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Democrats advance gun-control bills in Pennsylvania House

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:34 GMT

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Authorities could temporarily seize firearms and background checks would be expanded for gun buyers, under two bills passed Monday in the Pennsylvania House, where Democrats are using their razor-thin majority to push gun-control measures after a yearslong standstill in the politically divided government.The party describes the proposals as relatively moderate measures to cut down on gun trafficking, suicide deaths, accidental shootings and day-to-day violence. Republicans oppose the bills, saying they punish law-abiding gun owners.“While this is just the first step, by passing these commonsense and responsible gun safety measures we’ve shown our neighbors and communities that we are listening and we are acting, and that we stand with them in combating senseless gun violence,” said House Speaker Joanna McClinton, a Philadelphia Democrat. The “red flag” bill, which would allow a judge to order the seizure of firearms if asked by family members or police, ...

‘Fuel starvation’ is possible cause of plane crash that killed 2 off California coast

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:34 GMT

HALF MOON BAY, Calif. (AP) — Investigators are looking into the possibility that fuel issues may have caused a small plane to crash into the Pacific Ocean, killing two people on board.The Viking Air DHC-6-400 Twin Otter was equipped with an additional fuel system that would have allowed it to go further than it could with its original fuel tanks, said Sarah Sulick, a spokesperson for the National Transportation Safety Board. “According to reports, they were having problems with their fuel, so investigators want to look at the issue of ‘fuel starvation,’ which would mean there was a problem with ferry tanks supplying enough fuel to the main tanks,” she said. The small plane crashed around 2:15 p.m. Saturday about 40 miles (64 km) off the coast of Half Moon Bay, California. The turboprop aircraft was en route from Santa Rosa, in Sonoma County north of San Francisco, to Honolulu, Hawaii, federal authorities have said. The U.S. Coast Guard found the submerged plane and confirmed the pil...

Georgia school’s book bans may break civil rights law, federal officials warn

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:34 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — The U.S. Department of Education has found that a suburban Atlanta school district’s decision to remove some books from its libraries may have created a hostile environment that violated federal laws against race and sex discrimination.The legal intervention by the department’s Office of Civil Rights could curb efforts to ban books in other public school districts nationwide, especially when bans are focused on books that include content about LGBTQ and nonwhite people. The Forsyth County school district settled the complaint, agreeing to explain the book removal process to students and offer “supportive measures” to students who may have been harmed. Forsyth County will also include questions about the issue in its yearly school climate survey of middle and high school students next year. The federal intervention came after months of contention over books in the 54,000-student district. Forsyth is Georgia’s most affluent county, a rapidly growing su...

Drag show restaurant files federal lawsuit against Florida and Gov. DeSantis

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:34 GMT

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A popular Orlando restaurant that regularly features drag shows filed a federal lawsuit against the state of Florida and Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday, less than a week after he signed a bill that targets drag performances.The lawsuit filed in Orlando federal court by the owner of Hamburger Mary’s Orlando claims the state is depriving the business of its First Amendment rights to free expression. The restaurant is asking the court to temporarily stop the law from taking effect while the case moves forward.DeSantis has made anti-LGBTQ+ legislation a large part of his agenda as he prepares to seek the Republican presidential nomination. He signed the bill restricting drag performances — along with bills that ban gender-affirming care for minors, restrict discussion of personal pronouns in schools and force people to use certain bathrooms — last Wednesday in front of a cheering crowd at the evangelical Cambridge Christian School in Tampa. Hamburger Mary’s Bar & G...

Taxpayers will wind up paying over quarter billion dollars in Joe Arpaio’s racial profiling case

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:34 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — Taxpayers in metro Phoenix are approaching a milestone in their financial pain from a 2013 racial profiling verdict over former Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s immigration crackdowns: In roughly a year, those ongoing costs will exceed a quarter of a billion dollars.The bill is projected to reach $273 million by the summer of 2024, officials were told Monday before they approved a tentative budget that included $38 million in legal and compliance spending for the racial profiling lawsuit during the coming fiscal year.A decade ago, a federal judge concluded the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office had profiled Latinos in Arpaio’s signature traffic patrols that targeted immigrants, leading to massive court-ordered overhauls of both the agency’s traffic operations and its internal affairs department.Under Arpaio, who was voted out as sheriff in 2016, the internal affairs operation was heavily criticized for biased decision-making. It now suffers from a crushing backlog of more than 1,90...

Federal judge extends temporary halt on appointed judges in Mississippi capital

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:34 GMT

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A federal judge on Monday extended his order that temporarily stops the Mississippi Supreme Court chief justice from appointing judges in the capital city of Jackson and the county where it’s located, both of which are majority-Black.U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate’s new order could last until June 9, giving attorneys time to further develop arguments about citizens’ right to elect judges.Wingate heard hours of testimony Monday in a lawsuit filed by the national, state and local chapters of the NAACP, which challenges a state law that Republican Gov. Tate Reeves signed in April.The civil rights organization argues that the law passed by the majority-white and Republican-controlled state Legislature creates unequal treatment for residents of Jackson and Hinds County compared to residents of the rest of the state. The capital city and Hinds County are both majority-Black and governed by Democrats.Rhodes asked in court: “Why single out Hinds Co...

North Dakota plans new state park near Canadian border

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:34 GMT

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota is planning a new state park in a scenic gorge close to the Canadian border to promote tourism in the northeastern part of the state. The recently adjourned Legislature approved $6 million for a Pembina Gorge state campground, which will be within 1 mile of the the Pembina Gorge State Recreation Area’s trailhead, the Bismarck Tribune reported. The funds come from the state’s Strategic Investment and Improvements Fund, derived from oil tax revenue, with an additional $2 million match from a federal Land and Water Conservation Fund grant.North Dakota currently has 13 state parks. The new park will be the first since Cross Ranch in 1989. Because of its proximity to Winnipeg, Canada, the park is expected to draw Canadian tourists and others to the gorge, which was carved out by glaciers. State Parks and Recreation Director Cody Schulz said the campground will be built on former agricultural land on the gorge’s timberline. He hopes the park ...

Natalie Portman and Todd Haynes dive into the nature of performance in ‘May December’ at Cannes

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:34 GMT

CANNES, France (AP) — In Todd Haynes’ tonally shape-shifting “May December,” the first announcement of the movie’s playful intentions comes with a theatrical zoom in, a few lushly melodramatic piano notes and the frightful announcement that there no more hot dogs in the fridge.That moment — which Haynes says signals “that there’s something coy happening in the language of the film” — is just a taste of what’s to come in “May December,” a delicious and disquieting drama laced with comedy and camp that Haynes premiered over the weekend at the Cannes Film Festival.Natalie Portman stars as an actor researching an upcoming film that’s to dramatize a scandal from 20 years earlier. She comes to Savannah, Georgia, to spend time with Gracie Atherton-Yoo (Julianne Moore), who years earlier become tabloid fodder for a sexual relationship with a seventh grader. Now, she’s seemingly happily married to him, Joe Yoo (Charles Melton), with kids of their own and s...

Guam braces for hit from Typhoon Mawar as storm heads toward the Pacific US territory

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:34 GMT

HONOLULU (AP) — Guam’s governor urged residents to stay home and warned the island could take a direct hit from Typhoon Mawar as the storm strengthened on a path toward the U.S. territory in the Pacific. Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero urged residents in a YouTube message to remain calm and prepare for Mawar, which the weather service said could hit the southern part of Guam around midday local time on Wednesday. “We may take a direct hit,” Patrick Doll, lead meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Tiyan, Guam, told The Associated Press. “If we don’t take a direct hit, it’s going to be very close.”The center of the storm was about 260 miles (420 kilometers) southeast of Guam, and moving at 7 mph (11 kph) toward Guam, Doll said. It was expected to arrive as a 140 mph (225 kph) Category 4 typhoon, weather officials said, possibly delivering the biggest hit in two decades. The typhoon could cause “extensive damage,” Doll said. The governor said she would place Guam e...

Nebraska woman pleads guilty to burning fetus after abortion

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:34 GMT

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska woman pleaded guilty Monday to burning and concealing a fetus after she took medication to end her pregnancy, while prosecutors move forward with a criminal case accusing her mother of illegally helping with the abortion.Prosecutors said Celeste Burgess gave birth to the stillborn fetus about 29 weeks and five days into her pregnancy. She was 17 at the time, but prosecutors charged her as an adult.Burgess, now 18, pleaded guilty to a felony charge of concealing or abandoning a dead body and prosecutors dropped two misdemeanor charges. The fetus was found buried in a field north of Norfolk in northeast Nebraska.Her mother, Jessica Burgess, 42, is accused of illegally helping with the abortion last spring. The prosecutor involved has said he had never before charged anyone with violating Nebraska’s 20-week abortion limit that was passed in 2010. On Monday, Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen signed a 12-week abortion ban into law. It took effect immediately.The case...