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The U.S. has reached an important milestone in the pandemic, according to federal health officials. Going forward, COVID-19 could be treated more like the flu, with one annual shot offering year-long protection against severe illness for most people. "Barring any new variant curve balls, for a large majority of Americans we are moving to a point where a single, annual COVID shot should provide a high degree of protection against serious illness all year," said White House COVID response coordinator Ashish Jha at a press briefing Tuesday. The federal government has started rolling out a new round of boosters for...

A federal judge in Texas ruled on Wednesday that a mandate requiring most health insurance companies to cover medicine that prevents HIV infection violates the religious freedom of certain businesses. The ruling from U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor partially resolves a lawsuit brought by Braidwood Management Inc., a Christian for-profit corporation owned by Republican mega-donor Steven Hotze that employs about 70 people. Hotze claimed that forcing his company to cover pre-exposure prophylaxis drugs, more commonly known as PrEP, under the Affordable Care Act would make the company “facilitate and encourage homosexual behavior.” According to the Centers for Disease Control and...

Onward Together, a nonprofit group started by Hillary Clinton after she lost the 2016 presidential election, funneled $75,000 to a far-left group whose affiliate worked on a failed attempt to dismantle and replace the Minneapolis Police Department, Fox News first reported. Clinton’s Onward Together gave money to Washington, D.C.-based Alliance for Youth Justice between April 1, 2021, and March 31, 2021, according to the group’s latest tax forms, the report noted.

Muslims make up 25% of the global population and Islam is the fastest-growing religion in the world — but Muslims only comprise 1% of characters shown on popular televisions series in the U.S., the U.K., Australia and New Zealand. Those are just two of the findings in a new report issued Wednesday by the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative. Researchers investigated 200 top-rated television shows from 2018 and 2019 that aired in these four countries, and surveyed 8,885 characters with speaking roles. Apart from the numbers deficit, the majority of the Muslim characters were depicted as adult Middle Eastern or North...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House said Wednesday it’s optimistic about a decline in monkeypox cases and an uptick in vaccinations against the infectious virus, despite worsening racial disparities in reported cases. Promising to ramp up vaccination offerings at LGBTQ Pride festivals around the country in the coming weeks, Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, the deputy coordinator of the White House national monkeypox response, said more than 460,000 doses have been given. The U.S. leads the world with infections — as of Tuesday 20,733 cases had been reported — with men accounting for about 98% of cases and men who said they...

A Wisconsin judge on Wednesday ruled that state law does not allow election clerks to fill in missing information on witness certification envelopes that contain absentee ballots, delivering a victory to Republicans nine weeks before the election in the battleground state. The lawsuit, backed by the GOP-controlled Legislature, is the latest move by Republicans to tighten restrictions on absentee voting in the swing state where Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and Republican Sen. Ron Johnson are on the ballot in November. Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Aprahamian on Wednesday granted GOP motions to immediately block the practice, known as ballot curing....

emocrat John Fetterman is committing to at least one debate with his Republican opponent, Dr. Mehmet Oz, in Pennsylvania’s race for U.S. Senate. In a Wednesday afternoon article authored by Politico’s Holly Otterbein, Fetterman said voters will see him on the debate stage with Oz “sometime in the middle to end of October.” A “major television station” in the Keystone State will host the debate, Fetterman said.

[Catholic Caucus] Diocese in the Netherlands announces parishes will no longer offer Mass every Sunday'In many deaneries, it is simply no longer possible to find and maintain structured enough priests to celebrate the Eucharist every weekend in every church; other places are experiencing a shortage of priests.'ROERMOND, Netherlands (LifeSiteNews) – As Mass attendance continues to dwindle, the Diocese of Roermond in the Netherlands recently announced its parishes will no longer offer the Mass every Sunday.Citing a shortage of priests and volunteers as well as an increase in energy costs, Vicar General René Maessen wrote in a letter last month that...

SEATTLE (AP) — Red-shirted teachers and staff in Seattle Public Schools took to the picket lines instead of the classroom on what was supposed to be the first day of school Wednesday, striking for the first time since 2015 over issues that include pay and educational support for students who have struggled with years of pandemic learning. Contract talks, which began months ago, continued. It was unclear how long the walkout might last, leaving many parents to scramble for alternative childcare. The city said it would open recreation centers for children in kindergarten through sixth grade beginning Monday. “We encourage...

Trump-appointed District Court Judge Aileen Cannon was only asked two questions by Democrats at her Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing...That decision has been derided by media figures and experts across the political spectrum, many of whom have noted that Cannon was nominated by Trump. [*Left Media Warns* all federal judges their names, location, and videos will be published if they decide in Trump's favor on ANY issue]

As there had been a thread discussing the mass casualty knife attacks in Saskatchewan last Sunday, the latest news is that Myles Sanderson, the remaining suspect at large, has been taken into custody in a rural area north of Saskatoon and south of the crime scenes. His brother Damien, at one point identified as another suspect, had been found deceased yesterday. Police reports indicate that a vehicle (evidently not the one previously being sought) had been stolen in the small town of Wakaw, SK, and shortly after that, the driver was arrested and identified as the suspect, Myles Sanderson.

Last week, President Joe Biden announced that the federal government would forgive between $10,000 and $20,000 of student loan debt for qualifying borrowers who make less than $125,000 per year. But that wasn't all: Biden also said that he would create a new income-driven repayment (IDR) system for college borrowers.

CHICAGO (AP) — A federal judge has approved a $9.25 million settlement by the Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union in two long-running lawsuits stemming from the layoffs of hundreds of Black educators at underperforming schools, officials said Wednesday. Those eligible to receive payments under the settlement have until Friday to submit claims, attorneys for the teachers union said. Eligible to receive payments are all Black persons employed as teachers or para-professionals in any school or attendance center subjected to a “turnaround” policy that targeted schools that had been put on probation due to substandard test scores and...

The drama continues inside the nonprofit organization that became synonymous with a nationwide protest movement against police violence. This time, an argument over millions of dollars might play out in open court. A lawsuit filed in Los Angeles accuses Shalomyah Bowers, a consultant brought in to help run the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation of pilfering $10 million in funds away from the organization’s grassroots wing. The suit names Bowers, a consulting firm he runs and BLMGNF as defendants and accuses Bowers specifically of “siphoning” money contributed by donors from the on-the-ground activists it was intended to help. The...

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A group of parents is suing the Eau Claire school district for guidance to staff members on supporting transgender students. Parents Protecting Our Children, a group of parents with children in the Eau Claire school system, argued in a complaint filed in federal court Wednesday that the school’s policies for supporting transgender students violate constitutional protections for parental rights and religious freedom. A district policy titled “Administrative Guidance for Gender Identity Support” encourages transgender students to reach out to staff members with concerns and instructs employees to be careful who they talk to about a student’s...

Loved by pre-school audiences in the UK, US, Australia and Latin America, Peppa Pig is arguably one of the most recognisable - and popular - cartoon animals in the world. It is perhaps no wonder, then, that the programme's decision to introduce its first same-sex couple has made waves. During an episode titled Families, which first aired on Tuesday on Channel 5 in the UK, where Peppa Pig is made, the eponymous character was introduced to friend Penny Polar Bear's mothers. While drawing a portrait of her family, Penny explained: "I live with my mummy and my other mummy. One...

The Pentagon is preparing detailed analysis and working out how to support Ukraine's military in the medium and long term, including after the war with Russia has ended, according to three defense officials. The efforts are being led by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley and would build on the billions of dollars in military aid the US has given to Ukraine since Russia invaded in February. The process is at an early stage and a senior defense official said it is looking at the "future of Ukrainian forces," aiming to answer key questions about "what...

A team of researchers has found that the application of a pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF) following radiotherapy reduced bone loss in test mice. Prior research has shown applying radiotherapy to cancerous tumors results in death of the cells that make up the tumor. But the use of radiotherapy has a major drawback—when it strikes bone, it results in loss of bone mass so that bones become more fragile and patients develop a high risk for bone fracture. Over the past several years, some research has suggested that firing an electromagnetic field at damaged bone can encourage bone cell growth and...

Meghan Puglia, a neurologist at the University of Virginia, is working to detect autism in babies much earlier. Her goal is to help children with autism achieve optimal outcomes through earlier diagnosis. “We know early intervention is the strongest predictor of optimal outcomes for kids with autism,” Puglia said. Right now, she says the earliest age that autism can be diagnosed is at 18 months. “All babies, before they leave the hospital, get a hearing screening and metabolic tests. There is no screening for autism until the baby is toddling around and starting to talk,” Puglia said. Each week, Puglia...

Flight: 31 Sol: 550 Date: Sept. 6, 2022 Horizontal Distance: 97m ~318ft Max Altitude: 10m ~33ft Max Groundspeed: 4.75 m/s ~10.6 mph Duration: 55.6 seconds Route of Flight: from Airfield U to Airfield VNote: Dates based on Pacific time zone at the time of Ingenuity's flight.