Sheriff's deputies arrested 29-year-old Saul Ortega at his Modesto home Saturday for allegedly holding his girlfriend captive for a month as he tortured and raped her. The victim was found with extensive injuries to her body, including bruises and burns, the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post....
Zakaria: Rich Countries are to Blame for Omicron
The saddest thing about the emergence of the omicron variant is its utter predictability, Fareed Zakaria says. For months, even longer, public health officials have been warning that as long as the coronavirus can circulate freely and widely, it would change its form, and that those mutations could be more...
US Doubles Tariffs on Canadian Softwood Lumber and Contractors Expect Higher Prices
The Biden administration's Commerce Dept. on Nov. 24 followed through with expected anti-dumping and countervailing duties on Canadian softwood lumber producers, placing tariffs of 17.99% on their imports, more than twice the rate of 8.99% during the Trump administration. "They are ... a tax on U.S. consumers, raising the costs...
Pope Francis Calls On Europe to Welcome Migrants During Refugee Camp Visit
Pope Francis visited a refugee camp in Greece on the frontier of Europe’s migration routes and called on the continent to welcome people seeking asylum from war and other humanitarian disasters. “I ask every man and woman, all of us, to overcome the paralysis of fear, the indifference that kills,...
Murder and Mandates in Chicago
The smartest thing Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot did with her lawsuit against the Fraternal Order of Police over its opposition to her COVID vaccine mandate was to drop it. The mayor said last week she is dropping the suit because she’s now satisfied with the number of police getting vaccinated....
Texas Will be ‘Home of Semiconductor Manufacturing’ Amid Chip Shortage: Gov. Abbott
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott declared Sunday that his state "will be the home of semiconductor manufacturing going forward" as the chip shortage has been affecting companies around the globe. "The country made a mistake over the past one or two decades to farm out manufacturing of all these essential supplies, whether it be now semiconductors...
Wisconsin’s Democratic Governor Vetoes GOP Abortion Bills
Wisconsin’s Democratic Gov. Tony Evers vetoed five Republican-authored anti-abortion bills on Friday, just days after the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in a case that could curtail if not end a woman’s right to abortion. Evers, who is making his support for abortion rights a key plank of his 2022...
Latest California Smash and Grab Caught on Video
Another in a spate of smash-and-grab robberies plaguing cities in California and other states played out on Thursday at an indoor swap meet in Los Angeles. Authorities say cash, jewelry and other items were taken from the Del Amo Swap Meet in Racho Dominguez in a late morning assault by...
Cops Shot, Killed in Line of Duty Hits Record High in 2021
The number of cops shot and killed in the line of duty across the United States this year has hit a new high, the National Fraternal Order of Police reported Wednesday. Fifty-eight police officers have been killed on the job as of Nov. 30 — up from the 47 killed...
Schools Across the Country are Struggling to Find Staff. Here’s Why
Paying students to serve lunches during school hours. Bringing retired teachers back to the classroom. Hiring bus drivers for janitorial duties. Shortening in-person instruction to four days a week. Across the country, these are some of the short-term solutions to a nationwide shortage of school staff at all levels –...