News

Via press release: The Boy Scouts of America today announced that it will rebrand to Scouting America, reflecting the organization’s ongoing commitment to welcome every youth and family in America to experience the benefits of Scouting. The change will go into effect on February 8, 2025, the organization’s 115th anniversary. This announcement also comes as the organization celebrates the fifth …

Politico reports: A measure that would codify abortion rights in the New York constitution, as well as other equal rights, was tossed off the ballot Tuesday, a blow to Democrats’ efforts to get the question to voters in November. A conservative judge in upstate Livingston County rejected the measure in a court ruling, questioning the legality of the ballot question. …

The Guardian reports: Hamas says it has accepted an Egyptian-Qatari cease-fire proposal to halt seven-month war with Israel. It issued a statement Monday saying its supreme leader, Ismail Haniyeh, had delivered the news in a phone call with Qatar’s prime minister and Egypt’s intelligence minister. The two Middle Eastern nations have been mediating months of talks between Israel and Hamas. …

The Associated Press reports: Eighty-two-year-old liberal U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont announced Monday that he is running for re-election, saying American democracy is in question during difficult times for the country and the world. Sanders, seeking a fourth Senate term, is an independent. He was a Democratic congressman for 16 years and still caucuses with the Democrats. In an …

Bloomberg reports: The Swiss Army Knife, the iconic, more than century-old fold-up tool used by whittlers, soldiers and even astronauts, will soon be available without a blade. Victorinox, the company behind the quintessentially Swiss product, is responding to tighter regulations around weapons around the world, Chief Executive Officer Carl Eisner told the Blick newspaper on Monday. Instead, it plans to …

Axios reports: The titanic Biden-Trump election likely will be decided by roughly 6% of voters in just six states, top strategists in both parties tell us. Each side will spend billions to reach those voters over the next six months. Roughly 244 million Americans will be eligible to vote. But 99.5% of us won’t be deciders: We won’t vote. Or …

The Washington Post reports: A motorist died after crashing a speeding car into an outer gate on the White House complex late Saturday, the Secret Service said. The crash occurred shortly before 10:30 p.m., the Secret Service said. Unspecified “security protocols were implemented” and the vehicle was cleared by Secret Service officers who tried to render aid. The driver, identified …

The New York Times reports: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said on Sunday that his cabinet had voted to shut down the Israeli operations of Al Jazeera, a Qatar-based network that is one of the most widely viewed sources of television news in the Arab world. The decision, which had been expected, could complicate Israel’s relationship with Qatar, which …

Reuters reports: Manipulated videos are taking centre stage as campaigning heats up in India’s election, with fake clips involving two top aides of Prime Minister Narendra Modi triggering police investigations and the arrest of some workers of his rival Congress party. In what has been dubbed as India’s first AI election, Modi said last week fake voices were being used …

NBC News reports: The Justice Department is expected to announce the indictment of longtime Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, on Friday, two sources familiar with the matter told NBC News. Cuellar’s home and campaign office in Laredo, Texas, were raided in January 2022 as part of a federal investigation into Azerbaijan and a group of U.S. businessmen who have ties to …

Mediaite reports: A key political operative on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign was charged with assault after allegedly choking and punching a woman in New York early Saturday morning. Trent Pool, who serves as a paid consultant on the long-shot independent campaign and has been leading the effort to get Kennedy on the ballot in all 50 states, was …

The Hill reports: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is poised to join Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) in inviting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to deliver an address to Congress, despite tensions between the Israeli leader and many Democrats over the ongoing war in the Middle East. “I sent a letter draft, because it’s a bicameral invitation letter, it’s been …

The Arizona Republic reports: Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs on Thursday signed into law a repeal of the state’s 160-year-old abortion ban, rescinding one of the nation’s most restrictive abortion laws after weeks of hard-fought political negotiation at the state capitol. “Today we are doing what 23 governors and 55 legislatures refused to do, and I am so proud to be …

Law & Crime reports: A federal judge threw out a lawsuit filed by a vocal critic of Black Lives Matter challenging the city of Honolulu’s refusal to allow him to register his red Pontiac Firebird with a vanity plate reading “FCKBLM.” Edward Odquina sued the city after his preferred license plate was revoked for being too profane. Odquina said in …

The Associated Press reports: Prosecutors asked for a September retrial for Harvey Weinstein during a hearing Wednesday in Manhattan, the disgraced movie mogul’s first court appearance since his 2020 rape conviction was overturned by an appeals court last week. One of Weinstein’s accusers, Jessica Mann, was in the courtroom Wednesday and is prepared to testify again, Assistant District Attorney Nicole …

The Washington Post reports: GOP leaders this week announced plans for new oversight investigations of elite universities where — in the words of House Republican Whip Tom Emmer (Minn.) — “pro-terrorist anti-Semites [are] taking over.” And on Wednesday, they passed the Antisemitism Awareness Act, which its advocates said would empower the federal government to crack down on anti-Israel protests on …

Phoenix’s NBC affiliate reports: The Arizona Senate has signed off on a bill to repeal an abortion ban dating back to the 19th century. Two Republicans, T.J. Shope and Shawnna Bolick, sided with Democrats on Wednesday to deliver enough votes to pass House Bill 2677, which would repeal a law that would only allow abortion in circumstances that would save …

The Associated Press reports: The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration will move to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug, The Associated Press has learned, a historic shift to generations of American drug policy that could have wide ripple effects across the country. The DEA’s proposal, which still must be reviewed by the White House Office of Management and Budget, would …

The New York Times reports: A shootout that broke out on Monday when a team of law enforcement personnel tried to serve warrants to a suspect in Charlotte, N.C., left four officers dead and another four injured. The shootout, in which the suspect was also killed, was one of the deadliest for American law enforcement in recent years. A group …

The Hill reports: Hillary Clinton is the latest Democrat to troll South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) after she detailed in a forthcoming book how she shot her dog. “Still true,” Clinton wrote Monday on the social media platform X above a 2021 post that read, “Don’t vote for anyone you wouldn’t trust with your dog.” Noem shot her nearly …