U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor, who was appointed by President George W. Bush, has issued a number of rulings targeting Obamacare in recent years. A federal judge in Texas has struck down Affordable Care Act provisions that require health insurers to provide some free preventive care services. The ruling could jeopardize coverage nationwide for people relying on the health care law for preventive services, such as screenings for cancer, as well as HIV drugs. In the decision, U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor mentioned his previous ruling on the structure of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which was created under Obamacare and helps determine preventive services coverage, saying it violates the appointments clause of the Constitution and therefore its related preventive care mandates are unlawful. O'Connor also said Obamacare's requirement to cover drugs preventing HIV, known as PrEP, violates the religious rights of plaintiffs under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993.

A new civil suit against Binance filed by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission accuses the crypto giant of a slew of counts, including failing to register its derivative products and failing to fence off its services from U.S. customers. But it’s also filled with specific details about alleged criminal activity from the top officers of the company, whom the CFTC accuses of knowing about and engaging in criminal transactions. “Internally, Binance officers, employees, and agents have acknowledged that the Binance platform has facilitated potentially illegal activities,” the CFTC’s complaint reads, citing the example of a conversation between former chief compliance officer Samuel Lim and another colleague in February 2019 about a transaction with Hamas, a militant group. Lim reportedly told the colleague that terrorists typically send “small sums,” because “large sums constitute money laundering.” The colleague responded, “can barely buy an AK47 with 600 bucks.”

A Manhattan grand jury has made Trump the first former president in American history to face criminal charges

City investigators have concluded that members of the NYPD harassed two men who filed 311 complaints about illegal parking and other unsafe road conditions, harassment that Streetsblog revealed in multiple exclusive stories last year. The conclusion by the Department of Investigation — reached in February 2022, but only provided last month to Streetsblog via a freedom of information request — stems from extensive reporting in Streetsblog about four people who came forward to describe a pattern of bizarre and intimidating phone calls they received from blocked numbers that appeared to have been placed by police officers. The DOI report concluded that “the caller who left the [harassing] message called from a phone number registered with the NYPD: [redacted]. The caller used the *67 function before dialing [Sherwood’s] phone number, which had the effect of concealing the caller’s name.” The Civilian Complaint Review Board had previously substantiated Vogel’s account and blamed 15-year NYPD vet Brendan Sullivan for placing the calls, as Streetsblog reported last year. The CCRB recommended discipline against Sullivan, but an internal hearing is pending. NYPD records show Sullivan was reassigned in 2022 to the “Quartermaster Section,” where the department keeps office supplies. An NYPD source told Streetsblog the transfer was likely a punishment, but Sullivan made $131,717 in 2022, according to city records. (Sullivan did not respond to a request for comment.) The second victim, Justin Sherwood, also of Brooklyn, had been anonymous in Streetsblog’s coverage until he sued the city over the NYPD’s behavior, which included harassing phone calls and even a text message reading, “Keep fucking around,” that he received mere hours after Streetsblog’s first story went up. The DOI investigation confirmed Sherwood’s allegation that a Det. Sturman had sent the text by tracing the IP address of a computer that, indeed, was “registered” to the home address of Samantha Sturman, a detective who made $141,055 last year, according to city records. Sherwood also said that Det. Sturman had called him a “dickhead;” the DOI report only says she had Sherwood exchanged “obscenities.”

As tweeted by Magus Wazir, a user who goes by u/chaindrop posted a ModelScope Text To Video creation that sees actor/musician/secret pasta monster Will Smith tearing through plates of spaghetti to the r/StableDiffusion subreddit. In just 20 seconds, we bear witness to various eras of Smith demonstrating a need for noodles so profound that it appears to torment him, his face melting and features transforming as he devours Lovecraftian spaghetti tendrils by fork or hand.

DONALD TRUMP IS asking for a plan to wage war in Mexico, and the Republican Party is eager to give it to him. As he campaigns for a second White House term, Trump has been asking policy advisers for a range of military options aimed at taking on Mexican drug cartels, including strikes that are not sanctioned by Mexico’s government, according to two sources familiar with the situation. “‘Attacking Mexico,’ or whatever you’d like to call it, is something that President Trump has said he wants ‘battle plans’ drawn for,” says one of the sources. “He’s complained about missed opportunities of his first term, and there are a lot of people around him who want fewer missed opportunities in a second Trump presidency.” Trump lieutenants have briefed him on several options that include unilateral military strikes and troop deployments on a sovereign U.S. partner and neighbor, the sources say. One such proposal that Trump has been briefed on this year is an October white paper from the Center for Renewing America, an increasingly influential think tank staffed largely by Trumpist wonks, MAGA loyalists, and veterans of his administration.

The budget is less than Gov. Mike Parson’s initial proposal, and eliminates funding for a pre-K program and for public libraries. Democrats and Republicans repeatedly clashed over language that bans staffing for any programs or vendors "associated with diversity, equity and inclusion."

The state awarded a $50 million contract to produce less costly treatments, but moves by major suppliers might undercut the initiative before any new product emerges.

After announcing earlier this year a pivot to quizzes co-written by AI, BuzzFeed seems to have widened its purview to include articles. On review, almost everything the bot has published contains at least one line about a "hidden gem." Amelia Island, Florida is a "hidden gem of beaches," Carmel-By-The-Sea, California is a "hidden gem of California's coast," West Virginia is a "hidden gem of a state," Saugerties, New York is a "hidden gem where small town charm meets big city cool," Stanley, Idaho is a "hidden gem nestled right in the heart of the Sawtooth Mountains," Brewster, Massachusetts is "Cape Cod's hidden gem," Calistoga, California is a "hidden gem," June Lake, California is a "hidden gem," Mammoth Mountain, California is a "hidden gem," Providence, Rhode Island is a "hidden gem," Charleston, South Carolina is a "hidden gem," Connecticut is a "hidden gem," Aruba is a "hidden gem" and "truly a gem," Prague is a "hidden gem," the Cook Islands are a "hidden gem," Saint Maarten is a "hidden gem," South Dakota is both a "glorious gem of a state" and a "criminally underrated travel gem," Cape May, New Jersey is a "gem worth visiting," Arizona is a "desert gem," Ecuador is an "absolute gem," Bruges, Belgium is a "secret gem," and a "Belgium gem," Montreal, Canada is a "travel gem," and Alberta, Canada is a "Canadian gem." Sevilla, Spain is just a "gem."

Nadya Tolokonnikova, the founder of the politically charged punk group Pussy Riot, has been named one of Russia’s most wanted criminal suspects.

The document was accompanied by ground-level and aerial photos of the property, along with a street address in Napa and the notation that the subject of the search warrant had been “stolen or embezzled.” Officers were permitted to “utilize breaching equipment to force open doorway(s), entry doors, exit doors, and locked containers in pursuit of their target,” the warrant said, then listed areas that might be searched.

Exploitation is not an economic development strategy. Along the riverbanks of Eastern Kentucky, the redbud trees are just starting to bloom, their branches still lumbering under the weight of last summer’s catastrophic flood: Lawn chairs, trampolines, twisted gutters and school backpacks remain high in the treetops, each item a persistent and disorienting sign of how life here was turned upside down last July when shallow streams surged more than 18 feet in 10 hours in parts of the state, killing more than 40 people and leaving hundreds homeless. Yet while residents reach for the possibility of renewal, the largest regional investment being offered is a federal prison proposed for Letcher County, the heart of the flood zone. The possible federal correctional institution adds insult to an already injured region. In 2019 activists defeated the proposal, demanding that the funds be used for more forward-thinking purposes, including safe and affordable housing — all the more needed since the flood. The Trump and Biden administrations recommended rescinding funding, with Trump calling the prison “unneeded” and “wasteful spending.” Yet because of the outsize influence of Representative Harold “Hal” Rogers, Republican of Kentucky, who has served on the House Appropriations Committee for decades, the funds remain allocated, and so the Bureau of Prisons is back in Letcher County, trying to break ground. With a price tag of over half a billion dollars, the prison is poised to receive more funding than the combined amount that the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Housing and Urban Development have earmarked for flood relief in Eastern Kentucky. Meanwhile, some residents are still living in temporary accommodations in state parks, travel trailers and even tents.

A Florida charter school principal resigned during an impassioned school board meeting on Tuesday after it was revealed she tried to send $100,000 from the school’s account to a scammer posing as Elon Musk.

Documents obtained by WIRED confirm that Good Smile, which licenses toy production for Disney, was an investor in the controversial image board.

The FOP has, without exception, vociferously opposed every proposed police reform and effort to obtain police transparency.

Disney and the previous Reedy Creek board agreed to revert decisions back to Disney World, which could render DeSantis’ board powerless.

Forty one-year-old Dutch musician Jonathan Jacob Meijer is accused of defying limits intended to avoid unintended incest, inbreeding, and psychological trauma for his offspring.

The executive director of San Jose’s police union allegedly used staff equipment to ship pills across the country.

Yes it’s who you think. Imagine that you are a normal person who reads TIME opinion pieces online and you are reading this.

How AI misrepresents culture through a facial expression.