Columbus radio host rips 'management' for beer placement after Blue Jackets star Johnny Gaudreau's death

Columbus Blue Jackets star Johnny Gaudreau and his younger brother, Matthew, were killed on Thursday night at the ages of 31 and 29.

The brothers are believed to have been struck by a drunk driver while they were riding their bikes in New Jersey. They were said to have been back in their hometown for their sister's wedding, slated for Friday.

Well, during a radio show in the Columbus area, a bucket of Coors Light beer was placed on a table for all viewers to see on the show's YouTube simulcast.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM

Viewers pointed it out, citing ill timing for, presumably, the advertisement for the beer.

Marc "Chops" Finch, the cohost of 97.1 The Fan's "Bishop and Friends," caught wind of the comments, and pointed the finger at his bosses almost immediately.

"Let’s do this right now, sorry - Coors Light is on display. Somebody said that in the YouTube chat right now. Send the emails to upper management," Finch implored his listeners.

"The show before us - I respect [them] - they took that down. Management wanted it back up. Send it to them. Not me. I have to sit here next to it; I don’t want to today."

Rumors spread on social media late Thursday night, and the team confirmed the brothers' deaths on Friday morning.

NHL STAR JOHNNY GAUDREAU, BROTHER KILLED IN NEW JERSEY BIKE CRASH AFTER BEING STRUCK BY SUSPECTED DRUNK DRIVER

"The Columbus Blue Jackets are shocked and devastated by this unimaginable tragedy. Johnny was not only a great hockey player, but more significantly a loving husband, father, son, brother and friend," their statement read. 

"We extend our heartfelt sympathies to his wife, Meredith, his children, Noa and Johnny, his parents, their family and friends on the sudden loss of Johnny and Matthew."

According to New Jersey State police, the Gaudreau brothers were cycling on a road when 43-year-old Sean Higgins, driving in the same direction, attempted to pass two other vehicles and struck them from behind at around 8:30 p.m. ET. 

They were pronounced dead at the scene. Police said Higgins was suspected of being under the influence of alcohol and charged with two counts of death by auto and jailed at the Salem County Correctional Facility.

Gaudreau and his brother both played hockey at Boston College. Matthew also played hockey for various minor league teams and had been coaching at the brothers' alma mater, Gloucester Catholic High School, at the time of their deaths.

Fox News' Paulina Dedaj contributed to this report.

from Latest & Breaking News on Fox News https://ift.tt/GDaU1Kv
via IFTTT

Cronyism probe launched after donor allegations

A review of appointments to some Government jobs has been launched after accusations of cronyism. Labour has defended the appointment of three people to top civil service jobs who are also linked with donations to the party.

from BBC News https://ift.tt/ghtLQAa
via IFTTT

Harris VP pick spent years promoting research facility that collaborated with ‘Chinese military company'

FIRST ON FOX: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has been a longtime vocal supporter of a medical research institute in his home state with a long track record of collaborating with a firm labeled by the Pentagon as a "Chinese military company" and with Chinese officials with controversial ties to the CCP.

Walz, Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris' running mate, has long been aligned with the Hormel Institute, a biomedical research center in Austin, Minnesota, within the University of Minnesota's Research and Innovation Office. As recently as April, a press release from the institute highlighted how Walz went to "meet with local leaders and learn of the Institute’s recent progress in groundbreaking biomedical and agricultural research and its expanding education and outreach initiatives."

"[The Hormel Institute] is no longer a secret, and we don’t want it to be a secret – it’s very un-Minnesotan of us because we’re bragging all the time," Walz said in the press release. "I think it [the vision of MBiC] fits with where we see ourselves as a state [in the future]… a future around… green energy, sustainable agriculture, and the ability to feed a very hungry world… and the ability to be one of the nation’s designated biotech hubs."

The Hormel Institute has done extensive work with the Beijing Genomics Institute, a group labeled by the Pentagon as a "Chinese military company," some of which involved research on BGI machines and studies conducted with BGI laboratories in Shenzhen, China, for analysis.

HARRIS VP PICK TIM WALZ’S TOP FIVE ‘WEIRD’ MOMENTS IN THE SPOTLIGHT

"BGI may be serving, wittingly or unwittingly, as a global collection mechanism for Chinese government gene databases, providing China with greater raw numbers and diversity of human genome samples as well as access to sensitive personal information about key individuals around the world," The National Security Commission on AI said in 2022.

Concerns about BGI are so prevalent that Congress has weighed legislation to ban government contracts with the Chinese military subsidiary, Fox News Digital previously reported.

Beyond the extensive ties to BGI, the former executive director of the Hormel Institute, and the timing of his 2019 resignation, has drawn controversy in its own right.

Dr. Zigang Dong abruptly stepped down from his post leading the institute in 2019 after 18 years in the position. Around the same time, it was revealed Dong was involved in an FBI probe where the bureau was investigating his "possible failure to report foreign backing when applying for grants," Austin Daily Herald reported.

In addition to serving as the executive director of the Hormel Institute, Dong established the China-US (Henan) Hormel Cancer Institute (CUHCI), a multimillion-dollar international partnership with a research facility in China, during his time with Hormel, and Walz was present to celebrate the announcement. 

"The collaboration brings more resources, it brings more collaboration in terms of what that scientific data is showing," Walz, then a congressman representing Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District, said about the partnership.

"A sum of money is budgeted by the Henan Provincial Government to the institute annually to maintain its regular operation," the partnership explained.

In 2014, Walz welcomed a delegation from China to the institute that included Wang Yanling, the vice governor of Henan Province and a Communist Party doctor. Yanling is listed as holding several positions in the Chinese Communist Party over the course of many decades.

Several members of the Chinese Communist Party have sat on the board of directors at the Henan Cancer Institute, according to an archived version of the organization's website.

Despite stepping down from the executive director role, Dong's ties to the China‐US (Henan) Hormel Cancer Institute in Zhengzhou have continued since he stepped down in 2019. In 2022, the Henan institute published a study with Dong and several other individuals that involved genetic sequencing provided by BGI. 

In January 2024, Professor Ann M. Bode from the Hormel Institute in Minnesota collaborated with several scientists based in China to conduct research that included experiments carried out using BGI machines.

A review of the Minnesota Hormel Institute's faculty list shows five professors who were educated in China, including genetics experts who specialize in "gene regulation."

FEC filings show that Dong has been a longtime and almost exclusive donor to Walz’s political career, including five donations of over $200 to Walz’s congressional campaigns dating back to 2005.

MINNESOTA LAWMAKER SOUNDS ALARM ON GOV WALZ'S 'RADICAL AGENDA' AHEAD OF ELECTION: 'SO HEINOUS'

As a member of Congress, Walz backed Hormel’s expansion and helped them secure "over $2M for technology acquisitions," according to a press release.

In 2008, when Walz was touring the Hormel Institute, the Rochester Post Bulletin reported he "will keep pushing for the institute to receive a $5 million federal earmark in 2009 to help pay for equipment and instruments in its new International Center of Research Technology. The center could cost as much as $10 million, with additional costs of staff, other instruments and possibly more space."

'LET MINNEAPOLIS BURN': RETIRED POLICE LIEUTENANT RIPS GOV WALZ FOR SURRENDERING CITY TO RIOTERS

Dong praised Walz's efforts to secure funding for the group, including his push to send over $300,000 to the institute in 2009.

"We are deeply indebted to Congressman Walz and the diligent, dedicated effort he makes to secure funding support for the Hormel Institute," Dong said, according to the Post Bulletin.

"The growth we have achieved – and the future growth we will continue to strive for – depends on the important partnerships we share with our community and the support we receive from our leaders, such as Congressman Walz."

In addition to Walz, two of his top congressional aides visited the Hormel Institute in 2016 to "discuss areas where congressional support could be helpful, such as increasing the National Institutes of Health (NIH) budget to increase cancer grant funding."

Tim Bertocci, who served as Walz's legislative director, among other roles, started working at the Department of Defense Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict earlier this year, according to his Linkedin profile. Sara Severs, who was Walz's deputy chief of staff at the time, works for the Minnesota Department of Transportation.

"They toured the expansion and learned about the CryoElectron microscope and lab newly added to the International Center of Research Technology," the Facebook post continued. "Rep. Walz's efforts secured nearly $2 million in technology grants for items such as a supercomputer and mass spectrometry for cancer research."

Michael Sobolik, a senior fellow in Indo-Pacific Studies at the American Foreign Policy Council, warned in his recent book "Countering China’s Great Game: A Strategy for American Dominance," that the CCP is actively involved in subverting U.S. foreign policy through cancer research centers.

"America, by virtue of its power and ideology, stands athwart authoritarianism and imperialism, oftentimes without Americans realizing it," Sobolik wrote. 

"Whether we know it or not, we are once again living in a cold war. I still remember the day this reality mugged me in 2018, when the president of an internationally recognized cancer research center visited the Senate and warned me that the CCP was stealing advanced radiology research from their institution. Beijing’s intent was not to cure cancer but to examine the possibility of immunizing their population against radiation poisoning in a nuclear war."

Sobolik told Fox News Digital that while Americans "want to use science to cure cancer," the "Chinese Community Party wants to leverage that research to win a nuclear war."

VP HARRIS MOCKED FOR BEING 'TOO SCARED' TO DO INTERVIEW WITHOUT WALZ: 'SHE SIMPLY CANNOT BE LEFT UNATTENDED'

"That’s terrifying – and it’s been an open secret in medical research centers throughout America for over five years. Even if Tim Walz didn’t know that, he should have noted the FBI’s investigation into Dong. It has the hallmarks of the CCP’s Thousand Talents Program, which Beijing leverages to steal and repurpose dual-use research for military purposes. Walz’s continued support for the Hormel Institute raises questions about his judgment on critical national security issues."

Dong appears to be linked with the CCP's "Talents Plan" or "Thousand Talents Plan," which it describes as an effort by China to "incentivize its members to steal foreign technologies needed to advance China’s national, military, and economic goals."

In 2018, a company known as ThermoFisher, which Human Rights Watch accused of supplying the Chinese government with surveillance tech to crack down on the Uyghur population, sponsored a conference in Beijing titled "Transforming lives through pioneering Precision Medicine."

One of the panels at that conference, called "Looking Toward a World Without Cancer," was hosted by Professor Liu Yuanli, who is openly associated with the "Thousand Talents" program.

Also sitting on that panel was Dong.

Dong was selected by "100 Top Talents Projects" in China, according to a 2014 press release.

"Someday when they write the history of how humanity solved cancer, it will be written through Henan Province and through Austin, Minnesota," Walz is quoted as saying. 

The ties to the Hormel Institute exist under the backdrop of increased scrutiny in recent weeks of Walz’s affinity toward China and past associations with its communist regime.

Walz worked briefly in China as a teacher, traveling to Guangdong in 1989 for a teach abroad program to teach English and American history. Walz has made dozens of trips to China and The Wall Street Journal, citing local media reports, reported that one trip to China doubled as his honeymoon in 1994, and he planned his wedding date to coincide with the fifth anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown.

"I've lived in China and, as I've said, I've been there about 30 times.... I don't fall into the category that China necessarily needs to be an adversarial relationship. I totally disagree, and I think we need to stand firm on what they're doing in the South China Sea, but there's many areas of cooperation we can work on," Walz said in an interview with Agri-Pulse Communications.

He was also quoted by a local outlet in 1990 reflecting on his visits to China, saying, "No matter how long I live, I will never be treated that well again."

"They gave me more gifts than I could bring home. It was an excellent experience," Walz said, adding that he was "treated exceptionally well."

The remark came in the wake of the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989 and amid continued and still ongoing mass human rights abuses in the communist regime.

"Tim Walz owes the American people an explanation about his unusual, 35-year relationship with Communist China," Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., posted on X in early August.

Fox News Digital reported earlier this month that the House Oversight Committee was probing Walz's ties to China, including his alleged "longstanding connections" to China and CCP-linked entities.

In a statement to Fox News Digital, a spokesperson for the Hormel Institute in Minnesota said the Hormel Cancer institute in China and the Hormel Institute in Minnesota are no longer affiliated.

"The University of Minnesota and the Hormel Institute in Minnesota have no affiliation with China-US (Henan) Hormel Cancer Institute in China," the statement said. "Cease and desist letters have been sent to the institute in China requesting it to stop using the Hormel name."

"The Hormel Institute and the University are committed to compliance with federal disclosure, security, export controls and sanctions rules."

The spokesperson added, "Many of our elected leaders, Republicans and Democrats, have supported and continue to support the Hormel Institute and its mission. State and federal leaders from both parties visit Austin regularly to meet with our researchers and learn more about our life-saving biomedical and cancer research."

The spokesperson did not respond to questions about when the disassociation took place or about Hormel's connections to BGI. 

Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris-Walz campaign for comment but did not receive a response.

Fox News Digital's Adam Shaw contributed to this report.

from Latest & Breaking News on Fox News https://ift.tt/O49t5nS
via IFTTT

Pub bosses and health leaders clash over plans for outdoor smoking restrictions

The prime minister says his government is looking at tougher rules to reduce the burden on the NHS.

from BBC News https://ift.tt/E3nZsVK
via IFTTT

'A sniper is right outside the house': Inside Jenin's sealed-off refugee camp

The camp has been sealed off by the Israeli army as part of a huge military operation in the occupied West Bank.

from BBC News https://ift.tt/YnGI2xJ
via IFTTT

Why is Harris bringing Walz to her first major interview?

The Democractic presidential nominee is facing some criticism for dodging the scrutiny of a solo interview.

from BBC News https://ift.tt/A3FvJoz
via IFTTT

New Hampshire resident dies after EEEV infection, as rare, lethal mosquito-borne virus spreads in New England

New Hampshire health officials said Tuesday that a person who tested positive for the mosquito-borne infection eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEEV) has died. 

An adult from Hampstead, New Hampshire, who tested positive for EEEV infection, "was hospitalized due to severe central nervous system disease, and has passed away due to their illness," the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Division of Public Health Services (DPHS) said in a statement. "DHHS offers our sympathies to the individual’s family and friends."

EEEV is a rare but serious disease transmitted to people by infected mosquitos. The last reported human EEEV infection in New Hampshire was in 2014, when DHHS identified three human infections, including two fatalities, according to the department. In addition to the person with EEEV infection announced Tuesday, EEEV has been detected in one horse and seven mosquito batches in New Hampshire so far this summer. 

"In New Hampshire, mosquitoes transmit infections including Eastern Equine Encephalitis Virus, West Nile Virus, and Jamestown Canyon Virus," New Hampshire State Epidemiologist Dr. Benjamin Chan said in a statement. "We believe there is an elevated risk for EEEV infections this year in New England given the positive mosquito samples identified. The risk will continue into the fall until there is a hard frost that kills the mosquito [sic]. Everybody should take steps to prevent mosquito bites when they are outdoors."

ANTHONY FAUCI’S WEST NILE VIRUS DIAGNOSIS: WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE MOSQUITO-BORNE DISEASE

New Hampshire health officials said EEEV can cause flu-like symptoms such as fever, chills, muscle aches, and joint pain. 

EEEV can also cause severe neurological disease, such as inflammation of the brain and membranes around the spinal cord, known as encephalitis and meningitis, respectively. Approximately one-third of all people who develop encephalitis from EEEV die from their infection, and many others experience life-long physical or mental impacts, according to the department. There is no vaccine or antiviral treatment for EEEV. 

EEEV has also been detected in neighboring states. In Massachusetts, one person, one horse and 69 mosquito samples have tested positive, and in Vermont, one person and 47 mosquito samples have tested positive. Vermont state health officials on Aug. 9 announced the first human case in the state since 2012. That case involved a male in his 40s from Chittenden County who was hospitalized on July 16 and left the hospital a week later.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates there are about 11 human cases of eastern equine encephalitis in the U.S. per year. 

WEST NILE VIRUS DETECTED AT NEW YORK BEACH

New Hampshire health officials warned residents to prevent EEEV infection by taking steps to prevent mosquito bites, including using effective mosquito repellents, wearing long sleeves and pants when outside, and avoiding outdoor activities in the early morning and evening hours when mosquitoes are most active. 

The department said it is also important for residents to remove standing water from around their homes to reduce mosquito populations, and ensure doors and windows have tight-fitting screens without holes.

Over the weekend, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) and the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR) announced plans to conduct aerial spraying for mosquitoes in areas of Plymouth County, and truck-mounted spraying in parts of Worcester County. As of Saturday, 10 communities in Massachusetts were raised to high or critical risk for EEEV.

"We have not seen an outbreak of EEE for four years in Massachusetts," Massachusetts DPH Commissioner Robbie Goldstein. MD, PhD said in a statement Saturday. "This year’s outbreak and activity raise the risk for communities in parts of the state. We need to use all our available tools to reduce risk and protect our communities. We are asking everyone to do their part." 

The town of Plymouth, about 40 miles southeast of Boston, said Friday it was taking "proactive measures" amid the high risk status for EEEV by closing all parks and fields from dusk until dawn. 

from Latest & Breaking News on Fox News https://ift.tt/7adfnTj
via IFTTT

Strictly judge Len Goodman to get public memorial

Late TV star Len Goodman is set to be immortalised outside a dance studio in Dartford town centre.

from BBC News https://ift.tt/hya8gbl
via IFTTT

Chicago cops received more help for DNC than during height of 2020 riots: retired police chief

The $75 million policing budget for the just-concluded Democratic National Convention paid off for Chicago but also shows a stunning contrast with the money devoted at the height of the 2020 George Floyd riots, a retired Illinois police chief tells Fox News Digital.

"The security for the DNC is the largest police presence in the history of Chicago, as far as they go back of tracking of all local, state, county, suburban federal agencies, there's never been a larger police presence ever," retired Riverside, Illinois, police chief Tom Wetizel told Fox News Digital in an interview. 

Weitzel recalled that when he was chief during the protests after the death of Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, the department "was not given the resources that we needed from outside our own agency when we would ask for them, and certainly not anywhere near this level."

DNC IN CHICAGO: WINDY CITY ROCKED BY VIOLENCE EVEN WITH MIGRANT GANGS ON ‘GOOD BEHAVIOR’

"People forget that the Democrats were the party of, and probably still are the party of defund the police, and now the Democratic Party at the Democratic National Convention has the largest police presence in Chicago history. I mean, that kind of strikes me as very strange," he said.

Ahead of the DNC, a local news outlet reported the White House's Office of Budget and Management allocated $75 million in federal funding for security at the convention, and most of the funds reportedly went to the Chicago Police Department.

"It would have a significant impact," Weitzel said when asked if those resources were provided to departments on the South Side – Chicago's heavily crime-ridden region – to deter crime.

CHICAGO POLICE MAKE ARRESTS AMONG PROTESTERS AT THE DNC

Every day during the convention, anti-Israel agitators took to the streets near the DNC to protest against the Democratic ticket's foreign policies, as well as other left-wing causes. Some were part of pro-Hamas groups and burned the American flag. Others waved Palestinian flags and chanted on bullhorns, "There is one solution, intifada revolution" and "Long live the intifada." 

The Chicago Police Department said there were at least 74 arrests over the course of the convention's four days. 

"Our city was on display for the world to see," Superintendent Larry Snelling told reporters last week. "I guarantee the world was watching. We showed again that this was not 1968."

During the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, approximately 600 people were arrested. The convention was held amid significant social unrest and marked by anti-Vietnam War protests.

DNC IN CHICAGO: 12 SHOT, 1 MURDERED IN WINDY CITY SHOOTINGS ON DAY 2 OF CONVENTION

"I can tell you with a surety that they are the heroes that they are. Their training has paid off, their patience has paid off, their professionalism has paid off," Weitzel said of Chicago PD. "The Chicago Police Department [wasn't] the lead story for the night. The Chicago Police Department [wasn't] the lead story for abusing or alleged to have abused or overreacted."

from Latest & Breaking News on Fox News https://ift.tt/xqg1wa2
via IFTTT

Baseball star to play for both teams in same game

Boston Red Sox catcher Danny Jansen is set to make history as the first player to play for both teams in one Major League Baseball game.

from BBC News https://ift.tt/d7pmc6M
via IFTTT

Cordon lifted after tide removes suspected bomb

The coastguard is watching the beach to see if it returns and bomb disposal experts are on standby.

from BBC News https://ift.tt/ChN6uG8
via IFTTT

Who is Kamala Harris' 'combative Marxist economist' father, Donald J. Harris?

Vice President Kamala Harris has frequently cited her upbringing and family as she crisscrosses the nation in an effort to rally support for her newly-formed presidential campaign, including touting her father in a rare mention at the DNC. 

"My early memories of our parents together are very joyful ones. A home filled with laughter and music: Aretha, Coltrane and Miles. At the park, my mother would say, ‘Stay close.’ But my father would say, as he smiled, ‘Run, Kamala, run. Don’t be afraid. Don’t let anything stop you.’ From my earliest years, he taught me to be fearless," Harris said during her acceptance speech during the DNC in Chicago last Thursday. 

Harris was born in Oakland, California, in 1964 to Shyamala Gopalan, a ​​biologist who immigrated to the U.S. from India, and Donald Harris, an economist who immigrated from Jamaica. 

Harris’ parents divorced when she was 7 years old, with the future vice president spending a lot of her time with her mother and sister in Canada in her youth, where their mother worked as a researcher at the McGill University School of Medicine. 

HARRIS LEAVES OUT DEADLY BOTCHED AFGHANISTAN WITHDRAWAL IN SOARING PRO-MILITARY DNC SPEECH

Following Harris rising to the top of the Democratic presidential ticket and formally accepting the party’s nomination last week, Fox News Digital examined her father’s background and legacy within academia. 

Donald J. Harris, who coincidentally shares the same first name as VP Harris' Republican rival, former President Donald J. Trump, is a retired Stanford University professor of economics, whose econ background is steeped in Marxist theory, which earned him the description from the Economist last month as a "combative Marxist economist." 

"​​He is a clear writer. There are few compound nouns or sentences that run for paragraphs. Yet he is still a Marxist and his writings are sprinkled with obscurantist theorising. Republicans who have mocked Ms. Harris for word-salad speeches will find precedent in her father’s writing," the Economist wrote of Harris’ father. 

Donald J. Harris was born in 1938 in Jamaica, and earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of London before moving to the U.S. to complete his doctorate in economics at the University of California in Berkeley in 1966. He met the vice president’s mother while attending Berkeley, with the pair marrying and sharing daughters Kamala and Maya Harris. 

KAMALA HARRIS' DAD SAYS PARENTS ARE 'TURNING IN THEIR GRAVE' OVER HER COMMENTS ON WEED AND BEING JAMAICAN: REPORT

He held teaching positions at Northwestern University and the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign before the couple divorced in the early 1970s. He took a position with Stanford in 1972 as a professor of economics after also working at ​​the University of Wisconsin - Madison. 

The Stanford Daily, the elite university’s student newspaper, described Donald Harris as teaching "radical political economics" and as a "Marxian economist" in 1974. He notably became the first Black scholar to receive tenure within Stanford’s economic school. 

He retired from teaching in 1998 "in order to pursue more actively and practically his long-standing interest, which originally motivated him to take up the study of economics, in developing public policies to promote economic growth, unleash productive capabilities, and advance social equity," according to his Stanford biography. He has since served as an expert on how to inspire economic growth for his home country of Jamaica, the Washington Post previously reported. 

Harris also still serves as a professor emeritus at Stanford following his retirement. 

He has notably remained relatively quiet about his daughter’s political successes, not joining her at the DNC or other political rallies and very rarely offering insight into his relationship with his daughter. 

Kamala Harris has also rarely mentioned her father throughout her political career, saying in 2003, "My father is a good guy, but we are not close," before telling the Washington Post in 2021 that she and her father were on "good terms." 

She only mentioned him a handful of times in her 2019 memoir "The Truths We Hold," while noting to the DNC audience that "it was mostly my mother who raised us." 

"My father remained a part of our lives," Harris wrote in her 2019 book. "We would see him on weekends and spend summers with him in Palo Alto. But it was my mother who took charge of our upbringing. She was the one most responsible for shaping us into the women we would become."

KAMALA HARRIS' HUSBAND DOUG EMHOFF ADMITS TO EXTRAMARITAL AFFAIR THAT LED TO BREAKUP OF FIRST MARRIAGE

Donald Harris did note in a recent essay that he fought to maintain a relationship with his daughters despite the divorce from their mother and subsequent custody battle. 

"After a hard-fought custody battle in the family court of Oakland, California, the context of the relationship was placed within arbitrary limits imposed by a court-ordered divorce settlement based on the false assumption by the State of California that fathers cannot handle parenting," he wrote in an essay for Jamaica Global in 2020. "Nevertheless, I persisted, never giving up on my love for my children or reneging on my responsibilities as their father."

In 2019, Donald Harris offered a rare response to his daughter in February 2019, after Kamala Harris discussed smoking marijuana when she was younger. 

RFK JR RESPONDS TO DRAMA WITHIN KENNEDY FAMILY, WIFE'S DISCOMFORT AFTER TRUMP ENDORSEMENT

 "Half my family’s from Jamaica. Are you kidding me?" Kamala Harris quipped in 2019 when asked about previous marijuana use. 

Her father took issue with the comment, writing in an essay for a Jamaican media outlet that his parents would be "turning in their grave" over the comment. 

"My dear departed grandmothers... as well as my deceased parents, must be turning in their grave right now to see their family’s name, reputation and proud Jamaican identity being connected, in any way, jokingly or not with the fraudulent stereotype of a pot-smoking joy seeker and in the pursuit of identity politics," he wrote.

"Speaking for myself and my immediate Jamaican family, we wish to categorically dissociate ourselves from this travesty," he added. 

The 86-year-old father of the Democratic nominee has since remained publicly silent about his daughter, which follows in line with his comment to Politico after reprimanding the VP for her joke about smoking marijuana. 

"I have decided to stay out of all the political hullabaloo by not engaging in any interviews with the media," he wrote to Politico at the time. 

Fox News Digital reached out to Donald Harris for comment but had not received a response at the time of publication.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

from Latest & Breaking News on Fox News https://ift.tt/vNpWhdu
via IFTTT

Ben Affleck's 'erratic behavior' and 'giant mood swings' were factors in Jennifer Lopez divorce: report

It's been less than a week since Jennifer Lopez filed for divorce from Ben Affleck, and little is known about why the couple really split. 

However, more is coming out now about Affleck's alleged behavior that may have contributed to the relationship's demise.

"You could see the erratic behavior, the giant mood swings," a source alleges to People magazine of Affleck's mood during the marriage. They explained the famed actor and director oscillated between "being incredibly happy and warm – the best light that emanated from him" to expressing "the deepest, darkest behavior."

"I think he was signaling a message to the press," the source continued. "But yet participating."

JENNIFER LOPEZ'S ENGAGEMENT RING FROM BEN AFFLECK PROMISED HE WAS 'NOT GOING ANYWHERE'

In May 2023, less than a year after the couple was married, paparazzi captured a tense moment between Affleck and Lopez in Santa Monica. In video obtained by Fox News Digital, the duo can be seen walking to their car, when Affleck opens the passenger door for Lopez. Once she's inside, Affleck closes the door shut in dramatic fashion.

As he approaches the driver's side, he can be heard telling the paparazzi, "I think you got it."

WATCH: JENNIFER LOPEZ AND BEN AFFLECK'S TENSE CAR MOMENT

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER

In February, two months before their listed date of separation, Affleck accompanied Lopez to the Grammy Awards. The camera caught an awkward moment between the two, which subsequently went viral online. 

Affleck seems to whisper something to Lopez that she doesn't like, prompting the singer to gently slap her husband on the chest. Moments later, they realize the camera is rolling and that host Trevor Noah is speaking.

LIKE WHAT YOU’RE READING? CLICK HERE FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS

Affleck explained what really happened in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter the following month. "I saw [Noah approach] and I was like, 'Oh, God,'" he started. 

"They were framing us in this shot, but I didn't know they were rolling. I leaned into her and I was like, 'As soon as they start rolling, I'm going to slide away from you and leave you sitting next to Trevor.' She goes, 'You better f---ing not leave.' That's a husband-and-wife thing."

The source continued that the reunited couple was trying to go the distance, but couldn't make it work.

"They were trying to work through it, but when the mood swings and the big highs and big lows informed a toxicity that was pervasive, no one can help you – you have to help yourself," they said.

"But I would not be so bold to say there isn't love – of course there is… The world was rooting for them, but who he said he was and who he turned out to be were two different people."

Conversely, Amy Laurent, a professional matchmaker and the author of "8 Weeks to Everlasting: A Step-By-Step Guide to Getting (and Keeping!) the Guy You Want," told Fox News Digital that Lopez's lifestyle might have contributed to the split. 

"Jennifer Lopez is a powerhouse who leads a life far different from most of us… Celebrities, in general, are in very unique circumstances so are naturally going to face much greater challenges in finding love. For mega-stars with extravagant lifestyles, the difficulty is even greater."

Lopez filed for divorce from Affleck on Tuesday, Aug. 20, in Los Angeles County Superior Court, two years to the date of their Georgia wedding. 

She did so without a lawyer, Fox News Digital confirmed through court documents. Lopez cited "irreconcilable differences" for the reason of their split, adding that they'd separated on April 26.

Representatives for both Affleck and Lopez did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.

from Latest & Breaking News on Fox News https://ift.tt/xM1Slwj
via IFTTT

Ko wins Women's Open to end eight-year major drought

New Zealand's Lydia Ko ends an eight-year major drought with victory at the AIG Women's Open at St Andrews.

from BBC News https://ift.tt/pamJokC
via IFTTT

Judge blocks NY AG James from going after pregnancy centers over abortion reversal pill

A federal judge this week issued New York Attorney General Letitia James a preliminary injunction that bars her from taking action against pregnancy clinics on the grounds it would restrict free speech. 

"In sum, on this record, Plaintiffs have standing," Judge John L. Sinatra, Jr., a Trump appointee, wrote. "No abstention doctrine applies. And no other prudential, discretionary or equitable obstacle to such relief exists.

"Based on a careful application of the preliminary injunction factors, especially as they relate to Plaintiffs’ First Amendment Free Speech claim, motion for a preliminary injunction is granted."

The judge ordered that James "in her official capacity, as well as her officers, agents, employees, attorneys and all persons in active concert or participation with her" are enjoined from enforcing consumer fraud laws against the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates; Gianna’s House, Inc.; and Choose Life of Jamestown Inc. for discussing and promoting the abortion pill reversal procedure. 

SUPREME COURT STRIKES DOWN BIDEN-HARRIS TITLE IX CHANGE THAT SOME ARGUED WOULD ALLOW MEN IN WOMEN'S SPORTS

James had sued Heartbeat International and 11 centers that promoted the abortion pill reversal procedure, accusing the parties of engaging in fraud, deceptive business practices and false advertising. James claimed the groups were "spreading dangerous misinformation by advertising … without any medical and scientific proof."

Medicinal abortion involves taking mifepristone and following it with treatment of misoprostol days later, but pregnancy clinics have advised that those who change their minds and want to continue the pregnancy can do so by abandoning the second drug and instead taking doses of progesterone. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says the safety and efficacy remain unsupported. 

DEM VEGAS POLITICIAN ACCUSED OF JOURNALIST MURDER TESTIFIES: ‘UNEQUIVOCALLY I’M INNOCENT'

The injunction will remain in place pending disposition of the case, Sinatra's order says. The order only applies to the named plaintiffs, who are represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which touted the ruling as a significant victory. 

"The court was right to affirm the pregnancy centers’ freedom to tell interested women about this life-saving treatment option," ADF Senior Counsel Caleb Dalton said in a statement posted on the ADF website. Dalton also argued the case before the court on behalf of the plaintiffs. 

DETROIT JUDGE REMOVED FROM BENCH AFTER PUNISHING TEEN FOR FALLING ASLEEP DURING COURTROOM FIELD TRIP

The lawsuit had accused James of wrongfully targeting the groups because of their viewpoints, specifically in relation to the pill, which has proven a contentious issue over the past year. Colorado similarly found itself entangled in a legal battle over the pill, ultimately leading to an injunction. 

U.S. District Judge Daniel Domenico, another Trump appointee, agreed that banning the medication likely violated the U.S. Constitution. Though, in that case, he leaned on the guarantee of religious freedom as justification. 

The New York Attorney General’s office did not respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment before publication. 

Reuters contributed to this report. 

from Latest & Breaking News on Fox News https://ift.tt/ZIBhYXT
via IFTTT

Root guides England to victory over Sri Lanka

Joe Root’s nerveless half-century helps England overcome some significant scares to defeat Sri Lanka on a tense fourth day of the first Test.

from BBC News https://ift.tt/hJCPS2X
via IFTTT

How scientists in Iowa are working to stop the bird flu outbreak infecting US dairy cows

At first glance, it looks like an unassuming farm. Cows are scattered across fenced-in fields. A milking barn sits in the distance with a tractor parked alongside. But the people who work there are not farmers, and other buildings look more like what you’d find at a modern university than in a cow pasture.

Welcome to the National Animal Disease Center, a government research facility in Iowa where 43 scientists work with pigs, cows and other animals, pushing to solve the bird flu outbreak currently spreading through U.S. animals — and develop ways to stop it.

Particularly important is the testing of a cow vaccine designed to stop the continued spread of the virus — thereby, hopefully, reducing the risk that it will someday become a widespread disease in people.

HEALTH EXPERTS RAISE CONCERN OVER THE DISPOSAL OF INFECTED POULTRY BIRDS AS AVIAN FLU SPREADS

The U.S. Department of Agriculture facility opened in 1961 in Ames, a college town about 45 minutes north of Des Moines. The center is located on a pastoral, 523-acre site a couple of miles east of Ames' low-slung downtown.

It's a quiet place with a rich history. Through the years, researchers there developed vaccines against various diseases that endanger pigs and cattle, including hog cholera and brucellosis. And work there during the H1N1 flu pandemic in 2009 — known at the time as "swine flu" — proved the virus was confined to the respiratory tract of pigs and that pork was safe to eat.

The center has the unusual resources and experience to do that kind of work, said Richard Webby, a prominent flu researcher at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis.

"That’s not a capacity that many places in the U.S. have," said Webby, who has been collaborating with the Ames facility on the cow vaccine work.

The campus has 93 buildings, including a high-containment laboratory building whose exterior is reminiscent of a modern megachurch but inside features a series of compartmentalized corridors and rooms, some containing infected animals. That’s where scientists work with more dangerous germs, including the H5N1 bird flu. There’s also a building with three floors of offices that houses animal disease researchers as well as a testing center that is a "for animals" version of the CDC labs in Atlanta that identify rare (and sometimes scary) new human infections.

About 660 people work at the campus — roughly a third of them assigned to the animal disease center, which has a $38 million annual budget. They were already busy with a wide range of projects but grew even busier this year after the H5N1 bird flu unexpectedly jumped into U.S. dairy cows.

"It's just amazing how people just dig down and make it work," said Mark Ackermann, the center's director.

The virus was first identified in 1959 and grew into a widespread and highly lethal menace to migratory birds and domesticated poultry. Meanwhile, the virus evolved, and in the past few years has been detected in a growing number of animals ranging from dogs and cats to sea lions and polar bears.

Despite the spread in different animals, scientists were still surprised this year when infections were suddenly detected in cows — specifically, in the udders and milk of dairy cows. It’s not unusual for bacteria to cause udder infections, but a flu virus?

"Typically we think of influenza as being a respiratory disease," said Kaitlyn Sarlo Davila, a researcher at the Ames facility.

Much of the research on the disease has been conducted at a USDA poultry research center in Athens, Georgia, but the appearance of the virus in cows pulled the Ames center into the mix.

Amy Baker, a researcher who has won awards for her research on flu in pigs, is now testing a vaccine for cows. Preliminary results are expected soon, she said.

USDA spokesperson Shilo Weir called the work promising but early in development. There is not yet an approved bird flu vaccine being used at U.S. poultry farms, and Weir said that while poultry vaccines are being pursued, any such strategy would be challenging and would not be guaranteed to eliminate the virus.

Baker and other researchers also have been working on studies in which they try to see how the virus spreads between cows. That work is going on in the high-containment building, where scientists and animal caretakers don specialized respirators and other protective equipment.

The research exposed four yearling heifers to a virus-carrying mist and then squirted the virus into the teats and udders of two lactating cows. The first four cows got infected but had few symptoms. The second two got sicker — suffering diminished appetite, a drop in milk production and producing thick, yellowish milk.

The conclusion that the virus mainly spread through exposure to milk containing high levels of the virus — which could then spread through shared milking equipment or other means — was consistent with what health investigators understood to be going on. But it was important to do the work because it has sometimes been difficult to get complete information from dairy farms, Webby said.

"At best we had some good hunches about how the virus was circulating, but we didn't really know," he added.

USDA scientists are doing additional work, checking the blood of calves that drank raw milk for signs of infection.

A study conducted by the Iowa center and several universities concluded that the virus was likely circulating for months before it was officially reported in Texas in March.

The study also noted a new and rare combination of genes in the bird flu virus that spilled over into the cows, and researchers are sorting out whether that enabled it to spread to cows, or among cows, said Tavis Anderson, who helped lead the work.

Either way, the researchers in Ames expect to be busy for years.

"Do they (cows) have their own unique influenzas? Can it go from a cow back into wild birds? Can it go from a cow into a human? Cow into a pig?" Anderson added. "Understanding those dynamics, I think, is the outstanding research question — or one of them."

from Latest & Breaking News on Fox News https://ift.tt/2MBTYt7
via IFTTT

RFK Jr suspends campaign for White House and backs Donald Trump

The third-party candidate said he no longer has "a realistic path to victory in the face of systematic censorship".

from BBC News https://ift.tt/VoTas5R
via IFTTT

Chicago hotel, birthplace of chocolate brownie, still serving sweet treat thanks to original recipe

The birthplace of the brownie can be traced to the kitchen of a Chicago hotel.

So claims the Palmer House, a Hilton hotel that has been operating in downtown Chicago since 1873 (the original hotel was built in 1870 but burned down during the Great Chicago Fire a year later).

Bertha Palmer, wife of Chicago businessman and Palmer House founder Potter Palmer, helped invent the chocolate brownie when she directed the hotel kitchen staff to come up with a confection smaller than a piece of cake for women attending the World's Columbian Exposition — better known as the Chicago World's Fair — in 1893, according to the hotel's website.

IN CHICAGO, DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION GUESTS GET TREATED TO GIANT CHEESECAKES

Now, more than 130 years later, the same recipe is still used to serve brownies at the Palmer House today, Scott Gourley, the hotel's executive chef, told Fox News Digital.

"I probably upgraded the ingredients a little bit since then," he admitted.

The first reference to the "brownie" in America appeared in the Sears Roebuck catalogue, published in Chicago in 1898, the Palmer House claims on its website.

THIS CHICAGO DEEP-DISH PIZZA REQUIRES A KNIFE AND FORK TO EAT PROPERLY

It remains one of the hotel's most popular confections, Gourley said. 

The brownies are such a draw that people will come to the hotel and buy 40 or 50 of them at a time, he said.

"We sold approximately 58,000 of them last year," Gourley said. 

"And we're already on pace to surpass that this year."

CHICAGO'S ITALIAN BEEF, POPULARIZED BY 'THE BEAR,' IS WINDY CITY'S 'REAL ROOT FOOD'

The Palmer House shared its original chocolate brownie recipe with Fox News Digital.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR LIFESTYLE NEWSLETTER

2. Melt chocolate and butter in a double boiler. Mix the baking powder, sugar and flour together in a bowl. Combine chocolate and flour mixtures. Stir for 4 to 5 minutes. Add eggs and continue mixing. 

3. Pour the mixture into a 9x12 baking sheet. Sprinkle walnuts on top, pressing down slightly into the mixture with your hand. Bake for approximately 35 minutes. 

For more Lifestyle articles, visit www.foxnews.com/lifestyle

4. Brownies are done when the edges begin to crisp and have risen about ¼ of an inch. 

1. Mix together water, apricot preserves and unflavored gelatin in a sauce pan. 

2. Mix thoroughly and bring to a boil for 2 minutes. 

OLYMPIC VILLAGE CHOCOLATE MUFFIN 'DUPE' RECIPE IS 'BETTER THAN THE REAL THING'

3. Brush hot glaze on brownies while still warm.

from Latest & Breaking News on Fox News https://ift.tt/ARdfxyn
via IFTTT

Three things to look for in Harris's convention speech

The BBC's Katty Kay says the vice-president is not the strongest orator so must step up on the biggest stage.

from BBC News https://ift.tt/jG8clxN
via IFTTT

Woakes targets place on England's winter tours

Chris Woakes is targeting a place on England’s winter tours after assuming the role of attack leader following the retirement of James Anderson.

from BBC News https://ift.tt/LAob10Q
via IFTTT

Trump campaign blasts Warriors' Steve Kerr for need to 'speak up' at DNC despite previous silence on China

The Trump campaign took aim at Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr over his previous refusal to comment on the NBA’s controversial relationship with China after Kerr said during his speech at the Democratic National Convention on Monday night that he felt the election was "too important… not to speak up."  

Days after coaching Team USA to another medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Kerr took center stage at the DNC to voice his support for Vice President Kamala Harris and running mate Tim Walz in the upcoming presidential election. 

"I know very well that speaking out about politics these days comes with risks. I can see the ‘shut up and whistle’ tweets being fired off as we speak. But I also knew as soon as I was asked that it was too important as an American citizen not to speak up in an election of this magnitude," Kerr said at the United Center in Chicago. 

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM

"The reason I said yes to speaking here tonight is that as a coach and a former player, as a husband, a son, a father, even a grandfather, and as an American – I believe in a certain kind of leadership. I believe that leaders must display dignity. I believe that leaders must tell the truth."

To close out his speech, Kerr named former President Trump. 

"After the results are tallied that night, we can, in the words of the great Steph Curry, we can tell Donald Trump, ‘Night, night!’"

The Trump campaign responded on social media, calling out Kerr’s motivation for "speaking up" in this election despite declining to comment on the NBA’s controversial relationship with China in 2019. 

"Steve Kerr said tonight that ‘speaking out about politics these days comes with risks... but it was too important as an American citizen to not speak up,’" the post read. "This is the same Steve Kerr that had no comment when he was asked about China's human rights abuses." 

WARRIORS' STEVE KERR MAKES BOLD PREDICTION AT DNC, WANTS TO TELL DONALD TRUMP 'NIGHT, NIGHT' LIKE STEPH CURRY

The video in the post shared on X was of Kerr speaking to the media in October 2019 after Chinese state television decided not to air two NBA exhibition games in response to the league's reaction to comments made by former Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey in support of pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.

Kerr said at the time that he did not have any comment on the issue, which he described as a "really bizarre international story".

"It's something I’m reading about, just like everybody is, but I’m not going to comment further than that," he said. "What I’ve found is that it’s easy to speak on issues that I’m passionate about and that I feel like I’m well-versed on, and I’ve found that it makes the most sense to stick to topics that fall in that category."

Days later, Kerr faced further backlash after he said he had never been asked about "human rights abuses" that take place in the U.S. when he visited China.

"No. Nor has our record of human rights abuses come up either," he said at the time after a reporter asked if he had been questioned about Chinese human rights while in China. "People in China didn't ask me about, you know, people owning AR-15s and mowing each other down in a mall."

"The world is a complex place and there's more gray than black and white," he added.

Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.

from Latest & Breaking News on Fox News https://ift.tt/wJGo2BC
via IFTTT

Archaeologists uncover stones in Israel matching road where 'Jesus walked'

Located at Mount Hotzvim in Jerusalem, a large quarry has been under excavation, exposing more information on the Second Temple time period when Jesus walked the Holy Land.

Archaeologists with the Israel Antiquities Authority excavated the area that covers about 3,500 square meters, forming part of a large field of quarries, according to a press release from the Israel Antiquities Authority.

They have uncovered dozens of building stones of various sizes, different paths and tools.

MAN IN MISSISSIPPI DISCOVERS RARE MAMMOTH TUSK DATING BACK TO ICE AGE

The building stones carved reached an enormous length of about 8 feet, a width of nearly 4 feet, and a thickness of about 1 foot.

"The weight of any such hewn block was about 2.5 tons! The impressive size of the stones that were carved from here in the quarry may indicate that they were intended to serve as building stones in one of the many state construction factories that were carried out in Jerusalem at the end of the Second Temple period," said Michael Tchernin and Lara Shilov, excavation managers from the Israel Antiquities Authority said in the release.

"It can be assumed, with a great deal of caution, that at least some of the building stones carved from here were intended to be used as paving slabs for the streets of Jerusalem of that period."

"In another excavation conducted in the City of David in recent years, archaeologists have discovered a paved street (the terraced street - "via pilgrims") that also dates to the end of the Second-Tac Temple period: amazingly enough, It turns out that the paving stones of this street are identical in size, thickness and geological composition, to the stone tablets issued in the quarry now exposed on Har Hotzvim," the release said in reference to the stones matching those used to build "Pilgrim's Road."

For more Lifestyle articles, visit www.foxnews.com/lifestyle.

In 2019, Israel officially opened the stairway, known as "Pilgrim's Road," that Jesus is believed to have walked on in ancient Jerusalem as another place with the significance of "biblical proportions" to billions.

"It brings the Bible back to life," David Friedman, the former U.S. Ambassador to Israel, told Fox News' Pete Hegseth at the time.

"From a sewage pipe that burst 15 years ago came these excavations that resulted in the discovery of the Pool of Siloam, where all the Jewish pilgrims would come and cleanse themselves before ascending to the Temple and then an entire road, not a relic, not an antiquity, but an entire road intact from that pool ascending to the Temple."

Friedman added, "People can literally immerse themselves in that environment, where the great biblical figures of the time where Jesus walked, we know that Jesus took this road. We know His visits to the Temple are well-documented. So you really have the opportunity to immerse yourself in ancient history in this incredible, stunning discovery."

The Second Holy Temple stood in Jerusalem for 420 years between 349 BCE to 70 CE.

During the Second Temple era, Jews were subject to foreign rule by the Persians, the Greeks and eventually the Romans, according to Chabad Organization.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR LIFESTYLE NEWSLETTER

A stone tool was also uncovered that was believed to be more than 2,000 years old.

"This is a pure stone tool that was used by the Jewish community during the Second Temple period…It may have been locally designed, in the quarry grounds, or it was specially brought to the site to be used by the quarrymen," Shilav said in the release.

Archaeologists are working to present the quarry to the public and working with a developer to "integrate [the quarry] into the commercial complex planned to be built" in the location. 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The tools will be on display at the National Archeology Campus in Jerusalem.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Israel Antiquities Authority for additional comment.

from Latest & Breaking News on Fox News https://ift.tt/ydUl35z
via IFTTT

Harris, Obama and Beyoncé (maybe) at the DNC

And, UK tycoon among those missing after yacht sinks.

from BBC News https://ift.tt/AzeB8hU
via IFTTT

Washington Post columnist admits fact-checkers were ‘ineffective’ in Trump era: Confused ‘opinion with fact'

Washington Post columnist Meghan McArdle ripped the community of fact-checkers who have tried to hold former President Trump accountable during his political career, admitting they’ve ultimately failed to hamper his support and have hurt their own institutions.

The author, a staunch critic of Trump, accused those of trying to prevent the spread of Trump’s "disinformation" of being arrogant and mistaking their own opinion with objective fact. She even accused them of censorship. All of this, she wrote, has ultimately led to voters questioning them and other institutions more than they’ve ever questioned the former president.

"After eight years of all-out disinformation warfare, Trump’s approval ratings are holding up better than public trust in academia and journalism," McArdle lamented.

STEPHEN COLBERT'S NEW YORK CITY AUDIENCE LAUGHS AFTER HE PRAISES CNN'S OBJECTIVITY

The columnist began her piece by describing the idealized mission of the Trump era fact-checkers, saying they "devote themselves to checking the internet for bad facts and bad actors — and especially for the malevolent impulses of Trump."

However, they didn’t save the world in her estimation. At best, they dinged Trump on some of his bragging and, at worst, they censored true facts in their thirst to correct him.

"Some of their efforts have been useful, including their fact-checking of Trump’s more frenetic flights of fancy," she said, adding, "But the larger effort has been repeatedly marred when the disinformation experts have acted as censors, suppressing information that turned out to be true and spreading information that was false."

McArdle provided some of the major examples of this suppression, examples that most of the media participated in at the behest of these fact-checkers.

"Recall when it was ‘misinformation’ to suggest the pandemic might have started in a Wuhan lab. Recollect how a bevy of putative experts assured us that Hunter Biden’s laptop was probably a ‘Russian information operation’ rather than … Hunter Biden’s laptop."

STEPHEN COLBERT'S NEW YORK CITY AUDIENCE LAUGHS AFTER HE PRAISES CNN'S OBJECTIVITY

She added a more recent one, stating, "If these memories have faded, remember that just a couple months ago, we were hearing that videos of President Joe Biden’s obvious decline were actually expert-certified ‘cheap fakes.’"

The author even noted that after each of these fact-checks blew up in the experts’ faces, they would learn some "humility." "And each time, they have reemerged, unchastened," she said. 

McArdle also brought up how European Union Commissioner Thierry Breton stepped in it when he tried to slam Elon Musk with a "huffily worded and, as it turned out, unapproved letter" after the X owner allowed Trump’s so-called misinformation to spread on X during their lengthy interview on Monday night. 

"For Breton’s interference made no difference; Musk quite rightly went ahead with his show, and what followed was more dangerous to the Trump campaign than it was to democracy," the columnist said.

She concluded, "The episode sums up all the ways in which the ‘disinformation’ specialty has gone wrong with Trump: the arrogance, the confusion of opinion with legal or empirical fact, the destroy-the-village-in-order-to-save-it attempts to shore up democracy by clamping down on political speech. Not to mention the ineffectiveness of it all."

from Latest & Breaking News on Fox News https://ift.tt/OPgJwf7
via IFTTT

Girl's rare cancer was mistaken for a wart

A child with a cancerous lesion on her toe was mistakenly diagnosed as having a wart.

from BBC News https://ift.tt/50sDu3U
via IFTTT

X suspends business in Brazil over censorship row

The social media platform says its legal representative was threatened by a supreme court judge.

from BBC News https://ift.tt/9DwlWAh
via IFTTT

Biden agency chief has 'slow-rolled' SBA's cooperation in electioneering probe says House committee

EXCLUSIVE: The chairman of a House committee tasked with overseeing small business and commercial issues sent the Small Business Administration (SBA) a scathing letter Friday outlining how it has purportedly failed to hand over sufficient subpoenaed documents.

Rep. Roger Williams, R-Texas, previously noted the SBA used a 2021 Biden executive order on "promoting access to voting" to forge a "Memorandum of Understanding" (MOU) with the Michigan Department of State.

The way the MOU has been acted upon is controversial and potentially unconstitutional, Williams has said, as he and others in Congress previously accused the SBA of using it to funnel resources to a swing state in a partisan way. He previously said the SBA is "diverting its resources away from assisting Main Street so it can register Democratic voters" in Michigan. 

On Friday, Williams wrote SBA administrator Isabel Casillas-Guzman to criticize "lackluster production of documents pursuant to the committee’s July 30, 2024 subpoena."

LAWMAKERS DEMAND ANSWERS FROM TOP MICHIGAN OFFICIAL OVER ALLEGED ‘WEAPONIZATION’ OF TAXPAYER FUNDS FOR ELECTIONEERING

Williams had asked for, and later subpoenaed, travel calendars for agency staff, as well as other key documents in his probe into whether SBA’s work under the MOU is indeed partisan or worse.

"Since the first request was made by this Committee on March 20, 2024, the SBA has produced approximately 500 pages of documents, a substantial portion of which is just one email chain; further, nearly 20 percent of the documents produced by the SBA were entirely unresponsive to the Committee’s requests," the letter went on.

"It remains unclear why the SBA has slow-rolled productions and wasted time producing documents that were either nonresponsive to Committee’s requests or duplicative."

WATCHDOG GROUP SUES FEDS FOR RECORDS AS LAWMAKER CALLS VOTER REGISTRATION EFFORTS A ‘SLAP IN THE FACE’

In May, the SBA was also sued on a coinciding front by the conservative Oversight Project, a government transparency watchdog, after it too made Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for similar documentation.

In that filing, plaintiff Mike Howell called the documents sought a "matter of widespread and exceptional media interest in which there exists possible questions about the government's integrity which affect public confidence."

In Friday’s letter, Williams said the SBA has provided "zero calendars" despite the subpoena, as well as a document describing the "implementation plan" of its voter outreach work, as required under President Biden’s separate order.

Williams also said he is aware of the aforementioned separate FOIA litigation and that the agency attested therein that such a document does exist.

A source familiar with the committee’s work said government officials also accused the panel of making baseless allegations surrounding the investigation and said the agency is trying to cover up any electioneering.

Williams told Fox News Digital on Friday he remains disappointed at what he characterized as a woefully insufficient response by the SBA.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

"Instead of cooperating with basic congressional oversight, the SBA has once again given us documents that are not responsive to our requests – despite their claims otherwise. With the presidential election less than three months away, our investigation is more important than ever," Williams said.

"Let me be clear, this Committee will not stop until we put an end to the SBA’s abuse of taxpayer resources, and ensure they refocus their efforts to the mission of supporting Main Street."

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, who was not party to the letter but has been a key voice in the upper chamber on the matter, said that if the agency has done nothing wrong, then it should welcome "the opportunity to share its work."

"There is a very simple solution here – for the SBA to stop playing games and be fully transparent."

Fox News Digital reached out to the SBA for comment but did not receive a response prior to publication.

Fox News Digital's Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.

from Latest & Breaking News on Fox News https://ift.tt/SJQXI70
via IFTTT

Ukraine incursion destroys key Russian bridge

Ukraine destroys a bridge over the river Seym as it continues its incursion into Russia's Kursk region.

from BBC News https://ift.tt/PJgxdDL
via IFTTT

Biden says Harris 'not going to' distance herself from his economic policies

President Biden claims Vice President Kamala Harris is not going to distance herself from his economic policy agenda.

Reports have circulated that the Democratic presidential nominee is seeking to stand apart from the policies of the Biden administration, which insiders say are too unpopular and could prove to be a liability.

"How much does it bother you that Vice President Harris might soon, for political reasons, start to distance herself from your economic plan?" Fox News senior White House correspondent Peter Doocy asked Biden during a press conference on Thursday.

TRUMP CAMP THANKS WH FOR CONFIRMING THERE'S 'NO DAYLIGHT' BETWEEN HARRIS, BIDEN: 'KAMALA CREATED THIS MESS'

"She's not going to," Biden replied, before walking away from the reporter.

The comment shows surprising confidence in the face of recent reports that Harris is not in lockstep with the administration.

An Axios report published Wednesday claimed the Harris-Walz campaign is consciously seeking to disentangle the vice president from the Biden administration's unpopular economic policies.

FORMER BIDEN ADVISER SUSAN RICE SAYS HARRIS HAS BEEN AN 'INTEGRAL ARCHITECT' OF THE ADMINISTRATION'S AGENDA

Key positions Harris is looking to pivot away from Biden include fracking, decriminalization of illegal immigration into the country and health care – according to the Axios report.

The vice president is reportedly most concerned with tackling inflation in new, more direct ways in order to free herself from the negative baggage that over three years of rapid inflation has created for the Democratic Party.

Harris announced on Thursday her intention to ban "price gouging" on groceries, which have seen a cost increase of over 20% over the last three years.

Conversely, the White House has been keen to emphasize unity between Biden and Harris, claiming there is "no daylight" between their individual agendas.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday during the White House press briefing that Biden and Harris have been "aligned" throughout the administration.

"[Harris is] going to lay out her vision. But again, they've been aligned, you know, they've been aligned for the last three and a half years. There's not been any daylight," Jean-Pierre said. 

from Latest & Breaking News on Fox News https://ift.tt/9MLQONS
via IFTTT

US judge has girl handcuffed for sleeping during court field trip

Detroit judge condemned by mother after showing 15-year-old he was "not to be played with".

from BBC News https://ift.tt/Tf5YVap
via IFTTT

'Devastating agenda': Top Minnesota lawmaker sounds alarm on businesses fleeing Walz's 'socialist crusade'

STURGEON LAKE – A GOP congressman in northeast Minnesota is blasting the economic policies of Tim Walz, arguing that the governor’s economic efforts and COVID policies have been "devastating" for most Minnesotans.

"I've talked to a lot of businesses that either have left or when they expand are not expanding in Minnesota," GOP Rep. Pete Stauber, who represents Minnesota’s 8th Congressional District, told Fox News Digital. "I mean, hundreds of millions of private investment are leaving Minnesota under Walz's watch."

"He's supported the highest income tax rate in the nation at 10%, he has taken a $19 billion surplus and the next year added a $10 billion tax on the hardworking Minnesotans. He's increased government spending by almost 50%. Very little growth in the private sector. I think if you look at North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Wisconsin, our neighboring states are growing the private sector jobs three and four times more than Walz."

The right leaning Tax Foundation's State Business Tax Climate Index for 2024, which was published in October 2023, ranked Minnesota as having the 44th best tax climate for businesses in the country.

VIDEO SHOWS WALZ PRAISING CONTROVERSIAL MUSLIM CLERIC HARRIS CAMPAIGN SAID HE HAD NO 'RELATIONSHIP WITH'

An analysis published by the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy in January found that Minnesota's tax code was the most progressive of all 50 states, with only the District of Columbia having a more progressive one.

"You talk to Kristi Noem in South Dakota, she says one of the best things to happen for South Dakota was Walz becoming governor in Minnesota, they're just leaving our state," Stauber told Fox News Digital.

VETERANS INCREASINGLY CALLING OUT WALZ'S MILITARY RECORD: 'SHAMEFUL'

The Minnesota Chamber of Commerce produced a 2023 state of business retention and expansion in Minnesota report that said, "While overall activity ticked up in Minnesota since 2021, the state consistently ranks near the bottom of Midwest states for new and expansion projects. Minnesota ranked 10th out of 12 states in the region in total projects from 2018 to 2022, and ranked 10th in projects per capita in 2022."

"Data from fDi Markets shows that Minnesota based companies are expanding in other states at a higher rate than out-of-state companies are expanding in Minnesota," the report stated. "Since 2020, Minnesota had a net investment deficit of 54 projects, 2,500 jobs and $6.6 billion in capital expenditures."

The report did add, however, that "Minnesota’s corporate and financial sector expanded at a relatively fast pace over the past decade."

"Minnesota is a recognized hub for corporate headquarters and industry-leading businesses... This professional and technical talent pool extends beyond just corporate headquarters, making Minnesota a conducive environment for companies in financial and professional/technical services as well."

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Harris-Walz campaign spokesperson Charles Lutvak said, "After Donald Trump devastated our nation’s economy, Gov. Walz led Minnesota back with strong leadership, competent management, and smart policies – cutting taxes for working families and reaching the lowest state unemployment rate in recorded history."

"That’s why CNBC ranked Minnesota the best state in the country for business outside of the south. Every day until November 5, Trump will have to defend his record of instability and unpopular anti-growth agenda against Team Harris-Walz’s record and vision to foster business growth, create jobs, and lower costs for the American people."

Earlier this year, CNBC ranked Minnesota as the sixth-best state for business, which several Minnesota residents who spoke to Fox News Digital seemingly disagreed with.

"We joke that we're mini California," Matthew A., a Minnesota resident who owns a farm with his family raising corn and soybeans, recently told Fox News Digital.

"Most of us, if we could, we would annex into South Dakota. He's put policies in place that have hurt small businesses. I have friends that have lost small businesses because of his policies. It's killing our small towns, our rural development."

The Cato Institute found this year that IRS migration data shows "the state is losing about ten households earning more than $200,000 for every six that it gains, which is the fifth worst ratio among the states."

At the same time, Minnesota ranks 44th on the Tax Foundation’s business tax climate index, giving companies a strong incentive to invest elsewhere. To stem the outflow of skilled people and capital, Minnesota would need to adopt a leaner government and cut individual and business tax rates.

Stauber told Fox News Digital that Walz has led a "socialist crusade in Minnesota" and that voters should expect him to do the "same at the national level" as Kamala Harris' running mate. 

"You saw her do it as a senator from California, and you've seen Tim Walz do it as the governor in Minnesota, many, many devastating policies and legislation that he has signed that has not benefited the vast majority of Minnesotans."

Former White House Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Kevin Hassett told FOX Business last week that Walz has a "disturbing" approach to economic policy and is "absolutely is a tax-and-spend liberal."

Fox News Digital's Aubrie Spady contributed to this report

from Latest & Breaking News on Fox News https://ift.tt/HyxQTOE
via IFTTT

Journalist resists police demands for rioter photos

Joel Goodman says giving photos to South Yorkshire Police could put him and others in danger.

from BBC News https://ift.tt/ZhvpIEt
via IFTTT

Casey tied to Chinese firm he claimed McCormick-led company invested in to 'profit' off fentanyl crisis

Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey is invested, through several mutual funds, in the same Chinese fentanyl manufacturer that he recently claimed a company that was led by Republican candidate Dave McCormick was "profiting off people's pain" by investing in.

The senator's campaign claimed McCormick "saw a way to get even richer" in the fentanyl crisis, in an ad released earlier this month slamming the company he led, Bridgewater Associates, for investing in Humanwell. The ad connected the Chinese company to deaths from fentanyl occurring in Pennsylvania, noting that "nearly all" fentanyl starts in China. 

However, Casey, through his investments, owns shares in a mutual fund that owns stock in the Chinese company as well, according to publicly available financial disclosures. 

Through his ownership of shares in a college savings plan, which is invested in the Massachusetts College Portfolio, a mutual fund managed by Fidelity, Casey is invested in Humanwell. But, his ultimate stake in the company is minimal. 

BALANCE OF POWER: TRUMP CAMPAIGN SLAMS SEN TESTER AS 'RADICALLY OUT OF TOUCH' AFTER ABORTION AD ROLLOUT

Maddy McDaniel, a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Democrat's campaign, told Fox News Digital in a statement, "David McCormick will say anything to try and cover up how he sold out Pennsylvanians for profit, but the facts are clear: he directly invested millions in Chinese fentanyl and profited off Pennsylvanians’ pain. David McCormick decided to invest in a Chinese fentanyl company and Bob Casey never did."

As of 2021, Bridgewater Associates had a nearly $1.7 million investment in Humanwell across seven different hedge funds, according to publicly available records with the Department of Labor (DOL). McCormick was CEO of Bridgewater from 2020 to 2022.

"With his ad, Bob Casey has put his own hypocrisy and lies on display, and it's proof of why Pennsylvanians are so tired of career politicians," McCormick said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "Casey has had 18 years to secure our border and prevent fentanyl from killing 100,000 Americans last year alone – under his weakness, this crisis has worsened beyond imagination."

Casey is also invested through mutual funds in Jiangsu Nhwa Pharmaceutical and Sinopharm Group, which are similarly involved in the manufacturing and wholesale of Chinese narcotics, respectively. 

'FEEL BETRAYED': TOP CONSERVATIVE GROUP BLASTS VULNERABLE DEMS ON INFLATION IN MULTIMILLION-DOLLAR AD BLITZ': 

Humanwell, as a pharmaceutical manufacturing company, produces medical-grade opiates. It is not one of the Chinese companies that has been singled out by the U.S. as a producer of lethal fentanyl precursor chemicals that are transported illegally through the southern border. 

According to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), "illicit fentanyl, primarily manufactured in foreign clandestine labs and smuggled into the United States through Mexico, is being distributed across the country and sold on the illegal drug market." 

Overdose deaths due to synthetic opioids have risen substantially, with the primary cause being illicitly manufactured fentanyl, per the DEA. 

BLINKEN PRESSURED TO FREEZE AFGHANISTAN AID AFTER REVELATION NEARLY $300M COULD HAVE GONE TO TALIBAN

Pennsylvania is shaping up to be one of the most important states in the 2024 election, potentially deciding the presidential race and which party will control the Senate. And one particularly pressing issue in the state is the rapid increase in overdose deaths and substance abuse. 

In 2022, Pennsylvania had the 14th-highest drug overdose death rate in the country. There were a total of 5,169 deaths from drug overdoses, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 

'NEVER HEARD OF HIM': HARRIS VP PICK WALZ HAS LITTLE NOTORIETY AMONG TRUMP-VANCE VOTERS IN PA

Following Casey's ad hitting McCormick on investing in Humanwell, the Pennsylvania Republican cut his own ad, claiming, "Bob Casey is lying about me."

"I never made any investments in the makers of illegal fentanyl, ever," he said. "Bob Casey is too weak to close the border and too weak to tell the truth."

Casey's Pennsylvania Senate seat is considered "Lean Democratic" in the 2024 election, according to nonpartisan political handicapper the Cook Political Report. In a recent poll by the New York Times and Siena College, Casey led McCormick 51% to 37% among likely voters and 50% to 36% among registered voters. 

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub

from Latest & Breaking News on Fox News https://ift.tt/fKhxbtS
via IFTTT