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Wisconsin Republicans try to force a vote on the reappointment of a nonpartisan election

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:26 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Republicans who control the Wisconsin Senate, in a surprise move Wednesday night, proceeded with trying to force a vote on firing the state’s nonpartisan top elections official before the 2024 presidential election.The Senate voted to move ahead at a later date with a public hearing, and ultimately a confirmation vote, on the reappointment of Megan Wolfe for a second term overseeing elections in the presidential battleground state. Democrats walked out of the Senate chamber before the vote, objecting to bringing the unscheduled resolution to a vote at 9:30 p.m. on a day that was expected to focus on passage of the state budget.The Republican move was an attempt to get around Democrats on the Wisconsin Elections Commission who a day earlier tried to block the Senate from ever getting a chance to vote on Wolfe’s confirmation. Democrats fear that the Senate will reject her confirmation, which is the same as firing her.The three Democrats on the election...

In United Arab Emirates, struggling sea turtles get a helping hand

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:26 GMT

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The baby sea turtle flapped its flippers as it was lowered into the ocean, only to be pushed back ashore by the strong tide. It tried again, and this time it made it, swimming fast and deep into Persian Gulf waters lapping at a string of beachfront tourist resorts.Scientists hope the turtle will thrive back in its natural habitat, joining about 500 sea turtles that have been rescued, rehabilitated and released since Abu Dhabi’s Environment Agency launched a program three years ago to aid turtles distressed by climate change and other issues.In the latest release in early June, about 80 turtles were carried to the water’s edge by members of the agency’s Wildlife Rescue Program, joined by members of the community. Many were outfitted with satellite tracking gear to help scientists better understand migration patterns and the success of rehabilitation methods.Turtles have historically been hunted for their meat and eggs, with the...

Maple Leafs select Easton Cowan 28th overall at NHL Draft

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:26 GMT

The Toronto Maple Leafs took London Knights forward Easton Cowan 28th overall at the NHL Draft on Wednesday.Toronto last picked in the first round back in 2020 when they selected Rodion Amirov 15th overall. Last year, the Leafs sent their first-round pick to the Chicago Blackhawks along with Petr Mrazek in exchange for a second-round pick which they used to take Fraser Minten.This is the first draft with Brad Treliving taking over for Kyle Dubas as general manager."It's a moment I'll never forget."Easton Cowan joins @SNCaroline to talk about his long trek through the arena, hearing his name, and the future as a Leaf. #NHLDraft pic.twitter.com/T6qtf53upV— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) June 29, 2023The five-foot-11, 170-pound Cowan had 20 goals and 33 assists in 68 regular-season games with the Knights this past season before putting up nine goals and 12 assists for 21 points in 20 playoff games.London advanced to the OHL final, where the Knights lost to the Peterboro...

The AP Interview: Olympics boss vows Paris Games will be safe, says no resignations planned in probe

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:26 GMT

SAINT-DENIS, France (AP) — What was shaping up as a regular workday turned out to be anything but for the organizers of France’s first summer Olympic Games in a century.French anti-corruption police raided their bustling Olympic headquarters on the outskirts of Paris, arriving unannounced and accompanied by a magistrate from a French financial crimes prosecution unit that has made a habit of going after sports’ rogues.This time, they were zeroing in on twenty or so of the many hundreds of business contracts that Olympic organizers have signed as they race to prepare the French capital for 10,500 athletes and millions of spectators next year. The investigators were hunting for documents and information as they dig into suspicions of favoritism, conflicts of interest, and misuse of some of the billions of euros (dollars) being sunk into the Paris Games that open July 26, 2024.Tony Estanguet, a former Olympic canoeing star with gold medals from the 2000, 2004 and 2012 Games, was at wor...

Retrial denied for Texas death row inmate Rodney Reed, who says evidence proves he didn’t kill woman

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:26 GMT

HOUSTON (AP) — An appeals court on Wednesday denied a new trial request from longtime Texas death row inmate Rodney Reed, whose supporters say there is evidence to back his claims of innocence.The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals accepted a 2021 recommendation from a lower court judge, who had ruled against several claims made by Reed, including that he’s not guilty.Despite the ruling, Reed’s execution is not expected anytime soon. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in April that he should have a chance to argue for testing of crime-scene evidence that he says will exonerate him. The following month, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans ordered that additional legal briefs be filed on whether Reed should be granted additional DNA testing.Reed was condemned for the 1996 killing of 19-year-old Stacey Stites. Prosecutors say he raped and strangled Stites as she made her way to work at a supermarket in Bastrop, a rural community about 30 miles (50 kilometers) southe...

Police release body camera video of an officer killing the gunman who killed 8 at a Texas mall

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:26 GMT

ALLEN, Texas (AP) — Police released video footage on Wednesday of an officer killing a neo-Nazi gunman, quickly ending a mass shooting that left eight people dead and seven others wounded at a Dallas-area shopping mall.The edited five-and-a-half-minute video details the final moments of Mauricio Garcia, 33, after he unleashed a rain of bullets from an AR-15-style rifle at the Allen Premium Outlets on May 6.Those killed included three members of a Korean American family including a 3-year-old child, two young sisters, a security guard and an engineer from India. Police haven’t revealed a motive for the attack.The shooting came in a year that has seen an unprecedented pace of mass killings.The footage from a body camera worn by an Allen police officer starts off with the officer telling two children outside the mall to wear their seatbelts and be good.Moments later, the sound of rapid gunfire erupts from the mall. The children and a woman with them run away as the officer radios...

Indiana State Police trooper hit, killed by stolen car during pursuit

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:26 GMT

INDIANAPOLIS — An Indiana State Police trooper has died after being hit by a suspect's car during a stolen vehicle pursuit on the city's west side.According to ISP officials on scene, the collision occurred around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday on Interstate 70 eastbound near 6 Points Road on the west side of Indianapolis.ISP Master Trooper Nick Klingkammer said that the incident began as a police chase after troopers with ISP's Indianapolis district spotted a stolen car on the city's southwest side. Troopers attempted to pull over the car, but ISP said a pursuit began. Troopers then chased the suspect vehicle to Ronald Reagan Parkway, where one trooper was attempting to deploy stop sticks to stop the car and terminate the pursuit. That trooper was then struck by the suspect vehicle and thrown into the air, according to ISP. The suspect vehicle, Klingkammer said, then crashed after hitting the trooper. Klingkammer said that the injured trooper was taken to Eskenazi Hospital in critical conditi...

Promising new approach finds cancer, delivers therapy all at once

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:26 GMT

New research is offering some hope in the fight against pancreatic cancer.The answer is nuclear medicine. And the power to find cancer and deliver therapy all at the same time. Theranostics, combining therapy and diagnostics, is a promising approach to cancer treatment.While some people fear the idea of using radioactive isotopes as a therapy in the body, Julie Sutcliffe PhD. knows the power for good.“You have a molecule, same molecule with a different piece of radioactivity on it, so one is for imaging for diagnostics, one is for therapy for treatment,” she said. “So theranostics combine the two words together.”After working as a researcher, a troubling scan of her own brought the UC Davis professor to her current life’s mission.“I was diagnosed in 2005 with breast cancer,” she said.Since she needed chemotherapy and radiation to kill her cancer, she knew the side effects.“My breast surgeon happened to be doing pancreatic cancer research,” she said. Fusing a foot bone: A look at t...

Butterball makes donation on behalf of dad's basketball team started after Highland Park shooting

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:26 GMT

HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. — In the year since the shooting at the Highland Park Fourth of July parade, a group of neighborhood das got together to talk about the tragedy and bond over basketball.In the morning after the worst day in Highland Park history, David Potocek, a 41-year-old father of five-year-old twins, was standing in his driveway. Chicago Bears gifts boy shot in Highland Park parade shooting special wheelchair "I think a lot of people in the neighborhood couldn't go back to work," Potocek said. "We just kind of took the day off and everybody was just kind of standing out in their yards and people were kind of congregating in my driveway."As the neighbors talked about what they had witnessed at the parade, they were searching for a way to move forward."Then as we were in my driveway, I think I had just gotten a basketball hoop in my driveway, I was like, 'We should start playing basketball," Potocek said.A driveway is both an end and a beginning. The last bit of road that ta...

Canadian fires at the very early stage of the fire season. Chicago dew points to surge; heat in the 90s ahead. "Ring of Fire" pattern to bring storm clusters

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:26 GMT

Insight into the meteorology behind Canada's record fire season—a huge and persistent WARM AIR DOME ALOFT over recent months has boosted temps and limited precip across much of CanadaTHE 30-DAY NORTH AMERICA UPPER AIR ANALYSIS shows the vast pool of abnormally warm air aloft which has lingered so persistently above Canada over the past month. That this is so certainly helps in understanding the meteorological environment which has contributed to Canada's record 2023 wildfire season.Warmer than normal temps aloft over the past 30 days are noted in the regions shaded yellow and red on the NOAA 500 mb. height departure analysis.The first analysis of this UPPER AIR WARMTH over Canada covers the most recent 30-day period. A Twitter post by University of Oklahoma PhD candidate Tomer Burg (https://twitter.com/burgwx) extends our view of warmth aloft over an even longer period of time—all the way from May 1 through June 25th. (It's the second analysis which appears below.)University of Okla...