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6 Shreveport restaurants flagged for critical health violations

New health inspection reports for Caddo Parish reveal which local restaurants had critical safety violations.

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Sep 14 • 5:04 AM EDT • Health • shreveporttimes.com
Terrebonne, Lafourche restaurants cited for critical health violations

The Houma Courier obtained food safety inspection information for the week of Aug. 5-14 from the Louisiana Department of Health.

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Sep 14 • 5:02 AM EDT • Health • houmatoday.com
Little-Pengelly criticises O'Neill over meet with first ministers of Wales and Scotland

In Northern Ireland, the first and deputy first minister have identical powers and responsibilities.

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Sep 14 • 3:34 AM EDT • Politics • bbc.com
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LANL: LAMP Receives Milestone Approval, Paving Way For LANSCE Modernization

The LANSCE accelerator facility recently achieved a major milestone with CD-1 approval for its modernization project. The upgrade will replace critical 50-year-old systems while maintaining the fac…

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Sep 14 • 1:08 AM EDT • Science • losalamosreporter.com
Shadows Over CEE: Hybrid Sabotage and the Creeping Political Drift Away from Ukraine

Mysterious blazes at UAV production plants, improvised explosives at critical power grids, and foiled arson plots: hostile hybrid operations across Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) are no longer a theoretical threat. Yet, as defense supply chains come under literal fire, the region’s political consensus on Ukraine is quietly eroding at the polls, creating a dangerous […]

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Sep 14 • 12:27 AM EDT • Politics • defense.info
Texas Republicans call out railroad commissioner candidate over racist social media post

Texas Republicans criticized Bo French over a post about Asian students at the University of Texas.

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Sep 13 • 9:06 PM EDT • Politics • nbcnews.com
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'Culture shift' needed in how UK does business, Andy Burnham urges

Burnham has said those who take risks should be backed by government, but his government has been criticised for increasing business costs.

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Sep 13 • 5:30 PM EDT • Business • bbc.com
GOP senator criticizes 'racism' from fellow Texas Republican

Sen. John Cornyn and others slammed Bo French, a Texas GOP candidate, for \

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Sep 13 • 3:54 PM EDT • Politics • usatoday.com
The secret ballot has been an article of faith in U.S. elections. That's being tested in Georgia

The system's vulnerability has been drawing increased attention, with election security advocates criticizing state election officials for failing to fix it before the November elections.

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Sep 13 • 2:19 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
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Packers Receive Critical Update on Potential Josh Jacobs Suspension

One insider provided an important update on a potential suspension for Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs. The post Packers Receive Critical Update on Potential Josh Jacobs Suspension appeared first on HEAVY.

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Sep 13 • 2:12 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
NFL Writer Has Interesting Play-Calling Prediction For Sean Payton

Davis Webb takes the reins in Denver, but experts predict Sean Payton’s competitive fire will lure him back to the headset for at least one critical showdown.

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Sep 13 • 2:11 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Michigan cracks Yahoo Sports top 10 after upset win over Oklahoma

Despite early season criticism, Michigan football has secured a spot in the top 10 after defeating Oklahoma.

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Sep 13 • 10:35 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Cologne’s René Wagner responds to player criticism after home draw

Cologne head coach René Wagner responded directly to critical post-match comments from Linton Maina and Tom Krauß following Saturday evening’s 1-1 home draw with Werder Bremen. The hosts began bri...

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Sep 13 • 10:00 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
NFL and midterm elections set up prediction markets for a critical fall season

The 2025 football season and 2024 presidential election pushed prediction markets into the prominence they enjoy today.

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Sep 13 • 7:52 AM EDT • Politics • cnbc.com
🤩 I score however I want: best Bundesliga comeback ever?

There were quite a few doubters about striker Niclas Füllkrug’s return to SV Werder Bremen. He seems to have made it his mission to prove the critics wrong. And it really does seem to be a perfect ...

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Sep 13 • 7:37 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Key Takeaways From The Notre Dame Defense vs The Rice Owls

Chris Ash’s unit silenced the Owls with a historic shutout, fueled by Bryce Young’s breakout dominance and a relentless, deep rotation that forced four critical turnovers.

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Sep 13 • 5:00 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Bryce Underwood Sends Message After Michigan Upsets Oklahoma

Bryce Underwood credited his Michigan teammates for holding him accountable after responding to criticism with a 17-10 win over Oklahoma.

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Sep 12 • 10:38 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Texans Make Critical Final C.J. Stroud Decision Before Bills Game

The Houston Texans and C.J. Stroud have come to an agreement about his immediate future ahead of facing the Buffalo Bills. The post Texans Make Critical Final C.J. Stroud Decision Before Bills Game appeared first on HEAVY.

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Sep 12 • 7:45 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Former ESPN host hypocritically calls network a 'political lobbying firm' after Ted Cruz appearance

Jemele Hill slammed ESPN for hosting Senator Ted Cruz on "College GameDay," but her own history of political commentary on the network reveals blatant hypocricy.

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Sep 12 • 4:52 PM EDT • Politics • foxnews.com
Stuttgart slam VAR as injured Stiller frets over Germany call

VfB Stuttgart have heavily criticized the video assistant referee (VAR) for not helping award them a penalty in Saturday's 2-1 Bundesliga defeat at Hoffenheim. Midfielder Angelo Stiller was struck on the knee in the box by defender Ozan Kabak midway through the first half.

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Sep 12 • 2:03 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Maui Health Foundation secures $4.1 Million to fund state-of-the-art MRI

Thanks to the generosity of three donors, Maui Health has secured $4.1 million in funding to install a new, state-of-the-art MRI system at Maui Memorial Medical Center. More than 4,500 MRI exams are performed at Maui Memorial each year, making this investment the highest imaging priority for Maui Health, and essential to protecting the community’s access to critical diagnostic imaging.

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Sep 12 • 12:00 PM EDT • Health • mauinow.com
Single California condor mother gets help raising her chick

After coming back from the brink of extinction in the 1980s, the birds are still considered critically endangered.

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Sep 12 • 10:15 AM EDT • Science • popsci.com
World Congress on Nursing and Health Care

The World Congress on Nursing and Health Care is a premier international gathering dedicated to advancing the science, practice, and future direction of nursing and healthcare. Scheduled for April 05-06, 2027, in Singapore, this distinguished event will convene a global community of nursing professionals, healthcare specialists, researchers, educators, clinicians, policymakers, and industry experts to exchange knowledge, share groundbreaking insights, and foster collaborations that shape the future of healthcare.Driven by the theme “Navigating the Future of Nursing through Research, Resilience, and Innovation,” the congress will explore the evolving landscape of nursing and its critical contribution to transforming healthcare delivery. The event will highlight pioneering research, evidence-based practices, innovative care models, and resilient approaches that empower nurses to address emerging healthcare challenges and enhance patient outcomes across diverse populations.

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Sep 12 • 8:33 AM EDT • Health • upr.org
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Why everyone in tech is talking about LARPing

Techies online keep calling out "LARPers," criticizing founders perceived to be prioritizing clout over doing the actual work.

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Sep 12 • 5:17 AM EDT • Technology • businessinsider.com
The politics and possibilities of ‘AI could kill us all’

I found myself fielding a lot of questions from folks who don’t usually talk much about AI this week. They were mostly along the lines of “do you think AI is going to kill us all?” or “how worried should I be about this human extinction stuff?” Motivating this wave of existential anxiety was the highly dramatic resignation of now-former Anthropic employee Jacob Coxon, who quit his job while publicly sharing his concerns about safety practices at the leading AI companies. More specifically, he declared that almost everyone at OpenAI and Anthropic, the leading AI labs, believes that there’s a decent chance the AI systems they’re producing could “kill us all” by the end of the decade, and the companies aren’t “acting responsibly.” Other AI safety researchers, including those still employed at Anthropic and OpenAI, all confirmed that yes, Coxon is correct, they’re all worried that their company’s products might prove fatal for the entire human race as well. Two more AI employees quit and joined the chorus. Now, the warning shot has been covered everywhere from the Wall Street Journal to Fox News to WIRED to the Guardian. I understand why all this sounds scary, but my response to those who have asked, has generally been: No, you don’t need to worry that AI will kill go rogue and kill us all. But that does not mean we shouldn’t worry, period. Far from it. The companies building AI products are now among the wealthiest and most powerful entities in the world. And they very much are building enormous engines of mass surveillance, extraction, and automation. They can and have allowed their AI systems to carry out felony hacks of other companies, provided the government with autonomously generated kill lists, and sold enterprise technology to firms around the world that is explicitly intended to replace jobs. But “AI” has done these things not because they have all-powerful minds of their own but, ultimately, because people have programmed, calibrated, and directed them to. In other words, it’s not AI we need to worry the most about. It’s the people and corporations working to profit from and gain power by deploying it. The technology is sophisticated, sure, and, especially in cybersecurity contexts, potentially disruptive to plenty of existing systems. But if we want to stop this predatory, profiteering, and extractive form of AI—and it’s worth noting that at this point, most people do—we absolutely can. A quick note/plea: I can only do all of this with the support of readers like you, so if you find value in independent, critical tech journalism and analysis, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. I want to keep as much of this un-paywalled as absolutely possible, and I need your support to do so. Many thanks to all who continue to chip in, it’s very much appreciated. Onward. Subscribe First, some context: AI industry folks like Coxon have been discussing the prospect that AI will destroy humanity for years. Even before the beginning of the AI boom, many working in the industry, from the executive staff to the rank and file researchers, have obsessed over ‘x-risk’, or the possibility that AI will become sentient or semi-sentient and move one way or another to exterminate humanity. This is ostensibly why Elon Musk bankrolled OpenAI in the first place, and is the grounds for his lawsuit alleging OpenAI betrayed its charter by abandoning its nonprofit status to become a commercial enterprise. Many AI engineers and startup founders have calculated their own personal p(doom), or the probability that the tech product they are working on will initiate an actual humanity-extinguishing apocalypse. 10-25% p(doom)s are pretty common. (I wrote about a long weekend I spent among these folks at one of their top conferences here, to give you an idea of their ideas and belief systems.) Sam Altman himself drove the narrative of the imminent rise of a super-powerful AI, or artificial general intelligence, to prominence by declaring that the technology he was building posed an existential risk to humanity. This idea is in other words baked into the DNA of modern AI companies and into the products they engineer. It’s also why the industry is routinely accused, by myself and others, of “doom marketing,” ie, using such proclamations and framings to impart the sheer power of the technology behind your product onto investors, partners, consumers, and the state. Some ambient understanding of this tendency may have helped prevent the press from repeating the claim every time one of the x-risk folks made it over the years, including when they quit their jobs at AI companies while doing so. Yet Coxon’s AI x-risk alarm has broken containment, as they say, and has exposed the idea to the mainstream media once again. This has happened, I think, for a number of reasons. First, when AI CEOs were going around saying AI might kill everyone in 2023, their companies were well-capitalized, but not nearly to the extent they are today. They were more easily dismissed as eccentric geeks of the sort that Silicon Valley is supposed to produce. Now, not only do their products have much greater market saturation, but people are more aware of a) the often unethical ways the executives and companies comport themselves b) the other adverse impacts of AI that have already arrived, and c) the physical cost of building these systems, particularly when it comes to data centers. Finally, toss in the constant stream of headlines in 2026 about AI models going rogue or potentially upending the world’s infrastructure. [ ](https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/with-the-backlash-to-data-centers) [ With the backlash to data centers, Flock and AI glasses, a mass opposition to big tech is underway. Silicon Valley is in denial. ](https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/with-the-backlash-to-data-centers) Brian Merchant · Aug 27 [ Read full story ](https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/with-the-backlash-to-data-centers) As a result, general sentiment was already overwhelmingly skeptical of AI and its overlords, so the table was pretty well set for someone to come along and say ‘just a reminder, the companies that are building the product that promises to take your job and leave a data center in your neighborhood also think that it might exterminate the human race’ and get a strong reaction from the media and the public. The question is: Should we understand this stuff as hype, strategically fanned to feed already swelling valuations? Is it doom marketing? Genuine cause for alarm that the infrastructure that undergirds modern life is facing a novel threat vector? Or reason to be sincerely worried that AI companies are amassing too much power, and that their products are genuinely dangerous? The answer, I’m afraid, is “yes.” Let me try to untangle all of this a bit, because arguments over how to navigate this moment are extremely heated right now, as they are essentially arguments over how to approach the politics of AI at a moment where there may be a unique opening for action. Those sympathetic to AI alignment concerns and x risk arguments—which increasingly includes a faction on the left who want to shut down AI over safety concerns—argue that people who dismiss AI as all hype have their heads in the sand. Meanwhile, critics of the x-risk narrative—which I might note includes a cadre of investors and tech folks on the right, too—argue that it is hype and can be used to further inflate valuations or for pursuing regulatory capture. The challenge is that many feel that dismissing AI as just hype or purely marketing also diminishes the urgency of taking on the AI industry as the novel and threat to labor, civil society, and the public sphere it is; others that by accepting the industry’s own terms, we imbue it with undue power and enable it. But let’s be clear: Declarations that AI is so powerful it might end the world are a kind of marketing, and anyone who says otherwise is just as off base as those who say that’s all that it is. If you don’t think that these sub-trillion dollar companies have higher-ups who noticed that when their founders talked about super-powerful dangerous AI they got spikes in media interest and phone calls from investors, or that those founders didn’t notice that themselves, and lean into certain narratives to advantage their products, then I don’t know what to tell you. Not all marketing is a Pepsi ad campaign with a celebrity spokesperson. Yet confronting the AI industry should certainly be considered an urgent project. Do I share the x-riskers’ fear that out-of-control, super-intelligent AI agents might end the world? I do not. I’ve read a good deal of AI extinction literature over the last couple of years and I have not come across a credible, step-by-step documentation of how exactly AI might move from self-recursively improving AI to killing every single human on the planet. Most of what I’ve read seems predicated on a sort of reverse Ian Malcolmian logic: Eventually, it becomes smart enough and AI, uh, finds a way (to exterminate humanity). Are the AI companies also overstating and dramatizing what their products can do? Yes, pretty much all the time. They’re in a knife fight for market share and are trying to win customers and government contracts before their investors come knocking. And yet. They have concentrated enormous amounts of compute, have extensive data collection and surveillance capacities, have inserted themselves into the state in numerous capacities, including military kill chains, and they are being run by egomaniacal billionaires who are rushing to monopolize an entire new market. The way I think about their most recent frightening-seeming exploits is not as a “swarm of rogue AI agents building a new civilization” or whatever, but as corporations with a hitherto-unimaginable amount of compute at their disposal recklessly experimenting with automation programs, completely unafraid of any repercussions because we have been unwilling or unable to impose any on them. So I think we should welcome any newfound imperative to hold them accountable. I also think that ultimately, the AI critics, Pause AI folks, leftists, doomers, effective altruists, and, honestly, most of the public, want a lot of the same things: legitimate checks and limits on AI companies’ power, actual transparency into what the companies are doing, and for more of AI to be under public control. (Ultimately, a lot of what animates the x-risk fears are rooted in just that: a fear of losing control.) How we move towards all this, exactly, is the question of the day, and while there’s much to be argued over in terms of building a viable political platform to challenge the AI industry’s power, I do want to cast a vote against one particular approach. Not to pick on Chris here, as there are a lot of folks out there proposing stuff like this, and the policy ideas actually stem from AI safety groups. But not only would this be challenging to land politically (I can already hear the ‘China will beat us to AGI’ calls) and all but unworkable in practice, this approach is a) far too limiting, b) fails to address the current harms caused by AI and c) would likely only wind up serving Anthropic and OpenAI; it’s what regulatory capture looks like in action. Full model transparency is the floor for what should be on offer here. If these companies believe their products will kill us, the very least we deserve is to know how. It’s in the public interest. I would also argue we might get a lot of the way to stopping any currently envisioned robot apocalypse simply by forcing AI companies to assume liability, and to submit to the full brunt of the law. If Sam Altman were liable to be charged with a felony for approving the hack on Hugging Face1, if Google was forced to pay defamation fines each time it published a false and injurious AI Overviews, these companies might suddenly find cause to restrain their models’ output, and we might hear less about rogue AI. We would need to introduce new frameworks and available tools for tracking automated lawbreaking, to be sure, but I’d wager that little would frighten the AI companies more than actually being held accountable for what their products enable. To that end, Illinois has passed an AI liability law, which the industry fought tooth and nail, and Florida is considering one. The next steps would be towards moving AI under public control; again, it’s only reasonable, since everyone, not just AI insiders, should get a say over how a technology whose developers say might kill us is developed and deployed. Dismantling the whole industrial project as currently structured should be on the table, too, pending democratic input. But that’s for another post. For now, suffice to say that while I won’t be losing any sleep about an AI-enabled extinction event, Mr. Coxon and co. have given us an opportunity to underscore the urgency of the clear and present damage AI companies are doing, the extreme power they wield and the extent to which they hold themselves unaccountable, and the abundance of political capital there is out there for taking them on. Subscribe 1 Purely speculative! I do not know if he did or not.

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Sep 12 • 3:59 AM EDT • Politics • bloodinthemachine.com
Zohran Mamdani commemorates 9/11 amid widespread criticism
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Sep 11 • 5:01 PM EDT • Politics • aljazeera.com
Red Sox Make Notable Jarren Duran Move For Series Opener

Jarren Duran is changing positions as the Red Sox open a critical September series against the Royals at Fenway Park.

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Sep 11 • 2:56 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Kroger’s ad business sees most profit growth since 2021

Retail media is becoming increasingly critical to Kroger, as the grocer reported its best retail media profit growth since 2021.

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Sep 11 • 2:54 PM EDT • Business • modernretail.co
Journey's biggest hits, ranked from worst to best

Ahead of the band's show Saturday night in Los Angeles, here's a critical rundown of Journey's best-known songs.

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Sep 11 • 2:12 PM EDT • Entertainment • latimes.com
Could Latinos flip this Colorado district blue?

Colorado’s 8th Congressional District is a battleground: evenly divided politically, 40% Hispanic and critical in deciding control of Congress. John King talks to voters to explore whether the Latino trend toward President Trump continues.

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Sep 11 • 2:06 PM EDT • Politics • cnn.com
Mamdani draws fury from 9/11 mourners over Ground Zero appearance: ‘Disrespectful’

Footage captured Zohran Mamdani greeting Rudolph Giuliani at Ground Zero as victims' families and first responders criticize his 9/11 attendance.

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Sep 11 • 1:56 PM EDT • Politics • foxnews.com
How Brewers Can Clinch Division Title, Playoff Spot vs. Reds

The Milwaukee Brewers enter a critical weekend series needing just one victory to punch a postseason ticket while eyeing a fourth straight division crown.

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Sep 11 • 1:00 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Mourinho: Real Madrid could have scored ‘eight goals’ against Inter

José Mourinho hits back at criticism following Real Madrid’s 2-1 win against Inter: ‘We could have scored eight goals.’Real Madrid coach Mourinho spoke again about the Merengues’ recent 2-1 w...

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Sep 11 • 10:30 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Al Franken, other Jewish Americans endorse El-Sayed in Michigan Senate race

Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee in the Michigan Senate race, has faced a backlash from some Jewish Democrats for his intense criticism of Israel.

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Sep 11 • 7:55 AM EDT • Politics • washingtonpost.com
Postpartum politics: What it means to run for government as a new mum

Victorian Greens candidates Nina Crawley and Lini Fernando reflect on their experiences running a political campaign just months after giving birth. From the challenges and compromises to the support networks that wrapped around them, and why showing up vulnerably in public space matters. Subscribe In 2024, when my second child was four months old, I decided to run for local government. Fast forward two years, I am again four months postpartum, with my third child, and this time running in the state election. But this time has hit differently. Going through pregnancy, birth and postpartum while being a political candidate has had a more profound and personal impact than I ever expected. I reached out to my fellow Greens candidate for the state election, Lini Fernando, who gave birth 20 days before me, and her experience closely mirrored mine. Postpartum has its own unique challenges that we’ve not seen reflected in stories about women running for office. When people discuss the “juggle”, they’re usually talking about the practical mechanics of looking after small children - childcare arrangements, pumping schedules and logistics. As mums of multiple children, we were both aware of the logistical changes and difficulties that accompany giving birth and the months after. We assumed that combining this with running for election would be hard, but that we could organise our way out of any problems. What neither of us anticipated was the intense vulnerability that comes with putting yourself into the spotlight of a state election campaign at a time when you are physically exhausted and navigating things like breastfeeding and feeling like a stranger in your own body. There have been challenges that neither of us anticipated. Firstly, needing to buy new clothes because the supportive leggings that are a staple of the postpartum wardrobe weren’t going to cut it for community events. Lini held her first fundraiser - a trivia night - just three weeks postpartum. A business-casual wardrobe, several sizes bigger than pre-baby, was needed, and fast. As women, how we look is closely scrutinised, and the internalised fatphobia is loud. We are conditioned from our earliest days to believe that our appearance is tied to our worth, and taught how we are allowed to show up in public. Women who dare to put themselves into the spotlight also receive more abuse than their male counterparts, including criticism of their appearance. To stand in front of members of your community and try to convince them that you’re the best person to represent them in parliament is a challenge in and of itself. To do it with leaking breasts, a pelvic floor that could betray you at the first sign of a sneeze, a body that still feels unfamiliar, and with half your hair falling out (hello postpartum hair loss!) is another thing altogether. It requires courage, allowing yourself the grace to be vulnerable in public, and the belief that showing up, however imperfectly, matters. And the vulnerability isn’t just physical; it also includes factors like having to ask a campaign team to accommodate the realities of having a baby. Asking for help is hard, and it’s a skill that both new parents and hopeful political candidates need to become comfortable with. Parents understand the disappointment that comes when a call for help or connection is rebuffed, like a friend cancelling a much-needed coffee. That rejection is amplified for political candidates calling dozens of people each week. Many people don’t realise running for Parliament, when you aren’t the incumbent, is a volunteer role supported largely by other volunteers who have to squeeze volunteering in around their paid work. Calls need to be made and meetings held after work hours - usually during “witching hour” (5-8 pm), that special time of night when babies cry for no reason. I found that I was struggling to make these commitments, or having to tap out and ask for them to be rearranged. When I spoke to Lini, we realised that she had had a similar experience, this push-pull of being the candidate and wanting to show our faces at meetings and help recruit new volunteers at ‘calling parties’, but also being the only people who could settle our newborns. Sometimes we could merge the two worlds; Lini and I realised that we had both attended 7:30pm meetings online, sitting in a dark room, struggling though breastfeeding and settling our babies. Although we’re both committed to breaking the stigma around breastfeeding, it can be hard to keep your composure while trying to feed a young baby as they try to latch, spew and fuss. Ultimately, Lini and I agreed that showing up vulnerably in public space matters. Leaders should possess empathy and understanding for those who feel raw and in transition; from the dad who just got evicted to the teen who acquired a disability - anyone who feels they aren’t the version of themselves they expected right now. The patriarchy tries to tell us otherwise, but women shouldn’t have to wait until they’re ‘recovered’, no longer vulnerable, before they feel entitled to participate in public life. In fact, we could all benefit from our leaders being a little more vulnerable. *This piece was cowritten, but has been presented in the first person for the sake of style. About the authors Nina Crawley is former teacher and community organiser who now works in human rights and inequality advocacy for a non-profit. She’s a mother of three keen to get back to running as soon as her pelvic floor allows! She’s contesting the seat of Ivanhoe for the Greens in this year’s state election. Lini Fernando is a lawyer working in diverse areas of law including anti corruption and public law. She’s a mother of two and a gardening and good policy enthusiast. She is currently contesting the seat of Croydon for the Greens in this year’s state election. Thanks for reading Cheek Media Co. ! This post is public so feel free to share it. Share

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Sep 10 • 10:31 PM EDT • Politics • cheekmedia.substack.com
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Fact check: Trump, RFK Jr. and others make false claims on night 2 of GOP convention

President Donald Trump delivered another rapid-fire series of false claims on the second night of Republicans’ midterm convention on Thursday. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. did his own barrage of wrongness. And various other speakers uttered statements that were untrue, misleading or missing critical context.

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Sep 10 • 9:46 PM EDT • Politics • cnn.com
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Fact check: Trump, RFK Jr. and others make false claims on night 2 of GOP convention

(CNN) — President Donald Trump delivered another rapid-fire series of false claims on the second night of Republicans’ midterm convention on Thursday. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. did his own barrage of wrongness. And various other speakers uttered statements that were untrue, misleading or missing critical context.Here is a fact check of some of the assertions from the final day of the convention. This is not intended as a comprehensive list of Thursday’s falsehoods.Trump’s many false claimsTrump made numerous false claims, some of which he also made in his longer speech Wednesday.Trump claimed that there were “no empty seats” in the Dallas arena as he spoke Thursday, which was visibly untrue. CNN White House correspondent Alayna Treene, who was there, wrote in a live chat right after Trump made the claim that “I’m looking at rows of empty seats” and that “the idea that there are ‘no empty seats’ is just laughably untrue,” though she also said the room was mostly full. Trump has for years made false claims about supposedly never having had an empty seat.Trump further inflated one of his favorite fictional figures, claiming Thursday that “$22 trillion” in investment has come into the US; on Wednesday, he had put it at “over $20 trillion,” and even that lower figure has no apparent basis in reality. As of the time he spoke Thursday, the White House’s own website claimed there had been “$11.2 trillion” in “major investment announcements” this term, not “over $20 trillion,” and the White House figure was itself a major exaggeration of actual investment.Trump, talking about elections, lied that “there’s never been bigger cheaters” than Democrats; there is no basis for broadly describing Democrats as election cheaters. For the second straight night, Trump falsely claimed that the Biden administration allowed “25 million people” to pour into the country, though that number is nowhere close to correct. Trump again falsely claimed that former President Joe Biden and other Democrats “created the worst inflation in American history,” though even peak Biden-era inflation, 9.1% in June 2022, was far from the all-time record of 23.7%; it was a 40-year high, but the rate then fell sharply before Trump returned to office.Trump also baselessly claimed that Democrats would “defund the police” and give “voting rights and welfare to 25 million illegal aliens” if they won the midterms. Republicans will still control the White House in 2027 and 2028 and the president would be in position to veto any such changes if a Democratic-controlled Congress sought to make them, but there is no indication that Democrats want to do so. Also, even groups favoring strict immigration policies estimate that the total undocumented population is far less than “25 million” or even 20 million.As he did Wednesday, Trump claimed the US now has the world’s lowest prescription drug prices. The assertion is so broad that it is unclear what exactly Trump is referencing. But experts told CNN they highly doubt that the prices for brand-name drugs in the US are generally less than they are in other countries, and the Trump administration has not provided details to prove the claim.“It’s tough to claim that you’re getting the lowest prices anywhere in the world and then also not have any evidence to support that,” said Andrew Mulcahy, a senior health economist at RAND, while Diederik Stadig, senior healthcare economist at financial institution ING, said, “To say that the US now has the lowest drug prices in the world is at this moment not true.”And as he did Wednesday, Trump said “more Americans are working today than ever before” – which is true but nearly meaningless, since the number of people working in the US generally rises over time simply because the population rises over time.“There are more Americans working because there are more Americans. That’s the entire analysis,” Justin Wolfers, a University of Michigan professor of public policy and economics, wrote in his newsletter in August.RFK Jr.’s false claims on the pandemic, Trump’s record and moreFalse claim about Democrats and the 2024 electionKennedy unsuccessfully ran for the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination before withdrawing to run as an independent and then eventually endorsing Republican candidate Donald Trump. In Kennedy’s Thursday convention speech, he complained of how the Democrats handled the nomination race.At one point, he said, “For the first time in history, they cancelled their own convention. No voter ever cast a primary ballot for Kamala Harris, no elected delegate was ever consulted; the party of ‘No Kings’ simply anointed a queen.”Kennedy is entitled to express unhappiness about how quickly Democratic leaders coalesced around then-Vice President Harris after Biden unexpectedly dropped out of the race in July 2024, after the primaries were over and less than four months from Election Day. But it’s not true that the party canceled its convention or that delegates didn’t get any say.The convention was held; it was a four-day event in Chicago in August 2024. Democratic convention delegates officially nominated Harris in a virtual roll call vote in advance of the convention. It’s true that Harris was the only candidate on the roll call ballot, but that’s because she was the only candidate who gathered enough delegate signatures to appear on the ballot.It’s clear that party elites’ backing of Harris played a key role in the unusual nomination process. But Kennedy’s specific allegations that the convention was abandoned and delegates were cut out of the process are not true.False claim that Democrats closed ‘every church’ during the Covid-19 pandemicWhile attacking Democrats, Kennedy claimed that, during the Covid-19 pandemic, “They closed every church in our country for a year.”It’s not true that every church in the country was closed for a year, nor even that every church in a Democratic state was closed for a year.Every state issued some type of guidance or order about social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic, but many states – including some led by Democrats and some led by Republicans – incorporated religious exemptions into those limitations on social interactions.According to a Pew Research Center analysis from April 2020, 15 states allowed religious gatherings to continue without a limit on their size. That set of states included Colorado, Michigan and Pennsylvania, which all had Democratic governors. And at least two states with Republican governors, Alaska and Idaho, were among the states that prohibited religious gatherings at least briefly.False claim that Trump ‘ended nine wars’Trump has repeatedly claimed that he has ended “eight wars.” Kennedy went one higher on Thursday, declaring, “President Trump has ended nine wars.”That’s false. Trump hasn’t even ended eight wars.Trump’s list of eight includes two situations that were never actually wars during his tenure: a diplomatic dispute between Egypt and Ethiopia and a mysterious supposed situation between Serbia and Kosovo. The list also includes a war, involving Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, that hasn’t actually ended despite a peace agreement brokered by the Trump administration.In addition, the list includes the war between Israel and Hamas, but Israel continues to conduct frequent attacks in Gaza despite a US-brokered ceasefire agreement. And it includes the brief 2025 conflict between Israel and Iran, though Israel proceeded to join the US in starting another war against Iran in 2026.Claim about reversing a decline in longevityKennedy speaking of the Trump administration, claimed Thursday: “We have now reversed a 30-year decline in longevity. “Kennedy referenced preliminary data that he said he had received from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week, but it’s unclear what metric of longevity he’s referring to.CDC data shows that US life expectancy had been steadily increasing for decades before a sharp drop during the Covid-19 pandemic. Life expectancy had already started to rebound in 2022, under the Biden administration, and reached a new record high in 2024 before Trump’s second term began.Preliminary data shared by the CDC in July suggests that life expectancy probably hit another record high in 2025.CNN has reached out to HHS for clarification on Kennedy’s comments.Claim that Democrats ‘lost 360,000 children’Speaking about Democrats, Kennedy said: “They somehow lost 360,000 children and they turned our federal government into the biggest child trafficking operation in world history.”Trump and other Republicans have made similar claims. But there’s no basis for the assertion that Democrats “lost” so many children or that the federal government was engaged in human trafficking.A 2024 report from the inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security said Immigration and Customs Enforcement had reported that more than 32,000 unaccompanied migrant children failed to appear as scheduled for immigration court hearings after being released or transferred out of custody between fiscal years 2019 and 2023 – a period that, notably, includes two years and four months under the first Trump administration. The report also said that 291,000 unaccompanied migrant children during this period were not given notices to appear in court.The report said that ICE had “no assurances” these children “are safe from trafficking, exploitation, or forced labor.” But it did not say all the children were actually “lost” and did not definitively assert that any of them were trafficked – let alone that the government was somehow involved in a trafficking operation. And, again, the report spanned parts of both a Republican administration and a Democratic administration.Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, told CNN in 2024: “Long story short, no, there are not 320,000 kids missing. 32,000 kids missed court. That doesn’t mean they’re missing, it means they missed court (either because their sponsor didn’t bring them or they are teenagers who didn’t want to show up). The remaining 291,000 cases mentioned by the (Office of the Inspector General) are cases where ICE hasn’t filed the paperwork to start their immigration court cases.”Vance on inflation, crime and taxes on Social SecurityA false claim about the media and Biden-era inflationVice President JD Vance mocked the media during part of his speech on Thursday. But he made a false claim about Biden-era inflation while lampooning how the media supposedly challenged him over another false claim on that subject.Vance said: “The president and I would go during a campaign, we’d say, ‘You know, inflation is as high as it’s been in 100 years,’ and the fake news would say, ‘No, no, no, it’s as high as it’s been in 68 years.’ That ain’t good, ladies and gentlemen.”Mainstream journalists, at least, wouldn’t say that inflation under Biden was as high as it had been “in 68 years.” Rather, CNN and others noted that peak inflation under the Biden administration, 9.1% in June 2022, was the highest in about 40 years.Vance is entitled to make his general point that this correction still doesn’t make Biden-era inflation sound good, but his specific number was, again, wrong. And he didn’t acknowledge that inflation fell sharply under Biden after hitting the 40-year high, declining to 2.9% in Biden’s last full month in office, December 2024, and 3.0% in January 2025, when Trump and Vance were inaugurated.The rate was 3.4% in July 2026, the most recent month for which data is available.Trump didn’t end taxes on Social SecurityVance claimed, “We’ve ended taxes on Social Security.” Several other convention speakers, including Rep. Lisa McClain of Michigan, Rep. Ryan Mackenzie of Pennsylvania and Ohio House candidate Derek Merrin, similarly said the administration has achieved “no tax on Social Security.”It hasn’t. The big domestic policy bill Trump signed in 2025 did create an additional, temporary $6,000-per-year tax deduction for individuals age 65 and older (which phases out for individuals earning $75,000 per year or more), but as the White House has implicitly acknowledged, millions of Social Security recipients will continue to pay taxes on their benefits even before the temporary new deduction expires after 2028.The Social Security Administration said in 2025 that “the bill ensures that nearly 90% of Social Security beneficiaries will no longer pay federal income taxes on their benefits.Claim about violent crime rate under BidenWhile criticizing the Biden administration, Vice President JD Vance claimed Thursday that the US “became a country where violent crime exploded, unless, of course, you could afford private security.”But violent crime did not explode under Biden. In fact, as FactCheck.org reported last month, data collected and published by the FBI shows that the national violent crime rate was at a lower level in 2023 and 2024, the last two full calendar years of Biden’s term, than it was in 2020, the last full calendar year of Trump’s first term. The year 2020 was highly unusual in many ways – violent crime jumped amid the Covid-19 pandemic – but Biden nonetheless left office with violent crime lower than it was when he took over. In fact, the 2024 violent crime rate was even lower than the 2019 rate under Trump before the pandemic.There was an increase in violent crime during the earlier part of Biden’s term. But given the subsequent decline, it’s misleading at best to claim violent crime “exploded” with no further context.Asked earlier this month about Trump’s similar previous claims to have reversed a Biden-era upswing in violence, crime data expert Jeff Asher said in an email: “No, crime began dropping significantly in 2023 during the Biden administration. Murder fell at record rates in 2023, 2024 and 2025 and, while 2026 may not feature a record decline nationally, it is still on track to see a sizable double-digit decline this year. Violent crime similarly fell nationally in 2023 and 2024, though the drops were more muted than the decline that was recorded by the FBI in 2025.”Other GOP speakersMike Johnson’s false claim about the inflation Republicans inherited from BidenSome other speakers at the convention took aim at inflation under Biden. House Speaker Mike Johnson claimed that “Republicans inherited from the Biden administration record-high inflation.”That’s not true. The inflation rate was 2.9% in Biden’s last full month in office, December 2024, and 3.0% in January 2025, when Trump took over. That’s lower than the most recent rate, 3.4% in July 2026, and nowhere close to the all-time record of 23.7%, which was reached in 1920, or the highest point of Jimmy Carter’s presidency, 14.8%, which was reached in 1980.Johnson correctly said moments later that inflation reached “a 40-year high of 9.1% inflation” under Biden. But a 40-year high is not an all-time record. More importantly, Johnson didn’t explain that 9.1% was much higher than the rate Trump inherited or that the 9.1% rate occurred in June 2022, with roughly two-and-a-half years left in Biden’s term.The cumulative increase in prices from the beginning of the Biden administration to the end was also not the highest in US history. Federal figures show that beginning-to-end inflation under Biden was less than half of that during Carter’s term.What Johnson left out of his claim about a congressional resolutionWhile attacking Democrats as extreme, Johnson said: “Just last week, nearly every Democrat in the House of Representatives voted against condemning socialism and Marxism. They voted against it.”But the resolution didn’t use the word “Marxism.” And Johnson didn’t mention that the resolution wasn’t only about condemning socialism. Rather, it contained other language that Democratic leadership said was the focus of the party’s opposition to the resolution.The resolution’s first provision said it “condemns and denounces socialism in all its forms, including the Democratic Socialists of America, and opposes the implementation of socialist policies in the United States.” But its fifth provision said it “calls for enactment of the SAVE America Act,” Trump’s favored elections bill, which contains various provisions opposed by many Democrats.So while it’s very possible many Democrats would have opposed the resolution even without its expression of support for the SAVE America Act, the call to pass this elections bill served as a poison pill that ensured most Democrats wouldn’t support it.“House Resolution 1490 explicitly calls for enactment of the so-called SAVE America Act, which is the top legislative priority of far-right extremists,” Democratic House leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a statement last week.A New Mexico candidate left out key context in an attack on his opponentGreg Cunningham, a Republican House candidate in New Mexico, used some of his Thursday speech to criticize his Democratic opponent, Rep. Gabe Vasquez. Cunningham said of Vasquez: “He even voted against a resolution honoring the sacrifices and service of the brave men and women in law enforcement who protect, every day, our communities.”But Cunningham left out important context about the resolution. While its focus was expressing support for law enforcement, its preamble contained statements praising the Trump administration and criticizing “leftist activists,” “progressive politicians” and “sanctuary city policies” for allegedly making law enforcement less safe.In other words, a House member might vote against such a resolution, as the vast majority of Democrats did, because they disagreed with conservative components of it, not the general expressions of support for law enforcement. (CNN has reached out to Vasquez’s campaign and House office for comment on his vote.) It’s common for parties to write resolutions in a way that would make it difficult for opponents to support but would open those opponents to campaign attacks if they voted “no.”An Ohio candidate’s misleading attack about Democrats and votingMerrin, the Republican candidate running against Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur for a House seat in Ohio, claimed in his speech, “While Democrats talk about letting illegal immigrants vote in our election, Republicans fight for proof of citizenship, photo ID and fair elections.”It’s a big country, so it’s possible some Democrat somewhere is talking about letting undocumented people vote in some election. But Merrin’s claim is misleading at best. There is no proposal from Democrats in Congress to let undocumented people vote in the 2026 midterms – the election Merrin appeared to be referring to when he said “our election” – or vote in future federal elections.CNN has reached out to Merrin’s campaign for an explanation of his claim.House Majority Leader Steve Scalise invoked a similar theme in his speech Wednesday, claiming that Democrats had voted last week “to allow illegals to vote in our federal elections.” But there was no congressional vote on letting undocumented immigrants vote in any elections.Rather, there was a vote on the non-binding Republican resolution that included multiple provisions, including one that “reiterates the notion that American elections are for American citizens only,” one supporting Trump’s favored elections bill and one denouncing socialism.Opposing that multi-clause resolution doesn’t necessarily mean someone supports voting by any non-citizens, let alone non-citizens in the country illegally.This article has been updated with additional items.CNN’s Deja Oliver contributed to this report.The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

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Sep 10 • 9:46 PM EDT • Politics • applevalleynewsnow.com
Shouts of ‘he should be shot’ heard during GOP midterm convention speech criticizing Democratic candidates

Shouts of “he should be shot” could be heard multiple times Thursday night at the Republican midterm convention as Texas Sen. Ted Cruz was criticizing prominent Democratic politicians by name.

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Sep 10 • 9:43 PM EDT • Politics • cnn.com
Voters to decide whether places of worship should stay open

The constitutional amendment stems from criticism over Wisconsin's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Sep 10 • 5:22 PM EDT • Politics • spectrumnews1.com
Democratic governors criticize Trump policies amid rising costs

Andy Beshear and other Democratic governors criticized Trump’s tariffs, fuel prices and $5,000 dividend proposal during Louisville gathering.

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Sep 10 • 4:50 PM EDT • Politics • spectrumnews1.com
Bayer Launches Nationwide Science Delivers Tour to Take Science on the Road

WHIPPANY, N.J., September 10, 2026--Amid growing concerns over misinformation around health and science, Bayer launched a nationwide tour of its Science Delivers mobile interactive experience. The mobile display hits the road at a critical moment: a Harris Poll survey of 2,023 US adults, commissioned by Bayer – Science Under Siege: The Battle Between Viral Misinformation and Shared Belief in the Value of Science (March 2026) – found that 82% worry about their own and their families' wellbeing du

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Sep 10 • 3:54 PM EDT • Science • finance.yahoo.com
This Week In Politics: Renewed Conflict With Iran

Following a month-long pause in conflict, American and Iranian forces resumed hostilities this week when U.S. strikes hit Iranian territory on Sunday, Aug. 30. The U.S. struck Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island, a critical strategic island along the Strait of Hormuz, and the attack is reported to have killed two people and wounded others....

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Sep 10 • 3:36 PM EDT • Politics • villanovan.com
Pennsylvania's Largest Newspaper Calls Sen. John Fetterman 'An Embarrassment'

The editorial board of the Philadelphia Inquirer, the largest newspaper by circulation in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, penned a searing editorial criticizing the state's senior senator, John Fetterman. "News flash: U.S. Sen. John Fetterman is still an embarrassment. "The Pennsylvania Democrat enjoys one of the cushiest jobs in America, but…

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Sep 10 • 3:17 PM EDT • Politics • politicspa.com
National Science Foundation and White House Sued for Refusing to Release Government Records

Lawsuit calls for more transparency around the decision to dismantle critical research center that supports our nation’s public safety, economic prosperity, national defense, and understanding of climate change

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Sep 10 • 2:53 PM EDT • Science • earthjustice.org
How the WNBA became a political prop in the culture wars

Despite record viewership and attendance, and amazing talent across the league, the WNBA has been caught up in the national conversation about the culture wars. Sportswriter Sabreena Merchant says, “everything in the WNBA seems to take on a political lens far beyond what is actually happening on the court.” Merchant spoke with Fresh Air guest interviewer Sam Fragoso (host of Talk Easy) about the expansion of the WNBA, the race and gender politics consuming the narrative, and the departure of commissioner Cathy Engelbert. Merchant writes for The Athletic, from the New York Times.Also, film critic Justin Chang reviews Practical Magic 2. Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our YouTube channel Check out the Fresh Air Archives

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Sep 10 • 1:58 PM EDT • Politics • npr.org
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Apple’s big goal after foldable iPhone

The first critical step for new CEO John Ternus be to make AI an everyday reality on its devices

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Sep 10 • 1:12 PM EDT • Technology • ft.com
Aaron Rodgers says hypocritical NFL media friends turned against him

Steelers QB Aaron Rodgers says NFL media friends turned against him during COVID.

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Sep 10 • 1:10 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Vikings' Justin Jefferson Makes Clear Statement on Kyler Murray

Amid swirling doubts over work ethic and cold-weather grit, the All-Pro receiver silences critics by praising his new quarterback’s unexpected leadership and elite arm talent.

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Sep 10 • 1:00 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Trump calls Luka Dončić trade one of the worst in sports history, suggests Mavericks ‘redo’ deal

Trump criticized the Mavericks' decision to swap Dončić for Anthony Davis, Max Christie and a first-round pick.

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Sep 10 • 11:44 AM EDT • Sports • nytimes.com
Foulkes defeats Rhode Island's McKee, 1st governor in 8 years to lose a primary

Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee was dogged by questions about his administration’s work to replace a critical bridge in the state capital that was abruptly closed due to safety problems in 2023.

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Sep 10 • 9:21 AM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
Home health care jobs expected to skyrocket amid "critical" need in Tennessee

The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a surge of new home health and personal care aide jobs.

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Sep 10 • 7:10 AM EDT • Health • axios.com
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The 2026 Theo Entertainment & Events Award Winners

A look at this year's Entertainment & Events Theo Award winners.

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Sep 10 • 6:20 AM EDT • Entertainment • riskandinsurance.com
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The latest attack on Hakeem Jeffries reveals what’s wrong with our political discourse

Americans have a right to be angry. But we’re settling for ridicule over thoughtful arguments.

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Sep 10 • 6:00 AM EDT • Politics • ms.now
Zia Yusuf: the polarising figure in Reform’s ranks

Self-styled ‘shadow home secretary’ is a ‘slowly ticking timebomb’ who could scupper his party’s chance of power, say critics

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Sep 10 • 5:05 AM EDT • Politics • theweek.com
Romeo Doubs has disastrous Patriots debut

Romeo Doubs had a critical drop in New England's loss and finished the evening without a catch on three targets.

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Sep 10 • 1:08 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
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3 Critical Skills that Give Community Banks the Edge with Business Customers

Many businesses prefer community banks but turning that goodwill into growth will require better data and more flexible digital offerings.

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Sep 9 • 11:24 PM EDT • Business • thefinancialbrand.com
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Viewpoint: Unlocking Europe’s wildfire data

Europe is already investing in the science, technology and infrastructure needed to understand, prevent and fight wildfires. Copernicus provides satellite-based Earth observation and environmental information, while the European Forest Fire Information System provides information on fire danger and forest fires across Europe. Weather and climate systems add forecasts of heat, drought, wind and humidity; historical fire databases show where fires have occurred; and researchers generate increasingly detailed knowledge about fuels, fire behaviour, forecasting, modelling and risk management. Meanwhile, new European research projects are adding digital twins and other tools to this growing ecosystem.However, these data do not necessarily sit together, nor are they necessarily described, structured or governed in ways that allow them to be used together. Much of the information is public, but some is commercially held. Some is sensitive. Some is subject to legal, security or operational restrictions. Even when data can be legally accessed, different systems may use different formats, terminology and rules.Europe therefore faces an unusual paradox: we have vast amounts of relevant information to respond to the wildfire challenge, but not the means to bring it together. For example, a wildfire researcher or emergency service might need to ask whether a particular combination of vegetation, drought, wind and topography has historically been associated with rapid fire spread. The relevant information may exist in several institutions, using different systems and subject to different conditions of access.The challenge is to conduct an authorised analysis that interacts with these sources, combines the results and respects the rules imposed by each data custodian.An important part of the answer can be found in the Fair principles, the idea that data should be findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable. Developed more than a decade ago, these principles have become a central reference point for modern data stewardship, making it easier for people and machines to find data, understand what it means and determine whether it can be reused.Readability by machines is essential, since AI systems will be key to meeting the data challenge. Bring analysis to the dataThe proposition is not to give an AI system unrestricted access to sensitive databases. Quite the opposite. The goal is to make it possible for approved algorithms to go to the data, rather than requiring sensitive data or large datasets to be copied to wherever the analysis happens.Imagine an analysis asking a series of questions of different data stations. At one station it might examine weather and climate data; at another, historical fire records; at another, experimental measurements of fire behaviour. The algorithm does not need to download everything. It can operate within the environment permitted by each data custodian and return only the results that the rules allow to leave.This is sometimes described as data visiting, and related approaches already exist in areas such as federated analysis and federated learning.Sensitive data should therefore not be treated as a free-for-all for machines. This requires appropriate governance at multiple levels. Access needs to be authenticated and authorised. The purpose of an analysis should be defined. The code or model being run should be controlled. Data custodians should be able to specify what can be queried and what results can leave their environment. Activities should be auditable and human oversight should remain where the consequences require it.In other words, the objective is not to trust AI with the data. It is to design systems in which AI never has more access than it needs.As open as possible, as closed as necessaryFair data should also not be confused with open data. Some wildfire data should be openly available. Other information may legitimately need to remain restricted because it concerns critical infrastructure, security, commercial interests, privacy or operational capabilities. The principle should be: as open as possible, as closed as necessary.The important point is that restricted data should not automatically become unusable data. If machines can discover what information exists, understand its meaning, establish where it came from and determine the conditions under which it can be used, authorised analyses can potentially be carried out without the underlying data ever leaving the environment in which it is protected.Restricted data can still be Fair and machine-actionable.This is also an important question of data sovereignty. European institutions should not have to surrender control of their data to a handful of technology platforms in order to benefit from AI. Nor does Europe need to start again by building one giant repository for every piece of wildfire information. The better approach is to connect what already exists.This is the principle behind emerging approaches such as Tryangle, developed through the Leiden Initiative for Fair and Equitable Science. Rather than creating another centralised data warehouse, the approach seeks to provide an interoperable layer through which approved algorithms can visit distributed data sources while respecting the rules of their custodians.In this way, a data station can remain where it is. Its custodians can retain control. Existing databases and applications do not have to be abandoned. What changes is their ability to communicate with other systems through common, machine-readable descriptions, access rules and interoperability mechanisms.But approaches like this need data that meets the Fair principles. Only then can an interoperable ecosystem safely begin to turn fragmented information into collective intelligence.Data infrastructure is wildfire infrastructureThe implications of this approach are entirely practical. Firefighters could gain better intelligence about local and evolving risks. Land managers could test prevention strategies using more comprehensive information about fuels, weather and past fires. Researchers could compare evidence across ecosystems without repeatedly moving huge datasets between institutions. Smaller regions and resource-constrained teams could access analytical capabilities without having to build large data infrastructures themselves.Europe is already investing heavily in satellites, databases, research programmes, forecasting systems and scientific expertise. The question is whether we will connect those investments well enough to turn them into actionable intelligence.That requires policymakers and funders to treat data infrastructure as seriously as physical infrastructure. Data generated or supported through European public funding should be Fair, verifiable and machine actionable by design, wherever legally and ethically possible.Related articlesData Corner: Europe’s burning need for wildfire mitigation researchClimate monitoring must remain a global enterprise, experts sayIn practice, that means funding not only the production of data, but also the infrastructure that makes data usable across systems: metadata, provenance, interoperability, access mechanisms and governance. Where data must remain restricted, we should ensure that it can still be securely discovered, verified and used for authorised analysis.Initiatives such as the European Open Science Cloud offer an existing framework through which these principles can be put into practice. What is needed now is to accelerate implementation and make them a standard part of how Europe funds and builds research and innovation systems.We do not need another generation of disconnected databases. The data is already there. The opportunity is to make it work together, securely, responsibly and quickly enough to help prevent the next fire, rather than simply document the last one.Jean-Claude Burgelman is professor emeritus at the Free University of Brussels (VUB) and editor-in-chief at Frontiers Policy Lab. For more than 20 years he held leading roles in research and innovation policy at the European Commission.

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Sep 9 • 8:00 PM EDT • Science • sciencebusiness.net
Closing health workforce gaps for emergency response: the Western Pacific steps up

Over 100 health emergency experts from 56 institutions across 21 countries in the World Health Organization (WHO) Western Pacific Region who are part of the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN) concluded their annual regional partners’ meeting with a commitment to bridge gaps in emergency workforce capacities and advance regional emergency readiness and resilience.Co-hosted by WHO and the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency in the Republic of Korea, the two-day event aimed to strengthen the Region’s collective ability to detect, prepare for and respond to health emergencies.Partners mapped capacities and priority technical gaps across the Region — including cybersecurity and critical infrastructure resilience; water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and environmental health; biological emergencies, nuclear emergencies, and nuclear and radiological security.The result: a renewed commitment to close these gaps by working together through shared expertise and coordinated action. Advancing the Global Health Emergency CorpsReflective of regional solidarity and partnerships in action, GOARN – which is coordinated globally by WHO - enables a stronger, better-connected emergency health workforce that is ready to surge wherever and whenever requested by WHO Member States.This year alone, GOARN partners across the Western Pacific have supported nine experts on six missions - from measles outbreaks in Viet Nam to HIV outbreak response in Fiji - providing surge support in epidemiology, surveillance and clinical case management.Photo: Participants at the Global Alert and Response Network (GOARN) Partners Meeting 2026. Credit: KDCA/Shin Dong Myoung“GOARN partners across the Western Pacific and globally have repeatedly demonstrated the power of what we can do collectively, when we join forces, share expertise and build on each other’s strengths,” noted Dr Gina Samaan, WHO Regional Emergency Director for the Western Pacific, in her opening remarks at the gathering. “Let us continue to forge long-term partnerships grounded in mutual respect that will protect the Region for generations to come. We are smarter, faster and infinitely stronger when we work together,” she added.Reiterating Dr Samaan's call, Dr Seung-kwan Lim, Commissioner of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, emphasized the value of GOARN: “The Republic of Korea is pleased to stand alongside our regional partners in building an emergency workforce that is ready and resilient. GOARN turns national expertise into regional readiness - catalysing national strengths into collective resilience.”GOARN advances the Global Health Security Action Framework (GHEC) initiative by “convening, connecting and capacitating” regional leaders and surge workforce – “the three Cs”. Years of GOARN leadership and outbreak response training programmes have cultivated a deep bench of fit-for-purpose, seasoned outbreak response experts and forged an alumni network of emergency leaders worldwide. The Western Pacific network alone has now grown to 94 partner institutions across 19 countries. Photo: Participants at the Global Alert and Response Network (GOARN) Partners Meeting 2026. Credit: KDCA/Shin Dong Myoung Putting partnerships into practiceDuring the Regional Partners’ Meeting, health experts identified and catalogued the technical expertise currently available across the Western Pacific Region, so that the right skills could be better matched quickly to needs wherever emergencies occur.Three priority areas emerged for further strengthening:Cybersecurity and critical infrastructure resilience - protecting essential systems, including healthcare networks, from digital disruptions.Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and environmental health - reflecting the ongoing nexus between climate change and health.Biological emergencies, nuclear emergencies, and nuclear and radiological security - requiring specialized technical capability that remains limited across many national response systems.Meeting participants reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening workforce capacities in the Region, with a particular focus on these three areas, and to working collectively to better prepare the Western Pacific for the next health emergency.Photo: Dr Gina Samaan, WHO Regional Emergency Director for the Western Pacific, delivers opening remarks at the Global Alert and Response Network (GOARN) Partners Meeting 2026. Credit: KDCA/Shin Dong Myoung“GOARN is truly turning preparedness into action - giving our Region the surge capacity it needs for fast, coordinated response when it matters most - and building more resilient health systems along the way,” said Dr Samaan. “As health emergencies mount in this age of permacrisis, emergency preparedness and response must be woven into the fabric of health. This is not an option, but an imperative as we seek to achieve health for all.”____ About GOARNThe Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN), coordinated by the World Health Organization since 2000, strengthens global health security by advancing preparedness for and response to public health emergencies. The network brings together more than 390 institutions, including national public health agencies, technical organizations and nongovernmental partners, to support coordinated international action during outbreaks and other health emergencies. There are 94 GOARN partners in the Western Pacific Region (as of August 2026), accounting for approximately 25% of global partners. For more information and media interviews, please contact: WHO Western Pacific Communications: wprocom@who.intAra Johannes: johannesa@who.int

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Sep 9 • 8:00 PM EDT • Health • who.int
Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services: Supporting Patient Health and Independence

Millions of Americans rely on home and community-based services (HCBS) for critical supports that allow them to live comfortably in their own homes and communities as they age or manage disabilities or chronic conditions. Medicaid is the primary source of coverage for HCBS, helping older adults and Americans with disabilities, including children with complex medical conditions, access healthcare services in their home and familiar settings and providing support for caregivers and family […]

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Sep 9 • 4:08 PM EDT • Health • modernmedicaid.org
Phoenix Suns Bold Prediction Could Save 2026-27 Season

Jordan Ott faces a critical rotation gamble as analysts urge a backcourt shakeup, swapping Jalen Green’s explosive scoring for Collin Gillespie’s steady playmaking to maximize Devin Booker.

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Sep 9 • 4:00 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
A hit sci-fi series and a new mystery thriller series are new in home entertainment

Screen Chatter Film Critic Tony Toscano reviews this week's new releases in home entertainment, the sci-fi hit "Silo" and "Last Seen", a new mystery thriller series.

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Sep 9 • 3:40 PM EDT • Entertainment • fox13now.com
60 Posts in 10 Hours: How Trump’s Social Media Reflects His Version of Reality

With an assist from A.I., President Trump offers a window into how he wants to be seen — and, critics say, a barometer of his mental state.

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Sep 9 • 3:01 PM EDT • Politics • nytimes.com
Jake Paul Teases Michael Page Signing for MVP MMA

Fight promoter Jake Paul teased a potential signing of former UFC fighter Michael Page to the MVP MMA roster.Page completed his six-fight UFC contract with a unanimous decision win over Nursulton Ruziboev at UFC Paris. However, he was heavily criticized by fans for putting on another boring fight, which was not the first time he’s […] The post Jake Paul Teases Michael Page Signing for MVP MMA appeared first on HEAVY.

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Sep 9 • 1:17 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Mission Health's Mountain Area Medical Airlift marks 40 years of service

For four decades, Mission Health's Mountain Area Medical Airlift has taken to the skies to bring critical care across western North Carolina.

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Sep 9 • 1:02 PM EDT • Health • wlos.com
Republican lawmakers criticize Ford business ties to China

WASHINGTON, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Republicans in Congress on Wednesday ​joined criticism ‌of Ford Motor over its business ties to Chinese firms ‌after ​Transportation ⁠Secretary Sean Duffy ⁠sharply criticized the No. 2 U.S. automaker. Republican Senator R...

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Sep 9 • 12:57 PM EDT • Business • kfgo.com
Republican lawmakers criticize Ford business ties to China

Republicans in Congress on Wednesday ​joined criticism of ‌Ford Motor over its business ties to ​Chinese firms after ​Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy ⁠sharply criticized the ​No. 2 U.S. automaker.

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Sep 9 • 12:54 PM EDT • Business • reuters.com
Influencers are squeezing out critics

The entertainment industry used to suck up to critics. Now they favor your favorite podcaster.

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Sep 9 • 12:00 PM EDT • Entertainment • salon.com
Steelers holding leverage in Joey Porter Jr. contract talks

The Pittsburgh Steelers maintain crucial franchise tag options as negotiations with cornerback Joey Porter Jr. enter a critical pre-season stretch.

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Sep 9 • 11:45 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Is 'Practical Magic 2' worth watching? The sequel took 28 years to happen — and critics say the reunion is complicated.

Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman return as the Owens sisters alongside Joey King and Maisie Williams in the witchy cult classic's long-awaited sequel.

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Sep 9 • 10:49 AM EDT • Entertainment • yahoo.com
Valheim’s Metacritic Review Score Is In And Ties A 2026 Record

After being in early access for five years, Valheim is out and has a Metacritic review score at long last. Here's what it is.

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Sep 9 • 10:35 AM EDT • Technology • forbes.com
Inside the AfD

"Inside the AfD" looks behind the respectable facade of the Alternative for Germany political party. Insiders reveal the tough tactics used by the right-wing populists to combat criticism.

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Sep 9 • 10:07 AM EDT • Politics • dw.com
Best TV shows of fall 2026: ‘Slow Horses,’ ‘Monster,’ ‘VisionQuest,’ more

A reimagining of a Stephen King classic. A trio of best friends trying to save the world. A return of a critically acclaimed crime drama. A bevy of new seasons

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Sep 9 • 10:04 AM EDT • Entertainment • recorderonline.com
NOAA is putting commercial fishing ahead of conservation

Critics say the new agenda could weaken science-based rules and marine protections.

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Sep 9 • 9:58 AM EDT • Science • arstechnica.com
The Cost of Cutting American Science: How Federal Cuts Diminish Public Health Capacity

Among the federal government’s many responsibilities is the work it does to protect public health. Federal agencies monitor our food supply to ensure safety, conduct research to better understand emerging health threats, provide funding for public health programs in communities and work to detect and respond to disease outbreaks. Americans rely on these efforts every day—in a 2024 online survey, 74% of respondents said that “if the federal government issued safety guidance about food you eat regularly,” they would follow it. Changes to Federal Public Health Capacity The Trump administration’s efforts to reshape the federal government have resulted in significant impacts on our nation’s public health capacity over the past 20 months, affecting the response to health concerns such as measles, Ebola and cyclosporiasis. Agencies with core public health, food safety and disease prevention responsibilities experienced large workforce decreases during the first year of the administration. At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for instance, the workforce in February 2026 was 26.7% smaller than in September 2024 before the start of the Trump administration. The Food and Drug Administration saw a similarly steep decline of 21.6%. Agencies such as the National Institutes of Health, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and Food Safety and Inspection Service also experienced large workforce decreases. (function(){function e(){window.addEventListener(`message`,function(e){if(e.data[`datawrapper-height`]!==void 0){var t=document.querySelectorAll(`iframe`);for(var n in e.data[`datawrapper-height`])for(var r=0,i;i=t[r];r++)if(i.contentWindow===e.source){var a=e.data[`datawrapper-height`][n]+`px`;i.style.height=a}}})}e()})(); Changes can also be seen in crucial public health occupations. The number of federal food inspectors, for example, decreased by more than half between September 2024 and February 2026, going from 1,035 to 473. This is the lowest number of food inspectors employed by the federal government since at least 2005. By February 2026, there were also 33.3% fewer federal public health program specialists, whose work includes advising federal funding recipients on public health activities and analyzing the effectiveness of public health programs. Government’s capacity is diminished as employees with specialized knowledge and experience in protecting the public and responding to health risks depart, leaving agencies less prepared to carry out their public health missions. There also have been vacancies in critical high-level leadership positions at public health agencies, most notably at the CDC, which had a permanent Senate-confirmed director for less than a month between January 2025 and early August 2026. Although the CDC has previously been led by acting directors at the start of an administration, the nearly yearlong gap since the departure of the administration’s first permanent director in August 2025 is without precedent. As of August 2026, the FDA is also currently without a Senate-confirmed commissioner following the previous commissioner’s resignation in May 2026. Additionally, public health agencies are experiencing increased politicization of their leadership ranks. In agencies such as the CDC and Food Safety and Inspection Service, the number of individuals in the Senior Executive Service—the most senior career leaders in government—has declined significantly, while at the same time the number of political appointees has reached record levels. (function(){function e(){window.addEventListener(`message`,function(e){if(e.data[`datawrapper-height`]!==void 0){var t=document.querySelectorAll(`iframe`);for(var n in e.data[`datawrapper-height`])for(var r=0,i;i=t[r];r++)if(i.contentWindow===e.source){var a=e.data[`datawrapper-height`][n]+`px`;i.style.height=a}}})}e()})(); (function(){function e(){window.addEventListener(`message`,function(e){if(e.data[`datawrapper-height`]!==void 0){var t=document.querySelectorAll(`iframe`);for(var n in e.data[`datawrapper-height`])for(var r=0,i;i=t[r];r++)if(i.contentWindow===e.source){var a=e.data[`datawrapper-height`][n]+`px`;i.style.height=a}}})}e()})(); At the CDC, for example, the number of career SES decreased 42.9% between December 2024 and February 2026, while the number of non-Senate confirmed political appointees at the agency was six times larger than the agency’s historical average from 2009 and 2024. Knowledgeable career leaders are integral to the ability of public health agencies to carry out their work with scientific integrity and professional judgment, and rapid leadership turnover and increased politicization threaten agencies’ ability to make evidence-based decisions to protect our health. The upheaval and politicization in public health agencies have also negatively affected employee engagement. Strong employee engagement is crucial to the ability of agencies to carry out their mission and successfully provide essential services to the public. In the 2025 Public Service Viewpoint Survey conducted by the Partnership for Public Service, the Department of Health and Human Services—which encompasses major public health agencies such as the CDC and FDA—had an employee engagement and satisfaction score of 20.4 out of 100, one of the lowest among large agencies. Only 2.8% of HHS employees indicated trust in their political leaders and only 8.7% reported confidence that they could report a suspected violation of law or regulation without retaliation. Employees at HHS also reported that the agency’s ability to provide services to the public had suffered. Nearly half of employees at HHS, 47.5%, said their work unit was worse at delivering quality services compared to its performance in 2024. In addition, 57.8% said their work unit was performing worse at fulfilling stakeholder needs. In addition to the work done within federal agencies, the federal government also distributes significant funding for public health and disease prevention work to state and local governments, nonprofits and small businesses—funding which has been significantly disrupted. At the CDC, for example, there was a 71.9% decrease in the amount of project grant funding issued in fiscal year 2025 compared to fiscal year 2024. The FDA also issued far less funding in fiscal year 2025—a 21.3% decrease from its fiscal year 2024 funding. Changes in federal funding include the ending of grants to community organizations that worked on HIV prevention and the cancellation of funding for research into improvements to patient safety and healthcare quality. These changes go beyond federal agencies to impact the broader public health ecosystem, including the state and local health departments responsible for much of the on-the-ground public health work in their communities. About 80% of the CDC’s domestic funding is directed towards state and local partners—meaning that cuts to CDC funding can ultimately result in cuts to state and local public health capacity. Federal agencies also provide expertise and assistance to state and local health agencies as they deal with particular health challenges, but workforce cuts have resulted in fewer federal employees available to help. The Impact of Changes to Public Health Capacity These changes to federal public health capacity are not abstract concerns. Disrupted programs, reduced funding and lost expertise at public health agencies across all levels of government threaten the public’s physical well-being and safety. In some cases, this has already led to harm. The most immediate impacts of federal cuts were seen in interruptions to ongoing public health programs and crisis responses. In one instance, when CDC grants were canceled during the 2025 Texas measles outbreak—the most severe measles outbreak in 25 years—public health officials in Lubbock, Texas were forced to pause parts of their measles response work supported by the frozen funding. Lubbock’s director of public health further said that a lack of available CDC experts to reach out to for advice “definitely” impacted the department’s response to the measles crisis. Cuts to federal funding also forced Dallas County Health and Human Services to cut staff and cancel 50 community vaccination clinics during the outbreak. Public health work outside of major outbreak responses was also disrupted. For example, in April 2025, the Milwaukee Public Health Department was unexpectedly unable to reach experts on lead poisoning due to firings at the CDC when responding to concerns about lead contamination in Milwaukee public schools. Due to federal workforce cuts, several programs at the CDC, including Alzheimer’s and epilepsy programs, have also become trapped in limbo—existing on paper, but without the staff necessary to operate. More recent crises reveal how federal cuts have weakened the public health infrastructure needed to prevent and respond to dangerous new outbreaks. Internationally, cuts at the U.S. Agency for International Development eliminated funding for disease testing and contact tracing abroad, which delayed detection of and responses to the 2026 Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo. While international outbreaks may seem far removed, the unchecked spread of disease in any country can quickly pose a danger to economic well-being, security and health around the world. Within the United States, public health cuts inhibited responses to the summer 2026 outbreak of the food-borne parasite cyclospora. At the federal level, cuts to funding for lab equipment and for CDC staff with expertise in parasitic infections—including 9 out of 11 staff members at the lab responsible for identifying parasitic outbreaks in 2025— contributed to the largest reporting delay in outbreak cases at the CDC in 15 years. Conflicting communications from the FDA about the source of the outbreak, which followed cuts to the agency’s communications department, additionally led to confusion among the public about how to best avoid infection. At the same time, cuts to HHS funding and support for local and state public health slowed some health departments’ responses to the crisis. The exact costs of these delays, constraints and confusion in public health responses are difficult to estimate. However, their message is clear: federal cuts have already made containing threats to public health even more of a challenge. Conclusion Protecting public health—from food safety to disease prevention—is one of the federal government’s most important missions. Dramatic and haphazard cuts to federal agencies and funding have already disrupted the public health system, impacting the response to challenges such as measles, lead poisoning and cyclosporiasis. The U.S. public health system needed improvement before these disruptions. Since 2022, federal leadership and coordination in response to public health outbreaks has been on the Government Accountability Office’s High-Risk List of areas in need of attention to improve government effectiveness and efficiency. Recent cuts only compound these concerns. The chaotic dismantling of government and resulting disruptions to crucial functions like public health and disease prevention highlight the need for meaningful reform and concrete policy proposals to reimagine how government can better serve the public and be more effective, responsive and accountable. To learn more about the impact of federal cuts to public health and science more broadly, visit The Cost of Cutting American Science. Learn more For more information on the Partnership for Public Service’s government reform initiative, visit Government for a New Era. View here In line with The Cost of Cutting American Science, federal workforce data in this brief is as of February 2026

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Sep 9 • 9:00 AM EDT • Science • ourpublicservice.org
The Cost of Cutting American Science: How Federal Cuts Diminish Public Health Capacity

Among the federal government’s many responsibilities is the work it does to protect public health. Federal agencies monitor our food supply to ensure safety, conduct research to better understand emerging health threats, provide funding for public health programs in communities and work to detect and respond to disease outbreaks. Americans rely on these efforts every day—in a 2024 online survey, 74% of respondents said that “if the federal government issued safety guidance about food you eat regularly,” they would follow it. Changes to Federal Public Health Capacity The Trump administration’s efforts to reshape the federal government have resulted in significant impacts on our nation’s public health capacity over the past 20 months, affecting the response to health concerns such as measles, Ebola and cyclosporiasis. Agencies with core public health, food safety and disease prevention responsibilities experienced large workforce decreases during the first year of the administration. At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for instance, the workforce in February 2026 was 26.7% smaller than in September 2024 before the start of the Trump administration. The Food and Drug Administration saw a similarly steep decline of 21.6%. Agencies such as the National Institutes of Health, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and Food Safety and Inspection Service also experienced large workforce decreases. (function(){function e(){window.addEventListener(`message`,function(e){if(e.data[`datawrapper-height`]!==void 0){var t=document.querySelectorAll(`iframe`);for(var n in e.data[`datawrapper-height`])for(var r=0,i;i=t[r];r++)if(i.contentWindow===e.source){var a=e.data[`datawrapper-height`][n]+`px`;i.style.height=a}}})}e()})(); Changes can also be seen in crucial public health occupations. The number of federal food inspectors, for example, decreased by more than half between September 2024 and February 2026, going from 1,035 to 473. This is the lowest number of food inspectors employed by the federal government since at least 2005. By February 2026, there were also 33.3% fewer federal public health program specialists, whose work includes advising federal funding recipients on public health activities and analyzing the effectiveness of public health programs. Government’s capacity is diminished as employees with specialized knowledge and experience in protecting the public and responding to health risks depart, leaving agencies less prepared to carry out their public health missions. There also have been vacancies in critical high-level leadership positions at public health agencies, most notably at the CDC, which had a permanent Senate-confirmed director for less than a month between January 2025 and early August 2026. Although the CDC has previously been led by acting directors at the start of an administration, the nearly yearlong gap since the departure of the administration’s first permanent director in August 2025 is without precedent. As of August 2026, the FDA is also currently without a Senate-confirmed commissioner following the previous commissioner’s resignation in May 2026. Additionally, public health agencies are experiencing increased politicization of their leadership ranks. In agencies such as the CDC and Food Safety and Inspection Service, the number of individuals in the Senior Executive Service—the most senior career leaders in government—has declined significantly, while at the same time the number of political appointees has reached record levels. (function(){function e(){window.addEventListener(`message`,function(e){if(e.data[`datawrapper-height`]!==void 0){var t=document.querySelectorAll(`iframe`);for(var n in e.data[`datawrapper-height`])for(var r=0,i;i=t[r];r++)if(i.contentWindow===e.source){var a=e.data[`datawrapper-height`][n]+`px`;i.style.height=a}}})}e()})(); (function(){function e(){window.addEventListener(`message`,function(e){if(e.data[`datawrapper-height`]!==void 0){var t=document.querySelectorAll(`iframe`);for(var n in e.data[`datawrapper-height`])for(var r=0,i;i=t[r];r++)if(i.contentWindow===e.source){var a=e.data[`datawrapper-height`][n]+`px`;i.style.height=a}}})}e()})(); At the CDC, for example, the number of career SES decreased 42.9% between December 2024 and February 2026, while the number of non-Senate confirmed political appointees at the agency was six times larger than the agency’s historical average from 2009 and 2024. Knowledgeable career leaders are integral to the ability of public health agencies to carry out their work with scientific integrity and professional judgment, and rapid leadership turnover and increased politicization threaten agencies’ ability to make evidence-based decisions to protect our health. The upheaval and politicization in public health agencies have also negatively affected employee engagement. Strong employee engagement is crucial to the ability of agencies to carry out their mission and successfully provide essential services to the public. In the 2025 Public Service Viewpoint Survey conducted by the Partnership for Public Service, the Department of Health and Human Services—which encompasses major public health agencies such as the CDC and FDA—had an employee engagement and satisfaction score of 20.4 out of 100, one of the lowest among large agencies. Only 2.8% of HHS employees indicated trust in their political leaders and only 8.7% reported confidence that they could report a suspected violation of law or regulation without retaliation. Employees at HHS also reported that the agency’s ability to provide services to the public had suffered. Nearly half of employees at HHS, 47.5%, said their work unit was worse at delivering quality services compared to its performance in 2024. In addition, 57.8% said their work unit was performing worse at fulfilling stakeholder needs. In addition to the work done within federal agencies, the federal government also distributes significant funding for public health and disease prevention work to state and local governments, nonprofits and small businesses—funding which has been significantly disrupted. At the CDC, for example, there was a 71.9% decrease in the amount of project grant funding issued in fiscal year 2025 compared to fiscal year 2024. The FDA also issued far less funding in fiscal year 2025—a 21.3% decrease from its fiscal year 2024 funding. Changes in federal funding include the ending of grants to community organizations that worked on HIV prevention and the cancellation of funding for research into improvements to patient safety and healthcare quality. These changes go beyond federal agencies to impact the broader public health ecosystem, including the state and local health departments responsible for much of the on-the-ground public health work in their communities. About 80% of the CDC’s domestic funding is directed towards state and local partners—meaning that cuts to CDC funding can ultimately result in cuts to state and local public health capacity. Federal agencies also provide expertise and assistance to state and local health agencies as they deal with particular health challenges, but workforce cuts have resulted in fewer federal employees available to help. The Impact of Changes to Public Health Capacity These changes to federal public health capacity are not abstract concerns. Disrupted programs, reduced funding and lost expertise at public health agencies across all levels of government threaten the public’s physical well-being and safety. In some cases, this has already led to harm. The most immediate impacts of federal cuts were seen in interruptions to ongoing public health programs and crisis responses. In one instance, when CDC grants were canceled during the 2025 Texas measles outbreak—the most severe measles outbreak in 25 years—public health officials in Lubbock, Texas were forced to pause parts of their measles response work supported by the frozen funding. Lubbock’s director of public health further said that a lack of available CDC experts to reach out to for advice “definitely” impacted the department’s response to the measles crisis. Cuts to federal funding also forced Dallas County Health and Human Services to cut staff and cancel 50 community vaccination clinics during the outbreak. Public health work outside of major outbreak responses was also disrupted. For example, in April 2025, the Milwaukee Public Health Department was unexpectedly unable to reach experts on lead poisoning due to firings at the CDC when responding to concerns about lead contamination in Milwaukee public schools. Due to federal workforce cuts, several programs at the CDC, including Alzheimer’s and epilepsy programs, have also become trapped in limbo—existing on paper, but without the staff necessary to operate. More recent crises reveal how federal cuts have weakened the public health infrastructure needed to prevent and respond to dangerous new outbreaks. Internationally, cuts at the U.S. Agency for International Development eliminated funding for disease testing and contact tracing abroad, which delayed detection of and responses to the 2026 Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo. While international outbreaks may seem far removed, the unchecked spread of disease in any country can quickly pose a danger to economic well-being, security and health around the world. Within the United States, public health cuts inhibited responses to the summer 2026 outbreak of the food-borne parasite cyclospora. At the federal level, cuts to funding for lab equipment and for CDC staff with expertise in parasitic infections—including 9 out of 11 staff members at the lab responsible for identifying parasitic outbreaks in 2025— contributed to the largest reporting delay in outbreak cases at the CDC in 15 years. Conflicting communications from the FDA about the source of the outbreak, which followed cuts to the agency’s communications department, additionally led to confusion among the public about how to best avoid infection. At the same time, cuts to HHS funding and support for local and state public health slowed some health departments’ responses to the crisis. The exact costs of these delays, constraints and confusion in public health responses are difficult to estimate. However, their message is clear: federal cuts have already made containing threats to public health even more of a challenge. Conclusion Protecting public health—from food safety to disease prevention—is one of the federal government’s most important missions. Dramatic and haphazard cuts to federal agencies and funding have already disrupted the public health system, impacting the response to challenges such as measles, lead poisoning and cyclosporiasis. The U.S. public health system needed improvement before these disruptions. Since 2022, federal leadership and coordination in response to public health outbreaks has been on the Government Accountability Office’s High-Risk List of areas in need of attention to improve government effectiveness and efficiency. Recent cuts only compound these concerns. The chaotic dismantling of government and resulting disruptions to crucial functions like public health and disease prevention highlight the need for meaningful reform and concrete policy proposals to reimagine how government can better serve the public and be more effective, responsive and accountable. To learn more about the impact of federal cuts to public health and science more broadly, visit The Cost of Cutting American Science. Learn more For more information on the Partnership for Public Service’s government reform initiative, visit Government for a New Era. View here In line with The Cost of Cutting American Science, federal workforce data in this brief is as of February 2026

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Sep 9 • 9:00 AM EDT • Health • ourpublicservice.org
Miliband defends sanctions on Israeli settlements and pushes back against chief rabbi’s criticism

UK foreign secretary ‘regrets’ Israel’s response to ban on trade with illegal settlements but ‘proud’ of his actions

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Sep 9 • 3:55 AM EDT • Politics • theguardian.com
Braves outshined by Rays’ stars in series-opening loss

Kicking off a critical late-season homestand Tuesday night against the Tampa Bay Rays, a breakthrough performance from AJ Smith-Shawver on the mound or a strong performance from its star hitters could have been enough to deliver the Atlanta Braves a tone-setting win. Unfortunately for them, they got neither of those. An early exit from Smith-Shawver […]

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Sep 8 • 10:04 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Bengals' Dalton Risner Admits Causing Joe Burrow's Injury in 2025

Haunted by a critical lapse that sidelined his quarterback, the veteran lineman reveals how owning his mistake fueled a career resurgence and strengthened Cincinnati's front five.

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Sep 8 • 9:16 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Microsoft patches a record 972 vulnerabilities, 112 of them critical

Security gnomes are pumping out patches ahead of an expected onslaught of AI-assisted attacks.

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Sep 8 • 5:11 PM EDT • Technology • arstechnica.com
Business Aims for Tax Breaks in Canada’s Critical Minerals Push

Tax breaks for the mining sector are emerging as a key ask for companies petitioning Canada’s government for help in an upcoming budget.

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Sep 8 • 2:19 PM EDT • Business • news.bloombergtax.com
Methodist Health System Undergoes Wave of C-Suite Moves

Plus: Dude Perfect CEO steps away, new CFOs join Weitzman and Mission Critical Group, the Economic Club of Dallas finds a new executive director, and more.

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Sep 8 • 1:15 PM EDT • Health • dmagazine.com
15 best TV shows to watch this fall

From a reimagining of a Stephen King classic to the return of a critically acclaimed crime drama, here are 16 shows to be excited about this fall.

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Sep 8 • 1:00 PM EDT • Entertainment • seattletimes.com
Best TV shows of fall 2026: ‘Slow Horses,’ ‘Monster,’ ‘VisionQuest,’ more

From a reimagining of a Stephen King classic to the return of a critically acclaimed crime drama, here are 16 shows to be excited about this fall.

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Sep 8 • 1:00 PM EDT • Entertainment • yakimaherald.com
Mercy health fair brings vital medical checkups and nutritional aid to Heartland families

The event is designed to provide critical medical screenings, vaccinations, and wellness resources to Heartland families.

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Sep 8 • 12:35 PM EDT • Health • kfvs12.com
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'Practical Magic 2' review: Sequel honors the original by being a similarly dopey mess

The original "Practical Magic" wasn't a great film — but its fans might appreciate this similarly muddled sequel more than our film critic did.

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Sep 8 • 12:00 PM EDT • Entertainment • yahoo.com
National GOP to feature Cunningham vs. Vasquez race at midterm convention

Overview: Vasquez criticizes Cunningham for appearing at event after Trump posted of renaming New Mexico "New America" President Donald Trump is headlining a first-ever “Midterm Convention” for the Republican Party this week in Dallas and at least one New Mexico candidate is on the announced agenda. This story was originally published at New Mexico Political […]

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Sep 8 • 9:05 AM EDT • Politics • nmpoliticalreport.com
Environmental Health Message from Supervisor Perez

As the Supervisor Fourth District, infrastructure, social services, and Economic Development are critical in building a healthy environment.

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Sep 8 • 8:15 AM EDT • Health • ukenreport.com
'It just can't be happening'

Everton fan Sarah Halpen has criticised the club's hierarchy for being "reactive" rather than "proactive" in the summer transfer window. The Toffees' business, which saw a £40m deal for forward Folarin Balogun collapse late on deadline day, has left manager David Moyes with just 18 senior outfield players until the next transfer window which opens on Friday, 1 January.

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Sep 8 • 6:04 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Trump's beef import plan draws criticism from Alabama organizations, politicians

The president's move, which he said aimed to reduce prices, drew rare rebukes from state organizations generally supportive of him.

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Sep 8 • 6:01 AM EDT • Politics • alabamareflector.com
Construction Safety Programs Expand Focus to Mental Health

Mental health is a critical part of construction safety. Practical steps can help supervisors and safety leaders support workers, connect them with resources and prevent suicide.

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Sep 8 • 6:00 AM EDT • Health • forconstructionpros.com
Alabama representative criticizes ongoing prison mental health litigation

Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa wants information on how much it would cost to settle the ongoing case against continuing to pursue it in court.

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Sep 8 • 5:57 AM EDT • Health • alabamareflector.com
NFL QB Legend Kurt Warner Has Blunt Message to Sports Critics

Kurt Warner has seen the pressure that comes with professional football from nearly every possible angle, and the NFL legend recently delivered a blunt message to sports critics. The Hall of Fame quarterback expressed frustration with the growing tendency to attack athletes online as though performing under extraordinary pressure should be effortless. Warner acknowledged that […] The post NFL QB Legend Kurt Warner Has Blunt Message to Sports Critics appeared first on Gridiron Heroics.

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Sep 8 • 5:12 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
UK-US trade could suffer as a result of sanctions for illegal Israeli settlements, American ambassador warns

UK foreign secretary to reassert support for Palestinian rights and a two-state solution in move drawing criticism from US and Israel

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Sep 8 • 3:39 AM EDT • Politics • theguardian.com
Tom Brady refuses to apologize for conflict of interest

Ever since seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady stepped into a role as a broadcaster with Fox while also becoming a part owner of the Las Vegas Raiders franchise, he has faced criticism over potential conflicts of interest and how the limitations placed on him might impact his career as a broadcaster. Brady, however, doesn’t…

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Sep 7 • 11:24 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
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Health Ministers of WHO South-East Asia Region adopt Dili Declaration to advance equity in specialized care

Health Ministers of the WHO South-East Asia Region today adopted the Dili Declaration on Human Resources for Health: Equity in Specialized Care, committing to strengthen the health workforce and ensure that all people, including those living in rural, remote and underserved areas, have access to quality specialized health care. The Declaration, adopted at the Seventy-ninth Session of the WHO Regional Committee for South-East Asia, recognizes that while access to quality specialized care is critical to achieving universal health coverage, it is far too often limited for those most in need. While the Region has made major gains in expanding its health workforce, significant challenges remain in ensuring equitable access to specialists. Shortages persist across many specialties. Moreover, specialists are often concentrated in urban centers, tertiary and private-sector facilities, leaving rural, remote, poor and underserved populations with limited access to essential specialized services.

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Sep 7 • 8:00 PM EDT • Health • who.int
The war on Iran’s energy infrastructure creates rising political risk

When Israel targeted Tehran’s oil storage facilities in the initial days of the war launched on Feb. 28, black smoke blanketed the capital and plunged parts of the city into darkness. Roughly ten days later, strikes hit natural gas facilities at the giant South Pars field, key oil refineries, major steel plants, and petrochemical complexes, impacting thousands of workers. These attacks on vital energy and industrial assets revealed a critical dimension of the conflict: compounding an already acute domestic energy...

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Sep 7 • 8:00 PM EDT • Politics • amwaj.media
Atlanta Hawks Insider Reports Critical Dyson Daniels Injury Update

Is Atlanta Hawks swingman Dyson Daniels injured?

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Sep 7 • 6:29 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Rangers Still Believe as Postseason Race Reaches Critical Stage

Trailing rivals by two games, the Texas Rangers enter a high-stakes road trip fueled by a must-win mentality in a desperate postseason push.

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Sep 7 • 5:00 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
What critics said about A24's secret Elizabeth Holmes documentary

A24 surprised critics at the Telluride Film Festival with a screening of an Elizabeth Holmes documentary. Here were some of their impressions.

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Sep 7 • 12:19 PM EDT • Business • businessinsider.com
The New Office Politics of AI: Who Owns the Decision When it Goes Wrong?

As AI becomes a bigger part of incident management, organisations are facing a critical question: who is responsible when AI recommendations lead to the wrong decision? This article explores why human judgement, clear accountability, and strong governance are essential alongside AI-powered automation.

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Sep 7 • 11:22 AM EDT • Politics • devm.io