WorldAssociated PressAfter 3 months of war, life in Russia has profoundly changed
While the multinationals were leaving, thousands of Russians who had the economic means to do so were also fleeing, frightened by harsh new government moves connected to the war that they saw as a plunge into full totalitarianism. Some young men may have also fled in fear that the Kremlin would impose a mandatory draft to feed its war machine. But fleeing had become much harder than it once was — the European Union's 27 nations, along with the United States and Canada had banned flights to and from Russia.
U.S.USA TODAYAlleged Texas school shooting gunman identified: What we know about the suspect, his motive and more.
Texas saw its deadliest school shooting in modern state history Tuesday as details begin to emerge after an alleged gunman reportedly killed at least 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. During a news conference, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott identified the assailant as Salvador Ramos, 18, and said he was a resident of the heavily Latino community about 85 miles west of San Antonio. The governor said Ramos walked into Robb Elementary School in Uvalde around 11:30 a.m. Central time and opened fire.
U.S.Miami HeraldPassenger’s punch knocks United Airlines worker through the counter, NJ video shows
A passenger's powerful punch knocked a United Airlines worker through the ticket counter and bloodied his face at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey during a dispute, video shows. The ticketed passenger, identified as Brendan Langley, 27, of Georgia, was arrested after the May 19 incident resulted in the United Airlines customer service representative getting sent to the hospital, a Port Authority media representative confirmed to McClatchy News in a statement. Port Authority oversees transportation in New Jersey and New York.
U.S.Associated PressSearch for Supreme Court leaker falls to former Army colonel
When Gail Curley began her job as Marshal of the U.S. Supreme Court less than a year ago, she would have expected to work mostly behind the scenes: overseeing the court's police force and the operations of the marble-columned building where the justices work. Earlier this month, however, Curley was handed a bombshell of an assignment, overseeing an unprecedented breach of Supreme Court secrecy, the leak of a draft opinion and apparent votes in a major abortion case. People who know Curley, 53, described the former Army colonel and military lawyer as possessing the right temperament for a highly charged leak investigation: smart, private, apolitical and unlikely to be intimidated.
U.S.Kansas City StarWhat killed ‘big frigging snake’ in Indiana? The answer may be stuck in its throat
Big snakes have even bigger appetites, but one large, swimming serpent in Indiana was recently found dead with a “huge” fish lodged in its throat, photos show. Amber Conley and Brad Walton were fueling up at Brookville Lake, about 76 miles southeast of downtown Indianapolis, when they spotted the snake, Conley said in a May 22 Facebook post. “While fueling up today, we came across a dead snake that had choked on a huge fish,” Conley said.
WorldThe TelegraphHenry Kissinger: Ukraine must give Russia territory
Veteran US statesman Henry Kissinger has urged the West to stop trying to inflict a crushing defeat on Russian forces in Ukraine, warning that it would have disastrous consequences for the long term stability of Europe. The former US secretary of state and architect of the Cold War rapprochement between the US and China told a gathering in Davos that it would be fatal for the West to get swept up in the mood of the moment and forget the proper place of Russia in the European balance of power. Dr Kissinger said the war must not be allowed to drag on for much longer, and came close to calling on the West to bully Ukraine into accepting negotiations on terms that fall very far short of its current war aims.
PoliticsAssociated PressPelosi pushes back on archbishop who denies her Communion
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pushed back Tuesday on the decision by San Francisco's conservative Catholic archbishop to deny her Communion over her support of abortion rights, saying she respects that people have opposing views but not when they impose them on others. Pelosi made her comments on MSNBC's “Morning Joe.” In a letter last week to Pelosi, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone said he would refuse her Communion after she vowed to codify into law the Supreme Court's Roe vs. Wade decision establishing a constitutional right to abortion.
U.S.The Daily BeastFox News Guest: People Calling for Change Post-Shooting Are ‘Hurting the Situation’
Fox News guest Buck Sexton said Tuesday on Tucker Carlson Tonight that those who criticize politicians who can but won't enact legislation to help prevent mass shootings like the one at a Texas elementary school earlier in the day are “hurting the situation.” Host Tucker Carlson hypothesized that mental illness could have played a part in the shooting. Many on the left, he claimed, “don't seem that interested in the fact that there are an awful lot of tragically, sometimes dangerously mentally ill people wandering around all of a sudden.”
U.S.Fort Worth Star-Telegram‘How do you even sleep at night?’ Texas Sen. Ted Cruz faces backlash after Uvalde shooting
Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas is taking heat to his response to the shooting in Uvalde that left more than 20 dead, including at least 18 elementary school students. Uvalde is a town of 15,000 about 80 miles west of San Antonio. “Heidi & I are fervently lifting up in prayer the children and families in the horrific shooting in Uvalde,” Cruz said in a post on Twitter.
U.S.Associated PressJury selection in school shooter's trial upended by T-shirt
The already slow slog of picking jurors in the penalty trial of Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz hit a new stumbling block Monday when a potential juror's T-shirt honoring those killed and traumatized in the 2018 massacre resulted in the dismissal of her entire group of 10. The woman, a 58-year-old high school teacher, was wearing a T-shirt in the burgundy and silver colors of Parkland's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that read “Teacher Strong. Below that were two hashtags that were commonly found on T-shirts and bumper stickers throughout South Florida long after the Feb. 14, 2018, shooting: #msdstrong and #NeverAgain.
U.S.Business InsiderOne place you won't find guns in the wake of the Texas school massacre? The NRA's upcoming leadership conference in Houston this week.
One place you won't be able to find firearms in Texas is at the NRA's Houston conference this week. Attendees aren't allowed to bring their firearms into the event, per Secret Service guidelines. One place you won't be able to find firearms in Texas after the Robb Elementary School massacre is, surprisingly, the National Rifle Association's upcoming forum in Houston on May 27.
U.S.INSIDERTodd Chrisley's former business partner said they paid a blackmailer $38,000 to keep their affair a secret
Todd Chrisley's former business partner testified they had an intimate relationship. The affair, and romantic feelings for Chrisley, was behind his willingness to commit fraud, he said. Chrisley's attorney said in his opening that Braddock was "obsessed" with his client.
U.S.Associated PressMcCormick sues over counting mail ballots in Pa. Senate race
The campaign of David McCormick, who is in a neck-and-neck Republican primary contest for the U.S. Senate against celebrity heart surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz, sued in a Pennsylvania court Monday to try to ensure counties obey a brand-new federal appeals court decision that could help him make up ground. McCormick's lawsuit, filed after hours, asks the state's Commonwealth Court to require counties to promptly count mail-in ballots that lack a required handwritten date on the return envelope. It is the first — but likely not the last — lawsuit in the contest between Oz and McCormick, a former hedge fund CEO.
U.S.Miami HeraldWoman sees 4-foot ‘surprise’ resting in tree and calls 911, New Jersey firefighters say
A woman spotted a 4-foot “surprise” resting in a tree outside her home and called 911, firefighters in New Jersey say. Then, an unusual animal rescue ensued in Swedesboro on May 22, according to the Woolwich Fire Company. Fire crews, police and animal control arrived to rescue a large, scaly reptile — a monitor lizard — that was sunbathing in the woman's tree, the department's Facebook post said.
U.S.The Daily Beast‘I Was Just 16’: Pastor’s ‘Adultery’ Confession in Church Goes Off the Rails
A church pastor in Indiana publicly confessed to his congregation this week that he'd committed “adultery” two decades ago—but he was quickly called out by a woman who took the stage to say she had only been 16 when he preyed on her. The public confrontation that played out Sunday at the New Life Christian Church and World Outreach in Warsaw has now sparked an investigation by local prosecutors in Kosciusko County, according to local reports. The footage shows the pastor, John Lowe II, announce his resignation from the stage after he revealed that he had “committed adultery.”
- ScienceShreveport Times | The Times
Two houses tested in a wind tunnel
IBHS wind test demonstration of two houses in thunderstorm and straight-line wind conditions. The on on the right was built to Fortified standards.
U.S.AZCentral | The Arizona RepublicRuben Gallego hurls expletives at Ted Cruz after he attacks Dems after Texas school massacre
Rep. Ruben Gallego hurled profanity at Sen. Ted Cruz after the Texas Republican worried that Democrats and the media would use the massacre of elementary students Tuesday to curb gun rights. In a series of coarse tweets reflecting the raw outrage at the slaying of at least 18 children and a teacher in Uvalde, Texas, Gallego, D-Ariz., also alluded to an infamous 2021 trip to Cancun, Mexico, Cruz took as his state grappled with massive blackouts following a winter storm.
U.S.The WrapMatthew McConaughey: Texas School Shooting Has ‘Tragically Proven That We Are Failing’
Matthew McConaughey issued a statement Tuesday night on the horrific massacre of 19 children and two adults in Uvalde, Texas, where McCaonaughey was born and spent his elementary school years. Warning that the impotent response to the shooting — almost no one thinks anything will be done — has “tragically proven that we are failing to be responsible for the rights our freedoms grant us,” McConaughey suggested the problem is bipartisan. Whichever side of the aisle we may stand on, we all know we can do better.
- ScienceReuters
Ancient massive 'Dragon of Death' flying reptile dug up in Argentina
Argentine scientists discovered a new species of a huge flying reptile dubbed "The Dragon of Death" that lived 86 millions of years ago alongside dinosaurs, in a find shedding fresh insight on a predator whose body was as long as a yellow school bus. The new specimen of ancient flying reptile, or pterosaur, measured around 30 feet (9 meters) long and researchers say it predated birds as among the first creatures on Earth to use wings to hunt its prey from prehistoric skies. The team of paleontologists discovered the fossils of the newly coined Thanatosdrakon amaru in the Andes mountains in Argentina's western Mendoza province.
WorldBusiness InsiderUkrainian Special Operations Forces release video said to show a kamikaze drone taking out a Russian tank
Ukraine's Special Operations Forces published a video showing a kamikaze drone attack. It said in a Tuesday Facebook post that the attack destroyed a Russian tank and its operators. Ukraine said the footage was captured by a camera on the drone.
U.S.Biloxi Sun HeraldCrash kills teen hours after graduation, Louisiana cops say. ‘There’s no one like her’
An 18-year-old died in a car crash hours after her high school graduation in Louisiana, officials said. Sulphur Police Department couldn't be reached for comment by McClatchy News. Sulphur High School later identified the student as Jesse Harmon in a Facebook post.
WorldReutersIran will avenge slain Revolutionary Guards colonel, president says
The Israeli Prime Minister's Office, which oversees intelligence agency Mossad, declined to comment on the events in Tehran. The killing on Sunday only reinforces the Guard's determination to confront the enemies of Iran and to defend Iran's security and national interests, Guards spokesman Ramazan Sharif said, quoted by the semi-official Mehr news agency. "The thugs and terrorist groups affiliated with global oppression and Zionism will face consequences for their actions," he said.
U.S.INSIDER'The agonized screams of family members are audible from the parking lot' as parents of the Texas school shooting victims discovered their children had been killed: report
"The agonized screams of family members are audible from the parking lot." That's how a reporter covering the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas, described the scene on Tuesday night. In a series of tweets, Niki Griswold, a journalist with Austin-American Statesman, described the anguish at the Uvalde Civic Center, which is serving as a reunification site for families impacted by the shooting.
U.S.Business InsiderGOP Rep. Paul Gosar spread a baseless transphobic rumor that the Uvalde school shooting suspect was a 'transsexual leftist illegal alien'
Gosar tweeted that the shooter was a "transsexual leftist illegal alien." The false claim has spread based on the photos of a person who is unrelated to the attack. Following Tuesday's mass shooting at a Texas elementary school, Arizona GOP congressman Paul Gosar spread a false and transphobic claim that the suspected shooter was a "transsexual leftist illegal alien."
U.S.Associated PressLone survivor of 2009 plane crash testifies in Paris court
The lone survivor of a 2009 plane crash in the Indian Ocean took the stand Monday in a Paris courtroom, recounting her ordeal as a 12-year-old girl hearing screams, clinging to floating debris and desperately hoping that her mother was still alive. Bahia Bakari's mother was among 152 people who died on the flight operated by Yemen Airways, which is now known as Yemenia. Composed throughout her testimony, Bakari cried as she mourned her mother's loss.
“It could give millions a chance to finally buy a house or start their business or help their kids get an education, too.”
“You signed a contract…If you don’t want to deal with the financial pressure of debt, don’t take out the loan.”
“Without action from Biden, Black student debt will hinder his agenda with respect to eliminating racial inequities.”
“Blanket relief could end up routing too much relief to those who do not need it and too little to those who do.”
“Unlike a number of other policy issues, student debt relief doesn’t need to be pushed through a narrowly controlled Congress.”