Datasets:

omarroka29

/

phosseini

like 0

Title: 'Clock is ticking' for Prince Andrew to speak with feds: Gloria Allred Advertisement Attorney Gloria Allred said at a press conference Monday that Britain’s Prince Andrew should speak with federal prosecutors in New York before Ghislaine Maxwell does — and warned that the “clock is ticking” for him to do so. Allred spoke in Los Angeles after federal authorities last week arrested Maxwell for allegedly procuring girls who were sexually abused by multi-millionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein`. Allred, who represents 16 of Epstein’s alleged victims, said Maxwell’s indictment should scare the powerful men in Epstein’s orbit — including Prince Andrew. “My point is this, she knows quite a bit about the powerful men who were close to Jeffrey Epstein,” she said. “Ms. Maxwell is the one who introduced Prince Andrew to Jeffrey Epstein.” Allred added that Prince Andrew, the Queen of England’s son, should answer prosecutor’s question under oath — before Maxwell speaks to authorities about sexual abuse by Epstein’s powerful friends. “If I were Prince Andrew, I would want to speak to prosecutors before Ms. Maxwell speaks to the prosecutors. And the clock is ticking. She could decide to speak with them at any time,” Allred said. She added that he had no problem speaking to the BBC about allegations that he sexually abused girls who were procured by Epstein — but that interview was not under oath. “Does he need a gold plated invitation? Delivered by footmen who bow and curtsy to him to sit there with prosecutors,” Allred said at Monday’s press conference. Prince Andrew has denied wrongdoing. Maxwell faces two counts of perjury in addition to four child sex-trafficking-related charges. It’s unclear if she intends cooperate with authorities. Maxwell was transferred to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn Monday and is expected to make an initial court appearance later this week.

non

Title: Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms tests positive for coronavirus Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms revealed Monday that she has contracted the coronavirus, as Georgia and other southern states that reopened their economies early see a starling spike in cases. “COVID-19 has literally hit home. I have had NO symptoms and have tested positive,” Bottoms tweeted Monday afternoon. Bottoms is reportedly being considered as a running mate by presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. Georgia’s Department of Health reported Monday that there were 97,064 confirmed cases of coronavirus and at least 2,878 confirmed deaths as the numbers continue to rise following GOP Gov. Brian Kemp’s decision to reopen the economy. Over the last 14 days, the average daily increase in newly confirmed cases was 2,224 new cases a day, according to Atlanta’s NBC News television affiliate. Over the previous 14-day period, the average daily increase in newly confirmed cases was 935. Cases have also been spiking in Florida, Texas and Arizona, NBC News reported.

non

Title: CA man arrested for allegedly pointing gun at supporter of BLM mural A man was busted in California for allegedly pointing a loaded gun at a member of a crowd watching over a Black Lives Matter mural that had been defaced a day earlier, according to new reports. A man identified Monday morning as Joseph Osuna, 30, allegedly drove past the group in the city of Martinez Sunday evening, KRON reported. He yelled “All Lives Matter,” KABC reported. “He rolled by us and yelled at everybody. And flipped us off,” a man who wanted to remain anonymous told the station. “So I got on my skateboard to just kind of follow him to get the plates.” “[The driver] made a U-turn, came back at me and pointed the gun in my face,” the man added. “[He] said, ‘Do you want to do something?’ That’s it. Immediately a cop was behind him and pulled him over. Thank God!” Osuna, wearing an American flag bandanna, and a red, white and blue hat with an American flag — featuring stripes that appeared to be in the shape of bullets — was arrested without incident, according to the report. “This is horrible,” Michael Gonzales, a local resident who was part of the crowd, told the outlet. “He exacerbated the situation. He knew what he was doing. He knew people were over here just protesting. And he came over here with that mentality. With a gun! Who left the house today with a gun? None of us did.” The group had been standing guard in front of the newly painted mural, in front of the Contra Costa County court, since it was vandalized on the Fourth of July by an unidentified man and woman. Video released by police shows the woman using a roller to cover part of the mural with black paint. Meanwhile, her companion told onlookers: “we’re sick of this narrative.” “The narrative of police brutality, the narrative of oppression, the narrative of racism,” he declared. “It’s a lie.” “I said no one wants Black Lives Matter here!” he added. “That’s what I said. All Lives Matter, you punk.” Police are still looking for those suspects. “The community spent a considerable amount of time painting this mural only to have the suspects destroy it by dumping and rolling paint over part of the message,” authorities said in a statement. Community members obtained a permit to paint the “Black Lives Matter” mural, according to police.

non

Title: 4th of July shootings: Children, elderly among weekend victims A wave of gun violence swept through the nation over the holiday weekend, leaving dozens dead from coast-to-coast — with children as young as 5 among the casualties. The bloodshed marred a sunny Independence Day weekend throughout the US, including in the Big Apple, where the number of shootings tripled over the past week compared to last year, and Chicago, where police reported 87 shootings and 17 deaths. Nearly a dozen of the victims were children caught in the crossfire, according to reports: “These aren’t police officers shooting people on the streets of Atlanta,” Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said at an emotional press conference with Turner’s family. “These are members of the community shooting each other. And in this case, it is the worst possible outcome.” “Enough is enough,” she said. But children weren’t the only casualties of the bloody holiday weekend. Paullette Thorpe, 74, died in Durham, North Carolina, after being struck with “celebratory gunfire” that was fired into the air on July 4, and a 39-year-old mother was killed when gunmen riddled the family vehicle with bullets — wounding her husband and three children, 9 to 15 years old. Early Sunday, 30-year-old Clifford Durell Manor was shot and killed during an argument outside a San Antonio hookah bar, KSAT-TV reported, and a father and son — Mark Ivie Sr., 43, and his 20-year-old son, Mark Ivie, Jr. — were charged early Sunday with shooting four men and beating a fifth in Ephrata, Pennsylvania, WHTM-TV said. “We must keep violent offenders in jail longer. We must,” Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown told WLS-TV. “We should revamp the electronic monitoring program. The electronic monitoring program, it’s clearly not working. We will not stop until this violence ends.”

non

Title: Jimmy John's workers in Georgia made noose out of dough: video Employees at a Jimmy John’s sandwich shop in Georgia recorded themselves playing with a noose fashioned out of dough — and they all have been fired. A 16-second clip posted Sunday to Twitter shows one employee at a Jimmy John’s in Woodstock putting his head into a noose held by another worker. A third employee stood nearby to record the hateful act, while another person can be heard laughing throughout the sick stunt, video shows. The footage, which was originally posted to Snapchat, also features a “Happy 4th of July” filter. “Some white employees made a noose, look at the DETAILS in the damn noose dough that’s used for sandwiches,” wrote a man from Alabama who tweeted the footage. “Crazy. They done this before.” In a statement released Monday, Jimmy John’s said all of the employees involved in producing the video have been fired. “The actions seen in the video are absolutely unacceptable and do not represent the Jimmy John’s brand or the local franchise ownership team,” the company’s statement continued. “As soon as we were alerted to the video, we notified our franchisee, who quickly investigated and terminated all employees involved.” Employees at the store will also receive training to “help prevent anything like this” from occurring again, according to the company’s statement. The statement did not indicate exactly how many workers got fired for the video, but four employees in all lost their jobs, the Macon Telegraph reports. The apology, however, did little to satisfy some customers who said they’ll never eat at Jimmy John’s again. “You’ve lost a family of customers right here,” one Twitter reply read. Another person, meanwhile, suggested that the training for the workers at the Woodstock location be implemented to the entire company. “Not only is making a noose to mock unacceptable but the way these kids behave it looks like it’s not the first time they’ve endangered customers,” another tweet read. “It’s gonna be awhile before I eat anything from Jimmy John’s.”

non

Title: Rickey Smiley's daughter Aaryn shot in road rage incident Comedian and radio host Rickey Smiley’s 19-year-old daughter was shot in a Texas road rage incident and was undergoing surgery Monday . Smiley, 51, fought back tears as he revealed on his Birmingham, Alabama morning radio show that his youngest daughter, Aaryn, was struck on her way to a Whataburger in Houston on Sunday night. “I’m just so angry right now,” Smiley said. “I go to bed around 8:30 or 9 o’ clock, and I woke up to text messages,” he continued. “The fact that she’s laying up in the hospital and probably going to have to go into surgery … She’s just crying, she’s scared, and I just hate it.” The teen, a student at Baylor University, was caught between two people firing at each other while waiting at a red light and was hit three times, Smiley said. She was in surgery at a Houston hospital on Monday, he later tweeted. “Thanks for your prayers or our daughter,” he wrote. “I really appreciate the support!” In a YouTube video titled “Thank God for Protecting My Daughter,” Smiley vented his frustration at gun violence around the country over the holiday weekend. “Today could have been different,” he said. “I could have been at the funeral home … with the families [of those] killed in DC, in Atlanta and all the people killed in Chicago.” “Someone has got to bury their child,” Smiley continued. “I’m lucky mine is still living.”

non

Title: Justin Trudeau declines WH invite for trade deal celebration Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has turned down President Trump’s invitation to meet this week alongside Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in celebration of their new trade deal. Citing scheduling concerns, a spokesman for Trudeau announced Monday that the Canadian leader would be skipping the White House gathering so he could instead take part in cabinet meetings and “the long-planned sitting of Parliament” in his country. “The entry-into-force of the new NAFTA is good for Canada, the United States, and Mexico,” the rep said in a statement. “It will help ensure that North America emerges stronger from the COVID-19 pandemic.” “We wish the United States and Mexico well at Wednesday’s meeting.” While Trudeau remains in Ottawa, Lopez Obrador and Trump will meet at the White House to mark the start of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which went into effect July 1. López Obrador has come under heavy criticism in Mexico for making his first foreign trip as president to the US, given Trump’s rhetoric on issues such as a border wall and immigrants. But the Mexican president has maintained a cordial relationship with Trump — and went so far as to publicly encourage Trudeau to take part in the meeting, to no avail. Speaking to reporters Monday, Lopez Obrador said Trudeau had asked to talk with him and that they planned to speak by phone later that day. López Obrador began calling for Trudeau to participate in the meeting after the Canadian prime minister signaled Friday he would decline the invitation. Trudeau cited concerns over the threats of new aluminum and steel tariffs from the US. “We’re obviously concerned about the proposed issue of tariffs on aluminum and steel that the Americans have floated recently,” he said at the time. Trudeau was referring to the possible reintroduction of a 10 percent tariff lifted by Trump last year as part of USMCA negotiations. The Canadian leader went on to cite coronavirus concerns as another reason for wanting to limit his travel. “We’re also concerned about the health situation and the coronavirus reality that is still hitting all three of our countries,” he said. Canada is requiring all travelers entering the country to self-isolate for 14 days upon arriving. Had Trudeau opted to attend Wednesday’s meeting, he would have been required to self-quarantine when he returns, which would have caused him to miss the start of Canadian parliament. A rep for the National Security Council, which is organizing Wednesday’s summit, echoed Trudeau’s statement on the meeting, which touted that Canada “continue[s] to work with our NAFTA partners to ensure this new agreement becomes a success for all three countries.” With Post wires

non

Title: Grandfather of slain 11-year-old rips on Black Lives Matter The grandfather of an 11-year-old boy shot dead during a Fourth of July celebration in Washington, DC, has lashed out at the Black Lives Matter movement, charging that adherents don’t care about “black-on-black crime.” “Everybody’s just saying, they’re tired, tired of shootings in the community. Everybody’s running around here like they’re Uzi-toting, dope-sucking psychopathic killing machines,” said John Ayala, granddad of 11-year-old Davon McNeal, who was struck in the head by a stray bullet as a family party was winding down and a group of men opened fire at each other nearby. “We’re protesting for months, for weeks, saying, ‘Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter.’ Black lives matter it seems like, only when a police officer shoots a black person. What about all the black-on-black crime that’s happening in the community?” he added, according to video posted on Grabien. Davon’s mother Crystal McNeal is a DC “violence interrupter,” which means she spends her days with some of the District’s most hardened criminals, trying to persuade them to put down their guns, The Washington Post reported. Her sixth-grader was described as a youth football star. Washington Mayor Muriel E. Bowser tweeted that the shooting of Davon was “horrendous,” and said later that police were looking for a black sedan seen speeding down an alley near the Frederick Douglass Garden apartments, a complex named for the famed abolitionist and former slave who lived in the city’s Anacostia neighborhood. Davon’s death wasn’t the only shooting of a child on the holiday, as an 8-year-old girl was shot dead in Atlanta. Cops identified the girl as Secoriea Turner, and Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms called for justice during a news conference Sunday with the girl’s grief-stricken mother. “You shot and killed a baby,” the mayor said, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution. “And there wasn’t just one shooter, there were at least two shooters.” The shooting happened near the Wendy’s restaurant where a black man, Rayshard Brooks, was killed by an Atlanta cop on June 12. White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany ripped reporters at the daily press briefing for focusing on Trump’s blaming purported low NASCAR ratings on the sport’s decision to ban the Confederate Flag at races. “I was asked probably 12 questions about the Confederate flag. This president is focused on action and I’m a little dismayed that I didn’t receive one question on the deaths that we got in this country this weekend. I didn’t receive one question about New York City shootings doubling for the third straight week and over the last seven days shootings skyrocket by 142 percent. Not one question,” she said. “I didn’t receive one question about five children who were killed. And I’ll leave you with this remark by a dad — it broke my heart, a dad of an 8 year old lost Atlanta this weekend, ‘They say black lives matters. You killed a child, she didn’t do nothing to nobody’ was his quote,” she said. Black Lives Matter was founded in 2013 in response to the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s killer, neighborhood watch member George Zimmerman, who shot the unarmed teen during a dispute in a Florida condo complex. The group’s DC chapter blamed the police for McNeal’s shooting in a tweet — asserting that the department should be defunded because it can’t keep people like Davon safe. “Your $533M budget should be DEFUNDED BECAUSE YOU CANT KEEP US OR OUR FAMILIES SAFE! @DCPoliceDept was around when this happened, as usual,” they tweeted.

non

Title: Harvard will hold all classes online next year, charge full tuition Harvard University will hold all classes remotely next academic year, the famed institution announced Monday. While the school will allow 40 percent of its students — mostly freshmen — to temporarily return to the Cambridge, Massachusetts campus in the fall, all instruction will take place online. In the spring, the initial batch of students will leave campus and be replaced by seniors. Sophomores and juniors, officials said, face the very real possibility of an entire year away from school with all classes taking place online. Those who are allowed back on campus will be tested for COVID-19 every three days, and must wear masks and practice social distancing. Harvard’s $49,653 annual tuition will remain the same, the school stated. “Absent an effective vaccine or clinical therapy, this reduced density, together with a high-cadence viral testing program and universal adoption of public health practices such as face masks and frequent handwashing, is needed to safely host a significant number of undergraduates on campus,” Harvard officials wrote in a letter Monday. Other Ivy League schools have taken similar steps in planning for the upcoming year in light of the coronavirus threat. Princeton will split its enrollment in half and switch cohorts to allow all students one semester on campus. The New Jersey school said it will shave 10 percent off of its tuition in light of COVID-19 disruptions.

non

Title: American Girl blasts fake ad showing 'Karen' doll with gun The manufacturer of the popular American Girl dolls says it is “disgusted” by an online parody that depicted one of its toys as a gun-toting white doll named Karen who refuses to wear a face mask while shopping during the coronavirus pandemic. American Girl, which makes 18-inch dolls portraying female youngsters, responded to the fake image last week after it was posted to Facebook and went viral on other platforms. “I saw a post of an American Girl doll, Karen, who refuses to wear a mask and carried a gun as disgusting,” a Twitter user wrote the Wisconsin-based company. “Is this what we want to teach our children?” Hours later, company reps responded to the woman, saying they had nothing to do with the posting and that they were also offended by what they saw. “Donna, we were equally disgusted with this post,” the company tweeted Wednesday. “Please be assured we are taking the appropriate steps to ensure this is removed.” A Facebook user who goes by the name Adam The Creator posted the offending image of the bogus doll June 29. “Meet Karen, 2020 Girl of the Year,” the mock-up read, referring to the derogatory social-media slang term for entitled white women. “She’s an independent thinker who refuses to wear a mask in public places!” The image generated more than 1,400 comments and was shared more than 10,000 times. The company, which first released its line of dolls in 1986, has been owned by Mattel since 1998, according to its website.

non

Title: Trump rips Redskins, Indians for attempting name changes President Trump waded deeper into the culture wars roiling the US on Monday — defending the team names of the Washington Redskins and Cleveland Indians and slamming them for being “politically correct.” “They name teams out of STRENGTH, not weakness, but now the Washington Redskins & Cleveland Indians, two fabled sports franchises, look like they are going to be changing their names in order to be politically correct. Indians, like Elizabeth Warren, must be very angry right now!” Trump tweeted. The Redskins, who have long faced criticism from Native American groups and others, said last week it would consider a name change. Nike appeared to have pulled Redskins merchandise off its website after FedEx — the company whose name is on the arena where the team plays — publicly called on the franchise to change its name, putting increasing pressure on owner Dan Snyder, who has refused to consider a name change for years, Fox Business reported. On Sunday, three minority owners, Robert Rothman, Dwight Schar and Fred Smith, who own a combined 40 percent of the team, said they were “not happy being a partner” with Snyder and hired an investment firm to search for potential buyers of their shares, the Washington Post reported Sunday. The Cleveland Indians have also come under fire over the years over the team name and its logo depicting a caricature of a Native American, “Chief Wahoo.” Cleveland manager Terry Francona said Sunday he was in favor of the team changing its name, according to BleacherReport.com. Addressing reporters during summer camp on Sunday, Francona said “it’s time to move forward” with a new name. In a statement released Friday, the team announced it was looking at other options for a name. “We have had ongoing discussions organizationally on these issues. The recent social unrest in our community and our country has only underscored the need for us to keep improving as an organization on issues of social justice,” the team said. “With that in mind, we are committed to engaging our community and appropriate stakeholders to determine the best path forward with regard to our team name.” Trump’s tweet came minutes after White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany told reporters she was unaware of Trump’s position on the issue.

non

Title: NASCAR's Bubba Wallace responds to Trump tweet NASCAR’s only black driver Bubba Wallace on Monday denounced “HATE from the POTUS” after President Trump suggested that Wallace apologize for saying he was the victim of a hate crime. Wallace’s teammates this year reported an apparent noose in his garage stall that the FBI later determined was not a hate crime and had been in place there since October 2019. He was not the source of the original claim. Wallace’s response to Trump came in a tweeted statement that he addressed to “the next generation and little ones following my foot steps.” “All the haters are doing is elevating your voice and platform to much greater heights,” Wallace wrote, calling for people to “always deal with the hate being thrown at you with LOVE!” “Even when it’s HATE from the POTUS.. Love wins,” Wallace wrote. In a Monday morning tweet, Trump wrote: “Has @BubbaWallace apologized to all of those great NASCAR drivers & officials who came to his aid, stood by his side, & were willing to sacrifice everything for him, only to find out that the whole thing was just another HOAX? That & Flag decision has caused lowest ratings EVER!” At a Monday afternoon press conference, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said she spoke to Trump and that he clarified he wasn’t taking a position on the display of Confederate flags at races — which NASCAR has banned — and that he was expressing a generalized concern about a rush to judgment in cases of alleged hate crimes. “I think it’s important that we point out the fact that there was no hate crime. The FBI concluded that. President Trump was merely saying that Mr. Wallace should agree with that consensus,” McEnany said.

non

Title: Publisher pushes up release of Mary Trump’s tell-all book WASHINGTON — The publisher of a controversial new book by President Trump’s niece plans to release the tell-all next Tuesday, rushing it out amid litigation from the family trying to block its release. Simon & Schuster announced Monday it would release Mary Trump’s book two weeks early on July 14 due “to high demand and extraordinary interest” as the Trump family argues it would breach a decades-old nondisclosure agreement. The memoir, “Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man,” promises to provide an insider account of Trump’s childhood and a scathing analysis of his psyche. Mary Trump, a clinical psychologist, argues that her uncle is the product of “one of the world’s most powerful and dysfunctional families” and was damaged by his “toxic” relationship with his father, the late property developer Fred Trump. Robert Trump, the president’s younger brother, filed a temporary restraining order to try to block its publication, arguing it would violate the terms of a confidential settlement the family reached after Fred Trump’s death in 1999. But the president’s only niece says the settlement was fraudulent, claiming her uncles and aunt lied to her. A New York appeals court last week ruled that Simon & Schuster wasn’t bound by the nondisclosure agreement and said the book could be published. Trump himself said the family was blindsided by the tell-all bombshell and that his niece was “not allowed” to release it. “I have a brother, Robert, very good guy, and he’s — he’s very angry about it, but she signed a nondisclosure agreement and she’s obviously not honoring it if she writes a book. It’s too bad,” he said.

non

Title: Boy, 6, shot and killed in Philadelphia over holiday weekend A 6-year-old boy was fatally shot in Philadelphia over the Fourth of July weekend, according to new reports. The shooting happened around 1 p.m. Sunday on Kendrick Street in the Upper Holmesburg neighborhood in the northeast section of the city — one of five fatal shootings in about five hours that day, police told the Philadelphia Inquirer. A relative rushed the boy to Jefferson-Torresdale Hospital, where he was pronounced dead about a half-hour after he was shot, according to the report. It wasn’t immediately clear what led to the violence or whether any suspects had been identified. Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw told WCAU other children and an adult were inside the home at the time. “We are still trying to piece together exactly what happened, interviewing witnesses,” Outlaw said. The boy wasn’t the only child killed by gunfire across the US over the holiday weekend. An 8-year-old Atlanta girl was fatally shot on the Fourth of July near the Wendy’s where Rayshard Brooks was gunned down by a cop. A 6-year-old boy was reportedly killed and another person was wounded in a shooting in San Francisco on Saturday night. And 7-year-old Natalia Wallace was killed outside a July 4th party at her grandmother’s Chicago home.

non

Title: What is bubonic plague? How it’s treated and recent cases The bubonic plague, which is caused by a bacterial infection, was chillingly known as “Black Death” when it wiped out some 50 million people across Africa, Asia and Europe in the Middle Ages. Its dark moniker refers to the gangrenous blackening and death of body parts, including the fingers and toes, that can happen as the disease ravages the body, according to the BBC. Unlike the 14th century, however, patients these days can be treated effectively with modern antibiotics, which can prevent complications and death. The bubonic plague is the most common type of the disease, which is caused by bacteria called Yersinia pestis that live in some animals — mostly rodents — and their fleas. Its name comes from the symptoms it causes: painful, swollen lymph nodes — or “buboes” — in the groin or armpit, according to the news outlet, which said there were 3,248 cases reported across the world, including 584 deaths, from 2010 to 2015. Between 1,000 to 2,000 people get the plague each year, according to the World Health Organization, but that estimate is likely too low since it doesn’t account for unreported cases, CNN reported. In the US, there have been as many as a few dozen cases every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2015, two people in Colorado died from the plague, according to the network. From 2009 to 2018, China reported 26 cases and 11 deaths, Reuters reported. A person usually becomes sick between two and six days after being infected and may experience a variety of symptoms in addition to enlarged lymph nodes including fever, chills, headaches, muscle pain and fatigue. The disease also can affect the lungs, causing a cough and chest pain, as well as difficulty breathing. The bacteria also can infiltrate the bloodstream and cause sepsis, a life-threatening complication of an infection, which can lead to tissue damage and organ failure. People can become infected from the bites of fleas, coming into contact with infected animals, and inhaling aerosolized droplets spread by people and animals. The infection also could penetrate the body through a cut in the skin if the person came in close touch with the blood of an infected animal. California health officials confirmed the first case of the plague in the state in five years on Aug. 18 — a South Lake Tahoe resident who may have been bitten by an infected flea while walking a dog. This came shortly after authorities in the Chinese region of Inner Mongolia sealed off an entire village after a resident was confirmed to have died of bubonic plague on Aug. 6. Almost a month earlier, a teenage boy also died in Mongolia. Health officials announced on July 14 that the boy died of bubonic plague just days after eating a marmot, a rodent known to carry the infection, CTV News reported. A pair of brothers, aged 27 and 17, in the nearby Mongolian province of Khovd also contracted the plague on July 1 after they too ate marmots, Newsweek reported. Meanwhile, a Colorado resident was infected with septicemic plague, state health officials confirmed July 16 — the first human case in the Centennial State since 2015. Septicemic plague is one of the three main forms of plague — the other forms being bubonic and pneumonic. This report came just after officials announced July 14 that a squirrel in Jefferson County, Colorado tested positive for the bubonic plague. The person had had contact with sick squirrels.

non

Title: Mark Meadows says there will be no national mandate on masks WASHINGTON — President Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, on Monday rejected the notion of a national decree making masks mandatory, saying that is “not in order.” “Well, it’s certainly a state-to-state issue, as we look across the country, obviously the narrative is the COVID cases are rising, but testing is rising exponentially,” Meadows told “Fox & Friends” after the number of new daily cases peaked at 55,220 on Thursday. “When we look at masks and the wearing of masks, that’s done on a location basis, when you can’t have social distancing, but certainly a national mandate is not in order,” he continued, deferring to state leaders. “We’re allowing our local governors and our local mayors to weigh in on that.” The president is headed on Saturday to New Hampshire, where he will hold a campaign rally at Portsmouth Airport, his first event after a relatively poorly attended rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, last month. Meadows would not say whether Trump will wear a mask, telling Fox: “President Trump mentioned he is willing to wear a mask if appropriate in tight quarters.” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said Sunday that masks should be a “national requirement,” making them mandatory in public as a number of states see a record number of infections. “It’s become almost not even debatable,” he told NBC TV’s “Meet the Press.” “I think it ought to be a national, a national requirement,” he said. Guidelines still vary from state to state, with Florida and Texas recently making masks mandatory in public. The president last week said people “should” wear masks if they “feel good about it” but said he didn’t think face coverings needed to be mandatory in public.

non

Title: Iran admits fire at nuke site will slow centrifuge manufacturing Iran has confirmed that fire damage to a building — possibly by sabotage — at the underground Natanz nuclear site would slow production of advanced nuclear centrifuges that were to be manufactured there. Iranian officials had initially downplayed the fire, which erupted early Thursday, calling it only an “incident” that affected an “industrial shed.” However, a released photo and video of the site broadcast by Iranian state television showed a two-story brick building with scorch marks and its roof apparently destroyed. And a spokesman for Iran’s nuclear agency, Behrouz Kamalvandi, said Sunday that work had begun in the center in 2013 and it was inaugurated in 2018, state news agency IRNA reported. “More advanced centrifuge machines were intended to be built there,” he said, adding that the damage would “possibly cause a delay in development and production of advanced centrifuge machines in the medium term.” He said the fire had damaged “precision and measuring instruments,” and that the center had not been operating at full capacity due to restrictions imposed by Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. That deal — which President Trump pulled the US out of — only allowed Iran to enrich uranium at its Natanz facility with just over 5,000 first-generation IR-1 centrifuges, but Iran has installed new cascades of advanced centrifuges. Iran, which says it will not negotiate as long as sanctions remain in place, has repeatedly vowed to continue building up what it calls a defensive missile capability run by the Revolutionary Guards, in defiance of Western criticism. The country began experimenting with advanced centrifuge models in the wake of the US withdrawal two years ago. Iran has long maintained its atomic program is for what it claims are “peaceful purposes.” An online video and messages purportedly claiming responsibility for the fire were released Friday. The multiple claims by a group called the “Cheetahs of the Homeland”– a group Iran experts have never heard of before — raised questions about whether Natanz had been sabotaged by a foreign nation, as it had during the Stuxnet computer virus outbreak believed to have been engineered by the US and Israel in 2010. Natanz today hosts the country’s main uranium enrichment facility. In its long underground halls, centrifuges rapidly spin uranium hexafluoride gas to enrich uranium. Currently, the IAEA says Iran enriches uranium to about 4.5 percent purity — above the terms of the nuclear deal but far below weapons-grade levels of 90 percent. On Thursday, an article by IRNA addressed what it called the possibility of sabotage by enemies such as Israel and the US, although it stopped short of accusing either directly. And the country vowed vengeance should its investigation reveal that sabotage was behind the fire.

non

Title: Residents of Mexican border town block Americans from entering Residents of a Mexican border town used their cars to form a blockade to prevent Americans from entering over the July 4 weekend amid coronavirus fears. The move came amid a coronavirus spike in neighboring Arizona — prompting Sonoyta Mayor José Ramos Arzate to issue a statement Saturday “inviting US tourists not to visit Mexico.” People from the US should only be allowed in “for essential activities, and for that reason, the checkpoint and inspection point a few meters from the Sonoyta-Lukeville AZ crossing will continue operating,” Ramos Arzate wrote. But residents determined to keep Americans out organized a demonstration there Saturday in which they blocked drivers from crossing into Mexico. The border crossing is considered the fastest route for Americans to reach the seaside resort of Puerto Peñasco, also known as Rocky Point. Carlos Eduardo Chávez Jacquez, who helped organize the protest and runs a Facebook page titled “Sonoyta Unido Jamás Será Vencido,” or “United Sonoyta Will Never Be Defeated,” told Newsweek that demonstrators would block the crossing again Monday. “Everywhere people are dying from COVID-19 because we weren’t ready for this,” he said. “Yes, I support tourism, I want people from all over the world to come to Mexico and see how pretty we are and enjoy the culture, but why during COVID-19 times?” In Sonoyta, Chávez Jacquez said, limited investments have been made in the local health infrastructure, so opening up the area to tourists could have deadly consequences. “And if the U.S. isn’t ready, why would Mexico be ready?” he told the outlet. “We are not ready for COVID-19 tourism right now. I support tourism, it’s important for the economy, but why now?” The move comes as Mexico added new health checkpoints along its US border over the weekend as coronavirus cases surge on both sides of the dividing line. Officials feared crossings during the July 4 weekend could intensify the spread of the contagion — despite a three-month ban on nonessential travel that has been increasingly ignored. The states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas — all border Texas — have each registered thousands of confirmed coronavirus cases, as has Baja, California, just south of San Diego. Arizona reported 3,352 new coronavirus cases and one new death Monday — for an overall total of 101,441 cases and 1,810 deaths since the beginning of the outbreak, state data shows. With Post wires

non

Title: Miami shuts down restaurants and gyms again with coronavirus cases rising Miami will once again shut down restaurants, gyms and short-term vacation rentals as coronavirus cases and hospitalizations in the Florida city continue to rise, officials announced Monday. Officials in the Sunshine State’s hardest-hit county said restaurants can stay open for takeout and delivery but must shutter on Wednesday and a county-wide curfew from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. will remain in effect until further notice. “I am continuing to roll back business openings as we continue to see a spike in the percent of positive COVID-19 tests and an uptick in hospitalizations,” Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez said in a statement announcing the second shutdown. “We want to ensure that our hospitals continue to have the staffing necessary to save lives.” On Monday, the Florida Department of Health announced 47 new deaths and 6,300 new virus cases. While more people are being tested, the rate of positive cases has surged to more than 18 percent, which is four times higher than what it was a month ago, WESH reported. Nearly 3,800 people have died from the virus in the state, nearly a third of them from Miami-Dade, the outlet said. On May 18, Gimenez allowed parts of the city to reopen and for a few weeks, new cases remained stagnant. But following Memorial Day weekend, cases surged once again and hospital beds began filling up throughout June, the Miami Herald reported. The county’s intensive care unit beds are now approaching capacity, according to the outlet. Gimenez pointed to the number of young people socializing without masks or social distancing — as well as protests sparked by the police-custody death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. “We are still tracking the spike in the number of cases involving 18- to 34-year-olds that began in mid-June, which the county’s medical experts say was caused by a number of factors, including young people going to congested places — indoors and outside — without taking precautions such as wearing masks and practicing social distancing,” Gimenez said. “Contributing to the positives in that age group, the doctors have told me, were graduation parties, gatherings at restaurants that turned into packed parties in violation of the rules and street protests where people could not maintain social distancing and where not everyone was wearing facial coverings,” the mayor continued. “We can tamp down the spread if everyone follows the rules, wears masks and stays at least six feet apart from others. I am counting on you, our 2.8 million residents, to stop the spread so that we can get back to opening our economy.”

non

Title: Australia closes state border for first time in 100 years after COVID-19 spike SYDNEY – The border between Australia’s two most populous states will close from Tuesday for an indefinite period as authorities scramble to contain an outbreak of the coronavirus in the city of Melbourne. The decision announced on Monday marks the first time the border between Victoria and New South Wales has been shut in 100 years. Officials last blocked movement between the two states in 1919 during the Spanish flu pandemic. “It is the smart call, the right call at this time, given the significant challenges we face in containing this virus,” Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews told reporters in Melbourne. The move will, however, likely be a blow to Australia’s economic recovery as it heads into its first recession in nearly three decades. The number of COVID-19 cases in the Victorian capital of Melbourne has surged in recent days, prompting authorities to enforce strict social-distancing orders in 30 suburbs and put nine public housing towers into complete lockdown. The state reported 127 new COVID-19 infections overnight, its biggest one-day spike since the pandemic began. It also reported two deaths, the first nationally in more than two weeks, taking the national tally to 106. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said there was no timetable for reopening the border, which will be patrolled by the military to prevent illegal crossings from 11.59 p.m. local time on Tuesday. The state line is highly porous, with 55 roads, wilderness parks and rivers. Some businesses straddle both sides and several workers and school children, commute daily. Lyn McKenzie, who runs a paddle steamer business along the Murray River from Mildura, a border city of 30,000 people, is waiting for more detail to gauge the full impact on her business. McKenzie lives on the NSW side of the river, the boats pick up passengers from the Victoria side and the river itself is classified as part of NSW. “I’m seeing this as possibly needing to shut down again, but it’s a bit early for me, not knowing the exact details,” McKenzie told Reuters. Berejiklian said people would be able to apply for daily permits to cross the border, but added there would be delays of around three days in issuing the passes. Paul Armstrong, who runs a petrol station in Wodonga, a border town on the Victorian side, said his children live in New South Wales but go to school in Victoria. “I wonder if they will need permits,” Armstrong said. Schools in Victoria are in their second week of the two-week winter vacation. Schools in New South Wales began their two-week term break on Monday. NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said the military would provide round-the-clock aerial and other surveillance to enforce the closure. Victoria’s only other internal border, with South Australia state, has been closed since March 22 under previous coronavirus measures. Melbourne lockdown Australia has fared better than many countries in the coronavirus pandemic, with just short of 8,500 cases so far, but the Melbourne outbreak has raised alarm bells. The country has reported an average of 109 cases daily over the past week, compared with an average of just 9 cases daily over the first week of June. Melbourne locals are concerned that renewed social distancing measures have not been implemented uniformly across the city. “Without a full Melbourne lockdown, I am not super confident this is going to be contained,” Jack Bell, a lifeguard who lives in Victorian suburb of Kensington, told Reuters. Kensington is one of the 30 suburbs that have reimposed social distancing measures. The nine public housing blocks that have been subjected to a complete lockdown, Australia’s first, are in neighboring North Melbourne and Flemington.

non

Title: 4-year-old shoots sister in head while parents were asleep A 5-year-old Michigan girl was shot in the head by her 4-year-old brother while their parents slept early Monday, according to reports. Police said the boy woke up about 1:40 a.m. and grabbed the loaded gun from an unlocked closet in the family’s home in Redford Township, a Detroit suburb, WWJ-TV reported. The youngster, who thought it was a toy, went into his sister’s room and shot the girl, grazing her head, their mother told the outlet. She said her daughter, who is in stable condition, is expected to recover but that the girl’s head was split open and there was bleeding on the brain. The children and their parents were not identified. The shooting followed a violent Independence Day weekend that saw a rash of shootings throughout the US.

non

Title: Black man says he feared lynching in Indiana 4th of July attack A black man in Indiana says he feared he was about to be lynched in a heated Fourth of July encounter with a group of white men that was partially caught on video. Vauhxx Rush Booker wrote on Facebook that he was walking with a friend Saturday to watch a lunar eclipse near Lake Monroe when he was confronted by a man in a Confederate flag hat who appeared to be inebriated. The man followed them in an ATV and told them they were on private property, according to Booker, who told the man he believed he had permission to cross. Booker said he soon learned that the person who granted permission “wasn’t the actual property owner.” As he and the pal were leaving, Booker said they encountered several more white men who “quickly became aggressive” and asked them to take a different route. Moments later, according to Booker, the men attacked him from behind, knocking him to the ground. “The five were able to easily overwhelm me and got me to the ground and dragged me pinning my body against a tree as they began pounding on my head and ripped off some of my hair, with several of them still on top of my body holding me down,” Booker wrote. Booker said one of the alleged perpetrators jumped on his neck, using what felt like “his full body weight.” Other people who heard the commotion tried to help as the alleged attackers told them, “we’re going to break his arms,” while instructing their pals to “get a noose,” Booker wrote. Booker shared several clips of the incident, including one showing bystanders trying to intervene — and the back of a man who appears to be held against a tree by another man. “Please let him go,” someone could be heard saying. In another video, one of the men repeatedly refers to someone behind the camera as a “nappy-headed bitch.” “You nappy-headed bitch … You happy with your five white friends?” the shirtless man can be heard saying. Booker said the Indiana Department of Natural Resources responded to the scene, but they “refused to arrest any of these individuals.” The agency confirmed the incident is under investigation and a final report will be sent to local prosecutors, Storyful reported. But Booker said that he’s speaking out because he’s “gravely concerned that if any other people of color who were to cross their path they could be killed.” “I don’t want to recount this, but I was almost the victim of an attempted lynching,” Booker wrote on Facebook. “I don’t want this to have happened to me or anyone. “It hurts my soul, and my pride, but there are multiple witnesses and it can’t be hidden or avoided.”

non

Title: Gov. Cuomo cancels NY State Fair, says no decision yet on reopening schools Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday said no decision has been made about whether schools will be back in session but said the state had hit a pandemic low in new hospitalizations as New York continues reopening businesses and easing restrictions. “What does that reopen school look like in the quote unquote new normal, right,” the governor said at a Monday coronavirus briefing in Manhattan. “So we’ve asked every school district to come up with a plan on what reopening would look like in your district. New York City is coming up with a plan. Pursuant to that request on what it would look like to reopen the New York City School System in September. But there has been no decision yet, as to whether or not we are reopening schools. We obviously very much would like to,” he said. Cuomo said he’ll make a decision when “we get the data.” But, he added, the State Fair in Syracuse is canceled. “That makes me personally very unhappy, but that is where we are,” Cuomo said of the fair, which was set to start on Aug. 21. “This is a really tough one.” As for the rate of hospitalizations and fatalities as the state has reopened in phases, Cuomo said they are in a slight decline. “We haven’t needed to control the increase. We’ve actually had a slight decline, and now we’re basically running flat, and that is great news. That is really great news,” he said. There were 817 hospitalizations — the lowest since March 18 — and nine deaths on Sunday, the governor said.

non

Title: China pulls back troops from India border after skirmish China began pulling back troops from along its contested border with India on Monday following clashes between the two nuclear powers last month in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed, according to Indian government sources. Troops fought for hours with metal rods and clubs on the night of June 15, with some falling to their deaths in the freezing waters of the Galwan river in the western Himalayas. China has yet to report whether it suffered casualties. The Indian deaths are the highest along the border in more than five decades, a dramatic escalation that led to weeks of talks between senior military officials on how to ease tensions. On Monday the Chinese military was seen dismantling tents and structures at a site in the Galwan valley near where the latest clash took place, said the Indian government sources. Vehicles could be seen withdrawing from the area, as well as at Hotsprings and Gogra — two other contested border zones — the sources said. India’s national security adviser Ajit Doval and Wang Yi, one of China’s top diplomats, had “a frank and in-depth exchange of views” on Sunday regarding the border, according to briefing notes by both countries released on Monday. The sides said they had agreed to a significant disengagement of troops, and India’s note also said the sides had agreed to respect the existing Line of Actual Control reflecting positions along the contested section of border. This reference was not included in Beijing’s note on the meeting. In response to a question on whether China had moved back equipment in the Galwan valley, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said both sides were “taking effective measures to disengage and ease the situation on the border, which stretches 2,520 miles.” “We hope India will meet China halfway and take concrete measures to carry out what both sides agreed to, continue to closely communicate through diplomatic and military channels, and work together to cool down the situation at the border,” Zhao said Monday. But China, like India a nuclear power with a huge economy, also struck an aggressive note in its statement. “The right and wrong of what recently happened at the Galwan Valley in the western sector of the China-India boundary is very clear,” China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, Bloomberg reported. “China will continue firmly safeguarding our territorial sovereignty as well as peace and tranquility in the border areas.” With Reuters

non

Title: China detains law professor who criticized President Xi Jinping Chinese police on Monday detained a prominent law professor and political dissident who criticized President Xi Jinping. Xu Zhangrun of Tsinghua University was taken by authorities from his Beijing home, friends told Bloomberg News and the New York Times. Geng Xiaonan, a friend who spoke with Xu’s wife, said he was accused of visiting prostitutes. Xu was placed under investigation last year and was suspended from his job after he published a collection of 10 essays that condemned the evolution of China’s Communist government under Xi as authoritarian and regressive. The arrest follows recent steps by Xi to consolidate power and suppress dissent amid the coronavirus pandemic and Hong Kong autonomy protests. According to a new report, Xi recently established a special working group on “political security” as part of a coronavirus dissent-focused task force. The group reportedly focuses on threats to the Chinese Communist Party’s leadership. In a separate move, China’s government last week passed a new law restricting freedom of expression in Hong Kong, all but ending the territory’s special political status and resulting in hundreds of arrests, including for advocating Hong Kong independence. Tensions are mounting between the US and China over the pandemic and human rights. President Trump accuses the Chinese Communist Party of lying about the virus, leaving the world unprepared for the respiratory bug that has sickened nearly 3 million Americans, killed about 130,000 and left tens of millions unemployed. Trump last month signed a law authorizing sanctions against Chinese officials who censor and mistreat ethnic Uyghurs, and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said Monday that Trump is preparing an executive order “dealing with China and what we need to do there in terms of resetting that balance.”

non

Title: Japan floods, mudslides kill at least 44 as streets turn to rivers Advertisement TOKYO – Torrential rain hit Japan’s southwestern island of Kyushu on Monday, with at least one more river bursting its banks, as the death toll from three days of floods and mudslides rose to 44, including 14 at an old people’s home. Evacuation orders were issued for more than half a million island residents, as well as evacuation advisories for tens of thousands more in western Japan, broadcaster NHK said. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the rain was forecast to head east by Wednesday and ordered round-the-clock search and rescue operations. Ten people were missing, NHK said. TV pictures showed streets turned into rivers rushing by at waist high, a collapsed bridge, upturned cars and a helicopter winching a man to safety from an inundated house. The old people’s home was flooded in the island’s central prefecture of Kumamoto. NHK did not give details. “I urge all citizens to carefully follow the information provided by local authorities and stay alert to take actions to protect their own lives,” Abe said at the start of a government task force meeting. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said 40,000 members of the Self-Defence Force were involved in rescue missions. He added that evacuation centers were also working on preventing the spread of the coronavirus by distributing disinfectant and asking evacuees to self-distance. The floods are Japan’s worst natural disaster since Typhoon Hagibis killed about 90 people in October.

non

Title: Maryland storm leaves 21 hurt after tree falls onto garage Advertisement Twenty-one people were hurt when a large tree toppled onto a detached garage during a thunderstorm in Maryland, fire officials said Monday. Six of the victims were trapped Sunday inside a 30-foot by 30-foot detached garage at a home in Pasadena, where more than 20 revelers gathered for a children’s birthday party, the Anne Arundel County Fire Department said. Three of the trapped victims were quickly rescued, but three others had to be extricated by firefighters who used power tools and airbags to remove them within 45 minutes, department officials said. Other partygoers who were injured managed to escape. In all, 21 victims ranging in age from 2 to 78 were taken to four nearby hospitals for treatment. One adult was critically injured but is expected to survive, while six others had serious injuries, fire officials said. Victims and witnesses told authorities they were celebrating a youngster’s birthday outside and took shelter inside the garage when the storm rolled through Pasadena, roughly 20 miles southeast of Baltimore. A thunderstorm with wind gusts of up to 32 mph tore through the region just after 5 p.m. Sunday, a National Weather Service meteorologist told the Capital Gazette. All of the victims were rescued by 6:30 p.m., Anne Arundel County Fire Department spokesman Capt. Russ Davies told the newspaper. “It literally sounded like a train coming down the tracks and I looked out the front door and I could see a funnel,” neighbor Dawn Redloff told WMAR. “It was heartbreaking.” Redloff also praised firefighters for quickly rescuing the victims. “The guys were unreal, cutting the building apart, getting people out of there,” Redloff told the station.

non

Title: Sir Keir Starmer calls for Prince Andrew to cooperate with feds A leading British politician who was the UK’s former top prosecutor on Monday called for Prince Andrew to help the feds’ Jeffrey Epstein investigation. “Of course he should cooperate with the US,” Sir Keir Starmer, leader of the UK’s opposition party, told LBC radio about repeated claims that the royal has refused to meet with investigators across the pond. “It doesn’t matter who you are, you cooperate with the law enforcement authorities when they require you to do so,” the Labour Party leader said. Starmer — who was the nation’s director of public prosecutions — said the US used to seek assistance “all the time” from the UK, which “always cooperated.” Asked if he was “disappointed” that Andrew, 60, has not cooperated, Starmer said, “Well, he will have to justify his own actions.” Andrew’s legal team has previously insisted the royal has offered assistance to US investigators, calling claims that he hasn’t a “publicity stunt.” Queen Elizabeth II’s son is accused of having sex with one of Epstein’s alleged victims, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, when she was underage. The prince and Buckingham Palace have vehemently denied the allegations and have said the prince was oblivious to his friend’s criminal behavior, even after Epstein was convicted of underage sex crimes. Epstein, 66, was found hanged in his cell last August.

non

Title: House Democrats push bills to remove Confederate statues from Capitol House Democrats are pushing forward with their efforts to remove artwork and monuments honoring Confederate figures from the Capitol. Nearly one month after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called on lawmakers to introduce legislation that would allow for Congress to remove the pieces, two bills have been proposed that appear headed toward floor votes. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) plans to bring a bill he originally introduced in March to the floor, The Hill reports. The bill directs the Capitol Architect to replace a bust of Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Taney with one of Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. Taney is best remembered for authoring the Dred Scott decision in 1857, stating that black people did not have rights as citizens. Marshall was the first African American to serve on that bench. Scott, who was a slave, sued for his freedom in a lawsuit that lasted a decade. Congressional Black Caucus Chairwoman Karen Bass (D-Calif.) and House Rules Chair Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) have co-sponsored the legislation. Speaking to reporters last Wednesday, Hoyer denounced the 1857 ruling as “a terrible, terrible decision inconsistent with what America stands for, and what America said it stood for, and its Declaration of Independence.” The bust currently sits at the entrance of the old Supreme Court chamber at the Capitol. Aside from Hoyer’s legislation, Reps. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) and Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) introduced a bill that would grant Congress the authority to unilaterally remove Confederate statues from the Capitol. Those statues would either be returned to the states from which they came or donated to the Smithsonian. Lee expressed confidence to The Hill that her bill would also hit the House floor, citing conversations with House leadership, but said that a time had not yet been scheduled. “Every time I go through the hall with these statues, you know, I get angry. But it forces me to want to do something about it, because these people wanted to continue with enslavement of my ancestors. They’re hateful symbols and they have no place in our society,” Lee said. Pelosi has argued that she called for legislation because she did not believe that she had the power to remove the artwork herself. “Believe me, if I had more authority, we’d have fewer of those statues around,” she said while briefing reporters in June, adding that a speaker could only move statues within the Capitol. “I could move things around, I couldn’t actually take them out, that requires something else,” she continued. Asked to comment on the matter last month, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) declined to take a firm position, instead advising that the issue be left to the states. “Every state is allowed two statues. They can trade them out at any time. I think that’s the appropriate way to deal with the statue issue, the states make that decision,” the Kentucky Republican told reporters in June. The moves by House Democrats come as monuments of historic figures across the country and abroad have been targeted during the civil unrest over the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd, an unarmed black man. Officials across the country have promised to re-evaluate their monuments, in some cases pledging to take them down outright. Despite this, some protesters have taken it upon themselves to either severely vandalize or tear down statues they consider objectionable.

non

Title: NYC shootings tripled last week when compared to 2019 numbers Thanks for contacting us. We've received your submission. Advertisement The number of people shot in New York City more than tripled last week compared to the same period in 2019, police sources said Monday morning. Between Monday, June 29, and Sunday, July 5, the city saw 74 shooting incidents with 101 victims, the sources said. That’s compared to 26 shootings with 33 victims during that time last year. Meanwhile, 18 people were murdered in the city last week — six more than during the same period last year. Sunday alone, there were 30 shooting incidents with 48 victims — nine of whom were killed, the sources said. That includes at least seven people who were shot, five fatally, in a span of about three hours Sunday night in Brooklyn, the Bronx and Staten Island. Police early Monday identified one of the victims as Anthony Robinson, 29, of Brooklyn, who was fatally hit in the chest on East 170th Street near Sheridan Avenue in the Claremont section of the Bronx around 5:50 p.m. He was pronounced dead at BronxCare Health System. The motive for the shooting was not immediately clear. Just after 8 p.m., three men were shot on East 171st Street near College Avenue — two blocks away from the earlier fatal shooting. A 22-year-old man who was shot in the chest and a 27-year-old man who took a bullet to the neck were pronounced dead at St. Barnabas Hospital, police said. The other victim, a 29-year-old, was shot in the arm. He was taken to Lincoln Hospital in stable condition. A 15-year-old boy was also injured in a Harlem shooting Sunday evening. This continues a surge in gunplay the city has seen in recent weeks: The NYPD tallied 63 shootings June 22-28 — up from 26 over the same one-week period last year.

non

Title: Phoenix man killed in police-involved shooting on Fourth of July A Phoenix man was shot to death in a car by police — who claim he was armed — in a caught-on-camera incident on the Fourth of July, according to a report. The Phoenix Police Department said they received a call Saturday afternoon about a man suspected in an earlier aggravated assault returning to a house with a knife, the Arizona Republic reported. The caller directed officers to the home where the suspect was supposedly located, the outlet reported. Police said they found a man sitting in a car in the driveway as they approached the home. Officers ordered him to get out of the vehicle, but he refused and instead flashed a handgun, authorities said. The man then allegedly began to lift the weapon, prompting one cop to break the car’s passenger window to distract him while two other officers fired into the vehicle, the outlet reported. The man who died in the shooting was not identified by police, but Phoenix City Councilman Carlos Garcia said his name was James Garcia, according to the report. In a Facebook video on Sunday, the victim’s sister, Jacqueline Garcia, disputed cops’ claim that her brother was armed at the time. Footage shows officers surrounding the car when one of them yells through the driver’s window, telling the man not to move or he will shoot. Moments later, the cop can be seen firing into the vehicle as witnesses yell at the officers. “Phoenix PD shot my brother who was unarmed sleeping in the car,” Jacqueline Garcia claimed in the post. She said officers “thought he was someone else” and that “after they killed [her] brother they found the suspect they were looking for.” But police denied her allegations, saying, “the suspect was not asleep in the vehicle, he armed himself which is what [led] to the officer-involved shooting,” the Arizona Republic reported. Protesters gathered Sunday night to demand the police release bodycam footage of the deadly encounter. “He may have deserved to go to jail, but he didn’t deserve to die,” one of the protesters, Fe’la Iniko, told the crowd, according to the report.

non

Title: Protesters boycott Whole Foods over Black Lives Matter mask policy Critics are calling on Whole Foods Market to change its policy banning workers from wearing Black Lives Matter masks while on the job, saying there should be “no place safe for racism” in corporate America. More than 40 people protested Sunday outside the chain’s Cambridge, Mass., location, where seven employees walked off the job June 25 after being turned away when they showed up to work wearing BLM masks, the Boston Globe reported. “There should be no place safe for racism, and the only way that happens is if they say it out loud and stop hiding behind neutrality,” protester Jason Slavick told the newspaper. Slavick, who lives across the street from the store, used to shop there but is now urging others to stop doing business at the location as he and other boycott organizers handed out contact information for Whole Foods management. One of the employees who was turned away, Suverino Frith, 21, accused company officials of being “careful people” who don’t want to take a stand either way on the issue. “They don’t want to alienate anyone,” Frith told the crowd. “They don’t really want to choose a side; they just want to seem like they are. Only that’s too bad, because we’re choosing a side for them.” Days after the initial workers were turned away, more than 20 employees at the Whole Foods walked off the job June 30 in protest of the company’s policy, WHDH reported. “I don’t know what it is about Black Lives Matter that threatens store management, but silencing our support for black lives is silencing the customers and communities we hold dear,” employee Savannah Kinzer told the station. Frith, a seasonal Whole Foods employee of two years, said he was surprised when he and his co-workers were told to leave over the masks, adding that managers have latitude in the policies they enforce, he told the Globe. “With the core values that we have at the company, that we always talk about, it didn’t seem like that would be the response,” Frith continued. Reached for comment Monday, a Whole Foods spokesperson confirmed that employees are barred from wearing clothing with slogans or messages that are not company-related in order to operate a “customer-focused” environment. “Team members with face masks that do not comply with dress code are always offered new face masks,” the spokesperson said in a statement to The Post. “Team members are unable to work until they comply with dress code.” Starbucks, meanwhile, reversed its policy banning Black Lives Matter masks and apparel worn by employees after similar backlash. Cambridge City Councilors Alanna Mallon and Quinton Zondervan, both of whom attended Sunday’s protest, said they hope Whole Foods ultimately decides to follow in Starbucks’ footsteps. “This protest shouldn’t be necessary to get Whole Foods to do the right thing,” Zondervan told the Globe.

non

Title: US increasing naval presence in South China Sea as check on China The US ramped up its naval presence in the South China Sea, sending two aircraft carriers into the region in a show-of-force message to the Chinese Communist Party, according to a report. The USS Ronald Reagan and the USS Nimitz are steaming toward the waterway where they will conduct military exercises as China holds drills in the area. “The purpose is to show an unambiguous signal to our partners and allies that we are committed to regional security and stability,” Rear Adm. George Wikoff told the Wall Street Journal. The military exercises by the two carriers and four other warships will include round-the-clock flights testing the striking ability of carrier-based aircraft, the report said. It comes as tensions between Washington and Beijing are at a tipping point over trade issues, the coronavirus pandemic and the Chinese Communist Party’s role in quelling dissent in Hong Kong. China is involved in a number of territorial disputes with smaller countries in the South China Sea, a critical shipping route for global commerce. It has also placed missiles and jamming equipment on artificial islands it built to hamper the operations of the US and its allies. Since July 1, China’s People’s Liberation Army has been conducting exercises around the Paracel Islands, which China seized from Vietnam in 1974. The US’ enhanced military presence caught Beijing’s attention, prompting warning that China has a “wide selection” of “aircraft carrier killer” missiles in the region. “South China Sea is fully within grasp of the #PLA; any US #aircraftcarrier movement in the region is at the pleasure of PLA,” said a tweet from the Global Times, a Chinese state-run media outlet. “And yet there they are,” the Navy Chief of Information said on Twitter in response to the post. “Two @USNavy aircraft carriers operating in the international waters of the South China Sea. #USSNimitz & #USSRonaldReagan are not intimidated #AtOurDiscretion,” it said.

non

Title: Trump preparing executive orders on China, immigration, and prescription drugs President Trump is preparing to sign executive orders on a wide range of topics, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said Monday. Meadows said in a Fox News interview that the orders will address China, immigration, manufacturing jobs and the cost of prescription drugs. “This president will do more in the next four weeks than Joe Biden and his team did in the last 40 years,” Meadows said. But the chief of staff gave few details during the interview or a subsequent discussion with reporters in the White House driveway. Meadows, a former North Carolina congressman, said the executive orders are necessary because Congress left town for the July 4 holiday and won’t return soon. “They’re disappearing for almost three weeks, I don’t know that in this particular environment that you can just stand by and say, ‘We can just take a three-week vacation,'” Meadows said. “Most Americans don’t get that — and so for us, it’s dealing with a number of executive orders that may go all the way from dealing with some of the immigration issues that we have before us, to some of the manufacturing and jobs issues that are before us, and ultimately dealing with China and what we need to do there in terms of resetting that balance.” Meadows said he would “let the executive orders speak for themselves.”

non

Title: Dakota Access pipeline must shut down by Aug. 5, court rules A district court on Monday handed American Indian tribes a major victory – and a defeat for the Trump administration and the oil industry — by ordering that the Dakota Access pipeline be shut down by Aug. 5, according to a report. The US District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that a key federal permit for the project fell too far short of National Environmental Policy Act requirements to allow the pipeline to continue operating, Bloomberg News reported. Judge James Boasberg’s ruling, which scraps the pivotal permit from the Army Corps of Engineers, requires the pipeline to end its three-year run of delivering oil from North Dakota to an oil hub in Illinois, according to the outlet. The Standing Rock Sioux, Cheyenne River Sioux and others sued the Corps for approving the project in 2016, saying it imperiled tribal water supplies and cultural resources. In March, the judge ordered the Army Corps of Engineers to conduct a full environmental review of the pipeline, almost three years after it began carrying oil despite protests by people who gathered in North Dakota for more than a year. Boasberg wrote at the time that the easement approval for the pipeline remains “highly controversial” under federal environmental law and a more extensive review is necessary than the environmental assessment that was done. Standing Rock Chairman Mike Faith had called it a “significant legal win” and said it’s humbling that the protests continued to “inspire national conversations” about the environment. The pipeline was the subject of months of sometimes violent protests during its construction in late 2016 and early 2017 near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation that straddles the North Dakota-South Dakota border. The $3.8 billion, 1,172-mile pipeline crosses beneath the Missouri River, just north of the Standing Rock reservation. The tribe draws its water from the river and fears pollution. Texas-based Energy Transfer has insisted the pipeline would be safe. Permits for the project were originally rejected by the Obama administration and the Corps prepared to conduct a full environmental review. In February 2017, shortly after President Trump took office, the Corps scrapped the review and granted permits for the project, concluding that running the pipeline under the Missouri River posed no significant environmental issues. With Post wires

non

Title: SCOTUS: Presidential electors must pick their state's popular vote winner The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday that states can require presidential electors to back their states’ popular vote winner in the Electoral College. The ruling, just under four months before the 2020 election, leaves in place laws in 32 states and the District of Columbia that bind their share of the 538 electors to vote for the states’ popular-vote winner. The states’ Electors almost always do so anyway. The unanimous decision in the “faithless elector” case was a defeat for those who want to change the Electoral College, and who believed a win would lead to presidential elections based on the popular or total number of votes. But it was a win for state election officials who feared that giving more power to electors to make their own choice would cause chaos — and even lead to attempted bribery. Justice Elena Kagan wrote for the court that a state may instruct “electors that they have no ground for reversing the vote of millions of its citizens. That direction accords with the Constitution — as well as with the trust of a Nation that here, We the People rule.” The justices had scheduled arguments for the spring so they could resolve the issue before the election, rather than amid a potential political crisis after the country votes. When the court heard arguments by telephone in May because of the coronavirus outbreak, justices invoked fears of bribery and chaos if electors could cast their ballots regardless of the popular vote outcome in their states. The issue arose in lawsuits filed by three Hillary Clinton electors in Washington state and one in Colorado who refused to vote for her despite her popular vote win in both states. In so doing, they hoped to persuade enough electors in states won by President Trump to choose someone else and deny Trump the presidency. The federal appeals court in Denver ruled that electors can vote as they please, rejecting arguments that they must choose the popular-vote winner. In Washington, the state Supreme Court upheld a $1,000 fine against the three electors and rejected their claims. In all, there were 10 faithless electors in 2016, including a fourth in Washington, a Democratic elector in Hawaii and two Republican electors in Texas. In addition, Democratic electors who said they would not vote for Clinton were replaced in Maine and Minnesota. The closest Electoral College margin in recent years was in 2000, when Republican George W. Bush received 271 votes to 266 for Democrat Al Gore. One elector from Washington, D.C., left her ballot blank. The Supreme Court played a key role in that election, ending a recount in Florida, where Bush held a 537-vote margin out of 6 million ballots cast. The justices scheduled separate arguments in the Washington and Colorado cases after Justice Sonia Sotomayor belatedly removed herself from the Colorado case because she knows one of the plaintiffs. In asking the Supreme Court to rule that states can require electors to vote for the state winner, Colorado had urged the justices not to wait until “the heat of a close presidential election.” In 2016, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by more than 2.6 million, but President Trump won the electoral college. The November general election is not a referendum for the two presumptive candidates, Trump and Democrat Joe Biden. Voters instead choose a slate of electors appointed in their states by the political parties. The electors meet in December to cast ballots, which are counted by Congress in January. With AP Wires

non

Title: Ghislaine Maxwell won't snitch on Prince Andrew: accusers' lawyer Ghislaine Maxwell is too loyal to Prince Andrew to ever “say what she knows” about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, an attorney for dozens of the late pedophile’s accusers insisted Monday. “They are very close friends — this isn’t a casual relationship,” lawyer and Epstein author Brad Edwards told the “Today” show of the prince and the recently arrested British media heiress. Edwards, who represents more than 50 Epstein accusers, believes there’s “no chance” Maxwell would ever betray such a loyal confidant even as she potentially faces as much as 35 years in prison on serious sex abuse charges. “I don’t think Prince Andrew is going to say what he knows about Ghislaine, and I don’t think Ghislaine’s going to say what she knows about Prince Andrew,” Edwards said on the NBC show. Andrew, 60, has vehemently denied repeated claims by Virginia Roberts Giuffre that she was trafficked to have sex with him three times, starting when she was 17 in 2001. Edwards — who penned “Relentless Pursuit: My Fight for the Victims of Jeffrey Epstein” about the financier’s case — said it is “not only Virginia” who is tying the royal to the moneyman, who hanged himself last August. “We have several other clients who were in his presence and Mr. Epstein’s presence, know him to be around,” he said, without divulging more. “He refuses to talk. It’s not doing him any favors,” he said of the royal who has been repeatedly accused of shutting down the feds’ attempts to interview him. Maxwell’s arrest Thursday has already brought forward “tips from several very important witnesses and at least one other victim,” Edwards said. “It is only going to strengthen the case that is being brought,” the lawyer said on “Today.”

non

Title: Trump: NY, Chicago must change 'thinking' after violent July 4th weekend President Trump called on Chicago and New York to change their ways “and thinking” after violence erupted in the cities over the Fourth of July holiday weekend. “New York City and Chicago play the Sanctuary City card, where criminals are protected. Perhaps they will have to start changing their ways (and thinking!),” Trump wrote on Twitter Monday. The latest post follows Trump’s tweet from Sunday night that offered the federal government’s help to curb the surge of shootings in the two cities. He noted that 40 people were wounded in the Big Apple and 72 in the Windy City, including 13 who died. “Chicago and New York City crime numbers are way up,” Trump wrote. “Federal Government ready, willing and able to help, if asked!” Forty-nine people were wounded in shootings over the weekend in New York, eight of them fatally. June, with 205 shootings reported over the month, was the most violent in 24 years. In the Windy City, 67 people were wounded by gunfire, 13 of them fatally.

non

Title: 7-year-old boy killed, 5 injured when ATV flips in Florida field A 7-year-old boy died and five other people were hurt when an all-terrain vehicle flipped in a Florida field on the Fourth of July, authorities said. The boy was driving a Kawasaki Teryx4 at about 8 p.m. Saturday in Dade City when it overturned in a grassy field. Three men and two other young children were also on the vehicle at the time when it overturned, Florida Highway Patrol officials said. The boy, who was not immediately identified, later died at a hospital from his injuries. Two other children — a 2-year-old boy a 4-year-old girl – were seriously hurt, while three men had minor injuries, according to a Florida Highway Patrol incident report. All six victims are from Dade City and it’s unclear if the older passengers were wearing seat belts at the time of the accident. The driver of the ATV, the 7-year-old boy, and the two other children were not buckled up, investigators said. None of the riders had helmets on at the time, authorities said. A state law requires anyone under the age of 16 to wear a helmet and eye protection while operating an ATV, the Tampa Bay Times reported. An investigation into the incident is likely to take several weeks, Highway Patrol Sgt. Steve Gaskins told the newspaper. The 1,600-pound ATV has seats for up to four riders and is made of steel frame tubing, according to Kawasaki’s website. More people are killed on July 4 in off-highway vehicles than on any other day of the year, according to Consumer Federation of America data cited by the Tampa Bay Times. A total of 52 people died on the holiday in such accidents from 2013 through 2019, including 11 people who were 16 or under, data shows.

non

Title: New Zealand reports spike in Americans looking to relocate there More Americans are looking to flock to New Zealand amid the coronavirus pandemic — with the kiwis effectively “eliminating” the deadly disease, according to a report. The South Pacific nation said 80,000 Americans sought out information in May on how to emigrate there — a 65 percent jump compared to the same time last year, the Guardian reported. New Zealand has reported fewer than 1,500 coronavirus cases and only 22 deaths after a stringent lockdown. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced in early June that they were “confident we have eliminated transmission of the virus in New Zealand for now.” “While the job is not done, there is no denying this is a milestone,” Ardern said at the time. But despite the pandemic under control, the borders remain closed to foreign nationals, with only a few exceptions granted to essential workers, the outlet reported. The US has continued to lead the world in coronavirus cases with more than 2.8 million infections, according to the latest figures from Johns Hopkins University.

non

Title: Girl, 8, gunned down near Wendy's where Rayshard Brooks was shot An 8-year-old Atlanta girl was fatally shot on the Fourth of July near the Wendy’s where Rayshard Brooks was gunned down by a cop – leading the city’s mayor to declare “enough is enough” and demand action for the young victim, according to reports. Secoriea Turner was struck by gunfire Saturday as she was traveling in a car near the fast-food outlet’s parking lot, where former officer Garrett Rolfe shot Brooks in the back last month, leading to protests and other shootings at the site, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. The girl was riding in a car with her mom and an adult friend when they exited a highway onto University Avenue about 10 p.m., police spokesman Sgt. John Chafee said, according to the paper. The driver tried to turn into a parking lot on Pryor Road but was confronted by a “group of armed individuals who had blocked the entrance,” he said. “At some point, someone in that group opened fire on the vehicle, striking it multiple times and striking the child who was inside. The driver then drove to Atlanta Medical Center for help,” Chafee added. During an impassioned press conference Sunday, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms addressed the killers. “You shot and killed a baby. And it wasn’t one shooter. There were at least two shooters. An 8-year-old baby,” she said. “And you want people to take us seriously. And you don’t want us to lose this movement, then we can’t lose each other in this.” The mayor began her address by citing the protests against police brutality and angry calls for action. “Well now we are demanding action for Secoriea Turner and for all of the other people who were shot in Atlanta last night and over the past few weeks because the reality is this,” she said. “These aren’t police officers shooting people on the streets of Atlanta. These are members of the community shooting each other,” Bottoms continued. “And in this case it is the worst possible outcome.” There were two other people who were actually shot and killed last night and several others. “Enough is enough. Enough is enough,” she said. “We have talked about this movement that’s happening across America in this moment in time where we have the ears and interests of people across this country and across this globe who are saying they want to see change,” Bottoms added. “But the difference in this moment in time and the civil rights movement, the civil rights movement — it was a defined common enemy. So we’re fighting the enemy within when we are shooting each other up on our streets and the city.” She praised “peaceful demonstrators across this city and across this country” for “honoring the lives of so many people who have been killed in America because of injustice.” But she added that “this random wild Wild West shoot-’em-up because you can, has gotta stop. It has to stop.” Secoriea’s mom, Charmaine, also spoke briefly, saying her daughter died in her arms, WSB-TV reported. “She was only 8 years old,” she said. “She would have been on TikTok dancing on her phone, just got done eating. We understand the frustration of Rayshard Brooks. We didn’t have anything to do with that. We’re innocent. My baby didn’t mean no harm.” The grief-stricken mother was then overcome with emotion and was led away by relatives as the girl’s father said a few words. “They say black lives matter,” he said, according to WSB-TV. “You killed your own this time. You killed a child. She didn’t do nothing to nobody.” Gov. Brian Kemp said in a tweet that “our hearts absolutely break for this precious life senselessly taken. Marty, the girls, and I are praying for the Lord’s comfort over Secoriea’s family and loved ones in the face of this tragedy.” Interim Police Chief Rodney Bryant said police are offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to Secoriea’s killers. One of the suspects was described as a man wearing all black and dressed like a bounty hunter. The other was a man wearing a white T-shirt, WSB-TV reported. “We cannot tolerate losing a child from the city of Atlanta,” Bryant said. “We have to do a better job as a community and as a police department and as the citizens that live in this city.”

non

Title: Hong Kong court denies bail to first person charged under new law HONG KONG (Reuters) – A Hong Kong court denied bail on Monday to the first person charged with inciting separatism and terrorism under the city’s new national security law after he carried a sign saying “Liberate Hong Kong” and drove his motorbike into police. Tong Ying-kit, 23, was arrested after a video posted online showed him knocking over several officers at a demonstration last Wednesday, less than 24 hours after Beijing imposed sweeping national security legislation on its freest city. The city’s government has said the protest slogan “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times”, connotes separatism or subversion under the new law, stoking concern over freedom of expression in the former British colony. Tong, who was unable to appear in court on Friday as he was being treated in hospital for injuries sustained in the incident, appeared in court in a wheelchair. In rejecting bail, Chief Magistrate So Wai-tak referred to Article 42 of the new law, which states that bail will not be granted if the judge has sufficient grounds to believe the defendant will continue to endanger national security. The case was adjourned until Oct. 6 and Tong was remanded in custody. Critics say the law – which punishes crimes of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces with up to life in prison – is aimed at crushing dissent and a long-running campaign for greater democracy. Authorities in Beijing and Hong Kong have repeatedly said it is aimed at a few “troublemakers” and will not affect the rights and freedoms that underpin the city’s role as a financial hub. Also on Monday, prominent democracy activist Joshua Wong pleaded not guilty to inciting others to participate in an unlawful assembly during anti-government protests last year. Fellow activist Agnes Chow pleaded guilty to a similar charge. Their case has been adjourned to Aug. 5. Wong and Chow, who were both granted bail last year, led a pro-democracy group called Demosisto that they dissolved hours after Beijing passed the national security law. The United States, Britain and others have denounced the new legislation, which critics say is the biggest step China has taken to tighten its grip over the city, despite a “one country, two systems” formula meant to preserve its freedoms.

non

Title: Trump asks if NASCAR's Bubba Wallace is sorry for noose 'hoax' President Trump questioned whether NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace, who pressed the racing group to ban the Confederate flag, apologized after a “noose” was found in his garage stall but was later found not to have been a hate crime. “Has @BubbaWallace apologized to all of those great NASCAR drivers & officials who came to his aid, stood by his side, & were willing to sacrifice everything for him, only to find out that the whole thing was just another HOAX?,” Trump asked in a Twitter post on Monday. “That & Flag decision has caused lowest ratings EVER!” he continued. A member of the Richard Petty Motorsports crew, which employs Wallace, found the rope in Wallace’s garage at the Talladega Speedway on June 21 and alerted his crew to it. The FBI launched an investigation the next day to determine if it was an act of intimidation against NASCAR’s only black driver. “Today’s despicable act of racism and hatred leaves me incredibly saddened and serves as a painful reminder of how much further we have to go as a society and how persistent we must be in the fight against racism,” Wallace wrote on Twitter after the discovery. Agents concluded that the noose was a garage door pull rope and video showed that it had been in place since October 2019. Fellow NASCAR driver Tyler Reddick said, “We don’t need an apology.” “We did what was right and we will do just fine without your support,” he said on Twitter. White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany defended Trump. “I spoke to [Trump] this morning about this and he said he was not making a judgment one way or the other. The intent of the tweet was to stand up for the men and women of NASCAR and the fans — in this rush to judgment of the media to call something a hate crime when in fact the FBI report concluded this was not an intentional racist act. And it very much mirrors other times when there have been a rush to judgment, let’s say with the Covington boys are with Jussie Smollett,” McEnany said. She accused the media of “focusing on one word at the very bottom of a tweet that’s completely taken out of context and neglecting the complete rush to judgment.” “The president was noting the fact that in aggregate this notion that NASCAR men and women who have gone and who are being demeaned and called racist and being accused in some venues of committing a hate crime against an individual — those allegations were just dead wrong,” she continued. “That’s the best of America: coming around when the media alleged a hate crime, coming around and supporting Bubba Wallace as they should have done. I think that shows how loving NASCAR fans are and the fellow drivers. But I think it’s important that we point out the fact that there was no hate crime,” she said. “The FBI concluded that. President Trump was merely saying that Mr. Wallace should agree with that consensus.” McEnany was asked if Confederate flags would fly at the president’s re-election campaign stops. “At Trump rallies, all flags that are not official campaign gear are banned,” she said. GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham said Wallace doesn’t owe anybody an apology. Graham, a Trump ally in the Senate who often golfs with the president, said Wallace has every reason to be outraged after a noose was discovered in his garage stall. “I don’t think Bubba Wallace has anything to apologize for,” Graham told Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade on his radio show Monday. “You saw the best in NASCAR. When there was a chance that it was a threat against Bubba Wallace, they all rallied to Bubba’s side. I would be looking to celebrate that kind of attitude more than being worried about it being a hoax,” he said. The South Carolina Republican also said NASCAR was right to ditch the flag, a move Wallace led. “What I would tell people from outside of South Carolina that NASCAR is trying to grow the sport and one way you grow the sport is you take images that divide us and ask that they not be brought into the venue,” said Graham, who is up for reelection in November. In a statement, Courtney Weber, a spokesperson for Richard Petty Motorsports, said it was aware of Trump’s tweet. “Wallace has extensively exhausted the topic via a multitude of interviews in recent weeks. It is clear there is nothing more to say,” Weber said. Fellow NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson tweeted “#ISTANDWITHBUBBA” and included an image of “43” – the number of Wallace’s car. Another racer, Tyler Reddick said, “We don’t need an apology.” “We did what was right and we will do just fine without your support,” he said in a posting that has since been deleted. The noose incident came weeks after Wallace, 26, led the charge to have NASCAR ban the Confederate flag at its events. “There’s going to be a lot of angry people that carry those flags proudly, but it’s time for change,” Wallace, who drove a car with the words “Black Lives Matter” painted on the side, said last month. “We have to change that, and I encourage NASCAR — we will have those conversations to remove those flags.” “No one should feel uncomfortable when they come to a NASCAR race. So it starts with Confederate flags. Get them out of here. They have no place for them.” Protests that erupted nationwide after George Floyd’s death while in custody of the Minneapolis police on May 25 have spurred demands for police reform, led to the toppling of statues of historical figures and monuments, and calls to remove the names of Confederate soldiers from US military bases. Last week, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves signed legislation to remove the Confederate battle emblem from the state flag.

non

Title: Girl, 13, dies in violent carjacking while waiting for parents A 13-year-old California girl died in a violent carjacking that began while she waited for her parents to pick up food from a restaurant, according to reports. Isabella Cortes and her three siblings — 8, 11 and 18 years old — were sitting in their family van Sunday afternoon in Pico Rivera when the alleged carjacker suddenly hopped inside, CBS Los Angeles reported. The suspect, 26-year-old Jose Aguilar, ordered all four of the kids to get out the vehicle, ABC News reported. “Once the suspect got into the car, the 18-year-old girl fought with the suspect briefly and then she came out of the van,” Lt. Barry Hall of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said at a press conference. The 18- and 11-year-old managed to get out of the car — but Isabella and her 8-year-old brother remained inside as Aguilar sped away, the report said. “The vehicle continued westbound and that is when the 8-year-old boy and the 13-year-old girl came out of the vehicle,” Hall told reporters. The 8-year-old boy suffered major injuries, while Isabella struck a stationary object and died at the scene, news station KABC reported. It’s unclear whether the kids jumped from the car or were pushed. “[Isabella] was friendly with people. She didn’t have any problems,” her cousin Brenda Santiago told CBS LA. “She was super nice.” Aguilar slammed into a car down the block, then tried to carjack another vehicle, reports said. He was arrested and taken into custody.

non

Title: North Carolina woman killed by 'celebratory gunfire' on July 4th A 74-year-old North Carolina woman died after being struck by a bullet fired into the air in “celebratory gunfire” for July 4, according to police. Paulette Thorpe was raced to a hospital in Durham after being hit around 11 p.m. Saturday and was pronounced dead a short time later, Durham police said in a statement. Durham Police Chief Cerelyn Davis slammed the “small few” who “chose to put our community at risk by carelessly firing guns into the air” during otherwise peaceful celebrations. “Ms. Thorpe’s death reminds us that we as a community must work together to prevent these senseless acts, so that no family suffers such a tragedy ever again,” Davis said. Durham police said there had been no arrests as of Monday morning and called it an “active investigation.”

non

Title: Retired Air Force colonel clarifies controversial post on Vanessa Guillen A retired Wisconsin Air National Guard colonel is clarifying controversial comments she made about slain Fort Hood soldier Vanessa Guillen, saying she didn’t mean to imply that sexual harassment is the “price of admission” for women in the military. Betsy Schoeller, who is also a senior lecturer at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, issued a statement Sunday offering her condolences to Guillen’s relatives and “all victims” of sexual assault and harassment. But Schoeller insisted she didn’t “mean to imply” she believed that sexual harassment comes with the territory for women in the military and “if you’re going to cry like a snowflake about it, you’re gonna pay the price” — as she posted days earlier on a private Facebook page for veterans. “I did not mean to imply that this is how I feel,” Schoeller said Sunday. “I was giving voice to the messaging that women hear in the culture of sexual harassment: The message we received from the culture is not only will you suffer from sexual harassment, if you squawk about it, you will suffer even more.” A petition calling for Schoeller to be fired from her job at the university’s School of Information Studies has gained more than 131,000 signatures as of early Monday. University officials, meanwhile, denounced her remarks in a statement Saturday but said they could not regulate the private speech of their employees. She has worked as the school for 23 years, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported. Schoeller, who retired as a colonel from the Wisconsin National Guard in 2017, told the newspaper she was sexually harassed while serving in the military. Schoeller thought her remarks about Guillen on Facebook were private, she said. “When you look at my comment, I was not talking about one person specifically,” Schoeller said. “I was only voicing that message that we get as women. Being called names. Being called ‘sissy’ and any derogatory term you can think of.” Schoeller said she hopes her statement issued Sunday clarifies her original post, which she insists was “misinterpreted.” “I hope this message provides the context that was missing from my original Facebook posting,” the statement read. “Individuals cannot change the system alone. We need to stand together to be strong and to focus our energies on making sure that what happened to SPC Vanessa Guillen doesn’t happen to anyone else ever again.” Human remains found in a shallow grave in Texas last week have been identified as Guillen’s, an attorney for her family said Sunday. Guillen, 20, was last seen on April 22 at Fort Hood, where she was based. Federal and military investigators believe she was killed and dismembered by fellow soldier Aaron David Robinson, 20, who took his own life last week as police tried to contact him. Prior to her disappearance, Guillen’s relatives said she told them she was being sexually harassed by one of her sergeants at Fort Hood, the Journal-Sentinel reported. But Army investigations have said there’s no evidence to back up those allegations. With Post wires

non

Title: Joe Biden turning to Instagram Live for help engaging voters The Biden campaign is launching a new initiative that will enlist celebrities for Instagram Live chats with members of the presumptive Democratic nominee’s team, a senior campaign staffer tells The Post. The initiative, called #TeamJoeTalks, will draw on celebrities’ Instagram followers to help discover and engage with potential voters as the country remains on partial lockdown. “The idea is to have a network of surrogates amplifying our message, not just celebrities but high-impact influencers,” a campaign source told The Post of the effort. “They all have audiences that we are tapping into. People are still at home, living on their phones,” said Adrienne Elrod, who joined Team Biden in June to manage high-profile supporter outreach initiatives. The initiative was first reported by Axios. The first event as part of the campaign will take place Monday with actor Misha Collins, whose Instagram boasts more than 4.2 million followers. Collins will interview Biden senior adviser Karine Jean-Pierre, which he confirmed in a tweet promoting the event Monday. “Monday @ 3:30 PM ET, I’ll be LIVE on Instagram with @JoeBiden’s senior campaign advisor @K_JeanPierre for a sneak-peek into the future of America. (We’ll also admit our weird COVID hobbies.),” he wrote on the social media platform, where he has 2.8 million followers. Actors Bradley Whitford and Debra Messing, as well as celebrity chef Tom Colicchio and former presidential candidates Andrew Yang and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), are all scheduled to host events in the near future. Whitford will chat with former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams about voting rights on Tuesday. Team Biden’s goal is to hold one Instagram Live event per day, for the rest of the month and beyond. Events will be kept short, with the conversations planned to be as short as 20 minutes. Both the campaign and celebrities will promote the event beforehand, as well. Since the coronavirus pandemic forced Americans into their homes in March, the Democratic presidential hopeful has been campaigning virtually from home, where he has appeared for interviews on news programs, late-night talk shows and virtual campaign events from a home studio. The campaign said of the effort in a statement, “We are expanding our reach, tapping into our supporters’ networks and growing support for the vice president’s message.”

non

Title: Chinese health officials confirm case of bubonic plague As if the novel coronavirus isn’t enough to worry about, a disease that caused the Black Death and killed some 50 million people in the 14th century has raised its ugly head again, according to a report. Officials in China are on high alert after a case of bubonic plague was discovered in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, the BBC reported. A herdsman in the city of Bayannur — about 560 miles northwest of Beijing — is in stable condition under quarantine, while a second suspected case involving a 15-year-old is being investigated, according to the outlet, which cited local media. It is unclear how or why the herdsman might have become infected, according to the BBC, which reported that the teen had apparently been in contact with a marmot hunted by a dog. Authorities have imposed a Level 3 alert until the end of the year. It forbids the hunting and eating of animals that could carry the plague and calls on people to report suspected cases. Even though the bubonic plague, which is caused by a bacterial infection, was once the most feared diseases on Earth, it can now be easily treated with antibiotics. It was responsible for the Black Death, which killed about 50 million people across Africa, Asia and Europe during the 14th century. But there have been several large outbreaks since. It killed about a fifth of London’s population during the Great Plague of 1665, while more than 12 million died of the disease during the 19th century in China and India. In 2017, an outbreak in Madagascar saw more than 300 cases, though a study in medical journal The Lancet found less than 30 people died. In May 2019, two people in Mongolia died from the plague, which they contracted after eating the raw meat of a marmot, the same type of rodent the 15-year-old came into contact with. Left untreated, the bubonic plague, which is typically transmitted from animals to humans by fleas, has a fatality rate of 30 percent to 60 percent, according to the BBC. Symptoms include high fever, chills, nausea, weakness and swollen lymph nodes in the neck, armpit or groin. On the plus side, it’s unlikely any cases will lead to an epidemic. “Unlike in the 14th century, we now have an understanding of how this disease is transmitted,” Dr. Shanti Kappagoda, an infectious diseases doctor at Stanford Health Care, told news site Heathline, the BBC reported. “We know how to prevent it. We are also able to treat patients who are infected with effective antibiotics,” Kappagoda added.

non

Title: Money can actually buy you happiness, study shows It turns out money can buy happiness after all. A new study has found that the age-old adage has increasingly become less true over the last few decades. Between the 1970s and 2010s, “the positive correlation between socioeconomic status” — including income, education and occupational prestige — and happiness grew stronger, the findings published in the scientific journal Emotion found. “The happiness-income link has gotten steadily stronger over the decades — happiness is more strongly related to income now than it was in the 1970s and 1980s,” the lead author of the paper, San Diego State University psychology professor Jean Twenge, told Fox Business. “So money buys happiness more now than in the past.” The study used data from the General Social Survey, which tracks changes in American society — and is one of the longest-running nationally representative surveys of American adults, with 44,198 participants surveyed between 1972 and 2016. One survey question asks users: “Taken all together, how would you say things are these days? Would you say that you are very happy, pretty happy, or not too happy?” The researchers then divided the participants into groups by income and then analyzed how they answered the questions over the years. The results indicate a growing class divide when it comes to happiness — with the cheer of low-socioeconomic-status white adults plummeting from 1972 to 2016. White adults of high socioeconomic status stayed “fairly stable” in their level of contentment. For black adults, the results were different, but still showed a growing tie between more green and more glee. While the happiness of black adults with low socioeconomic status has stayed “fairly stable” since 1972, the joy of high-socioeconomic-status black adults went up. “Thus, the happiness advantage favoring high-SES adults has expanded over the decades,” researchers said. The study also did not find a tipping point to how much moolah one can accrue before no longer feeling merry. “Unlike some previous studies that found happiness leveled off after a yearly income of $75,000, we found that happiness kept going up with more income, even at higher income levels,” Twenge said. Additional reporting by Tamar Lapin

non

Title: Scientists warn WHO about airborne spread of coronavirus More than 200 scientists are telling the World Health Organization that there is mounting evidence that the coronavirus can linger in the air in smaller particles and may be infectious in smaller quantities than previously thought, according to a report. The 239 scientists from 32 countries are urging the UN agency to take more seriously the possibility of airborne spread of the illness, and are seeking to raise awareness about it in an upcoming paper titled “It Is Time to Address Airborne Transmission of Covid-19,” the Washington Post reported. The scientists say the potential of the bug to spread through airborne transmission has not been fully appreciated even by public health institutions, including the WHO, which has faced criticism over its response to the pandemic, according to the newspaper. In April, President Trump announced that he was freezing all new funding to the WHO. In late May, he said the US planned to withdraw from the agency. The scientists’ paper was shared with the Washington Post ahead of publication this week in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases. The fact that they are seeking to pressure the WHO with a paper is unusual, analysts told the news outlet. “WHO’s credibility is being undermined through a steady drip-drip of confusing messages, including asymptomatic spread, the use of masks, and now airborne transmission,” Lawrence Gostin, a professor of global health law at Georgetown University, told the Washington Post. Gostin, who provides technical assistance to the WHO, praised it for hosting briefings and acknowledged that the agency is in a difficult spot because it “has to make recommendations for the entire world and it feels it needs irrefutable scientific proof before coming to a conclusion.” But he warned that “the public, and even scientists, will lose full confidence in WHO without clearer technical guidance.” A WHO spokesperson told the newspaper that the agency, which has repeatedly defended its handling of the outbreak, will have technical experts review the matter. The WHO has said COVID-19 spreads primarily from person to person through small droplets from the nose or mouth, which are expelled when an infected person coughs, sneezes or speaks. The health agency said the evidence for the virus being airborne was not convincing, according to the New York Times. “Especially in the last couple of months, we have been stating several times that we consider airborne transmission as possible but certainly not supported by solid or even clear evidence,” Dr. Benedetta Allegranzi, the WHO’s technical lead of infection prevention and control, told the newspaper. “There is a strong debate on this,” she added. With Post wires

non

Title: Indian man wears $4,000 gold face mask during coronavirus pandemic This coronavirus protection is pure gold. An Indian businessman is going viral after paying $4,000 to have a face mask made out of the pricey precious metal. “It is a thin mask and has tiny pores that is helping me to breathe,” Shankar Kurhade, 49, of Pune, told Agence France-Presse. “People are asking me for selfies,” he said. “They are awestruck when they see me wearing the gold mask in markets.” Kurhade, whose company makes industrial sheds, told the Indian Express that he “didn’t do it for publicity” — but said the mask probably isn’t the best choice to fight the contagion. “I am not sure if it will be effective to protect me from a coronavirus infection,” he admitted to AFP about the mask that weighs 2 ounces. The businessman said he’s “taking other precautions.” “It is not the gold or cloth mask, but social distancing and hand washing that will protect human beings from coronavirus,” he told the Indian Express. India has made face masks mandatory in public places in a bid to control the pandemic. As of Monday morning, the country had almost 700,000 confirmed cases with close to 20,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

non

Title: Prince Andrew cancels golf trip to Spain after Maxwell arrest: report Prince Andrew has canceled his annual golfing trip to Spain because he’s “nervous” about leaving the UK during an investigation by US authorities into his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, according to a report. Last year, the Duke of York stayed at a pal’s mansion in Costa del Sol just days after the convicted pedophile committed suicide at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan, the Sun reported. A palace insider told the outlet that the royal pulled the plug on this year’s trip because he’s “worried” about traveling abroad after the Justice Department issued an official request to interview him about Epstein. Adding to Andrew’s anxiety was last week’s arrest of the late financier’s alleged procuress Ghislaine Maxwell on charges that include alleged sex crimes in her London townhouse — where the prince has separately been accused by an Epstein “sex slave” of sleeping with her when she was 17, the Mirror reported. Andrew has denied the allegations and his lawyers have said they offered to provide a witness statement to the Justice Department, according to the outlet. The palace insider told the Mirror it’s “unlikely” Andrew will leave the UK in the foreseeable future and will “never travel to the US again.”

non

Title: FBI almost blew cover with lie before capturing Ghislaine Maxwell: report The FBI agents who arrested Ghislaine Maxwell last week almost blew their cover when they lied to a neighbor who complained about noise from spy planes buzzing overheard, according to a report. A local told the UK’s Mirror that aircraft had been circling over the disgraced British socialite’s 156-acre hideaway in New Hampshire beginning before dawn Thursday. “They were a nuisance. We began calling each other to find out what the noise was about. Finally one snapped and drove down to where the vehicles were lined up,” the resident told the outlet. “He demanded to know who they were and they replied they were from the New England Aerial map society – it was totally fictitious. The problem the FBI had was that the guy is an expert in maps and geology. It’s what he does for a living,” the local continued. “He saw straight through it and asked to see inside their van but was harshly told it was off-limits. He told his wife, and she called the police on the FBI. It was hilarious.” After the close call, the feds finally stormed the property – called “Tuckedaway” – with help from New York cops, local police and New Hampshire’s gang task force. They swiftly collared Maxwell, 58, the longtime confidant of notorious late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein who now faces federal sex-abuse charges. Maxwell, who is being held at a medium-security lockup some 20 miles from her luxurious home, is expected to be transferred this week to the Southern District of New York for her upcoming court appearance, according to a letter filed by federal prosecutors late Sunday.

non

Title: Arizona 'Karen' with '$40,000 Rolex' trashes face mask display in Target An Arizona woman, dubbed the latest “Karen” by social media, filmed herself destroying a face mask display inside a Target store over the weekend. In the footage, Melissa Rein Lively, who runs a public relations company in Scottsdale, can be heard going on an explosive rant as she points the camera at a display of protective face coverings. “Finally we meet the end of the road. I’ve been looking forward to this s–t all my f–king life,” says Lively in the video, which has been viewed 5.9 million times. The woman approaches the display of masks that are sealed in plastic bags and others displayed with no wrapping. She slams the masks from the display onto the floor while saying, “So, Target, I’m not playing anymore f—ing games. This s–t  is f—ing over.” She repeats, “This s–t’s over,” then says “Yeah, wooh!” Two Target employees appear, and one can be heard saying, “Excuse me, ma’am.” The employee is quickly interrupted by Lively, who says, “This is over.” She asks them, “Why? You let everybody else do it … I can’t do it because I’m a blond white woman? That’s wearing a f—ing $40,000 Rolex.” A second video, also recorded on Instagram Live and which has been viewed 2.6 million times, showed the aftermath of the Target mask debacle: Police officers are seen inside Lively’s garage. When the officers confront Lively, she informs them she’s a spokesperson for the White House and she can’t share “classified information.” She added, “I was hired to be the QAnon spokesperson.” “You’re a spokesperson, correct? … I think we have enough here,” says an officer. Lively is told to “turn around” and begins yelling, “You’re doing this to me ’cause I’m Jewish” and “This is a Nazi f—king game.” The recording stops there, and it’s unclear if Lively was arrested. The Arizona health department reported 3,536 new coronavirus cases and four deaths Sunday.

non

Title: Plane crash over Idaho lake kills two, six more presumed dead It’s not clear if any other people were on board. Lt. Higgins said this is a recovery effort. They’re using their sonar and dive team to look for anyone else who may have been on board. The FAA and NTSB will be heading to the scene. @kxly4news pic.twitter.com/qKtVgVCtdx — Kaitlin Knapp (@Kaitlin_Knapp1) July 6, 2020 At least two people were killed — and six others presumed dead — when two planes collided over an Idaho lake on Sunday, according to reports. The aircraft, believed to be carrying a total of eight passengers, struck each other at about 2:20 p.m. over Lake Coeur d’Alene, KXLY-TV reported, citing the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office. Two bodies were pulled from the water and other passengers have not yet been found, authorities said. The two planes were located by sonar about 127 feet beneath the lake’s surface. A witness to Sunday’s wreck, Patrick Pearce, told The Spokesman-Review that he saw the planes heading toward each other above the lake before they crashed and fell into the water. Another witness, John Cowles, told the newspaper he saw what he thought was the “engine explosion” of a plane flying about 200 feet above water. The plane’s wing then fell off before the aircraft plunged into the water, Cowles said.

non

Title: Ghislaine Maxwell expected in New York this week for arraignment Ghislaine Maxwell is expected to be transferred early this week to the Southern District of New York for her upcoming court appearance, according to a new letter filed by federal prosecutors on Sunday night. Maxwell, 58, is currently at the Merrimack County Jail, a medium-security facility 20 miles from the luxurious home where she was arrested Thursday in New Hampshire. Federal prosecutors consulted with Maxwell’s attorneys and both want the arraignment and bail hearing to take place on Friday, according to the letter addressed to Judge Alison J. Nathan. “The Government has consulted with defense counsel, Christian Everdell, Esq., who has requested that the arraignment, initial appearance, and bail hearing in this matter take place on July 10, 2020,” says the letter. The government and the defense counsel also requested time to discuss a protective order with the judge before Maxwell appears in court. “Such a protective order will be necessary to facilitate the production of discovery while also protecting, among other things, the privacy and identity of third parties, including victims of the conduct charged in the Indictment,” the letter says. The British socialite may be held at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention, according to law-enforcement sources. Maxwell’s ex-lover, the late Jeffrey Epstein, killed himself in August in a Manhattan jail cell while awaiting a fresh sex-trafficking case. Maxwell was busted on a six-count Manhattan federal indictment for allegedly recruiting underage girls for Epstein.

non

Title: Christopher Columbus statues destroyed over Fourth of July weekend Protesters beheaded a Christopher Columbus statue in Connecticut, tossed another into Baltimore’s harbor and set fire to a “pioneer family” sculpture in Portland, Oregon, over the Fourth of July weekend as clashes over controversial monuments continued to rage across the country. “While we welcome peaceful protests and constructive dialogue on whether and how to put certain monuments in context or move them to museums through a legal process, lawlessness, vandalism and destruction of public property is completely unacceptable,” Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said in a Facebook post on Sunday after the Columbus statue in Baltimore was committed to the seas. “Baltimore city leaders need to regain control of their own streets and immediately start making them safer,” Hogan wrote. “That is the antithesis of democracy and should be condemned by everyone, regardless of their politics.” The marble statue of Columbus, which stood on a pedestal near Baltimore’s Little Italy neighborhood, was set upon by demonstrators on Saturday night, the Fourth of July. The crowd attached ropes to it and toppled it to the ground before dragging it to the Inner Harbor and rolling it into the water. The statue was erected in 1984 and dedicated by then-Mayor William Donald Schaefer and then-President Ronald Reagan. It wasn’t the only monument to the 15th-century Italian explorer targeted over the weekend. In Waterbury, Conn., police discovered on Saturday morning that the head of a 12-foot-tall granite Columbus statue near City Hall had been lopped off overnight and was still missing. “This was a gift to the city of Waterbury from the Italian-Americans, and it’s unfortunate that it’s been desecrated in this manner,” David X. Sullivan, a local congressional candidate, told KARK-TV. Statues of historic figures — including Columbus, George Washington, Confederate figures and other slave owners — have become a target of Black Lives Matter demonstrations as national racial unrest has renewed debates over their mixed legacies. Portland, Oregon, police also declared a riot on Saturday as protesters torched “The Promised Land,” a sculpture in a park outside the city’s justice center, according to the Daily Mail. Commemorating the Oregon Trail, the bronze sculpture depicts a pioneer father, mother and son. Demonstrators also tried to torch the justice center itself, the newspaper reported. President Trump has condemned the desecration of monuments. At his rally at Mount Rushmore on Friday, he vowed to sign an executive order to create “the national garden of American heroes that would feature statues of great Americans.”

non

Title: 7 men arrested for making Nazi salutes, racial slurs at black family Seven white men were arrested for allegedly making Nazi salutes and yelling racial slurs at a black family celebrating Independence Day at an Oregon beach, police said Sunday. The seven, from Clark County, Washington, were part of a larger “highly intoxicated” group harassing the family on the Fourth of July in Lincoln City, police said. Officers were first called to the beach in front of the Inn at Spanish Head Resort Hotel at around 9:30 p.m. for a report of people shooting off illegal fireworks and disturbing others. The group of about 10 surrounded the cops and “began taunting and challenging the officers for seizing illegal fireworks,” police said. Cops then learned that the bigots had also been harassing a family on the beach and officers formed a line in between them “allowing the black family to safely leave the beach and return to their room.” Meanwhile, the degenerates allegedly challenged the cops to a fight and some started setting off fireworks in front of the officers. Police arrested Ruslan Tkachenko, 22; Antoliy Kachankov, 28; Andrey Zaytsev, 28; Gennadiy Kachankov, 30; Yuriy Kachankov; 30; Oleg Saranchuk, 45 and a seventh man who refused to disclose his identity. They were charged with riot, interfering with police, disorderly conduct, harassment, possession of illegal fireworks, and offensive littering. Kachankov was additionally charged with resisting arrest. Six of the men were released by Sunday and issued citations due to local coronavirus restrictions on the county jail. The seventh, who had refused to identify himself and had no ID on him, was booked into Lincoln County Jail for “fingerprint identification,” cops said.

non

Title: Two men fatally shot minutes apart as violence rages on in NYC Advertisement The 4th of July weekend bloodshed in New York City continued Sunday night as at least seven people were shot, five fatally, in a span of about three hours, police said. The first murder, which police were notified of at 5:47 p.m., claimed the life of a 21-year-old man in Brownsville, Brooklyn, cops said. The victim was found with a gunshot wound outside a building on Christopher Avenue near Pitkin Avenue. He was taken to a Brookdale University Hospital Medical Center and pronounced dead, police said. Three minutes later, police received another call of a person shot in the Claremont section of The Bronx. There, a 29-year-old man was discovered by emergency responders with a gunshot wound to the chest. The victim was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was declared dead. At about 6:45 p.m. in Harlem, a 15-year-old boy was shot outside a building on Madison Avenue near East 111th Street, cops said. He was taken to an area hospital and is expected to survive. Just after 8 p.m., three men were shot inside 306 E. 171st St. in The Bronx — two blocks away from the earlier fatal shooting. A 22-year-old man who was shot in the chest and a 27-year-old man who took a bullet to the neck were pronounced dead at St. Barnabas Hospital, police said. The other victim, a 29-year-old, was shot in the arm. He was taken to Lincoln Hospital in stable condition. On Staten Island at about 8:47 p.m., police found a 45-year-old man shot in the head in a building on Gordon Street in Stapleton, according to police. The shootings extended a violent weekend in the Big Apple, where 39 people were shot, three fatally, between midnight Saturday and 6:30 a.m. Sunday, sources said.

non

Title: Human remains identified as missing Fort Hood soldier Vanessa Guillen Human remains found in a shallow Texas grave last week have been identified as missing Fort Hood soldier Vanessa Guillen, a lawyer for her family said Sunday. The family was informed of the identification by Army officials on Sunday, while in the company of their priest, attorney Natalie Khawam told The Associated Press. Guillen, 20, was last seen April 22 in a parking lot at Fort Hood, where she was based. She was killed and dismembered by fellow soldier Aaron David Robinson, 20, who took his own life last week, federal and military investigators have said. A local civilian, Cecily Aguilar, 22, has been arrested and charged with helping Robinson to mutilate and dispose of the body. The remains were found on Tuesday, about 20 miles east of Fort Hood, during the search for Guillen. Investigators weren’t able to use dental records to identify Guillen because of the state of the remains, and instead used DNA from bone and hair samples, the attorney said. The family has said they believe Robinson had been sexually harassing Guillen. They are calling for a congressional investigation into the matter. With Post wires

non

Title: 6-year-old boy killed in San Francisco shooting A 6-year-old boy was reportedly killed and another person was wounded in a shooting in San Francisco Saturday night. The fatal shooting occurred in the city’s Bayview neighborhood at about 10:45 p.m., the San Francisco Chronicle reported. It’s unclear where the child was shot. He died at a nearby hospital, the newspaper said. The other unidentified shooting victim, a male, was hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries, police said. As of Sunday, no arrests were made and police did not immediately provide a suspect description. With Post wires

non

Title: Illegal weekend fireworks lit up Southern Cal, sparking many fires Advertisement Illegal fireworks lit up the night sky across much of Southern California over Independence Day weekend, sending firefighters scrambling to deal with several hundred fires, according to reports. Aerial footage from NBC News in LA showed bursts of illegal fireworks peppering the city and county after local officials canceled official July 4th displays over social-distancing concerns in the midst of a resurgence of the coronavirus. “The fireworks were, unfortunately, a contributing factor to the busy night we had, and it was just intensely active with illegal fireworks,” Contra Costa Fire Capt. George Laing told the San Jose Mercury-News. “Fireworks are illegal. But it doesn’t seem to have concerned hundreds if not thousands who were lighting off all different types and causing fires around the Bay Area.” Laing said firefighters responded to about 60 calls between 9 and 11 p.m. Saturday, with the bursts leaving a hazy mist over the area. One fireworks-sparked blaze in the Northridge neighborhood of Los Angeles ignited palm trees and spread into an apartment building, displacing 50 people, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday. Firefighters in the City of Angels responded to 29 structure fires, 12 brush fires, 17 grass fires, 65 tree fires, and 116 rubbish fires before 10 p.m. Saturday, according to KTLA-TV in LA. “The numbers speak for themselves,” the LAFD said on Instagram. “Fireworks are not toys.”

non

Title: Kansas newspaper's cartoon equates mask mandate with Holocaust A weekly Kansas newspaper is in hot water after its publisher, a county Republican Party chairman, posted a cartoon on the paper’s Facebook page that appeared to equate the Democratic governor’s mask order with the Holocaust. The cartoon, posted Friday on the Anderson County Review’s Facebook page, depicts Gov. Laura Kelly wearing a mask with a Jewish Star of David on it, next to a drawing of people being loaded onto train cars. Its caption is, “Lockdown Laura says: Put on your mask … and step onto the cattle car.” The Facebook post coincided with the day Kelly’s mask order, aimed at stemming the spread of the coronavirus, took effect. The post has since garnered more than 3,000 comments and nearly 1,000 shares. The Anderson County Review could not be reached for comment Sunday. In an email to The Associated Press, Dane Hicks, the paper’s owner and publisher, said he plans to publish the cartoon in the newspaper’s next edition on Tuesday. Kelly, who is Catholic, issued a statement saying, “Mr. Hicks’ decision to publish anti-Semitic imagery is deeply offensive and he should remove it immediately.” But Hicks said that political cartoons are “gross over-caricatures designed to provoke debate” and “fodder for the marketplace of ideas.” “The topic here is the governmental overreach which has been the hallmark of Governor Kelly’s administration,” he said. As for the cartoon’s reference to the Holocaust, Hicks noted that critics of President Trump have repeatedly compared him to Adolf Hitler, and, “I certainly have more evidence of that kind of totalitarianism in Kelly’s actions, in an editorial cartoon sort of way, than Trump’s critics do, yet they persist in it daily.” Hicks’ newspaper is based in the Anderson County seat of Garnett, about 65 miles southwest of Kansas City and has a circulation of about 2,100, according to the Kansas Press Association. Hicks also is Anderson County’s GOP chairman. Kansas Republican Party Chairman Michael Kuckelman said in a text that posting the cartoon is “inappropriate.” But Kuckelman, also an attorney, added, “it is on the newspaper Facebook page and media has wide berth with (the) First Amendment (to the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing freedom of speech and the press).” Critics of the cartoon demanded that Republican Party and GOP legislative leaders repudiate the cartoon and Hicks. Hicks has derided some of these critics on social media as “liberal Marxist parasites,” adding, “As a traditional American, they are my enemy.” Kelly issued the order because of a resurgence in reported coronavirus cases that increased the state’s total to nearly 16,000 as of Friday, when Kansas finished its worst two-week spike since the pandemic began. The state has reported 277 COVID-19-related deaths. The number of infections is thought to be far higher because many people have not been tested, and studies suggest people can be infected with the virus without feeling sick. The state health department has reported only four coronavirus cases for Anderson County, all of them since May 8. There have been no reported deaths there. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

non

Title: Trump offers to help NYC, Chicago with rising spike in shootings President Trump on Sunday said the federal government was “ready, willing and able” to intervene over the surge of shootings in New York City and Chicago. The president, in a tweet, noted the gun violence that erupted over 4th of July weekend in both cities, with nearly 40 people wounded in the Big Apple and 72 in the Windy City, including 13 who died. “Chicago and New York City crime numbers are way up,” he wrote. “Federal Government ready, willing and able to help, if asked!” In New York, between midnight Saturday and 6:30 a.m. Sunday, 39 people were struck by gunfire across every borough except Staten Island, with at least three people killed, police sources told The Post. The July shootings come on the heels of a violent June in the city. With a total of 205 shootings during the month, it was the bloodiest June in 24 years — going back to 1996, when the NYPD logged 236 incidents, the department said. Trump said New Yorkers were demanding that Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio “act now” on the surging gun violence. He added in a subsequent tweet: “Democrats want to Defund & Abolish Police. This despite poor crime numbers in cities that they run. CRAZY!” In Chicago, between 11:09 p.m Saturday and 2:15 a.m. Sunday, 13 people were killed and 59 injured in shootings, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. At least two children, a 7-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy, were among those killed. Nine of the wounded were minors, the paper said.

non

Title: France will not ban Huawei, but urges 5G telcos to avoid company PARIS – The head of the French cybersecurity agency ANSSI said there would not be a total ban on using equipment from Huawei in the rollout of the French 5G telecoms network, but that it was pushing French telcos to avoid switching to the Chinese company. “What I can say is that there won’t be a total ban,” Guillaume Poupard told Les Echos newspaper in an interview. “(But) for operators that are not currently using Huawei, we are inciting them not to go for it.” The US government has urged its allies to exclude the Chinese telecoms giant from the West’s next-generation communications, saying Beijing could use it for spying. Huawei has denied the charges. Sources told Reuters in March France would not ban Huawei but would seek to keep it out of the core mobile network, which carries higher surveillance risks because it processes sensitive information such as customers’ personal data. France’s decision over Huawei’s equipment is crucial for two of the country’s four telecoms operators, Bouygues Telecom and SFR, as about half of their current mobile network is made by the Chinese group. “For those that are already using Huawei, we are delivering authorizations for durations that vary between three and eight years,” Poupard said in the interview. State-controlled Orange has already chosen Huawei’s European rivals Nokia and Ericsson. Poupard said that from next week, operators which have not received an explicit authorization to use Huawei equipment for the 5G network can consider a non-response after the legal deadline as a rejection of their requests. Poupard said the choice was made to protect French independence, and not as an act of hostility towards China. “This is not Huawei bashing or anti-Chinese racism,” Poupard said. “All we’re saying is that the risk is not the same with European suppliers as with non-Europeans.”

non

Title: Philadelphia protesters close down an interstate highway A mass of people protesting racism and police brutality shut down part of a Philadelphia highway on Sunday. City officials closed a portion of Interstate 676 as crowds swarmed the roadway, demanding the resignation of Mayor Jim Kenney over the tear-gassing of protesters in the City of Brotherly Love last month, local reports said. “Traffic Advisory: Due to protest activity, I-676 is closed between I-76 and I-95,” the Philadelphia Office of Emergency Management tweeted at around 2 p.m. The closure was lifted about an hour later, as the demonstration moved on and continued to march through Center City. The highway is where police tear gassed protesters and reporters June 1 during the widespread demonstrations sparked by the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis cops, according to WCAU. Protesters are calling for Kenney’s resignation after saying they did not accept “the city’s late, insincere apologies for the brutal attacks on peaceful protesters,” WPVI-TV reported. Both the mayor and Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw last week admitted fault in the incident and apologized for the use of tear gas.

non

Title: Trump campaign to hold outdoor New Hampshire rally on Saturday President Trump will hold an outdoor campaign rally in New Hampshire next weekend, his campaign announced Sunday. The event, scheduled for 8 p.m. Saturday at Portsmouth International Airport, will be his first visit to the Granite State since February. “We look forward to so many freedom-loving patriots coming to the rally and celebrating America, the greatest country in the history of the world,” Trump 2020 national press secretary Hogan Gidley said in a statement. Attendees at the event will be “strongly encouraged” to wear face masks and there will be “ample access to hand sanitizer” due to the coronavirus pandemic, the campaign said. According to WCVB-TV in Boston, the New Hampshire rally will be his first return to the state since the day before the GOP primaries in February, where he easily won the state. New Hampshire was also Trump’s first primary victory when he sought the nomination in 2016. Trump held his first in-person rally since the outbreak of the pandemic in Tulsa on June 20 but cancelled a scheduled event in Alabama over rising coronavirus concerns. He gave a speech at Mount Rushmore in South Dakota on Friday.

non

Title: Militias descend on Gettysburg over July 4th social media hoax Armed militias descended on Gettysburg on July 4 to protect the town from a flag-burning protest — that wound up being an apparent social media hoax, according to reports. Hundreds of counterprotesters were drawn by a Facebook event Saturday that called for people to show up to the historic battlefield in Pennsylvania for a “peaceful flag burning to resist police,” the Hanover Evening Sun reported. “Let’s get together and burn flags in protest of thugs and animals in blue,” the Facebook page Left Behind USA wrote, according to the Washington Post. Rumored to be organized by Antifa, the event was then shared on social media by various alt-right groups including militias, the Oath Keepers and confederate flag advocates. They called on their members to help battle the Antifa protesters and protect the town. “If you plan on coming, I would plan on coming full battle-rattle … to be fully, 100 percent prepared to defend yourself and whoever you come with,” Macky Marker, a member of a Delaware militia called First State Pathfinders, said in a YouTube video. But the Antifa chapter for Central Pennsylvania denied the group had any involvement. “It’s a right wing hoax like last time (in 2017),” the group wrote in an email, referring to when a hoax circulated about an Antifa plan to desecrate Civil War graves, according to the Evening Sun. “We are not even remotely involved. Let them give each other COVID. We will be home with our families.” The Washington Post was unable to verify the person purportedly behind the Left Behind USA account existed through official records. By Saturday afternoon, the flag-burning event had not materialized at the historic site — but hundreds of bikers, militia members and others gathered outside the Gettysburg Cemetery, the newspaper reported. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a hoax or not,” Christopher Blakeman, 45, told the outlet. “They made a threat, and if we don’t make our voices heard, it’ll make it seem like it’s okay.”

non

Title: 7-year-old shot dead in Chicago identified as Natalia Wallace A 7-year-old girl killed outside a July 4th party at her grandmother’s Chicago home has been identified as Natalia Wallace, according to reports. The youngster was playing with other children on the sidewalk in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood around 7 p.m. Saturday when police said three men jumped out of a white car and opened fire on party-goers before speeding off, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Sunday. The girl was shot in the forehead and was later pronounced dead at Stroger Hospital, the outlet said. “On a day when families should be celebrating, having a good time, spending time together, a 7-year-old girl was taken from us,” Chicago Police Department Chief of Operations Fred Waller told the Sun-Times. “There were kids riding by on bicycles,” Waller said. “Enjoying the Fourth of July, as they should have been.” According to her father, little Natalia was a funny and outspoken girl who loved to be outdoors. He said she loved to pose for pictures and was quick to give a kiss on the cheek, he told the outlet. “For her life to be cut down for no reason, it’s ridiculous,” Nathan Wallace said outside the hospital. Police said a 32-year-old man at the scene was wounded by the barrage of gunfire and was listed in fair condition at Mount Sinai Hospital. Investigators are now reviewing video from the scene of the shooting. It’s the third weekend in a row that a child under 10 has been shot in the Second City, and the shooting came amid an eruption of gunplay in the city over the July 4th weekend. Police said 67 people were shot and 13 were killed by gunfire as of Sunday, including Natalia and a 14-year-old boy. The shootings were among dozens reported throughout the US over the holiday weekend, with nearly two dozen reported dead.

non

Title: Remdesivir surging to coronavirus hot spots: FDA commissioner The US government is sending a “surge” supply of coronavirus drug remdesivir to areas that need it most, the FDA commissioner said Sunday. Dr. Stephen Hahn told CNN’s “State of the Union” that the Department of Health and Human Services will hand out the medication “to the areas that most need it.” “We have been in touch with the states and the localities to surge remdesivir to the areas that most need it,” Hahn said. “And we are receiving that feedback and then shipping remdesivir, so that it’s available for people who need it.” Researchers have found the drug can speed recovery in COVID-19 patients. Some Sun Belt states, including Florida and Texas, have recently seen an increase in coronavirus cases, which Hahn called “a concerning trend.” “This virus is still with us,” Hahn said, adding that “this is why the public health message about how to protect yourself and others is so important.” But, he said, the US is in a “fundamentally different place” than it was in March or April, in part thanks to drugs like remdesivir. “We have new therapeutics that we didn’t have at the time, so treatments, remdesivir, steroids, and this plasma program, where over 28,000 people have been treated,” he said. “So, those are the sort of things that are different,” he continued. “More testing capacity, more therapeutics and those things are, so fundamentally different, but still a concerning trend.” He added that: “Really, we can stop this by following the guidelines.”

non

Title: Ghislaine Maxwell sobbed during her court: Virginia Roberts Ghislaine Maxwell broke down in tears and wailed, “Why is this happening?” when she faced a judge last week, according to a key accuser, who called it “one of the best days of my life.” Virginia Roberts Giuffre — who has repeatedly claimed Maxwell forced her to have sex with Prince Andrew — claims she heard the anguished cries during the British socialite’s remote appearance before a federal magistrate in New Hampshire hours after her arrest Thursday. She heard “a very loud British woman screaming, ‘Why is this happening? How is this happening? How could this happen?’ — and just crying her eyes out,” Giuffre told “60 Minutes Australia,” smiling at the memory. While Maxwell appeared via video in front of the judge, members of the public were only allowed to listen in to audio of the proceeding, per rules about filming in federal court. It was not clear exactly when she heard them, however, with most reports of the proceedings saying Maxwell only spoke to answer about a dozen technical and procedural questions from the judge. She may have mixed her up with someone other than Maxwell, who did not sound like she had been crying, DailyMail.com suggested. Still, Giuffre — one of the most outspoken victims of pedophile Jeffrey Epstein — could not hide her joy at Maxwell being behind bars. “This day to me has been like one of the best days of my life. I have not stopped smiling and crying happy tears,” Giuffre told the TV special in Australia, where she now lives. “I’m just elated to know that she’s where she belongs,” she said, calling Maxwell “the wicked one.” “She is just the most narcissistic, evil, vain woman I have ever known. And she’s finally been knocked off her pedestal!” Giuffre told the show, saying Maxwell “ruined so many lives — she belongs in jail.” Giuffre also believes the arrest will have left 60-year-old UK royal Prince Andrew “shook up” at the fear that his close friend could turn on him. “Prince Andrew should be panicking at the moment because Ghislaine doesn’t really care about anyone else but Ghislaine,” Giuffre said. Giuffre has claimed she was forced to have sex with Andrew three times, starting when she was 17 in 2001 in Maxwell’s London townhouse, where a now-infamous photo of her with Andrew and Maxwell was taken. Andrew and Buckingham Palace have vehemently denied Giuffre’s claims, with the prince suggesting the photo of them together could be fake. Maxwell’s charges relate to alleged sex crimes from before Giuffre’s allegations.

non

Title: Stefanik, northern Reps seek expanded travel with Canada Advertisement More than two dozen members of Congress in states along the US-Canadian border are seeking to expand travel between the two countries and develop a coordinated plan to reopen the northern border. New York Reps. Brian Higgins, a Democrat, and Elise Stefanik, a Republican, were among those who sent a letter Friday to acting US Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf and the Canadian Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Bill Blair to ask them to develop guidance for reopening the 5,525 miles of border. Restrictions have been in place since mid-March because of the coronavirus pandemic, and have since been extended until July 21. Higgins and Stefanik, co-chairs of the Northern Border Caucus, said a plan to reopen is important because it affects the economies of communities on both sides of the border. “There must be bi-national coordination to develop a plan to safely allow for reasonable travel taking into account public health considerations but acknowledging our unique interconnected economies,” the two wrote in the letter. “The movement of people and goods across the border in a safe and responsible way will also require individuals to be disciplined in their own communities and abide by the safety precautions prescribed by their public health officials.” But a recent national survey conducted by Destination Canada, a company that markets Canada as a tourist spot, found that our northern neighbors might not be thrilled with the idea. Only 24 percent of people in Quebec “somewhat” or “strongly” agreed with welcoming US visitors — and that was the most enthusiastic province. British Columbia was the least enthusiastic at 6 percent, and Ontario occupied the middle ground of 13 percent. “Canadians look at what’s happening with the spread of covid in the United States and their comparatively better performance at getting it under control,” Edward Alden, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, told the Washington Post. “And they have no interest at all in Americans coming to Canada.” The survey was released on June 23.

non

Title: Maskless patrons flock to London pubs on first night of reopening Advertisement It is “crystal clear” that drunken people can’t socially distance, cops in London said — after throngs of maskless pub-goers packed some of the city’s streets Saturday night as bars and restaurants reopened for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic. “Was a predictably busy night and confirmed what we knew, alcohol and social distancing is not a good combination,” tweeted the head of England’s police union, John Apter, on Sunday. “What was crystal-clear is that drunk people can’t, won’t, socially distance,’’ Apter added. Londoners are supposed to still be keeping about 6 feet apart and not holding gatherings of more than six people even with the reopening of places such as pubs, theaters and hair salons for the first time in three months. But photos and video of the chic neighborhood of Soho on Saturday showed gross flouting of the rules. “Absolute madness,” a Soho man tweeted along with footage of the crowds. Rafal Liszewski, a store manager in Soho, said, “Quickly, everything got out of control, and by 8 to 9 p.m. it was a proper street party with people dancing and drinking. “Barely anyone was wearing masks, and nobody respected social distancing,” he said. “To be honest, with that many people on one street, it was physically impossible.” Apter, who worked the overnight police shift in Southampton City outside of London, said he dealt with “naked men, possession of class ‘A’ drugs, happy drunks, angry drunks, fights, more angry drunks and was called a fascist pig by somebody we tried to help!” Still, he tweeted, “Vast majority of those out and about last night were sensible and had a good time without causing issues. The introduction of alcohol does cause issues with social distancing but it’s not the majority, far from it.” The country’s health secretary, Matt Hancock, agreed that most people did “the right thing. “It was really good to see people out and about and largely, very largely, social distancing,” he told Sky News. With Post Wires

non

Title: Ex-Minneapolis cop charged in George Floyd's death released on $750K bond A third former Minneapolis police officer charged in the death of George Floyd has been released from jail — this one on a $750,000 bond. Ex-cop Tou Thao, one of four officers at the scene during Floyd’s police custody death on May 25, was released Saturday while he awaits trial on charges of aiding and abetting second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, ABC News reported Sunday. Thao is due back in court on Sept. 11, the outlet said. Thao and three other former cops, Derek Chauvin, J. Alexander Kueng, and Thomas Kiernan Lane, were fired the day after Floyd died on May 25 while being pinned to the ground with Chauvin’s knee on his throat for nearly 9 minutes. Chauvin, 44, who is charged with murder in the case, is the only one of the three still behind bars, and is being held on $1.25 million bail. Kueng, 26, and Lane, 37, were both released on $750,000 bond last month. Floyd’s death sparked a national outcry for racial justice and against police brutality.

non

Title: Oklahoma trooper helping motorist nearly struck by lightning Talk about a close call. A highway trooper in Oklahoma had a near miss last week while helping a driver when a bolt of lightning struck nearby. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol said on Facebook the incident happened on Thursday along the Turner Turnpike/Interstate 44 between Bristow and Stroud, located southwest of Tulsa. According to a short statement, the trooper had pulled over to “assist with some equipment that had fallen off a trailer,” when the bolt hit the highway. Dashcam video shows the moment the bolt of lightning strikes near the roadway as the officer walks nearby. “Woah! That was close!” the highway patrol said. It did not appear the officer suffered any injuries. Last year there were just 21 lightning-related fatalities, down from an average of 55 deaths per year in 2001. John Jensenius, a lightning safety specialist with the National Lightning Safety Council (NLSC), told Fox News last month there are still some major misconceptions about lightning safety. Jensenius said he’s found that people still believe lightning is attracted toward metal, even though it typically strikes the tallest object in the area. People would believe that having jewelry or metal in their pockets would somehow make them more susceptible to being struck. “It’s simply the fact that they are outside,” he said. Another myth is that rubber protects someone from lightning, since being in a vehicle during a thunderstorm is safer than being outside. But according to Jensenius, that’s due to a hard-topped metal vehicle and its metal shell being able to distribute the electric charge if it’s struck. People also misjudge their distance from approaching storms, thinking that the lightning rise may be much farther away than it actually is. “They are in danger as soon as they hear a distant rumble of thunder,” he said.

non

Title: Antonin Scalia's son moved by proposal to have statue of dad in hero garden Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia said it means “a lot” to have his father, the late US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, included in President Trump’s proposed national garden remembering scores of American heroes. “It would mean a lot. I didn’t see that one coming … and it was really touching to hear. I hope it would mean a lot to the American people, too,” Scalia said on “Fox News Sunday.” ”We need heroes. We need to admire our forebears and recognize what is great and good in our past. That is what the president is emphasizing right now,” he added. The president concluded his speech Friday night at Mount Rushmore by announcing he will sign an executive order creating the “National Garden of American Heroes,” an outdoor park featuring the statues of the “greatest Americans to ever live.” Along with Scalia, the monuments would commemorate a range of famous Americans, including John Adams, Susan B. Anthony, Alexander Hamilton, Frederick Douglass and Dolley Madison. It comes after the president signed an executive order last month pertaining to the Veterans’ Memorial Preservation and Recognition Act that would allow people convicted of knocking down statues or defacing monuments to be hit with sentences of 10 years in prison. The protests that have spread across the country since the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers on May 25 have included calls for police and justice reforms. Some of the protesters have turned their anger on statues of historical figures, toppling them or painting them with graffiti. They also want US military bases that bear the names of Confederate soldiers to be renamed.

non

Title: American couple fined $2,000 in Canada for defying quarantine orders An American couple was fined for defying orders to quarantine in Canada after crossing the border, according to new reports. David and Anne Sippell from Excelsior, Minnesota were told to drive directly to their destination and self-isolate for two weeks when they arrived June 24 through Fort Frances, Ontario, the Global News reported. But David, 66 and Anne, 65, were allegedly seen flouting the rules in various destinations around the border town, the outlet reported. They were charged with failure to comply with an order or subjecting to any condition the entry into Canada, under the Quarantine Act, the report said. Each was hit with a fine of $1,000 Canadian dollars — or about $738 USD — for not complying with the self-quarantine orders, news outlet TBNewsWatch reported. Canada has recorded more than 107,000 coronavirus cases, including 8,732 deaths, according to the latest figures from Johns Hopkins University.

non

Title: Husband can't save French woman thrown from roller coaster A woman fell to her death from a roller coaster in France as her husband desperately attempted to catch her feet, reports said. The unidentified 32-year-old mother was celebrating her 2-year-old child’s birthday Saturday at Parc Saint-Paul in Oise, about 50 miles north of Paris, when she was thrown from the Formula 1 coaster. “She went over the [safety] bar and her husband tried to catch her by the foot,” a witness named Farida told the Courier Picard newspaper. The witness said she’d been waiting with her own children to get on the ride when she heard screams and saw the horrifying incident. Park officials said in a press release that a woman died at the scene Saturday after falling while the ride was “in operation.” “The park area has been completely cut off for visitors,” the statement said. “All the teams join the family to express their deep sadness following this event.” It was reportedly the woman’s first visit to the park, and she had been joined on the outing by her mother and sister, in addition to her husband and child. Another female witness told Le Parisien that her own daughter was on the ride and saw the young mother plunge to her death as the roller coaster made a turn. The girl is “extremely shocked,” said the woman, only identified as Priscilla. The mom said she rushed over to the ride after hearing a man scream. “I came closer and saw a bloody woman at the foot of the roller coaster,” she said. “It was horrible.” In 2009, a 35-year-old woman died of cardiac arrest after getting thrown from the same ride. The park wasn’t held liable in her death after a probe ordered by cops found the accident was the result of “inappropriate behavior” on the part of the victim, according to Le Parisien. But Gilles Campion, who is still the director of Parc Saint-Paul, was handed a suspended four-month prison sentence and ordered to pay several thousand euros in damages in 2007 for two other incidents. In the first incident, four people were injured when a roller coaster veered off course and rammed into a metal pole in August 2005. A month earlier, 11 people were hurt under similar circumstances. Police said they are investigating Saturday’s death at the park, which attracts nearly 380,000 visitors per year. Additional reporting by Tamar Lapin

non

Title: FDA chief: Quarter of Americans could reject coronavirus vaccine A recent poll showed 27% of adults are unlikely to accept a free COVID-19 vaccine, FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn tells @martharaddatz "It is concerning… [FDA] will do our job to assess the safety and the efficacy of a vaccine candidate." https://t.co/jSvsodontM pic.twitter.com/aEl71tCSK5 — ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) July 5, 2020 Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn said it was “concerning” that a new survey found more than a quarter of adults would “definitely” or “probably” not accept a free coronavirus vaccine. During a discussion about the possible timetable for developing a vaccine, Hahn was asked what happens if all of those people refuse. “It is a sizable number. And it is concerning. And, of course, the issue of vaccines in this country has been around for a number of years,” he said on ABC News’ “This Week.” “What I can say is, one of the major reasons we issued this guidance was we wanted to give clarity about what we were going to look at, what we need to look at, and that FDA — the nation’s FDA — has incredible scientific expertise and we will do our job to assess the safety and the efficacy of a vaccine candidate,” he continued. “I want to assure the American people of that and provide confidence that we’re on the job.” The ABC News/Washington Post poll found that 27 percent were wary of getting a vaccine. Of those, half said they don’t trust vaccines and 23 percent said they didn’t think it was necessary. But 71 percent of respondents said they “definitely” or “probably” would get a COVID-19 vaccine. Hahn said a vaccine was being developed with “unprecedented” speed — but stopped short of President Trump’s prediction on Saturday that one could be ready before the end of the year. “I can’t predict when a vaccine will be available. And I just want to tell you about FDA’s role in this. Yes, we are seeing unprecedented speed for the development of a vaccine,” Hahn said. “But as you know … we issued guidance this past week about vaccine development because we want to be very clear, our solemn promise to the American people is that we will make a decision based upon the data and science on a vaccine with respect to the safety and effectiveness of that vaccine.”

non

Title: Dozens of shootings across US mark bloody July 4th weekend The nation’s 4th of July weekend was marred by the wrong kind of fireworks. A spate of shootings throughout the US left more than 150 people wounded and nearly two-dozen dead so far this weekend, including 67 gunshot victims in Chicago over a blood-splattered weekend, according to reports. Police said 13 people were killed in separate shootings in the Second City, including a 7-year-old girl who was at a Fourth of July party in the city’s Austin neighborhood and a 14-year-old boy, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Sunday. “Tonight, a 7-year-old girl in Austin joined a list of teenagers and children whose hopes and dreams were ended by the barrel of a gun,” Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said on Twitter. “As families gather to commemorate the founding of our nation, we must ask ourselves: Is this who we are as a city or a county? We cannot grow numb like this,” Lightfoot wrote. “We are making progress in slowing shootings, but we have to do better, every single one of us.” Chicago’s gun tally topped the Big Apple, where police said nearly 30 people were shot and two were killed over the holiday. But other cities throughout the nation, both big and small, saw a spike in gun violence over the weekend, including Atlanta, where authorities said 14 people were wounded — two critically — on Saturday and early Sunday, WSB-TV reported. Seven people were shot and one stabbed in Cleveland, WOIO-TV reported, while two people were killed and six wounded in three separate shootings in Baton Rouge, according to a report in The Advocate. Not even smaller cities were spared. Police in Omaha, Nebraska, reported eight people wounded in six separate shootings, KPTM-TV said, and Memphis, Tennessee, saw at least seven shootings over a 24-hour period, WREG-TV reported. In one of the weekend’s bloodiest single incidents, eight people were wounded and two killed at a Greenville, South Carolina, nightclub during a rap concert early Sunday morning. “I don’t know if we have multiple shooters at this time, or one that initiated it and one that may have shot back, we’re not sure,” Greenville County Sheriff Hobart Lewis said. “There are a lot of shell casings inside.” With Post Wires

non

Title: Miami mayor hopeful closing beaches will slow new coronavirus cases Miami’s mayor on Sunday said he hopes a reopening pause and new safety precautions curb the growth of coronavirus cases happening in his city. “It’s clear that the growth is exponential at this point,” Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said on ABC’s “This Week.” “You know we’ve been breaking record after record after record all in the last couple of weeks.” Suarez, who agreed with Miami-Dade County’s decision to close beaches for the Fourth of July holiday weekend, blamed the rise in cases on the reopening of bars and restaurants. “There’s no doubt that when we reopened, people started socializing as if the virus didn’t exist,” he said. “It’s extremely worrisome.” The Republican mayor said he’s optimistic that closing the beaches, implementing stricter mask-wearing rules and hiking penalties against businesses that don’t abide by safety restrictions will curb the cases. “If people are wearing the masks in public, there’s a very good chance that we’re going to be able to slow down or stop the spread. So that’s the reason why we do it,” he said. Florida reported 10,059 cases on Sunday after reporting 11,458 cases on Saturday — the Sunshine State now has a total of 200,111 cases. Meanwhile, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said Sunday he is worried about running out of hospital beds. “If we don’t get our hands around this virus quickly, our hospitals could be in serious, serious trouble,” he said on CBS News’ “Face the Nation.” “The major problem is staffing … we can always provide additional beds, but we need the people, the nurses and everybody else in the medical profession to staff those beds.” Texas reported 8,238 new cases on Saturday — bringing the state’s total cases to 191,790. Hospitalizations in Houston rose from 1,691 patients on June 27 to 2,369 a week later on July 4, according to the San Antonio Express News. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott last week issued an executive order requiring people to wear masks in public in certain counties and closed bars and reduced the seating capacity of restaurants. Austin Mayor Steve Adler echoed Turner’s concerns that hospitals in his city could be flooded. “If we don’t change the trajectory, then I am within two weeks of having our hospitals overrun. And in our ICUs, I could be 10 days away from that,” the Democrat said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

non

Title: Ghislaine Maxwell arrest: Spy planes, armed agents used in takedown Armed agents raced a convoy of 15 vehicles through the New Hampshire woods, with spy planes buzzing overhead, in the moments before they smashed down Ghislaine Maxwell’s door and arrested her Thursday, according to a report. Small planes had started buzzing over Bradford, New Hampshire, from 4:20 a.m. Thursday — four hours before the raid on Maxwell’s 156-acre hideaway, locals told the Mail on Sunday newspaper. When 24 armed FBI agents finally stormed the property — appropriately named “Tuckedaway” — they were backed by New York cops, local officers and even New Hampshire’s gang task force, the paper said. After using bolt cutters to break the lock on a metal gate, the teams “drove at speed up the half-mile driveway in a convoy of 15 vehicles,” an officer told the paper. “And let’s just say, we didn’t knock politely on the door,” the officer said. “It was smashed down.” Maxwell was “up and dressed” and wearing “sweatpants and a top” in the living room when they burst in, the officer said. “She was turned around quickly and cuffed. She was in custody in a matter of seconds,” the source insisted. “Strangely she didn’t seem to have much reaction. It was like it wasn’t registering with her,” the officer told the UK paper. Area residents were shocked to learn that their mystery neighbor was actually Maxwell, the disgraced British socialite and longtime confidant of notorious late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Only after news broke of her arrest on federal sex abuse charges did the small planes that “went on and on” flying circles overhead all morning finally make sense, a neighbor told the paper. “I realized it had to be the FBI making sure she didn’t leave before the raid team got there,” carpenter Dick Morris, 59, who lives opposite Maxwell’s hideaway, told the paper. The hunt for Maxwell cost “millions of dollars and hundreds of man-hours,” the paper’s source said of the “high-stakes game of cat and mouse.” “At least 5 million bucks, maybe more,” the source said. Maxwell was finally found in the $1.07 million luxury home that she bought in an all-cash deal through what prosecutors called a “carefully anonymized LLC” in court papers filed Thursday. Her defense team is now “preparing for war,” a source told the paper. “They’ve had a year to anticipate this. She has money to put the best legal team in place,” the source said, noting they “anticipated this day would come.” “She’s in the fight of her life and not going down quietly. She insists she’s innocent and always has done,” the source said.

non

Title: Texas woman beats coronavirus — then delivers healthy triplets A pregnant Texas woman beat the coronavirus — then delivered healthy triplets weeks later. “As a mom, you want control, but right now, you have to accept that you don’t have control of everything,” said the mother, only identified as Maggie, in a Facebook posting Friday. According to the Women’s Hospital of Texas in Houston, where Maggie delivered her triplets, she learned she was COVID-19 positive after a routine check-up on May 8 when she was 28 weeks pregnant. Maggie was given a test for the contagion at the time, which is protocol, and learned two days later — Mother’s Day — that she was positive for it, said a posting on the hospital’s Instagram page. The post also included a photo of the beaming mom holding her now weeks’ old babies. “Meet the #firecracker who beat #COVID19 during her 3rd trimester then delivered healthy #triplets with an attitude brighter than fireworks on the #FourthofJuly,” the hospital wrote next to the photo. When she was first diagnosed, Maggie, who already has a 5-year-old son with her husband, was concerned about “everyone but herself,” the hospital said. Over the next few weeks, she was given a total of five coronavirus tests, the hospital added in its Facebook missive. Then “On June 4 … with the final two [tests] negative, Maggie learned during her weekly ultrasound that “Baby A’s” cord was wrapped around her neck, and she would have a C-section that day at 4 p.m.,” the hospital said. Her husband wasn’t allowed to be with her in the delivery room because he’d also previously tested positive for the virus, and while cleared in one follow-up test, he “hadn’t received his second negative test,” so her mother was her “one support person during labor,” the hospital said. “At 4:51 p.m., “Baby A,” Isabella, was born at 3.11 lbs. At 4:53 p.m., “Baby B,” Nathaniel, was born at 3.7 lbs. Finally, at 4:55 p.m., “Baby C,” Adriel, was born at 2.1 lbs. ” the hospital said. “The doctors and nurses were amazed by how well Maggie did. She and her babies, who arrived in perfect ABC order, were healthy, safe and undeniably resilient.” Maggie told other mothers on the hospital’s Facebook page, “You have to let other people help you and remember you aren’t alone. Look forward to each day and celebrate every small victory.” On June 9, Texas recorded its highest number of coronavirus-related hospitalizations since May 5, and the state has been locked in a battle since against soaring related figures.

non

Title: St. Louis couple stay on balcony as protesters return to mansion Hundreds of Black Lives Matter demonstrators returned to the St. Louis mansion of a gun-toting couple whose armed stand went viral last week — only this time the pair just watched from their balcony. Mark and Patricia McCloskey, who confronted marchers with a semi-automatic rifle and a handgun last week, kept their guns out of sight Friday when the crowd returned, looking down on the protest along with their lawyer and private security standing by. Mark McCloskey, 63, said he grabbed his AR-15 on June 28 as protesters broke through a gate on their private road because he feared they were “storming the Bastille” and would burn down his home. Patricia McCloskey, 61, was seen holding a small silver handgun, at times pointing it directly at protesters. “They’re angry, they’re screaming,” Mark McCloskey told Tucker Carlson on Fox News. “They’ve got spittle coming out of their mouths. They’re coming towards our house. Out there with my wife, and I said, ‘Oh my God, we’re absolutely alone. There’s nobody here to protect us but us.'” When about 300 protesters returned Friday — holdings signs reading “Black Lives Matter. Period” and “No Justice, No Peace” — a more subdued Mark McCloskey could be seen peering out from his balcony while his wife appeared to be shooting video of the marchers on her mobile phone. Their lawyer, Albert Watkins, was seen looking out at the crowd in another image released by Reuters. The photos also show private security guards setting up barricades and securing the gate prior to Friday’s new demonstration. The crowd remained outside the mansion for about 15 minutes before moving on, the Daily Mail reported. With Post wires

non

Title: Patient contracts rare brain-eating amoeba in Florida A patient in Florida has contracted a rare, brain-eating amoeba, according to health officials. The Florida Department of Health said Friday that a case of the often-fatal amoeba called Naegleria fowleri was detected in Hillsborough County. The parasite is found naturally in freshwater and can be life-threatening when it enters the body through the nose, causing a condition known as primary amebic meningoencephalitis that destroys brain tissue, health officials said. The infection is more likely to occur in July, August and September when the water is warmer, the agency said. “Naegleria fowleri is found in many warm freshwater lakes, ponds and rivers in the United States, but is more common in southern states,” the agency said. “The low number of infections makes it difficult to know why a few people have been infected compared to the millions of other people that used the same or similar waters across the US.” Since 1962, there have been only 37 confirmed cases of the amoeba in the Sunshine State. The state’s health officials encouraged people to hold their nose shut or use nose clips during water activities. “Adverse health effects on humans can be prevented by avoiding nasal contact with the waters, since the amoeba enters through nasal passages,” the agency said.

non

Title: Scalia confident US businesses can reopen amid coronavirus Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia on Sunday said businesses can begin to reopen if safety precautions are followed, despite the rise of coronavirus cases in some states. “We have new cases, we have to keep an eye on that, [but] I believe we can continue to reopen our workplaces safely,” Scalia said on “Fox News Sunday.” “It is going to be important that people take social distancing seriously, wear masks in circumstances where they’re not able to social distance and the like,” he continued. “We can reopen safely, we can reopen while the virus is still there but it will get more challenging if people don’t take that seriously.” Scalia expressed optimism about the US adding roughly 5 million jobs in June, promising retail spending numbers and the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement that took effect on July 1. Asked about whether the country could see a V-shaped recovery, Scalia responded: “Those are the indications that we see.” He also acknowledged that “there remain many Americans still out of work” and said the president is considering tax cuts. Scalia said the Trump administration is prepared to deal with a rise in coronavirus cases as businesses open. “We knew that as people came out of their homes, emerged from their basements and the like, we knew that cases would go up,” Scalia said. “We are far better prepared to deal with those cases now than we were a few months ago … we have the equipment, the hospital beds to deal with this situation.” “This is something that we can manage,” he said.

non

Title: Grand Canyon hiker falls to her death trying to take a photo An Arizona woman was hiking in the Grand Canyon when she tried to snap a photo and fell to her death, park officials said. Maria A. Salgado Lopez, 59, of Scottsdale, plummeted around 100 feet Friday from the edge of Mather Point, according to the Grand Canyon Regional Communications Center. She had been hiking off-trail and taking snapshots with family when she accidentally stepped off the point’s edge, officials said. The National Park Service and the Coconino County Medical Examiner’s Office have launched an investigation into her death. With Post wires

non

Title: Maskless partiers pack Michigan's Diamond Lake on July 4th Tightly packed crowds were seen in Michigan’s Diamond Lake rocking out to music to celebrate July 4th — despite fears of coronavirus spreading over the holiday weekend. “Looks like a recipe for disaster…,” wrote news station WSBT reporter Max Lewis on Twitter along with footage of the crowds tossing a giant beach ball. Video posted to social media showed dozens of swimsuit-clad partiers without masks Saturday on the shores of the boating and recreational site in Cassopolis. Here’s the scene at Diamond Lake in Cass County, Michigan today. Looks like a recipe for disaster…🤦🏽‍♂️ #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/0OfgCXThQw — Max Lewis (@MaxLewisTV) July 4, 2020 More footage posted to Instagram showed a DJ playing to the crowds of singing young adults defying social distancing guidelines. Michigan has recorded 65,533 cases of coronavirus as of Saturday afternoon, including 5,972 deaths, news station WDIV reported.

non

Title: Former NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly rips Mayor de Blasio Former NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly blamed Mayor Bill de Blasio for weakening the police department, allowing crime to run rampant across the city. “This mayor is atrocious,” Kelly told John Catsimatidis on his 77 WABC radio show in a Sunday interview. “If I had a magic wand I’d remove him. But, unfortunately, what’s waiting in the wings is no better.” Kelly called the New York City Council’s cutting $1 billion from the police department a “kind of kabuki financing,” adding “we have de Blasio here for another 18 months.” Kelly, who served as commissioner under former mayors David Dinkins and Michael Bloomberg, said de Blasio is kowtowing to protesters rallying against the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25 and his actions have “sapped the strength of the department.” “Crime is raging out of control here in New York City,” Kelly said. “I don’t see anything that’s going to change the trajectory of that continuing to rise. There are disorderly groups all over the city challenging police officers. … Police are generally backing off … because their political leaders, the mayors … are telling cops to back off.” All the while, Kelly said Democrats have remained quiet. “It’s such a change from years ago. You just don’t hear anything from [Democrats],” Kelly said. “They’re sitting on their hands. Or they’re being very supportive [of] taking down the statues. … That’s what they’re interested in. That’s what they’re supporting. Rather than, ‘Hey, let’s get some good old basic law and order.’ What about everyday citizens?” Gun violence has increased since the NYPD disbanded its anti-crime unit of plainclothes cops on June 15. There were 205 shootings during June, the highest number for the month since 1996, when the NYPD logged 236 incidents.

non

Title: At least two dead, eight injured in South Carolina nightclub shooting At least two people were killed and eight injured in a mass shooting early Sunday inside a packed July 4th concert in South Carolina by rapper Foogiano, according to officials. Two Greenville County sheriff’s deputies were driving past the Lavish Lounge just before 2 a.m. and saw a large crowd running out of the building despite strict local coronavirus restrictions, Sheriff Hobart Lewis said at a press conference. “They turned into the club, people started screaming — they knew right away that people were injured,” Lewis said, according to WYFF4. “They heard more gunshots and entered the club,” he said. At least two were dead and eight injured, sheriffs told the Associated Press. Trap rapper Foogiano was a widely publicized special guest for the Greenville club’s July 4th party, with Lewish confirming the shooting was during a concert. The rapper and his team were not injured and were safe, a rep told the AP. The sheriff said investigators had “some suspect information” and thought the shooting was likely “gang-related.” “I don’t know if we have multiple shooters at this time, or one that initiated it and one that may have shot back, we’re not sure,” Lewis said. “There are a lot of shell casings inside.” He also said there were clear signs that people fled “in a hurry,” with upturned chairs, broken bottles and food all over the floor. “There’s some pretty large amounts of blood in some parts of the club,” he said. Investigators are also probing whether the club had applied for special permission to hold the packed event despite Gov. Henry McMaster’s orders banning large gatherings during the coronavirus pandemic. “We don’t know if they filed an appeal to do that or not,” Lewis said. “I do know there was a very, very, very large crowd that probably well exceeded that number with very little space for social distancing,” he said. “I promise you they weren’t six feet apart,” he said. “It’s certainly not the best situation to stop the spread of this virus, for sure.” McMaster recently reminded locals that the restrictions against large gatherings were still in place. He also said that criminal charges could be pressed if coronavirus cases were later linked to those operating nightclubs illegally or holding concerts even if not caught in the act. Lavish Lounge did not respond to messages from the AP. A Facebook message just before 6 a.m. that events “have been postponed until further notice.” With Post wires

non

Title: Kellyanne Conway's anti-Trump daughter keeps trolling mom on TikTok Kellyanne Conway’s anti-Trump teenage daughter won’t stop trolling her parents on social media. Claudia Conway, 15, livestreamed a confrontation with her mother, a counselor to President Trump, on TikTok and told her father, conservative Trump critic George Conway, she was “sorry [his] marriage failed.” Claudia, who has posted a wave of anti-Trump and pro-Black Lives Matter content on her TikTok, claimed her mother was trying to shut off her phone and pressuring her to delete her social media accounts — even though Kellyanne Conway had previously stated she supported her daughter’s independent expression. “My parents, particularly my mother, are trying to silence me by getting me to delete my social media. haha,” Claudia wrote in a tweet Friday. After Claudia gave interviews to Insider and USA Today with the consent of her father, George Conway apparently reversed course. Claudia ConwayInstagram “To journalists: @kellyannepolls and I do *not* consent to any communications between you and any of our minor children, including our daughter Claudia,” he tweeted Friday. see also Kellyanne Conway's daughter Claudia shares liberal views on TikTok “So desist. Thank you.” Claudia was none too pleased. “You’re just mad that I’m finally getting my voice heard. sorry your marriage failed,” she tweeted in response from her private account. In one of Claudia’s TikTok livestreams, posted by the Daily Mail, Kellyanne Conway can be seen swiping the teen’s phone out of her hands. “You can get back to it, turn it off,” Kellyanne said in the clip. “Turn it off now, lady.” Claudia responds: “I’m just showing everyone the truth. You’re literally not letting me use my freedom of speech.” Eventually, Kellyanne moves in to grab the device. “Mom, what are you doing?” Claudia asks. “It’s mine,” her mom replies.

non

Title: Frances Tiafoe tested positive for coronavirus after tennis exhibition The first U.S. tennis match to be played with an audience since the start of the pandemic had a COVID-19-infected player, according to a report. The DraftKings All-American Team Cup, in Atlanta, Ga., had some 450 people in the audience on Friday, Deadline reported. Team captain Frances Tiafoe had tested negative immediately before his match that day, but was retested afterward because he was showing symptoms — and that test came back positive, the site said. “Frances Tiafoe has tested positive for the coronavirus,” DraftKings said in a statement. “Like all the players, Tiafoe was tested prior to or upon arrival in Atlanta and has passed daily temperature tests. Following his match, he was showing symptoms and was retested and tested positive.” “Tiafoe has left the event site and will not participate in the remainder of the event. “Upon learning this information, we immediately began deep cleaning and sanitizing the event site, and enacted protocols in place for contact tracing and alerting individuals who may have been exposed,” the statement continued. Tiafoe himself later confirmed his diagnosis in a Twitter post. “Unfortunately, I tested positive late Friday for Covid-19 and have to withdraw from the All-American Team Cup special event in Atlanta this weekend. “Over the past two months, I have been training in Florida and tested negative there as recently as a week ago” This is not the first time that a tennis player has been diagnosed with the virus. Back in June, Novak Djokovic and his wife contracted the virus during the Adria Tour exhibition. Tiafoe will be replaced by Christopher Eubanks for the remainder of the event.

non

Title: Two Seattle protesters hit by speeding car; One dead, other in ICU One protester was killed and another left fighting for their life after a car was caught on camera speeding into a group of marchers dancing on a closed Seattle freeway, authorities said. Horrifying footage showed a white Jaguar racing the wrong way on Interstate 5 early Saturday, skidding as it slammed into protesters at the “Black Femme March” who screamed “Car! Car!” Two were unable to get out the way, with the footage showing them flung through the air as the car continued moving. Summer Taylor, a 24-year-old Seattle native, died Saturday evening at Harborview Medical Center, spokesperson Susan Gregg said. Diaz Love, 32, of Portland, Oregon, was in serious condition in the intensive care unit, Gregg said. Love had been filming protesters dance at the march on Facebook Live — spinning around after the cries of “car” — and the live video suddenly ended after the sound of the impact. Driver Dawit Kelete, 27, fled the scene, but was stopped by one of the protesters who chased him in a car for about a mile, finally pulling in front of him, according to Washington State Trooper Chase Van Cleave. Kelete was booked into the King County Correctional Facility on Saturday morning on two counts of vehicular assault. Bail was denied. Investigators say it is too early to know if he drove into them on purpose, but are “not suspecting drugs or alcohol as a factor,” Van Cleave said. He was “reserved and appeared sullen” in custody, and “at one point he asked if the injured pedestrians were okay,” the Seattle Times said, citing a probable-cause statement. Sen. Kamala Harris called the carnage “absolutely heartbreaking” in a tweet early Sunday along with a photo of a smiling, pink-haired Taylor. “Summer Taylor was only 24-years-old, peacefully protesting for Black Lives Matter when they were struck by a car,” Harris wrote of the victim, who preferred the pronoun “they.” “Thinking of their family during this difficult time and everyone in the movement today.” A GoFundMe purportedly set up by friends described Taylor as a veterinary clinic worker. “Summer is an incredibly strong and independent spirit,” the fundraiser said, calling them “a bright and caring person who’s presence elicits joy and laughter in others.” Seattle has been the site of prolonged unrest following the May 25 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, including the controversial, recently closed police-free “Capitol Hill Occupied Protest” zone. Protesters had shut down Interstate 5 for 19 days in a row — with police saying they would no longer be allowed on it following the death. “Blocking a freeway is a crime and no longer are we going to enable that criminal conduct to continue,” State Patrol Capt. Ron Mead said, according to the Seattle Times. “We are not going to be allowing protesters to access the freeway unimpeded, and there are consequences for criminal conduct.” It was not immediately clear if Kelete had an attorney who could speak on his behalf. With Post wires

non

Title: British film and television pioneer Earl Cameron dead at 102 Earl Cameron, one of the first black actors to have a prominent role in British television and film, died on Friday at the age of 102. According to Cameron’s agent, he “passed away peacefully at home surrounded by his wife and family” in Kenilworth in Warwickshire, reports Deadline. Cameron was born in Bermuda in 1917, moving to the U.K in 1939. He  joined the British Merchant Navy and by 1941 had his first role in a play called “Chu Chin Chow”.  “When I arrived in London, I had no qualifications for anything. It was a period when it was almost impossible for a black person to get any kind of job,” Cameron told The Royal Gazette in 2018. Cameron continued to be a part of many plays, films and television shows throughout his life; his final role was a small part in Christopher Nolan’s 2010 film “Inception“. In 2006, Cameron was appointed as a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire and in 2016 he was inducted into the Britain Screen Nation Hall of Fame. Many of his colleagues have reached out in support, stating that Cameron was a “total legend,” and “laid the groundwork for actors today” ” Our family has been overwhelmed by the outpourings of love and respect we have received at the news of our father’s passing,” said one of his children to The Guardian. “As an artist and as an actor, he refused to take roles that demeaned or stereotyped the character of people of colour. He was truly a man who stood by his moral principles and was inspirational.”

non

Title: Bellagio suffers potentially biggest loss in Las Vegas history The Bellagio might have suffered the biggest sportsbook loss in Las Vegas history when it allowed a quarter-million dollars in winning wagers to be placed on baseball games well after they had started. The winnings were spread among approximately 50 so-called “past-post” bets that were made on in-progress Chinese and Korean baseball games, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. Human error allowed the bettors to throw down wagers between 1:30 a.m. and 3 a.m. for games that had started around 1 a.m. and 2 a.m. Nearly all were placed on self-serve kiosks at the casino. One winner scored $137,107.38 on a $250 10-leg parlay. It’s unknown how many bettors were involved. Seven longtime Vegas bookmakers couldn’t recall a larger loss when asked by the paper. The Nevada Gaming Control Board is investigating the matter to determine whether the books must shell out the cash, ESPN reported. Past-post errors are fairly common in the sports betting world, occurring occasionally when sportsbook employees enter in wrong start times for games or simply input a typo. Overseas games in far-off time zones can also cause confusion leading to past-posting, bookies told the Review-Journal. “It’s happened to all of us,” Westgate sportsbook director John Murray told the outlet. “I think every sportsbook probably since the beginning of time has dealt with this at some point.” Several bookmakers told the Review-Journal that it is common practice to offer past-post bettors the option of either taking the winnings along with a permanent ban from the casino or forfeiting the earnings for the freedom of returning any time. But the books are required to turn to the GCB any time there is a dispute over more than $500. The board investigates the matter and issues a ruling the books must follow. Robert Walker, USBookmaking director of sportsbook operations, told the outlet that when the GCB gets involved, it often sides with the bettors. “We had [the GCB] come out several times,” Walker said. “We got ruled against most of the time.”

non

Title: Baltimore protesters topple Christopher Columbus statue BALTIMORE — Baltimore protesters pulled down a statue of Christopher Columbus and threw it into the city’s Inner Harbor on Saturday night. Demonstrators used ropes to topple the monument near the Little Italy neighborhood, news outlets reported. Protesters mobilized by the death of George Floyd at the hands of police have called for the removal of statues of Columbus, Confederate figures and others. They say the Italian explorer is responsible for the genocide and exploitation of native peoples in the Americas. According to The Baltimore Sun, the statue was owned by the city and dedicated in 1984 by former Mayor William Donald Schaefer and President Ronald Reagan. A spokesman for Baltimore Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young told The Sun the toppling of the statue is a part of a national and global reexamination over monuments “that may represent different things to different people.” “We understand the dynamics that are playing out in Baltimore are part of a national narrative,” Lester Davis said. Statues of Columbus have also been toppled or vandalized in cities such as Miami; Richmond, Virginia; St. Paul, Minnesota; and Boston, where one was decapitated.

non

Title: Kanye West tweets he's running for president This would certainly be a “Late Registration.” Kanye West announced on Twitter Saturday that he is running for president . “We must now realize the promise of America by trusting God, unifying our vision and building our future. I am running for president of the United States,” the Chicago rapper tweeted with “#2020VISION.” The post by West — whose second album was titled “Late Registration,” garnered more than 200,000 likes within an hour. But a 2020 run would be a virtually impossible mission for the “Jesus is King” artist and it’s not clear if he’s serious. An incredibly late Fourth of July announcement means West has missed every single state filing deadline for the two major parties and nearly all state primaries. He’s blown past at least six state filing deadlines to register as an independent candidate, including several with some of the most electoral college votes, like New York and Texas. He’d also be battling his favorite politician. West has drawn some scorn from fans over the years for his unabashed support for President Trump and proud donning of a “Make American Great Again” hat at public appearances. The rapper made no mention of a White House run during a GQ feature in May. After previously mentioning he wasn’t registered to vote, he assured the publication that he would turn out for the 2020 election. We must now realize the promise of America by trusting God, unifying our vision and building our future. I am running for president of the United States 🇺🇸! #2020VISION — ye (@kanyewest) July 5, 2020 “I’m definitely voting this time. And we know who I’m voting on,” West said at the time. “And I’m not going to be told by the people around me and the people that have their agenda that my career is going to be over. “Because guess what: I’m still here! Jesus Is King was No. 1!” West implied he was pleased with Trump because of the state of real estate. “I buy real estate. It’s better now than when Obama was in office,” West told GQ’s editor-in-chief Will Welch. You have my full support! — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 5, 2020 “They don’t teach you in school about buying property. They teach you how to become somebody’s property.” West appears to have at least one vote secured. “You have my full support!” his pal, Elon Musk, tweeted.

non

Title: Colin Kaepernick rips 4th of July as 'celebration of white supremacy' It’s no holiday for Colin Kaepernick, who slammed the Fourth of July as a “celebration of white supremacy,” in a tweet. “Black ppl have been dehumanized, brutalized, criminalized + terrorized by America for centuries, & are expected to join your commemoration of ‘independence’, while you enslaved our ancestors. We reject your celebration of white supremacy & look forward to liberation for all,” the former NFLer star tweeted. The activist, who was infamously shunned from the league after kneeling during the national anthem, paired the message with a video which combined images of slaves, police brutality, the KKK, the Declaration of Independence and lynchings along with Frederick Douglass’ “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July” speech, as narrated by actor James Earl Jones. “Fellow-citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here to-day? What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence?” Jones reads. “Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us?” Jones continues in the short clip. “… This Fourth of July is yours, not mine.”

non

Title: Who's afraid of Ghislaine Maxwell? Everyone on this list It’s the Top Ten list no one wants to be on. Moments after the feds busted Ghislaine Maxwell Thursday for allegedly roping in underage girls for pal Jeffrey Epstein’s perverted pleasure, fireworks started going off in the lives of certain billionaires and playboys who palled around with the two. And not the happy Fourth of July kind. Since no one was closer to the multimillionaire pedophile than Maxwell, whose network stretched from New York to France, Israel, Buckingham Palace and the Caribbean, those in the know are undoubtedly fretting over the dirt she could dish to keep herself out of jail. Particularly after prosecutors vowed to “bring justice” to other potential enablers of Epstein’s sex abuse and trafficking. A friend, TV host Christopher Mason, said he believes she had access to videotapes from all of Epstein’s properties — and the footage has gone missing. “I’m sure she has access to the videos,” Mason said. “A lot of powerful people will be more than a little worried.” So who among Epstein’s infamous black book will need a good lawyer if “G-Max” — the alias Maxwell used when moving around money — starts singing? At the top of the list are the usual scandal magnets, Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton and Alan Dershowitz. They all hung around with Epstein, but each has a history of slithering out of jams. Other Epstein associates with less experience in the hot seat might start to squirm. Billionaire hedge fund owner Glenn Dubin, for example, who is one half of an accomplished Manhattan super-couple: His striking wife, Dr. Eva Andersson-Dubin, founded the Dubin Breast Center of the Tisch Cancer Institute at the Mount Sinai Medical Center. They have three children and live a life of glossy luxury, all private chefs and private jets, with homes in Palm Beach, Westchester County, Sweden and a ranch in Gunnison, Colorado. But Dubin’s friendship with Epstein and Maxwell ran deep. His wife dated Epstein for a few years before she married Dubin in 1994, and Andersson-Dubin stuck up for the perv predator after his 2008 conviction on prostitution charges, saying she was “100% comfortable with Jeffrey Epstein around my children,” who were minors at the time. The Dubins flatly deny assertions by sex-abuse victim Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who in a 2016 deposition claimed Maxwell sent her to have sex with Dubin after her “training.” There’s also the beautiful, high-flying countess whom investigators reportedly want to question in the wake of Maxwell’s arrest. Clare Hazell, now known as the Countess of Iveagh, was once just a regular, under-the-radar Ohio State University student (albeit with tuition reportedly paid by Epstein). Then she married Edward Guinness of the famed brewing family in 2001. Hazell, 44, could be of interest to prosecutors because she worked for Epstein in the 1990s and flew on his Lolita Express jet at least 32 times between 1998 and 2000. She could have witnessed Maxwell’s dealings with other wealthy pals. Larry Summers, Sheryl Sandberg’s one-time mentor and the former Harvard president, helped bolster Epstein’s reputation, taking $30 million from the multimillionaire to create Harvard’s Epstein Program for Mathematical Biology and Evolutionary Dynamics, according to Slate. Epstein reportedly only agreed to have his name attached after being persuaded by Summers himself. Summers appeared in Lolita Express flight logs, and Epstein’s private charity funded a nonprofit that produces a TV show hosted by Summers’ wife, the Daily Beast reported last year. Married politician Ehud Barak, 77, the former prime minister of Israel, has watched current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu beat back seemingly every accusation and political challenge, while Barak’s ties to Epstein dog him constantly. Barak found himself targeted by Netanyahu, who has tweeted articles and photographs of Barak exiting Epstein’s townhouse in 2016. He once said he met Epstein “more than 10 times and much less than a hundred times, but I can’t tell you exactly how many. I don’t keep count. Over the years, I’ve seen him on occasion.” Barak admitted that he visited Epstein at two of his New York homes and flew to Epstein’s notorious Pedophile Island hideaway once, though he denied participating in any sex parties or orgies at the swanky retreat. Leslie Wexner, the billionaire owner of Victoria’s Secret, has never been charged with anything. But one has to wonder why the titan would reportedly hire Epstein, who was then little more than a glorified former high school math teacher with just a few years on Wall Street, as his financial adviser in 1987, and then give him power of attorney over his fortune. “It’s a weird relationship,” a Wall Streeter who reportedly knew Epstein told New York Magazine at the time. “It’s just not typical for someone of such enormous wealth to all of a sudden give his money to some guy most people have never heard of.” To his credit, Wexner pulled the plug on their connection in 2007, saying, “I would not have continued to work with any individual capable of such egregious, sickening behavior as has been reported about him.” A representative for Wexner called The Post after a reporter left messages regarding his client’s ties to Epstein, but declined to comment further. He was smoother than some reps for boldface names who sounded uncharacteristically desperate when reached by The Post, alternately threatening legal action and begging not to be mentioned in print. Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, 72, and former US Sen. George Mitchell, 86, probably never envisioned being part of a sex scandal so late in their lives and careers. In Mitchell’s case, the irony was supreme. He was known for overseeing the Philadelphia Archdiocese compensation fund for victims of clergy sex abuse in 2018. Richardson would rather be remembered for pushing through the world’s first purpose-built spaceport when he was governor. Now the two are doing all they can to distance themselves from Epstein, especially after the arrest Thursday of Maxwell in the tiny town of Bradford, NH, where she was living in a luxurious, multimillion-dollar hideaway in the woods. Both have denied claims by Giuffre that she was “instructed” by Epstein and Maxwell to have sex with them, including one incident in which she said she gave Mitchell a sexual massage at Epstein’s mansion in Palm Beach, where her “body was put on the banquet menu.” “I have never met, spoken with or had any contact with Ms. Giuffre,” Mitchell told Fox News last summer. “In my contacts with Mr. Epstein I never observed or suspected any inappropriate conduct with underage girls. I only learned of his actions when they were reported in the media related to his prosecution in Florida. We have had no further contact.” Richardson, too, was swift to issue a forceful rebuttal last summer, saying he had only “limited” interactions with Epstein and never in the presence of young or underage girls. He also denied ever having been on Pedophile Island or meeting Giuffre. Additional reporting by Paula Froelich

non

Title: Trump praises founding fathers, military on 4th of July President Trump took the stage Saturday for a second night to celebrate America’s birthday and praise first responders, the military and the country’s prospects. “Our country is in great shape,” the president told an audience filled with soldiers, medical workers and their families on the South Lawn of the White House. “Our military has never been stronger,” he said, promising, “Next year will be one of the greatest years we ever had.” As for the coronavirus pandemic, Trump predicted the U.S. will “likely have a therapeutic or vaccine long before the end of the year.” Much as he did in his Mount Rushmore speech Friday night, the president extolled the nation’s Founding Fathers in the face of anti-cop unrest and statue desecrations prompted by the police killing of George Floyd — describing protesters as “angry mob[s].” “The patriots who built our countries were not villains; they were heroes whose courageous deeds improved the Earth beyond measure,” Trump said as squadrons of US military aircraft roared overhead. “If you believe in justice, if you believe in freedom, if you believe in peace, then you must cherish the principles of our founding,” he added. “American heroes defeated the Nazis, dethroned the Fascists, toppled the Communists, saved American values, unheld American principles, and chased down terrorists to the very ends of the earth,” he said. “We are now in the process of defeating the radical left, the Marxists, the anarchists, the agitators, the looters and people who in many instances have absolutely no clue what they are doing.” Trump went on to attack the media “who falsely and consistently label their opponents ‘racist.'” “We want a clear and faithful defense of American history,” the president added, accusing journalists of “slander.” “When you level these false charges, you not only slander me; you not only slander the American people, but you slander generations of heroes who gave their lives for America,” Trump said. In a tweet early Sunday, he condemned CNN’s coverage of the speech. The network accused the president of “comparing” radical protesters and Nazis. Wow. @CNN got caught cold manipulating the words and meaning of my 4th of July Speech. They were brazen, desperate. Watch what happens! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 5, 2020 Throughout Saturday, the US Air Force Thunderbirds and the US Navy Blue Angels made a long-range flyover of cities that played a role in the American Revolution — from Boston and New York to Philadelphia and Baltimore — as part of the federal government’s “Salute to America” program before they appeared over the nation’s capital. A 35-minute fireworks show of more than 10,000 rockets and sparklers followed as darkness fell. The US Department of the Interior promised to have 300,000 face masks on hand to distribute to viewers in an around the National Mall to prevent the spread of coronavirus — after DC Mayor Muriel Bowser critiqued the party plans. Trump said the US has “made a lot of progress” fighting the coronavirus even as daily cases increases to levels never before seen in the country. “We’ve made a lot of progress. Our strategy is moving along well … We have the finest testing in the world,” Trump said. “With respect to remedies, we are now doing unbelievably well,” he added. Trump launched the Independence Day festivities by setting off his own rhetorical incendiaries Friday night at Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, with a speech torching what he called a “left-wing cultural revolution” taking aim at America’s historical figures. “We will not throw away our heroes. We will honor them and we will prove worthy of their sacrifice,” he said Saturday.

non