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Trans people’s rush to alter their Kansas licenses created a ‘safety concern,’ a judge says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:43:40 GMT

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The nearly 200 transgender people who rushed in recent weeks to change the sex listings on their driver’s licenses created an immediate “public safety concern,” a state-court judge declared Wednesday in keeping in place a ban on those changes.The state agency that issues Kansas driver’s licenses failed Wednesday to persuade District Judge Teresa Watson that she’d made a mistake in imposing the ban two days earlier. Watson’s latest order means that Kansas remains for now one of only a few U.S. states that won’t change transgender people’s licenses to reflect their gender identities. The ban is a legal victory for the state’s Republican attorney general, Kris Kobach. He argues that driver’s license changes by the Kansas Department of Revenue’s motor vehicles division violated a new law rolling back transgender rights, which took effect July 1. He sued two top department officials when the agency continued making...

Former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder appeals 20-year prison term in massive corruption scheme

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:43:40 GMT

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder appealed his 20-year prison sentence Wednesday, nearly two weeks after he was convicted of masterminding the largest corruption scheme in state history. The 64-year-old Republican has been held in county jail since a federal judge sentenced him June 29 to the maximum penalty for racketeering allowed under federal law, and his appeal was expected. Federal prosecutors had sought 16 to 20 years for Householder, while his lawyers had asked for 12 to 18 months on the grounds that he had been humiliated and broken by the ordeal of his widely publicized arrest, weekslong trial and conviction. U.S. District Judge Timothy Black said his sentencing decision was affected by Householder’s failure to show remorse, instead focusing his plea for leniency on the impacts his imprisonment would have on his wife, children and friends. After a seven-week trial this winter, a jury convicted Householder of orchestrating the $60 million bri...

Suspect sought in deadly crash near White House

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:43:40 GMT

FILE - A U.S. Secret Service agent is stationed outside Ivana Trump's funeral at St. Vincent Ferrer Roman Catholic Church, July 20, 2022, in New York. President Joe Biden has named Kim Cheatle, a veteran Secret Service official, as the agency's next director. Her appointment comes as the agency faces controversy over missing text messages around the time thousands of supporters of then-President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson, File)(AP/Julia Nikhinson) FILE - A U.S. Secret Service agent is stationed outside Ivana Trump's funeral at St. Vincent Ferrer Roman Catholic Church, July 20, 2022, in New York. President Joe Biden has named Kim Cheatle, a veteran Secret Service official, as the agency's next director. Her appointment comes as the...

Liberty top Fever in OT to earn spot in Commissioner’s Cup championship

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:43:40 GMT

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Sabrina Ionescu scored eight of her 34 points in overtime and the New York Liberty clinched a berth in the Commissioner’s Cup championship with a 95-87 win over the Indiana Fever on Wednesday, despite blowing an 18-point fourth-quarter lead.Aliyah Boston hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer at the end of regulation for Indiana, which had a chance to win its last two home games on last-second 3-point attempts. It was the rookie’s second 3 of the season.That tied the game at 80 but the veteran Liberty pulled away in overtime as Ionescu hit two of her seven 3-pointers and the young Fever missed its last four shots.Breanna Stewart had 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Liberty (14-4), who play at Western Conference winner and defending champion Las Vegas for the Commissioner’s Cup on Aug. 15. Courtney Vandersloot had 12 assists, the last going to Betnijah Laney for a 3-pointer that broke an 85-85 tie with 1:52 left in overtime. SUN 84, SKY 72CHICAGO (AP) — Tiffany Hayes sco...

A former Trump supporter who got caught up in a January 6 conspiracy theory sues Fox News

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:43:40 GMT

DOVER, Del. (AP) — A former Donald Trump supporter who became the center of a conspiracy theory about Jan. 6, 2021, filed a defamation lawsuit against Fox News on Wednesday, saying the network made him a scapegoat for the U.S. Capitol insurrection.Raymond Epps, a former Marine who said he was forced from his Arizona home due to threats, is asking for unspecified damages and a jury trial.He filed his lawsuit in Superior Court in Delaware, the same court where Dominion Voting Systems sued Fox for lies broadcast following the 2020 presidential election. Shortly before a trial was to begin this spring, Fox agreed to pay Dominion $787 million to settle the charges.Fox had no immediate comment on Epps’ lawsuit.Epps, who had traveled to Washington for the Jan. 6 demonstration, was falsely accused by Fox of being a government agent who was whipping up trouble that would be blamed on Trump supporters, the lawsuit claims.“In the aftermath of the events of January 6th, Fox News searched ...

Mayor Michael Hancock delivers farewell address

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:43:40 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — Denver's longtime mayor delivered his farewell address on Wednesday city as he prepares to pass the torch to new leadership.Mayor Michael Hancock has served as Denver's mayor for three terms. That's 12 years of leading Colorado's capital city through a period of major population growth in the metro area and the change that comes with it, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic. Denver-area inflation among nation’s highest Voters last month traded one Michael for another, with former state senator Mike Johnston voted into office as the city's 46th mayor. He will be sworn in next Monday, on July 17.Denver Mayor Michael Hancock announces that bars and restaurants have been ordered to close for the next two months to fend off the spread of coronavirus, Monday, March 16, 2020, in Denver. The announcement marked the earliest stages of the years-long response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Colorado. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)How to watch Hancock's farewell addressHancock's address...

Climate change is making our oceans change color, new research finds

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:43:40 GMT

(CNN) — The color of the ocean has changed significantly over the last 20 years and human-caused climate change is likely responsible, according to a new study.More than 56% of the world’s oceans have changed color to an extent that cannot be explained by natural variability, said a team of researchers, led by scientists from the National Oceanography Center in the UK and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US, in a statement.Tropical oceans close to the equator in particular have become greener in the past two decades, reflecting changes in their ecosystems, according to the study published Wednesday in the journal Nature.The color of the ocean is derived from the materials found in its upper layers. For example, a deep blue sea will have very little life in it, whereas a green color means there are ecosystems there, based on phytoplankton, plant-like microbes which contain chlorophyll. The phytoplankton form the basis of a food web which suppo...

6 arrested, charged with running oxycodone from Texas to Massachusetts and Rhode Island

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:43:40 GMT

You may not mess with Texas, but apparently its oxycodone supply messes with New England.In April of last year, a cooperating source — a person who gives law enforcement information in exchange for “consideration” on the person’s own pending drug charges — told a federal investigator that John Campbell, 40, was a distributor of cocaine and oxycodone in his home area of Taunton.So investigators with the U.S. Postal Service and the Internal Revenue Service set up surveillance on Campbell and soon arranged a series of controlled buys first by their cooperating witness and then four by an undercover agent, the affidavit filed with the federal complaint states.“Yo, I’m back, can I see you tomorrow, looking 4 white and blues,” the undercover agent texted Campbell just before 5 p.m. on Aug. 8, the day before the agent would allegedly purchase 200 oxycodone pills from him. The “white,” which Campbell allegedly responded that he was out of, means cocaine, according to the affidavit, whereas ...

Boston Police Department commits to hiring 30% women officers by 2030

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:43:40 GMT

The Boston Police Department has joined more than 300 other departments across the country in signing a commitment for 30% of its officers to be women by 2030.“With our current class recruit at around 24%, currently, we’ve made significant progress in increasing the number of women to serve in the City Boston. I’m proud about that,” Commissioner Michael Cox said at BPD headquarters Wednesday morning. “But we still have ways to go and this commitment should … make sure that we are obligated, or intentional, about making sure we bring women on our job.”The pledge is called “30×30,” an initiative inspired by the July 2019 National Institute of Justice special report “Women in Policing: Breaking Barriers and Blazing a Path,” which found that “the percentage of women in law enforcement has remained relatively stagnant for the past few decades.”Statistically, according to the report, women represent less than 13% of officers and merely 3% of police leadership. That’s comp...

5 takeaways from the Chicago Cubs’ 2023 MLB draft, including an offensive power infusion and an intriguing 16th-round arm

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:43:40 GMT

The Chicago Cubs’ latest draft class is in the books.The organization has until July 25 to sign its 20 picks, led by first-round selection and Maryland shortstop Matt Shaw.“There’s always a chance that there’s some surprises that crop up between now and the signing deadline and potentially a little leakage in certain places,” vice president of scouting Dan Kantrovitz said Tuesday. “But for the most part, I wouldn’t expect the signing process to be too eventful, in a positive way.”1. A balanced but college-heavy class.By the time Kantrovitz and the Cubs completed the 20-round draft Tuesday, 17 of their selections came from the collegiate level.Of the college group, it was a nearly even split with nine pitchers and eight position players (six infielders, one catcher and one outfielder). Kantrovitz said the Cubs didn’t necessarily go into the draft planning for a big emphasis on college players, but he noted their 2023 bonus pool ($...