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Two Republicans ready to run for Sen. Peter Durant’s old House seat, MassGOP chair says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:52 GMT

State Sen. Peter Durant’s victory earlier this month in a special Senate election “affirmatively answers” the question of whether or not Republican campaigns are viable in Massachusetts, the top Senate Republican said minutes before Durant was sworn into his new role.Durant handily beat Rep. Jonathan Zlotnik, a Gardner Democrat, by more than 2,000 votes in an election for a Central Massachusetts Senate seat last held by Sen. Anne Gobi, who left the Legislature for a job in the Healey administration.Massachusetts Republicans viewed the district as their best chance to add to their three-member caucus in the 40-member Senate, and have gone on a victory parade of sorts since Durant’s win.“He has proven that the ideals that we share, the principles that we stand for are viable in Massachusetts, and the voters in his district spoke loud and clear about that,” Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr told reporters before Gov. Maura Healey swore Durant in as a state senator Wednesday.MassGOP Cha...

Maui officials on standby to stop heavy rains from sending ash into storm drains

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:52 GMT

LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — Maui officials were on standby Wednesday to prevent ash from August’s deadly wildfire in Lahaina from flowing into storm drains after forecasters said a winter storm could bring heavy rain and strong winds to the island. The National Weather Service said rain falling at a rate of more than 1 inch (2.5 centimeters) per hour could trigger localized flooding over burn scars in Lahaina and in Kula, a mountainous area where wildfires also spread three months ago. Maui County said it placed 40 pallets of straw barriers around Lahaina and that 25 staff members were on standby. Earlier this week, county staff inspected and cleared culverts in flood-prone parts of Kula and South Maui. The National Weather Service has issued a flood watch for the entire state through Thursday as a kona low, or subtropical cyclone, west of the island chain generated moist and humid conditions.The weather service warned potentially heavy rainfall and thunderstorms could batter the i...

Safety officials release details of their investigation into a close call between planes in Texas

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:52 GMT

DALLAS (AP) — The air traffic controller on duty when FedEx and Southwest planes nearly collided earlier this year in Texas told investigators that he expected the airliner to take off more quickly — before the incoming FedEx plane reached the same runway.That is because in his four years working the tower at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, the controller said, Southwest planes usually took off as soon as they got permission.“But hindsight being 20/20,” controller Damian Campbell told investigators, he “definitely could have held them,” referring to making the Southwest crew wait.Campbell said in a transcript released Wednesday that he couldn’t even see the Southwest plane through the dense early morning fog on Feb. 4. The FedEx pilots spotted it at the last second and aborted their landing. The planes missed each other by about 100 feet (30 meters).The National Transportation Safety Board released transcripts of interviews and other details of its investigation but di...

Iowa teen believed to be early victim of California serial killer identified after 49 years

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:52 GMT

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — An Iowa teen who is believed to be one of the earliest victims of a notorious California serial killer has been identified after 49 years.Long known simply as “John Doe,” the teen was identified Tuesday as Michael Ray Schlicht of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The Orange County Sheriff’s Department in California said in a news release that the teen has long been thought to to be an early victim of Randy Kraft, dubbed the “Scorecard Killer.” Kraft, who remains incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison, was convicted of brutalizing and killing 16 men during a decadelong series of slayings in Orange County that ended with his 1983 arrest. Besides the Orange County slayings for which Kraft was convicted in 1989, authorities have said the now 78-year-old is suspected of killing others in California, Oregon and Michigan.The body of the teen now identified as Schlicht was found on Sept. 14, 1974, as two people were off-roading on a fire road northeast of Laguna...

Congress members, activists decry assaults against anti-China protesters during San Francisco summit

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:52 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A man protesting against China’s ruling Communist Party at the recent Asia-Pacific economic summit in San Francisco shared details Wednesday of an attack by pro-China supporters, saying he was left unconscious and that police should take action against his assailants.Kaiyu Zhang, who moved from Shanghai to Los Angeles in March, told reporters he and two other demonstrators were assaulted Nov. 17 by a group of young men wearing red headbands or arm bands after leaving a protest at the city’s international airport as leaders were departing the city.His remarks came a day after bipartisan leaders of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China condemned efforts to silence critics of the Chinese Communist Party, known as the CCP. Republican Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey and Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon cited videos from protests at the APEC summit showing human rights activists being harassed and assaulted by counterdemonstrators.“We, the C...

Jan. 6 suspect who later fired a gun toward Texas officers gets 2 years for firearm charge

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:52 GMT

DALLAS (AP) — A Texas man who shot toward sheriff’s deputies who were making a welfare call to his house on the day he had agreed to surrender on charges for taking part in the in the U.S. Capitol riot was sentenced to two years in prison Wednesday after pleading guilty to illegally possessing a firearm.Nathan Donald Pelham, who was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm, entered the plea in U.S. District Court in Dallas. Pelham was accused of firing the shots from his rural home on April 12, the day he was told he was charged with four misdemeanors for allegedly participating in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack. Prosecutors say Pelham had agreed to surrender on the Capitol riot charges when he was contacted by an FBI agent. Later that day, though, a deputy from the Hunt County Sheriff’s Office was sent to the house about 50 miles (81 kilometers) northeast of Dallas in response to a welfare call made by a relative. A child was sent out of the house and deputies began to...

Texas man sentenced 2 years in prison for threatening Georgia election workers after 2020 election

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:52 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Texas man who was the first arrest by a Justice Department task force that investigates threats to election workers has been sentenced to two years in prison over posts made following the 2020 election, federal prosecutors announced Wednesday.Chad Christopher Stark, 55, was accused of posting threatening messages on Craigslist about killing government officials in Georgia. He pleaded guilty earlier this year to one count of communicating interstate threats. Prosecutors say Stark, who is from suburban Austin, urged Georgia residents on social media to “militia up” and called for shooting several unnamed officials and judges. The messages were posted on Jan. 5, 2021, the day before Congress was set to ratify the Electoral College’s votes.“Christopher Stark threatened the lives of multiple election workers in an attempt to prevent them from doing their job,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement. “Today’s sentencing demonstrates the FBI’s res...

Woman injured after reportedly being pushed out of moving vehicle in Etobicoke, driver arrested

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:52 GMT

Toronto police have a driver in custody after the man allegedly crashed into several vehicles, including multiple police cruisers, injuring an officer.Investigators were notified of a collision in the Highway 27 and Humber College Boulevard area just after 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Police said the driver of a black sedan was involved in several collisions in the area and then fled the scene. There are unconfirmed reports that a woman was shoved out of the moving sedan and suffered serious injuries. The driver crashed into multiple police cruisers, and an officer was also injured.The male driver was located in the Hwy. 27 and Albion Road area, where he was arrested.The police officer was treated at a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Musk uses expletive to tell audience he doesn’t care about advertisers that fled X over hate speech

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:52 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Billionaire Elon Musk said Wednesday that advertisers who have halted spending on his social media platform X in response to antisemitic and other hateful material are engaging in “blackmail” and, using a profanity, essentially told them to go away. “Don’t advertise,” Musk said. He appeared to specifically call out Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger, saying, “Hey Bob, if you’re in the audience … that’s how I feel.” In an on-stage interview at The New York Times DealBook Summit, Musk also apologized for endorsing an antisemitic conspiracy theory in response to a post on X that helped fuel an advertiser exodus. The comments come just two days after Musk visited Israel, where he toured a kibbutz attacked by Hamas militants and held talks with top leaders.Musk has faced accusations from the Anti-Defamation League, a prominent Jewish civil rights organization, and others of tolerating antisemitic messages on the platform since purchasing it last ye...

HUD sets sights on aldermanic prerogative, says practice 'disproportionately harms' minority neighborhoods

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:52 GMT

CHICAGO — The federal government has their sights set on Chicago's use of aldermanic prerogative.Investigators with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) said Wednesday that the city has wrongly limited affordable housing by allowing members of City Council to reject developments in their wards.In a letter first reported by the Chicago Sun-Times, a fair housing official wrote, in part:"... The City affords each of its fifty wards a local veto over proposals to build affordable housing, and that many majority-White wards use the local veto to block, deter, or downsize such proposals. As a result, new affordable housing is rarely, if ever, constructed in the majority-White wards … By limiting the availability of affordable housing, the local veto disproportionately harms Black and Hispanic households."U.S. Department of Housing and Urban DevelopmentHUD officials said they want Mayor Brandon Johnson's administration to enter talks for an informal resolution to it's...