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Formula One leader Max Verstappen takes pole position for Austrian GP

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:51:48 GMT

SPIELBERG, Austria (AP) — Reigning Formula One champion Max Verstappen topped qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix on Friday to clinch his fourth straight pole position.The runaway championship leader put his Red Bull on pole for the sixth time this season and 26th overall. He finished a narrow 0.048 seconds ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, whose teammate Carlos Sainz Jr. had the third-quickest time.“Very happy being on pole but it is a very long weekend,” Verstappen said. “It is always tricky round here.”Lando Norris qualified in fourth for McLaren ahead of Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, who holds the F1 record of 103 race wins. Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll will start from sixth ahead of teammate Fernando Alonso.A victory for Verstappen at his team’s home track in Spielberg on Sunday would take him to 42 race wins, one more than the late Ayrton Senna and alone in fifth place on the all-time list.Mercedes driver George Russell and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez did n...

Baltimore police fatally shoot man who fired on officers pursuing him, commissioner says

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:51:48 GMT

BALTIMORE (AP) — Baltimore police officers fatally shot a man who fired on officers who were pursuing him, the acting police commissioner said.Officers recognized the 40-year-old man who was wanted on a warrant around 5:30 p.m. Thursday and began to follow his vehicle, Acting Police Commissioner Richard Worley said at a news conference. The man’s car became disabled at the intersection of North Milton and East Fairmount avenues.That’s when Worley said the man began firing at an officer riding by, striking the patrol vehicle and got out of his car. The man kept firing at officers as he continued down Milton Avenue and officers coming from the other direction fired at the man, striking him, and he died on the scene, Worley said. The man had dropped one gun and was preparing to fire a second when he was shot, Worley said. No officers were injured, he said.Worley declined to say what charges the man had faced, saying it was part of the investigation. It wasn’t clear where the officers b...

Ex-Ohio GOP chair and lobbyist Matt Borges has been sentenced to 5 years in prison for his role in $60M bribery scheme

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:51:48 GMT

CINCINNATI (AP) — Ex-Ohio GOP chair and lobbyist Matt Borges has been sentenced to 5 years in prison for his role in $60M bribery scheme.Source

Unlicensed Hong Kong radio station that hosted many pro-democracy guests goes off air after 18 years

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:51:48 GMT

HONG KONG (AP) — An unlicensed pro-democracy radio station in Hong Kong was shutting down on Friday, going off air after 18 years of service. The closure of Citizens’ Radio came on the eve of the 26th anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover to China’s rule. Since its launch in 2005, the station has hosted various prominent democrats in its shows, including former lawmakers Szeto Wah, Emily Lau, Albert Ho and Lee Cheuk-yan. But its founder Bull Tsang said it was getting increasingly difficult for the station to invite guests following the enactment of a Beijing-imposed law that jailed or silenced many activists. Coupled with banking problems and limited resources, he had no choice but to say goodbye, he said. “It’s hard to let go. It’s like my third son,” Tsang, 67, told reporters before he hosted his last show on Friday night. The closure reflects the collapse of the city’s pro-democracy movement under the national security law following massive protests in...

‘Lives could be saved’: Virginia’s expanded Move Over law takes effect Saturday

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:51:48 GMT

Alexis Wells and Latane Flanagan always used to call their sister Angela Hurley when they needed advice.“She knew what was right,” Flanagan said. “You call her and you’re like, ‘Hey, this is what I was thinking, what do you think?’ And she was like, ‘Oh, yeah, that’s right,’ or ‘Oh my gosh, no, you are absolutely out of your mind.'”Hurley, 49, of Mechanicsville, Virginia, was killed on July 19, 2022, when she was waiting for roadside assistance after her car broke down on the side of Interstate 95 in Hanover County outside Richmond. An SUV swerved into the shoulder and hit her vehicle.Her sisters have been advocating for safer traffic laws since her death, in the hopes that other people’s loved ones will make it home safely. Now, a major law they supported is going into effect, as Virginia drivers prepare to travel for the holiday weekend.The state’s updated Move Over law will kick in July 1. It requires d...

Photos: Funnel clouds spotted in Park County

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:51:48 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) -- Two defined funnel clouds were caught on camera by a FOX31 viewer as storms moved into the state on Friday morning. Bryan Gunsher, who lives about 5 miles north of Antero Reservoir, told FOX31's Drew Englebart and Katie Orth this is the first funnel cloud he's seen in the eight years he's lived in Park County. Photos: Coors Field covered in hail after Denver storm "These are the first two funnel clouds that I've actually seen in this area. I know we've had a few in the last week or so and a tornado, but nothing like that in our area that I've seen," Gunsher said. Funnel cloud captured on June 30, 2023 in Park County (Photo credit: Bryan Gunsher)Funnel cloud captured on camera in Park County (Photo credit: Bryan Gunsher)The Park County resident captured not one, but two funnel clouds on camera clear as day off in the distance. "We were experiencing a good bit of rain. The wind was actually pretty light. It was very dark, thunder and lightning, and so forth," Gunsh...

How many Coloradans back on the hook for student loans after SCOTUS ruling?

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:51:48 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) -- Just under 300,000 Coloradans will be on the hook for their full federal student loan amounts in October following Friday's U.S. Supreme Court ruling. The Supreme Court has made its final ruling on student debt relief, ending the almost yearlong uncertainty borrowers have had on the future of their loans. In a 6-3 decision, the conservative majority of the Supreme Court struck down Biden’s plan that would have given up to $20,000 in loan forgiveness for more than 40 million borrowers.  Supreme Court blocks student loan forgiveness: What should borrowers do now? Student loan borrowers owe a total of $1.7 trillion nationwide, about $29 billion of which is among the borrowers in the state of Colorado.Over a third of Colorado’s federal student loan borrowers would have been approved for loan forgiveness, according to a White House report released in January. About 295,000 borrowers would have been fully approved for the forgiveness plan. Can Colo...

Biden blames GOP for student loan ruling as 2024 political consequences loom

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:51:48 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden insisted Friday that “this fight is not over” after the Supreme Court struck down his $400 billion student loan forgiveness plan. Biden blamed Republicans’ opposition, aiming to direct the ire of millions of borrowers toward them rather than his own party in next year’s elections.The president planned an afternoon address to lay out a series of actions to provide continued relief to 43 million student loan borrowers, and in the meantime tried to stay on the political offensive against the GOP.“The hypocrisy of Republican elected officials is stunning,” Biden said in a statement. “They had no problem with billions in pandemic-related loans to businesses – including hundreds of thousands and in some cases millions of dollars for their own businesses. And those loans were forgiven. But when it came to providing relief to millions of hard-working Americans, they did everything in their power to stop it.”Electoral consequences aside, prog...

As France burns, Macron blames social media for fanning the flames

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:51:48 GMT

PARIS — French rioters have set the country on fire and Emmanuel Macron is pointing the finger at TikTok and Snapchat for pouring gasoline on the inferno.In the past three days, violent protests erupted across France after a police officer shot and killed 17-year-old Nahel M., who was of North African, in a Paris suburb. Rioters targeted public buildings, transport systems and shops with projectiles and Molotov cocktails, leaving 249 members of law enforcement injured and 875 people arrested. Unlike the deadly outbreak of violence in 2005, the turmoil — which has led to public transportation shutdowns, concert cancelations and armored vehicles being deployed across the country — can be documented in real time, shared online and seen by tens of thousands on social media platforms such as TikTok, Snapchat and Twitter. That online phenomenon is worrying France’s political leaders, who have been scurrying to find solutions as the unrest shows no sign of fizzling out. “We...

Man wanted on January 6-related charges arrested in Obama’s DC neighborhood with guns and materials to make explosives

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:51:48 GMT

(CNN) — A man with numerous firearms and materials to make an explosive was arrested Thursday in former President Barack Obama’s Washington, DC, neighborhood after claiming on an internet livestream that he had a detonator, law enforcement officials told CNN.Taylor Taranto, who had an open warrant for his arrest related to the January 6, 2021, US Capitol attack, was arrested by the Metropolitan Police Department and federal law enforcement. He has been charged with being a fugitive from justice.“Arresting officers requested MPD’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Team to perform a vehicle sweep of the individual’s van near the location of the arrest,” the MPD said in a statement to CNN. “There is no active threat to the community and this incident remains under investigation.”According to law enforcement officials, firearms and materials to make Molotov cocktails were found in Taranto’s car. There is currently no indication of a direct threat to the Obamas, law enforcement...