On a sunny spring day in 2019, 16-year-old Gabby returned home from the Chicago fast food restaurant where she worked to find her house empty...

The elections administrator of the state’s most populous county, an important Democratic stronghold, may not send out applications for mail-in ballots to all 2.4 million of the county’s registered voters, the all-Republican Texas Supreme Court ruled Wednesday in a rebuke of County Clerk Chris Hollins, whose office has worked to expand voting options beyond what is available in a typical year. The state of Texas sued in August to block Hollins from mailing out the applications, arguing that doing so exceeded his legal authority and would cause confusion among voters, some of whom are not eligible for absentee ballots under Texas’ unusually strict criteria. The Republican justices sent the case back to a lower court in Harris County to issue an injunction blocking Hollins from sending the mailers.

Delta was expected to grow in size and strength before slamming into Louisiana, probably as a Category 3 storm.

Hobbled by the pandemic and facing the same long-term challenges as other casual dining chains, Ruby Tuesday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection early Wednesday. The company hopes to use the debt-cutting process to improve its finances and stay in business, saying in a statement that it had "reached an understanding with its secured lenders to support its restructuring." But CEO Shawn Lederman said in a court filing the company has permanently closed 185 restaurants that had shut their doors during the coronavirus pandemic. That leaves the chain with 236 company-owned and operated locations, as well as an undisclosed number of locations run by 10 franchisee groups. "We do not anticipate any additional restaurant closures at this time," Ruby Tuesday chief marketing officer Jenifer Boyd Harmon said in an emailed statement. "We remain committed to providing our guests with safe, quality experiences at all our current locations."

“I don’t think I’m contagious at all,” said Trump, without offering any evidence to back up his claim.

Harold "Heshy" Tischler strolled onto 13th Avenue in Borough Park at 9 p.m. Wednesday night, bare-faced and hoarse from days of screaming, and into the arms of an adoring crowd. Hundreds of ultra-Orthodox demonstrators chanted his name, waving Trump and Thin Blue Lines flags as they jockeyed for a chance to meet the brash right-wing radio host leading the campaign to stop the new COVID-19 lockdown measures. “We are at war!” Tischler shouted to the crowd of protesters. “You are my soldiers!” An hour later, Tischler directed an angry mob of young Hasidic men as they surrounded and attacked Jacob Kornbluh, a veteran reporter with Jewish Insider. At Tischler's urging, the group hissed and spit at Kornbluh, labeling him a Nazi and a “moser” — a term for a Jewish person who informs on their own community.

The FBI says it thwarted what it described as a plot to violently overthrow the government and kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, and federal prosecutors are expected to discuss the alleged conspiracy later Thursday. The alleged plot involved reaching out to members of a Michigan militia, according to a federal affidavit filed Thursday. "Several members talked about murdering 'tyrants' or 'taking' a sitting governor," an FBI agent wrote in the affidavit. "The group decided they needed to increase their numbers and encouraged each other to talk to their neighbors and spread their message."

Precocious Republican grifter Jacob Wohl and his partner Jack Burkman were arraigned today. Here are some pictures.

White House chief of staff Mark Meadows hosted a lavish wedding for his daughter in Atlanta this May, despite a statewide order and city of Atlanta guidelines that banned gatherings of more than 10 people to prevent the spread of the deadly coronavirus. The wedding took place May 31 at the Biltmore Ballrooms in Midtown Atlanta. The 70 or so guests, including U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, donned tuxedos and ball gowns for the indoor affair, but no masks, as Meadows walked his daughter, Haley, down the aisle through a path of soft white flower petals. With crystal chandeliers, marble floors and a frame of soaring Roman arches, the lush scene could have come from any wedding magazine — were it not taking place at the height of a global pandemic. Although the state of Georgia had loosened some restrictions by the end of May, Gov. Brian Kemp’s orders at the time expressly banned gatherings of more than 10 people.

Slack is a company in trouble. For some reason, the workplace messaging app—one that’s cursed not only with occasional outages, but a mind-numbing layout and features explicitly designed to snitch on all of our DM’s—has faced nothing but slumping stocks since its debut on the public market last year. But rather than addressing those issues or any of the other gripes people subjected to Slack regularly report, the company’s plan towards a more profitable 2021 seems to mostly revolve around looking less like Slack, and more like... something else. The specifics of that “something else” are still TBA, but Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield hinted at the company’s plans for the near future in a recent round of interviews with The Verge. They sound like an ungodly chimera that’s part Slack, but also part Instagram, Discord, Twitter, and... Blackberry, oddly enough. The additions, in his words, seem to be all centered around the idea of making Slack feel like less of a platform you’d associate with a stuffy, buttoned-up boardroom, and more with the type of office that’s filled with chill bros that, while still buttoned up, are buttoned up in a cool way. Needless to say, I hate all of it. The first feature being prototyped can best be described as Slack’s answer to Instagram stories—which, as you might recall, was originally itself a ripoff of Snapchat’s beloved feature of the same name. But instead of being a way for coworkers to share videos of their #wfh setups, the idea is that managers will use these short clips as a way to recreate the stand-up meetings that some of us used to have in the Before Times. In a similar vein, Slack’s also potentially incorporating Discord-esque audio chat rooms that officemates can hop in and out of, rather than taking the time to set up a formal call. And like Discord, the audio stream is always running, which makes the feature sound—at least to me—less like a place for spontaneous conversations, and more of a place for meetings that literally never end.

A series of minor thefts in early September had Lakes Area store clerks scratching their heads. Newspaper racks were empty. Storefront vending boxes were cleaned out, and copies of the Sept. 2 Dickinson County News were hard to come by just 24 hours after the weekly newspaper was distributed throughout the Iowa Great Lakes. Area businesses reviewed their security footage, and Peter De Yager, owner of the Foreign Candy Company in Hull, was charged with fifth-degree theft.

An Amazon Fulfillment Center in Oklahoma City is ignoring doctor's notes requesting lighter job assignments for pregnant warehouse workers by taking weeks—sometimes months—to accommodate workers' needs, forcing them to choose between risking miscarriages or forgoing pay, according to documentation provided by four warehouse workers at the facility, known as OKC1.

Tearful Brad Parscale blasts his wife for refusing him sex and claims she’s having him committed to a hospital so she can steal his money in explosive new video obtained by DailyMail.com. ‘I got f***ing tackled like a f***ing terrorist for wanting my wife’s attention,’ the former Trump campaign boss sobs while handcuffed in the back of a police car. ‘I’m gonna f***ing divorce. I’m applying for divorce as soon as I get out of here. I’m gonna do this thing, whatever, to prove I’m not f***ing crazy.’ The astonishing rant was filmed on a female officer’s body-worn camera after Parscale was transported to the hospital in the aftermath of his September 27 meltdown. ‘She didn’t have a bruise on her, I never hit her, I never have,’ Parscale, 44, continues to plead in the footage. ‘I’ve never touched her. This is all about money. ‘She knows exactly what she is doing. It is the most baller move of all time. It is the most checkmate, f*** you, move of all time. It is un-f***ing-believable. ‘I’m gonna throw you in the hospital and act like you’re f***ing killing yourself. I’m gonna take all your money and by the time you get out you can’t do anything about it.’ The exclusive clip is one of numerous newly released videos that shed new light on the chaotic episode that saw SWAT teams surround Parscale’s Fort Lauderdale mansion in fear he was about to shoot himself. After barricading himself inside for more than an hour, the siege ended with Parscale stumbling into the front yard – bare-chested and clutching a beer – where he was tackled to the ground before being detained for mental health evaluation. In several of the clips Candice, Parscale’s curvaceous wife of eight years, can be seen with large bruises to her arms and a swollen lip. Tearful Brad Parscale blasts his wife for refusing him sex and claims she’s having him committed to a hospital so she can steal his money in explosive new video obtained by DailyMail.com

Science fiction novelist is one of 21 writers, scientists and artists to win $625,000 stipends to ‘pursue their creative inclinations’ .

Leaked law enforcement documents, coupled with statements by state and federal authorities, paint a disturbing picture of the government’s efforts to scrutinize social media for signs of violent extremism. The investigative incompetence and political and racial bias revealed by the BlueLeaks data breach, which unearthed a trove of internal communications in June, are especially worrisome in light of recent FBI warnings that this election season could be a “flashpoint” for right-wing bloodshed. As Mainer previously reported, flippant or satirical online content about unruly behavior at Black Lives Matter protests has been hyped by far-right groups as evidence of criminal activity, and then treated as serious threats by federal agents. Intelligence reports based on these rumors are then distributed to local police departments nationwide by the Department of Homeland Security’s network of fusion centers, including the Maine Information and Analysis Center (MIAC). This bogus intel gives cops a dangerously distorted sense of what to expect during demonstrations by portraying peaceful protesters as highly trained, paid and organized criminal actors intent on causing mayhem.

Arise Virtual Solutions, part of the secretive world of work-at-home customer service, helps large corporations shed costs at the expense of workers. Now the pandemic is creating a boom in the industry. Airbnb, battered by the pandemic recession, announced in May that it would be laying off a quarter of its workforce. In a post hailed for its empathy and transparency, CEO Brian Chesky wrote, “We will have to part with teammates that we love and value.” He outlined a generous severance package. Departing employees would receive 14 weeks of pay plus an extra week for each year at the company; help from professional recruiters to land new jobs; and 12 months of continued health insurance. Around the time Chesky made this announcement, another group of people working with Airbnb also lost their jobs. But these weren’t called layoffs and weren’t accompanied by a compassionate note from the CEO. And the workers, who handle the day-to-day tasks of bookings, cancellations and keeping the peace between guests and hosts, got no severance. There was no health insurance plan to be extended. These American workers — cheap, disposable and isolated — worked through a company called Arise Virtual Solutions, a little-known business that has helped some of America’s best-known businesses shed labor costs.

The New Leaf project is a joint study started in 2018 by Foundations for Social Change, a Vancouver-based charitable organization, and the University of British Columbia. After giving homeless Lower Mainland residents cash payments of $7,500, researchers checked on them over a year to see how they were faring.

GMC Hummer EV will be the first car to use the Unreal Engine for infotainment. It's also used as a game engine for "Fortnite," "Rocket League" and more.

One officer told the investigator that most of the photos posted on the Snapchat groups were of family and were done to boost morale, which fell since the COVID-19 pandemic struck. In early June, a video was posted of Rolerson using his baton and beating something on the ground, then returning to the cruiser saying, “I got him.” A photo was then posted of a dead porcupine. Rolerson and another officer said Smith was the officer who posted the video. Smith denied posting the video during an interview with the investigator but said he had posted many photos to the Snapchat groups. Once a Snapchat video is played it disappears. Another officer told the investigators that at another time, he was in a cruiser with Rolerson on Bog Road in Rockland, when Rolerson suddenly slammed on the brakes, ran out of the cruiser, leaving the door open and beat a porcupine. The fellow officer told the investigator he did not know what to do. Rolerson told other officers he would sometimes pepper spray the porcupines before or after beating them.

After dramatically scaling back the cleanup plan for one of the country's most contaminated areas, critics say, the Trump administration is now preparing to sidestep any remediation at all by declaring the entire near-3,000-acre former rocket and nuclear testing site near Los Angeles a culturally significant site for Native Americans.