Anyone in the southwestern U.S. will know it has been scorching lately, with record-breaking temperatures across California and Nevada in recent weeks. Heat warnings have been in force in the Bear Flag State, with the National Weather Service recording a whopping 130F in Furnace Creek, Death Valley, on Saturday. Unsurprisingly, Californians have been struggling to sleep in the extreme heat. Although most apartments are fitted with air-conditioning units, one man, named Tengo on TikTok, had only one—in the kitchen....

Jenkins has served as Newsom’s Judicial Appointment Secretary since January 2019. He briefly played professional football for the Seattle Seahawks before turning to a law career. Jenkins was appointed to the California First District Court of Appeal in 2008 by then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, remaining in that position before his 2019 retirement. Newsom revealed Jenkins’s nomination during a Monday news briefing. “As a lawyer and a judge, he’s built an irreproachable reputation as a person of fortitude and fairness,” Newsom said, adding that Jenkins understood that “despite what the Declaration says, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are not simply unalienable....

The video, posted on Twitter on Tuesday, shows an officer with the Rancho Cordova Police Department on top of the boy, pinning him down, and punching him repeatedly in the chest while someone in the background can be heard saying “stop.” A Twitter user, who identified herself as the boy’s sister, wrote alongside the 15-second clip: “My baby brother who is 14 years old. All of this over a swisher there’s more footage but I wasn’t able to upload it all....

You can forgive Weiser for worrying. Higher prices, power shortages and fears of utility bankruptcies in California have made deregulating power companies sound like a recipe for economic ruin. With two dozen states in the throes of lifting controls on their power systems, government officials and utility executives are facing anxious questions from consumers worried about their power supply. But many experts say that the problem is with how California went about deregulating, not the concept itself, which was spurred by demand for lower energy costs and greater competition among utilities....

The venomous snakes are common in the state and are found across all sorts of terrain, from the desert to the coast. The snake season in California usually begins in the second half of April and the beginning of May, as the weather warms up. However, Californians have noticed rattlesnakes emerging as early as mid-March this year, NBC News reported. In 2021, California had one of its hottest summers on record....

In 2020, Governor Gavin Newsom formed a nine-member Reparations Task Force to travel across the state and develop reparation proposals and recommend appropriate remedies to its findings. Among those members is Jovan Scott Lewis, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, appointed by the governor. Last week, The New York Times reported that the team would release a final report to state lawmakers next fall. Legislators would then decide how to act and determine the funds for reparations, which is estimated to exceed the $223,000 per person figure....

The National Weather Service (NWS) said that parts of California could see temperatures approaching records as a heat wave that began on Friday looks set to persist until at least mid-way through next week. In the Los Angeles area, for example, an Excessive Heat Warning is in effect until 9 p.m. Wednesday. This warning means that a period of very hot temperatures, even by local standards, will occur. The NWS said “dangerously hot conditions” with high temperatures between 102 and 110 degrees Fahrenheit are expected in the Santa Clarita Valley, San Fernandino Valley and San Gabriel Valley, although Antelope Valley could see the mercury rise to as high as 112 degrees....

Platform barrier doors have been commonly used in some subway systems worldwide including Japan and the U.K. to prevent people from falling onto the tracks, but the city’s Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) argued that it is not a feasible solution. “Platform doors are an idea that works in many places, but there are some special complexities in New York because of the age of our system, because of the location of structure, because it does interfere with ADA accessibility,” said MTA Acting Chair Janno Lieber during a press conference last week....

The best wide receiver in the NFL had been out of action since Oct. 5 with an ankle injury and had not scored a touchdown since Week 1 against the Giants. MORE: Week 10 scoreboard | Jets fan recreates ‘Cat-calling’ video | Fan hate index But that all changed Sunday against the Dolphins, when Megatron did what he does best, going up and grabbing a huge pass in heavy traffic for a touchdown....

“Greg is a great teammate, contrary to popular belief,” quarterback Cam Newton said on a conference call Tuesday. “He is a person that came in and worked hard, gave everybody everything that he had and a person that you love to watch on Sundays. Any time you’ve got a person like that, it’s always great to watch. I’m wishing him the best.” MORE: Worst crimes connected to athletes | Let’s root for Greg Hardy to fail...

Newton came into Thursday night’s game against the Buccaneers looking to improve upon his losing passing performance in Week 1 against the Rams. He was able to throw the deep ball with more success, but his passing efficiency got worse (25 of 51, 333 yards, 70.1 rating) in another touchdown-less effort. The Panthers had to settle for four field goals and a safety and Newton couldn’t finish a last-gasp drive; all of that added up to another frustrating one-possession loss, 20-14....

On the other side of the aisle, Republican presidential candidates are a little more conflicted in airing their views. Their subdued comments may signal the difficulties the candidates are having in navigating their relationship with a beleaguered Bush administration in the run-up to primary season. Run toward Bush, and they risk appearing out of step with public opinion polls that show the country growing weary of its lame-duck president. Run away from him, and they risk alienating the GOP base....

What started as a protest on Sunday against, among other things, a lack of COVID vaccines and rising prices, has become far more dangerous to the ruling Communist Party of Cuba. Protestors have marched to its headquarters and are flying the American flag, signs that the demonstrations in more than 40 cities and towns could lead to fundamental political change on the island. Could Cuba’s worst economic crisis in 30 years become its first revolution in 62?...

After the match, the Eagles were hit by the news that Wilfried Zaha sustained a knee injury in the draw at Selhurst Park, which is set to keep him sidelined for at least a month. Roy Hodgson will be cursing his luck at the moment, with his team having also enjoyed the better of the contest against the Magpies, but failing to take all three points due to profligacy....

The Department of Homeland Security announced its proposed joint rule with the Department of Justice in a statement Monday, claiming that it would “enhance the integrity of the asylum process.” Under the new regulations, which are expected to be published in the Federal Register on Tuesday, the U.S. can deny asylum to anyone who has failed to apply for protections in another country that they have passed through on their way to the American border....

Manufacturers use wheat gluten along with protein from corn in pet foods because those foods need to contain protein to be nutritionally complete, and wheat and corn are much less expensive than animal-based proteins from beef, poultry, or fish. Barley, on the other hand, is added to pet food to provide fiber, plus calories from carbohydrates. Some people choose pet foods without gluten grains (or even without any grains at all) because they believe those gluten-free or grain-free foods are best for their pets....

To fight what security officials consider dangerous elements, the government has cracked down on groups believed to support terrorist activities. Anjem Choudary, 39, has been associated with two such organizations that have been outlawed. A lawyer from Ilford, East London, and a longtime Muslim activist, he was a leader of Al Muhajiroun, a U.K.-based group committed to the creation of a global Islamic state. Al Muhajiroun was dissolved in 2004 and its founder, Omar Bakri Mohammed, deemed “not conducive to the public good” by the British government shortly after he fled to Lebanon in the wake of the July 7, 2005, London bombings....

It’s hard to know what’s more surprising: that Biden didn’t anticipate the attack, or that he couldn’t defend his busing position, which historically has had wide support throughout the country, including among rank-and-file Democrats. Biden has issued yet another apology, but you get so many of those over the course of the campaign and the former Vice President has used up his mulligans. If he is going to survive and become the Democratic nominee, he’ll have to stop apologizing and defend his policy positions, even those that conflict with the views of his party’s noisy activist wing....

How times change. Lula, who’s lost three previous bids for the presidency, was for many years a bearded, unionist growler and scourge of the Brazilian bourgeoisie. Mario Amato, former head of the powerful So Paulo Federation of Industry, once declared that if the man were elected president, “the country’s 800,000 businessmen [would] leave the country.” But this time Lula has been courting–and winning–the business vote, largely because nearly everyone in Brazil now seems unhappy with the status quo....