Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) 2020 Democratic presidential campaign team announced 15 new hires today, including 10 women.
Among the slew of hirings is Briahna Joy Gray, a former attorney and the senior politics editor at The Intercept, who will join the staff as Sanders' national press secretary.
The campaign says that now every single one of its teams "has women, and predominantly women of color, in leadership positions," per Refinery29. Indeed, women make up around 70 percent of the national leadership team.
The campaign, HuffPost reported, was surely determined to address concerns leftover from the Vermont senator's 2016 presidential run, when the staff was criticized for including few women and people of color. That campaign staff was also plagued by allegations of sexual harassment, which several female staffers said were ignored.
Sanders also hired journalist Dave Sirota, who used to serve as Sanders' press secretary in the House of Representatives, as a speechwriter and senior adviser. Sirota, whom The Atlantic has called Sanders' "Twitter attack dog" because of his reputation for "savaging" Democratic opponents, had reportedly been working for the senator in an unofficial capacity for several months, despite Sanders' remarks that suggested he wanted his campaign to remain free of antagonism. Read more on Sirota's hiring at The Atlantic. Tim O'Donnell
The same scientists who reported in 2018 that they likely discovered a large saltwater lake under the ice on Mars' south pole believe they have found three additional lakes in the same area.
The researchers published their findings Monday in the journal Nature Astronomy. The scientists used radar data from the European Space Agency's Mars Express spacecraft, which was collected by its Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding (MARSIS). MARSIS sent out radio waves that bounced off the surface and subsurface layers of Mars, and the scientists were able to determine the material present at each location based on how the signal reflected back.
The high reflectivity indicated there were bodies of liquid water trapped about a mile beneath the ice, Nature reports. For their study, the researchers used 134 observations from 2012 to 2019, and they figured the lakes are spread out over nearly 29,000 square miles. "It's a complex system," the University of Rome's Elena Pettinelli, a co-author of the study, told Nature. While nothing is confirmed right now, Pettinelli said it is exciting to think that "there may have been a lot of water on Mars. And if there was water, there was the possibility of life." Catherine Garcia
The Chateau Boswell Winery, one of the few privately owned family wineries remaining in California's Napa Valley, was destroyed on Sunday night as the Glass fire swept through the property.
Located in St. Helena, the Chateau Boswell Winery was established in 1979, and is one of dozens of wineries that dot the famed Silverado Trail. The Glass fire has burned at least 11,000 acres, and KPIX reports that three other wineries — Reverie Winery, Viader Winery, and Davis Estates — are being threatened by flames. A boutique inn and several other buildings have also been destroyed in St. Helena.
Two new fast-moving fires, the Boysen fire and Shady fire, started burning on Sunday night, and are being fueled by high winds. The fires have forced at least 35,000 people to evacuate from Napa and Sonoma counties. Catherine Garcia
After Chadwick Boseman's tragic death, Sienna Miller has shared a story about the late actor's "astounding" generosity.
Miller revealed to Empire that when she starred opposite Boseman in 2019's 21 Bridges, he donated a part of his salary on the movie so she would be paid fairly.
"I know that everybody understands about the pay disparity in Hollywood, but I asked for a number that the studio wouldn't get to," Miller explained. "And because I was hesitant to go back to work and my daughter was starting school and it was an inconvenient time, I said, 'I'll do it if I'm compensated in the right way.' And Chadwick ended up donating some of his salary to get me to the number that I had asked for. He said that that was what I deserved to be paid."
Miller said this move by Boseman, who also produced 21 Bridges, was "about the most astounding thing that I've experienced," and something that "just doesn't happen" in Hollywood.
"It's just unfathomable to imagine another man in that town behaving that graciously or respectfully," she said. "I've told other male actor friends of mine that story and they all go very very quiet and go home and probably have to sit and think about things for a while. But there was no showiness, it was, 'Of course I'll get you to that number, because that's what you should be paid.'"
Miller told Empire that while she hasn't shared this story before, she decided to because it's a "testament to who he was." She's the latest former co-star of Boseman to remember him in recent weeks; Black Panther's Lupita Nyong'o recently recalled "being struck by his quiet, powerful presence," saying "his power lives on and will reverberate for generations to come." Brendan Morrow
Millions of Americans were able to work at home and stay safe as the coronavirus pandemic exploded and continues to rage. But at least 1.87 million people kept working in America's farm and food processing industries — 790,000 of whom are immigrants — putting their health on the line to keep America fed, The Center for Public Integrity and Mother Jones report.
About 43 percent of the 1.87 million frontline workers in 10 food processing industries that kept functioning through the pandemic are immigrants, Public Integrity found by analyzing census numbers and other data. A third of them are undocumented. Immigrants make up a far greater portion of these high-risk jobs than they do the total U.S. workforce, leaving them disproportionately likely to contract COVID-19.
And yet the undocumented haven't been compensated for the additional risk they took on during the pandemic. They were left out of the federal government's coronavirus relief packages; Even filing jointly with an undocumented person would erase a citizen or legal resident's stimulus money. Unemployment and local relief programs were also restricted from the undocumented, pushing them to go to work even though meatpacking and other agricultural and food industry jobs often require working side by side. When some workers did fall ill, they either avoided medical treatment or pursued it without health insurance, they tell Public Integrity.
Beyond a lack of fair compensation throughout the deadly pandemic, immigrants have also had to deal with nonstop attacks by President Trump. Read more at The Center for Public Integrity. Kathryn Krawczyk
Judge Amy Coney Barrett has yet to be confirmed to the Supreme Court, or even appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee, but there's been plenty of speculation about how she'll rule on certain cases if she fills the seat left vacant by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. When it comes to areas of the law related to science and the environment, however, "she's a bit of a cipher," Robin Craig, an environmental law scholar at the University of Utah told Nature.
Sure, there are some expectations. Given Barrett's reputation as a conservative-minded judge, other legal scholars believe she'll do her part to roll back environmental regulations and curb the Environmental Protection Agency's ability to impose its rules on industry. Daniel Farber of the University of California, Berkeley, said he thinks that a potentially-strengthened conservative majority on the high court would "pretty much" leave the world "with more climate change and fewer wetlands and less biodiversity."
But ultimately, Nature notes, the evidence just isn't there to get a clear picture of Barrett's specific thinking on science-related cases, since those don't usually come before the appeals court she oversees. As the Supreme Court has shown over the years, including some recent decisions, justices don't always follow the presumed party line. Read more at Nature. Tim O'Donnell
President Trump's former campaign manager Brad Parscale was hospitalized this week after officials say he was threatening to hurt himself and after he allegedly loaded a gun during an argument with his wife, who told police he "hits her."
The Fort Lauderdale Police Department previously confirmed to CNN that officers on Sunday detained Parscale, who was "threatening to harm himself" inside his home while he was "armed and had access to multiple firearms," and on Monday, additional details emerged on the incident via police reports. According to the Miami Herald, documents describe how Parscale "refused to leave his home and was ultimately tackled by officers on the street when he emerged shirtless with a beer in his hand."
According to BuzzFeed News, the police report also says that Parscale allegedly "took his handgun, racked the slide 'in the face of his wife' and loaded it in front" of her during an argument on Sunday. Parscale's wife showed officers "bruises on her arms from an argument two days prior," the Herald reports.
"While speaking with [Candice] Parscale I noticed several large sized contusions on both of her arms, her cheek and forehead," Detective Steven Smith reportedly wrote. "When I asked how she received the bruising, [Candice] Parscale stated Brad Parscale hits her."
Officials on Monday also released body cam footage showing Parscale being tackled to the ground outside of his home. According to BuzzFeed News, Parscale's wife described how he had recently been depressed and was making suicidal comments, also saying he had been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Authorities, the Herald writes, removed "two shotguns, two rifles, a .22 caliber revolver and five handguns" from his home. Read more at the Miami Herald. Brendan Morrow