Canton

Yahoo News/YouGov coronavirus poll: Number of Americans who plan to get vaccinated falls to 42 percent — a new low

The outlook for universal vaccination is clouded by political considerations from both sides: skepticism about medical authority and expertise on one side (more common among Trump supporters) and suspicions (mostly on the part of Democrats) that the administration is cutting corners on safety to rush a vaccine into production before the election. 

Pelosi reportedly told House Democrats that Congress likely won't come to an agreement on another pandemic relief bill until next week

House Democrats and Senate Republicans have been at a standstill in ongoing negotiations over another coronavirus stimulus bill to support Americans.

Aurora police apologize after drawing guns on Black family, mistaking vehicle as stolen

The Aurora police chief apologized after officers drew weapons on a Black family and handcuffed a 17-year-old and a 12-year-old during a traffic stop.

Illinois officials call to abolish history classes in the state until an 'alternative' is set up to highlight underrepresented groups

Illinois Democratic State Representative LaShawn K. Ford is demanding the history of minority groups to be taught in state schools.

Kobach Would Do Anything for Trump. But He Won’t Do That

Kris Kobach needs Donald Trump—but his loyalty has limits. As the president has continued to escalate his attacks on mail-in voting during the coronavirus pandemic, Kobach, the former Kansas Secretary of State and early ally of the president, has appeared on television and even written a column supporting Trump’s broad targeting of the practice as others try to make the measure more widespread during the health crisis. But in his home state of Kansas, where voting by mail will play a key role in deciding the contentious Republican Senate primary that Kobach currently finds himself in, the GOP lightning rod has avoided leveling similar attacks. Mostly because Kobach’s career is tightly intertwined with the state’s process. “The mail-in systems of most states are vulnerable to fraud,” Kobach said in a statement to The Daily Beast. “But when I was Secretary of State, I made Kansas's voting system the safest in the country with specific attention given to mail-in ballots.” That approach from Kobach, coming two years after he narrowly won a GOP primary contest for governor only to be soundly beaten by a Democrat in the general, reminded one of his critics in the state of the same tenor Trump is taking nationally. “I think he's doing the same thing Donald Trump is doing when Donald Trump tries to differentiate mail-in voting versus absentee voting, which are the exact same thing,” Democratic State Rep. Brett Parker said. “It’s a backdoor way of saying, ‘It’s ok if you do it if you’re voting for me,’ but still sort of reserving the right to cry foul if you don’t like the election outcome.”  Kobach is now trying to revive his political career by winning a U.S. Senate seat in Kansas. But his latest run has faced attacks from fellow Republicans, who are hoping that Congressman Roger Marshall (R-KS) will beat Kobach in Tuesday’s primary election. Awaiting the GOP nominee in the general election is likely to be Barbara Bollier, a state senator and former Republican who has shown strong fundraising as her party looks to take back control of the Senate.Trump’s condemnation of mail-in voting has covered a wide spectrum in the last few months. In April, amid Wisconsin’s pandemic primary, Trump leveled the charge that he thought “mail-in voting is horrible. It's corrupt.” The key irony at the time, which was called out by a reporter in the room, was that according to The Palm Beach Post, Trump asked for a mail-in ballot for the March Florida primary.  Since then, he’s threatened federal funding to Michigan over the state sending out absentee ballot applications and tweeted in June that “Because of MAIL-IN BALLOTS, 2020 will be the most RIGGED Election in our nations history—unless this stupidity is ended.” Last week, he went as far as to tie “Universal Mail-In Voting” as a reason to consider delaying the election, a move he cannot legally make on his own. As recently as Monday, Trump continued to vent frustrations about mail-in voting. After taking a question from the Trump-friendly One America News Network during a press conference, he said, “Universal mail-in ballots is going to be a great embarrassment to our country,” after pointing a New York congressional primary race from June that still doesn't have a clear winner. Trump also claimed he had a right to make some sort of executive order on mail-in voting, but added, “We haven’t gotten there yet, but we’ll see what happens.” Trump: Vote-By-Mail Is Rigged. Trump’s Campaign? It’s ‘Easy And Secure.’In an April Breitbart column, Kobach wrote that “President Trump was absolutely right to highlight the dangers of mail-in voting,” but pointed to what he had done in Kansas as the exception to his criticism. Kobach reiterated his stance on Lou Dobbs Tonight, saying that “mandatory mail-in voting” if it came to pass nationwide “would just be horrific.” In a statement to The Daily Beast, Kobach pointed to a series of measures that include a photo ID photocopy or license number requirement on mail ballot requests and a signature verification standard to show that “the Kansas system is the safest in the country.” While Kobach spins his approach that way, his larger overhaul of the state’s elections system proved to be deeply controversial, sparking litigation and derision from Democrats for the tightened restrictions Kobach wanted voters to face. That push led to Kobach often failing in court as he tried to defend the strict laws he championed. Mail-in ballots will be especially crucial in the eventual results. The Kansas Secretary of State’s office tweeted over the weekend that “314,979 advance ballots mailed, 178,294 advance ballots returned,” in what the office’s figures showed was an overwhelming surge for the method from the same point in the 2016 and 2018 elections. “It’s not surprising that he’s trying to thread the needle here by nodding in the direction of Trump’s overall claims about fraud, claims which are not supported by the evidence, without discouraging Kansas voters from using the system to vote for him,” said Richard Hasen, an expert on election law at the University of California, Irvine. Kobach has been an avid Trump supporter since the president’s 2016 primary run and has embraced standing with the president as Trump’s voter fraud claim has grown more fierce. Following the 2016 election, with Trump able to claim victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton in the electoral college but not the popular vote, the incoming president leveled the bogus charge on Twitter that “I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally.” Rarely one to shy away from a voting controversy, Kobach told reporters soon after that Trump was correct, according to The Kansas City Star, despite no evidence from the 2016 election to make that case. Kobach soon became the public face of Trump’s voter fraud commission, but the crusade became a public spectacle that was abandoned amid controversy, a lack of evidence and results. Kobach’s loyalty to Trump was rewarded during the 2018 election season with a last-minute endorsement from the president that observers in Kansas believe made the difference in the Republican’s 343 win over then Gov. Jeff Colyer. But Trump’s adoration, and a major rally in Topeka with Kobach ahead of the general election, weren’t enough to keep Kobach from losing to Democrat Laura Kelly by 5 points in the general election. Trump has yet to endorse in the Senate race—a rare example of the president choosing not to flex his muscle among the Republican base. But ahead of Tuesday’s primary, Patrick Miller, a political scientist at the University of Kansas, said Kobach’s tone on mail-in voting feels like a case of “the problem is with everyone else except for me.” “It’s definitely the kind of move that lets him back Trump but then say that he created the great exception,” Miller said. “Which makes sense. He doesn’t want to be in a position where he is seen as contradicting anything that Donald Trump says.” At the same time, however, Kobach also has to deal with his record as the state’s chief election official. “I think he’s doing this in a smart way,” Miller said. “I’m not sure he’s doing this in an intellectually honest way, particularly by impugning the integrity of mail voting in other states.” Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

Kaepernick shirt was attack dogs' target at Navy Seal event

The US Navy Seals have launched an investigation after the footage from an event last year emerged.

Outbreak hits Norway cruise ship, could spread along coast

A Norwegian cruise ship line halted all trips and apologized Monday for procedural errors after a coronavirus outbreak on one ship infected at least 5 passengers and 36 crew. Health authorities fear the ship also could have spread the virus to dozens of towns and villages along Norway's western coast. The confirmed virus cases from the MS Roald Amundsen raise new questions about safety on all cruise ships during a pandemic even as the devastated cruise ship industry is pressing to resume sailings after chaotically shutting down in March.

Iran has been covering up its coronavirus death toll, according to BBC investigation which says the true figure is almost 3 times higher

Both coronavirus deaths and cases are significantly higher than Iran is publicly reporting, according to government figures seen by the BBC.

Vietnam's new COVID-19 outbreak started in early July - government

Vietnam's recent coronavirus outbreak in the central city of Danang, which led to over 200 cases and eight deaths, appears to have started early in July, the government said on Tuesday, amid concern the virus may have been spreading undetected earlier. "After having conducted antibody tests on 5,000 samples collected from infected patients and their relatives, it can be concluded that the outbreak appears to have started in early July," Dang Duc Anh, Director of the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology said in a government statement. Vietnam has registered 670 COVID-19 cases with eight deaths.

She got the virus. Then she was fired. Some sick workers left in cold by employers.

McDonald's and Marriott franchises are among hundreds of businesses that have illegally denied paid sick leave during the pandemic, records show.

Biden VP prospect Karen Bass claims Scientology hadn't been 'exposed' before her 2010 praise of it, despite several high-profile media probes in the 1990s and 2000s

There had been dozens of media reports and investigations over the Church of Scientology's alleged abuses prior to 2010.

Splash Mountain log flume ride sinks at Disney World's Magic Kingdom

Walt Disney World's Splash Mountain hit rough waters Sunday as Twitter users posted video of a submerged log flume ride they were in moments earlier.

Trump will use emergency powers to remain in White House if he loses election, says House majority whip

Donald Trump could use emergency powers to extend his term in the White House, a senior Democrat has said, as fears grow that the president may attempt to hold onto office should he lose November’s election.James Clyburn, the House majority whip, said he believes Trump has no intention of “peacefully” transferring power to presumptive Democratic candidate Joe Biden, who is well ahead in several major polls in the race for the Oval Office.

Shoprite: Africa's biggest supermarket considers pulling out of Nigeria

Shoprite is the latest high-profile South African retailer to struggle in the Nigerian market.

Marines ID all 9 people killed in sea-tank sinking

The Marine Corps has identified all nine people killed when a Marine landing craft sank in the water off the Southern California coast.

A California couple were arrested on hate-crime charges after they yelled 'white power' during an episode of road rage, police say

They yelled "white power" and "only white lives matter" at a Black man and his girlfriend in a racist altercation on the road on July 22, police said.

China seeks to increase influence in South China Sea by reclassifying international shipping lanes

China has quietly changed how it identifies a vast stretch of international waters in a shipping regulation, indicating it as a “coastal” region, rather than “offshore,” as authorities seek to exert even greater control over the South China Sea. The amended regulation, first drafted in the 1970s, went into effect on Saturday, and establishes a “navigation area” from China’s Hainan island in the south, all the way down to the disputed Paracel Islands, which sit east of Vietnam’s coastline. The revision, however small, allows Beijing yet another avenue to justify its claims in the region. “The move is pretty consistent with the broader, general patterns of China seeking ‘creeping jurisdiction’ using domestic laws to assert its claims and extend control in the South China Sea,” said Collin Koh,a research fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. “With those domestic laws and regulations being implemented quietly without fanfare, the less likely it’ll attract undue external attention, so that over time a fait accompli is created - in other words, for Beijing to change facts on the ground.” The risk, in the long run, is that this area of ocean already flanked by Chinese military interests and installations, could turn a navigational zone to a “future security alert zone,” he said. The change comes as China has displayed increasing swagger in the South China Sea, where Beijing and a number of Southeast Asian countries all lay claim to the rocks, reefs and waters.

Russia says suspected mercenaries detained by Belarus were going to Latin America

A Russian diplomat said on Monday a group of more than 30 suspected Russian mercenaries detained in Belarus last week were only passing through Minsk and were on their way to an unnamed Latin American state. Belarusian authorities have said they suspect the men entered their country to plot "acts of terrorism" and destabilise it before an Aug. 9 presidential election. The Russian state says it does not use mercenaries.

Sen. Chuck Schumer said a US company should buy TikTok to prevent the Chinese government from accessing user data

"With TikTok in China, it's subject to Chinese Communist Party laws that may require handing over data to their government," the senator tweeted.

Airlines issue flight waivers as Tropical Storm Isaias slams the East Coast with tornadoes, heavy rain

Airlines, including United, American, Southwest, JetBlue and Delta, issued flight waivers amid Tropical Storm Isaias.

Trump claims right to issue executive order on vote-by-mail

The president, who is trailing Joe Biden in the polls, did not elaborate on what any such order would entail.

House committees subpoena top Pompeo aides over IG firing

House Democrats have subpoenaed four top aides to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, saying that the Trump administration is stonewalling their investigation into the firing of the State Department's top independent watchdog earlier this year. Former State Department Inspector General Steve Linick appeared for a closed-door interview in the probe in June and told investigators that top department officials tried to bully him and dissuade his office from conducting a review of a multibillion-dollar arms sale to Saudi Arabia before he was fired. Linick also said he was looking into previously reported allegations that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his wife may have misused government staff to run personal errands and several other matters.

Coronavirus: How the travel downturn is sending jet planes to 'boneyards'

Amid the pandemic, commercial air fleets are grounded in some of the world's most remote locations.

Court hears horrific details of how 'Doomsday Mom' Lori Vallow's children were discovered

Idaho Police have shared shocking details of unearthing the remains of ‘Doomsday Mom’ Lori Vallow Daybell’s two children, who had been missing for months prior to their discovery.Rexburg Police Detective Ray Hermosillo gave the chilling testimony in a preliminary hearing to determine if there is enough evidence to hold her husband Chad Daybell for trial.

Parents in a school district in Georgia, are demanding in-person classes. But hundreds of employees have tested positive or been exposed to COVID-19, revealing the biggest blind spot in the fight to reopen schools

"The primary consideration should always be the safety, the health of the welfare of the children, as well as the teachers...," Anthony Fauci said.

Emeritus Pope Benedict, 93, 'extremely frail' after visiting dying brother

Former Pope Benedict XVI became seriously ill after visiting his sick brother in Germany in June and is "extremely frail", according to a report in the German Passauer Neue Presse newspaper on Monday. Benedict, 93, is suffering from erysipelas of the face, a virus that causes a rash and episodes of severe pain, the newspaper reported, citing the former pontiff's biographer, Peter Seewald. "According to Seewald, the Pope emeritus is now extremely frail," the report said. "His thinking and his memory are quick, but his voice is hardly audible at the moment." Mr Seewald reportedly visited Benedict in Rome on Saturday to present him with his biography. "At the meeting the emeritus Pope, despite his illness, was optimistic and declared that if his strength increased again he would possibly take up his pen again," the paper said. Benedict visited his sick brother, Georg, in Germany in June, marking his first trip out of Italy since his shock resignation in 2013. Georg Ratzinger died two weeks later, aged 96.

2 Delta passengers refused to wear face masks, so the plane turned back to the gate and kicked them out

The airline said the passengers were "noncompliant with crew instructions." It currently requires everyone on board to wear masks at all times.

See the cities with the largest Black-white homeownership gaps

The gap is larger now than it was before the civil rights movement. An NBC News analysis of census data shows the divide is widest in some metro areas.

Hagupit lashes eastern China with flooding rain, strong winds as it creates rough seas

Typhoon Hagupit crashed into eastern China on Monday night, sending flooding rainfall, strong wind gusts and storm surge into the region before eyeing the Shanghai region.Hagupit, which quickly developed and strengthened into a severe tropical storm in the Philippine Sea over the weekend, became a typhoon on Monday, local time, with maximum sustained wind speeds of 138 km/h (85 mph). This is equivalent to a Category 1 hurricane in the Atlantic and East Pacific basins. This satellite image captures Typhoon Hagupit approaching the eastern coast of China on Monday evening, local time. (Photo/CIRA RAMMB) Hagupit tracked to the northwest into the East China Sea throughout the day on Monday, with the center passing just north of Taiwan. The outer rainbands that swept across the northern part of the country brought 50-100 mm (2-4 inches) of rain and gusty winds to the area throughout the day.CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APPAs the storm approached the China coast, officials evacuated residents in the vulnerable coastal areas in Zhejiang and Fujian provinces and recalled thousands of fishing boats, reported the Associated Press.Hagupit maintained typhoon intensity as it made landfall near Wenzhou in Zhejiang, China, on Tuesday around 3:30 a.m., local time. At least 200,000 people were sheltering in evacuation centers in the coastal city.Wave heights of 4.2 m (13.8 feet) were observed as Hagupit slammed into the coast.> Typhoon Hagupit hit the coast of East China 's Zhejiang province, over 380,000 people relocated. Typhoons pic.twitter.com/aKgI2go8eQ> > -- Frontline (@Frontlinestory) August 4, 2020Rainfall totals climbed to around 50-100 mm (2-4 inches) along the storms path in Zhejiang, China. Reports climbed even higher along where the center of Hagupit tracked; Rui'an reported 212 mm (8.33 inches) of rainfall, while 195 mm (7.68 inches) fell in Xianju.Hagupit was downgraded to a severe tropical storm then a tropical storm throughout Tuesday and Tuesday night as it tracked north across eastern China.As the storm passed just west of Shanghai through Tuesday night, it spread periods of heavy rain and wind gusts around 70 mph (45 mph) to the region. Flash flooding will be likely along where Hagupit tracks as much of eastern China received historical rainfall through late May and into early July, the typical wet season for the area.Hagupit is forecast to quickly lose intensity into Wednesday as it continues to track over the mountainous terrain of eastern China and is pulled north by a nontropical system over northern China.This will bring tropical moisture into Korea where it can produce flooding downpours in an area that is still recovering from flash flooding and mudslides during the second half of July.Hagupit was not the first storm to spring to life, ending the unusually quiet period across the West Pacific tropical basin.Sinlaku was the first tropical system to develop last week, organizing into a tropical storm over the South China Sea. The storm brought heavy rainfall, gusty winds and rough seas to southern China, Vietnam and Loas through the weekend.As Tropical Rainstorm Sinlaku reaches the Bay of Bengal, it is expected reorganize into a monsoon low, enhancing rainfall across northeast India, Bangladesh and Myanmar into the middle of the week.Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.

Who is Karen Bass?

Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., has been mentioned as a potential running mate for former VP Joe Biden, who has vowed to pick a woman as his vice president.

Trump signs $3B-a-year plan to boost conservation, parks

President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed into law legislation that will devote nearly $3 billion annually to conservation projects, outdoor recreation and maintenance of national parks and other public lands. “There hasn’t been anything like this since Teddy Roosevelt, I suspect,” Trump said about the 26th president, who created many national parks, forests and monuments to preserve the nation’s natural resources. Supporters say the Great American Outdoors Act is the most significant conservation legislation enacted in nearly half a century.

Coronavirus: Melbourne lockdown to keep a million workers at home

The Australian city announces further business closures as it struggles to contain the coronavirus.

El Paso mourns 23 lives lost in racist Walmart mass shooting

The year has been relentless with reminders of Aug. 3, 2019, mass shooting, fresh tragedy, enduring anguish, a responsibility to remember the dead.

Mysterious seeds sent from China to the US identified by the USDA

The mysterious seed packs from China that hundreds of Americans received in the mail have been identified, according to the US Department of Agriculture.Federal officials warned those who received the seeds not to plant them over fears that some may be invasive species and could destroy native plants and insects.

An unassuming Las Vegas house with a massive bunker 26 feet underground and a faux outdoor space is on the market for $18 million — take a look inside

Inside, the house is covered in murals of landscapes, plus lighting that changes based on the time of day.

Dozens of colleges have abruptly closed — and efforts to protect students have failed

Schools at risk of shutting down are supposed to prepare transition plans. But students are often left scrambling to find new ways to finish their degrees.

Marine AAV Hit Rough Seas, Rapidly Took on Water Before Sinking

The Marines and sailor were assigned to Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 4th Marines.

Which NYPD officers have most complaints against them?

The repeal of a controversial law means previously secret allegations of misconduct have now been made publicIn New York, thousands of police discipline records that were kept secret are now public thanks to a change in the law. A statute known as 50-a meant the public could not know about complaints made against police officers or the outcomes of those complaints but, after the mass anti-racism protests sparked by the police killing of George Floyd in May, activists in New York successfully pushed for the law to be repealed.Soon after the law changed, the news organization ProPublica asked New York’s Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) to see this information. The result is a publicly available database of active-duty officers in New York City with at least one allegation against them that has been substantiated by the CCRB. Almost 4,000 officers are included in the database, representing 11% of the 36,000 officers in the NYPD.Shown above are the 10 New York City police officers with the most allegations against them.Often, there is a clear pattern in the allegations made against these officers. Take Daniel Sbarra for instance, a lieutenant in the Organized Crime Investigation Division. Of the 69 allegations against Sbarra where race and ethnicity data for the complainants was recorded, 58 of the civilians were Black and 11 were Hispanic. Most were men. The allegations include offensive language, abuse of authority and use of force. Of the allegations made against Sbarra, 16 have been substantiated. The lieutenant who currently works in Brooklyn North has also been involved in at least 12 lawsuits that have cost the city over $1.5m in settlements.Although it receives thousands of complaints each year, the CCRB is unable to substantiate most of them. Often, they have to rely on NYPD officers to cooperate in the investigations (for example, to hand over body-cam footage) and, despite a legal obligation to do so, the department often fails to comply.Speaking to ProPublica, the former CCRB investigator Dan Bodah said: “I exonerated tons of cases that involved awful conduct that fell within the guidelines. It’s kind of haunting. The law and policy gives cops a lot of discretion.” Out of 3,000 allegations of misuse of force in 2018, just 73 were substantiated.The earnings shown here, which are collected by the Legal Aid Society using New York City Open Data, are from 2018 and include salary as well as overtime and other benefits. It’s important to include those other earnings, since New York police officers often make a huge amount of money in overtime.Take this year’s budget, for example. In 2020, the NYPD had a budget of $5,921,060,664 (that’s $5.9bn), but an additional $5.3bn was spent on overtime, pensions and fringe benefits. That means that the city spends almost $21,000 per minute on the NYPD.

Donald Trump threatens to sue Nevada to stop mail-in ballots

President Trump vowed on Monday to sue Nevada after the state's Democratic lawmakers passed a bill to send mail-in ballots to every voter before November's presidential election in light of the coronavirus pandemic. Mr Trump, who has repeatedly claimed without evidence that voting by mail will lead to rampant fraud, wrote on Twitter that the legislation approved on Sunday was an "illegal late night coup" and told reporters his administration was already preparing a lawsuit. "We will be suing in Nevada. And that's already been taken care of, we'll probably file something tomorrow," he said during a White House briefing. The state's Democratic governor, Steve Sisolak, signed the bill, making Nevada the seventh state to send ballots to all registered voters for the Nov 3 election between Mr Trump and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. Utah, Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington already conduct their elections entirely by mail, while California and Vermont have decided to do so this year due to the pandemic.

John Hume, who worked to end N. Ireland violence, dies at 83

John Hume, the visionary politician who won a Nobel Peace Prize for fashioning the agreement that ended violence in his native Northern Ireland, has died at 83, his family said Monday. The Catholic leader of the moderate Social Democratic and Labour Party, Hume was seen as the principal architect of Northern Ireland's 1998 peace agreement. “I want to see Ireland as an example to men and women everywhere of what can be achieved by living for ideals, rather than fighting for them, and by viewing each and every person as worthy of respect and honor,” he said in 1998.

About 7,800 People Ordered to Evacuate Due to Southern California Wildfire

About 7,800 people were ordered to evacuate amidst a wildfire that has consumed 15,000 acres so far in southern California’s Riverside County, officials say.

Mexico crime: Mexican police seize alleged oil theft crime boss The Sledgehammer

"The Sledgehammer" is caught after releasing a bizarre, tearful video declaring war on security forces.

Fewer Americans say they would resume daily activities as coronavirus cases increase, survey finds

As the number of COVID-19 cases rises, some Americans lose confidence in resuming daily activities, according to a new survey.

Federal judge calls for privacy protections after her son was killed and her husband was shot by 'madman'

Judge Esther Salas' family was targeted by an "anti-feminist" killer posing as a FedEx delivery driver, police say.

Latin America exceeds 5 million COVID-19 cases, Reuters tally shows

Latin America broke through 5 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Monday, a Reuters tally showed, underscoring that the region is the area of the world hardest hit by the novel coronavirus pandemic. The coronavirus was initially slower to reach Latin America - home to about 640 million people - than much of the world. Latin America has now topped 200,000 deaths.

Scientists retract claim of finding tiniest dinosaur

The “tiny, weird bird-like dinosaur” was not a dinosaur or a bird after all, according to a retraction of the research published in a prestigious journal