Michael Madsen, a prolific actor whose career was punctuated by a longstanding collaboration with Quentin Tarantino, has died at 67.
Madsen died Thursday, July 3, following a cardiac arrest, manager Ron Smith confirmed to USA TODAY.
Madsen, who appeared in some of Tarantino's biggest films, including "Reservoir Dogs," "Kill Bill: Vol. 2" and "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood," was known for playing a tough guy on screen and enjoyed success in the movie business for over four decades, racking up some 300 credits.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is placing staffers who signed a letter of dissent against the Trump administration’s actions and policies on leave.
The EPA says it has placed 144 staffers on administrative leave as it investigates the letter. It’s not entirely clear whether they will face further punishment after the probe.
“The Environmental Protection Agency has a zero-tolerance policy for career bureaucrats unlawfully undermining, sabotaging, and undercutting the administration’s agenda as voted for by the great people of this country last November,” EPA spokesperson Brigit Hirsch said in a written statement.
In a letter made public on Monday, current and former EPA staffers said that the administration’s policies “undermine the EPA mission of protecting human health and the environment.”
They expressed concerns about five issues in particular, saying that the administration is undermining public trust, ignoring scientific consensus to benefit polluters, reversing EPA’s progress in America’s most vulnerable communities, dismantling the Office of Research and Development and promoting a culture of fear.
“Your decisions and actions will reverberate for generations to come. EPA under your leadership will not protect communities from hazardous chemicals and unsafe drinking water, but instead will increase risks to public health and safety,” the staffers wrote to Administrator Lee Zeldin.
In response, the EPA said Monday that it would “continue to work with states, tribes, and communities to advance the agency’s core mission of protecting human health and the environment.”
The fight is over: Republicans’ sweeping bill to cut taxes and slash benefit programs like Medicaid has passed out of Congress and is on its way to President Donald Trump’s desk to be signed into law during a July 4 ceremony at the White House.
The 218-214 House vote came after a full day of negotiations July 2, an overnight debate and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-New York, delivering the longest House speech on record. Trump met at the White House with skeptical GOP lawmakers, worked the phones and cheered the members on during votes on social media.
It’s a major victory for Trump and Republican leadership in Congress, which captured a trifecta during the 2024 elections and has used that political muscle to force what they've dubbed their "One Big, Beautiful Bill" through both chambers at a rapid-fire pace, despite deep reservations within their own party and unanimous opposition from Democrats who see it as a ticket to winning back congressional majorities in 2026.
A 10-year-old girl just over six weeks pregnant had to travel to Indiana to obtain an abortion after she was denied the procedure in her home state of Ohio, the Indianapolis Star Tribune reported Saturday.
The appalling situation for the child rape victim will likely be repeated countless times now that the U.S. Supreme Court last month eradicated the half-century-old right to an abortion by reversing Roe v. Wade. States are now allowed to ban the procedure.
The girl was referred for an abortion on Monday, three days after the Roe decision, to Indianapolis obstetrician-gynecologist Dr. Caitlin Bernard, she told the Indy Star. Bernard had been contacted by a colleague, a child abuse doctor in Ohio, who had determined that the girl was six weeks and three days pregnant, according to the newspaper.
The girl was soon en route to Bernard’s care. There were no other details about her situation.
Ohio prohibits an abortion when so-called fetal cardiac activity begins, around six weeks. Several groups filed a lawsuit seeking to block the state law from taking effect on Wednesday. But an emergency stay of the abortion ban was rejected by the Ohio Supreme Court Friday, which means the ban can be upheld while the case is being reviewed, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported.
Seven people are missing after a fireworks warehouse near Esparto, Calif., caught fire Tuesday evening, which led to several explosions and multiple spot fires across 80 acres.
The Yolo County Sheriff’s Office reported Wednesday that the cause of the explosion remains unknown and that it’s still an active evacuation zone around the property. Footage of the area shows a destroyed facility.
“The fire will take time to cool, and once it does, explosive experts must safely enter the site to assess and secure the area,” the Yolo County Sheriff’s Office wrote on Facebook. “We strongly urge everyone to continue avoiding the area for the next several days so that fire crews, law enforcement, and emergency personnel can do their jobs safely and effectively.”
The Esparto Fire Protection District and CAL Fire said Wednesday that seven people remain unaccounted for and that first responders and investigators are “working diligently” to find them.
Israeli forces killed at least 74 people in Gaza on Monday with airstrikes that left 30 dead at a seaside cafe and gunfire that left 23 dead as Palestinians tried to get desperately needed food aid, witnesses and health officials said.
One airstrike hit Al-Baqa Cafe in Gaza City when it was crowded with women and children, said Ali Abu Ateila, who was inside.
“Without a warning, all of a sudden, a warplane hit the place, shaking it like an earthquake,” he said.
Dozens were wounded, many critically, alongside at least 30 people killed, said Fares Awad, head of the Health Ministry’s emergency and ambulance service in northern Gaza.
The decision was taken "to put America's interests first" and followed a Department of Defense review of US "military support and assistance to other countries", White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said on Tuesday.
The US has sent tens of billions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, leading some in the Trump administration to voice concerns that US stockpiles are too low.
The Ukrainian government has not commented on the announcement. US officials did not immediately say which shipments were being halted.
The Senate’s version of President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” passed Tuesday would make significant changes to student loan programs, worrying advocates that borrowers will face higher monthly payments.
The reconciliation bill revamps the types of student loan repayment plans available to borrowers; how much students will be able borrow from the federal government; and how student loan deferment works.
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