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Abortion rights advocates push for 2024 ballot initiative in Arizona

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:47:19 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — Abortion rights advocates on Tuesday began a push to ask Arizona voters to create a constitutional right to abortion, injecting the issue into the battleground state’s volatile politics ahead of next year’s election.If proponents collect enough signatures, Arizona will become the latest state to put the question of reproductive rights directly to voters, who have turned out in large numbers to support abortion rights even in conservative states. The fight over abortion rights helped Democrats limit their losses in last year’s midterms after the U.S. Supreme Court ended the constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy. The issue remains salient as President Joe Biden seeks reelection in the face of sagging approval ratings. Arizona currently bans abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, with limited exceptions. Abortion opponents have asked the Arizona Supreme Court to allow enforcement of a law dating to the Civil War that bans virtually all abortions....

Astronauts get first look at the spacecraft that will fly them around the moon

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:47:19 GMT

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The four astronauts assigned to fly around the moon in another year got their first look at their spacecraft, as NASA warned Tuesday there could be more delays.They peeked into their unfinished Orion capsule, red “Remove Before Flight” tags still dangling from it, and came away impressed. “Nothing else looks like that … that’s what gave me shivers,” astronaut Christina Koch told reporters.The U.S.-Canadian crew inspected the capsule during a visit to Kennedy Space Center late Monday and Tuesday. NASA plans to send the four around the moon and back late next year. Investigations into the capsule’s heat shield, however, could delay this first lunar trip by astronauts in more than half a century. Last year’s test flight around the moon, with no one on board, resulted in unexpected charring and loss of material from the heat shield at the bottom of the capsule. The heat shield is meant to protect the capsule against the extreme heat of reentry.The...

Rain and cooler weather bring reprieve to B.C. wildfire crews, but only for few days

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:47:19 GMT

A cooling trend with potential rain showers across much of British Columbia is expected to ease wildfire conditions for the next 36 to 48 hours, but hot, dry weather is set to return by the end of the week.The immediate forecast is welcome and will temporarily ease wildfire suppression efforts, BC Wildfire Service information officer Erika Berg said in an interview. It ranges from spotty showers in the southwest to steady rain in the north, with fewer lightning strikes and cooler temperatures provincewide.There are currently 417 active wildfires in B.C., with 220 out of control and 14 listed as wildfires of note.The wildfire service classifies a fire of note as one that is especially visible or poses a threat to public safety.“We’re seeing a bit of a downturn in weather and fire conditions over today and maybe the next couple of days,” said Berg on Tuesday. “However, near the end of the week we’re anticipating a ridge to rebuild and bring some further w...

Trump vows to keep talking about criminal cases despite prosecutors pushing for protective order

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:47:19 GMT

WINDHAM, N.H. (AP) — Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday kept up his attacks on special counsel Jack Smith and vowed to continue talking about his criminal cases even as prosecutors sought a protective order to limit the evidence that Trump and his team could share.In the early voting state of New Hampshire, Trump assailed Smith as a “thug prosecutor” and a “deranged guy” a week after being indicted on felony charges for his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the run-up to the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.The former president lobbed the insults at Smith just days after the Department of Justice asked a judge to approve a protective order stopping Trump from publicly disclosing evidence. Federal prosecutors contend that Trump is seeking to “try the case in the media rather than in the courtroom.”The judge overseeing the case has scheduled a hearing over the protective order for Friday morning. Trump, after his rally on Tuesday, made...

District attorney threatens to charge officials in California’s capital over homelessness response

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:47:19 GMT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Tensions are rising in California’s capital city as the Sacramento district attorney threatened to file charges against city officials over their handling of the homelessness crisis, saying they are too lenient in their approach and are failing to enforce the rules.District Attorney Thien Ho on Monday threatened to press criminal charges against city officials under state public nuisance laws if they don’t implement a slew of changes within 30 days, including a daytime camping ban where homeless people have to put their belongings in storage between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m.Ho was elected in 2022 after vowing on the campaign trail to address the city’s homelessness crisis. He began his public fight with City Hall officials last month when he launched an investigation into officials’ conduct. Ho said Sacramento city officials are “inconsistent” in enforcing rules, including an ordinance to keep sidewalks clear of encampments, resulting in “an...

Postal Service reduces air cargo by 90% over 2 years as part of cost-cutting effort

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:47:19 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Postal Service has reduced its volume of shipments by aircraft by 90% over two years, putting the service on course to save $1 billion in annual transportation costs, U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said Tuesday.Shifting packages and envelopes from air cargo to ground transportation was part of DeJoy’s larger plan to improve the Postal Service’s financial health.More than 95% of first-class mail and 95% of first-class packages are currently moving through the postal service’s ground transportation system, he said.It is part of DeJoy’s broader effort to reduce operating costs, increase revenue from packages, and ensure timely deliveries, along with adjusting postage costs to mitigate inflation and expanding delivery points over the next 17 months.Those efforts will have to continue after the Postal Service on Tuesday reported a projected $6 billion in unplanned costs this year because of inflation, unexpected retirement costs and other...

West Side pastor offers reward for info leading to arrest of 14-year-old cousin's murderer

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:47:19 GMT

CHICAGO — For the second time in less than a month, a Chicago pastor has lost a loved one to gun violence.Reverend Paul Jakes Jr, pastor for the New Tabernacle of Faith Baptist Church in Humboldt Park, held a press conference Tuesday afternoon alongside US Representative Danny Davis (7th District) to talk about the death of his cousin, 14-year-old Damarion Jakes.According to the Chicago Police Department, officers responded to a ShotSpotter alert in the 2700 block of West Van Buren Street in East Garfield Park around 6 p.m. on Saturday.When officers arrived on scene, they found an unidentified male, approximately 14 years of age, who had been shot twice in the head."My heart goes out to the Jake's family and all the families in Chicago and in the nation who have lost love ones to senseless violence," Davis said at the press conference.The victim was taken to Stroger Hospital in critical condition at the time of the incident, and later died. More from Julian: Man hits hole-in-one a...

9-year-old hopes to change Village of Oswego flag

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:47:19 GMT

CHICAGO -- A 9-year-old boy hopes to spark some change to the Oswego flag after he pitched a new design to the village board.In March, Caden Stagl discovered a passion for the world’s flags on a family trip to Minnesota while reading a knowledge encyclopedia."(Caden was) quizzing us the whole way there whole way back and started memorizing them falling in love with flags," Caden's mother Jody Stagl said. "We’re trying to figure out who he belongs to because of neither of us really likes flags or know any of them but he knows all of them – he does."But a few months back, Caden decided his hometown flag of Oswego needed an update."It just says Village of Oswego and when it was founded," Caden Stagl said. "You’re looking at this flag and you’re thinking I can do better? So what do you decide to do? Hmmmm – make a new one!"So that’s what he did while putting some careful thought into the new design."The blue and orange is the high schools…the fox river…just wanted it that way…freedom fo...

Tory Lanez sentenced to 10 years in prison for shooting Megan Thee Stallion

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:47:19 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A judge sentenced rapper Tory Lanez to 10 years in prison Tuesday for shooting and wounding hip-hop superstar Megan Thee Stallion.Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Herriford handed down the sentence to the 31-year-old Lanez, who was convicted in December of three felonies: assault with a semiautomatic firearm; having a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle and discharging a firearm with gross negligence.The sentence brings an end to a dramatic trial that created a cultural firestorm in the hip-hop community, churning up issues including the reluctance of Black victims to speak to police, gender politics in hip-hop, online toxicity, protecting Black women and the ramifications of misogynoir, a particular brand of misogyny Black women experience.Herriford said it was “difficult to reconcile” the kind, charitable person and good father many people described Lanez as being during the sentencing hearing with th...

Arizona woman arrested, accused of poisoning Air Force husband's coffee

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:47:19 GMT

TUCSON, Az. (NewsNation) — An Arizona woman woke up in jail Tuesday after being accused of trying to kill her husband by poisoning his coffee.Melody Felicano Johnson, 39, was indicted by a grand jury in Pima County last month. She was charged with attempted first-degree murder, attempted assault and adding poison to food or drink. Her husband, Roby Johnson, told police he believed his wife wanted to collect death benefits.Roby, who serves in the U.S. Air Force, knew something was off when his coffee started to taste different. So, he set up some cameras to try to see what was going on.Roby told investigators that he started noticing his coffee tasted bad in March while they were stationed in Germany. He then pretended to drink it for months. ‘Bed rotting’: Some call it self care, but experts urge caution According to the complaint, Roby said he bought chemical testing strips, the kind people use to test the chemical balance of a swimming pool. The results of those tests found high...