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☆ Alabama's attorney general threatened to prosecute people seeking abortion pills. A day later, he walked it back.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Yelena Dzhanova | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said he'd prosecute people who take abortion pills. A day later, Marshall walked back his remarks and said only abortion providers would be prosecuted. Prosecuting people for taking abortion pills would not have been legal in the state of Alabama, civil-rights experts told Insider. The FDA authorized brick-and-mortar pharmacies across the country to pursue certification to carry abortion pills, a move that could expand abortion access nationwide. Kay Ivey in 2019, specifically says abortion providers can be held criminally liable, but people who get abortions cannot be.

☆ Georgia pounds TCU, 65-7, to repeat as CFB national champs
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

3 TCU 65-7 Monday night to become the first team to win consecutive College Football Playoff national championships. TCU (13-2), the first Cinderella team of the playoff era, never had a chance against the Georgia juggernaut. No team has ever scored more points in a national championship game, dating to the beginning of the BCS in 1998. Georgia vanquished the Tide to break a 41-year national title drought last season, avenging its only regular-season loss in the process. They were within a victory of the program’s first national title since 1938.

☆ Hospitals rely on volunteers for $5 billion a year of free work — and some could be violating federal labor laws
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Lauren Sausser | Kaiser Health News | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

The US health system benefits from potentially over $5 billion in free volunteer labor annually. Like paid employees, hospital volunteers typically face mandatory vaccine requirements, background checks, and patient privacy training. Hedges was furloughed for the better part of six months when hospital volunteers were sent home in March 2020. Nonprofit and for-profit hospitals alike benefit from volunteersNonprofit hospitals must follow federal labor laws, too. Nonprofit hospitals are required to provide a benefit to their communities, such as offering charity care, in exchange for their special tax status.

Millions of people in the South and the Southeast are at risk of severe thunderstorms, tornadoes and flash floods Tuesday and Wednesday, while a messy winter storm is expected to hit the Midwest and a separate storm slams California later this week. Threats of severe thunderstorms, flash floodsAs many as 20 million people from southeast Louisiana to south-central Alabama are at risk for severe thunderstorms Tuesday that could bring damaging wind gusts, large hail and some strong tornadoes, classified as having winds of more than 111 mph. The thunderstorms are expected to continue through the day and last into the overnight hours. In addition to the severe thunderstorms, flash flooding will also be a threat. St. Louis could see a high in the early 70s Tuesday before expected highs plunge to the high-30s and the mid-40s the rest of the week.

☆ 1 dead, 9 hurt in Alabama shooting near New Year’s Eve party
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( The Associated Press | Julianne Mcshane | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +1 min

MOBILE, Ala. — A 24-year-old man was killed and nine others were hurt in a shooting a few blocks away from where thousands were in the streets for a New Year’s Eve party in downtown Mobile, Alabama, police said in a statement. The person killed was pronounced dead on the scene, police said. The shooting happened a few blocks away from the main stage for the Moon Pie Over Mobile festival. The shooter and the person killed appeared to know each other, Mobile Police Chief Paul Prine told reporters near the scene. “It would give some comfort to all of us downtown that this was not just a random shooting,” Prine said.

Last year, the nation’s largest LGBTQ advocacy organization, the Human Rights Campaign, labeled 2021 the “worst year” for LGBTQ rights in modern U.S. history, citing a record number of anti-LGBTQ bills introduced in state legislatures across the country. “The LGBTQ+ community is really under siege right now,” said Ricardo Martinez, CEO of LGBTQ advocacy group Equality Texas. One bill that was successfully implemented, and gained national headlines for months, was Florida’s Parental Rights in Education law, or what critics have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. The word “grooming” has long been associated with mischaracterizing LGBTQ people, particularly gay men and transgender women, as child sex abusers. Those losses came after some conservative groups ramped up misleading or inflammatory campaign ads targeting transgender rights.

☆ Running water scarce in Jackson, Mississippi, after frigid weather
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( Jonathan Allen | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Other Southern cities unaccustomed to freezing weather were grappling with similar water issues, including Atlanta; Shreveport, Louisiana; and Selma, Alabama. Homes in some parts of the city had no water at all, and officials have set up distribution points for bottled drinking water each day. The U.S. Justice Department in November reached an agreement with Mississippi and the city of Jackson to appoint an interim third-party manager to stabilize the city's drinking water supply. The mayor says fixing the water system will take billions of dollars. The U.S. Congress included $600 million to repair Jackson's water system in a spending bill signed into law last week.

☆ After a record-breaking 2021, European investors and founders are ready to take it slow
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( Jordan Parker Erb | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Our Big Tech team was constantly chasing the biggest stories, from alleged executive misconduct at Microsoft to injuries in Amazon warehouses. After a record-breaking 2021, European startups raised $16 billion in the third quarter — a 44% annual drop. The solo founder joined YC in January 2022, and has since raised millions from investors like Alexis Ohanian. The risk of debilitating muscle and joint injuries at Amazon warehouses is off the charts, workplace regulators have said. Amazon workers shared why they planned to vote against unionizing.

☆ Dreaming of a fresh start? These 25 towns and cities will pay you as much as $20,000 to move there.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( Jordan Pandy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Places across the US offer cash, homes, and other perks to lure remote workers and other relocators. Insider rounded up 25 states, cities, and towns that will reward you to move there in some way. "When I look back, that grant was the tipping point that made it a little easier for me, my husband, and our five children to choose this particular path," Milliman told Insider in September. "We're definitely on the right path," Quincy mayor Mike Troup told Insider. Insider rounded up 25 places across the US that are dishing out perks to anyone who moves there.

☆ A 24-year-old barber moved to Atlanta a month ago and has already seen 'doors open,' showing why real-estate gurus say it's a top place to watch in 2023
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-25 | by ( Kelsey Neubauer | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The National Association of Realtors named Atlanta the city to watch in 2023. While the national housing market is cooling, it's still thriving in Georgia's capital. Jay Martino, a barber who moved to Atlanta from Charleston, South Carolina. These factors will help Atlanta withstand the headwinds buffeting the national market, which is reeling after skyrocketing home prices and interest rates put home purchases out of reach. The trend suggests the local housing market can outperform the rest of the country in 2023, according to the National Association of Realtors.

With the deep freeze stretching from Montana to Texas as it crept eastward, some 240 million people - more than two-thirds of the U.S. population - were under winter weather warnings and advisories on Friday, the National Weather Service (NWS) said. The map of existing or impending wintry hazards "depicts one of the greatest extents of winter weather warnings and advisories ever," the NWS said. [1/5] A driver makes their way through a flooded street at high tide during a winter storm in Gloucester, Massachusetts, U.S., December 23, 2022. Their plight has added to local agencies scrambling to get people off the streets as the arctic blast arrived. While some areas downwind from the Great Lakes received a foot or more of snow on Friday, "the big story wasn't so much the falling snow but the blowing snow," weather service meteorologist Brian Hurley said.

☆ Deep freeze grips U.S. as winter 'bomb cyclone' looms ahead of holiday weekend
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( Steve Gorman | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Numbing cold intensified by high winds was expected to extend as far south as the U.S.-Mexico border. The NWS map of existing or impending wintry hazards, stretching from border to border and coast to coast, "depicts one of the greatest extents of winter weather warnings and advisories ever," the agency said. The bomb cyclone could unleash snowfalls of a half inch (1.25 cm) per hour driven by gale-force winds, cutting visibility to near zero, the weather service said. Power outages were expected from high winds, heavy snow and ice, as well as the strain of higher-than-usual energy demands. The weather service said relief from the deep freeze was in sight for the northern Rockies and High Plains, where the arctic blast first materialized on Thursday.

☆ Top 25 roundup: No. 5 Houston deals No. 2 Virginia first loss
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +10 min

2 Virginia its first loss, 69-61, Saturday in Charlottesville, Va.Marcus Sasser and Tramon Mark added 13 points each, while Jamal Shead had 11 points and four assists. Furst finished with 12 points and 13 rebounds, and Smith posted 10 points and 12 rebounds. Sam Mennenga led Davidson (7-4) with 14 points and Foster Loyer, Fletcher's brother, had 11 points. Kevin McCullar contributed 11 points, 11 rebounds and five steals, while KJ Adams and Jalen Wilson added 11 points apiece. Trayce Jackson-Davis had 13 points and a career-high nine blocked shots for Indiana (8-3), which lost its second straight game.

☆ Alabama woman sues FedEx, blames faulty tires after her husband was killed in crash with a delivery truck that had a blowout
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-17 | by ( Jordan Hart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Kelsie Platt is suing FedEx, Goodyear, and more for the death of her husband Hamilton. Platt alleges faulty tires were the cause of the fatal accident. Hamilton Platt, 32, died after he slammed into a FedEx truck that had blown a tire on Interstate 10 Sept. 21. According to local news, Kelsie Platt's lawsuit alleges FedEx's faulty retread tires caused the fatal accident. Although neither FedEx nor Goodyear immediately responded to Insider's request for comment on the suit, FedEx provided a statement to local news outlets.

☆ Alabama inmate 'baked to death' in prison cell 'hotter than three hells,' federal lawsuit says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Marlene Lenthang | Julianne Mcshane | Marlene Lenthang Is A Breaking News Reporter For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

An Alabama inmate died after being “baked” to death in a sweltering prison cell described as “hotter than three hells,” his family alleged in a federal wrongful death lawsuit. T Unit, the mental health ward where Rutledge was held, was not included in the project, according to the lawsuit. Alleged negligence by corrections officersThe suit said that inmates in the T Unit had complained of “excessive heat” all weekend prior to Rutledge’s death. The evening of Rutledge’s death, the heat in T Unit was over 100 degrees, the lawsuit said, and the blistering temperature was “obvious” to officers who conducted periodic checks. NBC News has reached out to the Alabama Department of Corrections and attorneys for each of the defendants for comment.

There have been 53 reports of tornadoes since early Tuesday morning in seven states, including three confirmed whirlwinds in Louisiana that killed three people. Reports came in from Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Florida. Typically, reports are made by citizens or law enforcement who spot the tornadoes or areas of damage. St. Charles Parish President Matthew Jewell said 55 structures were damaged during the storms, 21 of which have been deemed uninhabitable. One family had their home destroyed in Wayne, about 50 miles southeast of Oklahoma City, NBC Montana reported.

Stephen "tWitch" Boss was a thoroughly modern dancer. He lit up the stage of "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" for nearly a decade. He was so classy," Boss told The Associated Press in 2014, the year he joined the "Ellen" show. Stephen "tWitch" Boss on "Ellen's Game of Games." Stephen "tWitch" Boss and Ellen DeGeneres on "Ellen's Game of Games".

☆ Tornado touches down in Louisiana, as Alabama and Mississippi remain under watches
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Minyvonne Burke | Minyvonne Burke Is A Senior Breaking News Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

A tornado struck New Iberia, Louisiana, on Wednesday, briefly trapping people in their homes, police and the National Weather Service Lake Charles said. The tornado touched down in the Southport subdivision area just before 11 a.m. An NWS spokesperson said a storm survey will be conducted to determine its strength. Earlier Wednesday, tornado watches had been issued for parts of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana — where two people, including a child, were killed when a storm tore through the area Tuesday. Thousands of people in Louisiana and Mississippi remain without power after Tuesday's storms. Other injuries were reported in Farmerville, Louisiana, and in Texas after a tornado struck the city of Grapevine.

☆ Gulf Storms in Southeast U.S. Leave at Least Three Dead
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Suryatapa Bhattacharya | Jimmy Vielkind | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A tornado that tore through Killona, La., about 30 miles west of New Orleans, left a trail of destruction Wednesday. Severe storms in the southeastern U.S. left at least three people dead and others injured as dozens of tornadoes touched down in Louisiana and Mississippi late Tuesday through Wednesday, officials said. The National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center is tracking a system along the Gulf of Mexico and predicted strong tornadoes and damaging thunderstorm gusts late Wednesday across parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and parts of the western Florida Panhandle.

☆ At Least Two Left Dead in Severe Gulf Storms
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Jimmy Vielkind | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Destruction seen from a tornado that tore through the area in Killona, La., about 30 miles west of New Orleans. Severe storms in the southeast left at least two people dead and others injured as tornadoes touched down in Louisiana and Mississippi late Tuesday and early Wednesday, officials said. The National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center is tracking a system along the Gulf of Mexico and predicted strong tornadoes and damaging thunderstorm gusts late Wednesday across southern parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and parts of the western Florida Panhandle.

☆ Starbucks and Amazon's PR nightmare is coming true as one of their combined stores pushes to unionize
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Alex Bitter | Nancy Luna | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

About 30 Starbucks employees at the New York store will participate in the vote, Bloomberg reported. One of the Starbucks Amazon Go stores is considering unionizing this week. Roughly 30 Starbucks employees at the Times Square location will decide on December 15 whether to join Starbucks Workers United. The workers were protesting "short staffing and the company's failure to bargain with union stores," Starbucks Workers United said in a press release. A Starbucks Amazon Go cafe StarbucksBoth Amazon and Starbucks have cultivated reputations as progressive employers and pushed back against unionsBoth companies have painted themselves as forward-thinking on worker treatment and benefits.

☆ Stephen ‘tWitch’ Boss, DJ for ‘Ellen DeGeneres Show,’ dead at 40
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Lisa Respers France | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —Stephen “tWitch” Boss, the amiable DJ for “Ellen DeGeneres Show” and dancer who rose to fame on “So You Think You Can Dance,” has died, his wife, fellow dancer Allison Holker Boss, confirmed in a statement to CNN. “It is with the heaviest of hearts that I have to share my husband Stephen has left us,” Holker Boss said in a statement. “I have always been that type ‘Don’t tell me what I won’t do,’” Boss said. Literally, we danced and we were together holding hands the very next day,” Holker Boss added. Boss’ final Instagram post on Monday showed him and Holker Boss dancing in front of a Christmas tree.

☆ Michael Jordan: The NBA has renamed its MVP trophy after the Bulls great
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Amy Woodyatt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +15 min

Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE/Getty Images Jordan poses for a Little League Baseball photo in the late 1970s. Ken Levine/Getty Images Jordan famously shrugs his shoulders after hitting another 3-pointer during the 1992 NBA Finals versus Portland. "There is a reason you call someone the Michael Jordan of ... neurosurgery, or the Michael Jordan of rabbis, or the Michael Jordan of outrigger canoeing. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Jordan continues to promote Nike's Jordan Brand across the world. Jordan Brand/Getty Images Jordan cries at the Kobe Bryant memorial in Los Angeles in February 2020.

☆ How Republicans are 'playing to the Fox News crowd' with attacks on TikTok
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —Republicans are escalating their attacks on TikTok. “It’s playing to the Fox News crowd,” a person close to TikTok, who requested anonymity because they were not publicly authorized to speak on the matter, said on Tuesday. The posturing comes at a pivotal moment in the years-long negotiations between TikTok and the US government on a potential deal that aims to address national security concerns and allow the app’s continued use in the US. But, as The WSJ recently reported, the national security talks have hit a snag as pressure mounts on the company. But the type of action being taken by Republicans seems more geared toward playing to their base than anything else.

As many as 11 million people from California to Wisconsin are under winter weather advisories Monday due to a massive storm that has already dumped up to 4 feet of snow across the Sierra Nevada. The storm, expected to bring both snow and severe weather, is making its way into the Rockies and the northern Plains on Monday, where blizzard-like conditions are expected. Up to a foot of snow is expected to hit the Rockies, with winds gusting up to 50 mph. The risk for severe weather Monday is centered around southwest Kansas and the Oklahoma panhandle, where damaging winds up to 60 mph, large hail and a few tornadoes are possible. By Wednesday, the threat will shift east, where residents of New Orleans to the Florida panhandle are at risk for damaging winds, large hail and a few tornadoes.

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