Iowa Declares State of Emergency As Bird Flu Outbreak Spreads

Brendan O'Connor · 05/02/15 02:30PM

Governor Terry Branstad declared a state of emergency for Iowa on Friday, citing risks from the rapidly spreading bird flu outbreak, Reuters reports. The announcement was made after officials identified the virus’ presence at four new poultry farms. Iowa is the third state to declare a state of emergency, after Minnesota and Wisconsin did so in April.

A Moment of Bliss on the Vegas Strip That Soon Will Fade Away

Hamilton Nolan · 05/02/15 12:37PM

An old man sitting on the wall outside the MGM Grand yesterday and smoking a cigarette regarded the protesters streaming by dubiously. “Hey, they say don’t hit women,” he said out loud to no one. “A woman hit me, I’m hittin her back!”

An Open Letter to My White Grandfather

Victor Ray · 05/02/15 12:00PM

I’ve started this letter five times and deleted it five times. Even though we’ve never met I’ve known you all my life. I learned you existed from a letter addressed to someone else. A few months ago, my mom told me you wanted to meet me along with my wife and son. I was surprised. I hear we have some things in common. You love Laphraoig and, like me, tend to overindulge in it. You are slow to recant an opinion. You’re an avid reader of political books, although I imagine our choices here likely differ. But I struggle to understand what meeting you would accomplish. In an earlier draft of this letter, I wrote that I forgave you. But I realized that I was writing what people want to hear in instances like this, not what I actually feel. How do you forgive a forty-year absence?

Hudson Hongo · 05/02/15 12:00PM

According to CNN, the death toll from last week’s devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Nepal now stands at 7,040 with another 14,398 injured. “It will be a miracle if anyone is found alive,” a government spokesperson told the network. “But we have not completely given up yet and are continuing to look.”

16 Arrested After Police and Protesters Clash in Seattle

Hudson Hongo · 05/02/15 11:00AM

A day of peaceful May Day demonstrations in Seattle was followed by violence on Friday, CNN reports, with black bloc protesters hurling bricks, wrenches and burning objects at police and officers responding with pepper spray and flash bang grenades.

Man Sues MillerCoors for Pretending Blue Moon Is a "Craft Beer"

Jay Hathaway · 05/01/15 05:05PM

A San Diego beer drinker is suing massive alcohol conglomerate MillerCoors, the second macro-est macrobrewer in the world (behind Anheuser-Busch Inbev), for false advertising because he’s been buying Blue Moon all these years, believing it was a “craft beer.” Did he actually drink any of it? Because that probably would have cleared things up pretty quick.