California Democrats 'mutilate' anti-trafficking bill targeting adults who pay for sex with minors
California Democrats "mutilated" part of a bipartisan anti-sex trafficking bill this week that makes it a felony for people to purchase sex with minors.
foxnews.com
City Hall asked staffers to write poems about their agencies — perfecting the art of ‘time-wasting’
City Hall asked top staffers to get creative and write poems about their agencies for the little-known national “Poem in your Pocket” day.
nypost.com
Kimmich lleva al Bayern Múnich a superar al Arsenal y a semifinales de la Liga de Campeones
MÚNICH (AP) — Un remate de cabeza de Joshua Kimmich llevó al Bayern Múnich a una victoria por 1-0 sobre Arsenal el miércoles, para alcanzar las semifinales de la Liga de Campeones con un triunfo por 3-2 en el global.
latimes.com
Prince Harry officially renounces British residency, lists US as his ‘new country’ on documents
The prodigal son will not return, according to new paperwork from Prince Harry that marks the United States as his official home.
nypost.com
Hockey fan saves 4-year-old from flying puck during game
One hockey fan's quick reaction time saved a 4-year-old boy from a potentially severe injury during an AHL game in Ohio last week, where the boy's mother was grateful.
foxnews.com
Ty Lue says Clippers preparing as if Kawhi Leonard will play in Game 1, but can he?
The Clippers are hoping Kawhi Leonard (knee injury) will be in the lineup to open the playoffs against Dallas but coach Ty Lue says: "We don't know yet."
latimes.com
Dodgers shut out by Nationals, drop another series at home in Landon Knack's first start
Landon Knack weathers a tough first inning in his MLB debut to pitch five innings for the Dodgers, but the offense goes quiet in a 2-0 loss to the Nationals.
latimes.com
Republicans predict Dems to pay 'heavy price' in election after Mayorkas impeachment bid fails
Republicans warned their Democratic colleagues that they will have to answer for their impeachment trial votes at the ballot box in November as they look to hold on to their Senate seats.
foxnews.com
Former US ambassador, Cuban spy blames decision to betray country on Yale's radical politics in 60s, 70s
Former U.S. Ambassador Victor Manuel Rocha, who pleaded guilty last week to serving as a Cuban spy, blames radical politics from Yale during formative college years.
foxnews.com
Ashanti and Nelly engaged, expecting first child together: ‘Such a blessing’
The "Foolish" singer announced Wednesday that she and Nelly are engaged and getting ready to welcome their first child together.
nypost.com
NYPD fights back against illegal vendors — but pro-crime pols must get out of the way
The NYPD swooped in on an illegal vendor enclave in Queens. Great news! But we need pro-crime pols here and in Albany to get out of the way.
nypost.com
Fanatics not shipping Caitlin Clark’s Nike jerseys until August in astounding blunder
The Fever's season starts on May 14, and their final regular season game is Sept. 19, about a month after the jersey would arrive.
nypost.com
Trump campaign looks to cash in on candidates using his image, asks for 5% of donations
Donald Trump’s presidential campaign is asking down-ballot Republican candidates to send along 5% of their donation hauls to the 45th president if they choose to use his “name, image and likeness” in their solicitations. A Monday letter to GOP digital vendors signed by top Trump advisers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita called for “a minimum...
nypost.com
Biden Calls Out Caitlin Clark’s Lowball WNBA Salary
Mariel Tyler/NBAE via Getty ImagesJoe Biden subtly called out the WNBA for Caitlin Clark’s lowball rookie salary, writing Tuesday that “it’s time that we give our daughters the same opportunities as our sons and ensure women are paid what they deserve.”That statement, posted to X, didn’t mention Clark by name, but it was clear that the budding superstar—and her measly first-year WNBA salary of $76,535—were the reason behind his comments. Since its inception in 1996, the WNBA has never come close to having comparable salaries to that of the NBA and other top U.S. professional men’s leagues. But as word spread that even Clark wouldn’t be paid a six-figure salary in her first year, ire and disbelief quickly spread. Read more at The Daily Beast.
thedailybeast.com
'Very scary prospect': Spike in illegal immigrants from this US adversary blows lid off previous year's record
The number of Chinese nationals entering the U.S. illegally has skyrocketed this fiscal year compared to prior years, and fiscal 2024 is already outpacing last year.
foxnews.com
Surging GOP Senate candidate unfazed by personal war chest of millionaire Dem in key blue state battle
Former Republican Gov. Larry Hogan, who's aiming to flip a Democrat-controlled open Senate seat in blue Maryland, showcases his grassroots fundraising versus multi-millionaire self-funder David Trone.
foxnews.com
I’m a Millennial boss — my Gen Z staff has wild work habits
Millennial boss Grace Garrick is young, gorgeous, and trendy, but her Generation Z staff leave her feeling old and confused.
nypost.com
Maine boy, 11, dies in ATV crash on neighbor's property
An 11-year-old boy was killed Tuesday afternoon when he crashed an all-terrain vehicle on a neighbor's property in Sangerville, Maine, wardens reported.
foxnews.com
Will Disneyland get an Avatar land? It's likely. Here's what else may be in store
With the approval of DisneylandForward, new attractions and adventures will be coming to Disneyland. Here's what's been teased by Disney officials so far.
latimes.com
The very short Mayorkas impeachment trial, explained
Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas testifies before the House Homeland Security Committee about the fiscal year 2025 budget on April 16, 2024. | Allison Bailey/Middle East Images/AFP/Getty Images Senate Democrats put a quick end to Republicans’ political stunt. Republicans’ political impeachment stunt against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas came to a head this week in the Senate, with lawmakers in the upper chamber voting to dismiss the charges. On Tuesday, House Republicans sent two articles of impeachment against Mayorkas to the upper chamber, and on Wednesday, senators were sworn in as jurors for a trial. The articles accuse Mayorkas of failing to enforce immigration laws, making false statements to Congress, and obstructing oversight into DHS policies, all charges he denies. On Wednesday, the Senate rejected both articles, voting 51-48 along party lines to deem the first “unconstitutional” and 51-49 to dismiss the second article and adjourn the trial before it even really began. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) voted present on the first article. This is the first impeachment trial of a Cabinet secretary in more than a century. It’s likely to be remembered not as a historic moment of political accountability but as a marker of how polarized Congress has become over the last decade. The swift conclusion of the proceedings marks a win for Democrats and the Biden administration, who denounced the impeachment effort as a sham and a waste of resources. Democrats have long said that the behavior Mayorkas is accused of does not qualify as “high crimes and misdemeanors,” which is the legal threshold for impeachment. Republicans, meanwhile, wanted to drag the process out in order to draw more attention to the issue of immigration, and to use the proceedings as a platform to criticize the Biden administration’s immigration policies. Mayorkas oversees border security and asylum as DHS secretary, so going after him created an opportunity to focus on these subjects and to make election-year promises to voters that the GOP will fix issues at the border if it come back into power. These efforts come as immigration has become a more potent campaign flash point this year because of the surge in migration the US has experienced. The “trial” showdown, briefly explained In February, the House voted to impeach Mayorkas after almost a year of hearings and investigations. Republicans argued that he did not properly enforce immigration laws, citing, in one case, the decision to release migrants after they arrived at the southern border. In fact, that’s an established practice followed by multiple administrations, in part because the US does not have sufficient space to detain people as they await immigration hearings. Republicans also said that Mayorkas had made false statements to Congress because he testified that the border was “secure,” and that he blocked oversight by failing to respond to subpoenas and offer sufficient access to his office. Mayorkas has pushed back against the charges, noting that his approach may differ from that of Republicans, but he’s been committed to immigration enforcement and has worked to comply with Congress’s oversight of the agency by providing testimony and documents. Many Constitutional law experts also said Republicans had not shown that the charges reached a legal bar for impeachment, and that they instead seemed to be founded on policy disagreements. “If allegations like this were sufficient to justify impeachment, the separation of powers would be permanently destabilized,” wrote top scholars, including Harvard’s Laurence Tribe and Berkeley’s Erwin Chemerinsky, in a January letter. The first phase of the Senate trial on Wednesday took place because the upper chamber needed to fulfill its constitutional duty. Following a House impeachment, the Senate’s job is to hear the charges and determine whether the person should be convicted. If an official is convicted — which requires a two-third majority vote — they would then be removed from their position. The Senate also has the option to dismiss, or table, the impeachment articles if a simple majority votes to do so. Ultimately, that’s what happened on both articles against Mayorkas, though it wasn’t without some drama. During the process, Republicans were able to force additional votes on “points of order,” or procedural motions regarding how the impeachment should move forward. They used this platform to slam Democrats repeatedly for not holding a full trial like those seen during the impeachment proceedings of former Presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton and to try to delay the trial to a later date. The GOP points of order all largely failed on party lines. The impeachment is political messaging in a campaign year The impeachment itself is part of a broader GOP strategy to keep the focus on immigration as Republicans campaign on border security ahead of this year’s presidential election. It’s a strategy that’s worked for them before, including in 2016, when Trump made building a wall at the southern border a central promise of his campaign. The general public has also historically viewed Republicans as more trustworthy on border security than Democrats. A September 2023 NBC News poll found that 50 percent of voters trust Republicans on this issue, compared to 20 percent who trust Democrats. Immigration has been especially resonant this year because there’s been a high number of unauthorized crossings at the southern border as global displacement has increased and as instability in some South American countries has forced people to flee. State Republican leaders, including Govs. Greg Abbott and Ron DeSantis, have drawn attention to this development by busing and flying migrants to Democrat-led cities such as New York City and Chicago. Democratic leaders, including New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, have kept the focus on the influx of migrants as they’ve sought help from the federal government and imposed harsh eviction policies. In response to the Mayorkas impeachment, Democratic lawmakers have called Republicans’ focus on the issue disingenuous, as GOP leaders, including Trump, have opposed efforts to pass bipartisan immigration reforms that could help address some of these challenges. As a result of the attention it’s received in recent months, immigration has become a top issue in key swing states that Republicans hope to flip in order to win back the presidency and retake certain Senate seats. A March 2024 Wall Street Journal poll found that immigration was one of voters’ top two issues in seven key swing states, including Arizona, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Nevada. According to research from political scientists Douglas Kriner and Eric Schickler, approaches like this have successfully dented presidents’ approval ratings in the past. The researchers found, for example, that if lawmakers spent 20 days per month on investigative hearings, the president’s approval rating could see a commensurate decline of 2.5 percent in that time. But while the impeachment of Alejandro Mayorkas was designed to cast negative attention on the Biden administration as Trump navigates countless legal scandals of his own, Senate Democrats’ quick dismissal has dulled much of its impact.
vox.com
Swiss parliament approves Nazi symbol display ban
The lower house of the Swiss parliament approved Wednesday a measure banning the use, wearing and display of extremist and Nazi-related symbols.
foxnews.com
Netanyahu brushes off calls for restraint, says Israel will decide how to respond to Iran's attack
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his country will be the one to decide whether and how to respond to Iran’s major air assault.
latimes.com
Flash flooding in Dubai as storm dumps historic rainfall
A rainstorm that dumped more than five inches of water and hail Tuesday in Dubai has led to flash flooding and closed operations at Dubai International Airport. CBS News senior foreign correspondent Charlie D'Agata is following the unusual weather event in the United Arab Emirates.
cbsnews.com
Suburban St. Louis officer fatally shoots 18-year-old who killed man at gas station
Joshua Campbell, 18, was fatally shot by a Ferguson, Missouri, police officer, after Campbell himself shot and killed 26-year-old Detarius Haynes.
foxnews.com
Prince Harry renounces British residency, declares US is his ‘new country’
Although the documents were filed on Wednesday, Harry notably listed the "date of change" as June 2023 -— when he was kicked out of Frogmore Cottage.
nypost.com
Boeing’s problems were as bad as you thought
The senate hearings come months after a door plug in a Boeing 737-9 MAX plane blew out during an Alaska Airlines flight on January 5. | Getty Images Experts and whistleblowers testified before Congress today. The upshot? “It was all about money.” Boeing went under the magnifying glass at not one, but two senate hearings today examining allegations of deep-seated safety issues plaguing the once-revered plane manufacturer. Witnesses, including two whistleblowers, painted a disturbing picture of a company that cut corners, ignored problems, and threatened employees who spoke up. These hearings have convened just four months after a door plug blew out of a Boeing-made Alaska Airlines plane mid-flight in January, sparking further concerns about a precipitous downslide in Boeing’s reputation for safety and quality in recent years. The first hearing, held by the Senate Commerce Committee, questioned aviation experts who put together an FAA report published in February. It concluded that the company had not made enough strides in improving its safety culture since the deadly 2018 and 2019 737 MAX crashes that killed 346 people. “There exists a disconnect, for lack of a better word, between the words that are being said by Boeing management, and what is being seen and experienced by employees across the company,” said witness Javier de Luis, an aerospace engineer and lecturer at MIT. The FAA report conducted hundreds of interviews with Boeing employees across the country, and the authors found staff often didn’t know how to report concerns or who to report them to. “In one of the surveys that we saw, 95 percent of the people who responded to the survey did not know who the chief of safety was,” said Tracy Dillinger, manager for safety culture and human factors at NASA. The second hearing put the spotlight on two whistleblowers — Boeing quality engineer Sam Salehpour and former Boeing engineer Ed Pierson — alongside aviation safety advocate and former FAA engineer Joe Jacobsen and Ohio State University aviation professor Shawn Pruchnicki. The whistleblowers slammed Boeing for allegedly knowing about defective parts and other serious assembly problems, and choosing to ignore or even conceal them. Such problems could slow down production and be expensive to fix — and internal and external critics say that Boeing’s priority was maximizing its profits. Salehpour said he had gone up high in the chain of command at Boeing to alert them of his concerns, having written “many memos, time after time.” Yet he says his warnings went unheeded — and that he was punished for bringing them up. “I was sidelined. I was told to shut up. I received physical threats,” he said. “My boss said, ‘I would have killed someone who said what you said in the meeting.’” Boeing’s many whistleblowers During Wednesday’s hearings, witnesses reiterated that Boeing management had been overly focused on ramping up production while also cutting costs. Salehpour, who has worked at Boeing since 2007, came forward in early April warning that more than 1,000 Boeing planes in the skies were in danger of structural failure due to premature fatigue. In the 787 line, tiny gaps between plane parts hadn’t been properly filled, he said. “I found gaps exceeding the specification that were not properly addressed 98.7 percent of the time,” Salehpour testified during the hearing today. He said that debris ended up in these unfilled gaps “80 percent of the time.” Such debris could, in some cases, result in a fire. On the 777s, he found “severe misalignment” of airplane parts. “I literally saw people jumping on the pieces of the airplane to get them to align,” he said. Salehpour urged Boeing to ground all 787 Dreamliner planes ahead of his testimony. Boeing, for its part, has denied Salehpour’s assertions, saying that “claims about the structural integrity of the 787 are inaccurate” and noting further that it had tested the 787 line many more times than the jet would actually take off or land in its lifespan, and had found no evidence of fatigue. But Salehpour pointed out today that the above-and-beyond stress testing referred to older 787 planes, in which excessive force wasn’t used during assembly. Talking about the faulty software system that contributed to the deadly 737 MAX crashes, Pruchnicki, the OSU professor, accused Boeing of sneaking the system through the certification process. “It was all about money,” he said. “That’s why those people died.” There were plenty of fingers pointed at the FAA for failing to oversee Boeing with a tighter rein. When Sen. Richard Blumenthal asked if hiring more FAA inspectors would help, Jacobsen, the former FAA engineer, answered that it would — but that the attitude needed to change. “The attitude right now is Boeing dictates to the FAA.” Boeing has said it’s cooperating fully with investigators, but at another Senate hearing in March, the chair of the National Transportation Safety Board testified that, two months after the Alaska Airlines incident, Boeing still had not provided several records related to door plug failure. Boeing says it can’t find them. Pierson, the ex-Boeing whistleblower, testified today that this couldn’t be true. “I’m not going to sugarcoat this: This is a criminal cover-up,” he said. “Records do in fact exist. I know this because I’ve personally passed them to the FBI.” Kent Nishimura/Getty Images Sam Salehpour, a Boeing quality engineer and whistleblower, testified before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations on April 17. A steady crop of whistleblowers have come forward over the decades flagging issues with Boeing’s planes, particularly after the MAX crashes. Boeing’s safety concern tip portal also saw a 500 percent increase in reports after the Alaska Airlines accident. A previous whistleblower from Boeing’s South Carolina plant, former Boeing quality manager John Barnett, claimed there were numerous quality issues with Boeing’s manufacturing process, including dangerous debris that hadn’t been removed from its jets and issues with its emergency oxygen system. He was recently found dead of an apparent suicide right before his third day of deposition testimony in his whistleblower lawsuit; Barnett, like others, said that he had faced retaliation from the company. Some of Barnett’s former coworkers don’t believe he died by suicide, according to reporting from the American Prospect. We don’t know yet what the results of the ongoing regulatory and criminal investigations into these recent safety scares will be, or the consequences for Boeing. CEO Dave Calhoun recently announced he would be stepping down from the position at the end of this year. Boeing already underwent a fraud investigation for the earlier 737 MAX crashes — it agreed to pay $2.5 billion to settle the case, avoiding a criminal conviction. What does this mean for airline passengers? Boeing’s safety issues are especially unsettling because there isn’t a quick fix to untangling them. It’s been more than five years since the deadly 737 MAX disasters, and according to aviation experts and current and former employees, the company hasn’t managed to right the ship. That critics have accused Boeing of pushing for higher profits at the expense of safety is an alarm bell for anyone who ever plans to take a commercial flight again. There are just two passenger jet makers that dominate the market: Boeing and Airbus. “You’ve got a management team that doesn’t seem terribly concerned with their core business in building aircraft,” Richard Aboulafia, managing director of the consulting firm AeroDynamic Advisory, told Vox in January. Commercial aviation is remarkably safe, but that near-pristine safety record was hard-earned. It’s understandably shocking that one of the world’s only commercial jet manufacturers appears to have let its once-high standards slacken, if the allegations of Boeing whistleblowers are true. It’s also prudent to expect the highest rigor possible for aviation safety — good enough isn’t good enough. Boeing has consistently downplayed structural problems with its planes and denied that it puts profits over quality. But the number of whistleblowers and experts saying otherwise is reaching a deafening pitch. “It really scares me, believe me,” Salehpour said of being a whistleblower and facing retaliation. “But I am at peace. If something happens to me, I am at peace, because I feel like, coming forward, I will be saving a lot of lives.”
vox.com
Hawks vs. Bulls prediction: NBA play-in tournament odds, picks, best bets
The injury-depleted Hawks and Bulls face off in a play-in game on Wednesday, and we have a best bet for the game.
nypost.com
‘X-Men ‘97’ Resurrection Shocker: How Is Professor Charles Xavier Alive?
Professor X's death was ridiculously easy to undo.
nypost.com
USC was wrong to silence its valedictorian
USC made the wrong decision. Would it silence a speaker who is a famous or wealthy donor? A well-known politician?
latimes.com
Prosecutors intend to bring up fraud, sexual abuse cases if Trump testifies in N.Y. trial
Under the 5th Amendment, the jury is prohibited from holding it against former President Donald Trump if he does not testify.
cbsnews.com
Here's how much Caitlin Clark will make in the WNBA
The No. 1 pick in this year's WNBA draft is "going to raise all boats" for players in the league, one expert said.
cbsnews.com
‘Forever chemicals’ found in US drinking water, map shows ‘hot spots’ of highest levels
A study published in the journal Nature Geoscience on April 8 found that higher amounts of PFAS (perfluoroalkyl substances) were found in drinking water in certain parts of the U.S.
foxnews.com
All The Internet Stars Seen in Abbott Elementary
Abbott Elementary is filled with appearances from internet personalities
time.com
Fox News Politics: Capitol grill
The latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more Fox News politics content
foxnews.com
Inside Caitlin Clark’s ‘whirlwind’ since WNBA Draft: ‘Haven’t slept much’
Caitlin Clark has been running on fumes since her since the Fever selected her with the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA Draft on Monday, and she's living her best life.
nypost.com
Mayorkas articles of impeachment dismissed by Senate
The Senate has dismissed the two articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. CBS News congressional correspondent Scott MacFarlane reports.
cbsnews.com
Bragg says he will try to 'discredit' Trump if he testifies in his defense during criminal trial
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg intends to use former President Trump’s alleged “prior misconduct and criminal acts" to discredit him if he testifies in his own defense at trial, according to a notice filed Wednesday.
foxnews.com
Columbia University’s President Rebuts Claims School Has Become a Hotbed of Bias, Hatred
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) — The president of Columbia University took a firm stand against antisemitism Wednesday as she parried accusations from Republicans who see the New York campus as a hotbed of bias, but she hedged on whether certain phrases invoked by some supporters of Palestinians rise to harassment. Nemat Shafik had the benefit of hindsight…
time.com
IRS Warns Taxpayers Who May Have to Pay 'Surprise' Fees
Americans often are forced to pay "surprise fees" when their tax refund from the year before was too large.
newsweek.com
'Friends' guest star Olivia Williams details 'alarming' experience while on hit sitcom in 1998
"The Crown" alum Olivia Williams opened up about her experience on the "Friends" set and explained why her time was "alarming" and "harrowing."
foxnews.com
Will There Be A ‘Killing Eve’ Season 5 On Netflix? What We Know About The Spy Thriller’s Future
Killing Eve has already landed itself in the streamer's Top 3 TV titles in the U.S.
nypost.com
McConnell on Mayorkas impeachment trial: "This process must not be abused"
Before the articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas were dismissed, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell decried Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's efforts to cut short the trial. CBS News' Scott MacFarlane reports.
cbsnews.com
4/20 Day 2024 is near — what stoner snack are you based on your zodiac sign?
It's the highest of holidays, folks.
nypost.com
Stock market today: Wall Street dips to send S&P 500 to its longest losing streak since January
Sinking technology stocks sent Wall Street lower again, and the S&P 500 fell to its fourth straight loss
latimes.com
How Jontay Porter orchestrated failed NBA gambling scheme — and is paying heavy price
On March 20th, Porter was DraftKings' biggest loss in the entire player prop market, having ranked No. 1 in their moneymakers category for the Raptors.
nypost.com
Here are the surprising origin stories to these popular sayings
Popular sayings in the English language often have multiple meanings — such as "a heart of gold" and "time is money."
nypost.com
Mayorkas Impeachment Fail Sparks Republican Outrage
Multiple Republicans had previously expressed concerns that Democratic leadership in the upper chamber would kill off the impeachment trial before it began.
newsweek.com