7 Lawmakers Quit U.K. Labour Party Over Alleged Anti-Semitism And Brexit Approach
Seven members of Britain's Parliament quit the main opposition Labour Party on Monday, accusing its leader, Jeremy Corbyn, of letting anti-Semitism flourish and failing to support a plan to hold another referendum on Brexit. "This has been a very difficult, painful but necessary decision," Luciana Berger, one of the seven legislators who have resigned, told reporters at a press conference Monday. "I am sickened that Labour is now perceived by many as a racist, anti-Semitic party," said...
Andrew McCabe, Ex-FBI Deputy, Describes 'Remarkable' Number Of Trump-Russia Contacts
Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe condemned what he called the "relentless attack" that President Trump has waged against the FBI even as it continues scrutinizing whether Americans in Trump's campaign may have conspired with the Russians who attacked the 2016 election . "I don't know that we have ever seen in all of history an example of the number, the volume and the significance of the contacts between people in and around the president, his campaign, with our most serious, our...
Massive Loss Of Thousands Of Hives Afflicts Orchard Growers And Beekeepers
Almond bloom comes nearly all at once in California — a flush of delicate pale blooms that unfold around Valentine's Day. And beekeeper Bret Adee is hustling to get his hives ready, working through them on a Central Valley ranch before placing them in orchards. He deftly tap-taps open a hive. "We're gonna open this up, and you're going to see a whole lot of bees here," Adee says. Under the lid, the exposed sleepy occupants hum away. He uses a handheld smoker to keep them calm and huddled...
Facebook Has Behaved Like 'Digital Gangsters,' U.K. Parliament Report Says
A new report from British lawmakers on how social media is used to spread disinformation finds that Facebook and other big tech companies are failing their users and dodging accountability. "The guiding principle of the 'move fast and break things' culture often seems to be that it is better to apologise than ask permission," said Damian Collins, chair of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee that drafted the report. "We need a radical shift in the balance of power between the...
Tiny Homes For Homeless Get The Go-Ahead In The Wake of California's Worst Wildfire
Before the state's most destructive wildfire tore through Butte County, Calif., detailed plans for a tiny home village for the homeless in the northern California city of Chico were met with a mix of indifference, NIMBY-ism and outright rejection from a previous city council. But November's Camp Fire, which killed 85 people and incinerated some 14,000 area homes, breathed new life into plans for a community of one-room wooden homes to help house some of Butte County's homeless. "The fire...
Scientific Duo Gets Back To Basics To Make Childbirth Safer
Brittney Crystal was just over 25 weeks pregnant when her water broke. It was her second pregnancy — the first had been rough, and the baby came early. To try to avoid a second premature birth, Dr. Joy-Sarah Vink , an obstetrician and co-director of the Preterm Birth Prevention Center at Columbia University Medical Center, arranged for Crystal to be transported by ambulance from her local Connecticut hospital to New York City, where Vink could direct her care. Two weeks later Crystal started...
16 States Sue Over Trump's National Emergency Declaration
A group of 16 states has filed a lawsuit in a Northern California federal court against President Trump's declaration of a national emergency, calling the president's decision to use executive power to fund a border wall unconstitutional. The complaint filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California seeks to bar the administration from using emergency powers to divert money from other programs to a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, marking the start of a legal...
The $8 Billion Question: President Trump's Border Wall And National Emergency
With Meghna Chakrabarti President Trump declares a national emergency to fund that border wall. We’ll unpack the politics and legal hurdles. Plus, well touch on former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabes comments about President Trump and his interactions with the FBI. Want more from the show? You can get messages right from our hosts (and more opportunities to engage with the show) sent directly to your inbox with the On Point newsletter. Subscribe here . Guests Paula Reid, CBS News...
'Every Day Is A Good Day When You're Floating': Anne McClain Talks Life In Space
What do you eat in space? How do you sleep in space? And just what does one do all day long in space? Children from the Georgetown Day School in Washington D.C., recently had a chance to ask their most burning questions to NASA astronaut Anne McClain. They are roughly the same age that McClain was when on her first day of preschool she announced that she wanted to become an astronaut. By the time McClain was about 5 years old, she said she wrote a book about flying to space on the Soyuz...
Sept. 11 Victim Compensation Fund Cuts Payouts By As Much As 70 Percent
The September 11th Victim Compensation Fund is cutting its payouts in half for some and by as much as 70 percent for others, as the fund faces a surge in claims ahead of its expiration date in December 2020. The fund, which was opened in 2011, compensates for deaths and illnesses due to exposure to toxins at the sites of the Sept. 11 attacks. The $7.3 billion fund has already paid out about $5 billion to 21,000 claimants. But it still has about 19,000 additional unpaid claims to address. With...
An Italian Town Fell Silent So The Sounds Of A Stradivarius Could Be Preserved
Inside the concert hall of the Violin Museum in Cremona, Italy, Antonio de Lorenzi plays the prelude from Bach's Partita No. 3 on a Stradivarius violin. Cremona is the town where master luthier Antonio Stradivari crafted his storied instruments three centuries ago. But there's no guarantee that his instrument's inimitable sound will survive for centuries more, says Fausto Cacciatori, the museum's chief conservator. "What will these instruments sound like in 200 years? I hope they can still be...
Virginia Democrats Now Look To Women Of Color For Leadership
When you talk to Virginia Democrats these days, you hear a lot of words like "disappointing" and "frustrating." That's because the men at the top of state government — and at the center of these scandals — have been well-liked by a lot of people who worked hard to help elect them. "It really is kind of a hard thing to reckon with — some of your heroes either causing embarrassment or shame or disappointment or anger," said Alexsis Rodgers, president of Virginia Young Democrats. Rodgers said...
Ph.D. Student Breaks Down Electron Physics Into A Swinging Musical
A scientist just scored honors for a musical adaptation of his research on Friday. Pramodh Senarath Yapa, a physicist currently pursuing his doctorate at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, has been named the 2018 winner of the "Dance Your Ph.D." contest. The competition, sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and Science magazine, invites doctoral students and Ph.D. recipients to translate their research into an interpretive dance. The winner...
Illinois Gunman Opened Fire When He Learned He Would Lose His Job, Police Say
The gunman who killed five people in Aurora, Ill., and wounded five police officers started shooting after learning he was being fired, police said on Saturday. Police in Aurora identified the shooter as Gary Montez Martin , a 45-year-old man who had been arrested six times in Aurora, including for "domestic violence related issues." Police chief Kristen Ziman said investigators were reviewing how Martin — who was killed after exchanging gunfire with police — obtained the gun he used, but...