
Maryland to end $300-a-week pandemic unemployment benefits in July
CNN
Maryland will stop paying jobless residents the $300-a-week federal boost and end two other pandemic unemployment benefits programs on July 3, Republican Gov. Larry Hogan announced Tuesday.
The decision makes Maryland the 25th GOP-led state to terminate the federal supplement and the 20th to completely pull out of the historic congressional expansion of unemployment benefits. Hogan pointed to rising vaccination numbers and worker shortages as reasons to end the "important temporary relief." "Our health and economic recovery continues to outpace the nation, and we have reached the benchmark set by President Biden of vaccinating 70% of adults," the governor said in a statement.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth risked compromising sensitive military information that could have endangered US troops through his use of Signal to discuss attack plans, a Pentagon watchdog said in an unclassified report released Thursday. It also details how Hegseth declined to cooperate with the probe.

Two top House lawmakers emerged divided along party lines after a private briefing with the military official who oversaw September’s attack on an alleged drug vessel that included a so-called double-tap strike that killed surviving crew members, with a top Democrat calling video of the incident that was shared as part of the briefing “one of the most troubling things” he has seen as a lawmaker.

Authorities in Colombia are dealing with increasingly sophisticated criminals, who use advanced tech to produce and conceal the drugs they hope to export around the world. But police and the military are fighting back, using AI to flag suspicious passengers, cargo and mail - alongside more conventional air and sea patrols. CNN’s Isa Soares gets an inside look at Bogotá’s war on drugs.










