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US urges meat companies to ensure they don’t use child labor

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:38 GMT

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Biden administration is urging U.S. meat processors to make sure children aren’t being illegally hired to perform dangerous jobs at their plants The call comes after an investigation found more than 100 kids working overnight for a company that cleans slaughterhouses, handling dangerous equipment like skull splitters and razor-sharp bone saws.Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack sent a letter Wednesday to the 18 largest meat and poultry producers urging them to examine the hiring practices at their companies and suppliers. The letter is part of a broader effort by the administration to crack down on the use of child labor. The Labor Department has reported a 69% increase since 2018 in the number of children being employed illegally in the U.S.“The use of illegal child labor — particularly requiring that children undertake dangerous tasks — is inexcusable, and companies must consider both their legal and moral responsibilities to ensure they and their ...

Look who’s back: Donald Trump’s big return to Fox News

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:38 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — For several months, Fox News treated Donald Trump like yesterday’s news. But now the former president has come roaring back at the popular network for conservative viewers, most notably since his indictment in New York on hush-money charges.The Trump revival was on display Tuesday night, when Tucker Carlson devoted his entire prime-time program to a “historic interview” with him, promising more excerpts on Wednesday. It was two weeks after Sean Hannity similarly gave Trump extensive airtime.Left unmentioned were Carlson’s two-year-old private text message s, revealed in a defamation case against the network, in which he disparaged Trump and talked eagerly of putting the former president behind him. In one of the exchanges, from Jan. 4, 2021, Carlson wrote that “we are very, very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights” and “I truly can’t wait.”Trump’s return reverses what some had been calling a “soft ban” by Fox News, which had no on-air intervie...

Posthumous Kenny Rogers album will feature unreleased songs

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:38 GMT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Previously unreleased songs recorded by the late country superstar Kenny Rogers will be on a new record coming out in June.After a career spanning jazz, rock, country and pop, the Grammy-winning balladeer nicknamed “The Gambler” died at the age of 81 in 2020. His widow, Wanda Rogers, curated the posthumous record called “Life is Like a Song,” coming out June 2 on UMe.The recordings were made between 2008 and 2011 and includes originals and covers like Eric Clapton’s “Wonderful Tonight” and “At Last,” made famous by Etta James, which will be on a deluxe version of the record. The album will also include two previously released songs, his duet with Dolly Parton, “Tell Me That You Love Me,” and “Goodbye,” written by Lionel Richie, both released in 2009, but never digitally. The Country Music Hall of Famer had a thriving career for some 60 years with such hits as “Lucille,” “Lady” and “Islands in the Stream,” a beloved Parton-Rogers duet. “He wo...

Mo’Nique sues CBS, Paramount over ‘Parkers’ royalties

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:38 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Mo’Nique sued Paramount and CBS on Wednesday, seeking what the Oscar-winning actor and comedian says are unpaid royalties from her sitcom “The Parkers.”The breach-of-contract lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court and obtained by The Associated Press alleges the defendants artificially depressed the show’s profitability to “retain millions that would otherwise be contractually due” to Mo’Nique’s production company.“While the Series has proven to be a major financial success for its producers and distributors, the series’ talent have not been permitted to share in the fruits of that success,” the suit says. The suit was filed by Hicks Media, the production company Mo’Nique owns with her husband and business partner, Sidney Hicks. It names as defendants CBS Studios, Paramount Pictures and the show’s production company Big Ticket Productions. It seeks monetary damages to be determined at trial. Emails seeking comment were sent to re...

Mexican migration chief to be charged in fire but keep job

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:38 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s immigration head will face criminal charges in a fire that killed 40 migrants in a detention center last month but President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Wednesday that he will not dismiss the official known for his hard line on northbound migration.Obrador’s decision to keep Francisco Garduño as head of the Mexican Immigration Institute appeared to conflict with the federal Attorney General’s Office announcement late Tuesday to charge Garduño in connection with the blaze.That shows both some separation of powers in Mexico and the conundrum faced by the Mexican government. López Obrador and his administration are struggling with U.S. pressure to slow northbound migration while the international community calls on them to treat migrants humanely and safely. Garduño, a lawyer and criminologist, was called to take over the immigration job in June 2019 as Mexico was under pressure from the Trump administration to decrease the flow of migrants.The Me...

Fallen Chicago Fire Department lieutenant remembered during visitation services

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:38 GMT

NORRIDGE, Ill. — Visitation services were held Wednesday for Chicago Fire Department Lt. Jan Tchoryk.CFD members and the community are saying their final goodbyes to a fallen hero until 9 p.m.Tchoryk died on April 5 while responding to a fire at a high-rise in the Gold Coast. He was one of two Chicago firefighters who died in the line of duty in just two days. "This job is dangerous and you never know if you're coming home," CFD Commissioner Annette Nance-Holt said. Cause of death revealed for Chicago fire lieutenant Tchoryk is remembered by his loved ones and peers as a proud father, an avid motorcyclist and a Navy veteran who came from a large family. But to Timothy Nelson, he was a stranger and a hero he never met."It's a very thankless job and it takes a special person to put that uniform on, to protect people they do not know, not knowing if they're going to go home to their families, so I want to say thank you," Nelson said. He traveled from Oak Creek, Wisconsin and has bee...

Dog returns home after 150-mile Alaskan sea-ice odyssey

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:38 GMT

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A 1-year-old Australian shepherd took an epic trek across 150 miles (241 kilometers) of frozen Bering Sea ice that included being bitten by a seal or polar bear before he was safely returned to his home in Alaska.Mandy Iworrigan, Nanuq's owner who lives in Gambell, Alaska, and her family were visiting Savoogna, another St. Lawrence Island community in the Bering Strait, last month when Nanuq disappeared with their other family dog, Starlight, the Anchorage Daily News reported.Starlight turned up a few weeks later, but Nanuq, which means polar bear in Siberian Yupik, was nowhere to be found.About a month after Nanuq disappeared, people in Wales, 150 miles (241 kilometers) northeast of Savoonga on Alaska’s western coast, began posting pictures online of what they described as a lost dog. Sam’s Club offering $10 memberships to celebrate milestone birthday “My dad texted me and said, ‘There’s a dog that looks like Nanuq in Wales,’” Iworrigan said.She reac...

High temp days, Cooler nights ahead for Chicago

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:38 GMT

What a phenomenal day—one which screams summer (even though, in reality, we have a way to go—the summer solstice, the astronomical beginning of summer, is still 69 days away. It arrives Wednesday, June 21 this year at 9:48 a.m.)Today's 82-deg high is the warmest April 12 in 46 years (since an 85 degree high on this date in 1977).My check of the records shows only three other April 12's which were warmer in the 153 years of weather records dating back to 1871:1941: 83 degrees1971: 86 degrees1977: 86 degreesThat places today among the warmest 3% of all April 12's on the books!We have a rex block in place aloft. That a blocking pattern with a big dome of warm air over Lower 48 deflecting the storm-carrying jet stream to the north and a wet low pressure system on the Gulf Coast to the south. Blocking patterns in the atmosphere slow the progression of air masses,  In this base, a blocking pattern is good news because it locks the warm air in over Chicago through Saturday.In time, the air...

Justin J. Pearson reappointed to TN House seat after expulsion: 'A movement is rising'

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:38 GMT

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WREG) — A county commission voted Wednesday to reappoint Tennessee state Rep. Justin J. Pearson (D-Memphis) to the state House seat from which he was expelled.All seven commissioners present with the Shelby County Commission voted yes on the reappointment.Pearson released a statement shortly afterward thanking supporters."I’m so humbled and grateful to once again represent District 86," Pearson wrote, in part. "Thank you to those who rallied, marched, wrote letters, posted on social media and prayed for this moment. I thank the members of the Shelby County Commission for their courage to do what is right, to protect the representation that voters in District 86 went to the polls twice to earn."Pearson added that his district had seen "more than our share of struggles" and vowed to work toward "justice for those who mourn the loss of loved ones to gun violence and endure the stubborn racial and financial disparities that have no place in our world." VP Harris voices...

Virginia man wins $100,000 after playing same numbers on 20 lottery tickets

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:38 GMT

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (WAVY) – With just a few days before Easter, a Virginia man fittingly put all of his eggs in one basket – he played the same lottery numbers 20 times and it paid off.Fekru Hirpo, of Alexandria, won $100,000 in a single Pick 4 drawing on April 5 using his lucky numbers, 2-5-2-7, according to the Virginia Lottery.The top prize of $5,000 for the Pick 4 game is far less than the pot Hirpo won. But because all 20 of Hirpo’s tickets had the four same winning numbers, he was able to multiply the jackpot.“Mr. Hirpo told Lottery officials he doesn’t usually play with so many tickets containing identical numbers, but something just told him to do it,” according to a news release. Mega Millions: Can a jackpot winner remain anonymous? Not in these states The odds of his number combo paying off? One in 10,000, according to the lottery.Hirpo bought his tickets from a Four Mile Run Shell in Arlington.He says he has no immediate plans for what he will do with his winnings.It’s not...