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☆ Democrats Denounce Biden’s Decision to Send Cluster Munitions to Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-07 | by ( Karoun Demirjian | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

President Biden’s decision to send cluster munitions to Ukraine has angered a wide swath of Democrats, who are accusing his administration of making a hypocritical decision that risked the moral standing of the United States. The move answered a monthslong clamor from congressional Republicans to supply Kyiv with the weapons, but Mr. Biden’s political allies denounced it. “A victory for Ukraine is an essential victory for democracies across the globe, but that victory cannot come at the expense of our American values and thus democracy itself,” Representative Chrissy Houlahan, Democrat of Pennsylvania and an Air Force veteran who co-chairs a bipartisan congressional caucus on unexploded ordinance and demining, said in a statement on Friday. “I challenge the notion that we should employ the same tactics Russia is using, blurring the lines of moral high ground.”She and other Democrats argued that cluster munitions of the kind the administration plans to send to Ukraine pose indiscriminate harm to civilians long after they are used in combat.

Persons: Biden’s, Chrissy Houlahan, “ Organizations: Republicans, an Air Force Locations: Ukraine, United States, Pennsylvania, Russia

☆ 4 lucrative side hustles for summer 2023—one pays up to $80 per hour
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-01 | by ( Gili Malinsky | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

If you're curious to start a side hustle yourself, summer could be a good time to dive in. Be a summer school assistantPost pandemic, many kids are far behind in school. As such, more parents may elect to send their kids to summer school than usual. She calls it a "summer school assistant." The summer school assistant would pick kids up from summer school, help them with their homework and tutor them in any particular subject if needed.

Persons: Angelique Rewers, That's, Airbnb, –, Daniella Flores, Flores, Rewers Organizations: Facebook, Rover Locations: Airbnb, San Diego, Portland , Maine, Dallas , Texas, Fort Lauderdale , Florida, New York

☆ St. Louis Is the Struggling Downtown You Haven’t Of - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( Kevin Mcdermott | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Unlike San Francisco, St. Louis is a blue island in a red state, and conservative state policies have at least partly driven the city’s decline. More apt parallels to St. Louis are places like Kansas City, Mo., Memphis, Nashville and Little Rock, Ark. : liberal enclaves that in a macrocosm of the worst kind of family dysfunction are at the mercy of conservative state governments. In 2015, for example, St. Louis passed an ordinance to gradually raise the state’s $7.65 minimum wage for workers in the city to $11 by 2018 — prompting passage of a state law that retroactively prohibited cities from passing their own minimum wage hikes and dropping St. Louis workers’ minimum by more than $2 overnight. (Missouri voters later responded with a statewide referendum that stepped around the legislature and gradually raised the state’s minimum wage to $12 by this year.)

Persons: Louis’s, Louis Organizations: Little Locations: Francisco, Francisco’s, St, Kansas City, Mo, Memphis, Nashville, Missouri

☆ Yellow-crested cockatoos find an unlikely urban refuge in Hong Kong
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( Rebecca Cairns | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +18 min

Hong Kong CNN —It’s dusk in Hong Kong Park. On a sweltering summer day in Hong Kong Park, nestled between skyscrapers in the urban center of the Asian metropolis, a yellow-crested cockatoo perches on a branch. Noemi Cassanelli/CNN Yellow-crested cockatoos nest in old trees, typically more than 100 years old, which form cavities in the trunk. Hong Kong, despite its urban sprawl and concrete veneer, is a stronghold for several endangered species, including Chinese pangolins, Hong Kong groupers, and the black-faced spoonbill. (According to the AFCD, it has “not received any report related to poaching of yellow-crested cockatoos in the past three years.”)Extremely picky about where they roost, the yellow-crested cockatoos use cavities that form in the trunks of trees that are typically older than 100 years.

Persons: Hong Kong CNN —, –, Astrid Andersson, it’s, ”, Andersson, Quadrupling, Noemi Cassanelli, Cassanelli, CNN Andersson, CNN There's, they’ve, “, Tom Booth, Fox, It’s, ’, Fiona Woodhouse, Woodhouse, Hong Kong’s, Jovy Chan, Chan, “ They’ve Organizations: CNN, Hong Kong CNN, Press, University of Hong, Timor Leste, International Trade, Fisheries, Conservation Department, CITES, Scottish wildcats, ADM Capital Foundation, Society for, Bird, Cultural Services Department, Facebook, Hong, SPCA HK, WWF Locations: Hong Kong, Swedish, Indonesia, Timor, Australia, University of Hong Kong, Hong, ”, Mainland China, HKD28,000, Indonesian

☆ Russia says it has video of the first Western tank in Ukraine getting blown up, and it could well be legit
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-09 | by ( Kieran Corcoran | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Russia is jubilant over footage is says shows a Leopard tank being destroyed in Ukraine. Western tanks like the German-made Leopard are being deployed in Ukraine as part of its long-awaited counter-offensive. —🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) June 8, 2023The footage from Thursday shows a row of tanks in a field, with ordinance exploding around them. And the Kremlin has a clear interest in showing that Ukraine's prized Western weapons can be defeated. Both UA Weapons Tracker and Oryx are open-source accounts on Twitter, but with considerable heft.

Persons: —, Insider's Sinéad Baker Organizations: Service, Ministry of Defense Locations: Russia, Ukraine

☆ UBS expects agreement on Credit Suisse loss guarantee by June 7 - SEC filing
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ZURICH, June 6 (Reuters) - UBS (UBSG.S) expects to finalize its agreement with the Swiss government to cover up to 9 billion Swiss francs ($9.92 billion) in losses from its emergency takeover of Credit Suisse (CSGN.S) by June 7, the Swiss bank said in a regulatory filing published on Tuesday. "UBS Group AG expects that the Loss Protection Agreement will be finalized by June 7, 2023," a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said. Under the takeover of Credit Suisse, orchestrated by Swiss authorities, Bern agreed to shoulder up to 9 billion francs in losses after UBS agreed to cover the first 5 billion francs in losses. The government agreement is one of the last steps UBS needs to take before it can officially close the acquisition of its rival. The SEC document, which was dated June 5, reiterated that the UBS expects to complete the deal in the second quarter of 2023.

Persons: Noele Illien, John Revill Organizations: UBS, Credit Suisse, AG, U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, Swiss, SEC, Thomson Locations: ZURICH, Swiss, Bern

☆ Opinion | States Are Stifling the Voices of Cities and Their Voters
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-03 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

By reducing the right of localities to make their own decisions, Texas has joined dozens of other states that have asserted their dominance over cities in recent years through a practice known as state pre-emption. One watchdog group has counted more than 650 pre-emption bills in state legislatures this year; the large majority have been introduced by Republican lawmakers to curb policymaking in cities run by Democrats. But conservatives used to champion ideas like local autonomy, devolution and even block grants as a way of weakening centralized control. What’s now become clear is that Republicans dislike local control if they are not in charge of it. Restricting these ballot measures is fundamentally about depriving voters of a way to put a check on legislators, regardless of ideology.

Persons: It’s, What’s, ”, Clarence Anthony, we’ve, that’s, MAGA Organizations: Republican, Republicans, Democrats, National League of Cities, “, Florida Legislature, Nashville Metro Council, Republican Party Locations: Texas, South Bay, Fla, Florida, Tennessee, Nashville, In Ohio, Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky

☆ Airbnb sues New York City over its short-term housing restrictions
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Airbnb on Thursday sued New York City over its restrictions on short-term housing rentals, in a legal dispute that pits the company’s concerns about its ability to operate in a key market against the city’s efforts to address an affordable housing crisis. The San Francisco-based tech company sued New York City over the Short-Term Rental Registration Law, a local ordinance passed in 2022 and set to begin being enforced next month. The law requires short-term rental hosts in the city to register with the mayor’s office, disclose who else lives on the property and agree to comply with other city codes. Three Airbnb hosts in New York City also filed a companion lawsuit against the city. The lawsuit is the latest example of Airbnb clashing with officials in New York City and New York State over the past decade.

Persons: CNN — Airbnb, Airbnb, ” Airbnb, Jonah Allon, ” Allon Organizations: CNN, New York, New York State Locations: New York City, San Francisco, ”, Manhattan, New York

☆ Airbnb is suing New York City over short-term rental rules. The outcome could disrupt your next vacation in cities across the US.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Will Gendron | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

In 2022, New York City passed a law that imposed restrictions on short-term rentals. On Thursday, Airbnb, along with a trio of local hosts, sued New York City, filing two separate lawsuits in Manhattan's state court. The more properties are turned into short-term rentals, the fewer housing options are available for actual residents. This isn't the first time Airbnb has battled short-term rental rules, and the court's ruling may affect how lawmakers approach the issue. In 2020, the company agreed to settle a dispute with New York City over a 2018 law that attempted to curb the practice.

Persons: Airbnb, Karen Dunn, Dunn, Gia Briscoe, Eric Adams Organizations: Morning, New York City's, New Locations: New York City, New York, Airbnb, Cities, Brooklyn, New Orleans, Florence

☆ Malaysia investigating possible looting of World War II British shipwrecks
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Brad Lendon | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Police, the Malaysian Marine Department and the National Heritage Department would investigate to see if the shells are from World War II, according to the report. Authorities are investigating whether shells found on the ship are from World War II, Malaysian state media said. Murky lawSalvaging of sunken World War II wrecks around the Pacific is not a new problem. In 2017, Dutch, British and US authorities reported that naval vessels sunk in the World War II Battle of the Java Sea had been salvaged without permission. Steel from World War II shipwrecks can have special value because it is was produced before the first nuclear explosions on Earth.

The U.S.-Mexico border was full of uncertainty in the days before May 11. Title 42, the Trump administration-crafted health ordinance that had been invoked millions of times to turn migrants back from the border, was about to expire, and nobody knew what to expect. Many predictions were lurid and sensationalistic: Masses of desperate people would pour into the country, flood the border towns first and then press northward. “Right-wing media says there are 700,000 en route,” a friend texted me from the border city of El Paso. Border Patrol agents handed out fliers urging migrants sleeping on El Paso’s sidewalks to surrender to custody.

☆ Supreme Court Won’t Block Illinois Laws on High-Powered Rifles
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Adam Liptak | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to block two Illinois laws prohibiting the sale of high-powered guns and high-capacity magazines while challenges to them move forward. Recent shootings, including one at a Texas mall that left eight people dead, have prompted calls for further efforts to address gun violence. The case that reached the Supreme Court was a challenge to a city ordinance in Naperville, Ill., enacted in August and a state law enacted in January. The ordinance prohibited “the commercial sale of assault rifles,” listing 26 categories of weapons, including AK-47 and AR-15 rifles. The state law covered similar weapons along with high-capacity magazines.

The law exempts existing owners, giving them a deadline of Jan. 1, 2024, to register their assault weapons with state police. The case is one of several contesting the state's ban in both federal and state courts. The Supreme Court, with its conservative majority, has expanded gun rights in key rulings since 2008. In a landmark decision last June striking down New York state gun limits, the Supreme Court recognized the right to carry a handgun in public for self-defense. In asking the Supreme Court to halt the ban, the challengers said AR-15s and similar rifles are in common use in the United States and there is no historical analogue to such a ban.

☆ Interested in Polyamory? Check Out These Places
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Valeriya Safronova | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Jace Knight had heard about Somerville, Mass., while working on a Ph.D. at the University of Alabama in 2020. In late March, Somerville passed two more laws extending the rights of nonmonogamous residents, this time banning discrimination on the basis of “family or relationship structure” in city employment and policing. (A similar ordinance, focused on housing, is currently being discussed by the Somerville City Council.) Around the same time these new laws passed, Mx. The city’s attitude toward nonmonogamy was a big factor in the group’s decision to move there, Mx.

Which type of homeowners insurance you need depends in part on the risks to your home. Southwestern Insurance Group founder David Stuart says that homeowner's insurance can provide financial protection to homeowners against unexpected losses or damages to their home and personal property. But since there are several different homeowner's insurance policies a person can choose from, making the decision of which one is right for you might feel overwhelming or confusing. There are eight different types of homeowners insurance plans — here are four ways to decide which one is right for you. Conlin shares that the HO-6 policy usually complements the homeowner's association master insurance policy, which covers the exterior of the property and shared property.

☆ These strange-looking turtles in Hong Kong could soon be extinct
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( Chris Lau | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

Hong Kong CNN —One of the world’s most densely populated cities might seem an unlikely refuge for endangered wildlife. While in Hong Kong, the unlikeliness of the setting has enabled them to fly largely under poachers’ radar. Professor Sung Yik-hei with a Big-headed turtle at a lab at Lingnan University in Hong Kong on April 13, 2023. Courtesy Sung Yik-hei Professor Sung Yik-hei monitors an area near a river in Hong Kong on April 13, 2023. A few hundred are left in Hong Kong, and perhaps even fewer in its other homes of Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.

The Justice Department’s April 20 letter includes guidance for state and local police, prosecutors, judges and probation officers. Joanna Weiss, co-director of the Fines and Fees Justice Center, told me that the DOJ's voice is critical on these issues. The earlier memo included a section that laid out the principle that courts must not use bail practices that incarcerate people solely because they can’t afford a fee. The Justice Department didn't address my specific questions about why the section on bail was nixed. Lauren Jones, legal director at the National Center for Access to Justice, told me that there's clear overlap between cash bail practices and justice system fees.

☆ Comstock Act: The 150-year-old chastity law that may be the next big fight over abortion
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Tierney Sneed | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +15 min

“Comstock is really the backdoor way to remove access to abortion across the whole country,” said Greer Donley, a University of Pittsburgh Law School professor who specializes in abortion law. Severino argued that, at least when it comes to the Comstock Act’s prohibitions on mailing abortion pills, Congress is well within its powers to regulate those shipments. Several towns, some in New Mexico and elsewhere, have passed local ordinances that cite the Comstock Act and prohibit business within those jurisdictions from shipping or receiving items used for abortions in the mail, as covered by the Comstock Act. The lawsuits in New Mexico state court that those ordinances have prompted may provide for another opportunity for courts to elaborate on what the Comstock Act means. The Supreme Court, in the emergency order it issued last week, did not say anything about the Comstock Act.

☆ A Missouri official called the ATF 'unconstitutional' but says it's not because the agency raided his brother's gun shop
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Katie Balevic | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Ike Skelton's brother, Jim, had his gun shop raided by the ATF in 2021 and lost his federal firearms license. They cited Missouri's Second Amendment Preservation Act (SAPA), which penalizes authorities who enforce federal gun laws. Kevin L. Jamison, Jim Skelton's attorney, told Insider that his client did not receive "sufficient advice" before opening his shop. We're not restricting them from enforcing their unconstitutional law," Ike Skelton told Insider. The only thing that my brother's raid did was confirm everything I thought about the ATF," Ike Skelton told Insider.

CNN —A female bear that was sentenced to death for the fatal mauling of jogger in Italy has been given a stay of execution until May 11, officials in Trento have said. Andrea Papi, 26, was attacked and killed last week while jogging in a public nature reserve in the Trentino–Alto Adige region of northern Italy. In the last 15 years, several bear attacks have been reported, including the nearly fatal attack of a mushroom farmer in 2014 and the 2020 attack of a father and his son while they were hiking. This time, after the fatal attack on Papi the World Wildlife Fund, which had previously petitioned to keep JJ4 alive told CNN they agree that the bear should be put down. There are now four bears, including JJ4, with judicial orders to be culled.

☆ The Missouri official refusing to comply with the ATF has past experience with the bureau. His brother's gun shop was previously raided by the feds.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Katie Balevic | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Ike Skelton's brother, Jim, had his gun shop raided by the ATF in 2021 and lost his federal firearms license. I can't just take their packet, slap it to my forehead and absorb it," Jim Skelton told KRCG-TV at the time. Kevin L. Jamison, Jim Skelton's attorney, told Insider that his client did not receive "sufficient advice" before opening his shop. We're not restricting them from enforcing their unconstitutional law," Ike Skelton told Insider. The only thing that my brother's raid did was confirm everything I thought about the ATF," Ike Skelton told Insider.

☆ Brazil could suspend social media sites over school violence content
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

April 12 (Reuters) - Brazil could fine or suspend social media companies that do not effectively regulate content related to school violence, Justice Minister Flavio Dino said on Wednesday. The new measures, set to be published through an ordinance on Wednesday, seek to curb threats of school violence in the country, which have soared after two separate attacks left five dead in recent weeks. The Supreme Court is currently discussing this law's scope and validity. In March, Meta Platforms (META.O) and Alphabet's Google (GOOGL.O) appeared before Brazil's Supreme Court to defend the law, while the government looks to expand regulation over social networks. Dino said Brazil's consumer secretariat will immediately start determining each company's responsibility in proactively regulating harmful content to students.

☆ Why Walmart is closing half its stores in Chicago
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Nathaniel Meyersohn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Walmart announced Tuesday that next week it will close four poor-performing stores out of the eight it operates in Chicago. Now, it's closing four Chicago stores. Walmart said its remaining four Chicago stores “continue to face the same business difficulties,” but it believes closing these four will give the others the best chance of staying open. There were fears that Walmart and other businesses would leave Chicago, but Walmart pledged to stay and invest in the city. Some retailers have also cited higher levels of theft and other crime in their city stores.

☆ Missouri officials refuse to work with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, saying all federal 'so-called' gun laws are unconstitutional
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-09 | by ( Katie Balevic | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Officials in Camden County, Missouri are refusing to cooperate with the ATF, according to local reports. Officials cited a since-struck-down state law that kept police from enforcing federal gun laws. Six top elected officials in Camden County signed a letter to the ATF saying as much, according to NPR affiliate KCUR 89.3. Last month, a federal judge struck down the 2021 law, which prohibited local police from enforcing federal gun laws, calling it "invalid, null, void, and of no effect." "Any and all federal firearms laws, so-called laws, in my opinion, and many others' opinion, are unconstitutional," Skelton told KCUR.

☆ These US port cities are fighting to restrict cruise ships. It's easier said than done.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Hannah Towey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The pandemic offered coastal communities across the US a taste of life without cruise ships. Now, port cities in Florida, Maine, Alaska, and California are fighting to limit or ban the vessels. A few weeks prior, Juneau, Alaska's city assembly voted to cap the number of cruise ships visiting the capital's downtown port at five per day. According to one study commissioned by Stand.earth, an environmental organization, found that cruise passengers visiting Victoria, a major Canadian cruise port, were responsible for less than 2% of tourism spending. Do you live or work near a US cruise port?

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