U.S.AutoblogOregon cops make arrests in thefts of 44,000 catalytic converters
Police in suburban Portland, Oregon, said Thursday they arrested a crime ring leader responsible for trafficking more than 44,000 catalytic converters stolen from vehicles on the West Coast since 2021. Beaverton police say they busted a local organized crime ring, arresting two suspected ringleaders and 12 suspected associates. According to Oregon Live, authorities were alerted to the operations when one of the suspects was caught hauling 100 stolen catalytic converters during a traffic stop late in 2021.
U.S.CBS NewsLow water levels at Lake Mead reveal more than just human remains
Lake Mead National Recreation Area is showing the dramatic effects of falling water levels from the ongoing drought. The nation's largest reservoir is now giving up many of its secrets, including a fourth set of human remains discovered since May. Among those found were the remains of Daniel Kolod, who went missing in 1958.
U.S.Fort Worth Star-TelegramInvasive critters that can lay 1,000 eggs at a time are found in Texas. What to know
Invasive critters were collected from a Texas apartment complex pond earlier this year — and wildlife experts say the females can lay up to 1,000 eggs at a time. University of Texas Rio Grande Valley researchers first collected three Australian redclaw crayfish in January and February, according to an Aug. 11 news release from the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department. They were found in a pond that connects to a Brownsville-area resaca, a type of oxbow lake.
PoliticsAssociated PressWisconsin GOP leader fires 2020 election investigator
The Wisconsin Assembly Republican leader who hired a former state Supreme Court justice to investigate the 2020 election fired him Friday, three days after the lawmaker beat a primary opponent whom the investigator and former President Donald Trump had endorsed. The firing of Michael Gableman capped a 14-month ride that began when Assembly Speaker Robin Vos hired him to look into the election under pressure from Trump. But as the probe progressed under bipartisan criticism, Vos' relationship soured with both Trump and Gableman.
- U.S.Tampa Bay Times, St. Petersburg, Fla.
Why is The Villages known as ‘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.
U.S.INSIDERA top LA County coroner described in graphic testimony what Kobe Bryant's body looked like to give the jury an idea of what the crash-site photos may have shown
Capt. Emily Tauscher gave 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, including the basketball legend and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna Bryant.
U.S.Associated PressSocial media model arrested in Hawaii on murder charge
Law enforcement in Hawaii on Wednesday arrested social media model Courtney Clenney on a charge of second-degree murder with a deadly weapon. Hawaii County police said in a statement they assisted the U.S. Marshals Service as they arrested the 26-year-old in Laupahoehoe, which is on the Big Island. Officers used an arrest warrant issued by Miami-Dade County, Florida.
PoliticsAZCentral | The Arizona RepublicIf you thought the Trump raid was a fiasco, turns out you were right
The Justice Department and FBI did not understand what they were doing when they ran 30 federal agents and technicians up the gut of Mar-a-Lago Club and into the living quarters of a former president of the United States. No, we had to divine that something was wrong when Justice didn't have the brass to stand up and explain why it demolished 246 years of precedent and allowed government agents to rifle through the drawers of a former American president. Newsweek called them “two senior government officials” with “direct knowledge of the FBI's deliberations.”
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.
WorldAssociated PressRussia struggles to replenish its troops in Ukraine
This also is happening amid reports that hundreds of Russian soldiers are refusing to fight and trying to quit the military. We're seeing a huge outflow of people who want to leave the war zone — those who have been serving for a long time and those who have signed a contract just recently,” said Alexei Tabalov, a lawyer who runs the Conscript's School legal aid group. The group has seen an influx of requests from men who want to terminate their contracts, “and I personally get the impression that everyone who can is ready to run away,” Tabalov said in an interview with The Associated Press.
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.HuffPostStephen Colbert Taunts Fox News Host's 'Very Stupid Theory' About Trump
You know when you accuse someone of planting evidence before they say that they even found anything, it's when you know they're gonna find something,” Colbert said, then offered an example: “Officer, before you breathalyze me, I must inform you I suspect that you have planted a fifth of tequila in my stomach. But Colbert saved some of his harshest words for Fox News host Ainsley Earhardt, who he said presented a “very stupid theory” when she implied something nefarious was hiding in the backpacks carried by FBI agents. What was in those backpacks?
PoliticsReutersFBI removed top secret documents from Trump's home, WSJ reports
(Reuters) -FBI agents who searched former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home in Florida on Monday removed 11 sets of classified documents including some marked as top secret, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing documents it reviewed. FBI agents took around 20 boxes of items, binders of photos, a handwritten note and the executive grant of clemency for Mr. Trump's ally Roger Stone, a list of items removed from the property shows, the Journal reported. The list of documents is contained in a seven-page document that also includes the warrant to search the premises that was granted to the FBI by U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart, the newspaper said.
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.
WorldMiami HeraldCenturies-old warnings emerge from riverbed as Europe faces historic drought
Water levels have dropped in major rivers across Europe as the region suffers under a historic drought. In those dry riverbeds, centuries-old warning messages have emerged, locals report. One of these stones is embedded in the Elbe River, which runs from the mountains of Czechia through Germany to the North Sea, POLITICO journalist Aitor Hernández-Morales tweeted the same day.
WorldAssociated PressAuthor Salman Rushdie attacked on lecture stage in New York
Salman Rushdie, the author whose writing led to death threats from Iran in the 1980s, was attacked Friday as he was about to give a lecture in western New York. An Associated Press reporter witnessed a man storm the stage at the Chautauqua Institution and begin punching or stabbing Rushdie as he was being introduced. Rushdie's book “The Satanic Verses” has been banned in Iran since 1988, as many Muslims consider it to be blasphemous.
- 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.
BusinessFortuneA 33-year-old who worked at Starbucks for 13 years got fired over a month-old violation. It led to a union walkout and a viral video that has racked up 21 million views on TikTok
Sam Amato has spent nearly his entire working life at Starbucks. When a wave of labor activity spread through Starbucks locations across the country, he got involved as a lead organizer at the store he typically works at in Amherst, a suburb of Buffalo, New York, which became one of the first in the country to unionize. On Aug. 5, the 33-year-old had just clocked in for his shift at a different Starbucks in the town of Tonawanda when the store manager pulled Amato outside for a conversation and fired him for a month-old violation connected to closing the store early, a decision that he said left him “blindsighted.”
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.
WorldUkrayinska PravdaArmed Forces of Ukraine publishes video where they destroy Russian army ammunition depot and Grad MRL
YEVHEN KIZILOV – FRIDAY, 12 AUGUST 2022, 14:32 Ukrainian fighters have published a video in which the Armed Forces of Ukraine destroy a Grad MLR and the enemy's ammunition depot in the Kherson region Source: The Department of Strategic Communications of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Telegram Details: Firstly, the Ukrainian military destroyed the Russian BM-21 Grad MLR, and then aerial reconnaissance picked up activity in the undergrowth near the Grad and established that the occupiers had situated an ammunition depot nearby. As a result of the strike by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the ammunition began detonating.
U.S.AccuWeatherHeavy rain hammers Las Vegas, turning famed strip into a river
Pockets of heavy rain and thunderstorms swept across the Southwest on Thursday night, prompting flash flood warnings in southern Nevada, far southeastern California and Arizona. The gusty storms knocked out power to many Las Vegas residents and flooded numerous roadways, including the famous Las Vegas Strip. Harry Reid International in Las Vegas recorded 0.58 of an inch of rainfall from thunderstorms in just an hour, nearly double what the site typically observes for August.
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.
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.
U.S.The Daily BeastMissing Truckee Teen’s BF Shares Final Texts as Cops Release New Images
As the FBI announced Thursday that it was adding 16-year-old Kiely Mai Rodni to its national missing persons database, the search for the girl—who was last seen five days ago at a campground senior farewell party—continued in earnest. Scores of people have flocked to a recreation center in Truckee, the California town from which Rodni vanished, to ask how they can help with the search, according to Cassie Hebel, a friend who spoke to The Daily Beast on behalf of the family. It's unclear if Kiely ever made it home from the party at the Prosser Family Campground in the early hours of Saturday morning, according to Placer County authorities.
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.
“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.”