Category Archives: US News

Workers sue secretive elite club Bohemian Grove for wage theft

Posted on by

The private club, which has included Reagan and Nixon among its members, is accused of failing to pay overtime and not giving breaks

Workers at Bohemian Grove, one of the most elite and secretive clubs in the US, have filed a lawsuit alleging numerous unfair labor practices, including 16-hour workdays without breaks, and a failure to pay overtime and minimum wages to the workers.

Bohemian Grove, which attracts some of the world’s most powerful people to a mysterious gathering in the woods north of San Francisco, has long been the subject of fascination and conspiracy theories.

Continue reading...

The best way to raise cows sustainably? Set them free

Posted on by

An old farming technique called silvopasture, which allows cows to graze on a variety of plants in forests and tree-filled pastureland, is seeing a resurgence across the world

Brett Chedzoy and his wife, Maria, live on a 300-acre farm in Watkins Glen, a small town along the Finger Lakes in New York, with 100 cows – primarily Black Angus, with a few White Galloways scattered throughout the herd.

The farm, Angus Glen, has lush green pastures and wooded areas, where black walnut and black locust trees stretch skyward out of rolling seas of tall grasses, shrubs and clovers. When Chedzoy, 54, walks through the pasture at sunset, the cows pop their heads up, follow him and wait patiently at the gate. As he pulls it aside, the cows rush forward into the wooded area to nibble on tree branches and shrubs, before turning their attention to the emerald grass around the trees.

Continue reading...

Can Boris Johnson emulate Donald Trump and make a comeback? No chance

Posted on by

Half of all Tory voters take a dim view of the former prime minister whereas the ex-president has a strong Republican support

There are two very big differences between the situation confronting Boris Johnson and that facing the man with whom he is frequently compared, Donald Trump – namely, popularity and context.

Johnson is weaker than Trump. First, because he is less popular with Conservative voters than Trump is with his Republican supporters. About half of 2019 Conservative voters disapprove of Johnson’s performance in office. And at the time he left office, 40% or more rated him as untrustworthy, dishonest and/or incompetent.

Continue reading...

Joe Biden rallies with union workers in Philadelphia: ‘You built America’

Posted on by

President enlists support of union members against GOP tax cuts for the wealthy at first political rally of 2024 re-election campaign

At his first political rally since announcing his re-election campaign for president in April, Joe Biden told a crowd of labor union supporters: “Wall Street didn’t build America – you did.”

“If the investment bankers of this country went on strike tomorrow, no one would notice,” Biden said on Saturday during a speech which alluded to his blue-collar childhood roots in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Renewing his longstanding vocal support for labor unions, he continued: “If this room didn’t show up to work tomorrow, the whole country would come to a grinding halt, so tell me – who matters more in America?”

Continue reading...

At least 17 injured after bus in Baltimore crashes into building

Posted on by

City bus collides with two cars and then a building in Seton Hill neighborhood, with at least two of 17 injuries believed to be serious

A Baltimore city bus collided into two cars as well as a building on Saturday morning, leaving at least 17 people injured as well as a chaotic scene.

The Maryland Transportation Authority bus at the center of the case struck a Lexus car about 10.20am, with the bus then crashing into a Nissan and then part of a building in the 500 block of West Franklin Street in Baltimore’s Seton Hill neighborhood west of downtown.

Continue reading...

Flying Wild Alaska star pilot Jim Tweto dies in plane crash

Posted on by

Bush pilot’s Cessna 180 crashed on Friday near Shaktoolik, Alaska, killing Tweto and his passenger

The bush pilot Jim Tweto, well known as the star of the early 2010s documentary series Flying Wild Alaska on Discovery, died in a plane crash on Friday.

The crash which killed Tweto, 68, and passenger occurred about 35 miles north-east of Shaktoolik, Alaska.

Continue reading...

Two Americans found dead at Mexico resort died from inhaling toxic gas

Posted on by

Workers at luxury hotel where John Heathco and Abby Lutz died report managers had disabled carbon monoxide alarms

Two Americans whose bodies were found in their room at a resort in the Mexican state of Baja California Sur on 13 June died from inhaling toxic gas, according to officials’ preliminary findings.

The couple – identified as 41-year-old John Heathco and 28-year-old Abby Lutz, of California – had reportedly been dead between 10 and 11 hours before being discovered in their room at the oceanfront Hyatt Rancho Pescadero Hotel in El Pescadero, Mexico. The cause of death was ruled as intoxication of an unspecified gas substance that local officials as of Saturday were still working to determine.

Continue reading...

US rightwing group planned $6m for anti-trans messaging in 2022 midterms

Posted on by

Independent Women’s Voice turned resources to fighting trans rights in 10 key swing states, documents reveal

In the months leading up to the 2022 US midterm elections, hundreds of thousands of Facebook users in swing states were targeted with advertisements asking them to sign the Women’s Bill of Rights – a relatively innocuous-sounding initiative presented as a crusade for women’s empowerment. “The Real Fight For Women”, read one version featuring a woman looking down at a cityscape and flexing her biceps. “We know what a woman is,” proclaimed another, its text hovering over a closeup of the Statue of Liberty.

But the Women’s Bill of Rights is a weapon in a war against gender equity being waged by a conservative non-profit women’s group. Independent Women’s Voice, or IWV, lobbies against the equal rights amendment, criticizes public school curriculum and opposes government-funded parental leave. Recently, they have turned their resources to fighting transgender rights. And, according to documents shared with the Guardian by watchdog True North Research, IWV budgeted nearly $6m to promote anti-trans messaging in 10 swing states in advance of last year’s midterms.

Continue reading...

Biden begins re-relection campaign – does he have what it takes to win again?

Posted on by

The oldest president in history is ditching his Covid-imposed ‘basement strategy’ for the most gruelling campaign of his life

It became known as the “basement strategy”. As the coronavirus pandemic raged outside, presidential candidate Joe Biden addressed the nation from a makeshift studio under his Delaware home, avoiding off-the-cuff gaffes and allowing rival Donald Trump to self-destruct.

But three years on, with lockdowns lifted and America mostly back to a new version of normal, Biden knows that speeches on glitchy Zoom calls or in empty auditoriums will not be enough. The president, who at 80 is the oldest in American history, is facing the final, most gruelling campaign of his life.

Continue reading...

Arizona man freed after nearly three decades on death row

Posted on by

Barry Jones pleads guilty to lesser charge in deal to overturn his conviction for murder of four-year-old girl in 1994

An Arizona man who spent nearly three decades on death row before the reversal of his conviction over the death of a four-year-old girl has been freed from prison.

Barry Jones’s release, ordered on Thursday, came after a Tuscon-area state court judge approved a deal between prosecutors and him which involved his pleading guilty to a lesser murder charge. According to prosecutors, a medical review of the case failed to conclude that Jones caused the girl’s fatal injury, and his pleading guilty to second-degree murder involves his failure to adequately seek emergency care for the victim.

Continue reading...

North Korea holds key meeting as US sends nuclear submarine to South Korea

Posted on by

Kim Jong-un attended the conference to review defence strategies and the country’s struggling economy

North Korea opened a key political conference with leader Kim Jong-un in attendance to discuss improving its struggling economy and reviewing defence strategies in the face of growing tensions with rivals, according to state media reports.

The enlarged plenary meeting of the ruling Workers’ party’s central committee came as the US sent a nuclear-powered submarine to South Korea in the allies’ latest show of force against the North, which has ramped up its testing of nuclear-capable missiles to a record pace in recent months.

Continue reading...

Bug swarm: Nevada crawling with thick carpet of Mormon crickets

Posted on by

Millions of crickets – or rather shield-backed katydids – migrating across state, after hatching was delayed in spring

Millions of flightless insects known as Mormon crickets have descended across Nevada, alarming residents, blanketing roadways and buildings, and fueling nightmares.

Footage shared on social media and by local news outlets captures six Nevada counties under siege, with thick carpets of bugs moving slowly and efficiently across the state. A local hospital had to deploy brooms and leafblowers to clear the way for patients to get into the building, a spokesperson for the Northeastern Nevada Regional Hospital, told local news outlet KSL.

Continue reading...

More than 50m Americans under severe storm threat after at least five people die in southern states – as it happened

Posted on by

Extreme weather warnings issued across the US as more storms are expected; millions also warned of heatwave

Across the world this month, temperatures have accelerated to record-setting levels, an ominous sign in the climate crisis ahead of a gathering El Niño that could potentially propel 2023 to become the hottest year ever recorded.

Preliminary global average temperatures taken so far in June are nearly 1C (1.8F) above levels previously recorded for the same month, going back to 1979.

Continue reading...

Judge blocks implementation of Indiana ban on treatment for trans minors

Posted on by

Federal judge issues order stopping ban on puberty blockers and hormones due to take effect on 1 July.

A US federal judge on Friday issued an order stopping an Indiana ban on puberty blockers and hormones for transgender minors from taking effect as scheduled 1 July.

Indiana’s American Civil Liberties Union sought the temporary injunction in its legal challenge of the Republican-backed law, which was enacted this spring amid a national push by politically conservative legislatures to curb LGBTQ+ rights.

Continue reading...

George Floyd murder: Minneapolis police have pattern of aggression and discrimination, DoJ inquiry finds

Posted on by

Merrick Garland announces findings of Department of Justice investigation into department after Floyd’s killing by officers

The US attorney general, Merrick Garland, on Friday announced that the 2020 murder of George Floyd was part of a “pattern or practice” of excessive force used by the department and years of unlawful discrimination against Black Americans.

Garland held a press conference to reveal the findings of the two-year investigation by the Department of Justice (DoJ) into the conduct and training of the Minneapolis police department (MPD) both before and after George Floyd’s death at the hands of officers in the city in 2020.

Continue reading...

Joe Biden says mass shootings plague the US ‘every damn day’ – as it happened

Posted on by

President makes speech in Connecticut at summit marking passage of tougher gun control law last year

The Minneapolis police force use excessive force and discriminate against marginalized groups, including Black and Native Americans and people with behavioral issues, attorney general Merrick Garland said as he announced the findings of the justice department’s investigation following George Floyd’s death.

“We found that MPD … engages in a pattern or practice of using excessive force, unlawfully discriminating against Black and Native American people in enforcement activities, violating the rights of people engaged in protected speech and discriminating against people with behavioral disabilities and … when responding to them in crisis,” Garland said.

The city council approved the court-enforceable agreement on Friday on an 11-0 vote, but not before several members expressed harsh criticism of the Minneapolis police department and other city leaders over the years.

“The lack of political will to take responsibility for MPD is why we are in this position today,” council member Robin Wonsley said.

Continue reading...

Obama criticizes GOP hopefuls Nikki Haley and Tim Scott over racism stances

Posted on by

Former president notes tendency among Republican candidates to gloss over effects of racism, prompting pushback from both

Barack Obama has criticized two Republican presidential hopefuls, the South Carolina senator Tim Scott and the former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, over their stances on race relations in America.

On a podcast interview, Obama, who became the first Black US president when he was elected in 2008, said that while presenting a hopeful message on race relations was important, “that has to be undergirded with an honest accounting of our past and our present”.

Continue reading...

Three people killed and one missing after tornadoes strike Texas town

Posted on by

Homes in Perryton, 110 miles north of Amarillo, reduced to rubble and power was cut in the aftermath of the storm

Search and rescue crews will resume searching on Friday for at least one person missing in the north Texas town of Perryton after it was struck by one or more tornados that killed three people and sent up to 100 more to the hospital on Thursday evening, some in critical condition.

The town remained without power the day after a huge twister inflicted damage to homes and a mobile home park.

Continue reading...

Republicans end longest walkout in Oregon legislature’s history

Posted on by

Lawmakers showed up for work Thursday after compromising with Democrats on abortion and gun safety measures

Ending a walkout that held up key bills for six weeks, Republicans showed up for work in the Oregon senate on Thursday after wresting concessions from Democrats on measures covering abortion, transgender healthcare and gun rights.

The lawmakers’ walkout – the longest in state history and the second-longest in the United States – came as several statehouses around the nation have been ideological battlegrounds, including in Montana and Tennessee.

Continue reading...

‘More extreme, more violent’: experts’ warning over khaki-clad Patriot Front

Posted on by

Their button-up shirts and chinos have prompted mockery but experts say the far-right group is becoming increasingly violent

For years, there has been an element of the ridiculous to Patriot Front and their rallies, which can look like a sort of cosplay version of a white nationalist movement.

At a Patriot Front demonstration in Washington in May, more than a hundred Patriot Front members marched along the National Mall wearing matching outfits of beige or brown chinos and blue button-up shirts.

Continue reading...