U.S.Associated Press'Super bloom' swarms force California city to say no more
A small California city that was overrun by visitors four years ago when heavy winter rains produced a “super bloom” of wild poppies has a message for the public after this year's deluge: Do not come. The poppies are beginning to bloom but so far on a small scale — and the canyon where they grow and parking areas are now completely off-limits, Lake Elsinore Mayor Natasha Johnson told a press conference where she recounted the chaos of 2019. Poppies are found throughout California in spring and summer, but usually not as extensively as the blankets of gold that in 2019 covered slopes near Lake Elsinore, a city of 71,000 in Riverside County about 60 miles (96 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles.
U.S.Miami HeraldA major archaeological discovery was made on the Miami River. Was it kept ‘under wraps’?
For the past year and a half, with scant public attention, squads of archaeologists digging at the Miami River site of a planned Related Group residential tower complex have unearthed remarkable finds, consisting of thousands of fragmentary prehistoric tools and artifacts, rare and well-preserved animal and plant remnants, vestiges of ancient structures and human remains — including some relics dating back to the earliest days of civilization on the planet. The discovery, they say, may be the most significant in a series of archaeological finds made at the mouth of the Miami River in the past 25 years that include the Miami Circle National Historic Landmark, thought to be around 2,000 years old. “There are artifacts going back sequentially over those thousands of years,” said William Pestle, an archaeologist and chairman of the anthropology department at the University of Miami, who is not involved in the excavation at the Related site but is familiar with the discoveries there.
U.S.The Daily BeastCringey 23-Year-Old Mayor Quotes Steve Jobs to Defend His Trumpian Coup
At a contentious city council meeting Monday night, Goddard Mayor Hunter Larkin invoked the late Apple founder Steve Jobs, suggesting that he—Larkin—was also a visionary attempting to “change the world.” In a move that one Goddard resident likened to “Germany in 1935,” Larkin manipulated existing rules to reclaim a position he'd lost in May 2022 following a news report detailing questionable ties to a local real estate family. After his ouster in 2022, Larkin was arrested for DUI, then launched a bid for the statehouse, promising he would spend his time focusing on “voter integrity, the right to bear arms, protecting the unborn and keeping Critical Race Theory (CRT) out of schools.”
U.S.In The Know by YahooFormer Victoria's Secret manager explains why you should never shoplift from big retail chains: 'They will eventually catch you'
A former Victoria's Secret sales manager is opening up about a little-known secret in the retail world — one that she hopes will help curb store theft in the future. According to Kenzie Rae (@kenzieraesch), she used to work at an unnamed Victoria's Secret location where she witnessed many instances of shoplifting. In fact, she estimates that someone would steal from the store at least once a day, which resulted in high losses for the struggling lingerie company.
PoliticsHuffPost'A Sick Puppy': Mitt Romney And George Santos Get Into Tense Exchange At State Of The Union
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) got into a heated confrontation ahead of President Joe Biden's State of the Union address on Tuesday. Santos, the truth-challenged congressman from New York, had positioned himself on the center aisle of the House chamber, where lawmakers often stand on such occasions in order to shake hands with the president. As members of the Senate walked into the chamber and made their way down the aisle, Romney and Santos shared a tense exchange.
WorldBusiness InsiderChina is mad at the US for blasting its suspected spy balloon, but a few years ago, state TV bragged its fighter pilots could shoot one down
A 2020 Chinese state TV clip showed off how fighter pilots could shoot down surveillance balloons. The video shows a pilot tracking and shooting a balloon during an apparent training exercise. China said Monday that the US shooting down a suspected Chinese spy balloon was "unacceptable."
NewsYahoo News Canada'Many customers feel uncomfortable around you': Woman working at Ontario FreshCo grocery store receives racist letter at work
A Canadian woman who works at a grocery store in Ontario was left shocked after she received a racist letter at her workplace. Nadine Davis has been working at the FreshCo grocery store in Peterborough, Ont. as a cashier for nearly 18 years. In an interview with The Peterborough Examiner, Davis explained she was "shocked" and fought back tears while saying she couldn't talk about it.
U.S.Milwaukee Journal Sentinel12-year-old girl sues off-duty Kenosha officer, school district and city arguing her rights were violated when the officer knelt on her neck for more than 20 seconds
A federal lawsuit was filed Monday against the Kenosha Unified School District, City of Kenosha and a Kenosha police officer on behalf of a 12-year-old girl and her father. In a 14-page complaint, the girl's attorney, Drew DeVinney, says officer Shawn Guetschow used "unreasonable and excessive" force and that he "acted with malice or in reckless disregard" of the girl's rights, when he restrained her during a lunch room fight, by placing his knee on her neck for more than 20 seconds. Guetschow had been working part-time as a school security guard for the school district, while also serving as a Kenosha police officer.
PoliticsUSA TODAY OpinionDark Brandon shows up at State of the Union, mops the floor with lost Republicans
President Joe Biden, at the ripe age of 80, came out with ample vim and vigor in Tuesday night's State of the Union address and proceeded to mop the House floor with the howling, discombobulated remains of the Republican Party. Preaching populism and leaning hard on his noted skill as the empathizer-in-chief, Biden bounded through a speech that acknowledged the nation's struggles while remaining unerringly optimistic. Whatever the White House cooks are feeding Biden these days, I'd like a plate of it myself.
BusinessIn The Know by YahooLaid-off employee calls out ridiculous email from former boss: 'This is exploitation'
A woman on TikTok is blowing the lid off of something that recently happened to her in an effort to expose workplace exploitation. “I had to calm down before making this video, because the audacity,” says Kiki (@kikirough), before explaining in her TikTok that she was one of the thousands of Americans laid off about a month ago. In a nutshell, Kiki says the CEO was in a bind and asked her to do something that no one else in the company knew how to do after her departure.
U.S.INSIDERA passenger's story about refusing to switch plane seats with a mom who wanted to sit with her teenage son has reignited TikTok's flight etiquette debate
TikTok user Surya Garg shared a story about being asked to switch seats on a plane. Garg says she was asked to move seats so a mom could sit with her teenager, but she refused. The video created debate and reignited popular flight etiquette discourse on the app.
HealthPopular MechanicsGerman Doctors Are Attempting to Reverse Death and Resurrect Humans
A company called Tomorrow Biostasis is focusing on human cryopreservation in the hopes it can eventually reverse death. Liquid nitrogen is the main ingredient used to ensure cryopreservation. The waiting list for Tomorrow Biostasis, a cryopreservation startup based in Germany, is in the hundreds.
U.S.ReutersPorn star Ron Jeremy committed to state mental hospital
Porn star Ron Jeremy was committed to a state mental health hospital after being found incompetent to stand trial on rape and other charges, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles District Attorney said on Tuesday. Jeremy can be held for up to two years, said Greg Risling, spokesperson for the district attorney's office. The 69-year-old had been charged with 30 counts of rape and other sexual misconduct stemming from incidents in the Los Angeles area over a 23-year period.
U.S.WSB Cox articlesGa. elementary school principal, PE teacher fired for having sex at school, investigation finds
An elementary school principal and PE teacher are no longer teaching children in Banks County after an investigation found allegations they had sex on campus are true. A third-party investigation, requested by Banks County Superintendent Dr. Ann Hopkins, began after Banks County Elementary School Principal Dr. Dana Simmons raised concerns that PE teacher Dylan Charles had bugged her office. The report states that Dr. Simmons believed Charles had details on Board of Education activities that he should not have.
WorldBusiness InsiderKim Jong Un abruptly reappears after 36 days out of the spotlight and orders North Korea to 'prepare for war'
Kim Jong Un had not been seen in public for 36 days, fueling speculation about his health. But North Korea's leader attended a meeting with military officials on Monday, reports said. He was discussing war strategies as tensions rise around the Korean peninsula, the reports said.
- U.S.The Independent
Face of 2,000-year-old ancient Nabataean woman reconstructed in world-first
The face of a 2,000-year-old ancient Nabataean woman has been fully reconstructed in what is thought to be a world-first. A team of archaeologists and academics have given us some insight into the appearance of the Arab Nabataean civilisation. The woman shown is known as Hinat, and is thought to have been a prominent figure who died around the first century BC.
U.S.Fox NewsIntruder breaks into Air Force One facility, guard opens fire
An intruder broke into Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, where presidential Air Force One planes are kept, and was soon fired upon by a base resident Monday. The individual gained access to the base Monday morning, before being spotted at a housing area inside the base. JBA houses AF1 jets and other presidential aircraft.
WorldThe TelegraphVladimir Putin is about to make shock gains
With Russia back on the offensive after significant Ukrainian combat successes around Kharkiv and Kherson in the second half of 2022, the past few weeks have been the bloodiest so far of an already bloody war, with both sides taking extraordinarily heavy casualties. Ukrainian defence minister Oleksii Reznikov says Russia has mobilised “much more” than 300,000 troops, perhaps up to half a million, and these are pouring into Ukraine in preparation for what is expected to be a major offensive in the coming days and weeks. Although Kyiv has also been building up its forces and supplying them with modern equipment donated by the West, Putin has a much greater advantage in troop numbers than he did when he invaded a year ago.
U.S.Associated PressArizona rancher held on $1M bond in killing near US border
A rancher who lives near Arizona's border with Mexico is being held on a charge of first-degree murder in last week's fatal shooting of a man tentatively identified as a Mexican citizen. The Santa Cruz County Sheriff's office in Nogales, Arizona, confirmed Monday that George Alan Kelly, 73, was arrested last week in the killing. Authorities believe the victim was Gabriel Cuen-Butimea, 48, who lived just south of the border in Nogales, Mexico, because of a Mexican voter registration card he carried.
BusinessMotley FoolIRS Tells Millions of Taxpayers to Wait to File Returns
The IRS is advising millions of taxpayers to hold off on filing their tax returns until the agency can issue guidance on whether state rebate checks issued in 2022 will count as taxable income. Last year, 19 states approved stimulus or rebate payments, and the IRS still hasn't figured out what tax treatment will apply to those funds. "The IRS is aware of questions involving special tax refunds or payments made by states in 2022; we are working with state tax officials as quickly as possible to provide additional information and clarity for taxpayers,” the IRS said in a statement.
TechnologyPopular MechanicsChina Built a Hypersonic Generator That Could Power Unimaginable Weapons
Turning gas into plasma creates an intense electrical current for powering potent hypersonic weapons. Chinese researchers built a hypersonic generator that could power military lasers, rail guns, and microwave weapons. Chinese scientists say one formidable explosion inside a shock tunnel can turn hot gas into the most powerful hypersonic generator a military has ever seen—strong enough to charge military lasers, rails guns, microwave weapons, and more.
PoliticsYahoo NewsRepublican response to Biden State of the Union speech speeds decline of civility in politics
The response from many Republican lawmakers to President Biden's State of the Union address on Tuesday marked a new low for civility in politics in the United States. Interrupted multiple times by jeering, boos and accusations of lying by GOP members, Biden gamely endured the taunts, at times seeming to revel in the prospect of egging on his political opponents, calling them out over threats to refuse to raise the debt ceiling and other contentious issues. State of the Union addresses, which are mandated by the Constitution, have, for most of the nation's history, been rather staid affairs.
U.S.Business InsiderAll 5 officers charged in Tyre Nichols' death removed or failed to activate their body-worn cameras. They were caught by a 'sky cop' camera installed to monitor crime hotspots.
All 5 officers charged in Tyre Nichols' death failed to capture the entire incident on body cameras. All five Memphis Police officers charged in the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols failed to capture the entire encounter on their body-worn cameras, and three of the five fully removed their body-worn cameras during the still-active scene, according to newly-released police documents obtained by Insider. Following Nichols' death, the police department released portions of responding officers' body-worn camera footage, as well as CCTV video of the encounter.
PoliticsFox NewsFour Supreme Court justices absent from Biden's State of the Union
Four Supreme Court justices opted against attending President Biden's State of the Union address at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday evening. Biden greeted five of the high court's nine justices — John Roberts, Elena Kagan, Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett and Ketanji Brown Jackson — shortly before he began his speech, according to video footage of the event. The four justices absent were Clarence Thomas, Sam Alito, Sonia Sotomayor and Neil Gorsuch.
WorldReutersEXPLAINER - Why was the Turkey-Syria earthquake so bad?
The magnitude 7.8 earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria on Monday is likely to be one of the deadliest this decade, seismologists said, with a more than 100 km (62 miles) rupture between the Anatolian and Arabian plates. Here is what scientists said happened beneath the earth's surface and what to expect in the aftermath: WHERE DID THE EARTHQUAKE ORIGINATE? The epicentre was about 26 km east of the Turkish city of Nurdagi at a depth of about 18 km on the East Anatolian Fault.
“In the current housing crisis, families are faced with frequent moves, evictions, and homelessness.”
“Rent control restricts supply and is economic madness.”
“Should we simply allow the cycles of displacement and segregation to occur without any policy intervention?”
“Rent control is a mistake … Even if it provides short-term relief. It eventually hurts the very people it’s trying to help.”
“The law already protects homeowners from unchecked market forces. It’s time for the law to better protect renters too.”
