Are illegal immigrants getting a health pass? Since the pandemic began, Americans have sacrificed. Businesses were shuttered, travel came to a halt, loved ones died alone, and many lost their jobs and homes. Now, the CDC is recommending masks for vaccinated people. Meanwhile, an estimated 2 million illegal immigrants are expected to cross our southern border this year — and most of them are unvaccinated.

I need some help gaining perspective on my 15-year-old child’s whiplash approach to gender and sexuality. For the last three years, they have been on a journey with regard to their sexuality, declaring and changing identities one every few weeks or months, even when those identities have been both contradictory (how can one be both asexual and polyamorous?) and hypothetical (my kid isn’t dating and hasn’t dated). They are committed to being anything but cisgender and hetero, and that identity—whatever it turns out to be—appears from their actions and words to be the central part of their sense of self. They spent a lot of time on queer wikis, looking up new possible identities. They avidly “ship” fictional characters into same-sex couples, express anger/disappointment when shows/books have hetero couples, and talk constantly about LGBTQIA issues, representation, etc.

I have been, and want to be, supportive. My kid deserves to be loved and celebrated for who they are, and however their identity settles out is fine with me. But I am also struggling with these rapid changes. In the last two weeks, my kid has changed their name once and pronouns twice, colored their hair, worn exaggeratedly feminine eye makeup, pinned their hair up to look masculine, purchased a bikini and a dress and then asked me to buy them a binder (because they think it would be “fun” to look like a boy sometimes). At this point, it feels like they’re trying on identities like costumes, and that makes me very uncomfortable. None of it feels authentic—it seems more like a bid to stand out in a crowd or perhaps to find the limits of my acceptance.

I have worked so hard to make sure my kids know they are loved unconditionally, but if this kid is looking for a boundary, maybe I should set one? I literally squirmed when I wrote that sentence; setting a random limit on acceptance goes against everything I believe. But at the same time, I am so, so tired of hearing about their identity day after day after day and of trying to keep up with the changes. They’re a great, smart, interesting kid for a dozen different reasons; their gender/sexuality is just one aspect of their personality. Would it be wrong of me to say, in essence, “I love you, and will never not love you. When you figure out your identity let me know, and in the meantime can we maybe stop talking about it all the time?” Also, as the world opens up and my kid spends more time outside of our home, can I/should I ask them to be more thoughtful in how they present themselves? It seems to me that trans and nonbinary people cannot simply change their identities and expression for “fun,” so my kid’s behavior feels a little bit like cosplaying in a way that could be hurtful. Or do I just keep keeping my mouth shut, do my best to remember this week’s identity, and pray that this phase ends soon?

—Tired and Confused

A bill in the California Legislature would require public universities, community colleges, and secondary schools in the state to provide free menstrual products on campus. The bill notes that the complimentary period products are not only for girls and women, but also intended to be used by biological males...

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti recently signed into law an ordinance that criminalizes homelessness in most parts of the city, a motion that has drawn just as much fierce support by some as it has opposition by others.

The law specifies certain times and locations where it will be 'unlawful for a person to sit, lie, or sleep, or to store, use, maintain, or place personal property in the public right-of-way'.

Target will no longer sell coconut milk made by the Thai company Chaokoh after an investigation alleged the drink is tied to forced monkey labor, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals announced Monday.

“By dropping Chaokoh, Target is joining thousands of stores that refuse to profit from chained monkeys’ misery,” PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman wrote in a statement.

Since our first report on Feb. 28 about 40 cases of foodborne illness linked to an Arby's location in Springfield, Ill., dozens of more customers have fallen ill, forcing the fast-food restaurant to close for the second time in less than a month.

According to Food Safety News, almost 100 cases of illness have now been reported from the specific Arby's location, and while the source of the contamination is still unknown, health officials have stated the pathogen in question is norovirus. The virus is highly contagious and spreads easily, making it difficult to eradicate.

Last summer, 10-year-old Aidan decided he was going to kill the family dog. He lured her behind the sofa with a sausage before putting his hands over her muzzle and around her neck.

"The crazy thing is that he actually loves the dog and me the most out of anyone," says Aidan's mother, Hazel. "But we are the two that he will target and sometimes he will hurt her to get a reaction out of me."

Aidan kicks and hits, and he used to bite. He tells Hazel that he hates her and wants her to die, that he's going to get a gun and shoot her. He's tried to push her down the stairs, and now that he's worked out where her blind spots are - she has a visual impairment - he throws things at her that she can't see coming. Recently it was a kettle, which fortunately hadn't just been boiled - but Aidan didn't know it was cold when he picked it up and launched it.

A California restaurant owner is turning heads with a sign outside his establishment that asks patrons to show "proof of being unvaccinated."

The science is clear: without drastic action to limit temperature rise below 1.5C, the Earth, and all life on it, including all human beings, will suffer devastating consequences.

Earlier this year, two women filed a lawsuit against Subway, alleging that the Connecticut-based sandwich chain's tuna sandwiches and wraps didn't contain any actual tuna. The Washington Post reported that their attorney purchased tuna sandwiches from multiple Subway locations in California, and then submitted the fish in question to an independent lab for testing.

Although the attorney declined to discuss the exact findings with the Post, she did say that the tests revealed that the sandwich filler was "not tuna" and "not fish." The resulting lawsuit alleged that Subway's tuna was "a mixture of various concoctions that do not constitute tuna, yet have been blended together by defendants to imitate the appearance of tuna."

Vancouver International Airport has installed new signs in its international arrivals hall, directing passengers into two lineups, one for those who are vaccinated, and one for those who are not.

The messages on the signs are written in English, French, and Chinese.

Teachers naturally bristle at the idea, which may be the point. But there’s a bigger problem with this particular brand of helicopter parenting: A camera that picks up everything teachers say to their students would also capture what students are saying to their teachers — and to each other.

Full-time monitoring of teachers in the classroom means full-time monitoring of kids — and their not-yet-fully-formed frontal lobes — in all of their unsophisticated glory.

Anyone who’s ever spent a lengthy amount of time with a tween or teen (or been one) knows that they talk first, think later and barely give any consideration to the next hour, let alone the next decade. They often say and do stupid things, and the tendency seems to compound when they’re in groups.

We all messed up the relationship with our parents at least once. Remember that time when dad didn’t talk to you for weeks? What about mom? Did she try to fix it up with a family dinner?

Well, you might not be that young, but what difference does this make. Most adults have a somewhat challenging relationship with their parents. While parents neglect the fact that you are a responsible grown-up, you are hiding behind their wisdom. How many times have you asked your parents for their advice regardless of their experience level? Hopefully, not too many times. We all make that mistake because we neglect that our parents don’t know it all.

Two out of three (66%) of adolescents age 12–17 live with both parents, 24% with their mother only, 5% with their father only, and 5% with neither parent [1]. The quality of parents’ relationships makes a difference to children in many ways. — Act for Youth

Palm Springs, California, saw a record high of 120°F Sunday, beating the previous record of 118°F it reached Saturday, Los Angeles Times reports.
The heat has contributed to wildfires that have led to evacuation orders in several states, including California, Oregon, Idaho, and British Columbia.
The Bootleg fire in Oregon was threatening transmission lines that supply California with power, after doubling in size to 120 square miles on Saturday. The power lines in question, known as Path 66, provides California with about 4800 Megawatts of electricity.

Tennessee Republicans' war against childhood vaccinations reached a new level on Tuesday after Tennessean reported that the state's health department "will halt all adolescent vaccine outreach – not just for coronavirus, but all diseases – amid pressure from Republican state lawmakers."