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Judge blasts prosecutors’ handling of Venezuela case against ex-Miami congressman

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:33 GMT

MIAMI (AP) — A federal judge in Miami on Friday blasted prosecutors for an apparent attempt to disavow a court order and take control of a oceanside condo belonging to a former Republican Congressman ahead of a high-profile trial connected to a $50 million consulting contract with Venezuela’s socialist government.When David Rivera and an associate were charged last November with money laundering and acting as unregistered foreign agents for President Nicolás Maduro’s government, prosecutors obtained a judge’s order freezing around $24 million from banking and brokerage accounts as well as Florida properties that they said were the product of ill-gotten gains.Prosecutors also blocked eight more properties belonging to Rivera and his associate in Florida and Georgia that, while unrelated to criminal activity, would likely be seized if the two are found guilty.This month, in a harshly worded ruling, Magistrate Judge Edwin Torres said that the government had no right to take...

Variety revises article on former CNN chief Jeff Zucker that was sharply criticized

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:33 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The entertainment publication Variety, under fire this week for an article it published about former CNN chief Jeff Zucker’s interest in his old employer, revised the piece on Friday to reflect some of the complaints about it.None of its changes affected what was written about Zucker, however. He has called for the story to be retracted.The article by Tatiana Siegel, which initially ran online Tuesday, depicted Zucker as badmouthing his successor at CNN, Chris Licht, while simultaneously trying to buy the news organization that fired him in early 2021. Licht’s unsuccessful run atop the struggling news network ended with his firing in May.The dispute also points to the dangers inherent in the use of confidential sources by journalists. There are at least a dozen claims made in the story that Variety did not attribute to a named source that were denied on the record, either in the story or after publication, leaving it up to readers to decide who to believe...

Defense presses case that mental illness spurred Pittsburgh synagogue massacre

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:33 GMT

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A federal trial for the man who fatally shot 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue approached its conclusion Friday as the defense, trying to persuade a jury to spare his life, pressed its case that mental illness spurred the nation’s deadliest antisemitic attack.Robert Bowers, a 50 year-old truck driver from suburban Baldwin, was convicted in June on 63 criminal counts for the 2018 massacre at Tree of Life synagogue. The jury has been hearing testimony in the penalty phase of the trial and will decide whether Bowers will receive the death penalty or life in prison without parole.Prosecutors have presented evidence that Bowers was motivated by his hatred of Jewish people when he opened fire at the synagogue on Oct. 27, 2018, killing members of three congregations gathered for Sabbath worship and study. The defense argues Bowers has schizophrenia and acted out of a delusional belief that Jews were participating in a genocide of white people.On Friday, a defense psychi...

3 people fatally shot, 2 wounded in a town in southern Germany

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:33 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Three people were shot and killed at a residential building in southern Germany on Friday and another two wounded in a nearby house, police said. A suspect was arrested.The shooting took place Friday evening in Langweid, just outside the Bavarian city of Augsburg. Police said the suspect, a 64-year-old man, was then arrested, German news agency dpa reported.Authorities said the motive was still under investigation, as was the question of what, if any, relationship there was between the suspect and the victims.Police said the suspect fatally shot two women, ages 49 and 72, and a 52-year-old man, before continuing to another house a few hundred meters away. There, he allegedly shot a 32-year-old woman and a 44-year-old man.Both were being treated in a hospital but their lives were not believed to be in danger.The suspect was stopped in his car and was arrested without resistance, police told dpa.The Associated Press

Paperwork problems drive surge in people losing Medicaid health coverage

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:33 GMT

JEFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The nation’s top health official implored states to do more to keep lower-income residents enrolled in Medicaid, as the Biden administration released figures Friday confirming that many who had health coverage during the coronavirus pandemic are now losing it.Though a decline in Medicaid coverage was expected, health officials are raising concerns about the large numbers of people being dropped from the rolls for failing to return forms or follow procedures. In 18 states that began a post-pandemic review of their Medicaid rolls in April, health coverage was continued for about 1 million recipients and terminated for 715,000. Of those dropped, 4 in 5 were for procedural reasons, according to newly released data from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra sent a letter Friday to all governors encouraging them to bolster efforts to retain people on Medicaid. He particularly encouraged th...

Mobile homes turn deadly when tornadoes hit. This year has been especially bad, AP analysis finds

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:33 GMT

ROLLING FORK, Miss. (AP) — Many were not just killed at home. They were killed by their homes.Angela Eason had visited Brenda Odoms’ tidy mobile home before. It was a place where Odoms, who had many tragedies in her life, felt safe.In March, a tornado ripped through this small Mississippi town and people in mobile or manufactured homes were hit the hardest. Inside a mobile morgue, Eason, the county coroner, examined Odoms’ gaping fatal head wound. Odoms was found just outside of her collapsed mobile home that was tossed around by a tornado. Blunt force trauma killed her.“The one place she felt safe she was not,” Eason said. Fourteen people died in that Rolling Fork tornado, nine of them, including Odoms, were in uprooted manufactured or mobile homes.Tornadoes in the United States are disproportionately killing more people in mobile or manufactured homes, especially in the South, often victimizing some of the most socially and economically vulnerable residents. Since 1996, tornadoes ...

Suncor tells regulator reconsidering approvals would arm industry opponents

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:33 GMT

Oilsands giant Suncor has warned the Alberta Energy Regulator that reopening a debate over mining an ecologically valuable wetland would play into the hands of industry opponents and upset the province’s energy development.In documents filed Thursday, the company says the agency shouldn’t go any further with the Alberta Wilderness Association’s request to reconsider approvals to mine a portion of McClelland Lake, a large and intact wetland about 90 kilometres north of Fort McMurray once considered for conservation.“Granting the (association’s) request … would endorse (its) strategy, which appears to be to undermine Alberta’s regulatory system and to create a disconcerting precedent whereby requestors could utilize the (regulator’s) reconsideration powers to intentionally boycott (its)  processes and subsequently compel new and unnecessary processes,” the filing says.Suncor’s operating plans for the project were approved last fall...

Hundreds allowed to return home near Kamloops, B.C., as evacuation order eases

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:33 GMT

VANCOUVER — An evacuation order covering hundreds of properties south of Kamloops, B.C., has been scaled back to an alert as crews make good progress containing a wildfire about 10 kilometres south of the city. The Thompson-Nicola Regional District allowed residents of 327 properties to return home, although they must be ready to leave again on short notice.The 26-square-kilometre Ross Moore Lake wildfire was sparked by lightning one week ago and forced the evacuation of properties from Lac Le Jeune to near the outskirts of Kamloops.The regional district said 18 properties remained on evacuation order but the City of Kamloops ended its evacuation alert for the Knutsford neighbourhood, southeast of the city, as the BC Wildfire Service reported cleanup was underway on the flank of the fire nearest those homes.The blaze was still listed as out of control, but guards were being built and an additional 40 firefighters were expected Friday to focus on areas needing cleanup and patrols.The...

Severe weather possible Friday night after hot, humid day

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:33 GMT

It's been a hot, steamy Friday with high temps which made it into the low and mid 90s—with dew points as high as 80-deg at a number of locations.And now we're monitoring for severe weather Friday and potential flooding rains.The Chicago area is at a Level 3 risk of severe weather on the storm prediction center's 5-tier risk scale and also the risk of excessive rainfall. Interactive Radar: Track showers and storm here There is potential for t-storms to train---i.e. fire repeatedly over some areas---thus producing potential flooding.  It appears the period from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. brackets the period in which we'll be paying particular attention. Initially scattered gusty t-storms will grow numerous during the evening with greater than 90% prospects for thunderstorms arriving in clusters capable of drenching and possibly flooding downpours in harder hit locations. Frequent lightning, strong gusts and hail possible in heavier storms—and the spin-up of a few isolated tornadoes ...

Indiana woman found guilty of chopping up husband with axe, asking kids to help dispose of body

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:33 GMT

LA PORTE, Ind. -- A 36-year-old woman from La Porte has been found guilty of murdering her husband, chopping him up with an axe and then asking her children to help dispose of the body. On Thursday, a jury found Thessalonica Allen guilty of eight counts including murder, abuse of a corpse, neglect of a dependent and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Previous reports detail that Allen was originally arrested in July 2021 after she allegedly shot and killed her husband, Randy Allen. Indiana man accused of murdering uncle, stabbing father Randy Allen had reportedly been helping the two teenage children with homework on July 27, 2021 when he noticed a website he believed their mother had visited. Randy Allen confronted his wife about the site leading to an argument. The children told investigators they then heard a loud bang come from the bedroom. According to a later autopsy, Thessalonica Allen shot her husband with a gun and the bullet entered his arm and penetr...