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Biden’s Justice Dept. keeps hard line in death row cases

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:39 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — Rejon Taylor hoped the election of Joe Biden, the first U.S. president to campaign on a pledge to end the death penalty, would mean a more sympathetic look at his claims that racial bias and other trial errors landed him on federal death row in Terre Haute, Indiana.But two years on, Justice Department attorneys under Biden are fighting the Black man’s efforts to reverse his 2008 death sentence for killing a white restaurateur as hard as they did under Donald Trump, who oversaw 13 executions in his presidency’s final months.“Every legal means they have available they’re using to fight us,” said the 38-year-old’s lawyer, Kelley Henry. “It’s business as usual.”Death penalty opponents expected Biden to act within weeks of taking office to fulfill his 2020 campaign promise to end capital punishment on the federal level and to work at ending it in states that still carry out executions. Instead, Biden has taken no steps toward fulfilling that promise. But ...

Ukraine demands emergency UN meeting over Putin nuclear plan

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:39 GMT

Ukraine’s government on Sunday called for an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council to “counter the Kremlin’s nuclear blackmail” after Russian President Vladimir Putin revealed plans to station tactical atomic weapons in Belarus.One Ukrainian official said that Russia “took Belarus as a nuclear hostage.”But Moscow said it was making the move in response to the West’s increasing military support for Ukraine. Putin announced the plan in a television interview that aired on Saturday, saying it was triggered by a U.K. decision this past week to provide Ukraine with armor-piercing rounds containing depleted uranium.Putin argued that by deploying its tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, Russia was following the lead of the United States. He noted that Washington has nuclear weapons based in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey.“We are doing what they have been doing for decades, stationing them in certain allied countries, preparing the launc...

Two-time organ recipient designs Green Shirt Day logo five years after bus crash

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:39 GMT

Brandy Hehn was a regular in the kidney dialysis unit at the Regina General Hospital when the deadly Humboldt Broncos bus crash happened five years ago.Sixteen people died and 13 were injured after a transport truck went through a stop sign and into the path of a bus carrying the Saskatchewan junior hockey team on April 6, 2018.Hehn, now 39, remembers a nurse walking into the room where she was getting a dialysis treatment a couple days later and commenting on the crash.“She said, ‘Did you know one of the boys was an organ donor?'” Hehn recalled in an interview from Regina.“I said, ‘No, I had no idea.'”Hehn was not on a recipient list at that time, but she said everyone in the room looked around and wondered if anyone they knew got their long-awaited kidney transplant.Logan Boulet, 21, had signed up to be an organ donor on his birthday — five weeks before the bus crash.Six people across Canada benefited from Boulet’s organs and the Logan Bou...

For one tech company, Indigenous values are central to hiring, projects and strategy

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:39 GMT

TORONTO — One word you don’t expect to hear at the boardroom table is “love.” But at Indigenous-owned tech company Animikii, you can find it everywhere — including in company decisions about hiring, remote work and flexibility. The company says centring love in its decisions — from accepting clients to partnering with investors to supporting employees during a global pandemic — is key to its success, now and for generations to come. Animikii uses as a guide the Anishinaabe Seven Grandfather Teachings, which include love, truth and respect. These values help inform the company’s day-to-day decisions but also its longer-term goals, like bringing more Indigenous people into the technology sector, and using technology to support Indigenous economic development. “Some people call it decolonizing. Others may call it centring Indigenous wisdom and values,” said Animikii CEO Jeff Ward, who is Ojibwe and Métis and lives in Victoria on Lekwungen territory.“We know that...

Search on for 4 people missing in deadly chocolate factory explosion

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:39 GMT

WEST READING, Pa. (WHTM) -- An explosion at a chocolate factory in Pennsylvania on Friday killed three people and left four people missing, authorities said. One person was pulled alive from the rubble overnight.Rescue crews using dogs and imaging equipment continued to search through the rubble Saturday — hours after the blast that erupted just before 5 p.m. Friday at the R.M. Palmer Co. plant in the borough of West Reading, about 60 miles northwest of Philadelphia.West Reading Borough Chief of Police Wayne Holben said the death toll rose on Saturday with the discovery of a third body at the site. The Berks County Medical Examiner and Coroner on Saturday night also confirmed three fatalities. Officials: 2 dead, 5 missing in chocolate factory explosion Borough Fire Chief Chad Moyer said four people remained missing as emergency personnel continue searching for victims and state and local fire investigators examine the scene to determine a cause.“Due to the violence of the explosio...

Satellite images show 5,000-mile seaweed belt creeping closer to US

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:39 GMT

(NEXSTAR) – Over the next few months, a massive belt of seaweed is projected to make its way closer to Florida and the Caribbean, and pile up in mounds as it washes ashore. It's not just an eyesore — the seaweed, called sargassum, smells terrible as it rots, and can cause breathing issues for some.The Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt stretches from West Africa to the Gulf of Mexico. It's not a new occurrence, but satellite images captured in February showed an earlier start than usual for such a large accumulation in the open ocean. Massive seaweed belt still on track to hit US: When will it arrive? More images taken in March (below) show the bulk of the mass is still out in the Atlantic Ocean, but traces can be seen coming up into the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. Satellite images show the sargassum belt in March 2023. (Courtesy USF/NOAA)Satellite images show the sargassum belt in March 2023. (Courtesy USF/NOAA)Some sargassum has already started washing up in Florida, t...

Teen overdose deaths have doubled in three years. Blame fentanyl.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:39 GMT

(The Hill) – Teen overdose deaths have doubled in three years, an alarming trend amid a historic decline in drug and alcohol use among high school students.  The main reason is fentanyl. Teens consume the powerful opioid unwittingly, packaged in counterfeit pills tailored to resemble less potent prescription medications. Drug traffickers lace pills with fentanyl to boost the black-market high. Dangerously addictive, fentanyl can be lethal, especially to children experimenting with drugs.  “Fentanyl, it’s just a different beast,” said Dr. Hoover Adger Jr., professor of pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “And it’s so deadly. You have a milligram of fentanyl being equivalent to 50 milligrams of heroin, being equivalent to 100 milligrams of morphine. And right now, fentanyl is creeping into everything.” Deaths from drug and alcohol rose from 788 in 2018 to 1755 in 2021 among children ages 15 to 19, according to data from the Centers for Disease...

Who keeps the engagement ring after a breakup? Why you might want a pre-nup for your diamond

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:39 GMT

(The Conversation) - When Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck got engaged the first time, in 2002, he gave her a very pricey ring. That engagement ring was reportedly worth as much as $2.5 million, made by luxury jeweler Harry Winston and adorned with a 6.1-carat pink diamond.After the movie stars broke up in 2004 without getting married, J. Lo said she intended to return the ring “quietly” to Affleck. Whether or she ever did that or not, was Lopez entitled to keep the that rock or any of the others she got from her numerous ex-husbands and former fiancés?The answer can matter to anyone who is engaged, married – or even thinking about tying the knot. No one knows for sure how many engagements end in a breakup, although there are estimates that roughly 1 in 5 do so.As law professors who teach property and family law, we frequently talk to students – and our own relatives – about gifts and marriage. Students often ask us who owns the engage...

APD provides details surrounding Tuesday night fatal crash

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:39 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — On Thursday, the Austin Police Department released information surrounding a Tuesday night fatal crash in east Austin.APD said officers responded to a single-vehicle crash at the intersection of Clayton Lane and North Interstate 35 at approximately 10:45 p.m.According to police, a preliminary investigation showed the driver of the vehicle, who traveled alone, crashed into a retaining wall and died on the scene. An APD report listed the individual as an unidentified person.This incident was being investigated as Austin's 24th fatal crash of 2023, resulting in 24 fatalities for the year. On the date of this crash in 2022, 21 fatal crashes resulted in 22 deaths.Anyone with any information surrounding this crash should contact APD's Vehicular Homicide unit at 512-974-8111. Tips can also be submitted anonymously through the Capital Area Crime Stoppers Program by visiting austincrimestoppers.org or calling 512-472-8477.

Other voices: A national no-fly list for unruly passengers?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:39 GMT

There are places where violence can be particularly destructive. Inside a fuselage jammed with people flying at 600 mph at 30,000 feet is certainly one of them.The Federal Aviation Administration has made a dent in the nation’s unruly passenger problem. Its new zero tolerance policy resulted in a big decline in the number of reported incidents last year.But too many people are still attacking crew members or fellow passengers on planes. As our skies filled up with spring breakers this month, it’s a good time to ask: Should Congress create a national “no fly list” of disruptive and dangerous passengers?In 2021, the FAA received nearly 6,000 reports of unruly behavior aboard U.S. airlines. The majority of those cases involved travelers riled up over mask mandates.The number of incidents plummeted to just over 2,400 in 2022 after the FAA dispensed with issuing warnings to out-of-control passengers and stepped up enforcement instead. Mask mandates were also remov...