Fans of the English singer and songwriter were forced to run for cover as the massive hail pellets rained down on the Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre, an open-air venue around ten miles west of Denver. The storm forced the gig to be called off.

“It was straight out of a horror movie,” on Twitter user wrote, sharing video of a deluge slamming down an outdoor staircase covered in what appeared to be hail pellets. The footage could not immediately be verified by NBC News. 

The West Metro Fire Rescue said at least seven people were transported to area hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries in connection with the incident. 

“A total of 80 to 90 people treated on scene,” the fire department said. “Injuries include cuts and broken bones.”

Read the full story at NBCNews.com 

U.S. citizen Gershkovich, 31, was arrested in late March while on a reporting trip. A Moscow court agreed last month to keep him in custody until Aug. 30. Defense lawyers challenged the decision, but the Moscow City Court rejected the appeal on Thursday.

Gershkovich and his employer have denied he spied in Russia. The U.S. government has declared him to be wrongfully detained and demanded his immediate release.

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His arrest in the city of Yekaterinburg rattled journalists in Russia, where authorities have not detailed what, if any, evidence they have gathered to support the espionage charges.

Gershkovich is being held at Moscow’s Lefortovo prison, which is notorious for its harsh conditions. U.S. Embassy officials were allowed to visit him once, but Russian authorities rejected two other requests to see him.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told reporters on Thursday that the ministry is considering another visit request from the embassy.

Twitter owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk suggested Vegas for the location of a “cage match” after reportedly being challenged to a fight by Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg.

“Vegas Octagon,” Musk tweeted late Wednesday. He was responding to an Instagram post by Zuckerberg who had shot back with a message of “send me location” after the Tesla boss confirmed he was up for a “cage match.”

Cage matches have been popularized by mixed martial arts or MMA franchises like UFC. The “Octagon” refers to the cage around the ring in which fighters battle because it has eight sides.

The series of exchanges started earlier this week when Mario Nawfal, founder and CEO at International Blockchain Consulting, tweeted “META to Release ‘Twitter Rival’ Called THREADS.” Facebook parent Meta is reportedly working on a standalone, text-based social network app that could compete with Twitter.

Musk responded to Nawfal by saying: “I’m sure Earth can’t wait to be exclusively under Zuck’s thumb with no other options. At least it will be ‘sane’. Was worried there for a moment.”

Another user cautioned Musk saying, “Better be careful @elonmusk I heard he does the ju jitsu now.”

Zuckerberg reportedly has a white belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. He trains under Dave Camarillo of Guerilla Jiu Jitsu academy, a judo and jiu-jitsu black belt who has trained a number of UFC champions.

That sparked a comment from Musk that suggested he is up for a fight with the Zuckerberg. Musk quipped: “I’m up for a cage match if he is lol.”

The Verge tech publication confirmed that Zuckerberg is “serious about fighting Elon Musk and is now waiting on the details” if Musk decides to follow through. “The story speaks for itself,” a Meta spokesperson told the media outlet, referring to Zuckerberg’s Instagram story. It is unclear if the fight between the two tech leaders will actually happen or whether Musk’s tweets were serious. A spokesperson for Meta was not immediately available when contacted by CNBC.

Late Wednesday, Musk posted another tweet saying: “I have this great move that I call ‘The Walrus’, where I just lie on top of my opponent & do nothing.”

He also said, “I almost never work out, except for picking up my kids & throwing them in the air.”

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Grayson Lee Boggs had been picked up by his father, Matthew Boggs, after he was dropped off by a school bus on May 15 when his dad was struck by lightning and the current passed through both him and Grayson, according to NBC affiliate KXAN.

The father was pronounced dead following the lightning strike while Grayson spent a month in the hospital trying to recover from his injuries, but ended up passing away on June 16.

“Grayson was a huge part of the church and loved his church family unconditionally,” according to his obituary. “He would shake all the men’s hands and hug the ladies before service. He loved his donuts and was the biggest helper”. 

The National Weather Service reported an average of 20 people die each year from lightning strikes, with hundreds more injured. Those injured can live with lifelong neurological complications, the NWS said.

The evidence includes transcripts of grand jury testimony taken in both Washington and Florida, copies of closed-circuit television footage obtained by the government and copies of interviews of Trump “conducted by non-government entities, which were recorded with his consent and obtained” by the prosecution team of special counsel Jack Smith.

news Jun 20

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The interviews include an audio-recorded July 2021 meeting with a writer and publisher at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club in which Trump, according to the indictment, showed and described a Pentagon “plan of attack” that he said was prepared for him by the Defense Department. Also turned over to Trump’s lawyers are public statements he made that are referenced in the indictment.

Trump was indicted this month on 37 felony charges, including 31 counts under the Espionage Act that accuse him of willfully retaining national defense information. He has pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing.

The sharing of information and evidence between parties is routine in a court case so that lawyers can prepare a defense. Earlier this week, a federal magistrate imposed a protective order to restrict the public disclosure of evidence that Trump receives through the information-sharing process, known as discovery.

The judge in the case, Aileen Cannon, set an initial trial date of Aug. 14, though that date is expected to slip considerably given the complicated disputes ahead over the scope of evidence in the case.

The blast tore through the establishment at around 8:40 p.m. Wednesday on a busy street in Yinchuan, the capital of the traditionally Muslim Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, as people were gathering on the eve of the Dragon Boat Festival holiday, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

The festival is a national holiday devoted to eating rice dumplings and racing boats manned by teams of paddlers.

Online news site The Paper cited a woman identified only by her surname Chen saying she had been about 50 meters (164 feet) from the restaurant when she heard the explosion. She described seeing two waiters emerge from the restaurant afterward, one of whom collapsed immediately, while thick smoke billowed from the restaurant and a strong smell of cooking gas permeated the area.

The Central Government’s Ministry of Emergency Management said on its social media account that search and rescue work at the restaurant was completed early Thursday morning and investigators were sent to determine the cause of the blast.

Industrial accidents of this type are a regular occurrence in China, usually attributed to poor government supervision, corruption, cost-cutting measures by employers and little safety training for employees.

At least nine people were killed in an explosion at a Chinese petrochemical plant, and three others died in a helicopter crash during the country’s May Day holiday.

In February, 53 miners were killed in the collapse of a massive open pit coal mine in the northern region of Inner Mongolia, leading to numerous arrests, and four people were detained over a fire at an industrial trading company in central China in November that killed 38 people.

The central government has pledged stronger safety measures since an explosion in 2015 at a chemical warehouse in the northern port city of Tianjin killed 173 people, most of them firefighters and police officers. In that case, a number of local officials were accused of having taken bribes to ignore safety violations.

U.S. Army Spc. James Kelly, of Joint Base Lewis-McChord, is facing two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of first-degree assault and domestic violence assault in Washington state’s Grant County Superior Court, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported. Kelly, 26, appeared in court Wednesday but did not enter a plea, news outlets reported. He is being held without bail.

Efforts to locate an attorney representing Kelly weren’t successful Wednesday.

Kelly and Lily Luksich, who have dated for about a year, together attended the Beyond Wonderland electronic dance music festival at the Gorge Amphitheater, court documents said. Kelly told police he took psychedelic mushrooms before walking to the concert venue, according to court documents.

Kelly then started hallucinating and told Luksich they needed to return to the campground. “This is the end,” he told Luksich, court documents said.

At their campsite, Kelly allegedly got a handgun from a locked box in the console of his pickup truck. He allegedly loaded it and fired at Seattle couple Brandy Escamilla, 29, and Josilyn Ruiz, 26, who were walking by, court records say. They died at the scene.

Reports of a shooting came in around 8:20 p.m. Saturday, according to the North Central Washington Special Investigations Unit, which is leading an investigation into the shooting.

Andrew Caudra, who is also known by August Morningstar, of Eugene, Washington, was shot next. He was in stable condition at Harborview Medical Center on Tuesday, investigators said.

At the campground, Kelly then started to walk away, and Luksich followed him and dialed 911, court records said.

“She told dispatch her man had a gun,” according to court records. “Then no more information could be provided because Kelly took her phone and discarded it.”

Security employee Lori Williams was hit by a bullet while responding to the shooting report, investigators said. The bullet went through the windshield of her utility vehicle and struck her glasses and the side of her face, investigators said. She was treated for bruises and cuts at at the scene.

Kelly then allegedly fired at a Grant County Sheriff’s Office drone and shot Luksich twice, investigators said. The 20-year-old from Mill Creek, Washington, was treated at a Moses Lake hospital and has since been released, investigators said.

Officers found Kelly and Luksich in a field next to the campground. Moses Lake Police Department Detective Edgar Salazar, who was working undercover at the festival, shot Kelly once before other officers provided aid and took Kelly into custody, investigators said. Salazar has been placed on leave during the investigation.

Kelly was treated at a Spokane hospital and later booked into Grant County Jail. He’s next scheduled to be in court July 5.

But airlines can play a role too, according to new research from Qantas and the University of Sydney’s Charles Perkins Centre.

The research is part of Qantas’ Project Sunrise program, which plans to link Sydney to New York City and London via non-stop flights in 2025.

Qantas says that while it has the capability to fly the 20-hour flights, it’s studying ways — from lighting schedules to eating spicy foods — to make the journey less arduous for passengers and crew.

The research

According to preliminary results released in mid-June, researchers used volunteer passengers on three test flights to analyze ways to reduce jet lag, including:

• Adjusting cabin lighting and mealtime schedules
• Providing special food and beverage menus that included chili, chocolate and ingredients known to produce sleep-inducing tryptophan
• Performing onboard stretches and exercises

Volunteers were monitored using wearable tech devices during the flight, and their reaction times were measured through online tests, according to the press release. They also kept a daily health log before, during and for two weeks after test flights, it said.   

The report concluded that, compared with other passengers, the volunteers “experienced less severe jet lag (self-reported), better sleep quality inflight [and] better cognitive performance in the two days after flight.”

“Light exposure is critical for reducing jetlag,” said Svetlana Postnova, who studies sleep-wake cycles and circadian rhythms at the University of Sydney’s Charles Perkins Centre.

The flight departed New York City at 9 p.m., and the researchers kept the lights on for an additional six hours, she told CNBC.

Lights were turned off around 3 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, and the cabin stayed dark for 11 hours, before being turned back on for the final two hours of the flight, she said.

That was done “to nudge the body clocks towards the destination time zone,” she said.

Serving lunch at night

Meals were aligned with the lighting, said Postnova, noting they were served after takeoff, before the lights were turned off and before arriving.

But the initial meal wasn’t dinner — it was lunch, said Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce.

“Night flights usually start with dinner and then lights off. For this flight, we started with lunch and kept the lights on for the first six hours, to match the time of day at our destination. It means you start reducing the jetlag straight away,” he said in a statement after the first test flight was conducted.

Studies on the brightness and color tone of cabin lighting are planned for later this year, and more research on departure and arrival times and seasonal differences is needed, according to Qantas and the University of Sydney.

Findings from the test flights have not been published, but Peter Cistulli, professor of sleep medicine at the University of Sydney, called the early results “promising.”

For now, Postnova said, travelers shouldn’t wait until they land to combat jet lag — rather, they should start the process as soon as their flight departs.

An onboard ‘wellbeing zone’

The jet lag research is being conducted while Qantas awaits 12 Airbus 350 aircraft it ordered in May 2022. Delivery is expected to begin in late 2025, with the New York-Sydney route starting shortly thereafter, according to the press release.

Joyce said the new non-stop flights will reduce travel times between New York and London to Sydney by some three hours.

The new Airbus fleet will also have an onboard “Wellbeing Zone” where passengers can stretch and perform simple exercises.

“Our A350s will have about 100 fewer seats than most of our competitors, which gives us room for more space in all classes as well as a Wellbeing Zone for Premium Economy and Economy passengers to stretch,” Joyce said.

As for what passengers do on the flights, which will likely be the longest commercial flights in the world, Joyce said: “People can choose how they spend their time but we’ll make recommendations based on science.”

Seven members of Kappa Kappa Gamma at Wyoming’s only four-year state university sued in March, saying the sorority violated its own rules by admitting Artemis Langford last year. Six of the women refiled the lawsuit in May after a judge twice barred them from suing anonymously.

The Kappa Kappa Gamma motion to dismiss, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Cheyenne, is the sorority’s first substantive response to the lawsuit, other than a March statement by its executive director, Kari Kittrell Poole, that the complaint contains “numerous false allegations.”

“The central issue in this case is simple: do the plaintiffs have a legal right to be in a sorority that excludes transgender women? They do not,” the motion to dismiss reads.

The policy of Kappa Kappa Gamma since 2015 has been to allow the sorority’s more than 145 chapters to accept transgender women. The policy mirrors those of the 25 other sororities in the National Panhellenic Conference, the umbrella organization for sororities in the U.S. and Canada, according to the Kappa Kappa Gamma filing.

The sorority sisters opposed to Langford’s induction could presumably change the policy if most sorority members shared their view, or they could resign if “a position of inclusion is too offensive to their personal values,” the sorority’s motion to dismiss says.

“What they cannot do is have this court define their membership for them,” the motion asserts, adding that “private organizations have a right to interpret their own governing documents.”

Even if they didn’t, the motion to dismiss says, the lawsuit fails to show how the sorority violated or unreasonably interpreted Kappa Kappa Gamma bylaws.

The sorority sisters’ lawsuit asks U.S. District Court Judge Alan Johnson to declare Langford’s sorority membership void and to award unspecified damages.

The lawsuit claims Langford’s presence in the Kappa Kappa Gamma house made some sorority members uncomfortable. Langford would sit on a couch for hours while “staring at them without talking,” the lawsuit alleges.

The lawsuit also names the national Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority council president, Mary Pat Rooney, and Langford as defendants. The court lacks jurisdiction over Rooney, who lives in Illinois and hasn’t been involved in Langford’s admission, according to the sorority’s motion to dismiss.

The lawsuit fails to state any claim of wrongdoing by Langford and seeks no relief from her, an attorney for Langford wrote in a separate filing Tuesday in support of the sorority’s motion to dismiss the case.

Instead, the women suing “fling dehumanizing mud” throughout the lawsuit “to bully Ms. Langford on the national stage,” Langford’s filing says.

“This, alone, merits dismissal,” the Langford document adds.

One of the seven Kappa Kappa Gamma members at the University of Wyoming who sued dropped out of the case when Johnson ruled they couldn’t proceed anonymously. The six remaining plaintiffs are Jaylyn Westenbroek, Hannah Holtmeier, Allison Coghan, Grace Choate, Madeline Ramar and Megan Kosar.

A five-man crew that went to tour the Titanic wreckage in the north Atlantic Ocean was reported missing on Sunday. The OceanGate-owned Titan submersible had 96 hours of available oxygen, and it’s been estimated that the supply could run out by Thursday morning.

The search has been described by U.S. Coast Guard officials as a challenging one. The Titanic wreckage is roughly 370 miles south of Newfoundland, Canada, and 900 miles east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. In addition to being far away from land, the wreckage site is also 12,500 feet below the ocean’s surface.

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With a lot of area to cover both at and below the ocean’s surface, several different resources are being put to use to aid the search efforts, and that includes the deployment of ROVs.

What is an ROV and why it is used in the ocean?

An ROV is a remotely operated vehicle that can travel deep into the ocean’s depths without a person needing to go with it.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration explains that an ROV is typically operated by someone on a surface vessel using a video game-like joystick. The surface vessel and ROV are connected by cables, allowing for the transmission of electronic signals. An ROV can be anywhere from the size of a computer to a small truck.

What does an ROV do?

According to the NOAA, most ROVs feature a still camera, video camera and lights to send real-time images back to the surface vessel. They are mainly used in place of human-operated submersibles or human divers as a simpler and safer means to explore very deep areas of the ocean. ROVs were initially used for industrial purposes but now they are mostly deployed in the science field.

Officials said two ROVs were part of Wednesday’s search efforts and more devices were expected to arrive on Thursday morning.

What is the difference between an ROV and a submersible?

An ROV is actually a type of submersible. The missing Titan submersible is a human-operated vehicle (HOV) that can travel to depths of 13,000-plus feet and has an oxygen supply of 96 hours for a five-person crew, according to OceanGate.

How long can an ROV stay underwater?

An ROV can remain underwater for several days, per the NOAA. The average dive length, however, is eight hours, according to the Schmidt Ocean Institute.

How deep underwater can an ROV go?

The NOAA says ROVs can be designed to reach different kinds of depths, with some being able to venture into the deepest parts of the ocean at 36,000-plus feet.

What is an example of an ROV?

The Schmidt Ocean Institute owns a massive ROV called “SuBastian.” It’s the size of a minivan, can travel to depths of 14,700-plus feet and has a maximum speed of three knots.

What is the difference between an ROV and AUV?

An AUV, or autonomous underwater vehicle, is a submersible that can venture throughout the ocean without real-time human operation, the NOAA explains. AUVs are programmed to travel a certain route and they collect high-resolution sensor data.

Everyone has their go-to ice cream truck treat — the one that flings you out the door the moment you hear the jingle coming in your direction — and mine has always been Good Humor’s Toasted Almond bar.

With an almond core encased by vanilla ice cream coated in almond-flavored crunchy bits, it was the perfect balance of creamy and crunchy, as well as comforting and refreshing. And, critically, it was not too sweet (the ultimate Asian compliment for a dessert).

But, as I just learned while trying to stock my freezer with the toasty-tasting treat for summer, it’s been discontinued — for some time now, actually.

On June 3, 2022, in response to Twitter user @blizzle_j’s question, “Where the H*ll did you put the Toasted Almond Bars?” Good Humor tweeted, “Hi there, the Good Humor Toasted Almond bars have unfortunately been discontinued. We apologize to our customers that may be disappointed by this news but are excited to continue offering our customers a wide variety of treats available in stores and ice cream trucks.”

To confirm this devastating news, I reached out to Good Humor, which had this to say:

“At Good Humor, we’re always updating our product portfolio to reflect consumer preferences. A necessary but unfortunate part of this is that we sometimes must discontinue products in order to ensure we can offer customers the best variety of treats nationwide. Due to this, we had to discontinue the Good Humor Toasted Almond bars in 2022. We apologize to our customers that may be disappointed by this news, and while we do not have a current plan to bring back this product, we are excited to continue offering our customers a wide variety of treats available in stores and ice cream trucks.”

So, yeah, it’s real. After more than 60 years of its glorious existence, Toasted Almond is no more.

For a quick bit of cake-coated history, by 1961, when Unilever purchased Good Humor, its product line had grown to 85 flavors or combinations, including Toasted Almond, Strawberry Shortcake and Chocolate Éclair, and then, in 1992, the company relaunched those three classic offerings.

The first person I had to tell was my dad, who first introduced me to the unique treat in the ‘90s when I was a kid, and had eaten it as a kid, too. We bonded over our shared love of Toasted Almond every summer when the ice cream truck came down our street. I got a SpongeBob Popsicle or Choco Taco (RIP!) every now and again, but usually, the sound of the ice cream truck meant it was “Toasted Almond Time.”

“This is a dark day in my life. The ringing of bells in my childhood neighborhood always heralded that Good Humor Toasted Almond was at hand,” he tells me over text. “Chocolate Éclair and Strawberry Shortcake were favored by some, but nothing in life was better than that guy in the white hat and uniform reaching through that tiny door in the side of the truck and magically extracting that perfect Toasted Almond on a wooden stick.”

And he’s not alone: Many on social media have echoed his frosty feelings.

“I will never buy anything Good Humor again until these are brought back. A modern tragedy,” tweeted one person in response to the news.

“This right here is a damn crime against humanity,” tweeted another.

“Please bring them back!!! This was the favorite flavor among many! I grew up eating these with my dad, we need them back!!” wrote another Twitter user, who seems to have had a similar childhood to mine.

“hi there good humor! i think this is possibly the worst decision youve ever made 🙂 kindly bring them back and i promise to single handedly make it worth the investment <3 if not then i can guarantee ur business will continue to decline severely from this point on. no pressure !” tweeted someone else, rather ominously.

And then, on Sept. 12, 2022, the Change.org petition was launched: “Bring the Good Humor Toasted Almond Bar Back,” by Tammy Regan.

“Good Humor made the poor decision of discontinuing their Toasted Almond bar stating it was ‘less popular across the country’. Many have said that due to the lack of stock in stores, this helped perpetuate that thought,” Regan writes in the petition’s description. “This flavor is a favorite among many, including my 91-year old mother. … I am hoping that with enough signatures, Good Humor will see how popular their Toasted Almond bar is and bring it back.”

As of this writing, it has 1,705 of its 2,500-signature goal.

Fortunately, a quick Google search tells me it’s still available on some grocery sites, like Instacart and Stop & Shop.

“I may have to buy a new freezer and hoard as many as possible before I say goodbye to this iconic dessert,” my dad says.

He and I will have to limit ourselves to one Toasted Almond a summer for the foreseeable future — until Good Humor decides to bring it back. (It’s not an “if,” it’s a “when,” I’ll keep telling myself.)

This story first appeared on TODAY.com. Here are more fan-favorite foods, discontinued:

• Cheerios discontinues ‘the best’ cereal flavor, and fans are not cheering
• Pringles discontinues popular chip flavor: ‘It’s a sad day’
• Dairy Queen is discontinuing a fan-favorite flavor and customers are seeing red
• It’s official: Dunkin’ has confirmed the Dunkaccino’s retirement

This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser.

Kendra Kingsbury, 50, of Garden City, Kansas, was sentenced to three years and 10 months in federal prison without parole by U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Bough.

In October, Kingsbury pleaded guilty to two counts of unlawfully retaining documents related to national defense. Similar to the charges facing former President Donald Trump, Kingsbury’s case involved alleged violations of the Espionage Act.

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Kingsbury, who held a TOP SECRET/SCI security clearance and served as an intelligence analyst for the FBI for more than 12 years, was accused of repeatedly removing sensitive government materials from a secure workspace. Some of the documents she removed and retained in her North Kansas City residence included national defense-related classified documents.

Prosecutors alleged in court documents that Kingsbury improperly removed and unlawfully retained approximately 386 classified documents. The retained documents were stored in various formats, including hard drives and compact discs, prosecutors said.

In their sentencing memo, prosecutors said, “The FBI ultimately determined that over 20,000 documents that originated either at the FBI or some other government agency were found in the defendant’s residence.”

Read the full story on NBCNews.com here.

U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika must still approve the plea agreement that was reached following a lengthy federal investigation. It calls for the president’s son to plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts of failing to pay taxes. Hunter Biden also must commit to court-imposed conditions that will spare him full prosecution on a felony gun charge.

The hearing is scheduled for July 26 as a combined initial appearance and plea agreement.

News of the plea deal Tuesday sparked criticism from Republicans who are pursuing their own congressional investigations into nearly every facet of Hunter Biden’s business dealings, including foreign payments.

Attorney General Merrick Garland, traveling in Stockholm on Wednesday, said David Weiss, the U.S. attorney for Delaware, was given “full authority to decide the matter as he decided was appropriate. And that’s what he’s done.”

Former President Donald Trump and other Republicans have pointed to the case to raise questions about Justice Department independence as Trump faces a historic criminal indictment. The charges against Trump were filed by a special prosecutor appointed in an effort to avoid any perception of a political conflict.

The Hunter Biden charges, meanwhile, were filed by U.S. Attorney Weiss, who was appointed by Trump and kept on during the Biden administration to continue the investigation, some aspects of continue. Noreika was also appointed by Trump, in 2017.

Hunter Biden’s lawyer has said the guilty pleas are an effort to take responsibility for mistakes that he made “during a period of turmoil and addiction in his life,” and his understanding is that it wraps up the five-year investigation of his client.

The move came after years of petitions to pull the longtime donors’ name from the campus while the Sacklers faced extensive lawsuits for their role in the opioid epidemic.

Last month an American court approved a plan for the maker of OxyContin to settle thousands of legal claims connected to the opioid epidemic while shielding the billionaire owners of Purdue Pharma, the Sackler family, from additional lawsuits.

The university said that “the Sackler family has kindly agreed to remove their name from the Faculty of Medicine” in order to allow new donors a chance to put their name on it, while it “gratefully acknowledges the multi-decade contributions of the Sackler family.”

The Sacklers have been donors to the university for 50 years, it said. According to an Associated Press investigation in 2019, the Sackler family had donated millions to academic institutions, including hundreds of thousands of dollars to Tel Aviv University — even as they faced growing scrutiny for helping fuel the opioid crisis in the United States.

Frito-Lay voluntarily recalled some of its 15 oz. Tostitos Avocado Salsa Dips jars that were distributed to stores and e-commerce channels nationwide and were ready for purchase as early as April 5, 2023.

In a statement, the FDA wrote some of the jars have incorrect labeling on the back that does not state the salsa contains a milk allergen. The agency added the front of the jar is correctly labeled as Tostitos Avocado Salsa.

The Agency added anyone with an allergy or severe sensitivity to milk could experience a serious or life-threatening allergic reaction if they eat the dip.

The recalled dip has an expiration date on the jar’s upper of November 2 or November 3, 2023, and a barcode ending in 05597.

So far, no other Tostitos products have been recalled and no adverse reactions to the dip have been reported as of June 21. Any person with questions on the recall can contact Frito-Lay Consumer Relations at 1-800-352-4477.

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On June 21, the chain unveiled its full summer menu, which includes two fan-favorite items and a couple new ones, too. Here’s everything you need to know.

Salted Caramel Cold Brew is making a comeback

When it first debuted in spring 2022, the Salted Caramel Cold Brew quickly sold out at Dunkin’ locations across the country, and now it’s back. The company describes the summer variety as a “slow-steeped, ultra-smooth cold brew (with) a sweet, subtly salty caramel flavor.” The creamy beverage features a salted caramel cold foam and a burnt sugar topping.

The Caramel Chocoholic Doughnut is also back

Dunkin’ describes the Caramel Chocoholic Doughnut as the “perfect partner to the Salted Caramel Cold Brew.” If you’ve never tried it, here’s what you can expect: a chocolate glazed doughnut with caramel icing and chocolate curls.

It’s been a while since the flavor was first released in 2018 and once again in 2019, so if you’ve been craving it ever since, now’s the time to pounce.

Dunkin’ Wraps are now on the menu

The coffee chain is expanding its food menu with the addition of Dunkin’ Wraps, which are available in two flavors. The Chorizo & Egg Wrap features a mix of scrambled eggs, veggies, chorizo, black beans and a mild spicy cheese sauce, all in a red pepper lavash wrap. Meanwhile, the Chicken & Roasted Pepper Wrap is made with chicken, roasted peppers and cheese in a lavash wrap.

Back in March, Dunkin’ also introduced another new food item to its menu: Breakfast Tacos.

What else does the summer menu include?

This spring, Dunkin’ announced its summer menu, which includes the following beverages:

• Turtle Signature Latte
• Butter Pecan Iced Coffee
• Butter Pecan Crunch Frozen Coffee
• Raspberry Watermelon Dunkin’ Refresher
• Mango Pineapple Refresher
•  Strawberry Dragonfruit Refresher

The menu also features several noteworthy food items, including the following:

• Ham & Swiss Croissant Stuffer
• Iced Lemon Loaf
• Butter Pecan Donut

Summer rewards

Dunkin’ Rewards members can also cash in on the following single-use offers between July 1 — 31 in the Dunkin’ Rewards app.

• Free Medium Cold Brew with any purchase
• $2 Dunkin’ Wrap with any drink purchase
• $2 Medium Iced Coffee
• $3 Medium Hot or Iced Signature Latte

This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY:

• Dunkin’ adds all-day breakfast tacos to its menu
• Raccoon politely orders a doughnut from a Dunkin’ drive-thru ‘like a regular’
• Ben Affleck works a Dunkin’ drive-thru in Super Bowl ad

“He slapped me so hard that he scratched the inside of my eye. He’s never coming to a show again,” Ava Max wrote on her Twitter account.

Videos captured by audience members who were close to what happened show how a man is being stopped by a security guard. However, the man manages to extend his left arm and hits Ava Max in the face.

The 29-year-old singer, famous for her song “Sweet But Psycho,” continues for a few seconds but leaves the stage soon after.

Ava added in her message, “Thank you to the fans for being spectacular tonight in Los Angeles!”

The incident occurred at the Fonda Theater in Los Angeles a few days after another fan threw a cell phone at Bebe Rexha during her concert in New York.

Bebe Rexha posted a photo after the incident showing a bruised left eye and bandages across her left eyebrow.

Lea esta historia en español aquí.

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An advisory committee to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday recommended that adults ages 60 and above, after consulting their doctors, receive a single dose of RSV vaccines from Pfizer and GSK.

The panel said seniors should use “shared clinical decision-making,” which involves working with their healthcare provider to decide how much they will benefit from a shot.

Outgoing CDC director Rochelle Walensky will decide whether to finalize the recommendation.

The panel’s decision moves the U.S. one step closer to making jabs against respiratory syncytial virus available to the public this fall, when the disease typically begins to spread at higher levels.

The recommendation also comes weeks after the Food and Drug Administration approved both vaccines, making them the world’s first authorized shots against RSV. 

The virus is a common respiratory infection that usually causes mild, cold-like symptoms, but more severe cases in older adults and children. Each year, RSV kills 6,000 to 10,000 seniors and a few hundred children younger than 5, according to the CDC. 

Pfizer and GSK on Wednesday both presented new clinical trial data to the panel, which provided a first glimpse of their shots’ durability after one RSV season. The season typically lasts from October to March in the Northern Hemisphere. 

A single dose of Pfizer’s shot was 78.6% effective in preventing lower respiratory tract disease with three or more symptoms through the middle of a second RSV season, according to new clinical trial results presented Wednesday. That’s down from more than 85% at the end of the first season in older adults. 

Pfizer said that efficacy fell to 48.9% at “mid-season two” for less severe forms of the disease in that age group, down from about 66%.

One dose of GSK’s shot was 78.8% effective against severe RSV disease after two seasons, compared with 94% after one season, the company said Wednesday. Severe disease refers to cases that prevent normal, daily activities.

For less severe RSV disease, efficacy declined to 67.2% over two seasons from 82% after one season.

Dr. Michael Melgar, a CDC medical officer who evaluated data on both shots, noted during a public meeting that both Pfizer and GSK still lack efficacy data on subgroups of the elderly population at the highest risk of severe RSV. 

Melgar said adults ages 75 and older and those with an underlying medical condition are underrepresented in the phase three clinical trials from both companies. Seniors with a weak immune system were excluded from the trials altogether, he said. 

Both companies said studies on those populations are ongoing. 

It’s still unclear how much the shots will cost. GSK said it will price its vaccine between $200 and $295. Pfizer said it will price its shot between $180 to $270.

The companies declined to guarantee the pricing.

The shots would help the U.S. combat the upcoming RSV season in the fall after an unusually severe RSV season last year. 

Cases of the virus in children and older adults overwhelmed hospitals across the country, largely because the public stopped practicing Covid pandemic health measures that had helped keep the spread of RSV low. 

Schiff becomes the 25th House lawmaker to be censured. He was defiant ahead of the vote, saying he will wear the formal disapproval as a “badge of honor” and charging his GOP colleagues of doing the former president’s bidding.

“I will not yield,” Schiff, who is running for the Senate in his home state, said during debate over the measure. “Not one inch.”

When it was time for Schiff to come to the front of the chamber to be formally censured, immediately after the vote, the normally solemn ceremony turned into more of a celebratory atmosphere. Dozens of Democrats crowded to the front, clapping and cheering for Schiff and patting him on the back. They chanted “No!,” “Shame!” and “Adam! Adam!”

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., read the resolution out loud, as is tradition after a censure. But he only read part of the document before leaving the chamber as Democrats heckled and interrupted him.

“Censure all of us,” one Democrat yelled.

Schiff, the former Democratic chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and the lead prosecutor in Trump’s first impeachment trial, has long been a top Republican political target. Soon after taking back the majority this year, Republicans blocked him from sitting on the intelligence panel.

More than 20 Republicans voted with Democrats last week to block the censure resolution, but they changed their votes this week after the measure’s sponsor, Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, removed a provision that could have fined Schiff $16 million if the House Ethics Committee determined he lied. Several of the Republicans who voted to block the resolution last week said they opposed fining a member of Congress in that manner.

The final vote on Wednesday was 213-209 along party lines, with a handful of members voting present.

The revised resolution says Schiff held positions of power during Trump’s presidency and “abused this trust by saying there was evidence of collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia.” Schiff was one of the most outspoken critics of the former president as both the Justice Department and the Republican-led House launched investigations into Trump’s ties to Russia in 2017. Both investigations concluded that Russia intervened in the 2016 presidential election but neither found evidence of a criminal conspiracy.

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“Representative Schiff purposely deceived his Committee, Congress, and the American people,” the resolution said.

The House has only censured two other lawmakers in the last 20 years. Republican Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona was censured in 2021 for tweeting an animated video that depicted him striking Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., with a sword. Former Democratic Rep. Charlie Rangel of New York was censured in 2010 for serious financial and campaign misconduct.

The censure itself carries no practical effect, except to provide a historic footnote that marks a lawmaker’s career. But the GOP resolution would also launch an ethics investigation into Schiff’s conduct.

While Schiff did not initiate the 2017 congressional investigation into Trump’s Russia ties — then-House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, a Republican who later became one of Trump’s most ardent defenders, started it — Republicans arguing in favor of his censure Wednesday blamed him for what they said was the fallout of that probe, and of the separate investigation started that same year by Trump’s own Justice Department.

Luna said that Schiff’s comments that there was evidence against Trump “ripped apart American families across the country” and that he was “permanently destroying family relationships.” Several blamed him for the more than $30 million spent by then-special counsel Robert Mueller, who led the Justice Department probe.

Schiff said the censure resolution “would accuse me of omnipotence, the leader of some a vast Deep State conspiracy, and of course, it is nonsense.”

Democrats aggressively defended their colleague. Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, who led Trump’s second impeachment, called the effort an “embarrassing revenge tour on behalf of Donald Trump.”

Mueller, who led the two-year Justice Department investigation, determined that Russia intervened on the campaign’s behalf and that Trump’s campaign welcomed the help. But Mueller’s team did not find that the campaign conspired to sway the election, and the Justice Department did not recommend any criminal charges.

The House intelligence committee probe launched by Nunes similarly found that Russia intervened in the election but that there was no evidence of a criminal conspiracy. Schiff was the top Democrat on the panel at the time.

Schiff said last week that the censure resolution was “red meat” that McCarthy was throwing to his conference amid squabbles over government spending. Republicans are trying to show their fealty to Trump, Schiff said.

He said he warned the country during impeachment proceedings three years ago that Trump “would go on to do worse. And of course he did worse in the form of a violent attack on the Capitol.”

After Democrats won the House majority in 2018, the House impeached Trump for abuse of power after he threatened to withhold military aid to Ukraine and urged the country’s president to investigate then-candidate Joe Biden. Schiff was the lead House prosecutor making the case for conviction to the Senate, arguing repeatedly that “right matters.” The Republican-led chamber ultimately acquitted him.

Trump was impeached a second time a year later, after he had left office, for his role in the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol. The Senate again acquitted Trump.

In the censure resolution against Schiff, Luna also cited a report released in May from special counsel John Durham that found that the FBI rushed into its investigation of Trump’s campaign and relied too much on raw and unconfirmed intelligence.

Durham — who testified before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday — said investigators repeatedly relied on “confirmation bias,” ignoring or rationalizing away evidence that undercut their premise of a Trump-Russia conspiracy as they pushed the probe forward. But he did not allege that political bias or partisanship were guiding factors for the FBI’s actions.

In the hours before the vote, Schiff’s campaign sent out a fundraising email that said Luna had introduced “yet ANOTHER resolution to censure me.”

“The vote and debate will happen imminently,” the email read, asking recipients to donate to help him fight back. “Once more, I have to be on the House floor to listen as MAGA Republicans push false and defamatory lies about me.”

Democrats argued that the House censure resolution is an effort to distract from Trump’s recent indictment on federal charges of hoarding classified documents — several of which dealt with sensitive national security matters — and attempting to conceal them. House Republicans, most of whom are loyal to Trump, say the indictment is more evidence that the government is conspiring against the former president.

“This is not a serious resolution,” said Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa., but political theater to “distract from Donald Trump’s history of transgressions and now indictments.”

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The drag story hour, at which drag queens read children’s books to kids, took place at an LGBTQ-owned coffee shop in Concord, the state’s capital, on Sunday.

In video that has attracted over 6.5 million views on Twitter, more than a dozen men wearing masks, sunglasses, baseball caps and matching shirts and pants can been seen chanting, raising their right arms in unison and banging on the coffee shop’s windows.

State officials said NSC-131, a neo-Nazi group based in New England, had claimed responsibility for the protest. NSC stands for the Nationalist Social Club.

The protesters chanted “131” and homophobic slurs, including “faggots,” according to Juicy Garland, a drag performer who was at the event and posted the video on social media.

Garland added that once the protest began, the store manager called the police and moved the event to the second floor of the shop, called Teatotaller, away from the demonstrators.

Read the full story on NBCNews.com here.

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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said it would reinstate a decades-old regulation that mandates blanket protections for species newly classified as threatened.

The blanket protections regulation was dropped in 2019 as part of a suite of changes to the application of the species law that were encouraged by industry, even as extinctions accelerate globally due to habitat loss and other pressures.

Officials also would no longer consider economic impacts when deciding if animals and plants need protection. And the rules make it easier to designate areas as critical for a species’ survival, even if it is no longer found in those locations.

That could help with the recovery of imperiled fish and freshwater mussels in the Southeast, where the aquatic animals in many cases are absent from portions of their historical range, said Fish and Wildlife Service Assistant Director Gary Frazer.

Frazer said Wednesday’s proposal would restore “baseline” protections so species don’t get pushed further toward extinction.

“We have the opportunity to try to improve the status of species before they get to the brink,” he said.

Details on the proposed rules, which could take a year to finalize, were obtained by The Associated Press in advance of their public release.

They’ll face strong pushback from Republican lawmakers, who say President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration has hampered oil, gas and coal development, and favors conservation over development.

“These proposed rules take us in the wrong direction and are entirely unnecessary given the proven track record of success from private conservationists and state and local land managers,” said House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Bruce Westerman, a Republican from Arkansas.

Industry groups have long viewed the 1973 Endangered Species Act as an impediment. Under Trump they successfully lobbied to weaken the law’s regulations as part of a broad dismantling of environmental safeguards. Trump officials rolled back endangered species rules and protections for the northern spotted owl, gray wolves and other species.

The spotted owl decision was reversed in 2021 after officials said Trump’s political appointees used faulty science to justify opening millions of acres of West Coast forest to potential logging. Protections for wolves across most of the U.S. were restored by a federal court last year and the Biden administration has said it will decide by next February if they should remain in place.

Many of the changes under Trump were finalized during his last weeks in office.

Since then, officials imposed less restrictive protections for more than a dozen animals and plants compared to what they would have received, said Jonathan Wood with the Property and Environment Research Center, a free-market policy group based in Bozeman, Montana.

Wood said the Biden proposal could hurt state and private landowner efforts to recover species, by imposing more punitive regulations that undermine voluntary conservation incentives.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Martha Williams said in a statement that the changes “reaffirm our commitment to conserving America’s wildlife and ensuring the Endangered Species Act works for both species and people.”

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Assistant Administrator Janet Coit said the rules would ensure the species law remains effective as climate change alters habitats around the globe, and plants and animals become extinct.

The Biden administration had earlier withdrawn a 2020 rule that limited which lands and waters could be designated as places where imperiled animals and plants could receive federal protection. It also reversed Trump’s decision to weaken enforcement of the century-old Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which made it harder to prosecute bird deaths caused by the energy industry.

But environmentalists have been frustrated that it’s taken more than two years for Biden to act on some of the Trump-era rollbacks. Stoking their urgency is the prospect of a new Republican administration following the 2024 election that could yet again ease protections.

“These are promising steps to get us back to the Endangered Species Act’s purpose, its power to protect,” attorney Kristen Boyles with Earthjustice said of the new rules. The group sued on behalf of environmental groups to block the Trump rules and prevailed in U.S. District Court then lost on appeal.

Other environmentalists complained that some Trump-era changes would remain intact.

One requires agencies to protect living spaces for imperiled species only when development would harm an entire habitat and not just part of it. That could remove obligations to fix damage from logging trees that are needed by spotted owls unless all of their 9-million-acre habitat zone were affected, said Stephanie Kurose at the Center for Biological Diversity.

Biden’s proposal also retains a Trump change allowing agencies to approve projects without guarantees habitat harms will be reduced.

“This makes it easier to authorize piecemeal destruction of critical habitat,” said McCrystie Adams with Defenders of Wildlife.

An array of industry groups have long maintained that economic impacts are not given enough consideration in U.S. government wildlife decisions. Those groups range from livestock and ranching organizations to trade associations representing oil, gas and mining interests.

The Endangered Species Act is credited with helping save the bald eagle, California condor and scores more animals and plants from extinction since President Richard Nixon signed it into law. It currently protects more than 1,600 species in the United States and its territories.

___

Flesher reported from Traverse City, Michigan.

The 30-second video, posted to social media by the Detroit Police Department, shows a man opening the door to the gas station building holding a trash barrel full of trash and gasoline. He then proceeds to dump out the garbage onto the floor. After replacing the barrel outside, the suspect enters the gas station.

He appears to be holding a small blowtorch as he is speaking to the store clerk.

He quickly uses the torch to ignite the garbage, which bursts into flames as the suspect runs out the door.

Police said the store clerk was hurt and taken to the hospital, where he was treated for first-degree burns.

“We have arrested the suspect in connection with setting a gas station on fire in the 19300 block of W. 7 Mile Rd.,” Detroit police said on Facebook. “The gas station clerk was transported to a local hospital, where he was treated for 1st-degree burns.”

The suspect’s name was not immediately released.

The settler attack came as the Israeli military deployed additional forces in the occupied West Bank, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced plans to build 1,000 new settler homes in response to the deadly shooting.

The moves threatened to further raise tensions after days of deadly fighting in the West Bank that included a daylong Israeli military raid in a Palestinian militant stronghold and Tuesday’s mass shooting.

Palestinian residents and human rights groups have long complained about Israel’s inability or refusal to halt settler violence. In Wednesday’s rampage, residents in Turmus Ayya said some 400 settlers marched down the town’s main road, setting fire to cars, homes and trees.

Mayor Lafi Adeeb said some 30 houses and 60 cars were partly or totally burned, and that the attacks intensified even after the Israeli army arrived. At least eight Palestinians were hurt during the clashes, which the army tried to disperse by firing rubber bullets and tear gas.

Palestinian medical officials said one man — identified as 27-year-old Omar Qatin — was killed by army fire and two other people were wounded. Residents said Qatin was a father of two small children and worked as an electrician for the local municipality.

Israeli police said they opened fire when residents threw rocks and fireworks toward them. It said one officer opened fire after believing his life was in danger, hitting a “rioter.” But Palestinian residents disputed the account.

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“He was just standing there, innocent, he is such a kind-hearted kid. He had no stones, he was totally unarmed, he was at least half a mile (one kilometer) away from the military,” said Khamis Jbara, his neighbor. “He works from 6am to 6pm. He is a peaceful man.”

Palestinian residents of the town, known for its large number of American citizens, were seething and in shock after the attack.

Streets were littered with broken pots, uprooted trees, charred yard furniture and skeletons of cars. At least one house was completely torched, the living room blackened, the furniture burned to ashes.

“It was terrifying, we just saw mobs of people in the streets, masked, armed,” said Mohammed Suleiman, a 56-year-old Palestinian-American who lives in Chicago and was visiting his hometown. He said his brother, who is currently in Chicago, owns one of the burned houses.

Suleiman blamed the Israeli military, saying the soldiers turned their guns on the Palestinian residents instead of the vandals marching into the town with guns and firebombs, throwing fuel oil and setting alight everything in their path. The army was “literally clearing the way for them,” he said.

Abdulkarim Abdulkarim, a 44-year-old resident of Ohio, said his family’s four cars were burned and house damaged. “They call us terrorists but here you have terrorism supported by the government,” he said.

In the home of the Shalaby family, eight children hid on the third floor when they saw a mob of masked settlers slash tires and throw fuel on three cars. Within moments, their front yard erupted into a giant fireball. At least one of the armed settlers burst through the front door, trashing the sunroom and breaking windows.

“I just kept thinking I was going to die,” said 15-year-old Mohammed Awwad, an American citizen from northern California who was visiting his grandparents. He was removing pieces of glass from his foot as his family packed up their valuables to take to an aunt’s house in the hills, fearing the settlers’ return.

Turmus Ayya, a town with luxurious villas with gardens and views of rolling olive groves, is frequently a target of settler attacks from the nearby Shilo settlement. Tayem Abu Awwad, whose old car was torched in a separate attack last week, said his brand new Toyota was charred in Wednesday’s rampage.

The Israeli military said it sent forces into the town “to extinguish the fires, prevent clashes and to collect evidence.” It said the settlers had left the town, and Israeli police opened an investigation.

The military condemned “these serious incidents of violence and destruction of property,” adding that settler violence prevents it from carrying out its “main mission” of protecting national security and battling militants.

The settler attack brought back memories of a rampage last February in which dozens of cars and homes were torched in the town of Hawara following the killing of a pair of Israeli brothers by a Palestinian gunman.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh visited Turmus Ayya to inspect the damage. Local criticism of the Palestinian Authority has intensifies over its weakness in the face of settler attacks.

As he spoke, expressing solidarity with the residents and appealing to the United States to intervene — given the high percentage of American citizens in the town — one resident shouted at him that “no one should have to bear what we went through” and demanded the authority “do more to protect its people.”

Egypt and Jordan, the first two Arab countries to make peace with Israel, both condemned the settler violence and called for an immediate end to the attacks.

Netanyahu criticized the settler violence, as well as unrelated protests by Druze Arabs in the Golan Heights that turned violent.

“We will not accept any provocations to the police or the security forces in these places or anywhere else,” he said. “We are a nation of laws.”

Tuesday’s shooting in the settlement of Eli came a day after seven Palestinians were killed in a battle against Israeli troops in the militant stronghold of Jenin. The worsening violence has created a test for Israel’s government and prompted calls for a widespread military operation in the West Bank.

As Israel deployed more forces to the area, Netanyahu said he had approved plans to build 1,000 new homes in Eli. “Our answer to terror is to strike it hard and to build our country,” he said.

The international community opposes settlements on occupied lands sought by the Palestinians for a future independent state. Netanyahu’s far-right government is dominated by settler leaders and supporters.

Israeli media identified the four killed in the shooting as Harel Masood, 21, Ofer Fayerman, 64, and Elisha Anteman, 18, Nahman-Shmuel Mordoff, 17. An Israeli civilian killed one assailant at the scene, while Israeli troops chased and killed the second shooter after he fled.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian death toll from Monday’s army raid in Jenin rose to seven after 15-year-old Sadeel Naghniyeh succumbed to wounds sustained in the gunbattle, Palestinian officials said. Some 90 Palestinians, and eight Israeli soldiers were also wounded in the shootout.

The long string of violence in the region over the past year and half shows no sign of relenting. At least 130 Palestinians and 24 people on the Israeli side have been killed so far this year, according to a tally by The Associated Press.

Israel says most of the Palestinians killed were militants, but stone-throwing youths protesting the incursions and others not involved in confrontations have also been killed.

Israel captured the West Bank, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians seek those territories for a future independent state.

A former passenger on the OceanGate submersible craft that went missing June 18 while traveling to the wreckage of the Titanic spoke about the conditions of the journey, underscoring the risks involved in traveling to the bottom of the ocean.

Aaron Newman, an investor in OceanGate, took a trip down to the Titanic in 2021 and said he felt safe during the entire journey.

“They were a professional crew, they did a lot of training around safety and the backup systems around dropping weights, so I felt very safe,” Newman said June 21 on TODAY. “But … this is not a Disney ride, right? We’re going places that very few people have been, and this is inventing things. So there are risks, right? And we know that, but all these people accepted that.”

The sub is owned by OceanGate, a company that charters private tours to explore the famous shipwreck. Five people are missing on the submersible: OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, billionaire Hamish Harding, Frenchman Paul-Henry Nargeolet, businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman Dawood.

“None of these people were people that were I would consider tourists — tourists is such a bad term,” Newman said of the passengers. “These are people who lived on the edge and loved what they were doing and if anything’s going on, these are people that are that are calm and thinking this through and doing what they can to stay alive. So this is a good set of people.”

Newman also reacted to the news that a Canadian military surveillance aircraft detected underwater noises early on June 21 as an international search worked to locate the missing craft.

A statement from the U.S. Coast Guard did not specify what the noises could be, the Associated Press reported, but Newman called the development “exciting news.”

“Our focus is just hoping for this Hollywood ending to happen. We know the Coast Guard and everybody else is working so hard. And the OceanGate crew is working as hard as they can to possibly find this if anything is out there,” he said. “It’s promising but there’s work to be done, and that’s what the focus is.”

Newman described his 2021 journey to the Titanic wreckage aboard the Titan craft as “basically going to another planet.”

“You’re getting in this craft — you’re bolted in. It’s a tube that’s comfortable, but not spacious,” he said. “And at the surface, when you first get in, it gets very hot and stuffy and so you’re laying down and you have a little packed lunch with you and a little bit of water, but you’re planning for the day to be there.”

Newman said that as the sub descends into the ocean, it quickly becomes cold and pitch black other than the lights from the sub.

“By the time you hit the bottom, the water down there is below what standard freezing temperature is,” he said, adding the water is 29 to 30 degrees Fahrenheit. “That’s going to conduct right through that metal, so it was cold when we were at the bottom. You had to layer up — we had wool hats on and were doing everything to stay warm at that bottom.”

International search teams are working to locate the Titan, which could be as deep as about 12,500 feet below the ocean’s surface, according to the Associated Press.

The craft also only has enough life support to sustain five crew members for about 96 hours, or four days, according to OceanGate’s website. Experts estimate the sub only has less than a day’s worth of air left as of June 21.

OceanGate released a statement about the incident on June 19.

“Our entire focus is on the wellbeing of the crew and every step possible is being taken to bring the five crew members back safely,” the company said. “We are deeply grateful for the urgent and extensive assistance we are receiving.”

Experts noted even if the submersible is on the surface, crews must locate the craft to let the passengers out, as the sub can only be opened from the outside.

“That clock ticks whether they’re floating on the surface or whether they’re on the bottom alive,” Tim Taylor, CEO of Tiburon Subsea, told NBC News.

This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY:

• Firefighters helped deliver a baby 18 years ago — now he’s their intern
• The missing Titanic sub is piloted by a video game controller. Here’s how it works
• Judge in Alex Murdaugh trial says he ‘felt sorry’ for convicted murderer

This year’s hajj is expected to return to pre-pandemic levels. In 2019, nearly 2.5 million Muslims, including around 20,000 U.S. citizens, partook in the five-day pilgrimage, The Associated Press reported. In 2020 and 2021, Saudi Arabia curtailed the number of participants amid lockdowns. Last year, over 1 million faithfuls gathered at Mecca, according to the AP.

Earlier this year, Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Hajj and Umrah launched Nusuk Hajj, a registration and booking platform to ensure a smooth journey for Western pilgrims from European countries, South and North America and Australia.

The U.S. Department of State urges travelers to review the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guide for the pilgrimage. Here is a look at this year’s hajj and more about this sacred commencement.

What is hajj?

Hajj is an annual religious pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca and is required of every physically and financially capable Muslim at least once in their lifetime. The journey takes faithfuls along a path traversed by the Prophet Muhammad some 1,400 years ago.

During the five-day celebration, pilgrims will perform a series of rites and rituals that present them with physical, spiritual and emotional challenges intended to bring them closer to God. This includes praying around the cube-shaped Kaaba, the holiest shrine in Islam. Crowds move counter-clockwise around the granite building, their hearts tilting toward the structure meant to symbolize the oneness of God in Islam.

Muslims must enter the sacred state of “Ihram” before carrying out the rites of hajj. For men, this means dressing in white draping garments, while women wear long, loose-fitting clothing and headscarves, or hijab. Women also forgo makeup, nail polish and perfume to draw closer to God.

At the end of the pilgrimage, men are expected to shave their heads, and women to snip a lock of hair in a sign of spiritual rebirth and renewal.

When is hajj 2023?

Each year, the hajj takes place during the eighth and 13th days of the month of Dhul Hijjah, the 12th month in the Islamic lunar calendar.

This year’s hajj begins on Monday, June 26 and ends on Saturday, July 1.

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What is Eid al-Adha and when does it start?

Eid al-Adha commemorates the Quranic tale of Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice Ismail as an act of obedience to God. Before he could carry out the sacrifice, God provided a ram as an offering. In the Christian and Jewish telling, Abraham is ordered to kill another son, Isaac.

Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of Sacrifice, coincides with the final rites of the annual hajj. It is typically marked by communal prayers, large social gatherings, slaughtering of livestock and distributing the meat among family, friends and the poor.

Muslim pilgrims will also take part in the symbolic “stoning of the devil” by throwing pebbles at three pillars that mark the places where the devil tried to interrupt Ibrahim’s sacrifice in Mina, a city east of Mecca. The act recalls Ibrahim’s victory over temptation.

This year’s Eid al-Adha begins on Tuesday, June 27 and lasts for three days.

Can non-Muslims go to Mecca?

Non-Muslims cannot enter or pass through Mecca and portions of Medina, a city in western Saudi Arabia, which are considered sacred.

For additional travel information for hajj, visit the State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs site here.

The Agriculture Department gave the green light to Upside Foods and Good Meat, firms that had been racing to be the first in the U.S. to sell meat that doesn’t come from slaughtered animals — what’s now being referred to as “cell-cultivated” or “cultured” meat as it emerges from the laboratory and arrives on dinner plates.

The move launches a new era of meat production aimed at eliminating harm to animals and drastically reducing the environmental impacts of grazing, growing feed for animals and animal waste.

“Instead of all of that land and all of that water that’s used to feed all of these animals that are slaughtered, we can do it in a different way,” said Josh Tetrick, co-founder and chief executive of Eat Just, which operates Good Meat.

The companies received approvals for federal inspections required to sell meat and poultry in the U.S. The action came months after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration deemed that products from both companies are safe to eat. A manufacturing company called Joinn Biologics, which works with Good Meat, was also cleared to make the products.

Cultivated meat is grown in steel tanks, using cells that come from a living animal, a fertilized egg or a special bank of stored cells. In Upside’s case, it comes out in large sheets that are then formed into shapes like chicken cutlets and sausages. Good Meat, which already sells cultivated meat in Singapore, the first country to allow it, turns masses of chicken cells into cutlets, nuggets, shredded meat and satays.

But don’t look for this novel meat in U.S. grocery stores anytime soon. Cultivated chicken is much more expensive than meat from whole, farmed birds and cannot yet be produced on the scale of traditional meat, said Ricardo San Martin, director of the Alt:Meat Lab at University of California Berkeley.

The companies plan to serve the new food first in exclusive restaurants: Upside has partnered with a San Francisco restaurant called Bar Crenn, while Good Meat dishes will be served at a Washington, D.C., restaurant run by chef and owner Jose Andrés.

Company officials are quick to note the products are meat, not substitutes like the Impossible Burger or offerings from Beyond Meat, which are made from plant proteins and other ingredients.

Globally, more than 150 companies are focusing on meat from cells, not only chicken but pork, lamb, fish and beef, which scientists say has the biggest impact on the environment.

Upside, based in Berkeley, operates a 70,000-square-foot building in nearby Emeryville. On a recent Tuesday, visitors entered a gleaming commercial kitchen where chef Jess Weaver was sauteeing a cultivated chicken filet in a white wine butter sauce with tomatoes, capers and green onions.

The finished chicken breast product was slightly paler than the grocery store version. Otherwise it looked, cooked, smelled and tasted like any other pan-fried poultry.

“The most common response we get is, ‘Oh, it tastes like chicken,’” said Amy Chen, Upside’s chief operating officer.

Good Meat, based in Alameda, operates a 100,000-square-foot plant, where chef Zach Tyndall dished up a smoked chicken salad on a sunny June afternoon. He followed it with a chicken “thigh” served on a bed of potato puree with a mushroom-vegetable demi-glace and tiny purple cauliflower florets. The Good Meat chicken product will come pre-cooked, requiring only heating to use in a range of dishes.

Chen acknowledged that many consumers are skeptical, even squeamish, about the thought of eating chicken grown from cells.

“We call it the ‘ick factor,’” she said.

The sentiment was echoed in a recent poll conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Half of U.S. adults said that they are unlikely to try meat grown using cells from animals. When asked to choose from a list of reasons for their reluctance, most who said they’d be unlikely to try it said “it just sounds weird.” About half said they don’t think it would be safe.

But once people understand how the meat is made, they’re more accepting, Chen said. And once they taste it, they’re usually sold.

“It is the meat that you’ve always known and loved,” she said.

Cultivated meat begins with cells. Upside experts take cells from live animals, choosing those most likely to taste good and to reproduce quickly and consistently, forming high-quality meat, Chen said. Good Meat products are created from a master cell bank formed from a commercially available chicken cell line.

Once the cell lines are selected, they’re combined with a broth-like mixture that includes the amino acids, fatty acids, sugars, salts, vitamins and other elements cells need to grow. Inside the tanks, called cultivators, the cells grow, proliferating quickly. At Upside, muscle and connective tissue cells grow together, forming large sheets. After about three weeks, the sheets of poultry cells are removed from the tanks and formed into cutlets, sausages or other foods. Good Meat cells grow into large masses, which are shaped into a range of meat products.

Both firms emphasized that initial production will be limited. The Emeryville facility can produce up to 50,000 pounds of cultivated meat products a year, though the goal is to expand to 400,000 pounds per year, Upside officials said. Good Meat officials wouldn’t estimate a production goal.

By comparison, the U.S. produces about 50 billion pounds of chicken per year.

It could take a few years before consumers see the products in more restaurants and seven to 10 years before they hit the wider market, said Sebastian Bohn, who specializes in cell-based foods at CRB, a Missouri firm that designs and builds facilities for pharmaceutical, biotech and food companies.

Cost will be another sticking point. Neither Upside nor Good Meat officials would reveal the price of a single chicken cutlet, saying only that it’s been reduced by orders of magnitude since the firms began offering demonstrations. Eventually, the price is expected to mirror high-end organic chicken, which sells for up to $20 per pound.

San Martin said he’s concerned that cultivated meat may wind up being an alternative to traditional meat for rich people, but will do little for the environment if it remains a niche product.

“If some high-end or affluent people want to eat this instead of a chicken, it’s good,” he said. “Will that mean you will feed chicken to poor people? I honestly don’t see it.”

Tetrick said he shares critics’ concerns about the challenges of producing an affordable, novel meat product for the world. But he emphasized that traditional meat production is so damaging to the planet it requires an alternative — preferably one that doesn’t require giving up meat all together.

“I miss meat,” said Tetrick, who grew up in Alabama eating chicken wings and barbecue. “There should be a different way that people can enjoy chicken and beef and pork with their families.”

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Daniel “D.J.” Rodriguez yelled, “Trump won!” as he was led out of the courtroom where U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson sentenced him to 12 years and seven months behind bars for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack. Only two other Jan. 6 defendants have received longer prison terms so far after hundreds of sentencings for Capitol riot cases.

The judge said Rodriguez, 40, was “a one-man army of hate, attacking police and destroying property” at the Capitol.

“You showed up in (Washington) D.C. spoiling for a fight,” Jackson said. “You can’t blame what you did once you got there on anyone but yourself.”

Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone ‘s body camera captured him screaming out in pain after Rodriguez shocked him with a stun gun while he was surrounded by a mob.

Capitol Riot Jun 16

Florida man gets 4 years, 9 months for attacking officer at US Capitol insurrection

Capitol Riot Jun 7

DOJ charges ‘Bob's Burgers,' ‘Arrested Development' actor in Jan. 6 Capitol riot

Another rioter had dragged Fanone into the crowd outside a tunnel on the Capitol’s Lower West Terrace, where a line of police officers was guarding an entrance to the building. Other rioters began beating Fanone, who lost consciousness and suffered a heart attack after Rodriguez pressed the stun gun against his neck and repeatedly shocked him.

Fanone addressed the judge before she imposed the sentence. The former officer described how the Jan. 6 attack prematurely ended his law-enforcement career and turned him into a target for Donald Trump supporters who cling to the lie that Democrats stole the 2020 election from the Republican incumbent.

Fanone left the courtroom in the middle of Rodriguez’s statement to the judge. He didn’t miss an apology from Rodriguez, who has been jailed for more than two years and will get credit for that time already served.

“I’m hopeful that Michael Fanone will be okay some day,” Rodriguez said. “It sounds like he’s in a great deal of pain.”

Fanone said he left the courtroom because he didn’t care to hear his assailant’s “rambling, incoherent” statement.

“Nothing he could have said to me today would have made any difference whatsoever,” he said.

Prosecutors recommended a 14-year prison sentence for Rodriguez, who pleaded guilty in February to charges including assaulting Fanone. They also sought a fine of nearly $100,000 to offset the cost of Fanone’s medical bills and medical leave.

Fanone’s injuries ultimately ended his career in law enforcement. He has written a book about his Jan. 6 experience and testified in front of a House committee that investigated the insurrection, which disrupted the joint session of Congress for certifying President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory.

“Rodriguez’s criminal conduct on January 6 was the epitome of disrespect for the law; he battled with law enforcement at the U.S. Capitol for hours, nearly costing one officer his life, in order to stop the official proceeding happening inside,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing.

Rodriguez pleaded guilty to four felony charges, including conspiracy and assaulting a law enforcement officer with a deadly or dangerous weapon. He entered the guilty plea about two weeks before his trial was scheduled to start in Washington, D.C.

On Jan. 6, Rodriguez attended then-President Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally before joining the mob of rioters who attacked police in the Lower West Terrance tunnel.

“Rodriguez made his way to the front of the line of rioters battling the officers, yelling into his bullhorn at the beleaguered line,” prosecutors wrote.

Rodriguez deployed a fire extinguisher at police officers in the tunnel and shoved a wooden pole at the police line before another rioter, Kyle Young, handed him what appeared to be a stun gun, according to prosecutors.

Fanone was at the front of the police line when another rioter, Albuquerque Cosper Head, wrapped his arm around the officer’s neck and dragged him out onto the terrace steps, then restrained Fanone while other rioters attacked him. Rodriguez shocked Fanone’s neck with the stun gun, below the left ear of his police helmet.

Fanone managed to retreat and collapsed behind the police line before he was taken to a hospital.

“Once inside, when officers were able to revive him after 2 minutes and 21 seconds, the first thing Officer Fanone asked was ‘did we take back that door?’” prosecutors wrote.

Rodriguez entered the building and smashed a window with a wooden pole before leaving Capitol grounds.

Head was sentenced to more than seven years in prison after pleading guilty to an assault charge.

Young also was sentenced to more than seven years in prison for his role in the officer’s assault. Young grabbed Fanone by the wrist while others yelled, “Kill him!” and “Get his gun!”

During an interview with FBI agents after his March 2021 arrest, Rodriguez said had believed that he was doing the “right thing” on Jan. 6 and that he had been prepared to die to “save the country.” He cried as he spoke to the agents, saying he was “stupid” and ashamed of his actions.

In the days leading up to Jan. 6, Rodriguez spewed violent rhetoric in a Telegram group chat called “PATRIOTS 45 MAGA Gang.”

“There will be blood. Welcome to the revolution,” Rodriguez wrote a day before the riot.

Rodriguez’s attorneys said he idolized Trump, seeing the the former president “as the father he wished he had.”

“Mr. Rodriguez trusted Trump blindly and admired Trump so much that he referred to him as ‘dad’ in his social media chats leading up to Jan. 6th,” defense attorneys wrote, seeking a prison sentence of five years and five months for their client.

The same judge who sentenced Rodriguez also convicted a co-defendant, Edward Badalian, of three riot-related charges and acquitted him of a fourth after a trial without a jury. Jackson is scheduled to sentence Badalian on July 21.

More than 1,000 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the Jan. 6 riot. Over 700 of them have pleaded guilty or been convicted after trials. And approximately 550 of them have been sentenced, with over half receiving terms of imprisonment ranging from seven days to 18 years.

The results, released Wednesday, are the latest measure of the deep learning setbacks incurred during the pandemic. While earlier testing revealed the magnitude of America’s learning loss, the latest test casts light on the persistence of those setbacks, dimming hopes of swift academic recovery.

More than two years after most students returned to in-person class, there are still “worrisome signs about student achievement,” said Peggy G. Carr, commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, a branch of the federal Education Department.

“The ‘green shoots’ of academic recovery that we had hoped to see have not materialized,” Carr said in a statement.

In the national sample of 13-year-old students, average math scores fell by 9 points between 2020 and 2023. Reading scores fell by 4 points. The test, formally called the National Assessment of Educational Progress, was administered from October to December last year to 8,700 students in each subject.

Similar setbacks were reported last year when NAEP released broader results showing the pandemic’s impact on America’s fourth- and eighth-grade students.

Math and reading scores had been sliding before the pandemic, but the latest results show a precipitous drop that erases earlier gains in the years leading up to 2012. Scores on the math exam, which has been given since 1973, are now at their lowest levels since 1990. Reading scores are their lowest since 2004.

Especially alarming to officials were outsize decreases among the lowest-performing students. Students at all achievement levels saw decreases, but while stronger students saw slides of 6 to 8 points, lower performing students saw decreases of 12 to 14 points, the results show.

There were also differences by race. Students from almost every race and ethnicity saw math scores slide, but the steepest drops were among American Indian students, at 20 points, and Black students, at 13 points. The decline for white students, by comparison, was 6 points, while Asian students held even.

The scores reflect the disproportionate impact of the pandemic’s disruptions on Black and Latino students and those from low-income families, said Denise Forte, president and CEO of the Education Trust, a nonprofit advocacy group.

“Students want to succeed, attend college, start a rewarding career and reach their full academic potential,” Forte said. “But they can’t if they continue to lose precious ground.”

Pandemic setbacks appear to be lingering even as schools across the U.S. spend billions of dollars to help students catch up. The federal government sent historic sums of money to schools in 2021, allowing many to expand tutoring, summer classes and other recovery efforts.

But the nation’s 13-year-olds, who were 10 when the pandemic started, are still struggling, Carr said.

“The strongest advice I have is that we need to keep at it,” she said. “It is a long road ahead of us.”

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said the results confirm what the Biden administration knew all along: “that the pandemic would have a devastating impact on students’ learning across the country and that it would take years of effort and investment to reverse the damage as well as address the 11-year decline that preceded it.”

Still, Cardona said he’s encouraged by signs of improvement elsewhere, with some states returning to pre-pandemic levels on their own math and reading assessments.

The exam is designed to measure basic skills in math and reading. Students were asked to read passages and identify the main idea or locate certain information. In math, they were asked to perform simple multiplication and tackle basic geometry, calculating, for example, the area of a square. Most questions were multiple choice.

Asked about their reading habits, fewer students than ever say they’re reading for fun every day. Just 14% reported daily reading for pleasure — which has been tied to better social and academic outcomes — down from 27% in 2012. Almost a third of students said they never or hardly ever read for fun, up from 22% in 2012.

The test also revealed a troubling increase in student absenteeism. The share of students missing five or more days of schools in a month doubled since 2020, reaching 10% this year. Students with fewer missed days had higher average scores in both reading and math, according to the results.

___

The Associated Press education team receives support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

The incident happened early Tuesday at a gas station in Seffner, just east of Tampa.

Surveillance video released by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office showed the speeding car crashing through the store’s entrance just as the man is walking inside.

The video shows the man slammed by the Kia Forte from behind as debris flies throughout the store, with shocked employees and customers narrowly avoiding being hit.

The man was thrown across the store and pinned between the driver’s side door of the car and a metal structure.

Fire rescue crews responded and the man and the driver of the Kia were taken to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

“The footage of the car smashing through this business and straight into a victim is jarring, to say the least,” Hillsborough Sheriff Chad Chronister said in a statement. “It is an absolute miracle that the person pinned by the car did not sustain more serious injuries, and we’re glad to hear he will be ok.”

The driver of the car, 37-year-old Anthony Katosh, was later charged with criminal mischief after detectives determined the crash was not accidental, officials said.

Senate Democrats on Wednesday blasted Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito for failing to disclose as a gift his trip on a private plane owned by hedge-fund billionaire Paul Singer to travel with Singer to a luxury fishing excursion.

Alito six years after that 2008 trip ruled with a majority of justices in favor of an arm of Singer’s hedge fund Elliott Management in a major case seeking several billions of dollars in debt repayments from the nation of Argentina, one of several cases involving Singer’s company that came before the court, ProPublica reported Tuesday night.

Alito, who along with the Supreme Court’s press office declined to comment to ProPublica for its article, argued in an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal hours before the ProPublica report was published that he had “no obligation” to recuse himself from any of the cases Singer’s companies pursued before the Supreme Court.

The conservative justice said he was not aware of Singer’s connection to the companies that pursued cases at the Supreme Court, and that even if he did there would not have been even the appearance of impropriety in him considering the cases.

“He allowed me to occupy what would have otherwise been an unoccupied seat on a private flight to Alaska,” Alito wrote. “It was and is my judgment that these facts would not cause a reasonable and unbiased person to doubt my ability to decide the matters in question impartially.”

The justice also argued that the instructions for justices to complete a financial disclosure report until a few months ago had said that “personal hospitality need not be reported.”

But ProPublica said that Alito appears to have broken the financial disclosure law because the law requires disclosure of gifts of private jet flights.

“Experts said they could not identify an instance of a justice ruling on a case after receiving an expensive gift paid for by one of the parties,” ProPublica reported.

Sen. Dick Durbin, the Illinois Democrat who is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told reporters the news about Alito was “rotten.”

“I will tell you this defense offered by Justice Alito is laughable, laughable,” Durbin said, referring to Alito’s op-ed, according to NBC News.

“Give me a break,” Durbin said. 

Durbin called on Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to issue a code of ethics for the high court, which lacks one.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., called Alito’s conduct “egregious.”

“My view is he broke the law. He ought to be held accountable,” Blumenthal said.

“Justice Alito violated the plain meaning and spirit of the law in failing to report the trip and his denial now of any possible wrongdoing just shows how the Supreme Court and Justice Alito think they don’t have to answer to anyone, they’re accountable to no one,” he said.

“And that is intolerable in a democracy,” Blumenthal added.

Durbin and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., who chairs the Subcommittee on Federal Courts, later issued a statement saying the Judiciary Committee will move toward writing legislation for ethics guidelines for the Supreme Court.

“The Supreme Court is in an ethical crisis of its own making due to the acceptance of lavish gifts from parties with business before the Court that several Justices have not disclosed,” the senators said in a joint statement. “The reputation and credibility of the Court are at stake. Chief Justice Roberts could resolve this today, but he has not acted.”

ProPublica in April reported that Alito’s fellow conservative on the Supreme Court, Justice Clarence Thomas, for decades had received luxurious trips paid for by Harlan Crow, a billionaire Republican donor and Texas real estate magnate. Thomas likewise has claimed he did nothing wrong by accepting the largesse without disclosing it on annual financial disclosures.

Crow additionally purchased Georgia properties owned by Thomas’ family, including one where the justice’s mother still lives rent-free. Crow also paid for private school tuition for Thomas’ grandnephew.

CNBC has requested comment from the Supreme Court on ProPublica’s reporting about Alito.

Rescuers have rushed more ships and vessels to the site of the disappearance, hoping underwater sounds they detected for a second straight day might help narrow their search in the urgent, international mission. But the crew had only a four-day oxygen supply when the vessel, called the Titan, set off around 6 a.m. Sunday.

Even those who expressed optimism warned that many obstacles remain: from pinpointing the vessel’s location, to reaching it with rescue equipment, to bringing it to the surface — assuming it’s still intact. And all that has to happen before the passengers’ oxygen supply runs out.

The full area being searched was twice the size of Connecticut in waters as deep as 13,200 feet (4,020 meters). Captain Jamie Frederick of the First Coast Guard District said authorities were still holding out hope of saving the five passengers onboard.

“This is a search and rescue mission, 100%,” he said Wednesday.

The area of the North Atlantic where the Titan vanished Sunday is also prone to fog and stormy conditions, making it an extremely challenging environment to conduct a search-and-rescue mission, said Donald Murphy, an oceanographer who served as chief scientist of the Coast Guard’s International Ice Patrol.

Meanwhile, newly uncovered allegations suggest there had been significant warnings made about vessel safety during the submersible’s development.

Frederick said while the sounds that have been detected offered a chance to narrow the search, their exact location and source hadn’t yet been determined.

“We don’t know what they are, to be frank,” he said.

Retired Navy Capt. Carl Hartsfield, now the director of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Systems Laboratory, said the sounds have been described as “banging noises,” but he warned that search crews “have to put the whole picture together in context and they have to eliminate potential manmade sources other than the Titan.”

The report was encouraging to some experts because submarine crews unable to communicate with the surface are taught to bang on their submersible’s hull to be detected by sonar.

The U.S. Navy said in a statement Wednesday that it was sending a specialized salvage system that’s capable of hoisting “large, bulky and heavy undersea objects such as aircraft or small vessels.”

The Titan weighs 20,000 pounds (9,071 kilograms). The U.S. Navy’s Flyaway Deep Ocean Salvage System is designed to lift up to 60,000 pounds (27,216kilograms), the Navy said on its website.

Lost aboard the vessel are pilot Stockton Rush, the CEO of the company leading the expedition. His passengers are a British adventurer, two members of a Pakistani business family and a Titanic expert. OceanGate Expeditions oversaw the mission.

Authorities reported the 22-foot (6.7-meter) carbon-fiber vessel overdue Sunday night, setting off the search in waters about 435 miles (700 kilometers) south of St. John’s.

Officials have said the vessel had a 96-hour oxygen supply, giving them a deadline of early Thursday morning to find and raise the Titan.

Frank Owen, a submarine search and rescue expert, said the estimated oxygen supply is a useful “target” for searchers, but is only based on a “nominal amount of consumption.” Owen said the diver on board the Titan would likely be advising passengers to “do anything to reduce your metabolic levels so that you can actually extend this.”

At least 46 people successfully traveled on OceanGate’s submersible to the Titanic wreck site in 2021 and 2022, according to letters the company filed with a U.S. District Court in Norfolk, Virginia, that oversees matters involving the Titanic shipwreck.

One of the company’s first customers characterized a dive he made to the site two years ago as a “kamikaze operation.”

“Imagine a metal tube a few meters long with a sheet of metal for a floor. You can’t stand. You can’t kneel. Everyone is sitting close to or on top of each other,” said Arthur Loibl, a retired businessman and adventurer from Germany. “You can’t be claustrophobic.”

During the 2.5-hour descent and ascent, the lights were turned off to conserve energy, he said, with the only illumination coming from a fluorescent glow stick.

The dive was repeatedly delayed to fix a problem with the battery and the balancing weights. In total, the voyage took 10.5 hours.

Titanic 23 hours ago

These are the 5 passengers aboard the missing submersible

Titanic Jun 20

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OceanGate has been criticized for the use of a simple commercially available video game controller to steer the Titan. But the company has said that many of the vessel’s parts are off-the-shelf because they have proved to be dependable.

“It’s meant for a 16-year-old to throw it around,” and is “super durable,” Rush told the CBC in an interview last year while he demonstrated by throwing the controller around the Titan’s tiny cabin. He said a couple of spares are kept on board “just in case.”

The submersible had seven backup systems to return to the surface, including sandbags and lead pipes that drop off and an inflatable balloon.

Jeff Karson, a professor emeritus of earth and environmental sciences at Syracuse University, said the temperature is just above freezing, and the vessel is too deep for human divers to get to it. The best chance to reach the submersible could be to use a remotely operated robot on a fiber optic cable, he said.

“I am sure it is horrible down there,” Karson said. “It is like being in a snow cave and hypothermia is a real danger.”

Documents show that OceanGate had been warned there might be catastrophic safety problems posed by the way the experimental vessel was developed.

David Lochridge, OceanGate’s director of marine operations, said in a 2018 lawsuit that the company’s testing and certification was insufficient and would “subject passengers to potential extreme danger in an experimental submersible.”

The company insisted that Lochridge was “not an engineer and was not hired or asked to perform engineering services on the Titan.” The firm also says the vessel under development was a prototype, not the now-missing Titan.

The Marine Technology Society, which describes itself as “a professional group of ocean engineers, technologists, policy-makers, and educators,” also expressed concern that year in a letter to Rush, OceanGate’s chief executive. The society said it was critical that the company submit its prototype to tests overseen by an expert third party before launching in order to safeguard passengers. The New York Times first reported on those documents.

The passengers lost on the Titan are British adventurer Hamish Harding; Pakistani nationals Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, whose eponymous firm invests across the country; and French explorer and Titanic expert Paul-Henry Nargeolet.

Retired Navy Vice Admiral Robert Murrett, who is now deputy director of the Institute for Security Policy and Law at Syracuse University, said the disappearance underscores the dangers associated with operating in deep water and the recreational exploration of the sea and space.

“I think some people believe that because modern technology is so good, that you can do things like this and not have accidents, but that’s just not the case,” he said.

In his first televised interview since his arraignment last week on federal charges, the former president acknowledged that he delayed turning over boxes of documents despite being asked to do so, drew factually incorrect parallels between his case and classified document probes concerning other politicians, and claimed he didn’t actually have a Pentagon attack plan that the indictment says he boasted about to others.

Those comments — like any remarks made by a defendant about an ongoing case — could complicate his lawyers’ work, potentially precluding defenses they might have otherwise wanted to make or alternately boxing them into certain arguments so as to remain consistent with their clients’ claims. The interview could give the Justice Department compelling, and admissible, insight into Trump’s state of mind as the case moves forward, allowing prosecutors to preemptively attack defenses he might intend to invoke.

“If my client went on TV and said everything that he said, I might have fainted,” said Jeffrey Jacobovitz, a Washington criminal defense lawyer.

The interview with Fox News aired just hours after a federal magistrate judge granted a Justice Department request for a protective order in the case that would prevent the public disclosure of evidence provided to the Trump team through the information-sharing process known as discovery, though nothing said in the interview would seem to have run afoul of that directive.

It’s part of a long-running pattern by Trump, who is also seeking the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, of commenting openly about legal matters. Sometimes those comments have been to his own detriment, including last month when E. Jean Carroll, the advice columnist who won a $5 million sexual abuse and defamation award against Trump, sought at least $10 million more over remarks he made after the verdict.

The stakes are even higher in a criminal case.

“You typically say to your clients, ‘Don’t make any statements. Direct people to me,’” said Richard Serafini, a former Justice Department official and Florida defense lawyer. “Just politely decline to make any comment about the case and let your attorney do any commenting for you.”

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A Trump campaign spokesperson did not immediately respond to a question seeking comment about the Fox interview.

The indictment filed by Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith charges Trump with illegally retaining classified documents at Mar-a-Lago and obstructing government efforts to recover them, including by asking an aide to relocate boxes before a visit by investigators and suggesting that his lawyer hide or destroy documents demanded by a grand jury subpoena.

In the interview Monday night, Trump repeatedly denied wrongdoing.

But in so doing, he seemed to undercut potential future arguments from his lawyers that he was not intimately involved in the handling of the boxes, or that he had moved quickly to cooperate with demands to give the records back. He asserted incorrectly that he was entitled under the Presidential Records Act to retain the documents that he took with him from the White House and acknowledged that he delayed giving the boxes over because he wanted to first remove personal belongings that investigators say were commingled with the files — something he suggested he had been too busy to do.

Asked about an allegation in the indictment that he told his lawyer to tell the Justice Department that a subpoena for records had been fully complied with, he said, “Before I send boxes over, I have to take all of my things out. These boxes were interspersed with all sorts of things: golf shirts, clothing, pants, shoes. There were many things.”

“He’s essentially admitting that he knew the documents were there,” Jacobovitz said. “That’s inconsistent with saying, ‘It was planted there.’”

One of Trump’s GOP rivals, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, said the procrastination excuse, in his mind, served as proof of obstruction of justice, given that Trump is alleged to have caused his lawyers to certify to the Justice Department, incorrectly, that the requested classified materials had been returned.

“It appears to me last night, as a former prosecutor, that he admitted obstruction of justice on the air last night,” Christie said. “I can tell you this: His lawyers this morning are jumping out of whatever window they’re near.”

In addition, Trump denied the Justice Department’s characterization of a core allegation in the indictment — that during a 2021 meeting at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, he showed off a Pentagon “plan of attack” and told others that it was “secret” information that he could no longer declassify because he wasn’t president anymore. But Trump, in the interview, denied that he was holding a specific document.

“There was no document. That was a massive amount of papers and everything else, talking about Iran and other things,” Trump told Fox News host Bret Baier. “And it may have been held up or may not, but that was not a document. I didn’t have a document, per se. There was nothing to declassify. These were newspaper stories, magazine stories and articles.”

The episode detailed in the indictment is based on an audio recording obtained by prosecutors, who could also presumably call as witnesses people who were present for the Bedminster encounter to testify about the document that’s alleged to have been showed off.

But as is always the case with Trump, the court of public opinion matters too. Well-practiced in legal delay tactics, Trump could hope to drag out the proceeding so long that a trial does not conclude until after the election.

Meanwhile, the judge in the case, Aileen Cannon, on Monday set an initial Aug. 14 trial date, though that will unquestionably slip given the complexities of a criminal case centering on sensitive classified information.

Associated Press writer Jill Colvin in New York contributed to this report.

Law enforcement officials used investigative genetic genealogy to link DNA found on the sheath to Kohberger, 28, a doctoral student at nearby Washington State University studying criminology, according to the June 16 filing from the Latah County Prosecutor’s Office. The investigation found that the DNA was at least 5.37 octillion times more likely to be Kohberger’s than an unrelated member of the public, the document states.

Kohberger is accused of fatally stabbing Ethan Chapin, 20, of Conway, Washington; Madison Mogen, 21, of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho; Xana Kernodle, 20, of Avondale, Arizona; and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, of Rathdrum, Idaho, on Nov. 13. A motive remains unknown.

Some information about the use of DNA to identify Kohberger was already known: Law enforcement sources previously told NBC News that DNA played a role in helping investigators hone in on Kohberger, and a probable cause affidavit unsealed in January stated that male DNA was “left on the button snap of the knife sheath” and that DNA retrieved from the trash of Kohberger’s family home in Pennsylvania on Dec. 27 showed there was a high probability it was from the biological father of the person who left the DNA on the sheath at the crime scene.

Read the full story on NBCNews.com

Within two weeks, the Supreme Court justices should break for their summer recess. And yet there’s been no ruling on President Joe Biden’s sweeping student loan forgiveness plan.

For many borrowers, it’s been an anxious wait.

“Waiting to hear whether or not it will pass is nerve-wracking at best, debilitating at worst,” said Richelle Brooks, 35, a single mother in Los Angeles whose monthly student loan payment was as high as $1,200 at one point. “We’re all staying tied to our phones each week.”

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However, legal experts said it makes sense that this ruling is taking time.

“Given all the moving pieces — and given the case’s significance — I’m not surprised to see it come so late in the term,” said Steven Schwinn, a law professor at the University of Illinois Chicago.

Northeastern University law professor Dan Urman agreed. “The more complicated, difficult cases tend to take longer,” he said.

Justices considering ‘several thorny issues’

There’s no precedent for the kind of sweeping debt forgiveness the Biden administration is trying to carry out. And at an estimated cost of $400 billion, the policy would be among the most expensive executive actions in U.S. history.

As a result, Biden’s plan “raises several thorny issues,” Schwinn said.

“This case is a little tricky — trickier than we might think at first glance,” he said.

There is the core issue of whether or not Biden has the power to forgive so much student debt without authorization from Congress.

Administration officials insist that he’s acting within the law, pointing out that the Heroes Act of 2003 grants the U.S. secretary of education the authority to make changes to the federal student loan system during national emergencies. The country was operating under an emergency declaration due to Covid-19 when the president rolled out his plan to cancel up to $20,000 in debt for borrowers.

Yet the plaintiffs trying to block forgiveness say the president is incorrectly using the law, which they argue allows only for narrow applications of relief and not the kind of across-the-board loan cancellation the president wants to deliver. Around 37 million people would benefit from Biden’s program.

Plaintiffs left some justices unconvinced

The justices also have to consider if the plaintiffs against the Biden administration have successfully shown they’d be harmed by the president’s policy, which is typically a requirement to gain the right to sue. The need to prove so-called legal standing is designed to prevent people from suing against different policies and programs simply because they disagree with them.

Two legal challenges against the program made it to the high court: one brought by six GOP-led states — Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and South Carolina — and another backed by the Job Creators Network Foundation, a conservative advocacy organization.

The states argue that a reduction in loan business for the companies in their states that service federal student loans would hurt their bottom line. Meanwhile, the complaint by the Job Creators Network Foundation centers on two student loan borrowers who would be partially or fully excluded from the aid.

Before the justices considered these challenges during oral arguments at the end of February, most legal experts expected the conservative justices to side with the plaintiffs.

However, several pundits changed their tune afterward.

Conservative justice Amy Coney Barrett seemed especially unconvinced that the plaintiffs proved injury, said Jed Shugerman, a law professor at Fordham University and Boston University.

“Barrett was vocally and deeply uncomfortable about ruling that any of the plaintiffs had standing,” Shugerman said.

At least one or two other conservative justices also seemed conflicted over the question of standing, Shugerman said, adding more reason to why the deliberation is taking time.

Decision still expected before end of term

In high-profile cases that attract a lot of political attention such as Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan, the justices also tend to write lengthier decisions that try to show they arrived at their conclusion through legal rather than partisan reasoning, Shugerman said. And longer opinions take more time to write.

Still, anxious borrowers can take some relief in knowing the high court is most likely to announce their ruling by early July, Schwinn said: “It’ll almost surely come before the end of the term.”

Shugerman said the same: “The justices preserve July and August for getting out of town.”

Still, there is a small possibility that the court wants to hear another round of oral arguments before it issues its decision, he added. In that case, borrowers would have to wait until October, when the justices begin their next session, or later for their answer.

The facade of the building in the 5th arrondissement collapsed, and officials said rescuers were searching for two people who might be trapped inside. The explosion happened near the historic Val de Grace military hospital, in one of the most upscale neighborhoods of the French capital.

Some 270 firefighters were involved in putting out the flames and 70 emergency vehicles were sent to the scene. The fire was contained but not yet extinguished Wednesday evening, as Paris bars and restaurants celebrated the summer solstice with a citywide annual music festival.

Sirens wailed as ambulances passed through the neighborhood and police initially cordoned off the street, rue Saint-Jacques. By evening, smoke had stopped pouring out of the building where the explosion occurred.

“It is possible that overnight we will find bodies or people alive,” Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said from the scene.

District Mayor Florence Berthout said on French TV channel BFM that firefighters were searching for two people believed to have been inside the building at the time of the blast. “The explosion was extremely violent,” she said, describing pieces of glass still falling from buildings.

Paris police chief Laurent Nunez said the building housed a private school, the Paris American Academy. The school was founded in 1965 and offers teaching in fashion design, interior design, fine arts and creative writing.

A Paris police official told the Associated Press that 24 people were injured, including four in critical condition and 20 with less severe injuries. The injuries were sustained mainly when people were blown off their feet by the blast, the official said.

Jema Halbert, who owns a butcher’s shop close to the explosion site, said she went upstairs to fetch something, and “I heard a ‘boom’. … So then I went downstairs, where I found my husband in shock, dust by the till and I thought, wait, there’s a problem. So I stepped outside and I saw big flames and I said, it’s impossible. I called my daughter. She was crying. She was shocked.”

Edouard Civel, deputy mayor of the 5th arrondissement, attributed the explosion to a gas leak, but other officials were more cautious. A judicial official said a gas explosion was one of the possible causes under investigation.

Renowned Greek-French filmmaker Costa-Gavras was among the witnesses at the scene .

“A huge noise and the house was shaken like this,” the 90-year-old told the AP, visibly rattled. “”We thought, what is going on? We thought it could be the sky (a storm). … It’s not something to laugh about.”

The Paris prosecutor said an investigation was opened into aggravated involuntary injury and the probe would examine whether the explosion stemmed from a suspected violation of safety rules. Prosecutor Laure Beccuau said investigators would seek to “determine whether or not there was failure to respect a rule or individual imprudence that led to the explosion.”

Firefighters prevented the fire from igniting two neighboring buildings that were “seriously destabilized” by the explosion and had to be evacuated, Nunez said. The explosion blew out several windows in the area, witnesses and the police chief said.

With more than 2 million people densely packed within the city limits and historic, sometimes ageing, infrastructure, Paris is not a stranger to gas explosions. A January 2019 blast in the 9th district killed four people and left dozens injured.

After Wednesday’s blast, a student at the private school said he was in a building about 100 meters (yards) away when the explosion hit.

“I was sitting on the windowsill, and we moved 2 meters away from the window, carried by a small blast (from the explosion) and huge fear,” Achille, whose last name was not given, told BFM television.

“We came down (from the building) and saw the flames,” he said. “The police gave us great support and we evacuated quickly.”

Sylvie Corbet in Paris, John Leicester in Le Pecq, France and Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin contributed to this report.

President Xiomara Castro said Tuesday’s riot at the prison in the town of Tamara, about 30 miles northwest of Honduras’ capital, was “planned by maras (street gangs) with the knowledge and acquiescence of security authorities.”

Castro pledged to take “drastic measures,” but did not explain how inmates identified as members of the Barrio 18 gang were able to get guns and machetes into the prison, or move freely into an adjoining cell block and slaughter all the prisoners there.

Video clips presented by the government from inside the prison showed several pistols and a heap of machetes and other bladed weapons that were found after the riot.

Sandra Rodríguez Vargas, the assistant commissioner for Honduras’ prison system, said the attackers “removed” guards at the facility — none appeared to have been injured — around 8 a.m. Tuesday and then opened the gates to an adjoining cell block and began massacring women there. They started a fire that left cell walls blacked and bunks reduced to twisted heaps of metal.

Twenty-six of the victims were burned to death and the remainder shot or stabbed, said Yuri Mora, the spokesman for Honduras’ national police investigation agency. At least seven inmates were being treated at a Tegucigalpa hospital.

The riot appears to be the deadliest at a female detention center in Central America since 2017, when girls at a shelter for troubled youths in Guatemala set fire to mattresses to protest rapes and other mistreatment at the overcrowded institution. The smoke and fire killed 41 girls.

The worst prison disaster in a century also occurred in Honduras, in 2012 at the Comayagua penitentiary, where 361 inmates died in a fire possibly caused by a match, cigarette or some other open flame.

There were ample warnings ahead of Tuesday’s tragedy, according to Johanna Paola Soriano Euceda, who was waiting outside the morgue in Tegucigalpa for news about her mother, Maribel Euceda, and sister, Karla Soriano. Both were on trial for drug trafficking but were held in the same area as convicted prisoners.

Soriano Euceda said they had told her Sunday that “they (Barrio 18 members) were out of control, they were fighting with them all the time. That was the last time we talked.”

Another woman, who did not want to give her name for fear of reprisals, said she was waiting for news about a friend, Alejandra Martínez, 26, who was been held in the ill-fated Cell Block One on robbery charges.

“She told me the last time I saw her on Sunday that the (Barrio) 18 people had threatened them, that they were going to kill them if they didn’t turn over a relative,” she said.

Gangs sometimes demand victims “turn over” a friend or relative by giving the gang their name, address and description, so that enforcers can later find and kidnap, rob or kill them.

Officials described the killings as a “terrorist act,” but also acknowledged that gangs essentially had ruled some parts of the prison.

Julissa Villanueva, head of the prison system, suggested the riot started because of recent attempts by authorities to crack down on illicit activity inside prison walls and called Tuesday’s violence a reaction to moves “we are taking against organized crime.”

“We will not back down,” Villanueva said in a televised address after the riot.

Gangs wield broad control inside the country’s prisons, where inmates often set their own rules and sell prohibited goods.

They were also apparently able to smuggle in guns and other weapons, a recurring problem in Honduran prisons.

“The issue is to prevent people from smuggling in drugs, grenades and firearms,” said Honduran human rights expert Joaquin Mejia. “Today’s events show that they have not been able to do that.”

Meanwhile, the grim task continued of trying to identify the bodies, some terribly burned.

“The forensic teams that are removing bodies confirm they have counted 41,” said Mora.

The wait for news was torture for many families of inmates. Dozens of anxious, angry relatives gathered outside the rural prison.

“We are here dying of anguish, of pain … we don’t have any information,” said Salomón García, whose daughter is an inmate at the facility.

Azucena Martinez, whose daughter was also being held at the prison, said “there are a lot of dead, 41 already. We don’t know if our relatives are also in there, dead.”

Tuesday’s riot may increase the pressure on Honduras to emulate the drastic zero-tolerance, no-privileges prisons set in up in neighboring El Salvador by President Nayib Bukele. While El Salvador’s crackdown on gangs has given rise to rights violations, it has also proved immensely popular in a country long terrorized by street gangs.

——

Associated Press writers Elmer Martínez in Tamara, Honduras, and Maria Verza and Mark Stevenson in Mexico City contributed to this report.

In a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, the agency accused Amazon of using deceptive designs, known as “dark patterns,” to deceive consumers into enrolling in the program. It said the option to purchase items on Amazon without subscribing to Prime was more difficult in many cases. It also said that consumers were sometimes presented with a button to complete their transactions — and the button didn’t clearly state it was also enrolling them into Prime.

The regulatory agency, which is led by Big Tech critic Chair Lina Khan, also alleged the company’s leadership slowed or rejected changes that made canceling the subscription easier.

It said those patterns were in violation of the FTC Act and another law called the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act.

Launched in 2005, Prime has more than 200 million members worldwide who pay $139 a year, or $14.99 a month, for faster shipping and other perks, such as free delivery and returns.

In a news release announcing the lawsuit, the FTC said though its complaint is significantly redacted, it contains “a number of allegations” that backs up its accusations against Amazon.

It also accused the company of attempting to hinder the agency’s investigation into Prime, which began in 2021, in several instances.

“Amazon tricked and trapped people into recurring subscriptions without their consent, not only frustrating users but also costing them significant money,” Khan said in a statement. “These manipulative tactics harm consumers and law-abiding businesses alike.”

Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Amazon has faced heighted regulatory scrutiny in recent years as it expands its e-commerce dominance and dips its toes into other markets, including groceries and health care.

In 2021, Amazon had asked unsuccessfully that Khan remove herself from separate antitrust investigations into its business, arguing that her public criticism of the company’s market power before she joined the government makes it impossible for her to be impartial. Khan burst onto the antitrust scene in 2017 with her massive scholarly work as a Yale law student, “Amazon’s Antitrust Paradox.

The lawsuit follows another Amazon-related win by the agency just a few weeks ago. Earlier this month, Amazon agreed to pay a $25 million civil penalty to settle allegations it violated a child privacy law for storing kids’ voice and location data recorded by its popular Alexa voice assistant. It also agreed to pay $5.8 million in customer refunds for alleged privacy violations involving its doorbell camera Ring.

“It’s almost like a biblical plague,” Dolan told The Associated Press last week, laughing at the absurdity of the situation that is playing out in Elko, where she’s lived for six years.

Thousands upon thousands of Mormon cricket eggs buried about an inch deep in the soil began to hatch in late May and early June. For weeks, the red critters have been invading swaths of northern Nevada and causing chaos, said the state’s longtime entomologist Jeff Knight.

The invasion of the cannibalistic crickets has hit especially hard in Elko, a small town of about 20,000 near Idaho and Utah known for its gold mining.

The big red bugs leave behind a stench so horrible, akin to burning flesh, that it forces residents to plug their noses while driving. The critters stick to tires and the bottoms of shoes, and their carcasses are everywhere, even in gyms. When they move, it sounds like rain, Dolan says.

Residents and workers have tried to use brooms, leaf blowers, pressure washers and snow plows to get rid of the crickets, only for them to return. State officials have erected signs throughout Elko County warning drivers of slick highways, a popular hangout spot for insects that won’t think twice about eating their dead friends.

The red creatures blanket highways and scuttle over barriers, seeking food. They crackle and pop under the wheels of trucks, creating something like an oil slick, said Jeremiah Moore of Spring Creek, whose vehicle slid off the road after a highway encounter with the Mormon crickets.

“I … was coming home and as I came around the corner, I came around a little too fast and I about ended up in the ditch full of water,” Moore said. “It was pretty intense.”

One hospital even hired four temporary, part-time employees whose main duty was to clear the campus of the crickets long enough for patients to enter the building. The group called itself the Cricket Patrol.

“We’re just trying to keep them moving on their way,” said Steve Burrows, a spokesperson for Northeastern Nevada Regional Hospital.

When the Cricket Patrol wasn’t on duty, Burrows said, other hospital employees stepped in.

There was the medical worker in the cardiology unit who, still in his black scrubs, went outside the hospital’s ambulance bay between seeing patients to swat crickets away with a broom, Burrows said. And the IT specialists who helped with clean-up efforts.

Outbreaks of Mormon crickets, which are native to the Great Basin and Intermountain West, have been recorded throughout history across the west — from Nevada and Montana to Idaho, Utah and Oregon. There are records of infestations dating to the 1930s, according to entomologist Knight.

Legend has it the insects got their name when they started devastating crops planted by Mormon settlers who had moved into the Salt Lake valley in Utah, Knight said.

“The settlers prayed for relief,” Knight said. “That came in the form of seagulls. Seagulls ate the crickets…That’s also why they’re the state bird of Utah.”

In Oregon, state lawmakers in recent years have allocated millions of dollars to assess the problem and set up a Mormon cricket and grasshopper “suppression” program.

The Mormon cricket is not a true cricket but a shield-backed katydid. They are flightless but travel together in “bands” that can range in size from 5 acres (2 hectares) acres to hundreds of acres, Knight said.

Yet the invasion in Elko this year isn’t unprecedented for its size but for its timing.

The crickets hatched far later than their usual springtime birth, delayed by an especially wet spring and snow-packed winter in northern Nevada, Knight said.

Each spring — or summer, in this case — the crickets born that year will mate and lay a new generation of eggs in the soil. Those eggs are meant to hatch the following spring, but some will lay dormant in the soil for up to 11 years, Knight said. Eggs can accumulate in the dirt for years until a drought comes along, triggering the sleepy eggs to hatch all at once. And then the cycle repeats.

In his nearly 40 years working for the Nevada Department of Agriculture — 32 of those as the state entomologist — Knight said he can recall four invasions. The infestation in the early 2000s “was most impressive in my mind, looking at the overall scope,” he said.

Knight remembers one time driving from Reno to Utah on Interstate 80 and being surrounded by a swarm of red nearly the entire drive.

“Then we can go almost 10, 15 years without hardly seeing any,” Knight said of the crickets. “From about 2008, we hardly had any crickets, until about 2019. ”

Elko’s new red residents won’t be moving out until at least mid-August, much to everyone’s despair.

But where do the crickets go when they leave?

They die, Knight said. The male crickets after they mate. The female crickets after laying their eggs.

___

Yamat reported from Las Vegas.

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The court’s conservative majority ruled 4-3 that Marshfield police had grounds to search the driver of a vehicle that smelled like marijuana, overturning lower court rulings that said officers couldn’t be sure that what they smelled was not CBD, a legal, marijuana-derived substance. The scents of CBD and marijuana are indistinguishable.

Two officers searched Quaheem Moore in 2019, who was alone in a vehicle that smelled like marijuana when he was pulled over for speeding. Moore told police that a vaping device he had contained CBD and that the car was a rental belonging to his brother. Police did not smell marijuana on Moore.

Moore argued in court that police had no reason to believe he was responsible for the smell.

To justify searching someone, police need enough evidence to believe that person has likely committed a crime. When they obtain more evidence through an illegal search, it’s not allowed to be used in court.

Moore was never charged with possessing marijuana, but officers charged him with possessing narcotics when they discovered small bags of cocaine and fentanyl in his pocket during their search.

A circuit court judge and an appeals court had previously moved to disqualify the drugs that police found, saying the search wasn’t legal.

Justice Brian Hagedorn, who issued Tuesday’s opinion on behalf of the court’s conservative majority, wrote that because Moore was the only person in the car, police could reasonably assume he “was probably connected with the illegal substance the officers identified.”

Tuesday’s ruling referenced a 1999 Supreme Court decision that said officers were justified in arresting a driver because they linked the smell of marijuana from his vehicle to him. That opinion said that the “unmistakable” smell of a controlled substance was evidence that a crime had been committed.

But the court’s three liberal justices called that ruling into question, saying it was outdated and did not account for the subsequent legalization of substances that smell like marijuana. They also said officers did not have strong evidence that Moore had caused the odor in the car he was driving.

“Officers who believe they smell marijuana coming from a vehicle may just as likely be smelling raw or smoked hemp, which is not criminal activity,” Justice Rebecca Frank Dallet wrote in a dissenting opinion.

Moore’s attorney, Joshua Hargrove, warned that the ruling could allow police to base searches on unreliable conclusions and never be held accountable in court. “This opinion could subject more citizens engaged in lawful behavior to arrest,” he said.

The ruling comes as Democrats and Republicans in Wisconsin continue to fight over legalizing marijuana.

Republicans who control the Legislature have rejected Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ attempts to legalize recreational and medical marijuana. But GOP Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said in April he was working on legislation to legalize medical marijuana as soon as this fall.

Marijuana has been legal in neighboring Michigan and Illinois for years and will become legal in Minnesota in August under legislation passed last month.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Wednesday affirmed that more interest rate increases are likely ahead until additional progress is made on bringing down inflation.

Speaking a week after Federal Open Market Committee officials decided for the first time in more than a year not to push rates higher, the central bank leader indicated that the move likely was just a brief respite rather than an indication that the Fed is done hiking.

“Nearly all FOMC participants expect that it will be appropriate to raise interest rates somewhat further by the end of the year,” Powell said in prepared remarks for testimony he will deliver to the House Financial Services Committee. The speech is part of his semiannual appearance on Capitol Hill to update lawmakers on monetary policy.

Following last week’s two-day FOMC meeting, officials indicated they see rate increases totaling 0.5 percentage point through the end of 2023. That would indicate two additional hikes, assuming quarter-point moves. The Fed’s benchmark borrowing rate is currently pegged in a range between 5%-5.25%.

Noting that inflation has cooled but “remains well above” the Fed’s 2% target, Powell said the central bank still has more work to do.

“Inflation has moderated somewhat since the middle of last year,” he said. “Nonetheless, inflation pressures continue to run high, and the process of getting inflation back down to 2% has a long way to go.”

Fed officials generally prefer to look at “core” inflation, which excludes food and energy prices. That is showing inflation running at a 4.7% year-over-year rate through April, according to the central bank’s preferred measure of personal consumption expenditures prices. The core consumer price index for May was at 5.3%.

Monetary policy moves, such as rate hikes and the Fed’s efforts to shed bond holdings on its balance sheet, tend to work with lags. As such, officials decided to skip hiking at this month’s meeting as they observed the impact that policy tightening has had on the economy.

Powell said the labor market is still tight though there are signs that conditions are loosening, such as an increase in labor force participation in the prime 25-to-54 age group and some moderating in wages. However, he noted that the number of open jobs still far exceeds the available labor pool.

“We have been seeing the effects of our policy tightening on demand in the most interest rate-sensitive sectors of the economy,” he said. “It will take time, however, for the full effects of monetary restraint to be realized, especially on inflation.”

Powell later said that the Fed has adjusted its approach to policy after implementing rate hikes at the most aggressive pace since the early 1980s. Included in that run was a streak of four consecutive 0.75 percentage point increases, a pace that Powell said doesn’t seem appropriate now.

“Given how far we’ve come, it may make sense to move rates higher but to do so at a more moderate pace,” he said during the question-and-answer session with committee members.

Inflation expectations, considered a key variable for where prices are heading over time, are “well-anchored,” Powell said. The closely watched University of Michigan consumer confidence survey, for instance, showed that the inflation outlook for a year from now dipped to 3.3%, the lowest since March 2021.

However, Powell also noted that getting inflation lower will require slowing down the economy to below-trend growth. He also emphasized that rate decisions will be made based on incoming data and meeting by meeting, rather than on a preset course.

The remarks also briefly touched on the banking turmoil earlier in the year. Powell said the episode served as a reminder that the Fed needs to make sure its supervisory and regulatory practices are appropriate.

The submersible Titan was reported overdue Sunday night about 435 miles (700 kilometers) south of St. John’s, Newfoundland, according to Canada’s Joint Rescue Coordination Center, spurring a desperate international rescue effort. Rescuers were racing against the clock because the oxygen supply could run out by approximately 6 a.m. Thursday.

A Canadian aircraft detected underwater noises during the hunt for the Titan. The U.S. Coast Guard said via Twitter early Wednesday that as a result of the noises detected by the Canadian P-3 patrol aircraft, search efforts have been relocated and the data is being used to help guide the ongoing effort.

The expedition featuring the Titan was led by OceanGate, making its third voyage to the Titanic, which struck an iceberg and sank in 1912, killing all but about 700 of the roughly 2,200 passengers and crew.

A pilot and four other people are on the Titan. They are:

STOCKTON RUSH

Although his background is in aerospace and technology, Rush founded OceanGate Inc. in 2009 to provide crewed submersibles for undersea researchers and explorers, according to the company’s website. Rush is the Titan’s pilot, said company spokesperson Andrew Von Kerens.

The private company based in Washington started bringing tourists to the Titanic in 2021 as part of its effort to chronicle the slow deterioration of the wreck.

“The ocean is taking this thing, and we need to document it before it all disappears or becomes unrecognizable,” Rush told The Associated Press in 2021.

In an interview with CBS News last year, Rush defended the safety of his submersible but said nothing is without risk.

“What I worry about most are things that will stop me from being able to get to the surface — overhangs, fish nets, entanglement hazard,.” he said, adding that a good pilot can avoid such perils.

Rush became the youngest jet transport rated pilot in the world at age 19 in 1981, and flew commercial jets in college, according to his company biography. He joined the McDonnell Douglas Corp. in 1984 as a flight test engineer. Over the past 20 years, he has overseen the development of multiple successful IP ventures.

Greg Stone, a longtime ocean scientist and a friend of Rush, called him “a real pioneer” in the innovation of submersibles.

“Stockton was a risk-taker. He was smart. He was, he had a vision, he wanted to push things forward,” Stone said Tuesday.

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Titanic Jun 20

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HAMISH HARDING

A British businessman, Harding lives in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Action Aviation, an aircraft brokering company for which Harding serves as chairman, said he was one of the mission specialists, who paid to go on the expedition.

Harding is a billionaire adventurer who holds three Guinness World Records, including the longest duration at full ocean depth by a crewed vessel. In March 2021, he and ocean explorer Victor Vescovo dived to the lowest depth of the Mariana Trench. In June 2022, he went into space on Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket.

“Both the Harding family and the team at Action Aviation are very grateful for all the kind messages of concern and support from our friends and colleagues,” the company said in a statement.

In a Facebook post Saturday, Harding said he was “proud” to be part of the mission.

“Due to the worst winter in Newfoundland in 40 years, this mission is likely to be the first and only manned mission to the Titanic in 2023,” he posted. “A weather window has just opened up and we are going to attempt a dive (Sunday).”

Harding was “looking forward to conducting research” at the Titanic site, said Richard Garriott de Cayeux, the president of The Explorers Club, a group to which Harding belonged.

“We all join in the fervent hope that the submersible is located as quickly as possible,” he said in a statement.

SHAHZADA AND SULEMAN DAWOOD

Father-and-son Shahzada and Suleman Dawood are members of one of Pakistan’s most prominent families. Their family said in a statement that they were both aboard the vessel.

“We are very grateful for the concern being shown by our colleagues and friends and would like to request everyone to pray for their safety while granting the family privacy at this time,” the statement said. “The family is well looked after and are praying to Allah for the safe return of their family members.”

Their firm, Dawood Hercules Corp., based in Karachi, is involved in agriculture, petrochemicals and telecommunication infrastructure.

Shahzada Dawood also is on the board of trustees for the California-based SETI Institute that searches for extraterrestrial intelligence. The Dawoods live in the UK, according to SETI.

Shahzada Dawood is also a member of the Global Advisory Board at the Prince’s Trust International, founded by Britain’s King Charles III to address youth unemployment.

He has degrees from the University of Buckingham in the United Kingdom and Philadelphia University (now Thomas Jefferson University) in the U.S.

PAUL-HENRY NARGEOLET

Nargeolet is a former French navy officer who is considered a Titanic expert after making multiple trips to the wreckage over several decades.

David Gallo, a senior adviser for strategic initiatives and special projects at RMS Titanic, said in an interview with CNN that Nargeolet was on board.

He is director of underwater research for E/M Group and RMS Titanic Inc., has completed 37 dives to the wreck and supervised the recovery of 5,000 artifacts, according to his company profile.

He was expedition leader on the most technologically advanced dive to Titanic in 2010, which used high-resolution sonar and 3D optical imaging on the bow and stern sections as well as the debris field.

While with the French Institute for Research and Exploitation of Sea, he led the first recovery expedition to the Titanic in 1987.

Tate and his brother, Tristan, who is also charged with the offenses, arrived Wednesday at a court in the capital Bucharest, flanked by six bodyguards.

Crime and Courts Jun 20

Romanian prosecutors file rape and trafficking charges against Andrew Tate

entertainment news Jan 15

Romanian Police Seize Andrew Tate's Luxury Cars and Assets

Prosecutors have also filed charges against two Romanian women in the case. Romania’s anti-organized crime agency alleged that the four defendants formed a criminal group in 2021 “in order to commit the crime of human trafficking” in Romania as well as the United States and Britain.

The agency alleged that seven female victims were misled and transported to Romania, where they were sexually exploited and subjected to physical violence by the gang. One defendant is accused of raping a woman twice in March 2022, according to the statement.

Tate, 36, has resided in Romania since 2017. The former professional kickboxer has repeatedly claimed Romanian prosecutors have no evidence and alleged the case is a political conspiracy to silence him.

Asked by reporters “how much money have you made from trafficking women?” outside court ahead of Wednesday’s hearing, Tate snapped: “Zero.”

Tate’s spokesperson, Mateea Petrescu, said Tuesday that the brothers were prepared to “demonstrate their innocence and vindicate their reputation.”

“Tate’s legal team are prepared to cooperate fully with the appropriate authorities, presenting all necessary evidence to exonerate the brothers and expose any misinterpretations or false accusations,” Petrescu said.

The Tate brothers, who are dual British-U.S. citizens, and the two Romanian suspects were detained in late December in Bucharest. The brothers won an appeal on March 31 to be moved from police custody to house arrest.

Tate is a successful social media figure with more than 6 million Twitter followers, many of them young men and schoolchildren. He previously was banned from TikTok, YouTube and Facebook for hate speech and his misogynistic comments, including that women should bear responsibility for getting sexually assaulted.

He returned to Twitter last year after the platform’s new CEO, Elon Musk, reinstated Tate’s account. Hope Not Hate, a group campaigning against far-right extremism in the U.K., has warned that Tate continues to attract a huge following among young men and teenage boys who are drawn to his “misogynist, homophobic and racist content” by the luxurious lifestyle the influencer projects online.

Romania’s anti-organized crime agency, known as DIICOT, said the seven alleged victims were recruited with false declarations of love and taken to Romania’s Ilfov county, where they were forced to take part in pornography. The women were allegedly controlled by “intimidation, constant surveillance” and claims they were in debt, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors ordered the confiscation of the Tate brothers’ assets, including 15 luxury cars, luxury watches and about $3 million in cryptocurrency, the agency’s statement said.

Several women in Britain also are pursuing civil claims to obtain damages from Tate, alleging they were victims of sexual violence. In a recent interview with the BBC, Tate denied spreading a culture of misogyny and accusations that he manipulated women for financial gain.

When Is Amazon Prime Day 2023?

Amazon Prime Day is taking place officially on July 11 and 12, but the online market place tends to kick off some early deals a few days before the main event. Prime Day will last for 48 hours, beginning Tuesday, July 11 at midnight Pacific time (3 a.m. ET) and ending Wednesday, July 12.

Do I Need a Prime Membership for Amazon Prime Day?

The short answer is yes. You must be an Amazon Prime member to participate in the sale. The cost of membership is $139 a year.

The membership comes with free one-day or two-day delivery, and customers in some locations can also access same-day delivery. In addition to the free Prime delivery, membership gives customers access to Amazon video, music, gaming, photo storage and more, including the a free one-year membership to Grubhub’s premium “Plus” delivery service and discounts on prescription drugs.

You can sign up for a free, 30-day trial of Amazon Prime, after which you’ll pay $14.99 per month or the full annual amount of $139 for the year (plus tax in some states). Prime accounts can be shared within a household, which includes up to two adults, four teens and four children.

Discounted memberships are available for students with a valid school email account at $69 a year and for those who received qualifying government assistance, like EBT or Medicaid, at $6.99 per month.

How to Shop Prime Day

Compare Prices

If you really have your eyes set on specific items, search for it online to cross-reference the prices. According to NBC’s Emilie Ikeda, recent analysis shows that the two-day savings event might not actually offer the best sale. “The 10 most popular items on Prime Day last year were sold for lower prices outside of those deal days,” she said.

Watch for Lightning Deals

One way to find the best sales on Amazon Prime Day is by taking advantage of “Lightning Deals,” which are short-lived discounts that last for short window of time — expiring when the item sells out or the timer runs out.

You can monitor Lightning Deals on the Amazon Prime Day page and they’ll be easy to spot since they display a countdown timer next to the item.

Ask Alexa

Amazon’s Alexa device can be used to notify you of deals on items in your wish list or products you have “saved for later” in your cart.

Tips on Avoiding Amazon Prime Day Scams and Counterfeits

Amazon does sell many of its own goods and those by name brand companies, but the majority of their listings are from “third-party sellers.”

While many of those merchants are very reputable, some are peddling fake merchandise or advertising amazing deals on something you may want or need, but will result in you getting scammed. 

So, if you are planning to take advantage of Prime Day deals, here’s some tips to avoid getting scammed: 

• First, only “click” on the Amazon Prime box — that will limit your exposure online to phony or scam ads. 
• Avoid clicking on products with “no reviews.” Just about every item for sale will have reviews good or bad, if there are none, consider that your warning. 
• Don’t just research the product, research the seller. Google their name along with the word “scam” and see what the search could reveal about prior complaints about the product and the company selling it. 
• If there is odd spelling, poor descriptions or bad grammar, that’s another warning sign you could be dealing with a fraudster from overseas. 
• Lastly, if the price just seems too good to be true, it probably is. Do some comparison shopping for the same item and if there is a vast difference, you could be dealing with a seller that’s not legit. 

Jack Teixeira’s arraignment comes about two months after he was arrested at his home in North Dighton, and nearly a week since a federal jury indicted him on six counts related to the alleged mishandling of classified military documents.

The 21-year-old appeared in a Worcester courtroom for about 15 minutes Wednesday in an orange jumpsuit, firmly responding “not guilty” to each of the six counts. He waved and smiled at his parents, who were present for the arraignment.

Teixeira’s family did not talk leaving court but later released a new statement, saying they remain as committed as ever and that their entire family continues to share “complete and unwavering support of Jack as he faces this matter.”

“The important thing is Jack will now have his day in court. And as we move through this process, we are hopeful that Jack will be getting the fair and just treatment he deserves,” the family said. “We realize there is a long road ahead, and we ask for your continued respect or our privacy during this difficult ordeal.”

Teixeira is accused of misusing his top-secret clearance while working as an Air National Guardsman, by accessing classified information not related to his job — including sensitive military details about the war in Ukraine.

Investigators said he was posting that information on social media group chats since early last year.

Teixeira allegedly tried destroying evidence once he realized that he was being investigated, with prosecutors adding that his actions have endangered U.S. security.

The Associated Press reported that the breach exposed secrets involving the Russian war in Ukraine, the capabilities and geopolitical interests of other nations and other national security issues.

“There is no doubt the government takes it very seriously, and that is why you are seeing some additional charges,” NBC10 Boston legal analyst Michael Coyne said. “The speed of which the indictments took place says that they are concerned about national security issues, it is an important case in that regard and they are moving very aggressively to bring the case forward.”

Prosecutors and national security experts alike have questioned why and how Teixeira had access to such sensitive information dealing with national security considering he had been suspended in high school for comments made about guns and violence, and had been repeatedly denied a firearms license because of concerns raised by local police.

“I think he’s in serious trouble,” said Stephanie Siegmann, who prosecuted cases as a Navy JAG and was also the national security chief at the U.S. Attorney’s office in Massachusetts. “He very much jeopardized national security.”

Siegmann, who handled cases involving the mishandling of classified information, says she’s surprised Teixeira’s supervisors weren’t watching him more closely even as red flags were raised.

“They saw him taking notes,” she said. “They saw him taking pictures, they saw him looking at things he shouldn’t have been looking at, that he had no need to know.”

Siegmann, a partner at Boston law firm Hinckley Allen, says obstruction charges are likely to be added to the case down the road.

She says Teixeira’s alleged actions could prove detrimental to the U.S. government.

“We count on foreign allies in sharing information with us,” she said. “And if they don’t believe we can secure or safeguard classified information, they’ll be less likely to want to share that information in the future.”

It’s unclear what the motive was for the alleged crime, but Siegmann doesn’t think Teixeira necessarily meant to help our enemies.

“He’s in a gamer group where he’s trying to show off to his friends as to ‘Look how great I am,'” she said. “That appears to be the motivation.”

The Department of Justice has noted that each charge of unauthorized retention and transmission of classified documents carries a sentence of up to 10 years, so, if convicted of all counts, Teixeira could face up to 60 years behind bars.

Teixeira’s lawyers have repeatedly tried to get him released on bail, but he has continued to remain in custody with the judge in his case previously citing concerns about his access to guns and violent remarks he’s allegedly made in the past.

During Wednesday’s court hearing, Teixeira’s attorneys asked the judge to reconsider his motion to detain him while awaiting trial, but the judge again denied that request.

“I think the enormity of the charges, being held pre-trial without bail, I think that all says that he should be, and likely is, seriously considering a plea, which nonetheless will require him to serve some years,” Coyne said.

Teixeira has added an a new lawyer to his team who has security clearance, which the judge said would be necessary due to the amount of classified documents associated with this case. Prosecutors have until July 19 to hand off non-classified documents.

A status hearing is set for Wednesday, Aug. 9.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

More stories about Jack Teixeira

Jack Teixeira Jun 15

Guardsman indicted on charges of disclosing classified national defense information

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“I have no words to describe our suffering,” Tesfa said.

As the U.S. and U.N. demand that Ethiopia’s government yield its control over the vast aid delivery system supporting one-sixth of the country’s population, they have taken the dramatic step of suspending their food aid to Africa’s second-most populous nation until they can be sure it won’t be stolen by Ethiopian officials and fighters.

Almost three months have passed since the aid suspension in parts of the country, and reports are emerging of the first deaths from starvation during the pause. At the earliest, aid to the northern Tigray region will return in July, the U.S. and U.N. say, and to the rest of the country at some point after that when reforms in aid distribution allow.

Tesfa, who lives in a school compound with hundreds of others displaced by the war in Tigray, laughed when asked how many meals he eats a day. “The question is a joke,” he said. “We often go to sleep without food.”

In interviews with The Associated Press, which first reported the massive theft of food aid, officials with U.S. and U.N. aid agencies, humanitarian organizations and diplomats offered new findings on the countrywide diversion of aid to military units and markets. That included allegations that some senior Ethiopian officials were extensively involved.

The discovery in March of enough stolen food aid to feed 134,000 people for a month in a single Tigray town is just a glimpse of the scale of the theft that the U.S., Ethiopia’s largest humanitarian donor, is trying to grasp. The food meant for needy families was found instead for sale in markets or stacked at commercial flour mills, still marked with the U.S. flag.

The implications for the U.S. are global. Proving it can detect and stop the theft of aid paid for by U.S. taxpayers is vital at a time when the Biden administration is fighting to maintain public support for aid to corruption-plagued Ukraine.

At a private meeting last week in Ethiopia, U.S. aid officials told international partners that this could be the largest-ever diversion of food aid in any country, aid workers said. In an interview with the AP, a senior official with the U.S. Agency for International Development said the exact amount of food aid stolen may never be known.

Donated medical supplies also were stolen, according to a Western diplomat and U.N. official who, like others, spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

With USAID giving Ethiopia’s government $1.8 billion in humanitarian assistance since 2022, a delay in providing food aid causes widespread pain. Millions of people went hungry during the war while food stocks were looted, burned and withheld by combatants, and U.N. investigators have warned of possible starvation-linked war crimes.

Now the hunger is being traced to corruption.

Preliminary findings released this month by Tigray regional authorities said they have tracked the theft of more than 7,000 metric tons of donated wheat — or 15 million pounds — in their region, taken by federal and regional authorities and others. The findings did not specify the time period. Other regions have yet to report amounts.

Ethiopia’s government dismisses as harmful “propaganda” the suggestion that it bears primary responsibility for the disappearance of aid in Tigray and other regions, but it has agreed to a joint investigation with the U.S. while the U.N.’s World Food Program carries out a separate probe.

The way that Western aid officials “distance themselves from the accusations by linking the alleged problem only to government institutions and procedures is absolutely unacceptable and very contrary to the reality on the ground,” government spokesman Legesse Tulu told reporters earlier this month. He and other government spokespeople did not immediately respond to messages from the AP.

Aid workers say humanitarian agencies have long tolerated a degree of corruption by government officials. Provision of aid in Ethiopia has been heavily politicized for decades, including during the devastating famine of the 1980s, when the then-communist regime blocked assistance to areas controlled by rebel groups.

The senior USAID official told the AP that the latest theft of U.S. and U.N. food aid included the manipulation of beneficiary lists that the Ethiopian government has insisted on controlling, looting by Ethiopian government and Tigray forces and forces from neighboring Eritrea, and the diversion of massive amounts of donated wheat to commercial flour mills in at least 63 sites.

A former Tigray official said government workers often inflate beneficiary numbers and take the extra grain for themselves, a practice that two officials with international organizations working in Ethiopia called widespread elsewhere in the country.

Numerous officials accused WFP of simply dropping off rations in the middle of towns, where much of the aid was looted by forces from Eritrea.

There were also signs that people whom the USAID official described only as “market actors” were forcing hungry families to surrender food aid they received — something that WFP suspects as well.

In Ethiopia, which has a history of deadly hunger, “zero” of the 6 million people in Tigray received food aid in May after the pause in donations by the U.S. and U.N., according to a U.N. memo seen by the AP. That’s unprecedented, it said.

With 20 million people across Ethiopia dependent on such aid, plus more than 800,000 refugees from Somalia and elsewhere, independent humanitarian groups warn that even a quick resolution to the dispute could see many people starve to death.

In the U.N. food agency’s first extensive public comments, the WFP regional director for East Africa, Michael Dunford, acknowledged possible “shortcomings” in its monitoring of aid distribution.

“We accept that we could have done better,” he told the AP this week. But until now, Dunford said, “it’s been very much the Ethiopian government that was managing” the process.

For USAID’s part, the senior agency official cited a range of reasons that U.S. officials missed the extent of the aid theft for so long. The war blocked the agency’s ground access to the Tigray region for 20 months. Elsewhere in the country, COVID restrictions and security concerns limited USAID’s oversight, the official said.

Some Republican and Democratic lawmakers said the rare countrywide suspension of aid showed USAID is taking the theft of U.S. aid with appropriate seriousness. Asked if he was concerned about USAID oversight, a senior Democrat, Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, said, “I’m concerned about the ways in which the Ethiopian military and government may have systematically diverted food that was meant for hungry Ethiopians.”

U.S. and U.N. officials said they were working to limit — or end — Ethiopian government officials’ role in the aid system.

“We’re taking back all the control over the commodities,” Dunford said. “The entire supply chain, from the time that we receive the food in the country to the time it’s in the hands of the beneficiaries.” Plans include third-party distribution, real-time third-party monitoring and biometric registration of beneficiaries, he said.

The U.S. government wants Ethiopia’s government to remove itself from the compilation of beneficiary lists and the transport, warehousing and distribution of aid, according to a briefing memo by donors seen by the AP.

The senior USAID official said Ethiopia’s government has committed to cooperate on reforms, but “we have not yet seen the specific reforms in place that would allow us to resume aid.”

Civilians, again, are suffering.

Ethiopia’s harvest season is over and the lean season is approaching. The U.N. humanitarian agency has privately expressed fears of “mass starvation” in remote parts of Tigray, according to an assessment made in April and seen by the AP. Another assessment in May cited reports of 20 people dying of starvation in Samre, a short drive from the Tigray capital, Mekele.

Tigray’s main hospital reported a 28% increase in the number of children admitted for malnutrition from March to April. At the hospital in Axum town, the increase was 96%.

“It is a good day if we manage to eat one meal,” said Berhane Haile, another of the thousands of war-displaced people going hungry.

___

Knickmeyer reported from Washington.

A Vanderbilt University Medical Center spokesperson confirmed to The Tennessean on Tuesday that the hospital provided the records to Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti’s office.

In a state that has moved to ban gender-affirming care for transgender youth, the revelation that their records were handed over to the state spurred fear for some families — despite assurances from the attorney general’s office that the records would remain confidential and that patients aren’t the target of the investigation.

The state ban doesn’t take effect until July 1, and it is being challenged in federal court by the U.S. Department of Justice and others.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center spokesperson John Howser said the attorney general’s office requested information about transgender care at VUMC.

“The Tennessee Attorney General has legal authority in an investigation to require that VUMC provide complete copies of patient medical records that are relevant to its investigation. VUMC was obligated to comply and did so,” Howser said in a statement.

Brandon Smith, the attorney general’s chief of staff, told The Tennessean that the office “maintains patient records in the strictest confidence, as required by law” and that the investigation is focused “solely on VUMC and certain related providers, not patients.” He said the office has been investigating potential medical billing fraud by the hospital and related providers since September 2022. The hospital began providing patient records to the office in December 2022, Smith said.

The attorney general can request patient health records under federal and state law if the office is investigating a possible issue at the hospital, Paul Hales, a St. Louis-based attorney who specializes in health information privacy, told the newspaper.

Chris Sanders, executive director of the LGBTQ+ advocacy group named the Tennessee Equality Project, told The Tennessean three different parents of transgender children contacted him Monday after Vanderbilt informed them about the release of the records to the attorney general.

“They’re terrified,” he told the newspaper. “They don’t know what’s next, they don’t know how this will be used or whether they will be targeted in some way. They feel like their privacy has been violated.”

On Tuesday, Smith, the attorney general’s chief of staff, said Vanderbilt had “deliberately chosen to frighten its patients” about providing the records.

Smith said the office “does not publicize fraud investigations to preserve the integrity of the investigative process.”

Tennessee in particular has been caught in the center of the conflict over transgender youth medical care — ever since video surfaced on social media last year of a Nashville doctor touting that gender-affirming procedures are “huge money makers” for hospitals. Vanderbilt paused all gender-affirming surgeries for minors afterward.

The video prompted calls by Tennessee’s Republican leaders for an investigation into Vanderbilt. At the time, none of the politicians could point to a specific law that the hospital had violated.

The private nonprofit hospital said it had provided only a handful of gender-affirming surgeries to minors over the years, but has put a temporary pause on the procedures to review its policies.

On average, Vanderbilt has said it provided five gender-affirming surgeries to minors every year since its transgender clinic opened in 2018. All were over the age of 16 and had parental consent, and none received genital procedures.

Meanwhile, Tennessee’s new ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth will take effect in less than two weeks, barring action by a judge.

The law prohibits doctors from providing gender-affirming care to anyone under the age of 18, including prescribing puberty blockers and hormones.

It allows doctors to perform these medical services if the patient’s care had begun prior to July 1. However, that care must end by March 31, 2024.

At least 19 other states have enacted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming care for minors, and federal judges have temporarily blocked similar bans in Alabama and Indiana, while permanently blocking a ban in Arkansas. Three states have banned or restricted the care through regulations or administrative orders.

The articles of impeachment offered by Boebert, R-Colo., focus on the president’s handling of immigration and the U.S.-Mexico border but come on the same day that court filings revealed a plea agreement for Hunter Biden over misdemeanor tax offenses and a felony firearm crime.

“President Biden’s negligence of duty has resulted in the surrender of operational control of the border to the complete and total control of foreign criminal cartels putting the lives of American citizens in jeopardy,” Boebert said on the House floor Tuesday.

Unlike other impeachment efforts, Boebert said she is using a procedural tactic that requires the House to hold a floor vote on the resolution.

“I am bringing my articles of impeachment against Joe Biden to the House Floor in a privileged motion, meaning that every Member of Congress must vote on holding Joe Biden accountable,” Boebert tweeted.

Read the full story at NBCNews.com 

The man, identified as Philipp Kolberg, told authorities he wanted to request political asylum because he was receiving threats, said Paraguayan police commander Gilberto Fleitas.

“According to Kolberg’s version, he called the embassy asking to speak to a diplomatic representative but the person who attended his call said he should contact the German embassy,” said Fleitas.

Kolberg then drove his vehicle to the front of the U.S. Embassy in Asuncion and was arrested by police and private guards because he didn’t have an appointment or documents, he said.

Authorities found a Glock pistol, a rifle with a telescopic sight, a drone and 30 to 50 bullets in his vehicle, Fleitas said.

Kolberg has not made comments to the press.

“We are in contact with the German consulate (in Asuncion) to ask for details of this individual,” said Fleitas.

The U.S. Embassy in Paraguay has yet to issue a statement.

Five people embarked on an expedition to tour the Titanic wreckage on Sunday. But Canadian research vessel Polar Prince lost contact with the 21-foot submersible known as the Titan after one hour and 45 minutes.

A U.S. Coast Guard official said on Tuesday afternoon that the Titan has an estimated 40 hours of oxygen remaining, meaning the supply could run out by early Thursday morning.

As the search continues, here’s what to know about the company that launched the expedition, OceanGate Inc.

What is OceanGate?

According to its website, OceanGate focuses on “increasing access to the deep ocean through innovation of the next generation of crewed submersibles and launch platforms.” The company utilizes its three five-man submersibles for site survey, scientific research, film production and exploration travel.

OceanGate says it’s completed over 14 expeditions and over 200 deep dives across the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf of Mexico. Monterey Bay, Miami and Seattle are among the previous expedition sites.

Who founded OceanGate?

CEO Stockton Rush, who is piloting the missing submersible, founded OceanGate in 2009. The company is headquartered in Everett, Washington.

How many times has OceanGate been to the Titanic?

This marked OceanGate’s third expedition to the Titanic wreckage, having previously gone in 2021 and 2022. A ticket for the 10-day mission, which includes eight days at sea, cost $250,000.

During the expeditions, OceanGate says it conducts scientific and technological surveys of the Titanic wreck, which includes collecting images, video and sonar data to study the site and its rate of decay.

“The ocean is taking this thing, and we need to document it before it all disappears or becomes unrecognizable,” Rush told The Associated Press in 2021.

Titanic Jun 20

History of the Titanic: 10 questions about the ill-fated ship

Titanic Jun 20

Missing Titan submersible: What it is, what might have gone wrong and what's being done to find it

What is a submersible vs. a submarine?

A submersible is not the same thing as a submarine. A submersible is smaller than a submarine and lacks the power to depart and return from expeditions on its own. That’s why it needs the support of a mother vessel, like Polar Prince.

The Titan submersible can hold five people and travel to depths of 13,123 feet, per OceanGate. It’s dubbed as the only submersible that can take five people to those depths of the ocean. The company says the 23,000-pound vessel made of titanium and carbon filament was designed for “site survey and inspection, research and data collection, film and media production, and deep sea testing of hardware and software.”

Who is on the OceanGate submersible?

The four passengers with Rush are British billionaire Hamish Harding, French diver Paul Henry Nargeolet, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman.

Where is the Titanic located?

The Titanic sits roughly 370 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada. It’s also about 900 miles east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

How deep underwater is the Titanic?

The wreckage is located 12,500 feet below the ocean’s surface.

Majorjon Kaylor, 31, of Kellogg, was arrested Sunday night shortly after the shooting in the small mining community.

Killed were Kenneth Guardipee, 65; his daughter Kenna Guardipee, 41; and her sons 18-year-old Devin Smith and 16-year-old Aiken Smith. The family lived in the same multi-home building as Kaylor.

If convicted, Kaylor could face the death penalty. He is being held without bond and has not yet entered a plea.

Few details have been released about the shooting, and authorities have not said what they believe Kaylor’s motive may have been.

But there had been a recent conflict between the families, police said: A week before the shootings, Kaylor’s family called police to complain that 18-year-old Devin Smith was standing in front of his bedroom window, masturbating in view of Kaylor’s young daughters who were playing outside. Smith’s family lived in the bottom unit of the duplex, and Kaylor’s family lived in the top unit.

“We responded to the call, investigated the call, and the report was done that day and submitted to the prosecutor’s office for charges,” Kellogg Police Chief Paul Twidt said. “I stand by what my officer did, and he did everything he could at the time. Nobody could have foreseen anything like this.”

The police department recommended that Smith be charged with indecent exposure, a misdemeanor, Twidt said, and the prosecutor’s office told the officer the charge would be filed. There was no record of the charge in the online court system on Tuesday, however, which could mean that Smith had not yet been served with the formal charges before he died, or that the case had not yet been made public for another reason.

During Kaylor’s initial court appearance, prosecuting attorney Benjamin Allen said the crime was “relatively horrific” and noted that one of the victims was a child. He also said Kaylor admitted the killings to police, saying he “snapped” and “lost it” over the dispute before declining further comment and asking for a lawyer, according to the affidavit.

“Admissions were ultimately made to the offenses charged,” Allen told Shoshone County Magistrate Judge Keisha Oxendine during Tuesday’s court proceeding.

“We see a crime which was committed in a relatively horrific manner in regards to the nature of the allegations, the manner in which it was carried out, and the method in which was utilized by the defendant in the course of his actions,” Allen said.

The Shoshone County dispatch center received a 911 call around 7:20 p.m. Sunday indicating that multiple people had been killed. Law enforcement officers found four people dead of gunshot wounds, and they detained Kaylor.

“This is a tragic situation that will affect the Kellogg community. Detectives continue working to establish a timeline and what led to the shooting,” Lt. Paul Berger, a detective with the Idaho State Police, said in a news release on Monday.

The charging documents allege the shootings of the two oldest victims were “premeditated and/or to execute vengeance.” The other killings were allegedly, “premeditated, to executive vengeance, and/or committed in the perpetration of burglary,” according to the charging documents. Under Idaho law, it is considered burglary to enter a house, room or apartment with the intent to commit a felony such as murder.

A preliminary hearing in the case has been set for July 3.