Six of the eight people Aaron Long, 21, allegedly killed Tuesday night were Asian women. Police believe Long would have continued to Florida to kill more workers at similar businesses.
The parents of Kristin Smart, a California college student who disappeared in 1996 while walking home from a party, have filed a lawsuit against the father of the suspect charged with her murder, saying he caused them "severe emotional distress" over allegedly removing her body from his property. Ruben Flores, 80, was arrested last week and charged as an accessory to murder in connection with Smart's disappearance. Both Paul and Ruben Flores have pleaded not guilty to their charges.
Pregnant women with COVID-19 had a higher risk of complications and death than those who did not contract the virus, adding further evidence to the increased risks the virus poses during pregnancy, according to a new study. The global study, published Thursday in JAMA Pediatrics, found that pregnant women who contracted COVID-19 were 22 times more likely to die than pregnant women who did not contract the virus. Individuals who were symptomatic or had comorbidities, such as diabetes or were overweight, had a greater risk of complications and death, researchers said.
The Senate voted 94-1 in favor of an amended bill aimed at combatting the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes. Sponsored by Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, the legislation takes relatively modest steps to equip law enforcement and communities to better deal with the rise in attacks against Asian American and Pacific Islanders. It also requires the Department of Justice to appoint or designate someone to assist with an expedited review of hate crimes.
For chefs and restaurateurs, the only thing better than being awarded a Michelin Star may be earning multiple, retaining them and then becoming the first in the nation to earn a new distinction for sustainability. Chef Patrick O’Connell has done just that with his prestigious and picturesque establishment, The Inn at Little Washington, which has officially retained its three Michelin Stars and received a Green Star, the Michelin Guide announced Thursday. This three MICHELIN Star restaurant earned a Green Star, awarded for their deep commitment to sustainability.
A bill for D.C. statehood passed the House on a vote of 216-208 and heads to the Senate, where it has 45 co-sponsors but an uphill battle for passage. This time the measure has the public support of the White House Office of Management and Budget, which announced its support for statehood this week for the first time. H.R. 51 would change the name of the city from the District of Columbia to "Washington, Douglass Commonwealth," in honor of Fredrick Douglass, and allow a portion of the city -- including the U.S. Capitol, Supreme Court, White House and Kennedy Center -- to remain in a federal district called the "Capital."
During a time when social media platforms are steadily on the rise, Dove and Lizzo are raising awareness around an important issue: digital distortion. The personal care brand and Grammy award-winning artist announced the launch of the company's global "The Selfie Talk" campaign, which has kicked off with an aim to transform social media into a more positive and empowering place for the next generation. There's also a powerful "Reverse Selfie" video that displays the pressures around social media and how it's hurting young girls' self-esteem.
Sen. Tim Scott will deliver the Republican response to President Joe Biden's joint address to Congress next week. The announcement comes as negotiations over policing reform have taken center stage on Capitol Hill. The senator from South Carolina has been the lead negotiator for Republicans on policing reform -- working closely with Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., on a possible bipartisan deal.
On a Friday afternoon in July 2008, 20-year-old Courtney Wild appeared in federal court in West Palm Beach, Florida, demanding answers from federal prosecutors about their investigation of multi-millionaire Jeffrey Epstein, who allegedly sexually abused Wild and dozens of other underage girls at his waterfront mansion on Palm Beach Island. Over 12 years of litigation, Wild's case ultimately exposed details of the secret negotiations between prosecutors and Epstein's high-priced legal team that led to the controversial agreement.
Republicans unveiled a $568 billion infrastructure framework Thursday -- their answer to President Joe Biden's far more expansive $2 trillion package. The newly released GOP framework focuses exclusively on "core" infrastructure items like roads and bridges, broadband, airports, waterways, rails, ports and public transit. It excludes other big-ticket items in Biden's proposal, including explicit funding for electric vehicles, housing and home care.
An Ohio man whose job it was to collect trash has pleaded guilty to several charges related to dumping that garbage and other illegal waste at a makeshift landfill on his own property. The man, 52-year-old Donald Combs of Milford, Ohio, could face possible jail time for picking up thousands of pounds of trash over four years and putting it in the unlicensed landfill adjacent to his home, as well as at an unlicensed commercial site of his waste hauling business in nearby Goshen Township, the Ohio attorney general's office announced Thursday. Combs, described by state authorities as a "mass polluter," would solicit waste-hauling business by placing ads on Craigslist.
President Joe Biden said last year the nation was facing four “historic crises all at the same time" -- the pandemic, the related economic crisis, the need for racial justice and the “undeniable realities and accelerating threats of climate change.” At the time, given the unprecedented year, his inclusion of climate change in that list made headlines and surprised even some Democrats. While the White House lately has faced criticism for coming up short on other campaign promises around police reform and gun control, when it comes to climate change, it has largely been a different story.
The nine civilian victims gunned down at a Boulder, Colorado, grocery store last month were all killed before police officer Eric Talley and other officers "bravely charged in" the store, Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty said Thursday. Less than 30 seconds after Talley -- the final victim -- was shot and killed, a "second wave of officers" headed into the store, Dougherty said at a news conference. Prosecutors have added 43 additional charges against Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, who was taken into custody after the March 22 shooting that killed 10 at the King Soopers grocery store, Dougherty said.
"Felicity," the late '90s drama, could be heading back to television in the form of a reboot -- hints series star Scott Foley. Speaking with Entertainment Tonight, the 48-year-old-actor -- who played the hunky Noel Crane on the show -- teased the possibility of a revival. While he was originally opposed to bringing back the teen drama, Foley admitted that he has had a change of heart.
Comedian Eric Andre took to Twitter on Wednesday to share an alleged racial profiling incident that unfolded while he was waiting for his flight. The "Bad Trip" star said two officers stopped him for a "random" drug search while he was boarding a plane that was set to depart from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
John Travolta is opening up more about losing his late wife, Kelly Preston. Preston, who Travolta was married to for 28 yeras, lost her battle with breast cancer in July 2020. "I learned that crying and mourning over someone is something personal," said Travolta.
Another result of the pandemic has been a temporary reduction in emissions, such as carbon dioxide, which is "the primary greenhouse gas that is emitted from human activity," according to the Environmental Protection Agency. "Preliminary estimates," according to a recent World Meteorological Organization bulletin, "indicate a reduction in the annual global emission between 4.2% and 7.5%." Greenhouse gases trap heat in the Earth's atmosphere, which increases the average temperature.
NASA said it had successfully made oxygen on Mars, a major development that could aid future human missions to the red planet. The space agency confirmed Wednesday evening that a tool sent with its Perseverance rover was succesful in converting some of Mars' thin, carbon-dioxide rich atmosphere into oxygen. The experimental instrument developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is called the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment, or MOXIE for short.
Elizabeth Olsen revealed she had an identity crisis when she was just starting in Hollywood. The "WandaVision" star admitted she even once considered dropping her last name entirely to stop being compared to her sisters, twins Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. Speaking with Glamour UK, the 32-year-old said the thought to ditch her surname first crossed her mind in 1999 -- at the height of her big sisters' fame.
Paris Hilton recently spoke about the leak of her infamous sex tape with ex Rick Salomon and revealed the moment in her life gave her PTSD. "It was even more hurtful to me to have these people think that I [released it] on purpose -- that killed me," Hilton said during a conversation in Vanity Fair's pre-Oscar special, "Vanity Fair Cocktail Hour, Live!" "It still gives me post-traumatic stress disorder to talk about it." Hilton, who's back in the headlines recently thanks to the Oscar-nominated film "Promising Young Woman" resurrecting her 2006 single "Stars Are Blind" in a key scene, spoke of feeling betrayed after the taped was released in 2004.
The last two years has seen an explosion in the sales of digital artworks, which have been embraced by major auction houses and have fetched prices ranges from a few dollars to the tens of millions. Unlike traditional artworks, these can be duplicated exactly with a couple of clicks of a mouse, which raises a divisive question: Can a digital artwork ever really be as valuable as a piece that was physically created by an artist? Behind the explosion in the digital art marketplace are nonfungible tokens, known as NFTs.
