An irresistible trend took hold 50 years ago, and we’re all paying the price. ust after noon on Nov. 27, 2022, a few days after Thanksgiving, Neal Greenfield and his daughter Kimberly Karsen were heading toward their car in Des Plaines, Illinois, outside Chicago. As they walked, a driver lost control of a Honda SUV. The vehicle jumped the sidewalk, striking Karsen and Greenfield before smashing into a building. Karsen was later pulled from under the vehicle; Greenfield was found nearby on a sidewalk. Both were killed. The force of the impact was so powerful that it destroyed a storefront and triggered a gas leak. Now imagine if that crash had involved a sedan instead of an SUV. A lighter vehicle could have braked faster. The impact could have conveyed less force. A lower hood would have created a smaller blind spot, and been less likely to strike a pedestrian’s torso. Research suggests that SUVs may be two to three times more likely than sedans to kill pedestrians in a collision. There is no way to know for certain that this particular crash would have been less catastrophic if the driver had been in a smaller car. But the trends are clear. Karsen and Greenfield were two of the 7,508 pedestrians killed last year—the most since 1981. Something else happened over that 40-year period: car bloat. In 1977, SUVs and trucks together represented 23 percent of American new car sales; today they comprise more than 80 percent. Meanwhile, the models themselves keep getting larger. These four-wheeled behemoths started as niche vehicles, meant to allow certain groups of people to accomplish specific tasks. Today they have become a fixture of everyday American life. They are also linked to myriad societal ills, from crash deaths to climate change to social inequality. Bigger cars make each of those problems harder to solve.

Israel should be sending Palestinian Gazans fleeing the fighting to refugee camps in Lebanon, with the entire Gaza Strip being emptied and leveled and turned into a museum like the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland, Metula Council head David Azoulai told 103FM. "After October 7, instead of urging people to go south, we should direct them to the beaches. The Navy can transport them to the shores of Lebanon, where there are already sufficient refugee camps. Then, a security strip should be established from the sea to the Gaza border fence, completely empty, as a reminder of what was once there. It should resemble the Auschwitz concentration camp," he said in an interview with Ben Caspit and Yinon Magal. "Tell everyone in Gaza to go to the beaches. Navy ships should load the terrorists onto the shores of Lebanon. The entire Gaza Strip should be emptied and leveled flat, just like in Auschwitz. Let it become a museum, showcasing the capabilities of the State of Israel and dissuading anyone from living in the Gaza Strip. This is what must be done To give them a visual representation.

US Postal Service (USPS) employees are sounding the alarm over postmaster general Louis DeJoy's 10-year plan to gut the agency, saying it will put people out of work and delay mail service for millions of Americans. According to the Guardian, DeJoy — whom then-President Donald Trump appointed to head the USPS in 2020 — is in the midst of enacting a 10-year plan to consolidate mail sorting facilities dubbed "Delivering for America," which he claims will reduce costs. As of December 2023, there are currently 30 mail processing facilities that are being considered for consolidation, which the Guardian estimates could cost 25 jobs per consolidation. DeJoy is ultimately aiming to consolidate approximately 400 over the course of the strategic plan. "It will eliminate jobs, good jobs," said Pennsylvania Postal Workers Union president Mike Stephenson. "It’s one more process in the 10-year plan that DeJoy put in when Trump appointed him to destroy the postal service."

In Brazil, workers protest nasty customers with bikes, horns, and fireworks.

Mississippi was forced to grant religious exemptions from vaccines. Now, doctors and public health officials brace for the fallout.

Personal note: Where was this policy when I was sandwiched between (middle seat) two sizeable gentlemen on a Southwest flight a few years ago? Such an uncomfortable and hot flight for me and I doubt they thought the experience was great as well

"They're all without shirts and they have a stick with a white cloth on it. The soldier feels threatened and opens fire. He declares that they're terrorists. They (the Israeli forces) open fire. Two (hostages) are killed immediately," the official told reporters in a phone briefing. The third hostage was wounded and retreated into a nearby building where he called for help in Hebrew, the official said. "Immediately the battalion commander issues a ceasefire order, but again there's another burst of fire towards the third figure and he also dies," the official said. "This was against our rules of engagement," he added.

A grand jury in Mississippi determined that there was no criminal conduct on behalf of the officer who shot and wounded an 11-year-old boy in his home who had called authorities for help.

In 2021 and 2022, two conservative, billionaire-funded legal interests sent more than 100 federal judges on 251 trips to conferences and seminars in cushy locations around the country and overseas, according to a Lever review of hundreds of federal financial disclosure forms.

MindSift, a small New Hampshire-based company, is part of a new push that aims to target ads by listening to peoples’ everyday conversations through microphones in their smart devices, according to a review of recently deleted sections from MindSift’s website and comments made on a podcast unearthed by 404 Media. MindSift has been deleting details about its technology from the internet in recent days, but two of the three founders of the company go into detail about their technology on a small podcast they cohost called “Real Business Roundtable” where they give advice to entrepreneurs. In an episode about “Messaging,” Andy Galeshahi, one of the cofounders of the company, says when discussing MindSift to potential clients. “I’ll say like, ‘Hey, have you ever talked about something and saw an ad for it?’ We’re the guys. That’s us. We distribute the tech. The technology has been around for a while but the torch has been passed.” Most episodes of the podcast have under 50 views on YouTube. MindSift claims they get access to this type of data through another vendor, who they do not name: "Thankfully, we were able to get our hands on it from a very long-standing relationship that we had with a technology group, and now we are bringing this to small, medium, and even large businesses," Galeshahi said in an October, 2022 episode of the podcast called “ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE.”

In his first term, Trump’s plans to send troops to “war” on the border were thwarted. This time, he’s talking about sending up to 300,000 there

A federal jury on Friday ordered Rudy Giuliani to pay over $148 million to two Georgia election workers for falsely claiming they committed ballot fraud in the 2020 presidential election. The jaw-dropping figure includes $75 million in punitive damages, along with awards of $20 million to each of the two election workers for emotional distress and more than $16 million each for defamation. Giuliani was in court as the verdict was read aloud by a federal judge.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is warning health providers that there is an “urgent need” to increase vaccinations against influenza, COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). In an alert published Thursday, the agency cautioned that low vaccination rates, coupled with ongoing increases in national respiratory disease activity, could lead to more severe disease and increased health care capacity strain in the coming weeks. In the past four weeks, hospitalizations among all age groups increased by 200 percent for the flu, 51 percent for COVID-19, and 60 percent for RSV. Providers should administer influenza, COVID-19 and RSV immunizations now to patients, if recommended, CDC said. The agency estimates about 42 percent of children have gotten a flu shot, while national coverage for adults is about 41 percent. Less than 8 percent of children and 17 percent of adults have received a new COVID-19 shot.

The United States has experienced a 12% increase in homelessness. Federal officials pointed to soaring rents and a winding down of pandemic aid for housing.

A Toronto Area man has been fined $100,000 after he quietly pleaded guilty to possession and fraudulent use of thousands of counterfeit $2 coins after depositing the fakes into Canada’s banking system, Global News has learned. During a brief court appearance in Newmarket on Dec. 9, 2022, That Daixiong He, 69, of Richmond Hill, Ont., admitted he was guilty for his use of fake toonies. His plea came after he was caught injecting thousands of fake toonies into Canada’s banking system by making large deposits into several of his personal accounts at BMO, HSBC and RBC.

The U.S. official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters. The Houthis did not immediately claim responsibility for the assault.

Frances Sharples walked through the glass doors of her credit union, ready to make the worst decision of her life. She had a script from the man promising to save the retirement account she built over decades as a science adviser to the U.S. government, including in the White House. He told her to transfer more than $600,000 — and to keep her cellphone on so he could listen to her. If anyone asked whether she was put up to it, she was to reply: “No, absolutely not,” according to her hand-scrawled notes. No one did. She handed the clerk the routing number, walked back to her dented 2005 Honda and returned home. “Now I’m good,” she told herself. “Now, I’m safe.” The doctorate daughter of a plumber from Queens had made a life advising the federal government on stem cells, new energy technologies and the effects of biological weapons. Despite a history of meticulousness, Sharples was victimized by a global network of online criminals, including a man with a gentle Indian accent who helped make off with much of her life savings. The government she served for more than four decades is compounding her pain. The Internal Revenue Service told Sharples, 73, she had to pay hefty taxes on the stolen money, which the federal government considers income. Tax specialists said someone in Sharples’s position could face a six-figure bill. The story of how Sharples was hit twice — first by an international criminal network, then by the U.S. tax code — underscores the nation’s vulnerability to global cybercrime and points to inconsistencies in the treatment of fraud victims, law enforcement and tax experts said.

Doctors working for health insurers can rule on 10,000 or more requests for care a year. At least a dozen were hired by major insurance companies after being disciplined by state medical boards or making multiple or outsized malpractice payments.

No other state spends less on school infrastructure per student than Idaho. As a result, many students, especially those in rural districts, deal with leaking ceilings, freezing classrooms and discolored drinking water. Some students have to miss school when the power or heat goes out. School districts often can’t build or repair buildings because Idaho is one of only two states that require two-thirds of voters to approve a bond. Some districts have held bond elections several times only to see them fail despite having support from a majority of voters. But the Legislature has been reluctant to make significant investments in facilities. Administrators say they don’t know how they’ll keep their schools running and worry that public officials don’t understand how bad the problems are. Idaho hasn’t done an official assessment of school building conditions in 30 years. The Idaho Statesman and ProPublica tried to fill this gap with the help of people who know the system best. We surveyed all 115 public school district superintendents, and 91% responded. Every superintendent who responded said they have at least one facilities problem that poses a significant challenge, and 78% told us they have five or more. Then, we went to communities across the state. Thirty-nine schools took us on tours, often led by district maintenance directors. We also collected stories and photographs from 233 students, parents, educators and others, who described how the conditions affect their lives.

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., has drawn fire from progressives over his fierce support for Israel and broken with immigration advocates with his support for curtailing migration.