Palm Desert

Coronavirus updates: Florida approves return of high school sports

More than 21.1 million people across the globe have been diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new respiratory virus, according to data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. The actual numbers are believed to be much higher due to testing shortages, many unreported cases and suspicions that some national governments are hiding or downplaying the scope of their outbreaks. The University of Notre Dame reported 29 cases of COVID-19 in a one-week period, reports the South Bend Tribune.

Should we stop calling rape victims 'survivors'?

Michelle Bowdler’s superb book Is Rape a Crime? questions the conventions of the ‘rape story’ Michelle Bowdler doesn’t want you to call her a rape “survivor”. “I don’t love the word ‘victim’ but I disdain the word ‘survivor’,” she tells me over Zoom, sitting in her red-walled study. She thinks the word survivor implies resolution to an event whose repercussions are in fact often lifelong, and that the use of “survivor” rather than “victim” tends to obscure a woman’s pain in favor of pat triumph. Survivor is a word that often seems aimed more towards honoring other people’s feelings than a woman’s dignity. “I do feel strongly that people use it to make their own discomfort go away,” she says.Bowdler’s new book, Is Rape A Crime? A Memoir, an Investigation and a Manifesto, is an invitation to dwell in the discomfort that rape stories cause us. She proceeds from her experience of being raped by two armed strangers who broke into her Boston apartment one summer night in 1984. The book follows her in the aftermath, winding through the unfeeling bureaucracies of the hospital and the police and the claustrophobic, torturous experience of PTSD. Bowdler dwells on the continued indignity of rape victims’ status as objects of moral curiosity, alternately rendered invisible or tainted as damaged and pathetic. When, after decades of keeping her rapes mostly to herself, she began disclosing them, the looks of concern and worry on people’s faces “felt intolerable to me”, she says. “But I did it anyway. I felt like it was important to name it.”With a wealth of research and measuredly rageful social commentary woven through the story of her own experience, Is Rape A Crime? functions as a memoir and as a polemic without falling into the pitfalls of either genre. Perhaps this is because Bowdler’s experience provides ample evidence for the book’s central argument: that the criminal justice system, and especially police, are negligent, insensitive and ineffectual in their handling of sexual cases, and that reporting experiences often do a victim more harm than good.In the aftermath of her rapes, Bowdler is homeless, crashing temporarily in a friend’s apartment, and left to navigate psychological distress that is worsened by the indifference and incompetence of the authorities. In her only conversation with the detectives assigned to her case, they dangle a knife in her face. They found it in her bedroom, they say; they want to know if she recognizes it, and if it might be the one used by her rapists. She is only days removed from the attack, and now a weapon is once again brandished in her face. A detective downplays what happened to her, saying she is “lucky” that she was only raped and not also killed.> When she returns to work a week after, her boss, fully aware of what she endured, expresses annoyance that she took time offThis is about the best treatment she gets from the police. A few months after the rapes, when she calls the precinct to ask about her case, an annoyed cop brushes her off. She is summoned to the police station exactly once, to give fingerprints. While she’s there, a police dog won’t stop barking; the officer taking her fingerprints jokes of the animal: “Just like a woman, can’t keep her mouth shut.” “I am now certain they will never find the men who raped me,” Bowdler writes of this moment. “They probably won’t even look.” Years later she learns that her rape kit was never tested.The book serves as a catalog of the callousness and disrespect with which Bowdler’s rapes were treated by those in power. When she returns to work a week after, her boss, fully aware of what she endured, expresses annoyance that she took time off.The tangle of public and private aid programs for rape victims turns out to be something she, traumatized and disoriented, does not always have the wherewithal to navigate, even when she meets the overly stringent qualification requirements. She feels purposeless, alienated from her former self, and unable to concentrate. With no one to tell her that these are common responses to sexual violence, she sees her malaise as a personal failure. “I didn’t blame the rapists or the police for my unrecognizable life,” she writes. “I blamed myself.”For about four years she drifts, crippled by PTSD and overwhelmed by simple tasks. She can’t work much, so she takes a series of low-responsibility gigs. “I worked temp jobs so that I had enough money to pay my rent and buy myself food and be around my friends,” she says. “I just sort of made time pass.”Bowdler is acutely aware that her experience was devastating but by no means uncommon. The book catalogs the systemic failures of police to properly investigate rape cases, and the way that the disregard Bowdler experienced compounded her own pain - another injustice and an obstacle to healing. This disparity – between the way the rapes savaged her life, and the almost flippant apathy of law enforcement – is the book’s most haunting message.Asked what kind of response she would have preferred, Bowdler is equivocal. “I was very clear in the book that I am not pro-carceral; I would be mortified if people didn’t understand that,” she says. What she wants is not necessarily more incarceration for perpetrators as much as seriousness in the police inquiry, and a recognition that government bodies in part “create” rights by whether they enforce them. “Being seen for the severity of what’s happened to you is actually very, very important and helpful to healing,” she says, citing the work of the PTSD researcher Judith Herman.> Bowdler refuses the neat resolutions that others want to place on rape storiesIf this sounds like a familiar message, allow me to assure you that Is Rape a Crime? is a unique intervention in the memoir and social justice genres. Bowdler is an uncommonly gifted writer. She is thoughtful even when describing horrible wrongs; lucid and captivating even when describing the sort of psychic pain that typically eludes words.Is Rape a Crime? is also, in part, a critique of the conventions of the “rape story”. Bowdler does not want her life reduced to her rape – she has since gone on to work in public health, marry a woman she met in the field and raise children, and her life is more expansive and joyful than it was in the aftermath of the attack. But she also refuses the neat resolutions that others want to place on rape stories. As we talk, Bowdler never once raises her voice, or seems to be speaking, as angry people sometimes do, to some other, absent party. But her anger transcends her calm.As I listened, I realized that there are cultural narratives about rape that I had unthinkingly accepted: that a woman should either be permanently and irreparably damaged by an attack, in order to have the seriousness of what was done to her underscored, or completely emotionally triumphant, so as to have her dignity restored. Bowdler refuses to be either meek victim or feelgood survivor. She insists on having the gravity of rape and the fullness of her self acknowledged.If that makes people uncomfortable, that might be a good thing. “I’ve gotten reviews that talk about how challenging the book is,” Bowdler says. “I find that interesting. Because being raped is challenging. And then living in a world that is misogynistic and minimizing of sexual violence is challenging. People’s fear about the book is the very reason they should read it.” * Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist

Another American ritual the pandemic has warped: college arrivals

Brandon Vergel stood outside his new student dormitory at Texas Tech University, grappling with the bittersweet nature of yet another American rite of passage warped by the COVID pandemic -parents dropping their kids off at college. Under a scorching afternoon sun outside the Texas Tech residence halls, students wore carefully chosen outfits, hoping to casually make fantastic first impressions on Friday.

Roche gets U.S. approval for Enspryng, takes on Alexion's Soliris

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Saturday approved Roche's Enspryng for the central nervous system disorder neuromyelitis optica, putting the Swiss drugmaker head-to-head with Alexion's Soliris in a costly treatment area. The wholesale acquisition cost for Enspryng is just under $220,000 for the first year when 15 doses are needed, and $190,000 for subsequent years when 13 doses are required, Roche said. It will go up against Alexion's drug Soliris, an infusion listed at up to around $500,000 annually, for adult patients with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder who are anti-aquaporin-4 antibody positive.

Shooting suspect dies in exchange of gunfire with deputies in Dania Beach, reports say

A man died late Friday after an exchange of gunfire with Broward deputies in Dania Beach, according to reports.

Thousands of Britons return from France to avoid quarantine

Thousands of British tourists beat a hasty retreat from France, packing out planes, trains and ferries to return to the U.K. by the early hours of Saturday morning to avoid a mandatory 14-day quarantine at home. Anyone arriving back from France from Saturday must stay at home for two weeks to make sure they cannot spread the coronavirus beyond their households if they have become infected. The exodus was prompted late Thursday when the British government took France off a list of nations exempt from traveler quarantine requirements because of a sharp rise in new coronavirus infections there.

He was working security at a Key West bar. Police say he’s part of a murder plot

Key West police and U.S. Marshals arrested a man working security at a bar in the Southernmost City this week who is a suspect in a stalking and attempted murder case in Nebraska.

Philippines reports 4,351 new coronavirus cases, 159 more deaths

The Philippine health ministry on Saturday reported 4,351 new confirmed coronavirus cases and 159 additional fatalities, bringing the total in the country to 157,918 infections and 2,600 deaths. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is set to announce on Monday his decision whether to extend or ease strict quarantine measures that were reinstated in and around the capital Manila in mid-August to stem the rise in new cases.

Russia produces first batch of COVID-19 vaccine: Interfax

Russia has produced the first batch of its new vaccine for COVID-19, the Interfax news agency quoted the health ministry as saying on Saturday, hours after the ministry reported the start of manufacturing. Russia has said the vaccine, the first for the coronavirus to go into production, will be rolled out by the end of this month. Its approval comes before trials that would normally involve thousands of participants, commonly known as Phase III. Such trials are usually considered essential precursors for a vaccine to secure regulatory approval.

Timeline: WHO's response to the coronavirus pandemic and the ensuing controversy

The World Health Organization has faced mounting criticism in recent weeks over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic. As an independent evaluation of the WHO's response to COVID-19 remains underway, here's a look at some of the steps taken by the global health arm of the United Nations and the ensuing controversy that's unfolded. The country office then notified the International Health Regulations' focal point in the WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific about the media statement on the cases and provided a translation.

9 accusers bring new lawsuit against Epstein's estate, alleging sexual abuse dating back to 1978, including an accusation that Epstein raped an 11-year-old

The new lawsuit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court alleges that Epstein "sexually assaulted, abused, battered" girls as young as 11 as early as 1978.

With knife threatening his partner, an officer shoots a man, North Miami police say

North Miami officers went out to help a woman who said she was being stalked. Soon after, they encountered a man with a knife charging at them, North Miami police said.

FDA warns against rapid COVID-19 tests for asymptomatic people

The novel coronavirus has now killed more than 762,000 people worldwide. More than 21 million people across the globe have been diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new respiratory virus, according to data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. The actual numbers are believed to be much higher due to testing shortages, many unreported cases and suspicions that some national governments are hiding or downplaying the scope of their outbreaks.

In struggle to land a blow on Biden, Trump toys with nickname change

U.S. President Donald Trump, who has used belittling nicknames to describe his opponents throughout his political career, toyed with a name change on Friday for his Democratic rival in the Nov. 3 election, Joe Biden. Unable to hold his signature large campaign rallies because of the pandemic, Trump brought about 300 police officers who support his re-election bid to the open area outside the clubhouse at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club. Trump polled the crowd on whether he should stick with "Sleepy Joe" or change his nickname to "Slow Joe."

R. Kelly's ex-manager charged with calling in threat to stop docuseries premiere

The threat forced the theater to evacuate and cancel the showing.

Ponzi king Madoff's brother released from home confinement

Peter Madoff, who had pleaded guilty to falsifying documents and lying to regulators, was released after serving about nine years.

Exclusive: Video shows suspected terrorist extradited from Jamaica to U.S.

“Faisal has spent two decades inspiring the terrorists behind plots and attacks in London, New York, and onboard airplanes in flight," NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said.

'Extreme' California wildfire forces hundreds to evacuate

The blaze, dubbed the Lake Fire, swelled to over 17,000 acres (6,880 hectares), forcing up to 1,500 people from their houses after erupting on Wednesday afternoon in the Angeles National Forest. Triple digit temperatures and single digit humidity fanned flames on Friday evening, and little let-up was expected over the weekend with an excessive heat warning in effect across Southern California. "We saw extreme fire conditions," Los Angeles County Fire Department spokesman Frank Garrido said of the operation in steep canyons aided by firefighting helicopters.

Where does Kamala Harris’s toughness come from? The two indomitable women who raised her.

Kamala Harris's early years in a working-class African-American neighborhood shaped the life of the future senator and vice presidential candidate.

California encouraged by trends even as it passes 600,000 coronavirus cases, most in U.S.

California became the first U.S. state to surpass 600,000 cases of COVID-19 on Friday and the Midwest saw several record one-day rises as some states struggled to contain the pandemic even as a few welcomed students back to school campuses. California went over 603,000 novel coronavirus cases on Friday, according to a Reuters tally, although Governor Gavin Newsom said he was encouraged to see that hospitalizations have declined 20% over the past two weeks and admissions to ICU wards were down 14% in the same period. The positivity rate - the number of confirmed infections as a percentage of tests done - has declined from 7% to 6% statewide over the past 14 days, Newsom said.

Florida trucker accused of threatening to ‘shoot up’ TN church gets prison, feds say

He told law enforcement he had “a history of mental health issues,” prosecutors said.

Duchess Meghan says it's 'good to be home' after years abroad

Duchess Meghan and her family relocated to the West Coast amid a period of great turmoil for the country, though she said Friday, "It's good to be home." In a conversation with The 19th co-founder Emily Ramshaw, the Duchess of Sussex reflected on her homecoming, which occurred amid the killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor earlier this year. Meghan and her husband, Prince Harry, announced in January that they were planning to step down as "working members" of the royal family and relocate with their son Archie, now 15 months, to North America.

Argentine firm behind AstraZeneca COVID vaccine Latam production sees April/May launch

The Argentine biotech firm working on the production of 400 million doses of an AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine for Latin America said on Friday it could begin shipping the active substance of the product to Mexico for completion. Esteban Corley, director of mAbxience, the biotech firm, said he foresaw the finished product could be distributed in Latin America between April and May. "Sometime in late February these materials will be exported to Mexico and in Mexico they will be formulated, filled and released" through Mexican Laboratory Biomont, Corley told journalists in a digital press conference.

Cops still looking for ex-teacher charged with coughing in baby’s face, CA officials say

A woman was captured on video pulling her mask down and coughing in a baby’s face.

NC man swindled $1 million from retirees to pay for trips to Vegas casinos, feds say

Several of the victims said Mark Ramsey, 50, “met with them in their homes when he stole their money,” prosecutors said.

Newly released video show onlookers' reaction to George Floyd's death

Newly released body-camera video from one of four former Minneapolis police officers charged in the death of George Floyd revealed onlookers' growing horror and repeated pleas with the officers to get off him. Former officer Tou Thao's body-camera video, which was made available to the public on Thursday, showed Thao holding back nearly a dozen onlookers.

U.S. Postal Service watchdog investigating reports of service disruptions: senator

The U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General is investigating reports of service disruptions and other issues raised by lawmakers, a spokeswoman for Senator Elizabeth Warren said on Friday. "We have learned that the United States Postal Service Office of the Inspector General is investigating all aspects of our request from August 7th and that they've already requested documents as part of the review," spokeswoman Saloni Sharma said. A spokeswoman for U.S. Postal Service Inspector General Tammy Whitcomb said the office is "in receipt of the congressional request and are conducting a body of work to address concerns raised," but declined to comment further.

2 suspects in custody after shooting at Florida mall, police say

PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. - Gunfire broke out Friday afternoon in the Pembroke Lakes Mall, and police had two suspects in custody shortly after. Police said they believe no other gunmen were involved in the shooting, but are asking the public to avoid the area on Pines Boulevard in Pembroke Pines while officers investigate. Pauline Edwards said she was shopping on the second floor of Dillard's when ...

You don't need the U.S. Postal Service to deliver your mail-in ballot

Many American voters are caught between competing concerns regarding the fall presidential election, as they weigh fears about the public health risks of voting in person against growing alarm about the ability of the U.S. Postal Service to deliver a mail-in ballot on time.

Suspected ISIS member in major terrorism case charged in Manhattan following extradition

NEW YORK - A suspected ISIS supporter believed to be among the world's most influential will stand trial in Manhattan, prosecutors said Friday. Following his extradition to New York City late Thursday from Jamaica, Shaikh Faisal, 56 - also known as Trevor William Forrest - was arraigned in Manhattan Supreme Court on a multitude of charges stemming from his deep ties to the global terrorist ...

Woman accused of assaulting gate agent at Phoenix airport after not wearing mask

Yolanda Yarbrough, 47, has been banned from future America Airlines flights pending further investigation, a company spokesman said.

U.S. prosecutors probe ex-NASA official, Boeing over space contract: sources

The U.S. Justice Department has opened a criminal probe into whether NASA's former head of human spaceflight gave Boeing Co improper guidance during a lucrative lunar-lander contract competition, two people familiar with the matter said on Friday. The Justice Department has sent subpoenas to NASA, Boeing and Doug Loverro, who led the agency's marquee space travel program until he resigned abruptly in May, as part of a grand-jury investigation into the possible violation of federal procurement laws, the sources said. In the probe, opened in June, prosecutors are focusing on communication between Loverro and Boeing space executive Jim Chilton in late January, during a blackout period for the Human Landing System competition, one of the sources said.

'Everything is on the line': Kamala Harris talks about voting, warns of 'irreversible' damage from Trump in 1st campaign interview

Vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris spoke about what she and Joe Biden want to accomplish and what it would mean for the country to have a female vice president for the first time.

Ex-FBI lawyer to plead guilty to falsifying claim made to continue surveillance of key figure in Mueller probe

It is the first legal development to come from a review of former special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

Drug-dealing stripper wanted white supremacist gang to kill Texas roommate, feds say

Besides dancing and dealing, the Dallas man had murder on his mind, according to authorities.

Berkshire slashes Wells Fargo, JPMorgan stakes; adds Barrick Gold

In a regulatory filing detailing its U.S.-listed investments as of June 30, Berkshire also disclosed a new 20.9 million share investment worth $563.6 million in Toronto-based Barrick Gold Corp , one of the world's largest mining companies. Investors monitor Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire's quarterly filings to see where Buffett and his portfolio managers Todd Combs and Ted Weschler see value.

U.S. judge dismisses NRA lawsuit challenging gun shop closures in New York state

A federal judge on Friday dismissed the National Rifle Association's lawsuit challenging New York's decision to close gun stores in the state in the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic. The decision came eight days after New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit seeking to dissolve the gun rights group, accusing senior leaders of corruption including the improper diversion of millions of dollars. U.S. District Judge Mae D'Agostino said the NRA lacked standing to challenge on behalf of its members a March 20 executive order by Governor Andrew Cuomo requiring gun stores to close in the state because they were "non-essential" businesses.

Obama says he worries about Trump's efforts to 'kneecap' Postal Service

Former President Barack Obama said on Friday he worries about protecting the integrity of November's election in view of efforts by President Donald Trump to "kneecap" the U.S. Postal Service to limit Americans voting by mail during the pandemic. Obama, speaking on a podcast with David Plouffe, who managed his winning 2008 presidential campaign, also played down the seriousness of progressive-moderate divisions in the Democratic Party and said younger voters provided the key to beating Trump. Trump, who opinion polls show is trailing presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden, said on Thursday he was blocking Democrats' effort to include funds for the Postal Service in a new coronavirus relief bill, in a bid to stop universal mail-in voting.

Jewelry store worker shoots two robbers inside Pembroke Lakes Mall, police say

Pembroke Lakes Mall saw a swarm of police officers after shots rang out Friday afternoon, while a police chopper hovered overhead and at least 10 police cruisers surrounded the area as residents were told to stay away.

Lawyer who took on Chevron in Ecuador is disbarred in New York

Steven Donziger, the American lawyer who spent more than two decades suing Chevron Corp over pollution in the Ecuadorian rain forest, has been disbarred in New York by a state appeals court. Nine years ago, Donziger had won a $9.5 billion judgment against Chevron in an Ecuador court, but was unable to enforce it after a U.S. judge found it had been obtained through fraud. In a decision published Thursday, the appeals court faulted Donziger's "egregious" misconduct, which it said included ghostwriting a court expert's report, obstruction of justice, witness tampering, and judicial coercion and bribery "which he steadfastly refuses to acknowledge and shows no remorse for."

Man charged with obtaining $2.1 million in COVID-19 relief funds and using it to buy a yacht and a new Kia

At least two others have been accused of using Paycheck Protection Program funds to buy new Lamborghinis. But it wasn't a Lamborghini this time.

Chicago officials pledge swift response to theft, vandalism

Chicago officials under pressure to reassure residents after hundreds of people vandalized and stole from downtown businesses pledged Friday to respond forcefully to any similar attempts during the weekend. Flanked by local and federal officials at a press conference near the city's lakefront, Mayor Lori Lightfoot outlined the strategy that includes a Chicago Police team to monitor social media around the clock for efforts to organize looting or other crime. Police blamed some of the chaos Sunday night and early Monday on people who used social media to organize car caravans, bringing dozens together to ransack stores and other businesses downtown.

Thieves steal 150 pounds of brisket for cop’s funeral off smoker, Texas caterer says

The funeral is for a 23-year-old police officer killed in the line of duty.