What’s At Stake This Summer As Trump Targets Heat and Climate Experts

Experts predict this summer might be hotter than average—and the U.S. is not prepared to meet the challenge. Much of the Midwest and Northeast are forecasted to see temperatures “persistently above average” according to a Weather Channel prediction, while the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Climate Prediction Center estimates that the entire country will see above normal temperatures—with the only difference being in severity. 

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This comes as the Trump Administration has conducted layoffs on climate and heat related initiatives and cut funding for research grants on extreme heat. Experts warn that this will risk the country’s ability to protect communities from extreme heat.

Heat experts at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the National Integrated Heat Health Information System (NIHHIS) were told in early April that their positions would be eliminated as part of the cuts made by the Trump Administration’s Department of Governmental Efficiency. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) entire environmental health unit was cut, though some jobs were restored last week. 

“What was lost there is just a giant value to communities,” says V. Kelly Turner, associate professor of urban planning at University of California, Los Angeles. 

Extreme heat is not recognized as a disaster in the U.S.—despite being the largest weather-related killer in the country. Heat deaths have doubled in the past 24 years, and the number has been steadily rising since 2016, according to a study published in JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association, last August. 

Despite this, the issue has long lacked the same federal resources given to other natural disasters. “Heat actually doesn’t have a home in the federal government,” says Turner. “Other disasters, like fires or hurricanes have programs and institutions and policies and funding streams associated with them—heat didn’t have any of that.”

Read more: How to Know When High Temperatures Are Getting Dangerous

Previous administrations were only beginning to address the issue. The Obama Administration founded NIHHIS, an interagency network aimed at providing actionable solutions to protect people from extreme heat, which remained operational throughout the first Trump Administration. Last July, a working group convened by the Biden Administration published the first ever “National Heat Strategy”—which has now been removed from government websites by the current Trump Administration. The bipartisan Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) dedicated funds towards climate resilience projects—many of which addressed extreme heat on a community level—but the future of the law’s many provisions remains unclear. 

”The government was catching up,” says Turner. “We only kind of got halfway up the hill, and now we’re rolling the ball back down.”

Communities in the U.S. are already woefully underprepared to address extreme heat management—and experts say cuts will only worsen our response. 

“We’re not prepared for the heat we’re experiencing today, let alone the heat we will experience due to climate change. We are a nation unprepared for extreme temperatures,” says Ladd Keith, director of the Heat Resilience Initiative. “Really we need a whole government approach to address extreme heat, and it needs to be especially [aimed at] supporting small local communities that don’t have the resources to address it on their own.”

Read more: Extreme Heat Is Endangering America’s Workers—and Its Economy

Today, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) began a public hearing on the creation of a first-of-its-kind proposal for federal heat health standards for workers. But experts say it could be on the chopping block after the Trump Administration fired federal heat experts from NIOSH in the spring.

“The general consensus is, among labor advocates and those who’ve been working on the OSHA rule, that it will probably not survive the rulemaking process,” says Keith. 

Both Keith and Turner were working on the Center for Heat Resilient Communities, an IRA funded program that aimed at helping local communities come up with their own heat action plans. The day before they were expected to announce the first cohort of cities taking part, their funding was cut by the Administration. 

The funding cut, Turner says, highlights a dichotomy between the Trump Administration’s aim to leave disaster response to communities—without providing them with the tools to respond. 

“There’s a general trend right now of saying the federal government shouldn’t have a hand in addressing disasters at all and that that should be a state by state issue, or even a community by community issue,” she says. “The problem is that would be an unfunded mandate, and I don’t know that there is the knowledge store, and there definitely is not the financial wherewithal, to actually address heat in that way.”

source https://time.com/7294598/whats-at-stake-this-summer-trump-cuts-heat-climate-experts/

How Jaws Wreaked Havoc on Marine Conservation

Jaws was one of Hollywood’s first viral summer blockbusters—a global, collective event from the moment it opened in theaters exactly 50 years ago this week. To mark the date on June 20, Steven Spielberg has filmed a new introduction to the movie, which will have a summer run in theaters.

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Millions born long after the movie last disappeared from big screens still know the plot of the 1975 thriller: A terrifying great white shark attacks fun-loving beach-goers, sets off a panic, and is hunted down by a local sports fisherman. The iconic line “don’t go into the water,” seemed to live on in memory for years.

A half-century on, ocean advocates lament the impact the film had on the public’s view of sharks. Among its fiercest critics is endurance swimmer and U.N. patron of the oceans, Lewis Pugh. Raised in Plymouth, U.K. and Cape Town, South Africa, Pugh gained fame for his long-distance swim across the icy Geographic North Pole in 2007 without a wetsuit. He has also swum the Antarctic sea, and over long distances in every ocean in the world—including last month in the waters around Martha’s Vineyard where Jaws was filmed.

Speaking to TIME at the June U.N. Oceans Conference in Nice, Pugh says the world is still suffering the aftereffects of Jaws. Environmentalists say the film led to the wide destruction of shark populations, and that it instilled fear in many about swimming in the sea, markedly setting back the cause of ocean conservation for generations and inspiring a rise in shark trophy hunters. 

For the past few years, Spielberg, now 78, has expressed remorse over Jaws—even though it sealed his major-league status as a director, while he was still in his 20s. “I regret the decimation of the shark population because of the book and film,” he told the BBC in 2022. “I truly and to this day regret that.” 

Far from Hollywood, on a dockside in Nice, while politicians holed up in the U.N. conference debating how to save the oceans, Pugh spoke about the film’s impact, and how to rewrite the story of sharks.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

TIME: The movie Jaws really portrayed sharks as villains.

Pugh: It turned them into monsters. And they are nothing of the sort. They are essential to a healthy ecosystem. They are like the lions of the savannah. Imagine taking out all the lions in Africa. Very soon the wildebeest, the zebra, the impala, everything would be overgrazed, and there would be no food. There would be an ecological collapse. It’s the same with sharks. 

How are you marking the 50^th anniversary of the movie?

I went to Martha’s Vineyard, which is where it was filmed, and did the first unassisted swim [without a wetsuit or goggles] around the island. It was to me [about] introducing sharks to a new generation. I swam around Martha’s Vineyard over 12 days. It’s a big island, it’s just over 100 kilometers, or about 60 miles.

I’ve been swimming for 40 years, and Martha’s Vineyard turned out to be the toughest swim of my life. We suddenly went into a 10-day storm. Martha’s Vineyard is incredibly exposed to the North Atlantic. It’s out on Cape Cod. We had 10 days of really, really bad weather. Some days I went literally just one mile in the right direction.

It became very, very challenging to just keep calm and carry on. It would be calm, then I’d go over some sea grass which was black and whipping around. 

Nature can be very, very tough.

Steven Spielberg seems to now regret Jaws.

He expressed regret on the British radio show “Desert Island Discs.” 

Has there ever been a movie that’s been more detrimental to the environment?  And also: It terrified swimmers and ocean-goers for a generation—actually more than a generation now. It had a very significant impact. 

What’s the story we need to tell instead? 

We really do need to change that narrative about sharks. They are incredible animals. They’ve survived five mass extinctions. They are older than the dinosaurs. They are incredible, they are essential, and they are really threatened. 

I always tell people these numbers: 

First, 50: It’s been 50 years, and we now need a new narrative for the next 50. The second one is 274,000: That’s the number of sharks that are killed on average globally every day by commercial fishing.

How is that possible? 

It’s a number that is so deeply shocking. The other great threat to sharks other than commercial fishing is indifference. People believe sharks don’t matter. They do matter. You take out all the sharks and you will have a watery desert.

The third number is: If you multiply 274,000 sharks killed a day, it’s about 100 million a year. If that is not ecocide, I don’t know what is.

Why are they being killed on such a giant scale? 

[Many] kill sharks for their fins or for food, or they’re killed while they are trying to catch something like tuna in nets.

What fish do you eat? 

I don’t eat fish. I don’t any seafood. I eat a little bit of chicken. Look at what’s happening to the fish populations around the world… 

What if the fish are farmed? 

I would want to know where the food is coming from that the fish are fed. There’s this extraordinary situation where to farm salmon you need large amounts of anchovies and sardines to feed the salmon. In my view a lot of it is done very unsustainably.

The numbers are shocking: It takes 10 times the sardines in order to get one kilogram of salmon. [The industry says the ratio is closer to 1.7 kilos of wild-fish feed for a kilo of salmon] You are hoovering up the ocean in order to get a product which is higher up the value chain to sell to people in America or Europe.

It’s a very personal choice what you eat. What I’ve learned is when you tell people what to eat, very, very quickly you divide people. But our oceans have been so overfished, and we’re sitting here right now on a sea, the Mediterranean, which is one of the most overfished in the world.

Are you hopeful that leaders will work together to protect the oceans?

You’ve got to be very careful about hope. It can be an abdication of responsibility, a feeling that some other countries are overfishing, that some countries are damaging the environment, that someone is going to come up with some magical solution. 

You have to earn hope, by taking action every single day. We’ve got to face reality head on. The stability we have had with our climate for the past 12,000 years has now ended. I see that because I’m in the ocean. I’m in the Antarctic frequently. 

What do you think these politicians could be doing? 

The leaders have got a very important responsibility. The decision whether to take action now, or not to take action, will impact every person on this planet, and the whole of the animal kingdom. It’s a very big responsibility.

The big changes I’m seeing from 40 years in the ocean: The impact of the climate crisis. I swim a lot in the Arctic and the Antarctic and see the ice melting so quickly. Ice is essential for the health of the planet, keeping it in a temperature we can live in.

I swam the length of the English Channel for 49 days. I saw a few dolphins, one shark, sea birds, and nothing else. And I had my head in the water for 49 days!  What I did see is lots and lots and lots of jellyfish. That is a sign of warming water.

The last thing I’m seeing is plastic pollution—everywhere, even places where humans have never been, like in Antarctica or high up in the Arctic. There’s the conveyor belt of currents taking plastic from a beach in Florida, into the north Atlantic high up into the Arctic.

Is there a sense of urgency among governments? 

No. If there was a sense of urgency they wouldn’t speak about preserving 30% of the oceans by 2030, which is what all the nations have agreed. And in order for that to become international law 60 nations have to ratify it into law. 

It’s underwhelming. And it shows that they don’t understand the scale and the speed of the crisis coming at us.

We’ve been focused on every single other crisis. The environment always gets kicked down the line. Nature won’t wait until you have time to negotiate deals.

So why did the U.N. call the global oceans conference this month? 

It’s important. You have governments, you have NGOs, you have business, you have scientists, coming together. They need to knock their heads together and find solutions. The ocean impacts all of us. You can’t be isolationist when it comes to oceans.

Is it important that the U.S. has taken itself out of the process? 

It’s extremely important. They have an enormous coastline. They have enormous influence in the world. As I say, you can’t be isolationist when it comes to the environment, and believe you can look after your own waters and you’ll be fine. No, it doesn’t happen like that. 

Americans have added so much over the years to the debate. It’s better to be in the room and share your thoughts, than not being in the room. 

source https://time.com/7294556/how-jaws-wreaked-havoc-on-marine-conservation/

Trump Orders ICE to ‘Expand’ Deportations in Democratic Cities

President Donald Trump said he wants to “expand efforts to detain and deport illegal Aliens in America’s largest cities, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, where Millions upon Millions of Illegal Aliens reside” in a lengthy Sunday night Truth Social post aimed at Democrats.

“These, and other such Cities, are the core of the Democrat Power Center, where they use Illegal Aliens to expand their Voter Base, cheat in Elections, and grow the Welfare State,” he added.

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Trump also said he had directed his entire administration “to put every resource possible behind this effort, and reverse the tide of Mass Destruction Migration.”

The comments follow widespread “No Kings” protests that swept across the U.S. on Saturday— including in Washington D.C. alongside a military parade organized by the President—in response to what demonstrators say are his authoritarian excesses.

Sunday’s post came after Trump had earlier expressed concerns about deportations harming businesses in the American heartland. “Our great Farmers and people in the Hotel and Leisure business have been stating that our very aggressive policy on immigration is taking very good, long time workers away from them, with those jobs being almost impossible to replace,” he wrote on Thursday.

According to The New York Times, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official Tatum King sent an email to regional leaders on Thursday that, “Effective today, please hold on all work site enforcement investigations/operations on agriculture (including aquaculture and meat packing plants), restaurants and operating hotels.”

The Trump Administration is reportedly divided on immigration raids. On Wednesday, Trump took a call from Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins who relayed alarm from farmers and agricultural groups. But other officials, including Stephen Miller, have urged a hardline approach.

ICE raids in Los Angeles have sparked major demonstrations, which prompted Trump to deploy 4,000 National Guards and 700 Marines last week, against the wishes of state officials.

source https://time.com/7294521/us-trump-deportation-drive-democratic-cities/

Why Every New Parent Should get a ‘Transition Month’ at Work

In the United States, maternity leave is a patchwork of policies. Some are generous, but most are lacking in adequate time, pay, flexibility, or realistic expectations. Almost all are failing to account for one of the hardest parts of postpartum recovery: the return to work. It’s during the first four weeks back in the office after maternity leave—the “transition month”—that many new mothers struggle the most. From logistics involving pumping, newly established childcare, and shifting to a completely different daily routine—to the mental battle of actually leaving their baby for the first time combined with sleepless nights and surging hormones—it’s a very challenging and crucial time in the postpartum journey. It’s also the time when the pendulum swings and many decide they cannot continue, having to give up their career altogether. In fact, an average of 1 in 4 women exit the workforce during their first year of motherhood.

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This is not because they don’t want to work. It’s because the system, which was never designed with mothers in mind, expects them to rapidly transform overnight. One day, they are entirely consumed with the demands of caring for a newborn: navigating feeding schedules, sleep routines, postpartum hormone surges and physical recuperation, a new family dynamic, and more changes that only new moms can understand. The next day, as soon as their leave is up—if they even have leave to begin with—it’s back to meetings, emails, and expectations that they perform at their pre-baby level, if not higher, without any period of adjustment.

A transition month offers a realistic compromise. Instead of forcing mothers to choose between quitting or returning at full speed, a structured, reduced-hours model allows them to reintegrate while reestablishing career momentum.

I’ve learned this from personal experience. During my first pregnancy, I thought I was prepared to return to work after maternity leave. I had built my career in high-pressure environments after all—starting in the White House Social Office during the Bush Administration, later moving to Dallas to lead global events for the George W. Bush Presidential Center, where I spent nearly a decade of my career. But it wasn’t until those early post-partum months that I was faced with the conflict of how my life as a mother and my career could co-exist.

When I had my first child, I planned to take just the “standard” 12 weeks of maternity leave and jump back into my role early and ahead of the game, as I had done so often in my career. I loved my job and was eager to return. I believed and trusted that the standard policy would give me enough time to adjust. But in reality, as 12 weeks passed, I was just starting to get into a routine with my baby. I hadn’t even begun to figure out logistics like pumping schedules and nap routines, or started to consider the emotional weight of leaving my newborn behind each day. It wasn’t just physically exhausting; it was mentally destabilizing.

It was even harder when I was diagnosed with postpartum OCD, which I had never even heard of. Fast forward to today, and nearly 75% of my full-time team has also experienced postpartum depression, anxiety, or OCD, which goes to show how commonly these struggles affect working mothers and how little support we receive in navigating them.

Once I gave myself permission to take our company’s full 16 weeks off, plus a transition month working at 50% capacity, I came to realize just how vital that time was to my mental health and my ability to return to work. It felt like the air I needed to survive. I eased back in with reduced hours, a flexible schedule, and remote work. It gave me the time and space to gradually adjust, troubleshoot childcare issues, and figure out how this new version of my life could work. I still struggled, of course. But I didn’t break.

Read More: The Heart-Shattering Feeling of Going Back to Work After Having a Baby

This concept of a phased return isn’t radical. Many European countries already have policies that allow for a gradual re-entry into the workforce after parental leave, recognizing that postpartum recovery isn’t just about physical healing—it’s about restructuring your entire life. Yet in America, where workplace culture has often prized productivity over personal well-being, even suggesting a transition period can feel like asking for too much, rather than advocating for a necessity.

This model also doesn’t just benefit mothers; it benefits employers, too. Studies done pre and post-pandemic show that workplace flexibility reduces turnover and increases employee engagement. When working parents are given the time and space to adjust, they are more likely to remain in their jobs and perform at a higher level. Something companies should pay attention to, as research shows that the highest-achieving, highest-earning women are often the most likely to leave their jobs after maternity leave.

We remain hopeful that federal mandates for fair, reasonable leave will one day become the new standard in the U.S. Until then, it’s up to employers to implement policies that protect the longevity of mothers in the workforce. And a transition month is a cost-effective solution where employee retention and company culture intersect.

For some companies, this could mean offering intentional career pauses or sabbaticals. For others, it could be hybrid models that allow phased returns, such as a 50% transition month where employees work reduced hours for part-time pay, or have the option to work remotely, reducing logistical burdens like commuting and childcare. Additional support could include dedicated lactation spaces, childcare stipends, or mentorship programs for returning parents. This kind of support isn’t just for large corporations with extensive resources either, it’s achievable for companies of all sizes.

My own experience running a company proves that. Despite launching just before the pandemic in 2019, navigating five team pregnancies within 13 months between 2020 and 2021, and having four core members—including myself—on maternity leave last year, our boutique event company has remained profitable and retained our talent each year since COVID.

At the end of the day, whatever it looks like, it’s a model that pays for itself. The investment in proper support is minimal compared to the high cost of losing, replacing, and re-training top talent. Because when we fail to provide adequate support for new mothers, we lose them.

America’s current workplace policies treat new mothers as if they should be grateful for having any leave at all. But survival is not the standard we should be striving for. The transition month is a small, reasonable adjustment with a massive impact—not just on individual families, but on workplace culture as a whole. A transition month is not an indulgence; it’s the missing piece of a system that was never designed with working mothers in mind. 

source https://time.com/7293659/transition-month-new-moms-work-essay/

How Involved Was the U.S. in Israel’s Attack on Iran?

The U.S. has repeatedly denied involvement in Israel’s initial attack against Iran—a position that Iran has disputed as missiles continue to fly between the two countries and the risk of further escalation looms should the world’s biggest military be pulled into the fight, which has already killed hundreds and wounded more than a thousand since Friday in Iran and killed 19 and injured hundreds in Israel, as of Monday morning.

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A number of reports, however, suggest that the U.S. may have played a greater role than has officially been admitted. 

Unnamed U.S. officials told multiple news outlets on Sunday that President Donald Trump rejected an Israeli plan to assassinate Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

“Have the Iranians killed an American yet? No. Until they do we’re not even talking about going after the political leadership,” one official told Reuters.

Israel has denied such a plan, but the reported rejection by Trump would indicate some amount of coordination between the U.S. and Israel.

The attack on Iran came amid protracted talks between the U.S. and Iran centered around Iran’s nuclear program. Trump has emphasized finding a diplomatic solution to the conflict, touting his self-professed ability to broker peace, but Iran and Israel have so far shrugged off international calls for deescalation as both sides launched new attacks early Monday.

Iran has vowed to retaliate against the U.S., too, while Trump has warned: “If we are attacked in any way, shape, or form by Iran, the full strength and might of the U.S. Armed Forces will come down on you at levels never seen before.” 

Here’s what to know about U.S. involvement so far.

“Nothing to do with the attack”

Israel launched its attacks, dubbed “Operation Rising Lion,” early Friday, targeting Iran’s nuclear facilities as well as military leaders and nuclear scientists and promising that strikes “will continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat” of Iran’s nuclear program. Iran launched retaliatory strikes at Tel Aviv and Jerusalem on Friday evening and have continued to fire missiles at the country.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran has “solid evidence” that the U.S. provided support for Israel’s attacks. Iran’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the attacks “could not have been carried out without coordination with and approval of the United States,” adding that the U.S. will be “held responsible for the dangerous consequences of Israel’s adventurism.”

The U.S. has denied any involvement in Israel’s strikes, a position that the Trump Administration has repeated multiple times since Friday.

“We are not involved in strikes against Iran and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement released soon after the strikes started, describing the attack as “unilateral action” by Israel. Rubio admitted Israel had informed the Trump Administration of the attack, which both Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have also reiterated. The U.S. evacuated embassy staff from across the region the day before the attack last week.

In a post on Truth Social urging Iran to “make a deal,” Trump suggested Friday that he was also aware of “the next already planned attacks,” which would be “even more brutal.” Later that day, when asked by the Wall Street Journal if he was given a heads-up about the initial attacks by Israel, he suggested that description was an understatement, responding: “Heads-up? It wasn’t a heads-up. It was, we know what’s going on.”

But on Saturday night, following further strikes, Trump again posted: “The U.S. had nothing to do with the attack on Iran, tonight.”

“Clear U.S. green light”

Israel’s attack had been months in the making. Reports in May of Israel’s preparations to strike Iran suggested that the Trump Administration would not assist Israel in such an operation, especially as Washington was in the midst of negotiating a nuclear agreement with Tehran.

But news outlet Axios reported Friday that Israeli officials said the strikes were in fact coordinated with the U.S., claiming that the Trump Administration publicly pretended to oppose an Israeli attack but gave Israel a “clear U.S. green light” in private.

According to the latest reports, the U.S. has even intervened to shape the attack. U.S. officials told Reuters, the Associated Press, CNN, and others that Israel had informed the Trump Administration of a credible plan to assassinate Khamenei and that the White House waved Israel off the plan. 

Netanyahu spokesperson Omer Dostri later denied those reports, calling them “fake.” “There’s so many false reports of conversations that never happened, and I’m not going to get into that,” Netanyahu said when asked about it on Fox News on Sunday. “But I can tell you,” he continued, “we’ll do what we need to do. And I think the United States knows what is good for the United States.”

The unclear messaging about the extent of U.S. involvement, however, could reflect mixed priorities between the U.S. and Israel. 

Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and an expert on U.S.-Iran relations, told NPR that “clearly there had been coordination and some form of a green light” by the Trump Administration for the Israeli strikes.

“Trump is making a major gamble here, thinking that this actually will soften the Iranian position and make them capitulate,” Parsi added. “If they don’t, what are his options? And this is where I think the Israelis are hoping that the Iranians will not capitulate and that will force the United States into the war.”

source https://time.com/7294500/israel-attack-iran-us-involvement-trump-netanyahu-khamenei/

What We Know About Vance L. Boelter, the FBI-Wanted Suspect in the Minnesota Lawmakers Attack

The search for Vance Luther Boelter, the FBI-wanted man who is suspected of shooting two Minnesota lawmakers and their spouses at their residences in the early hours of Saturday morning, has entered its second day.

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension reports that Boelter was last seen on Saturday morning in Minneapolis, after the shootings, wearing a light-colored cowboy hat, a dark long-sleeve shirt, and light pants while carrying a dark cross-body bag.

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Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, were killed in an attack at their residence in Brooklyn Park in the early hours of Saturday morning. A short while before, state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, had been targeted at their home in nearby Champlin. They were shot multiple times, but survived the attack. They have since received surgeries and are recovering in hospital.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz referred to the attacks of the Minnesota lawmakers and their spouses as acts of “targeted political violence.”

Per the FBI, the suspect was impersonating a police officer when he carried out the assaults. Additional reports suggest he may have been wearing a realistic-looking latex mask.

“We would ask the public, if you do locate [Boelter], to call 911. Do not approach him. You should consider him armed and dangerous,” superintendent Drew Evans said in a press conference on Saturday evening.

The FBI has placed Boelter on its Most Wanted List, attaching a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to his arrest and conviction.

When officers searched a fake police vehicle, believed to have been used by the suspect, on site near Hortman’s residence, they found a “manifesto,” which named a number of local lawmakers and organizations (including Hoffman and Hortman). This has led to fears the suspect may have additional targets in mind.

Read More: FBI Offers $50k Reward in Hunt for Man Suspected of Killing Minnesota Lawmaker and Her Husband

Here is what we know about Boelter as the manhunt continues.

What identifiable information has the FBI released about Boelter? 

The FBI has released biographical information to aid in the manhunt for Boelter.

Boelter was born on July 23, 1967, making him 57 years old. He’s described as having gray hair and brown eyes. He stands at 6 ft. 1 in. and weighs about 220 lb.

Do the authorities have an idea of where Boelter might be?

Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat and friend of Hortman, has said the authorities believe that Boelter is still in the “vicinity” of the Midwest.

“He may be [in Minnesota]. They’ve also put an alert out in South Dakota,” Klobuchar said on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday. “When I [say] vicinity, I mean in the Midwest.”

Authorities have said that border patrol, TSA, and other transportation authorities remain on high alert about Boelter, in case he attempts to flee.

Did Boelter know the targeted Minnesota lawmakers and their spouses?

Boelter and Hoffman worked together in some capacity on the Governor’s Workforce Development Board. In a press conference, superintendent Evans was asked about the nature of the relationship between Boelter and Hoffman.

“There’s certainly some overlap with some public meetings with Sen. Hoffman and the individual, but we don’t know the nature of the relationship or if they actually knew each other,” Evans said.

It’s unclear if the suspect had previously crossed paths with state Rep. Hortman or her husband.

What was found in the vehicle thought to belong to Boelter?

When officers arrived on the scene at Hortman’s residence, they spotted a fake police vehicle. When law enforcement eventually searched the SUV, they found a “manifesto” marked with 70 names of lawmakers and organizations. Hoffman and Hortman were named.

The list reportedly included several different lawmakers across Minnesota, the Midwest, and the Capitol, as well as locations for Planned Parenthood.

Superintendent Evans has said it would be “premature” to comment with any certainty on the motivation of the attacks based on the writing alone.

The authorities have sent extra security to those that they believe are in harm’s way with the suspect still at-large.

On Meet the Press, Klobuchar said that more security had been added to her team.

“It was politically-motivated, and there clearly was some through line with abortion because of the groups that were on the list, and other things that I’ve heard were in this manifesto,” Klobuchar said.

In an interview with NPR, Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith, a Democrat, said she was on the manifesto list and that she is currently working closely with Capitol Police and local law enforcement.

There was also “No Kings” flyers, in reference to the protests that took place across the U.S. on Saturday. As a result, police urged the public not to attend the Minnesota “No Kings” demonstration. Despite the organizers canceling the event, large crowds still showed up.

Where does Boelter live and what does he do for work?

Boelter’s known address was a home in Minneapolis, of which Brooklyn Park and Champlin—the locations of the attacks—are suburbs. The Police conducted a search of the home on Saturday.

David Carlson, a friend of Boelter, is quoted as telling CNN affiliate KARE that Boelter texted his friends in the lead-up to the shootings.

“I just wanna let you know that I love you guys and I wish it hadn’t gone this way. I don’t wanna say anything more and implicate you in any way because you guys don’t know anything about this, but I love you guys and I’m sorry for all the trouble this has caused,” the text reportedly said.

A LinkedIn page that seemingly belongs to Boelter states he has a doctorate in educational leadership and a master’s of science in management from Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee. The prefix “Dr.” is used across his online profiles.

That LinkedIn profile puts Boelter as the CEO of the Red Lion Group, a self-described security services company.

Boelter also appears to be listed as “director of security patrols” for Praetorian Guard Security Services, which is described on the company’s website as a security firm that provides residential security patrols, event security services, and uniformed security. The company also describes how it “drives the same make and model of vehicles that many police departments use in the U.S.”

What do we know of Boelter’s religious and political views?

Boelter appears to be an Evangelical Christian, who has delivered testimonials in Africa.

In one video reviewed by TIME, a man that resembles a strong likeness to Boelter can be seen criticizing the LGBTQ+ community, saying: “There’s people, especially in America, they don’t know what sex they are, they don’t know their sexual orientation, they’re confused. The enemy has gotten so far into their mind and their soul.”

Six years ago, a post on the LinkedIn profile believed to belong to Boelter urged people to vote, though it did not specify who people should vote for. 

source https://time.com/7294374/minnesota-lawmakers-shooting-suspect-vance-boelter-fbi-most-wanted/

Trump’s Military Parade Overtakes Washington, and Kindles ‘No Kings’ Protests Across Rest of U.S.

The contrast was stark. In the nation’s capital, tens of thousands came Saturday to the National Mall to cheer on a military parade marking the 250th Anniversary of the U.S. Army—which also happened to fall on President Donald Trump’s 79th birthday.

Elsewhere around the country, in small towns and large cities, far greater numbers—organizers say millions—gathered to chant “No Kings” and protest Trump’s deployment of military might against protestors in Los Angeles, as well as his expansive use of Presidential power to intimidate elected officials and judges, purge the government of independent watchdogs, block Congressional funding to agencies and universities, and ignore Constitutional guarantees of due process.

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The protests unfolded first—some taking place in the morning, others midday and in the afternoon—creating the largest mass opposition to Trump since his inauguration 145 days ago. The parade kicked off in the evening, with a contingent heavy with MAGA hats and shirts lined up at the National Mall and along Constitution Avenue to watch paratoopers jumping out of an airplane and World War II fighters escorting a bomber past the Washington Monument. Through it all Trump was seated at a reviewing stand in front of the Washington Monument, alongside his wife, and much of his Cabinet, all of them behind bullet-proof glass.

The parade showcased America’s military history through thousands of Army troops marching past in historical uniforms—starting with the American Revolution and continuing through both world wars and on to the Korean and Vietnam Wars. The narration of the parade, which alternated between history lesson and recruiting ad for the Army, occasionally thanked private companies such as Lockheed Martin, Coinbase and Palantir.

“Whenever duty calls, whatever danger comes, the American soldier will be there,” Trump said in his speech later that evening, just before a fireworks show. 

It’s unclear if Trump viewed the event as living up to its inspiration—the Bastille Day parade he witnessed in Paris in 2017 alongside French President Emmanuel Macron, with marching troops and military vehicles parading past the iconic Arc de Triomphe toward him. The grandiose display transfixed Trump, who came back to Washington and was set on organizing his own version. But the planning proved expensive and city officials were concerned about the damage tanks and military equipment would do to the streets of the capital.

In a second term where he has knocked down many of the guardrails he encountered in the first, plans for the military parade came together quickly.

“It is just a day to be a proud American,” says Crystal Sykes, 58, a nurse who took the train from her home in North Carolina to be at the parade. She wore the red Make America Great Again hat that she’s had since Trump’s first term, with a pin attached to it that displays Trump’s name and the American flag in sparkling rhinestones. “If the military doesn’t have our support, nobody will want to join.” 

The Army estimated the events, which included Army fitness demonstrations and activities on the National Mall, would ultimately cost somewhere between $25 million to $45 million. That included the costs to repair damage to Washington, D.C. streets from Abrams tanks.

“I wish it cost less, but I like it,” says Joey Ink, a 19-year-old college student from Maryland, who attended “to show support for the military, the veterans.” Ink says he voted for Trump but wouldn’t call himself a Trump supporter.

Trump’s long-sought parade proved to be an effective rallying point for hundreds of protests around the country—with estimates of 100,000 in Philadelphia, 50,000 in New York City, 30,000 in L.A. and 20,000 in Chicago. The lead organizers purposely didn’t plan an event in Washington, but some protesters showed up there as well anyway.

Read more: Inside Trump’s Mass-Deportation Operation

In front of the White House that afternoon, a banner read “All Hail Commander Bone Spurs.” as a crowd of about 500 people chanted “Trump must go now!” The location of the protest—Lafayette Park—was the same area where five years earlier, Trump had infamously used the National Guard to clear protestors so he could walk over to a nearby church and pose with a Bible. “We have to do something or it’s going to be the end of democracy,” says Jill Taylor, 60, a speech pathologist who traveled to Washington from Kansas to protest Trump’s military parade.

Earlier in the day on Saturday, in nearby Takoma Park, Maryland, hundreds of people packed the sidewalks of a major road holding signs reading “No Kings” and “F–k ICE”. Martha Dominguez, 25, a mental health professional living in nearby Landover, says she was there because of Trump’s immigration policies. Federal agents pulling people from jobs and off the street has left her afraid, even though she is a U.S. citizen. “I feel targeted every time I go out of the house,” says Dominguez. “Trump thinks he’s all that,” she says. “He thinks he’s a king. We are going against that because no one is above the law.”

Even farther out from Washington and other major cities, people gathered in smaller communities like Mountainside, NJ., where roughly 500 people lined both sides of a busy, four-lane divided highway and spanned a footbridge adorned with a sign reading, “No Kings Since 1776.” Those who braved the rain in the town of 7,000 included Lex and Sean, who brought their two kids—ages five and three—to their first protest, and Connor 25, who was visibly upset as they talked about having queer friends and a trans sister. “People I care about are getting attacked by the administration, and that’s just not something that I can live with if I sit by and do nothing.”

Back in Washington, the parade was followed by a performance by country musician Warren Zeiders and Trump delivering the Oath of Enlistment to a group of soldiers. “Welcome to the United States Army and have a great life,” Trump told them. 

Not far away, one of the few protesters still in downtown Washington found themselves surrounded by a small crowd chanting “Trump Trump!” A park police officer walked over and the crowd eventually dispersed.

—Leslie Dickstein contributed reporting

source https://time.com/7294323/trumps-military-parade-took-over-washington-as-anti-trump-no-kings-protests-dominated-everywhere-else/