Outspoken political opposites Jamie Raskin and Lauren Boebert have quietly formed unlikely friendship

WASHINGTON — In the spring of 2023, a most unlikely friendship took root after a House Oversight Committee hearing ended and members chatted before hurrying off for a two-week congressional recess.

Colorado Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert, a conservative firebrand and one of President Donald Trump’s top supporters, told Montgomery County Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin, a liberal darling who is Boebert’s political opposite, that she was excitedly awaiting the birth of her first grandson in several weeks.

Raskin was enduring chemotherapy for a serious form of cancer and confided that he hoped to be around long enough to become a grandparent himself one day. She comforted him. Something passed between them.

In the months following that tearful conversation two years ago, Raskin, 62, and Boebert, 38, quietly developed a friendship built on the belief that people aren’t wholly defined by their politics, even in this polarized era. They are close enough that Boebert, her mother, four sons and grandson joined Raskin and his family at his house last New Year’s Eve for an evening of Chinese food, conversation and games.

—The Baltimore Sun

Michigan GOP reps demand Canada contain wildfires whose smoke is polluting summer vacations

WASHINGTON — The seven Michigan Republicans in the state's congressional delegation issued a joint statement Wednesday blaming Canada for wildfires whose smoke caused air-quality issues across the state in recent weeks, asking the Canadian government to "take immediate and decisive action to contain these fires and prevent future wildfires."

"Instead of enjoying family vacations at Michigan’s beautiful lakes and campgrounds, for the third summer in a row, Michiganders are forced to breathe hazardous air as a result of Canada’s failure to prevent and control wildfires. This recurring crisis is putting public health at risk — especially for seniors, pregnant women, children, and those with respiratory conditions," the lawmakers said.

"This cannot continue as an annual threat to our communities.”

The statement follows a letter to the Canadian prime minister sent by U.S. Rep. John James, R-Shelby Township, on the same issue last week, "to express the outrage of our constituents" about the third summer of smoke and pollution from Canadian wildfires.

—The Detroit News

Online gaming platform Roblox faces flood of sexploitation lawsuits from parents

ATLANTA — A DeKalb County mother is the first of many Georgia parents to sue online gaming company Roblox alleging it puts profit before safety and allows predators to target and abuse children, her attorney says.

The mother’s lawsuit, filed Monday in Gwinnett County State Court, claims Roblox is liable for the sexual exploitation, or sexploitation, of her 9-year-old son, who was groomed through the company’s online gaming platform. The boy was sent pornographic content, harassed and coerced into sending explicit images of himself to adults posing on Roblox as children, the suit says.

Matthew Dolman, an attorney representing the mother, said Roblox is about to face a flood of similar cases across the country. He said several others involving Atlanta-area families will be filed in coming weeks and he expects there to be around 150 such cases nationally within a few months.

“Roblox is the worst,” Dolman said in comparison to other interactive online platforms. “Roblox has just continued to materially misrepresent facts and state that this is a safe product, knowing full well there’s a number of law enforcement investigations, arrests and documented incidents of perpetrators not only grooming children, but actually meeting up with the children.”

—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Record share of people ‘thriving’ globally — but North America is an outlier, poll shows

The share of people worldwide who say they are thriving in life reached a record high in 2024, according to the latest Gallup poll. But, despite the general rise in global well-being, some regions — including North America — remain distinct outliers.

These findings come from Gallup’s most recent Life Evaluation Index, which sampled approximately 1,000 adults in 142 countries.

Respondents were asked to rate their current and future lives on a 0-10 scale, with those scoring seven or higher for the present and eight or higher for the future considered “thriving.” Meanwhile, those scoring four or less for both were labeled “suffering,” and everyone in between was classified as “struggling.”

In 2024, a median of 33% of respondents across the sampled countries classified themselves as thriving. This marks the highest global share of thriving individuals ever recorded since 2007, the year Gallup began this survey.

—Miami Herald