Day: July 19, 2022

TAMPA, Fla. — Eighteen months after a pair of former school board members in Florida founded Moms for Liberty, the group’s first national gathering drew 500 people, including major Republican figures, to a waterfront hotel here, demonstrating the growing political influence of these local conservative activists. The organization’s rapid ascension — its leaders say it has nearly 100,000 members across 195 chapters in 37 states — has been driven by the appeal of its core issues among conservatives, including battling mask mandates in schools, banning library books that address sexuality and gender identity, and curtailing lessons on racial inequity and discrimination, its founders say. The conference in Tampa was a moment for members to meet like-minded parents, reflect on their succes...

Superstar celebrity couple Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck were married on Saturday, according to a Clark County, Nevada, marriage license. The couple, who dated and became engaged in the early 2000s before breaking up and spending 17 years apart, rekindled their relationship last year. Lopez's fan newsletter, the J Lo, on Sunday reported, "We did it." The couple flew to Vegas and arrived at the chapel just before midnight to wait in line with four other couples, according to the account. Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck in New York on Sept. 26, 2021.Gotham / GC Images file "Behind us two men held hands and held each other. In front of us, a young couple who made the three hour drive from Victorville on their daughter’s second birthday — all of us wanting the same thing — for the wo...

The University of Pennsylvania has nominated transgender swimmer Lia Thomas for the 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year award, the American college sports regulating body said. Thomas shot to fame earlier this year when she became the first transgender NCAA champion in Division I history after winning the women’s 500-yard freestyle in March and she had hoped to compete for a place at the Olympics. But soon after, she became the focus of a raging debate when swimming’s world governing body FINA voted last month to restrict the participation of transgender athletes in elite women’s competitions. Thomas competed on Penn’s men’s team for three years before transitioning and moving to the women’s team, setting multiple program records. Her eligibility had come under considerable scrutiny, Thoro...

After a brutally hot and record-setting weekend, blistering temperatures are expected to continue into the upcoming workweek for millions. About 141 million people were forecast to experience highs above 90 degrees on Monday, with 51 million of those bracing to soar over the century mark. Heat alerts were up Monday for parts of 16 states from central California to the Mississippi River Valley. For some locations, the hot temperatures combined with high humidity will make it feel up to 110 degrees. For other locations, the raw air temperature will get as high as 110 degrees. While the core of the heat was expected to be over the central part of the lower 48 to start the week, the heat is expected to spread east with time, bringing the first official heat wave of the year to the natio...

LONDON — Residents told not to venture outside. Salt trucks spraying sand on roads to stop them from melting. Doctors pausing surgeries. Rail authorities warning tracks could buckle. Experts saying hundreds or thousands could die in the heat. This is not the introduction to a dystopian sci-fi novel but present-day Britain. The country descended into a dangerous heat wave Monday, with forecasts of 105 degrees that would make it hotter than 98% of the planet's surface. Meanwhile, wildfires continued to rage across continental Europe, with authorities battling to control blazes across France, Greece, Italy and elsewhere. In Spain and Portugal, more than 1,000 deaths have been attributed to their brutal, weeklong heat wave. The Met Office, Britain's national weather service, issued ...

DAKAR — Ghana has officially confirmed two cases of the Marburg virus, a highly infectious disease similar to Ebola, its health service said on Sunday, after two people who later died tested positive for the virus earlier this month. Tests conducted in Ghana came back positive on July 10, but the results had to be verified by a laboratory in Senegal for the cases to be considered confirmed, according to the World Health Organization. “Further testing at the Institute Pasteur in Dakar, Senegal has corroborated the results,” Ghana Health Service (GHS) said in a statement. GHS is working to reduce any risk of the virus spreading, including the isolation of all identified contacts, none of whom have developed any symptoms so far, it said.This is only the second outbreak of Marburg in West A...