Neil W. McCabe, the national political editor of The Star News Network, reports attorney Kateri L. Dahl’s lawsuit against the Johnson City, Tennessee, police department and its Police Chief Karl Turner, in which the former special federal prosecutor claims Turner and his officers mishandled her investigation and attempt to bring to trial a serial rapist.
Read MoreDay: July 5, 2022
Survey: A Third of U.S. Small Businesses Can’t Pay Rent Because of Inflation
More than a third of small businesses can’t pay rent, newly released data shows.
The small business network Alignable released new survey results that found that 35% of U.S. small business owners “could not pay their rent in full or on time in June.”
Read MoreVirginia Traffic Fatalities Rose 16 Percent from 2019 to 2021
Traffic fatalities in Virginia rose 16 percent from 2019, to 2021, according to traffic research nonprofit TRIP, which reports that nationally, fatalities rose 19 percent during that same period. 963 fatalities in 903 crashes occurred in 2021, up from 827 in 2019 and 847 in 2020, despite a decrease in total miles driven, according to DMV data.
“The dramatic increase in roadway fatalities during the pandemic spotlights a national public health crisis that states have been working to resolve for years,” American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials Executive Director Jim Tymon said in the TRIP press release.
Read MoreCommentary: The National Academies Have Abandoned the Sciences
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine recently held an event titled: “Structural Racism and Rigorous Models of Social Inequity.” The two-day conference seemed less of a workshop, as was advertised, and more of a struggle session against enemies of “equity.” The main takeaway from this event was that we must implement critical race theory (CRT) into every facet of science. This conclusion was not drawn from inference. Throughout the conference, multiple speakers advocated explicitly for the use of critical race theory. By doing so, however, one must ask: Have the National Academies abandoned the sciences altogether?
Read More21 Pineapples Raises Awareness for Down’s Syndrome
The 21 Pineapples Shirt Company is a brand with a mission to spread love and acceptance, raising awareness for those who have Down syndrome and others who are differently-abled.
Read MoreEco Activists Sue to Stop U.S. Oil and Gas Lease Sales
Environmental groups sued the Interior Department Tuesday to challenge the first oil and gas lease sale on public lands during the Biden administration.
A coalition of environmental groups led by Dakota Resource Council filed a lawsuit in in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, alleging that the sales violate the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, which requires that the Interior Department prevent “unnecessary or undue degradation” of public lands.
Read MoreStudy: Teen Cannabis Use Increases, Mental Health Declines in States with Fewer Legal Restrictions
States that have legalized marijuana have seen increasingly strong THC products and a rise in mental health issues among teenagers, a newly released nationwide study reports.
The Drug Free America Foundation authored the study, given first to The Center Square, which reports on “an association between adolescent cannabis use, the use of high potency cannabis products, and increased risk of psychosis.”
Read MoreFederal Park Police ‘In Crisis’ After Being Understaffed and Underfunded
The union representing the U.S. Park Police (USPP) warned the Biden administration that staffing shortages will compromise the safety of visitors at national parks in a letter to the Department of the Interior.
The USPP is facing a “crisis of alarming proportions” in recruiting and retaining officers, Chairman of the Federal Parks Fraternal Order of Police Kenneth Spencer said in the letter sent to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.
Read MoreWashington State Governor Makes COVID Vaccines a Permanent Requirement for Many State Employees
Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee has issued a directive making COVID-19 vaccines a permanent condition of employment for state workers in executive and small cabinet agencies, including boosters.
Read MoreDem Governor Urges Biden to Use Military Bases for Abortions
Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday urged the Biden administration to consider opening up military bases for abortions to women living in states that heavily restrict the procedure, ABC News reported.
Since military bases are considered federal lands, Hochul argued in a virtual meeting with President Joe Biden that federal law would allow them to override state bans, according to ABC. Her suggestion heeds widespread outcries from Democratic politicians about loss of women’s rights following the Supreme Court’s decision on June 24 overturning Roe V. Wade.
Read MoreRocky Road for Ben and Jerry’s as Company Ends Boycott in Israel
Ice cream manufacturer Ben & Jerry’s ended a boycott of the West Bank after a local franchise took over the brand, its parent company Unilever announced Tuesday.
“Ben & Jerry’s in Vermont no longer has any authority over Avi. They can’t stop him from selling Ben & Jerry’s ice cream,” Alyza Lewin, president of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, which represented Zinger, told The Times of Israel.
Read MoreAirbnb Makes Ban on All Parties Official
Airbnb made its temporary ban on parties at short-term rentals permanent.
In August 2020, the company announced a global ban on all parties and events at Airbnb listings. That included a cap on occupancy at 16.
Read MoreIvy League Study: Boosters, COVID-19 ‘Rebounds’ Fuel Skepticism of Federal Narratives
As the nation’s most powerful and twice-boosted infectious disease doctor battles a COVID-19 “rebound” two weeks after testing positive, new research from the public health schools at Harvard and Yale suggests the boosted fared worse against the first Omicron subvariant than the non-boosted.
The FDA is so alarmed by the “waning effectiveness” of boosters, whose formulation is still based on the ancestral Wuhan strain, that it asked manufacturers Thursday to add a “spike protein component” from the fourth and fifth Omicron subvariants to this fall’s boosters.
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