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Nebraska governor silent after dismissing news story because reporter was Chinese

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:43:19 GMT

Advocates and Nebraska lawmakers are defending a reporter after Gov. Jim Pillen said her story about environmental concerns at his farms wasn’t worth discussing because the reporter was from “communist China.”The Asian American Journalists Association, the chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus and some state lawmakers have condemned Pillen and demanded that he apologize to Flatwater Free Press reporter Yanqi Xu.The comments, which received a flood of publicity this week when the online media organization’s executive director wrote a scathing column, is just the latest in the nation in which an elected official has personally attacked a reporter. The scrutiny the story is getting also comes amid a wave of pandemic-driven anti-Asian racism and new laws restricting foreign ownership of farmland.Pillen’s staff has not responded to emails or phone messages seeking comment, although he likely will be asked about it Friday during a news conference to di...

Attorneys for an Indiana man charged in 2 killings leave case amid questions of evidence security

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:43:19 GMT

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) — The trial for an Indiana man charged in the killings of two teenage girls is expected to be delayed after his defense attorneys withdrew from the case Thursday amid questions about security of evidence. Special Judge Fran Gull said during a scheduled hearing that Richard Allen’s attorney Andrew Baldwin made an oral motion to withdraw Thursday afternoon. Gull said she expects Allen’s other attorney, Bradley Rozzi, to submit a motion to withdraw in writing in “the next couple of days.”“We’ve had an unexpected turn of events,” Gull said.Allen, 51, was arrested in October 2022 and charged with two counts of murder in the 2017 slayings of 13-year-old Abigail Williams and 14-year-old Liberty German. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and his trial was scheduled for January. Messages left at Baldwin’s and Rozzi’s offices were not immediately returned Thursday afternoon. A relative of one of the teenagers — known as Abby and ...

Ontario carjacking task force makes several arrests, recovers stolen vehicles in GTA

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:43:19 GMT

Toronto police say the provincial carjacking joint task force has stayed busy with multiple arrests in stolen vehicle investigations spanning the GTA. Authorities responded to a carjacking call on Wednesday just before 3:30 p.m. in the Yonge Street and Sheppard Avenue area in North York. It’s alleged that three men broke into a residence in the area and threatened the homeowner with a knife. Police said the suspects obtained the key and vehicle and fled the area in two cars.The homeowner was not physically injured. Related: Ontario-wide carjacking task force to be co-led by OPP, Toronto police The joint task force took over the investigation and, with the assistance of York Regional Police Air Support, successfully executed a takedown in the Midland Avenue and Huntingwood Drive area in Scarborough.Toronto police said 23-year-old Ahmad Kayhan Nazer of Whitby, Ont. was arrested. He was charged with conspiracy to commit an indictable offence, break and enter, rob...

Workers at Mexico’s federal courts kick off 4-day strike over president’s planned budget cuts

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:43:19 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Hundreds of judicial employees, from administrative staff to judges, took to the steps of Mexico City’s largest federal court Thursday to kick off a national, four-day strike against proposed budget cuts.In the first labor action to emerge in Mexico’s judiciary in decades, workers are protesting planned reductions in funding for the judiciary in next year’s federal budget. Pending Senate approval next week, 13 of the 14 special funds used to finance employee benefits will be closed. The lower house of Congress approved the measure on Tuesday.Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who floated the cuts in Congress, blamed senior legal officials for inciting the strike. That prompted courthouse workers to call for unity, chanting “we are all the federal judiciary” and cheering when judges joined the picket line.The strike will last at least until an open session of the lower house of Congress on Tuesday, which leaders of the Federal J...

Federal judge again rules that California’s ban on assault weapons is unconstitutional

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:43:19 GMT

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A federal judge who previously overturned California’s three-decade-old ban on assault weapons did it again on Thursday, ruling that the state’s attempts to prohibit sales of semiautomatic guns violates the constitutional right to bear arms.U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez of San Diego conceded that powerful weapons like AR-15 rifles are commonly used by criminals, but said the guns are importantly also owned by people who obey the law and feel they need firearms to protect themselves. “The State of California posits that its ‘assault weapon’ ban, the law challenged here, promotes an important public interest of disarming some mass shooters even though it makes criminals of law-abiding residents who insist on acquiring these firearms for self-defense,” Benitez wrote. “Nevertheless, more than that is required to uphold a ban.”The judge’s ruling is nearly identical to a 2021 decision in which he called California’s ban on assault weapons a “fa...

Labour minister promises action to prevent repeat of B.C. port strike dispute

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:43:19 GMT

Canada’s federal labour minister says the government’s latest attempt to prevent disruptive disputes at British Columbia’s ports will lead to change this time.Seamus O’Regan promised to follow through on recommendations from a review of what went wrong during the port strike this summer that stopped cargo from moving through Canada’s busiest ports. Previous studies dating back to the 1990s on the contentious relationship between the longshore union and BC Maritime Employers Association have led to multiple recommendations that were not implemented, but O’Regan says this time will be different.The minister has appointed two experts from Kingston’s Queen’s University to lead the review and he has asked them to identify key questions and propose a terms of reference by the end of the year. O’Regan says the goal of the latest review is to “examine the structural issues underlying” the dispute that saw strike action for ne...

Toronto police say over 130 per cent rise in hate-related calls since Israel-Gaza war

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:43:19 GMT

With the rise in anti-Semitism and Islamophobia since the conflict broken out in Israel and Gaza, the City of Toronto and Toronto Police service are reiterating their commitment to an inclusive city for everyone, especially around places of worship.It comes as there has been a reported 132 per cent increase in hate-related calls to Toronto police. Since October 7, there have been 14 hate crimes reported, 12 of which were anti-Semitic and two were Islamophobic. They include incidents of mischief, uttering death threats and criminal harassment. The Toronto Police Service Board joined city council in condemning in the “strongest possible terms” all forms of hate as a part of plan to keep “Toronto safe from hate.”The Board was considering a motion on Thursday from the City to create community safety zones around places of worship and cultural centres, including schools and daycares, something Police Chief Myron Demkiw said they are already doing.“We have be...

Health expert says B.C. overdose crisis needs expanded, dignified treatment focus

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:43:19 GMT

VICTORIA — A British Columbia health expert says the province needs more overdose prevention sites and a renewed commitment to decriminalization as it tries to curb drug poisonings that kill six people a day.Dr. Reka Gustafson, the chief medical health officer for Island Health, told about 300 addiction experts meeting in Victoria that drug treatment policies and programs must have the same status as any other health service.Gustafson says dedicated cancer treatment facilities and anti-alcohol initiatives are proven measures and approaches that would benefit addiction treatment in B.C.She says the province must do more to embrace overdose prevention sites as places that save lives and continue to support its decriminalization program despite the recent public debate about open drug use in public places.Gustafson says health experts made a mistake during the pandemic telling people to isolate themselves in order to stop the spread of COVID-19, only to have overdose deaths spike.About...

Sidney Powell vowed to ‘release the Kraken’ to help Donald Trump. She may now testify against him

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:43:19 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The Kraken has cracked.Lawyer Sidney Powell, who famously vowed to unleash a mythical sea monster of litigation to prove that Donald Trump didn’t lose the 2020 election, has now struck a deal with Georgia prosecutors admitting she conspired to wrongly interfere with the state’s election results. Her guilty plea Thursday culminates a three-year journey in which she pursued baseless and often outlandish theories in the weeks before a mob of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol. Along the way, Powell was part of several key events in the state and federal indictments against Trump for his conduct in the 2020 election and now becomes a potential witness against him.She’s the second person to take a plea after bail bondsman Scott Graham Hall pleaded guilty last month. “Sidney Powell was part of Trump’s inner circle at various points in the criminal conspiracy, particularly as Trump became more desperate in the final weeks of his presidency,” Bradley P. Mo...

Arizona’s Maricopa County has a new record for heat-associated deaths after the hottest summer

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:43:19 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona’s Maricopa County set a new record Thursday for annual heat-associated deaths, with 425 tallied so far this year, the same number confirmed for all of 2022.Maricopa County, the hottest metropolitan area in the U.S. and home to Phoenix, said the 425 deaths were confirmed as of Oct. 14. Another 199 deaths remained under investigation. As of the same time last year, 359 heat-associated deaths had been confirmed, with another 91 deaths still being studied. “Even with extreme heat like we saw this summer, these deaths are preventable,” said a statement from Dr. Rebecca Sunenshine, medical director for the Maricopa County Department of Health. “This tragic record reminds us that as a community, we have more work to do to prevent these deaths.”No other major metropolitan area in the U.S. has reported such high heat-associated death figures or spends so much time tracking and studying them.This summer, Phoenix experienced the hottest three months since rec...