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A suspicious letter to the top elections agency in Kansas appears harmless, authorities say

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:06 GMT

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The substance in a suspicious letter sent to the top elections agency in Kansas doesn’t appear to have been hazardous, and the mail appeared unrelated to threatening letters sent to election offices in other states, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation said Wednesday.The letter delivered Tuesday to the Kansas secretary of state’s office prompted authorities to evacuate its building just before noon and keep it closed for the rest of the day. The KBI said it has identified a suspect in Tuesday’s incident, though no arrest was announced. The KBI also said it has no reason to believe the letter was connected to threatening letters containing a harmless white powder sent in June to dozens of Republican legislators in Kansas, Montana and Tennessee.While authorities are still waiting on final tests of the substance in Tuesday’s letter, preliminary testing indicated it was not harmful, KBI spokesperson Melissa Underwood said in an emailed statement. The ...

Mayorkas warns of dangers to the US if it loses tools to block terrorists from using drones and WMD

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:06 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government is at risk of losing key tools for preventing terrorists from using drones, chemicals or weapons of mass destruction if Congress doesn’t take action soon, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas warned Wednesday.Congress could temporarily extend the measures dealing with drones and WMD as part of a bill the House approved Tuesday to avert a government shutdown. But a bill regulating chemicals stalled in the Senate after a Republican senator raised concerns that it could make the U.S. chemical industry less competitive, and those powers expired in July. The others also expire this year unless Congress takes action to extend them.“Congress must not allow these DHS authorities to lapse,” Mayorkas said, arguing that they are vital for protecting the country. “This is not a moment to let our guard down.”He spoke during a congressional hearing focused on threats to the homeland alongside FBI Director Christopher Wray and the director of the Nat...

Hospital director in Haiti says a gang stormed in and took hundreds of women and children hostage

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:06 GMT

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A heavily armed gang burst into a hospital in Haiti on Wednesday and took hostage hundreds of women, children and newborns, according to the director of the medical center who pleaded for help via social media.Jose Ulysse, founder and director of the Fontaine Hospital Center in the sprawling Cite Soleil slum in the capital of Port-au-Prince, confirmed the incident in a brief message exchange with The Associated Press. “We are in great difficulty,” he said.No further details were immediately available, and it was not clear why the assailants may have taken patients hostage. Ulysse did not respond to further questions for comment.The hospital is considered an oasis and a lifeline in a community overrun by gangs that have unleashed increasingly violent attacks against each other, with civilians who live in Cite Soleil routinely raped, beaten or killed.Ulysse identified those responsible as members of the Brooklyn gang, led by Gabriel Jean-Pierre, best known...

MLB team owners set to vote Thursday on proposed relocation of Athletics to Las Vegas

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:06 GMT

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Major League Baseball team owners are set to vote Thursday on the proposed relocation of the Oakland Athletics to Las Vegas at the end of their league-wide meeting.Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred was presenting his recommendation to the 30 owners during the three-day meeting, which came about six months after the A’s reached a tentative agreement for a new stadium in Las Vegas after being unable to reach a deal for one in Oakland. Any recommendation for a move would require at least a three-quarters vote — at least 23 owners — for approval. The last team to relocate was the Montreal Expos, who became the Washington Nationals in 2005.When some owners were arriving Tuesday, a plane pulling a banner that read “A’S BELONG IN OAKLAND –#VOTENO” flew above the hotel where they are meeting adjacent to Globe Life Field, home of the World Series champion Texas Rangers.That is part of a last-ditch effort to stop any approval of the move. At least half of the owners we...

Ousted Texas bishop rallies outside US bishops meeting as his peers reinforce Catholic voter values

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:06 GMT

BALTIMORE (AP) — Soon after U.S. bishops inside a Baltimore hotel approved materials on how Catholics should vote in 2024 elections, their recently ousted colleague and dozens of his supporters rallied outside the annual fall business meeting.Bishop Joseph Strickland, a conservative cleric recently removed by Pope Francis as head of the diocese of Tyler, Texas, following his increasingly severe criticisms of the pontiff, prayed the rosary with dozens of supporters along the waterfront.Inside their conference room, the bishops approved a document that didn’t say who Catholics should vote for, but rather how they should rely on the church’s teachings, like its anti-abortion and pro-immigrant stances, when making their ballot choices.The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the top Catholic clergy body in America, approved supplements on Wednesday to its voter guide, which is known as “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship.”The materials, which include bulletin inserts and a vid...

‘It’s not enough’: Drivers call out plan to widen busy roadway on Toronto-Pickering border

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:06 GMT

Like thousands of other drivers everyday, Steve Garvin spends a lot of his time using Steeles Avenue East to get to and from work.He sums up the experience in two words: “It’s brutal.”It’s a statement echoed by other drivers tasked with using the increasingly busy roadway, which connects East Scarborough in Toronto to Durham Region.“We have a lot of people moving to Pickering and we have a lot of people coming from Toronto who work in Pickering,” says Pickering Coun. David Pickles, Ward 3. “Steeles Avenue is a critical link between the two regions.”At issue is the portion of the roadway — more than five kilometers — that has just two lanes between Tapscott Road and the Pickering line.“It’s four lanes up until those points but as soon as it goes down to two lanes, it’s chaos,” says Garvin. “The traffic just bottlenecks and backs up, especially if other drivers have to make a turn, you can’t pass them.”City of Toronto has plans to widen roadIn...

Another victim of Maine mass shooting discharged from hospital as panel prepares to convene

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:06 GMT

LEWISTON, Maine (AP) — Medical staff lined the hallways this week as another victim of last month’s Lewiston mass shooting was released from Central Maine Medical Center, leaving only two of the wounded in the hospital.Doctors, nurses and team members paid silent tribute to the patient, who was not identified, after a two-and-a-half week stay in the hospital in Lewiston, the city where 18 people were killed and 13 others injured on Oct. 25 in the deadliest shooting in state history.The hospital staff “wanted to acknowledge this milestone, while at the same time remain mindful that this patient, and many of us, have a long road ahead,” said Kris Chaisson, chief nursing officer.The patient’s departure Monday leaves two patients, both in stable condition, at Central Maine Medical Center, an official said. Most of the injured were taken to Central Maine Medical Center, while one each went to other hospitals in Lewiston, Portland and Boston. The others have been discharged, i...

Appeals court frees attorney from having to join, pay dues to Louisiana bar association, for now

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:06 GMT

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A Louisiana lawyer who objected to the state bar association’s public statements on several issues including health tips and LGBTQ rights can no longer be forced to join or pay dues to the association, a federal appeals court has ruled.The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals order, dated Monday, blocks the Louisiana State Bar Association from forcing attorney Randy Boudreaux to join the LSBA or pay its dues, at least for now. The ruling sends the case back to a federal district judge for further action. It appears to leave open the possibility that mandatory membership and dues could be imposed on Boudreaux, if the LSBA no longer takes public positions deemed “non-germane” to the regulation of the legal profession.Boudreaux’s is one of more than two dozen cases playing out around the country challenging state requirements that attorneys join and pay dues to state bar associations. Organizations including the Goldwater Institute and, in Louisiana, the Pel...

Supplies alone won’t save Gaza hospital patients and evacuation remains perilous, experts say

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:06 GMT

LONDON (AP) — As concerns grow for patients stranded inside Gaza’s biggest hospital, experts warned that transporting vulnerable people, including babies, is a perilous proposition under even the best circumstances.On Tuesday, Palestinian authorities proposed a supervised evacuation of Shifa Hospital, a sprawling complex that runs several city blocks in the heart of Gaza City. Hours later, Israeli forces raided the facility — further complicating the picture.Dr. Irwin Redlener of Columbia University in New York said that moving newborns and premature babies with health problems is fraught but possible with trained personnel, proper equipment and a transportation plan.“Babies in incubators have complex health needs and there needs to be temperature control, hydration, medication for infections and breathing support,” said Redlener, a pediatrician and disaster response expert, who spoke before the raid.Redlener said that when hospitals in New York were evacuated due to Superstorm Sand...

FCC adopts rules to eliminate ‘digital discrimination’ for communities with poor internet access

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:06 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Communications Commission has enacted new rules intended to eliminate discrimination in access to internet services, a move which regulators are calling the first major U.S. digital civil rights policy.The rules package, which the commission ratified on Wednesday, would empower the agency to review and investigate instances of discrimination by broadband providers to different communities based on income, race, ethnicity and other protected classes. The order also provides a framework for the FCC to crack down a range of digital inequities including the disparities in the investment of services for different neighborhoods, as well as the “digital divide,” a term experts use to describe the complete lack of internet access many communities experience due to regional or socioeconomic inequality. FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said that Congress required the agency to adopt rules addressing digital discrimination, through bipartisan infrastructure legi...