Author: rpnadmin

The parents of a girl who was raped when she was 12 years old by an adult stranger she met on Snapchat have sued its parent company, Snap, and the attacker in Missouri state court. The lawsuit filed Wednesday claims the social media company has refused to disable dangerous features in its app or warn parents about potential harms it may cause. According to the lawsuit, the girl, referred by the initials J.F., began using Snapchat in 2021 when she was 11 without her parents’ knowledge. While the app requires users to be 13 to sign up, the lawsuit says…

A Texas ranch manager says that a giraffe on the loose from the ranch is still missing, despite reports that the animal had been found safe.  The Real County Animal Rescue-Shelter posted a “lost giraffe” notice on Facebook Monday at the behest of ranch manager Vic Jones. The giraffe, named Gracie, went missing from the Cedar Hollow Ranch in Leakey, Texas, about 79 miles northwest of San Antonio, Texas. The ranch’s owner is offering a $5,000 reward for the safe capture and return of Gracie to the ranch, but says the giraffe is still on the loose — despite reports…

About one-third of Americans believe the number of legal immigrants admitted into the country each year should be reduced or eliminated entirely, with sharp partisan divides on the question, according to a new Economist/YouGov poll conducted June 13–15 among 1,549 U.S. adult citizens. The survey asked whether legal immigration levels should be increased, kept the same, decreased or reduced to zero. Overall, 23% of respondents said legal immigration should increase, while 30% said current levels should stay the same and 15% were unsure. The remaining 33% — combining the 25% who said levels should be decreased with the 8% who…

Sports commentator Stephen A. Smith is pushing back against those who continue to question the murder conviction of Karmelo Anthony, using his podcast to argue that supporters of the 19-year-old are fighting the wrong battle. On a recent episode of his “Straight Shooter” podcast titled “We’re Fighting the Wrong Battle!,” Mr. Smith maintained that the jury reached the correct conclusion. “When we sit up here and we think about the battles that need to be fought, we gotta be mindful of what’s worth fighting for and what’s not worth fighting for,” he said. Mr. Smith had previously stated on an…

Some Democratic governors have signaled plans to join President Trump’s federal school choice program, prompting teachers unions to launch a counterattack. Included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the Education Freedom Tax Credit will let people deduct up to $1,700 per year in donations to approved nonprofit scholarship programs on their income tax returns starting in January. The IRS estimated this month that 27 states have opted into the program, which directs scholarship recipients to spend the funds on tuition and fees at the campus of their choice. Republican governors lead most of those states, including Texas and Indiana,…

New York — The Kennedy dynasty won’t be returning to Congress next year. Kennedy family scion and political novice Jack Schlossberg lost Tuesday to New York state Assembly Member Micah Lasher, in a closely watched and crowded Democratic primary for an open congressional seat in the heart of Manhattan. Lasher has spent his career in politics, working for officeholders including the man whose seat he hopes to win in November, Democratic longtime Rep. Jerry Nadler. Flanked by another former boss, Gov. Kathy Hochul, and other politicians in New York City’s Democratic establishment, Lasher said in his victory speech that he…

RICHMOND, Va. — A coalition of 17 states and a trade association representing U.S. wholesalers and distributors have sued California to block the enforcement of a stringent recycling law that aims to reduce plastic packaging waste. The lawsuit, filed Monday in federal court, argues that California’s recently finalized regulations that will gradually require companies to scale back single-use plastics and ensure all packaging is recycling or compostable should be struck down. The plaintiffs called the regulations “onerous mandates” that will cause steep price increases in everyday necessities that will be passed on, at least in part, to consumers. “Once again,…

A cruise ship struck a pregnant fin whale in waters off the coast of Alaska, killing the endangered marine mammal. The National Marine Fisheries Service, also known as NOAA Fisheries, said on social media Sunday that the cruise ship docked in Seward, Alaska, 1,385 miles northwest of Seattle on Friday with the dead whale on its bow. A local company then towed the deceased pregnant whale to a beach so that a necropsy could be performed. The whale was 61 feet long and belonged to an endangered species, the fin whale. The only cruise ship due in Seward on Friday…

California intends to sue the Trump administration over its deal to end an offshore wind project proposed off the state’s central coast. State officials said they are combating the administration’s attacks on their offshore wind industry by sending a notice of their intention to sue to the Department of the Interior on Tuesday. Tuesday’s action is focused on the administration buying back the lease for Golden State Wind, a floating offshore wind project off California’s central coast. California has made a major commitment to offshore wind because of its potential to generate vast amounts of clean electricity from strong, consistent…

NEW YORK — A study on COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness has finally been published after being blocked from a government health journal. The vaccine was found to be about 55% effective against COVID-19-associated hospitalizations, and reduced COVID-19-related trips to emergency departments and urgent care clinics by 50%, according to the study published Tuesday by JAMA Network Open. The findings are not particularly surprising: Researchers have repeatedly found that COVID-19 vaccines work. But the paper drew public attention after Trump administration political appointees decided not to run it in a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention publication. They argued that the study’s…