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  • Netanyahu’s Cabinet votes to close Al Jazeera offices in Israel

    Netanyahu’s Cabinet votes to close Al Jazeera offices in Israel

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    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that his government has voted unanimously to shut down the local offices of Qatar-owned broadcaster Al Jazeera, escalating Israel’s long-running feud with the channel at a time when cease-fire negotiations with Hamas — mediated by Qatar — are gaining steam.

    What You Need To Know

    • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his government has voted unanimously to shutter the offices of the Qatar-owned broadcaster Al Jazeera in Israel
    • Details on when it would go into effect or whether it was permanent or temporary were not immediately clear
    • The vote comes amid deeply strained ties between Israel and the channel, which have worsened during the war against Hamas
    • It also comes as Qatar is helping to broker a cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas in the war in Gaza

    According to a statement from Netanyahu’s office, the decision goes into effect immediately. It could include closing the channel’s offices in Israel, confiscating broadcast equipment, preventing the broadcast of the channel’s reports and blocking its websites, among other measures, the statement said.

    Israeli media said the vote allows Israel to block the channel from operating in the country for 45 days, according to the decision.

    “Al Jazeera reporters harmed Israel’s security and incited against soldiers,” Netanyahu said in the statement. “It’s time to remove the Hamas mouthpiece from our country.”

    The extraordinary move is believed to be the first time Israel has ever shuttered a foreign news outlet, although its government has taken action against individual reporters in the past. The statement from Netanyahu’s office said that under a law passed last month, the government can take action against a foreign channel seen as “harming the country.”

    There was no immediate comment from Al Jazeera headquarters in the Qatari capital of Doha. But several Al Jazeera correspondents went on air to give their understanding of how the decision would affect the channel.

    An Al Jazeera correspondent on its Arabic service said the order would affect the broadcaster’s operations in Israel and in east Jerusalem, where it has been doing live shots for months since the Oct. 7 attack that sparked the war in Gaza.

    It would not affect Al Jazeera’s operations in the Palestinian territories, the correspondent said.

    Another correspondent, on Al Jazeera’s English channel, said the order barred the channel from “holding offices or operating them” in Israel. He said the broadcaster’s websites would be blocked, though they were still accessible by Sunday afternoon in Jerusalem.

    The decision threatens to heighten tensions with Qatar at a time when the Doha government is playing a key role in mediation efforts to halt the war in Gaza, along with Egypt and the United States.

    Qatar has had strained ties with Netanyahu in particular since he made comments suggesting that Qatar is not exerting enough pressure on Hamas to prompt it to relent in its terms for a truce deal. Qatar hosts Hamas leaders in exile.

    The sides appear to be close to striking a deal, but multiple previous rounds of talks have ended with no agreement.

    Shortly after the government’s decision, Cabinet members from the National Unity party criticized its timing, saying it “may sabotage the efforts to finalize the negotiations and stems from political considerations.” The party said that in general, it supported the decision.

    Israel has long had a rocky relationship with Al Jazeera, accusing it of bias. Relations took a major downturn nearly two years ago when Al Jazeera correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh was killed during an Israeli military raid in the occupied West Bank.

    Those relations further deteriorated following the outbreak of Israel’s war against Hamas on Oct. 7, when the militant group carried out a cross-border attack in southern Israel that killed 1,200 people and took 250 others hostage.

    In December, an Israeli strike killed an Al Jazeera cameraman as he reported on the war in southern Gaza. The channel’s bureau chief in Gaza, Wael Dahdouh, was injured in the same attack.

    In 2017, Israel threatened to revoke an Al Jazeera reporter’s credentials after an interview surfaced in which the reporter expressed support for Palestinian “resistance.”

    An order barring a broadcaster is seen as an extraordinary measure by the Israeli government, which broadly allows media outlets to operate in the country. However, the government has in the past revoked press cards issued to individual correspondents over their coverage.

    The country has a critical and outspoken local media scene, though Israel views some international outlets as harboring bias against it.

    Al Jazeera is one of the few international media outlets to remain in Gaza throughout the war, broadcasting bloody scenes of airstrikes and overcrowded hospitals and accusing Israel of massacres. Israel accuses Al Jazeera of collaborating with Hamas.

    Al Jazeera, which is funded by Qatar’s government, did not immediately respond to a request from The Associated Press for comment.

    While Al Jazeera’s English operation often resembles the programming found on other major broadcast networks, its Arabic arm often publishes verbatim video statements from Hamas and other militant groups in the region. It similarly came under harsh U.S. criticism during America’s occupation of Iraq after its 2003 invasion toppled dictator Saddam Hussein.

    Al Jazeera has been closed or blocked by other Mideast governments. Those include Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain during a yearslong boycott of Doha by the countries amid a yearslong political dispute that ended in 2021.

    Sunday’s development immediately recalled Egypt’s shutdown of Al Jazeera after the country’s 2013 military takeover following mass protests against President Mohammed Morsi, a member of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood group. The channel covered many of the Brotherhood’s protests live, to the anger of Egypt’s military government. At the time, Egyptian security forces raided a luxury hotel the channel operated out of, arresting its correspondents.

    Australian Peter Greste, Egyptian-Canadian Mohamed Fahmy and Egyptian producer Baher Mohamed received 10-year prison sentences, but were later released in 2015 amid widespread international criticism.

    Egypt considers the Brotherhood a terrorist group and accused both Qatar and Al Jazeera of supporting it.

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    Associated Press

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  • Ukraine marks its third Easter at war under fire from Russian drones and troops

    Ukraine marks its third Easter at war under fire from Russian drones and troops

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    As Ukraine marked its third Easter at war, Russia on Sunday launched a barrage of drones concentrated in Ukraine’s east, wounding more than a dozen people, and claimed its troops took control of a village they had been targeting.

    What You Need To Know

    • Russia has launched a barrage of drones on eastern Ukraine and claimed its troops took control of a village they had been targeting as Ukraine marks its third Easter at war
    • President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Ukrainians in an Easter address to be “united in one common prayer” and called God an “ally” in the war with Russia
    • Ukraine’s air force said Sunday that Russia had launched 24 Shahed drones, of which 23 were shot down. At least 16 people, including a child, were wounded in the Kharkiv region
    • Russia said its troops took control of the village of Ocheretyne in the Donetsk region

    Ukraine’s air force said that Russia had launched 24 Shahed drones overnight, of which 23 were shot down.

    Six people, including a child, were wounded in a drone strike in the eastern Kharkiv region, regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said. Ten more were wounded in an airstrike Sunday afternoon on the Kharkiv regional capital, also called Kharkiv, Syniehubov said, adding the city was attacked by an aerial bomb.

    Fires broke out when debris from drones that were shot down fell on buildings in the neighboring Dnipropetrovsk region. No casualties were reported.

    The Russian Ministry of Defense announced Sunday that its troops had taken control of the village of Ocheretyne, which has been in the crosshairs of Russian forces in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine. Drone footage obtained by The Associated press showed the village battered by fighting. Not a single person is seen in the footage obtained late Friday, and no building in Ocheretyne appears to have been left untouched by the fighting.

    Officials in Kyiv urged residents to follow Orthodox Easter services online due to safety concerns. Serhiy Popko, head of the Kyiv city administration, warned that “even on such bright days of celebration, we can expect evil deeds from the aggressor.”

    In his Easter address, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on Ukrainians to be “united in one common prayer.”

    In a video filmed in front of Kyiv’s Saint Sophia Cathedral, wearing a traditional Vyshyvanka embroidered shirt, Zelenskyy said that God “has a chevron with the Ukrainian flag on his shoulder.” With “such an ally,” Zelenskyy said, “life will definitely win over death.”

    A majority of Ukrainians identify as Orthodox Christians, though the church is divided. Many belong to the independent Orthodox Church of Ukraine. The rival Ukrainian Orthodox Church was loyal to the patriarch in Moscow until splitting from Russia after the 2022 invasion and is viewed with suspicion by many Ukrainians.

    In Moscow, worshippers including President Vladimir Putin packed Moscow’s landmark Christ the Savior Cathedral late Saturday for a nighttime Easter service led by Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church and an outspoken supporter of the Kremlin.

    Eastern Orthodox Christians usually celebrate Easter later than Catholic and Protestant churches, because they use a different method of calculating the date for the holy day that marks Christ’s resurrection.

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    Associated Press

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  • Mystik Dan wins the historic 150th Kentucky Derby

    Mystik Dan wins the historic 150th Kentucky Derby

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    LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A photo finish for Mystik Dan and jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. in the 150th running of the Kentucky Derby.

    Trained by Lexington native Kenny McPeek, Mystik Dan edged out Sierra Leone and Forever Young from Japan. According to NBC, the last time a race was this close was in 1996 when Grindstone and jockey Jerry Bailey won.

    Hernandez and McPeek also won the Kentucky Oaks on Friday with Thorpedo Anna. They become the first trainer-jockey duo to win both races in the same year since 1952.

    This was the fifth Derby mount for Hernandez and his first ever win. This was McPeek’s tenth Derby and his first Derby victory.

    Sent off at 18-1 odds, Mystik Dan rode the rail down the stretch with a short lead. Forever Young and Sierra Leone pressured the leader in front of a crowd of 156,710.

    Mystik Dan ran 1 1/4 miles in 2:03.34 and paid $39.22 to win. 

    Fierceness, the 3-1 favorite, finished 15th in the field of 20 3-year-olds. This was the sixth year the Derby favorite did not win the race. 

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    Spectrum News Staff

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  • Boeing locks out its private firefighters around Seattle over pay dispute

    Boeing locks out its private firefighters around Seattle over pay dispute

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    Boeing has locked out its private force of firefighters who protect its aircraft-manufacturing plants in the Seattle area and brought in replacements after the latest round of negotiations with the firefighters’ union failed to deliver an agreement on wages.

    The company said Saturday that it locked out about 125 firefighters and a facility about 170 miles away in central Washington. The firefighters serve as first responders to fires and medical emergencies and can call in help from local fire departments.

    What You Need To Know

    • Boeing has locked out its private force of firefighters who protect its aircraft-manufacturing plants in the Seattle area and brought in replacements after the latest round of negotiations with the firefighters’ union failed to deliver an agreement on wages

    • The company said Saturday that it locked out about 125 firefighters and a facility about 170 miles away in central Washington

    • The firefighters serve as first responders to fires and medical emergencies and can call in help from local departments

    • Boeing says its firefighters were paid $91,000 on average last year, though the International Association of Fire Fighters says they are paid far less than crews at local fire departments in the Seattle area

     

    “Despite extensive discussions through an impartial federal mediator, we did not reach an agreement with the union,” Boeing said in a statement. “We have now locked out members of the bargaining unit and fully implemented our contingency plan with highly qualified firefighters performing the work of (union) members.”

    In a statement Saturday, the International Association of Firefighters union said Boeing’s lockout is intended to “punish, intimidate and coerce its firefighters into accepting a contract that undervalues their work.”

    “Putting corporate greed over safety, Boeing has decided to lockout our members and the safety of the Washington facilities has been needlessly put at risk,” said Edward Kelly, the IAFF’s general president.

    Boeing stressed that the lockout will have “no impact” on its operations.

    The labor dispute comes as Boeing navigates mounting losses — more than $24 billion since the start of 2019 — and renewed scrutiny over quality and safety in its manufacturing since a door plug blew out of an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max flying over Oregon in January.

    Boeing and the union remain far apart in their negotiations, which have been going on for 2 1/2 months. Each side accuses the other of bad-faith negotiating.

    The company, which is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, said Saturday that its latest offer includes general annual wage increases and a new compensation structure for firefighters on a 24-hour shift schedule that would result in an average wage increase of about $21,000 a year. Boeing says firefighters were paid $91,000 on average last year.

    The union, which argues Boeing has saved billions in insurance costs by employing its own on-site firefighters, has said it’s seeking raises of 40% to 50%. Boeing’s proposed pay increase would still leave crews earning 20% to 30% less than firefighters in the cities where Boeing plants are located, the union said.

    A major sticking point is Boeing’s demand to make firefighters wait 19 years to hit top pay scale, up from 14 years. The union is proposing five years.

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    Associated Press

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  • N.C. standoff shows how the bystander’s role is changing

    N.C. standoff shows how the bystander’s role is changing

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    CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Saing Chhoeun was locked out of his Charlotte, North Carolina, home on Monday as law enforcement with high-powered rifles descended into his yard and garage, using a car as a shield as they were met with a shower of gunfire from the direction of his neighbor’s house.

    What You Need To Know

    • A deadly shootout in Charlotte shows how smartphone-wielding bystanders don’t always run for cover when bullets start to fly

    • Saing Chhoeun was locked out of his home Monday as law enforcement entered his yard and garage. He took out his phone and started live-streaming the standoff between officials and his neighbor

    • His reaction reflects the new role that bystanders play in the age of smartphones

    As bullets flew just feet away, Chhoeun took out his phone and started live-streaming the standoff between officers and a man wanted for possession of a firearm by an ex-felon and fleeing to elude.

    By the end of the ordeal, five people — four officers and the shooter — were dead and more injured in the deadliest single-day incident for U.S. law enforcement since 2016.

    The shootout also illustrated how smartphone-wielding bystanders don’t always run for cover when bullets start to fly. Increasingly, they look to livestream their perspective of the attack. Experts say the reaction reflects the new role that bystanders play in the age of smartphones.

    “It’s become sort of a social norm,” said Karen North, a digital social media professor at the University of Southern California Annenberg.

    Humans always have had trouble defining the responsibilities of a bystander in a crisis, North said. It’s not always safe to intervene, as with the situation in Charlotte, and people can feel helpless when they’re doing nothing. Social media has provided a third option.

    The “new responsibility of the bystander” in the digital era is to take a record of what happened on their phones, she said.

    “It used to be, ‘If you see something, say something,’” North said. “Now, it’s, ‘If you see something, start recording.’”

    Chhoeun had been about to leave for work when U.S. marshals blocked his driveway and he was forced to huddle for safety in his garage, his keys in the ignition of his truck. He crouched by the door knocking for his son to let him in with one hand and recording with the other.

    Chhoeun said he never would have risked his life to shoot a video if he hadn’t been locked outside. But since he was, he thought: “I might just live it, you know, get everybody, the world to see also that I’ve witnessed that. I didn’t see that coming.”

    Rissa Reign, a youth coordinator who lives in the neighborhood, said she was cleaning her house when she heard gunfire and walked out to see what was happening.

    She began recording when she heard sirens, thinking she would share the video to Charlit, a Facebook group with 62,000 members where residents post about news and events. She had no idea how serious the situation had become until a SWAT vehicle pulled up behind her.

    “Once we were out there, it was, ’Oh, no. This is an active situation,’” she said. “And the next thing you know, you’re in the middle of something way bigger than what you thought.”

    Reign saw livestreaming as a way to keep the community informed, she said.

    “Seeing that really puts things in perspective and lets you know that is really real, not just reading it or hearing about it in the news,” she said of the livestream video. “When you really see it, you can, you know, you know that it’s real.”

    Mary Angela Bock, a media professor at the University of Texas at Austin, said there are many reasons why someone might pull out their phone in a situation like the one in Charlotte. There are always going to be people who try to shoot videos because of a human attraction to violence or to catch someone in an embarrassing situation.

    “There are also good reasons for good people to respectfully, from a safe distance, record police activity, or any kind of government activity for the sake of citizenship: to bear witness on behalf of other citizens, to bear witness on behalf of the community,” she said. “We’re all in this together.”

    Bock, who studies people who film law enforcement, said police leaders often will say to her that they support the idea of respectfully distanced citizen video because it creates more evidence. But that is sometimes easier said than done on the ground during a crisis.

    “Police officers will often talk about how, and this is true, video doesn’t always show the whole story. Video has to start and stop. Somebody might not have been there in the beginning, somebody might not see the whole thing. One perspective is not the whole perspective,” she said.

    “Which is why I advocate to people to respectfully record from a distance because the more perspectives, the better when we triangulate. When we have more than one view of a scene, we have a better idea of what happened,” Bock said.

    Numerous federal appeals courts have affirmed the right to record police work in public.

    Stephen Dubovsky, professor emeritus of psychiatry at the State University of New York at Buffalo, said for someone in that situation, connecting with others through livestreaming might give them a sense of safety.

    “You go out there and you might be at risk, but you’re looking at it through your phone,” he said. “You’re looking at it through the video, you’re one step detached from it.”

    In Chhoeun’s video, two agents can be seen sheltering behind a vehicle. Another agent is shown by a fence in his yard, dropping to the ground as what appear to be bullets spray the area around him.

    “It was so, so sad for law enforcement,” he said. “I know they are not choosing to die on my backyard, but just do their job. And that’s what happened to them, left their family behind.”

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    Associated Press

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  • Andrej Stojakovic explains decision to leave Stanford, chooses Cal over Kentucky & North Carolina

    Andrej Stojakovic explains decision to leave Stanford, chooses Cal over Kentucky & North Carolina

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    CARMICHAEL, Calif. (KTXL) – Sacramento native Andrej Stojakovic, who was a McDonald’s All-American at Jesuit High School in Carmichael, talks to FOX40’s Sean Cunningham about his decision to leave Stanford after one season to transfer to play at Cal, why he chose the Golden Bears over the Kentucky Wildcats and North Carolina Tar Heels, reflects on his freshman season with the Cardinal, and discusses the improvements he hopes to make in his upcoming sophomore season.

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    Sean Cunningham

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  • An AI-powered fighter jet took the Air Force’s leader for a historic ride

    An AI-powered fighter jet took the Air Force’s leader for a historic ride

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    EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. — With the midday sun blazing, an experimental orange and white F-16 fighter jet launched with a familiar roar that is a hallmark of U.S. airpower. But the aerial combat that followed was unlike any other: This F-16 was controlled by artificial intelligence, not a human pilot. And riding in the front seat was Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall.

    What You Need To Know

    • AI marks one of the biggest advances in military aviation since the introduction of stealth in the early 1990s

    • It was fitting that the dogfight took place at Edwards Air Force Base, a vast desert facility where Chuck Yeager broke the speed of sound and the military has incubated its most secret aerospace advances

    • The AI-controlled F-16 is called Vista

    • Vista flew its first AI-controlled dogfight in September 2023, and there have only been about two dozen similar flights since

    AI marks one of the biggest advances in military aviation since the introduction of stealth in the early 1990s, and the Air Force has aggressively leaned in. Even though the technology is not fully developed, the service is planning for an AI-enabled fleet of more than 1,000 unmanned warplanes to be operating by 2028.

    It was fitting that the dogfight took place at Edwards Air Force Base, a vast desert facility where Chuck Yeager broke the speed of sound and the military has incubated its most secret aerospace advances. Inside classified simulators and buildings with layers of shielding against surveillance, a new test-pilot generation is training AI agents to fly in war. Kendall traveled here to see AI fly in real time and make a public statement of confidence in its future role in air combat.

    “It’s a security risk not to have it. At this point, we have to have it,” Kendall said in an interview with The Associated Press after he landed. The AP, along with NBC, was granted permission to witness the secret flight on the condition that it would not be reported until it was complete because of operational security concerns.

    The AI-controlled F-16, called Vista, flew Kendall in lightning-fast maneuvers at more than 550 miles an hour that put pressure on his body at five times the force of gravity. It went nearly nose to nose with a second human-piloted F-16 as both aircraft raced within 1,000 feet of each other, twisting and looping to try force their opponent into vulnerable positions.

    At the end of the hourlong flight, Kendall climbed out of the cockpit grinning. He said he’d seen enough during his flight that he’d trust this still-learning AI with the ability to decide whether or not to launch weapons.

    There’s a lot of opposition to that idea. Arms control experts and humanitarian groups are deeply concerned that AI one day might be able to autonomously drop bombs that kill people without further human consultation, and they are seeking greater restrictions on its use.

    “There are widespread and serious concerns about ceding life-and-death decisions to sensors and software,” the International Committee of the Red Cross has warned. Autonomous weapons “are an immediate cause of concern and demand an urgent, international political response.”

    The military’s shift to AI-enabled planes is driven by security, cost and strategic capability. If the U.S. and China should end up in conflict, for example, today’s Air Force fleet of expensive, manned fighters will be vulnerable because of gains on both sides in electronic warfare, space and air defense systems. China’s air force is on pace to outnumber the U.S. and it is also amassing a fleet of flying unmanned weapons.

    Future war scenarios envision swarms of American unmanned aircraft providing an advance attack on enemy defenses to give the U.S. the ability to penetrate an airspace without high risk to pilot lives. But the shift is also driven by money. The Air Force is still hampered by production delays and cost overruns in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, which will cost an estimated of $1.7 trillion.

    Smaller and cheaper AI-controlled unmanned jets are the way ahead, Kendall said.

    Vista’s military operators say no other country in the world has an AI jet like it, where the software first learns on millions of data points in a simulator, then tests its conclusions during actual flights. That real-world performance data is then put back into the simulator where the AI then processes its to learn more.

    China has AI, but there’s no indication it has found a way to run tests outside a simulator. And, like a junior officer first learning tactics, some lessons can only be learned in the air, Vista’s test pilots said.

    Until you actually fly, “it’s all guesswork,” chief test pilot Bill Gray said. “And the longer it takes you to figure that out, the longer it takes before you have useful systems.”

    Vista flew its first AI-controlled dogfight in September 2023, and there have only been about two dozen similar flights since. But the programs are learning so quickly from each engagement that some AI versions getting tested on Vista are already beating human pilots in air-to-air combat.

    The pilots at this base are aware that in some respects, they may be training their replacements or shaping a future construct where fewer of them are needed.

    But they also say they would not want to be up in the sky against an adversary that has AI-controlled aircraft if the U.S. does not also have its own fleet.

    “We have to keep running. And we have to run fast,” Kendall said.

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    Associated Press

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  • Biden expands 2 national monuments in California

    Biden expands 2 national monuments in California

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    President Joe Biden on Thursday expanded two national monuments in California following calls from tribal nations, Indigenous community leaders and others for the permanent protection of nearly 120,000 acres of important cultural and environmental land.

    What You Need To Know

    • President Joe Biden has expanded two culturally significant California landscapes: the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument in Southern California and Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument in Northern California

    • The move follows calls from tribal nations, Indigenous community leaders and others for the permanent protection of nearly 120,000 acres of important cultural and environmental land

    • The designations are part of the Democratic president’s “America the Beautiful” initiative, launched in 2021 in line with Biden’s campaign promises, and builds on the Great American Outdoors Act

    • Some Republicans and other critics of the president’s initiative say it unnecessarily ties up resources that could be crucial for agriculture and other uses


    The designations are part of the Democratic president’s “America the Beautiful” initiative, launched in 2021 in line with Biden’s campaign promises, and builds on the Great American Outdoors Act. The designations are aimed at honoring tribal heritage, meeting federal goals to conserve 30% of public lands and waters by 2030 and addressing climate change, the White House said in a news release.

    Against the backdrop of Biden’s reelection campaign, the White House emphasized the role of Vice President Kamala Harris in ensuring protections in her home state. The state of California also has conservation targets.

    “These expansions will increase access to nature, boost our outdoor economy, and honor areas of significance to Tribal Nations and Indigenous peoples as we continue to safeguard our public lands for all Americans and for generations to come,” Harris said in a written statement.

    Some Republicans and other critics of the president’s initiative say it unnecessarily ties up resources that could be crucial for agriculture and other uses. In some cases, they allege he has exceeded his legal authority. Some of the president’s past actions have included restoring monuments or conservation land that former Republican President Donald Trump had canceled.

    In Pasadena, Southern California, Biden expanded the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, driven by calls from Indigenous peoples including the Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians and the Gabrieleno San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians. Both are the original stewards of the culturally rich and diverse lands, advocates noted in a separate news release.

    The president also expanded Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument in Sacramento in Northern California, to include Molok Luyuk, or Condor Ridge. The newly renamed ridgeline has been significant to tribal nations such as the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation for thousands of years. It is a central site for religious ceremonies and was once important to key trading routes, advocates said.

    Expansion of both sites makes nature more accessible for Californians, while protecting a number of species, including black bears, mountain lions and tule elk, the White House release said.

    Californians are calling on the Biden administration to make a total of five monument designations this year. The other three include the designation of a new Chuckwalla National Monument, new Kw’tsán National Monument and a call to protect and name Sáttítla, known as the Medicine Lake Highlands, as a national monument.

    Expansion and designation efforts are made under the Antiquities Act of 1906, which authorizes the president to “provide general legal protection of cultural and natural resources of historic or scientific interest on Federal lands,” according to the Department of the Interior.

    Across the nation, coalitions of tribes and conservation groups have urged Biden to make a number of other designations over the past three years. With Thursday’s news, the administration has established or expanded seven national monuments, restored protections for three more and taken other measures, the White House said.

    Biden signed a national monument designation outside Grand Canyon National Park called Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni last August, a move which the top two Republicans in Arizona’s Legislature are currently challenging.

    In 2021, Biden restored two sprawling national monuments in Utah and a marine conservation area in New England where environmental protections had been cut by Trump. The move was also challenged in court.

    Avi Kwa Ame National Monument, sacred to Native Americans in southern Nevada, was designated in 2023 along with the Castner Range in El Paso, Texas.

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    Associated Press

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  • Man who said he ‘fed’ officer to mob on Jan. 6 gets 5 years in prison

    Man who said he ‘fed’ officer to mob on Jan. 6 gets 5 years in prison

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    A Georgia business owner who bragged that he “fed” a police officer to a mob of rioters storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was sentenced on Thursday to nearly five years in prison for his repeated attacks on law enforcement during the insurrection.

    What You Need To Know

    • Jack Wade Whitton, a Georgia business owner who bragged that he “fed” a police officer to a mob of rioters storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was sentenced to nearly five years in prison

    • Whitton struck an officer with a metal crutch and dragged him — head first and face down — into the crowd on the Capitol’s Lower West Terrace

    • Roughly 20 minutes later, Whitton tried to pull a second officer into the crowd, prosecutors say

    • More than 1,350 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the Capitol riot; over 850 of them have been sentenced


    Jack Wade Whitton struck an officer with a metal crutch and dragged him — head first and face down — into the crowd on the Capitol’s Lower West Terrace. Whitton later boasted in a text message that he “fed him to the people.”

    Roughly 20 minutes later, Whitton tried to pull a second officer into the crowd, prosecutors say. He also kicked at, threatened and threw a construction pylon at officers trying to hold off the mob of then-President Donald Trump’s supporters.

    “You’re gonna die tonight!” he shouted at police after striking an officer’s riot shield.

    Whitton, of Locust Grove, Georgia, expressed remorse for his “horrible” actions on Jan. 6 before U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras sentenced him to four years and nine months in prison. The 33-year-old will get credit for the three years that he has been jailed since his arrest.

    “I tell you with confidence: I have changed,” Whitton told the judge.

    Whitton, who pleaded guilty to an assault charge last year, told the judge that he has never been a “political person.”

    “I’ve never been a troublemaker. I’ve always been a hard worker and a law-abiding citizen,” he said.

    The judge said the videos of Whitton attacking police are “gruesome.”

    “You really were out of control,” the judge told him.

    Prosecutors recommended a prison sentence of eight years and one month for Whitton, who owned and operated his own fence building company before his April 2021 arrest.

    “Whitton looked for opportunities to attack: In his three documented assaults, he was either a leader or a solitary actor,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing.

    Videos show that contemporaneous attacks on police by Whitton and a co-defendant, Justin Jersey, “ignited the rageful onslaught of violence that followed” on the Lower West Terrace, prosecutors said.

    “As Whitton and Jersey commenced their assaults, the tenor of the crowd audibly changed,” they wrote. “Other rioters surged towards the Archway and joined the attack, throwing objects at the officers and striking at them with makeshift weapons such as a hockey stick, a pieces of wood, a flagpole, and a police riot shield.”

    Whitton was among nine defendants charged in the same attack. Two co-defendants, Logan Barnhart and Jeffrey Sabol, helped Whitton drag an officer into the crowd before other rioters beat the officer with a flagpole and a stolen police baton.

    That evening, Whitton texted somebody images of his bloodied hands.

    “This is from a bad cop,” he wrote. “Yea I fed him to the people. (I don’t know) his status. And don’t care (to be honest).”

    Defense attorney Komron Jon Maknoon said Whitton traveled to Washington to support his girlfriend because she wanted to “witness an historic event” on Jan. 6, when Trump, a Republican, held a rally as Congress was about to certify his 2020 presidential election loss to Joe Biden, a Democrat.

    “While his motives were not politically driven, he does possess a genuine love for his country and shares the desire for a free and fair election, much like any other citizen,” Maknoon wrote.

    The judge previously sentenced seven of Whitton’s co-defendants to prison terms ranging from two years and six months to five years and 10 months.

    More than 1,350 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the Capitol riot. Over 850 of them have been sentenced, with roughly two-thirds receiving a term of imprisonment ranging from a few days to 22 years.

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    Associated Press

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  • Weather Explained: Flood Watch vs. Flood Warning

    Weather Explained: Flood Watch vs. Flood Warning

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    The difference between a Flood Watch and a Flood Warning can become confusing. 

    But knowing the difference between the two could help save your life. It doesn’t take much water to sweep you off your feet or move your vehicle, so you should stay prepared.

    Watch the video above to learn the meaning behind the two alerts and what you should do when the National Weather Service issues one for your area.

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    Spectrum News Weather Staff

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  • Blinken pushes Hamas to agree on Gaza cease-fire

    Blinken pushes Hamas to agree on Gaza cease-fire

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    Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Israel on Wednesday to press for a cease-fire deal in the Israel-Hamas war, saying “the time is now” and warning that Hamas would bear the blame for any failure to reach an agreement to halt the war in Gaza.

    Blinken greeted the families of Israeli hostages held in Gaza who were protesting outside a meeting between him and Israel’s president, telling them that setting their loved ones free was “at the heart of everything we’re trying to do.”

    What You Need To Know

    • Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Israeli leaders on Wednesday in his push for a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas

    • Blinken, saying “the time is now” for an agreement that would free hostages and pause fighting, contended that Hamas would bear the blame for any failure to achieve a deal

    • A truce could avert an Israeli incursion into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are sheltering

    • The current round of talks appears to be serious, but the sides remain far apart on whether the war should end as part of an emerging deal
    • Blinken said the deal would also allow much needed food, medicine and water to get into Gaza


    Blinken is on his seventh visit to the region since the war erupted in October, aiming to secure what’s been an elusive deal between Israel and Hamas that could avert an Israeli incursion into the southern Gaza town of Rafah, where some 1.4 million Palestinians are sheltering.

    The current round of talks appears to be serious, but the sides remain far apart on one key issue — whether the war should end as part of an emerging deal.

    Before agreeing to an initial, short-term cease-fire and partial hostage release, Hamas wants assurances that the eventual freeing of all the hostages will bring the end of Israel’s offensive and its full withdrawal from Gaza. Israel has offered only a pause after which it would resume its offensives until Hamas is destroyed. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated his determination to attack Rafah in talks with Blinken on Wednesday.

    Blinken put pressure on Hamas, saying it would bear the blame for any failure to get a deal. Hamas said in a statement it would likely reply to the latest proposal on Thursday.

    “We are determined to get a cease-fire that brings the hostages home and to get it now, and the only reason that that wouldn’t be achieved is because of Hamas,” Blinken told Israel’s ceremonial President Isaac Herzog at a meeting in Tel Aviv.

    “There is a proposal on the table, and as we’ve said, no delays, no excuses. The time is now,” he said.

    Blinken said the deal would also allow much needed food, medicine and water to get into Gaza, where the war has sparked a humanitarian crisis and displaced much of the territory’s population.

    Blinken later Wednesday visited the Port of Ashdod, located south of Tel Aviv, where American flour — enough for one-and-a-half million Palestinians — arrived to be transported to Gaza. The United States’ top diplomat hailed the “real, demonstrable progress” made in getting increased aid to the people of Gaza, but said that “given the immense need in Gaza, it needs to be accelerated” and “sustained.”

    But Netanyahu’s vow to carry out a military operation in Rafah, which Israel says is the last major Hamas stronghold showed the remaining challenges in the talks.

    “The operation in Rafah doesn’t depend on anything. The prime minister made this clear to Secretary Blinken,” Netanyahu’s office said after the two met Wednesday. A day earlier, Netanyahu pledged to move on Rafah “with or without” a cease-fire deal.

    The United States has staunchly supported Israel’s campaign of bombardment and ground offensives in Gaza since Hamas’ unprecedented attack on Oct. 7 into southern Israel. But it has grown increasingly critical of the staggering toll borne by Palestinian civilians and has been outspoken against an assault on Rafah, where more than half of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million has packed in and around the town after fleeing fighting elsewhere in the territory.

    Washington says it opposes a major offensive but that if Israel conducts one it must first evacuate civilians.

    In Rafah, Palestinians terrified of a potential Israeli invasion clung to hope that, after months of reported near-deals, this time a cease-fire would be sealed. Hundreds of thousands are living in vast tent camps filling the once empty areas around Rafah

    Salwa Abu Hatab, a woman who fled Khan Younis, said she wants to go home. “Do you think we like life in tents? We are tired and suffering,” she said. “Every day they say there is a truce and negotiations, and in the end it fails. We hope they will succeed this time.”

    “If the invasion happens, we do not know where to go,” said Enas Syam, a woman from Gaza City carrying her child in the camp. “There is no safe place left.”

    In his talks with Netanyahu, Blinken urged him to build on what he said has been the “improvement” in the delivery of aid to Gaza over the past month. Bowing to U.S. pressure to increase aid deliveries, Israel re-opened its Erez crossing into the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday for the first time since it was damaged in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.

    Throughout his regional visit, with previous stops in Saudi Arabia and Jordan, Blinken urged Hamas to accept the latest cease-fire proposal, calling it “extraordinarily generous” on Israel’s part.

    The proposal — brokered by the U.S., Egypt and Qatar — would put a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza up for discussion, according to leaked details confirmed by an Egyptian official and a Hamas official.

    The proposal lays out three stages of six to seven weeks each with a detailed timetable of steps. The first phase would bring a pause during which Hamas would release some hostages, particularly civilian women, in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

    Israeli troops would withdraw from a coastal road in Gaza to facilitate passage of aid and the return of displaced people to the north, then the troops would withdraw from central Gaza. In the meantime, talks would start on restoring “a permanent calm,” the Egyptian official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the internal negotiations.

    The next stage would bring implementation of the calm, including Hamas’ release of all remaining hostages – soldiers and civilians – and a withdrawal of Israeli forces out of Gaza.

    The last stage would see the release of bodies of dead hostages and the start of a five-year reconstruction plan. The plan says that Hamas would agree not to rebuild its military arsenal. The details were first reported in the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, which is close to Hamas and the Lebanese Hezbollah militant group.

    The Egyptian official said Hamas wanted the language of the second phase to be strengthened to specify a “complete Israeli withdrawal from the entire Gaza Strip” to avoid different interpretations. It also wants clearer terms for the unconditional return of displaced people to the north of Gaza, since the current outline didn’t fully explain who would be allowed back, the official said.

    Meanwhile, Israeli airstrikes in Gaza continued. Late Tuesday, a strike hit a house in Rafah — where strikes have been continual despite the masses of Palestinians taking refuge there — killing at least two children, according to hospital authorities. An Associated Press journalist saw the children’s bodies at Abu Yousef al-Najjar hospital as their relatives mourned the deaths.

    On Wednesday, Israel’s military said it was operating in central Gaza, where it said jets struck militants, including one said to be setting up explosives.

    The Israel-Hamas war was sparked by the unprecedented Oct. 7 raid into southern Israel in which militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250 hostages. Israel says the militants are still holding around 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others.

    The war in Gaza has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials. The war has driven around 80% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million from their homes, caused vast destruction in several towns and cities and pushed northern Gaza to the brink of famine.

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    Associated Press

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  • Anger may increase the risk of heart disease, stroke

    Anger may increase the risk of heart disease, stroke

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    Being angry is bad for your health. Even a brief amount of anger could negatively impact blood vessels, increasing the risk of stroke and heart disease, according to a new study published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

    What You Need To Know

    • A brief episode of anger may negatively impact blood vessels

    • Blood vessels’ inability to relax increases the risk of stroke and heart disease, according to a new study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association

    • The new study bolsters an AHA finding that mental well-being can positively or negatively affect a person’s health

    • Anxiety and sadness have also been linked with heart attack risk

    “Observational studies have linked feelings of negative emotions with having a heart attack or other cardiovascular disease events,” Columbia University Irving Medical Center Dr. Daichi Shimbo said in the journal article accompanying the study results. “The most common negative emotion studied is anger, and there are fewer studies on anxiety and sadness, which have also been linked to heart attack risk.”

    For the study, researchers randomly assigned 280 adults to one of four emotional tasks for eight minutes. They either had to recall a personal memory that made them angry, a personal memory that made them anxious or read a series of depressing sentences that evoked sadness or count repeatedly to induce a state of emotional neutrality.

    The researchers then assessed the cells lining their blood vessels both before and after the assigned task to determine if the vessels’ ability to dilate was impaired or if it increased cell injury or the cells’ capacity to repair.

    The only one of the four tasks that caused impairment to blood vessel dilation was recalling a personal memory of being angry.

    “We saw that evoking an angered state led to blood vessel dysfunction, though we don’t yet understand what may cause these changes,” Shimbo said.

    Blood vessels’ ability to relax is important for proper blood flow, according to the American Heart Association. Impaired blood vessels may increase the risk of atherosclerosis, of cholesterol building up in the artery walls, which may increase the risk of stroke and heart attack.

    The new study bolsters an AHA report from in 2021 that found mental well-being can positively or negatively affect a person’s health.

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    Susan Carpenter

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  • It’s National Hurricane Preparedness Week

    It’s National Hurricane Preparedness Week

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    The 2024 Atlantic hurricane season is less than one month away, and the time to prepare is now. National Hurricane Preparedness Week began on May 5 and runs through May 11. 

    What You Need To Know

    • It is National Hurricane Preparedness Week

    • Atlantic hurricane season begins on June 1

    • It’s time to review your hurricane preparation plans

    How to prepare?

    Even if you are not in a storm’s path, there are ways to prepare in advance that will make it easier for you when the time comes. It’s important to know if you live in an evacuation zone, and if so, to develop an evacuation plan for you and your family.

    You can assemble a hurricane kit, including items like non-perishable food for your family and pets, water, flashlights, a first aid kit and more.

    Also, reviewing your insurance plans if you own a home and to sign up for flood insurance if it is a separate plan.

    Here is a full breakdown of how to prepare you and your family and what you can do today.

    This year’s forecast

    Colorado State University released its outlook for the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season in April, and their researchers are forecasting above normal activity this season. It’s the most activity ever forecasted in a preseason outlook since CSU began issuing them in 1995.

    This year’s forecast includes several factors, primarily record warm sea surface temperatures in the eastern and central Atlantic. Warm water acts as fuel for tropical systems.

    Global climate models and forecasters also suggest a transition to La Niña conditions by the peak of Atlantic hurricane season. According to CSU, “La Niña typically increases Atlantic hurricane activity through decreases in vertical wind shear.”

    As always, it only takes one storm to make it a bad season. Here is a full breakdown of this year’s Atlantic hurricane season forecast.

    Changes to the season

    The National Hurricane Center is introducing some fresh changes to the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season you can expect to see.

    Two new names are on the list this year after Florence and Michael were retired after the 2018 season. The new names replacing them will be Francine and Milton. Here is what to know about the 2024 Atlantic hurricane names.

    Along with the new names, the National Hurricane Center will experiment with some tweaks to the cone of uncertainty this season. Inland tropical watches and warnings will now be shown on an experimental map with the cone to better convey threats.

    Here is a full breakdown of the changes you can expect to see this hurricane season.

    Learn More About Hurricanes

    Our team of meteorologists dives deep into the science of weather and breaks down timely weather data and information. To view more weather and climate stories, check out our weather blogs section.

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    Meteorologist Reid Lybarger

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  • Trump says it’s up to states if they want to prosecute women for abortions

    Trump says it’s up to states if they want to prosecute women for abortions

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    Former President Donald Trump, the 2024 GOP presumptive presidential nominee, said in an interview with TIME magazine he would defer to individual states if they want to enforce abortion laws by monitoring women’s pregnancies and prosecuting them if they get abortions.

    What You Need To Know

    • Former President Donald Trump told Time magazine he would defer to individual states if they want to enforce abortion laws by monitoring women’s pregnancies and prosecuting them if they get abortions

    • When asked if states “should monitor women’s pregnancies so they can know if they’ve gotten an abortion after the ban,” Trump said. “I think they might do that”

    • He wouldn’t say if he believed the federal government should ban the shipping of abortion drugs across state lines

    • On a House GOP proposal to grant full legal rights to embryos, Trump said “I’m leaving everything up to the states. The states are going to be different. Some will say yes. Some will say no”

    “It’s irrelevant whether I’m comfortable or not. It’s totally irrelevant, because the states are going to make those decisions,” Trump said when asked if he would be comfortable with states criminally charging women for getting abortions. “And by the way, Texas is going to be different than Ohio. And Ohio is going to be different than Michigan.”

    Trump has proudly taken credit for appointing three of the six judges who authored the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, which undid the 50-year precedent of Roe v. Wade and allowed states to implement abortion bans, but has tempered his enthusiasm for the most severe state laws and proposals, arguing they can be political liabilities as he seeks to return to the White House. 

    But in the TIME interview published Tuesday and conducted over the course of two conversations this month, Trump said his personal level of comfort did not matter and he would leave those decisions up to the states if he were elected president again.

    On a proposal by the Republican Study Committee — which includes around 80% of House Republican lawmakers, including Speaker Mike Jorhnson, R-La. — to grant full legal rights to embryos, Trump said “I’m leaving everything up to the states. The states are going to be different. Some will say yes. Some will say no.” He did not say he would veto federal legislation if it reached his desk, arguing again it would be left up to state governments.

    When asked if states “should monitor women’s pregnancies so they can know if they’ve gotten an abortion after the ban,” Trump said. “I think they might do that” before launching into an aside where he falsely claimed “every legal scholar, Democrat, Republican and other” wanted the question of abortion’s legality sent back to statehouses and state courts.

    Trump described his adopted home state of Florida’s six-week ban, which is set to take effect on Wednesday, as “too severe,” but wouldn’t say how he would vote on a state referendum in November that would undo the ban by codifying abortion rights in the state constitution. He also wouldn’t say if he believed the federal government should ban the shipping of abortion drugs across state lines, telling TIME he would have an announcement on his views within two weeks (and then delaying it another week or two as of Saturday). And he refused to entertain a hypothetical national abortion ban, pushed by many Washington Republicans, by arguing his party would “never” have the 60 votes in the Senate required to pass that kind of legislation.

    “It’s all about the states, it’s about state rights. States’ rights. States are going to make their own determination,” Trump insisted. “And you know what? That’s taken tremendous pressure off everybody… it was ill-defined. And to be honest, the Republicans, a lot of Republicans, didn’t know how to talk about the issue. That issue never affected me.”

    Despite his unwillingness to publicly offer his own distinct opinions on a national abortion ban or  the prosecutions of women who have abortions, Democrats were not willing to let him off the hook on Tuesday morning.

    “All of this cruelty and chaos can be traced back to Donald Trump,” Florida Democratic Party chair Nikki Fried said on a pre-scheduled Democratic National Committee press call. “He repeatedly refused to rule out a national abortion, ban endorsed the prosecution of women and doctors and left the door open to legislation that could rip away access to” in-vitro fertilization.”

    Vice President Kamala Harris will be in Jacksonville, Fla., on Wednesday for a rally focused on the fight for abortion rights. The Biden campaign said she will be there to “continue to make the case that Donald Trump did this.”

    Biden, Harris and Democrats across the country are campaigning against abortion restrictions in the hopes of repeating their electoral successes since Roe v. Wade was overturned in June 2022. A stronger-than-expected showing congressional Democrats that fall and in federal and local special elections since, as well as a successful series of statewide referendums protecting abortion rights in states like Ohio and Kansas, has encouraged them that the issue can be a winner for them this year.

    Biden, a devout Catholic who has long held personal objections to abortion, has said he would work to restore Roe v. Wade as the law of the land.

    “Donald Trump’s latest comments leave little doubt: if elected he’ll sign a national abortion ban, allow women who have an abortion to be prosecuted and punished, allow the government to invade women’s privacy to monitor their pregnancies, and put IVF and contraception in jeopardy nationwide,” Biden’s campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said in a statement. “The horrific and devastating stories in states like Florida, Texas and Arizona with extreme abortion bans unleashed by Trump overturning Roe are just the beginning if he wins.”

    “Simply put: November’s election will determine whether women in the United States have reproductive freedom, or whether Trump’s new government will continue its assault to control women’s health care decisions,” she added.

    Polling suggests most Americans agree with Biden and Democrats on the issues, even as the president runs about even with Trump in national polls and lags behind him in key swing states. 

    Two-thirds of Americans, including 67% of independents, would support a federal law codifying the right to an abortion, according to a February poll from the health policy nonprofit KFF. Nearly 60% of respondents said they oppose a 16-week abortion ban. And 41% of women said they trusted Biden more to “move abortion policy in the right direction,” compared to 25% for Trump and 22% who said neither. 

    Last month, Fox News’ polling outfit found a record high number of voters — 59% —  believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases. Compared to April 2022, the poll found double-digit increases in support for the legal right to an abortion among voters 65 and older, conservatives, Republicans and white evangelical Christians. Majorities opposed six-week and 15-week abortion bans.

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    Joseph Konig

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  • House Democratic leaders say they’ll oppose motion to oust Johnson

    House Democratic leaders say they’ll oppose motion to oust Johnson

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    House Democratic leadership announced Tuesday that their conference will intervene to oppose far-right Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s motion to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., if put up for a vote.

    What You Need To Know

    • House Democratic leadership said they will vote to kill an effort to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., if put up for a vote

    • Democrats had previously indicated that they could come to Johnson’s rescue should the Louisiana Republican put forward a long-stalled bill to provide aid to Ukraine

    • The effort, led by far-right Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, has the support of just two other Republican lawmakers; some in the House GOP appear to be lukewarm about the pospect of plunging the House into the chaos that ensued last year after the ouster of Kevin McCarthy
    • Greene filed her motion last month after Johnson put forward a bill to fund the government and avert a shutdown


    “We will vote to table Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Motion to Vacate the Chair,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., Minority Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., and Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., said in a statement. “If she invokes the motion, it will not succeed.”

    In a press conference shortly after the release of the statement announcing the decision, Aguilar argued there was a “distinction” between voting in favor of Johnson and voting to table the motion to oust him. 

    “None of the discussion that we had in caucus was about saving Mike Johnson,” Aguilar told reporters. “The underlying motion to vacate was not discussed, the motion to table was.” 

    Aguilar noted that each member of the House Democratic caucus should “vote their district and their conscience.”

    Democrats had previously indicated that they could come to Johnson’s rescue should the Louisiana Republican put forward a long-stalled bill to provide aid to Ukraine. Given the House’s passage of the bill earlier this month and signature into law by President Joe Biden after quick Senate action, their intervention appeared all but assured.

    “At this moment, upon completion of our national security work, the time has come to turn the page on this chapter of Pro-Putin Republican obstruction,” the Democratic leaders wrote in their statement on Tuesday.

    Greene filed her motion last month after Johnson put forward a bill to fund the government and avert a shutdown. In the weeks since, two other hardline Republican lawmakers — Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie and Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar — have joined Greene’s effort, citing the agreements Johnson has negotiated on foreign aid, federal spending and government surveillance.

    In a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, Greene called the decision by House Democratic leadership to table the motion against Johnson an “official endorsement of his Speakership.”

    “Mike Johnson is officially the Democrat Speaker of the House,” Greene wrote, going on to question whether he made a “deal” to get their support. 

    The Georgia Republican went on to say Johnson should “resign” and “switch parties.” 

    Republicans have largely appeared lukewarm on the prospect of plunging the chamber into the chaos that engulfed the House last year after a group of GOP lawmakers rebelled against then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy and forced his ouster over a deal he cut with Democrats and Biden to avert a shutdown. 

    “She is a legislative arsonist and she is holding the gas tank and Kevin McCarthy allowed that to happen – that’s not lost on anybody,” Aguilar said on Tuesday of Greene. “What we are saying is we don’t need to be a part of that. Let’s turn the page.” 

    In his quest to win the speakership in Jan. 2023, McCarthy yielded to demands of members of the party’s right flank to allow just one member to force a vote to oust the speaker.   

    Greene, in her post on X on Tuesday, added she was a “big believer” in recorded votes so that Americans can see what every member of Congress decides. 

    “If the Democrats want to elect him Speaker (and some Republicans want to support the Democrats’ chosen Speaker), I’ll give them the chance to do it,” Greene wrote, indicating she will not drop her bid to force a vote on ousting Johnson. 

    Greene has threatened to force a vote on the matter for weeks but has yet to say when she will act. 

    Johnson on Tuesday said he has not spoken to Jeffries about the prospect of saving his speakership.

    “I have to do my job,” Johnson told reporters at a press conference. “We have to do what we believe to be the right thing. What the country needs right now is a functioning Congress.”

    “I have to do what I believe is right every day and let the chips fall where they may,” the Louisiana Republican said. “We shouldn’t be playing politics and engaging in the chaos that looks like palace intrigue here.”

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    Justin Tasolides

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  • Biden tries humor on the campaign trail

    Biden tries humor on the campaign trail

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    President Joe Biden is out to win votes by scoring some laughs at the expense of Donald Trump, unleashing mockery with the goal of getting under the former president’s thin skin and reminding the country of his blunders.

    What You Need To Know

    • In recent campaign stops, President Joe Biden has used mockery with the goal of getting under the skin of former President Donald Trump, his prospective opponent in November’s election

    • Biden has been testing and expanding his jokes over the past few weeks; it started with jabs about his Republican opponent’s financial problems, now Biden regularly jeers Trump’s coiffed hair, his pampered upbringing and much more

    • The jokes are the latest attempt to crack the code on how to clap back at Trump, whose own schtick has redrawn the boundaries of what’s acceptable in modern politics

    • The Republican’s campaign said the insults will only intensify as Biden tries to give them a taste of their own medicine


    Like a comic honing his routine, the Democratic president has been testing and expanding his jokes over the past few weeks. It started with jabs about his Republican opponent’s financial problems, and now Biden regularly pokes fun at Trump’s coiffed hair, his pampered upbringing and his attempt to make a few extra bucks by selling a special edition of the Bible.

    The jokes are the latest attempt to crack the code on how to clap back at Trump, whose own insult comedy schtick has redrawn the boundaries of what is acceptable in modern politics. Few have had much luck, whether they try to take the high road or get down and dirty with Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president.

    “This is a constant challenge,” said Eric Schultz, a senior adviser to former President Barack Obama. Trump is “not someone who plays by the rules. So it’s up to Biden to figure out how to adapt and play by new rules of engagement.”

    So far, Biden has been trying to thread a delicate needle to boost his chances of a second term. He uses humor to paint Trump as a buffoon unworthy of the Oval Office, but the president stops short of turning the election into a laughing matter.

    Sometimes he finds that a few jokes can energize an audience even more than a major policy victory and draw precious attention away from an opponent who otherwise commands the spotlight even while stuck in a New York courtroom for his first criminal trial.

    The latest example came at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on Saturday night. After years of Trump constantly needling Biden as “sleepy” and mocking his age (Biden is 81, Trump is 77), Biden lobbed the insult back after Trump appeared to doze off in court. Trump’s campaign disputed that he was asleep, and with no video camera in place and trained on him there’s no way of knowing for sure.

    Still, Biden nicknamed his rival “Sleepy Don,” adding, “I kind of like that. I may use it again.”

    “Of course the 2024 election’s in full swing and, yes, age is an issue,” he said. “I’m a grown man running against a 6-year-old.”

    Trump didn’t seem to appreciate the ribbing, posting on his social media platform that the dinner was “really bad” and Biden was “an absolute disaster.”

    But jokes at the annual black-tie affair, which also features a professional comedian (this year it was Colin Jost of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live”), are nothing new. The real meat of Biden’s routine comes during campaign speeches in which he devotes a few moments to taking digs at Trump in between recitations of policy proposals and legislative accomplishments.

    “Remember when he was trying to deal with COVID? He suggested: Inject a little bleach in your vein,” Biden said Wednesday to a labor union, describing Trump’s guidance from the White House during the pandemic. “He missed. It all went to his hair.”

    In Tampa, Florida, the day before, he assailed Trump for the Supreme Court’s ruling that overturned abortion protections — with three justices nominated by Trump voting in the majority of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization — and then pivoted to the former president’s hawking of a $60 “God Bless the USA” Bible.

    “He described the Dobbs decision as a ‘miracle,’” Biden said of Trump. “Maybe it’s coming from that Bible he’s trying to sell. Whoa. I almost wanted to buy one just to see what the hell is in it.”

    Biden rarely references Trump’s court cases, but jokes about financial problems that began soon after the former president was ordered to pay $454 million in a civil case in New York.

    “Just the other day,” Biden said at a fundraiser in Dallas last month, “a defeated-looking guy came up to me and said, ‘Mr. President, I need your help. I’m being crushed with debt. I’m completely wiped out.’ I had to say, ‘Donald, I can’t help you.’”

    Even when Biden tries his hand at humor, he rarely strays far from talking about policies. He likes to note that he signed a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law — after his opponent failed to do so despite repeatedly holding White House events to drum up support for an idea that never materialized.

    “He promised ‘Infrastructure Week’ every week for four years and never built a damn thing,” Biden said this month to a group of laughing union members.

    The dilemma is that Trump, who tells voters the whole American political system is hopelessly corrupt, can get away with name-calling that would backfire on other candidates. During his rallies, Trump imitates Biden as a feeble old man who cannot find the stairs after giving a brief speech, and he calls the president “crooked” and “a demented tyrant.”

    The Republican’s campaign said the insults will only intensify as Biden tries to give them a taste of their own medicine.

    Steven Cheung, a Trump campaign spokesman, said Biden is “shuffling his feet like a short-circuited Roomba,” referring to the robot vacuum, while failing to address the “out-of-control border” and “runaway inflation.”

    Rick Tyler, who worked on the presidential campaign of Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, in 2016, said voters have a double standard because expectations are different for Trump, who first became famous as a real estate developer and the star of the reality TV show “The Apprentice.”

    “Celebrities don’t really have standards, and Trump is in that lane,” Tyler said. For a politician going up against Trump, “it’s like trying to play a sport with the wrong equipment.”

    Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., found that out the hard way in the Republican primary in 2016. After Rubio joked about Trump having “small hands” — suggesting that another part of him was small, too — Trump swung back by saying, “I guarantee you there’s no problem.”

    “Nobody has ever beaten Trump by getting in the ring with him,” said Alex Conant, communications director for Rubio’s campaign.

    Karen Finney, who advised Democrat Hillary Clinton in her 2016 White House run, said Trump can bait opponents into “communicating on his terms, not your terms.”

    “It’s the kind of thing where you have to have a balance,” she said. “You could spend all day just responding.”

    But if Trump’s humor is blunt, Biden sometimes tries to get the most mileage by staying subtle. During a Pittsburgh stop earlier this month, Biden spoke elliptically about Trump’s trial, betting his audience was already in on the joke.

    Trump, he said, is “a little busy right now.”

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    Associated Press

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  • Texas sues Biden admin. to stop expansion of Title IX protections

    Texas sues Biden admin. to stop expansion of Title IX protections

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    TEXAS — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Monday announced he has sued the Biden administration to stop the expansion of the gender equity law known as Title IX.

    What You Need To Know

    • Texas Attorney Generla Ken Paxton has sued the Biden administration over the expansion of the gender equity law known as Title IX

    • The changes were announced last week and are set to take effect in August 

    • According to the Department of Education, the update prohibits discrimination “based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics in federally funded education programs” 

    • Paxton, in a news release announcing the lawsuit, said “Texas will not allow Joe Biden to rewrite Title IX at whim, destroying legal protections for women in furtherance of his radical obsession with gender ideology”

    The Biden administration last week detailed changes to Title IX that add protections for transgender, LGBTQ+ and pregnant students to federal civil rights law on sex-based discrimination. Those changes are set to take effect in August.

    Also set to change is a Trump-era guidance on how schools should handle cases of sexual assault.

    Specifically, according to a Department of Education fact sheet, the update prohibits discrimination “based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics in federally funded education programs.” That includes protections for transgender students.

    Paxton, in a news release announcing the lawsuit, characterized the changes as an attack on women.

    “Texas will not allow Joe Biden to rewrite Title IX at whim, destroying legal protections for women in furtherance of his radical obsession with gender ideology,” Paxton said. “This attempt to subvert federal law is plainly illegal, undemocratic, and divorced from reality. Texas will always take the lead to oppose Biden’s extremist, destructive policies that put women at risk.”

    Paxton said America First Legal is serving as co-counsel. It’s president, Stephen Miller, who was senior adviser to former President Donald Trump, said the update will force women and girls to share locker rooms and bathrooms with assigned males at birth.

    “America First Legal is honored to stand with the great Ken Paxton and the State of Texas in filing this emergency lawsuit to stop Biden’s war on women. Biden’s new Title IX regulation is a vile obscenity: it forces women and girls to share locker rooms and restrooms with men,” Miller wrote.

    The 1,577-page regulation finalized last week seeks to clarify Title IX, the 1972 sex discrimination law originally passed to address women’s rights.

    At least 11 states have adopted laws barring transgender girls and women from using girls’ and women’s bathrooms at public schools.

    The new regulation opposes those sweeping policies.

    It states that sex separation at schools isn’t always unlawful. However, the separation becomes a violation of Title IX’s nondiscrimination rule when it causes more than a very minor harm on a protected individual, “such as when it denies a transgender student access to a sex-separate facility or activity consistent with that student’s gender identity.”

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    Craig Huber

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  • Dozens in Italy give a fascist salute on anniversary of Mussolini’s execution

    Dozens in Italy give a fascist salute on anniversary of Mussolini’s execution

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    Dozens of people raised their arms in the fascist salute and shouted a fascist chant during ceremonies Sunday to honor Italian dictator Benito Mussolini on the 79th anniversary of his execution.

    Dressed in black, these nostalgics marched through northern Italian towns where Mussolini was arrested and executed at the end of World War II, and also in Predappio, Mussolini’s birthplace and final resting place.

    What You Need To Know

    • Dozens of people in northern Italy have raised their arms in the fascist salute to honor Italian dictator Benito Mussolini on the 79th anniversary of his execution
    • Dressed in black, the neo-fascist supporters marched through northern Italian towns where Mussolini was arrested and executed at the end of World War II
    • The anniversary Sunday fell on the same day that Premier Giorgia Meloni was leading her far-right Brothers of Italy party in an election rally in the city of Pescara
    • Brothers of Italy traces its roots to the Italian Social Movement, which was founded in 1946 by a chief of staff in Mussolini’s last government and drew fascist sympathizers and officials into its ranks


    Mussolini was stopped by anti-fascist partisans in Dongo, on the shores of Lake Como, on April 27, 1945, as he tried to escape with his lover, Clara Petacci, following the Allied liberation of Italy.

    On Sunday, a group of his supporters marched through Dongo and placed 15 roses in the lake in memory of the ministers and officials from the Mussolini government who were killed there, according to video of the event by LaPresse news agency.

    The partisans executed Mussolini and Petacci the following day in the nearby lakeside town of Mezzegra-Giulino, where commemorations were also held Sunday. After a rendition of Taps, the leader of the commemorations shouted “Comrad Benito Mussolini,” and the crowd responded with a stiff-armed fascist salute and chant of “present.”

    Several police trucks separated the demonstrators in Dongo from hundreds of protesters who sang the famous partisan song “Bella Ciao” during the ceremony.

    The anniversary of Mussolini’s execution fell on the same day that Premier Giorgia Meloni was leading her far-right Brothers of Italy party in an election rally in the city of Pescara. Brothers of Italy traces its roots to the Italian Social Movement, which was founded in 1946 by a chief of staff in Mussolini’s last government and drew fascist sympathizers and officials into its ranks after Mussolini’s fall.

    Meloni, who joined the MSI’s youth branch as a teenager, has tried to distance her party from its neo-fascist roots. She has condemned fascism’s suppression of democracy and insisted that the Italian right handed fascism over to history decades ago. On Sunday, Meloni accused the left of being more of a totalitarian threat to Italy today.

    She noted that Communist Party members had made a formal complaint about the tent structures built on the Pescara beachfront to host the Brothers of Italy rally, during which Meloni announced she would head the party’s campaign ahead of European Parliament elections in June.

    “I note that the Communist Party still exists, and I say so to show where the nostalgics for totalitarianism are in Italy today,” she said.

    She earned rounds of applause as she listed her government’s accomplishments since coming to power in 2022, and drew cheers when she reaffirmed her working-class roots.

    “If you still believe in me, just write ‘Giorgia’ on the ballot, because I am and always will be one of you,” she said.

    The message recalled one of her most famous campaign slogans, “I am Giorgia,” which emphasized her Christian nationalistic messaging and went onto become a viral meme and the title of her memoir.

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    Associated Press

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  • New litter of red wolf pups brings hope for most endangered wolf in the world

    New litter of red wolf pups brings hope for most endangered wolf in the world

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    For the first time since 2019, the Museum of Life and Science has welcomed a litter of red wolves, the world’s most endangered wolf.

    What You Need To Know

    • Durham’s Museum of Life and Science welcomed a litter of red wolves for the first time since 2019

    • The red wolf is the most endangered wolf in the world, with a combined population under 300 in the wild and captivity

    • The species was declared extinct in the wild in 1980, but 45 facilities around the U.S. have started breeding programs

    • The Museum of Life and Science received its first red wolf in 1992, and has seen five litters before this most recent one

    Seven pups were born at the museum on Sunday. All seven pups, four males and three females, were found to be in good health on Wednesday.

    “Their arrival is a beacon of hope for the species and a significant milestone in our conservation efforts,” the museum said in a press release.

    Oak and Adeyha, the first-time parents to the new litter, were identified by the museum last summer as a “high-value breeding pair.” The museum said their litter will help maintain genetic diversity in a red wolf population that has dwindled to fewer than 300 in the wild and under human care combined.

    Red wolves suffered a similar fate as gray wolves. Their population was decimated by predator control programs and degradation of their habitats.

    The species was declared extinct in the wild in 1980 after the last remaining red wolves were captured for a captive-breeding program. Once common throughout Eastern and South-Central United States, the Fish and Wildlife Service says only there are only 15 to 17 red wolves in the wild.

    Red wolves are currently classified as critically endangered. While they could once be found from Texas to New York, they are now confined to a small area in eastern North Carolina.

    It’s the sixth litter of red wolves born at the museum. (Museum of Life and Science)

    But there are around 250 red wolves in captivity at 45 captive breeding facilities throughout the United States, including the Museum of Life and Science in Durham.

    The museum received its first red wolf in 1992, and has since had five litters before this most recent one. Throughout the years, the museum has been home to over 50 red wolves and had more than 30 pups born.

    The museum’s Senior Director of Animal Care Sherry Samuels said that the parents and pups are healthy, and regular monitoring is scheduled throughout the next few weeks.

    “This summer promises to be filled with excitement as we watch this family grow,” Samuels said in a press release. “Patience and quiet observation will be key when observing our new pups.”

    The public could see the baby wolves late next month, but the museum says red wolves tend to be reserved around crowds and loud noises. Museum staff will be present throughout the summer to help the public respectfully observe the new family.

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    Walter Reinke

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  • Yemen’s Houthi rebels claim downing U.S. Reaper drone

    Yemen’s Houthi rebels claim downing U.S. Reaper drone

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    Yemen’s Houthi rebels on Saturday claimed shooting down another of the U.S. military’s MQ-9 Reaper drones, airing footage of parts that corresponded to known pieces of the unmanned aircraft.

    What You Need To Know

    • Yemen’s Houthi rebels have claimed shooting down another of the U.S. military’s MQ-9 Reaper drones
    • They aired footage Saturday of parts that corresponded to known pieces of the unmanned aircraft. The Houthis said they shot down the Reaper with a surface-to-air missile
    • The U.S. military acknowledged to The Associated Press that “a U.S. Air Force MQ-9 drone crashed in Yemen.” It said an investigation is underway
    • The rebels have launched a renewed series of assaults this week after a relative lull in their pressure campaign over the Israel-Hamas war

    The Houthis said they shot down the Reaper with a surface-to-air missile, part of a renewed series of assaults this week by the rebels after a relative lull in their pressure campaign over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

    U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Bryon J. McGarry, a Defense Department spokesperson, acknowledged to The Associated Press on Saturday that “a U.S. Air Force MQ-9 drone crashed in Yemen.” He said an investigation was underway, without elaborating.

    The Houthis described the downing as happening Thursday over their stronghold in the country’s Saada province.

    Footage released by the Houthis included what they described as the missile launch targeting the drone, with a man off-camera reciting the Houthi’s slogan after it was hit: “God is the greatest; death to America; death to Israel; curse the Jews; victory to Islam.”

    The footage included several close-ups on parts of the drone that included the logo of General Atomics, which manufactures the drone, and serial numbers corresponding with known parts made by the company.

    Since the Houthis seized the country’s north and its capital of Sanaa in 2014, the U.S. military has lost at least five drones to the rebels counting Thursday’s shootdown — in 2017, 2019, 2023 and this year.

    Reapers, which cost around $30 million apiece, can fly at altitudes up to 50,000 feet and have an endurance of up to 24 hours before needing to land.

    The drone shootdown comes as the Houthis launch attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, demanding Israel ends the war in Gaza, which has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians there. The war began after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking some 250 others hostage.

    The Houthis have launched more than 50 attacks on shipping, seized one vessel and sank another since November, according to the U.S. Maritime Administration.

    Houthi attacks have dropped in recent weeks as the rebels have been targeted by a U.S.-led airstrike campaign in Yemen. Shipping through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden has declined because of the threat. American officials have speculated that the rebels may be running out of weapons as a result of the U.S.-led campaign against them and after firing drones and missiles steadily in the last months. However, the rebels have renewed their attacks in the last week.

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    Associated Press

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