Authorities on Thursday said they arrested a Washington state man who made more than 20 “swatting” calls around the country and in Canada, prompting real emergency responses to his fake reports of bombs, shootings or other threats. Ashton Connor Garcia, 20, of Bremerton, used voice-over-internet technology to conceal his identity...
911 Recordings Reveal Terror at Nashville School During Shooter’s Attack
Nashville authorities released 911 calls Thursday that capture the terror inside an elementary school during this week's mass shooting as people in hushed voices urged dispatchers to send help with sirens, crying and gunfire audible in the background. One caller told a dispatcher that she could hear gunshots as she...
CNN Ratings Tank as New Management Plots ‘Non-Partisan’ Shift
CNN's leadership is preaching patience even though thousands of viewers are abandoning the network during its attempted turnaround, with no indication yet whether it will be rewarded. Cable news ratings are down across the board compared to 2022, when Russia's invasion of Ukraine was fresh in the news. CNN's dip...
US Revises Down Last Quarter’s Economic Growth to 2.6% Rate
The U.S. economy maintained its resilience from October through December despite rising interest rates, growing at a 2.6% annual pace, the government said Thursday in a slight downgrade from its previous estimate. But consumer spending, which drives most of the economy's growth, was revised sharply down. The government had previously estimated that...
Used-Car Prices, After Finally Easing, Are Back up Again
Well, it was nice while it lasted. For nearly a year, the average used vehicle in the United States had been edging toward affordable again for millions of people. The relief felt belated and relatively slight, but it was welcome nonetheless. From an eye-watering peak of $31,400 in April of...
California May End Travel Ban to States With Anti-LGBTQ Laws
When North Carolina in 2016 banned transgender people from using the bathroom of their gender identity in public buildings, California retaliated by banning state-funded travel to that state and any other state with laws it deemed discriminatory against LGBTQ people. But seven years later, California now bans state-funded travel to...
Kentucky GOP Lawmakers Enact Limits on Transgender Care With Veto Override
Republican lawmakers in Kentucky on Wednesday swept aside the Democratic governor’s veto of a bill regulating some of the most personal aspects of life for transgender young people — from banning access to gender-affirming health care to restricting the bathrooms they can use. The votes to override Gov. Andy Beshear’s...
West Virginia Governor Signs Ban on Gender-Affirming Care
West Virginia Republican Gov. Jim Justice on Wednesday signed a bill banning gender-affirming care for minors, joining at least 10 other states that have enacted laws restricting or outlawing medically supported treatments for transgender youth. The bill outlaws those under 18 from being prescribed hormone therapy and fully reversible puberty blockers. It...
DeSantis Disney Board Appointees Say They Were Slipped a Mickey
Board members picked by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to oversee the governance of Walt Disney World said Wednesday that their Disney-controlled predecessors pulled a fast one on them by passing restrictive covenants that strip the new board of many of its powers. The current supervisors of the Central Florida Tourism...
Israel’s Palestinians Mostly Sit out Democracy Protests
Amal Oraby is usually a fixture at street protests. But as tens of thousands of Israelis have demonstrated for months against a contentious government plan to overhaul the judiciary, Oraby is sitting this one out. An activist and lawyer, Oraby is one of the many Palestinian citizens of Israel who have stayed...