U.S.ReutersNew York gun bans alarm residents of upstate bear country
Gunfire has long echoed in New York's Adirondack Mountains. So June's landmark ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court establishing a constitutional right to carry weapons in public seemed like a vindication of an upstate, gun-centric way of life. The ruling by the court's conservative majority appalled Democratic leaders across the country who said it would lead to more gun violence.
- U.S.Tampa Bay Times, St. Petersburg, Fla.
Why is The Villages rumored to be ‘the STD capital of America?’
Friends up north and across Tampa Bay snickered when Brian Lafferty revealed where he'd bought a new home. “Without exception, every person I've told I bought a house in The Villages has asked the same thing,” Lafferty said. The Villages, a mammoth retirement community that was the fastest-growing metropolitan area in the nation two years ago, is no stranger to folklore.
PoliticsPalm Beach Daily NewsDear Mar-a-Lago Club members: This FBI raid is going to cost you
Federal agents viciously showed up at Mar-a-Lago during the off-season, when it could not be mightily defended by the many foreign workers employed there during its operational months. Who comes to South Florida in August? Since when are we a country where presidents who leave office with classified documents they treat as personal mementos and fail to return after months of prodding, get those documents removed by the federal agency led by the director they appointed?
U.S.Associated PressIn Mississippi, a trespasser, a killing and DEA meddling
U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Agent Harold Duane Poole was waiting with his semiautomatic service rifle — and an explanation — when deputies arrived at his sprawling wooded property on a warm spring night last year and found a bullet-riddled body near the driveway. A veteran of the DEA's military-style commando teams, Poole acknowledged he fatally shot a mentally ill neighbor just minutes after calling law enforcement to report the man was trespassing on his land – yet again – “out of his mind" and threatening him with a rock. “I'm going to kill you!” Poole recalled Chase Brewer yelling before he responded by firing eight high-powered rounds, striking the man in the chest, gut and hip.
- ScienceReuters Videos
Disoriented bear cub rescued in Turkey after eating 'mad honey'
STORY: Footage showed the bear wobbling and whining as she sat belly-up in the back of a pick-up truck, after people rescued the visibly-debilitated animal from the forest. Mad honey, or "deli bal" in Turkish, is a type of rhododendron honey that can have hallucinogenic effects. The bear was brought to a vet, where she was receiving treatment and would likely be released into the wild in the coming days, local authorities said, adding that she was in good condition.
U.S.INSIDERThe scientific theory of why some Americans don't want Brittney Griner to come home from a Russian prison
The WNBA superstar Brittney Griner has been sentenced to nine years in a Russian prison. A political scientist said two theories could explain why. Given the timing of her detainment, the nature of her alleged offense, and the reputation of Russian courts, Griner is widely considered to be a political pawn that Moscow is using as leverage against the United States.
WorldReutersLatvia, Estonia withdraw from China cooperation group
VILNIUS (Reuters) -Latvia and Estonia withdrew from a cooperation group between China and over a dozen Central and Eastern European countries on Thursday, following in the footsteps of Baltic neighbour Lithuania which withdrew last year. The move comes amid Western criticism towards China over escalating military pressure on democratically ruled Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, and Beijing's strengthening of ties with Russia during the invasion of Ukraine. Relations between Lithuania and China worsened after the former allowed Taiwan to open a de facto embassy late last year.
BusinessFortune‘One of the most dangerous and irresponsible actions by a car company in decades’: Activist Ralph Nader urges regulators to recall Tesla’s self-driving technology
The man who forever changed vehicle safety standards in the U.S. has a scathing new message for Elon Musk and Tesla's self-driving car technology: He thinks it's dangerous, and regulators should get involved. Musk has been touting self-driving cars as the next big thing for years, saying in 2015 that autonomous vehicles would be on the road within two years. While that timeline hasn't come to fruition, Musk has not yet given up on his dream, nor has he tempered his ambitions.
U.S.Miami HeraldSisters asleep in minivan burned alive in parking lot fire. Now mom is suing Walmart
A Minnesota mother is suing Walmart after a fire in a store parking lot burned her daughters alive, killing one and leaving the other “permanently disfigured,” according to a lawsuit. Essie McKenzie's daughters were sleeping soundly in the back of her minivan when she pulled up to the Walmart Supercenter in Fridley, Minnesota, on Aug. 6, 2019. The girls, ages 6 and 9, were tired after being woken early to go to the airport, where McKenzie dropped off her mother, she would later tell investigators, according to court documents.
BusinessTechCrunchMark Cuban, Mavericks in hot water over Voyager 'Ponzi scheme'
A group of Voyager Digital customers filed a class-action suit in Florida federal court against Cuban, as well as the basketball team he owns, the Dallas Mavericks, alleging their promotion of the crypto platform resulted in more than 3.5 million investors losing $5 billion collectively. Voyager Digital's CEO, Stephen Ehrlich, was also named as a defendant in the suit. Voyager, a New Jersey-based crypto firm, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July following a crash in crypto prices that instigated a liquidity crunch on the platform.
U.S.Charlotte ObserverMega Millions mystery winner in NC shows up to claim her big jackpot
One of two ticket holders in North Carolina who scored a $1 million prize in the July 29 Mega Millions drawing has claimed her money at N.C. lottery headquarters in Raleigh, officials said Thursday. Marjorie Robert of Huntersville bought her $2 ticket at Shop N Save on Mecklenburg Highway in Mooresville, according to a lottery news release. She matched the five white balls, beating odds of 1 in 12.6 million, according to the lottery.
WorldThe Daily BeastRussia Vows Revenge at the Latest Country to Cross Putin
Latvia's parliament has moved to designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism over Russian President Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine—and the Kremlin does not appear to be taking it well. Russia is committing a “genocide against the Ukrainian people,” Latvian MPs said in a statement Thursday, according to AFP. Russia “uses suffering and intimidation as tools in its attempts to weaken the morale of the Ukrainian people and armed forces, and to paralyze the functioning of the state in order to occupy Ukraine.”
WorldYahoo NewsHow did Ukraine strike deep inside Russian-occupied Crimea?
How did Ukraine blow up Russia's Saki Air Base in southwest Crimea on Tuesday? Was it with supersonic ballistic missiles, perhaps made in the United States? Whatever it was, Ukrainians on social media haven't been this excited since their military sank the Moskva, the flagship cruiser of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, in April.
U.S.INSIDERA top LA County coroner described in graphic testimony what Kobe Bryant's body looked like to give the jury a glimpse of what the crash site photos may have portrayed
Captain Emily Tauscher delivered graphic testimony about the post-crash condition of each victim's body. A top Los Angeles County coroner on Thursday testified in graphic detail about the state of Kobe Bryant's body following the 2020 helicopter crash that killed all nine passengers on board, including the basketball legend and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna Bryant.
BusinessTODAYSocial Security Recipients Set To Receive Major Increase In Monthly Benefits
Social Security recipients struggling with higher inflation are likely to get a major boost in their monthly benefits starting next year. Thanks to the high inflation reading for July, beneficiaries could receive as much as $159 extra per month in 2023, according to a new estimate from the Senior Citizens League, a nonprofit advocacy group. The Social Security Administration's annual cost of living adjustment (COLA) formula is based on inflation readings for July, August, and September.
WorldReutersWRAPUP 7-Satellite pictures show devastation at Russian air base in Crimea
Satellite pictures released on Thursday showed devastation at a Russian air base in Crimea, hit in an attack that suggested Kyiv may have obtained new long-range strike capability with potential to change the course of the war. Pictures released by independent satellite firm Planet Labs showed three near-identical craters where buildings at Russia's Saki air base had been struck with apparent precision. The base, on the southwest coast of Crimea, had suffered extensive fire damage with the burnt-out husks of at least eight destroyed warplanes clearly visible.
U.S.OxygenMissing California Teen Kiely Rodni’s Mom Shares Final Text, When She ‘Knew Something Was Wrong’
Missing California teen Kiely Rodni sent her mom one final message late Friday night. The 16-year-old texted her mom, Lindsey Rodni-Nieman, from a party at the Prosser Family Campground in Truckee — about 15 miles north of Lake Tahoe — saying she planned to leave the party in 45 minutes and would come “straight home.” “Numerous resources and agencies have responded to help locate Kiely over the past several days,” the Placer County Sheriff's Office said in an update Tuesday.
U.S.Fort Worth Star-TelegramOnlyFans model Courtney Clenney charged with murder in death of boyfriend from North Texas
Courtney Clenney, the OnlyFans and Instagram model who stabbed her boyfriend to death in Miami in April, has been arrested on a murder charge, the Miami Herald has learned. The 26-year-old Clenney was taken into custody on Wednesday in Hawaii, and will be eventually extradited to Miami-Dade County to face trial. Clenney's arrest was confirmed Wednesday afternoon by her Miami defense lawyer, Frank Prieto, who said she'd been in Hawaii while in rehabilitation for substance abuse and post-traumatic stress disorder.
U.S.Associated PressWisconsin woman in Slender Man attack drops release request
One of two Wisconsin women who were sent to a state mental health facility after a 2014 stabbing attack on a sixth-grade classmate that they claimed was to appease the horror character Slender Man has withdrawn her petition for release. In June, Morgan Geyser, 20, asked Waukesha County Judge Michael Bohren to order her release as he did last year for her co-defendant, Anissa Weier, who spent nearly four years at a mental health facility in Oshkosh. Bohren appointed three doctors to evaluate Geyser's mental state.
WorldUkrayinska PravdaPutin sends Medvedev to Ukraine, he obliges
YEVHEN KIZILOV – THURSDAY, 11 AUGUST 2022, 21:37 Dmitry Medvedev, the former President of Russia and current Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation visited the occupied part of Luhansk Oblast where he held a security meeting on behalf of Vladimir Putin. Source: Medvedev on Telegram Quote from Medvedev: "On Thursday I visited the Luhansk People's Republic where I met with the heads of the LPR [so-called Luhansk People's Republic], Leonid Pasichnyk, and the DPR [so-called Donetsk People's Republic], Denys Pushylin."
PoliticsINSIDERTrump pleaded the Fifth more than 440 times during his deposition in New York, answering only a question about what his name is, NBC reports
A source told NBC News Trump pleaded the Fifth more than 440 times during his deposition Wednesday. Trump's attorney Ron Fischetti said Trump answered only one question: what his name is. Trump in 2018 railed against pleading the Fifth, saying only "the mob" did that.
U.S.ReutersShock, shame among some Muslims as Afghan accused of New Mexico murders
Police said on Tuesday they were working with prosecutors on potential charges for the murders of Naeem Hussain, 25, a truck driver killed on Friday, and Mohammad Ahmadi, 62, shot dead on Nov. 7, 2021, outside the grocery store he ran with his brother in southeast Albuquerque. It was not immediately clear if Syed had retained a lawyer. Police declined to comment on rumors Syed was angry one of his daughters had eloped and married a Shi'ite man.
- WorldUSA TODAY
Home explosion leaves at least three dead, damages dozens of homes in Indiana
Evansville Fire officials said the explosion had a 100-foot blast radius and damaged about 40 homes. At least three people were killed.
PoliticsThe Daily BeastStephen Colbert Embarrasses Fox News’ Ainsley Earhardt Over ‘Stupid’ FBI Trump Raid Theory
It started as 'nothing to see here' and quickly became 'anything you see was put here by the FBI,'” he said. And all the former president's hench-folk have gobbled up the bait. After playing a montage of Trump allies spreading that conspiracy on conservative media, Colbert said, “You know that when you accuse someone of planting evidence before they say that they've even found anything?
WorldAutoblogThieves steal and demolish two classic American cars in the UK
Imagine you've gone to the trouble to import and store a classic American land yacht in Europe. To say this story is bizarre is an understatement. The story showed up on Twitter and was investigated further by The Drive, which noted that the stolen 1985 Ford LTD and 1965 Pontiac Grand Prix are exceedingly rare in the country.
“The media has anointed men who have sex with men as the biggest threat to our survival from monkeypox.”
“Rich countries have ignored endemic monkeypox in West and Central Africa for far too long, despite having effective vaccines.”
“The biggest worry for Americans is not the disease: It’s that our response to it shows how little we have learned from COVID-19.”
“Monkeypox should be a relatively easier virus to control, but only if the United States takes the needed steps now.”
“Global health officials must advocate for and enact a unified, coherent approach to fighting the monkeypox pandemic.”