Iowa’s News Now reported the billboard, which was seen in Cedar Rapids, contained the message “Be a Willie” followed by a thumbs-up and “Not a Ted” with a thumbs-down. A second billboard showed local BBQ restaurateur Willie Fairley and read: “Leading by example. Thank you! Willie Ray” Fairley owns Willie Ray’s Q Shack, a modest and beloved joint in Cedar Rapids. On Thursday, Fairley announced his intention to head to Texas with his team the following day to help out after a winter storm left millions of Texans without power in freezing temperatures....

German-American supermodel Klum is known for going all out in extravagant and bizarre costumes, and this year she hosted her 21st annual Halloween party on Monday while dressed as a very lifelike rainworm. While the internet was buzzing over videos and photos shared of her at the party, another video of the model testing out her odd costume before its debut has recently gone viral. Part of the original video, which was posted on her Instagram on Tuesday, shows Klum wiggling on the floor in the costume to test out her worm abilities....

Tennessee now has the highest number of new COVID cases by population compared to any other state in the country, according to the latest data by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday. Tennessee is now marked a state with a high level of virus transmission, according to the CDC. The state also currently has a seven-day COVID case rate of 790.1 per 100,000 cases. “Our TN elected leadership must NOW step up & take action,” Frist wrote in a tweet on Thursday....

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Tuesday that Omicron’s subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 are expected to make up a combined 70.1 percent of the COVID variants in the country as of July 2, Reuters reported. Both of the sublineages made up 52 percent of the variants in the U.S. during the week of June 25. Researchers at Harvard Medical School said in June that new data suggests that the Omicron variants BA....

That’s because millions of Americans still are not vaccinated against COVID-19, with many still saying they have no plans to get the shot. “For the foreseeable future, the need for testing will continue,” Stephen Kissler, PhD, a research fellow in immunology and infectious diseases at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, tells Verywell. “With so many people still unvaccinated, testing continues to be important for identifying people with COVID-19 so that they can be monitored for treatment if needed and be isolated to keep others at risk from getting the virus....

According to statistics from AP, although “full vaccination rates across the six New England states range from a high of 69.4 percent in Vermont to 61.5 percent in New Hampshire”—higher than the U.S. average, 55.5 percent—parts of New England “are seeing record case counts, hospitalizations and deaths that rival pre-vaccine peaks.” “I think it’s clearly frustrating for all of us,” said Michael Pieciak, the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation’s commissioner monitoring their COVID-19 statistics....

Senators Ted Cruz of Texas, Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, and Josh Hawley of Missouri sent a letter to the president Thursday that called for a suspension of all new guest worker visas for 60 days and of certain categories of guest worker visas for a year “or until unemployment has returned to normal levels.” But, advocacy groups told Newsweek, the move is likely politically motivated to exploit the coronavirus pandemic to advance an item on the conservative agenda to make temporary restrictions on accepting new guest workers for most types of visas permanent....

“We have received thousands and thousands of complaints from New Jerseyans who feel that they have been taken advantage of during the current pandemic,” New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said in a Saturday statement. The state’s Division of Consumer Affairs has registered more than 4,700 complaints since the pandemic began. Of those complaints, more than 85 percent have been in regards to price hikes for essential items such as masks, cleaning products, disinfectants, food and bottled water....

The four organizations are Council 4 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the Connecticut Police and Fire Union, the National Association of Government Employees and the Civil Service Employees International Union Local 2001. They filed this lawsuit against U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Department of Justice. According to an Associated Press report, a 1978 federal law makes members of the armed forces forming or joining a labor organization a criminal felony....

One of the few positives to come out of the COVID pandemic was a noticeable shift in attitudes towards working from home. Once dismissed as an excuse to slack off by skeptics, COVID-19 forced many employers to reassess such practices. With many businesses experiencing little disruption as a result, some companies have opted to make home working a permanent option for those more comfortable and productive at home. For employees, working from home has improved their situation considerably....

In the post, user Stardust35 explains that she had recently been on an after dinner walk with her partner and their dog. “We were just almost back to our house,” she explains. “And another couple walking their dog were across the road. Both dogs were wagging their tails and wanted to meet so we crossed the road and the dogs were sniffing and saying hello.” She said that while chatting to the couple, “a woman whose house we were outside, opened the window and abruptly shouted ‘can you be quiet I’m trying to get my baby to sleep....

John Bennett, a former Republican member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives, was elected the chairman of the Oklahoma GOP on April 10. He beat Rogers County party activist Christine Leeviraphan, former state Rep. Charles Ortega of Altus, and Jenni White, a former teacher and outspoken critic of the Common Core curriculum for public schools, to clinch the chair. In November 2016, the same month as the U.S. presidential election, Bennett made inflammatory comments about the Democratic candidate....

The IOC called the move “the most comprehensive evolution” in the history of the Olympics. They also explained why the governing body decided to ratify the changes in a press release. Certainly, there is some buzz and excitement about these new additions. Maybe not as much as breakdancing, which will debut at the 2024 Paris Olympics, but there is still plenty of intrigue among fans of the Olympics. We’ve seen baseball and softball at the Olympics before (most recently in 2008), so we know what to expect there....

EA Sports Hockey League: Bringing authentic NHL 3-on-3 overtime to EA SPORTS Hockey League, you can now choose to play 3-on-3 full matches, opening up more ice for you and your teammates to get creative, pull off big plays and showcase brand new skill moves. With more space to attack, and to make mistakes, 3-on-3 EASHL offers higher stakes with more competition and skills. Whether you’re playing the 3-on-3 format or the traditional 6-on-6 matches, you’ll earn experience to unlock items for your skater and/or club to customize your player, team or home rink....

According to a report from The Advocate (Baton Rouge, La.) a Thursday meeting among New Orleans football coaches merely focused on prepping prospects from the area for recruiting visits. Two coaches have met with LSU’s Ed Orgeron to pledge their support, and reassure him of no impending boycott. MORE: National Signing Day: Rankings, surprises “There will be no boycott of LSU in any fashion,” Brice Brown, coach of Edna Karr High School, told The Advocate....

China gambled on globalization by joining the WTO. Chinese business, particularly its still massively inefficient state companies, will be forced to compete on the world’s terms. It will have to phase out the quotas and subsidies that now protect these cosseted industries. The transition will be difficult, but the Chinese understand one key thing: if they are successful, competition will also make them rich. On American shores, the prospect of free trade looks even more promising, as fast-track legislation squeaked through the House of Representatives last Thursday, 215 votes to 214....

Jack Del Rio was introduced as Oakland’s new coach on Friday and said the team’s young quarterback, Derek Carr, needs a “a great support system.” “It starts with knowing that there’s good leadership in place … that we can build this team, that we can help the running game be strong, the defense be strong and Derek Carr be developed,” Del Rio said. “So, it’s not all about him doing it by himself....

And it doesn’t look good. The Grand Canyon-like gap between the two parties on how to address the struggling economy has persisted for months. Only this time, the election is just 39 days away and a fierce partisan battle over a Supreme Court vacancy is consuming nearly all of the oxygen in the halls of Congress—exacerbating the realistic chances that an agreement is reached. House Democrats are attempting to revive the lifeless pandemic relief talks by crafting a $2....

In primates, which include not only humans themselves but some of the closest relatives to humans in the animal kingdom, there are often notable similarities between us and them. Though there is one ritual that scientists have been keeping an eye on for decades. In what has been observed now hundreds of times since 1915, many species of primates—though particularly common among large apes and Old-World monkeys—have been found to not only interact with but sometimes even carry their young for days on end after they have died, according to Live Science....

Initial reports indicated the fight began when people at the establishment recognized Boykin. In the video, you can see him getting pushed out of the bar and throwing punches on his way out. While you can’t hear what’s being said, you can see the patrons shouting at the football player once he’s in the street. MORE: Results from every bowl game | Trevone Boykin apologizes for arrest Eventually, a number of cops arrived on the scene and that’s when you see Boykin reemerge in the video....