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Battle for control of Virginia Legislature may hinge on a state senate race with independent streak

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:09:14 GMT

FREDERICKSBURG, Va. (AP) — A race that could determine control of Virginia’s Legislature will not be a standard battle between a Democrat and a Republican, but also features a wild-card independent candidate with a history of electoral success who happens to be a former stripper. Oh, and then there’s the write-in campaign of a right-wing restaurateur who specializes in grilled cheese sandwiches. The free-wheeling Senate District 27 race in the Fredericksburg area features Republican Del. Tara Durant, who won her first bid for public office two years ago after she garnered national attention from a 911 call she placed when she said her car was surrounded by Black Lives Matter activists during a protest. The Democrat, Joel Griffin, is a former Marine and former chair of Stafford County’s Economic Development Authority, making his first run for office.But it’s the credible independent bid of Stafford County Supervisor Monica Gary that remains an unknown. Gary has already won offi...

Group seeks to clear names of all accused, convicted or executed for witchcraft in Massachusetts

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:09:14 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — In 1648, Margaret Jones, a midwife, became the first person in Massachusetts — the second in New England — to be executed for witchcraft, decades before the infamous Salem witch trials.Nearly four centuries later, the state and region are still working to come to grips with the scope of its witch trial legacy.The latest effort comes from a group dedicated to clearing the names of all those accused, arrested or indicted for witchcraft in Massachusetts, whether or not the accusations ended in hanging.The Massachusetts Witch-Hunt Justice Project, made up of history buffs and descendants, is hoping to persuade the state to take a fuller reckoning of its early history, according to Josh Hutchinson, the group’s leader.Hundreds of individuals were accused of witchcraft in what would become the Commonwealth of Massachusetts between 1638 and 1693. Most escaped execution.While much attention has focused on clearing the names of those put to death in Salem, most of those ca...

Last operating US prison ship, a grim vestige of mass incarceration, set to close in NYC

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:09:14 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Kenneth Williams spent his whole life in Brooklyn, but it wasn’t until a night in 2018 when he crossed a narrow footbridge in shackles, that he learned about New York City’s last floating jail. He remembers the murky East River water below him, the stench of mold, and a sinking feeling that soon turned literal.“Every once in a while you could feel the boat dropping into the muck,” Williams, 62, said. “It was a stark reminder that this place wasn’t meant for human confinement.”Docked in the shallows off an industrial edge of the South Bronx, the Vernon C. Bain Correctional Center is a five-story jail barge that stretches the length of two football fields, resembling a container ship stacked with cargo. It arrived in 1992 as a temporary measure to ease overcrowding on Rikers Island, the city’s main jail complex for detainees awaiting trial. Three decades later, the 800-bed lockup – the last operating prison ship in the United States — is finally closing down.The ...

Does Jan. 6 constitutionally block Trump from 2024 ballot? Lawyers to make case on day 2 of hearing

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:09:14 GMT

DENVER (AP) — The videos playing in a Colorado courtroom were both chilling and, by now, familiar — a violent mob, with some wearing tactical gear, smashing through the U.S. Capitol, attacking police officers and chanting “Hang Mike Pence!”Now, lawyers on day two of the weeklong hearing are arguing whether the infamous events of Jan. 6, 2021 constituted an insurrection under a rarely used clause of the U.S. Constitution that they are trying to use to disqualify former President Donald Trump from the 2024 ballot. The hearing in Colorado is one of two this week — with the second before the Minnesota Supreme Court on Thursday — that could end up before the U.S. Supreme Court, which has never before ruled on the Civil War-era provision in the 14th Amendment.Tuesday’s witnesses are expected to include an expert in right-wing violence and an expert on Section Three of the 14th Amendment, which has only been used a handful of times since it was adopted in 1868. The testimony will get to th...

Biden’s Cabinet secretaries will push a divided Congress to send aid to Israel and Ukraine

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:09:14 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken will make the case Tuesday that the United States should immediately send aid to Israel and Ukraine, testifying at a Senate hearing as the administration’s massive $105 billion emergency aid request for conflicts in those countries and others has already hit roadblocks in the divided Congress.President Joe Biden’s Cabinet secretaries will be advocating for the foreign aid to a mostly friendly audience in the Senate, where majority Democrats and many Republicans support tying aid for the two countries together. But it faces much deeper problems in the Republican-led House, where new Speaker Mike Johnson has proposed cutting out the Ukraine aid and focusing on Israel alone, and cutting money for the Internal Revenue Service to pay for it. The drastically narrowed House proposal, which would cost more than $14 billion, faced immediate resistance among Senate Democrats — and put pressure on Sena...

Judge dismisses Brett Favre defamation suit, saying Shannon Sharpe used hyperbole over welfare money

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:09:14 GMT

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A federal judge on Monday dismissed Brett Favre’s defamation lawsuit against fellow retired NFL player Shannon Sharpe, ruling that Sharpe used constitutionally protected speech on a sports broadcast when he criticized Favre’s connection to a welfare misspending case in Mississippi.U.S. District Judge Keith Starrett ruled that Sharpe, a former tight end, was using “rhetorical hyperbole” in saying on air that Favre was “taking from the underserved,” that the former quarterback “stole money from people that really needed that money” and that someone would have to be a sorry person “to steal from the lowest of the low.” Favre sued Sharpe in February, saying that the fellow Pro Football Hall of Fame member made “egregiously false” statements about him on the Fox Sports talk show “Skip and Shannon: Undisputed.” The case was moved to federal court in March, and Sharpe left the sports show in June.Discussion of Mississippi welfare spending on “Undispu...

Seager stars with 2-run homer, Rangers edge Diamondbacks 3-1 in World Series

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:09:14 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — Corey Seager launched a two-run homer and made a slick defensive play in the eighth inning to start a crucial double play, Max Scherzer combined with four relievers for a gem on the mound and the Texas Rangers beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 3-1 to take a 2-1 lead in the World Series on Monday night.Texas overcame injuries to Scherzer and slugger Adolis García in improving to 9-0 on the road this post-season, this time in front of more than 48,000 fans at Chase Field.“We’re just coming ready to play every night, no matter where we are,” Seager said. “That’s what the focus is.”The 29-year-old Seager — in the second year of a $325 million contract — once again showed he was worth every penny on the game’s biggest stage.The shortstop smoked a two-run homer into the right-field seats as part of a three-run third after Diamondbacks rookie starter Brandon Pfaadt left a first-pitch change-up high in the zone. The ball left Seager’s bat at 114.5 m.p.h., which was the hardest-hi...

L.A.‘s Jews are buying guns, some for the first time

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:09:14 GMT

As the war between Israel and Hamas rages, local gun shop owners say concerns fueled by the bloody conflict have led to a surge in sales in Southern California, with many Jewish people arming themselves for the first time.  Jewish himself, Charles Jasper, Director of Aegis Private Security which also provides gun training, told KTLA’s Jennifer McGraw that his business has doubled since the war began.  “The idea that people can go door-to-door, terrorists can go door-to-door with impunity and not face hard resistance is something difficult to process, especially as an American,” he said.  In Studio City last week, the home of a Jewish family was broken into by a man threatening to kill them while hurling anti-Semitic insults. The victim, who is nine months pregnant, told KTLA that the intruder first kicked in the door to their master bedroom. Her husband fought with him while she called 911. Officers arrived and found him armed with a kitchen knife, Key News repor...

L.A. deputies investigating multi-victim shooting

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:09:14 GMT

Three people were taken to the hospital after a shooting Monday in Arcadia, authorities confirmed to KTLA.  Medical personnel with the Los Angeles County Fire Department responded to calls of the shooting, located on North Lenore Avenue at around 5:25 p.m., fire officials said.  Details are limited and it’s unclear what led to the multi-victim shooting, but deputies with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department located two of the gunshot in Arcadia while a third victim who drove to themselves to the 4300 block of Peck Road was located in El Monte.  L.A. deputies on the scene of a multi-victim shooting in Arcadia on Oct. 30, 2023. (KTLA)Aerial footage of Sky5 showed the scene in Arcadia cordoned off by tape while authorities investigated the shooting and questioned any possible witnesses.   Wildfire explodes in Riverside County, prompting evacuation orders The sheriff’s department did not provide any details about the age or gender of the victims nor was any informatio...

AP PHOTOS: 3-day Halloween festival draws huge crowds to Romania’s capital, Bucharest

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:09:14 GMT

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — The Romanian capital Bucharest boasts a perfect location for Halloween festivities — and visitors love it.More than 80,000 people descended last weekend on Bucharest’s Insula Ingerilor, or Angels’ Island peninsula, for the three-day West Side Hallo Fest, the largest Halloween festival in the Eastern European nation since the fall of communism.The venue was carefully chosen. Both the Angels’ Island and the surrounding Lacul Morii lake have been shrouded in mystery stories ever since the lake was artificially created in the late 1980s.When the lake was created, hundreds of homes, two schools and a church had to be demolished, along with a cemetery. Authorities moved about 11,000 graves, but left many others behind, feeding spooky tales of lost souls, wandering ghosts and strange lights appearing at night.The area around the lake remained deserted for years and later became a popular recreation area for Bucharest residents. But its reputation of eerie mystery ...