CA: Tourists may be behind “unprecedented” surge in mushroom poisonings

Source: SFGate

“Bay Area health officials are warning the public of an unusual surge in mushroom poisonings across the region and state, including the latest cases in Napa County. Over the weekend, three adults were hospitalized after eating wild mushrooms they collected in the rural area of Deer Park, the county’s Health and Human Services Agency said in a Tuesday news release. The three people were not Napa County residents and were foraging mushrooms specifically between Deer Park Road, Fawn Road and Silverado Trail. The agency said the poisonings are part of an ‘unprecedented outbreak’ of mushroom-related illnesses and deaths across California. According to the California Department of Public Health, there have been 47 cases, including four deaths, since Nov. 18, 2025. Of these cases, hospitalizations occurred in six Bay Area counties: Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Sonoma.” (05/14/26)

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/napa-mushrooms-poison-california-22257807.php

Steve Trinward

Taiwan’s lesson for US-China summit

Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff

“Taiwan’s elected officials were not given a seat at this week’s summit in Beijing between the American and Chinese leaders. Yet the Taiwanese people – or, rather, their resolve to run a free country by respecting individual sovereignty – were very much there. So much so that China’s overall stated goal for the summit was to gain the United States’ help in breaking Taiwan’s democratic spirit. The specific requests by Chinese leader Xi Jinping are that U.S. President Donald Trump oppose any attempt by Taiwan to officially declare independence and that he end U.S. military sales to the second-freest nation in Asia. Whether Mr. Trump acts on those requests is almost secondary to the fact that Mr. Xi indirectly admits he is failing to break Taiwan’s civic identity of individual freedom and inherent rights.” (05/13/26)

https://www.csmonitor.com/Editorials/the-monitors-view/2026/0513/Taiwan-s-lesson-for-US-China-summit

Steve Trinward

CIA Officer: Agency Defies Trump’s Order, Withholds 40 Boxes of JFK and MKULTRA Files

Source: JFK Facts
by Jack Reid

“Active duty CIA officer James Erdman III testified in front of the Senate Oversight Committee on Wednesday about Agency obfuscation of findings around the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. In his prepared remarks, he made an explosive detour into the JFK case. He stated that the CIA took back control of 40 boxes of documents that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) was reviewing for declassification under President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14176. That January 2025 decree ordered the release of records concerning the JFK, MLK and RFK assassinations.” (05/13/26)

https://jfkfacts.substack.com/p/cia-officer-agency-defies-trumps

Thomas L. Knapp

NY: Man Found Guilty in Chinese “Secret Police Station” Case

Source: US News & World Report

“A New York man was ⁠found ⁠guilty on Wednesday of acting as an unregistered ⁠agent of the Chinese government after a trial over federal prosecutors’ allegations that he operated ​a ‘secret police station’ on behalf of Beijing in Manhattan’s Chinatown neighborhood. Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn said Lu Jianwang, 64, should have alerted the U.S. Attorney General ‌that he was a Chinese agent ‌when he helped open the so-called police station in 2022. They also said he helped China’s government locate a pro-democracy activist living ⁠in California. Lu was ⁠arrested in April 2023. He had pleaded not guilty to the three felony charges ​he faced: conspiracy to act as an unregistered foreign agent, acting as an unregistered agent of China, and obstruction of justice. A jury in Brooklyn federal court reached the verdict after a weeklong trial.” (05/13/26)

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2026-05-13/new-york-man-found-guilty-in-chinese-secret-police-station-case

Thomas L. Knapp