The Pleasanton cartoonist riled up Twitter again by weighing in on the Highland Park mass shooting and what to do about boys and young men, like his late stepson, who are a danger to themselves or others.

Subvariants BA.4, BA5 are ultra-contagious and capable of reinfecting those who have survived earlier Omicron infection

The Highland Park shooting suspect doesn't seem to be associated with a ideological or political bent. But extremism researchers say these kinds of acts may actually be part of a troubling new trend.

“Once this happened, I saw the change in her.”

State politicians advanced an effort Tuesday to place anti-vaccination language onto a general election ballot, which would leave the fate of vaccine mandates in Ohio in voters’ hands. If passed, Ohio would become the only state in the nation with an explicit ban of vaccine mandates in its constitution. It would mark a major step backward for public health, dampen an already sluggish COVID-19 vaccination effort in Ohio, and nix a practice of mandating vaccination that traces back through early American history. The Ohio Ballot Board — a bipartisan panel controlled by Republicans — allowed organizers of the “Medical Right to Refuse” amendment to begin gathering the 443,000 voters’ signatures required to place the referendum on a ballot. Organizers said they’re hoping to put the issue to voters in May 2023. The proposal covers all vaccines, not just COVID-19. It contains two basic elements: “An individual’s right to refuse any medical procedure, treatment, injection, vaccine, prophylactic, pharmaceutical, or medical device shall be absolute.” “No law, rule, regulation, person, employer, entity, or healthcare provider shall require, mandate or coerce any person to receive or use a medical procedure, treatment, injection, vaccine, prophylactic, pharmaceutical, or medical device nor shall the aforementioned discriminate against the individual who exercises this right.” If enacted, the law could force changes in several institutions that require vaccination. For instance, the Ohio National Guard requires a broad range of vaccinations from its troops; Ohio k-12 schools and colleges require vaccination against COVID-19 and other diseases as a term of enrollment (although broad exemptions can be invoked); some health care providers require their care personnel to receive vaccinations; some employers require them as well.

Famous vendor Roger Owens has been banned from his traditional peanut bag-tossing routine at Dodger Stadium ... with officials deeming the practice too dangerous.

A right-wing evangelical activist was caught on tape bragging that she prayed with Supreme Court justices. The court’s majority cited a legal brief that her group filed while overturning Roe v. Wade. At an evangelical victory party in front of the Supreme Court to celebrate the downfall of Roe v. Wade last week, a prominent Capitol Hill religious leader was caught on a hot mic making a bombshell claim: that she prays with sitting justices inside the high court. “We’re the only people who do that,” Peggy Nienaber said. This disclosure was a serious matter on its own terms, but it also suggested a major conflict of interest. Nienaber’s ministry’s umbrella organization, Liberty Counsel, frequently brings lawsuits before the Supreme Court. In fact, the conservative majority in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, which ended nearly 50 years of federal abortion rights, cited an amicus brief authored by Liberty Counsel in its ruling. In other words: Sitting Supreme Court justices have prayed together with evangelical leaders whose bosses were bringing cases and arguments before the high court. Nienaber is Liberty Counsel’s executive director of DC Ministry, as well as the vice president of Faith & Liberty, whose ministry offices sit directly behind the Supreme Court. She spoke to a livestreamer who goes by Connie IRL, seemingly unaware she was being recorded. “You actually pray with the Supreme Court justices?” the livestreamer asked. “I do,” Nienaber said. “They will pray with us, those that like us to pray with them.” She did not specify which justices prayed with her, but added with a chortle, “Some of them don’t!” The livestreamer then asked if Nienaber ministered to the justices in their homes or at her office. Neither, she said. “We actually go in there.” Nienaber intended her comments, broadcast on YouTube, to be “totally off the record,” she says in the clip. That’s likely because such an arrangement presents a problem for the Orlando-based Liberty Counsel, which not only weighed in on the Dobbs case as a friend of the court, but also litigated and won a 9-0 Supreme Court victory this May in a case centered on the public display of a religious flag.

Global warming fueled rampant overgrowth of microbes at the end of the Permian period. Such lethal blooms may be on the rise again

Law enforcement is investigating a reported explosion near a northeast Georgia landmark. The Georgia Guidestones, a granite attraction in Elbert County, are located off of Guidestone Road just east of Ga. Highway 77. Elberton Granite Association Executive VP Chris Kubas said drone footage showed the monument was significantly damaged. The Elbert County Sheriff's Office is investigating and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation bomb squad responded. Social media posts indicated people heard a loud boom near the site on Wednesday morning. It's still unclear if authorities have identified a suspect in the incident. Former gubernatorial candidate Kandiss Taylor proposed demolishing the Georgia Guidestones as part of her platform, calling them "Satanic."

Emails obtained by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune confirm that federal authorities are probing discrimination claims involving Gov. Greg Abbott’s multibillion-dollar border initiative. The Department of Justice is investigating alleged civil rights violations under Operation Lone Star, a multibillion-dollar border initiative announced last year by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, according to state records obtained by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune. The Legislature last year directed more than $3 billion to border measures over the next two years, a bulk of which has gone to Operation Lone Star. Under the initiative, which Abbott said he launched to combat human and drug smuggling, the state has deployed more than 10,000 National Guard members and Department of Public Safety troopers to the border with Mexico and built some fencing. Thousands of immigrant men seeking to enter the country have been arrested for trespassing onto private property, and some have been kept in jail for weeks without charges being filed. Since the operation’s launch, a number of news organizations, including ProPublica and the Tribune, have outlined a series of problems with state leaders’ claims of success, the treatment of National Guard members and alleged civil rights violations. An investigation by the Tribune, ProPublica and The Marshall Project found that in touting the operation’s accomplishments, state officials included arrests with no connection to the border and statewide drug seizures. The news organizations also revealed that trespassing cases represented the largest share of the operation’s arrests. DPS stopped counting some charges, including cockfighting, sexual assault and stalking, after the publications began asking questions about their connections to border security. Another investigation by the Tribune and Army Times detailed troubles with the National Guard deployment, including reports of delayed payments to soldiers, a shortage of critical equipment and poor living conditions. Previous reporting by the Army Times also traced suicides by soldiers tied to the operation.

Commissioners Ashley Dittus and John Quigley are pleased to announce the finalists for our 2nd Annual Ulster Votes I Voted Sticker Contest. During the month of July, you have an opportunity to select your favorite “I voted” logo. The winning design will be distributed to voters who participate in the November 8, 2022 General Election across the county. We want to thank all of the students who contributed to this project – there were many amazing and unique designs! We are grateful to everyone that helped shape this project.

Owned by a billionaire Dutch family, Blue Harvest Fisheries has emerged as a dominant force in the lucrative fishing port of New Bedford, Massachusetts. Its business model: benefit from lax antitrust rules and pass costs on to local fishermen. Before dawn, Jerry Leeman churned through inky black waters, clutching the wheel of the fishing vessel Harmony. The 85-foot trawler, deep green and speckled with rust, was returning from a grueling fishing trip deep into the Atlantic swells. Leeman and his crew of four had worked 10 consecutive days, 20 hours a day, to haul in more than 50,000 pounds of fish: pollock, haddock and ocean perch, a trio known as groundfish in the industry and as whitefish in the freezer aisle. As sunrise broke over New Bedford harbor, the fish were offloaded in plastic crates onto the asphalt dock of Blue Harvest Fisheries, one of the largest fishing companies on the East Coast. About 390 million pounds of seafood move each year through New Bedford’s waterfront, the top-earning commercial fishing port in the nation. Leeman and his crew are barely sharing in the bounty. On deck, Leeman held a one-page “settlement sheet,” the fishing industry’s version of a pay stub. Blue Harvest charges Leeman and his crew for fuel, gear, leasing of fishing rights, and maintenance on the company-owned vessel. Across six trips in the past 14 months, Leeman netted about 14 cents a pound, and the crew, about 7 cents each — a small fraction of the $2.28 per pound that a species like haddock typically fetches at auction.

The porn trilogy for Nintendos. Atari games from the 1980s. Pristine nostalgia, potentially worth millions, gone in a night.

Before a man speaks it is always safe to assume that he is a fool. After he speaks, it is seldom necessary to assume it

Senior lawmakers are fleeing a scandal-ridden Downing Street. But the British prime minister is carrying on as if it’s business as usual.

A coalition of eight organizations took the fairly unprecedented step of commenting on a reported—not final—nomination.

Every year since 2014, the Scottish artist Katie Paterson – along with her Norwegian counterpart Anne Beate Hovind and a group of trustees – has invited a prominent writer to submit a manuscript, and the commissioning will continue until 2113. Then, a century after the project began, they will all finally be published. All the manuscripts will be stored for almost a century inside locked glass drawers in a hidden corner of Oslo's main public library, within a small, wooden repository called the Silent Room. In 2114, the drawers will be unlocked, and the trees chopped down – and 100 stories hidden for a century will finally be published in one go.

Highland Hospital staff and patients have seen the red-tailed hawks prey on rodents and watched their chicks learn to fly.

Ryan Feldman was holding an IV bag when it happened. Something ripped when he pulled the line out and almost an entire bag, with 950 micrograms of liquid inside, spilled and doused his hand in fentanyl. “I was a little annoyed at first,” Feldman told me. “But then I realized: Sometimes in science an accident is an opportunity.” Basically, Feldman realized he had an experiment on his hands—literally.

HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. — The suspect in the Highland Park shooting had two previous contacts with law enforcement in the city, including one in which he was reported to have threatened to “kill everyone,” authorities said in a news conference Tuesday. An individual reported to Highland Park police in 2019 that Robert E. Crimo III had attempted suicide, according to Christopher Covelli, a spokesman for the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force. The second incident was in September 2019, when Crimo had threatened to “kill everyone,” according to a family member who reported it to Highland Park police, Covelli said. Police removed 16 knives, a dagger and a sword from Crimo’s residence, Covelli said. At the time, there was no probable cause to arrest him and no complaints were signed by any victims, he said. The Lake County coroner confirmed a seventh death in the Fourth of July parade shooting in Highland Park after the gunman, fired more than 70 rounds with a high-powered rifle at a crowd of bystanders.