A small city in Oklahoma elected a white nationalist. Will it be able to vote him out? (www.nbcnews.com)
Judd Blevins, a city commissioner in Enid, Oklahoma, marched in the 2017 white nationalist Unite the Right rally. Now he faces a recall vote....
Gangsters, Money and Murder: How Chinese Organized Crime Is Dominating America’s Illegal Marijuana Market (www.propublica.org)
A quadruple murder in Oklahoma shows how the Chinese underworld has come to dominate the booming illicit trade, fortifying its rise as a global powerhouse with alleged ties to China’s authoritarian regime....
Colorado man died from pet Gila monster's venomous bite, autopsy shows (apnews.com)
A Colorado man who was placed on life support after he was bitten by his pet Gila monster died of complications from the desert lizard’s venom, an autopsy report obtained by The Associated Press on Friday confirmed....
Rebellious Russians Stage Daring Attacks From Ukraine on Russian Soil (www.nytimes.com)
Sophisticated ‘burglary tourists’ fly from South America to rob wealthy homes (www.latimes.com)
San Francisco ties welfare to drug-screening, boosts police powers in stunning tough-on-crime shift (www.latimes.com)
Archived at web.archive.org/…/san-francisco-welfare-drug-scre…
US marriages back to pre-pandemic levels while divorce rate falls (www.theguardian.com)
2022 saw nearly 2.1m marriages, up slightly from 2019 – but still far below their height in 1946...
“It Feels Impossible to Stay”: The U.S. Needs Wildland Firefighters More Than Ever, but the Federal Government Is Losing Them (www.propublica.org)
The Gaza conflict’s forgotten shipping crew held hostage in the Red Sea (www.cnn.com)
A Houthi-owned helicopter hijacked the Galaxy Leader cargo ship on November 19 in the Red Sea, as rebel gunmen laid siege to the vessel and took the ship’s crew of 17 Filipinos, two Bulgarians, three Ukrainians, two Mexicans and a Romanian hostage....
Teen gets 40 years in prison for Denver house fire that killed 5 from Senegal (apnews.com)
One of three teenagers charged with starting a Denver house fire that killed five people — apparently out of revenge for a stolen cellphone that was mistakenly traced to the home — was sentenced Friday to 40 years in prison....
Americans Embracing Possibility of Living to 100, Many Expecting Over Three Decades of Retirement (finance.yahoo.com)
Leading adviser quits over Instagram’s failure to remove self-harm content (www.theguardian.com)
A leading psychologist who advises Meta on suicide prevention and self-harm has quit her role, accusing the tech giant of “turning a blind eye” to harmful content on Instagram, repeatedly ignoring expert advice and prioritising profit over lives.
Pet DNA testing company in doghouse after identifying human as canine (www.theguardian.com)
DNA My Dog received human genetic sample and identified it as a malamute, shar-pei and labrador, according to news station
Bitcoin briefly rises to record high over $70,000 (www.reuters.com)
Fulton County DA Fani Willis case against Trump can continue if she or special prosecutor Wade remove themselves, judge rules (www.nbcnews.com)
Authorities seize ailing alligator kept illegally in New York home's swimming pool (apnews.com)
An ailing alligator was seized from an upstate New York home where it was being kept illegally, state officials said....
Nex Benedict’s death illustrates the hostility of Oklahoma’s anti-trans laws (www.independent.co.uk)
Nex Benedict’s tragic February death has raised more questions than answers, including after the medical examiner this week ruled it a suicide. But studies suggest the teen’s case is all too common in a society where acceptance, remains elusive – and Oklahoma activists point angrily to a raft of recent anti-trans state...
Increase in pro-Palestine content pushed US to ban TikTok: WSJ report (maktoobmedia.com)
6 Massachusetts teens charged in racial bullying incident with mock slave auction on Snapchat (www.nbcnews.com)
The chat was allegedly created by a group of 8th-grade students and involved some of the juveniles expressing “hateful and racist comments" and a mock slave auction....
'Others also affected by religiophobia': India abstains on vote in UNGA on Islamophobia (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
A New Orleans Neighborhood Confronts the Racist Legacy of a Toxic Stretch of Highway (kffhealthnews.org)
Aside from a few discarded hypodermic needles on the ground, the Hunter’s Field Playground in New Orleans looks almost untouched. It’s been open more than nine years, but the brightly painted red and yellow slides and monkey bars are still sleek and shiny, and the padded rubber tiles feel springy underfoot....
‘Democracy is teetering’: at ground zero for Trump’s big lie in Arizona (www.theguardian.com)
The state Republican party is undaunted by electoral defeats for those claiming voting is rigged – and election officials are bearing the brunt of their fury...
Court upholds town bylaw banning anyone born in 21st century from buying tobacco products (apnews.com)
Most US sandwich baggies contain toxic PFAS ‘forever chemicals’, analysis says (www.theguardian.com)
Testing commissioned by Mamavation blog found high levels of a marker of PFAS in nine of 11 baggies tested
Trump’s hush money trial delayed until April after new dump of potential evidence (www.independent.co.uk)
Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg had supported the delay...
