It's Been Reported

Cori Bush Is Second Squad Member Ousted After Losing Primary To Bell (Wash Examiner) — Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) lost her primary election on Tuesday, making her the second “Squad” Democrat and third House incumbent to lose their seat this election cycle. The Associated Press called the race for St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell at 11:04 p.m. Eastern time, over two hours after the polls closed. Bell won with 51% of the vote compared to Bush’s 45.8% at the time the race was called. Bush is the second Squad member to be ousted after pro-Israel groups funneled millions into her race. AdImpact found that $17 million was poured into Missouri’s 1st Congressional District, with most of the funds going toward ads attacking Bush and supporting Bell. The attorney has seen $14.1 million in ad support, compared to the congresswoman seeing $3.6 million in ad support. Bell was backed by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the largest pro-Israel organization, and its PAC, the United Democracy Project. AdImpact found UDP spent $8 million in support of Bell. See full story	Arizona Supreme Court Unanimously Rules Against Unions In Labor Suit (The Center Square) — The Arizona Supreme Court ruled that allowing government employees to take paid time to take care of union-related activities is against the constitution's gift clause. In Gilmore v. Gallego determined that "release time" as part of a Memorandum of Understanding between the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees and the city is an incorrect use of taxpayer dollars. "The MOU’s release time provisions cost the City approximately $499,000 per year," the court's unanimous opinion stated. Four employees that were paid full-time by the city were "paid release positions for Union members, including the Union President." "As a standalone contract between the Union and the City, the release time provisions here would plainly violate the Gift Clause for lack of consideration; including them as part of a larger contract does not insulate them from review," the court added. "Today’s ruling is a watershed decision that ensures taxpayer dollars will be spent to advance public interests, not private special interests, including the politically powerful special interests of government labor unions. And that will have nationwide ramifications, too," the institute said in a news release. See full story
SpaceX Launches 21 Satellites From Florida; Another One Set Sunday (UPI) — SpaceX launched 21 Starlink satellites into orbit from a Falcon 9 rocket Saturday morning in clear skies from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, one day after the mission was scrubbed because of poor booster recovery conditions. The 230-foot rocket lifted off at 8:50 a.m. from pad 40. It was Space X's 52nd launch this year from Florida. Eight minutes later, the booster landed on Read the Instructions offshore in the Atlantic Ocean. That was the 21st time the booster landed on the drone ship and the 88th overall on the droneship. About an hour after liftoff, the satellites went into a low Earth orbit. Initially, SpaceX planned two launches from Florida on Saturday. But the 9:03 a.m. scheduled launch from Pad 39A with 23 satellites on Friday was rescheduled to 7:21 a.m. Sunday. See full story	Big Lots Set To Close Up To 315 Stores (Epoch Times) — Discount chain Big Lots received approval to shut down hundreds of outlets, after the company expressed “substantial doubt” on continuing business operations. The store closure approval is part of a recent amendment made to a 2022 credit agreement with lenders, the company said in an Aug. 2 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The agreement originally gave approval to close up to 150 outlets, and the amendment boosted it up to 315. In addition, a $900 million credit facility was reduced to $800 million and interest rates on borrowings have been raised by 50 basis points. Big Lots has 1,392 stores across the United States, according to a June SEC filing. The closure of 315 outlets would represent more than 22 percent of its total shops. The store count has already been reduced from last year’s 1,425 outlets. See full story
Coffee-Dementia Link Continues To Unfurl Is There Anything It Cannot Do? PHILADELPHIA (Medpage Today) — Coffee and tea intake were associated with long-term cognitive changes in older adults, two prospective studies presented at the Alzheimer's Association International Conferenceopens in a new tab or window (AAIC) suggested. Among 6,001 Health and Retirement Studyopens in a new tab or window participants in the U.S., drinking two or more cups of coffee a day was associated with a 28% lower risk of dementia over 7 years compared with drinking less than one daily cup (P<0.05), reported Changzheng Yuan, ScD, of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston and the Zhejiang University School of Medicine in China, in a poster presented at the meeting. Moderate tea drinking – up to two cups a day – was also associated with a lower dementia risk compared with no tea consumption (P<0.05). See full story SKIP THE PAYWALL! click on Reader View icon
Study Estimates Millions In U.S. Risk Liver Damage From Herbal Remedies (Health) — From turmeric to green tea, many botanicals we commonly use as herbal remedies pose a threat to our liver if we indulge too much. A new survey from the University of Michigan estimates up to 18.6 million people in the U.S. make use of at least one of these herbal remedies with liver-damaging potential. When used in moderation, herbs like green tea and other plant-based supplements can provide us with benefits. In concentrated forms, such as capsules, it's easier to overdose on them. Hospitalizations due to herbally-induced liver problems are increasing globally. "The safety and efficacy of herbal and dietary supplements are not well established due to the lack of regulatory requirements by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for human pharmacokinetic or prospective clinical trials prior to marketing," hepatologist Alisa Likhitsup and colleagues warn in their paper. See full story	Hurricane Debby Blew $1 Million Worth Of Cocaine Onto Florida Beach TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Hurricane Debby brought more than just powerful winds and storm surge before making landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region on Monday – the storm also washed ashore $1 million of cocaine in its wake. “Hurricane Debby blew 25 packages of cocaine (70 lbs.) onto a beach in the Florida Keys,” Acting Chief Patrol Agent Samuel Briggs II said in a post on X. The cocaine, which has an estimated street value of over $1 million, was found by a good Samaritan, who contacted authorities, Briggs said. Border Patrol officials later seized the drugs. It’s not the first time someone walking along a Florida beach has stumbled across a massive amount of cocaine. In early August of 2022, an estimated $2 million worth of cocaine was discovered inside packages littering the coastline of the Florida Keys. See full story
Illinois School Food Director Sentenced For Stealing $1.5 Million In Chicken Wings (Breitbart) — A former Illinois public school food service director has been sentenced to nine years in prison for pulling off a $1.5 million chicken wing heist, prosecutors said. Vera Liddell worked for Harvey School District 152, an “impoverished” Chicago-area district, for over a decade until she was accused of stealing the food she was tasked with providing to children in January 2023, WGN reported. Court records obtained by the outlet accused the 66-year-old of placing orders for more than 11,000 cases of chicken wings from the school district’s food provider, picking them up in a district van, and not delivering them to children who were remote-learning at the time. It is unclear what happened to the thousands of wings – but they were never served to the students. See full story	Former Trump Adviser Registers As Ukrainian Foreign Agent (Just the News) — Former Trump Advisor Kellyanne Conway is a registered foreign agent of Ukraine as of Friday, according to National Security Division (NSD) filings. Conway will receive $50,000 per month to lobby U.S. lawmakers on behalf of Ukraine, The Daily Caller reported. Conway signed the contract with the Victor Pinchuk Foundation to organize meetings between U.S. political leaders and Ukrainian soldiers and veterans. From 2017 to 2020, Conway was former President Donald Trump's senior counselor. Conway's work will "contribute to raising awareness among U.S. decision makers of Ukrainians’ fight for freedom and the Russian illegal war of aggression," according to the NSD filings. See full story