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.
WorldThe TelegraphJapanese man arrested after dating 35 women at the same time in bid to 'get birthday presents'
A Japanese man has been arrested after reportedly dating more than 35 women at the same time. Takashi Miyagawa, a part-time worker, is being investigated for allegedly defrauding dozens of women by pretending he was serious about each of their relationships and receiving hundreds of pounds worth of gifts from them. He was apparently caught out when the women joined forces to create a victims' association after discovering his extensive infidelity and reported him to the police, according to local media.
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 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.
WorldAssociated PressRussian troops start pulling back from Ukrainian border
Russian troops began pulling back to their permanent bases Friday after a massive buildup that has caused Ukrainian and Western concerns. On Thursday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu declared the sweeping maneuvers in Crimea and wide swaths of western Russia over, and ordered the military to bring the troops that took part in them back to their permanent bases by May 1. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the announcement.
WorldBBCAustralia resists calls for tougher climate targets
Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison has resisted pressure to set more ambitious carbon emission targets while other major nations vowed deeper reductions to tackle climate change. Addressing a global climate summit, Mr Morrison said Australia was on a path to net zero emissions. US President Joe Biden, who chaired the virtual summit, pledged to cut carbon emissions by 50-52% below 2005 levels by the year 2030.
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.
WorldArchitectural DigestBookmark These 11 Places on HipCamp for Your Next Outdoor Retreat
A WiFi break? Yes, please Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
- WorldAssociated Press
Turkey probes cryptocurrency exchange for possible $2B fraud
Turkish prosecutors launched an investigation into a cryptocurrency exchange Thursday over allegations it may have defrauded some 390,000 investors of an estimated $2 billion. The office of Istanbul's chief prosecutor said it was probing the Thodex cryptocurrency exchange following complaints from users who could not access their assets. Thodex owner Faruk Fatih Ozer deactivated his social media accounts and is believed to have fled Turkey for Tirana, Albania, Turkish broadcaster Haberturk reported.
PoliticsAssociated PressDemocrats move 2 bills showing strength and limits of power
The House voted along party lines to make the nation's capital the 51st state and two hours later, the Senate overwhelmingly approved bipartisan legislation to address violence against Asian Americans. Thursday's twin victories let Democrats display momentum just six days before President Joe Biden's maiden speech to Congress. Despite a minuscule majority, House Democrats have overcome Republican opposition and passed legislation this year reworking voting laws, toughening gun background checks and fulfilling other party goals.
U.S.Fort Worth Star-TelegramCop seen punching teen with autism in California video. ‘Disturbing,’ boy’s dad says
Surveillance video shared by a California dad shows a police officer violently attack a teenager in a residential neighborhood on Wednesday. Adam Wolf says he is worried his 17-year-old son, Preston, who has autism and ADHD, will never trust police officers again. “I am pro police, but I am not pro ABUSE,” Wolf said on Facebook, where he posted the video.
WorldReutersIndia posts world record COVID cases with oxygen running out
India recorded the world's highest daily tally of 314,835 COVID-19 infections on Thursday as a second wave of the pandemic raised new fears about the ability of crumbling health services to cope. Health officials across northern and western India, including the capital, New Delhi, said they were in crisis, with most hospitals full and running out of oxygen. Some doctors advised patients to stay at home, while a crematorium in the eastern city of Muzaffarpur said it was being overwhelmed with bodies, and grieving families had to wait their turn.
WorldThe TelegraphWho killed Chad’s warrior king? Macron flies into murder mystery troubling the West
Emmanuel Macron touched down in Chad on Friday to pay his respects to one of France's indispensable African strongman, a warrior king allegedly killed on the battlefield in a murder mystery troubling Western leaders. President Idriss Déby Itno was killed suddenly as he visited his troops facing down a heavily armed Russian-trained rebel force that had made a blitzkrieg dash across the Sahara to capture Chad's capital, N'djamena. The Chadian rebels — the Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT) — who swept out of Libya some two weeks ago in about 400 to 450 vehicles had fought for years as mercenaries in Libya's Civil War under General Khalifa Haftar.
U.S.BBCCovid 'hate crimes' against Asian Americans on rise
A Filipino-American is slashed in the face with a box cutter. From being spat on and verbally harassed to incidents of physical assault, there have been thousands of reported cases in recent months. Advocates and activists say these are hate crimes, and often linked to rhetoric that blames Asian people for the spread of Covid-19.
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.
U.S.Miami HeraldThe biker thought he was getting a ticket. Instead, the deputy gave him a phone number
Largely phased out nationwide, just a few Officer Friendly programs have endured through the millennium, including one by the Pasco County Sheriff's Office, according to WFTS Tampa Bay. This story isn't about Officer Friendly, but it is about a friendly officer. The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office posted video of a traffic stop that went in a direction the motorist probably didn't expect.
U.S.Charlotte ObserverBond denied for murder suspect in death of Brooks Sandwich House co-owner
One of the two men accused of killing the co-owner of the Brooks Sandwich House in Charlotte was denied bond in court on Thursday. Terry Connor Jr. was arrested in March 2020 in connection with the shooting death of Scott Brooks. Connor is charged with murder, robbery with a dangerous weapon, first-degree kidnapping and possession of a firearm by a felon.
- NewsKTRK – Houston
Man shot in the face during armed robbery at million dollar home
Police said the couple was followed to the home after leaving a restaurant in a McLaren. They were ambushed in the garage and robbed.
PoliticsAssociated PressSen. Johnson on others getting shots: 'What do you care?'
Contrary to what medical experts advise, Johnson has said he doesn't need to be vaccinated because he had COVID-19 in the fall. Johnson's comments come as health officials in the U.S. and around the world urge people to get vaccinated for COVID-19 as soon as possible, saying that reaching herd immunity is the best shot at stopping the uncontrolled spread of the virus. Herd immunity occurs when enough people have been vaccinated or have immunity from natural infection that the virus can't easily spread and the pandemic fizzles out.
U.S.Architectural Digest10 Glowy, Ethereal Paper Lights That Aren't by Noguchi
Nothing beats the iconic Akari light sculptures, but these come pretty darn close Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
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.
U.S.The StateMoving to Myrtle Beach? Use this new tool to see if your new home is likely to flood.
The Map Your Move tool — a set of interactive maps and collection of links to flooding and building information — is aimed at people looking to move within, or to, Horry County, and allows them to assess how likely it is that a home or property they want to buy will flood. Say you're looking at a home in a new Carolina Forest or Conway subdivision. The Map Your Move tool, which connects to the county's property database, allows a buyer to zoom into the specific parcel they wish to buy, and see how close the property is to existing and proposed flood zones, whether nearby roads closed during recent hurricanes and if the property has experienced storm surge during past rains.
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.
PoliticsKansas City StarI interned for both of Kansas’ US senators. This is what I learned about the GOP
My experience in Marshall's and Moran's offices showed me the rift in the GOP. Moran is associated with the social and fiscal conservatism traditional to the Republican Party, while Marshall has aligned himself with the fiery populist rhetoric of Trumpism. However, in my few personal experiences with Marshall while I was in his office, he did not act as boisterously as he comes across on social media.
U.S.The IndependentDaunte Wright funeral — latest: Rev Al Sharpton delivers eulogy during emotional service
Daunte Wright's funeral has begun at a church in Minneapolis, just less than two weeks after he was fatally shot by a police officer during a traffic stop. Mr Wright, an unarmed 20-year-old Black man and a father of a 2-year-old, was fatally shot by officer Kim Potter during a traffic stop last week, where authorities say she mistakenly fired her gun thinking it was her Taser. The killing sparked protests in Minneapolis as it came amid the murder trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin, who was convicted on Tuesday of murdering unarmed Black man George Floyd last May.
“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.”