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Wisconsin Democrats combat threatened impeachment of court justice with $4M effort

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:55 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Democratic Party on Wednesday launched a $4 million effort to pressure Republicans to back down from impeaching a new liberal state Supreme Court justice being targeted after she criticized GOP-drawn legislative electoral maps and spoke in favor of abortion rights.After investing nearly $10 million in electing Justice Janet Protasiewicz, the effort is meant to protect what Democrats hailed as a major political victory. The judge’s election tipped the balance of power in the state Supreme Court, giving Democrats the upper hand in state’s fights over abortion and redistricting. “Republicans are holding a political nuclear football,” Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler said in reference to impeachment. He said the threat amounted to “political extortion.”But Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, who has been the most outspoken about possible impeachment, said on WISN-AM that Democrats were “trying to intimidate us” but Republicans...

Vancouver-based writer John Vaillant among contenders for a prestigious non-fiction prize

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:55 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Books about the perilous state of our world, our food and our relationship with technology are in the running for Britain’s leading non-fiction book award, the Baillie Gifford Prize.The 13-book long list announced Wednesday includes Vancouver-based John Vaillant’s look at the reality of climate change, “Fire Weather”; Chris van Tulleken’s dietary warning “Ultra Processed People”; and “Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity” by Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson.Best-selling American author David Grann is nominated for the stirring seafaring yarn “The Wager,” while physician-writer Siddhartha Mukherjee is in the running with “The Song of the Cell.”British journalist Hannah Barnes is on the list for “Time to Think,” which charts the demise of Britain’s controversial Tavistock gender clinic for children.Other contenders examine key moments in history, including Tania Branigan’s look at China’s Cultural Revolution, “Red Memory,” and Kat...

Romania hosts summit to boost ties between 12 EU countries and partners

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:55 GMT

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — A two-day summit in Romania began on Wednesday bringing together 12 European Union member states situated between the Baltic, Black and Adriatic Seas, as the grouping of mostly formerly communist countries aims to boost ties amid Russia’s war in Ukraine.The Three Seas Initiative, which is being held in the capital, Bucharest, hosts high-ranking officials from EU countries as well as representatives from partner countries and aims to improve interconnectivity in the transportation, energy, and digital fields. Before the event, the office of Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said that during the summit, he would emphasize the importance of the initiative a year and a half after Russia’s “brutal and illegal aggression” against Ukraine for its importance in strengthening regional and European resilience.”Addressing the initiative on Wednesday via video link, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia’s recent attacks on Ukraine’s Danube ports are ...

California judge halts district policy requiring parents be told if kids change pronouns

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:55 GMT

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A judge on Wednesday halted a Southern California school district from requiring parents to be notified if their children change their gender identification or pronouns at school.San Bernardino County Superior Court Judge Thomas S. Garza ruled after California Attorney General Rob Bonta sued the Chino Valley Unified School District for adopting a policy requiring schools to tell parents when their children change their pronouns or use a bathroom of a gender other than the one listed on their official paperwork. “Today’s decision by the San Bernardino Superior Court rightfully upholds the state rights of our LGBTQ+ students and protects kids from harm by immediately halting the board’s forced outing policy,” Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement.Garza’s order halts the district’s policy while Bonta’s lawsuit continues. Full details of the order and Garza’s reasoning were not immediately available.Bonta said his office will continue to challenge the p...

Grand Slam tournaments are getting hotter. US Open players and fans are feeling that this week

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:55 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Andy Murray prepared for the steamy conditions often found at the U.S. Open by simulating the “brutal heat and humidity” in New York this time of year with the help of, well, an actual steam room at his home.The 36-year-old British tennis star set the humidity in there at 70% and spent hours riding a stationary bike nearby with the thermostat cranked up to 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 Celsius), making the air feel as muggy as it does every summer around Flushing Meadows, where the year’s last Grand Slam tournament will conclude Sunday. “Just to try and help with the heat adaptation,” explained Murray, who claimed the title in New York in 2012 but lost in mild conditions in the second round this time.If the start of competition at the 2023 U.S. Open offered a bit of a reprieve for athletes, ball crews and spectators alike, thanks to highs mostly in the 70s F (20s C), that has decidedly changed. The temperature hit 90 F (32 C) on Sunday and again Tuesday, leaving players ...

Trial opens for Trump White House adviser charged with refusing to cooperate with Jan. 6 Committee

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:55 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A White House adviser to President Donald Trump acted as if he were “above the law” when he refused to cooperate with a congressional investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, prosecutors argued Wednesday as his trial got underway.Peter Navarro, charged with two counts of contempt of Congress, didn’t ignore the House Jan. 6 Committee, instead telling members to contact Trump about what might be protected by executive privilege, Navarro’s attorney said. A judge has found the privilege argument alone isn’t a defense against the charges because Navarro couldn’t show evidence that the Republican president had invoked it.Navarro, a senior trade adviser, was subpoenaed in February 2022 by the House panel investigating how and why a mob of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol and interrupted the certification of the presidential vote for Joe Biden, a Democrat. Navarro had promoted Trump’s baseless claims of mass voter fraud, a...

‘Freedom Convoy’ got more volatile as protest went on, police officer tells court

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:55 GMT

OTTAWA — The longer “Freedom Convoy” demonstrators blockaded Ottawa streets in protest of COVID-19 public health restrictions last year, the more volatile the relationship between police and protesters became, an Ottawa police officer testified Wednesday. Insp. Russell Lucas was called as a Crown witness in the criminal trial of key protest organizers Tamara Lich and Chris Barber to testify about his role in co-ordinating the police response to the convoy.Lich and Barber are co-accused of mischief, counselling others to commit mischief, obstructing police and intimidation for their role in the three-week demonstration.Barber faces an additional charge of counselling others to disobey a court order.Thousands of people and big-rig trucks gridlocked Ottawa for three weeks to protest COVID-19 public health measures and the federal Liberal government, which eventually invoked the Emergencies Act.Lucas, who served as an incident commander during the protest, told the court tha...

Airlines face growing pressure from pilot unions, as threat of brain drain looms

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:55 GMT

MONTREAL — Pilots are demanding better wages and benefits from their employers, raising financial pressure on airlines that are just starting to recover from the pandemic.The union representing some 320 aviators at WestJet Encore, the carrier’s regional service, announced Tuesday they plan to launch negotiations on their second collective agreement.The move by the Air Line Pilots Association comes after 1,800 pilots with WestJet’s main operation and its budget subsidiary Swoop ratified a new deal in June that brings them onto a level pay scale, giving flight crews a 24 per cent wage bump over four years and resulting in Swoop’s shutdown at the end of October.Days later, some 4,500 Air Canada pilots kick-started the bargaining process, as unions seek gains that will bring them closer to deals in the U.S. Between March and September, pilots at Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and American Airlines secured agreements that included four-year pay hikes ranging from 34 p...

Flooding in southern Brazil leaves at least 31 dead and 1,600 homeless

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:55 GMT

MUCUM, Brazil (AP) — Flooding from a cyclone in southern Brazil washed away houses, trapped motorists in vehicles and swamped streets in several cities, killing at least 31 people and leaving 1,600 homeless, authorities said Wednesday. More than 60 cities have been battered by the storm since Monday night, and Rio Grande do Sul Gov. Eduardo Leite said the death toll was the state’s highest from a climate event.“The fly-over we just did, shows the dimension of an absolutely out of the ordinary event,” Leite said in a video posted on the state’s social media accounts. “It wasn’t just riverside communities that were hit, but entire cities that were completely compromised.”Videos shot by rescue teams Tuesday and published by the online news site G1 had shown some families on the top of their houses pleading for help as rivers overflowed their banks. Some areas were entirely cut off after wide avenues turned into fast-moving rivers.Leite said Wednesday that the death toll was at 31...

Highland Park hosting 'poverty simulation' event

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:55 GMT

HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. — The City of Highland Park is hosting a "poverty simulation" event Saturday at a country club.The city partnered with the Alliance for Human Services, Family Focus, Moraine Township and the Highland Park Community Foundation with the goal of increasing "residents' understanding and awareness of what it is like to live in poverty in Lake County.""Participants in this immersive experience will begin to experience what a "month” in poverty feels like. Participants are put into situations in which they do not have enough resources and are forced to make difficult choices that can negatively impact them and their families. The outcome is increased awareness of the need for resources to support those living in poverty to create a more resilient health, human, and education sector in our local area," a description for the event reads.It will be held Saturday from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at the Highland Park Country Club, located in the 1200 block of Park Avenue West.Sever...