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Robbins: Biden celebrates America with visit to Ireland

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:58 GMT

The late Irish poet Eavan Frances Boland paid famous homage to the daughters and sons of Ireland who, beginning in the early part of the 19th century, endured the trauma of uprooting themselves from their homeland and traveling to the strange, forbidding land that was America. “What they survived we could not even live,” she wrote in her poem “The Emigrant Irish.” “Now it is time to imagine how they stood there, what they stood with. Their hardships parceled in them. Patience. Fortitude. Long-suffering in the bruise-colored dusk of the New World.”“And all the old songs. And nothing to lose.”The bond between America and Ireland is a powerful one. It has been forged in part by the vibrant role Irish Americans have played in the building of this country, and also by the profound connection the 32 million Americans of Irish descent feel in their hearts for the land of their forebears, a connection that has not withered even approaching two centuries since the Irish started arriving in A...

Kenyan Hellen Obiri upsets the elite field in women’s race

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:58 GMT

An accomplished field of marathon world champions and gold medal winners allowed a novice road runner with a track background steal the race.Kenyan Hellen Obiri made a decisive move on Ethiopian burner Amare Beriso at Kenmore Square and held on the break the tape in the women’s professional race in the 127th running of the BAA Boston Marathon.Obiri crossed the finish line with a stellar time of 2:21:38 in her Boston debut despite cold, wet weather conditions and a steady headwind. Obiri finished sixth (2:25:49) at New York on Nov. 6, 2022 in her only other marathon.The majority of Obiri’s spectacular career was spent on cross country paths and indoor and outdoor tracks. She won the silver medal in the 5,000 meters at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and is the only women in history to win world titles in indoor and outdoor track and cross country.Obiri, 33, effortlessly transitioned from the oval to the Abbott Marathon Majors and she did it on the sport’s biggest stage and toughest course.“F...

No charges to be laid against officer who shot suspect in Vaughan condo shooting

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:58 GMT

No charges will be laid against a police officer who fatally shot a man who went on a shooting rampage at a Vaughan condo building in December.Ontario’s police watchdog, the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), found that the officer was acting in self-defence.The SIU was was called to probe the fatal police interaction with Villi and the circumstances leading to him being shot as they are an independent provincial government agency investigating the conduct of officials that may have resulted in death, serious injury, sexual assault and the discharge of a firearm at a person.“When the man refused to drop his pistol, and instead raised the hand holding the pistol as if readying to point it at the officer, the officer discharged his weapon four times,” said the SIU in a release.“The man was struck. Despite officers administering first-aid, the man succumbed to his injuries at the scene.”Villi was met by an officer after he fatally shot five people at the buildin...

Republicans balk at plan to replace Feinstein on Judiciary

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:58 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats’ efforts to temporarily replace California Sen. Dianne Feinstein on the Senate Judiciary Committee met quick opposition Monday from Republicans, complicating their plan as some of President Joe Biden’s judicial nominees remain on hold during her extended medical absence.Feinstein, 89, last week asked to be temporarily replaced on the Senate Judiciary Committee while she recuperates in her home state from a case of the shingles. The statement came shortly after a member of California’s House delegation, Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna, called on her to resign from the Senate, saying it is “unacceptable” for her to miss votes to confirm judges who could be weighing in on abortion rights, a key Democratic priority. Feinstein has been away from the Senate since February. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Monday that he is moving forward and hopes to put a resolution on the Senate floor this week seeking a temporary substitute on the panel. But it&#...

Alabama officials renew call for clues in birthday shooting

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:58 GMT

DADEVILLE, Ala. (AP) — Shaunkivia Nicole Smith was so exhilarated at the prospect of graduating from Dadeville High School that she often reminded a neighbor of the exact hour it was supposed to happen. “KeKe,” as she was known, had already shared selfies taken in her cap and gown, writing “almost out.”It was not to be. At 17, Smith was among four young people shot and killed at a Sweet 16 birthday party on Saturday in the small Alabama town of Dadeville, about an hour’s drive northeast of Montgomery.Classmates returned to school Monday without her or fellow senior Philstavious “Phil” Dowdell, 18, of Camp Hill, a star football player who was also fatally shot in the melee that injured 32 in addition to those slain. It happened at the Mahogany Masterpiece dance studio off Dadeville’s courthouse square. The school, with 485 students in grades 6-12, is central to life in the community of 3,200, where “Home of the Tigers” is painted on the water tower and local businesses sp...

2nd teen charged in kidnapping migrants in Houston

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:58 GMT

HOUSTON (AP) — A second teenager has been charged with kidnapping several migrants and allegedly holding them captive for several days at a Houston hotel before they were rescued by FBI agents during a confrontation that ended with the fatal shooting of another suspect, authorities said Monday.Demarcus Celestine, 17, was charged on Saturday with three counts of aggravated kidnapping, according to court records.His arrest was made public on Monday by a tweet from the FBI’s Houston office, which said Celestine had been arrested by FBI agents and the Harris County Sheriff’s Office in Houston.Celestine, who appeared in court Monday, remained jailed on bonds totaling $300,000.An attorney for Celestine didn’t immediately return a call or an email seeking comment.Authorities allege the kidnapping began March 18 in neighboring Waller County when three migrants who had been traveling on Interstate 10 were stopped and forced from a vehicle.The migrants’ driver might have called 911 and inform...

Brazil’s welcome of Russian minister prompts US blowback

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:58 GMT

BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Monday expressed gratitude to Brazil for its approach in pushing for an end to hostilities in Ukraine — an effort that has irked both Kyiv and the West, and by afternoon prompted an unusually sharp rebuke from the White House.Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has refused to provide weapons to Ukraine while proposing a club of nations including Brazil and China to mediate peace.On Sunday, Lula told reporters in Abu Dhabi that two nations – both Russia and Ukraine – had decided to go to war, and a day earlier in Beijing said the U.S. must stop “stimulating” the continued fighting and start discussing peace. Earlier this month, he suggested Ukraine could cede Crimea to end the war, which the spokesperson for Ukraine’s foreign ministry, Oleg Nikolenko, and others rejected.After meeting Brazil’s foreign minister on Monday, Lavrov told reporters in a short press conference that the West has engaged in “a rather ...

Speaker McCarthy vows to pass debt bill – but can he do it?

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:58 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Kevin McCarthy pledged on Monday to pass legislation to raise the nation’s debt ceiling — but only on condition of capping future federal spending increases at 1% — as he lashed out at President Joe Biden for refusing to engage in budget-cutting negotiations to prevent a debt crisis.In a high-profile speech at the New York Stock Exchange, McCarthy, the Republican leader who was marking his 100th day as speaker, said the nation’s debt load is a “ticking time bomb” and Biden is “missing in action” as the deadline nears to raise the debt limit. But McCarthy’s own ability to bring his plan to passage in coming weeks as promised is highly uncertain. “Since the president continues to hide, House Republicans will take action,” McCarthy vowed.The White House hit back quickly, accusing McCarthy of “dangerous economic hostage taking.” And administration officials reupped Biden’s pressure on the Republican leader to approve a debt c...

Mendicino rejects calls for blanket exemption to terror law for Afghanistan aid

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:58 GMT

OTTAWA — Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino says Ottawawill not issue a blanket exemption to terrorism laws for humanitarian workers in places such as Afghanistan, saying the approach taken by Canada’s peers risks abuse.“The approach outlined in Bill C-41 best mitigates those risks by potential terrorist actors,” Mendicino told the House justice committee Mondayafternoon.He was testifying about legislation he tabled last month thatwould amend the Criminal Code so Canadian aid workers can carry out duties in areas controlled by terrorists without being prosecuted for inadvertently funding such groups.The bill comes more thana year after Canada’s allies issued blanket exemptions for humanitarian aid workers to continue their work in Afghanistan in response to the Taliban’s violent takeover of Kabul in August 2021.Humanitarian groups say that Global Affairs Canada had warned them that purchasing goods or hiring locals in Afghanistan would involve payin...

How the IRS is trying to make tax filing day easier

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:58 GMT

(The Hill) – The due date to file a tax return this year is Tue., April 18 and it comes against the backdrop of some major structural changes in U.S. tax administration that have been a serious point of contention between Democrats and Republicans.But those changes, which will impact audits rates and help the government collect hundreds of billions in missing taxes every year, are likely not being felt by regular taxpayers this season.The backstory: Here’s how the IRS will spend its $80 billion funding boost Instead, filers can expect the preliminary wave of the $80 billion provided to the IRS in the Inflation Reduction Act to result in basic improvements in time spent waiting on the phone and refund delivery speeds.A hiring spree to clear up backlogsOver the course of the pandemic, backlogs of unprocessed tax returns and unanswered phone calls piled up as the agency had to close field offices and have employees start working from home.Even so, service levels are now improving as th...