- PoliticsYahoo News
Senators blast Trump administration for coronavirus response
Top officials in the Trump administration struggled on Tuesday morning to justify their response to the growing threat of the coronavirus, which has sickened at least 80,423 people around the world and killed at least 2,712. Although there have been no recorded fatalities in the United States yet, skeptical members of the U.S. Senate made clear to administration officials that they did not have confidence in their response. At one point during their back-and-forth, which promptly went viral on social media, Kennedy insisted that Wolf tell him the number of coronavirus cases that the United States could expect.
- PoliticsThe Week
Bloomberg once said Social Security is a bigger Ponzi scheme than Bernie Madoff's
Billionaire and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg twice compared Social Security to a Ponzi scheme when he was in office, CNN reports, which is a far cry from his current stance as a Democratic presidential candidate. Nowadays, Bloomberg has vowed to to strengthen entitlement programs, but he used to see them as a major hurdle in the effort to shrink the United States' deficit. During appearances on his old radio program "Live from City Hall," which were reviewed by CNN's KFile, Bloomberg made the Ponzi scheme comparison once in 2006 and again in 2009.
- U.S.Associated Press
Mom of missing kids waives extradition; bail stays at $5M
Bail will remain at $5 million for a mother arrested in Hawaii over the disappearance of her two Idaho children, a judge ruled Wednesday. Lori Vallow wore an orange jumpsuit in court on the Hawaiian island of Kauai for a hearing on her request to reduce bail. After the judge denied the request, her defense attorney, Craig De Costa, said she is waiving an extradition hearing, which had been scheduled for March 2.
- U.S.Time
A Wrongfully Convicted Kansas Man Who Spent 23 Years in Prison Is Awarded $1.5 Million
A Kansas man who spent over two decades in prison for a double murder he didn't commit will be awarded $1.5 million for his wrongful conviction, according to the Kansas State Attorney General's office. Lamonte McIntyre was convicted and sentenced to two terms of life in prison for the murders of Donald Ewing and Doniel Quinn back in 1994. According to the Associated Press, documents made public during the 8-year fight to free McIntyre allege that the prosecutor in the case intimidated witnesses who told her that McIntyre did not look like the shooter after they saw him in person.
- WorldBusiness Insider
Iran says it won't quarantine any towns or cities, despite recording the most coronavirus deaths outside of China
Associated Press Criticism of Iran's handling of the crisis has been extremely strong, with some accusing the government of a cover-up. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday said he was "deeply concerned" that Iran "may have suppressed vital details about the outbreak." "All nations, including Iran, should tell the truth about the coronavirus and cooperate with international aid organizations," Pompeo said.
- PoliticsBloomberg
Roger Stone Judge Scolds Trump, Allies Over Claims of Jury Bias
Three of the jurors who convicted Republican operative Roger Stone for lying to Congress and witness tampering testified that political bias played no role in their decision, pushing back against Stone's contention that he deserves a new trial. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson did not issue a ruling at the end of a Tuesday hearing on Stone's request. But the judge said a juror's social media posts criticizing President Donald Trump did not necessarily mean she was biased against Stone, who was convicted in November and sentenced last week to three years and four months in prison.
- WorldThe National Interest
Boom: The Army Just Invented a Newer, Deadlier Artillery Round
Washington, D.C.) The Army Research Laboratory is now engineering new rocket, missile and artillery rounds able to destroy groups of mobile enemy fighters, incinerate armored vehicles and eliminate structures with a single munition -- at all much longer ranges than currently deployed weapons can fire. The ARL is currently immersed in cutting edge research, using 3D printing, to develop new metal alloys, weapons casings and design geometries to increase range and lethality for the Army's emerging Long Range Precision Fires program; “Additive manufacturing (3D printing) can take weight out of certain components, create complex geometries inside things and create complex fragmentation patterns,...
- U.S.NBC News
Supreme Court rules Mexican parents can't sue Border Patrol agent who killed their son
The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the parents of a 15-year-old boy cannot sue the federal agent who fatally shot him by firing across the border separating the United States and Mexico — a case that inflamed tensions over border security. The ruling was a defeat for the parents of Sergio Hernández Güereca, who was on the Mexico side when he was killed in 2010 by a Border Patrol agent who fired from the U.S. side of the boundary separating El Paso, Texas, from Juarez, Mexico. The teen, a Mexican national, was playing with three friends in the concrete culvert that separates the two cities.
- WorldUSA TODAY
Fourth Diamond Princess passenger dead after coronavirus quarantine, reports
Corrections and clarifications: A previous version of this story misidentified the location of the highest number of coronavirus cases outside of mainland China. Four passengers that were on board Princess Crusies' Diamond Princess during a coronavirus quarantine have died, according to Japanese broadcast outlet NHK, Reuters and the New York Post report. According to the New York Post, the passenger was a Japanese citizen in their 80s.
- U.S.National Review
Court Rules Trump Admin Can Withhold Federal Grants to NYC, Seven States over Sanctuary Policies
A federal court on Wednesday ruled that the Trump administration could withhold grants to New York City, as well as seven states, due to their refusal to cooperate with the federal immigration enforcement efforts. The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan ruled that the federal government could withhold funds from New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Washington, Massachusetts, Virginia and Rhode Island, over the states' “sanctuary” laws. The states currently contain a number of cities, including New York City, with laws preventing local authorities from notifying Immigration and Customs Enforcement when an illegal immigrant is about to be released from jail.
- PoliticsPolitico
Bloomberg goes from savior to goat in a week
They said they were relieved by Bloomberg's improved debate performance in South Carolina on Tuesday night, including his opening attack on Sanders and his handling of a repeat grilling from Elizabeth Warren on his private company's treatment of women. After Warren tore into him in the first debate, he agreed to allow women who signed non-disclosure agreements related to him to speak freely. There would've been a political price to pay for saying you were not going to debate.
- U.S.Associated Press
Louisiana governor: Judge should resign after racial slurs
Gov. John Bel Edwards called Wednesday on a Louisiana judge to step down after she admitted to using racial slurs in angry text messages. LeBlanc, who is white, now admits sending the text messages after previously denying she sent them.
- PoliticsThe Independent
'This might be bad': US officials finally admit Coronavirus will be a pandemic with schools and businesses forced to close
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has outlined on Tuesday what schools and businesses would need to do if the coronavirus reaches pandemic levels, which officials say is likely. "It's not so much of a question of if this will happen in this country any more but a question of when this will happen," Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, told reporters, according to the New York Times. Public officials do not know if the spread of the virus will be mild or severe, she added, but Americans should prepare for it to disrupt their daily lives.
- BusinessReuters
China reports rise in new coronavirus cases, warns of risk of rebound
SHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters) - China reported 433 new cases of coronavirus infections on Feb. 26, the National Health Commission said on Thursday, up from 406 a day earlier, with a cluster of new cases in Beijing raising concerns about the management of employees returning to work. The total number of confirmed cases on mainland China has now reached 78,497, the Commission said, though the number of new deaths on Wednesday stood at 29, the lowest daily rate since Jan. 28. The outbreak has now killed a total of 2,744 people in China.
U.S.Yahoo News VideoU.S. Supreme Court dismisses 'D.C. Sniper' Malvo case after change in Va. law
The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday formally dismissed a case in which Lee Boyd Malvo, who was 17 when he took part in the deadly 2002 "D.C. Sniper" shooting spree in the Washington area, was challenging his life without parole sentence.
- PoliticsINSIDER
Rush Limbaugh is under fire for claiming the coronavirus is a 'common cold' being 'weaponized' to bring down Trump
The novel coronavirus has swept across the globe, infecting more than 80,000 people with COVID-19 and taking 2,600 lives. While China remains the center of the outbreak, the epidemic is on the verge of breaking into a full-blown pandemic. As the World Health Organization tells countries to prepare for infections, the popular conservative host Rush Limbaugh on Monday revealed to listeners what he claimed to be the "truth" about the "overhyped" coronavirus.
WorldAFP'Never before': Shock, fear as India's capital reels from deadly riots
In front of him was a stick-wielding mob of up to 500 men, cheering loudly and throwing flaming tyres into his shop as deadly sectarian violence swept India's capital. The market in Gokulpuri was just one of many poor, congested neighbourhoods in northeast Delhi ransacked by rampaging mobs on Monday and Tuesday as battles broke out between Hindus and Muslims. The clashes followed renewed protests on Sunday against a contentious citizenship law brought in by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu-nationalist government that critics say is anti-Muslim.
- WorldThe Week
New cases of coronavirus in other countries exceeded those in China for the first time on Tuesday
The coronavirus may be slowing down in China, but World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Wednesday that it's no time for complacency. In a weekly briefing, Gehbreyesus had some good news about China, especially beyond the Hubei province, where the virus originated. There were reportedly only 10 new cases detected outside of Hubei on Tuesday.
- U.S.National Review
DOJ Creates New Unit to Strip Citizenship from Terrorists, Criminals
The Justice Department on Wednesday announced a new unit to handle the denaturalization of individuals who obtained citizenship illegally and other criminals. The new section dedicated to “investigating and litigating revocation of naturalization” of individuals who illegally secured naturalization or committed other serious crimes will be under the Civil Division's Office of Immigration Litigation. “This move underscores the Department's commitment to bring justice to terrorists, war criminals, sex offenders, and other fraudsters who illegally obtained naturalization,” DOJ said in a statement announcing the new unit.
- PoliticsBusiness Insider
Pete Buttigieg called Mike Bloomberg's stop-and-frisk record 'racist' before admitting he had a 'lot of issues' with policing in South Bend
Pete Buttigieg called Mike Bloomberg's record of stop-and-frisk policing "racist" at Tuesday night's Democratic presidential debate in South Carolina before reflecting on his own record as mayor. "We let it get out of control," Bloomberg said. "I come to this with some humility because I'm conscious of the fact that there are seven white people on this stage talking about racial justice," Buttigieg said.
- LifestyleNBC News
Man gets life for kidnapping stepdaughter, holding her captive for 19 years
An Oklahoma man convicted of kidnapping his stepdaughter as a child and holding her in captivity for nearly 20 years has been sentenced to life in prison, prosecutors said Tuesday. Henri Michelle Piette was found guilty in June by a federal jury of kidnapping and traveling with intent to engage in a sexual act with a juvenile following a seven-day trial that detailed the horrific conditions Rosalynn McGinnis endured. Piette repeatedly raped and abused her and fathered her nine children during the nearly two-decade ordeal, which began when Piette kidnapped her in 1997 when she was 12 years old.
- U.S.Associated Press
Mexico president ties shootout dead to drug consumption
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador suggested Wednesday without offering evidence that most of those who die in Mexico's cartel- and gang-fueled firefights are high on drugs or intoxicated, prompting criticism and questions about whether the claim was accurate. Speaking to journalists in his morning news conference, López Obrador said rising drug consumption rates must be reversed if the country is to guarantee peace and security after years of rising, record-setting homicide statistics. “Just so you have the number, 60% of those who lose their life each day, 60% of those killed in clashes, it is shown that they are under the influence of drugs or alcohol, but primarily drugs,” the president continued.
- WorldThe New York Times
Second Cruise Ship Blocked From Ports Over Coronavirus Fears
Following a pattern set by the MS Westerdam, a cruise ship in the Caribbean has been turned away from two ports over fears of the coronavirus. The ship, with more than 4,500 passengers and 1,600 crew members, was not allowed to dock in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands after it was discovered a crew member onboard was unwell. The ship left Ocho Rios for its next port of call, Georgetown, Cayman Islands, after waiting to be cleared for nearly four hours.
- U.S.The Independent
Teacher who allegedly washed out student’s mouth with hand sanitiser receives 10-day suspension
A Florida middle school teacher has reportedly been suspended for putting hand sanitizer in a student's mouth after he wouldn't stop chatting during class. NBC News said Guyette Duhart, a science teacher at Polo Park Middle School in Wellington, allegedly admitted holding the bottle to the child's mouth after he kept talking in class, but she denied pumping the sanitiser, NBC News reported. NBC News also reported that Ms Duhart allegedly said: “You need to have your mouth washed with soap," according to an executive summary submitted to the Palm Beach County School Board.
- U.S.USA TODAY
ABC News suspends veteran correspondent over comments captured in undercover Project Veritas video
WASHINGTON – ABC News confirmed Wednesday that it suspended veteran correspondent David Wright for comments he made in a hidden camera video shared by the conservative group Project Veritas. In the video, Wright is critical of news media coverage of President Donald Trump, calls himself a socialist, and expresses frustration with the conflicts he sees between the goals of journalism and the corporate profit motive. "Any action that damages our reputation for fairness and impartiality or gives the appearance of compromising it harms ABC News and the individuals involved," an ABC News spokesperson said in a statement.
