Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell swore in three members of the central bank’s governing board Wednesday, including Philip Jefferson as vice chair and Adriana Kugler to fill a vacant seat as the central bank’s first Latina governor

The Tennesse car crash involving four vehicles in Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s motorcade has revealed that his campaign has misused government vehicles by using cars owned by the state of Florida in his presidential run, a report claims. The crash that took place on Tuesday as the campaign team was travelling to fundraisers in three cities in the state shows how the campaign is using state resources, but it remains almost impossible to discover who’s funding it after a new law passed by the Florida legislature to shield Mr DeSantis’s travel records from the public, according to the Orlando Sentinel. The research director for nonprofit government watchdog Integrity Florida, Ben Wilcox, told the paper: “The legislature has enabled him to hide his travel records so we don’t know and have no way to hold him accountable if he is using state resources in his campaign or if that is even the case”. Orlando Democratic state representative Anna Eskamani told the paper that “It’s absurd that he’s using public resources and public infrastructure to campaign. He’s using state resources to boost himself politically”. The crash took place as the campaign was heading to a fundraiser when an accident further ahead caused traffic to slow down. A Tennessee Highway Patrol officer heading the motorcade stopped short, and the cars behind the officer rear-ended each other, according to Chattanooga Police. “If the accident hadn’t been reported, we wouldn’t have known otherwise about the use of state vehicles,” Ms Eskamani added. “It makes you wonder how often state vehicles and public employees are being used at out-of-state campaign events.” One DeSantis staffer was treated on the scene of the crash for minor injuries. There were no further injuries, police said. Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) agents were also involved in the accident. Police said all the vehicles in the crash were government-owned. FDLE spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger told the paper: “We’ve never answered questions about our protective operations assets (number of agents used, vehicles etc.)” The federal campaign finance report filed on 15 July covering the three months leading up to 30 June doesn’t include any payments to FDLE for travel or security. The report states that $76,256 were spent on private security. The DeSantis campaign has recently been in the news for spending large amounts without much to show for it, and recently laying off 38 people – a third of the campaign staff. Travel and staffing appear to be large expenses for the campaign as Mr DeSantis has been reported to be travelling with a larger group of staffers compared to other candidates. The campaign had raised $20m as of 30 June and they had spent $8.2m – more than a million on payroll and almost as much on travel – $896,000. Mr DeSantis is reported to prefer to fly in private jets provided by a number of top donors, the Sentinel notes. Since the start of his gubernatorial re-election campaign last year, there have been questions about whose private jets he’s using and if they’re reported as in-kind contributions or gifts. “I don’t think we’ve ever had a sitting governor run for [president],” Mr Wilcox told the paper. The director of public access for the Florida Center for Government Accountability, Michael Barfield, told the paper that “at the end of the day, taxpayers don’t know what their money is being spent on”. He added that the group is considering its next legal steps. “We’re questioning the validity of the exemption,” Mr Barfield said. “We don’t think it meets a public purpose, so we will brainstorm about potential legal action.” Ms Eskamani said the legislature could repeal the public records exemption, but that “It would take a political will that doesn’t exist, even for something as nonpartisan as access to travel records”. The Independent has reached out to the DeSantis campaign for comment. Read More A new challenger has emerged to Trump – and his extreme anti-woke message is working DeSantis cornered on his Bud Light boycott after threatening legal action over stock drop Judge refuses to dismiss lawsuit against Disney’s efforts to neutralize governing district takeover Judge refuses to dismiss lawsuit against Disney’s efforts to neutralize governing district takeover DeSantis questioned about his Bud Light boycott after complaining about stock drop Trump calls additional charges in Jack Smith’s superseding indictment ‘harassment’

At least one person is dead and six injured including two children as Russian shelling continue to hammer Ukraine‘s southern region of Kherson overnight. On the Telegram messaging app the governor, Oleksandr Prokudin, said Russian forces had launched 71 attacks in the past 24 hours, “aimed at the residential districts”, as well as shops and medical infrastructure, among other establishments. Twenty of the air and land attacks targeted the city of Kherson, the region’s administrative district, the governor added, while authorities promptly doused a fire sparked by shelling early on Monday. It came as Yevgeny Prigozhin’s 25-year-old son, Pavel Prigozhin, has been making moves to take over command of the Wagner Group, according to a US thinktank. He is negotiating with the Russian national guard, Rosgvardia, over having the mercenary organisation rejoin combat in Ukraine, the Institute for the Study of War said, citing a prominent Telegram channel affiliated with the group. At a ceremony at his father’s grave in St Petersburg, Pavel laid flowers alongside Prigozhin’s mother. Supporters waved the black flags of Wagner which sport a skull and the motto “Blood, Honour, Motherland, Courage”. Read More Ukraine ‘hits power substation’ in drone attacks on Russian border regions Putin’s shameless UN charm offensive - with stolen grain from Ukraine Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva's Olympic doping case will resume for two more days in November Ukraine's Zelenskyy taps celebrities for roles as special adviser and charity ambassador

Banging sounds were picked up Tuesday from the Atlantic Ocean during the search for the submersible that went missing while touring the Titanic's wreckage with five people on board, signaling "continued hope of survivors," according to a US government memo, as crews rush to ramp up search and recovery efforts.

A neurologist says a gunman who massacred 11 worshippers at a Pittsburgh synagogue has schizophrenia and epilepsy

Fox News anchor Tomi Lahren discussed the Gadsden flag after Colorado Springs school incident

Marie-Laure de Decker, the French model who stepped behind the camera to become an internationally recognised war photographer, has died at the age of...

IShowSpeed gets trolled by Novak Djokovic at the Ballon d'Or 2023 event, causing a humorous reaction

The White House, Google Maps and Google Arts & Culture are launching a new virtual tour of the White House

Billie Eilish did not disappoint her fans in Ireland on Friday night even though she wasn't in the best of health

The entire planet sweltered to the unofficial hottest day in human recordkeeping July 3, according to University of Maine scientists at the Climate Reanalyzer project

The United Nations' rights office says at least 40 civilians were killed last weekend by al-Qaida-linked rebels trying to take control of a besieged town in Burkina Faso’s hard-hit northern region