Month: May 2023

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has officially declared his candidacy for the Republican nomination for president, announcing the news with a campaign video during a glitch-riddled event on Twitter with the owner of the social media site, Elon Musk. DeSantis filed paperwork on Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission, before his planned event with Musk.

DeSantis said: “I am running for president of the United States to lead our great American comeback … But we know our country’s going in the wrong direction. We see it with our own eyes. And we feel it in our bones.” In his campaign video, DeSantis said he was running to “lead our great American comeback … We proved it can be done. We chose facts over fear, education over indoctrination, law and order over rioting and disorder.”  DeSantis painted a dark picture of a country he said is going in the wrong direction under Biden and urged Republicans to get behind him: “My pledge to you is this: If you nominate me you can set your clock to January 20, 2025, at high noon because on the west side of the US Capitol, I will be taking the oath of office as the 47th president of the United States. No excuses, I will get the job done.”

DeSantis’ decision to announce his campaign in a Twitter conversation with Musk ultimately backfired; the audio stream crashed repeatedly, making it virtually impossible for most users to hear the new presidential candidate in real time. Musk said the event’s technical glitches were due to “straining” servers because so many people were trying to listen to the audio-only event; more than 20 minutes passed beyond the scheduled start time with users getting kicked off, hearing microphone feedback and hold music and dealing with other technical problems.

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One student is dead and another is in custody after a shooting early Wednesday outside a school in Pittsburgh. The ages of the students involved in the incident outside the Oliver Citywide Academy were not immediately clear; however according to the city school district’s website, Oliver Citywide Academy is a full-time special education center serving grades 3-12.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said the shooting happened around 7:25 a.m. on the steps outside the school. It wasn’t immediately clear what spurred the shooting, and no other injuries were reported. The names of the students have not been released, but police said both were under the age of 18. Authorities said the wounded student was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead a short time later.

Pittsburgh Major Crimes Cmdr. Richard Ford said during a news conference at the school that “We believe, based on the information that we have and the video we’ve been able to see, that we have the actor in custody and there’s no potential threat to the other schools,”  adding that the victim was killed as he was walking into the school. Maria Montano, a city spokeswoman, said most students were still on their way to the school when the shooting happened, and buses were rerouted to another school building. Students who were already in the school were kept in the building. Classes there were canceled for the day following the shooting.

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Singer Tina Turner has died at age 83. Turner died peacefully after a long illness in her home in Küsnacht near Zurich, Switzerland (Turner became a Swiss citizen a decade ago). Turner’s manager said in a statement posted to social media: “It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Tina Turner. With her music and her boundless passion for life, she enchanted millions of fans around the world and inspired the stars of tomorrow. Today we say goodbye to a dear friend who leaves us all her greatest work: her music. All our heartfelt compassion goes out to her family. Tina, we will miss you dearly.” 

Born Anna Mae Bullock, Tina got her start after moving to St. Louis when she was 16. She became involved in the music scene and met her future husband, Ike Turner. Tina and Ike were married in 1962, and he changed her name to Tina Turner; she became the lead vocalist for what became known as the Ike & Tina Turner Revue. They went on to become a huge success together, releasing hits like “Proud Mary” and “Get Back.”

Ike was physically abusive to his wife throughout their entire relationship, and controlled their finances and trademarked Tina’s name – so she had no access to her own income. Tina eventually filed for divorce in 1976 and went on to sign with Capitol Records, with whom she would release a number of popular songs, including her iconic 1984 album, Private Dancer. The single “What’s Love Got to Do with It” won the GRAMMY for Record of the Year in 1985.nTina released nine full-length studio albums, winning eight GRAMMYs, three GRAMMY Hall of Fame Awards and the GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice — the first time in 1991 with Ike, and the second time in 2021, weeks ahead of her 82nd birthday.

In 1986, Tina met German music executive Erwin Bach; rhe two married in a civil ceremony in July 2013, after dating for more than two decades. Tina is survived by her adopted sons Michael and Ike Jr. Her sons, Ronnie and Craig, died in December 2022 and July 2018, respectively.

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U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy said on Tuesday that social media use could lead to mental health issues among children and teens. Murthy called on policymakers to enact stricter guidelines, writing in the U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory: “There are ample indicators that social media can also have a profound risk of harm to the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents.” 

Murthy said the advisory is not meant to be exhaustive on the topic, rather it draws on available public evidence.  He tweeted: “Nothing’s more important to parents than keeping our kids safe. And when it comes to protecting kids’ wellbeing on social media, parents need more support.”

In the advisory, Murthy points to a 2019 longitudinal study that concluded adolescents spending more than than three hours per day on social media “faced double the risk of experiencing poor mental health outcomes including symptoms of depression and anxiety…Our children and adolescents don’t have the luxury of waiting years until we know the full extent of social media’s impact. To date, the burden of protecting youth has fallen predominantly on children, adolescents, and their families.”

A general advisory is a public statement that calls attention to an urgent public health issue and provides recommendations on addressing it. The Surgeon General’s document listed several suggestions for parents, lawmakers and tech companies, which included creating so-called “tech free” zones and establishing scientific advisory committees to help craft policy.

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The National Park Service announced on Tuesday the identity of the man who crashed a rented box truck into the security barricade outside of Lafayette Park near the White House on Monday. The crash occurred shortly before 10 p.m. on the north side of Lafayette Square at 16th Street.

The U.S. Park Police said they took 19-year-old Sai Varshith Kandula, of Chesterfield, Missouri into custody and charged him with assault with a dangerous weapon, reckless operation of a motor vehicle, threatening to kill/kidnap/inflict harm on a president, vice president, or family member, destruction of federal property, and trespassing. No weapons were found inside the truck, a Park Police spokesperson said.

The U.S. Secret Service said Kandula was driving a box truck that crashed into the security barricades near the White House. Anthony Guglielmi, a Secret Service spokesman, said in a statement on Twitter that a preliminary investigation indicates the driver may have intentionally struck the barriers to the iconic square, adding: “there were no injuries to any Secret Service or White House personnel.” Unnamed law enforcement sources report that Kandula told investigators he wanted to take over the government and kill the president; authorities were looking into the suspect’s mental health.

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