Category Archives: US News

Top CDC officials warns US needs ‘more tests’ in face of bird flu fears

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Agency principal deputy director wants more testing of farm workers who work in proximity to affected animals

There is not enough testing for bird flu among people and animals in the US, says Dr Nirav Shah, principal deputy director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) – but he is wary of pushing the issue and damaging fragile trust among farm workers and owners.

“We would like to be doing more tests,” Shah said. “We’d like to be testing particularly not just symptomatic workers, but anyone on a farm who is exposed.”

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Massachusetts allows transport of marijuana to Martha’s Vineyard in a first

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Regulation had barred moving cannabis over state waters which risked running afoul of federal laws

Cannabis regulators in Massachusetts have issued an administrative order that will allow marijuana to be transported to the state’s famous islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket for the first time.

The order came amid reports Martha’s Vineyard was about to run out of pot, with one dispensary temporarily closing in May and the other saying it would close by September without further supplies.

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Weather tracker: State of emergency in Florida as heavy rain causes flooding

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Emergency services conduct at least 40 rescues and schools, courts and railways closed in some counties

Significant amounts of rain in the past two days have led the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, to declare a state of emergency for the counties of Broward, Collier, Lee, Miami-Dade and Sarasota, while the mayors of Miami-Dade, Miami and Fort Lauderdale also declared a state of emergency.

This has resulted in a number of closures for public schools, courts and Dania Beach’s city hall, where there were at least 40 rescues by emergency services. Rail routes across Miami and the surrounding area were also suspended. The flooding occurred after more than 380mm (15in) of rain fell on several southern Florida cities in just two days.

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Dozens of hikers report illness on trips to waterfalls by Arizona’s Grand Canyon

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People camping on Havasupai reservation say they vomited and had fever as health officers look into source of outbreak

Dozens of hikers say they fell ill during trips to a popular Arizona tourist destination that features towering blue-green waterfalls deep in a gorge neighboring Grand Canyon national park.

Madelyn Melchiors, a 32-year-old veterinarian from Kingman, Arizona, said she was vomiting severely Monday evening and had a fever that endured for days after camping on the Havasupai reservation.

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ACLU hails supreme court’s mifepristone decision: ‘This fight is far from over’ – live

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The supreme court decision marks a victory for reproductive rights activists across the country

The Massachusetts Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren hailed the supreme court’s decision to uphold mifepristone access, calling the challenge to reject it “meritless from the start”.

Warren, an outspoken reproductive rights activist, wrote on X:

This challenge to mifepristone was meritless from the start. Abortion medication is safe and effective. Make no mistake: Donald Trump and Republican politicians will not stop marching us toward a nationwide abortion ban. We must protect reproductive freedom everywhere.

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Native American tribe wins right to hunt gray whales off Washington coast

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Makah people, whose right to hunt whales is noted in treaty, granted waiver by US government to kill two or three a year

After facing decades of legal and bureaucratic hurdles, the Makah Tribe in Washington has won approval from the US to resume whale hunting for the first time in 25 years.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) Fisheries announced on Wednesday that it would grant the tribe a waiver, allowing the Makah “a limited subsistence and ceremonial hunt” under an 1855 treaty. The Makah will be permitted to hunt up to 25 eastern North Pacific gray whales over 10 years.

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US woman faces up to 30 years in prison over bong water: ‘It’s just so wrong’

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Minnesota police charge Jessica Beske, 43, after traces of methamphetamine found in drug paraphernalia in her car

A woman who was pulled over by Minnesota police officers faces up to 30 years in prison after a bong containing water that tested positive for methamphetamine was discovered in her car, despite Minnesota decriminalizing drug paraphernalia last year.

The case shows how some are still affected by harsher laws from the “war on drugs” era.

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‘Pervasive failings’: Phoenix police kill civilians without justification, US says

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Sweeping report says officers in Arizona city routinely violate rights of Black, Hispanic and Native American people

The Phoenix police department routinely discriminates against people of color and kills civilians without justification, the US Department of Justice announced in an investigative report on Thursday.

The government found a “pattern or practice” of the police department using excessive force and violating the civil rights of Black, Hispanic and Native American people. In a first finding of its kind against any US police department, the justice department also concluded that Phoenix police unlawfully detain unhoused people and dispose of their belongings. The justice department further uncovered police discrimination against people with behavioral health disabilities when officers are dispatched to help with people in crisis, and found that police had violated the rights of people engaged in protected speech.

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Trump serenaded by Republicans on first visit to Capitol since January 6

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Lawmakers sing Happy Birthday to ex-president, 78 on Friday, who reportedly called convention host Milwaukee ‘horrible’

Donald Trump went to the US Capitol to rally congressional Republicans in his first visit since 6 January 2021, when his supporters descended on the building in an effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election result in Trump’s favour.

A packed room full of House Republicans sang Happy Birthday to Trump, who turns 78 on Friday.

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Harry Dunn’s family say US ‘obstructing’ inquest into his death

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Relatives of motorcyclist killed in 2019 are looking forward to ‘working with next government’ on public inquiry

The parents of Harry Dunn, a teenage motorcyclist killed in a road collision, have accused the US of “obstructing” their son’s inquest, as they said they were looking forward to working with the next Westminster government to establish a public inquiry.

No representative of the US embassy nor the driver responsible, Anne Sacoolas, attended the four-day inquest, which concluded on Thursday, prompting the Dunn family’s spokesperson, Radd Seiger, to say Washington’s position was that “lives of UK citizens like Harry ultimately do not matter”.

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Jailed journalist Evan Gershkovich to soon stand trial, Russian prosecutor indicates

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Wall Street Journal reporter faces ‘false and baseless charge’ and ‘sham trial’, say paper’s publisher and editor in chief

Russian authorities have indicated that the jailed American reporter Evan Gershkovich will soon stand trial in Ekaterinburg more than a year after his arrest on espionage charges that he, his employer, and the White House have decried as politically motivated.

Gershkovich, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, has been held in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison since last March in the highest-profile arrest of an American journalist in Russia since the cold war.

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Arizona man allegedly sold firearms to undercover FBI agent to ‘incite race war’

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Indictment says Mark Adams Prieto recruited people at gun show to help carry out mass shooting targeting minorities

A firearms dealer in Arizona sold weapons to an undercover federal agent he believed would help him carry out his plan for a mass shooting targeting minorities, an attack that he hoped would “incite a race war”, according to a federal grand jury indictment.

Mark Adams Prieto was indicted Tuesday by the grand jury in Arizona on charges of firearms trafficking, transferring a firearm for use in a hate crime, and possession of an unregistered firearm.

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University of Miami president tapped for chancellor role at UCLA

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Dr Julio Frenk to succeed Gene Block amid scrutiny of university’s handling of pro-Palestinian protests

The president of the University of Miami was chosen Wednesday to become the next chancellor of the University of California, Los Angeles, where the retiring incumbent has faced widespread scrutiny over his handling of pro-Palestinian campus protests.

Dr Julio Frenk, a Mexico City-born global public health researcher, was selected by regents of the University of California system at a meeting on the UCLA campus, where there was a swarm of security officers.

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Immigration rights groups sue Biden administration over asylum directive

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Advocates say president’s order restricting asylum claims differs little from Trump move blocked by courts

A coalition of immigrant advocacy groups sued the Biden administration on Wednesday over President Joe Biden’s recent directive that in effect halts asylum claims at the southern border, saying it differs little from a similar move during the Trump administration that was blocked by the courts.

The lawsuit – filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and others on behalf of Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center and Raices – is the first test of the legality of Biden’s sweeping crackdown on the border, which came after months of internal White House deliberations and is designed in part to deflect political attacks against the president on his handling of immigration.

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‘Abhorrent antisemitism’: homes of Jewish Brooklyn Museum leaders vandalized

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Police look into red paint splattered with possible symbol of Palestinian resistance and banner calling director a Zionist

Police are investigating reports of vandalism after the homes of Jewish leaders and board members, including the director, of the Brooklyn Museum were splattered with red paint early Wednesday.

In images circulating on social media, red paint is visibly splashed across the homes of director Anne Pasternak and several others affiliated with the Brooklyn Museum. Police said five homes – three in Manhattan and two in Brooklyn – were vandalized in the attack.

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Oldest ever US organ donor believed to be 98-year-old man

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Orville Allen, second world war and Korean war veteran, died on 29 May and his liver was successfully transplanted

Orville Allen lived a lifetime of service, and when he died at age 98 he had one last thing to give: his liver.

Allen, a veteran of both second world war and the Korean war and a longtime educator in rural south-eastern Missouri, is the oldest American to ever donate an organ, transplant organizations said. He died on 29 May and his liver was successfully transplanted to a 72-year-old woman, according to Mid-America Transplant.

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US House votes to hold Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress

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Resolution concerned attorney general’s refusal to turn over audio of Biden interview in his classified-documents case

The House voted on Wednesday to hold the attorney general, Merrick Garland, in contempt of Congress for refusing to turn over audio of President Joe Biden’s interview in his classified-documents case, Republicans’ latest and strongest rebuke of the justice department as partisan conflict over the rule of law animates the 2024 presidential campaign.

The 216-207 vote fell along party lines, with Republicans coalescing behind the contempt effort despite reservations among some of the party’s more centrist members.

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Rare white buffalo born at Yellowstone prompts Lakota Sioux celebration

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The birth, not yet confirmed by park officials, holds special significance to tribe as ‘both a blessing and warning’

A rare white buffalo has been born in Yellowstone national park, with the arrival prompting local Lakota Sioux leaders to plan a special celebration, with the calf representing a sign of hope and the need to look after the planet.

The white calf was reportedly spotted shortly after its birth, on Tuesday last week, by park visitor Erin Braaten, a photographer. She took several shots of the wobbly baby after spotting it amongst a herd of buffalo in the north-eastern corner of the large park, located in Wyoming and a small slice of Montana.

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G7 leaders head to Italy for summit as Ukraine and Russia top the agenda

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US wants show of strength with planned sanctions for helping Russia, but group will also discuss migration, Middle East and AI

A dramatic expansion of entities exposed to US sanctions for helping the Russian economy and an EU-led $50bn loan to ease the financial burden on Ukraine will be at the centre of discussions at a summit of the leaders of wealthy G7 nations in Puglia, Italy, starting on Thursday.

The leaders, facing unprecedented challenges from discontented electorates, will be under heightened pressure to provide concrete results as their three days of discussion range across an interlinked agenda encompassing the war in Ukraine, migration, Africa, the Middle East, the climate crisis and harnessing artificial intelligence (AI).

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‘I drove like an American,’ Anne Sacoolas tells Harry Dunn inquest

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US government employee provides hearing into teenager’s death with written statements but declines to attend

Anne Sacoolas said she “drove like an American”, on the wrong side of the road, as she told an inquest about the crash in which Harry Dunn, a 19-year-old motorcyclist, was killed.

The US government employee declined to give live evidence at the inquest, on Wednesday, providing two written statements that were read to the court.

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