The Full Belmonte, 3/3/2023
Secretary of State Antony Blinken held his first face-to-face conversation with his Russian counterpart on the sidelines of a meeting of G-20 foreign ministers.
“For their first talk in person since the Ukraine war began February 2022, he approached Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for about 10 minutes, according to a senior State Department official. Blinken urged Moscow to rejoin the New Start nuclear arms treaty and release American prisoner Paul Whelan, plus he stressed the U.S. and its allies’ continuing support for Ukraine. The Foreign Ministry confirmed the chat and said, ‘There were neither talks nor a meeting.’ Blinken and Lavrov had spoken once by telephone since the invasion and have attended summits together during the past year, but never met one-on-one.” [Wall Street Journal]
The G-20 meeting of 19 nations and the European Union failed to release a statement that would have condemned Russia's war. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Russia and China were the two nations blocking a consensus.
AP
Rep. George Santos under investigation by House Ethics panel
FILE - Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., leaves a House GOP conference meeting on Capitol Hill, in Washington, Jan. 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)
“WASHINGTON (AP) — The House Ethics Committee announced Thursday it is launching an investigation into embattled Republican Rep. George Santos, the New York congressman whose lies and embellishments about his resume and personal life have drawn deep scrutiny.
The investigation appears to be far reaching. It seeks to determine whether Santos ‘may have engaged in unlawful activity with respect to his 2022 congressional campaign’ among other actions, the committee said in a statement.
The panel will also investigate whether Santos ‘failed to properly disclose required information on statements filed with the House, violated federal conflict of interest laws in connection with his role in a firm providing fiduciary services, and/or engaged in sexual misconduct towards an individual seeking employment in his congressional office,’ the statement said.
Santos had already removed himself from his committee assignments but otherwise has refused calls from Republicans in New York to step down from office. On Twitter, his office said that he is ‘fully cooperating’ with the Ethics probe and would not comment further.
Ethics committee members David Joyce, R-Ohio, and Susan Wild, D-Pa., will lead the probe, with two other lawmakers from each party. The panel had voted unanimously to establish a subcommittee to investigate the allegations….” Read more at AP News
Trump can be sued for Jan. 6 riot harm, Justice Dept. says
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump can be sued by injured Capitol Police officers and Democratic lawmakers over the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, the Justice Department said Thursday in a federal court case testing Trump’s legal vulnerability for his speech before the riot.
The Justice Department told a Washington federal appeals court in a legal filing that it should allow the lawsuits to move forward, rejecting Trump’s argument that he is immune from the claims.
The department said it takes no position on the lawsuits’ claims that the former president’s words incited the attack on the Capitol. Nevertheless, Justice lawyers told the court that a president would not be protected by ‘absolute immunity’ if his words were found to have been an ‘incitement of imminent private violence….’” Read more at AP News
Supreme Court will not hear case to oust Biden, reinstate Trump
FILE - The setting sun illuminates the Supreme Court building on Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan. 10, 2023. The court has twice rejected a case calling for hundreds of elected officials to be removed from office after refusing to investigate baseless 2020 election fraud claims. Social media users are claiming otherwise. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)
“CLAIM: The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case to remove President Joe Biden from office and reinstate former President Donald Trump in his place.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The Supreme Court has not decided to hear such a case. On Feb. 21, the justices rejected for a second time to hear a case that cites baseless 2020 election fraud claimsto call for the court to oust from office hundreds of elected officials, including Biden, as well as to prevent them from holding any elected government position again. Several days later, a website published an article incorrectly stating that the case was going ahead, but the post has since been taken down.
THE FACTS: Nearly one week after the Supreme Court justices doubled down on their decision not to hear the suit, social media users falsely claimed the opposite.
One Instagram post shared a screenshot of a headline reading: ‘Supreme Court To Hear Case To Reinstate Donald Trump Over ‘Rigged’ Election.’ It had received nearly 1,400 likes as of Wednesday.
The full article, which was published on Feb. 26, four days after the decision, stated that the court was ‘reconsidering hearing’ the lawsuit ‘after previously dismissing it earlier this year.’ It has since been taken down, and an article published on Feb. 28 by the same author correctly reports that the court rejected the case.
Other posts made days after the decision echoed the original article’s claim that the case still had a chance of being heard. They received tens of thousands of likes and shares on Twitter.
The suit — Adams v. Brunson, et al. — was previously dismissed by a lower court, and that ruling was upheld on appeal, according to court documents. It was then appealed to the Supreme Court in October 2022. The suit argues that Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, former Vice President Mike Pence and 385 members of Congress committed treason when they failed to probe baseless claims that the 2020 election was rigged.
Further, it calls for the removal of these officials and a ban on their future ability to hold elected office, as well as ‘the swearing in of the legal and rightful heirs for President and Vice President of the United States.’ It does not specifically name Trump.
In January 2023, the Supreme Court declined to hear the case and an appeal was filed later that month. The court rejected the case for a second time on Feb. 21.
Aziz Huq, a professor of law at the University of Chicago who is an expert on constitutional law, told The Associated Press that it is unlikely the Supreme Court will ever hear a case such as Adams v. Brunson, given that it relies on a false narrative.
‘Certainly something that is founded upon the irresponsible conspiracy mongering fallacies that this petition is based upon seems to me an unlikely fodder for the Supreme Court,’ he said.” [AP News]
Jury quickly finds Murdaugh guilty of murdering wife, son
Alex Murdaugh convicted of murder in shootings of wife, son
Disgraced South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh has been convicted of murder in the shooting deaths of his wife and son.
“WALTERBORO, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh was convicted of murder Thursday in the shooting deaths of his wife and son in a case that chronicled the unraveling of a powerful Southern family with tales of privilege, greed and addiction.
The jury deliberated for less than three hours before finding Murdaugh guilty of two counts of murder at the end of a six-week trial that pulled back the curtain on the once-prominent lawyer’s fall from grace.
Murdaugh, 54, faces 30 years to life in prison without parole for each murder charge when court is scheduled to reconvene for sentencing at 9:30 a.m. Friday.
After the verdict was read, Judge Clifton Newman denied a defense motion to declare a mistrial, saying ‘the evidence of guilt is overwhelming.’
Murdaugh, who wore a dress shirt and jacket, appeared stoic with a slight grimace as the verdict was read. Once the hearing ended, Murdaugh was handcuffed and led out of the courtroom by two sheriff’s deputies.
His 52-year-old wife, Maggie, was shot four or five times with a rifle and their 22-year-old son Paul was shot twice with a shotgun at the kennels near their rural Colleton County home on June 7, 2021.
Prosecutors didn’t have the weapons used to kill the Murdaughs or other direct evidence like confessions or blood spatter. But they had a mountain of circumstantial evidence, led by a video locked on the son’s cellphone for more than a year — video shot minutes before the killings that witnesses testified captured the voices of all three Murdaughs.
Defense attorney Jim Griffin told reporters the Murdaugh team was disappointed in the outcome but had no further comment until sentencing.
The state’s legal team emerged from the courthouse to a celebratory atmosphere. South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson thanked the prosecution for the past six weeks of late nights spent at a local hotel.
‘It was all worth it. Because we got to bring justice and be a voice for Maggie and Paul Murdaugh,’ Wilson said. ‘Today’s verdict proved that no one — no matter who you are in society — is above the law,’ he added, a line met with applause from spectators.
Through more than 75 witnesses and nearly 800 pieces of evidence, jurors heard about betrayed friends and clients, Murdaugh’s failed attempt to stage his own death in an insurance fraud scheme, a fatal boat crash in which his son was implicated, the housekeeper who died in a fall in the Murdaugh home, the grisly scene of the killings and Bubba, the chicken-snatching dog.
In the end, Murdaugh’s fate appeared sealed by the cellphone video taken by his son Paul, who he called ‘Little Detective’ for his knack for finding bottles of painkillers in his father’s belongings after the lawyer had sworn off the pills.
Testimony culminated in Murdaugh’s appearance on the witness stand, when he admitted stealing millions from clients and lying to investigators about being at the dog kennels where the shootings took place but steadfastly maintained his innocence in the deaths of his wife and son.
‘I did not kill Maggie, and I did not kill Paul. I would never hurt Maggie, and I would never hurt Paul — ever — under any circumstances,’ Murdaugh said.
Murdaugh had told police repeatedly after the killings that he was not at the kennels and was instead napping before he went to visit his ailing mother that night. Murdaugh called 911 and said he discovered the bodies when he returned home.
But in his testimony, Murdaugh admitted joining Maggie and Paul at the kennels, where he said he took a chicken away from a rowdy yellow Labrador named Bubba — whose name Murdaugh can be heard saying on the video — before heading back to the house shortly ahead of the fatal shootings.
Murdaugh lied about being at the kennels for 20 months before taking the stand on the 23rd day of his trial. He blamed his decadeslong addiction to opioids for making him paranoid, creating a distrust of police. He said that once he went down that path, he felt trapped in the lie.
‘Oh, what a tangled web we weave. Once I told a lie — I told my family — I had to keep lying,’ he testified.
Prosecutor Creighton Waters grilled Murdaugh about what he repeatedly called the lawyer’s ‘new story’ of what happened at the kennels, walking him moment by moment through the timeline and assailing his ‘fuzzy’ memory of certain details, like his last words to his wife and son.
A state agent also testified that markings on spent cartridges found around Maggie Murdaugh’s body matched markings on fired cartridges at a shooting range elsewhere on the property, though the defense said that kind of matching is an inexact science.
Alex Murdaugh comes from a family that dominated the local legal scene for decades. His father, grandfather and great-grandfather were the area’s elected prosecutors for more than 80 years and his family law firm grew to dozens of lawyers by suing railroads, corporations and other big businesses.
The now-disbarred attorney admitted stealing millions of dollars from the family firm and clients, saying he needed the money to fund his drug habit. Before he was charged with murder, Murdaugh was in jail awaiting trial on about 100 other charges ranging from insurance fraud to tax evasion.
Prosecutors told jurors that Murdaugh was afraid all of his misdeeds were about to be discovered, so he killed his wife and son to gain sympathy to buy time to cover his tracks.
Waters commended the jurors for seeing through what he described as more lies by Murdaugh.
‘We had no doubt that when we had a chance to present our case in the court of law that they would see through the one last con that Alex Murdaugh was trying to pull. And they did,’ Waters said after the verdict.
Murdaugh’s lawyers will almost certainly appeal the conviction based on the judge allowing evidence of the financial crimes, which they contend were unrelated to the killings and were used by prosecutors to smear Murdaugh’s reputation.” [AP News]
A bipartisan compromise on rail safety
Michael Swensen/Getty Images
“A bipartisan group of six senators has introduced legislation to improve rail safety following the February 3 derailment of a train carrying toxic chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio.” [Vox / Nicole Narea]
“The Railway Safety Act of 2023 imposes stricter inspection and notification standards for trains carrying hazardous materials and increases fines for rail companies that break the rules. It also allocates $27 million for rail safety improvement research.” [Vox] [New York Times / Stephanie Lai]
“It requires devices to detect mechanical issues as well, after a preliminary report found the East Palestine crew had little notice of a malfunction before the train went off the tracks.” [Vox] [Associated Press / Julie Carr Smyth and Josh Funk]
“The bill, co-sponsored by Sens. J.D. Vance (R-OH) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH), is rare moment of bipartisanship. It’s unclear if it will gain enough votes to pass the House.” [Vox] [CBS News / Melissa Quinn]
“On March 9, Alan Shaw, CEO of rail operator Norfolk Southern will testify under oath about what led to the disaster.” [Vox] [NBC News / Liz Brown-Kaiser and Rose Horowitch
Black Vietnam vet at last getting his due: Medal of Honor
Retired Army Col. Paris Davis, an Ohio native, who is set to receive the Medal of Honor for his service in the Vietnam War speaks during an interview with the Associated Press at a hotel in Arlington, Va., Thursday, March 2, 2023. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
“WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly 60 years after he was first recommended for the nation’s highest award for bravery during the Vietnam War, retired Col. Paris Davis, one of the first Black officers to lead a Special Forces team in combat, will receive the prestigious Medal of Honor on Friday.
The overdue recognition for the 83-year-old Virginia resident comes after his recommendation for the medal was lost, resubmitted — and then lost again.
It wasn’t until 2016 — half a century after Davis risked his life to save some of his men by fighting off the North Vietnamese — that a volunteer group of advocates painstakingly recreated and resubmitted the paperwork.
Some of Davis’ supporters believe racism was to blame, but Davis doesn’t dwell on it. He said he doesn’t know why it has taken decades for his heroism to be recognized.
‘Right now I’m overwhelmed,’ he told The Associated Press in an interview the day before he attends a White House ceremony where President Joe Biden will hang the blue ribbon holding the Medal of Honor around Davis’ neck….” Read more at AP News
New state bills restrict transgender health care — for adults
Until now, most legislation banning gender-affirming care targeted minors. This year, a growing number of bills would also limit access for adults.
“Republican state Sen. Jack Johnson stood on the Tennessee Senate floor last month to open the discussion on a bill he is co-sponsoring. The measure would limit gender-affirming care such as puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgeries for minors.
‘Let’s put children first and look out for them first and let them make those decisions as adults,’ he said. ‘I support your right to do so, when you’re an adult, not when you’re a child and you do not have the mental capacity to do so.’
But Johnson is also backing another bill, HB1215, that would effectively cut off access to gender-affirming care for low-income people, including adults. The measure prohibits Tennessee’s Medicaid program from working with health insurance companies that cover gender-affirming care.
As of late February, Republican lawmakers in at least five states have introduced legislation that would limit such care for adults. Until this year, most proposed restrictions on transition-related care targeted people under 18. Some of the new measures prohibit it for individuals up to age 21, while others block Medicaid from covering for it for all ages….” Read more at Washington Post
Scoop: Trump's 5-part plan to attack DeSantis
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and President Trump hold a COVID and storm-preparedness roundtable in Belleair, Fla., in 2020. Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
“Former President Trump is convinced his attacks on Ron DeSantis are chipping away at the Florida governor's support and confidence, Trump tells friends. So he plans to crank up the criticism and name-calling.
Why it matters: Trump believes DeSantis is the only candidate with the potential to last in a long, bitter campaign for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination. Trump hopes to scare DeSantis out of running — or at least damage him if he sticks with it.
Trump plans to target ‘Ron DeSanctimonious,’ as he delights in branding the governor, in five areas:
DeSantis' past support for changes to Social Security and Medicare, including votes as a U.S. congressman to raise the eligibility age for Medicare.
Disloyalty to Trump after he helped DeSantis get elected governor in 2018. Trump also plans to pound DeSantis on likability.
Trump wants to cast DeSantis as a lackey of former House Speaker Paul Ryan. On Trump's social-media site, Truth Social, he attacked Ryan this week as a loser who ‘couldn't get elected dogcatcher,’ and said he should resign or be fired as a Fox Corp. board member.
DeSantis' response to COVID is a top Trump target, even though the governor is known for resisting mask mandates. Trump plans to attack DeSantis' caution in the earliest days of the pandemic — and try to fight the issue to a draw. A March 2020 headline in the Tampa Bay Times said: ‘DeSantis orders major shutdown of beaches, businesses in Broward, Palm Beach.’(DeSantis pushes back on this.)
DeSantis took heat for muddled comments, in a Fox News interview last week, about whether to maintain financial and military support for Ukraine. Trump plans to portray DeSantis as wishy-washy on the war, while he toes the MAGA line of cutting aid.
A DeSantis spokesman had no comment on Trump's criticisms.
DeSantis told Fox News' Jesse Watters this week that he sees Trump attacks as ‘background noise’: ‘He used to say how great of a governor I was. And then I win a big victory and all of a sudden ... he had different opinions. And so you could take that for what it's worth.’
Several polls show Trump gaining momentum in the past month.” [Axios]
Biden tried to hire Meacham
President Biden carries Jon Meacham's latest book aboard Air Force One in November. Photo: Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images
“President Biden has grown so close to his volunteer muse, Jon Meacham, that he tried to bring the presidential historian into the White House, Alex Thompson writes in his Axios debut.
Meacham is preparing to dive into the life of President Dwight Eisenhower for his next book. So a government gig doesn't appear to be in the cards — but the overture reflects their warm relationship.
Why it matters: As threats to American democracy rose, the theme became a Biden signature, with Meacham helping supply the rhetoric.
Meacham's 2018 bestseller, ‘The Soul of America,’ has driven a recurring theme for Biden: The president has even used the phrases ‘soul of America’ or ‘soul of this nation’ in big addresses.
The two bonded over their shared belief that Biden is a historically consequential figure in the fight to preserve American democracy.
What's happening: Meacham joined Biden aides at Camp David to prepare last month's State of the Union.
A White House official didn't comment directly on Meacham joining the administration. The official said the president speaks to a wide range of historians about this unique moment in history.
Behind the scenes: Princeton historian Sean Wilentz recently joined Meacham in helping conceptualize some of Biden's speeches — particularly ones about democracy.
Last August, Wilentz was part of a two-hour Biden meeting with historians, who warned him the republic was at a tipping point.
Wilentz advised Hillary Clinton during her 2016 presidential campaign.
The backstory: Meacham and POTUS began talking during Biden's 2008 presidential campaign, after he read Meacham's 2006 book, ‘American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation.’
Meacham and his wife, Keith, attended the White House State Dinner for French President Emmanuel Macron in December.
In the weeks before last year's midterms, Biden was reading Meacham's new book on Abraham Lincoln, "And There Was Light" (photo above).
The book details how the 16th president navigated a fraught transition of power at a critical moment in history.” [Axios]
Mayor of College Park, Md., Resigns Over Child Abuse Imagery Charges
Patrick L. Wojahn, who had served as the city’s mayor since 2015, was arrested on Thursday, the police said. He submitted a resignation letter on Wednesday night.
“The mayor of College Park, Md., was arrested on Thursday and charged with possession and distribution of child sexual abuse imagery, the police said.
The mayor, Patrick L. Wojahn, 47, who had served in the position since 2015 and had been a member of the College Park City Council for eight years before that, submitted a letter of resignation after business hours on Wednesday night, city officials said.
He has been charged with 40 counts of possession of child exploitative material, a misdemeanor, and 16 counts of distribution of child exploitative material, a felony, according to the Prince George’s County Police Department.
Distribution is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $25,000 fine. Possession is punishable by up to five years in prison and a $2,500 fine, according to court records….” Read more at Washington Post
Many Undocumented Immigrants Are Departing After Decades in the U.S.
Crowded scenes at the border do not necessarily translate into an increase in the undocumented population. Many other immigrants have been returning home.
In August 2021, more than three decades after sneaking across the southern border as young adults to work and support their families in Mexico, Irma and Javier Hernandez checked in at La Guardia Airport for a one-way flight from New York to Oaxaca. They were leaving behind four American children, stable jobs where they were valued employees and a country they had grown to love.
But after years of living in the United States without legal status, the couple had decided it was time to return to their homeland. Ms. Hernandez’s mother was 91, and they feared she might die — as Ms. Hernandez’s father and in-laws did — before they saw each other again. With dollar savings, they had built a little house, where they could live, and had invested in a tortilleria, which they could run. Their children, now young adults, could fend for themselves.
‘Only God knows how hard we worked day after day in New York,’ said Ms. Hernandez, 57. ‘We are still young enough that we could have kept going there, but ultimately we made the difficult choice to return.’
The Hernandezes are part of a wave of immigrants who have been leaving the United States and returning to their countries of origin in recent years, often after spending most of their lives toiling as undocumented workers. Some of them never intended to remain in the United States but said that the cost and danger of crossing the border kept them here once they had arrived — and they built lives. Now, middle-aged and still able-bodied, many are making a reverse migration.
Mexicans, who represent the largest and most transformative migration to the United States in modern history, started a gradual return more than a decade ago, with improvements in the Mexican economy and shrinking job opportunities in the United States during the last recession.
But departures have recently accelerated, beginning with crackdowns on immigrants under the Trump administration and continuing under President Biden as many older people decide they have realized their original goals for immigrating and can afford to trade the often-grueling work available to undocumented workers for a slower pace in their home country.
Their departures are one of many factors that have helped keep the total number of undocumented immigrants in the country relatively stable, despite a flood of migrant apprehensions at the southern border that reached two million last year….” Read more at New York Times
A Belarusian Nobel Peace laureate is sentenced to 10 years in prison.
“A Belarusian court sentenced Ales Bialiatski, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in October for his decades of defending human rights in Belarus, to 10 years in prison on Friday, according to Viasna, the group that he helped found.
Mr. Bialiatski has been a pillar of the human rights movement in Eastern Europe since the late 1980s, when Belarus was part of the Soviet Union.
Mr. Bialiatski was arrested last year, part of a sweeping and brutal crackdown on dissent in Belarus that unfolded across the country after huge street protests erupted in 2020. The country’s authoritarian leader, President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko, repaying the Kremlin for its support in helping squash those protests, allowed Belarusian territory to be used by Russian forces as staging ground for their invasion of Ukraine a year ago….” Read more at New York Times
Gunmen threaten Messi, shoot up family-owned supermarket
FILE - A mural of soccer player Lionel Messi blankets the facade of an apartment building in Rosario, Argentina, Aug. 19, 2022. Gunmen threatened Messi in a written message left March 2, 2023 when they opened fire at a supermarket owned by his in-laws in Rosario, Argentina, police said. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko, File)
“BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Gunmen threatened Argentine soccer superstar Lionel Messi in a written message left Thursday when they opened fire at a supermarket owned by his in-laws in Argentina, police said.
Nobody was injured in the early morning attack, and it was unclear why assailants would target Messi or the Unico supermarket in the country’s third-largest city of Rosario, owned by the family of his wife, Antonella Roccuzzo.
The city’s mayor, Pablo Javkin, went to the supermarket and lashed out at federal authorities over what he called their failure to curb a surge in drug-related violence in Rosario, located about 190 miles (300 kilometers) northwest of the capital of Buenos Aires.
Police said two men on a motorcycle fired at least a dozen shots into an Unico branch in the early hours, leaving a message on carboard that read, ‘Messi, we’re waiting for you. Javkin is also a drug trafficker, so he won’t take care of you.’
Messi has not commented. Considered by many to the greatest soccer player of all time, Messi is revered in Argentina, especially since he led the national team to the country’s first World Cup victory in 36 years in Qatar in December.
Messi currently plays for Paris Saint-Germain and spends much of his time overseas, though he often visits Rosario where he has a home in the suburb of Funes. The French team posted a photo on social media of Messi training on Thursday morning….” Read more at AP News
“Kenya won’t allow same-sex marriages, President William Ruto said as he rebuked the East African nation’s Supreme Court for a decision in favor of LGBTQ freedoms.” [New York Times]
Egypt unveils newly discovered chamber inside Great Pyramid
FILE - Policemen are silhouetted against the Great Pyramid in Giza, Egypt, Dec 12, 2012. Egypt unveiled on Thursday, March 2, 2023, the discovery of a 9-meter-long chamber inside the Great Pyramid of Giza, the first to be found on the structure’s north side. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, File)
“CAIRO (AP) — Egypt’s antiquities authorities on Thursday unveiled a newly discovered, sealed-off chamber inside one of the Great Pyramids at Giza, just outside of Cairo, that dates back some 4,500 years ago.
The corridor — on the northern side of the Pyramid of Khufu — was discovered using modern scanning technology. It measures 9 meters (nearly 30 feet) in length and is 2 meters (over 6 feet) wide, perched above the main entrance of the pyramid.
Archaeologists do not know what the function was of the chamber, which is not accessible from the outside. In 2017, scientists announced the discovery of another sealed-off corridor, a 30-meter chamber — or about 98 feet — also inside the Pyramid of Khufu.
Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass and the country’s Minister for Tourism Ahmed Eissa, announced the discovery Thursday at an unveiling ceremony outside the pyramid. The Scan Pyramids project, an international program that uses scans to look at unexplored sections of the ancient structure, was credited for the find….” Read more at AP News
Colombia proposes shipping invasive hippos to India, Mexico
FILE — Hippos float in the lake at Hacienda Napoles Park, once the private estate of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar who imported three female hippos and one male decades ago in Puerto Triunfo, Colombia, Feb. 4, 2021. Colombia intends to undertake the task of trying to transfer to India and Mexico at least 70 hippos that live in the surroundings of the park as a measure to control its population, the manager of Animal Protection and Welfare at the Antioquia Environment Secretariat said Thursday, March 2, 2023. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara, File)
“BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombia is proposing transferring at least 70 hippopotamuses that live near Pablo Escobar’s former ranch - descendants of four imported from Africa illegally by the late drug lord in the 1980s – to India and Mexico as part of a plan to control their population.
The hippos, which are territorial and weigh up to 3 tons, have spread far beyond the Hacienda Napoles ranch, located 200 kilometer (124 mile) from Bogota along the Magdalena River. Environmental authorities estimate there are about 130 hippos in the area in Antioquia province and their population could reach 400 in eight years.
Escobar’s Hacienda Napoles — and the hippos — have become a sort of local tourist attraction in the years since the kingpin was killed by police in 1993. When his ranch was abandoned, the hippos survived and reproduced in local rivers and favorable climatic conditions.
Scientists warn the hippos do not have a natural predator in Colombia and are a potential problem for biodiversity since their feces change the composition of the rivers and could impact the habitat of manatees and capybaras. Last year, Colombia’s government declared them a toxic invasive species….” Read more at AP News
Tyler Comrie
Who owns an image?
“The Supreme Court is considering a question that could change the art world: Do artists have the right to use another work in their own creation?
The case concerns an Andy Warhol silkscreen that adapted a photograph of Prince. The photographer objected to the print being republished, raising the question of whether she, or Warhol, owned the image. Nine major American museums say that a decision against Warhol could affect their collections, including works by Vincent van Gogh and Roy Lichtenstein.
Quiz: Can you guess how judges ruled in earlier copyright cases?” [New York Times]
PGA Tour approves changes to 2024 designated events, eliminating halfway cut and reducing field size
“The PGA Tour is making some significant changes.
The organization's board on Tuesday ratified tweaks to the 2024 schedule that will see certain designated events have a reduced field as well as the elimination of the cut halfway through the event, after the first two rounds. The fields will be reduced at the designated events to between 70 and 78 players.
These changes will not apply to the Tour's marquee events such as majors, FedEx Cup tournament events and the Players Championship.
Typically, after the first two rounds of a PGA Tour event, which consist of 36 holes, a halfway cut eliminates the lowest-scoring players from competition in the final two rounds of the event.
The PGA Tour hasn't made the changes public yet, though details were confirmed by Golfweek, which is part of the USA TODAY Network.
Why did the PGA Tour opt to make these tweaks to the 2024 schedule?
As LIV Golf continues to fight for market share in professional golf, the PGA Tour's response has been to launch these designated events, to entice the Tour's top golfers to stay and not defect to the Saudi-backed startup that is in its second season. The minimum purse at each of the designated events is $20 million.
Which PGA Tour players will be eligible for these designated events in 2024?
The Top 50 players who qualify for the BMW Championship from the prior season's FedEx Cup playoffs, the top 10 players not otherwise eligible in the current season's FedEx Cup points race and five spots earned through performance in non-designated events will make up the fields at these designated events. Additionally, any player who wins an event on the Tour will be eligible for each designated event in the 2024 season.
A player's standing in the Official World Golf Ranking will also be factored in for participation at the designated events, intending to accommodate top players who may have missed time due to injury or other issues.” [USA Today]
Wayne Shorter, Innovator During an Era of Change in Jazz, Dies at 89
His career as an influential tenor saxophonist and composer reached across more than half a century, tracking jazz’s complex evolution during that span.
“Wayne Shorter, the enigmatic, intrepid saxophonist who shaped the color and contour of modern jazz as one of its most intensely admired composers, died on Thursday in Los Angeles. He was 89.
His publicist, Alisse Kingsley, confirmed his death, at a hospital. There was no immediate information on the cause.
Mr. Shorter had a sly, confiding style on the tenor saxophone, instantly identifiable by his low-gloss tone and elliptical sense of phrase. His sound was brighter on soprano, an instrument on which he left an incalculable influence; he could be inquisitive, teasing or elusive, but always with a pinpoint intonation and clarity of attack.
His career reached across more than half a century, largely inextricable from jazz’s complex evolution during that span. He emerged in the 1960s as a tenor saxophonist and in-house composer for pace-setting editions of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and the Miles Davis Quintet, two of the most celebrated small groups in jazz history….” Read more at New York Times
Girl Scout markup
Photo: Girl Scouts of the USA
“The newest Girl Scout cookie, the Raspberry Rally, is already sold out. But it's available on the resale market — for a hugely marked-up cost.
The new cookie — described as a sister to Thin Mints, with a raspberry flavor — was the first Girl Scout cookie sold exclusively online. It sold for $5 a box.
This week on eBay, several auctions offered the cookies for $20, $30 and as high as $79.99 for a single box — with many adding shipping fees, Axios' Kelly Tyko found.” [Axios]