Month: March 2022

Rain Prompts Evacuations in Orange County

LOS ANGELES—After a week of generally above-average temperatures, rain fell on much of the Southland on Monday, March 28, making for a wet morning drive and prompting concerns of possible flooding in Orange County hillsides. The flooding fears prompted Orange County to issue a mandatory evacuation order for the Silverado, Modjeska, and Williams canyon areas….


What Led to Antarctic Explorer Captain Scott’s Death

Captain Robert Falcon Scott lay cold, frostbitten and dehydrated in a tent in Antarctica. He was accompanied by two companions – Edward Wilson and “Birdie” Bowers. Knowing death was near, he lay in his frigid sleeping bag and scrawled final messages to his friends, loved ones, and supporters. “These rough notes and our dead bodies…


Beachbound in Dog-Friendly Delaware’s Off Season

Ella and I strolled the boardwalk, enjoying the wind-in-our-hair freedom of ocean breezes and the lack of crowds on a mild spring weekend at Rehoboth Beach in dog-friendly Delaware. Gulls called, waves lapped the shore and we could taste salt in the air. All was serene until my 90-pound, 1-year-old Newfoundland caught the aroma of…


Health Experts Support End to Masks, Tests for Air Travel

U.S. airline companies want an end to mask and COVID testing rules for air travel — and many top infectious disease and public health experts agree with them. The chief executives of the country’s largest airlines asked President Joe Biden in a letter this week to let federal mask mandates at airports and on planes lapse next month, along…


LIVE: Biden Announces His Budget for Fiscal Year 2023


It’s a Girl: Super Rare Sumatran Rhino Born in Captive-Breeding Center

Indonesia has reported the birth of a Sumatran rhinoceros in a captive-breeding program targeted to save the critically endangered species from extinction. The new calf is the first child of captive rhino Rosa at the Way Kambas Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary, and Andatu, a male who was himself born at the sanctuary in 2012. This new…


Mass Shooting Inquiry: RCMP Officers Doubted Reports About Replica Police Cruiser

The first three RCMP officers who responded to the 2020 Nova Scotia mass shooting testified Monday they were initially doubtful the killer was in a marked RCMP vehicle, even though a dispatcher relayed that information from two 911 calls. Const. Stuart Beselt, the team leader the night of April 18, 2020, told the inquiry that…


FDA: Common Stomach Medication Recalled Over Possible Contamination

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced the recall of a common medication used to treat heartburn and stomach problems due to possible contamination. The Kansas-based Plastikon Healthcare said it voluntarily recalled three lots of milk of magnesia oral suspension, one lot of acetaminophen, and six lots of magnesium hydroxide “due to microbial contamination and…


9 Flight Attendants File Lawsuit Against CDC Over Federal Transportation Mask Mandate

In the wake of a lawsuit recently filed by 10 airline pilots, nine flight attendants have filed suit against the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and its parent agency, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) over the ongoing federal transportation mask mandate. The 61-page complaint (pdf), filed March 24 in the U.S. District…


IRS Gave Stimulus Money to Dead People, Even After Error Was Identified: Audit

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) erroneously paid some $64 million to deceased individuals, even after a computer error was identified, according to a watchdog report. The American Rescue Plan Act, signed by President Joe Biden on March 11, 2021, created a fund for stimulus payments of up to $1,400 to many Americans. The IRS sent some 44,900 such…