Category Archives: US News

California debates naming heatwaves to underscore deadly risk of extreme heat

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Experts and advocates are also exploring new ranking systems to add urgency to the growing disaster of rapidly warming landscapes

Climate scientists from around the world issued dire warnings on Monday, in the latest IPCC report on the dangers posed in the unfolding climate crisis. Among them is extreme heat, a crisis that on average already claims more American lives than hurricanes and tornadoes combined.

Though the impact is already being felt, heatwaves are largely silent killers. Often, the toll is tallied far into the aftermath of an event and is vastly undercounted. Unlike fires and floods that produce immediate and visible destruction, heat’s harmful effects can seem more subtle – even if they are in fact more deadly.

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Sacramento church shooting: three children among five dead

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The shooting took place on Monday evening in the city of Sacramento, in the state’s north

A man shot and killed his three children and a chaperone before turning the gun on himself at a church in California’s state capital on Monday, authorities said.

Deputies had been called to the church in the Arden-Arcade neighborhood of Sacramento on Monday evening after a church employee had heard gunshots and called 911, said Sgt. Rod Grassmann with the Sacramento county sheriff’s office.

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Tyrannosaurus rex may have been three species, scientists say

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Experts say there is enough variation in samples to argue there was also a Tyrannosaurus imperator and a regina

With its immense size, dagger-like teeth and sharp claws, Tyrannosaurus rex was a fearsome predator that once terrorised North America. Now researchers studying its fossils have suggested the beast may not have been the only tyrannosaurus species.

Experts studying remains thought to belong to T rex have suggested their variation shows evidence of not one species but three.

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Cartier sues Tiffany & Co for allegedly stealing trade secrets

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Cartier accused Tiffany & Co of hiring an underqualified manager to learn of their ‘High Jewelry’ collection

Cartier sued Tiffany & Co on Monday, accusing its luxury rival of stealing trade secrets concerning its high-end jewelry from an employee it lured away in December.

According to a complaint filed in a New York state court in Manhattan, Tiffany hired away an underqualified junior manager to learn more about Cartier’s “High Jewelry” collection, where pieces typically cost $50,000 to $10m.

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Trump appeals ruling requiring him to testify in New York investigation

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Lawyers argue ordering Trump and two children to testify is a violation because answers could be used in a parallel investigation

Donald Trump has appealed a judge’s decision requiring he answer questions under oath in New York state’s civil investigation into his business practices – a widely expected move that’s likely to prolong the fight over his testimony by months.

Lawyers for the former president and his two eldest children filed papers on Monday with the appellate division of the state’s trial court, seeking to overturn Manhattan judge Arthur Engoron’s 17 February ruling.

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Pfizer vaccine significantly less effective in children ages five to 11, study shows

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Strikingly higher rates of decline in effectiveness for younger children suggest the lower dose they receive may be the reason

The Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine is less effective in children aged five to 11 than in adolescents and adults, according to new data from New York state health officials.

The new research was announced shortly after federal authorities relaxed masking guidance and a day after Eric Adams, the mayor of New York, said he would probably follow Governor Kathy Hochul in ending a mask mandate in city schools.

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Weapons from the west vital if Ukraine is to halt Russian advance

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Analysis: previously there has been a reluctance to supply arms to the under-siege state, but that appears to be changing

Since the outbreak of fighting last week and after years of reluctance, western countries have promised to send thousands of anti-tank and hundreds of anti-aircraft weapons to Ukraine, but they will have to get supplies to the frontline quickly if they are to be effective.

Germany in the past few days broke with decades of anti-rearmament tradition to send 1,000 anti-tank weapons and 500 Stinger anti-aircraft missile systems, while Sweden agreed to send 5,000 next generation light anti-tank weapons (NLAWs).

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Biden under pressure on Ukraine, inflation and more as State of the Union looms – live

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The Republican governor of Arizona, Doug Ducey, has come under fire for saying he needs the support of a far-right state senator who told a white nationalist event in Florida she fantasises about building gallows on which to hang her enemies.

State progressive groups said Ducey should “stop catering to hate”.

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Shaking ceilings, raunchy songs: complaints of New Yorkers’ noisy sex are rising

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Urban dwellers tolerate screeching subways, traffic and noisy bars. But late-night sounds of coital revelry are the breaking point

A wave of “sex mayhem” has apparently been sweeping New York City, prompting residents to lodge an increasing number of noise complaints to a government helpline.

New York is no stranger to noise complaints – New Yorkers file as many as 75,000 a month – but new 311 call data obtained by Patch has revealed that many recent complaints arise from those disturbed by their neighbors’ late-night ventures.

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Yellowstone at 150: busier yet wilder than ever, says park’s ‘winterkeeper’

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From the return of wildlife to the pressures of tourism and the climate crisis, Steven Fuller has seen it all in his nearly 50 years watching over America’s oldest national park

• Read more: Native Americans are at the heart of Yellowstone. After 150 years, they are finally being heard

As “winterkeeper” at Yellowstone national park, Steven Fuller lives in a rustic cedar-shingled cottage, built in 1910, set on a hill a short walk from the majestic Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

On balmier days, with the windows open, he can hear the roar of the 308ft Lower Falls tumbling into the chasm. In autumn, he is treated to the sound of bugling bull elk in rut or, in the middle of night, the howls of wolves.

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Trump ignores Farage – and risks midterm elections farrago – with insistence on big lie

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Analysis: His British friend tried to help but the former president did not want to forget his voter fraud obsession and focus on the future. CPAC loved it but Republicans hoping to take Congress know they are courting disaster

The sagest advice given to Donald Trump all week came from a man who is neither a Republican nor an American.

Nigel Farage, the British politician, broadcaster and demagogue whose Brexit campaign coincided with Trump’s rise to power, warned his old pal against endlessly fixating on the 2020 election.

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Screen Actors Guild awards 2022: Squid Game, Will Smith and Coda win big

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Netflix phenomenon and Apple’s deaf family drama make history at this year’s SAG awards ceremony

The indie drama Coda has won big at this year’s Screen Actors Guild awards, picking up best ensemble in a movie and best supporting actor for Troy Kotsur, who is the first ever deaf actor to win an individual SAG award.

The Apple drama about a deaf family was bought for $25m from last year’s Sundance film festival and has also been nominated for three Academy Awards, including best picture.

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New York to lift schools mask mandate and indoor venues could follow

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Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams announce moves as Covid infections continue to fall dramatically

The mayor of New York City, Eric Adams announced on Sunday that a dramatic drop in coronavirus infections could lead to the lifting of vaccine mandates on restaurants, bars and theaters as soon as 7 March.

His announcement came shortly after the governor of New York state, Kathy Hochul, announced plans to lift the mask mandate on schools, effective Wednesday.

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Nearly half of 500m free Covid tests Biden made available still unclaimed

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White House sees program as a more elastic testing infrastructure that will accommodate surges and remain on standby

Nearly half of 500m free Covid-19 tests the Biden administration made available to the US public have not been claimed, as cases plummet.

Wild demand swings have been a subplot in the pandemic, from vaccines to hand sanitizer and tests. On the first day of the White House test giveaway in January, the covidtests.gov website received more than 45m orders. Now officials say fewer than 100,000 orders a day are coming in for packages of four free rapid tests per household, delivered by the US Postal Service.

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Revealed: leaked files show how Ericsson allegedly helped bribe Islamic State

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Telecoms giant’s internal investigators uncover allegations it was involved in corruption in at least 10 countries

Confidential documents have revealed how the telecoms giant Ericsson is alleged to have helped pay bribes to the Islamic State terrorist group in order to continue selling its services after the militants seized control of large parts of Iraq.

The leak of internal investigations at Ericsson, which also found that the firm had put its contractors at risk and allowed them to be kidnapped by the militants, is potentially damaging for the multinational.

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Republican Tom Cotton refuses four times to condemn Trump on Ukraine

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The Republican senator Tom Cotton refused four times on Sunday to condemn or even comment on Donald Trump’s repeated praise for Vladimir Putin, the Russian president who ordered the invasion of Ukraine.

“If you want to know what Donald Trump thinks about Vladimir Putin or any other topic,” Cotton told ABC’s This Week, “I’d encourage you to invite him on your show. I don’t speak on behalf of other politicians. They can speak for themselves.”

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Doomed ship of gold’s ghostly picture gallery is plucked from the seabed

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Eerie photographs recovered from the 1857 wreck of the SS Central America are now being published for the first time

It is one of the most famous treasure wrecks ever discovered, a steamer named the “ship of gold” after it sank in 1857 off the coast of South Carolina with one of the largest cargoes of gold ever lost at sea. Miners who had struck it rich in the California gold rush were among those bringing home to New York their hard-earned wealth, only to lose their lives when the SS Central America was struck by a hurricane, sinking nearly a mile and a half beneath the waves.

When nuggets, ingots and coins were recovered from the seabed in various expeditions between 1988 and 2014, the world was dazzled. But, with reported values of tens of millions of pounds, it sparked a complex legal case that landed its original treasure-hunter in jail.

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‘Don Quixote-like quest’: Ukraine attack and easing Covid mandates leave US trucker protest on the fringe

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The convoy, which set out to ‘clog the streets’ has had too few vehicles to make an impact on traffic

Ryan Wright stood around a campfire in Lupton, Arizona, a town on the Navajo reservation where members of an American trucker convoy protest were resting for the night. As the fire flickered he discussed a conspiracy myth about the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, he proffered, was a distraction. “I’m not the only one that feels this way,” Wright said. “But I feel like it’s a big fat smokescreen to keep everyone distracted on what is really going on in the world.”

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OxyContin victims fight for their share in Purdue bankruptcy case

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The Sacklers want protection from future suits. Victims’ families want them to ‘know what their greed has caused’

Stephanie and Troy Lubinski met when they were teenagers, and they were married for three decades. Troy was big-hearted, kind, the best fisherman around, a devoted father who cared for the kids during the day after long night shifts as a firefighter.

But he had back pain that began when he worked in construction and then grew worse over the years. His doctor prescribed OxyContin, and that was the beginning of the end.

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