U.S.The TelegraphIdaho school shooting: 'Absolute blessing' no one dead after young schoolgirl opens fire on classmates
A girl reported to be 11 or 12 years old has been taken into police custody after shooting two students and a cleaner before being disarmed by a teacher at a school in Idaho. The child pulled a handgun from her backpack on Thursday and fired multiple rounds inside and outside Rigby Middle School in the small city of Rigby, about 95 miles southwest of Yellowstone National Park. “It's an absolute blessing" that they weren't more badly injured, said Dr Michael Lemon, the trauma medical director at Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Centre.
PoliticsThe WeekConservatives say McConnell is battling the Democrats' voting rights bill with 'Supreme Court fight' fervor
Florida on Thursday joined Georgia in enacting a sweeping Republican election law that constricts voting rights in the state, and Texas, which already had some of the most stringent voting laws in the country, is on the cusp of joining them. Democrats were not able to stop the new voting laws in the country's biggest red states, but House Democrats passed their own countervailing national voting rights legislation, the "For the People Act" or HR1, in March, and Senate Democrats are working on their own version, S1. When Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Wednesday that "100 percent of my focus is on stopping this new administration," these voting reform bills might have been what he had in mind.
U.S.Kansas City StarLice infestation nearly killed 4-year-old, Indiana police say. Her mom is charged
A mother was arrested after her 4-year-old daughter's lice infestation was found to be so severe that it nearly killed her, Indiana police say. Police in Scottsburg, Indiana, were notified by child services about a 4-year-old who had been hospitalized due to lice, according to an affidavit. The hospital declared her “as a near fatality” due to her extremely low hemoglobin levels.
WorldAssociated PressAhead of Harris meeting, Mexico president accuses US
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Friday that Mexico has complained to U.S. officials about their alleged financing for an anticorruption group that he said has engaged in political activity against his administration. Speaking at a news conference shortly before a scheduled online meeting with U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, López Obrador displayed tax records that appeared to show payments from the U.S. government to Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity. “It is an interventionist act that violated our sovereignty,” said López Obrador, who announced that Mexico had filed a diplomatic note with the U.S. Embassy.
U.S.The WeekOhio state senator caught driving during work videoconference insists he wasn't distracted from the road
Ohio state Sen. Andrew Brenner (R) showed up to work Monday, participating in a videoconference meeting of the budget-adjusting Ohio Controlling Board. "The problem for Brenner was that he did so while driving, while his government meeting was being recorded, and while his legislative colleagues were pressing to tighten rules on using smartphones behind the wheel," The Washington Post reported Thursday. "A recording of the nearly 13-minute videoconference — much of which overlapped with Brenner's drive — showed the seat-belt-using senator repeatedly glancing in the direction of his phone, which had been placed to his right."
U.S.Architectural Digest7 Homes for Sale with Jaw-Dropping Staircases
From Quebec to California, these unique properties are reaching new heights—and they're all on the market Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
PoliticsMiami HeraldRepublicans get away with cheating in voting bill DeSantis signs on Fox News | Opinion
But giddy, greedy DeSantis is using this bill, now law, for two purposes: To set up roadblocks for Democratic voters, who sent in a record number of votes by mail, to do so again in 2022 — and to keep peddling the big lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Trump. Under a cloud The voting bill is awash in irony and chicanery. Republicans were the big cheaters in the 2020 election in Florida.
BusinessAssociated PressNorwegian Cruise Line threatens to skip Florida ports
The company says the order by Gov. Ron DeSantis is at odds with guidelines from federal health authorities that would let cruise ships sail in U.S. waters if nearly all passengers and crew members are vaccinated. “It is a classic state-versus-federal-government issue,” says Frank Del Rio, CEO of parent Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings. Del Rio told analysts during the company's quarterly earnings call Thursday that if the company can't operate in Florida, it can go to other states or the Caribbean “for ships that otherwise would have gone to Florida ... we certainly hope it doesn't come to that.”
PoliticsThe WeekLiz Cheney secretly orchestrated Jan. 3 letter from 10 defense secretaries warning about Trump, friend says
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) is almost certainly going to be ousted as No. 3 House Republican next week, even though she voted with former President Donald Trump more often (93 percent) than her likely replacement, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) — as Stefanik's conservative critics point out. While Stefanik has morphed from Trump skeptic to enthusiastic booster, Cheney has transformed from one of those "hold-their-noses-and-deal-with-him" establishment Republicans into, finally, Sen. John McCain's political "heir," Susan B. Glasser writes in The New Yorker. After Trump tried to co-opt "the Big Lie" this week to refer to his false claims that he won the 2020 election, Cheney shot back that "the 2020 presidential election was not stolen," and "anyone who claims it was is spreading the big lie."
WorldBBCReport: China emissions exceed all developed nations combined
China emits more greenhouse gas than the entire developed world combined, a new report has claimed. The research by Rhodium Group says China emitted 27% of the world's greenhouse gases in 2019. Scientists warn that without an agreement between the US and China it will be hard to avert dangerous climate change.
WorldReutersVietnam reports first death in patient who received AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine
HANOI (Reuters) -Vietnam's health ministry on Friday reported its first death in a patient who received AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine shot, as the country is battling a new outbreak. A 35-year-old female health worker in the southern province of An Giang died on Friday, one day after she received her first coronavirus vaccine shot, the Ministry of Health said in a statement, adding that she died from allergic reaction known as anaphylaxis. The Southeast Asian country has inoculated around 750,000 people against the coronavirus since it started its vaccination campaign early March, according to the ministry.
U.S.Kansas City StarSeveral families sue Johnson County school districts over ‘the trauma’ of COVID masks
The families of 16 children in Johnson County are suing the Blue Valley and Olathe districts, arguing that their students should be allowed to attend school during the pandemic without wearing masks. Attorney Linus Baker said the parents he is representing challenged their districts' mask requirements under Senate Bill 40, which empowers parents to quickly fight such COVID-19 restrictions. The lawsuit, which began in Johnson County district court, was moved to federal court this week.
- PoliticsFox News
Hawley: Facebook board's Trump ban proves its time to 'get serious' on antitrust action
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., renewed his call for antitrust action against Facebook and other tech platforms on Wednesday, calling it "a little bit ridiculous" that an oversight board was able to determine whether the social media platform's suspension of former President Donald Trump's account was justified. Hawley and other Republicans slammed Facebook after its oversight board – an independent body with binding authority over its content decisions – affirmed the company's decision to suspend Trump following the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.
WorldBBCArts figures criticise plan to cut university funding for creative subjects
Singer Jarvis Cocker, actor Maxine Peake and author Bernardine Evaristo are among those to have criticised a plan to cut government funding for arts subjects at universities by almost 50%. Arts courses are not among the official "strategic priorities", with a cut from £36m to £19m proposed next year. The Department for Education said the reduction would only affect "a small proportion" of universities' income.
- NewsCBS San Francisco - SF - KPIX
Westbound 580 Crash: Raw video of the 580 big rig crash and traffic backup
Raw video of the 580 big rig crash and traffic backup
WorldBusiness InsiderMexico's cartels are experimenting with control of another part of the cocaine trade
Mexico's military destroyed a small coca plantation in February, the third one found since 2014. It was another sign that Mexican criminal groups are pursuing more control of the cocaine trade. MEXICO - Mexican drug cartels' longstanding attempts to bring coca plantations out of South America and onto their turf may be bearing fruit.
BusinessBBCJuukan Gorge: Rio Tinto investors in pay revolt over sacred cave blast
Mining giant Rio Tinto has faced a shareholder revolt over a $10m (£7.2m) bonus for its outgoing boss. In a rare development, 61% of votes cast at its annual meeting opposed the firm's executive remuneration package. The backlash comes after the company destroyed sacred Aboriginal rock shelters in Western Australia last May.
- U.S.Tribune Publishing
At 16, she drove drunk and killed a man. At 24, cops say she did it again.
Jennifer Carvajal admitted she was drunk early one morning a few weeks shy of her 17th birthday. Last summer, Carvajal was once again in court, accused of violating probation by walking away from a substance abuse treatment facility. Two weeks ago, authorities say Carvajal was once again driving drunk.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderWhite House press secretary Jen Psaki says she'll resign next year when it's 'time for somebody else to have this job'
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said she plans to leave the role next year to spend more time with her family. "I think it's going to be time for somebody else to have this job in a year from now or about a year from now," Psaki said in an interview with CNN's David Axelrod, her former colleague in the Obama administration, on Thursday. Psaki, who delivers regular press briefings as the public face of President Joe Biden's administration, said she wanted to be able to spend more time with her two young children.
U.S.The Daily BeastMelinda Gates Warned Bill About Jeffrey Epstein
Melinda Gates met with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein alongside her husband, Bill, in New York City and soon after said she was furious at the relationship between the two men, according to people familiar with the situation. The previously unreported meeting occurred at Epstein's Upper East Side mansion in September 2013, on the same day the couple accepted the Lasker-Bloomberg Public Service Award at The Pierre hotel and were photographed alongside then-Mayor Mike Bloomberg. The meeting would prove a turning point for Gates' relationship with Epstein, the people familiar with the matter say, as Melinda told friends after the encounter how uncomfortable she was in the company of the wealthy sex offender and how she wanted nothing to do with him.
PoliticsThe IndependentSecret Russian assassination squad linked to claims of bounties on US troops in Afghanistan, report says
Claims of Russian bounties against US troops in Afghanistan were linked to a Kremlin-backed spy team known as Unit 29155, according to reports. The intelligence community released newly-declassified documents of its assessment to The New York Times after the Biden administration's review said they had "low to moderate" confidence in the intelligence. Claims that Donald Trump did nothing about Russian bounties on American soldiers were leveraged by Joe Biden as a major election issue during the presidential campaign and tied to accusations that the Republican had consistently shown a deferential attitude to Vladimir Putin.
U.S.Business InsiderA Capitol riot suspect yelled 'f--- all of you!' at his Zoom court hearing then hung up on the judge, reports say
A Capitol riot suspect caused chaos at his own Zoom court hearing, according to reports. Landon Copeland yelled expletives at the judge during the call, The Daily Beast and NBC reported. A Capitol riot suspect unleashed an expletive-filled tirade and hung up on the judge in a chaotic Zoom hearing, according to reports.
WorldTimeThe Real Biggest Myths About World War II, According to a Military Historian
More than 75 years after V-E Day—the German surrender on May 8, 1945, that ended the physical fighting on the Western Front in World War II—myths and misconceptions about the war remain. TIME asked the Senior Historian at the National World War II Museum, Rob Citino, which myths he has spent the most time debunking in his career as a professor of military history and author of 10 books. “Historians owe it to the millions of people who participated in this event, and unfortunately, the millions of people who died in World War II, to delve as deeply as possible into why this all happened,” he says.
PoliticsUSA TODAY'Don't take questions': White House press secretary frowns on Biden's media interaction
President Joe Biden was fielding his fourth question from a reporter after delivering remarks on the pandemic last week when he apologized to the press corps. In fact, yes, White House press secretary Jen Psaki divulged in a podcast interview this week. “That is not something we recommend,” Psaki said.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderDemocrats renew calls to end the filibuster after McConnell said he's '100%' focused on stopping Biden
McConnell said Wednesday "one-hundred percent of our focus is on stopping this new administration." Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders were among the lawmakers to renews calls for an end to the rule. After Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said his entire focus is on stopping President Joe Biden's administration, Democratic lawmakers renewed calls to end the filibuster.
“Every college has a public health responsibility to require its students to be vaccinated.”
“While the vast majority of students will likely get the vaccine, schools should honor the decisions of the few who object.”
“A vaccinated campus could be the step toward normality that college leaders are seeking.”
“College students are mobile and spread COVID-19 with them whenever they travel.”
“There almost certainly are going to be legal challenges because the anti-vaccine movement is already preparing for them.”