Hayden Panettiere, the former child actor who became a household name as an indestructible cheerleader on “Heroes” before starring as a troubled country singer on “Nashville,” has died. She was 36.

Panettiere’s representative confirmed her death to ABC News on Sunday. A cause and other details surrounding her death were not immediately disclosed.

Born Aug. 21, 1989, in Palisades, New York, Panettiere began appearing in commercials before her first birthday. She went on to roles in “One Life to Live,” “Guiding Light,” “A Bug’s Life,” “Remember the Titans” and “Ice Princess.”

Her breakout role came in 2006 as Claire Bennet, a high school cheerleader with regenerative powers, on NBC’s “Heroes.” The character inspired the show’s signature slogan: “Save the cheerleader, save the world.”

Panettiere later starred opposite Connie Britton as ambitious country singer Juliette Barnes on the ABC and CMT drama “Nashville.” The six-season role showcased her acting and singing abilities and earned her two Golden Globe nominations.

Her other credits included “Bring It On: All or Nothing” and the “Scream” franchise. Her return as Kirby Reed in 2023’s “Scream VI” marked her first major screen role after a long acting hiatus.

Panettiere spoke candidly about her experiences with addiction, an abusive relationship and postpartum depression following the birth of her daughter, Kaya, in 2014. Her younger brother, actor Jansen Panettiere, died unexpectedly at 28 in 2023.

In May, she released “This Is Me: A Reckoning,” a memoir about child stardom, motherhood, addiction and recovery. She also publicly came out as bisexual while promoting the book. She was also battling back from a severe lower back injury that left her almost paralyzed last year.

Panettiere is survived by her 11-year-old daughter and her parents, Lesley Vogel and Skip Panettiere. She died just five days before her 37th birthday.

The post “Heroes,” “Scream” and “Nashville” actor Hayden Panettiere dies at 36 appeared first on Salon.com.

Nicholas Brendon, the actor best known for playing Xander Harris on the late-90s cult classic tv show “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” has died at age 54. His family announced he passed peacefully in his sleep on March 20, 2026. In recent years, Brendon was plagued with medical health issues. By 2023, he had a heart attack and was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect and cauda equina syndrome, the latter led to several spinal surgeries.

We are heartbroken to share the passing of our brother and son, Nicholas Brendon. He passed in his sleep of natural causes. pic.twitter.com/DqVQfVL8Xk

— Nicholas Brendon (@NicholasBrendon) March 21, 2026

Brendon’s portrayal of Xander — the everyman of the Sunnydale crew, who navigated a world of vampires and slayers armed only with wit, loyalty, and heart — earned him a devoted following and a lasting place in television history.

Costars quickly paid tribute on social media. Sarah Michelle Gellar, who played Buffy, wrote a heartfelt post invoking one of Xander’s comforting lines, a nod to the actor’s warmth both on and off screen. Alyson Hannigan, who portrayed Willow, shared: “My Sweet Nicky, thank you for years of laughter, love and Dodgers … I love you.” David Boreanaz, Buffy’s vampire love interest Angel, praised Brendon’s authenticity and spirit, emphasizing the depth of their personal friendship beyond the show.

Just last year, the “Buffy” cast and fans said goodbye to Michelle Tractenberg, Buffy’s younger sister “Dawn” to many fans.

Fans also expressed grief online, remembering Xander as the heart of the group, a character whose vulnerability and humor made him relatable in a world of supernatural extremes. Many reflected on Brendon’s candidness about his personal struggles, celebrating his humanity alongside his talent.

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Though Brendon faced challenges in his life and career, his work on Buffy remains a testament to his ability to connect with audiences through humor, loyalty, and emotional honesty. Xander Harris may have been the “normal” one in a cast of extraordinary characters, but Brendon’s performance ensured he was unforgettable — both to fans and to the colleagues who mourn his passing.

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The top U.S. military commander in the Middle East visited the USS Abraham Lincoln on Saturday as the aircraft carrier’s exhausted crew nears the end of a nearly nine-month deployment marked by reports of deteriorating living conditions and mental health concerns.

Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Central Command, spent several hours aboard the Lincoln meeting with sailors and Marines during a 10-day tour of the region. It was the only ship Cooper visited during the trip.

The visit comes as scrutiny grows over conditions aboard the carrier, which left San Diego in November and has now been deployed for more than 260 days. The Lincoln has gone more than 200 days without a port call while supporting U.S. operations in the war with Iran.

Families have reported food shortages, problems with drinking water, broken showers and laundry facilities and growing psychological strain among the roughly 5,000 sailors and Marines aboard. Reports of sailors attempting to go overboard have further raised concerns about the crew’s mental health. The Navy has acknowledged mental health cases but disputed reports that the ship is experiencing a broader crisis.

The administration has largely dismissed the criticism.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said reports about conditions aboard the Lincoln have been misrepresented. President Donald Trump went further Friday, telling reporters that the carrier’s record-setting stretch at sea was “not nearly long enough.”

Families of deployed sailors have pushed back, accusing Trump and Hegseth of dismissing what their loved ones have experienced aboard the ship.

Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., a Marine Corps veteran, blamed the administration Sunday for what he called a “true lack of leadership.”

Retired Adm. Mike Mullen, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told ABC’s “This Week” that morale aboard the Lincoln has improved since sailors learned they will finally be coming home.

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Relief, however, comes with a strategic cost.

The USS George Washington, the Navy’s only forward-deployed aircraft carrier, is being pulled from the western Pacific and sent toward the Middle East to replace the Lincoln. The move will temporarily leave the western Pacific without a U.S. aircraft carrier even as China increases military activity in the region.

The Lincoln’s return date has not yet been announced.

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Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., offered a blunt assessment Sunday of President Donald Trump‘s new childhood vaccine policy: It could mean more shots, more doctor’s visits, higher costs and more sick children.

“If it wasn’t so potentially tragic, you would break out laughing at a comment like that,” Cassidy, a physician and chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union.”

Cassidy was responding to Trump’s assertion that “nothing bad can happen” from his administration’s plan to overhaul the childhood vaccination schedule.

Cassidy also warned that requiring families to return repeatedly increases the chance children will miss doses, leaving them — and others — vulnerable to preventable illnesses.

“If you’re pro-life, you should be pro-vaccine,” Cassidy said.

The Louisiana Republican pointed to a recent case involving a pregnant woman who contracted a vaccine-preventable illness after exposure to an unvaccinated person and subsequently lost her pregnancy. Cassidy noted that immunity can decline during pregnancy, making community vaccination particularly important for protecting pregnant women.

“That is being pro-life,” he said.

In addition, Cassidy argued that the changes could turn two MMR shots into six individual injections — while requiring additional trips to the doctor’s office.

Trump has called for separating the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccine into individual shots and spacing out childhood vaccinations across additional medical visits, despite opposition from major medical organizations.

“Instead of mom or dad missing work twice,” Cassidy said, parents could have to “miss work or take vacation or personal leave six times.” More office visits would also increase costs for insurers and potentially premiums, he argued.

“This is working backwards on affordability,” Cassidy said.

The physician also warned that requiring families to return repeatedly increases the chance children will miss doses, leaving them vulnerable to preventable illnesses.

Trump has called the combined MMR vaccine potentially “lethal” and compared administering multiple vaccines to a “nuclear weapon.” Tapper reminded Cassidy that the senator previously called for someone to challenge “crazy stupid things” that undermine confidence in immunization and asked whether Trump’s statements qualified.

“Yeah, that’s a crazy stupid thing,” Cassidy replied.

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Cassidy’s criticism carries additional political weight because he provided a crucial Republican vote to confirm Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime vaccine skeptic. Cassidy initially expressed concerns before supporting Kennedy after receiving assurances about vaccine policy, which he has since accused Kennedy of breaking.

Tapper pressed Cassidy on whether Kennedy’s history should have been warning enough.

Cassidy declined to revisit his vote, instead arguing that Trump’s policy will “decrease immunization rates” while being “less convenient and costing families more.”

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President Donald Trump has apparently found a new adviser for his embattled White House ballroom: George Washington.

Trump spent part of his weekend sharing a series of seemingly AI-generated images depicting himself alongside the nation’s first president, including one showing the pair writing with quill pens, another riding horses together and a short video in which Trump and Washington stroll through the still-unbuilt ballroom.

“Thank you, George, for some of your brilliant ideas on this great Military Complex/Ballroom!” Trump captioned the 10-second video.

Washington’s newfound role as Trump’s 18th-century architectural consultant comes as the president fights to continue construction on the $400 million White House project. The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Friday to intervene after a federal appeals court ruled that aboveground construction could not proceed without congressional approval.

The imaginary collaboration also contains a historical wrinkle: Washington never actually lived in the White House.

Washington selected the site for the President’s House and oversaw aspects of its planning and construction, but left office in 1797 and died in 1799. John Adams became the first president to live in the still-unfinished building when he moved in the following year.

Trump’s Washington posts arrive amid an increasingly public effort to shape his own presidential legacy. His administration is simultaneously fighting over the ballroom and efforts to place his name on the Kennedy Center, while Trump has repeatedly shared heroic and AI-generated depictions of himself online.

On Saturday, he added another image to the collection: a photograph of himself wearing a “Trump 2028” hat accompanied by the declaration, “WE ARE GOING TO WIN.”

The 22nd Amendment prohibits anyone from being elected president more than twice, something Trump acknowledged earlier this month when he conceded that the law on presidential term limits is “very strong.”

Washington, meanwhile, famously made relinquishing power part of his own legacy.

After commanding the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, Washington voluntarily surrendered his military commission to Congress rather than retaining control of the army. He later declined to seek a third presidential term, establishing the two-term tradition eventually written into the Constitution.

Washington’s legacy has hardly escaped historical scrutiny. He enslaved more than 100 people at Mount Vernon, and historians continue to grapple with the contradiction between the nation’s founding ideals and the human bondage practiced by its first president, among his strong mythology.

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But Trump’s latest posts appear less interested in interrogating Washington than in imagining him as a collaborator — writing, riding and offering design tips to his 21st-century successor.

Whether Washington would have approved of Trump’s ballroom is impossible to know. In Trump’s AI-generated version of history, however, George has apparently already signed off.

The post Trump’s new ballroom adviser has been dead for 227 years appeared first on Salon.com.

Students returning to a Kentucky middle school this year learned something surprising on their first day of class: They don’t live in Kentucky.

Apparently, they live in “Venecky.”

The bizarre geography lesson appeared in student agendas distributed at Farnsley Middle School, part of Jefferson County Public Schools in Louisville. A U.S. map in the planner transformed Kentucky into “Venecky,” Louisiana into “Lookoong,” Alabama into “Alotome,” Illinois into “Vitoiis” and South Carolina into “Sorth Cuanto.”

The mistakes didn’t stop at state lines. The agendas also contained a distorted periodic table, unreadable phases of the moon and other garbled educational material that parents suspect may have been created using artificial intelligence.

JCPS has not confirmed whether AI was used or identified who produced the agendas.

It took a student just one day to notice.

“Mom, did you know that we live in Venecky?” Stacey Morris recalled her son joking after school, according to Louisville’s WDRB.

Morris contacted the school about the errors. Administrators later warned teachers there were a “LOT of mistakes” on pages 19 through 36 and instructed students to tear the pages out of their planners before taking them home.

For parents, however, the problem goes beyond bad geography. Families pay a $10 annual instructional fee for the agendas.

“Someone did not look at what they were handing out to the students,” Morris told WDRB.

The mishap also comes at an awkward moment for Kentucky’s largest school district.

A nearly 500-page special examination released by Kentucky State Auditor Allison Ball in June raised broader concerns about JCPS’s management and finances. The audit found the district lacked a cohesive strategic plan, had begun spending more than it brought in despite receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in federal COVID relief and suffered from a workplace culture in which employees reported fear of retaliation.

The report also identified gaps in financial and budgeting knowledge among district leaders and school board members.

New Superintendent Brian Yearwood, who took over JCPS last year, has said the district is taking the findings seriously and called the audit an opportunity to strengthen the system.

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Against problems of that scale, a $10 student planner is a tiny expense. But for families already questioning how their school district is managed, an educational resource riddled with errors obvious enough for a middle schooler to catch on his first day has become another highly visible example of failed oversight.

Whether artificial intelligence created the mangled pages remains unanswered.

The students, at least, appear to have learned one useful lesson from them: Always check the source — even when the adults hand it to you.

The post Welcome to Venecky? appeared first on Salon.com.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has enough on his plate managing American foreign policy. Apparently, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.‘s sauerkraut won’t be joining it.

Rubio and his wife, Jeanette, offered a surprisingly candid glimpse into life inside the Trump administration during an appearance on “The Katie Miller Podcast,” covering everything from Cabinet members’ diets and pets to Pop-Tarts, UFOs and Rubio’s disastrous attempt at going keto.

Katie Miller is the wife of Deputy Chief of Staff and long-time Trump senior adviser Stephen Miller. Her podcast has become a behind-the-scenes look into Trump’s Cabinet members.

Asked whether he had embraced Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again movement, Rubio said he supported it.

His wife immediately disagreed.

“He’s completely not,” Jeanette Rubio said, revealing her husband’s fondness for Pop-Tarts.

“The Pop-Tart is one of the great American innovations in history,” Rubio responded.

Rubio also singled out Kennedy’s commitment to a meat-and-sauerkraut-heavy diet, saying the health secretary travels with his own food.

“I’m not gonna travel the world with a cooler full of sauerkraut,” Rubio said.

Rubio has tried changing his eating habits. It apparently didn’t go well. He described attempting the keto diet as a “near-psychotic event” brought on by sugar withdrawal, joking that giving someone in his position that much irritability could have geopolitical consequences.

“You could end up bombing Paraguay,” Rubio joked.

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Then there is Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth‘s cat.

The Hegseths and Rubios are neighbors, Rubio revealed, and Hegseth’s cat routinely visits the secretary of state’s porch. Rubio, who prefers dogs, described the animal as “arrogant.”

The cross-Cabinet pet diplomacy apparently goes both ways: The Rubios’ goldendoodle has wandered into the Hegseth home.

Rubio’s unusually loose interview ranged well beyond his colleagues. He professed a fondness for Tupac Shakur and electronic dance music, discussed UFO sightings around U.S. military installations and admitted his ideal fall Saturday involves spending hours watching college football.

He also recalled spending roughly 90 minutes aboard Air Force One worried that another passenger sleeping on a couch might actually be dead. Rather than wake the person, Rubio said he kept watching for signs of breathing until the passenger finally stirred.

The interview offered an unusually personal look at an official better known for managing an increasingly complicated portfolio of international crises and national security issues.

It also established at least one clear boundary in American diplomacy: Rubio may travel the world on behalf of the president, but he won’t be doing it with a cooler full of fermented cabbage.

The post Marco Rubio won’t give up his Pop-Tarts for MAHA appeared first on Salon.com.

President Donald Trump lashed out Friday night at the preservation group challenging his White House ballroom project, calling its members “TREASONISTS” just hours after his administration asked the Supreme Court to let construction continue.

“These are the TREASONISTS that brought the suit against the Military Complex,” Trump wrote in a lengthy Truth Social post targeting the National Trust for Historic Preservation. “They revealed Top Military Secrets!”

The administration filed an emergency application with the Supreme Court on Friday after a divided federal appeals court ruled that Trump lacked congressional authorization to continue aboveground construction on the $400 million, 90,000-square-foot project. The appeals court temporarily paused its ruling, giving the administration time to seek relief from the high court. Chief Justice John Roberts has asked the National Trust to respond by Tuesday.

The administration has increasingly characterized the ballroom not simply as an event space but as part of an integrated national security complex. Solicitor General D. John Sauer told the court the project is already 65% complete and argued that stopping construction would interfere with security improvements at the White House.

Trump reinforced that argument Friday night by posting — and then reposting — statements from senior officials defending the project.

Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine called it a “valid military requirement” necessary to protect the president and provide command-and-control capabilities. Trump also shared a statement attributed to Secretary of State Marco Rubio arguing that the project is necessary both for security and diplomacy, noting that the United States currently hosts major foreign dignitaries in temporary tents with “unsafe and unsanitary portable bathrooms.”

Trump’s fury comes amid another battle over his efforts to remake Washington’s landmarks.

On Thursday, the Trump-controlled Kennedy Center board again voted to put Trump’s name on the performing arts complex and approved plans to close most of the center for two years of renovations. A federal judge previously ruled that the board could not rename the Kennedy Center without congressional approval and blocked an earlier closure plan. The latest proposal would instead add “Restored and Renovated By President Donald J. Trump” to the facade and name the surrounding grounds “President Donald J. Trump Plaza.”

The new Kennedy Center plans must still be presented to the judge who blocked the earlier proposal.

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Back at the White House, Trump insisted Friday that those standing in the way of his ballroom were abusing the legal system.

“It is this kind of gross and flagrant abuse of our Courts that is exactly why Americans are losing faith in our System of Justice,” Trump wrote.

The Supreme Court will now decide whether Trump can keep building while the larger fight over his authority to remake the White House continues.

The post Trump can’t take no for an answer on his ballroom appeared first on Salon.com.

A fashion label called Fecal Matter is having a moment.

Matières Fécales — literally French for “fecal matter” — has gone from an intentionally provocative outsider project to dressing some of the world’s biggest celebrities, including Zendaya, Lady Gaga, Demi Moore and Kylie Jenner.

And yes, the name is intentional.

Canadian designers Hannah Rose Dalton and Steven Raj Bhaskaran founded the label after meeting as fashion students in Montreal. Frustrated with an industry they viewed as wasteful, exclusionary and obsessed with consumption, the pair wanted a name that reflected their criticism of it.

They landed on Matières Fécales — not the more familiar French “merde,” or “caca,” but the considerably more clinical term for fecal matter.

The designers initially became known for an intentionally unsettling aesthetic that included shaved eyebrows, extreme makeup, alien-like silhouettes and their infamous “skin heels,” footwear designed to appear as though a human foot had been stretched into a high heel.

Now, Fecal Matter has gone decidedly mainstream.

Zendaya recently wore an enormous white winged creation from the label to the premiere of “The Odyssey,” styled by longtime collaborator Law Roach. Lady Gaga wore the designers to the Grammys, while Demi Moore appeared in Matières Fécales at Cannes.

Kylie Jenner has even worn the brand in a Dunkin’ campaign.

The label’s growing popularity presents a certain irony for a project founded partly as a critique of fashion’s excesses: Matières Fécales is now luxury fashion itself.

Pieces from the label can sell for hundreds or even more than $1,000 through luxury retailers, while the designers have moved from selling early creations online to appearing on some of fashion’s most prominent stages.

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And perhaps that’s also the point.

Fashion has a long history of turning provocation, rebellion and even criticism of the industry itself into something desirable — and expensive. Matières Fécales set out to confront a fashion industry they believed was full of excess and waste.

So, the fashion industry responded by making Fecal Matter chic.

The post “Fecal Matter” mocked luxury fashion. Then luxury fashion bought it appeared first on Salon.com.

President Donald Trump knows grass.

In fact, he would like Americans to know that he knows quite a lot about it.

“I’m very good at grass because I have a lot of golf courses all over the world,” Trump said Wednesday during an appearance at the White House, once again returning to one of his more persistent areas of self-proclaimed expertise.

Trump was discussing changes he has made to the White House grounds, including replacing portions of the Rose Garden lawn with a stone patio, when the conversation turned to turf.

“I know grass,” Trump said. “I know grass better than most people.”

It wasn’t the first time.

During a visit with U.S. Park Police officers in Washington last August, Trump offered an even more expansive assessment of his landscaping credentials.

“I know more about grass than any human being,” Trump said, explaining that his experience operating golf courses had given him extensive knowledge of different varieties of turf.

The president then turned his attention to Washington’s federal parks, complaining about patches of dead grass and offering advice about how they should be maintained.

Grass has become a recurring feature of Trump’s effort to remake parts of Washington and the White House grounds according to his preferred aesthetic.

Since returning to office, Trump has taken a hands-on interest in landscaping around the White House, including the controversial decision to pave over the Rose Garden lawn. He has also criticized the condition of parks around Washington and pushed federal officials to improve their appearance.

Trump’s interest isn’t limited to grass.

The president has weighed in on paving stones, marble, flagpoles and other aesthetic details around the White House as he reshapes the presidential grounds. He is also pursuing construction of a massive 90,000-square-foot ballroom complex despite a federal appeals court ruling blocking most aboveground work without congressional approval.

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But when it comes to landscaping, Trump maintains that his experience gives him particular authority.

Golf courses, after all, require quite a bit of grass.

“I’ve had tremendous experience,” Trump said of the subject last year.

For anyone keeping score, that leaves Trump’s publicly stated resume including businessman, president, golf-course owner — and, apparently, one of the world’s foremost grass experts.

The post “I’m very good at grass”: Trump assures the U.S. amid his renovation projects appeared first on Salon.com.

President Donald Trump is pushing back against a federal appeals court ruling blocking construction of his White House ballroom, arguing that presidents aren’t “tenants” and that the massive project is actually a “Military Complex” complete with a rooftop “DronePort.”

A divided federal appeals court ruled Friday that Trump cannot continue aboveground construction of the $400 million, 90,000-square-foot project without congressional approval.

“Each President is a temporary tenant, not the owner, of the White House,” Judges Patricia Millett and Brad Garcia wrote in the 2-1 decision, noting that the building is maintained for current and future presidents — and ultimately belongs to the American people.

Trump took issue with the terminology.

“We are not tenants, who pay rent and do all other things that a tenant must do, we are PRESIDENTS,” Trump wrote Saturday on Truth Social, arguing presidents have the right to “fix, renovate, secure, protect, and beautify” the White House without congressional permission.

Trump called the ruling a “National Security Threat at the highest level” and vowed to take the case to the Supreme Court.

He also described the project as a “SECURE Ballroom/Military Complex, including a major DronePort on the roof.” The latter which was backed up by AI pictures posted to his account with drones and planes and military gear littering the rooftop.

The military components aren’t entirely new. Trump previously said the project would include underground bunkers, medical facilities and a rooftop drone base. But the appeals court noted that the existing injunction specifically allows construction of underground bunkers, bomb shelters and military and medical infrastructure to continue, along with aboveground work strictly necessary for security.

What remains blocked is construction of the ballroom itself.

And it is substantial. At 90,000 square feet, the proposed complex would be larger than an average Kohl’s department store, which the company says occupies roughly 80,000 square feet.

The judges also disputed Trump’s assertion that presidents have historically renovated the White House without needing congressional involvement. Congress authorized reconstruction after the British burned the White House during the War of 1812 and specifically appropriated money used to construct the original East and West Wings.

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The court said it knew of no previous president who privately funded the demolition of a substantial portion of the White House that Congress had authorized and taxpayers had funded.

“Until now,” the judges wrote.

The court paused its decision for 14 days to give the administration time to seek Supreme Court review.

Whether the justices ultimately let Trump finish his ballroom — or Ballroom/Military Complex/DronePort — is now likely up to them.

The post Trump to judges: “We are not tenants … we are PRESIDENTS” appeared first on Salon.com.

Cornell University has clarified that its dorm kitchens are for cooking food — not butchering bears.

The upstate New York university has now banned students from processing wild animals in shared residential kitchens after two students brought a legally hunted black bear into a dorm last fall and skinned it in a communal cooking space.

The incident occurred in September 2025, when students living in Ganędagǫ Hall reported seeing two classmates processing a black bear in the residence hall’s communal kitchen. Photos circulated among students and eventually reached Cornell University Police.

The students at the Ivy league university had legally hunted the bear off campus and brought it back to the dorm to process the meat, according to the Cornell Daily Sun. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation investigated but determined that no hunting laws had been violated, and no charges were filed.

The legality of the hunt, however, wasn’t the only issue.

Cornell temporarily closed the kitchen following the incident and had the space professionally cleaned before allowing students to use it again. Handling wild game can pose food-safety risks: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns that raw or undercooked wild game, including bear meat, can carry trichinella parasites, which cause trichinellosis.

Nearly a year later, Cornell has made its position considerably clearer.

Under updated housing rules, students are prohibited from “skinning, butchering, or otherwise processing wild game animals” inside residential buildings. However, the policy still allows students to store and cook legally obtained game meat.

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The bear incident became something of campus legend in the months afterward. The Cornell Daily Sun even published a satirical guide in April titled “How To Skin a Bear in Your Dorm’s Kitchen” and an sardonic commentary how people have “spotted the ghost of a bear” haunting campus.

There is one final bit of irony: Cornell’s longtime unofficial mascot is Touchdown the Big Red Bear, a tradition dating to 1915, when the football team once adopted a live black bear. Its current incarnation is a student in a big red bear costume performing at sporting games.

More than a century later, Cornell apparently still has bears turning up on campus — though university officials would now prefer students not butcher them in the dorm kitchen.

Cornell’s new dorm policy means students hoping to recreate the episode will now have to take their bear elsewhere. For everyone else sharing the kitchen, that’s probably one less thing to worry about when making dinner.

The post Cornell has a new dorm rule: Don’t butcher bears appeared first on Salon.com.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement says all of its field officers will soon wear body cameras, but a policy governing the devices gives the agency broad discretion over whether the public gets to see what they record.

ICE plans to equip officers nationwide with body-worn cameras by the end of September, following mounting scrutiny over fatal encounters involving federal immigration officers. But footage from shootings or incidents resulting in death or serious injury will be released promptly only when ICE determines doing so is in the agency’s “best interests,” according to the policy.

After a serious incident, a committee composed of senior ICE officials and attorneys will review the footage and recommend whether it should be released. Video could be made public within 72 hours, but the ICE director can delay or block its release if there are “specific and compelling circumstances.” The policy does not define what those circumstances are.

The rollout follows several fatal encounters involving immigration officers, including the deaths of two men shot by ICE agents in Texas and Maine last month. Neither shooting was captured on an officer’s body camera. Civilian video has also played a significant role in challenging official accounts of other controversial immigration enforcement encounters.

Experts say ICE’s control over which recordings become public could undermine the accountability the cameras are intended to provide.

“In some ways, ICE is saying the quiet part out loud,” Christopher Schneider, a sociology professor who studies police body cameras, told The Associated Press, describing selective release policies as a way for law enforcement agencies to shape their public image.

The Brennan Center for Justice has similarly warned that the effectiveness of body cameras depends heavily on the policies governing their use, including when cameras must be activated, whether footage is publicly accessible and what happens when officers fail to follow the rules. Research into body cameras has produced mixed results on whether they reduce use of force, though some studies have found reductions in complaints against officers.

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ICE spent $30.9 million on body-camera equipment in July, according to federal records cited by AP. Congress had previously allocated another $20 million for the cameras.

Tom Homan, President Donald Trump’s border czar, has defended the expansion, saying body cameras frequently exonerate law enforcement officers and would allow Americans to “see what the officers saw.”

Whether Americans will actually get to see that footage, however, may ultimately remain ICE’s decision.

The post ICE bodycam releases hinge on agency’s “best interests” appeared first on Salon.com.

The Senate confirmed Todd Blanche as attorney general early Saturday morning, narrowly elevating President Donald Trump‘s former personal lawyer to lead the Justice Department after Republicans rushed his nomination through before leaving Washington for their August recess.

Blanche was confirmed 50-49 during an overnight Senate session that stretched into the predawn hours Saturday. Every Democrat opposed the nomination, joined by Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who has been absent from the Senate while dealing with health issues, was the only senator who did not vote.

The razor-thin margin capped a confirmation process that remained uncertain until its final hours.

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., announced Friday that he would support Blanche, effectively giving Republicans the final vote they needed. Cassidy had previously raised concerns about Blanche’s leadership at the Justice Department, including his involvement in a controversial $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” compensation fund and an agreement providing broad protections from IRS audits for Trump and members of his family.

Cassidy ultimately argued that the choice was between Blanche and whoever Trump might install as acting attorney general if Blanche failed.

Collins and Murkowski went the other direction. Both had supported Blanche when the Senate confirmed him as deputy attorney general in March 2025, but broke with their party this time amid concerns about the politicization of the Justice Department and Blanche’s conduct while serving as acting attorney general.

Two other Republicans who had threatened Blanche’s nomination, Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, ultimately voted to confirm him after extracting concessions. Blanche terminated the anti-weaponization fund and narrowed the scope of the tax agreement before his nomination advanced from the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The Senate approved Blanche as lawmakers raced through a roughly 20-hour session before departing Washington for their summer recess.

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Blanche, who defended Trump in his New York criminal trial and federal criminal cases before joining the administration, has served as acting attorney general since Trump fired Pam Bondi in April.

He now takes the job permanently — with essentially no margin to spare.

The post Senate rushes through Blanche confirmation overnight appeared first on Salon.com.

An Australian library has welcomed home a book roughly 150 years overdue after it was discovered inside a tea crate bricked into a sealed fireplace.

Ross Simmons found the water-damaged copy of “The Antiquities of Athens” while renovating a house in the seaside town of Kiama, south of Sydney. The book was published in 1858 and carries the number 506, placing it among the roughly 1,000 volumes held when the Kiama Library opened in 1872.

Simmons believes the book may have been borrowed by his great-great-grandfather, John Simmons, who owned the house when the library first opened. The library’s original borrowing records have been lost, however, leaving the identity of the delinquent reader — and the reason the book was sealed inside a fireplace — a mystery.

Had the library applied the overdue rate printed in the volume, the theoretical fine would have reached approximately 28,000 Australian dollars, or about $19,500 in U.S. currency. Fortunately for the Simmons family, the library no longer charges late fees and has no intention of pursuing a 19th-century borrower’s descendants.

The old lending rules discovered with the book offered another glimpse into library life during the 1870s. A household needed at least three people capable of reading before borrowing, and patrons were prohibited from collecting a book while intoxicated.

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Despite some water damage, the volume survived its century and a half inside the fireplace and has now been added to the library’s local history collection.

It will not, however, be returning to circulation.

“We’re not going to allow it to go back out again,” library manager Michelle Hudson said, joking that staff did not want to wait another 150 years for its next return.

The discovery gives Kiama Library an unusually complete local mystery: an unidentified borrower, a hidden fireplace, a theoretical five-figure fine and, after approximately a century and a half, a very late happy ending.

The post Library book found in fireplace returns 150 years late appeared first on Salon.com.

A Florida English professor is suing her former public college, alleging she was fired after its president objected to an award-winning short story she assigned in a freshman literature course.

Vinita Prabhakar filed a federal lawsuit against South Florida State College President Fred Hawkins and the school’s board of trustees, arguing her dismissal violated her First Amendment rights and academic freedom. The lawsuit seeks reinstatement, damages and a declaration that the college acted unlawfully.

Prabhakar had assigned “Bettering Myself,” a short story by acclaimed author Ottessa Moshfegh, in her Freshman English II course. The award-winning story follows an alcoholic Catholic school teacher whose increasingly self-destructive behavior illustrates themes of addiction, alienation and moral decline through the perspective of an unreliable narrator.

According to the complaint, Prabhakar had taught the story for nearly a decade without incident and used it in a unit on unsympathetic and unreliable narrators alongside works by Ernest Hemingway and Raymond Carver. The story won the Paris Review’s 2013 Plimpton Prize for Fiction and has appeared on syllabuses at other universities.

One student reportedly told Prabhakar that the material made them uncomfortable. Prabhakar discussed the story with the student, who later said they felt better about the assignment, according to the lawsuit.

Hawkins nevertheless summoned Prabhakar to a meeting, called the story “political” and ordered her not to teach it again, the complaint alleges. Prabhakar said her department chair, dean and a college vice president supported her explanation of the story’s academic purpose.

The next day, she was placed on administrative leave and told her contract would end after the semester. Prabhakar alleges she received no formal complaint, hearing or explanation of which college policy she had violated.

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The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, which is helping represent Prabhakar, argues that public colleges may establish curriculum requirements but cannot punish professors merely because administrators dislike ideas expressed in relevant course material.

The allegations have not yet been tested in court. The lawsuit places the latest Florida education dispute at the intersection of academic freedom, faculty discretion and the authority public institutions exercise over classroom instruction.

The post Florida English professor alleges political firing over class reading appeared first on Salon.com.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. repeatedly clashed with CNN’s Dana Bash on Sunday’s “State of the Union” over vaccines, COVID-19, autism research and the nation’s growing measles outbreak, with the veteran anchor challenging the health secretary’s claims by citing decades of scientific research and public health data.

The contentious interview came as the United States experiences its second consecutive record-breaking year for measles cases, with Bash noting on-air that infections have reached a 35-year high and that roughly 93% of cases have occurred among unvaccinated people.

Asked whether he accepted any responsibility for the resurgence after years as one of the country’s most prominent vaccine skeptics, Kennedy responded, “Absolutely not,” arguing the outbreak is part of a broader international trend and pointing to higher per-capita case rates in several other countries.

Kennedy instead blamed the COVID-19 lockdown period for reduced childhood vaccination rates, arguing that missed immunizations during the pandemic created today’s vulnerable populations. He also maintained that his department has responded quickly to outbreaks by deploying federal public health teams to affected states.

Throughout the interview, Bash repeatedly interrupted Kennedy to challenge claims she said conflicted with the broader scientific consensus, particularly on COVID-19 vaccines and autism research. At one point, she told Kennedy that “study after study after study” has found no link between vaccines and autism, citing findings from the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Kennedy rejected those conclusions, arguing existing research has not adequately examined vaccines administered during the first six months of life and accusing Bash of relying too heavily on experts rather than the underlying research.

The exchange grew increasingly tense after Kennedy accused CNN of contributing to misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic and suggested Bash was repeating claims without independently examining the evidence. Bash pushed back, defending her role as a journalist.

“My job is to find out and tell the truth,” she said.

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The interview also touched on a Wall Street Journal report that President Donald Trump has encouraged Kennedy to pursue additional research examining possible links between vaccines and autism. Kennedy confirmed Trump supports further study while also saying his department is investigating a broader range of potential environmental factors that may contribute to autism.

The nearly 20-minute interview ended with Bash defending the role of scientific expertise in public health reporting while Kennedy maintained that federal health agencies should continue reexamining longstanding assumptions about vaccine safety and other medical issues.

A statement was released by a CNN spokeperson to Salon regarding this interview.

Dana Bash is a veteran journalist who conducted a newsmaking interview with Secretary Kennedy in which he stated that he supports parents getting their children vaccinated against measles and addressed President Trump’s push for further study into autism and vaccines. Asking tough, substantive questions to those in power is the job of every journalist, and Dana did hers incredibly well today. We stand behind Dana, her reporting, and CNN’s overall coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic.

UPDATED: Aug. 2, 2026 at 2:12 p.m. to include statement from CNN.

The post “My job is to find out the truth”: Dana Bash grills RFK Jr. over vaccines appeared first on Salon.com.

The American Civil Liberties Union and its state affiliates have filed 54 administrative claims against the federal government on behalf of people who allege they were harmed by federal immigration enforcement, launching what the organization says is one of its broadest coordinated legal efforts challenging ICE operations.

The claims, filed under the Federal Tort Claims Act, span 17 states and Washington, D.C., and represent the first legal step required before individuals can sue the federal government. The ACLU said the filings allege a pattern of misconduct by federal immigration agents, including excessive force, unlawful arrests, racial profiling, retaliation against people exercising their First Amendment rights and abuse while in detention.

Among the claims is one filed on behalf of Dr. Norma Bowe, a New Jersey nurse and Kean University professor who alleges she was assaulted by federal agents while providing medical care outside Delaney Hall, an immigration detention facility in Newark. Other claims involve U.S. citizens and legal residents who say they were wrongfully detained or subjected to aggressive enforcement actions despite having legal status.

“These are not isolated incidents,” the ACLU said in a press release announcing the coordinated filings, arguing the claims reflect a broader pattern of unlawful conduct by federal immigration authorities.

The Department of Homeland Security rejected the allegations, defending its immigration enforcement efforts and criticizing the ACLU’s characterization of federal operations. The agency said its officers are trained to enforce immigration laws while protecting public safety and complying with federal law.

The administrative claims do not themselves constitute lawsuits. Under federal law, agencies generally have an opportunity to review and respond before claimants can pursue litigation in court. If the claims are denied or remain unresolved after the statutory review period, the individuals may seek damages through federal lawsuits.

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The coordinated filings come as immigration enforcement remains a central issue in the Trump administration’s agenda and as civil rights organizations continue mounting legal challenges to enforcement tactics across the country.

The post ACLU launches nationwide legal challenge over alleged ICE abuses appeared first on Salon.com.

European leaders scrambled Saturday to contain the political fallout from a mass migration surge into Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta, where authorities say roughly 50,000 people crossed from Morocco in an unprecedented two-day rush that left at least 67 people dead.

Spanish officials said crossings largely stopped overnight after Morocco increased enforcement and thousands of migrants voluntarily returned. Spain also began installing a 500-meter floating barrier off Ceuta’s coastline while deploying additional police and military personnel to prevent further crossings.

The humanitarian crisis has quickly become a political one. Italy temporarily reinstated border controls with Spain for one month, while 22 European Union member states called for an emergency discussion on strengthening the bloc’s external borders. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez criticized calls to isolate Spain, arguing the country’s border controls remain intact and warning against measures that could undermine European unity.

Ceuta, along with the nearby Spanish enclave of Melilla, forms the European Union’s only land border with Africa, making it a longstanding flashpoint in debates over migration. While Spain has introduced a pathway to legal residency for some undocumented immigrants already living in the country, officials rejected claims that the policy triggered the latest crossings, instead blaming migrant-smuggling networks and misinformation circulating on social media.

Reuters reported that many migrants who reached Ceuta have already returned to Morocco after encountering overcrowding, food shortages and little prospect of continuing onward into mainland Europe. Spanish officials said migrants who enter Ceuta cannot freely travel into the rest of Spain because identity checks remain in place before any ferry or air travel to the mainland.

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President Donald Trump seized on the crisis Saturday, posting on Truth Social that the scenes in Spain resembled what he claimed occurred under former President Joe Biden and warning that the United States would face an even larger “invasion” if Democrats return to power. Similar claims have circulated widely online, though Spanish officials dispute comparisons to U.S. immigration policy and say the circumstances surrounding the Ceuta crossings are unique to the enclave’s geography and legal status.

The post Europe tightens borders after deadly Ceuta migrant surge appeared first on Salon.com.

Six months after the publicly released two previously withheld ransom notes while the family renewed its plea for anyone with information to come forward.

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department released the handwritten notes Friday, saying investigators believe the author’s distinctive language, grammar and phrasing could be recognized by someone who knows the writer. Authorities said making the documents public is an investigative strategy aimed at generating fresh leads as the high-profile kidnapping case reaches the six-month mark.

Nancy Guthrie Investigation Update: Video & Ransom Note Details 1/3 pic.twitter.com/O0HDb8asMX

— Pima County Sheriff’s Department (@PimaSheriff) July 31, 2026

Nancy Guthrie, 84, disappeared from her Arizona home on Feb. 1. According to investigators, the first note, received the following day, demanded $4 million in cryptocurrency in exchange for her safe return. A second note, sent several days later, claimed she died shortly after the abduction and had been “buried in nature.”

Authorities stressed they have not confirmed that claim and continue to investigate the case as an active kidnapping. Detectives said DNA evidence, surveillance footage and other forensic material remain under review, and more than $1 million in reward money is still being offered for information leading to a breakthrough. Investigators hope someone will recognize the writing style or other details contained in the notes and contact law enforcement.

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Marking six months since her mother’s disappearance, Savannah Guthrie shared an emotional public appeal, calling the anniversary “an agony beyond words” and urging anyone with information to help investigators. She thanked supporters who have continued searching for answers while asking the public to closely examine the newly released notes.

The sheriff’s office asked anyone with information about Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance or the ransom notes to contact investigators, saying even seemingly minor details could prove significant as the search continues.

The post Police publicly release ransom notes in Nancy Guthrie disappearance case appeared first on Salon.com.