West

EXCLUSIVE PICS: Hunter Biden on the other side of the country while dad fights for political life

Published

2 years ago

July 21, 2024

EXCLUSIVE PICS: Hunter Biden on the other side of the country while dad fights for political life

Fox News Digital exclusive photos show Hunter Biden out and about in Los Angeles while his father, President Joe Biden, remained hunkered down on the other side of the country, battling to save his legacy.

The younger Biden, who has reportedly been closely advising his father as a chorus of key Democrats have called on him to end his re-election bid, was seen shopping Friday and leaving the home of “Sugar Bro” Kevin Morris, the entertainment lawyer who funded his defense in a recent criminal trial.

President Biden has reportedly relied heavily on his troubled Yale Law School graduate son and his wife, first lady Jill Biden, as he has tried to fend off claims he is not mentally fit to serve another four years as president. The calls reached a crescendo following his disastrous performance in his June 27 debate against former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee.

The president is spending the weekend at his vacation house in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

Hunter Biden started sitting in on meetings between his father and close staff at the White House just a week after the debate, with one White House source telling NBC at the time that the sudden presence caused confusion and prompted many to ask, “What the hell is happening?”

Biden appeared to rely on his son not only in those meetings, but on phone calls as well, sources had reported.

JD VANCE, OTHERS SAY BIDEN SHOULD RESIGN PRESIDENCY IF HE DROPS OUT OF THE RACE

Hunter Biden exits a supermarket as Secret Service detail holds the door open for him in Los Angeles, California, Friday, July 19, 2024. Hunter Biden remains in Los Angeles as his father, President Joe Biden, is in Delaware amid growing calls for him to drop out of the 2024 election race. (Toby Canham for Fox News Digital)

Hunter Biden was also reported to be one of the biggest advocates for his father staying in the race during a gathering at Camp David in the aftermath of the president’s poor debate performance, with some critics arguing that the president using his son as a top adviser has become a conflict of interest.

Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., responded to Hunter Biden’s involvement in these top-level meetings by labeling him “a walking national security threat.”

BIDEN’S CAMPAIGN ISSUES A RESPONSE AFTER TRUMP’S RNC SPEECH

Hunter Biden exits the home of Kevin Morris as Secret Service detail holds the car door open in Los Angeles, California, Friday, July 19, 2024. Hunter Biden remains in Los Angeles as his father, President Joe Biden, is in Delaware amid growing calls for him to drop out of the 2024 election race. (Toby Canham for Fox News Digital)

Some have alleged that Hunter Biden is seeking to have his father pardon him for two cases brought against him in Delaware and California. He was found guilty last month in the Delaware gun case and is awaiting sentencing. His trial on federal tax charges in California is scheduled to begin in September.

DEMOCRATS PLOT COUP TO ‘SAVE DEMOCRACY,’ BUT WHAT HAPPENS IF THEY FAIL?

Secret Service detail waiting outside the Los Angeles home of Kevin Morris as Hunter Biden visits on Friday, July 19, 2024. Hunter Biden remains in Los Angeles as his father, President Joe Biden, is in Delaware amid growing calls for him to drop out of the 2024 election race. (Toby Canham for Fox News Digital)

His lawyers are requesting that both federal cases be thrown out, arguing that Special Counsel David Weiss had been illegally appointed. Hunter Biden was convicted last month on three felony charges related to a handgun purchase in 2018, and a case in California about alleged federal tax crimes is ongoing.

“It’s just a pure and simple massive interest in his dad staying president so he can pardon not only Hunter, but Joe and the rest of the family for the crimes they committed, and probably Merrick Garland, too, for his role in the cover-up,” Mike Howell, the executive director of the Oversight Project at the Heritage Foundation, told Fox News Digital earlier this month.

Hunter Biden was found guilty on all charges in the Delaware gun case, including counts of making a false statement in the purchase of a gun, making a false statement related to information required to be kept by a federally licensed gun dealer, and possession of a gun by a person who is an unlawful user of, or addicted to, a controlled substance.

Fox News Digital’s Michael Lee and Adam Shaw contributed to this report.

Peter Aitken is a Fox News Digital reporter with a focus on national and global news.

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Hawaii

Records were set for June rainfall – Hawaii Tribune-Herald

Published

11 minutes ago

July 16, 2026

Press Room

Records were set for June rainfall – Hawaii Tribune-Herald

Halfway into the dry season for most of Hawaii, 11 Big Island sites experienced their wettest June on record, according to the National Weather Service.

Most prominent among those sites are: Hakalau, with 19.75 inches, seven times its usual June rainfall; Honokaa, with 19.55 inches, four times its June norm; Pahala, with 10.95 inches, five times its June average; and Kapapala Ranch, with 10.68 inches, almost seven times its normal June.

“I was struck by how wet it has been over the past couple of months,” wrote Kevin Kodama, retired National Weather Service Honolulu senior service hydrologist, in his Mauka Showers blog. “… So what produced all this rain? In a broad sense, we’ve had wetter than usual trade winds, including a few trade wind disturbances that boosted rainfall amounts along the windward slopes of the state.”

No windward Big Island spots reported below average rainfall for the month.

Hilo International Airport measured 11.39 inches, 56% above its normal June. Glenwood and Mountain View recorded 20.42 and 19.41 inches, respectively, while Pahoa reported 11.16 inches.

“Looking at Hilo airport’s data from June, the number of days with measurable rain, at least 0.01 inches, was right around normal — 25 days compared to a long-term average of 25.4 days — but the amount of rain per day was well above normal, 0.38 inches per day vs. a long-term average of 0.24 inches per day,” Kodama noted.

“The windward coast and upper slope areas, as well as much of the Puna and Ka‘u districts, fared the best in June, with well above average rainfall in most spots,” said Tina Stall, National Weather Service Honolulu hydrologist. “Much of the Kona and Kohala District coast and slopes, as well as the interior higher elevations, came in below average.”

Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport in Keahole, which averages less than an inch of rain in June, came in bone dry for the month at 0.04 inches, just 5% of its norm.

Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park had less than a quarter-inch of rain, 14% of its June average.

Unlike most of the state, the Kona coffee belt has its wet season in the summer. Two of the four coffee belt gauges — Honaunau with 6.25 inches and Waiaha with 5.39 inches — experienced a normal June. Kealakekua and Kainaliu, with 3.75 inches and 3.6 inches, respectively, were both at 62% of normal June rainfall.

The year-to-date totals for the first half of 2026 were almost all at or above normal levels.

Unsurprisingly, the most robust rainfall totals for the year were recorded on the windward side of the island.

Glenwood, in the upper Puna rainforest, had the highest rainfall total among populated areas with 125.52 inches, almost 10 inches above average.

Mountain View reported 108.22 inches, 29% above its norm for the first six months. And Waiakea Experimental Station, in the foothills above Hilo, registered 108.22 inches — 30% more than its average.

In Ka‘u, the precipitation was equally striking. Pahala received 76.44 inches and Kapapala Ranch recorded 70.9 inches — in both cases, more than twice the normal rainfall for January through June.

Even on the drier leeward side, all but two gauges recorded average or above average rainfall for the year-to-date. Puuanahulu, in the North Kona hills, received 12.04 inches of rain in the first six months, 85% of its norm, and Puhe, just south of Kawaihae on the Kohala Coast, had just 3.7 inches, or 64% of its normal rainfall for the first half of the year.

Kona airport received 9.52 inches of rain for the year, exactly 4 inches more than its half-year average, and the four Kona coffee-belt gauges all have recorded significantly higher-than-average rainfall totals, with Honaunau leading the way at 43.07 inches, 69% above its norm.

No drought remains on the Big Island, although the U.S. Drought Monitor listed 22.69% of the island as abnormally dry — with the parched areas occurring on Daniel K. Inouye Highway and along a portion of the Kohala coastline.

The bountiful rainfall is likely to end at some point in the intermediate future. The Central Pacific Basin is currently experiencing El Nino conditions, a natural climate pattern in which warmer than normal ocean surface temperatures significantly alter the weather.

“The strengthening El Nino will probably be the primary driver of rainfall conditions through the rest of the dry season and into early next year,” Kodama said, adding a computer model posted July 8 “shows probabilities favoring above normal rainfall through the rest of the dry season.”

“The last time we had a very strong El Nino was in 2015,” he noted. “It helped produce the wettest dry season in 30 years and conditions remained fairly wet into mid-December before the El Nino dry pattern finally established itself. If the models are right, this year’s event could bring an earlier start to El Nino-related statewide drought conditions.

“Once established, these conditions will likely persist into the spring of 2027.”

Email John Burnett at john.burnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.

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Idaho

How the City of Boise tests water samples to ensure the Boise River runs clean

Published

17 minutes ago

July 16, 2026

Press Room

How the City of Boise tests water samples to ensure the Boise River runs clean

NORTHWEST BOISE, Idaho — The Boise River is considered the heart of the city for many folks — floating, fishing and the gorgeous scenery on the greenbelt all rely on the waterway.

That’s why the City of Boise closely monitors the river’s water quality and the treated wastewater returned to the river from its water renewal facilities.

“The biggest question we get from people who are pedestrians and bicyclists is what are you trying to catch?,” said Bryan Dufosse, Senior Environmental Specialist with the City of Boise.

He and his team are often seen on the bridges over the Boise River with a unique crane looking contraption that they use to collect a series of water samples across the river.

WATCH | See how the city’s enviromental team tests the water quality of the Boise River

How the City of Boise tests water samples to ensure the Boise River runs clean

The city collects samples from locations upstream and downstream from Boise’s water renewal plants to ensure their treatment systems are working properly.

“We’re from the beginning of the pipe to the end of the pipe, making sure that we’re not putting anything into the river that takes away from the river’s water quality,” Dufosse said.

He says the majority of the time their samples come back nice and clean.

“We don’t see heavy pollutants fortunately here. Normally the Boise river is pretty clean, it’s pretty clean because the city citizens and the City Of Boise care about the River,” Dufosse said.

The city still conducts extensive testing to monitor for pollutants and other contaminants like heavy metals or nutrients. Samples collected from the river are brought to a portable water testing lab they built inside a camper before they’re taken to the city’s full size lab.

“Now we are splitting the samples so we can take them back to the water quality lab and then Alex and the rest of the team will test them for heavy metals and pH and all that kind of stuff,” said Corrine Smith, Water Quality Environmental Technician with the City of Boise.

If unusually high levels of metals or pollutants are detected, the city reports the findings to the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality and works to identify the source.

The city’s water quality team tests the Boise River 52 weeks a year to ensure the water remains clean and healthy.

This story was initially reported by a journalist and has been, in part, converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.

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