At covered-dish suppers and coffee klatsches, North fervently pays homage to Reagan. Gripped on cue by his patented catch in the throat, Ollie invokes the man he “admired and revered and worked for.” In campaign brochures, he recites “the great honor of working in the White House for the man who won the battle of freedom over communism.” But the feeling isn’t mutual, as Reagan made clear in a letter solicited by former senator Paul Laxalt, a supporter of North’s opponent in the race for the GOP Senate nomination....

Wastewater samples from the county tested this week showed Omicron as the dominant variant, representing nearly 100 percent of the COVID strains found in the samples, Orange County Utilities spokesperson Sarah Lux told the Associated Press. However, the patients who are being hospitalized in the county that contains two of the largest theme parks in the country are still mostly testing positive for the Delta variant. Medical professionals and scientists are still determining the severity of cases from the Omicron variant, with data from South Africa showing it is possible the new variant could be more transmissible and resistant to vaccines than Delta, but may put less patients in the hospital if it does not cause illness as severe as Delta....

A poll released on Tuesday by YouGov found that Democrats were much more likely to be concerned about the new variant than Republicans. Although 80 percent of Democrats said they were “somewhat concerned” or “very concerned” about Omicron, only 35 percent of Republicans agreed. A 59 percent majority of Republicans said that they were “not very concerned” about the variant or “not concerned at all,” far more than the 14 percent of Democrats who said the same....

Players Conventional Wisdom Clinton down arrow Dems aflame as he tells fat cats he regrets ‘93 Dole neutral What a flip flopper. Now you take gay money. It’s almost ‘96, do you know who you are Powell up arrow He says, “Watch this space.” CW says, “No, watch this space.” He’s running–as a GOP. The March up arrow Beautiful sight of a million men atoning even if their racist leader won’t....

In the clip, shared to Twitter on Saturday morning, Biden quoted a line in the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” Biden pointed out hypocrisies in the line by the Declaration’s author, Thomas Jefferson. Despite holding slaves and leaving out women, the Democratic candidate said that the idea that all men are created equal has continued to resonate with Americans throughout the nation’s history....

Goals from Daniele Baselli and Afriyie Acquah arguably should have been enough for the hosts to move up to ninth with the victory, only for the on-loan keeper to concede a pair he would love to have back. Unstoppable Chelsea killing EPL title race With the game scoreless in the 27th minute, Hart only got a touch on Geoffrey Kondogbia’s low drive and watched as it slowly trickled into the net to give Inter the lead....

A video of the incident was shared on Twitter by Michigan’s MIRS News. In the clip, one of the protesters with the group Michigan United for Liberty can be seen screaming as uniformed security guards attempt to remove her from the House of Representatives gallery. “You’re not allowed to touch her,” one of the protesters yells as her fellow demonstrator can be seen kicking her legs from the floor. Another protester can be seen filming with her phone as a woman is dragged away....

Minneapolis Police initially tweeted that 10 people had been shot with “various severity levels of injuries” and urged people to avoid the area in Uptown Minneapolis. The department later revised its total in a tweet posted shortly after 3 A.M. to say that one man had died and 11 others have non-life-threatening wounds. A preliminary investigation indicated that “individuals on foot” had started shooting in the mid-2900 block of Hennepin Avenue South at around 12:30 a....

Why is that notable? It’s the best offensive rating in the NBA by a pretty decent margin. The Hawks currently own the league’s second-best offensive rating, averaging 113.1 points per 100 possessions. The gap between the Jazz in first place and the Hawks in second place (3.9) is almost the same as the Hornets and the Dallas Mavericks, who rank 17th in offensive efficiency. Simply put, the Jazz are cooking teams at a rate no other team can come close to matching right now....

That line is fraying. Well before the coup, a reduction in Soviet subsidies from an estimated $4.1 billion in 1989 to $3.5 billion last year, and a drop believed of equal magnitude this year had left Cuba an economic orphan mired in a virtual preindustrial state. Soviet oil deliveries, which account for almost all of the island’s fuel supply, were slashed by 23 percent last year. As a result, Havana traffic consists largely of bicycles; in August, Cuba inaugurated carrier-pigeon mail service to replace postal trucks....

The Regional Medical Center in San Jose, Silicon Valley’s most populous city, is the region’s fifth-largest hospital based on the number of days that in-patients (excluding newborns in the nursery) were hospitalized in 2017, according to data from California’s Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development. The hospital’s more than 200 beds are filled, with 40 percent of their ICU capacity consisting of COVID-19 patients, California’s ABC 7 reported....

Food insecurity, or the lack of access to consistent meals, is monitored by the Department of Agriculture, and a report summary for 2020, which came out in September of last year, showed that 10.5 percent of U.S. households were food insecure. The rate of food insecurity in people who work in child care was 8 to 20 percent higher than the national average, according to study researchers. In Texas and Washington state, 42 percent of all child care workers experienced food insecurity, and in Arkansas it was 40 percent....

Talking about race for people of color in this nation is the natural thing to do. Blacks carry race around with them all the time. But for whites, talking about race is uncomfortable. It’s a wild card. Whites believe blacks rejoiced in the verdict because it was a payback for white racism, or that blacks are gloating because a black man got away with murdering two white people. It’s much more complicated than that....

Islamabad-based Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and Afghanistan’s privately-owned Kam Air are the two airline carriers currently operating chartered flights to and from Afghanistan. Tickets for the airlines have increased significantly to cover insurance. A one-way flight via PIA from Kabul to Islamabad costs about $1,500, up from $300 before the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan, PIA spokesman Abdullah Hafeez said. Hours after the Taliban threatened to ban the airlines unless there is a price cut, PIA suspended its flights to Kabul....

Concerned users took to Twitter today to ask for advice after receiving multiple messages from the company that appeared to be a series of random characters. Suggestions that personal information held by the company had been hacked, stolen or compromised were luckily inaccurate. “I’m guessing somebody is about to get fired at #Oneplus for sending out internal test push messages to their customers’ devices,” one Twitter user noted. Another asked: “What are these strange notifications ?...

This interactive map — launched by anonymous allies of Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) in Boston — singles out Jewish groups, police, the media, and other organizations and individuals with even the most tenuous ties to Israel and sets them up as targets. Even public figures with favorable views of the Jewish State, such as Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D), are listed alongside human rights organizations, houses of worship, several universities, the FBI, and Boston-area schools that have pro-Israel student organizations on campus....

The subscription-based service, which became famous as a place to view adult content, revealed in statement that: “In order to ensure the long-term sustainability of our platform, and continue to host an inclusive community of creators and fans, we must evolve our content guidelines.” Although they have said creators may still be able to post nude imagery, this will have to be in line with the company’s new policies....

The pornography ban, which was set to come into force on October 1, had been subject to much backlash from sex workers who claimed that they were being “cast aside” by the company they helped popularize. A statement was released on Twitter on Wednesday August 25 which began: “Thank you to everyone for making your voices heard. “We have secured assurances necessary to support our diverse creator community and have suspended the planned October 1 policy change....