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GOP lawmaker: Former Trump prosecutor declines to provide details on hush-money investigation

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:33 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — An ex-prosecutor who once oversaw Manhattan’s yearslong investigation of former President Donald Trump repeatedly declined to substantively answer questions at a closed-door deposition Friday of the House Judiciary Committee, according to a Republican lawmaker in the meeting.Rep. Darrell Issa, a California Republican, exited the meeting after roughly one hour and said Pomerantz, the former prosecutor, repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment that protects people from providing self-incriminating testimony.Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in a scheme to bury allegations of extramarital affairs that arose during his 2016 White House campaign. GOP lawmakers have decried the investigation as a “political persecution” and launched an oversight probe.Pomerantz in a written opening statement called the committee’s inquiry itself “an act of political theater.” He also explained he was invoking the Fifth Amendment because the...

Oregon GOP walkout threatens abortion, trans bills – and senators’ own careers

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:33 GMT

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — A boycott by Republican state senators in Oregon threatens to derail hundreds of bills, including on gun control and abortion rights, as a deadline looms that could also upend the protesters’ political futures. Democrats control the Statehouse in Oregon. But the GOP is leveraging rules that require two-thirds of lawmakers be present to pass legislation, which means Democrats need a certain number of Republicans to be there too.Republican and Democratic leaders in the Oregon Legislature met behind closed doors for a second day Thursday to try to bridge the divide as the boycott entered its ninth straight day, with partisan bills on abortion, gender-affirming care and gun control on the line. Lawmakers with 10 unexcused absences are barred from reelection under a constitutional amendment passed overwhelmingly last November by voters weary of repeated walkouts. Several statehouses around the nation, including in Montana and Tennessee, have been ideological batt...

London police chief rejects complaints of heavy-handed response to coronation protesters

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:33 GMT

LONDON (AP) — London’s top police officer defended the department Friday from complaints of a heavy-handed response to protesters during the coronation of King Charles III, saying his officers intervened to prevent “serious disruption and criminality.”Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mark Rowley said officers responded to “rapidly developing intelligence” suggesting protests could affect the safety and security of the coronation events last Saturday. Prompting the concerns were indications that demonstrators planned to use high-volume sound devices that could have panicked horses and to block the procession between Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey by locking onto things along the route, Rowley said in a letter responding to questions from Mayor Sadiq Khan.‘’Had our officers not acted on the reasonable grounds based on the evidence in front of them in the moment and the potential risk to the event, there would now be much more serious questions to answer about the event,’’ Row...

Man seriously injured in stabbing in front of city-run supervised injection site

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:33 GMT

A man was rushed to hospital with serious, possibly life-threatening injuries, after he was stabbed in front of a supervised injection site in downtown Toronto on Friday afternoon.Just before 2 p.m. emergency crews rushed to the scene in front of the The Works, a city-run supervised injection and harm reduction facility, located at 277 Victoria St. near Yonge-Dundas Square.Paramedics could be seen administering chest compressions to the victim, who was rushed to hospital in an ambulance.There’s no word on suspects at this time.More to come

WestJet pilots could strike as of Tuesday as talks drag on

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:33 GMT

TORONTO — WestJet pilots and their employer are continuing to hold talks as the union warns that a walkout could come as early as Tuesday.The Air Line Pilots Association, which represents some 1,600 flight crew at WestJet and subsidiary Swoop, says it is poised to file a 72-hour strike notice just after midnight.Bernard Lewall, who heads the union’s WestJet contingent, says the workers’ issues revolve around job protection, pay and scheduling, with some 340 pilots leaving the carrier over the past year and a half — mostly to other airlines.WestJet says there have been three times more pilot hires than resignations at its mainline operation this year.The Calgary-based airline says its pilots are among the best paid in Canada, but that a contract on par with those recently secured by some U.S. pilot groups would be financially unworkable and put the company’s future at risk.Labour shortages continue to plague the aviation industry, with a dearth of workers in areas r...

Friday Forecast: Temps in upper 70s with scattered showers and storms

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:33 GMT

Friday: Mainly cloudy, cooler lakeside, 60% showers/storm, ESE 5-10. High: 73, Low: 67Chicago Area Radar | WGN TVFriday Night: Mainly cloudy, rain/storms, NE 5-10. Low: 56Chicago Weather | Tom Skilling and the WGN Weather Center's Forecast (wgntv.com)Saturday's forecast is looking mainly cloudy, 20% shower chance, cooler lakeside, ENE 5-10 G20. High: 70, Low: 627DAY wgntv.com/weather

How our modern Mother's Day grew out of the Civil War

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:33 GMT

(WKBN) - Millions of Americans will celebrate Mother's Day this year on Sunday, May 14. But how did it all begin? According to History.com, celebrations of mothers and motherhood can be traced back to the ancient Romans and Greeks who held festivals in honor of the mother goddesses Rhea and Cybele. The earliest tradition was started by the Christians as "Mothering Sunday." But the modern idea for Mother's Day was a little different than what the American holiday has grown into. The celebrations we hold now stem from women who lived in the 1800s. A West Virginia woman, Ann Reeves Jarvis, helped start “Mothers’ Day Work Clubs" to teach local women how to properly care for their children and prevent infant mortality. Jarvis also started so-called women's brigades during the Civil War era to promote unity among mothers. According to Almanac.com, this grew into a Mothers' Friendship Day designed to promote peace between Confederate and Union families. El Niño’s arrival is imminen...

Texas House to try third swing at debating bill to ban transgender healthcare for minors

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:33 GMT

AUSTIN (Nexstar) — After two previous attempts that were delayed by parliamentarian moves, the Texas House is set to debate a bill Friday that would ban gender transition care for Texas minors.Texas House Democrats twice leveled a successful procedural objection to Senate Bill 14 last week, presenting a roadblock to the Republican priority legislation after a vote was delayed earlier in the week when opponents filled the chamber’s gallery in protest.LGBTQ protesters marched to the Capitol on Friday morning to again oppose the legislation, saying it presents great harm to transgender youth and takes control away from parents and guardians. LGBTQ protesters marched to the Capitol on Friday morning to again oppose Senate Bill 14. (KXAN Photo/Christian Marcelli)LGBTQ protesters marched to the Capitol on Friday morning to again oppose Senate Bill 14. (KXAN Photo/Christian Marcelli)SB 14 would prohibit trans youth from getting puberty blockers and hormone therapy in order t...

Stimulant for ADHD treatment remains in short supply

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:33 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- A recent study published in JAMA Network Open examined the prevalence of middle and high school students misusing drugs prescribed to treat attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder or ADHD.It found as many as one in four students surveyed, used medication such as Adderall without being diagnosed with ADHD.The study’s lead author tells NBC News, “the findings should be a major wake-up call.”Dr. Gregory Mattingly treats many children with the condition.“ADHD is the most common neurologic condition in children, both here in the United States and all around the world. It's about 8 to 10% of kids in the United States meet criteria for what we call attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.As a psychiatrist and principal investigator in over 200 clinical trials focusing on ADHD, anxiety disorders, major depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, Mattingly said stimulants such as Adderall can help treat ADHD but the drug is short in supply. “It's been frustrating for m...

Judge finds ‘troubled track record’ on gender but no discrimination in UMN music prof Karen Painter’s lawsuit

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:33 GMT

The University of Minnesota School of Music has a “troubled track record for promoting and hiring female professors,” but the stalled career of a tenured faculty member who sued the U is not the result of sex discrimination, a judge ruled earlier this month.Musicologist Karen Painter was placed in the music department by the provost in 2007 when the U’s law school hired her husband, the prominent ethics expert Richard Painter.She was granted tenure in 2011 but denied a 2018 promotion from associate professor to full professor on the basis of a scant publication record and poor teaching scores. In complaints to multiple investigative bodies, the 57-year-old Painter argued that decision had more to do with her sex, age and status as a spousal hire than her qualifications for promotion.Painter alleged in her lawsuit that male leaders in the music school retaliated against her for urging a female colleague and a female student to file Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action complaints ...