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Emboldened by success in other red states, effort launched to protect abortion rights in Nebraska

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:22:21 GMT

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An effort to enshrine abortion rights in the Nebraska Constitution is being launched, following on the heels of successful efforts in other reds states where Republicans had enacted or sought abortion restrictions.Protect Our Rights, the coalition behind the effort, submitted proposed petition language to the Nebraska Secretary of State’s office late last month.That language was kept under wraps until Wednesday, when the state’s top elections office released it. Organizers plan to hold a news conference Thursday to kick off the effort, in which they will need to collect around 125,000 valid signatures by next summer to get the measure on the ballot in 2024.“We’re confident in this effort, and we’re energized,” said Ashlei Spivey, founder and executive director of I Be Black Girl, an Omaha-based reproductive rights group that makes up part of the coalition. Other members include Planned Parenthood, the American Civil Liberties Union of Nebra...

Billy Porter hits the dance floor on his fifth album with the goal of ‘trying to heal people’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:22:21 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Billy Porter is strutting off in an entirely new sonic direction on his fifth album. The Broadway, runway and TV star has pivoted to dance music. “I’m a new artist. There’s a transformation that has happened,” the Tony-, Emmy- and Grammy-winner tells The Associated Press. “I’ve been offered a real second chance.”“Black Mona Lisa” sees Porter embrace club, house and old-school disco over 12 tracks, creating a warm, welcoming space that showcases his voice and redemption story. “It’s been fun. It’s been a healing. It’s been beyond anything that I could have dreamed,” he says. “I’m trying to bring some positivity into the world. I’m trying to heal people.”The songs veer from the dance anthem “Broke a Sweat,” to the soulful “Stranger Things,” the four-on-the-floor of “Baby Was a Dancer” to the pop of “New Shoes.” “I had a lot of different genres in this album and we manage to stay coherent because the cohesive energy comes from me,” he says. “It’s taken me 30 years...

York police identify suspect in 51-year-old murder using advanced DNA

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:22:21 GMT

York Regional Police say advanced DNA technology is responsible for solving what it called the “cruel and ruthless murder” of 16-year-old Yvonne Leroux.Leroux was last seen leaving a clinic on Oakdale Road — formerly the Humber River Hospital – near Finch Avenue West and Highway 400 around 10 p.m. on November 29, 1972. Her body was discovered the following morning by a passer-by in the middle of 16th Sideroad, between Jane Street and Keele Street some 24 kilometres north of where she was last seen.The cause of death was sustained blunt force trauma to the head.Despite multiple public appeals and twice offering $50,000 rewards for information about her death and who may be responsible, Leroux’s killer was never found.Investigators say in 2022 they turned to Investigative Genetic Genealogy (IGG) to help identify suspect DNA which was left at the crime scene.“A DNA profile was generated and then uploaded to public genealogical databases,” police said...

Governor eases lockdowns at Wisconsin prisons amid lawsuit, seeks to improve safety

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:22:21 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Lockdowns at two of Wisconsin’s oldest and most understaffed prisons are being eased, the governor announced in a move that comes less than a month after inmates filed a federal lawsuit alleging that the conditions at one of the prisons amount to cruel and unusual punishment.Gov. Tony Evers’ announcement Tuesday about the eased lockdowns at the Waupun and Green Bay prisons, as well as a host of other efforts meant to increase safety at all Wisconsin prisons, comes amid calls from advocates and families of inmates who say the current conditions are inhumane.The Waupun, Green Bay and Stanley prisons have been under lockdown for months as the state grapples with deteriorating buildings and a worker shortage. Waupun’s lockdown began in March, Green Bay’s began in June, and Stanley’s lockdown, although less restrictive, began in early 2023.The Wisconsin Department of Corrections has said the prisons are in “a state of modified movement.” Evers announced t...

Hunter Biden calls for a Trump subpoena, saying political pressure was put on his criminal case

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:22:21 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hunter Biden asked a judge on Wednesday to approve subpoenas for documents from Donald Trump and former Justice Department officials, claiming the former president applied political pressure to a criminal investigation of him.Biden’s attorneys allege there were “certain instances that appear to suggest incessant, improper, and partisan pressure applied” by Trump to his then-Attorney General William Barr and two top deputies, Jeffrey Rosen and Richard Donoghue. While charges against President Joe Biden’s son were not brought until this year, the investigation into into his taxes and a gun purchase began in 2018, while Trump, a Republican, was still president. The court filing cites public comments made by Trump, information from the House panel that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and details from Barr’s book in which he described bubbling tension after Trump tried to pressure him over the status of the Hunter Biden probe....

13-year-old Texas boy sentenced to prison for murder in fatal shooting at a Sonic Drive-In

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:22:21 GMT

DALLAS (AP) — A 13-year-old Texas boy convicted of murder in the fatal shooting of a Sonic Drive-In employee has been sentenced to 12 years incarceration, authorities said.A judge issued the sentence Tuesday following days of evidentiary hearings over what punishment the boy should face in the rare murder case against a child, according to Amy Pardo of the Johnson County Attorney’s office. He will start the sentence in the custody of the Texas Juvenile Justice Department and he may later be transferred to the state’s adult prison system.The boy, whom authorities have not identified by name, faced sentences ranging from probation to 40 years behind bars. In October, a jury found him to have engaged in delinquent conduct, the juvenile equivalent of a guilty verdict, in the murder case over the May shooting of a Sonic employee who had a fight with his uncle.The child’s lawyer did not immediately respond to an email and phone message seeking comment.Police have said the boy, then 12, sh...

Murder trial in killing of rising pro cyclist Anna ‘Mo’ Wilson nears end. What has happened so far?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:22:21 GMT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The murder trial of a Texas woman charged in the May 2022 shooting death of rising professional cyclist Anna “Mo” Wilson is nearing an end after almost two weeks of testimony about a suspect who fled to Central America and underwent plastic surgery to try to change her appearance after the killing.Kaitlin Armstrong, 35, has pleaded not guilty. She faces up to life in prison if convicted. Wilson, a 25-year Vermont native, was an emerging star in gravel and mountain bike riding. She was killed in a friend’s apartment in Austin while visiting ahead of a Texas race that she was among the favorites to win. In the hours before she was killed, Wilson went swimming and had a meal with Armstrong’s boyfriend, former pro cyclist Colin Strickland, with whom Wilson had a brief romantic relationship months earlier.Investigators say Armstrong gunned down Wilson in a jealous rage then used her sister’s passport to escape the U.S. before she was tracked down and arre...

EU moves closer to imposing a new set of sanctions on Russia for its war on Ukraine

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:22:21 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union’s executive said Wednesday it proposed to the member states a new package of sanctions targeting the Kremlin and its associates, seeking to tighten previous measures approved since the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine as well as adding dozens of economic operators. The proposal sets in motion final talks between the 27 member states to reach the necessary unanimity on the issue and officials have said they hope to have the 12th package operational by the end of the year. Even though Wednesday’s statement did not go into details, preparatory talks centered on imposing export restrictions on Russia’s lucrative diamond industry. “The proposals for listings include actors from the Russian military, defense and IT sectors, as well as other important economic operators,” the EU Commission statement said. It said that the latest package would target more than 120 individuals and entities. Because the EU needs to get everyone on board, t...

Father of accused Highland Park parade shooter to report to Lake County Jail

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:22:21 GMT

WAUKEGAN, Ill. — The father of the accused Highland Park parade shooter is set to report to the Lake County Jail Wednesday.Robert Crimo Jr. was given a two-month sentence for reckless conduct.Crimo Jr. signed the papers that allowed his son Robert Crimo III to obtain a FOID card. Some of the guns Crime III bought were allegedly used in the shooting rampage last year during a Fourth of July Parade in Highland Park.Seven people were killed in the attack. Father of Highland Park parade shooting suspect receives jail time, probation in guilty plea agreement Crimo III is due back in court on December 11.

Flight returns to JFK airport after horse gets loose in cargo hold

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:22:21 GMT

NEW YORK (WPIX) – A cargo plane bound for Belgium was forced to return to John F. Kennedy International Airport last week after a horse got loose, according to a call between pilots and air traffic control posted to YouTube.The Boeing 747-400, operated by Air Atlanta Icelandic, had taken off from JFK on the afternoon of Nov. 9. It was in the air for less than an hour before a pilot radioed air traffic controllers to report the issue, according to the audio."We have a live animal, horse onboard the plane, and the horse managed to escape the stall," the pilot can be heard telling an air traffic controller. "We don't have a problem as of flying-wise, but we need to return … back to New York. We cannot get the horse back secured." New math formula aims to prevent child tantrums on airplanes The pilot also requests a veterinarian to meet the aircraft at JFK upon return.Air traffic controllers later give the crew clearance to dump fuel before re-landing, according to the audio. The plan...