Walgreens’ CEO has admitted that locking up items to avoid shoplifting has not worked – and it will close stores instead. Not only has the practice not curbed theft, it has dramatically hit sales. Over the past few years, major retailers like Walgreens, CVS, Walmart, and Target have increasingly resorted to locking up everyday items […] The post Walgreens Closes More Stores Due to Theft appeared first on www.independentsentinel.com.

The Department of Education (DOE) has launched a discrimination investigation into the University of Rhode Island over its use of race and sex-based scholarship programs. The investigation from the DOE’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) comes after the Equal Protection Project (EPP) filed a federal complaint against the university over scholarship offerings that excluded would-be applicants on the basis of their race or sex. “OCR will investigate whether the University discriminates on the basis of race, color, or national origin by administering the scholarships” and will also investigate “whether the University discriminates on the basis of sex through other scholarship programs,” the DOE said in a letter. The announcement comes as the diversity, equity, and inclusion agenda has embedded itself throughout higher education, oftentimes informing the selection criteria for scholarship programs. The DOE’s announcement that it is investigating the university was a direct response to the complaint filed by the EPP, which highlighted specific scholarships and their selection criteria. CELEBRATE #47 WITH 47% OFF DAILYWIRE+ MEMBERSHIPS + A FREE $20 GIFT “The discrimination in scholarships at URI is shocking in its breadth, far exceeding any other university we have seen at the Equal Protection Project,” the organization’s founder, William A. Jacobson, told The Daily Wire at the time of the complaint. “URI does not even try to hide the discriminatory barriers, they are all detailed on the URI website.” One of the scholarships that will now be subject to the investigation is the Bank of America scholarship, which is designated for “two four-year scholarships for minority students, preferably one male and one female.” The Citizens Bank Scholarship, which is reserved for “minority students with financial need who live in Rhode Island,” will also be subject to the investigation. The two are joined by the Dr. Robert L. Carothers Student Leadership Endowment, which will also be investigated and provides “annual scholarships to URI students of color who provide leadership in broad university programs.” The EPP highlighted 51 different scholarships in the complaint to the DOE, which explained that it is starting an investigation into 35 of the scholarships while dismissing the others that were the subject of the complaint.

A cartoonist famous for calling attention to racism and criticizing Republicans was arrested on suspicion of possessing child pornography, the Sacramento County Sheriff said Thursday. The Sacramento Bee said Darrin Bell, the Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist, made history as “the first Black cartoonist to have two nationally syndicated strips,” including Candorville, “which features three childhood friends of color and their daily lives in the inner city.”  Now he has made history again with his arrest for alleged possession of artificial intelligence-generated child abuse material, just days after a California law banning AI porn went into effect. CELEBRATE #47 WITH 47% OFF DAILYWIRE+ MEMBERSHIPS + A FREE $20 GIFT For years, the Washington Post Writers Group syndicated Bell’s cartoons in the Post and other papers. He also published cartoons in the New Yorker, Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, and other publications. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 2019 “For beautiful and daring editorial cartoons that took on issues affecting disenfranchised communities, calling out lies, hypocrisy and fraud in the political turmoil surrounding the Trump administration.” After winning the prize, Bell said he had retired from cartooning, but returned in 2012 because he was outraged over the acquittal of the man who shot Trayvon Martin and was inspired by the “national conversation about race and criminal justice,” ABC reported at the time. Bell said that respect for human dignity is the “common thread I try to weave through every cartoon that I draw — whether it’s about police brutality or immigrants being separated from their children, or whether it’s about Donald Trump. It’s a big moment of validation.” One of his cartoons showed Trump attempting to molest the Statue of Liberty. The NAACP gave him its Image Award in 2024 for his comic book “The Talk,” about parents telling their children that they are victims of racism. The sheriff said in a statement that the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children tipped it off that a resident had uploaded 18 files containing Child Sex Abuse Material to an online service. Sacramento Valley Internet Crimes Against Children detectives soon found 134 child abuse videos linked to the same account, which they said was owned by Darrin Bell. On Wednesday, they served a search warrant at Bell’s house. He is currently being held in jail on $1 million bail, they said. Detectives said some material they recovered was “computer-generated/AI CSAM,” making him “the first arrest by Sacramento Valley ICAC where possession of computer-generated/AI CSAM was charged against a suspect (the law changed on January 1, 2025, to include AI-generated material as a criminal offense.”

Elon Musk’s SpaceX successfully caught its Super Heavy Booster for a second time after the launch of its Starship megarocket — the largest rocket in the world — on Thursday. The launch for Starship’s 7th test flight at its Starbase in south Texas took place in clear conditions. Just seven-and-a-half minutes after launching Starship into orbit, the Heavy Booster, which is 232 feet tall, returned to the launch pad and was caught by two massive metal arms that Musk calls “chopsticks.” The feat marks the second time SpaceX has caught its rocket with the chopsticks after making history with the new engineering achievement in October. “We caught the rocket!!” Musk posted on X. We caught the rocket!! ? pic.twitter.com/gVv34W9l2n pic.twitter.com/o0vA3XXi8L — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 16, 2025 WATCH: Catching the rocket is important for the space company as it hopes to eventually catch the Starship spacecraft itself, CNN reported, a development that could save SpaceX money and time as it pushes forward to achieve Musk’s goal of colonizing Mars. CELEBRATE #47 WITH 47% OFF DAILYWIRE+ MEMBERSHIPS + A FREE $20 GIFT Shortly after Starship launched into orbit, SpaceX lost communication with the spacecraft, and it was lost. “We can confirm that we did lose the ship,” said SpaceX engineer Kate Tice, according to CNN. Starship, which was on a test flight, was supposed to go around Earth and splash into the Indian Ocean. “We obviously need to go through all the data. It’s going to take some time. In the next hours, days — we’re going to figure out exactly what happened, come back, fly the next one, get farther,” Communications Manager Dan Huot said. “Reminder, it’s a test of an experimental vehicle.” The launch was initially scheduled for Monday, but was moved back to Wednesday and then moved again to Thursday over inclement weather.

EXCLUSIVE: 'So Much Distrust': Incoming Trump NSA Disputes Report That Neocons Are Influencing MAGA Staffing

'Trump and the Make America Great Again movement are a mortal threat to these bureaucrats'

The man fell 40 feet

Scott Turner, nominated to be secretary of Housing and Urban Development, on Thursday likened his proposed approach to leading the federal agency to his days as a cornerback playing for the NFL’s then-Washington Redskins. “When I played in the NFL, we relied on game films to identify our mistakes and areas for improvement. I spent hours poring over the tapes to identify the smallest weaknesses in my game and determine what I could do to improve,” Turner told members of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee at his confirmation hearing. Improving the department by making it more efficient and maximizing the efficient use of its resources was a refrain Turner returned to throughout the hearing.  The panel’s chairman, Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., opened the proceedings by noting that housing “isn’t just about shelter.” “Housing is about opportunity, and it is about stability. Housing creates the foundation for achieving the American dream.” But he noted that the data is clear: “The American dream of homeownership is slipping further and further away.” The South Carolina senator noted that Turner had been the executive director of the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council during President Donald Trump’s first term. In that position, Turner assisted with the Opportunity Zones initiative, which Scott had authored. The program, enacted through Trump’s tax cuts legislation, directed private investment into devastated communities with federal tax incentives.  In his opening statement at the hearing, Turner discussed how he had worked as a dishwasher while in high school, and he noted his background as a child of divorce. He emphasized that the challenges HUD seeks to address were personal for him. “They’re not just things I hear about and read about. These are experiences that members of my family and I have seen and lived. And that perspective is something I can bring to the table,” Turner declared to the committee, clearly moved by his testimony.  A topic of much discussion during the hearing was the housing crisis in the United States. The nominee highlighted how owning a home was key to building intergenerational wealth. When Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., asked Turner why he thought housing costs were so high, he cited a lack of supply of homes. “We need about 7 million new housing units in America,” he said. Turner committed to making the most of HUD’s budget.  In one of the most moving parts of the hearing, Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., recalled growing up in a trailer park. He said that being the head of a federal department requires intercepting bad ideas. “One bad idea is just throwing money after something without trying to figure out how to fix the plumbing in HUD,” Tillis said. He asked if he could get Turner’s commitment to do an audit of HUD, which Turner agreed to.  Freshman Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, noted that as many as 12 million illegal immigrants have entered the country since President Joe Biden took office in January 2021 and asked how illegal migration affected the housing crisis. Turner referenced a HUD report that illegal migration had contributed significantly to housing supply-and-demand issues. “It’s a huge burden,” he said.  Turner said localities are best equipped to address the housing problems they face. Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., mused about a potential congressional plan to incentivize localities and state governments to build more housing. Turner responded by noting that “incentives do a lot” and that “competition always brings out the best.”   Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., asked about how tariffs on imported lumber might affect housing construction. Turner demurred from criticizing the tariffs placed on softwood by either the Trump or Biden administrations, pointing out that imposing or not imposing tariffs was the responsibility of the president and Congress.  Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., asked about the Biden administration’s emphasis on “equity” at HUD. “Do you think HUD should be holding grant applicants hostage to a [diversity, equity and inclusion] agenda?” he asked. Turner replied that the government shouldn’t hold grant applicants “hostage to anything.” He agreed to looking into those Biden administration HUD regulations.  Another member of the committee, Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., told The Daily Signal in a statement that “Scott Turner is a strong pick for secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and I look forward to working with him. His experience working in the housing space is exactly what America needs right now. Our country is facing a serious affordable housing crisis. Inflation, high costs, and low inventory have put homeownership even further out of reach. “Exacerbating that crisis is the fact that 24% of the cost of building a new home is from government regulation. Whether it’s buying a home or succeeding in business, it is critical we ensure families across our nation can achieve their own personal American dream. Scott Turner is ready to be a part of that, and he will do a phenomenal job of instituting President Trump’s agenda,” Britt said. Turner’s hearing was much less contentious than those this week of some other Trump nominees selected to head federal departments. Some senators welcomed the nominee with a discussion of football, given his previous career. The post Ex-NFL Star Tapped as HUD Chief Has Game Plan for Agency appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Starship Test Flight 7