U.S.Associated PressIllegal marijuana farms take West's water in 'blatant theft'
Jack Dwyer pursued a dream of getting back to the land by moving in 1972 to an idyllic, tree-studded parcel in Oregon with a creek running through it. From dusty towns to forests in the U.S. West, illegal marijuana growers are taking water in uncontrolled amounts when there often isn't enough to go around for even licensed users. Conflicts about water have long existed, but illegal marijuana farms — which proliferate despite legalization in many Western states — are adding strain during a severe drought.
U.S.INSIDERGabby Petito told police her 'downer' fiancé didn't think she could make it as a travel influencer, according to bodycam footage
About a month before Gabby Petito was reported missing, she was questioned by police. After Petito and her boyfriend Brian Laundrie were pulled over, she told officers he was a "downer." Petito said Laundrie didn't believe she could start a career as a travel blogger.
U.S.MarketWatchMan stole $500K of missing brother’s Social Security checks over decades — until facial recognition put authorities on his trail
Tessa Gorman, acting U.S. attorney for the western district of Washington “Our hope was that the investigation could shed light on what happened to Jarvis Sayler. While that has not happened, we are able to hold his brother accountable for stealing benefits from government programs that are designed to help the most needy in our community,” said Tessa Gorman, acting U.S. attorney for the western district of Washington. According to court filings, Jarvis Sayler disappeared after travelling from Missouri to visit his brother Chris in Washington 33 years ago.
PoliticsReutersBiden approval drops to lowest of presidency: Reuters/Ipsos poll
Public approval of U.S. President Joe Biden has dropped to the lowest level of his presidency, with Americans appearing to be increasingly critical of his response to the coronavirus pandemic, according to the latest Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll. The national poll, conducted Sept. 15-16, found that 44% of U.S. adults approved of Biden's performance in office, while 50% disapproved and the rest were not sure. While most Americans support the kind of vaccine and mask requirements that Biden has ordered recently to slow the spread of the Delta variant, some Republicans have criticized what they consider to be an overreaction by the White House.
PoliticsHuffPostEven Steve Bannon Looks Skeptical About Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's Latest Claim
In her first year as a member of the House, Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene has said a lot of outrageous things. Greene, who has said she believes in the QAnon conspiracy theory but not in the effectiveness of vaccines, was being interviewed on Bannon's “Real America's Voice” podcast when she told the former Trump White House strategist: “I have been the most effective member of Congress this session.” Greene, however, has been unable to do much congressional work since February, when she was stripped of her committee assignments because of her support for racist and antisemitic conspiracy theories, and for advocating the execution prominent Democrats.
ScienceUSA TODAYScientists created the world's whitest paint. It could eliminate the need for air conditioning.
The whitest paint in the world has been created in a lab at Purdue University, a paint so white that it could eventually reduce or even eliminate the need for air conditioning, scientists say. The paint has now made it into the Guinness World Records book as the whitest ever made. “When we started this project about seven years ago, we had saving energy and fighting climate change in mind,” said Xiulin Ruan, a professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue, in a statement.
BusinessEngadgetMan who unlocked 1.9 million AT&T phones sentenced to 12 years in prison
A US district court has sentenced a man who unlocked 1.9 million AT&T phones to 12 years in prison. Muhammad Fahd continued the seven-year scheme to defraud the company even after learning of an investigation against him, according to the Department of Justice. At Fahd's sentencing hearing, Judge Robert S. Lasnik said he committed a “terrible cybercrime over an extended period,” with AT&T said to have lost $201.5 million as a result.
U.S.INSIDERPolice asked Gabby Petito's family to stop discussing her relationship with Brian Laundrie, without explaining why, attorney says
Gabby Petito's family has been told not to talk about her relationship with Brian Laundrie. It is unclear why police have asked them to do this, the family said. The couple's relationship became a focus after police were called out to a fight between them.
WorldThe WrapRight-Wing Activist Laura Loomer Has ‘Brutal’ Case of COVID After Claiming It’s No Worse Than Food Poisoning
Right-wing activist Laura Loomer confirmed this week she has COVID-19 and the symptoms have been “brutal.” In the past, she expressed an interest in contracting the virus so she could prove it's no worse than food poisoning. “Just pray for me please,” she wrote on Gettr, a social media platform launched by Jason Miller, a former spokesperson for Donald Trump.
U.S.ReutersCalifornia governor signs into law measure to fight housing crisis
California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed legislation aimed at combating the state's housing crisis by expanding housing production and aiming to streamline housing approvals. Newsom's office said on Thursday California will put $1.75 billion into what his administration is calling a new California Housing Accelerator, which he claimed will accelerate building 6,500 affordable multi-family units that were stalled for lack of tax-exempt bonds and low-income housing tax credits. "Governor Newsom's California Comeback Plan will lead to over 84,000 new housing units and exits from homelessness, including today's announcement of $1.75 billion in affordable housing funding for the new California Housing Accelerator", his office said in a statement.
U.S.Miami HeraldDiners gone wild: Watch an all-out brawl at this upscale Brickell restaurant
Truluck's steakhouse in Brickell is where you go for a nice meal out with a sleek decor, expertly prepared seafood and steaks and spot-on service. But on Friday night, the longtime venerated eatery, with a handful of locations throughout the country, was a scene of absolute chaos as a brawl broke out among diners. The out of control scene captured on a bystander's cellphone looks like something out of an R-rated action movie, not a restaurant where entrees run you $40 and up.
PoliticsHuffPostEric Trump Asks Question About His Dad, Gets The Same Stinging Response
Eric Trump received a resounding “no” in response to a question posed via a web address he shared Thursday on Twitter. Former President Donald Trump's son posted the URL doyoumissmeyet.com. It linked to a page featuring an image of his father in front of the American flag.
U.S.Associated PressTexas teen posts images of slain family, then kills self
A South Texas teen who said he killed his family and posted graphic images of their bodies on social media killed himself after officers found him at his home, authorities said Thursday. The Aransas Pass police and San Patricio County sheriff's office say they started investigating after being alerted to the images on social media. They say the teen, identified as 15-year-old William Quince Colburn III, had also threatened to continue the violence at a school.
U.S.INSIDERUtah police considered charging Gabby Petito with domestic violence after a fight with her boyfriend Brian Laundrie
Utah police considered charging Gabby Petito - a 22-year-old woman who was reported missing on September 11 - with domestic violence last month following an altercation with her boyfriend Brian Laundrie, but opted not to when she said she didn't intend to hurt him, according to police body camera footage released on Thursday. Petito and Laundrie were pulled over by Moab City Police officers on August 12, about a month before Petito was reported missing by her mother. The couple told police that they had gotten into an argument in Moab that resulted in Petito slapping Laundrie, and Petito told officers she hit Laundrie again when she saw they were being pulled over.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderJustice Clarence Thomas says Supreme Court 'may have become the most dangerous' branch of the government
Clarence Thomas argued that justices were overstepping their role in rare public remarks about the court. "The court was thought to be the least dangerous branch, and we may have become the most dangerous," Thomas said. In rare public remarks, Justice Clarence Thomas said on Thursday that the Supreme Court "may have become the most dangerous branch" of the federal government.
- BusinessFood & Wine
If You've Purchased Chicken in the Past Decade, You May Be Eligible for a Settlement
Six major chicken producers have agreed to a $181 million payout over alleged price-fixing.
U.S.The Daily BeastAnti-Mask Florida Official Dies of COVID—and Takes GOP Software Secrets With Him
Just a day after testing positive for COVID-19, a Florida Republican official who battled against mask mandates, attacked the vaccine, and railed at CDC officials has died in Tampa. Gregg Prentice, who was 61, led the Hillsborough County Election Integrity Committee—and his sudden death has sent the local GOP scrambling as it no longer has access to essential campaign finance software without his help. In a Sept. 14 letter to the Federal Election Commission, the Hillsborough County Republican Executive Committee reported it might not be able to file its monthly financial reports as required—because only Prentice knew how to do it.
WorldNextShark‘China’s richest woman’ missing for years suddenly reemerges in ‘threatening’ phone calls to family
A real estate mogul dubbed “China's richest woman” before her sudden disappearance in 2017 has recently reached out to her ex-husband. Ascent to wealth: Weihong Duan, who also goes by her English nickname “Whitney,” became a billionaire through Taihong, the real estate development firm she founded in 1996. Duan reportedly grew up in a one-room apartment in a small town in Shandong province.
U.S.Associated PressColorado school shooter to be sentenced to life in prison
A former high school student convicted of first degree murder and other charges for a 2019 shooting attack inside a suburban Denver high school that killed one student and injured eight others is set to be sentenced to mandatory life in prison without parole on Friday. Devon Erickson was convicted in June of all 46 charges against him, including murder in the death of Kendrick Castillo, an 18-year-old senior hailed as a hero for trying to stop the attack on a classroom at STEM School Highlands Ranch south of Denver. Prosecutors said Erickson, now 20, partnered with fellow student Alec McKinney in the May 7, 2019, shooting.
PoliticsHuffPostJon Stewart Admits Why He Was Wrong About Donald Trump
Jon Stewart admitted the mistake he made when Donald Trump first announced his candidacy for president in 2015. Back then, the then-host of “The Daily Show” figured the reality TV personality was a comedic “gift from heaven. But in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter published Wednesday, Stewart said he misjudged, failing to consider that Trump's “certainty, his ridiculousness, his shamelessness is what made him dangerous.
U.S.Fort Worth Star-TelegramTexas ice cream truck man’s Instagram of himself serving kids leads to prison, feds say
It's what authorities said they spotted on an ice cream truck driver's livestream video that has landed him in prison. In February, 21-year-old Jason Sibley filmed himself on Instagram serving ice cream to neighborhood children in Beaumont, Texas. Local police watching the video saw a silver and black handgun inside the vehicle and went looking for the ice cream truck, officials said.
WorldIn The Know by YahooTwitter users just discovered an ‘abandoned’ McDonald’s on a remote island in Alaska: ‘The prices haven’t changed much’
Twitter users are freaking out after discovering the existence of an abandoned McDonald's on an island in Alaska. The fast-food location, which has seemingly been untouched since the 1990s, is on Adak Island, a remote place in the Aleutian Islands, far out into the northern Pacific Ocean. The abandoned McDonald's, meanwhile, spread widely on Twitter thanks to a user named @RealJezebelley.
U.S.INSIDERAn Alabama couple who trashed vaccines on their YouTube channel died from COVID-19 within 3 weeks of each other
An Alabama couple who opposed COVID-19 vaccines on YouTube died from the disease, AL.com reported. In a video, Dusty and Tristan Graham said the vaccine was "technically not" a vaccine. The couple's channel had 10,000 subscribers before it was removed from YouTube, Social Blade said.
BusinessThe WrapHBO Max Cuts Price in Half for Customers Following HBO’s Amazon Prime Exit
HBO Max is cutting its price in half for new and returning customers in attempt to offset the loss of users who subscribed to HBO through Amazon's Prime Video Channels, following the Sept. 15 end of that deal, WarnerMedia revealed Friday. The promotional offer is good through Sept. 26 and will allow those who take advantage up to six months of ad-free HBO Max at 50% off, so $7.49/month.
BusinessYahoo FinanceWhy some airlines' planes fly slower than others
On Friday a flight-enthusiast passenger noticed that a Spirit Airlines (SAVE) plane that had taken off a few spots ahead of his United plane (UAL) from the Houston airport was now well him, according to a flight tracker. The passenger, who is also a licensed flight dispatcher, guessed that the Spirit flight was likely flying slower to save money, like a frugal driver on the highway. Despite the occasional pilot informing passengers (proudly) of an intention to “make up time in the air,” people usually assume planes are going as fast as they safely can, like a speed limit, similar to a bus or a train.
“It’s time for a late-stage empire to sober up a bit and refocus on building a functioning nation-state here on the home front.”
“The response to evil abroad cannot be to throw up our hands. Failure is not inevitable.”
“The United States keeps insisting that it must do that which it cannot do.”
“When the U.S. blames others, it doesn’t recognize its mistakes, so it repeats them.”
“Nothing has been resolved, no lessons have been learned, no meaningful assessment of the war on terror has been passed.”