Arizona Limits Construction Around Phoenix as Its Water Supply Dwindles
Arizona has determined that there is not enough groundwater for all of the housing construction that has already been approved in the Phoenix area, and will stop developers from building some new subdivisions, a sign of looming trouble in the West and other places where overuse, drought and climate change are straining water supplies. The decision by state officials very likely means the beginning of the end to the explosive development that has made the Phoenix area the fastest growing metropolitan region in the country. The decision means cities and developers must look for alternative sources of water to support future development.
No One Knows How Many LGBTQ Americans Die by Suicide
Studies of LGBTQ people show they have high rates of suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts, factors that greatly increase the risk of suicide. But because most death investigators do not collect data on sexuality or gender identity, no one knows how many gay and transgender people die by suicide each year in the United States. The information vacuum makes it difficult to tailor suicide prevention efforts to meet the needs of the people most at risk, researchers said. LGBTQ advocates said obtaining the data had become more urgent as states across the country have imposed restrictions on many aspects of life for gay and transgender people.
Pentagon Forbids Drag Events on Bases After Republican Criticism
The Defense Department said Thursday that it would not host drag shows at U.S. military installations after Republican politicians complained about events scheduled on bases to celebrate Pride Month. Sabrina Singh, deputy press secretary for the department, said in a statement that “drag events” were not a “suitable use” of the department’s resources. The statement did not say how the Pentagon defines a drag event, and the Defense Department did not specify what was not suitable about drag events compared to other military Pride events, which include speeches, panel discussions and road races.
Biden Is Said to Pick Former North Carolina Health Secretary to Lead CDC
President Joe Biden plans to name Dr. Mandy Cohen, a former North Carolina health secretary who steered her state through the tumultuous first two years of the coronavirus pandemic, as the next director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to two people familiar with the selection process. The selection of Cohen is not final; the White House is still putting together the necessary paperwork to make the appointment official, according to another person familiar with the selection process. If chosen by Biden, Cohen, an internist, would replace Dr. Rochelle Walensky, an infectious disease expert who announced last month that she would step down at the end of June.
Cosby Accused in a Lawsuit of Sexually Assaulting a Woman in 1969
Bill Cosby, freed from prison but still trailed by accusations that he was a sexual predator, was sued Thursday by a former Playboy model who says he drugged and sexually assaulted her more than 50 years ago. The suit, filed in Los Angeles by Victoria Valentino, 80, accuses Cosby of assault and says it occurred in that city in 1969 after she and a friend met him for a meal in a restaurant. Cosby, 85, was convicted in 2018 in Pennsylvania of three counts of aggravated indecent assault against a woman to whom he had been a mentor. But he was released from prison in 2021 when the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned his conviction.
High Temperatures Close Schools in Several U.S. Cities
High heat shut down schools in Michigan and Pittsburgh on Thursday, forcing students and teachers to stay at home in the face of rising temperatures and inadequate air conditioning. In Detroit, the conditions led administrators to close that city’s schools three hours earlier than usual Thursday, and similar plans were in place for Friday for the city’s 53,000 students. In Pittsburgh, 40 schools in a district with more than 18,000 students shifted to remote learning, citing health concerns about sweltering classrooms. In Grand Rapids, in western Michigan, home to 17,000 students, administrators canceled school for the remainder of the week as temperatures climbed to the 90s on Thursday.
Conflict With the Far-Right Shrouds Jerusalem’s Pride Parade
The Jerusalem Pride and Tolerance Parade is normally a relatively staid annual tradition. But Thursday’s event came at a fraught moment for Israel, five months after the most hard-line and religiously conservative government in the country’s history took power. Organizers reported an initial count of 30,000 people, two or three times the usual crowd, they said. LGBTQ activists have reported a sharp increase in anti-gay abuse and violence in Israel in recent months and had been expecting a large turnout for this year’s parade. They braced for possible violence, but the march went off peacefully under heavy security, with about 2,000 police officers deployed along the short route.
U.S. Imposes Sanctions on Warring Sudanese Factions
The United States announced new sanctions Thursday on two Sudanese military factions and on companies linked to both sides, which have been fueling a war that has killed hundreds of people in Africa’s third-largest nation. Sudan’s military, led by Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, has been fighting the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, led by Lt. Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, since April 15 in a sprawling conflict that has devastated the capital, Khartoum, and displaced at least 1 million people. The sanctions came a day after Sudan’s military pulled out of peace talks in the Saudi city of Jeddah, led by American and Saudi diplomats.
U.K. Government Refuses to Give Boris Johnson’s Texts to COVID Inquiry
The British government Thursday refused to hand over former Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s COVID-era text messages to a committee investigating the handling of the pandemic, setting off a legal battle that could become a political headache for current Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. The government’s Cabinet Office faced a deadline of 4 p.m. to turn over unredacted text messages, diaries and notebooks belonging to Johnson. But it dug in its heels, arguing that to do so would compromise private exchanges between senior officials and establish a worrisome precedent. Instead, the Cabinet Office asked a court to rule on whether it should be compelled to turn over the communications.
China Investing in Open-Source Intelligence Collection on the U.S.
China’s intelligence agencies are investing deeply in open-source intelligence to learn more about the capabilities of the U.S. military in the Pacific and beyond, according to a new report. The analysis, by threat intelligence company Recorded Future, details efforts by China’s government and companies to collect publicly available data from the Pentagon, think tanks and private firms — information Beijing’s military can use to help plan for a potential conflict with the United States. As the relationship between the United States and China has become more adversarial, both countries are investing more in their intelligence collection capabilities.
U.S. Follows Russia’s Move on Nuclear Treaty
The United States announced Thursday that it would stop providing key information about its nuclear arms to Russia, in retaliation for Moscow’s decision to withdraw from the New START treaty. The move has the potential of raising nuclear tensions, especially if Russia continues to make nuclear threats against Ukraine or the West. Biden administration officials said they do not believe the suspension of the information swap will raise the risk of nuclear weapons being used in Ukraine, but they said the treaty had in the past helped the United States and Russia better understand how each country operated. In February, Russia announced it would suspend participation in New START.
Australia’s ‘Trial of the Century’ Stains Its Most Decorated Soldier
The case had been called Australia’s trial of the century. And although it centered on a claim of defamation, it grappled with a more consequential question: Was the country’s most decorated living soldier a war criminal? On Thursday, a judge effectively found that the answer was yes. Four years after the soldier, Ben Roberts-Smith, sued three newspapers that had accused him of killing unarmed Afghan prisoners in cold blood, the judge ruled against him in his defamation case, finding that the newspapers had proved their accounts of his actions were substantially true.
By wire sources
