California flu test rate at 9.65%, higher than normal 1% rate for early October, amid mutation of H1N1 influenza A strain

Flu cases on the west coast are on the rise months earlier than normal, prompting US health experts to stress the importance of the annual vaccine.

Flu activity typically ramps up in December, hitting its peak in February. But this season has kicked into action earlier this year, with higher positive cases than normal recorded.

Democratic lawmaker says family’s safety is at risk amid death threats and raid making apartment’s address public

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Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar said she plans to move out of her Washington DC apartment after federal agents raided her residence last week as part of a larger immigration investigation.

“I mean obviously, I can’t continue to live there,” Omar told MS Now in an interview that aired on Wednesday. “So we have to figure out where to move to, because our address has been public and with the death threats that I deal with, it’s no longer going to be feasible to be in that house and have my kids, like, visiting off and on, having people track them.”

President was reportedly heckled at least nine times during campaign event for Darline Graham

Multiple protesters were removed from Donald Trump’s rally at South Carolina’s Clemson University on Wednesday, including one who was apparently punched by a rally attender – to the US president’s delight.

“That was great, man. Wow. Man, I loved that. I watched that,” Trump said. “That was incredible. Wow. That was unbelievable. Is everybody OK?

SEIU Local 1000, representing nurses and teachers, pushing for higher wages, telework and affordable healthcare

Thousands of California state workers walked off the job Wednesday in a sweeping one-day strike as tensions boiled over lapsed contract negotiations with Governor Gavin Newsom’s administration.

SEIU Local 1000, a union that represents roughly 100,000 public employees, has been at an impasse with the state since its contract expired on 30 June.

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Reporting from Jerusalem

The Israeli military has detained about 80 US, Israeli and British volunteers helping Palestinians harvest olives near Bethlehem, including the New York Democratic congressional nominee Brad Lander, several rabbis and Israel’s former deputy attorney general.

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A new survey reveals a widening “empathy gap” between Republicans and white evangelicals and the rest of the American public.

On Tuesday, the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute released its annual American Values Survey. The survey found that white evangelical Protestants are the only religious group in which a majority does not agree that empathy is foundational moral value (42%). Instead, a majority (54%) say empathy can be dangerous when it leads people away from a society guided by God’s truth, PRRI said.

Move comes after Trump administration announced restrictions that could slash water supplies

Arizona has joined Nevada in its legal battle against the Trump administration’s proposed cuts to their shares of the shrinking Colorado River.

The move comes after the interior department announced restrictions this summer that could slash the water supplied to lower basin states – Arizona, California and Nevada – over the next two years depending on the river’s condition.

One teacher and three children killed after Griffin J John II, 16, barged into elementary school and began shooting

• Oregon elementary school shooting: what we know so far

The 16-year-old who barged into an elementary school in Bend, Oregon, and unleashed a barrage of gunfire that killed a teacher and three children was a former student at Silver Rail elementary, officials confirmed in a Friday press conference.

The heavily armed shooter, identified as Griffin J John II, climbed over a fence and onto the school’s property before shooting through a set of locked doors to enter the building.

Two people critical in hospital as officials in Bend say 16-year-old suspect shot dead by bystander

• Oregon elementary school shooting: what we know so far

Schools in Bend, Oregon, will be closed on Friday after a 16-year-old shooter opened fire at an elementary school in the city on Thursday, killing three children and a teacher before he was shot dead by a community member.

The children killed at Silver Rail elementary school were aged five, eight and 11, officials said.

Talarico casts himself as a moderate who would put Texans’ needs over party allegiances amid close contest against Republican Ken Paxton

James Talarico, the Texas Democratic nominee for Senate, sat face to face with skeptical Republicans and independents voters who grilled him on a slew of contentious issues including Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, abortion and foreign aid, during a CNN town hall co-hosted by the Jubilee Media digital platform on Wednesday.

One voter, a young Republican activist who volunteered at the party’s midterm convention in Dallas last month and recently appeared on Fox News as a supporter of Talarico’s opponent, questioned the authenticity of Talarico’s faith, referencing a past remark where he described God as nonbinary.

Alleged assault follows report of gang-rape at frat house at Cornell, which ignited national uproar and criticism online

A 21-year-old woman reported being sexually assaulted last weekend at a fraternity house near the University of Chicago, as Greek life nationwide faces renewed scrutiny for recurrent misconduct.

The incident allegedly took place on Sunday at about 1.50am at the off-campus Alpha Epsilon Pi residence, according to a university daily crime log.

Deceased were all members of the same family, officials say, and one of victims placed the initial emergency call

Five people were shot and killed in an apparent murder-suicide at a residence in Georgia on Friday, authorities say.

The deceased were family members who lived at the home in Douglas, a city in south Georgia.

Authorities say suspect among dead in house after standoff with police in Erie and there is no ongoing threat

A man fatally shot eight people, including a pregnant woman and children, at a Pennsylvania residence on Friday before killing himself, police say.

The victims have not been publicly identified, but seven relatives and a family friend died in the rampage.