The Californian financial regulator has taken possession of First Republic, resulting in the third failure of an American bank since March, after a last-ditch effort to persuade rival lenders to keep the ailing bank afloat failed.

JPMorgan Chase Bank will assume all deposits, including uninsured deposits, and “substantially all assets” of the bank, according to a release early Monday.

The California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation said it had taken possession of the bank and appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation receiver of the bank. The FDIC accepted JPMorgan’s bid for the bank’s assets.

Since the sudden collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in March, attention has focused on First Republic as the weakest link in the U.S. banking system. Like SVB, which catered to the tech startup community, First Republic was also a California-based specialty lender of sorts. It focused on serving rich coastal Americans, enticing them with low-rate mortgages in exchange for leaving cash at the bank.

But that model unraveled in the wake of the SVB collapse, as First Republic clients withdrew more than $100 billion in deposits, the bank revealed in its earnings report April 24. Institutions with a high proportion of uninsured deposits like SVB and First Republic found themselves vulnerable because clients feared losing savings in a bank run.

Shares of First Republic are down 97% so far this year as of Friday’s close.

That deposit drain forced First Republic to borrow heavily from Federal Reserve facilities to maintain operations, which pressured the company’s margins because its cost of funding is far higher now. First Republic accounted for 72% of all borrowing from the Fed’s discount window recently, according to BCA Research chief strategist Doug Peta.

On April 24, First Republic CEO Michael Roffler sought to portray an image of stability after the events of March. Deposit outflows have slowed in recent weeks, he said. But the stock tanked after the company disavowed its previous financial guidance and Roffler opted not to take questions after an unusually brief conference call.

The bank’s advisors had hoped to persuade the biggest U.S. banks to help First Republic once again. One version of the plan circulated recently involved asking banks to pay above-market rates for bonds on First Republic’s balance sheet, which would enable it to raise capital from other sources.

But ultimately the banks, which had banded together in March to inject $30 billion of deposits into First Republic, couldn’t agree on the rescue plan and regulators took action, ending the bank’s 38-year run.

This story is developing. Please check back for updates.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan told TRT Turk television in an interview that the IS leader, code-named Abu Hussein al-Qurayshi, was killed in a strike conducted on Saturday.

Erdogan said the Turkish intelligence agency, MIT, had been following him “for a long time.”

“We will continue our struggle against terrorist organizations without discriminating against any of them,” Erdogan said in the interview.

Turkey has conducted numerous operations against IS and Kurdish groups along the Syrian border, capturing or killing suspected militants. The country controls large swaths of territory in northern Syria following a series of land incursions to drive Kurdish groups away from the Turkish-Syrian border.

Syria Apr 17

US Helicopter Raid in Syria Results in ‘Probable Death' of Senior ISIS Leader

ISIS Apr 4

Senior ISIS Leader Killed in Syria, US Military Says

Abu Hussein al-Qurayshi was named leader of the militant group after its previous chief was killed in October, with an IS spokesman calling him “one of the veteran warriors and one of the loyal sons of the Islamic State.”

He took over leadership of IS at a time when the extremist group has lost control of the territory it once held in Iraq and Syria. However, he had been trying to rise again, with sleeper cells carrying out deadly attacks in both countries.

Islamic State founder Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was hunted down by U.S. forces in a raid in northwest Syria in October 2019. His successor, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, was killed in a similar raid in February 2022. He was followed by Abu al-Hassan al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, who according to the U.S. military was killed in mid-October in an operation by Syrian rebels in Syria’s southern province of Daraa.

The Islamic State group broke away from al-Qaida about a decade ago and ended up controlling large parts of northern and eastern Syria as well as northern and western Iraq. In 2014, the extremists declared their so-called caliphate, attracting supporters from around the world.

In the following years, they claimed attacks throughout the world that killed and wounded hundreds of people before coming under attack from different sides. In March 2019, U.S.-backed Syrian fighters captured the last sliver of land the extremists once held in Syria’s eastern province of Deir el-Zour that borders Iraq.

“I’m available to do anything,” Francis said during an airborne press conference en route home from Hungary. “There’s a mission that’s not public that’s underway; when it’s public I’ll talk about it.”

Francis gave no details when asked whether he spoke about peace initiatives during his talks in Budapest this weekend with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban or the representative of the Russian Orthodox Church in Hungary.

Deportations of Ukrainian children have been a concern since Russia invaded Ukraine last year. Francis said the Holy See had already helped mediate some prisoner exchanges and would do “all that is humanly possible” to reunite families.

“All human gestures help. Gestures of cruelty don’t help,” Francis said.

Pope Francis Apr 26

Pope Francis to Visit Hungary Amid Diverging Views on War, Migrants

Pope Francis Apr 9

Pope at Easter: Pray for Ukrainian, Russian People, Refugees

The International Criminal Court in March issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s children’s commissioner, accusing them of war crimes for abducting children from Ukraine. Russia has denied any wrongdoing, contending the children were moved for their safety.

Last week Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal met with Francis at the Vatican and asked him to help return Ukrainian children taken following the Russian invasion.

“I asked His Holiness to help us return home Ukrainians, Ukrainian children who are detained, arrested, and criminally deported to Russia,″ Shmyhal told the Foreign Press Association after the audience.

Francis recalled that the Holy See had facilitated some prisoner exchanges, working through embassies, and was open to Ukraine’s request to reunite Ukrainian children with their families.

The prisoner exchanges “went well. I think it could go well also for this. It’s important,” he said of the family reunifications. “The Holy See is available to do it because it’s the right thing,” he added. “We have to do all that is humanly possible.” ___

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Cameron Everest Brand of Pass Christian is charged with murder and aggravated assault, jail records show. Bay St. Louis Police Chief Toby Schwartz said in a news release that police identified Brand as the sole shooter through witness and victim statements.

An 18-year-old and a 16-year-old died in a New Orleans hospital, Schwartz said. The Orleans Parish coroner did not return a phone call seeking to confirm their identities.

Friends and family identified them as De’Arreis “DD” Smith, 18, and Haeleigh Stamper, 16, classmates at Hancock High School.

Smith was a senior getting ready to graduate, according to Kecia Sams, who considered him an adopted member of her family.

mass shooting 19 hours ago

Authorities Announce $80,000 Reward for Texas Mass Shooting Suspect

texas Apr 26

Victim Count in Texas Prom After-Party Shooting Rises to 11

“De’Arreis Smith was an amazing soul, a loyal friend, brother and uncle,” Sams told Nola.com. “He was loved by many and will be missed so very much by his family.”

A GoFundMe account was set up to help with funeral expenses for Stamper. In the posting, the organizer, Lillie Smith, described the teen as a “sweet soul.”

“Her beautiful smile would light the whole room up,” Smith said.

Brand was arrested at his home in neighboring Pass Christian and taken to jail, Schwartz said. Bay St. Louis Municipal Court Judge Stephen Maggio denied Brand bail, and he was being held in the Hancock County jail. It is unclear if Brand has a lawyer who could speak for him.

Students had gathered for a party at the home on a sparsely populated road after Bay High School’s prom. Local news outlets reported that trails of blood could be seen on the pavement Sunday outside the home, while cars were peppered with bullet holes. The home is less than a mile from Bay High.

Police said the six victims wounded by gunfire ranged in age from 15 to 18. All were taken to area hospitals, some by helicopter.

Casey Woods, an 18-year-old student at Pass Christian High School, told the Sun Herald of Biloxi that he was at the party with a girlfriend. He told the paper he saw Brand talking to people and then walking away before he returned and the shooting started.

“Me and my girl looked up and saw sparks coming from the gun,” Woods said, adding many people ran into the woods.

Both of the teens who died had attended nearby Hancock High School in Kiln, officials in that school district said. Two more Hancock High students were shot and wounded, as were two students from Bay High. Those are the only two public high schools in Hancock County, on the western end of the Mississippi Gulf Coast between New Orleans and Gulfport.

“Our hearts are broken as we mourn the tragic loss of two Hancock High School students who were victims of the shooting in Bay St. Louis last night,” the Hancock County school district said in a statement, saying counselors would be available Monday at school. “Let us come together as a community to show our support and love during this difficult time.”

Sandra Reed, superintendent of the Bay St. Louis-Waveland school district, said both of the wounded Bay High students were expected to recover. Bay High Principal Amy Necaise said the school was making faculty and staff available on campus Sunday afternoon to counsel students.

The National Weather Service in Miami said the tornado hit late Saturday afternoon with winds of 100 mph (160 kph) near Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center and headed northeast toward the coast.

Storm damage forced authorities in the coastal city to close major roadways as workers cleared debris and inspected wreckage. Images from the scene showed cars flipped over on top of each other, cracked tree limbs resting on vehicles and homes, as well as other debris littering streets.

The Palm Beach Gardens Police Department has not reported any major injuries or fatalities. A spokeswoman for the city said officials have deactivated emergency protocols and were working through lingering issues Sunday.

The National Weather Service had placed a large stretch of central Florida under a tornado watch on Saturday afternoon as thunderstorms were cutting across the state.

In America’s hottest big metro, older people like the Sun Lakes mobile home resident accounted for most of the 77 people who died last summer in broiling heat inside their homes, almost all without air conditioning. Now, the heat dangers long known in greater Phoenix are becoming familiar nationwide as global warming creates new challenges to protect the aged.

From the Pacific Northwest to Chicago to North Carolina, health clinics, utilities and local governments are being tested to keep older people safe when temperatures soar. They’re adopting rules for disconnecting electricity, mandating when to switch on communal air conditioning and improving communication with at-risk people living alone.

Situated in the Sonoran Desert, Phoenix and its suburbs are ground zero for heat-associated deaths in the U.S. Such fatalities are so common that Arizona’s largest county keeps a weekly online tally during the six-month hot season from May through October. Temperatures this year were already hitting the high 90s the first week of April.

A WARMING WORLD

“Phoenix really is the model for what we’ll be seeing in other places,” said researcher Jennifer Ailshire, a native of the desert city now at the University of Southern California’s Leonard Davis School of Gerontology where she studies how environmental factors affect health and aging. “The world is changing rapidly and I fear we are not acting fast enough to teach people how harmful rising temperatures can be.”

A 2021 study estimated more than a third of U.S. heat deaths each year can be attributed to human-caused global warming. It found more than 1,100 deaths a year from climate change-caused heat in some 200 U.S. cities, many in the East and Midwest, where people often don’t have air conditioning or are not acclimated to hot weather. Another study showed that in coming decades dangerous heat will hit much of the world at least three times as hard as climate change worsens.

Isolated and vulnerable, the heat victims last year during Maricopa County’s deadliest summer on record included a couple in their 80s without known relatives, an 83-year-old woman with dementia living alone after her husband entered hospice care and a 62-year-old Rwandan refugee whose air conditioner broke down.

While most of the county’s confirmed 378 heat-associated deaths were outdoors, those who died indoors were especially vulnerable because of isolation, mobility issues or medical problems as outside summertime highs hit 115 degrees.

Older people of color, with a greater tendency for chronic conditions like diabetes, obesity and high blood pressure are especially at risk.

In Chicago, three African American women in their 60s and 70s died in spring 2022 when the centrally controlled heating in their housing complex remained on and the air conditioning was off despite unseasonable 90-degree weather in mid-May.

An undetermined number of older people died during the summer of 2021 when an unexpected heat wave swept across the U.S. Pacific Northwest. Canada reported that coroners confirmed more than 600 people died from the heat in neighboring British Columbia.

CHECKING ON OLDER PEOPLE

Many U.S. cities, including Phoenix, have plans to protect people during heat waves, opening cooling centers and distributing bottled water.

But many older people need personalized attention, said Dr. Aaron Bernstein, who directs the Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

“If you are elderly and sick you are unlikely to get into an Uber or bus to get to a cooling center,” said Bernstein, who vividly recalls a 1995 heat wave that killed 739 mostly older people in Chicago, his hometown. “So many were socially isolated and at tremendous risk.”

Sociologist Eric M. Klinenberg, who wrote about the catastrophe in his book “Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago,” has noted social contacts can protect older people during disasters.

“Older people are more prone to live alone,” he said, “and they are the most likely to die.”

That’s true of all extreme weather.

When Hurricane Katrina devastated Louisiana in 2005, around half of the 1,000 people killed were 75 or older, most of them drowned when their homes flooded.

Chicago encourages residents to check on older relatives and neighbors on hot days and city workers visit people’s home. But last year’s deaths at a Chicago apartment house shows more is needed.

COMMUNITY HEALTH CLINICS CAN HELP

Bernstein’s center is working with relief organization Americares to help community health clinics prepare vulnerable patients for heat waves and other extreme weather.

A “climate resilience tool kit” includes tips like making sure patients have wall thermometers and know how to check weather forecasts on a smart phone. Patients learn simple ways to beat the heat, like taking a shower or sponge bath to cool off and drinking plenty of water.

Alexis Hodges, a family nurse practitioner at the Community Care Clinic of Dare in coastal North Carolina, said rising temperatures can cause renal failure in patients with kidney problems and exacerbate dehydration from medications like diuretics.

Hodges contributed to the climate kit from a region that experiences all the weather events it covers: extreme heat, hurricanes, flooding and wildfires.

At the nonprofit Mountain Park Health centers that annually serve 100,000 patients in greater Phoenix, nurse practitioner Anthony Carano has written numerous letters to utility companies for low-income patients with chronic conditions, asking them not to turn off power despite missed payments.

“This is such an at-risk population,” Carano said of the overwhelmingly Latino patient population that suffer from diabetes and other ailments aggravated by warm weather. About one-tenth of the patients are 60 and older.

Francisca Canes, a 77-year-old patient visiting for back pain, said she’s fortunate to live with two daughters who take care of her during hot spells. In the summertime, she stays in shape by joining several women friends at 4 a.m. most mornings for a 4-mile walk.

AIR CONDITIONER REPLACEMENT AND REPAIR

Maricopa County in April used federal funds to to allocate another $10 million to its air conditioner replacement and repair program for people who qualify, brining total funding to $13.65 million. In greater Phoenix and several rural Arizona counties, older low-income people can apply for free repair or replacement of air conditioners through a separate non-profit program.

The Healthy Homes Air Conditioning Program run by the nonprofit Foundation for Senior Living last summer ensured about 30 people got new air conditioners or repairs and helped others with home improvements.

Priority goes to older people, those with disabilities and families with very small children, who are also vulnerable to the heat. A person living alone must earn $27,180 or less, said Laura Simone, program coordinator for FSL Home Improvements.

The program recently installed energy efficient windows in the 1930s home of 81-year-old widow Socorro Silvas.

“I am so grateful they are taking care of low-income people like me,” said Silvas, who got her air conditioner in the middle of a sweltering summer several years ago through a program run by Tolleson, a suburb west of Phoenix.

Utility companies can also help protect vulnerable people by halting power disconnections during hot periods.

“In Arizona, air conditioning is a matter of life and death, especially if you are older,” said Dana Kennedy, the state director of AARP, which has fought for stricter regulations preventing summertime power cutoffs.

STRICTER REGULATIONS

New rules for Arizona utilities were adopted after 72-year-old Stephanie Pullman died in August 2018 at her Phoenix area home as outside temperatures reached 107 degrees.

The medical examiner’s office said Pullman died from “environmental heat exposure” combined with cardiovascular disease after her power was shut off over a $176.84. debt.

The Arizona agency that regulates utilities now bans electricity cutoffs for nonpayment during the hottest months.

After the three Chicago women died last year, residential buildings for older people in the city now must provide air-conditioned common areas and administrators no longer have to keep centrally controlled heat on during unseasonably warm weather. The Illinois state Senate recently passed legislation requiring that all affordable housing have air-conditioning operating when the temperature is 80 degrees (26.6 C) or higher and must be operable by residents.

Kennedy said mobile homes are especially dangerous as high temperatures transform them into a hot metal containers.

“A lot are not insulated,” said Kennedy, who has advised an Arizona State University group working to make mobile homes safer with more surrounding shade and on-site cooling centers. “These heat deaths truly are heartbreaking. But in many cases we can help prevent them.”

____

On April 25, Jet-Puffed, the brand responsible for such spongy confections as red-and-green Holiday Mallows and Candy Corn Marshmallows (hey, don’t knock it till you try it) have launched a new type of marshmallow that changes color when heated. The new, first-of-its-kind, squishy, chameleonic treat is called Jet-Puffed Color Changing Marshmallows.

“This is the first time the brand has used the secret color changing ingredient in combination with their jet-puffing technology designed to make the fluffiest and puffiest treats to step up your roasting game,” a Jet-Puffed representative told TODAY.com over email. “The never-before-seen color changing marshmallows are igniting families’ campfire fun by bringing pops of color to delicious, ooey gooey s’mores.”

Jet-Puffed says these new confections will transform right before our eyes as the treats change color. While all marshmallows achieve that deliciously delectable caramelized crunch thanks to the Maillard reaction, these color-changing treats have an additional reaction that starts approximately 10 seconds after heating them up.

Once fire — or the microwave, or a blowdryer, any heat source really — hits the marshmallow, the blue marshmallow will turn green and the pink marshmallow will turn orange.

While these marshmallows are Jet-Puffed’s first foray into the land of color-changing food, the candy does join a select few foods that utilize this neat little trick. Anyone who has been on beverage TikTok has seen butterfly pea flower tea change as if by magic from a deep blue color to a bright violet hue when an acidic liquid like lemon juice is added to it. 

In addition, sunbutter cookies, made with sunflower seed butter, are known to change color from brown to a deep, grassy green, though this change happens as the cookies cool.

Jet-Puffed says its mesmerizing new marshmallows are set to come in two color-changing varieties per pack: pink to orange and blue to green. The unique treat is available to purchase for $2.99 in grocery stores nationwide until the end of September.

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

• Joy Bauer makes nutrition-packed pizza peppers and carrot fries
• No-Bake Lemon Icebox Pie
• Aubrey Plaza is facing backlash for ‘Wood Milk’ dairy industry ad

The split-screen messaging of Ohio’s Frank LaRose, West Virginia’s Mac Warner and Missouri’s Jay Ashcroft shows just how deeply election lies have burrowed into the Republican Party, where more than half of voters believe Democrat Joe Biden was not legitimately elected president. Even election officials who tout running clean elections at home are routinely pushing for more voting restrictions and additional scrutiny on the process as they prepare to face GOP primary voters next year.

All three withdrew their states last month from the Electronic Registration Information Center, a bipartisan, multistate effort to ensure accurate voter lists. LaRose did so less than a month after calling the group “one of the best fraud-fighting tools that we have” and vowing to maintain Ohio’s membership. He defied backlash against the organization stoked by former President Donald Trump before relenting.

The three also have supported increased voter restrictions in their states — part of a national trend for Republicans that they say is intend to boost public confidence. Those bills impose new voter ID requirements, shrink windows for processing ballots or ease the ability to consolidate voting precincts.

For Republicans aspiring to higher office, “it’s kind of hard to skip some of these things if you want to succeed” in GOP primaries, said Nancy Martorano Miller, an associate professor of political science at the University of Dayton.

That includes appearing responsive to Republican voters’ belief in Trump’s false claims of a stolen 2020 presidential election at the same time they promote the job they’re doing in their own states.

“You’re secretary of state, so it’s your job to run elections and make sure they’re fraud-fee,” Martorano Miller said. “You’re kind of stuck between, ‘I need to show I’m doing these things to battle fraud,’ but at the same time, ‘if I make it seem like there’s too much fraud, it looks like I’m not doing my job.’”

Warner and Ashcroft have announced campaigns for governor while LaRose is considering a U.S. Senate run.

When he unveiled legislation in February aimed at standardizing election data, LaRose said it was all about providing transparency so voters would “have confidence in knowing that when the election is over, that the true voice of the people was heard.”

A couple weeks later, he was sitting on an elections panel titled “They Stole It From Us Legally” at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference.

LaRose’s spokesperson said the panel was renamed at the last minute, but the secretary used the opportunity to promote the integrity of Ohio elections.

“Voter fraud is exceedingly rare in Ohio because we take election security very seriously, aggressively pursue those who commit it and refer the potential crime to the attorney general and county prosecutors,” Rob Nichols said.

Similarly, Ashcroft has said Missouri has secure elections and praised Gov. Mike Parson for signing a package of election law changes last year that included a new photo ID requirement.

“Missouri voters are passionate about their right to vote,” he said. “This bill makes Missouri elections safer and more transparent, which instills confidence and trust.”

Then in January, Ashcroft hosted a meeting at his office with MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, a conspiracy theorist who travels the country fueling distrust in elections. The meeting alarmed some voting rights advocates in the state.

Warner has defended Trump’s false claims of a fraudulent 2020 election and demonstrated alongside “Stop the Steal” protesters, while also promoting the integrity of West Virginia’s elections.

He said in a recent interview that he is working to strike a balance between those on the right who believe the 2020 election was stolen and those on the left who argue “there’s nothing to see here.”

“The truth is obviously somewhere in the middle,” he said, while adding: “I will admit Biden won the election, but did he do it legitimately? Or did that happen outside the election laws that legislatures in certain states had put in place? That’s where I balk and say no.”

Warner said he would like to see an “after-action review” of the 2020 election, like those conducted in the military, to ease citizens’ minds and make elections better.

Trump and others have criticized the expansion of mail voting in 2020 in the COVID-19 pandemic, although there is no evidence of any widespread fraud and multiple reviews in the battleground states where Trump contested his loss have upheld the results. The House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol found that Trump advisers and administration officials repeatedly debunked allegations of fraud in the weeks after the 2020 election, but Trump continued to push the lies, anyway.

In a recently settled defamation case against Fox News, a Delaware Superior Court judge ruled it was “CRYSTAL clear” that none of the claims repeatedly aired on the network about Dominion Voting Systems machines rigging votes against Trump was true.

Christopher McKnight Nichols, an Ohio State University professor of history, said it’s confusing for voters when secretaries of state claim elections they run are fair but then raise questions or hint at problems, without evidence, about elections elsewhere.

An earlier era of Republicans “absolutely would have been chagrined, embarrassed, and perhaps pushed out fellow Republicans who flip-flopped so radically, or promoted lies,” he said. “Their brand was the principled and consistent politician.”

In Ohio, LaRose spent years assuring the public that voter fraud represents a tiny fraction of Ohio’s cast ballots and that election tallies were nearly perfect. Then during his reelection campaign last year, he said Trump “is right to say that voter fraud is a serious problem” and blamed the mainstream media for “trying to minimize voter fraud to suit their narrative.”

In October, he joined a national Republican trend by opening a unit to investigate election law violations in Ohio, among other duties. He said that day that Ohio has a “strong national reputation for secure, accurate and accessible elections” — but added that anything short of “absolute confidence” in election integrity “weakens the very foundation of our democracy.”

In recent months, unexpected demand spikes, manufacturing problems and tight ingredient supplies have contributed to shortages that stress patients, parents and doctors. For some drugs, such as stimulants that treat ADHD, several factors fueled a shortage and make it hard to predict when it will end.

Shortages, particularly of generic drugs, have been a longstanding problem. The industry has consolidated and some manufacturers have little incentive to solve shortages because cheap generics generate thin profits.

Here’s a deeper look at the issue.

HOW MANY DRUG SHORTAGES ARE THERE?

There were 301 active national drug shortages through this year’s first quarter, according to the University of Utah Drug Information Service. That’s 49% higher than the 202 recorded in the first three months of 2018.

Patients don’t feel all drug shortages because doctors may be able to substitute different medications or because other parts of the drug supply system mask the issue, said Stephen Schondelmeyer, a University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy professor.

“But there are more shortages now, and they’re becoming more visible,” he said.

WHICH DRUGS ARE IN SHORTAGE?

In the fall, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced a shortage of the attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder treatment Adderall due to a manufacturing problem. That has persisted and grown at times to include other stimulants that treat the condition.

That situation seems to be improving, said University of Utah Health researcher Erin Fox. But several extended-release doses of the medication, its most popular form, remain in short supply.

The FDA also has tracked a shortage of the diabetes treatment Ozempic, which doctors also prescribe for weight loss. Prescriptions for Ozempic — touted by celebrities and others on social media — have doubled since the summer of 2021 to more than 1.2 million, according to the health data firm IQVIA.

A spokeswoman for Ozempic maker Novo Nordisk says all doses of the drug are now available at pharmacies nationwide.

Last year, a spike in respiratory illnesses forced drugstore chains to temporarily limit purchases of fever-reducing medicines for children. A shortage of the antibiotic amoxicillin also cropped up around then.

Injectable drugs used in hospitals and clinics, such as IV saline and some cancer treatments, are more than twice as likely as tablets or topical treatments to experience a shortage, according to a recent report written by Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

WHY DO DRUG SHORTAGES DEVELOP?

Reasons can vary, and a combination of factors fuels many shortages.

The Adderall manufacturing problem hit as more people started taking the drug.

During the pandemic, prescriptions climbed as regulators started allowing doctors to prescribe the drug without first seeing a patient in person. Prescriptions for Adderall and its generic equivalents jumped 20% between February 2020 and the end of last year, according to IQVIA.

Adderall supplies face an additional challenge when demand spikes. Federal regulators limit supplies for the drug each year because it is a controlled substance.

Pricing might also be a factor with some drugs.

Ozempic is a diabetes drug. The same medication, semaglutide, is sold under a different brand name, Wegovy, for weight loss. Schondelmeyer noted the per-milligram price for Wegovy can be more than twice as much as Ozempic.

“They’ve been having a run on Ozempic because people don’t want to spend that much on Wegovy,” Schondelmeyer said.

Novo Nordisk spokeswoman Allison Schneider said price was not connected to the shortage. She tied that to a combination of demand and global supply constraints.

Another factor driving shortages: Medications like Adderall and amoxicillin generate thin profits so companies don’t have an incentive to make and store large amounts in case a shortage develops, Fox said.

“Once a shortage starts with something you make just in time anyway, it’s really hard to resolve it unless all the suppliers are back,” she said.

HOW ARE PATIENTS AFFECTED BY DRUG SHORTAGES?

Shortages might lead to treatment delays, which can hurt patients dealing with time-sensitive conditions like cancer.

Doctors are sometimes forced to prescribe alternatives that might not be as effective. That also can lead to medication errors if the doctor is less familiar with the other medication.

Patients also may run out of their prescriptions or be forced to hunt for a pharmacy that has enough supply to refill it.

FUTURE PROSPECTS

It’s tough to predict when many shortages may be resolved, partly because measuring demand is hard.

“You can estimate you’re going to increase your production by 10%,” said Mike Ganio, senior director of pharmacy practice and quality with the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, “but is that going to be enough?”

Meanwhile, conditions that could feed future shortages still exist. The Senate report cited an overreliance on foreign sources as a concern.

Factories in China and India supply most of the raw materials used in American medicines. Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, India restricted exports of 13 active pharmaceutical ingredients and finished drugs made from those chemicals, to protect its domestic drug supply.

Once shortages develop, they can last years. And it can be tough for patients to get reliable information. Fox said there is no legal requirement for drugmakers to update the public.

The Senate report notes that “no federal agency or private industry partner has end-to-end visibility into the entire U.S. pharmaceutical supply chain.”

Fox says the stimulant shortage has been particularly frustrating. Companies have said they aren’t getting enough raw materials to make the drugs, and the federal government says companies aren’t using what they have.

“There’s been a lot of finger pointing back and forth,” Fox said.

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.

Stille, 26, sent a $300 bank transfer to a Taiwan-based supplier for a 6-month supply of estrogen patches and androgen-blocking pills. For three weeks she feared she’d been scammed but breathed a sigh of relief when a large package arrived at her home in St. Peters.

“It’s definitely a little scary,” Stille said. “Taking a chance like this, I could have my money stolen and there’s not much I can do about it. But I figured, at this point, that the benefits outweigh the risks.”

Stille, and others nationwide, are scrambling to form contingency plans as Republican politicians rapidly erode access to the gender-affirming treatments many credit as life-saving.

Fears became even more pronounced in Missouri this month after Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey issued a first-of-its-kind emergency rule that places strict restrictions on that care for minors — and adults.

While some doctors say self-medicating trans health care is dangerous, Stille is among a growing population who say they see no other option.

If enacted, the Missouri rule will require people to have experienced an “intense pattern” of documented gender dysphoria for three years and to have received at least 15 hourly sessions with a therapist over 18 months or more before receiving puberty blockers, hormones, surgery or other treatment.

Patients also must first be screened for autism and “social media addiction,” and any psychiatric symptoms from mental health issues will have to be treated and resolved. Some people will be able to maintain their prescriptions while undergoing the required assessments, which aren’t affordable for many.

Some transgender Missourians and health care providers sued to overthrow the rule, and a St. Louis judge pushed back its effective date from last Thursday to Monday at 5 p.m. as she weighs whether to block its enforcement as the lawsuit proceeds in court. A ruling is expected Monday.

Bailey has touted the rule as a way to shield residents, especially minors, from what he describes as experimental treatments, but puberty blockers and sex hormones have been prescribed for decades and are widely considered medically necessary for many trans people.

Some gender-affirming treatment providers in Missouri are already planning to cut back on care.

Vivent Health Interim President and CEO Brandon Hill said doctors are worried about meeting documentation requirements for new patients, so clinics in St. Louis and Kansas City will only provide gender-affirming health care to current patients. Vivent Health provides HIV-focused and LGBTQ+ friendly health care in St. Louis, Kansas City and other states.

“Do-it-yourself hormone replacement therapy” has become an increasingly common way for trans residents of restrictive states to avoid involuntarily stopping hormone treatment. Trans people like Stille have been discreetly circulating a comprehensive a guide and a digital master list of hormone suppliers, some more reliable than others, through social media.

This online marketplace, known as the gray market, is comprised of unregulated suppliers who sell legitimate medications, sometimes name-brand, outside the distribution channels authorized by the manufacturers. Some trans people in GOP-controlled states that have not yet enacted bans are buying from these suppliers to build an emergency stockpile.

But self-administering hormones without adequate supervision can be “extraordinarily dangerous,” especially for those taking testosterone, said Dr. Robert Lash, chief medical officer at the Endocrine Society, which represents specialists who treat hormone conditions.

Although taking testosterone can help trans men develop some desired physical features, it also increases their risk of a blood clot or stroke. Lash said doctors need to closely monitor a patient’s red blood cell count, lipids and liver function and adjust their dosage accordingly. Estrogen use can also increase risk of blood clots, he said.

“These are powerful medications with a lot of effects on a lot of body systems, not all of which are good,” Lash said. “Taking these hormones on your own is just an invitation to running into problems. People need to be extraordinarily careful when using them and really shouldn’t without medical supervision.”

He cautioned against taking hormones from any unregulated pharmacy, veterinary source or overseas provider.

Even for those willing to assume the risks, not all trans people have the same level of access. Trans men like Levi Sobel, a 30-year-old from Springfield, are finding it much more difficult to source testosterone than other hormones.

Testosterone is classified in the U.S. as a Schedule III controlled substance, along with ketamine and some opioids, and is subjected to more regulations that the typical prescription drug.

Sobel said unregulated testosterone providers are “pretty much nonexistent” in the U.S., and it’s unwise to buy from international sellers because of the higher likelihood of the hormone being seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

“This makes it essentially impossible for me to stockpile in the same ways my transfeminine friends can,” Sobel said. “The best I can do to stretch it is to make sure I’m using every last drop from every vial.”

Stacy Cay, an autistic trans woman and comedian in Kansas City, has already saved up enough injectable estrogen to last about a year. The more she can stockpile, the more time she has to prepare her plan to relocate if the emergency rule isn’t blocked in court, she said.

“This feels like the end of Kansas City being my home,” Cay said. “It feels like it’s being taken away.”

Others, like Ellie Bridgman, a gas station attendant in Union, are employing a unique strategy to stockpile hormones. The 23-year-old, who said the attorney general’s rule would cut off her treatment access because she’s autistic and has depression, started injecting only a half dose of estrogen before her routine blood tests so her hormone levels would read low.

This led her doctor to increase her prescription.

Bridgman said she may consider decreasing her dosage to conserve medication or supplement her supply with an unregulated purchase. Stockpiling is her “No. 1 priority.” Without hormone replacement therapy, she said, “the suicidal thoughts and ideation comes back stronger than ever. This is my lifeline.”

___

Schoenbaum reported from Raleigh, North Carolina.

Francisco Oropesa, 38, fled after the shooting Friday night that left five people dead, including an 8-year-old boy. San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers said Saturday evening that authorities had widened the search to as far as 20 miles from the scene of the shooting.

Investigators found clothes and a phone while combing a rural area that includes dense layers of forest, but tracking dogs lost the scent, Capers said.

Police recovered the AR-15-style rifle that Oropesa allegedly used in the shootings but authorities were not sure if he was carrying another weapon, the sheriff said.

“He could be anywhere now,” Capers said.

The reward was announced at a press conference Sunday afternoon when authorities continued to say they had no tips about Oropesa’s whereabouts.

“We’re asking everyone for your help until we can bring this suspect, or this monster I will call him, to justice,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge James Smith. 

“Right now we’re running into dead ends,” he said.

The attack happened near the town of Cleveland, north of Houston, on a street where some residents say neighbors often unwind by firing off guns.

Capers said the victims were between the ages of 8 and 31 years old and that all were believed to be from Honduras. All were shot “from the neck up,” he said.

Two hundred officers were going door to door in the search for Oropesa, asking questions and looking for tips, Capers said.

“This $80,000 is in my opinion a real good motivator to have somebody turn him in,” he said.

Billboard posters are being made with information about the reward in Spanish, he said.

The attack was the latest act of gun violence in what has been a record pace of mass shootings in the U.S. so far this year, some of which have also involved semiautomatic rifles.

The mass killings have played out in a variety of places — a Nashville school, a Kentucky bank, a Southern California dance hall, and now a rural Texas neighborhood inside a single-story home.

Capers said there were 10 people in the house — some of whom had just moved there earlier in the week — but that that no one else was injured. He said two of the victims were found in a bedroom laying over two children in an apparent attempt to shield them.

A total of three children found covered in blood in the home were taken to a hospital but found to be uninjured, Capers said.

“They were covered in blood from the same ladies that were laying on top of them trying to protect them,” he said Sunday.

Capers said the children were safe with family.

FBI spokesperson Christina Garza said investigators do not believe everyone at the home were members of a single family. The victims were identified as Sonia Argentina Guzman, 25; Diana Velazquez Alvarado, 21; Julisa Molina Rivera, 31; Jose Jonathan Casarez, 18; and Daniel Enrique Laso, 8.

The confrontation followed the neighbors walking up to the fence and asking the suspect to stop shooting rounds, Capers said. The suspect responded by telling them that it was his property, Capers said, and one person in the house got a video of the suspect walking up to the front door with the rifle.

The shooting took place on a rural pothole-riddled street where single-story homes sit on wide 1-acre lots and are surrounded by a thick canopy of trees. A horse could be seen behind the victim’s home, while in the front yard of Oropeza’s house a dog and chickens wandered.

Rene Arevalo Sr., who lives a few houses down, said he heard gunshots around midnight but didn’t think anything of it.

“It’s a normal thing people do around here, especially on Fridays after work,” Arevalo said. “They get home and start drinking in their backyards and shooting out there.”

Capers said his deputies had been to Oropesa’s home at least once before and spoken with him about “shooting his gun in the yard.” It was not clear whether any action was taken at the time. At a news conference Saturday evening, the sheriff said firing a gun on your own property can be illegal, but he did not say whether Oropesa had previously broken the law.

Capers said the new arrivals in the home had moved from Houston earlier in the week, but he said he did not know whether they were planning to stay there.

Across the U.S. since Jan. 1, there have been at least 18 shootings that left four or more people dead, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today, in partnership with Northeastern University. The violence is sparked by a range of motives: murder-suicides and domestic violence; gang retaliation; school shootings; and workplace vendettas.

Texas has confronted multiple mass shootings in recent years, including last year’s attack at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde; a racist attack at an El Paso Walmart in 2019; and a gunman opening fire at a church in the tiny town of Sutherland Springs in 2017.

Republican leaders in Texas have continually rejected calls for new firearm restrictions, including this year over the protests of several families whose children were killed in Uvalde.

A few months ago, Arevalo said Oropesa threatened to kill his dog after it got loose in the neighborhood and chased the pit bull in his truck.

“I tell my wife all the time, ‘Stay away from the neighbors. Don’t argue with them. You never know how they’re going to react,’” Arevalo said. “I tell her that because Texas is a state where you don’t know who has a gun and who is going to react that way.”

The exact number of people who died in the crash on Interstate 25 near Hatch was not available.

“Police can confirm that there was a single vehicle accident with multiple fatalities involving undocumented individuals,” New Mexico State Police spokesperson Wilson Silver said.

No additional details about the crash or the victims were immediately available.

The crash closed the highway in both directions for much of the day, according to NBC affiliate KTSM of Albuquerque, but the roadway reopened in the evening.

Read the full story on NBCNews.com here.

Columbus Division of Fire Battalion Chief Steve Martin said his department received a report around 7:40 p.m. of a roof collapse on East 13th Avenue and arrived to find the roof above a front porch had collapsed while the rest of the home remained intact.

“The few people that were trapped, I believe, were probably unpinned,” Martin said. “It was like their leg was caught under some of the structure and some of the students lifted that off the students. So everybody was kind of out.”

First responders initially found 10 injured people and eventually transported 14 accident victims to area hospitals with “various states of injuries” but they all were in stable condition, Martin said.

“It appears the roof was overloaded with students,” Martin said, with estimates ranging from 15 to 45 people on a rooftop “that was not designed to have anybody on it, and it gave way.”

The names of the home owner or occupants were not immediately available.

The home is not on the property of The Ohio State University. The main campus in Columbus has an enrolled student population of 61,677 for the 2022-2023 school year, according to the university’s website.

The helicopters were headed to Fort Wainwright from a mission in the Donnelly Training Area when they crashed at 1:39 p.m. Thursday, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) east of Healy.

The U.S. Army announced Friday that it has grounded aviation units for training after 12 soldiers died within the last month in helicopter crashes in Alaska and Kentucky.

“The move grounds all Army aviators, except those participating in critical missions, until they complete the required training,” the Army said in a statement.

Killed in Thursday’s crash were Chief Warrant Officer 3 Christopher Robert Eramo, 39, of Oneonta, New York; Chief Warrant Officer 2 Kyle D. McKenna, 28, of Colorado Springs, Colorado; and Warrant Officer 1 Stewart Duane Wayment, 32, of North Logan, Utah.

A fourth soldier was injured and was taken to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital and was listed in stable condition. He was not identified Saturday.

“The battalion is devastated and mourning the loss of three of our best,” said Lt. Col. Matthew C. Carlsen, the 1-25th AB commander. Their loss can’t be compared to the suffering felt by the soldiers’ families, he said.

“The entire team has come together to focus our thoughts, prayers, and actions to provide and sustain them with whatever comfort and support they need at this time, and I promise that this will continue long into the future,” he said.

A Safety Investigation Team from the U.S. Army Combat Readiness Center, based at Fort Novosel, Alabama, is leading the safety investigation, officials said in an email.

Department of Defense instructions and Army regulations prohibit the investigators from releasing any information to the public concerning the causes, analysis or internal recommendations, the statement said.

“The loss of these Soldiers is devastating and is being felt by family, friends and military communities across Alaska,” said Maj. Gen. Brian Eifler, commanding general of the 11th Airborne Division. “The families of Fort Wainwright and 1-25 are as strong a team as I’ve ever seen. Our hearts are heavy, and our thoughts and prayers are with the families, friends and loved ones of the fallen.”

Elon Musk expects SpaceX to spend about $2 billion on its Starship rocket development this year, as the company pushes to build on its first launch earlier this month.

“My expectation for the next flight would be to reach orbit,” Musk said, speaking during a discussion on Twitter Spaces on Saturday.

While SpaceX does secondary rounds about twice a year, to give employees and other company shareholders a chance to sell stock, Musk said the company does “not anticipate needing to raise funding” to further bolster the Starship program and its other ventures.

“To my knowledge, we do not need to raise incremental funding for SpaceX,” Musk said.

As for the dramatic first fully stacked Starship rocket launch on April 20,” the SpaceX CEO said, “The outcome was roughly in what I expected, and maybe slightly exceeding my expectations.”

Sign up here to receive weekly editions of CNBC’s Investing in Space newsletter.

SpaceX has multiple further prototypes in various stages of assembly and aims to launch the next attempt at reaching space with the towering rocket within a few months.

“The goal of these missions is just information. Like, we don’t have any payload or anything — it’s just to learn as much as possible,” Musk said.

He put the probability of reaching orbit with a Starship flight this year at “probably” 80%, but espoused that he thinks there is a “100% chance of reaching orbit within 12 months.”

Launch review

The Starship flight got off the launchpad and achieved several milestones, but Musk gave more details on a variety of the problems the rocket suffered.

The rocket took off with only 30 of the 33 Raptor engines ignited at the base of the Super Heavy booster. Musk said SpaceX “chose not to start” three engines, as they were not “healthy enough to bring them to full thrust. Starship slid laterally off the launchpad as it climbed into the sky, which Musk said was “because of the engine failures.”

About 27 seconds into the flight, SpaceX “lost communications” with another engine — an incident that happened “with some kind of energetic event” that removed the heat shield around several other engines. “Things really hit the fan” around 85 seconds into the launch, when SpaceX lost “thrust vector control” — or the ability to steer the rocket.

Additionally, Musk reported that it took about 40 seconds for the rocket’s AFTS (Autonomous Flight Termination System, which destroys the vehicle in the event it flies off course) to kick in, which SpaceX will need to correct before the next launch attempt.

The strongest part of the rocket’s performance was how well it held together, including passing through a launch milestone called “Max Q,” or the moment when atmospheric pressure is strongest on the rocket.

“The vehicle’s structural margins appear to be better than we expected, as we can tell from the vehicle actually doing somersaults towards the end and still staying intact,” Musk said.

Looking forward, Musk said SpaceX has “made so many improvements” to future prototypes. The company needs to ensure “that we don’t lose thrust vector control” with the next launch.

‘Rock tornado’

Back on the ground, Musk said the booster created a “rock tornado” underneath the rocket as it was lifting off. While SpaceX has not seen “evidence that the rock tornado actually damaged engines or heat shields in a material way,” Musk noted that the company “certainly didn’t expect” to destroy the launch pad’s concrete and create a crater in its wake.

“One of the more plausible explanations is that … we may have compressed the sand underneath the concrete to such a degree that the concrete effectively bent and then cracked,” Musk said.

A priority for the next flight will be starting the 33 Raptor engines “faster and get off the pad faster,” Musk said. It took about five seconds for SpaceX to start the engines and launch the rocket, which Musk noted “is a really long time to be blasting the pad.” The company aims to cut that time in half for the next attempt.

Photos of the aftermath have shown the violent result of the Super Heavy booster’s engines. A report from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said the launch flung concrete and metal “thousands of feet away” and created a cloud of dust and pulverized concrete that fell as far as 6.5 miles from the launch site.

On Saturday, Musk said “the pad damage is actually quite small” and should “be repaired quickly.” He estimated the needed repairs mean SpaceX will be “probably ready to launch in six to eight weeks.” SpaceX will replace some of the propellant tanks near the launchpad. The 500-foot tall tower “is in good shape,” with “no meaningful damage” even though it was struck by “some pretty big chunks of concrete.”

Musk believes the biggest hurdle to flying again “is probably requalification” of the AFTS that destroyed the rocket, since “it took way too long” to detonate.

SpaceX is moving forward with a plan to put steel plates, which will be cooled by a water system, underneath the launch tower for the next Starship rocket.

Environmental activists and researchers have raised alarms about the cloud of pulverized concrete and dust that the launch created. Musk argued that the debris was “not toxic at all,” but said that “we don’t want to do that again.”

“To the best of our knowledge there has not been any meaningful damage to the environment that we’re aware of,” Musk said.

“His parents and large extended family are standing together in solidarity and support of Jack Teixeira through this very difficult and confusing ordeal,” the statement read.

Teixeira was arrested on April 13 for reportedly sharing top-secret information about the Ukraine war — among other international developments — with users on the social platform Discord. He’s since been charged under the Espionage Act and faces 25 years in prison, “potentially far more,” according to a memo filed by the Justice Department on Wednesday.

Judge David Hennessy, a magistrate judge in Massachusetts, took arguments from prosecutors and Teixeira’s defense, but did not rule and declined to release Teixeira on Thursday.

Prosecutors allege that Teixeira published the government information back in December and raised concerns that the former cyber transport systems journeyman — essentially an information technology specialist — could have access to other classified documents that have not surfaced publicly.

The family statement also thanked friends and family for their support.

“We know there are more questions now than answers and are hopeful that Jack will receive the fair and just treatment to which he is entitled during this investigation,” the statement said. “His health and safety are now and will be our top priority.”

King Charles III, keen to show that he can be a unifying figure for everyone in the United Kingdom, will be crowned in a ceremony that will for the first time include the active participation of faiths other than the Church of England.

Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh leaders will take part in various aspects of the coronation, the Archbishop of Canterbury’s office said Saturday, as it revealed details of a service it described as an act of Christian worship that will reflect contemporary society.

The ceremony also will include female bishops for the first time, as well as hymns and prayers sung in Welsh, Scottish Gaelic and Irish Gaelic, as well as English.

“The service contains new elements that reflect the diversity of our contemporary society,’’ Archbishop Justin Welby, spiritual leader of the Church of England, said in a statement. “It is my prayer that all who share in this service, whether they are of faith or no faith, will find ancient wisdom and new hope that brings inspiration and joy.”

The coronation ceremony reflects Charles’ efforts to show that the 1,000-year-old monarchy is still relevant in a country that is much more diverse than it was when his mother was crowned 70 years ago. While the king is the supreme governor of the Church of England, the latest census showed that less than half of the population now describe themselves as Christian.

Built around the theme “Called to Serve,” the coronation service will begin with one of the youngest members of the congregation — a Chapel Royal chorister — greeting the king. Charles will respond by saying, “In His name and after His example, I come not to be served but to serve.”

The moment is meant to underscore the importance of young people in the world today, according to Lambeth Palace, the home of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The service will also include many historic elements underscoring the ancient traditions through which power has been passed on to new kings and queens throughout the centuries.

In the most sacred part of the service, the Archbishop of Canterbury will anoint the king with oil, consecrating him and setting him apart from his subjects.

A screen will cover Charles at this moment, and the anointing won’t be visible on television or to most people in the abbey, except for a few senior members of the clergy.

“When the screen which will surround the coronation chair is removed, the king is revealed to us all as someone who has taken on the responsibility of serving God and serving the people,” a Lambeth Palace spokesperson said while speaking on customary condition of anonymity.

This will be followed by the presentation of the coronation regalia, sacred objects like the orb and scepter that symbolize the monarch’s power and responsibilities.

In another innovation that reflects the changed religious landscape in Britain, members of the House of Lords from the Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh traditions will present the king with objects with no explicit Christian symbolism.

The new king will then be crowned and the refrain “God Save the King’’ will echo through the Abbey.

After Charles is crowned, the traditional homage of the peers will be replaced by an “homage of the people,” in which people in the Abbey and those watching on television will be invited to affirm their allegiance to the king.

Camilla will then be anointed, in a form similar to that of Queen Elizabeth, the queen mother, in 1937. However, Camilla’s anointing won’t be hidden behind a screen.

The congregation will also be invited to say the Lord’s Prayer’ in the language of their choice.

Just before Charles sets off in the Gold State Coach for a procession on the streets of London, the leaders and representatives of faith communities will deliver a greeting in unison. The greeting won’t be amplified out of respect for those who are observing the Jewish sabbath and are barred from using electrical devices, Lambeth Palace said.

American unmanned aircraft, which have been keeping an eye on overland evacuation routes for days, provided armed overwatch for a bus convoy carrying 200 to 300 Americans over 500 miles or 800 kilometers to Port Sudan, a place of relative safety, U.S. officials said.

The U.S., which had none of its officials on the ground for the evacuation, has been criticized by families of trapped Americans in Sudan for initially ruling out any U.S.-run evacuation for those among an estimated 16,000 Americans in Sudan who wish to leave.

U.S. special operations troops briefly flew to the capital, Khartoum, April 22 to airlift out American staffers at the embassy and other American government personnel. More than a dozen other nations have already been carrying out evacuations for their citizens, using a mix of military planes, navy vessels and on the ground personnel.

A wide-ranging group of international mediators — including African and Arab nations, the United Nations and the United States — has only managed to achieve a series of fragile temporary cease-fires that failed to stop clashes but created enough of a lull for tens of thousands of Sudanese to flee to safer areas and for foreign nations to evacuate thousands of their citizens by land, air and sea.

Since the conflict between two rival generals broke out April 15, the U.S. has warned its citizens that they needed to find their own way out of the country, though U.S. officials have tried to link up Americans with other nations’ evacuation efforts. But that changed as U.S. officials exploited a relative lull in the fighting and, from afar, organized their own convoy for Americans, officials said.

Without the evacuation flights near the capital that other countries have been offering their citizens, many U.S. citizens have been left to make the dangerous overland journey from Khartoum to the country’s main Red Sea port, Port Sudan. One Sudanese-American family that made the trip earlier described passing through numerous checkpoints manned by armed men and passing bodies lying in the street and vehicles of other fleeing families who had been killed along the way.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the convoy carried U.S. citizens, local people employed by the U.S. and citizens of allied countries. “We reiterate our warning to Americans not to travel to Sudan,” he said.

From Port Sudan, away from the fighting, the Americans in the convoy can seek spots on vessels crossing the Red Sea to the Saudi port city of Jeddah. U.S. officials also are working with Saudi Arabia to see if one of the kingdom’s naval vessels can carry a larger number of Americans to Jeddah.

U.S. consular officials will be waiting for the Americans once they reach the dock in Jeddah, but there are no U.S. personnel in Port Sudan, officials said.

Two Americans are confirmed killed in the fighting that erupted April 15. One was a U.S. civilian whom officials said was caught in crossfire. The other was an Iowa City, Iowa, doctor, who was stabbed to death in front of his house and family in Khartoum, in the lawless violence that has accompanied the fighting.

In all, the fighting in the east African country has killed more than 500 people,.

The U.S. airlifted out all its diplomats and military personnel and closed its embassy April 22. It left behind several thousand U.S. citizens still in Sudan, many of them dual-nationals.

The Biden administration had warned it had no plans to join other countries in organizing evacuation for ordinary U.S. citizens who wanted out, calling it too dangerous. There were no known U.S. government personnel on the ground in Sudan assisting the convoy.

Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Moscow-installed governor of Sevastopol, a port city in Crimea, posted videos and photos of the blaze on his Telegram channel.

Ukraine-Russia War Apr 28

Russian Missile, Drone Attack in Ukraine Kills 23 People, Most of Them From Residential Building

news Apr 27

Moscow ‘Welcomes' China Contacting Ukraine; Kyiv Says Russia ‘Won't Get Away With' Mykolaiv Strikes

Razvozhayev said the fire at the city’s harbor was assigned the highest ranking in terms of how complicated it will be to extinguish. However, he reported that the open blaze had been contained.

Razvozhayev said the oil depot was attacked by “two enemy drones,” and four oil tanks burned down. A third drone was shot down from the sky, and one more was deactivated through radio-electronic means, according to Crimea’s Moscow-appointed governor, Sergei Aksyonov.

Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, a move that most of the world considered illegal. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an interview this week that his country will seek to reclaim the peninsula in the upcoming counteroffensive.

Russian President Vladimir Putin traveled to Crimea last month to mark the ninth anniversary of the Black Sea peninsula’s annexation from Ukraine. Putin’s visit took place the day after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for the Russian leader accusing him of war crimes.

The attack reported in Sevastopol comes a day after Russia fired more than 20 cruise missiles and two drones at Ukraine, killing at least 23 people. Almost all of the victims died when two missiles slammed into an apartment building in the city of Uman, located in central Ukraine.

Six children were among the dead, Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said Saturday, adding that 22 of the 23 bodies recovered have been identified. Two women remained missing, Klymenko said.

Russian forces launched more drones at Ukraine overnight. Ukraine’s Air Force Command said two Iranian-made self-exploding Shahed drones were intercepted, and a reconnaissance drone was shot down on Saturday morning.

Razvozhayev said the oil depot fire did not cause any casualties and would not hinder fuel supplies in Sevastopol. The city has been subject to regular attack attempts with drones, especially in recent weeks.

Earlier this week, Razvozhayev reported that the Russian military destroyed a Ukrainian sea drone that attempted to attack the harbor and another one blew up, shattering windows in several apartment buildings, but not inflicting any other damage.

Ukraine’s military intelligence spokesperson, Andriy Yusov, told the RBC Ukraine news site on Saturday that the oil depot fire was “God’s punishment” for “the murdered civilians in Uman, including five children.”

He said that more than 10 tanks containing oil products for Russia’s Black Sea Fleet were destroyed in Sevastopol, but stopped short of acknowledging Ukraine’s responsibility for a drone attack. The difference between the number of tanks Yusov and Razvozhayev gave could not be immediately reconciled.

After previous attacks on Crimea, Kyiv also wouldn’t openly claim responsibility, but emphasized that the country had the right to strike any target in response to Russian aggression.

Elsewhere, Ukrainian forces shelled the city of Nova Kakhovka, according to Moscow-installed authorities in the Russian-occupied part of southern Ukraine’s Kherson province. “Severe artillery fire” cut off power in the city, the officials said.

The Ukrainian-controlled part of the province also came under fire on Saturday. Russian shelling in the area of the village of Bilozerka killed one person and wounded another, according to the Kherson prosecutor’s office.

Jefferson County commissioners approved the settlement last week with Floyd Bledsoe, who was released from prison in 2015 after DNA evidence showed he could not have been the killer of 14-year-old Camille Arfmann in Oskaloosa.

news Apr 21

How Investors Cash in on the $2.9 Billion Boom in Wrongful-Conviction Lawsuits

Crime and Courts Feb 17

Lamar Johnson Fought to Prove His Innocence for 28 Years. Now, He's Free

Bledsoe will receive $1.5 million initially, with the rest to be paid over the next 10 years, The Kansas City Star reported.

Bledsoe, who is now 46, was 23 when he was convicted in 2000 of killing the girl. He was arrested even though his brother, Tom, confessed to the killing in 1999, turned himself in and led authorities to the girl’s body.

According to a lawsuit Floyd Bledsoe filed in 2016, Jefferson County authorities persuaded Tom Bledsoe to recant his confession and “framed” his brother by hiding evidence of his innocence.

In 2015, DNA testing revealed Tom Bledsoe was the likely source of sperm found in the victim. Tom Bledsoe died by suicide that year after writing a note again confessing to killing Arfmann.

The charges against Floyd Bledsoe were dismissed and he was freed from prison that year.

One of Bledsoe’s attorneys, Russell Ainsworth of Loevy & Loevy in Chicago, said Jefferson County was facing up to $40 million in liability if the case went to trial.

Jefferson County Commissioner Richard Malm said the county’s annual budget is about $20 million and the commission would have had to propose a bond if Bledsoe had not agreed to have the payment spread over 10 years.

In 2019, the state agreed to pay Bledsoe $1.03 million under a mistaken conviction law.

There’s a second wife, an embarrassing brother, and an angry son and daughter-in-law, all with allies who aren’t shy about whispering family secrets in the ears of friendly reporters.

The new king will hope to keep a lid on those tensions when his royally blended family joins as many as 2,800 guests for Charles’ coronation on May 6 at Westminster Abbey. All except Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, are attending.

How Charles manages his family drama over the coming weeks and years is crucial to the king’s efforts to preserve and protect the 1,000-year-old hereditary monarchy he now embodies. Without the respect of the public, the House of Windsor risks being lumped together with pop stars, social media influencers and reality TV contestants as fodder for the British tabloids, undermining the cachet that underpins its role in public life.

Royal historian Hugo Vickers says people should look past the sensational headlines and focus on what Charles accomplishes now that he is king.

“In a sense, he sort of becomes a new man when he becomes king,” said Vickers, author of “Coronation: The Crowning of Elizabeth II.”

“Look at him as he is now, look at him the way he is approaching everything, look at his positivity and look at how right he’s been on so many issues,” he added. “Unfortunately, he had those difficult times with his marriages and some of the other issues, but we live in a very tricky era.”

King Charles III Apr 12

Everything to Know About King Charles III's Coronation

British Royal Family Apr 12

Prince Harry Will Attend King Charles III's Coronation Without Meghan

The horror show came back to haunt Charles last week, when the king’s estranged younger son, Prince Harry, dropped a new round of allegations Tuesday about the royal family into the middle of the coronation buildup.

In written evidence for his invasion of privacy claim against a British newspaper, Harry claimed his father prevented him from filing the lawsuit a decade ago. The prince said Charles didn’t want to dredge up graphic testimony about his extramarital affair with the former Camilla Parker-Bowles when he was married to the late Princess Diana.

Diana was the mother of Harry and his elder brother and heir to the throne, William, the Prince of Wales. Camilla, now the queen consort, went on to marry Charles in 2005 and will be crowned alongside her husband at Westminster Abbey.

If the past is any indication, attention will now shift to body language, seating plans and even wardrobe choices during the coronation, as royal watchers look for any signs of a thaw in the family tensions.

But Joe Little, managing editor of Majesty magazine, doesn’t expect Harry to have a lot of contact with the rest of his family. In any case, Harry won’t be in the U.K. for long, so there’s not much time for fence mending.

“The stuff that we discovered (Tuesday) is really not going to help his cause,” Little said. “But, you know, will there be time to go over all that with the king and the Prince of Wales? Unlikely.”

The royal soap opera didn’t begin with the current generation of royals. After all, Edward VIII sparked a constitutional crisis in 1936 when he abdicated the throne to marry the twice-divorced American Wallis Simpson.

Charles’ grandfather, George VI, is credited with saving the monarchy with a life of low-key public service after he replaced his flamboyant elder brother. The late Queen Elizabeth II burnished the family’s reputation during a 70-year reign, in which she became a symbol of stability who cheered the nation’s victories and comforted it during darker times.

But Charles grew up in a different era, under the glare of media attention as deference to the monarchy faded.

He has been a controversial figure ever since the very public breakdown of his marriage to Diana, who was revered by many people for her looks and her compassion.

Diana alleged that there had been “three people” in the marriage, pointing the finger at Charles’ longtime love Camilla Parker-Bowles.

Camilla, initially reviled by Diana’s fans, has worked hard to rehabilitate her image. Her ex-husband and their children are expected to attend the coronation, with her grandsons serving as pages of honor.

She supports a raft of causes, ranging from adult literacy to protecting the victims of sexual assault and domestic violence. But even that effort has sparked tensions.

Harry claimed in his memoir “Spare” that the senior royals leaked unflattering stories about him to the news media in return for more favorable coverage, particularly to improve Camilla’s image.

At the time of their marriage in 2018, Harry and Meghan were celebrated as the new face of the monarchy. Meghan, a biracial American actress, brought a touch of Hollywood glamour to the royal family and many observers hoped she would help the Windsors connect with younger people in an increasingly multicultural nation.

Those hopes quickly crumbled amid allegations that palace officials were insensitive to Meghan’s mental health struggles as she adjusted to royal life.

Harry and Meghan walked away from frontline royal duties three years ago and moved to California, from which they have lobbed repeated critiques at the House of Windsor.

In a 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey they hinted at racism in the palace, alleging that one unidentified member of the royal family had inquired about the color of their unborn son’s skin before his birth.

Harry, in a Netflix series broadcast last year, said the episode was an example of unconscious bias and that the royal family needed to “learn and grow” so it could be “part of the solution rather than part of the problem.”

The repeated attacks led to months of speculation about whether the couple would be invited to the coronation. The palace finally answered that question two weeks ago when it announced that Harry would attend but Meghan would remain in California with their two children.

politics Feb 15, 2022

Prince Andrew Settles Sex Abuse Lawsuit by Jeffrey Epstein Victim Virginia Giuffre

Donald Trump Jan 12, 2022

Prince Andrew Loses Bid to Dismiss Lawsuit by Jeffrey Epstein Accuser Virginia Giuffre

And then there is Charles’ brother Prince Andrew, who became a toxic time bomb inside the royal family when the world learned about his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and the financier’s long-time girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell.

Epstein, who was convicted of sex crimes in 2008, died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on a second set of charges. Maxwell was convicted last year of helping procure young girls for Epstein and is serving a 20-year sentence at a federal prison in Florida.

Andrew gave up his royal duties in 2019 after a disastrous interview with the BBC in which he tried to explain away his links to Epstein and Maxwell. He was stripped of his honorary military titles and patronages as he prepared to defend a civil lawsuit filed by a woman who said she was forced to have sex with the prince when she was a teenager.

Andrew denied the allegations but settled the suit last year before it came to trial. While terms of the agreement weren’t released, The Sun newspaper reported that Charles and the late queen paid the bulk of the estimated 7 million pound ($8.7 million) settlement.

“I think it was inevitable that when Charles became king, a lot of the personal stuff would come back to haunt him,″ Little said. “I think as far as the king is concerned, he just has to shrug his shoulders and get on with the job in hand.”

Kim Yo Jong also lobbed personal insults toward U.S. President Joe Biden, who after a summit with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Wednesday stated that any North Korean nuclear attack on the U.S. or its allies would “result in the end of whatever regime” took such action.

South Korea Apr 26

US to Dock Nuclear Subs in South Korea Amid Growing Concerns of Threats From North

North Korea Apr 16

US, South Korea and Japan Conduct More Drills in Face of N. Korean Threat

Biden’s meeting with Yoon in Washington came amid heightened tensions in the Korean Peninsula as the pace of both the North Korean weapons demonstrations and the combined U.S.-South Korean military exercises have increased in a cycle of tit-for-tat.

Since the start of 2022, North Korea has test-fired around 100 missiles, including multiple demonstrations of intercontinental ballistic missiles designed to reach the U.S. mainland and a slew of short-range launches the North described as simulated nuclear strikes on South Korea.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is widely expected to up the ante in coming weeks or months as he continues to accelerate a campaign aimed at cementing the North’s status as a nuclear power and eventually negotiating U.S. economic and security concessions from a position of strength.

During their summit, Biden and Yoon announced new nuclear deterrence efforts that call for periodically docking U.S. nuclear-armed submarines in South Korea for the first time in decades and bolstering training between the two countries. They also committed to plans for bilateral presidential consultations in the event of a North Korean nuclear attack, the establishment of a nuclear consultative group and improved sharing of information on nuclear and strategic weapons operation plans.

In her comments published on state media, Kim Yo Jong said the U.S.-South Korean agreement reflected the allies’ “most hostile and aggressive will of action” against the North and will push regional peace and security into “more serious danger.”

Kim, who is one of her brother’s top foreign policy officials, said the summit further strengthened the North’s conviction to enhance its nuclear arms capabilities. She said it would be especially important for the North to perfect the “second mission of the nuclear war deterrent,” in an apparent reference to the country’s escalatory nuclear doctrine that calls for preemptive nuclear strikes over a broad range of scenarios where it may perceive its leadership as under threat.

She lashed out at Biden over his blunt warning that North Korean nuclear aggression would result in the end of its regime, calling him senile and “too miscalculating and irresponsibly brave.” However, she said the North wouldn’t simply dismiss his words as a “nonsensical remark from the person in his dotage.”

“When we consider that this expression was personally used by the president of the U.S., our most hostile adversary, it is threatening rhetoric for which he should be prepared for far too great an after-storm,” she said.

“The more the enemies are dead set on staging nuclear war exercises, and the more nuclear assets they deploy in the vicinity of the Korean Peninsula, the stronger the exercise of our right to self-defense will become in direct proportion to them.”

She called Yoon a “fool” over his efforts to strengthen South Korea’s defense in conjunction with its alliance with the United States and bolster the South’s own conventional missile capabilities, saying he was putting his absolute trust in the U.S. despite getting only “nominal” promises in return.

“The pipe dream of the U.S. and (South) Korea will henceforth be faced with the entity of more powerful strength,” she said.

South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, described her comments as “absurd” and insisted that they convey the North’s “nervousness and frustration” over the allies’ efforts to strengthen nuclear deterrence.

Kim Yo Jong’s comments toward Biden were reminiscent of when her brother called former U.S. President Donald Trump a “mentally deranged U.S. dotard” while they exchanged verbal threats during a North Korean testing spree in 2017 that included flight tests of ICBMs and the North’s sixth nuclear test.

Kim Jong Un later shifted toward diplomacy and held his first summit with Trump in Singapore in June 2018, where they issued aspirational goals for a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula without describing when and how it would occur.

But their diplomacy never recovered from the collapse of their second summit in February 2019 in Vietnam, where the Americans rejected North Korean demands for major sanctions relief in exchange for a limited surrender of their nuclear capabilities.

Kim Yo Jong did not specify the actions the North is planning to take in response to the outcome of the U.S.-South Korea summit.

Kim Dong-yub, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, said the North will likely dial up military exercises involving its purported nuclear-capable missiles to demonstrate pre-emptive strike capabilities. The North may also stage tests of submarine-launched ballistic missile systems in response to the U.S. plans to send nuclear-armed submarines to the South, he said.

Kim Jong Un said this month that the country has built its first military spy satellite, which will be launched at an unspecified date. The launch would almost certainly be seen by its rivals as a banned test of long-range missile technology.

In March, he called for his nuclear scientists to increase production of weapons-grade material to make bombs to put on his increasing range of nuclear-capable missiles, as the North unveiled what appeared to be a new warhead possibly designed to fit on a variety of delivery systems. That raised questions on whether the North was moving closer to its next nuclear test, which U.S. and South Korean officials have been predicting for months.

North Korea has long described the United States’ regular military exercises with South Korea as invasion rehearsals, although the allies described those drills as defensive. Many experts say Kim likely uses his rivals’ military drills as a pretext to advance his weapons programs and solidify his domestic leadership amid economic troubles.

Facing growing North Korean threats, Yoon has been seeking stronger reassurances from the United States that it would swiftly and decisively use its nuclear weapons if the South comes under a North Korean nuclear attack.

His government has also been expanding military training with the U.S., which included the allies’ biggest field exercises in years last month and separate drills involving a U.S. aircraft carrier battle group and advanced warplanes, including nuclear-capable B-52 bombers and F-35 fighter jets.

Finding an apartment on a budget wasn’t easy. The average cost of a one-bedroom in Southwark, a borough in South London, is around $1,850 a month. That’s more than 75% of my income as an architectural designer.

At 28, my goal is to save up to buy a house of my own one day. But I didn’t want to move to the outskirts of the city, so I started looking into the possibility of living in a skip — or, as it’s called in the U.S., a dumpster.

How I turned a waste container into a tiny home

I run a small architecture company called CAUKIN Studio. We’ve done work with SKIP Gallery, which commissions emerging artists to create artwork in the confines of a dumpster.

After hearing about my project, an arts charity called Antepavilion granted me an empty, grassy lot in Southwark to put my house on. I currently rent the dumpster base from a waste management company for only $62 a month (although I have not been charged for it yet).

The building process, which began in December 2022, took three weeks. I had worked on similar projects in the past as an architect, so I had all the tools and knowledge I needed. On most days, my friends would come by and help.

It cost me roughly $5,000 to build the home:

• Building supplies (including timber, insulation and fixings): $4,620
• Interior furnishings (including storage and foam mattress): $380

I used my savings to fund the expenses, and paid movers $635 to transport the dumpster from the manufacturer to the construction site, then to the lot where it stands today.

My electricity bill is so small that it is included in my land sponsorship, and my water supply consists of a hose pipe that runs from a neighbor’s property.

For Wi-Fi, I use a dongle connected to mobile data to watch Netflix and take Zoom calls on my laptop. This costs $20 a month.

A look inside my tiny home

The base of the dumpster is only 25 square feet, so I had to make the most out of the volume to make the space livable.

I have four built-in wooden boxes to put my clothes in. I’ve always lived a minimal lifestyle and traveled a lot for work, so the limited storage space works for me. I didn’t have to give away any items.

Up above is my raised, mezzanine-style bed.

On the other end is the kitchen. I have an eight-can portable mini fridge, a small sink and an induction cooktop. 

Windows on both sides of the home provide plenty of natural light and ventilation, making the space feel less claustrophobic.

The toilet is outside, so I need to leave my house every time I use it. There’s no shower either, so I’ll be using the one at work and at the gym for the foreseeable future. I do my laundry at a laundromat.

Getting used to the skip life

I’ve been living here for a few months now, and managing its inconveniences has slowly gotten easier.

But this is a great location in London. It’s a 15-minute bike ride to work, and I love spending my free time exploring the area or meeting up with friends. 

My biggest challenge has been adjusting to all the attention. Many people stop by because they’ve seen me on the news.

With its ups and downs, I’ve turned my living situation into an art piece. It shines light on the absurdity of London’s housing crisis in a way that makes people smile and think.

This has been a unique experience, and I’m grateful that it was sponsored. But I don’t recommend replicating it. I hope that I can move out soon, but I certainly won’t be swapping it for no savings and a small, damp room. It’s weirdly comfortable.

Harrison Marshall is the co-founder of CAUKIN Studio, a design studio that specializes in community and impact-based projects. He holds a master’s degree in architecture and has worked on more than 50 projects worldwide. Harrison combines his background with his passion for social impact to create experiences that spark joy and thought. Follow him on Instagram @caukinstudio and @theskiphouse. 

Don’t miss:

• This 51-year-old pays $725 a month to live in a ‘tiny home on wheels’ in someone’s backyard—take a look inside
• A Harvard-trained economist shares his top 21 money rules: ‘Own your home’ and ‘try to buy in cash’
• This family owns a ‘princess cottage’ in Disney World’s gated community—where homes sell for $12 million: Take a look inside

Want to be smarter and more successful with your money, work & life? Sign up for our new newsletter!

The suspect, identified as 38-year-old Francisco Oropeza, remained at large more than 18 hours after the shooting and authorities warned that he might still be armed. The attack happened just before midnight Friday near the town of Cleveland, north of Houston, on a street where some residents say it is not uncommon to hear neighbors unwind by firing off guns.

San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers said Oropeza used an AR-style rifle, and as the search for him dragged into Saturday evening, authorities had widened their efforts to as far as “10 to 20 miles” from the murder scene. He said Oropeza may still have a weapon but that he believes authorities have the rifle used in the shooting.

Capers said they found clothes and a phone while combing a rural area that includes dense layers of forest but that tracking dogs had lost the scent.

“He could be anywhere now,” Capers said.

Capers said the victims were between the ages of 8 and 31 years old and that all were believed to be from Honduras. All were shot “from the neck up,” he said.

The attack was the latest act of gun violence in what has been a record pace of mass shootings in the U.S. so far this year, some of which have also involved semiautomatic rifles.

The mass killings have played out in a variety of places — a Nashville school, a Kentucky bank, a Southern California dance hall, and now a rural Texas neighborhood inside a single-story home.

Capers said there were 10 people in the house — some of whom had just moved there earlier in the week — but that that no one else was injured. He said two of the victims were found in a bedroom laying over two children in an apparent attempt to shield them.

A total of three children found covered in blood in the home were taken to a hospital but found to be uninjured, Capers said.

FBI spokesperson Christina Garza said investigators do not believe everyone at the home were members of a single family. The victims were identified as Sonia Argentina Guzman, 25; Diana Velazquez Alvarado, 21; Julisa Molina Rivera, 31; Jose Jonathan Casarez, 18; and Daniel Enrique Laso, 8.

The confrontation followed the neighbors walking up to the fence and asking the suspect to stop shooting rounds, Capers said. The suspect responded by telling them that it was his property, Capers said, and one person in the house got a video of the suspect walking up to the front door with the rifle.

The shooting took place on a rural pothole-riddled street where single-story homes sit on wide 1-acre lots and are surrounded by a thick canopy of trees. A horse could be seen behind the victim’s home, while in the front yard of Oropeza’s house a dog and chickens wandered.

Rene Arevalo Sr., who lives a few houses down, said he heard gunshots around midnight but didn’t think anything of it.

“It’s a normal thing people do around here, especially on Fridays after work,” Arevalo said. “They get home and start drinking in their backyards and shooting out there.”

Capers said his deputies had been to Oropeza’s home at least once before and spoken with him about “shooting his gun in the yard.” It was not clear whether any action was taken at the time. At a news conference Saturday evening, the sheriff said firing a gun on your own property can be illegal, but he did not say whether Oropeza had previously broken the law.

Capers said the new arrivals in the home had moved from Houston earlier in the week, but he said he did not know whether they were planning to stay there.

Across the U.S. since Jan. 1, there have been at least 18 shootings that left four or more people dead, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today, in partnership with Northeastern University. The violence is sparked by a range of motives: murder-suicides and domestic violence; gang retaliation; school shootings; and workplace vendettas.

Texas has confronted multiple mass shootings in recent years, including last year’s attack at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde; a racist attack at an El Paso Walmart in 2019; and a gunman opening fire at a church in the tiny town of Sutherland Springs in 2017.

Republican leaders in Texas have continually rejected calls for new firearm restrictions, including this year over the protests of several families whose children were killed in Uvalde.

A few months ago, Arevalo said Oropeza threatened to kill his dog after it got loose in the neighborhood and chased the pit bull in his truck.

“I tell my wife all the time, ‘Stay away from the neighbors. Don’t argue with them. You never know how they’re going to react,’” Arevalo said. “I tell her that because Texas is a state where you don’t know who has a gun and who is going to react that way.”

A judge at The Hague District Court ordered the halt in an injunction brought by the mother of a child conceived with the donor’s sperm and a foundation representing other parents.

The mother, identified by the foundation only as Eva, welcomed the court’s decision.

“I hope that this ruling leads to a ban on mass donation and spreads like an oil slick to other countries. We must stand hand in hand around our children and protect them against this injustice,” she said in a statement.

The court noted that under Dutch guidelines, sperm donors are allowed to produce a maximum of 25 children with 12 mothers and that the donor lied to prospective parents about his donation history.

The donor, identified as Jonathan M. under Dutch privacy guidelines, provided sperm to several Dutch fertility clinics and to a clinic in Denmark as well as to many other people he connected with through advertisements and online forums, the court said in its written judgment.

The donor’s lawyer said in a court hearing that he wanted to help parents who would otherwise be unable to conceive.

The judge who heard the civil case said that the donor “deliberately lied about this in order to persuade the parents to take him as a donor,” the court said in a statement.

“All these parents are now confronted with the fact that the children in their family are part of a huge kinship network, with hundreds of half-siblings, which they did not choose,” the court said, adding that this “has or could possibly have negative psychosocial consequences for the children. It is therefore in their interest that this kinship network is not extended any further.”

The court said in a statement that the case was about “conflicting fundamental rights. On the one hand, the right to respect for the privacy of the parents and the donor children … and on the other hand, the same right of the donor.”

The court ruled that “the interests of the donor children and their parents outweigh the interest of the donor in continuing to donate sperm to new prospective parents.”

The court ordered him immediately to halt all donations and said he must pay 100,000 euros ($110,000) per case if he breaches the ban.

Lawyer Mark de Hek called the ruling “a clear signal and, as far as I am concerned, a final warning to other mass donors.”

Ryan Donner, a real estate broker in the Pacific coast resort city of Puerto Vallarta, said the fraud was infrequent but very sophisticated.

The Jalisco cartel is better known for producing millions of doses of deadly fentanyl and smuggling them into the United States disguised to look like Xanax, Percocet or oxycodone. Such pills cause about 70,000 overdose deaths per year in the United States.

But cartel members and associates apparently decided to branch out into scamming millions of dollars from people looking to sell their timeshares in Mexico. The scam focused on Puerto Vallarta, in Jalisco state, an area dominated by the cartel, known by its initials as the CJNG. The gang inspires so much fear in Mexico it is often simply referred to as “the four letters.”

Mexico Mar 9

Thinking About Spring Break in Mexico? These Are the Travel Warnings You Should Know

Mexico Apr 25

Mexican Authorities Find 8 Bodies Dumped in Resort City of Cancun

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, OFAC, sanctioned Eduardo Pardo Espino — a fugitive from a U.S. drug trafficking charge — as well as six other people and 19 Mexican tourism or real estate companies. The sanctions freeze any assets the individuals or companies have in the United States and prohibits U.S. citizens or companies from having any transactions with them.

Brian E. Nelson, the U.S. under secretary of the treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence, said “CJNG’s deep involvement in timeshare fraud in the Puerto Vallarta area and elsewhere, which often targets elder U.S. citizens and can defraud victims of their life savings, is an important revenue stream supporting the group’s overall criminal enterprise.”

The scammers contacted people — often Americans — seeking to sell timeshares in Puerto Vallarta properties.

In a 2023 alert, the FBI said sellers were contacted via email by scammers who said they had a buyer lined up, but the seller needed to pay taxes or other fees before the deal could go through. Apparently, once the money was paid, the deals evaporated.

The FBI report said that in 2022, the agency’s Internet Crime Complaint Center “received over 600 complaints with losses of approximately $39.6 million from victims contacted by scammers regarding timeshares owned in Mexico.”

Donner, a broker at Ryan Donner & Associates, a real estate firm in Puerto Vallarta, said his firm had been asked for assistance by two people over the last two years who were apparently targeted by the scam.

“It’s infrequent, but yes, we have had it happen,” said Donner, who was able to steer both people away from the scam before they paid any money.

He said the scammers sent prospective sellers fake contracts and official-looking documents from the Mexican tax authority apparently saying taxes were due on the prospective sale.

“They have contracts, they have documents that appear to be official documents, it would be very easy to fall into the trap of paying them,” Donner said.

“If a company contacts someone to say that they have a buyer for a property and all they need is money, that is a huge red flag for it being some sort of scam,” Donner said. “That’s not how companies usually work.”

He said neither he nor the potential victims had realized a drug cartel might be involved.

The small overall uptick is significantly less than the 13% jump the Defense Department saw in 2021, but it’s overshadowed by the fact the Air Force, the Navy and the Marine Corps all had more reports last year than the previous year.

Because the Army is much larger than the other three services, its 9% drop in reported sexual assaults last year drove the overall military increase down. That large decrease comes a year after Army leaders saw a nearly 26% jump in reports involving soldiers — the largest increase for that service since 2013.

The Air Force saw the largest increase in reported assaults during the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, at 13%, while the Navy had a 9% jump and the Marine Corps went up by about 4%.

Overall, there were more than 8,942 reports of sexual assaults involving service members during the 2022 fiscal year, a slight increase over the 8,866 the year before.

The Pentagon and the military services have come under increasing criticism and pressure from members of Congress to reduce sexual assaults and harassment in the military. The services have long struggled to come up with programs to prevent sexual assaults and to encourage reporting, including a number of new initiatives over the past year.

Defense officials have long argued that an increase in reported assaults is a positive trend because so many people are reluctant to report them, both in the military and in society as a whole. Greater reporting, they say, shows there is more confidence in the reporting system, greater comfort with the support for victims, and a growing number of offenders who are being held accountable.

Nate Galbreath, acting director of the Pentagon’s sexual assault prevention and response office, said the department is using a budget infusion of $479 million this year to hire as many as 2,400 personnel for a new “prevention workforce.” He said about 350 have already been hired and as the number grows they will be placed in military installations around the world to help commanders address some of the risk factors that lead to sexual assault.

“This is the first time in the 15 years that I’ve been working this issue for the Department of Defense that I have a fully funded and fully staffed way forward,” he told The Associated Press. “I think this is the thing that’s going to allow us to really address this. Everybody needs to hold us accountable. They need to watch this space, and we will make good on our promise to address this.”

It’s unclear whether the latest increase in reports represents a growing problem or whether those who say they were assaulted were just more willing to come forward.

While the military has made inroads in making it easier and safer for service members to come forward, it has had far less success reducing the assaults, which have increased nearly every year since 2006. And Army leaders, as an example, have acknowledged that issues such as sexual assaults, suicides and other problems have an impact on recruiting. All of the services have been struggling to meet recruiting goals.

Asked about the latest report, Heather Hagan, an Army spokeswoman, said Thursday that “while encouraging, we know the Army has much more work to do to prevent sexual assault and sexual harassment.”

Army officials were alarmed as they saw the growing numbers last year and began trying to implement new programs, and by late fall they said that some changes were starting to work.

They said one change involved a training program that soldiers get when they report to their first duty station. It is rolled out right away, and it has soldiers acting out dangerous situations and emphasizes training on how to respond.

The Army officials also said they were beefing up evaluation programs that grade unit leaders, including randomly picking peers and others to do the assessments.

Galbreath said the rate of sexual assault in the military is about the same as that of the civilian population. But he acknowledged that, “everyone expects more from the military — that when they send their son or daughter off to serve their nation, we have an environment that allows dignity and respect, and everyone has a chance to serve without fear of having to experience a sexual assault.”

Galbreath also noted that in December the military will begin using independent attorneys to review and prosecute sexual assault cases, rather than unit commanders. That change was forced by members of Congress who believed that some commanders were biased or were opting not to prosecute or punish their troops, and as a result victims were reluctant to come forward.

According to the Pentagon report, the number of Air Force sexual assault reports increased from 1,701 in 2021 to 1,928 last year, while the Navy went from 1,883 to 2,052, the Marine Corps went from 1,201 to 1,244 and the Army decreased from 4,081 to 3,718.

The Pentagon releases a report every year on the number of sexual assaults reported by or about troops. But because sexual assault is a highly underreported crime, the department also does a confidential survey every two years to get a clearer picture of the problem. The most recent survey was released last year, so it won’t come out again until next year.

Rates of the disease have soared in recent decades, spurred by the complex interaction of genes that make people more likely to store food as fat, a food system that provides easy and cheap access to processed treats explicitly designed to be overconsumed, and social settings that limit access to healthy options and exercise for many people.

Obesity is linked to scores of health problems that can lead to disability or even death, including high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, cancer and joint problems.

Researchers have long looked for medications that can help people lose weight, mostly with disappointing and, in some cases, dangerous results. In recent years, however, drugs designed to help people with type 2 diabetes control their blood sugar levels have had the added effect of paring pounds.

Ozempic, a Novo Nordisk drug approved to treat diabetes in 2017, skyrocketed in use after celebrities and ordinary people on TikTok reported that their doctors prescribed it “off label” for weight loss. Wegovy, a higher dose version of the same medication, called semaglutide, was approved for weight loss for adults in 2021 and for children aged 12 and older late last year.

Now, a new drug made by Eli Lilly and Co., called tirzepatide, is poised to become the most potent obesity drug on the market, promising users losses of more than 30 to 50 pounds over time. Already approved under the brand name Mounjaro to treat type 2 diabetes, tirzepatide is being considered for fast-track approval as a weight-loss drug based on the results of key trials, with the latest announced on Thursday.

The new study found that patients with diabetes — who find it notoriously difficult to lose weight — could shed about 16% of their body weight, or more than 34 pounds using tirzepatide. An earlier study found that people without diabetes lost up to 22% of their body weight, or more than 50 pounds on the highest dose of the drug.

Tirzepatide and other medications spur weight loss by targeting the metabolic conditions that lead to extra pounds. Here’s what to know about these new prescription drugs that promise weight loss. WHAT ARE THESE NEW WEIGHT LOSS DRUGS?

The drugs that have drawn the most attention have been a class of medications that activate a hormone known as GLP-1. They include Ozempic and Wegovy, which are two versions of the same medication, semaglutide.

Tirzepatide targets GLP-1, but also affects a second hormone, called GIP, which developers say contributes to its increased effectiveness. Mounjaro was approved to treat diabetes in May 2022.

The drugs are delivered through once-weekly injections. Users are advised to follow a healthful, reduced-calorie diet and to exercise regularly while using the drugs.

How Do Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro Work?

The drugs work by mimicking the actions of hormones, found primarily in the gut, that kick in after people eat. The hormones help regulate blood sugar by triggering the pancreas to release insulin, another hormone, and slowing the release of sugar from the liver. People who are overweight or have obesity can become insulin-resistant, which means the body doesn’t respond to insulin properly.

The obesity drugs lower blood sugar and slow down digestion, so people feel full longer. They also affect signals in the brain linked to feelings of fullness and satisfaction, tamping down appetite, food-related thoughts and cravings.

Because people feel full longer, they eat less and lose weight.

How Effective Are the Drugs?

In a trial, adults who took Wegovy saw a weight loss of nearly 35 pounds, or about 15% of their body weight. Adolescents lost about 16% of their body weight.

The latest study of tirzepatide studied the drug in more than 900 patients with diabetes who were overweight or had obesity over nearly 17 months. It showed weight loss of up to 16% of body weight, more than 34 pounds, when using the highest dose of the drug. Patients who received placebo, or dummy injections, lost about 3% of their body weight, or 7 pounds.

An earlier trial of tirzepatide showed weight loss of between about 15% and about 22% of body weight, or about 35 pounds to about 52 pounds, depending on the dose.

The drugs appear effective for chronic weight management over many months. In addition to weight loss, they also reduce health problems associated with obesity, such as high blood sugar and markers of heart and metabolic disease.

However, it appears that if people taking the drugs stop, they regain the weight they lost — and the health problems that came with it.

Why Not Just Diet and Exercise?

In a typical weight-loss program where participants rely only on diet and exercise, research shows only about a third of people will lose 5% or more of their body weight, said Dr. Louis Aronne, director of the Comprehensive Weight Control Center at Weill Cornell Medicine.

Many people find it difficult to lose weight because of the body’s biological reactions to eating less, he said. There are several hormones that respond to reduced calorie intake by ramping up hunger to maintain body mass.

What Are the Side Effects of the Drugs?

The most common side effects are short-lived gastrointestinal issues such as nausea, vomiting, constipation, diarrhea and stomach pain. Other possible effects include serious issues such as inflammation of the pancreas, kidney, gallbladder and eye problems. People with a history of certain thyroid cancers or a rare, genetic endocrine disorder should avoid the drugs, because it is not clear if tirzepatide causes thyroid problems, including cancer.

How Much Do These Drugs Cost?

The new anti-obesity medications are expensive. Wegovy costs about $1,300 a month and Mounjaro starts at about $1,000 a month. People with private insurance may be able to receive the drugs with only a small co-payment. However, many insurers don’t pay for the medications or they have restrictions regarding coverage. Medicare doesn’t cover most weight-loss drugs. Medicaid and the military insurer Tricare may cover them in some cases with prior approval.

__

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.

Montana is one of at least 15 states with laws to ban such care despite protests from the families of transgender youth that the care is essential.

Debate over Montana’s bill drew national attention after Republicans punished Zephyr for her remarks, saying her words were personally offensive. House Speaker Matt Regier refused to let Zephyr speak on the House floor until she apologized. She has not.

Zephyr decried the bill’s signing, saying “it is unconscionable to deprive Montanans of the care that we need.”

“I know that this is an unconstitutional bill. It is as cruel as it is unconstitutional. And it will go down in the courts,” Zephyr said. To trans youth she added: “There’s an understandable inclination towards despair in these moments, but know that we are going to win and until then, lean on community, because we will have one another’s backs.”

On Monday, Zephyr had stood defiantly on the House floor with her microphone raised as protesters shouted “Let her speak,” disrupting House proceedings for at least 30 minutes. Zephyr was then banned from the House and its gallery and voted on bills from a bench in the hallway outside the House on Thursday and Friday.

Lambda Legal, the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Montana have said they would file a court challenge against the ban, which is set to take effect on Oct. 1, starting a five-month clock in which Montana youth can try to find a way to work around the ban or to transition off of hormone treatment.

“This bill is an overly broad blanket ban that takes decisions that should be made by families and physicians and puts them in the hands of politicians,” the Montana Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics has said.

Gov. Greg Gianforte signaled his willingness to sign the bill on April 17 when he offered some amendments to make it clear that public funds could not be used to pay for hormone blockers, cross-sex hormones or surgical procedures.

The bill “protects Montana children from permanent, life-altering medical procedures until they are adults, mature enough to make such serious decisions,” Gianforte wrote in his letter accompanying the amendments.

Debate over the amendments led Zephyr to admonish supporters the following day. House Majority Leader Sue Vinton said Zephyr’s language was “entirely inappropriate, disrespectful and uncalled for.”

The Montana Freedom Caucus deliberately misgendered Zephyr, using male pronouns in a letter saying she should be censured. After Monday’s protest, the caucus said she should be further disciplined.

Under the new law, health professionals who provide care banned by the measure could have their medical licenses suspended for at least a year. They could also be sued in the 25 years following a banned procedure if a patient suffers physical, psychological, emotional or physiological harm. Physicians could not hold malpractice insurance against such lawsuits. The law also prohibits public property and employees from being involved in gender-affirming treatment.

During hours of emotional committee hearings, opponents testified that hormone treatments, and in some cases, surgery, are evidence-based care, supported by numerous medical associations and can be life-saving for someone with gender dysphoria — the clinically significant distress or impairment caused by feeling that one’s gender identity does not match one’s biological sex.

Parents of transgender children testified that the bill infringed on their parental rights to seek medical care for their children.

Opponents also noted that treatments such as puberty-blockers and breast-reduction surgery would still be legal for minors who are not suffering from gender dysphoria, a difference they argue is unconstitutional.

In the letter to legislative leaders accompanying his proposed amendments, Gianforte said he met with transgender residents, understands that their struggles are real and said Montanans who struggle with gender identity deserve love, compassion and respect.

“That’s not what trans Montanans need from you,” Zephyr said as the House considered his amendments. “We need access to the medical care that saves our lives.”

This was the second legislative session in which Sen. John Fuller brought the bill to ban gender-affirming care for transgender children. In 2021, when he was a member of the House, he brought a bill to ban surgical and hormone treatments for transgender children, which was voted down. He brought a second bill to ban surgical treatments which was also rejected. He was successful in 2021 in passing a bill to ban transgender females from participating in girls and women’s sports. The part of the bill that applied to colleges was ruled unconstitutional.

The suspension of air operations was effective immediately, with units grounded until they complete the training, said Lt. Col. Terence Kelley, an Army spokesperson. For active-duty units, the training is to take place between May 1 and 5. Army National Guard and Reserve units will have until May 31 to complete the training.

“The move grounds all Army aviators, except those participating in critical missions, until they complete the required training,” the Army said in a statement.

On Thursday, two Army helicopters collided near Healy, Alaska, killing three soldiers and injuring a fourth. The aircraft from the 1st Attack Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment at Fort Wainwright, near Fairbanks, were returning from training at the time of the crash, according to the Army. The unit is part of the 11th Airborne Division, which is nicknamed the “Arctic Angels.”

Military investigators were making their way to Alaska’s interior, with a team from Fort Novosel, Alabama, expected to arrive at the crash site by Saturday, said John Pennell, a spokesperson for the U.S. Army Alaska. Little new information about the crash was released Friday.

The Army on Thursday said two of the soldiers died at the site and the third on the way to a hospital in Fairbanks. The injured fourth soldier was taken to a hospital and was in stable condition Friday, Pennell said. The names of those who were killed were not immediately released.

“The safety of our aviators is our top priority, and this stand down is an important step to make certain we are doing everything possible to prevent accidents and protect our personnel,” Army Chief of Staff James McConville said of the decision to ground flight units for training.

The crash is the second accident involving military helicopters in Alaska this year.

In February, two soldiers were injured when an Apache helicopter rolled after taking off from Talkeetna. The aircraft was one of four traveling to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage from Fort Wainwright.

In March, nine soldiers were killed when two U.S. Army Black Hawk medical evacuation helicopters crashed during a routine nighttime training exercise about 30 miles (50 kilometers) northeast of Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

The Army said that while Thursday’s crash and the one in Kentucky remain under investigation, “there is no indication of any pattern between the two mishaps.”

Healy is home to about 1,000 people roughly 10 miles (16 kilometers) north of Denali National Park and Preserve, or about 250 miles (400 kilometers) north of Anchorage.

Located on the Parks Highway, the community is a popular place for people to spend the night while visiting Denali Park, which is home to the continent’s tallest mountain.

Healy is also famous for being the town closest to the former bus that had been abandoned in the backcountry and was popularized by the book “Into the Wild” and the movie of the same name. The bus was removed and taken to Fairbanks in 2020.

Evan Ray Nielsen had been walking through a grove of juniper trees in Diamond Fork Canyon during the early afternoon on April 27 when a cougar jumped at him, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources spokesman Scott Root told NBC’s local affiliate KSL.com.

Nielsen then threw a rock at the cougar, scaring it away. He hiked down the canyon and drove away. He was later treated at Spanish Fork Hospital for lacerations on his arm and head, Root said.

Nielsen later told reporters the mountain lion “blindsided” him from his left side, saying he saw it out of the corner of his eye.

“I put my arm up, but that’s where the claws got me on this side,” he said. “And I just went down the hill down there, quite a way because it’s pretty steep. And I just rolled up like that and out of the corner of my eye I saw it going around. I just hit it with a rock and it took off.”  

Utah wildlife conservation officers deployed K-9 units to search for the cougar. They found Nielsen’s cell phone and cougar tracks on a ridge line above where the phone was recovered, Root said.

The search was called off Friday, with signs placed in the Diamond Fork area saying a mountain lion had been seen in the area.

“I don’t know what happened to it, but it never really attacked me,” Nielsen said. “It didn’t act like it was going to bite me or do anything like that or anything. Nothing. I’m sure glad.”

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

A Falcon 9 rocket carrying SES’ O3b mPower 3 and 4 satellites lifted off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Friday around 6:12 p.m. ET.

The Falcon 9’s first stage returned to Earth just under nine minutes after liftoff, according to Space.com. It came in for a vertical touchdown on the SpaceX droneship Just Read the Instructions, which is stationed in the Atlantic Ocean off the Florida coast.

The Falcon 9’s upper stage, meanwhile, will continue hauling O3b mPower 3 and 4 to medium-Earth orbit. The two satellites were deployed following the launch.

The Government Accountability Office also said airlines are taking longer to recover from disruptions such as storms. Surges in cancellations in late 2021 and early 2022 lasted longer than they did before the pandemic, the GAO said.

Much of the increase in airline-caused cancellations has occurred at budget airlines, but the largest carriers have also made more unforced errors, according to government data.

Airlines have clashed with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg over blame for high rates of canceled and delayed flights in the past two years. Airlines argue that the government is at fault for not having enough air traffic controllers, while Buttigieg has blamed the carriers.

The GAO report was requested by Republican leaders of the House Transportation Committee. The GAO said it examined flight data from January 2018 through April 2022 to understand why travelers suffered more delays and cancellations as travel began to recover from the pandemic.

The GAO said weather was the leading cause of cancellations in the two years before the pandemic, but the percentage of airline-caused cancellations began increasing in early 2021. From October through December 2021, airlines caused 60% or more of cancellations — higher that at any time in 2018 or 2019.

At the time, airlines were understaffed. The airlines took $54 billion in taxpayer money to keep employees on the job through the pandemic, but they reduced workers anyway by paying them incentives to quit.

As travel rebounded, the airlines struggled to replace thousands of departed workers. They now have more workers than in 2019 — and the cancellation rate this year is lower than during the same period in 2019, according to data from tracking service FlightAware.

A spokeswoman for trade group Airlines for America said the majority of cancellations this year have been caused by severe weather and air traffic control outages – about 1,300 flights were canceled in one day because of an outage in a Federal Aviation Administration safety-alerting system.

“Carriers have taken responsibility for challenges within their control and continue working diligently to improve operational reliability as demand for air travel rapidly returns,” said the spokeswoman, Hannah Walden. “This includes launching aggressive, successful hiring campaigns for positions across the industry and reducing schedules in response to the FAA’s staffing shortages.”

Several airlines agreed to reduce schedules in New York this summer at the request of the FAA, which has a severe shortage of controllers at a key facility on Long Island.

In 2019, Hawaiian Airlines and Alaska Airlines had the highest percentages of airline-caused cancellations, easily topping 50%. In late 2021, they were joined by low-fare carriers Allegiant Air, Spirit Airlines, JetBlue Airways and Frontier, each of whom were responsible for 60% or more of their cancellations, according to GAO.

The percentage of cancellations caused by the airline also increased at Southwest, Delta, American and United. The figures did not include the 16,700 late-December cancellations at Southwest that followed the breakdown of the airline’s crew-rescheduling system.

The GAO said the Transportation Department has increased its oversight of airline-scheduling practices. The Transportation and Justice departments are investigating whether Southwest scheduled more flights than it could handle before last December’s meltdown.

The Southwest debacle has led to calls to strengthen passenger-compensation rules.

One of the most prevalent myths, Olympic swimmer Ambrose “Rowdy” Gaines IV says, is the perceived safety of floaties and water wings.

“The problem with floaties is that it gives parents a literal false sense of security,” Gaines, a member of the the Pool & Hot Tub Alliance (PHTA), a non-profit organization that promotes swimming and water safety, tells TODAY.com. “You throw your kid in a floatie and think: ‘Oh, that’s all they need.’ It’s really the furthest thing from the truth.”

Gaines and fellow Olympic champions Missy Franklin and Cullen Jones joined TODAY to talk about swimming safety.

“We’re not here to shame,” Franklin said on TODAY, but “the big thing when it comes to floaties is they give your child a false sense of security. … They’re not safe just because they have a floatation device.”

According to a recent survey conducted online by The Harris Poll on behalf of PHTA, 66% of parents believe that floaties and water wings keep children safe in the water, despite the fact that these devices are not recognized as safe personal floatation devices.

“It’s something that was alarming to me,” Gaines says of the survey results. “(A floatie) doesn’t teach a child any kind of skills for learning how to swim because they’re vertical in the water, and in many cases, a floatie can pop.

“A parent is the first line of defense,” he adds. “Watch your child and never take your eyes off.”

Jim Spiers, co-founder and CEO of SwimJim, an aquatics education program, and president of the nonprofit Stop Drowning Now, agrees, adding that the issue with floaties is that they “don’t always work.”

“Kids can slip them off their arms, they can tip over, so it’s a huge issue,” Spiers tells TODAY.com. “They’re an aid — they’re not a rescue device, and parents should not look at them as a rescue device or as the babysitter in the pool.”

Parents should supervise children at all times in the water, he says.

“They shouldn’t be on their phones. They shouldn’t be on their iPads. They shouldn’t be working,” Spiers says. “Their job is to watch their child.”

Drowning is the leading cause of death in children between the ages of 1 and 4, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Natalie Livingston, co-founder and owner of of ALIVE Solutions Inc, a risk management consulting and education firm, says even putting your child in a lifejacket doesn’t guarantee safety.

“Lifejackets are not a free pass to relax or check out as a supervising adult,” Livingston, a 27-year veteran of the aquatics industry who has conducted hundreds of accident and drowning investigations, tells TODAY.com. “They should be a visual reminder of the importance of your effective supervision.”

It’s not that parents should never use floaties, Gaines says.

“I think floaties are a good tool that get kids used to the water, but they shouldn’t be used as a crutch,” Gaines, who leads Step Into Swim, an initiative of the Pool & Hot Tub Alliance that promotes water safety education and works to create more swimmers, says. “I’m begging parents not to take their eyes off their children when they’re in or around water.”

Floaties keep children in a vertical position in the water; Gaines says the key is for kids to learn how to float on their backs.

“Floaties don’t provide that tool to be able to teach your child how to actually swim, or adding that life-saving skill of being able to float on their back,” Gaines adds. “That’s end-all for me — teaching the child how to float on the back.”

Additionally, Livingston says parents shouldn’t assume a child who knows how to swim isn’t in danger of drowning.

“We see drownings happen to people who knew how to swim all the time,” she says. “People can have medical events, can get a cramp, can get tired and can have someone else pull them under.”

Knowing what drowning looks like, Spiers adds, is also important.

“Drowning is silent. It’s quiet. It also does not look like a panic,” he says. “Drowning does not look like the movies. It’s not actually yelling and screaming ‘help’ or arms flailing. If a child or person has submerged in the water, they’re having trouble to get their breath.”

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

• 3 Olympic gold medalists share lessons on water safety for kids.
• Why swim instructors are warning parents against certain swimsuit colors
• 7 things I never let my kids do as a emergency medicine pediatrician

The finding highlights new, potentially fertile areas in the warmer regions of Mars where conditions might be suitable for life to exist, though more study is needed.

Friday’s news comes days after mission leaders acknowledged that the Zhurong rover has yet to wake up since going into hibernation for the Martian winter nearly a year ago.

Its solar panels are likely covered with dust, choking off its power source and possibly preventing the rover from operating again, said Zhang Rongqiao, the mission’s chief designer.

Before Zhurong fell silent, it observed salt-rich dunes with cracks and crusts, which researchers said likely were mixed with melting morning frost or snow as recently as a few hundred thousand years ago.

Their estimated date range for when the cracks and other dune features formed in Mars’ Utopia Planitia, a vast plain in the northern hemisphere: sometime after 1.4 million to 400,000 years ago or even younger.

Conditions during that period were similar to now on Mars, with rivers and lakes dried up and no longer flowing as they did billions of years earlier.

Studying the structure and chemical makeup of these dunes can provide insights into “the possibility of water activity” during this period, the Beijing-based team wrote in a study published in Science Advances.

“We think it could be a small amount … no more than a film of water on the surface,” co-author Xiaoguang Qin of the Institute of Geology and Geophysics said in an email.

The rover did not directly detect any water in the form of frost or ice. But Qin said computer simulations and observations by other spacecraft at Mars indicate that even nowadays at certain times of year, conditions could be suitable for water to appear.

What’s notable about the study is how young the dunes are, said planetary scientist Frederic Schmidt at the University of Paris-Saclay, who was not part of the study.

“This is clearly a new piece of science for this region,” he said in an email.

Small pockets of water from thawing frost or snow, mixed with salt, likely resulted in the small cracks, hard crusty surfaces, loose particles and other dune features like depressions and ridges, the Chinese scientists said. They ruled out wind as a cause, as well as frost made of carbon dioxide, which makes up the bulk of Mars’ atmosphere.

Martian frost has been observed since NASA’s 1970s Viking missions, but these light dustings of morning frost were thought to occur in certain locations under specific conditions.

The rover has now provided “evidence that there may be a wider distribution of this process on Mars than previously identified,” said Trinity College Dublin’s Mary Bourke, an expert in Mars geology.

However small this watery niche, it could be important for identifying habitable environments, she added.

Launched in 2020, the six-wheeled Zhurong — named after a fire god in Chinese mythology — arrived at Mars in 2021 and spent a year roaming around before going into hibernation last May. The rover operated longer than intended, traveling more than a mile (1,921 meters).

___

AP video producer Olivia Zhang in Beijing contributed to this report.

___

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.

A recent report by Goldman Sachs laid out some stark possibilities when it comes to AI and the economy. The report estimates two-thirds of jobs in the U.S. and Europe, and around 300 million positions worldwide could be exposed to automation from new AI advances. The report also notes that one-fourth of all work being done could be replaced by generative AI.

“The interaction between humans and AI will become more and more prevalent as we move forward,” said Georgios Petropoulos, a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Initiative on the Digital Economy. “Then we will see that they can be really good because they can increase our productivity or efficiency, we can be much more productive in the tasks we are doing.”

Watch the video above to find out more about how AI could change the future of work

One in every three female high school students reported they had seriously considered attempting suicide in 2021, a survey from the federal health organization reported. 

The table details that the 2021 percentage is a significant increase from 2019 (24.1%).

Of the number that considered suicide in 2021, the CDC reported that one-fourth (23.6%) created a suicide plan — a massive increase from 2019 (19.9%). 

As for the rate of those who attempted suicide, there was an uptick, from 11% to 13.2%.

The biggest differences were noted in students’ ages, race/ethnicity and/or gender identity.

For instance, in 2021, black female students had a higher chance to report having attempted suicide over white female students as well as ninth and 10th-grade female students compared with 12th grade.

Some of the survey results that remained relatively consistent between 2019 and 2021 were the percentage of attempted suicide cases in females that required medical treatment from 3.3% to 3.9%.

As for the male students, the percentage of those who reported seriously considering suicide in 2021 (14.3%) was similar to the number in 2019 (13.3%).

The results observed in this CDC survey “highlight the potential effect of the COVID-19 pandemic mitigation measures that might have increased students’ social isolation and anxiety, leading to the onset or exacerbation of adolescent mental health concerns and suicidal thoughts and behaviors.”

The report includes data from the 2019 and 2021 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) in a school-based survey conducted biennially since 1991. Private and public school students are represented from grades 9-12 in all states of America.

If you are struggling with thoughts of suicide or worried about a friend or loved one, call the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 for free, confidential emotional support 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Teen sex was already becoming less and less common before COVID-19.

About three decades ago, more than half of teens said they’d had sex, according to a large government survey conducted every two years. By 2019, the share was 38%. In 2021, 30% of teens said they had ever had sex. That was the sharpest drop ever recorded by the survey.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday released reports analyzing the latest findings from the survey that looks into risky youth behaviors, including smoking, drinking, having sex and carrying guns.

More than 17,000 students at 152 public and private high schools responded to the 2021 survey. Participation was voluntary and required parental permission, but responses were anonymous.

The CDC also noted decline in students who said they were currently having sex or who'd had at least four sex partners.

The declines clearly had a lot to do with the pandemic that kept kids isolated at home for long stretches and, often, under extended adult supervision, experts said.

Health officials generally like to see trends that result in fewer teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections, but the decline in teen sex coincided with increased reports of social isolation and poor mental health.

“I think these together paint a picture of high school students building fewer strong interpersonal connections that can be protective of good mental health," said Laura Lindberg, a Rutgers University researcher who studies adolescent sexual behavior.

“This is an opportunity to say maybe teens are having too little sex," said Lindberg, who was not involved in the reports.

The CDC's Kathleen Ethier said the decline may be a good thing if it reflects more young people making healthy decisions to delay sex and reduce their number of partners.

"But what concerns me is this is potentially a reflection of social isolation," said Ethier, director of the CDC’s division of adolescent and school health.

The 2023 survey, which will show if the decline was temporary, is currently underway.

Another finding: The proportion of high school kids who identify as heterosexual dropped to about 75%, down from about 89% as recently as 2015. Meanwhile, the share who identified as lesbian, gay or bisexual rose to 15%, up from 8% in 2015, when the survey began asking about sexual orientation.

There were also increases in the proportion who said “other” or that they were questioning or uncertain, the CDC found. The changes may be at least partly related to social changes that have reduced the stigma about identifying as not heterosexual, Lindberg said.

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

As it turns out, the practice of cleaning when the clocks spring forward, can potentially lead to increased happiness and productivity, too.

“A cluttered environment can clutter the mind,” says Michael Messina, a clinical psychologist and owner of Dr. Messina & Associates, a practice that provides psychological and psychiatric services. “That can be indicative of how a person’s doing.”

Living in a messy space can lower your self-esteem and cause a lot of anxiety, Messina adds. But on the flip side, having a clean house can have positive effects on your mental health.

Here are a few ways Messina says spring cleaning may improve how you feel and what you’re able to get done at home.

3 ways spring cleaning can boost happiness, increase productivity

1. Boost mood

“The act of cleaning itself can be rewarding and reinforcing, [by] being able to see a task accomplished,” Messina says. This can leave you feeling motivated and happy.

Spring cleaning is also exercise, and though it isn’t equivalent in intensity to the kinds of exercises you should aim for every day, “it includes physical movement,” he notes.

“When you’re pushing a vacuum around, picking up boxes and moving them, there’s movement involved in that. So you don’t think about that as exercise, but it really is,” says Messina.

Research shows that greater physical activity is associated with a higher satisfaction for life and more happiness.

And when you consider your home to be warm and welcoming, you’re more likely to invite people over, which adds a social component to your life that can increase happiness too, he adds.

“You don’t want to have people in your house if you’re living in a mess,” says Messina, and that can isolate you from the ones you enjoy spending time with.

2. Improve focus

Unable to focus while working from home? Well, it may be because the state of your environment is getting all of your attention, says Messina.

“If you have stuff in your environment that’s cluttered, you’re distracted by those things and you can’t focus on the things that are important,” he notes.

“It’s going to be hard to focus on work, and you’re going to have poor work [productivity]. And then you’re going to feel the effect of that; that could be low self-esteem [due to] poor job performance.”

Alternatively, he says, having a clean space can allow you to:

• Think more clearly
• See more progress
• Organize your day better
• Have a better sense of control over your environment

3. Reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression

When people are experiencing severe depression, “it’s really hard for them to engage in the cognitive work of therapy,” says Messina. “We have to start with the behavioral work of therapy. It’s basically getting people going,” which is called “behavioral activation.”

Small tasks like organizing a cupboard or straightening up your room are great examples of behavioral activation, he adds.

“It’s activating them in a way that’s towards a productive activity and includes physical movement. And when they can do that, their mental health is going to be helped or raised a bit, so that they can do the difficult work of cognitive therapy,” Messina says.

Given all of these benefits for your mental health, Messina is strongly in favor of spring cleaning, especially because the physical activity involved in it is “going to be very beneficial for a person’s anxiety, depression and sleep.”

DON’T MISS: Want to be smarter and more successful with your money, work & life? Sign up for our new newsletter!

Join CNBC’s Small Business Playbook virtually on May 4th, where entrepreneurs will share advice and tips on how to handle economic uncertainty, inflation and more so your business can succeed for the short-term and the long-term. Register for free today.

• I woke up at 5 a.m. for 7 days to see if it would increase my productivity: Here are the pros and cons
• 100-year-olds share their simple tips for a long, happy life: ‘I didn’t retire until I was 99’

The cubs spent nine months at the wildlife center and were released Wednesday in the San Bernardino National Forest near Clark’s Ranch.

“It is always our goal to rehabilitate and return all wildlife to their natural habitat,” Andy Blue, campus director of SDHS’s Ramona Wildlife Center, said in a statement. “This release in Clark’s Ranch was very special for our team because it was relatively close to us, so we had multiple wildlife rehab specialists joining to witness it firsthand.”

According to the SDHS, all three cubs were rescued by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and brought to the Ramona Wildlife Center in July of 2022. An orphaned brother-sister pair came from the San Bernardino Mountains. Their mother had been conditioned to seek food from humans and was killed by a resident while attempting to break into a cabin. The third, a female cub, was rescued after her mother was likely hit by a car near Lake Arrowhead.

Since their arrival, “the three cubs have grown healthy and strong together at the Ramona Wildlife Center in an outdoor enclosure that closely mimics life in the wild,” veterinarians said. The Project Wildlife team has kept an eye on the bears from a distance, making sure they did not become comfortable around humans and were prepared to survive on their own and forage for food.

The bears have also been microchipped, fitted with a GPS collar and given a clean bill of health from Project Wildlife’s veterinary team.

There are two bear cubs still in care at the Ramona Wildlife Center. With this latest release, the center is making space for new orphaned bears found in the wild this season, as bear cubs are typically born in February/March.

A former Apple employee who swindled the company out of more than $17 million with a scheme that double-billed for parts was sentenced to three years in federal prison and ordered to pay nearly $33 million, prosecutors said.

Dhirendra Prasad pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud and conspiracy to defraud the United States in 2022.

Prasad, 55, of Mountain House, California, worked at Apple from 2008 to 2018 as a buyer in the company’s Global Service Supply Chain unit. Along with two co-conspirators, who owned two companies that were Apple suppliers, Prasad conspired to double-bill Apple for parts it already owned or had purchased.

Prasad said the scheme began as far back as 2011. It netted him more than $17 million and ran for eight years. Prasad also engineered “sham invoices” that allowed one of his co-conspirators, Don Baker, to take unjustified tax deductions valued at more than $1.8 million.

“Prasad was given substantial discretion to make autonomous decisions to benefit his employer,” federal prosecutors and Internal Revenue Service investigators said in a statement Wednesday. “Prasad betrayed this trust, and abused his power to enrich himself at his employer’s expense.”

In addition to his prison sentence, Prasad will forfeit $5.5 million worth of assets, pay a money judgment of $8.1 million, and restitution of $17.4 million to Apple and $1.9 million to the IRS.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Federal Railroad Administration stopped short of recommending in its latest safety advisory issued Thursday that railroads limit the size of their trains, which can routinely stretch more than 2 miles long. However, they did suggest a number of precautions including making sure engineers know how to handle them and that locomotives don’t lose communication with devices at the end of trains that can help trigger the brakes in an emergency.

Ohio train derailment Mar 31

Justice Department Sues Norfolk Southern Over Train Derailment in Ohio

Rockland County Feb 23

Video Shows Freight Train Plowing Through Tractor-Trailer Stuck on Tracks in NY

Currently, there aren’t any restrictions on train length but members of Congress and state lawmakers in at least six states have proposed establishing limits particularly in the wake of the fiery Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern derailment in Ohio. The major freight railroads have pushed back against that idea because they have increasingly come to rely on longer trains to help them move cargo with fewer crews and mechanics as they overhauled their operations over the past six years. Union Pacific CEO Lance Fritz said recently that he doesn’t think accident data shows that long trains are riskier.

But the Federal Railroad Administration cited three derailments involving trains longer than 12,250 feet (3,734 meters) where train length was a factor in its advisory. That agency and the National Academies of Sciences are both in the middle of studying the impact of long trains, and they expect to issue reports next year on whether they are a problem.

“FRA believes these incidents demonstrate the need for railroads and railroad employees to be particularly mindful of the complexities of operating longer trains,” the agency said.

The derailments mentioned as examples of the problems that can accompany long trains were in Springfield, Ohio, in March; in Ravenna, Ohio, last November; and in Rockwell, Iowa, in March 2022. In each of those cases, the way cars in different parts of the train pulled and pushed against each other contributed to the derailments.

The fiery February derailment that prompted evacuations in East Palestine, Ohio, and sparked a nationwide focus on rail safety wasn’t mentioned as an example. The National Transportation Safety Board has said that an overheated bearing that caused an axle to fail on one of the railcars likely caused that derailment.

This latest advisory follows one earlier this month that directed railroads to re-examine the way they assemble their trains to minimize those kind of forces that often come into play as a train goes over hills and around corners. Parts of a train can be pulling forward going up a hill while the middle or back of the train pushes against the rest of the cars while going down a hill.

Those forces make it challenging for engineers to control a train, so regulators said railroads need to adjust their training to make sure their engineers are prepared to handle the monster trains they are operating. The common practice of putting locomotives in the middle of long trains as well as in the front can help manage a long train, but having to control those additional locomotives also complicates the engineer’s job.

“A locomotive engineer cannot be expected to safely operate in a more demanding service without proper additional training that covers the unique challenges and complexities those trains present,” regulators said in the advisory.

A spokeswoman for the Association of American Railroads trade group said railroads are already working to manage the challenges associated with long trains and looking for ways to improve safety.

“All stakeholders – the FRA, railroads, and elected officials – share the same goal of continuously enhancing rail safety, minimizing adverse impacts to surrounding communities and keeping the goods that power our economy flowing,” AAR spokeswoman Jessica Kahanek said. “The recommendations within this advisory align closely with the prudent steps railroads already take to do just that.”

The Federal Railroad Administration said that in addition to the concerns about derailments, long trains can block crossings for extended periods of time. When crossings are blocked, firefighters, police and ambulance drivers may be delayed in getting someone the help that they need, and pedestrians may risk their lives by crawling under or across stopped trains that could start moving without warning.

The states proposing limits on train size this year include Arizona, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Nevada and Washington.

“Someone call 911. Now!” seventh-grader Dillon Reeves shouted to dozens of other middle-school kids on the bus Wednesday.

Dillon was hailed as a hero: He stopped the bus as it was veering toward oncoming traffic.

“In my 35-plus years of education, this was an extraordinary act of courage and maturity on his part,” said Robert Livernois, superintendent of Warren Consolidated Schools.

The incident was recorded on a video camera just above the driver. The video shows the driver fanning herself with a baseball cap and informing the transportation office that she needs to pull over.

Seconds later, Dillon jumped into action, hitting the brake pedal and clutching the steering wheel.

“I don’t know that it could have gone any better,” Livernois said, noting that adults helped kids out the back door. “When you have an anchor like Dillon taking care of business on the bus, it really and truly was a good day for us.”

Dillon declined to speak to reporters Thursday, but his parents, Steve and Ireta Reeves, were proud.

“We’ve got a little hero,” Dillon’s dad said. “He’s been on my lap driving country roads, pulling into driveways since about 4 years old. … He’s a good driver.”

Then I did my 2018 taxes and discovered I owed the U.S. government $2,798 and New York state $345 from the full-time freelance work I’d done the year before.

I made a long-term plan to pay it off but apparently clicked the wrong button and woke up the following day to discover an alarming new bank account balance: negative $1,243. Like most Americans, I did not have $1,243.

I was lucky. A family member was able to lend me $1,243 at no interest, as well as an extra $50 so I wouldn’t starve till my next payday. But I did need to pay back the money as soon as I could.

I started looking for work outside of my day job to help cover the bill. Among the various side hustle sites I perused was internet jungle Craigslist. That’s when I saw an ad I couldn’t really believe.

“Help me find love online,” it read.

‘You will facilitate some dates with guys who have all their teeth’

“Looking for a funny, smart writer, actor or creative to online date for me,” it began.

“I will give you access to my accounts. You will facilitate some dates with guys who have all their teeth, a job and some other criteria I’ll tell you about later. You can do it while waiting for the bus, from your couch, from the toilet.” She was a local creative, she wrote, and was tired of the online dating grind. She wanted someone to handle the apps so she could just show up on the dates.

Qualifications for the gig included the following:

• “Must writing goodly — seriously, though, I’m trying to match with intelligent, well-educated men”
• “Must be confident and a damn good flirt”
• “I don’t care about your gender as long as you’re into men — otherwise I think this will all be too abstract”
• “Must have at least one long-term relationship (over a year) under your belt, so that you have a sense of what an emotionally available man presents like”

To apply, she said, share a resume, a note about what interests you about the gig and “a brief description of YOUR dream man.” She’d pay $25 per hour or a flat rate per date you arranged.

Getting paid to ‘help a badass lady find some man gold’

I couldn’t believe it. This gig actually sounded fun.

I’m a professional wordsmith, I said in the email I immediately sent, so I was capable of “writing goodly.” I’ve been dabbling with dating apps for years so have a handle on how those things work. My dream man is kind of elusive but loosely he’s kind, intelligent and quietly confident, perhaps Andrew Garfield.

I could fully relate to her dating app woes. “If I can help a badass lady find some man gold,” I wrote, “that feels like a pretty major win.”

Within hours, I got a response: “Hey Gili, let’s talk.”

We Skyped the following day then met up for drinks at a wine bar in Brooklyn to hammer out details. I’d swipe and text on her behalf using her profiles on apps like Bumble and OkCupid. She’d give final approval, and then I’d set up the dates.

Pay was $100 upfront then $150 for each date.

‘Dreams DO come true’

The gig didn’t last long. Over the next three or so weeks, I swiped on and chatted up likely dozens of guys at night and on lunch breaks. I must have spent at least 20 hours doing this.

It felt kind of bizarre. When I was texting as me, I always felt comfortable being a goof. But I was pretending to be someone else and didn’t want to say anything that wasn’t authentic. I found myself regularly turning down any natural sass.

The other challenge was that given the fact that my client was paying $150 per date, she was picky. There was plenty of interest on the guys’ parts. But there was often a reason she wouldn’t move forward. Some dudes were a little too forward. Some a little too old. Some were too reminiscent of exes.

Eventually I told her that, though I understood why she was picky, it meant I did hours of work without getting paid. And the gig sort of fizzled from there. Altogether, all I made was that initial $100.

We lost touch over the pandemic, but I reached out recently to see how she’s doing. Turns out she reconnected with and has been happily dating someone she met on Tinder before she and I even embarked on our personal Cyrano de Bergerac.

“Dreams DO come true,” she said.

As for my own 2019 objective, through various side gigs and vigorous saving, I paid off the $1,293 by fall.

DON’T MISS: Want to be smarter and more successful with your money, work & life? Sign up for our new newsletter!

Join CNBC’s Small Business Playbook virtually on May 4th, where entrepreneurs will share advice and tips on how to handle economic uncertainty, inflation and more so your business can succeed for the short-term and the long-term. Register for free today.

Check out:

I’m still single but this is why I’m quitting dating apps like Tinder and Hinge forever

Work was overwhelming. I couldn’t stay motivated. I’d get let go. Turns out I have ADHD.

How I paid off $100,000 in student loans while making $28,000 to $45,000 a year

Researchers say it is hard to predict how the tick season will play out. This year’s mild winter and early snow melt, though, could mean more ticks earlier than usual and a wider spread of Lyme disease and other tick-borne diseases, scientists said.

In Connecticut, ticks are showing up in greater numbers this year, according to Goudarz Molaei, a tick expert for the state. So far, more than 700 ticks have been sent in for a testing program that normally would have gotten 200 to 300 by now. The state typically sees a lot of Lyme disease, which got its name from a Connecticut town.

“It’s going to be an above average year for tick activity and abundance,” Molaei said.

WHAT DISEASES DO TICKS SPREAD?

Infected ticks spread bacteria, viruses and parasites that make people sick. Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne infection in the U.S. An estimated 476,000 Americans are diagnosed with Lyme disease each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Black-legged ticks, also called deer ticks, can carry more than Lyme-causing bacteria. They can also spread babesiosis, anaplasmosis and Powassan virus disease. The lone star tick, mainly located in southern, eastern and midwestern states, can carry ehrlichiosis and Heartland virus disease. American dog ticks can spread Rocky Mountain spotted fever. Ticks pick up disease-causing germs by biting infected wildlife, usually rodents.

Lyme Disease Aug 10, 2022

What the Lyme Disease Vaccine Could Mean for People Living With Long-Term Symptoms

Health & Science Aug 8, 2022

Long-Awaited Major Test of Possible Lyme Vaccine is Now Underway

WHEN IS TICK SEASON?

It varies by region, but tick season generally stretches from April to October. Ticks are mostly dormant during the cold winter months, and emerge as temperatures rise, but can be active on warm winter days, too. Memorial Day is often considered the start of the season but that’s largely because that’s when people in cold-weather states start spending more time outdoors, said Sam Telford of Tufts University’s school of veterinary medicine in North Grafton, Massachusetts. Lyme disease cases typically peak in June, July and August. April and May are typically lighter months, but not always.

Tiny ticks at the nymph stage — about the size of poppy seed — could be active early this year, said Dr. Bobbi Pritt, who studies tick-borne diseases at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. “When we have mild winters, we do anticipate that the ticks are going to be out earlier, and biting humans,” Pritt said.

WHAT MAKES FOR A BAD TICK SEASON?

Government disease trackers say predicting how tick-borne diseases will trend is complicated. The number of ticks can vary from region to region, and diagnoses can be affected by how well different doctors test and report cases. The changing climate has both positive and negative implications for ticks, as warm, wet weather is beneficial to them, but especially hot weather is not, Telford said. Tiny ticks could indeed be active early, but a dry, hot summer could also kill ticks, he said. The best approach is to assume ticks will be very active. “Every year should be considered a bad tick year,” he said.

HOW CAN PEOPLE PROTECT THEMSELVES AGAINST TICKS?

Thankfully, there are numerous ways to prevent tick bites. The CDC recommends treating clothing with products containing 0.5% permethrin. It’s also important to be especially cautious in areas where ticks live, such as grassy and wooded areas. Using repellents and doing thorough checks afterward is also key, the CDC says. Limiting exposed skin also helps avoid bites.

The disease can cause a fever, chills, fatigue and muscle and joint pain. It is treated with antibiotics, and most people recover. Left untreated, it can worsen, causing symptoms such as heart problems and debilitating pain. There is no Lyme vaccine on the market in the U.S. for people but one is being tested.

___

AP reporter Mike Stobbe in New York and data journalist Camille Fassett in Seattle contributed to this report.

It was a brief moment of defiance and chaos. While seven people were arrested for trespassing, the boisterous demonstration was free of violence or damage. Yet later that day, a group of Republican lawmakers described it in darker tones, saying Zephyr’s actions were responsible for “encouraging an insurrection.”

Montana Apr 26

Montana Transgender Lawmaker Barred by GOP From House Floor

Nashville School Shooting Apr 5

Tennessee Republicans Move to Expel 3 Democrats From the House Over Gun Control Protests

It’s the third time in the last five weeks — and one of at least four times this year — that Republicans have attempted to compare disruptive but nonviolent protests at state capitols to insurrections.

The tactic follows a pattern set over the past two years when the term has been misused to describe public demonstrations and even the 2020 election that put Democrat Joe Biden in the White House. It’s a move experts say dismisses legitimate speech and downplays the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump. Shortly after, the U.S. House voted to impeach him for “incitement of insurrection.”

Ever since, many Republicans have attempted to turn the phrase on Democrats.

“They want to ring alarm bells and they want to compare this to Jan. 6,” said Andy Nelson, the Democratic Party chair in Missoula County, which includes Zephyr’s district. “There’s absolutely no way you can compare what happened on Monday with the Jan. 6 insurrection. Violence occurred that day. No violence occurred in the gallery of the Montana House.”

This week’s events in the Montana Legislature drew comparisons to a similar demonstration in Tennessee. Republican legislative leaders there used “insurrection” to describe a protest on the House floor by three Democratic lawmakers who were calling for gun control legislation in the aftermath of a Nashville school shooting that killed three students and three staff. Two of them chanted “Power to the people” through a megaphone and were expelled before local commissions reinstated them.

As in Montana, their supporters were shouting from the gallery above, and the scene brought legislative proceedings to a halt. Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton condemned the Democratic lawmakers.

“(What) they did today was equivalent, at least equivalent, maybe worse depending on how you look at it, of doing an insurrection in the Capitol,” Sexton, a Republican, told a conservative radio station on March 30.

He later clarified to reporters that he was talking just about the lawmakers and not the protesters who were at the Capitol. He has maintained that the Democratic lawmakers were trying to cause a riot.

To Democrats, Republicans’ reaction was seen as a way to distract discussion from a critical topic.

“They are trying to dismiss the integrity and sincerity of what all these people are calling for,” said Tennessee Democratic Rep. John Ray Clemmons. “They’re dismissing what it is just to avoid the debate on this issue.”

Legal experts say the term insurrection has a specific meaning — a violent uprising that targets government authority.

That’s how dictionaries described it in the 18th and 19th centuries, when the term was added to the Constitution and the 14th Amendment, said Laurence Tribe, a constitutional law professor at Harvard University.

Protests at the capitols in Montana and Tennessee didn’t involve violence or any real attempts to dismantle or replace a government, so it’s wrong to call them insurrections, Tribe said.

Michael Gerhardt, a law professor at the University of North Carolina, said insurrection is understood as a coordinated attempt to overthrow government.

“Disrupting things is a far cry from insurrection,” Gerhardt said. “It’s just a protest, and protesters are not insurrectionists.”

Nevertheless, conservative social media commentators and bloggers have used the word insurrection alongside videos of protesters at state capitols in attempts to equate those demonstrations to the Jan. 6 attack, when thousands of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in an attempt to halt certification of the presidential vote and keep Trump in office. Some of the rioters sought out then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and shouted “Hang Mike Pence” as they roamed the Capitol.

Republicans’ use of the term insurrection in these cases isn’t just wrong, it’s also strategic, said Yotam Ophir, a University at Buffalo communications professor who focuses on misinformation. Repeating a loaded term over and over makes it lose its meaning and power, he said.

The term also serves two other purposes for Republicans: demonizing Democrats as violent and implying that the accusations against Trump supporters on Jan. 6 were exaggerated, Ophir said.

In Montana, one widely shared Twitter post falsely claimed transgender “insurgents” had “seized” the Capitol, while the right-wing website Breitbart called the protest Democrats’ “second ‘insurrection’ in as many months.”

The Montana Freedom Caucus, which issued the statement that included the insurrection description, also demanded that Zephyr be disciplined. The group includes 21 Montana Republican lawmakers, or a little less than a third of Republicans in the Legislature. It was founded in January with the encouragement of U.S. House Freedom Caucus member Rep. Matt Rosendale, a hardline Montana conservative who backed Trump’s false statements about fraud in the 2020 presidential election.

Republican lawmakers eventually voted to bar Zephyr from participating on the House floor, forcing her to vote remotely. Notably, Republicans largely avoided referencing insurrection when discussing the motion, but some did accuse Zephyr of attempting to incite violence and putting her colleagues at risk of harm.

The Montana and Tennessee examples follow at least two other statehouse protests that prompted cries of “insurrection” from Republicans.

Donald Trump Jr. cited “insurrection” in February in a tweet claiming transgender activists had taken over and occupied the Oklahoma Capitol. But according to local news reports, hundreds of supporters of transgender rights who rallied against a gender-affirming care ban before the Republican-controlled Legislature were led in through metal detectors by law enforcement and protested peacefully.

In Minnesota, some conservative commentators used the word insurrection earlier this month as demonstrators gathered peacefully outside the Senate chambers while lawmakers in the Democratic-controlled Legislature debated contentious bills ranging from LGBTQ issues to abortion. There was no violence or damage.

The rhetoric lines up with the refusal among many Republicans to acknowledge that the Jan. 6 attack was an assault on American democracy and the peaceful transfer of power.

“My colleagues across the aisle have spent so much time trying to silence the minority party that anyone speaking up and amplifying their voice probably strikes them as insurrectionists, even though it doesn’t resemble anything like it,” said Clemmons, the Democratic lawmaker in Tennessee.

___

Kruesi reported from Nashville and Swenson from New York. Associated Press writers Kate Brumback in Atlanta; Steve Karnowski in St. Paul, Minnesota; Sam Metz in Salt Lake City and Gary Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina, contributed to this report.

The company said it “has been going through a sales process for the last couple of months,” according to a document titled “Jenny Craig Company Transition FAQs” that was dated Tuesday and provided to NBC News.

Several Jenny Craig staffers said the company alerted them in recent days about potential layoffs.

The FAQ document said: “While we had to issue Warn Notices specifically for sites where we had more than 50 people potentially impacted, this will likely impact all employees in some manner.

Read the full story on NBCNews.com here.

Florida officials are threatening to revoke the teaching license of a school superintendent who criticized Gov. Ron DeSantis, accusing the educator of violating several statutes and DeSantis directives and allowing his “personal political views” to guide his leadership.

Such a revocation by the state Department of Education could allow DeSantis to remove Leon County Superintendent Rocky Hanna from his elected office. The Republican governor did that last year to an elected Democratic prosecutor in the Tampa Bay area who disagreed with his positions limiting abortion and medical care for transgender teens and indicated he might not enforce new laws in those areas.

Disney also sued DeSantis this week, saying he targeted its Orlando theme parks for retribution after it criticized the governor’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law that then banned the discussion of sexuality and gender in early grades, but has since been expanded.

Hanna has publicly opposed that law, once defied the governor’s order that barred any mandate that students wear masks during the COVID-19 pandemic, and criticized a DeSantis-backed bill that recently passed that will pay for students to attend private school. The Leon County district, with about 30,000 students, covers Tallahassee, the state capital, and its suburbs.

“It’s a sad day for democracy in Florida, and the First Amendment right to freedom of speech, when a state agency with unlimited power and resources, can target a local elected official in such a biased fashion,” Hanna said in a statement sent to The Associated Press and other media Thursday. A Democrat then running as an independent, Hanna was elected to a second four-year term in 2020 with 60% of the vote. He plans to run for reelection next year and does not need a teacher’s license to hold the job.

“This investigation has nothing to do with these spurious allegations, but rather everything to do with attempting to silence myself and anyone else who speaks up for teachers and our public schools in a way that does not fit the political narrative of those in power,” Hanna said.

He said the investigation was spurred by a single complaint from a leader of the local chapter of Moms for Liberty, a conservative education group, requesting his removal.

“We are fighting tirelessly with our local school board to no avail,” Brandi Andrews wrote DeSantis, citing Hanna’s mask mandate, his opposition to the state’s new education laws and directives and his public criticism of the governor. She noted that she had appeared in a DeSantis reelection TV commercial.

Her letter was stamped “Let’s Go Brandon,” a code used by some conservatives to replace a vulgar chant made against President Joe Biden. DeSantis is expected to soon announce that he will seek the Republican nomination to challenge Biden in next year’s election. Andrews issued a statement saying her complaint against Hanna was one of many.

Education department spokesman Alex Lanfranconi said in a statement that while officials would not discuss the Hanna investigation in detail, “nothing about this case is special.”

“Any teacher with an extensive history of repeated violations of Florida law would be subject to consequences up to and including losing their educator certificate,” he said. The threatened revocation was first reported by the Tallahassee Democrat newspaper.

Before any punishment is meted out, Hanna can have a hearing before an administrative judge, attempt to negotiate a settlement or surrender his license. He said in his statement he has not decided what he will do.

Hanna received a letter from Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. earlier this month saying an investigation found probable cause that he violated a 2021 DeSantis directive barring districts from mandating that students wear COVID-19 masks. Hanna required students to wear masks after a Leon third grader died of the disease early that school year. The fight went on for several months until Leon and several other districts had their legal challenge rejected by the courts.

Diaz also cited a memo Hanna issued before this school year telling teachers, “You do You!” and to teach the way they always had, allegedly giving instructors approval to ignore new laws enacted by DeSantis and the Legislature. That includes the so-called “Don’t say Gay” law, which supporters call the “Parental Rights in Education Act.”

His letter also cites the district’s failure for one month in 2020 to have an armed guard or police officer at every school as required after the 2018 Parkland high school massacre. Hanna said then that there weren’t enough available officers to meet that requirement and the education department cleared him of wrongdoing.

Diaz also complains that parents were told that their children could get an excused absence if they chose to attend a February student protest at the state capitol opposing DeSantis’ education policies.

Offering students a “free day off of school” to attend the rally “is another example of (Hanna) failing to distinguish his political views from the standards taught in Florida schools,” Diaz wrote.

The attacks included the first one against Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, in nearly two months, although there were no reports of any targets hit. The city government said Ukraine’s air force intercepted 11 cruise missiles and two unmanned aerial vehicles over Kyiv.

The strikes on the nine-story residential building in central Ukraine occurred in Uman, a city located around 215 kilometers (134 miles) south of Kyiv. Twenty-three people, including four children, died in that attack, according to NBC’s Anna Tsybko. The Ukrainian national police said 17 people were wounded and three children were rescued from the rubble.

The bombardment was nowhere near the war’s sprawling front lines or active combat zones in eastern Ukraine, where a grinding war of attrition has taken hold. Moscow has frequently launched long-range missile attacks during the 14-month war, often indiscriminately hitting civilian areas.

Russia-Ukraine War Apr 27

Ukraine Has Received 1,550 Armored Vehicles and 230 Tanks From Allies, NATO Says

news Apr 27

China Just Called Ukraine for the First Time in the War. The Timing Wasn't Accidental, Analysts Say

Ukrainian officials and analysts have alleged the strikes are part of a deliberate intimidation strategy by the Kremlin. Russia has denied its military aims at civilian targets.

Survivors of the Uman strikes recounted terrifying moments as the missiles hit when it still was dark outside.

“All the glass flew out, everything flew out, even the chandelier fell. Everything was covered in glass,” resident Olha Turina told The Associated Press at the scene.

“Then there was an explosion. … We barely found our things and ran out,” she said.

Turina, whose husband is fighting on the front lines, said one of her child’s classmates was missing.

“I don’t know where they are, I don’t know if they are alive,” she said. “I don’t know why we have to go through all this. We never bothered anyone.”

One of the 10 people killed in the Uman attack was a 75-year-old who was in her apartment in a neighboring building and suffered internal bleeding from the shockwave of the blast, according to emergency personnel on the scene.

Three body bags lay next to the building as smoke continued to billow hours after the attack. Soldiers, civilians and emergency crews searched through the rubble outside for more victims, while residents dragged belongings out of the damaged building.

One woman, crying in shock, was taken away by rescue crews for help.

A 31-year-old woman and her 2-year-old daughter were also killed in the eastern city of Dnipro in another attack, regional Governor Serhii Lysak said. Four people were also wounded, and a private home and business were damaged.

In Kyiv, fragments from intercepted missiles or drones damaged power lines and a road in one neighborhood. No casualties were reported.

The city’s anti-aircraft system was activated, according to the Kyiv City Administration. Air raid sirens started at about 4 a.m., and the alert ended about two hours later.

The attack was the first on the capital since March 9.

The missiles were fired from aircraft operating in the Caspian Sea region, according to Ukrainian Armed Forces Commander in Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi.

Overall, he said, Ukraine intercepted 21 of 23 Kh-101 and Kh-555 type cruise missiles launched, as well as the two drones.

The attacks came as NATO announced that its allies and partner countries have delivered more than 98% of the combat vehicles promised to Ukraine during Russia’s invasion and war, strengthening Kyiv’s capabilities as it contemplates launching a counteroffensive.

Along with more than 1,550 armored vehicles, 230 tanks and other equipment, Ukraine’s allies have sent “vast amounts of ammunition” and trained and equipped more than nine new Ukrainian brigades, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said.

Some NATO partner countries, such as Sweden and Australia, have also provided armored vehicles.

The overnight attacks and comments came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he and Chinese leader Xi Jinping held a “long and meaningful” phone call on Wednesday in their first known contact since Russia’s full-scale invasion more than a year ago.

Though Zelenskyy said he was encouraged by Wednesday’s call and Western officials welcomed Xi’s move, it didn’t appear to improve peace prospects.

Russia and Ukraine are far apart in their terms for peace, and Beijing — while looking to position itself as a global diplomatic power — has refused to criticize Moscow’s invasion. The Chinese government sees Russia as a diplomatic ally in opposing U.S. influence in global affairs, and Xi visited Moscow last month.

_____

Arhirova and Rising reported from Kyiv. Patrick Quinn in Bangkok contributed to this story.

___

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

The drug joins a growing list of medications facing supply shortages in the U.S. Liquid amoxicillin, another antibiotic used to treat strep, has been in short supply since October, according to the FDA. 

The form of penicillin affected, called penicillin G benzathine, is the preferred drug for syphilis, because it can be used in adults, children and pregnant people. It’s often administered in outpatient clinics or urgent care settings. Dosages for both children and adults are in short supply, according to the FDA.

cancer Apr 11

Cancer Drug Shortages Are Creating Dire Circumstances for Some Patients

news Feb 28

Op-Ed: DEA and FDA Rules Exacerbate Adderall Shortage

Syphilis cases in the U.S. reached a 70-year high in 2021, the last year for which data is available, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The sexually transmitted infection can result in organ damage or death if left untreated.

The FDA attributed the penicillin shortage to increased demand. Pfizer, the sole supplier of that form of penicillin in the U.S., pointed to the amoxicillin shortage as the main issue, because it prompted doctors to recommend penicillin instead. The rise in syphilis cases most likely further accelerated demand, the company said.

Read the full story at NBCNews.com