Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a bill Thursday to reinstate a law that requires all absentee voting be notarized, except during the coronavirus pandemic.

Tara Reade addressed her past praise for Joe Biden during an interview released on Friday as well as her cryptic "tic toc" tweet skeptics have pointed to while assessing her claims. 

Newly released FBI documents suggest a federal judge in Washington was swayed by apparent misrepresentations from a top prosecutor when he issued a memorandum opinion in December 2019 -- a ruling that marked one of the lowest points in former U.S. national security adviser Michael Flynn's effort to withdraw a guilty plea on a charge of lying to investigators.

President Obama on Friday reacted to the Justice Department’s move to end its case against Michael Flynn by declaring that the “rule of law is at risk” -- as new details emerge about what the former president knew about the case against Flynn in the last days of his administration.

BRITONS flocked outside to celebrate the 75th anniversary of VE Day yesterday, which caused major backlash online, especially against the BBC.

LOOKING to play a daily crossword online for free? We have great news - you can now play our world-famous Express Crusader Crossword puzzle every day, for free, right here.

AS THE Labour Party prepares itself for four years under the leadership of Sir Keir Starmer, the leader of Unite the Union explained how he believes Jeremy Corbyn has changed the face of the party forever.

THE leader of the Scottish Conservative Party has outlined his plan to stop Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP becoming Scotland's biggest party at the 2021 Scottish election.

Mike Bloomberg is agreeing to pay for health care through November for the more than 2,000 campaign staffers he laid off after suspending his presidential bid as he faces public pressure and multiple lawsuits.

Hillary Clinton, the first woman to win a major party’s presidential nomination, teased an expected endorsement of Joe Biden for president Tuesday in a tweet.

President Trump new coronavirus TV ad hits critics like Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi, argues America writing the 'the greatest comeback story'

Unite the Country, a super PAC supporting Joe Biden, and the Trump campaign both launched $10 million ad campaigns this week.

The attempts seem to be experiments that were quickly abandoned, and none of those identified received substantial engagement.

As you read this, remember FSIS’s Mission Statement: The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is the public health agency in the U.S. Department of Agriculture responsible for ensuring that the nation’s commercial supply of meat, poultry, and egg products is safe, wholesome, and correctly labeled and packaged. And, remember that none of our food... Continue Reading

Two laboratories did not achieve a good performance in the initial 2018 quality control test on Salmonella typing, according to a new report. The National Reference Laboratories (NRLs) of EU member states participate in quality control tests which consist of proficiency tests on Salmonella. Performance is assessed annually by testing ability to identify 20 Salmonella... Continue Reading

Coronavirus illnesses to date may touch as little as 4 percent of meat and poultry employment, but it been enough to roil the industry over how much protection the plants need to be safe. Actions taken in tight proximity to one another by U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue and U.S. District Court Judge Greg... Continue Reading

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - As coronavirus hotspots erupted at major U.S. meatpacking plants, experts criticized extremely tight working conditions that made the factories natural high risk contagion locations. But some Midwestern politicians have pointed the finger at the workers' living conditions, suggesting crowded homes bear some blame.

The comments - including ...

Republicans on the House Oversight Committee said Friday repeated efforts to learn how the cash-strapped U.S. Postal Service intends to become financially stable have been stymied by U.S. Postmaster General Megan Brennan.

The lawmakers say they've requested a financial plan from Ms. Brennan three different times, but it hasn't been ...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - A Missouri House panel has dismissed a sexual harassment complaint against a state lawmaker after an investigation that spanned several months.

Minutes of the Missouri House Ethics Committee obtained by The Associated Press through an open-records request show the complaint was dismissed last week ...

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - A former lobbyist and Republican legislator was tapped Friday to head up a new state agency created by the Legislature last year to oversee agency spending.

The Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency Oversight Committee selected Mike Jackson to serve as the agency's first executive director. The ...

Chief Justice John G. Roberts on Friday declined to order a judicial misconduct investigation into a federal judge's retirement and whether Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had anything to do with it.

D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Sri Srinavasan had previously asked the chief justice to assign a court ...

Former President Barack Obama slammed the Justice Department for abandoning its prosecution of President Trump's ex-national security adviser Michael Flynn, saying it puts "the rule of law is at risk."

Mr. Obama's comments came Friday night while privately talking to ex-members of his administration. A tape of the conversation was ...

Jordan Goudreau once pushed a plan to protect U.S. schools. Then he moved on to a more daring pursuit, which also didn't end well.

The season officially begins June 1, but some meteorologists who have been tracking ocean and atmospheric dynamics over the past few months say conditions are ripe for storms.

Brookfield, known for its contrarian bets on malls, will take minority stakes in struggling retailers

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf has a brewing rebellion on his hands as counties set out to defy his plans.

The graphic video of Ahmaud Arbery being shot on a residential Georgia street was fed to the media by a lawyer who was friends with the two men who were charged with the killing, according to a report.

Maryland police released body camera footage of an officer shooting and killing a man who rushed towards him with a knife.

Though recreation on public lands creates $646bn in economic stimulus and 6.1m jobs, Republicans are setting in motion a giveaway of Americans’ birthright

• Update: Republicans back off bill to sell public land after outcry

In the midst of highly publicized steps to dismantle insurance coverage for 32 million people and defund women’s healthcare facilities, Republican lawmakers have quietly laid the foundation to give away Americans’ birthright: 640m acres of national land. In a single line of changes to the rules for the House of Representatives, Republicans have overwritten the value of federal lands, easing the path to disposing of federal property even if doing so loses money for the government and provides no demonstrable compensation to American citizens.

At stake are areas managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), National Forests and Federal Wildlife Refuges, which contribute to an estimated $646bn each year in economic stimulus from recreation on public lands and 6.1m jobs. Transferring these lands to the states, critics fear, could decimate those numbers by eliminating mixed-use requirements, limiting public access and turning over large portions for energy or property development.

It’s one of the only incubators focused on solar companies – but Powerhouse is part of a larger movement to nurture new companies in the low-carbon future

It started with a crowdfunding startup, an investment from Prince, and the idea to help new solar companies tackle business challenges that can be hard to overcome on their own.

Now, four years later, the idea has morphed into a group called Powerhouse, and notably, in a world flush with tech startups, it’s one of the only incubators out there focused on launching and growing solar companies.

Verdict against eight men accused in the murder of Honduran indigenous environmentalist will be handed down on Thursday

The verdict against eight men accused over the murder of Honduran indigenous environmentalist Berta Cáceres will be handed down on Thursday after a controversial five-week trial plagued by allegations of negligence and cover-ups.

Cáceres – who won the 2015 Goldman Environmental Prize – was shot dead in March 2016, after a long battle against the internationally financed Agua Zarca hydroelectric dam project on the Gualcarque river, territory sacred to the indigenous Lenca people.

The 50th annual call for environmental reform falls at a time when the health of people and nature has never been more urgent

Fifty years ago today, the first Earth Day was marked in the United States as a peaceful call for environmental reform, following a massive oil spill off the coast of California. Half a century later, this annual day unites millions across the globe, drawing attention to the huge challenges facing our planet.

Now more than ever, Earth Day offers an opportunity for us all to reflect upon our relationship with the planet, amid the most powerful possible message that nature can surprise us at any moment, with devastating consequences for pretty much every individual. It is a time when the health of the planet and its people has never been so important.

El confinamiento y la caída del precio del petróleo ponen en juego el futuro de un enorme yacimiento petrolífero argentino

• Read this article in English here

En las próximas semanas, se esclarecerá si el mundo vuelve a los combustibles fósiles tras la pandemia o si da un paso adelante hacia una economía limpia, mientras el FMI (Fondo Monetario Internacional) y Argentina deciden si van a continuar ofreciendo su apoyo a los inmensos yacimientos de petróleo y gas de Vaca Muerta, en Patagonia.

El objetivo del proyecto es explotar el segundo depósito más grande de esquisto del planeta (después de la Cuenca Pérmica, en Texas), pero su futuro es incierto debido al confinamiento forzoso provocado por COVID-19, que ha causado el descenso más drástico en el precio del crudo de los últimos treinta años.

Plan would help Trump administration advance projects held up over global heating concerns such as the Keystone XL oil pipeline

The Trump administration on Thursday unveiled a plan to speed permitting for major infrastructure projects like oil pipelines, road expansions and bridges.

Related: How the oil industry has spent billions to control the climate change conversation

Lawsuits are pending from groups who have challenged the constitutionality of shrinking Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante

Plans finalized on Thursday for two national monuments in Utah downsized by Donald Trump would ensure that lands previously off-limits to energy development will be open to mining and drilling.

The move comes despite pending lawsuits from conservation, tribal and paleontology groups, who have challenged the constitutionality of the president’s action. The Trump administration slashed the size of Bears Ears national monument by 85% and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monument by nearly half in December 2017, in what represented the largest elimination of public lands protections in US history.

Conservation groups criticized the Trump administration on Thursday for spending time on management plans they believe will become moot when the court sides with their assertion that Trump misused the Antiquities Act to reverse decisions by previous presidents.

Energy companies have leased 9.9m acres from the administration – and the fossil fuels extracted could equal half a year of emissions from China

The Trump administration has offered oil companies a chunk of the American west and the Gulf of Mexico that’s four times the size of California – an expansive drilling plan that threatens to entrench the industry at the expense of other outdoor jobs, while locking in enough emissions to undermine global climate policy.

Energy companies have leased 9.9m acres from the unprecedented 461m acres put up for rent by the Trump administration, according to a new analysis from the Wilderness Society.

Utah aims to reduce emissions over air quality concerns as other red states are also starting to tackle global heating

In a move to protect its ski slopes and growing economy, Utah – one of the reddest states in the nation – has just created a long-term plan to address the climate crisis.

Related: Washington state takes bold step to restrict companies from bottling local water

Planned sale of land to fossil fuel, mining and and timber concerns mirrors rollback of Obama-era pollution regulations

The Trump administration has ratcheted up its efforts amid the coronavirus pandemic to overhaul and overturn Obama-era environmental regulations and increase industry access to public lands.

The secretary of the interior, David Bernhardt, has sped efforts to drill, mine and cut timber on fragile western landscapes. Meanwhile, the EPA, headed by the former coal lobbyist Andrew Wheeler, has weakened critical environmental laws and announced in March that it would cease oversight of the nation’s polluters during the Covid-19 crisis.

An oil fire burned for more than three weeks next to a freshwater lake in Vaca Muerta, Argentina, one of the world’s largest deposits of shale oil and gas and home to the indigenous Mapuche people. In collaboration with Forensic Architecture, this video looks at the local Mapuche community’s claim that the oil and gas industry has irreversibly damaged their ancestral homeland, and with it their traditional ways of life

• Indigenous Mapuche pay high price for Argentina's fracking dream
• with thanks toO11CE (Arena Documenta + m7red, Comunidad Mapuce Campo Maripe, Confederación Mapuce del Neuquén, Observatorio Petrolero Sur and Jorgelina Villarreal
  

Nuclear Regulatory Commission keen to allow material to be disposed of by ‘land burial’ – with potentially damaging effects

The federal agency providing oversight of the commercial nuclear sector is attempting to push through a rule change critics say could allow dangerous amounts of radioactive material to be disposed of in places like municipal landfills, with potentially serious consequences to human health and the environment.

Related: Coca-Cola and Pepsi falling short on pledges over plastic – report

The NCAA struck back at the University of Kansas and its men's basketball program Thursday, calling five Level I violations that are alleged to have occurred “egregious” and arguing that they undermine and threaten" college athletics.

Manchester City defender Kyle Walker complained about being “harassed” and said Friday his family has been “torn apart” after admitting to breaking social-distancing rules again during the coronavirus pandemic.

It seems like everyone but Patriots’ head coach Bill Belichick is worried about the quarterback situation in New England. 

The NFL Players Coalition and other athletes and coaches called on the Justice Department and the FBI to launch a federal investigation into the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery in a letter Friday.

Super Bowl champion quarterback Joe Flacco underwent neck surgery last month and is expected to be out until September, according to multiple reports.

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has been the most outspoken figure in the NBA to push for the season to resume but he made it clear on Thursday that he won’t even consider opening the team’s training facility until everyone is able to get tested for coronavirus. 

Baltimore Ravens safety Earl Thomas appears to have reconciled with his wife after reports emerged earlier this week that she held him at gunpoint last month after discovering an alleged affair. 

Vanessa Bryant, the widow of late NBA star Kobe Bryant, filed a legal claim Friday against the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department over graphic photos that deputies allegedly took and shared of the helicopter crash scene where her husband, 13-year-old daughter, Gigi, and seven others were killed in late January.

Over time, trash that has been floating in the ocean gets covered in algae and other micro-organisms

Long victimized by poaching and deforestation, the primate species is in the midst of a surprising rebound that is sparking new hopes of recovery