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Judge, rejecting Trump arguments, signals he’ll let New York criminal case stay in state court

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:17 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge in New York City signaled Tuesday that the state criminal hush money prosecution of former President Donald Trump will soon be returned to state court because Trump cannot prove that he was acting in his capacity as president when he made payments to his private attorney.Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein said he saw “no relationship to any official act of the president” in the actions cited in a prosecution that led Trump to plead not guilty in state court in April to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to hide 2016 hush money payouts to bury allegations of extramarital sexual encounters.He said he’ll officially rule within two weeks on Trump’s effort to move the prosecution to federal court from state court.The judge said there was “no reason to believe that an equal measure of justice could not be rendered by the state court.” Trump was indicted on charges that he falsified records at his company to cover up payments made in 2017 to...

North Carolina GOP bars promotion of certain beliefs in state government, 1 of 6 veto overrides

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:17 GMT

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina’s GOP-dominated legislature swept six bills into law Tuesday with veto overrides, including one barring promotion of certain beliefs in state government workplaces that some lawmakers liken to critical race theory and another placing new limits on wetlands protection rules.The measures, which also address green investing in state government, consumer loans and local government finances, became law after a succession of votes with margins large enough to overcome Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s formal vetoed objections earlier this month. Five of the veto overrides were completed Tuesday with House votes, which followed several similar Senate votes over the past week. A sixth veto override effort cleared both the House and Senate on Tuesday. The state constitution deems an override successful if at least three-fifths of the members in each chamber present and voting agree to enact the bill anyway despite the governor’s objections.The...

Golden anniversary turns tragic as couple, relative are fatally stabbed and beaten

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:17 GMT

NEWTON, Mass. (AP) — Jill D’Amore helped make Our Lady Help of Christians Church beautiful, tending to flowers and decorating the parish season by season. Her mother, 97-year-old Lucia Arpino, never missed morning Mass until the coronavirus pandemic hit. And Jill’s husband, Bruno, proudly flipped burgers at the parish picnic.Their apparently random beating and stabbing deaths over the weekend — when the church had planned to celebrate the D’Amores’ 50th wedding anniversary in a post-Communion blessing — have shaken the parish and the wider community of Newton, a city comprising a network of villages in suburban Boston.“It’s a shocking loss, the grief is horrifying. But I’ve got to say the love coming forth from the people has just been not surprising but so edifying and inspiring,” said the church’s pastor, the Rev. Dan Riley.Christopher Ferguson, 41, pleaded not guilty Tuesday in Newton District Court to a murder charge in the death of Jill D’Amore, 73, alon...

Honduras copies El Salvador’s playbook in anti-gang crackdown

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:17 GMT

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — A crackdown in Honduras on gangs in the nation’s prisons is eerily similar to one carried out last year in neighboring El Salvador by President Nayib Bukele, observers said Tuesday. Like authorities in El Salvador, police in Honduras who launched a prison sweep Monday have distributed dramatic videos of tattooed inmates being frog-marched around, though their videos have lacked Bukele’s slick production values and media savvy.“It’s the same phenomenon,” said retired police commissioner Henry Osorto, but added that the crackdowns should be scrutinized to see whether “standards and international treaties are being violated.” Rights groups in Honduras cited apparent abuses as prisoners were forced to sit spread-legged, half-naked and nestled against one another in open prison yards. And as they did in El Salvador, officials in Honduras angrily brushing off criticism, saying the street gangs abused civilians more. “These criminals violate p...

Toronto Star owner Nordstar in talks to merge with Postmedia

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:17 GMT

TORONTO — Postmedia Network Canada Corp. says it is in talks to merge with Nordstar Capital LP, the owner of Metroland Media Group and the Toronto Star.The publisher says the proposed merger would see an even division of voting rights between the two companies, while Postmedia shareholders would hold a 56 per cent economic interest and Nordstar would hold a 44 per cent interest. Jordan Bitove, publisher of the Toronto Star and owner of Nordstar, would be chairman of the merged entity and Andrew MacLeod, CEO of Postmedia, would be CEO.Postmedia says discussions to consider a combination are so far non-binding and there is no guarantee a deal will be reached.The proposal would see the Toronto Star maintain editorial independence through the incorporation of a new company that would manage its editorial operations.Postmedia says the deal would involve converting some of its outstanding debt to equity, resulting in “significant economic dilution” to existing shareholders. Th...

Deputies accused of abusing Black men are fired by Mississippi sheriff amid federal probe

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:17 GMT

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Deputies accused of beating and sexually assaulting two Black men before shooting one of them in the mouth, prompting a federal civil rights investigation, have been fired, a Mississippi sheriff announced Tuesday. The announcement comes months after Michael Corey Jenkins and his friend Eddie Terrell Parker said six deputies from the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department burst into a home without a warrant. The men said deputies beat them, assaulted them with a sex toy and shocked them repeatedly with stun guns in a roughly 90-minute period during the Jan. 24 episode, Jenkins and Parker said. Jenkins said one of the deputies shoved a gun in his mouth and then fired the weapon, leaving him with serious injuries to his face, tongue and jaw. Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey announced Tuesday that deputies involved in the incident had been fired, but he would not provide the names of the deputies who had been terminated or say how many law enforcement officers were f...

Police seek help finding missing child, 4, last seen in Scarborough

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:17 GMT

Toronto Police are trying to find a missing four-year-old child who was last seen in Scarborough on Thursday, June 22.Police say Shauna-Kay was last seen around 10 a.m. in the Markham Road and Eglinton Avenue East area.Shauna-Kay is described as three feet tall with braided black hair in a bun and was last seen wearing a purple t-shirt, grey pants, and white shoes.Police have set up a command post in the area.More to comeMISSING:Shauna-Kay, 4– last seen June 22 @ 10am in the Markham Rd & Eglinton Ave area– described as 3’0, braided black hair in a bun– last seen wearing a purple t-shirt, grey pants, and white shoes #GO1483432^se pic.twitter.com/dvr6qrrrvn— Toronto Police Operations (@TPSOperations) June 27, 2023

Jordi Fernandez replaces Nick Nurse as Canada’s men’s basketball coach

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:17 GMT

Nick Nurse has stepped down as head coach of Canada’s Men’s Senior National Basketball Team and will be replaced by current Sacramento Kings associate Jordi Fernandez, Sportsnet’s Michael Grange confirmed on Tuesday.It was first reported by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.Nurse was fired as head coach of the Raptors at the end of the season and was later hired by the Philadelphia 76ers. According to Grange, the commitment to coach Team Canada and the 76ers proved to be too much for Nurse.Nurse helped facilitate the hiring of Fernandez, who previously coached Canadian basketball star Jamal Murray in Denver.Just speaking with @CanBball sources to confirm Nick Nurse stepping down as HC for men’s sr. team. The time commitment after taking over Sixers HC job too much. Nurse reached out to team members and helped @CanBball identify Jordi Fernandez, Kings assistant as replacement. 1/— Michael Grange (@michaelgrange) June 27, 2023Fernandez, a native of Barcelona, was...

More than 50 MPs resign from Iraqi Kurdish region’s parliament to protest court ruling

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:17 GMT

IRBIL, Iraq (AP) — More than 50 members of the local parliament in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region in the north have submitted their resignations to protest a court decision that deemed as unconstitutional the legislature’s postponement of elections by a year.Jihad Hassan, an MP with the Kurdistan Democratic Party, which holds the largest number of seats in the autonomous region’s parliament, said Tuesday that all 45 members of its bloc had resigned the day before from the 111-member parliament, along with nine MPs from other parties. The Federal Supreme Court in Baghdad last month ruled against the regional parliament’s decision in October to extend its legislative term, delaying the regional election by a year. The decision came in response to a lawsuit filed by opposition political figures challenging the legality of the extension.Since its inception in 1992, the Kurdish region has conducted five parliamentary elections, with the most recent one taking pla...

Doctors give mixed testimony on whether tests show brain damage in the Pittsburgh synagogue killer

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:17 GMT

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Jurors considering a death sentence for Pittsburgh synagogue killer Robert Bowers heard mixed testimony from doctors on Tuesday about whether medical scans showed any significant brain damage — a central point of contention in his lawyers’ strategy to spare his life.The testimony came on the second day of the penalty phase in the case against Bowers, who was convicted this month of killing 11 worshippers from three congregations during the 2018 mass shooting that was the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history.The testimony came in two batches, the first of which included the findings of three local doctors who reviewed the results of various brain scans, not knowing they were Bowers’, and found them to be largely normal with some signs of possible seizures or other problems.Two expert witnesses for the defense, though, had a different take on the test results, saying they showed that Bowers had significant brain damage that could be correlated wit...