TV News LIES

A Black journalism professor who was hired by Texas A&M University before objections in some quarters over her history of promoting diversity foiled the job offer has secured a $1m settlement from the institution.

Kathleen McElroy also received an apology from officials at Texas A&M, the largest public school in the US, who in a statement Thursday acknowledged “mistakes … made during the process”.

In her own statement, McElroy said she would remain in a tenured teaching position at the University of Texas at Austin, and hoped the settlement would “reinforce A&M’s allegiance to excellence in higher education and its commitment to academic freedom and journalism”.

“I will never forget that … students, members, former students and staff voiced support for me from many sectors,” McElroy’s statement also said.

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The punishing heatwaves that have scorched much of the US could result in a record number of heat-related deaths this year, experts have warned, amid a spike in hospitalizations from collapsing workers.

Among those needing hospital treatment are heat-exhausted hikers and even people who have suffered severe burns from touching blistering concrete and asphalt.

Heat is the leading weather-related cause of mortalities in the US, outpacing deaths from hurricanes by a factor of eight to one, and this summer’s record-breaking temperatures, worsened by the human-caused climate crisis, have led to fears a new annual high death toll will be set in 2023.

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Police in Memphis said they had likely prevented a mass shooting after they shot a man who earlier was reported to have opened fire at a Jewish day school in the Tennessee city.

In a statement and news conference, local police said they had responded to a report of a white man with a handgun shooting outside the Margolin Hebrew Academy and trying to gain entry to the building.

The main failed to enter the school as he was unable to get past the double security doors. “Thankfully, that school had a great safety procedure and process in place and avoided anyone being harmed or injured at that scene,” said Dan Crow, the assistant police chief.

The assailant then fled the scene in a maroon pick up truck before police arrived. However, the truck was then located nearby after an alert was put out.

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At least one person has died and nearly two dozen people have been rescued as crews on Thursday battled a massive fire on board a freighter carrying nearly 3,000 cars in the North Sea.

The blaze broke out Wednesday and so far 23 people have been rescued from the ship, some who suffered serious injuries, the Dutch coast guard said.

The vessel was sailing from the German port of Bremerhaven to Singapore, about 17 miles north of the Dutch island of Ameland, officials reported.

On Thursday about 4:15 a.m. local time the fire continued to rage, the coast guard said, as crews worked save the vessel from sinking close to an important habitat for migratory birds.

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The Biden administration has tapped former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley to head the Social Security Administration, the White House announced Wednesday.

O’Malley, a Democrat, will require Senate confirmation to take over at the agency, which oversees a $1 trillion budget and is responsible for distributing benefits to older adults and disabled people.

The Social Security Administration has been run by acting Commissioner Kilolo Kijakazi since President Joe Biden fired then-Commissioner Andrew Saul, a Trump holdover, in 2021. Saul’s ouster set off a partisan backlash, with members of each party accusing the other of politicizing the independent federal agency. Saul, who refused to resign, was just two years into a six-year term.

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A personal chef to the Obama family drowned while paddleboarding in Martha's Vineyard, police confirmed on Monday.

The body of Tafari Campbell, 45, of Dumfries, Va., was uncovered after a two-day search in Edgartown Great Pond, near a home owned by the Obamas. The Massachusetts State Police said the former president and first lady were not present at the time of the drowning.

Campbell had served as a White House sous chef during Barack Obama's presidency and left in 2016 to work for the former president and his wife.

The office of Barack and Michelle Obama did not immediately respond to NPR's request for comment, but in a joint statement shared with several news outlets, including the Associated Press, the couple characterized Campbell as a "beloved part of our family."

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The special counsel’s office has inquired about a White House briefing on Feb. 14, 2020, at which federal officials assured then-President Donald Trump of the security and integrity of the U.S. election system, according to people familiar with the matter.

Two people who have been interviewed since May by the special counsel’s office, which is investigating efforts to overturn the 2020 election, spoke with NBC News on condition that they not be named.

In the briefing, officials from multiple agencies — including the FBI, Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) — laid out why it’s extraordinarily difficult for hacking or fraud to change the results of a U.S. election.

Trump was receptive to the message and spoke about holding a news conference on the topic, though he never did, two people familiar with it said.

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South Korea’s president, Yoon Suk-yeol, has pledged to increase his country’s humanitarian and non-lethal military assistance to Ukraine after a summit with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv.

South Korea, which is the world’s ninth-largest arms exporter, has a longstanding policy to not supply lethal weapons to active conflict zones.

But at a press briefing after the two leaders had met he said Seoul would “expand the scale of supplies from last year, when we provided materials such as helmets and bullet-proof vests”.

Yoon added that humanitarian aid would be increased to $150m in 2023, from $100m last year.

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