By Camila DeChalus, CNN

(CNN) — A new bipartisan bill passed in the House is aiming to eliminate childcare regulations that critics in the industry say have gone bananas.

Across the country at some daycare centers, workers can open a bag of chips for a toddler but may not be allowed to peel a banana without triggering additional food preparation rules — a regulatory quirk that a bipartisan group of lawmakers is now trying to change.

The legislation, known as the Cutting Red Tape on Child Care Providers Act, passed in the House last week. It aims to create a separate category for foods with a low risk for foodborne illness — like peeled fruits and vegetables — and seeks to prevent childcare providers from being penalized for serving them.

Democratic Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington state, who sponsored the bill, says this legislation would cut unnecessary red tape that discourages daycare workers from serving fresh fruits and vegetables, though critics argue the issue is more nuanced and question how much impact the bill would have.

“When we have policies that wittingly or unwittingly make Cheetos more accessible to a toddler than fresh fruit, we have a crisis brewing,” Gluesenkamp Perez said, in a video posted on X.

Perez said she confirmed that under regulations in Washington and other states, serving fresh fruit would require a daycare owner to install additional sinks to meet regulations.

Colleen Condon, who owns a daycare facility in Washington, told CNN the bill is necessary because the regulations are overly burdensome.

“What we’re actually experiencing is a system that is burdened with too many regulations,” she said. “If we’re spending all of our time thinking about how we’re going to peel a banana, do all this other stuff like, that’s time. Teachers aren’t engaging with kids, yeah, and doing the actual important work.”

These kitchen upgrades create more barriers for home-based daycare providers, particularly in rural communities, critics argue.

Dana Christiansen, who owns two large Washington daycare facilities and is a board member of the Washington Childcare Centers Association, also told CNN that daycare facilities are overregulated.

“Everybody agrees that health and safety of children is the most important thing. But when you put these things into place that just create hurdles and hurdles and battles and battles, you are just hurting an industry that just runs on really tight margins and can really struggle,” Christiansen said.

Some childcare advocates say standardized food-safety regulations for daycare centers are essential, while also acknowledging that if certain rules can be eliminated without compromising children’s health and well-being, federal regulators should consider doing so.

“The health and safety of children is the most important aspect of running a childcare program, and the providers who do that work take that responsibility very seriously,” Erica Phillips, executive director of the National Association for Family Child Care, told CNN.

She continued, “There are opportunities where we can make sure that the regulations are specific to childcare and not creating an undue burden on them by, requiring them to get a certification, or some other requirement or regulation that doesn’t really fit well with a with a childcare program.”

CNN has reached out to Senate Majority Leader John Thune asking whether his chamber will take up a vote on the House bill.

Christiansen said she is glad Gluesenkamp Perez introduced this bill but urged members of Congress to do more to eliminate costly regulations.

“There’s so much more that I feel like needs to be done. It feels hard that it stopped at

By Ray Sanchez, CNN

(CNN) — The investigation into the 1996 disappearance of Kristin Smart has been characterized by decades of critical questions, starting with the whereabouts of her remains.

Now, new questions are emerging as authorities have concluded their most recent search at the home of the mother of Paul Flores – the man convicted of Smart’s murder – and say they have not recovered Smart’s remains after new soil testing had returned signs of human remains. Will other locations be searched or searched again with new techniques? Will evidence they say they are still evaluating lead them in new directions?

The quest for answers in the case has captivated the public’s attention ever since the college freshman vanished from California Polytechnic State University’s San Luis Obispo campus over Memorial Day weekend in 1996. A decadeslong investigation led to the trial and conviction in 2022 of Paul Flores for her murder.

Still, key questions have stood in the way of the Smart family’s pursuit of some semblance of closure and their hope to “finally lay her to rest in the presence of those who love her.”

What prompted the latest search?

The new search at the home of Susan Flores underscored a renewed commitment to finding answers in the Smart case.

“Until we have Kristin, everything is still wide-open,” San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson told reporters Friday.

Susan Flores’ Arroyo Grande home has been searched multiple times during the 30-year investigation. But Parkinson said there have since been advances in the soil science and the ground-penetrating radar investigators used to scour the property.

CNN reached out to attorneys who previously represented the Flores family and to Susan Flores but did not hear back.

Last week, investigators descended on Flores’ mother’s home, combing through the packed garage and examining the deck.

“Kristin has been moved, and we don’t know how many times she’s been moved and to where she’s moved, and so just because somebody’s house was searched doesn’t mean that we’re not going back there, because she could have been moved back there thinking that it’s a safe place,” the sheriff told reporters before later announcing Saturday the search had concluded without recovering Smart.

Authorities had a search warrant permitting them to return to the home based on “investigative leads and evidence,” the sheriff previously said, as well as “information that was derived from what we have to deem as a witness.”

Parkinson would not disclose what new information enabled investigators to get the latest warrant.

A Sheriff’s Office spokesperson told CNN the warrant permitting authorities to enter and search the property remains sealed, meaning the underlying evidence presented to the judge is not yet public.

What did investigators find?

Smart’s remains were not recovered in the latest search in Arroyo Grande, the sheriff’s office said Saturday while announcing the search had been concluded.

The agency did not elaborate on the search at the home, only saying any evidence recovered would be sent for evaluation to “aid in the investigation.”

“The Sheriff’s Office remains fully committed to finding Kristin and bringing her home to her family,” the sheriff’s office said Saturday.

The sheriff had previously said evidence indicated human remains “were there at one time or still there,” but could not

By Tim Lister, Aida Karimi, CNN

(CNN) — The internet blackout in Iran is more than two months old, the longest on record. For millions who rely on being online to make a living, the void has been devastating.

But some have privileged access through what’s called “Internet Pro” – and that’s causing widespread public criticism. The program, launched earlier this year, appears to be another weapon enabling hardliners and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to exert control in Iran.

Iran’s state media boasts of the unity of the government and the people in the face of what it calls an “imposed war” by the United States and Israel, but arguments over who gets what internet access have spilled into the media and embroiled the highest levels of government.

Iranians speak of mounting frustration about being cut off or spending what little money they have in occasionally getting a glimpse of the outside world.

“Imagine dealing with unemployment and crazy inflation, and somehow managing to scrape together 500,000 or a million tomans (about $13), only to spend it on a couple of gigabytes of VPN just so you can get on X or other platforms, check the news, and have a voice,” said Faraz, a 38-year old resident of Tehran. The average monthly wage in Iran is between 20 million and 35 million tomans ($240 to $420).

“And then, in the middle of all this stress and frustration, when you finally manage to open X or Telegram, you see people with unrestricted access acting like everything is normal, it honestly feels like a punch to the gut,” Faraz told CNN.

A VPN (Virtual Private Network) service is a tool that hides a user’s location online, and many people in Iran use it via the black market to get around internet blocks.

The sale of Internet Pro began in February through the Mobile Communications Company of Iran (MCI), after businesses complained that they had been hurt by heavily restricted access during nationwide protests in January. MCI is owned by a consortium with close ties to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Internet Pro emphasizes connection stability and less restricted access to international sites. Essentially it provides the same level of access to a fortunate few that was once available to everyone. Users must pass a verification process and have a business, academic or scientific role.

But many Iranians complain it widens the already huge gap between rich and poor.

It has “divided Iranian society into two distinct classes: a digital elite who enjoy fast, unfiltered channels for business, education, and communication, and digital subjects who are confined within heavy filtering, restricted speeds, and the high costs of the black-market VPN economy,” according to the independent publication Khabar Online.

“The main issue is no longer just filtering or shutdowns; rather, it is the redefinition of the right to access the internet,” Mohammad-Hamid Shahrivar, a lawyer, said in an interview with the Shargh news outlet.

The price of black-market VPN apps has skyrocketed, and losing internet access has cost Iranians about $1.8 billion over the past two months, according to Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRA), which is based outside the country. That tallies with an estimate from Iran’s Chamber of Commerce.

“The internet shutdown, which by itself was the source of livelihood for a very large number of virtual businesses – ha

By Nina Giraldo, CNN

(CNN) — Susan Logothetti and two colleagues stood outside the yellow home in Everett, Washington, donning T-shirts and holding flyers promoting a chewing gum company.

Mitchell Gaff opened the door wearing pajama pants, welcomed the trio into his house and agreed to a taste test, sampling different sticks of gum with enthusiasm, Logothetti recalled of the January 2024 encounter.

When the time came for Gaff to try a new flavor, one colleague held out a small dish, Logothetti said.

“I remember watching him spit the first piece of gum into the ramekin and seeing the saliva, and it was very hard for me to contain my excitement,” Logothetti told CNN.

Gaff had unknowingly given three undercover detectives the DNA they needed to confirm his connection to a 1984 rape and murder, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed in March. The “gum ruse” is cited in the affidavit.

Gaff, 68, a convicted rapist, admitted April 16 to the killing of Judy Weaver and also of Susan Vesey four years earlier, according to court documents. He faces up to life in prison at his scheduled sentencing on Wednesday.

The investigations into the murders of the two Washington state women in 1980 and 1984 – back then regarded as unrelated – led to persons of interest in each case but no prosecutions.

Four decades after Weaver’s murder, forensic scientists found the DNA extracted from the gum was consistent with evidence found on her body, court documents stated. The discovery, and the eventual connection between the two murders, marked a breakthrough in the investigations and showed how crucial modern DNA technology is in solving cold cases.

Beyond that, the identification of the killer also has allowed families who lived for so long under the dark cloud of suspicion to heal and brought some relief to a woman Gaff attacked before the murders.

For closure to ultimately happen, the Weaver and Vesey cases “just needed science to catch up,” Logothetti said.

DNA profiling helped catch killer

Vesey was 21 and a married mother of two children, both less than 2 years old, when she was murdered in July 1980.

Gaff was “trying random doors and found the victim’s door unlocked” and proceeded to tie up, beat, rape and strangle Vesey, he admitted in his guilty plea statement. Four years later, Gaff attacked Weaver, a 42-year-old mother, in her bedroom, which he then set fire to in an apparent attempt to destroy evidence, according to the statement.

“Before leaving I wrapped cords around her neck and lit the corner of the bedspread in an attempt to cover up my crime and with the intention of killing her,” Gaff said. “Ms. Weaver died because of my actions.”

Gaff said in his statement he did not know either woman prior to each attack. Heather Wolfenbarger, Gaff’s defense attorney, declined to comment.

At the time of the murders, DNA profiling had yet to become a useful forensic tool. In Weaver’s case, however, law enforcement “had the foresight” to call the lab about obtaining vaginal swabs, which led them to submit the evidence a few hours after her death, according to court documents.

The case file on Weaver’s murder that Logothetti ultimately inherited from her predecessors at the Everett Police Department brimmed with outlandish theories around her death involving money laundering and cocaine. Weaver’s boyfriend at the time of her murder died in 1994 as the main suspect in her case, Logothetti said.

The emergence of DNA profiling ultimately led law enforcement to revisit Weaver’s murder in 2020, court documents said.

Lisa Collins, a forensic scientist at Washington State Patrol,

Por Brad Lendon, Sylvie Zhuang y Wayne Chang, CNN

A medida que la guerra en Irán entra en su tercer mes, está proporcionando a China una ventana para observar cómo funcionan las capacidades militares de Estados Unidos bajo fuego, y un recordatorio útil de que, en cualquier campo de batalla, el adversario siempre tiene un papel importante en el resultado.

CNN habló con una variedad de expertos en China, Taiwán y otros lugares sobre cómo los últimos dos meses de combates en y alrededor del golfo Pérsico pueden informar sobre lo que podría suceder en cualquier posible conflicto que enfrente a Beijing contra Washington.

Advirtieron sobre el riesgo de que China malinterprete sus propias fortalezas, su falta de experiencia y el hecho de mantener una visión demasiado limitada del conflicto y sus consecuencias.

Fu Qianshao, un excoronel de la fuerza aérea de China, dijo que su principal conclusión de los combates hasta ahora es que el Ejército Popular de Liberación (EPL) no puede olvidarse de sus defensas, señalando cómo Irán ha encontrado formas de eludir sistemas antimisiles estadounidenses como el Patriot o el Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD).

“Necesitamos dedicar esfuerzos significativos para identificar debilidades en nuestro lado defensivo para asegurarnos de que sigamos siendo invencibles en futuras guerras”, dijo Fu a CNN.

El EPL ha ampliado rápidamente su capacidad de poder ofensivo en los últimos años, añadiendo misiles con vehículos planeadores hipersónicos que pueden evadir interceptores y las plataformas que pueden lanzarlos.

La Fuerza Aérea del EPL está incorporando cazas furtivos de quinta generación a un ritmo acelerado y, según el grupo de expertos británico RUSI, contará con alrededor de 1.000 aviones J-20 —el equivalente aproximado de los F-35 estadounidenses— cuando operen en modo de ataque de precisión de largo alcance.

China tiene en desarrollo un bombardero furtivo de largo alcance, similar al B-2 o al B-21 de Estados Unidos.

Pero sus defensas son otro asunto.

Los analistas señalan que Irán pudo penetrar las defensas aéreas de Estados Unidos en el golfo Pérsico con tecnología relativamente primitiva, incluidos drones Shahed de bajo costo y misiles balísticos aún más baratos.

Mientras tanto, Estados Unidos desató una campaña aérea contra Irán con armamento mucho más sofisticado, como los F-35 y los B-2, y la combinó con municiones guiadas más baratas y menos avanzadas tecnológicamente lanzadas desde B-1, B-52 y F-15. Han destruido de todo, desde lanzadores de misiles hasta embarcaciones navales y puentes.

Es una combinación para la que Beijing debe prepararse, dijo Fu.

“Tenemos que profundizar más para proteger eficazmente nuestros sitios clave, aeródromos y puertos contra ataques y asaltos”, dijo.

Cuando se trata de un posible conflicto entre Estados Unidos y China, Taiwán suele considerarse un posible punto crítico.

El Partido Comunista gobernante de China ha prometido “reunificarse” con la democracia autónoma, a pesar de nunca haber controlado Taiwán. El líder chino Xi Jinping no ha descartado el uso de la fuerza militar para lograrlo.

En Taiwán, los analistas reconocen que China ha reunido unas fuerzas armadas capaces de igualar tanto a Estados Unidos en armamento de precisión de alta tecnología como a Irán en guerra de drones de bajo costo y gran volumen.

“Los cohetes de largo alcance y los enjambres de drones definitivamente jugarán un papel clave en las operaciones militares conjuntas de China contra Taiwán”, dijo Chieh Chung, investigador asociado del Instituto de Investigación de Defensa Nacional y Seguridad de Taiwán, a C