He was a baby on 9/11.  Now he's one of the last casualties of America's longest war.  —  After Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum, 20, landed in Afghanistan with his Marine unit, his father, Jim, began checking his phone for a little green dot.  Mr. McCollum had not been able to talk with his son …

U.S. retaliates against ISIS with drone strike in Afghanistan  —  U.S. military forces conducted a drone strike on Friday against the Islamic State terrorist group in Afghanistan in an apparent retaliatory attack against those who claimed responsibility for the attack outside Kabul's airport.

NRB spokesman Dan Darling fired after pro-vaccine statements on ‘Morning Joe’  —  Daniel Darling, right, appears on MSNBC's “Morning Joe” on Aug. 2, 2021, with host Joe Scarborough.  Video screengrab  —  (RNS) — The spokesman for a major evangelical nonprofit was fired for promoting vaccines on the MSNBC …

Marine commander says he's been relieved over his viral video calling out military leaders for Afghanistan withdrawal [UPDATED]  —  On Thursday, a Marine infantry officer and battalion commander took to social media to air his frustrations with senior military leadership over their handling …

Outbreak Associated with SARS-CoV-2 B.1.617.2 (Delta) Variant in an Elementary School — Marin County, California, May-June 2021  —  Tracy Lam-Hine, MBA1,2; Stephen A. McCurdy, MD1,3; Lisa Santora, MD1; Lael Duncan, MD1; Russell Corbett-Detig, PhD4; Beatrix Kapusinszky, PhD5; Matthew Willis, MD1 (View author affiliations)

Texas Anti-Mask ‘Freedom Rally’ Organizer Fighting For His Life With COVID-19  —  A Texas man who helped organize protests against pandemic restrictions is fighting for his life after being hospitalized for nearly a month with COVID-19, the  —  San Angelo Standard-Times reported.

At a Children's Hospital, a Wave of Young Patients Struggling to Breathe  —  A federal “surge team” is helping exhausted doctors and nurses through one of the most trying periods in the history of Children's Hospital New Orleans.  —  NEW ORLEANS — Helpless to improve her infant son's breathing …

U.S. Blew Up a C.I.A. Post Used to Evacuate At-Risk Afghans  —  With an explosion heard across Kabul, Americans destroyed the base so its contents would not fall to the Taliban.  —  A controlled detonation by American forces on Thursday that was heard throughout Kabul destroyed Eagle Base …

California parole panel votes in favor of release from prison for Sirhan Sirhan  —  Parole for 77-year-old convicted of assassinating Robert F. Kennedy still must be approved by full board, governor  —  A California parole board panel on Friday voted in favor of Sirhan B. Sirhan's request …

UGA professor resigns mid-class after student refuses to wear mask  —  A University of Georgia retiree-rehire professor resigned on Tuesday after one of his students refused to properly wear a mask in an upper division psychology seminar class held at the psychology building.

The utter ridiculousness of calls for Joe Biden to resign  —  (CNN)Thursday was a very bad day for Joe Biden as president.  —  The deaths of 13 American soldiers after twin blasts at the Kabul airport served as a devastating blow for an already fraught attempt by Biden to pull all American troops …

A school district opted out of a free meals program, saying students could ‘become spoiled’  —  With two girls in elementary school and a mother who is a teacher, the Dringenburg household in a Milwaukee suburb had been joyous and excited about back-to-school season — until this year …

GOP senator to Asheville business group: COVID-19 unvaccinated the problem, not immigrants  —  ASHEVILLE - Sen. Thom Tillis told a conservative local business group that anti-pandemic measures should focus on getting North Carolinians vaccinated, not on migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border.

How 'America's Frontline Doctors' Sold Access to Bogus COVID-19 Treatments—and Left Patients in the Lurch  —  Mike says he was struggling with COVID-19 when he felt his breathing getting worse.  He did not want to go to the Veterans Affairs hospital near his home, where he believed doctors might put him on a ventilator.

Statement by President Joe Biden on the Investigation into the Origins of COVID-⁠19  —  This week, I received the report on the 90-day sprint I asked our intelligence community to conduct into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.  I am grateful for the thorough, careful …

Florida court rejects effort by Gov. Ron DeSantis to ban mask mandates.  —  A Florida court on Friday rejected an effort by Gov. Ron DeSantis and other state officials to prevent mask mandates in schools during the state's worst Covid-19 outbreak yet.  —  Judge John C. Cooper …

The Right-Wingers Who Admire the Taliban  —  As the Taliban swept through Afghanistan in August, a Gen Z alt-right group ran a Twitter account devoted to celebrating their progress.  Tweets in Pashto juxtaposed two laughing Taliban fighters with pictures meant to represent American effeminacy.

Chair Jerome H. Powell  —  At the “Macroeconomic Policy in an Uneven Economy,” economic policy symposium sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Jackson Hole, Wyoming (via webcast)  —  Seventeen months have passed since the U.S. economy faced the full force of the COVID-19 pandemic.