Author: rpnadmin

Amy Neville describes Kristin Bride as her “soulmate.” But the day that forged their bond – June 23, 2020 – was the worst of each of their lives. Both Bride and Neville lost their teen sons that day. Their kids lived a thousand miles apart and never met, but they both died from harms related to their social media use. When the two mothers met, early in their advocacy work to protect other kids, Bride said she had felt “totally alone.” But they have since seen the online child safety movement blossom, with scores of other parents who lost kids…

A long and dangerous heat wave will blast a large swath of the United States this week, the National Weather Service said, with temperatures rising ahead of the July Fourth holiday and feeling even hotter because of the high humidity that’s arriving with it. Several days of high temperatures will settle in across the lower Great Lakes, the mid-Atlantic and the Mississippi and Ohio River valleys, the weather service said. A number of big cities could see their highest temperatures of the year so far as they host World Cup matches. Feeling the heat will be the East Coast cities…

BEAVER, Utah — Three firefighters died and two were injured while tackling fires on the Colorado-Utah border, the U.S. Wildland Fire Service reported Sunday. The agency – created earlier this year to streamline firefighting and fire reduction across public lands – said the firefighters had been part of an interagency response to the Knowles and Gore fires on Saturday. “The U.S. Wildland Fire Service stands united with the USDA Forest Service in grief and in our unwavering support for the loved ones left behind. Their bravery, dedication, and sacrifice will never be forgotten,” it said in a statement on Facebook.…

DALLAS — Texas’ education board on Friday approved a required reading list for more than 5 million public school students that includes Bible stories, widening conservative efforts to bring Christian teachings into U.S. classrooms. The state-mandated list of assigned reading – which includes Charles Dickens’ “Great Expectations” and excerpts from the New Testament – appeared to be among the first of its kind of the nation and will take effect starting in 2030. The State Board of Education, which is controlled by Republicans, approved the list on a 9-5 vote following weeks of contentious debate that again put Texas at…

PHOENIX — A polygamous sect leader already serving a 50-year federal prison sentence for orchestrating sex involving children was convicted Friday on state child abuse charges after girls were found in an unventilated trailer he was hauling through Arizona. Someone alerted authorities about the trailer in August 2022 after seeing small fingers reaching through gaps in the doors. Police stopped Samuel Bateman’s vehicle as he was driving through Flagstaff and found three girls inside, who were ages 11 to 14 at the time. The trailer was enclosed with a makeshift toilet, a sofa and camping chairs. In the federal case,…

Hot, dry and windy conditions are fueling a fast-moving wildfire in Utah, forcing the governor to declare an emergency and restrict fireworks as critical weather across the West gives way to mounting concerns that anything could cause a spark. Firefighters are facing more challenges on the ground from what fire managers and experts call unprecedented conditions. Air tankers and helicopters were grounded Friday as winds picked up on the Cottonwood Fire, the largest blaze currently burning in the U.S. Gusts were clocked at 45 miles per hour (72 kph) and humidity levels were in the single digits, leaving crews with…

One of the orchestrators of the Feeding Our Future scam, the fraud that stole a quarter of a billion dollars in pandemic food assistance money in Minnesota, has been captured — in Somalia. The arrest of Abdikerm Abdelahi Eidleh underscored the connection between the scam and the Somali immigration community, which was at the center of the fraud. Prosecutors said the FBI tracked Mr. Eidleh to Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, where he was taken into custody on Thursday, nearly four years after he was first charged in the U.S. “Eidleh’s capture shows that, if you commit fraud against the American taxpayer…

The Daughters of the American Revolution beat back a membership uprising over transgender membership, rejecting a resolution that would have barred male-born candidates from being admitted to the venerable women’s patriotic organization. DAR members defeated the resolution, which would have clarified that applicants must be “born female” to be eligible for membership, at a Friday vote of the 135th Continental Congress at Memorial Continental Hall in the District. Introduced by a cohort of members known as Daughters Advocating for Restoration, the proposal lost by a 1,481-984 vote of the assembly, according to Laura McDonald, a leader of the resistance group…

Socialist candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier is celebrating her Democratic primary victory over a New York congressional incumbent with a media clean-up tour of past comments that Democrats have denounced. Ms. Avila Chevalier said in a series of post-election interviews that she regrets her past social media posts calling former President Joseph R. Biden a “rapist” and cursing former Vice President Kamala Harris. As the likely next representative of New York’s 13th District, she said she wants to build relationships and coalitions for her far-left policy ideas. “I do regret my tweets,” she said on MS Now. “That’s something that I…

JUNEAU, Alaska — A man with the same name and party affiliation as Alaska Republican U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan is eligible to challenge the senator in the August primary, a judge ruled Friday. Superior Court Judge Thomas Matthews’ ruling overturns a June 15 decision by Division of Elections Director Carol Beecher to disqualify the challenger and keep him off the primary ballot. Matthews’ ruling can be appealed to the state Supreme Court. Attorneys for the state have said Tuesday is the deadline for a final ruling so that ballots for the Aug. 18 primary can be printed. The judge ruled…