Daily : Tuesday, May 24

‘Blue Lives Matter’ bill will classify cop attacks as hate crimes – NY Daily News

Louisiana cops, firefighters and EMS officers will soon be given the same legal protections as minority groups under a divisive new bill, lawmakers say.

North Carolina school board will stop naming valedictorians because of ‘unhealthy competition’

Like Olympians seek gold medals, the ultimate honor for high schoolers is to be named valedictorian.

Parents ordered to pay N.J. school district $55K tuition in residency dispute | NJ.com

The separated parents of five children who continued attending Branchburg’s schools last year after they moved out of the township must reimburse the school district $55,000 in , an Administrative Law judge has ruled.

Teacher Gets $60k After Co-Workers Won’t Call Her ‘They’ | The Daily Caller

A “transmasculine” at an Oregon elementary school has been awarded $60,000 by her school district as compensation for harassment she claims to have suffered on the job, including being referred to by the wrong pronoun.

‘We can’t be the United Nations’: Milwaukee frozen custard shop defends ‘English only’ policy

On Tuesday, Joey Sanchez stepped up to the counter of Leon’s Frozen Custard, a 70-year-old Milwaukee staple, and listened to the customer in front of him place his order in Spanish.

‘It started tickling me’: Passenger recounts horror at meeting tarantula on Air Transat flight – Montreal – CBC News

Catherine Moreau was watching a movie on her iPad on a flight to Montreal when she felt what she thought was a wire brushing against her.

President Barack Obama will be in Elkhart next week – 953MNC.com

President Barack will return to next week seven years after he visited the town during the Great Recession.

Facebook Admits Bias Against Conservatives | The Burning Truth

Facebook announced Monday it was sending employees out for retraining and would discontinue some of its practices as it sought to defend itself against charges of political bias against conservatives.

Facebook: Nothing happened with Trending Topics … but we’re making some changes « Hot Air

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. But if someone’s fixing it, then it’s difficult to believe it ain’t broke, right? Especially when that someone is a multibillionaire and the something is his Golden Goose:

Middle School Suspends Boy 9 Days For Hot Pepper Flakes | The Daily Caller

Officials at Bates Middle School in Sumter, S.C. have suspended an eighth-grade boy for nine days — the rest of the school year — because he brought a tiny pouch of Carolina Reaper pepper flakes to school and gave some pepper flakes to friends.

Adult smoking rate in US is falling fast | Daily Mail Online

The rate among adults in the U.S. fell to 15 per cent last year thanks to the biggest one-year decline in more than 20 years, a new report reveals.

CDC: HIV Caused By The South’s Homophobia | The Daily Caller

An issue brief published on Tuesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control claimed that that Southerners’ “,” and “homophobia” may be causing high rates in the South that are disproportionately high among African-Americans and homosexuals.

IRS Employee Promises to ‘Go After and Target’ Conservative Orgs

“I am a lowly clerk at the IRS, looking at your application for tax-free status. I go to your web page to see the goals of your group and one of the goals of your group is to abolish the IRS.

Biohacking: How a tiny implant can unlock doors with the wave of a hand | CTV News

Followers of the movement, which emerged around the mid-2000s, believe that technology can be harnessed to enhance the human body. Some say these implants could provide new technology-based capabilities and render wallets and keys obsolete. Some even suggest that could offer a technological leap forward in human evolution.

Next up: Synthetic muscles…

Anyone who has ever smashed their iPhone’s screen or depleted a battery knows that devices are destined to deteriorate and eventually die. But what if they could one day heal themselves? That’s the vision Chao Wang, a polymer researcher and assistant professor in the chemistry department at the University of California, Riverside has for the future — and he helped invent a super-stretchy, self-healing polymer that could one day make it possible.

Amputee Gamer Gets Metal Gear Solid Inspired Prosthetic Arm Complete With USB Port, Display, Flying Drone

Veteran Who Filed for Benefits in 2001 Has Yet to Receive Them

Talk about clout. When retired US Army Leonard K. Jackson talks of his years-long wait to secure disability for a range of physical and mental health issues suffered while serving, he has the White House behind him. That’s right, the White House, as the Administration has used Jackson as a poster boy of sorts for Obama’s efforts to simplify and speed up the appeals process.

Dropped ‘Gender Talk’ After Negative Polling…

stopped referring to herself as the potential “youngest woman president” during campaign stump speeches after polling showed that it was not helping with voters and donors.

A meatless burger that bleeds vegetable juices just debuted at Whole Foods – The Washington Post

It was the steak dinners, Ethan Brown says, that changed his life. He had embarked on a career in the clean-energy industry, a path befitting an environmentalist out to save the world. But the incongruity he perceived among his colleagues, who would lament environmental problems while eating beef, pushed Brown — a vegetarian since age 18 — in a different direction.