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Illinois Gov. Pritzker takes his fight for abortion access national with a new dark-money group

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:18:42 GMT

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker is taking his abortion-rights advocacy nationwide, introducing on Wednesday a political organization to fund similar efforts outside Illinois, a state that legalized abortion by statute even before the Supreme Court invalidated the right to undergo the procedure.Think Big America has already funded support for constitutional amendments favoring abortion access in Ohio, Arizona and Nevada. The effort also enhances the profile of the Democratic governor and multibillionaire equity investor and philanthropist. Pritzker has said he’s focused on serving as a Midwest governor, but speculation is rampant that he harbors presidential ambitions. Fourteen states now ban abortion and debate elsewhere rages since the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 2022 decision to upend the 50-year-old Roe v. Wade opinion that legalized abortion.“My commitment to protecting and expanding reproductive rights has been lifelong,” Pritzker, who has often r...

Chicago’s top cop says using police stations as short-term migrant housing is burden for department

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:18:42 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago’s new police chief said the city’s use of police stations as temporary housing for the growing population of migrants seeking asylum has been a “burden” on the nation’s second-largest police department. Police Superintendent Larry Snelling told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday that among his main concerns is the toll the city’s approach has taken on officers’ well being because it is unfolding in their workplace. “We were the first to open our doors to the migrants and they’re still coming. And we have not turned them away,” Snelling said. “But what we need are other people to step up in these situations because the burden has been on the police department to house people.”Currently, over 3,000 new arrivals are sleeping at police stations with hundreds more at airports. Some stay a few days — others months — while they await longer-term placement at shelters set up throughout the city, including small hotels, a park fi...

Woman becomes Israeli folk hero for plying Hamas militants with snacks until rescue mission arrives

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:18:42 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — When Hamas militants toting grenades appeared in her living room, Rachel Edri served them tea and Moroccan cookies until police stormed in and killed the attackers.Edri’s tale of quick-witted survival during the Israel-Hamas war has turned the 65-year old woman into an unlikely folk hero in Israel. For many, she has come to symbolize the ingenuity of everyday Israelis left to fend for themselves as militants turned sleeping southern communities into bloodbaths on Oct. 7. After an early-morning air-raid siren, Edri returned from a bomb shelter in her hometown of Ofakim to find a band of Hamas militants in her living room. As gunfire raged outside, Edri’s home saw a 20-hour tete-a-tete between hospitality and brutality. “One of the terrorists said to me: ‘You remind me of my mother.'”“I told him, ‘I am really like your mother. I will help you, I will take care of you. What do you need?’” Edri told Ynet.After one of the grenade-toting gunmen str...

Impact assessment law ruling could ‘reset’ Canadian energy policy landscape: CAPP

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:18:42 GMT

CALGARY — The head of an oil and gas lobby group says last week’s ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada against large portions of the federal government’s impact assessment law could reset the policy landscape in this country in favour of energy development.Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers CEO Lisa Baiton said in a panel discussion in Calgary on Wednesday that Canada’s oil and gas industry has been subjected to layer upon layer of federal regulation in recent years.She said federal policies such as the promised emissions cap for the oil and gas sector and the proposed clean electricity regulations have scared away investment and harmed the industry.Baiton said the federal impact assessment law, formerly known as Bill C-69, contributed to what she called a “pancake-ing” of regulation on industry.But last Friday, the Supreme Court ruled that legislation, which lays out the process for federal assessment of the environmental impacts of major pro...

Joran van der Sloot details how he killed Natalee Holloway in new testimony

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:18:42 GMT

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) — Natalee Holloway died on a beach in Aruba after being hit in the head with a cinderblock by Joran van der Sloot, the suspect in her killing detailed in new court documents. On Wednesday, van der Sloot pleaded guilty to wire fraud and extortion in a case involving Holloway's family. The 36-year-old Dutch man is not charged in Holloway's death, but admitted to killing her as part of the plea deal for those other crimes. Holloway went missing during a high school graduation trip with classmates. She was last seen leaving a bar with van der Sloot. He was questioned in the disappearance but was never prosecuted. A judge declared Holloway dead, but her body has never been found.As part of his plea, van der Sloot took part in a polygraph test where he discussed what happened to Holloway in the early morning hours of May 30, 2005.In the testimony, a transcript of which was released Wednesday, van der Sloot said he and Holloway were walking along the beach...

Pritzker takes abortion fight national with dark-money group

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:18:42 GMT

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker is taking his abortion-rights advocacy nationwide, introducing on Wednesday a political organization to fund similar efforts outside Illinois, a state that legalized abortion by statute even before the Supreme Court invalidated the right to undergo the procedure.Think Big America has already funded support for constitutional amendments favoring abortion access in Ohio, Arizona and Nevada. Fourteen states now ban abortion and debate elsewhere rages since the U.S. Supreme Court's June 2022 decision to upend the 50-year-old Roe v. Wade opinion that legalized abortion."My commitment to protecting and expanding reproductive rights has been lifelong,” Pritzker, who has often recalled attending abortion-rights rallies with his mother as a child, said in a prepared statement. “Think Big America is dedicated to ensuring the fundamental right of reproductive choice for individuals everywhere — regardless of their state of residence, religio...

Tropical Storm Tammy forms in Atlantic, NHC says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:18:42 GMT

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Tropical Storm Tammy has formed in the Atlantic, according to the National Hurricane Center. The NHC will begin issuing advisories on the tropical storm beginning at 5 p.m.As of 2 p.m. ET, the disturbance was located about 700 miles east of the Windward Islands, moving toward the Lesser Antilles. This is a developing story.

Trump told to quiet down during New York civil fraud trial

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:18:42 GMT

(The Hill) - A New York judge asked former President Trump to pipe down after he grew animated while a witness testified against him in his civil fraud trial. Judge Arthur Engoron issued the warning after Trump threw his hands up in frustration and conferred with his lawyers during real estate appraiser Doug Larson's second day of testimony, according to The Associated Press.Kevin Wallace, a lawyer with the state attorney general's office, requested that Engoron ask the defense to “stop commenting during the witness’s testimony,” noting that Trump's comments were audible on the witness side of the room. Engoron then asked everyone to keep their voices down, “particularly if it’s meant to influence the testimony," the AP reported.The admonition came during Trump's second bout attending his sprawling fraud trial in person. He was also in attendance for the start of the trial earlier this month, where his frustration similarly dictated the proceedings. What is a gag order — and what ...

Paxton impeachment defense lawyer to launch bid for Texas House

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:18:42 GMT

AUSTIN (Nexstar) — As acquitted-Attorney General Ken Paxton seeks political revenge against the Republican representatives who voted to impeach him, one of his lead lawyers in the Senate impeachment trial is setting the stage to run for office in the lower chamber. On Tuesday, Paxton impeachment lawyer Mitch Little filed a campaign treasurer appointment for House District 65 — officially allowing him to start fundraising as a candidate. Freshman Rep. Kronda Thimesch, R-Lewisville, currently holds the seat north of Dallas and Fort Worth.Thimesch was one of the 121 members who voted to impeach Paxton in May. Notably, Little was formerly on Thimesch's team as her campaign treasurer but resigned from the position in August before the Senate trial began. Since his acquittal, Paxton has targeted his new Republican foes in the House in an effort to get revent for their vote to impeach him. The attorney general has vowed to back primary opponents to the 60 House Republicans who voted agains...

Eights dogs found in Cottage Grove died outside city, officials say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:18:42 GMT

Eight dogs found along the side of a road Sunday in a rural part of Cottage Grove are believed to have been brought into the city for disposal after having died from an illness elsewhere, police said Wednesday.The dogs, all of a smaller variety, likely all died around the same time, said Dan Schoen, community-engagement officer for the Cottage Grove Police Department.The bodies of the dogs were found Sunday afternoon in the tree line along Grey Cloud Island Drive near Grey Cloud Island Trail. The dogs included a Schnauzer and other similar-sized white dogs, which could be a terrier breed, Schoen said.Police received a tip from someone with knowledge of the dogs’ deaths that led to officers executing a search warrant Tuesday on the house of an 38-year-old man in Cottage Grove. The man admitted to dumping the dogs, but he had not been arrested or charged with any crime as of Wednesday afternoon, Schoen said.“We don’t believe that he had anything to do with harming or killing the...