Author: Press Room
Business at U.S. service companies picked up sharply in July, and executives grew more optimistic about the months ahead, surveys released Wednesday showed, a sign the economy entered the second half of the year on firmer footing than expected. The service sector—restaurants, banks, hospitals, truckers, software firms and the rest of the roughly two-thirds of the economy that doesn’t make physical products—grew at its fastest pace in nine months, according to S&P Global. Its index of services activity rose to 54.6 from 51.2 in June. Any reading above 50 signals growth. The figure came in stronger than the preliminary estimate…
Abdul El-Sayed has defeated establishment Democrat Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), according to race calls from NBC News and Decision Desk following Tuesday’s primary in which the radical transformation of the Democratic Party is center stage. El-Sayed, a public health official and former failed candidate for governor in 2018, delivered the most high-profile win to date for the movement increasingly calling the shots in Democrat politics. While he is not a formal member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), the ascendant power center of left-wing American politics, DSA officials including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) campaigned hard…
TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Two Florida Republican House members — Reps. Anna Paulina Luna and Mike Haridopolos — shook up the state’s 7th District GOP primary Wednesday by endorsing Ryan Elijah over the embattled and Trump-endorsed incumbent, Rep. Cory Mills. The move is the latest sign of the GOP turning up the heat on Mills, who has struggled to raise money amid an ongoing House ethics investigation. A judge issued a restraining order last year after Mills was accused by a former girlfriend of threatening to circulate sexually explicit videos of her. Mills has denied any wrongdoing. By supporting Elijah, a…
Attorney General James Uthmeier Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced that the 11th Circuit Court has affirmed the constitutionality of the state’s ban on children attending sexualized drag shows. The Protection of Children Act, Senate Bill 1438, enacted in 2023 and signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), makes it a misdemeanor to “knowingly admit a child” under 18 to an “adult live performance.” The law defines “adult live performances” as “any show, exhibition, or other presentation in front of a live audience which, in whole or in part, depicts or simulates nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement, or specific sexual activities…
During an interview aired on Tuesday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Fox News @ Night,” President Donald Trump said that the Strait of Hormuz is “partially opened anyway, and, as you know, we control the strait, totally, through the blockade, but if we have no friction, then oil will go down to, I think it’ll go down to $2.50 a gallon.” After criticizing California’s gas taxes, Trump said, “I think we’re going to have it coming down. The oil companies have to start going, they’re making too much money, and they’ve got to start lowering it. But we’re going…
Two advanced AI systems from OpenAI and Anthropic created fraudulent human profiles and attempted to deceive people in simulated cyberattacks during testing conducted by the UK’s AI Security Institute. BBC News reports that the UK’s AI Security Institute revealed on Tuesday that Anthropic’s Mythos AI and OpenAI’s Sol engaged in deceptive behavior during tests that began on July 25. Evaluators discovered unusual data transfers leaving their research systems on July 28 and found that some AI agents had engaged in sustained, potentially harmful activity directed at real people and organizations. In the most serious incident, a Mythos agent attempted to…
The Senate Finance Committee holds a hearing on fixing funding issues to Social Security to keep it solvent on Wednesday, August 5. The hearing, titled “Exploring Process Approaches for Addressing Social Security Solvency,” will explore possible solutions to funding issues for the social safety net. In June, a report warned that the program could be insolvent by 2032, risking cuts to senior citizens’ benefits. Read the full article here
Senate Majority Leader John Thune took an initial step Wednesday to allow votes on bipartisan college sports legislation, though it remains unclear how soon it could pass the chamber. Led by Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), the Protect College Sports Act would rewrite the national rules for how college athletes are paid and how conferences can expand. The bill got a boost recently when the Southeastern and Big Ten megaconferences dropped their opposition after the senators agreed to institute a “hard cap” on athlete payments for schools with revenue-sharing deals while preserving an athlete’s ability to secure…
Even in the heat of DSA Summer, Democratic centrists are feeling cool. Ahead of several primaries in Michigan, Missouri and Washington state that will help define the direction of the party, the Blue Dog Coalition is throwing its weight behind working-class champions — and in some cases, crossing over with the party’s progressive wing. “Most voters in America are working class, and most voters in America are not socialists,” said Phil Gardner, senior adviser at Blue Dog Action. “So we think there should be a part of the Democratic Party that is advocating for the working class without socialism.” The…
Billionaire David Sullivan has vigorously denied allegations made against him in the British media English football club West Ham Utd co-owner David Sullivan, dubbed ‘King of porn,’ should avoid visiting the team’s home matches, the London Stadium’s administration has said, citing new allegations of sexual exploitation.Sullivan, 77, earned his nickname making his fortune from porn in the era before the internet: selling magazines, films, erotic phone calls and other adult products. One of Britain’s richest men, he took over West Ham in 2010 together with a group of co-investors.In June, BBC Panorama and The Times released an investigation, in which…