Category Archives: US News

Joe Biden vows to tackle ‘grave threat’ of untraceable ‘ghost guns’ – as it happened

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The Democrat with perhaps the best chance to unseat Chuck Grassley, the Republican senator from Iowa, in the midterm elections in November has been knocked off the 7 June primary ballot – for now.

As the Associated Press reports, late on Sunday a state judge ruled that Abby Finkenauer cannot appear on the ballot for the Democratic primary, because of a technicality.

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Family sues LA Angels after stray baseball fractured boy’s skull

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Bryson Galaz was six years old when ball hit his head, causing brain damage, during warmup at Angel Stadium in Anaheim

The family of a boy who suffered a fractured skull and brain damage after being hit with a baseball during the warmup for a Los Angeles Angels game has sued the Angels, claiming negligence on the team’s part.

In 2019, Bryson Galaz, who was then six years old, was walking with his father in the first row of Angel Stadium, where players were mingling with fans more than an hour and half prior to the game, the lawsuit said. Bryson was struck on the side of his head when Keynan Middleton, an Angels pitcher who was warming up on the field, threw a ball at a teammate who missed the catch.

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Job ad for US bureau of prisons highlights patients’ mental illness as recruiting tool

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Some readers offended by its reference to high rates of mental illness among incarcerated people to attract psychologists

Psychologists who work for the bureau that runs federal prisons in the US can treat incarcerated people with every mental illness imaginable, according to an employment ad that stirred controversy on social media.

The ad, bought by the US Bureau of Prisons (BOP) on Facebook as part of a broader campaign, asks readers to flip to any page in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, a standard US text.

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Sword found hidden in cane during X-ray scan at Logan airport

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Man carrying the cane said he had no idea it concealed a sword and was able to catch his flight after it was confiscated

A man passing through a Transportation Security Agency (TSA) checkpoint was stopped for having a sword concealed in his cane – and claimed he had no idea the blade was there.

Around noon last Tuesday, TSA officers at Logan airport in Boston were searching the traveler, a Massachusetts resident headed to New York.

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Maryland expands abortion access as lawmakers override Republican governor

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Midwives, nurses and physician assistants authorised to perform abortions after lawmakers approve bill vetoed by Larry Hogan

Maryland has become the 15th US state to allow health professionals other than doctors to carry out abortions, as part of a bill expanding access to reproductive rights for women.

Under the new law, midwives, senior nurses and trained doctor’s assistants will be authorised to perform medical abortions from 1 July. The bill also directs the state to ring-fence $3.5m a year for abortion-care training.

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Sam Elliott apologises for The Power of the Dog comments

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The actor expressed regret for his criticism of Jane Campion’s Oscar-winning film, saying he also wanted to ‘apologise to the cast … brilliant actors all’

The actor Sam Elliott has apologised for comments he made last month about Jane Campion’s western The Power of the Dog.

While speaking with Marc Maron on the latter’s WTF podcast, Elliott had described the film as a “piece of shit” western with “allusions of homosexuality”.

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‘They knew the Lord’: Georgia coroner finds son and parents killed at gun range

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Family members of official killed in ‘senseless and tragic’ robbery and shooting in community near Atlanta

A Georgia coroner went to a shooting range owned by his family on Friday evening and found his parents and son had been shot dead in a robbery, officials said.

In a brief telephone interview with the Guardian on Sunday, Richard Hawk confirmed his 19-year-old son Luke Hawk, father Tommy Hawk and mother Evelyn Hawk were killed at the shooting range, which was owned by his father.

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Connecticut mechanic finds art worth millions in dumpster at abandoned barn

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Work by Francis Hines, who wrapped buildings and paintings and died at 96 in 2016, found in dumpster and now destined for sale

Paintings and other artwork found in an abandoned barn in Connecticut turned out to be worth millions of dollars.

Notified by a contractor, Jared Whipple, a mechanic from Waterbury, retrieved the dirt-covered pieces from a dumpster which contained materials from a barn in Watertown.

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Fauci says protocols to protect Biden ‘pretty strong’ amid rash of Covid cases

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‘It’s going to be a person’s decision about the individual risk,’ says president’s chief medical adviser after spate of positive tests in DC

A rash of coronavirus infections among elites in Washington that came close to Joe Biden shows a new reality facing Americans including the president, his chief medical adviser said: that life will involve daily decisions about individual risk from Covid.

“It’s going to be a person’s decision about the individual risk they’re going to take,” Dr Anthony Fauci told ABC’s This Week, adding that protocols protecting the president were “pretty strong”.

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McConnell will ‘make Biden a moderate’ if Republicans retake Congress

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Senate minority leader projects ‘pretty good beating’ for Biden administration in November midterms

The Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, said on Sunday Republicans will force Joe Biden to govern as a “moderate” if the GOP retakes Congress in November.

Speaking to Fox News Sunday, McConnell attacked Biden on subjects including reported crime increases in large US cities, the decision to extend a moratorium on repaying student loan debts, and the administration’s attempt to lift a Trump policy that allowed border patrol agents to turn away migrants at the southern border, ostensibly to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

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Elon Musk unveils vision for Twitter after joining board

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The Tesla boss, who now has a 9.2% stake in the social network, has offered suggestions and criticisms in a series of tweets

Elon Musk has set out his vision for Twitter after buying a 9.2% stake in the company, in a series of posts on the social network described by one commentator as having “chaos energy”.

Since being appointed to the Twitter board on Tuesday, Musk has posted a stream of open questions about the present and future of the site, proposing new features, highlighting areas of concern, and making jokes. Typically for the Tesla billionaire, it was not always clear which was which.

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‘TV is like a poll’: Trump endorses Dr Oz for Pennsylvania Senate nomination

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Former president enthuses about TV doctor in statement and at rally but many on far right doubt conservative credentials

Donald Trump has endorsed Dr Mehmet Oz for the Republican nomination for Senate in Pennsylvania, an expression of support for a fellow TV star which could test the former president’s grip on his party.

Being on TV was “like a poll, that means people like you,” the former president and Celebrity Apprentice star said of Oz, a heart surgeon turned daytime host.

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Texas woman, 26, charged with murder over ‘self-induced abortion’

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Law enforcement official confirms arrest and charge but police do not say under which law Lizelle Herrera charged

A 26-year-old woman has been charged with murder in Texas after authorities said she caused “the death of an individual by self-induced abortion”, in a state that has the most restrictive abortion laws in the US.

It was unclear whether Lizelle Herrera was accused of having an abortion or whether she helped someone else get an abortion.

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Jack White marries musician Olivia Jean in on-stage surprise

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Star proposes in Detroit while singing lyric ‘let’s get married’, before ceremony performed by label co-founder

Jack White surprised fans by marrying the musician Olivia Jean on stage during his Detroit homecoming show on Friday.

The Detroit-born singer, songwriter and producer invited Jean onstage to join his performance and introduced her as his girlfriend.

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Kentucky and Idaho measures severely restricting abortions are halted

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Measures’ constitutionality brought into question amid flurry of abortion restrictions passed in US states

Two measures that severely restrict abortions were halted on Friday, one by Kentucky’s governor and a second by Idaho’s supreme court.

In Kentucky, Democratic governor Andy Beshear vetoed a Republican-priority bill on Friday that would ban abortions in the state after 15 weeks of pregnancy and regulate the dispensing of abortion pills.

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Proud Boys member pleads guilty to role in US Capitol attack

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Charles Donohoe will co-operate, giving prosecutors a boost in pursuit of high-ranking members of the far-right group

A member of the far-right Proud Boys group has pleaded guilty to conspiring to attack the US Capitol in a bid to stop Congress certifying Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election, giving prosecutors a win in their pursuit of high-ranking members.

As part of an agreement with prosecutors that will require him to cooperate against co-defendants, Charles Donohoe, 34, pleaded guilty on Friday in US district court in Washington to charges of conspiring to obstruct an official proceeding and assaulting Capitol police.

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‘Smoking rifle’: Trump Jr texted Meadows strategies to overturn election – report

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CNN reports Trump’s eldest son texted chief of staff two days after 2020 election to say ‘we have multiple paths … we control them all’

Two days after the 2020 election, Donald Trump Jr texted the White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, with strategies for overturning the result, CNN reported.

“This is what we need to do please read it and please get it to everyone that needs to see it because I’m not sure we’re doing it,” Trump Jr reportedly wrote, adding: “It’s very simple … We have multiple paths[.] We control them all.”

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Millions of bird deaths as US hit by avian flu outbreak

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US officials believe nearly 24m poultry birds, mostly chickens and turkeys, have died of flu since virus strain identified in February

Millions of birds have died in the US in recent weeks, because of a contagious strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza, popularly known as bird flu.

The bird flu has also led zoos across the US to temporarily close aviary exhibits and move birds away from the public. At zoos from Colorado to Maryland, species ranging from ostriches to penguins have been moved indoors.

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US officials warn Putin may cite Ukraine war to interfere in American politics

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Intelligence believes Russia’s president may see US backing of Ukraine as direct affront, giving him further incentive to meddle

Vladimir Putin may use the Biden administration’s support for Ukraine as a pretext to order a new campaign to interfere in American politics, US intelligence officials have assessed.

Intelligence agencies have not found any evidence Putin has authorized measures like the ones Russia is believed to have undertaken in the 2016 and 2020 elections in support of Donald Trump, according to several people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity.

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Unruly US airline passengers hit with record fines by FAA

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Aviation authority has imposed zero-tolerance policy and says incidents have soared since 6 January Capitol attack

An American Airlines passenger who allegedly pushed a flight attendant and spat at crew members has been hit with the biggest fine ever issued by US aviation regulators, and another fine topping $75,000 (£57,500) was issued to a Delta Air Lines passenger who bit a fellow passenger after trying to hug and kiss another.

Since January 2021 when the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) imposed a zero-tolerance policy, the agency has proposed fines of about $7m for disruptive passengers. Two new fines issued on Friday were the highest yet.

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