Lawsuit: 1st Wyoming Black sheriff fires deputy for racism

Wyoming's first Black sheriff last year fired a white deputy who is accused of tormenting a Black subordinate for years with racist name-calling that led him to quit, a new federal lawsuit reveals. Albany County Patrol Sgt. Christian Handley once drove past and yelled a profanity and the N-word at Cpl. Jamin Johnson while Johnson and his wife and children were walking out of their home, according to one example of racism alleged in the discrimination lawsuit filed last week.

3-foot-long creature with scales found during drug bust at Texas home, cops say

A tip from Crime Stoppers led a Texas sheriff's office to an assortment of drugs and an alligator the length of a toddler in one man's home. The Rusk County Sheriff's Office and the Texas Game Warden investigated a home on Jan. 21 after receiving a tip about drug distribution and illegal possession of an alligator, they announced in a Facebook post. A search warrant resulted in officers finding a number of controlled substances, including magic mushrooms, PCP, THC edibles and vape cartridges, and 1 pound of marijuana, the post said.

Free N95 masks roll out at pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens this week: here’s how to get yours

Less than a week after the Biden administration announced that it plans to issue 400 million free N95 masks at pharmacies and health centers across the country, some drugstores have already received their shipments and started doling them out. The coveted non-surgical N95 masks, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) say “offer the highest level of protection” against the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, are coming from the Strategic National Stockpile, which is the country's cache of medical-equipment supplies. Most of the pharmacies participating in the federal pharmacy vaccine program, including CVS Walgreens Walmart and Sam's Club, are also participating in the free N95 masks program.

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  Free N95 masks available at local pharmacies, health centers

  KSBY
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  The US Government Will Soon Offer Free N95 Masks

  PopSugar

77 years after Auschwitz, Jews honor those who rescued them

Andrzej Sitkowski was 15 years old when his mother told him that she had been asked by a neighbor to hide a little Jewish girl from the Nazis at their home. “It was a short conversation, and then, yes, we decided to take in Hadassah and she was brought over to our house in 1943,” Sitkowski says, looking back at those difficult years during World War II when he lived with his widowed mother Helena and younger sister Magda on the outskirts of the Polish capital of Warsaw under German occupation. “Of course, we were afraid, but fear was our daily dish during those years anyway,” Sitkowski told The Associated Press at his home in the Bavarian village of Durach where he settled 10 years ago with his German wife.

Pensacola man spent 54 years in search of the love of his life. He lost her in seconds

A Pensacola man is still reeling several days after he lost the love of his life in a fire that destroyed the couple's humble campsite where they had been living. Craig Heathcoe, 55, said he tried to save his girlfriend, Angela Meeks, from the flames after a small portable heater accidentally caught their camping tent on fire last week. Meeks, 53, who had trouble walking unassisted due to recent strokes, succumbed to her burn wounds Wednesday night before paramedics arrived to the homeless camp where she and Heathcoe had been living together as a couple for almost a year.

Cheryl Hines Finally Breaks Her Silence on Hubby Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Anti-Vax Lunacy

Over the weekend, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the world's leading (translation: most dangerous) anti-vax conspiracy theorist, was one of many kooky speakers railing against COVID vaccines and mandates at a “Defeat the Mandates” rally in Washington, D.C. “Even in Hitler's Germany, you could cross the Alps into Switzerland, you can hide in the attic like Anne Frank did,” said Kennedy. At the antivaxx rally in DC, RFK Jr. says that in the future "none of us can run and none of us can hide" because of Bill Gates' satellites and also 5G, unlike... the Holocaust.

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  RFK Jr. apologizes after condemnation for Anne Frank comment

  Associated Press
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  Cheryl Hines Calls Husband Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Invoking Anne Frank in Vaccines Speech “Reprehensible”

  The Hollywood Reporter

California redwood forest returned to native tribal group

The descendants of Native American tribes on the Northern California coast are reclaiming a bit of their heritage that includes ancient redwoods that have stood since their ancestors walked the land. Save the Redwoods League planned to announce Tuesday that it is transferring more than 500 acres (202 hectares) on the Lost Coast to the InterTribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council. Priscilla Hunter, chairwoman of the Sinkyone Council, said it's fitting they will be caretakers of the land where her people were removed or forced to flee before the forest was largely stripped for timber.

Joe Manchin is reportedly furious at Ron Klain after the White House called him out for opposing Biden's spending plan

Sen. Joe Manchin is reportedly furious with the White House chief of staff Ron Klain. The Washington Post reported that Manchin feels it's up to Klain to repair the rift. Manchin's relationship with the White House continues to be closely watched.

NFL’s Odell Beckham Jr. took his $750,000 salary in bitcoin — how much did that end up costing him?

Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. made headlines last November when he announced he would be converting his 2021 NFL salary into bitcoin. The problem for Beckham: that bitcoin (BTCUSD) prices are plummeting. Ether was down 8% over the past 24 hours, and bitcoin prices fell below $35,000, including a 4% drop in the past 24 hours.

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  Bitcoin price plunge shrinks paycheck of NFL's Odell Beckham Jr

  Yahoo Finance Video
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  Bitcoin's recent crash is a reminder: Don't get your financial advice from NFL stars

  Yahoo Sports

German caution on arms to Ukraine rooted in history, energy

Germany's refusal to join other NATO members in providing weapons to Ukraine has annoyed some allies and raised questions about Berlin's resolve in standing up to Russia. The issue rose to the fore over the weekend following a report that Berlin had gone so far as to block Estonia from supplying old German howitzers to Kyiv to help defend itself against Russian troops massing near the Ukrainian border. Germany's stance on arms supplies does “not correspond to the level of our relations and the current security situation," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter.

Australian reportedly killed when explosive vest detonates

Police were investigating the death of a man who was reportedly killed when an explosive vest he was wearing detonated while he was driving his car in the street in the Australian city of Melbourne. The vest was understood to have been triggered by the car hitting a speed bump in suburban Hallam on Saturday morning, Seven News reported. Security camera video showed the flash of the explosion rise about the roof and from the driver's side window.

North Carolina man given record prison sentence for livestreaming sex abuse of Filipino children

A man from North Carolina, Jake Ross, was sentenced to 55 years in prison for paying a mother in the Philippines to sexually abuse her children over livestream. The 47-year-old man from McDowell County received the longest sentence ever given in a child pornography case by the federal courts in the Asheville division of the Western District of North Carolina, reported the Charlotte Observer. The Chief U.S. District Judge Martin Reidinger also added a lifetime of court supervision if Ross were to outlive his sentence.

Stimulus Update: Here's Who Can Expect an Extra $5,000 From the IRS in 2022

Whether a child is biological, adopted, or the result of a guardianship, new parents can celebrate their growing family at tax time if each of the following is true: The parents or guardians did not receive advanced Child Tax Credit payments on behalf of the child in 2021 (worth $3,600 total for children under age 6). The new family member did not receive a $1,400 stimulus check in 2021. The family does not exceed adjusted gross income guidelines (more on this in a moment).

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  Child Tax Credit Update: What is IRS Letter 6419?

  GOBankingRates
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  IRS investigating reports of families receiving wrong information about their child tax credit — why that could reduce their tax refunds

  MarketWatch

Rare eagle seen in Maine, wowing birders, might stay a bit

A rare species of eagle that has thrilled bird lovers and baffled scientists since arriving in Maine last month might not be in a hurry to leave. It has stuck to Maine's middle coast, eating fish and ducks and attracting hundreds of birdwatchers from all over the world. The bird is far off course, and it's still unclear why it came here at all, said Doug Hitchcox, staff naturalist at Maine Audubon.

Move Over MyPillow Guy: Aaron Rodgers Is Trumpworld’s Hot New Election Conspiracy Theorist

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers is very good at football. He's probably going to be named the NFL's MVP in a few weeks, an award he also won last year, and in 2014, and in 2011. This year's been a little different, though, as his play on the field hasn't been near as big of a story as his judgement off of it.

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  Matt LaFleur: Packers brass 'all on the same page' in wanting Aaron Rodgers back

  Yahoo Sports
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  If Aaron Rodgers leaves Packers, here’s how the NFC North QB situation looks

  Bears Wire

The No. 1 emerging real-estate market in America also has some of the nation’s best beaches

Here is the full list of the Top 20 emerging housing markets, according to the index: International travel demand is set to surge The list's make-up reflects heightened expectations for travel demand as COVID-19 lessens as a concern with more people getting their vaccines globally. They're not just domestic destinations, but international buyers are interested in them too,” said Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com. The idea that people are traveling more and borders are a little bit more open than they have been is giving international buyers the confidence to get out” Hale said.

New space telescope reaches final stop million miles out

The world's biggest, most powerful space telescope arrived at its observation post 1 million miles from Earth on Monday, a month after it lifted off on a quest to behold the dawn of the universe. On command, the James Webb Space Telescope fired its rocket thrusters for nearly five minutes to go into orbit around the sun at its designated location, and NASA confirmed the operation went as planned. The mirrors on the $10 billion observatory still must be meticulously aligned, the infrared detectors sufficiently chilled and the scientific instruments calibrated before observations can begin in June.

‘I want the world to see.’ How a SC nurse showed the nation the COVID crisis up close

Hawes said he just wanted the public to be able to see it. On Tuesday morning, both Hawes and his photographs from inside MUSC's COVID unit made their national TV debut in a story that aired on “CBS Mornings. This whole pandemic affects all of the medical workers that work in these conditions and it's not just, you know, about the PPE (personal protective equipment) and the high patient load, but it's the emotional load that we carry as well,” said 52-year-old Hawes.

Schumer 'f--ked it up' on Build Back Better negotiations, senior Dem aide says

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has come under fire from Hill Democrats for his leadership style, Politico reported Tuesday. "Leadership 101 is even if you don't get someone today, you're going to need them tomorrow," one senior House Democratic aide told Politico. Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) into scapegoats, staffers argued, subjecting his fellow Democrats the ire that ought to have been directed toward Republicans.

The James Webb Space Telescope arrives at its final orbit

The James Webb Space Telescope has reached its new home. NASA has confirmed the remote observatory successfully entered its final orbit around the second Sun-Earth Lagrange point (aka L2) after one last course correction burn. The telescope's primary mirror segments and secondary mirror have already been deployed, but you'll have to wait until the summer for the first imagery.

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  Nasa’s James Webb Telescope arrives at its final destination – a million miles from Earth

  The Telegraph
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  Webb Space Telescope reaches orbit location

  WESH - Orlando Videos

Colorado deputy with OnlyFans account retires after being discovered by female officer

A Colorado sheriff's deputy retired with a $30,000 separation agreement instead of facing an internal investigation over an OnlyFans page she owns. Williams was in law enforcement for 28 years, spending the last 11 years with the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office and most recently served as a lieutenant at a detention center. Williams said she posted the content when she was off-duty, was never in uniform in the content she posted and never identified herself as a law enforcement officer.

Jon Stewart once told Jeff Bezos at a dinner with the Obamas that workers wanted fulfillment, not jobs running errands for rich people: 'That's a recipe for revolution'

Jon Stewart once told Jeff Bezos that his vision for the economy was a "recipe for revolution." Stewart said during a recent podcast episode that President Barack Obama agreed. In recent years, Amazon employees have gone on strike, filed lawsuits, and attempted to unionize.

Thai PM arrives in Saudi Arabia, easing diamond heist row

Thailand's prime minister arrived in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday for the first high-level meeting since relations between the nations soured three decades ago over a sensational jewelry heist that led to a diplomatic row and string of mysterious killings. The official visit by Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha to Riyadh signals the nations are seeking to thaw ties, long chilled by the 1989 scandal. Saudi Arabia downgraded its diplomatic relations with Thailand over the theft that became known as the Blue Diamond affair.