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It looks like President Donald Trump’s sweeping construction projects have damaged yet another national monument.A fountain in the German-American Friendship Garden on the National Mall is in bad shape after a contractor vehicle drove over it, Newsweek reported Thursday.The center of the fountain has collapsed into the ground, and stones surrounding it were severely cracked, according to recent photographs captured by photojournalist Andrew Leyden. Repairs are reportedly underway.This recent damage to a national monument comes amid Trump’s sweeping renovation efforts around Washington, D.C. This isn’t the first time that federal contractors hired by the Trump administration have damaged a historic landmark.Just a few hundred yards away from the cracked fountain, renovations on the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool have been disastrous. Shortly after construction was completed, large sections of the pool’s new blue lining began to peel off. Experts have suggested the peeling was the result of shoddy application—not shadowy vandals, as administration officials have suggested. Trump’s disastrous renovations on the Reflecting Pool have already cost taxpayers more than $16 million. The iconic monument has been left drained, surrounded by chain-link fences, and under strict surveillance. A short walk away, the $69 million worth of renovations on the Lincoln Memorial Undercroft have also had issues. The National Parks Service has struggled to maintain safe conditions to display historical documents, leading them to be removed from the brand-new exhibit last week.  

Khan will chair the city’s economic development board, which oversees the leasing and use of huge chunks of city property, including Hudson Yards.

Public backlash has pushed some counties to pull funding for Flock cameras and issue moratoriums on data centers.

Resumen-English. Denounces US Lies Used to Justify Aggression. Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel rejected the report released by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The president described the document as part of a “transnational neo-McCarthyism” driven by a “clearly fascist movement” that “resorts to lies to create pretexts for sustaining aggression against Cuba and curtailing civil […]

Newly minted Senator Darline Graham, stepping in for her recently deceased brother Lindsey, only has one political donation on record—and it was to a South Carolina state senator who helped kill an abortion ban. The Daily Beast reported on Tuesday that Graham in 2020 donated $100 to state Senator Katrina Shealy, who is perhaps best known for filibustering the state’s near-total abortion ban in 2023. Shealy was part of South Carolina’s “sister senators,” a group of five female state lawmakers—two Republicans, a Democrat, and an independent— who were in staunch opposition to the ban. Shealy lost her primary the next year, largely due to this vote. Graham tried to bury the news of her ties to Shealy, writing in a statement on X on Wednesday that she believed in “protecting the sanctity of human life at every stage.”“For years, I’ve committed my life to fighting for vulnerable populations, and no one is more vulnerable than an unborn child who cannot speak for themselves,” she wrote. “As a mother, I know that welcoming children into this world is God’s greatest gift. I’m proud to be pro-life and to stand up for the unborn and expecting moms. I will not waver in my support for life, pregnant women, and families.”The MAGA-verse doesn’t seem to buy it. “Darline Graham Nordone is good friends with Katrina Shealy, the disgraced former South Carolina state senator who is PRO-ABORTION and OPPOSED the Heartbeat bill,” one conservative X account commented. “Darline even donated money to her campaign.”“I’m going to ask @LIFEforSC to not consider her for the coveted ‘incumbent endorsement.’ She is fully unproven. She backed pro-abortion Senator Katrina Shealy. Vote @RalphNorman,” said another, referring to the representative who announced last week that he’d be running for Lindsey Graham’s seat in the August 11 special election. “You donated to Healy who is pro abortion and was against the heartbeat bill.  So either you are NOT pro life or you dont know who you are supporting,” wrote yet another. “Both are disqualifying.”Graham has not fully explained her donation to Shealy. PBS reported that the two women are in fact good friends and often share wine on each other’s porches. And while Graham cast herself as a hard-line conservative in the same mold as her brother, this recent revelation may lead to more problems for her in the future as she runs for her own six-year term after finishing his current one. 

Codepink While Begging for More Money to Commit More War Crimes. CODEPINK Disrupts Secretary of War Crimes Pete Hegseth During Senate Appropriations Hearing. Washington, DC – On Tuesday afternoon, activists from CODEPINK, Vets About Face DMV, and the National Iranian American Council disrupted Secretary of War Crimes Pete Hegseth during his testimony before the U.S. Senate […]

They also voted on an amendment to ban transgender girls from women’s sports in K-12 schools run by the military.

The blueprint also pushes states to adopt restrictions on voting rights as people struggle to afford groceries.

Troy Jackson steps out of Graham Platner’s shadow to take on Susan Collins in November. The post Who’s the Most Concerned About Maine? appeared first on The American Prospect.