Author: Kenneth Gibbs

Derrick Downey Jr. was relaxing on his second-story balcony in Los Angeles when a bushy-tailed fox squirrel suddenly appeared. Downey said they stared at each other for a few seconds, and then he asked the squirrel: “Do you want something to eat?” “It seemed obvious to me that he did, so I told him, ‘Stay here, I’ll be right back,’” Downey recalled. Source : washingtonpost

In the days immediately after the Hamas attack on Israel, the Republicans seeking the US presidency had focused their criticism on President Joe Biden and what they saw as American weakness and missteps that had paved the way for violence. That changed on Wednesday night, however, when Donald Trump addressed the topic in a speech near his home in West Palm Beach, Florida. Now some of Mr Trump’s rivals are condemning the former president in some of the most direct language of this campaign. During remarks to a crowd of supporters, Mr Trump said Israel had to “straighten it out…

He achieved fame by going undercover to rescue children from sex trafficking. Now Tim Ballard is facing allegations of assault. In a lawsuit filed on Monday, five women said they were coerced into sexual acts after joining Mr Ballard on his sting operations. Mr Ballard, whose life story was the basis of the hit film Sound of Freedom, denies the allegations. He resigned from the non-profit behind the rescue missions this summer. Operation Underground Railroad (OUR), the organisation co-founded by Mr Ballard, was also named as a defendant in the lawsuit filed in Utah’s third district court. Through OUR, Mr…

Wellington, Sydney (6/10 – 33) Nearly a month after suffering brutal humiliation by host country France, New Zealand has barged through to the 2023 Rugby World Cup quarter-finals. France is supposed to be a polite, cultured society, but on 8 September they whacked the All Blacks 27-13. Sacré bleu! In that distant past, an ugly performance with questionable strategy and ill-disciplined plays made New Zealand an unlikely choice of becoming the first country in line to win the Rugby World Cup four times. All the rugby world was amazed as the All Blacks boomeranged back in style, picking themselves up…

As Hurricane Lee tracked slowly westward in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean on Sept. 10, three new weather models developed in the private sector predicted the storm would make landfall in Nova Scotia about a week later. With the storm still thousands of miles from North America, the forecasts turned out to be an astonishingly accurate achievement for technology not long ago considered to be in its infancy. Source : washingtonpost

Maryland police are hunting for a suspect in the killing of a judge, who was shot outside his home and later died in a hospital on Thursday. Police identified the victim as Washington County Circuit Court Associate Judge Andrew Wilkinson, 52, of Hagerstown. The local sheriff’s office is looking for Pedro Argote, 49, who it says is armed and dangerous. Police believe Mr Argote targeted the judge over a custody battle. Judge Wilkinson had been presiding over a divorce case involving Mr Argote and held a hearing on Thursday morning, according to Maryland court records. The Washington County Sheriff’s office…

READING, Pa. — After a rousing opening featuringa marching band, cheerleaders and students waving red and white pom poms, the crowd fell quiet when Vice President Kamala Harris asked for a show of hands: How many had grown up participating in active shooter drills in school? Most of the students in the 500-seat auditorium at Reading Area Community College raised their hands. Source : washingtonpost

White House officials have begun preparing for a government shutdown that they are confident the public will blame on the GOP, as Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) struggles to unify his party behind a spending bill that the narrow House majority can pass. With less than two weeks until federal funding lapses, Biden aides are in communication with congressional leaders in the House and Senate about the best path forward to extend the Sept. 30 deadline. But congressional aides and experts on both sides of the aisle say a shutdown is likely to redound to the White House’s political benefit, particularly as the…

NEW YORK (AP) — From $300 studded headboards and $100 coffee table books to custom-made cabinets to disguise your mini-fridge, students are spending big bucks to decorate their dorm rooms, adding yet another layer to the soaring costs of college. Some are even going so far as to hire interior designers to beautify their 12 feet by 20 feet of space. Lesley Lachman, 18, planned her furnishings for her dorm room with her roommate immediately after deciding to attend the University of Mississippi back in May. The Rye, New York resident scoured websites like Pinterest and designed her room herself…

As Colorado prepared to kick off to Colorado State to start what became a thrilling double-overtime college football game watched by an ESPN late-night record 9.3 million viewers last weekend, there was a ping-pong game in the Colorado locker room, ostensibly overseen by its head coach, Deion Sanders. It featured legendary rapper Master P, founder of No Limit Records, against Offset, a member of the award-winning hip-hop group Migos. Source : washingtonpost