PoliticsYahoo News 360Pot legalization in the U.S. seems both inevitable and impossible
He said during the 2020 campaign that he supports decriminalizing pot — a change that would remove criminal penalties for possession while keeping the federal ban in place — but opposes outright legalization. When asked this month whether the president would back Schumer's proposal, press secretary Jen Psaki said that “nothing has changed” about Biden's views on marijuana. Why there's debate The disconnect in the pace of change for marijuana laws, with legalization spreading at breakneck speed in the states and all but stalled at the federal level, has raised debate over when — if ever — marijuana might become legal nationwide.
PoliticsReutersExclusive-Democrats may scrap matching funds from infrastructure bill over wage issue
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Democrats are threatening to scrap plans to create an infrastructure bank in the $1.2 trillion bipartisan spending bill after Republicans opposed a provision intended to lift workers' wages, according to three people familiar with the discussions. A decision to remove funding for the bank would be aimed at resolving a logjam over U.S. President Joe Biden's top legislative initiative, as lawmakers scramble to finalize key details of the plan ahead of the Senate's typical August recess. The group of bipartisan lawmakers seeking to hammer out Biden's infrastructure bill want to include $20 billion for a newly created infrastructure bank that would attract investment through private-public partnerships.
WorldAssociated PressMan in central China survives 3 days in flooded garage
A man in central China was rescued after spending three days trapped in a flooded underground garage following torrential rains, while at least four bodies were found after a traffic tunnel was drained, a news report said Saturday. The death toll rose to 58 after record rains hit the major city of Zhengzhou on Tuesday, state TV reported, citing Li Changxun, deputy director of Henan Provincial Emergency Management Department. The rains flooded a Zhengzhou subway tunnel where at least 12 people died, knocked out power to a hospital and other buildings and left streets filled with mud.
U.S.Fort Worth Star-TelegramHusky seen running after car when he’s abandoned is saved – and Texas man is arrested
A husky abandoned along a road in a viral video has found a new family — and now there's been an arrest. The heartbreaking video posted this week captures a Jeep passenger leaving the husky by the side of road in Horizon City, Texas, and riding away as the animal chases after the vehicle. It's been viewed hundreds of thousands of times on social media as law enforcement searched for the suspects.
WorldReutersIndonesia's Bali running out of oxygen as government ponders curbs
The Indonesian island of Bali is running out of oxygen for its COVID-19 patients as infections surge, the chief of its health agency said, as Southeast Asia's biggest country struggles with the region's worst COVID epidemic. Bali, famous for its tourist beaches and temples, along with the main island of Java and 15 other regions are under tight coronavirus restrictions, due to expire on Sunday. The government is debating whether to extend them or not.
WorldAssociated PressVietnam locks down capital Hanoi for 15 days as cases rise
Vietnam announced a 15-day lockdown in the capital Hanoi starting Saturday as a coronavirus surge spread from the southern Mekong Delta region. Earlier in the week, the city had suspended all outdoor activities and ordered non-essential businesses to close following an increase in cases. On Friday, Hanoi reported 70 confirmed infections, the city's highest, part of a record 7,295 cases in the country in the last 24 hours.
WorldAssociated PressThousands protest lockdown in Sydney, several arrested
Thousands of people took to the streets of Sydney and other Australian cities on Saturday to protest lockdown restrictions amid another surge in cases, and police made several arrests after crowds broke through barriers and threw plastic bottles and plants. The unmasked participants marched from Sydney's Victoria Park to Town Hall in the central business district, carrying signs calling for “freedom” and “the truth." There was a heavy police presence in Sydney, including mounted police and riot officers in response to what authorities said was unauthorized protest activity.
U.S.Fort Worth Star-TelegramBody of Arlington firefighter was found in bathroom window, Mexican authorities say
An investigation is underway into how Arlington firefighter Elijah Snow died Monday while vacationing in Cancun, according to Mexican authorities. On Twitter, Mexican authorities said an “investigation folder” has been started in the death of a man from Texas in the municipality of Benito Juárez in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. “The circumstances in which the events occurred are being investigated,” according to the social media post from Fiscalía General Quintana Roo, which is the State Attorney General's Office for Quintana Roo.
WorldThe TelegraphTokyo 2020 'axed opening ceremony musician for being black'
A musician claims he was cut from the Olympic opening ceremony because he was black, as organisers face a third staffing row in a week. Latyr Sy, a Senagalese percussionist based in Japan for 20 years, accused organisers of racism after he was booked and then cancelled for inclusion at the curtain-raiser. Tokyo 2020 failed to respond to requests for comment from the Telegraph on the allegations on Friday.
WorldAssociated PressChina, Afghanistan top Blinken agenda on India, Kuwait trip
Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to India and Kuwait next week for talks on China, the coronavirus and Afghanistan, the State Department said Friday. The trip comes as the Biden administration seeks to shore up U.S. leadership in vaccinating the world against COVID-19, tries to blunt increasing Chinese assertiveness, and moves to evacuate vulnerable people from Afghanistan before the U.S. military withdrawal is complete. The State Department said Blinken will meet with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Wednesday before traveling to Kuwait City the next day.
PoliticsBusiness Insider6 million renters face eviction in 8 days when a Trump-era ban expires. Biden is poised to let it happen.
Both a federal eviction ban and a moratorium on foreclosures expire in eight days. The Biden administration is poised to allow both relief programs to expire on July 31. On July 31, a set of pandemic-relief measures for renters and homeowners enacted under President Trump will end - and the Biden administration doesn't appear interested in renewing them.
SportsAssociated PressBauer appears in court to fight sexual assault allegations
Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer appeared in court Friday to fight the extension of a protective order sought by a woman who says he choked her to the point where she lost consciousness and punched her during two sexual encounters earlier this year. Attorneys for Bauer and for the woman revealed during a short court session that they intend to call several witnesses, including Bauer, and argue over the order in what amounts to a trial that is expected to last three days. Judge Dianna Gould-Saltman delayed the beginning of that hearing until Aug. 2 because Bauer's attorney, Shawn Holley, said she was given the woman's witness list late and had insufficient time to prepare.
PoliticsMiami HeraldRecords show web of payments involving players in probe into sham Senate candidate
A young Republican political operative who is also the subject of a public corruption investigation into former Republican state Sen. Frank Artiles made an offer to a recent college graduate last September: He would pay her $1,500 to chair a political committee and in exchange, she would have to do nothing. At the time, 25-year-old Hailey DeFilippis, of Palm Harbor, had just found out she was pregnant and was “freaking out about money.”
BusinessINSIDERMario Batali and his former partners will have to pay $600,000 to their restaurant employees who said they experienced sexual harassment
Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich will pay former employees $600,000 as part of a settlement. The men "permitted an intolerable work environment," New York Attorney General Letitia James said. The payout will go to at least 20 former employees from three Manhattan restaurants.
U.S.Business InsiderSen. Tom Cotton said the US, which has the highest incarceration rate in the world, has an 'under incarceration problem'
Sen. Tom Cotton tweeted Friday that the US has an "under incarceration problem." Sen. Tom Cotton said Friday that the country that incarcerates more people per capita than any other has an "under incarceration problem." Cotton, a Republican from Arkansas, tweeted a clip of himself speaking on Fox News about the increase in crime currently happening in some US cities.
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Report: 'QAnon Shaman' in plea negotiations after mental illness diagnosis
The participant in the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riots nicknamed the "QAnon Shaman" is negotiating a possible plea deal with prosecutors, after prison psychologists found he has a variety of mental illnesses, his attorney said.
CelebrityThe Daily BeastThe Tokyo Olympian Who Ran a Man Over and Left Him for Dead
While world-class Canadian weightlifter Boady Santavy basks in the glory of his first Olympic run in Tokyo, the man he ran over—left for dead and impaired for life—struggles to even get out of bed in the morning. At around 2 in the morning on March 18, 2018, 33-year-old Nicolas Emmerson Andali was struck by the star athlete's car in a hit-and-run in the small Canadian city of Sarnia. Among other injuries, Andali suffered “a broken shoulder blade, clavicle, lacerated spleen, and brain bleed” after the crash, according to a statement read by Andali's mother, Linda Hachey, in court.
PoliticsUSA TODAYWhite House declines to release number of breakthrough COVID-19 cases among vaccinated staff
WASHINGTON – The White House on Friday refused to release the number of breakthrough COVID-19 cases among vaccinated staff after one aide tested positive for the virus earlier this week. Press secretary Jen Psaki suggested the public did not need that information, even as the U.S. vaccination effort is flagging and COVID cases are surging due to the more contagious delta variant. When asked Friday for data on breakthrough cases at the White House, Psaki noted that vaccinated people who have breakthrough infections are much less likely to get severely sick or die.
WorldBusiness InsiderGunfire prompts Biden's UN ambassador to abruptly leave Haitian president's funeral
Biden's UN ambassador abruptly left the funeral for Haiti's president amid unrest surrounding the ceremony. The assassination of Jovenel Moïse has pushed Haiti into a deeper crisis after years of struggles. The US ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, abruptly departed a funeral for Haitian President Jovenel Moïse on Friday after gunfire was reportedly heard.
U.S.INSIDERVideo shows the site of the Surfside building collapse cleared of all debris as rescue crews conclude search efforts nearly a month after the tragedy
Rescue crews ended their search efforts at the site of the Surfside building collapse on Friday. New video from Miami Fire Rescue shows the site of the apartment building cleared of all debris. Miami-Dade County officials announced earlier this week that 97 victims had been identified.
HealthThe IndependentHillsong Church member, 34, dies of Covid after publicly speaking out against vaccine
A member of the Hillsong megachurch who poked fun at the Covid-19 vaccine on social media has passed away after contracting the virus. Stephen Harmon, 34, died at the Corona Regional Medical Center, Los Angeles, on Wednesday. His death was announced by Hillsong founder Brian Houston, who said he had just heard the “devastating news that our beloved friend, Stephen Harmon has passed away from Covid.
SportsAssociated PressRoundup of Olympic gold medals from Saturday, July 24
JUDO WOMEN'S 48-KILOGRAM Distria Krasniqi of Kosovo beat Funa Tonaki in the women's 48-kilogram Olympic judo final, depriving host Japan of its first gold medal in its home Olympics and winning Kosovo's second-ever Olympic medal. Krasniqi won on a throw with 20 seconds left, scoring a waza-ari and claiming a title that moved her to tears moments later. Although Krasniqi was the top seed, she was severely challenged by the 4-foot-10 Tonaki, who beat a series of difficult opponents to reach the final.
PoliticsUSA TODAYA third of states have passed more restrictive voting laws. Here's what you should know
For some states considered battlegrounds during the 2020 presidential cycle, like Arizona, Florida, Georgia and Texas, voting rights advocates fear the impact of such laws could be seismic. "We view these laws as a very serious threat to American democracy," said Steven Lance, policy counsel at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's Legal Defense Fund. They're really a threat that is specifically targeting, in many of these cases, a means of voting that proved to be lifelines for Black and Latino voters in the 2020 election and other provisions that were necessary during a global pandemic,” Lance said, citing NAACP Legal Defense Fund data.
BusinessBusiness InsiderJeff Bezos' 18-year-old space-flight companion reportedly told him he had never bought anything from Amazon before
On their Blue Origin trip, 18-year-old Oliver Daemen told Jeff Bezos he'd never bought from Amazon. Amazon revenue was key to funding the trip; Bezos has thanked Amazon workers for making it possible. The 18-year-old passenger on Blue Origin's spaceflight on Tuesday had an awkward admission to former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos during the trip.
HealthINSIDERA 10-year-old girl has died from the plague in Colorado
A 10-year-old girl died of the plague in Colorado in early July. Plague cases occasionally occur in the US, but this girl was one of the first fatal cases since 2015. A 10-year-old girl contracted the plague and died in Colorado earlier this month.
“Thankfully, children are at lower risk for complications from COVID-19, but low risk is not no risk.”
“Guidelines that mandate the masking of children are based on an assessment of risk that is not justified.”
“Masks are easy to use, inexpensive and effective.”
“We’re now 16 months into the pandemic and children remain victims of the Covid political theater.”
“If a community or school isn’t sufficiently vaccinated, it remains at risk of the coronavirus coming back.”