Author: Olive Metuge
ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up for Dispatches, a newsletter that spotlights wrongdoing around the country, to receive our stories in your inbox every week. When Hurricane Helene plowed over the Southeast last September, it caused more inland deaths than any hurricane in recorded history. The highest per capita death toll occurred in Yancey County, a rural expanse in the rugged Black Mountains of North Carolina devastated by flash flooding and landslides. On Monday, we published a story recounting what happened in Yancey. Our intent was to show, through those horrific events, how highly…
Watch moment Trump confronts South Africa’s president with videoUS President Donald Trump confronted his South African counterpart at the White House on Wednesday with a video Trump said supported his claim that white farmers were being “persecuted” in the country.The footage, played during a news conference with Cyril Ramaphosa, showed thousands of crosses lining a road that Trump claimed marked burial spots for murdered white farmers. Trump said he did not know where in South Africa it was filmed, and the footage has not been verified by the BBC.Ramaphosa – who appeared to weigh his response carefully – disputed Trump’s…
U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has accepted a luxury Boeing 747 aircraft from Qatar for U.S. President Donald Trump to use as Air Force One, the Pentagon said Wednesday, despite ongoing questions about the ethics and legality of taking the expensive gift from a foreign nation.The U.S. Defence Department will “work to ensure proper security measures” on the aircraft to make it safe for use by the president, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said. He added that the plane was accepted “in accordance with all federal rules and regulations.”Trump has defended the gift, which came up during his recent Middle East trip,…
This article was updated on May 21 at 2:38 p.m. The Trump administration came to the Supreme Court on Wednesday morning, once again asking the justices to take action on their emergency docket. U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer urged the court to temporarily pause an order by a federal judge in Washington, D.C., that would require the Department of Government Efficiency to provide information in a lawsuit filed under the Freedom of Information Act. Sauer told the justices that requiring DOGE as a “presidential advisory body” to respond to the plaintiffs’ requests, a process known as discovery, “clearly violates…
As a third-year law student, I’ve had a front-row seat to the artificial intelligence revolution in the legal field. This experience has helped me integrate AI into my research, writing and studying. The rise of AI in legal education With tools like ChatGPT, Lexis+ AI and locally hosted large language models, law students have ample opportunities to embrace this revolution, rather than resist it. I remember when OpenAI took the world by storm, releasing ChatGPT in November 2022. In my first round of on-campus interviews taking place in January, I asked one of the interviewing associates if their firm (an…
There are some huge discounts in store…Shoppers, get ready, Amazon has announced its first ever Mega Summer Sale and it’s going to be a big one. From May 27 to 31, the sale is offering a wide selection of deals across lots of categories. During these five days, customers will get thousands of savings opportunities along with instant bank discounts, flexible payment options and convenient delivery options. Prime members will get exclusive early access on May 27 along with higher discounts but everyone can start saving some cash whether you want to buy a gift for a loved one for…
ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published. Reporting Highlights Community Divisions: A tribal lending business in Minto, Alaska, is bringing in much-needed revenue but also dividing the community over ethical concerns and questions about who benefits. Legal Issues: Two suits allege Minto’s partners receive the bulk of the lending revenue. Among those named: Jay McGraw — son of Dr. Phil — who is linked to a firm assisting the tribe. Unhappy Borrowers: Minto’s lending operations have been the subject of numerous consumer complaints, with borrowers…
A former leading Ukrainian official has been shot dead outside an American school in the Spanish capital Madrid, reports say.The 51-year-old man, named by Ukrainian and Spanish sources as Andriy Portnov, had just dropped his children off at the school in the Pozuelo de Alarcón area of the city, reports say.At least one unidentified attacker fired several shots at the victim before fleeing into a wooded area in a nearby public park, Spanish reports said.Portnov had been an MP and deputy head in the administration of Viktor Yanukovych, the pro-Russian president ousted in 2014 after months of protests. He had…
Iran has said it is “ready for talks” with Canada about renewing long dormant diplomatic relations between the two countries, but that Ottawa must be the one to make the first move.”The relationship was frozen unilaterally by Canada, not by Iran,” said Esmail Baghaei, a foreign ministry spokesperson, at a recent media briefing in Tehran.”And we never welcomed that decision because we think that decision was not for the benefit of either of the two nations,” he said.Baghaei was responding to a question from CBC News on a recent reporting trip to Iran. Visas for Canadian journalists have only rarely been approved…
The Supreme Court on Tuesday afternoon required the clerk of the Maine House of Representatives to count votes by a Maine lawmaker who was censured for a social media post about a transgender athlete at a high school track meet in that state. In a brief unsigned order, the justices granted a request filed by Laurel Libby, a Republican who represents a district in the southern part of the state, to clear the way for her to vote while her appeal continues in the lower courts and, if necessary, the Supreme Court. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented from the court’s ruling. In…