PoliticsNBC News'You want to see a temper tantrum?': Arizona Republican sides with Democrats, blocks voting bill
A bill that would stop some voters from getting a ballot automatically mailed to them each election failed unexpectedly in Arizona's state Senate Thursday after a single Republican joined Democrats in voting against the legislation. GOP state Sen. Kelly Townsend explained her surprise "no" vote on the state Senate floor amid a tense episode that saw the senator get into a heated confrontation with the bill's sponsor. "I am for this bill, but I am not voting for it until after the audit," she said, referring to an audit orchestrated by Senate Republicans of ballots in Maricopa County reportedly set to get underway this week and last through mid-May. The audit is a continuation of GOP efforts to question the results of the 2020 election in a state President Joe Biden won by over 10,000 votes.
U.S.The WeekThe Derek Chauvin solitary confinement predicament
Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin is being held in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day following his conviction for the murder of George Floyd. Chauvin's solitary confinement is protective, and he's hardly languishing in a dank hole. A brief separation is one thing, but extended isolation from human contact is "cruel and unusual punishment," in constitutional parlance.
U.S.ReutersA cheerleader's Snapchat profanity gets U.S. Supreme Court's attention
(Reuters) - Two days after Mahanoy Area High School in Pennsylvania held its cheerleading tryouts, ninth-grader Brandi Levy was still fuming about being passed over for a spot on the varsity squad. While a younger girl had been picked for varsity, Levy was facing another year relegated to the junior varsity cheer squad. Levy, age 14 at the time, posted the photo to the Snapchat social media platform, adding a caption using the same curse word four times to voice her displeasure with cheerleading, softball, school and "everything."
U.S.The TelegraphGender reveal party prompts fears of 'earthquakes' after US couple detonates 80 pounds of explosives
Explosives used for a gender reveal party in New Hampshire were so loud that residents across state lines thought there was an earthquake. Locals in the Rockingham County area reported the foundations of their homes cracking and walls rocking to police, who located the origin of the blast in a quarry, where a family admitted to holding the gathering. “It was earth-shaking,” a neighbor who lives near Torromeo Industries in Kingston, where the explosives were set off at 7pm EST on Tuesday, told NBC news.
- WorldChristian Science Monitor
A light for Myanmar's darkness
The dictator of Myanmar, Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, is set to meet with other leaders of Southeast Asia on Saturday in Indonesia. The gathering may be the only place where the man who led a Feb. 1 coup against an elected government might feel some legitimacy. Now, instead of relying solely on resistance to the regime, democracy leaders have decided to set up “free zones” in border areas to provide both basic services and civic liberties.
PoliticsAxiosBiden will unveil eye-popping new tax rates for wealthiest Americans
President Biden in the next few days will unveil eye-popping new tax rates for the wealthiest Americans —a top marginal income tax rate of 39.6% and a capital gains rate of 43.4%. Why it matters: The proposal, to be announced ahead of Biden's address to Congress next Wednesday, is an opening bid for Hill negotiations. Practically and politically, the White House needs buy-in from Congress to pay for social spending in the next phase of his plan to reshape the American economy, the American Families Plan.
WorldReutersThe ex-convict's tale: Germany's role in Wirecard scandal under microscope
In February 2019, after a steep drop in Wirecard's share price, German authorities launched criminal probes into short-sellers and journalists who had accused the company of fraud, and banned investors from betting against the company. Documents seen by Reuters show for the first time that the only independent information - beyond Wirecard's representations - received by Munich prosecutors who launched the criminal probes was a third-hand account of events from a convicted money launderer, Daniel James Harris. The rationale that led to the decisions of prosecutors and regulators to launch the criminal probes and short-selling ban, and whether they were overzealous in supporting Wirecard, are central issues being investigated by a parliamentary inquiry into the company's collapse in Germany's biggest post-war fraud scandal.
- WorldWTVD – Raleigh/Durham
Man dead after being shot outside Brier Creek Barnes & Noble
The Wake County District Attorney's Office will not pursue charges at this time following a shooting outside of the Barnes and Noble at Brier Creek shopping center that killed a 32-year-old man back in March.
U.S.Miami HeraldMinutes into a 911 call a Florida driver realizes what smashed through her windshield
“Something just came through the windshield and hit my mom in the head!” a woman cried out to a 911 dispatcher after she pulled over on Interstate 95 while driving to Daytona Beach on Wednesday. On the 911 call, the driver, heeding directions from the dispatcher, works to stem the bleeding, using towels. “There's so much blood,” the driver says.
U.S.Raleigh News and ObserverEx-Sheriff Underwood’s corruption case headed to jury as prosecutors, defense clash
All three are charged with being part of a multi-pronged conspiracy involving a variety of different alleged illegal acts, from civil rights violations to falsifying documents and lying to federal agents to skimming money from federal programs to misusing deputies by having them on their on-duty time build a large red barn on Underwood's property. Underwood, Neal and Sprouse declined to testify, relying on their attorneys to argue that the government didn't have the evidence to convict them “beyond a reasonable doubt. Each of the three participated in various alleged acts in conspiracy, according to evidence presented to the jury since April 12, when the case began.
WorldBusiness InsiderA deadly fight 33 years ago shows just how destructive a war between the US and Iran could get
In April 1988, the US attacked Iran in the Persian Gulf in retaliation for the mining of a US ship. Operation Praying Mantis, the largest US naval action since World War II, was brief but deadly. Just before 8:00 a.m. on April 18, 1988, members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) stationed on the Sassan and Sirri oil platforms in the Persian Gulf received a warning from US Navy ships several thousand yards away.
WorldUSA TODAYFact check: No evidence to back claim that man convicted for Floyd's murder was not Derek Chauvin
Fact check: Derek Chauvin was found guilty on all counts but has yet to be sentenced The post includes several images of Chauvin from the day he killed Floyd, his mugshot and his trial. A close-up image highlights perceived differences in Chauvin's ear shape between his mugshot and images taken during Floyd's murder. Two different people.
WorldINSIDERHundreds of Jewish supremacists chant 'Death to Arabs' as tensions boil over in Jerusalem clashes
Members of the supremacist group, Lehava, chanted "death to Arabs" as they marched to the Old City. Police were able to separate the two crowds, but The Jerusalem Post still reported incidents of violence and arrests. Planned protests among far-right Jewish extremists and Arab crowds escalated in Jerusalem's Old City Thursday night and early Friday morning amid increasing tensions in the city.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderRepublicans blew up after a Democratic congressman accused them of spreading 'racist trash' in a debate over giving Washington, DC, statehood
GOP lawmakers erupted after Rep. Mondaire Jones accused them of spreading "racist trash." The argument came as the House was debating a bill to grant statehood to Washington, DC. Jones withdrew his comment but said the GOP was scared its "white-supremacist politics" wouldn't work in DC.
PoliticsThe IndependentBiden news - live: Bill Gates digs at Trump at climate summit as president’s popularity soars among young
Bill Gates appears to have made an inadvertent dig at former US president Donald Trump as he thanked his successor Joe Biden “for re-establishing America's leading role on climate”. The Microsoft co-founder's comments came on the second and final day of Mr Biden's virtual climate summit, as Democrats, business executives and union bosses discussed the need for a just transition to a cleaner and more sustainable economy – with the president having kickstarted proceedings on Thursday with a new pledge to half US emissions by 2030. Meanwhile, a new Harvard Institute of Politics poll suggests that approval of Mr Biden among young Americans has soared in his first 100 days in office, nearly doubling from the same period last year to 59 per cent.
WorldArchitectural DigestBookmark These 11 Places on HipCamp for Your Next Outdoor Retreat
A WiFi break? Yes, please Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
U.S.The IndependentWhat happened to the other officers arrested over George Floyd death?
Now attention turns to the coming trial of the three other police officers who were present when Mr Floyd died following his arrest in the city last year. Chauvin, 45, was found guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter in Floyd's death, and he will be sentenced in eight weeks time. When the jury's guilty verdicts were read out in the Minneapolis court room on Tuesday, Chauvin became the first white police officer ever convicted of the murder of a Black person in the state.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderRepublican House leader rejects George W. Bush's condemnation of the party as 'isolationist, protectionist' and 'nativist'
House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy dismissed former President George W. Bush's recent condemnation of the GOP. Bush said his party had become "isolationist, protectionist, and to a certain extent nativist." McCarthy insisted Bush is wrong because the GOP has more House members who are women and people of color than ever before.
U.S.INSIDERMa'Khia Bryant was arguing about cleaning the house when she got into the fight that ended in the police killing her, her foster mom says
Ma'Khia Bryant's foster mom said the teen had been arguing over chores when she got into a fight. Bryant, 16, was killed Tuesday by a police officer called to the scene. The foster mom, Angela Moore, said she learned what had happened from an urgent call to come home.
U.S.The Independent‘Today we came to honour the Prince of Brooklyn Center’: Al Sharpton leads impassioned funeral service for Daunte Wright
He added: “Minneapolis is stopped today to honour the prince of Brooklyn Center. On Thursday, as the family of the 20-year-old man shot dead 10 days ago by police held a funeral service, they sought to highlight the different strands of a life cut woefully short – his love of basketball, his position as a beloved sibling, a doting father, and a son whose smile was “worth a million dollars”. Yet, during a service at times markedly political and imbued with demands for racial justice, his life – and his fatal shooting after a traffic stop – was set against the backdrop of others who had lost their lives at the hands of the police: George Floyd, Jamar Clark, Philando Castile and Breonna Taylor.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderTrump administration officials thought they'd be memorialized in statues for doing such a great job negotiating with China, former Obama official says
A former Obama official recounted early transition meetings with the Trump administration in 2016. When the administration won, the Trump official said, there would be "statues built in our honor." A former Obama official said Trump administration officials believed they would do so well negotiating with China that statues would be erected in their honor one day.
- NewsWLS – Chicago
Inbound I-290 lanes closed near 25th Avenue after shooting
All inbound lanes of I-290 are blocked from just before the 25th Avenue exit due to police investigation of a shooting.
U.S.INSIDERA Florida couple tried to host their wedding at a $5.7 million mansion that wasn't theirs. Then the owner showed up.
Courtney Wilson and Shenita Jones planned to hold their wedding at a $5.7 million mansion in Florida without permission, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reports. According to the local paper, the couple didn't have permission to use the property but sent out wedding invitations anyway. Courtney Wilson and Shenita Jones' wedding invitation reportedly read, "it is our honor to welcome you into our dream home and estate."
WorldThe Daily BeastIndian Super Rich Flee World’s Worst COVID Outbreak on Private Jets
The U.K. added India to its “red list” of pandemic-stricken countries. As of Friday, any Britons returning from India must quarantine for ten days in a government-approved hotel. All non-British or non-Irish citizens will be banned entirely from entering the country if they have been in India in the previous 10 days.
U.S.USA TODAYFact check: AR-15 style rifles used in 11 mass shootings since 2012
Best's claim is mostly accurate: All but one of the shootings involved the use of at least one AR-15-style assault rifle. However, as we explain below, in several cases shooters had multiple guns — including 23 in the case of the Las Vegas gunman. USA TODAY reached out to Best for comment.
“High-speed rail is bold and attention-grabbing, but the scale of the project makes it near impossible.”
“While a long, slow train ride across the country can be a great thing, the US needs real high-speed rail too.”
“Liberals are right that America has a car problem — but it's commutes, not road trips, that suck.”
“Investments into a high-speed rail system wouldn’t just improve the railroads — automobile traffic could also see some relief.”
“Big cities that are reasonably close together is pretty much a prerequisite for high-speed rail.”