Internal National Park Service documents seen by The Washington Post suggest visitors should “avoid prolonged exposure” in unhealthy areas

July 4 fireworks in Washington, D.C. may cause hazardous levels of pollution around the National Mall, according to a report. ​

More than 850,000 pyrotechnic effects are set to be launched from areas surrounding the Mall, West Potomac Park and the Potomac River throughout the display, Freedom 250 says, to mark 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.​

However, internal National Park Service documents obtained by The Washington Post suggest particles from firework combustion could create “very unhealthy” conditions in central D.C this weekend.​

The health warning is another potential blow to Trump’s planned celebrations, following the appearance of algae-blooms and peeling paint in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. The commander-in-chief was also reportedly “livid” at the crowd size at his kick off event for the Great American State Fair.

Consultants tied to Donald Trump may have engaged in financial fraud, tricking donors who wanted to support the nation’s bipartisan 250th anniversary organizer into sending their money instead to a rival group set up by his administration, according to a report released Thursday by House Democrats.

The report draws in part on interviews by Democratic staffers of the House Committee on Natural Resources. Those interviews suggest that donors seeking to celebrate America fell for a bait-and-switch that, if true, could have violated various criminal statutes.

Donors who were intending to contribute funds to America250, a bipartisan committee created by Congress, were instead given the banking and routing numbers for a different but similarly named group, Freedom 250, the Democratic report says.

Critics condemn decision by education board aligned with hard-right Ron DeSantis to block access to college system

Immigration advocates in Florida have decried a “cruel and harmful” new rule by education officials aligned with hard-right Republican governor Ron DeSantis to ban undocumented students from state colleges and universities.

The Florida board of education voted on Tuesday to bar access to its 28 state-funded institutions to anybody not a US citizen or “lawfully present” in the country. It follows Florida’s move last year to strip discounted in-state tuition rates for certain immigrant students.

Opponents on Wednesday assailed the new directive, which some analysts estimate could cost Florida up to $15m annually in lost tuition and other fees. They also questioned if it was legal, given that it was approved by DeSantis’s hand-picked board of seven, instead of the elected state legislature.

June’s drop in the unemployment rate was because of an exodus of workers from the labor force.

The labor force participation rate, which measures the working-age population of those either employed or looking for a job, fell to 61.5%, the lowest since March 2021, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Excluding the Covid-era jobs market, it was the lowest participation rate since June 1976.

The labor force plummeted by 720,000 in June.

More than 100 people just deported from the United States were being held in a hotel when earthquakes struck Venezuela, setting off a scramble to find survivors and bodies buried in the rubble, according to survivors.

A deportation flight from Miami arrived in Caracas hours before Wednesday's earthquakes. On board were 146 Venezuelans, including 19 women and seven children, according to ICE Flight Monitor, an initiative of Human Rights First, which tracks deportation flights.

Iran’s joint military command warned Thursday that all oil tankers moving through the Strait of Hormuz must use its approved routes or face a “forceful response,” ratcheting up tensions again over a waterway crucial for international energy supplies.

The strait, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf, has emerged as one of the top issues in negotiations seeking a permanent end to the Iran war. The statement from the Khatam al-Anbiya military command, reported by Iranian state television, comes after both U.S. and Iranian diplomats met with mediators Wednesday in Qatar.

It wasn’t clear what sparked the threat from Iran. However, the U.S. military’s Central Command had put out a statement about a meeting with officials from Mideast nations in Bahrain that said “leaders underscored their shared commitment to the free flow of commerce through” the strait.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis on Wednesday fired two members of the state’s clemency board after they spoke out against his controversial decision to grant clemency to Tina Peters – an election denier whose sentence was cut in half by the outgoing Democratic governor in May.

Azra Taslimi and Hannah Seigel Proff told CNN they were fired after speaking out publicly, including in a New York Times article in June, in which they revealed secret details about the clemency process and criticized the governor for overruling the board. They told the Times the clemency board twice voted unanimously behind closed doors to reject Peters’ application for an early release from prison.

Polis’ decision in May to release Peters came after Donald Trump waged a long pressure campaign against Colorado to free her. Peters – who was released from prison in June – was the last Trump ally still in prison for 2020 election-related crimes.

Critics say the Trump administration is trying to rewrite and whitewash history by removing and altering scores of signs on public lands

Often heralded as “America’s best idea”, national parks are the closest thing the country has to sacred lands. What many may not realize, however, is that US history – not just nature – is at the heart of the visitor experience at most of the 433 parks, historic sites and monuments in the NPS system.

But over the past year-and-a-half, this history has been under attack, as the Trump administration has raced to reconstruct a version of US history they prefer – one in which the Bransfords didn’t exist, the genocide of Native Americans didn’t happen, George Washington didn’t own slaves and the glaciers aren’t melting because of the ongoing climate crisis.

Rebels shoot pilot and set his civilian ⁠plane on fire amid long-running low-level battle for independence in region

Separatist rebels in Indonesia’s restive easternmost region of Papua have shot dead an American pilot and set a civilian ⁠plane on fire, in what a spokesperson for a local militant group described as a “message” to the US and Indonesian governments.

Sebby Sambom, ⁠a spokesperson for the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB), named the pilot as Nicholas F Gosselin and said separatist fighters had set his ⁠plane on fire after it landed in the Yahukimo region of Highland Papua province.

He said the aircraft ​had been “frequently dropping Indonesian military personnel and ‌violating the TPNPB’s ultimatum”.

An estimated 650,000 bags of potato chips are affected as US agency upgraded recall of several popular brands

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has upgraded a recall of several popular brands of potato chips to its most serious level because of the risk of salmonella contamination.

Manufacturer Utz issued a voluntary recall in May for varieties of its Zapp’s and Dirty potato chips products, citing the possible presence of salmonella in dry milk powder sourced from a third party used to make a seasoning ingredient.

An estimated 650,000 bags of chips with best by dates ranging from 27 July to 31 August were believed to be affected. In its most recent weekly enforcement report, published Friday, the FDA gave the recall a Class 1 designation, its highest level.

The affected products are: Zapp’s Brand Bayou Blackened Ranch Potato Chips (1.5oz), Zapp’s Brand Bayou Blackened Ranch Potato Chips (2.5oz), Zapp’s Brand Bayou Blackened Ranch Potato Chips (8oz), Dirty Brand Salt and Vinegar Potato Chips (2oz), Zapp’s Brand Salt and Vinegar Potato Chips (1.5oz), Dirty Brand Maui Onion Potato Chip (2oz), Zapp’s Brand Big Cheezy Potato Chip (2.5oz), Zapp’s Brand Big Cheezy Potato Chip (8oz), and Dirty Brand Sour Cream and Onion Potato Chips (2oz).

House Democratic subcommittee report outlines web of alleged corruption, wire fraud and pay-to-play schemes

Donald Trump staged a hostile takeover of the US’s 250th anniversary celebration to enrich political allies, harvest voter data and promote Christian nationalist ideology, according to a congressional investigation released on Thursday.

The interim report, “From Vanity to Insanity: How the White House Cheated the American People Out of Their 250th Birthday”, outlines a web of alleged corruption, wire fraud and pay-to-play schemes orchestrated through a shadow corporation embedded within the National Park Foundation (NPF).

The document was produced by Democratic staff of the House of Representatives’ natural resources committee’s oversight and investigations subcommittee. It has not been officially adopted by the committee.

“Under President Donald Trump, this anniversary has been hijacked and perverted into a hotbed of corruption and self-enrichment,” it states, contending that the machinery built for a national commemoration was converted “into an apparatus for raising and spending money in service of the President’s ego, political ideology, and pet projects.”

Sources and leaks from Amazon, Adobe, Atlassian, Citi, and more show what is really happening with AI right now: companies are trying to rein in AI use as costs spiral out of control.