Residents of Highland Park, Ill., walked the route of last year's Independence Day parade to honor the seven people who were killed, and dozens injured, when a young man with a semiautomatic rifle opened fire. The Chicago suburb planned the event to "symbolize the reclaiming" of the route and "build resiliency together." Meanwhile, mass shootings on Sunday and Monday killed at least 13 people in Baltimore, suburban St. Louis, Fort Worth and Philadelphia. |
Gov. J.B. Pritzker (far left) and Sen. Tammy Duckworth (in power chair) join yesterday's community walk. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh) |
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2. WHITE STUFF, WHITE HOUSE |
The white powder that Secret Service agents found Sunday in the White House was cocaine, according to law enforcement sources familiar with the preliminary test results. President Joe Biden was at Camp David that night when the White House was briefly evacuated after the powder was discovered. We're glad security didn't blow it out of proportion. |
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Many of those who planned summer trips abroad are still waiting on their passports to be issued or renewed months later. The State Department hasn't hired new contractors or reassigned staff since the passport agency cut roles during the pandemic's travel lull, which has long since recovered. Current waits for applications are seven to 10 weeks — an improvement from the 10 to 13 weeks that awaited those applying in March — and four to six weeks for expedited applications. |
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The last time you stayed at a hotel or resort, did you notice an extra line on the bill for a "resort fee?" What about a facility fee, destination fee, amenity fee or urban fee? They're all just hidden charges, said Clint Henderson, managing editor at the Points Guy, who explained how to challenge them. |
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Online retailers, restaurants and bars will lose the most business when federal student loan payments restart in October, but billions in lost consumer spending would still be less than 1% of what the U.S. economy produces in a year. The average borrower will have about $305 less to spend as payments begin for the first time since March 2020, when they were paused amid the Covid-19 outbreak. |
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Later this year, a New York supermarket chain will roll out smart shopping carts with built-in scanners, scales and displays that keep a running total of your grocery haul. Cheddar News took a test drive with one of the high-tech trolleys. We'd be happy if New York's cheaper grocery stores would simply put prices on their products. |
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Now that the Supreme Court has outlawed race-based affirmative action in college admissions, civil rights groups are pushing to end preferential admissions for the children of alumni and donors. A child of a Harvard University alumnus or donor to the school is about six times more likely to be admitted, and 70% of so-called legacy students are white. Lawyers for Civil Rights on Monday filed a civil rights complaint against that system, and the NAACP is supporting the effort.
Legacy of fairness — as in, admitting more fair-skinned students.
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A Harvard student attends a July 1 protest of the Supreme Court ruling. (Craig F. Walker/The Boston Globe via Getty Images) |
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Meta, the parent company of Facebook, could launch its app to challenge Twitter as soon as tomorrow. The app, called Threads, will link with Instagram and allow users to follow the same accounts, which could speed up its adoption as Twitter's owner, Elon Musk, makes unpopular changes such as moving features to a paid version of the app and limiting how many tweets users can read each day. |
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Music partially made with AI will be eligible for the 2024 Grammy Awards, but not for the parts made by AI, said the head of the group that puts on the awards. Harvey Mason Jr.'s comments clarified The Recording Academy's rules issued in June, which said songs created entirely by AI programs would not be eligible for awards.
No EGOTs for robots.
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10. ANDY COHEN ON CHEDDAR |
Reality drama king Andy Cohen joined Cheddar News to talk about balancing career and kids, his new book The Daddy Diaries and his new boozy Fresca cocktails-in-a-can, which we think sound like the perfect beverage to drink while covering New Year's Eve celebrations with Anderson Cooper. |
Andy Cohen at NYC's premiere of No Hard Feelings in June 20. (Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images) |
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Fret not, procrastinating summer traveler: There are still deals to be had for less-obvious destinations, during off-peak times, flying midweek or on Saturdays, says Katy Nastro of Going.com. (Just don't wait too much longer.) |
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Give me 48 hours w a guy i'll get him talking like "Awww Hot pocket is the mommy and pizza roll is the baby" —@freshhel
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Have a tweet you'd like us to feature? Tell us on Twitter @cheddar with the hashtag #N2KRetweet |
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