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Pennsylvania’s Democratic governor, a rising political star, crosses partisan school choice divide

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:34:10 GMT

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — In the partisan politics of education funding, the “school choice” movement has pressed states for decades to send taxpayer money to private and religious schools and long had to concentrate its efforts on states where a Republican governor was an ally.That suddenly changed over the summer.Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro — a first-term Democrat seen by his party as a rising star nationally — forcefully put his weight behind a Republican-backed proposal to send $100 million to families for private school tuition and school supplies.Shapiro would later back down in the face of House Democratic opposition, but his support has raised Pennsylvania’s profile in the national voucher debate and given advocates optimism that the program will eventually become law.With the backing of a major GOP campaign donor and now Shapiro, a private-school product whose near-landslide win in the battleground state has fueled talk of his national political prospects, vouchers are at t...

Migrants pass quickly through once impenetrable Darien jungle as governments scramble for answers

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:34:10 GMT

BAJO CHIQUITO, Panama (AP) — Rain-swollen rivers only briefly slowed the otherwise uninterrupted flow of migrants through this jungle-covered border area separating Colombia and Panama and by midweek another 2,000 bedraggled migrants stumbled out of the Darien jungle.Pregnant women and men carrying children atop their shoulders waded across the waist-deep Tuquesa river and into the Indigenous outpost of Bajo Chiquito where some fell to the ground in exhaustion and relief as Panamanian officials waited to register their arrival.Crossing through the dense, lawless jungle not long ago was unthinkable to most people. In recent years, it became a brutal slog of a week or more. But some migrants arriving this week described an organized trek completed in as little as 2 1/2 days on trails marked by colored ribbons and assisted by guides and porters, part of what officials say has become a business generating millions of dollars.That efficiency combined with the unrelenting economic factors...

EU summit to look at changes the bloc needs to make to welcome Ukraine, others as new members

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:34:10 GMT

GRANADA, Spain (AP) — A day after pledging Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy their unwavering support, European Union leaders on Friday will face one of their worst political headaches on a key commitment — how and when to welcome debt-laden and battered Ukraine into the bloc. The 27-nation EU has said since the start of Russia’s invasion in February 2022 that at the end of the war it would work steadfastly on “lasting unity” that would eventually translate into Ukraine’s membership in the wealthy bloc. For a nation fighting for its very survival, that moment cannot come quickly enough. For the bloc itself, that remains to be seen. On Friday, the leaders will assess “enlargement” as they call it at their informal summit in southern Spain’s Granada. Beyond Ukraine, several western Balkan nations and Moldova are also knocking with increasing impatience at the door.In his summit invitation letter, EU Council President Charles Michel asked the leaders “critical q...

Michigan judge to decide whether to drop charges against 2 accused in false elector scheme

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:34:10 GMT

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan judge is expected to decide Friday morning whether to drop charges against two defendants accused of participating in a fake elector scheme after the state attorney general said the group was “brainwashed” into believing former President Donald Trump won the 2020 election.The defendants, Clifford Frost and Mari-Ann Henry, are two of 16 Michigan Republicans who investigators say met following the 2020 election and signed a document falsely stating they were the state’s “duly elected and qualified electors.” Each of the 16 faces eight criminal charges, including multiple counts of forgery.Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, however, may have derailed the case by saying during a virtual event last month that the electors “legit believe” Trump won the election.“Every single charge requires the government to prove they did this with the intent to defraud,” said Matthew Schneider, a former U.S. attorney in Detroit. “If the attorn...

Economic spotlight turns to US jobs data as markets are roiled by high rates and uncertainties

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:34:10 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Job growth in the United States has remained resilient for the past 2 1/2 years even after high inflation flared and the Federal Reserve jacked up interest rates at the fastest pace in four decades.The September jobs report that the Labor Department will issue Friday will show just how much of that durability remains. Additional threats to the economy have emerged in recent weeks, including much higher long-term interest rates, rising energy prices, the resumption of student loan payments, widening labor strikes and the ongoing threat of a government shutdown.Economists have forecast that employers added 163,000 jobs last month, a solid increase, though down sharply from the pace earlier this year, when the economy was adding an average of 310,000 jobs a month in the first quarter. The unemployment rate is expected to drop to 3.7%, near a 50-year low, from 3.8% in August. A growing body of evidence, though, suggests that the job market is cooling — something Fed of...

Ghost guns showing up at crime scenes in Canada but RCMP not keeping statistics

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:34:10 GMT

FREDERICTON — Even as the technology to produce so-called “ghost guns” becomes less expensive and more widespread, the RCMP is not keeping records on how often the weapons are used in crimes across the country.Ghost guns are firearms without serial numbers that are assembled from individual parts or 3D printers. They are easy to make and hard to trace, and are increasingly showing up at crime scenes in Canada and the United States.The RCMP doesn’t have a database on 3D guns, printers or how many shootings there have been with the weapons. The force said in an email it has laid charges in several cases in which 3D guns were seized, but it didn’t give numbers.“This presence is consistent with national and international trends observed, where privately made firearms are being used in criminal activity,” the email said. It noted that 3D print files exist capable of creating a range of firearms, including assault rifles.The RCMP said they are aware ...

Texas high school football scores for Thursday, Oct. 5

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:34:10 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Pflugerville scored a late touchdown to lift them to their first win of the season 30-26 over Waco University on Thursday in action around the KXAN viewing area.Buda Johnson edged Austin High in a district showdown 20-19 and the Westlake Chaparrals scored 53 unanswered points after trailing Anderson 14-13 to win 67-14. REPORT YOUR SCORE: We'd love to post your team's score on our website, but we need your help to do it. Email the score of your game to [email protected] and we'll get it on our websiteVista Ridge picked up a 26-21 win over Westwood and Georgetown thumped Leander 45-21.Scores from around the KXAN viewing areaBuda Johnson 20, Austin High 19Boerne Geneva 49, Brentwood Christian 43Georgetown 45, Leander 21Pflugerville 30, Waco University 26Smithson Valley 42, Lehman 7Travis 56, Eastside 0Vista Ridge 26, Westwood 21Westlake 67, Anderson 14Scores from around Texas compiled by the Associated PressCLASS 6AAlvin Shadow Creek 24, Alvin Elsik 0Amarillo Tascosa 33, ...

Magic Johnson chides his Commanders for ‘no intensity’ in a 40-20 loss to previously winless Chicago

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:34:10 GMT

By HOWARD FENDRICH (AP National Writer)LANDOVER, Md. (AP) — Washington Commanders part-owner Magic Johnson criticized coach Ron Rivera’s team for playing with “no intensity or fire” in a 40-20 loss Thursday night to the Chicago Bears, a club that hadn’t won a game in nearly a full year. The latest poor showing for the Commanders, in front of a national primetime audience, to boot, also was too much for some of the home fans to take, apparently, and so it came, appropriately, with a soundtrack of boos. In the fourth quarter, a chant of the team’s old nickname — “Let’s go, Redskins!” — broke out.Their defense — supposedly a strength under Rivera, a former Chicago linebacker, and coordinator Jack Del Rio — was unable to do a thing to slow, let alone stop, Justin Fields and DJ Moore, and the Commanders (2-3) fell into a 24-point halftime hole along the way to dropping their third game in a row.“...

Man arrested after protestors clash with police

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:34:10 GMT

Officers with the Los Angeles Police Department arrested a 57-year-old man in connection with a tenants’ rights protest in Boyle Heights where police and protestors clashed, leaving several officers injured, officials announced Thursday.  The organized march happened on Oct. 1 at Hollenbeck Park where thousands of tenants campaigning against a proposed 9% rent increase in rent-controlled apartments gathered.  According to police, several members of the group were engaging in criminal conduct requiring officers to intervene. “As Los Angeles Police Department Hollenbeck officers attempted to initiate the arrest for the criminal activity, several members of the crowd engaged in a violent altercation with officers attempting to free the individual under arrest,” an LAPD news release stated.  LAPD Hollenbeck Division officers at the scene of a planned tenants rights demonstration in Boyle Heights where protestors and police clashed on Oct. 1, 2023. (Citizen)Authorities claim th...

Police rescue man threatening to jump off Irwindale freeway overpass

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:34:10 GMT

Police rescued a man threatening to jump onto the 210 Freeway in Irwindale on Wednesday.Irwindale police responded to reports of a man trying to jump off the overpass around 4:05 p.m.Arriving officers discovered the man had climbed over a chainlink fence that was blocking the overpass from the road underneath. He was hanging onto the outside portion of the fence with his feet dangling above passing cars, police said.As authorities spoke with the man, he indicated his intention to jump onto the lanes below. Officers were able to grab the man’s fingers and clothing through the fence’s openings. They held him in place as he struggled to pull away.Officers rescued a man threatening to jump off an overpass on the 210 Freeway in Irwindale on Oct. 5, 2023. (Irwindale Police Department)Officers rescued a man threatening to jump off an overpass on the 210 Freeway in Irwindale on Oct. 5, 2023. (Irwindale Police Department)L.A. County firefighters arrived at the scene and were able to rescue t...