantly refused the risk of spreading the virus to others. In Britain, there is a gap of up to 12 weeks between receiving the first and second dose, whereas the WHO recommends the second dose of Pfizer is administered within 21-28 days. Israeli health experts have stressed that it is too early to draw any concrete conclusions from the data.

  • Chief Justice John Roberts reportedly wants no part of Trump's impeachment trial

    Constitutionally-speaking, Chief Justice John Roberts is meant to preside over President Trump's impeachment trial, but he apparently wants out, Politico reports.Multiple Republican and Democratic sources have reportedly told Politico that Roberts is seeking a way to avoid the job because of how things played out when he oversaw Trump's first impeachment trial last year. Roberts, Politico notes, has worked hard to keep the Supreme Court apolitical during his tenure, so he was reportedly displeased that he "became a top target of the left" during the proceedings. "He wants no further part of this," one source told Politico, although there's been no official word from Roberts' camp about what he'll ultimately do.Trump's trial is a bit of a constitutional oddity. On the one hand, it's a presidential impeachment, but on the other hand, the trial will take place after he leaves office, which is why there's a chance Roberts may have some wiggle room. Historically, either the vice president or the longest-serving member of the Senate have taken up the mantle for lower-level impeachments, per Politico. That means Vice President-elect Kamala Harris or Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) could be the choice. Read more at Politico.More stories from theweek.com Trump's White House staff and alumni are reportedly using the same excuse to skip his big sendoff 5 more scathing cartoons about Trump's 2nd impeachment Trump tried to act like a mob boss. Instead he's just a thug.

  • Moderna says possible allergic reactions to COVID-19 vaccine under investigation

    The company's comments come after California's top epidemiologist on Sunday issued a statement recommending providers pause vaccination from lot no. 41L20A due to possible allergic reactions that are under investigation. The vaccine maker said it was unaware of comparable cases of adverse events from other vaccination centers which may have administered vaccines from the same lot or from other lots of its vaccine.