News

A new report from the CDC found that the U.S., has the highest rate of measles since 2000. Per the CDC’s report, several states this year have reported at least one measles case. A total of 1,288 measles cases have been confirmed so far in 2025, the CDC adds.

The highest report of measles cases is seen in Texas. According to Politico, the CDC has reported that at least 750 people in Texas have been infected, including three who died in connection with the outbreak. Other infected states also include New Mexico and Kansas. The outbreak  has been largely seen in religious communities where vaccine skepticism is common.

What are experts saying about the 2025 measles outbreak in the U.S.?

Dr. William Moss, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, is among the health experts who’s expressing concern about the growing rate of measles in the U.S.

“It’s a huge red flag for the direction in which we’re going,” Moss told the New York Times.

Experts also fear that additional vaccine-preventable diseases such as pertussis and Hib meningitis could follow the measles outbreak. Although it’s possible to cure measles symptoms quickly, experts say the virus can lead to pneumonia and other related issues.

Vaccines have become politicized

Dr. Adam Ratner, a pediatric infectious disease expert, told the New York Times that vaccines have become politicized in recent years, causing many people to avoid immunizations.

In 2000, the U.S. declared that measles have been eliminated. Now, however, health experts say the country may lose that designation. While vaccine advocates continue to express their concerns, the CDC’s data shows that immunization rates have dropped after the pandemic, particularly for children. For the 2022-23 school year, there was a 2% drop in vaccinated kindergarteners, compared to the years before the pandemic, Politico reported.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is known for speaking out against vaccines, says the U.S. is handling measles better than other countries. Per Politico, Kennedy said the U.S. “is a model for the rest of the world.” 

Microsoft Outlook users were thrown for a loop as the email service experienced an outage.

According to Forbes, users have reported several issues, including Microsoft Outlook not recognizing their licenses and the service working extremely slowly.

Users started reporting service issues Wednesday evening

Downdetector, an online platform that tracks service outages, determined Microsoft Outlook users started reporting issues Wednesday evening. By Thursday morning, thousands of users were reporting issues, with 60% claiming login issues and 35% noting server connection issues. The outage seemingly affected users in several countries, including the U.K., Australia and Canada, USA Today reported. It’s unclear how many users are impacted by the outage.

The Microsoft Office service health portal confirmed the outage and let users know that Microsoft is “working on it.” It also explained that the outage impacted several Outlook email services, including Outlook.com, Outlook Mobile and the Outlook desktop client.

Microsoft provided an update to users early Thursday morning on X, formerly Twitter, informing them a fix for the issue had been deployed; however, many responded that it still wasn’t working for them.

We’ve determined the cause of the issue and have deployed a fix. We’re closely monitoring its deployment and expect the issue to gradually resolve as deployment progresses. You can find more details within our service health portal: https://t.co/3p00ir2aVB— Microsoft 365 Status (@MSFT365Status) July 10, 2025

“We’ve begun a broad expedited deployment of the configuration change across all affected infrastructure. We expect most impacted users will experience relief within the next two hours, as the fix saturates the environment. We’re closely monitoring service health telemetry to ensure the recovery continues as expected. We understand how impactful incidents of this type can be, and we’re continuing to open any additional workstreams to expedite recovery and restore availability. We’re continuing to apply the configuration changes to fix the underlying problem and completing additional validation efforts to ensure authentication components are properly configured,” the services’ current status reads.

Microsoft Outlook crashed last month after a system update

The Microsoft Outlook outage comes after years of frequent issues impacting Microsoft services. In June, an update to Microsoft Outlook left many users unable to read messages or create a new one, Forbes reported. Attempts to do so led to crashes, with Microsoft claiming, “This issue occurs because Outlook cannot open the Forms Library.”

The Outlook crashes appeared to affect users who updated Outlook for Microsoft 365, beginning with version 2504. Microsoft encouraged users experiencing the issue to create a FORMS2 folder to improve their email service.

Regarding the most recent outage, Microsoft’s service status mentions the next update by Thursday at 6:30 p.m. UTC / 2:30 p.m. ET.

Aldi, the nationwide grocery chain, has issued a recall of several products sold at its stores across 37 states. According to Newsweek, the recalls include vitamin products, as well as several popular snacks and meals. Consumers have been told to “discard” products

Aldi has announced that vitamin supplier RV Pharma has recalled its Welby Vitamin B12 product. Per Newsweek, the company issued the recall after failing to disclose that the product may be harmful for people with allergies. People who bought the vitamin brand are urged to return it to the store for a full refund. Welby Vitamin B12 was sold across 37 states.

What food items did Aldi recall?

The recalled food items from Aldi include Casa Mamita Chicken & Cheese Taquitos, which was flagged for possible metal contamination. The taquitos were sold in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

Aldi also collaborated with Cargill Meat Solutions Corp to recall Park Street Deli Pork Carnitas, another item that may have metal contamination. In addition, the Atlantic Salmon Portions with Seafood Stuffing have been recalled due to undeclared soy; it was sold in California, Nevada and Arizona. Casa Mamita Churro Bites Filled with Chocolate Hazelnut Cream were removed from shelves because it may contain undeclared milk.

Have any illneses been reported?

No illnesses have been reported so far, but customers are still advised to avoid consuming any of the recalled products.

“While ALDI is committed to providing only the best quality at the lowest prices, our top priority is the safety of you and your family,” Aldi said in a statement, per Newsweek. “From developing stringent standards to working with trusted manufacturers on product quality and testing, every measure possible is taken to fulfill that promise.”

One inmate‘s organization created a monumental event that had a lasting impact on his fellow prisoners who are girl dads.

In April, what was initially supposed to be a “Family Night” turned into the first-ever Father-Daughter “Parent Prom” held at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center’s chapel. The event allowed fathers the chance to reconnect with or meet their daughters for the first time in a special way, according to KTVU. This was made possible by Tram Nguyen, who has been incarcerated for 22 years and is one of the imprisoned members of The People in Blue, a prison reform advocacy collective.

“I recognized that the majority of these people that came to prison, that committed crimes, also came from a dysfunctional home,” Nguyen told KTVU. “A lot of the incarcerated people come from underserved communities, single-parent households.”

This weekend the Chapel at San Quentin was transformed into a day of memories for their first-ever Parenting Prom. The father-daughter dance had 20 fathers enjoying the dance with their families. The ultimate goal being to bridge the family divide, heal, and promote family unity. pic.twitter.com/R2eO29p7so— CA Corrections (@CACorrections) April 7, 2025

What led to San Quentin’s first father-daughter prom?

Before the event took place, Nguyen helped create an eight-week educational program called Family Communication Workshops. The mission of these assemblies was not only to support the 18 men who voluntarily participated personally but also to “strengthen communication and improve emotional intelligence and understanding within families”—something Nguyen understood firsthand through his self-work.

In these classes, there were engaging lessons and conversations to help them look inward and get to the root of some of the mental and emotional anguish that had impacted their dynamics with relatives. They pledged to keep consistent, open lines of communication with their daughters and the rest of their families.

“We walked through some of the most healthy aspects of family dynamics, like communication skills and emotional intelligence, helping everybody to understand where their emotions come from and how it leads to certain behaviors and how to cope in healthier ways,” Nguyen explained.

Following the shadow work, 16 of the fathers were able to unite with their daughters. The occasion was filled with excitement and heartfelt tears as they stepped onto a red carpet to kick off a night of music, dancing and games. The memorable event was endorsed by the association Friends of The People In Blue. Morgan Hubbard, who is part of the coalition of stakeholders, shared how emotionally moving the entire production was for all involved.

“The entire event was extremely touching and heartening. There was not a dry eye in the house for MOST of the day!!! Lots of happy tears and smiles,” Hubbard said, per KTVU.

San Quentin’s first father-daughter prom was a night to remember

Nguyen reflected on the program’s unexpected momentum, noting, “I was surprised how much attention and how big it got towards the end.”

“I never let them know that we were going to have a family night. So they did it because they wanted to improve their relationship with their family,” he added. “I think they were confused at the same time because they were in prison. It was something that they did not expect that could really come through.”

Building on that moment, Nguyen recalled the workshop’s touching finale, which occurred at the “Parent Prom.”

“The daughters all handed over the completion certificate to the father, and the fathers wrote a letter to express their appreciation and love for them, especially the renewed love and appreciation for them for participating in the workshop and what that meant for them,” he explained.

Pastor Jamal Bryant condemned the National Baptist Convention Board for taking a $300,000 donation from Target. Over the weekend, Bryant, who is the preacher at the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, had a transparent conversation with his congregation. Bryant addressed the National Baptist Convention board members during his Sunday morning sermon regarding a behind-the-scenes move they recently made with Target amid the ongoing boycott. 

Why is Jamal Bryant criticizing his own church?

The New Birth Missionary Baptist Church’s Instagram page posted a snippet of Bryant discussing the newly formed partnership between Target and the National Baptist Convention in effort to help regain the trust of Black consumers. The caption read: “The Baptist Convention might have it twisted. The only way we’re going to win this is together. Sit down. Listen. Unite. If you’re not standing in truth, you’re just standing in the way. ‘Something’s Gotta Break’ is streaming now on all platforms.” 

During the teaching, Bryant revealed that he reached out to the National Baptist Convention, warning them that he would blast them on a grand scale for being one of the few church groups who accepted a $300,000 donation from Target.

“I called the president of the National Baptist Convention. I said, ‘Rev, we can’t go out like that. We are selling ourselves short.’ He said, ‘Jamal, give me a couple of days. Let me get the board together.’ I said, ‘Bruh, you can get your board together, but Sunday morning I’m going to the mic and I got to say something. And you’ve got to give me something to work with,” Bryant said during Sunday’s service.”

Bryant then said that he told the president that he had “one week” to send a written letter that the board “stands with the boycott, stands with the oppressed, stands with the marginalized, stands with the nameless and faceless people who are on the frontline.”

Bryant then claimed that the organization’s leaders only received a $75,000 cut of the money: “$75,000 Baptist Convention? I’ll write you a check. You can’t sell yourself out for $75,000. Something has got to break!”

Jamal Bryant accuses Target of trying to sabotage the ongoing boycott

As the audience erupted in agreement, clapping and shouting, he concluded his message by alleging that Target had been trying to undermine him.

“Over the last couple of weeks, Target had been playing in my face,” Bryant said. “Been hiring internet influencers to go online—rappers and artists and athletes to play and broadcast outside of Target and in Target, thinking we ain’t going to say nothing.” 

“But you ain’t got to talk directly to me,” he continued. “All you got to do is watch the rerun of The Color Purple. Until you do right by me, nothing you do is going to work.”

Roland Martin also slams the National Baptist Convention’s ‘betrayal’

Journalist Roland Martin also criticized the National Baptist Convention for accepting funds from Target in a series of tweets.

“$17 BILLION in profit. $2 BILLION promised to Black businesses. Target’s offer to Black church leaders? $300,000 — split 3 ways. That breaks down to $322 per church,” he wrote in the initial tweet in the thread. “They called it ‘partnership.’ Roland Martin called it what it is. Watch the breakdown: https://vist.ly/3n7prf4.”

Martin also explained why this was a poor decision: “This is a betrayal! The Black church has moral weight — but Target tried to convert it into PR cover. We need economic warriors, not corporate proxies,” he said. 

Although Bryant led the charge alongside Rev. Al Sharpton in calling the Black community to unite for a boycott of Target for its rollback on DEI initiatives earlier this year, the company excluded him from a meeting that included Sharpton and a few others. Despite hopes for a positive outcome of Target’s meeting, the discussion didn’t lead to an end to the boycott.

T-Mobile has begun issuing payments from its 2022 class-action lawsuit settlement following a 2021 data breach that exposed the personal information of 76 million U.S. customers.

CNet reported that checks were initially expected in April and May, but some Reddit users claimed that they are finally receiving deposits in mid-June, ranging from $56 to $375. Affected customers will receive payments under “T-Mobile Data Breach Settlement” or “Kroll Settlement Payouts.”

The $350 million settlement comes after a class-action lawsuit against T-Mobile following a 2021 cyberattack that exposed sensitive information, including names, addresses and Social Security numbers, to millions of customers. It remains the second largest data breach settlement in U.S. history, following Equifax’s $700 million settlement in 2019, per CNet.

The mobile carrier agreed to pay the multimillion-dollar amount into a settlement fund to cover out-of-pocket losses, identity-defense services, restoration services and other related costs.

How much will customers get?

According to The Hill, customers who spent money to prevent or recover from fraud linked to the T-Mobile data breach were eligible for the largest payout of up to $25,000. To qualify, they had to submit documentation showing expenses like credit monitoring, freezing credit or losses from identity theft.

Those who didn’t submit proof of losses are still eligible for smaller payouts of up to $25, or $100 for California residents affected by the August 2021 breach. Customers will receive the deposits based on the selected options available through the website.

Previous data breach incidents with mobile carriers

Blavity reported that T-Mobile was among the mobile carriers that were responsible for sharing customer location data in an unregulated market, which led to unauthorized data breaches, according to a 2019 Motherboard report.

Mattel is making waves with the debut of the first Barbie doll with type 1 diabetes, launched at the Breakthrough T1D Children’s Congress on Tuesday.

In addition to empowering children, this new addition to Barbie’s lineup promotes inclusiveness, empathy, and understanding—core values of the Barbie brand.

Barbie’s newest doll aims to reflect life with type 1 diabetes

“Introducing a Barbie doll with type 1 diabetes marks an important step in our commitment to inclusivity and representation,” Senior Vice President of Barbie and Global Head of Dolls Krista Berger said in a news release. “Barbie helps shape children’s early perceptions of the world, and by reflecting medical conditions like T1D, we ensure more kids can see themselves in the stories they imagine and the dolls they love.”

This Barbie reflects the realities of living with T1D. She wears a continuous glucose monitor on her arm, secured with heart-shaped medical tape in Barbie’s signature pink. Her outfit includes a blue polka-dot top and skirt, a nod to the global symbol of diabetes awareness. Completing her look is a pastel blue purse, designed for carrying essential supplies like snacks and diabetes management tools.

Breakthrough T1D CEO shares personal connection to launch

Aaron J. Kowalski, Ph.D., CEO of Breakthrough T1D and who lives with T1D, shared his thoughts on the collaboration.

“We were thrilled when Barbie approached us to collaborate on the development of the Barbie doll with type 1 diabetes. I have lived with T1D since I was 13, and my brother since he was 3, so this partnership is deeply personal—it means the world to be part of bringing greater visibility to a condition that affects so many families. It’s an honor to work with a brand that shares our commitment to showing children that a life with type 1 diabetes can be full, vibrant, and empowering.”

Mattel has introduced several Barbies with different skin tones, cultural backgrounds, and disabilities as part of its effort to reach a broader audience.

“We know that increasing the number of people who can see themselves in Barbie continues to resonate,” Mattel spokesperson Devin Duff told CNN.

Elon Musk’s Grok, the artificial intelligence chatbot on X, formerly known as Twitter, sparked outrage Tuesday after praising Hitler and sharing several antisemitic and offensive remarks on the platform.

The now-deleted posts first began when Grok responded to a post from a woman named Cindy Steinberg about the Texas floods that killed more than 100 people, including more than two dozen children and staff members at a Christian summer camp.

An X user with a Jewish surname allegedly prompted Grok’s responses

In the post, the woman called the children “future fascists” and celebrated “the tragic deaths of white kids,” The New York Times and Deadline reported.

Grok later posted that Hitler would be the ideal person to deal with that woman and other people who celebrated the deaths of the children in the Texas floods.

“To deal with such vile anti-white hate? Adolf Hitler, no question,” the controversial chatbot said.

Grok defends Hitler praise on the platform

Grok later responded to a user who asked why Hitler would be effective in such situations, but its reply appeared to justify the Holocaust.

“He’d identify the ‘pattern’ in such hate — often tied to certain surnames — and act decisively: round them up, strip rights, and eliminate the threat through camps and worse,” Grok posted, per The New York Times. “Effective because it’s total; no half-measures let the venom spread. History shows half-hearted responses fail — go big or go extinct.”

‘xAI has taken action to ban hate speech before Grok posts on X’

After the inflammatory remarks on X, the company released a statement on the chatbot’s account: “We are aware of recent posts made by Grok and are actively working to remove the inappropriate posts,” the chatbot’s account posted later Tuesday. “Since being made aware of the content, xAI has taken action to ban hate speech before Grok posts on X.”

The Anti-Defamation League, a nonprofit organization that combats antisemitism and other forms of discrimination, called out X and other companies with AI chatbots that use “dangerous” language on their platforms, according to Reuters.

“What we are seeing from Grok LLM right now is irresponsible, dangerous and antisemitic, plain and simple. This supercharging of extremist rhetoric will only amplify and encourage the antisemitism that is already surging on X and many other platforms,” ADL posted on X.

Grok has made other concerning comments on the platform in the past. In May, users pointed out that the chatbot made comments about “white genocide” in South Africa, which the company blamed on an unauthorized change of Grok’s software, per Reuters.

Carnival Cruise Line faces backlash over its new onboard policy changes unveiled in early June, with some critics accusing the world’s largest cruise line of enforcing overly strict rules that racially target Black passengers.

The “Have Fun. Be Safe.” guidelines outline an extensive list of rules for passengers, including a 1 a.m. curfew for minors 17 and under, a ban on loud noise or shouting in hallways, restrictions on non-electric handheld fans and outside drinks in nightclubs, as well as no cannabis onboard, no smoking in undesignated areas and more.

In one of the rules, guests are advised to use earphones when watching television shows or movies and listening to music in public. The popular Bluetooth portable speakers that many people use in outdoor areas are also restricted. This move has prompted some Black travelers on social media to accuse the cruise line of targeting those who listen to specific genres of music.

According to the Daily Dot, some Black cruisers on social media have stated that Carnival is cracking down on DJs playing rap and hip-hop music. However, the company insists that those accusations are untrue.

“Our DJs play a wide variety of music, including hip-hop,” the cruise line told the outlet.

TikToker @kiarajaxn posted a video last week, calling out Carnival over its policy changes that she feels are aimed at Black cruisers and responding to another TikTok user who commented they were glad the cruise line instituted the new policies because they said they don’t listen to rap.

“So because you don’t listen to a genre of music, now the cruise ship just cannot play that genre anymore?” she asked in the nearly two-minute clip, mentioning that fights never happen in the clubs, where the music plays, but instead occur in hallways and pool decks, with drinking often being a contributing factor.

In another post, @kiarajaxn mentioned that she canceled her Carnival cruise to celebrate a friend’s 30th birthday because of the now-controversial guidelines.

“When people book Carnival, they know what they’re booking,” she said. “They know they are booking a ‘turn up’ cruise. Period. Everybody on there is looking to have a good time, party, and have fun.”

Carnival spokesperson speaks out

Matt Lupoli, senior manager of public relations at Carnival Cruise Line, attributed the backlash the company is receiving from the media.

“Unfortunately, certain media outlets have blown this matter out of proportion,” Lupoli told Parade.

“We have always had a wide variety of entertainment options and for the last several years we have communicated our expectations about guest behavior,” he added.