Nine people were injured after gunfire erupted along a beach boardwalk in Hollywood, Florida, sending people frantically running for cover along the crowded beach on Memorial Day. A police spokesperson said several of the victims were taken to a children’s hospital. However, authorities have not yet released the ages of the victims or provided details about their conditions. A preliminary investigation shows that an altercation between two groups resulted in gunfire. One person has been detained and another suspect is being still being sought.
Ralph Yarl walked at a brain injury awareness event on Monday, just weeks after he was shot in the head for accidentally knocking on the wrong door in Kansas City, Missouri. The Black 17-year-old was trying to pick up his younger brothers. Andrew Lester, an 84-year-old white man, is accused of shooting him. Yarl suffered a traumatic brain injury, and the shooting drew worldwide attention. On Monday, Yarl walked at a Memorial Day race for brain injury awareness. Many people registered to be part of “Team Ralph” as they raced through the park. Yarl's family said it’s important for Yarl to see that he’s not alone.
Debt ceiling takeaways: Biden's invite to liberal skeptics to 'talk to me,' McCarthy's balancing act
Biden has a message for members of the liberal wing of his party who don't like the debt-ceiling deal he worked out with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. That message: “Talk to me.” Biden acknowledged Monday that not all Democrats on the left may vote for the package that Congress will take up. But he says he feels good about where things stand. After weeks of negotiations, he and McCarthy struck an agreement to avert a potentially devastating government default. The stakes are high for both men — and now each will have to persuade lawmakers in their parties to vote for it.
The word list for the Scripps National Spelling Bee is crafted by a panel of 21 people, including five former Scripps champions. Those who submit words for use in the bee are given assignments throughout the year to come up with a certain number of words at a certain level of difficulty. Then the panel meets to debate the words and toss out the ones that are unfair or pose unresolvable problems. Even as spellers have improved with the help of comprehensive study guides and private coaching, panelists are confident they can continue to come up with words difficult enough to identify a champion.
North Korea has told neighboring Japan it plans to launch a satellite in coming days, which may be an attempt to put a military reconnaissance satellite into orbit. Japan's defense minister says he ordered the military to shoot down the satellite or debris, if any entered Japanese territory. The notice gave a launch window of between May 31 and June 11. It said it may affect waters in the Yellow Sea, East China Sea and east of the Philippines’ Luzon Island. It said earlier this month its first military spy satellite is ready for launch. North Korea’s past launches have demonstrated an ability to deliver a satellite into space, but there are questions about the satellite’s capability.
The Michigan Supreme Court will hear a dispute over the legality of using a drone to take pictures of a salvage yard near Traverse City. Aerial photos were used as evidence in a lawsuit against Todd and Heather Maxon. They were accused of violating a zoning ordinance and creating a nuisance with cars and other salvaged material in Long Lake Township. The Maxons argue that aerial photos violated their constitutional right against unreasonable searches. But a local judge and the state Court of Appeals have ruled against them. The appeals court said the dispute was a civil matter, not a criminal one.
Recent allegations by WNBA player Dearica Hamby that her coach harassed her for being pregnant have shined a renewed spotlight on one of the biggest challenges that female professional athletes face. Juggling the demands of parenthood with those of a professional sports career is just one of myriad challenges female athletes face in an industry rife with pay disparities, harassment and bullying. The athletes say things are slowly getting better as new work contracts include provisions for increased pay, maternity leave and child care stipends. But they also say that pregnant athletes continue to encounter attitudes ranging from ambivalent to outright hostile from leagues, coaches — and even fellow players.
The United Arab Emirates has unveiled plans to send a spaceship to explore the galaxy’s main asteroid belt, the latest space project by the oil-rich nation after it launched the successful Hope spacecraft to Mars in 2020. Dubbed the Emirates Mission to the Asteroid Belt, the project aims to develop a spacecraft in the coming years and then launch it in 2028 to study various asteroids. If successful, the spacecraft will soar at speeds reaching 33,000 kilometers per hour on a seven-year journey to explore six asteroids. It will culminate in the deployment of a landing craft onto a seventh, rare “red” asteroid that scientists say may hold insight into the building blocks of life on Earth.
Hundreds of people visited a small town in Missouri this week and last to see a Black nun whose body has barely decomposed since 2019. Some say it’s a sign of Catholic holiness, while others say the lack of decomposition may not be rare. Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster was exhumed in April as part of the monastery's preparations for a new shrine. The monastery expected to only find bones. Instead, her body and clothing were largely intact. People have flocked from all over the country to see the body. Anthropologists said bodies can stay preserved for many years, but people don't usually get to see that.
The Vatican is urging the Catholic faithful, and especially bishops, to be “reflective, not reactive” on social media. The Vatican's communications office issued a reflection Monday to try to tame the toxicity on Catholic Twitter and other social media platforms and encourage users to instead be “loving neighbors.” For decades the Holy See has offered such thoughts on different aspects of communications technologies, welcoming the chances for encounter they offer but warning of the pitfalls. The new message singled out bishops and other church leaders in warning that their engagement can be particularly problematic.
Europe's largest desalination plant for drinking water had largely remained idle since its construction near Barcelona over a decade ago. But since a prolonged drought gripped Spain last year the plant has been running at full throttle to help keep some five million people adapt to climate change and not go thirsty. Before the drought desalination provided just 3% of Barcelona's drinking water. Now desalination is its leading source of water, providing 33% of the city’s water compared to 19% that currently comes from its shrinking rivers. But desalination comes with high costs both for taxpayers and for the environment due to its high energy costs which can actually make the underlying conditions of climate change worse.
A prominent Hawaiian waterman wants to build another Hawaii wave pool facility using the latest technology to simulate the ideal conditions top-notch surfers need to stay competitive. But some people, including fellow Hawaiians, want to stop the project. They say another wave pool is a waste of water and pointless in Hawaii, the birthplace of surfing where a good break is often just minutes away. A lawsuit filed in state environmental court by a group of Hawaiians and residents near the proposed site not far from a popular surfing beach alleges the project will cause damage to nearshore limu, or seaweed, and desecrate iwi kupuna, or ancient Hawaiian remains.
New York City is sinking under the weight of its skyscrapers, homes, pavement and humanity itself. New research published this month says the city is sinking at an average rate of 1 to 2 millimeters a year. The study sought to estimate how much that process is being hurried along by the weight of its roughly 1 million buildings. The research team calculated that all those structures add up to about 1.7 trillion tons of concrete, metal and glass — about the mass of 4,700 Empire State buildings. While the process is slow, the study's lead researcher says parts of the city will eventually be under water.
The critically acclaimed HBO drama “Succession” has ended after its fourth and final season finale aired at 9 p.m. ET. The show's dedicated fans watched the whopping 88-minute finale Sunday to find out how the show’s central question would be answered: Which of the Murdoch-esque Roy family siblings will prevail? The fans have also turned online to find emotional support, memes and endless theories about the series. Show creator Jesse Armstrong told The New Yorker earlier this year that “there’s a promise in the title of ‘Succession.’”
This week’s new entertainment releases include an album from Foo Fighters and some lost songs by the late Kenny Rogers, a new gritty HBO series from “Euphoria” creator Sam Levinson called “The Idol” starring Lily-Rose Depp and The Weeknd. LeBron James’s origin story is dramatized in the film “Shooting Stars” and ESPN’s award-winning “30 for 30” series returns with “The American Gladiators Documentary,” a two-part film examining the history of the former syndicated reality-competition show. There's also a release of Bob Dylan re-recordings of old songs that will have fans
The reviews are starting to come in about the debt ceiling agreement reached by President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Even before seeing the details, some lawmakers were criticizing the deal as not doing enough to tackle the nation’s debt, while others worried it’s too austere and will harm many low-income Americans. The legislation will probably need support from a significant number of lawmakers from both parties to clear the closely divided House and gain the 60 votes necessary to advance in the Senate. The 99-page bill that resulted from the Biden-McCarthy negotiations was made public Sunday night.
The debt ceiling deal has come with just days to spare before a potential first-ever government default. On Sunday, President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy reached a final agreement and they are urging Congress to quickly pass it. Biden pronounced the development “good news” in remarks at the White House announcing the agreement. This followed a tentative compromise announced late Saturday. The deal risks angering some Democratic and Republican lawmakers as they begin to unpack the concessions, which include spending cuts. McCarthy and Biden spoke Sunday evening as negotiators drafted legislative text. They face a June 5 deadline when Treasury says the U.S. would risk a debt default.
Japan's coast guard says North Korea has notified it of plans to launch a satellite in coming days.
A new study suggests dozens of U.S. cities are at risk for mpox outbreaks this summer. Health officials say they are working to prevent the scale of infections that surprised the nation last summer. Most of the cases reported last year were spread during sexual contact between gay and bisexual men. Infections exploded in the wake of Pride gatherings in June. Health officials and event organizers say there are many reasons to be optimistic that history will not repeat this year. But they also worry that people may think of mpox as last year’s problem. They're encouraging people to get vaccinated.
A man in police custody died in Northern California after he broke a hospital’s window with a metal oxygen tank and fell off a ledge following an altercation with an officer and a nurse. The man died Thursday in San Jose. Police say he was in custody because he had allegedly violated a court order. Officers took him to the hospital for a pre-existing medical condition. The man broke the window with the oxygen tank while he was alone in the hospital room and jumped out onto a ledge. The officer and hospital security guards went back into the room to stop the man’s escape attempt, but he fell 20 feet.
Wildlife authorities say a raccoon in Maine was euthanized and tested for rabies after a woman brought it into a pet store for a nail trim and some customers kissed it. A Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife spokesperson said Sunday that the raccoon tested negative for the disease, and there is no rabies risk to the public as a result of the incident. The spokesperson also says raccoons are among the most common carriers of rabies in the state, and bringing the wild animal into a pet store constituted an unnecessary risk to public health.
For many teens, roaming shopping malls, hanging out at amusement parks, and watching a movie at a local theater with their peers have been long considered the rites of passage to adulthood. But in the recently, that independence has been curbed. An increasing number of malls, amusement parks and other public places where teens gather to meet their friends, have implemented policies just ahead of the summer requiring them to be accompanied by adult chaperones at least for certain times of the day. Requiring an adult chaperone is not new to some malls, but experts say there’s been a renewed push there, and the trend is now spreading to other types of establishments as businesses grapple with increasing rowdy teen behavior.
President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy have reached an “agreement in principle” to resolve the looming debt crisis. McCarthy outlined the proposed deal Saturday night. Biden and McCarthy spoke by phone earlier in the evening as they raced to prevent a catastrophic debt default. With the outline of an agreement, a legislative package can be drafted in time for votes in Congress next week. That's ahead of a projected June 5 federal default. Negotiators have wrangled over a deal that would also making spending cuts that House Republicans are demanding.
The Texas House of Representatives has voted to impeach scandal-plagued Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton. The move Saturday triggers his immediate suspension and sets up a trial in the state Senate that could permanently remove Texas’ top lawyer from office. The historic vote came after a monthslong House investigation into the three-term attorney general that resulted in 20 charges alleging sweeping abuses of power, including obstruction of justice, bribery and abuse of public trust. After the vote, Paxton’s office said the impeachment was “based on totally false claims” and pointed to internal reports that found no wrongdoing. House investigators have said the attorney general’s own probe includes false and disproven claims.
Two horses have died the past two days following injuries at Churchill Downs. They are the 11th and 12th fatalities over the past month at the home of the Kentucky Derby. Mare Kimberley Dream was euthanized after sustaining a distal sesamodean ligament rupture to her front leg during Saturday’s first race. Lost in Limbo was euthanized following a similar injury just before the finish line in Friday’s seventh race. A Kentucky steward’s report from May 13 lists the previously unreported death of Bosque Redondo after finishing 10th in the seventh race from an unspecified injury.