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The Los Angeles Police Department said it is investigating after an officer fatally shot a suspect who was reportedly armed with a pole saw Monday morning. Police responded a call about a man armed with what was believed to be a metal pipe at approximately 9:54 a.m. in the area of Gillette and Bridge Street in Boyle Heights. Upon arrival, officers located the suspect, who was armed with what turned out to be a large tree trimmer with an approximate 12-inch serrated blade, police said. The suspect reportedly failed to comply with orders to drop the pole and continued advancing...

Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy had jokes for Vice President JD Vance during the latter’s press briefing Thursday. The event was the first since former White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt exited the post in August. “I just want to ask you, if there’s been reports about this, but I have not heard you talk much about you lost a ton of weight lately. How much sauerkraut do you eat in a day?” Doocy asked. Vance appeared caught off guard by the question. “Oh my lord, okay. So when you’re the vice president of United States and one...

The New Species of Demon-Named Flower Feeds on Fungi Instead of SunlightIn A Nutshell Researchers in Thailand discovered a new flower species, Thismia daemona, named for its dark, horn-like, demon-inspired appearance. The plant has no chlorophyll and never needs sunlight, instead pulling nutrients from underground fungi. Fewer than 50 known individuals exist, all in a single patch of forest inside a national park popular with tourists. Scientists have preliminarily assessed the species as Critically Endangered under IUCN criteria. High in the mountain forests of western Thailand, researchers stumbled on a flower that looks like it belongs in a horror movie....

The MONTHLY Victory Garden Thread is a gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you. If you have specific question about a plant/problem you are having, please remember to state the Growing Zone where you are located. This thread is a non-political respite. No matter what, you won’t be flamed, and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked. It is impossible to hijack...

Most people have tried it at least once. Smoking marijuana is a rite of passage almost as common as that first underage beer. Some grow out of it after high school or college. Others use it well into adulthood. There was also that first cigarette. You inhaled that first time and were pretty sure you were going to bring up a lung, but it was all about the "coolness" of it. Now, with the advent of legalized marijuana, a new poll shows that Americans have chosen what they want to light up. On Monday, a new Gallup poll showed that...

Credit: HHS.gov The far-left hacks at CNN are so terrified of the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement that they have completely abandoned basic math just to attack Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. blasted CNN host Erin Burnett after her program aired a ridiculous “investigation” attempting to discredit the affordable meals featured on Kennedy’s new cooking series, The Real Food Show. Kennedy’s program, inspired by President Trump’s Make America Healthy Again agenda, features chefs preparing nutritious, whole-food meals for approximately $5 or less per serving. But CNN decided to “fact-check” Kennedy...

My swath of cheery flowers brings joy to our home, plus is a boon for wildlife. Here’s what I’ve learned, and what I’d do differently next time.A few years ago, the view from my window was a bleak, dusty expanse. Now, there are fledgling sparrows romping in a wildflower meadow, where impossibly purple flax sways in the breeze alongside native grasses and splashes of orange poppies.And every year brings a surprising highlight. Once it was a blanket of delicate white baby’s breath. The next, tall evening primroses took over, with goldfinches resting in their towering spires of yellow flowers. The...

One person’s trash dramatically turned into another’s treasure as workers in Belgium happened upon a gold hoard worth more than $10 million while installing a sewer line in a building they were renovating. “Our first reaction was actually disbelief,” Kobe, an 18-year-old student worker, told Belgium outlet VRT. “Of course, we hadn’t expected to find gold.” At the time, the construction crew was renovating a building in the city center of the Flemish community of Sint-Gillis-Dendermonde, located about 40 miles from Brussels. During the building rehab, workers were removing the foundation to make way for a sewer pipe when they...

Are we about to see a disruption of the avocado supply chain? It's possible. Violent criminal drug cartels are connected with much that goes on in our neighbor to the south, Mexico — and that includes the highly lucrative market for avocados in the United States. At least four drug cartels — designated as foreign terrorist organizations by the Trump administration — operate in the region, profiting not only from narcotics trafficking but also from extortion schemes targeting the lucrative avocado industry. Security threat shuts down avocado pipeline from Mexico to the US https://t.co/zrY4Kn4q3a pic.twitter.com/XGGYFTgr0r— New York Post (@nypost) August...

Key points * Your body needs a small amount of sodium to work properly, but too much sodium is bad for your health. * While sodium has many forms, most sodium we consume is from salt. * Most Americans consume too much sodium. * Most sodium comes from processed and restaurant foods. ============================================================= Health risks Eating too much sodium can increase your blood pressure and your risk for heart disease and stroke. Together, heart disease and stroke kill more Americans each year than any other cause. Most people eat too much sodium Your body needs a small amount of sodium...

Even as a fixture in California cuisine and a sizable industry for the state’s farmers, avocados have presented an ongoing mystery for scientists: How do they easily flip sexes? In a new study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, California researchers have finally answered that question by tracing the process in avocado trees back to a single gene. “Even for a plant that is so familiar to us, there’s been this great mystery for so long,” Jeffrey Groh, a postdoctoral researcher at UC Berkeley and first author of the study, told SFGATE. “It’s super exciting...

The MONTHLY Victory Garden Thread is a gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you. If you have specific question about a plant/problem you are having, please remember to state the Growing Zone where you are located. This thread is a non-political respite. No matter what, you won’t be flamed, and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked. It is impossible to hijack...

California’s wine industry has gotten so desperate that one vineyard owner torched his own vines after deciding they were worth more as ashes than grapes. The Golden State’s struggling wineries have faced mounting financial pressure for years, with conditions becoming so grim that California lawmakers recently appealed to Canada to reopen its market to American wine. But while that international lifeline remains uncertain, a new report from The New York Times is offering a look at just how bleak the situation has become. Jason Smith, CEO of Valley Farm Management, said he recently sold all of his land — then...

Pro-life leader says garden could lead to serious health risks or abuse if students use plants Purchase College, a public university in southeastern New York, is home to a student-run “Reproductive Justice Garden” that features plants promoted because of their abortifacient properties. Social media posts by the student club appear to encourage people to use the plants in the garden for self-induced abortions — which one pro-life leader told The College Fix she fears could lead to serious health risks or abuse. The garden, which was launched in 2019 and revamped in 2024, is run by students who are part...

The vast blazes ripping through southwestern France burned so intensely they created a powerful, fire-generated thunderstorm. This rare phenomenon is sometimes seen in the kinds of megafires that afflict the US and Canada, but was unprecedented in France, until now — and it’s just one sign that Europe is entering a new fire era, experts say. Europe has always had wildfires, but they are becoming increasingly extreme as the climate crisis tightens its grip. Firefighters in France and Spain have this week been trying to tame blazes more ferocious and more erratic than anything they’ve tackled before. On Wednesday, authorities...

An immigrant-led business group is gearing up to sue New York City over Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s controversial plan to open five taxpayer-funded supermarkets — claiming the $70 million project will create unfair competition for nearby stores, The Post has learned. As the far-left mayor announced new details of his plan this week — including a 30% discount on basic items like produce, meat, milk, cheese and bread – the Multicultural Business Coalition’s board voted to file a lawsuit in the coming weeks to block the pricey initiative, the group’s chairman Frank Garcia told The Post. “The mayor doesn’t seem to...

World Snake Day slithers into focus every July 16, aiming to shed light on the incredible diversity and ecological importance of over 3,500 snake species. This global observance challenges negative perceptions and encourages a deeper understanding of these often-misunderstood reptiles. Learn to appreciate their role in ecosystems, support conservation initiatives, and share facts to help protect them.>>>History of World Snake Day The English word ‘snake’ comes from the Old English word ‘snaca.’ The reptile is thought to have come from terrestrial lizards that existed around 174.1 million to 163.5 million years ago. In fact, Eophis underwoodi, the oldest fossil snake,...

Image courtesy of Texas A&M AgriLife While the outbreak of New World screwworm continues in South Texas, an infestation of pasture mealybugs is beginning to threaten Texas’s agricultural industry. Pasture mealybugs primarily feed on important agricultural resources, such as hayfields and forage resources. Immature pasture mealybugs feed on plant sap and can inject toxins that poison plants, causing them to thin or die outright. Texas A&M AgriLife Extension offices across the state have been monitoring the pest. So far, pasture mealybugs have been detected in 70 counties. “It seems like we add new counties every week, sometimes every day,” said...

VIDEO AT LINK......... A nasty gastrointestinal bug is rapidly spreading in several states, with more than 700 cases confirmed in Michigan over the last few weeks. The demand for tests for cyclosporiasis, a pathogen often caused by contaminated fresh produce, is so intense, with so many patients seeking help for diarrhea and crippling abdominal cramps, that many labs can’t keep up. The source of the fast-moving illnesses is unknown, although the Food and Drug Administration said an investigation is ongoing. Cases in Michigan could easily reach 1,000, said Dr. Anurag Malani, vice chief of staff at Trinity Health Ann Arbor....

Royal jelly is only part of what makes a queen honeybee. Scientists found that worker bees build specialized “royal cribs” and work together to create the ideal environment for raising the colony’s future queen. Credit: Shutterstock Honeybee queens are made not just by royal jelly, but by an entire colony engineering the perfect royal nursery. For years, scientists believed the recipe for creating a honeybee queen was surprisingly simple. Feed an ordinary larva enough royal jelly, and it develops into the colony’s ruler. A new study, however, reveals that becoming a queen depends on far more than diet. Researchers found...