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Month: May 2021

Arizona GOP election official defends office against Trump voting conspiracy theory: ‘We are humans, it has to stop.’

The Republican official who heads Maricopa County, Arizona’s election department offered a forceful defense of his office on Monday after former President Donald Trump falsely claimed that the county’s “entire Database” had been deleted. “At some point, we are humans, it has to stop,” Stephen Richer, the Maricopa County recorder, told CNN’s Erin Burnett on

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DA vows to pursue charges after case dismissed against former Philadelphia police officer who used pepper spray on protesters

A former Philadelphia police officer seen on video using pepper spray on Black Lives Matter protesters had his charges dismissed Monday, according to court documents. Municipal Court Judge William Austin Meehan Jr. dismissed the case after he determined Richard Paul Nicoletti had not committed a crime, Nicoletti’s attorney Fortunato Perri Jr. said, declining to comment

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Texas and Indiana to drop $300 weekly federal boost to unemployment benefits during pandemic

Texas and Indiana will end early the $300 weekly federal boost to state unemployment payments, as well as two other pandemic jobless benefits programs, according to both states’ Republican governors — joining 17 other GOP-led states in dropping the federal expanded benefits over the past two weeks. The two states’ announcements on Monday mean that

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New York won’t require masks or social distancing for fully vaccinated people starting Wednesday

New York will adopt the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidelines to not require masks or social distancing for vaccinated people beginning Wednesday, Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Monday. Unvaccinated people should still wear masks, and masks will still be required of all people on public transit, in schools and some communal settings,

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Bob Garfield fired by New York Public Radio for allegedly violating anti-bullying policy

New York Public Radio has fired commentator Bob Garfield, who co-hosted the WNYC show “On the Media,” for allegedly violating the company’s anti-bullying policy. The company announced the decision, which stemmed from a third-party investigation, on Monday. “This decision was made following a recent investigation conducted by an outside investigator that found that he had

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White House releases Biden’s tax returns in restoration of presidential tradition

The White House released the 2020 tax returns for both President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday, restoring a presidential tradition that had been ignored under former President Donald Trump. The White House also released the first and second families’ financial public financial disclosure reports. The Bidens filed their federal tax return

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GOP leaders split on the January 6 probe but No. 2 Republican predicts Senate will pass bill ‘in some form’

Senate Minority Whip John Thune predicted Monday that his chamber would pass a bill to establish a bipartisan commission probing the January 6 attack “in some form” and seemed content on focusing mainly on the events that transpired at the Capitol, splitting with other GOP leaders who want the investigation to dig into left-wing extremism

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A police shooting delayed this Black college’s graduation in 1970. Now, those students finally got their ceremony — and an apology

The class of 1970 at Jackson State University in Mississippi finally got to turn their tassels, over 50 years after their initial ceremony was delayed by a police shooting that left a dozen injured and two students dead. In May 1970, two students were killed and 12 were wounded when local law enforcement fired about

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Microsoft board investigated Bill Gates over an alleged affair with employee, report says

Bill Gates‘s 2020 resignation from Microsoft’s board of directors came after the board hired a law firm to investigate a romantic relationship he had with a Microsoft employee, according to new reporting from the Wall Street Journal. Citing “people familiar with the matter,” the Journal reported Sunday that a Microsoft engineer had “alleged in a

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Fact check: Crenshaw tries to whitewash Republican brief supporting lawsuit that sought to overturn election

Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw tried Sunday to downplay his December decision to sign on to a legal brief in support of the Texas lawsuit that sought to get the Supreme Court to overturn the 2020 presidential election. The extraordinary and ultimately unsuccessful lawsuit from Texas’ Republican attorney general asked the Supreme Court to invalidate the

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What we know about UFOs: How the Pentagon has handled reported sightings, mysterious videos and more

For years, the US government largely ignored reports of mysterious flying objects seen moving through restricted military airspace but it is now slowly beginning to acknowledge that UFOs, which the Pentagon refers to as unidentified aerial phenomena, are real. While it is certainly premature to speculate as to whether these flying objects come from another

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Former Trump officials dodge questions about not defending US Capitol on January 6 as Republicans downplay riot

Two former top Trump administration officials testified before Congress on Wednesday about the Capitol insurrection, dodging questions from Democratic lawmakers about the attack while Republicans at the hearing used their time to criticize the government’s investigations into the rioters and question the existence of the insurrection itself. Former acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller issued

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2 cousins drown while skipping rocks at lake

Click here for updates on this story     BROCKTON, Massachussets (WBZ) — Two boys who were pulled from the water Saturday in a Brockton park have been identified as cousins who were skipping rocks and fell in, the Plymouth County District Attorney’s office said. District Attorney Timothy Cruz identified the victims as 13-year-old Rafael Andrande and

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Artist turns utility box into art

Click here for updates on this story     BEDFORD, Massachusetts (WBZ) — A local artist decided one of the busiest spots in Bedford needed some brightening up. So Sarah Scoville got a grant from the town council and made it happen. She painted an ugly utility box on Great Road and turned it into a work

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81-year-old in wheelchair killed on roadway

Click here for updates on this story     COBB COUNTY, Georgia (WGCL) — Police have identified the victim in Friday afternoon’s fatal pedestrian accident in Cobb County. On Monday police announced the pedestrian was James Kenneth Wise, 81, of Smyrna. The preliminary investigation revealed a beige 2008 Honda CR-V, driven by Joyce Ann Piatt, 84, of

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Supreme Court says unanimous jury verdict requirement does not apply retroactively

The Supreme Court said on Monday that a decision last term holding that the Constitution requires unanimous jury verdicts for state criminal trials does not apply retroactively. The ruling is a loss for Thedrick Edwards and hundreds of others in Oregon, Louisiana and Puerto Rico, jurisdictions that allowed non-unanimous verdicts before the Supreme Court’s decision

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The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has strained medical services and left families reeling. Here are five organizations you can support to help victims

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has boiled over into another violent episode, leaving families in the region reeling from tragedy. As the conflict enters its second week, Israeli airstrikes in Gaza have killed more than 190 Palestinians and injured more than 1,200 according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Militant rocket fire from Gaza into Israel has killed

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Philadelphia discovers the cremated remains of MOVE bombing victims after a city health official’s resignation

Philadelphia’s city health commissioner resigned this week after saying he cremated and disposed of some of the remains of the 1985 MOVE bombing victims. However, on Friday, it was unclear what exactly had happened as the city announced that the remains were discovered in a refrigerated section of the Medical Examiner’s Office. Philadelphia Mayor Jim

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